after posting the letter, frank made several small purchases, and was more than an hour away. on his return he saw a cab standing at the door. as he approached, beppo came out with a portmanteau, handed it up to the driver, jumped in, and was driven off.
“so beppo has gone, mother,” he said, as he joined her in the drawing-room.
“yes. he came in directly you had left. he said that his feelings had been outraged by a servant being placed at the door. he could not say why she was there, but thought it seemed as if he was doubted. he could not but entertain a suspicion that she was placed there to prevent any one listening at the keyhole; after such an insult as that he could not remain any longer in the house. i said that he was at liberty to leave instantly, as his wages had been paid only three days ago. he made no reply, but bowed and left. mary came up and told me ten minutes later that he had brought his portmanteau down, left it in the hall, and gone out, she supposed, to fetch a cab. i heard the vehicle drive up just now, and the front door closed half a minute ago.”
signora forli came into the room as she was speaking. “mary tells me that beppo has gone. it is a comfort that he is out of the house. when you once begin to suspect a man, the sooner he is away the better. at the same time, frank, there can be no doubt that his going will not increase your chances of reaching genoa without being searched. i should say that he had made up his mind to leave before you did, and he was glad that the fact of mary being at the door gave him a pretext for his sudden departure. in the first place, he could conduct the affair better than any one else could do, as he knows your face and figure so well. then, too, he would naturally wish to get the credit of the matter himself, after being so long engaged in it. of course, you may as well carry out the plan we arranged, to start in the morning; but you may feel absolutely certain that, whatever you may do, you will not throw him off your track. he must know now that he is suspected of being a neapolitan agent, and that you will very likely change your route and your time of starting.
“i regard it as certain that the house will be watched night and day, beginning from to-morrow morning, an hour or so before the trains leave. there will be a vehicle with a fast horse close at hand, possibly two, so that one will follow your cab, and the other drive at once to some place where beppo is waiting. as likely as not he will go via calais. if you go that way, so much the better; if not, he will only have to post himself at the station at paris. it is likely enough that during the last day or two he has had one or two men hanging about here to watch you going in and out, and so to get to know you well, and will have one at each of the railway stations. he may also have written to the agents in paris to have a look-out kept for you there.”
“but how could they know me?”
“he would describe you closely enough for that; possibly he may have sent them over a photograph.”
frank got up and went to a side table, on which a framed photograph that had been taken when he was at home at christmas, usually stood. “you are right,” he said; “it has gone.” then he opened an album. “the one here has gone, too, mother. are there any more of them about?”
“there is one in my bedroom; you know where it hangs. it was there this morning.”
“that has gone, too, mother,” he said, when he returned to the room.
“so you see, muriel, i was right. the one from the album may have been taken yesterday, and a dozen copies made of it; so that, even if you give them the slip here, frank, you will be recognised as soon as you reach paris.”
“well, mother, it is of no use bothering any more about it. i have only to travel in carriages with other people, and they cannot molest me; at worst they can but search me, and they will find nothing. they cannot even feel sure that i have anything on me; for now that beppo knows he is suspected of listening at doors, he will consider it possible that we may have changed our plans about where we shall hide the money. it is not as if they wanted to put me out of the way, you know; you and the signora agreed that that is certainly the last thing they would do, because there would be a tremendous row about it, and they would gain no advantage by it; so i should not worry any further, mother. i do not think there is the slightest occasion for uneasiness. i will just go by calais, as i had intended, and by the train i had fixed on; that in itself will shake beppo’s belief that i have the money with me, for he would think that if i had it i should naturally try some other way.”
“at any rate,” mrs. percival said, “you shall not go by the line that we had intended. you would be obliged to travel by diligence from dole to geneva, thence to chambery, and again by the same method over the alps to susa. you shall go straight from paris to marseilles; boats go from there every two or three days to genoa.”
“very well, mother; i don’t care which it is. certainly there are far fewer changes by that line; and to make your mind easy, i will promise you that at marseilles, if i have to stop there a night, i will keep my bedroom door locked, and shove something heavy against it; in that way i can’t be caught asleep.”
“well, i shall certainly feel more comfortable, my dear boy, than i should if you were going over the alps. of course, the diligence stops sometimes and the people get out, and there would be many opportunities for your being suddenly seized and gagged and carried off.”
“they would have to be very sudden about it,” frank laughed. “i do think, mother, that you have been building mountains out of molehills. beppo may not be a spy, after all; he may have heard you talking of this ten thousand pounds, and the temptation of trying to get it may be too much for him. he will know now that i shall be on my guard, and that, even if i have the money on my person, his chance of getting it is small indeed. i believe that you and the signora have talked the matter over till you have frightened yourselves, and built up a wonderful story, based only on the fact that mary thought that she caught beppo listening at the door.”
“how about the photographs?” mrs. percival asked.
“possibly he has a hidden affection for me,” frank laughed, “and has taken these as mementos of his stay here. well, don’t say anything more about it, mother; i am not in the least nervous, and with a brace of loaded pistols in my pocket and the fair warning that i have had, i do not think i need be afraid of two or three of these miserable neapolitan spies.”
accordingly, frank started by the morning mail, as they had arranged. the carriage was full to dover; and at calais he waited on the platform until he saw an english gentleman with two ladies enter a compartment, and in this he took a vacant corner seat. on his arrival at paris he drove across at once to the terminus of the railway to marseilles, breakfasted there, and sat in the waiting-room reading till the door on to the platform opened, and an official shouted, “passengers for melun, sens, dijon, macon, lyons, and marseilles.” there was a general movement among those in the waiting-room. frank found that there was no fear of his being in a compartment by himself, for only one carriage door was opened at a time, and not until the compartment was full was the next unlocked. he waited until he saw his opportunity, and was the first to enter and secure a corner seat. in a short time it filled up.
he had slept most of the way between calais and paris, feeling absolutely certain that he would not be interfered with in a carriage with three english fellow-passengers. it was twelve o’clock now, and he would not arrive at marseilles until seven the next morning, and he wondered where all his fellow-passengers, who were packed as closely as possible, were going, for although he did not wish to be alone, it was not a pleasant prospect to be for eighteen hours wedged in so tightly that he could scarcely move. then he wondered whether any of the men who might be following were also in the train. he had quite come to the conclusion that his mother and grandmother had frightened themselves most unnecessarily; but he admitted that this was natural enough, after the losses they had had. at dijon several passengers got out, but others took their places; and so the journey continued throughout the day. the carriage was generally full, though once or twice there were for a time but five besides himself. he read most of the way, for although he spoke italian as fluently as english, he could not converse in french. when tired of reading he had several times dozed off to sleep, though he had determined that he would keep awake all night.
at ten o’clock in the evening the train arrived at lyons. here there was a stop of twenty minutes, and he got out and ate a hearty meal, and drank two or three cups of strong coffee. he was not surprised to find, on returning to his carriage, that all the passengers with two exceptions had left it. these had got in at macon, and were evidently men of good circumstances and intimate with each other; he had no suspicions whatever of them, for it was certain that men who had any intention of attacking him would appear as strangers to each other. at vienne both left the carriage. frank was not sorry to see them do so.
“if there are really fellows watching me,” he said to himself, “the sooner they show themselves and get it over the better; it is a nuisance to keep on expecting something to take place when as likely as not nothing will happen at all.” he examined his pistols. they were loaded but not capped, and he now put caps on the nipples, and replaced them in his pocket.
just before they had left vienne a man had come to the window as if intending to enter, but after glancing in for a moment had gone to another carriage.
“his assailant fell back and disappeared”
“his assailant fell back and disappeared”
“that is rather queer,” frank thought. “as i am alone here, there was plenty of room for him. perhaps he had made a mistake in the carriage. at any rate, they won’t catch me napping.”
the strong coffee that he had taken at lyons had sharpened his faculties, and he never felt more awake than he did after leaving vienne. he sat with his eyes apparently closed, as if asleep, with a warm rug wrapped round his legs. an hour later he saw a face appear at the opposite window. at first it was but for an instant; a few seconds later it appeared again and watched him steadily; then the man moved along to the door and another joined him. frank without moving cocked the pistol in his right-hand pocket, and took a firm hold of the butt with his finger on the trigger. the door opened noiselessly, and the second man thrust in an arm holding a pistol; so it remained for half a minute. frank was convinced that there was no intention of shooting if it could be avoided, and remained perfectly still; then the arm was withdrawn, and another man, holding a knife in one hand and a roll of something in the other, entered. in a moment frank’s right arm flew up and his pistol cracked out: his assailant fell back and disappeared through the open door. frank sprang to his feet as he fired, and stood with his pistol levelled towards the window, where the head of the second man had disappeared as his comrade fell backwards.
“he knows i have the best of him now,” frank muttered to himself; “i don’t think that he will have another try.”
advancing cautiously, he pulled the door to, lowered the window, and putting a hand out without exposing his head, turned the handle, and then drew up the window again. his foot struck against something as he backed to his seat in the corner. as he still kept his eyes fixed on the window, he paid no attention to this for a minute or two; then he became conscious of a faint odour.
“i expect that is chloroform or ether or something of that sort,” he said, as he lowered the window next to him; and then, still keeping an eye on the door opposite, moved a step forward and picked up a large handkerchief, steeped in a liquid of some sort or other. he was about to open the window and throw it out, when an idea struck him.
“i had better keep it,” he said: “there may be a beastly row over the business, and this handkerchief may be useful in confirming my story.”
he therefore put it up on the rack, lowered the window a few inches, and did the same to the one opposite to it. then wrapping the handkerchief up in two or three newspapers he had bought by the way, to prevent the liquid from evaporating, he sat down in his corner again. he felt confident that the attack would not be renewed, now he was found to be on the watch and armed. it was probable that the two men were alone, and the one remaining would hardly venture single-handed to take any steps whatever against one who was certain to continue to be vigilant. he had no doubt that he had killed the man he fired at, and that, even if the wound had not been instantly fatal, he would have been killed by his fall from the train.
“it seems horrid,” he muttered, “to have shot a man; but it was just as much his life or mine as it would have been in battle. i hope no one heard the shot fired. i expect that most of the passengers were asleep; and if any one did hear it, he might suppose that a door had come open, or had been opened by a guard, and had been slammed to. of course, the man’s body will be found on the line in the morning, and i expect there will be some fuss over it; but i hope we shall all be out of the train and scattered through the town before any inquiries are set on foot. if they traced it to me, i might be kept at marseilles for weeks. of course, i should be all right; but the delay would be a frightful nuisance. there is one thing,—the guard looked at my ticket just before the train started from the last station, and would know that i was alone in the carriage.”
in a few minutes the speed of the train began to slacken. he knew that the next station was valence. he closed his eyes and listened as the train stopped. as soon as it did so, he heard a voice from the next carriage shouting for the guard. then he heard an animated conversation, of which he was able to gather the import.
“the sound of a gun,” the guard said. “nonsense; you must have been dreaming!”
“i am sure i was not,” a voice said indignantly. “it seemed to me as if it was in the next carriage.”
the guard came to frank’s window. “ah, bah!” he said. “there is only one passenger there, an englishman. he was alone when we left vienne, and he is sound asleep now.”
“perhaps he is dead.”
it was possible, and therefore the guard opened the door. “are you asleep, monsieur?”
frank opened his eyes. “my ticket?” he asked drowsily. “why, i showed it you at vienne.”
“pardon, monsieur,” the guard said. “i am sorry that i disturbed you. it was a mistake,” and he closed the door, and said angrily to the man who had called him: “it is as i said. you have been asleep; and i have woke the english gentleman up for nothing.”
a minute later the train moved on again.
“so far so good,” frank said. “i should think that i am all right now. we shall be in at seven, and it will not be daylight till half-past six; and as i fancy that we must have been about midway between vienne and vallence when that fellow fell out, it is not likely that his body will be found for some time. they are sure to have chosen some point a good way from any station to get out of their own carriage and come to mine. even when they find him, they are not likely to make out that he has been shot for some time afterwards. i hit him in the body, somewhere near the heart, i fancy; i did not feel sure of hitting him if i fired at his head, for the carriage was shaking about a good deal. it will probably be thought at first that he has either fallen or jumped out of his carriage. i suppose, when he is found, he will be carried to the nearest station, and put in somewhere till a doctor and some functionaries come, and an inquiry is held; and as he probably has been badly cut about the head and face, his death will be put down to that cause at first. indeed, the fact that he was shot may not be found out till they prepare him for burial. i suppose they will take off his clothes then, as they will want to keep them for his identification, if any inquiries should ever be made about him. at any rate, i may hope to have got fairly away from marseilles before the matter is taken up by the police, and even then the evidence of the guard that i was alone will prevent any suspicion falling especially on me.”
he had no inclination for sleep, and although he felt certain that he would not again be disturbed, he maintained a vigilant watch upon both windows until, a few minutes after the appointed time, the train arrived at marseilles. having only the small portmanteau he carried with him, he was not detained more than two or three minutes there, took a fiacre and drove to the h?tel de marseilles, which his bradshaw told him was close to the steamboat offices. after going upstairs and having a wash, he went down again, carefully locking the door after him and putting the key in his pocket. he then had some coffee and rolls, and while taking these, obtained from the waiter a time-table of the departures of the various steamers from the port, and found, to his great satisfaction, that one of the rubattino vessels would leave for genoa at twelve o’clock.
as soon as the steamboat offices were open he engaged a berth, walked about marseilles for an hour, returned at ten to the hotel, took a hearty lunch, and then drove down to the port. on questioning the steward he found that there were not many passengers going, and with a tip of five francs secured a cabin to himself; having done this, he went on deck again and watched the passengers arriving. they were principally italians; but among them he could not recognise the face of the agent who had levelled a pistol at him. both men had, indeed, worn black handkerchiefs tied across their faces below their eyes and covering their chins, and the broad-brimmed hats they wore kept their foreheads and eyes in shadow; and although he watched his fellow-passengers with the faint hope of discovering by some evil expression on his face his last night’s assailant, he had no real belief that he should, even under the most favourable circumstances, recognise him again.
two or three of the men wore beards, and seemed to belong to the sailor class—probably men who had landed from a french ship, after perhaps a distant voyage, and were now returning home. he saw no more of these, as they at once went forward. there were only eight other passengers in the saloon; seven of these were italians, of whom three were evidently friends. two of the others had, frank gathered from their talk, just returned from brazil; the sixth was an old man, and the seventh a traveller for a firm of silk or velvet manufacturers in genoa. the three friends talked gaily on all sorts of subjects; but nothing that frank gathered, either from their conversation on deck or at dinner, gave any clue as to their occupation. they had evidently met at marseilles for the first time after being separated for a considerable period—one had been in england, one at paris, and one at bordeaux; their ages were from twenty-three to twenty-six. their names were, as he learned from their talk, maffio, sarto, and rubini. before the steamer had left the port half an hour, one of them, seeing that frank was alone, said to him as he passed, in broken english,—
“it is warmer and pleasanter here, monsieur, than it is in london.”
“it is indeed,” frank replied, in italian; “it was miserable weather there, when i left the day before yesterday.”
“per bacco!” the young man said, with a laugh, “i took you to be english. allow me to congratulate you on your admirable imitation of——”
“i am english, signor—that is, i was born of english parents; but i first saw light in rome, and my grandfather was an italian.”
this broke the ice, and they chatted together pleasantly.
“we are going to genoa. and you?”
“i also am going to genoa, and perhaps”—for he had by this time quite come to a conclusion on the subject—“on the same errand as yourselves.”
the others looked at him in some little surprise, and then glanced at one another. that this young englishman should be going upon such an expedition as that upon which they were bound, seemed to be out of the question.
“you mean on pleasure, signor?” one of them said, after a pause.
“if excitement is pleasure, which no doubt it is—yes. i am going to visit an old friend of my father’s; he is living a little way out of the town at the villa spinola.”
the others gave a simultaneous exclamation of surprise.
“that is enough, signor,” the one called rubini said, holding out his hand; “we are comrades. though how a young english gentleman should come to be of our party, i cannot say.”
the others shook hands as warmly with frank; and he then replied,—
“no doubt you are surprised. my father fought side by side with the man i am now going to see, in the siege of rome, so also did my grandfather; and both have since paid by their lives for their love of italy. my name is percival.”
“the son of the captain percival who was murdered while searching in naples for signor forli?” one of them exclaimed.
“the same. so, gentlemen, you can perhaps understand why i am going to the villa spinola, and why, young as i am, i am as eager to take part in this business as you yourselves can be.”
“yes, indeed; your father’s name is honoured among us as one of our general’s friends and companions in south america, and as one of his comrades at rome; still more, perhaps, for his fearless exposure of the horrors of the tyrants’ dungeons. however, it were best that we should say no more on the subject at present. it is certain that the general’s presence at genoa is causing uneasiness both at rome and naples. rumours that he intends to carry out some daring enterprise have appeared in newspapers, and no doubt neapolitan spies are already watching his movements, and it may be there are some on board this ship. our great fear is that victor emmanuel’s government may interfere to stop it; but we doubt whether he will venture to do so—public opinion will be too strong for him.”
“no one can overhear us just at present,” frank said. “certainly the neapolitan spies are active. my mother’s house is frequented by many leading exiles; and we have reason to believe that it has been watched by a spy for some time past. i know that i have been followed, under the idea, perhaps, that i am carrying important papers or documents from the general’s friends there. an attempt was made last night to enter the carriage, in which i was alone, by two men, one of whom was armed with a pistol, and the other had a handkerchief soaked with chloroform. fortunately, i was on my guard, and shot the fellow who was entering with the handkerchief; he fell backwards out of the carriage; i heard nothing more of the other one, and for aught i know he may be on board now.”
“you did well indeed!” sarto said warmly. “i was in the next carriage to you. i did not hear the sound of your pistol-shot—i was fast asleep; but we were all woke up by a fellow-passenger who declared he heard a gunshot. when we reached valence he called the guard, who said that he must have been dreaming, for there was only a young englishman in the next carriage, and he knew that when it left the last station he was alone. when the train went on we all abused the fellow soundly for waking us with his ridiculous fancies; but it seems that he was right after all. you say there was another. what became of him?”
“i saw nothing more of him. he may be on board, for aught i know, for they had black handkerchiefs tied over their faces up to the eyes, and as their hats were pulled well down, i should not know him if i saw him.”
“well, you have struck the first blow in the war, and i regard it as a good omen; but you must be careful to-night, for if the fellow is on board he is likely to make another attempt; and this time, i should say, he would begin by stabbing you. are you in a cabin by yourself?”
“yes.”
“then one of us will sit up by turns. you must have had a bad night indeed, while we slept without waking, except when i was aroused by that fellow making such a row.”
“oh, i could not think of that!”
“it must be done,” rubini said earnestly. “however, i will lay the mattress of the spare bed of your cabin against the door, and lie down on it—that will do just as well. it will be impossible then to open the door; and if any one tries to do so, i shall be on my feet in a moment. i shall sleep just as well like that as in my berth. i have slept in much more uncomfortable places, and am sure to do so again before this business is over.”
“thank you very much. i will not refuse so kind an offer, for i doubt greatly whether i could keep awake to-night.”
“now let us say no more about it, for we may be quite sure that the man is still on your track, and there may be other neapolitan agents on board. we cannot be too careful. it may be that old man who was sitting facing us at the table, it may be that little fellow who looks like the agent of a commercial house, and it may be one of the two men who say they come from south america; there is no telling. but at any rate, let us drop the subject altogether. we have said nothing at present that even a spy could lay hold of, beyond the fact that you are going to the villa spinola, which means to garibaldi.”
they did not go up on deck again after dinner, but sat chatting in the saloon until nine o’clock, when frank said that he could keep his eyes open no longer. after allowing him time to get into his berth, rubini came in, took off his coat and waistcoat, pulled the mattress and bedding from the other bunk, and lay down on it with his head close to the door.
“will you take one of my pistols, rubini?” for by this time they called each other simply by their surnames.
“no, thank you; if the scoundrel tries to open the door and finds that he cannot do so, you may be sure that he will move off at once. he has been taught that you are handy with your weapons.”
frank was sleeping soundly when he was woke by rubini’s sharp challenge, “who goes there?” it was pitch dark, and he was about to leap from his bunk, when rubini said,—
“it is no use getting up. by the time i got this bed away and opened the door, the fellow would be at the other end of the boat. we may as well lie quiet. he is not likely to try again; and, indeed, i should not care about going outside the door, for it is pitch dark, and he might at the present moment be crouching outside in readiness to stab you as you came out. however, he is more likely to be gone now, for directly he heard us talking he would know that his game was up.” he struck a match. “it is just two o’clock,” he said; “we may as well have four hours’ more sleep.”
in a few minutes frank was sound asleep again, and when he awoke it was daylight. looking at the watch, he found that it was seven o’clock. “seven o’clock, rubini!” he said.
the italian sat up and stretched his arms and yawned. “i have had a capital night. however, it is time to get up; we must turn out at once. we can’t be far from genoa now; we are due there at eight o’clock, so we shall just have comfortable time for a wash and a cup of coffee before going ashore.”
frank dressed hastily, and then ran up on deck, where he stood admiring the splendid coast, and the town of genoa climbing up the hill, with its churches, campaniles, and its suburbs embedded in foliage. they were just entering the port when maffio came up to him.
“coffee is ready,” he said. “you had better come down and take it while it is hot. we shall have the custom-house officers off before we land, so there is no hurry.”
after making a meal on coffee with an abundance of milk, rolls and butter, frank went up again. he then, at the advice of rubini, drew the charges of his pistols and placed them in his portmanteau.
“we must go ashore in a boat,” sarto said. “i have just heard the captain say that the wharves are so full that he may not be able to take the vessel alongside for a couple of hours.”
“are you going anywhere in particular when you land?” frank asked.
“we all belong to genoa, and have friends here. why do you ask?”
“could you spare me an hour of your time to-day? i should not ask you, but it is rather important.”
“certainly; we are all at your service,” rubini said in some surprise. “at what hour shall we meet you, and where?”
“i am going to the hotel europa. any time will suit me, so that it is a couple of hours before dusk. i will tell you what it is when you meet me; it is better not to speak of it here.”
the young men consulted together. “we will go to our friends,” rubini said, “take our things there and spend an hour, and will call upon you, if convenient, at eleven o’clock.”
“thank you; and you will see, when i have explained my reason for troubling you, that i have not done so wantonly.”
they landed at the step of the customs. “have you anything to declare?” the official asked frank, after his passport had been examined and stamped.
“i have nothing but this small portmanteau, which contains only clothes and a brace of pistols. i suppose one can land with them on payment of duty.”
“certainly, monsieur; but why should an englishman want them?”
“i intend to make a walking tour through italy”—speaking as before in english; “and there are parts of the country where, after dark, i should feel more comfortable for having them in my pockets.”
“you are strange people, you englishmen,” the officer said; “but, after all, you are not far wrong, though it seems to me that it would be wiser to give up what you carry about you than to make a show of resistance which would end in getting your throat cut.” he glanced at the pistols, named the amount of duty chargeable; and when this was paid, frank nodded to his companions, who were being much more rigorously examined, took one of the vehicles standing outside the custom-house, and drove to the hotel europa.