The Woman of Mystery Part 35

Paul now understood that elisabeth would go straight to the car and that Karl would join her there. If so, it was a case for immediate action.

For a second he remained undecided. Should he take advantage of the fact that Karl was still there, burst into the room and shoot both him and the countess dead? It would mean saving elisabeth, because it was only those two miscreants who had designs upon her life. But he dreaded the failure of so daring an attempt and, jumping from the balcony, he called Bernard.

"elisabeth is going off in a motor-car. Karl is with her and has been told to poison her. Get out your revolver and come with me."

"What do you intend to do?"

"We shall see."

They went round the villa, slipping through the bushes that bordered the drive. The whole place, moreover, was deserted.

"Listen," said Bernard, "there's a car going off."

Paul, at first greatly alarmed, protested:

"No, no, it's only the noise of the engine."

In fact, when they came within sight of the front of the house, they saw at the foot of the steps a closed car surrounded by a group of some dozen soldiers. Its head-lamps, while lighting up one part of the garden, left the spot where Paul and Bernard stood in darkness.

A woman came down the steps and disappeared inside the car.

"elisabeth," said Paul. "And here comes Karl. . . ."

The spy stopped on the bottom step and gave his orders to the soldier who acted as chauffeur. Paul caught a syllable here and there.

Their departure was imminent. Another moment and, if Paul raised no obstacle, the car would carry off the a.s.sa.s.sin and his victim. It was a horrible minute, for Paul Delroze felt all the danger attending an interference which would not even possess the merit of being effective, since Karl's death would not prevent the Comtesse Hermine from pursuing her ends.

Bernard whispered:

"Surely you don't mean to carry away elisabeth? There's a whole picket of sentries there."

"I mean to do only one thing, to do for Karl."

"And then?"

"Then they'll take us prisoners. We shall be questioned, cross-examined; there will be a scandal. Prince Conrad will take the matter up."

"And we shall be shot. I confess that your plan . . ."

"Can you propose a better one?"

He broke off. Karl the spy had flown into a rage and was storming at his chauffeur; and Paul heard him shout:

"You d.a.m.ned a.s.s! You're always doing it! No petrol. . . . Where do you think we shall find petrol in the middle of the night? There's some in the garage, is there? Then run and fetch it, you fat-head! . . . And where's my fur-coat? You've forgotten it? Go and get it at once. I shall drive the car myself. I've no use for fools like you! . . ."

The soldier started running. And Paul at once observed that he himself would be able to reach the garage, of which he saw the lights, without having to leave the protecting darkness.

"Come," he said to Bernard. "I have an idea: you'll see what it is."

With the sound of their footsteps deadened by a gra.s.sy lawn, they made for that part of the out-houses containing the stables and motor-sheds, which they were able to enter unseen by those without. The soldier was in a back-room, the door of which was open. From their hiding-place they saw him take from a peg a great goat-skin coat, which he threw over his shoulder, and lay hold of four tins of petrol. Thus laden, he left the back-room and pa.s.sed in front of Paul and Bernard.

The trick was soon done. Before he had time to cry out, he was knocked down, rendered motionless and gagged.

"That's that," said Paul. "Now give me his great-coat and his cap. I would rather have avoided this disguise; but, if you want to be sure of a thing, you mustn't stick at the means."

"Then you're going to risk it?" asked Bernard. "Suppose Karl doesn't recognize his chauffeur?"

"He won't even think of looking at him."

"But if he speaks to you?"

"I shan't answer. Besides, once we are outside the grounds, I shall have nothing to fear from him."

"And what am I to do?"

"You? Bind your prisoner carefully and lock him up in some safe place.

Then go back to the shrubbery beyond the window with the balcony. I hope to join you there with elisabeth some time during the middle of the night; and we shall simply have to go back by the tunnel. If by accident you don't see me return . . ."

"Well?"

"Well, then go back alone before it gets light."

"But . . ."

Paul was already moving away. He was in the mood in which a man refuses to consider the actions which he has decided to perform. Moreover, the event seemed to prove that he was right. Karl received him with abusive language, but without paying the least attention to this supernumerary for whom he could not show enough contempt. The spy put on his fur-coat, sat down at the wheel and began to handle the levers while Paul took his seat beside him.

The car was starting, when a voice from the doorstep called, in a tone of command:

"Karl! Stop!"

Paul felt a moment's anxiety. It was the Comtesse Hermine. She went up to the spy and, lowering her voice, said, in French:

"I want you, Karl, to be sure . . . But your driver doesn't know French, does he?"

"He hardly knows German, _Excellenz_. He's an idiot. You can speak freely."

"What I was going to say is, don't use more than ten drops out of the bottle, else. . . ."

"Very well, _Excellenz_. Anything more?"

"Write to me in a week's time if everything has gone off well. Write to our Paris address and not before: it would be useless."

"Then you're going back to France, _Excellenz_?"

"Yes, my plan is ripe."

"The same plan?"

"Yes. The weather is in our favor. It has been raining for days and the staff have told me that they mean to act on their side. So I shall be there to-morrow evening; and it will only need a touch of the thumb . . ."