CHAPTER XI.
For the moment I was dazed and dumfounded, but I took a pull on myselfquickly. It was a clever plant. Had they sold me completely? That wasstill to be seen. My one chance was in prompt action; I must hunt themup, recover trace of them with all possible despatch, follow them, andfind them wherever they might be.
There was just the chance that they had only moved into anothercarriage, thinking that when I missed them I should get out and huntfor them in the station. To counter that I ran up and down the train,in and out of the carriages, questing like a hound, searchingeverywhere. So eager was I that I neglected the ordinary warnings thatthe train was about to start; the guard's _fertig_ ("ready"), thesounding horn, the answering engine whistle, I overlooked them all,and we moved on before I could descend. I made as though to jump offhastily, but was prevented.
"_Was ist das? Nein, nein, verboten._" A hand caught me roughly by thecollar and dragged me back. It was the enemy I had made in championingmy lady, the guard of the train, who gladly seized the chance of beingdisagreeable to me.
I fought hard to be free, but by the time I had shaken him off thespeed had so increased that it would have been unsafe to leave thetrain. I had no choice but to go on, harking back as soon as I could.Fortunately our first stop was within five and twenty minutes, atVevey; and there in ten minutes more I found a train back to Lausanne,so that I had lost less than an hour and a half in all.
But much may happen in that brief space of time. It was more thanenough for my fugitives to clear out of the Lausanne station and makesome new move, to hide away in an out-of-the-way spot, go to ground infact, or travel in another direction.
My first business was to inquire in and about the station for a personor persons answering to the parties I missed. Had they separated,these two women, for good and all? That was most unlikely. If the maidhad gone off first, I had to consider whether they would not againjoin forces as soon as I was well out of the way. They would surelyfeel safer, happier, together, and this encouraged me to ask first fortwo people, two females, a lady and her servant, one of them, thelatter, carrying a child.
There were many officials about in uniform, and all alike superciliousand indifferent, after the manner of their class, to the travellingpublic, and I could get none to take the smallest interest in myaffairs. One shrugged his shoulders, another stared at me in insolentsilence, a third answered me abruptly that he was too occupied tobother himself, and a fourth peremptorily ordered me not to hang anylonger about the station.
Foiled thus by the railway staff--and I desire to place on record heremy deliberate opinion after many years' experience in many lands, thatfor rudeness and overbearing manners the Swiss functionary has noequal in the whole world--I went outside the station and soughtinformation among the cabmen and touts who hang about waiting to takeup travellers. I accosted all the drivers patiently one by one, butcould gather nothing definite from any of them. Most had been on thestand at the arrival of the midday train, many had been engaged toconvey passengers and baggage up into the town of Lausanne, and haddeposited their fares at various hotels and private residences, but noone had driven any party answering to those of whom I was in search.
This practically decided the point that my lady had not left thestation in a carriage or openly, if she had walked. But that she hadnot been observed did not dispose of the question. They were dull,stupid men, these, only intent on their own business, who would paylittle attention to humble persons on foot showing no desire to hire acab. I would not be baffled thus soon in my quest. A confidentialagent who will not take infinite pains in his researches had betterseek some other line of business. As I stood there in front of thegreat station belonging to the Jura-Simplon, I saw facing me a smallfacade of the Gare Sainte Luce, one of the intermediate stations onthe _Ficelle_ or cable railway that connects Ouchy on the lake withLausanne above.
It was not a hundred yards distant; it could be easily and quicklyreached, and without much observation, if a person waited till theimmediate neighbourhood had been cleared by the general exodus afterthe arrival of the chief express of the day. There were any number oftrains by this _funiculaire_--at every half-hour indeed--and any onetaking this route could reach either Lausanne or Ouchy after a veryfew minutes' journey up or down. To extend my investigation on thatside was of obvious and pressing importance. I was only too consciousof my great loss of time, now at the outset, which might efface alltracks and cut me off hopelessly from any clue.
I was soon across and inside the Sainte Luce station, but stillundecided which direction I should choose, when the little car arrivedgoing upward, and I ran over to that platform and jumped in. I mustbegin one way or the other, and I proceeded at once to question theconductor, when he nicked my ticket, only to draw perfectly blank.
"Have I seen two ladies and a child this morning? But, _grand Dieu_, Ihave seen two thousand. It is _idiote_ to ask such questions,monsieur, of a busy man."
"I can pay for what I want," I whispered gently, as I slipped afive-franc piece into his hand, ever mindful of the true saying,_Point d'argent, point de Suisse_; and the bribe entirely changed histone.
"A lady, handsome, tall, distinguished, _comme il faut_, with acompanion, a servant, a nurse carrying a child?" He repeated mydescription, adding, "_Parfaitement_, I saw her. She was not one toforget quickly."
"And she was going to Lausanne?"
"_Ma foi_, yes, I believe so; or was it to Ouchy?" He seemedoverwhelmed with sudden doubt. "Lausanne or Ouchy? Up or down? Twentythousand thunders, but I cannot remember, not--" he dropped hisvoice--"not for five francs."
I doubled the dose, and hoped I had now sufficiently stimulated hismemory or unloosed his tongue. But the rascal was still hesitatingwhen we reached the top, and I could get nothing more than that it wascertainly Lausanne, "if," he added cunningly, "it was not Ouchy." Buthe had seen her, that was sure--seen her that very day upon the line,not more than an hour or two before. He had especially admired her;_dame_! he had an eye for the _beau sexe_; and yet more he noticedthat she talked English, of which he knew some words, to her maid. Butwhether she was bound to Lausanne or Ouchy, "_diable_, who couldsay?"
I had got little in return for my ten francs expended on thisambiguous news, but now that I found myself actually in Lausanne Ifelt that it behoved me to scour the city for traces of my quarry. Shemight not have come here at all, yet there was an even chance theother way, and I should be mad not to follow the threads I held in myhand. I resolved to inquire at all the hotels forthwith. It would taketime and trouble, but it was essential. I must run her to ground ifpossible, fix her once more, or I should never again dare to look myemployers in the face. I was ashamed to confess to Falfani that I hadbeen outwitted and befooled. I would send him no more telegrams untilI had something more satisfactory to say.
I was now upon the great bridge that spans the valley of the Flon andjoins the old with the new quarter of Lausanne. The best hotels, theGibbon, Richemont, Falcon, Grand Pont, and several more, stood withineasy reach, and I soon exhausted this branch of the inquiry. I found a_valet de place_ hanging about the Gibbon, whose services I secured,and instructed him to complete the investigation, extending it to allthe minor hotels and pensions, some half-dozen more, reserving tomyself the terminus by the great station, which I had overlooked whenleaving for the _Ficelle_ or cable railway. I meant to wait for himthere to hear his report, but at the same time I took hisaddress--Eugene Falloon, Rue Pre Fleuri--where I could give him anappointment in case I missed him at the terminus. He was a long, lean,hungry-looking fellow, clumsily made, with an enormous head andmisshapen hands and feet; but he was no fool this Falloon, and hislocal knowledge proved exceedingly useful.
On entering the car for the journey down I came upon the conductor whohad been of so little use to me, and I was about to upbraid him whenhe disarmed me by volunteering fresh news.
"Ah, but, monsieur, I know much better now. I recollect exactly. Thelady with her people certainly went dow
n, for I have seen a porter whohelped her with her effects from the line to the steamboat pier atOuchy."
"And on board the steamer? Going in which direction?" I asked eagerly.
"He shall tell you himself if I can find him when we reach theterminus. It may not be easy, but I could do it if--"
Another and a third five-franc piece solved his doubts, and Iabandoned my visit to the terminus hotel to seize this more tangibleclue, and proceeded at once to the lake shore.
The Passenger from Calais Page 11