The Lost Ambassador

tly up and down the stone-flagged pavement outside t

or you for more than a

. I had not yet grown accustomed

was coming strai

e is a chance that we may have to move Tapilow to a hospital, and he is just one of those fools who t

ok my

," I declared. "It is

elephoning in your name and ordering the valet to pack your clothes. Your luggage i

est, but Louis' manner un

aps, from a considerable inconvenience. Forgive me if I remind you of t

sons than he knew of, it was

ming with m

ered. "I have not quite finished the work for

mil

aid, "I had forgott

saw to the registration of my luggage. Afterwards he found my reserved seat, in wh

sieur will have a pleasant jo

whose face had been so often in my thoughts during the last few days! Opposite her was the gray-bearded man Delora, already apparently immersed in a novel. Every seat

meet friends. What a sm

emed slightly nervous. He glanced up at the clock and watched

ly, "there is a question which I sho

ike to ask you, Louis," I answere

spent the hour which passed between your leavi

son to keep my movements secret. It was better, i

" I said. "I kept my appointment wi

ce seemed sudd

have left you! You do not understand how tho

know," I i

ace was

e I was talking to m

breathlessly. "Bartot threatened m

wrung her hands, but they played their parts badly. Between you and me, Louis

Louis murmured

ok my

I only know that I owe you and those other gentlemen a very considerable debt, and I have been solemnly warned against you by the young lady whom I met at the Café d

xclaimed. "Bartot was too

igh

position as Monsieur Bartot,"

ime to swing myself on to the slowly movin

could, to make use of you. Mademoiselle has tied other fools to her

er to catch

ss you," he said, "you need have no fear. They a

" I answered, wav

e, and acquitted, in the most orthodox fashion. For me the curtain had fallen upon that tragedy. It was the other things which occupied my mind. I seemed to have found my way into a maze, to have become mixed up in certain affairs in a most mysterious and inexplicable way. What was the meaning of that place to which Louis had introduced me? Was it some sort of secret organization,-an organization which assumed to itself, at any rate, the power to circumvent the police? And Bartot, too! Had he really the power which Louis had declare

aveller. The girl met my eyes once and afterwards simply ignored me. The man never looked up from his magazine. I passed and repassed three

had engaged was lashed close to the open door of a private cabin, and in the door of that cabin, standing within a few feet of me, was the

ugh crossing, I am afraid,

h certainly did not encourage me to attempt any further conversation. There was a moment's pause. Then she turned away and spoke to some one behind her in the cabin. A moment or two lat

m I knew very well, locked my door, and until the last moment it seemed as though I should have the compartment to myself. The train, indeed, was on the point of starting, and I had almost given up looking out for my fellow passengers when they came hurrying up along

" the inspector exclaimed.

"that is to say, unless it is a reserved c

e guard produced his key and opened the door. It was not until that moment that the girl recogniz

r carriage?" she asked

e man answered. "You must ge

kages. The man Delora, who was wrapped up in a fur coat, and who looked ghastly ill, thanked me courteously enough, but the girl ig

rl,-"the most miserable crossing I have ever ha

ged her s

suppose that one must put up wi

e side as myself. He had put up his feet and closed his eyes, but he had evidently suffered badly from sea-sickness, for his face remained almost deathly white, and he shivered now and then as though with cold. He had lost the well-groomed air which had distinguished him in Paris. His feat

she was faultlessly dressed. She wore a black tailor-made suit, perhaps a little shorter than is usual for travelling in England, patent shoes,-long and narrow,-and black silk stockings. Her hat was a small toque, and her veil one of those for which Frenchwomen are famous,-very large, but not in the least disfiguring. This, however, she had raised for the present, and I was able to study the firm but fine profile of her features, to notice the delicacy of her chin, her small, well-shaped ears, her eyebrows-black and silky. Her eyes themselves were hidden from me, but th

she was too quick for me. She turned from the window with a perfectly natural movement, and yet so swiftly t

be good enough to tell me the mean