Part 38 (2/2)

And to do nothing himself, to wait upon this Frenchman's own good time, was maddening.

”Your head is all right now?” as she turned to follow the others from the room.

”It was nothing.” He forced a smile to his lips. ”I'm as fit as a fiddle now; only, I'll never forgive myself for letting him go. Will you tell me one thing? Did he ever offend you in any way?”

”A woman would not call it an offense,” a glint of humor in her eyes.

”Real offense, no.”

”He proposed to you?”

The suppressed rage in his tone would have amused if it hadn't thrilled her strangely. ”It would have been a proposal if I had not stopped it.

Good night.”

He could not see her eyes very well; there was only one candle burning.

Impulsively he s.n.a.t.c.hed at her hand and kissed it. With his life, if need be; ay, and gladly. And even as she disappeared into the corridor the thought intruded: Where was the past, the days of wandering, the active and pa.s.sive adventures, he had contemplated treasuring up for a club career in his old age? Why, they had vanished from his mind as thin ice vanishes in the spring suns.h.i.+ne. To love is to be borne again.

And Laura? She possessed a secret that terrified her one moment and enraptured her the next. And she marveled that there was no shame in her heart. Never in all her life before had she done such a thing; she, who had gone so calmly through her young years, wondering what it was that had made men turn away from her with agony written on their faces! She would never be the same again, and the hand she held softly against her cheek would never be the same hand. Where was the tranquillity of that morning?

Fitzgerald found himself alone with Ferraud again. There was going to be no dissembling; he was going to speak frankly.

”You have evidently discovered it. Yes, I love Miss Killigrew, well enough to die for her.”

”_Zut_! She will be as safe as in her own house. Had Breitmann not gone to-night, had any of us stopped him, I could not say. Unless you tell her, she will never know that she stood in danger. Don't you understand? If I marred one move these men intend to make, if I showed a single card, they would defeat me for the time; for they would make new plans of which I should not have the least idea. You comprehend?”

Fitzgerald nodded.

”It all lies in the hollow of my hand. Breitmann made one mistake; he should have pushed me off the boat, into the dark. _He_ knows that I know. And there he confuses me. But, I repeat, he is not vicious, only mad.”

”Where will it be?”

”It will _not_ be;” and M. Ferraud smiled as he livened up the burnt wick of his candle.

”Treachery on the part of the drivers? Oh, don't you see that you can trust me wholly?”

”Well, it will be like this;” and reluctantly the secret agent outlined his plan. ”Now, go to bed and sleep, for you and I shall need some to draw upon during the next three or four days. Hunting for buried treasures was never a junketing. The admiral will tell you that. At dawn!” Then he added whimsically: ”I trust we haven't disturbed the royal family below.”

”Hang the royal family!”

”Their own parliament, or Reichstag, will arrange for that!” and the little man laughed.

Dawn came soon enough, yellow and airless.

”My dear,” said Mrs. Coldfield, ”I really wish you wouldn't go.”

”But Laura and Miss von Mitter insist on going. I can't back out now,”

protested Coldfield. ”What are you worried about? Brigands, gun-shots, and all that?”

”He will be a desperate man.”

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