The baron looked puzzled. Wilhelmine rose.
"I forgot to tell you I was expecting the stable boy this evening. He replaces Charles."
She turned to the impa.s.sive footman.
"Please ask Mademoiselle Berthe to attend to these persons. They come late--much too late!"
"Mademoiselle will please excuse me for troubling her," replied the footman, "but Mademoiselle is still out, and."...
"In that case I will see them myself, though it is an unconscionable hour--not at all a good beginning."...
The woman and her son had been shown into the smoking-room. When Wilhelmine entered, the pair bowed respectfully.
The would-be groom was a nice-looking lad, and gave the impression of being superior to the common run of his cla.s.s and calling. Agreeably surprised, Wilhelmine asked to see his references: she wished to make sure that they were in order; preliminaries, through the medium of an agent, had been gone into some days before. The woman displayed them, announcing in a loud, harsh voice:
"I am his mother!"
This mother was as unpleasant to behold as her son was the contrary, thought Wilhelmine.
She was a stout, vulgar, clumsy creature, enveloped in a large shawl of many colours which did not hide her obesity. The old termagant"s face seemed all paint and large gold-rimmed spectacles, and peering eyes. This grotesque visage was shaded by a flowered veil.
"What a horrid old creature!" thought Wilhelmine, as she listened with scarcely concealed distaste to the woman"s voluble praises of her son"s qualities.... According to her, he was a marvel of marvels.
Monsieur de Naarboveck remained in the library pacing up and down, smoking an expensive cigar. Wilhelmine did not return. Feeling sleepy, he quitted the room and went down the long gallery at a leisurely pace. The reception rooms opened on to it. The s.p.a.cious entrance hall was visible from the wrought-iron bal.u.s.trade bordering this gallery.
The baron stopped. He listened. Surely there were voices in animated discussion in the vestibule! Yes. Men were arguing with the porter--insisting.... The porter was coming up. The baron went down to meet him. Two men, in derby hats and tightly b.u.t.toned overcoats, confronted him. They carried neither stick nor umbrella, their hands were gloveless. There was an air of suppressed haste about them. They saluted. One of the two offered his card. The baron read:
_Inspector Michel, Detective Force, Police Headquarters._
"Kindly follow me, gentlemen!"
De Naarboveck walked quietly up the grand staircase, his hand on its superb wrought-iron bal.u.s.trade.
The two men followed in silence.
The baron opened the smoking-room door, saw it was empty, entered, signed to the policemen to follow, and closed the door.
"To what do I owe the honour of your visit, gentlemen?"
De Naarboveck"s tone was icy.
Inspector Michel spoke.
"You must pardon us, Monsieur. Only a matter of the most serious importance--exceptionally serious--could have brought us to your house at so late an hour.... We hold a warrant, and, with your permission, we shall proceed to make an arrest."
De Naarboveck looked fixedly at the policemen.
"Gentlemen, that you should invade my house at such an hour, this matter must indeed be of singular importance," he said stiffly. Then, in a voice quivering with sarcasm, he enquired:
"Am I to be permitted to know what it is all about?"
"There is no harm in asking that, Monsieur," replied Inspector Michel, in a matter-of-fact tone. "The individual we have come to arrest here is a ruffian, wanted for a couple of murders: that of a Captain Brocq, and that of a little music-hall singer called Nichoune."
That this statement had upset the baron was evident: he had grown white to the lips. Inspector Michel realised that the idea of this double-dyed murderer having taken refuge in his house must have given the rich diplomat a horrid surprise. He continued his statement.
"The individual we have come to arrest is known under the name of Vagualame!"
"Vagualame!" stammered de Naarboveck. He staggered slightly and caught at the mantelpiece for support.
"How upset the baron is!" thought Inspector Michel. "Hardly to be wondered at!" He hurried on with his statement.
"We were on the watch on the Esplanade des Invalides, about half an hour ago--nothing to do with this affair--when we saw Vagualame approaching this house."
"You saw Vagualame!" exclaimed the baron, with the amazed, incredulous look of a man who finds himself suddenly faced by a set of lunatics.
"But--it"s--it is ..." he gasped.
"It is so, Monsieur," a.s.serted Inspector Michel. "This old ruffian, after lingering about a few minutes to a.s.sure himself that he was not being followed--we managed to conceal ourselves sufficiently behind the trees--Vagualame effected a most suspicious entry into your house, Monsieur. He climbed the wall with the help of a gutter-pipe, and entered the house through a half-opened window on the third floor! You permit, Monsieur, that we take action at once!"
Without waiting for the baron"s authorisation, Inspector Michel made a sign to his colleagues. They removed their overcoats, placed them on a chair, drew out their revolvers, and left the room.
The detectives were on the first steps of the flight of stairs leading to the third story, when they heard voices just above them. The piercing notes of the new groom"s mother mingled with the refined accents of Wilhelmine de Naarboveck, who, in the absence of her companion, was about to show the new groom the room allotted to him.
In such matters Wilhelmine was more punctilious than most.
"Did you hear, Vagualame?"
Bobinette paled. Could her overstrung nerves be playing her tricks?
No.... There certainly were voices, voices on the floor below, strange voices!... Whose?... Why?
Vagualame was seated at the foot of the bed, much at his ease. His accordion lay on the floor. He met Bobinette"s urgency with a shrug.
"Bah!"
With a despairing gesture, the terrified girl moved close to the old man.
"Don"t you understand?... They have seen you! They are after you!...
Master!" Bobinette bent forward, looked Vagualame in the eyes ...
started ... drew back with a jerk.
This was not the Vagualame she knew!... Not her master!... Who, then?... Who but an enemy?... A police spy?... Horror!... She was trapped!... Lost!
Her heart was beating frightfully--beating to bursting point. Were her knees going to give way?... They should not!... Play the poltroon?...
Never!... Rage boiled up in her; brain and will were afire.... She submit to the humiliation of arrest, the long-drawn-out agonies of cross-examinations, the tortures of imprisonment in Noumea?... Not Bobinette!... Never, never, never!
Almost simultaneously with her backward jerk from the stranger eyes of this Vagualame, Bobinette darted to a chiffonier, slipped her hand into a drawer among ribbons and laces, seized a revolver, and s.n.a.t.c.hed it out....