De Loubersac was nervously chewing the end of his blonde moustache.
With a shrug he replied:
"Oh, I! It is never surprising to meet me in a train: I am constantly on the move: here--there--everywhere!... You have news of Mademoiselle Wilhelmine?"
"Excellent news. You are coming to Monsieur de Naarboveck"s soon?"
"I think of calling on the baron this evening."
Talk continued, commonplace, desultory. What questions crowded to his lips, sternly repressed!
"She lies," thought he, while listening to the details of her family visit. "She certainly lies!... I must pretend to be her dupe--the miserable creature!"
His whole soul revolted at the thought that this Bobinette, involved as she must be in disgraceful adventures, abominable tragedies, shared Wilhelmine"s home, was her so-called friend! He was seized by a mad desire to grip Bobinette by the throat--silence her lying tongue--arrest, handcuff her on the spot--render her powerless!
He had noticed a vague line of black showing below her light coloured taffeta skirt. It might be the frill of a petticoat just too long.
Thinking no more of it he continued to chat of indifferent things....
Presently, a quick movement of Bobinette"s raised her skirt a little more. This time the watchful de Loubersac could not be mistaken: he had seen clearly that what showed beneath Bobinette"s skirt, every now and again, was a priest"s ca.s.sock!
Bobinette"s dress concealed the disguise of a priest.
Too well he understood the part this perverse creature had been playing! Now he could account for their meeting in this train coming from Rouen!... She had recently a.s.sociated with Corporal Vinson as a priest. She had seen him off, no doubt, and, anxious to rid herself of her ecclesiastical exterior as quickly as might be, she had slipped on a dress over her ecclesiastical garment.
What was all this but a painful confirmation of Juve"s words?... How could Wilhelmine be entirely ignorant of this dreadful creature"s character? How could Wilhelmine be wholly innocent of the terribly compromising actions of her daily companion? Did Wilhelmine lack intuition? Was she without that delicate sensitiveness which is the birthright of all nice women? How could a pure girl breathe the miasmic atmosphere which must emanate from the soul of this abominable woman?
It was terrible!
The desultory commonplace chat went on, whilst de Loubersac was considering how best to act.
Arrest Bobinette?
Yes. He must not, dare not, hesitate. It was his duty. If he held this young woman at his mercy, it was, perhaps, the only way, painful as it was, to ultimately clear up the position of Wilhelmine.
How proceed?
Whilst still chattering of this and that, Henri de Loubersac made up his mind.
"Being a soldier, and not a policeman, I cannot myself arrest this woman. The scandal would be tremendous! I should get into the hottest of hot water with my chiefs: it is not my job.... Directly we arrive at the Saint Lazare station I will manage to signal one of the plain clothes men always on the watch there! Two of them will have her fast before she knows where she is!"
This seemed the easier because Bobinette had a heavy valise with her: she would have to call a porter and give him instructions--this would give him time to act.
Rea.s.sured, Henri de Loubersac continued to laugh and joke, though it went sorely against the grain....
At last! Saint Lazare station! The train stopped.
"I will say good-bye, Mademoiselle Bobinette.... I must hurry away!...
You will excuse me?"
De Loubersac leaped on to the platform, jostling the pa.s.sengers crowding his path. He must reach the platform exit without a second"s delay!... As he handed his ticket to the collecter, a hubbub arose.
Pa.s.sengers were stopping, turning back, running--something sensational must have happened!
He paused. He heard a porter at his elbow say in a low voice:
"Don"t stop, Monsieur Henri--you may be noticed."
De Loubersac identified the speaker as a man in the employ of the Second Bureau. He handed his wraps to this detective, dressed as an ordinary porter.
"What is happening, then?" he asked.
"An arrest, ordered by the Second Bureau. There was a man, or a woman, in your train."
"Ah, Bobinette must have been identified at Rouen when she got into the train--Juve"s men must have wired from there!" Henri de Loubersac rejoiced. How he hated this creature, whose detestable influence must harm Wilhelmine, whose wickedness might work woe to the girl he loved!
This traitorous wretch would be under lock and key now!
Splendid!
With mind relieved, he thanked the informer and prepared to leave the station. But, as he descended the steps leading to the Cour du Havre he stopped. Two police detectives whom he knew well were walking on either side a soldier in corporal"s uniform--Vinson, of course! They must be taking him to the Cherche Midi prison.
De Loubersac realised what had happened.
"By-Jove! The telegram Juve had received at Dieppe must have been false!... Vinson and Bobinette, discovering that they were under observation, had found means to send Juve a telegram announcing that Vinson had been met in London: having thus drawn Juve over to England they had returned to Paris.... The traitors must have separated: this would lessen their chances of being recognised.... They must have arrested Vinson as he was leaving the train.... Bobinette, become unrecognisable when her ca.s.sock was hidden, must have escaped!"
De Loubersac ran back. He hunted the station all over. He jumped into a taxi and drove up and down all the adjoining streets; but the chase was a useless one! Bobinette was invisible--Bobinette had seized her opportunity. She had disappeared!
XXIV
AN APPETISER AT ROBERT"S BAR
"Have another whisky, old sport?"
"Not I! We have taken too much on board as it is."
"You must! You must! Seen through the gold of old Scotch, life seems more beautiful, and the barmaids more fetching."
Perched on the high stools which allowed them to lean on the rail of the bar the two topers solemnly clinked gla.s.ses.
The younger of the two, a lean, dark fellow, emptied his gla.s.s at one go, but his companion, a big fair man about thirty-five, clean shaven, and slightly bald, handled his gla.s.s so awkwardly that the contents escaped on to the floor.
The big fair man called for fresh drinks. Their gla.s.ses were refilled so quickly that the dark young man failed to notice it: he drank on and on automatically, as though wound up to do so, but his companion barely wetted his lips with the intoxicating liquor.
It was six o"clock and a dismal December evening; but there was an animated cosmopolitan crowd in Robert"s bar.
Robert"s of London is the equivalent of Maxim"s of Paris. The great place for luxurious entertainments, it opens its doors at twilight, and does not close them till the small hours are well advanced. When evening falls, the scene grows animated: business men and women of pleasure crowd the rooms. Gradually the crowd a.s.sumes a cosmopolitan character. A band of Hungarian gipsies plays inspiriting and seductive music. The crush increases, the noise grows louder, and amidst this babel of voices, the racket, the din, the barmaids ply their trade with calm determination: they flirt with their customers and egg them on to drink gla.s.s after gla.s.s of wine and spirits for the good of the house, in an atmosphere thick with tobacco smoke.
Every ten minutes or so, a newspaper boy slips in with the latest evening editions, to be chased out by one of the managers of mixed nationality who, for the most part, talk in a strangely mixed tongue, partly French, partly English.