"And monsieur," the priest asked, ingenuously, "monsieur is perhaps a soldier? I have talked so long of my own poor affairs. It must be tedious."
Just then Reist and Brand pa.s.sed along the corridor, laughing heartily. Brand paused, and with a bow to the priest held out a paper to Ughtred.
"Read that, Brand!" he exclaimed. "These papers are the drollest in the world."
Ughtred looked up puzzled, but took the paper held out insistently towards him. At the bottom of an ill.u.s.tration were a few pencilled words.
"Be careful! Remember! You are W. B. The priest has been asking questions about us!"
Ughtred read, and smiled. The priest leaned forward.
"It is a joke, eh? Monsieur will permit me also? It is good to laugh."
Brand was equal to the occasion. He took the paper quickly away from Ughtred.
"Monsieur," he said, removing his cap, "the joke which I pointed out to my friend has, without doubt, humour, but the journal, as you see, is for the students. Monsieur will excuse me if I refrain from offering it to him."
The priest acquiesced with a graver face, and some show of dignity.
"But I fear, monsieur," he said to Brand, "that I am occupying your seat. You wish to return here, beyond a doubt?"
Brand shook his head.
"By no means, monsieur," he declared. "For the present, at any rate, I am engaged elsewhere."
They pa.s.sed along the corridor. Glancing up at the priest, Ughtred was aware of a slight change in his expression. His brows were contracted, he was immersed in thought. The change was momentary, however. Soon he was again chattering away--still always of his own affairs. But there came a time when he wound up a little speech with a question.
"Is it not so, Monsieur Brand--was not that how your friend called you?"
Ughtred a.s.sented.
"My name is Walter Brand," he answered.
Again there came that faint change in the priest"s face.
"Monsieur will not think me curious," he said. "He is perhaps a soldier?"
Ughtred shook his head.
"I have seen some fighting," he said, "but I am not a soldier. I am a journalist, if you know what that means--one who writes for the newspapers. My friend whom you saw speak to me just now is a soldier by profession."
The priest nodded pleasantly.
"And he, like yourself," he asked, "is he, too, English?"
Ughtred looked around, and lowered his voice.
"He has been in the English army, but he is not an Englishman. He has had a very unfortunate history. I wish that I could tell it to you, but the time is too short, and he does not like to be talked about."
The priest"s face shone with sympathy.
"Poor fellow!" he murmured.
"Brand!"
They both looked up. Brand himself had entered the _coupe_. There was a slight frown upon his forehead, and his tone was curt.
"I wish you would explain to the conductor about our tickets," he said. "He is very stupid, and I cannot make him understand."
Ughtred rose at once and left the _coupe_. Brand bowed gravely to the priest.
"I trust monsieur will excuse me," he said, "for interrupting what I am sure must have been a very agreeable conversation."
The slight foreign accent was beautifully done. Brand was as tall as Ughtred, and although not so broad his carriage was good and his natural air one of distinction. The priest smiled benignly upon him.
"I fear," he said, "that I have already wearied your friend. My life must seem so humdrum to him, and to you, who have travelled so far and seen so much. For I, monsieur, as I have told your friend, have lived all my days in one quiet country place, and this journey is a great event for me."
Brand slipped into the vacant seat. In the vestibule Ughtred met Reist. He drew him into the smoking-compartment. He was very pale, and his voice shook with emotion.
"The priest," he said, "is a creature of Domiloff"s. You were on your guard?"
Ughtred nodded.
"What a famous fellow Brand is. Up to now, at any rate, his scheme has worked. He is personating me bravely, and really we are very much alike."
"He will be too clever for him," Reist said. "It is a matter of time.
Do you know that in half-an-hour we shall be at the frontier?"
"So soon?" Ughtred exclaimed.
"Listen! I had a message from our friends at Limburg. The train will be searched at the barrier. There will be a determined attempt to prevent your entering the country. Theos is in a state of hopeless confusion. The motion to repeal your sentence of banishment is still before the House of Laws. The Custom officers, and I am afraid the Government officials, have been heavily bribed by Russia not to pa.s.s you across the frontier."
A bright light flashed in Ughtred"s eyes.
"So we shall see," he muttered.
"They have a plan ready for us, no doubt," Reist continued, "and that priest is in it. Never mind. We shall outwit them. If only your friend Brand is equal to his part."
"The man is a born actor," Ughtred said. "I left him playing the Prince as I could never have done it. I do not think that Domiloff"s man will find him out."
Reist pulled the window softly down and looked out. The train was pa.s.sing across a high bridge. Below, the river wound its way through a stretch of rocky, broken country.
"We are barely twenty miles from my home--the castle of Reist is to the left of the hills there. In a few minutes the train will stop. Be ready to follow me, and do exactly as I do."
"But we are not timed to stop until we reach Gallona!"
"Never mind," Reist answered. "This will be a stop that does not appear upon the time-table. It is the plan of those who are working for us in Theos, and it is good. At the village station of Moschaum the signals will be against us, and we shall stop. Our task is to leave the train unseen--it may be difficult, but I have bribed all the servants, and they are preparing to see nothing. There will be horses waiting for us--and then--then it will be a gallop for a kingdom."
"The plan seems good enough," Ughtred said, thoughtfully, "and I am in your hands. But what about Brand?"