The Passenger from Calais
Arthur Griffiths
Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan and theOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
Works of ARTHUR GRIFFITHS
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The Passenger from Calais $1.25 The Rome Express 1.25
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L.C. PAGE & COMPANY New England Building, Boston, Mass.
The Passenger from Calais
By Arthur Griffiths
Author of "The Rome Express," etc.
Boston--L.C. Page and Company--Publishers
_First Impression, January, 1906 Second Impression, February, 1906 Third Impression, February, 1906 Fourth Impression, March, 1908_
Colonial Press _C.H. Simonds & Co. Boston, U.S.A._
FOREWORD
_I desire to state that the initialfact upon which I have foundedthis story is within my own experience.I travelled from Calais toBasle by the Engadine Express inthe latter end of July, 1902, whenmy wife and myself were the onlypassengers. The rest is pure fiction._
A.G.
CHAPTER I.
[_Colonel Annesley's Story_]
The crossing from Dover to Calais had been rough; a drizzling rainfell all the time, and most of the passengers had remained below.Strange to say, they were few enough, as I saw on landing. It was aSunday in late July, and there ought to have been a strong streamsetting towards Central Europe. I hardly expected to find much room inthe train; not that it mattered, for my place was booked through inthe Lucerne sleeping-car of the Engadine express.
Room! When I reached the siding where this train de luxe was drawn up,I saw that I was not merely the first but the only passenger. Fivesleeping-cars and a dining-car attached, with the full staff,attendants, chef, waiters--all lay there waiting for me, and mealone.
"Not very busy?" I said, with a laugh to the conductor.
"_Parbleu_," replied the man, polyglot and cosmopolitan, like most ofhis class, but a Frenchman, or, more likely from his accent, a Swiss."I never saw the like before."
"I shall have a compartment to myself, then?"
"Monsieur may have the whole carriage if he wishes--the whole fivecarriages. It is but to arrange." His eyes glistened at the prospectof something special in this obvious scarcity of coming tips.
"The train will run, I hope? I am anxious to get on."
"But assuredly it will run. Even without monsieur it would run. Thecarriages are wanted at the other end for the return journey. Stay,what have we here?"
We stood talking together on the platform, and at some little distancefrom the railway station, the road to which was clear and open all theway, so that I could see a little party of four approaching us, anddistinguish them. Two ladies, an official, probably one of the guards,and a porter laden with light luggage.
As they came up I discreetly withdrew to my own compartment, thewindow of which was open, so that I could hear and see all thatpassed.
"Can we have places for Lucerne?" It was asked in an eager, anxious,but very sweet voice, and in excellent French.
"Places?" echoed the conductor. "Madame can have fifty."
"What did I tell madame?" put in the official who had escorted her.
"I don't want fifty," she replied, pettishly, crossly, "only two. Aseparate compartment for myself and maid; the child can come in withus."
Now for the first time I noticed that the maid was carrying a bundlein her arms, the nature of which was unmistakable. The way in whichshe swung it to and fro rhythmically was that of a nurse and child.
"If madame prefers, the maid and infant can be accommodated apart,"suggested the obliging conductor.
But this did not please her. "No, no, no," she answered with muchasperity. "I wish them to be with me. I have told you so already; didyou not hear?"
"_Parfaitement_, as madame pleases. Only, as the train is notfull--very much the reverse indeed--only one other passenger, agentleman--no more--"
The news affected her strangely, and in two very different ways. Atfirst a look of satisfaction came into her face, but it was quicklysucceeded by one of nervous apprehension, amounting to positive fear.She turned to talk to her maid in English, while the conductor busiedhimself in preparing the tickets.
"What are we to do, Philpotts?" This was said to the maid in English."What if it should be--"
"Oh, no, never! We can't turn back. You must face it out now. There isnothing to be afraid of, not in that way. I saw him, the gentleman, aswe came up. He's quite a gentleman, a good-looking military-lookingman, not at all the other sort--you know the sort I mean."
Now while I accepted the compliment to myself, I was greatly mystifiedby the allusion to the "other sort of man."
"You think we can go on, that it's safe, even in this empty train? Itwould have been so different in a crowd. We should have passedunobserved among a lot of people."
"But then there would have been a lot of people to observe us; someone, perhaps, who knew you, some one who might send word."
"I wish I knew who this passenger is. It would make me much easier inmy mind. It might be possible perhaps to get him on our side if he isto go with us, at least to get him to help to take care of ourtreasure until I can hand it over. What a burden it is! It's terriblyon my mind. I wonder how I could have done it. The mere thought makesme shiver. To turn thief! Me, a common thief!"
"Stealing is common enough, and it don't matter greatly, so long asyou're not found out. And you did it so cleverly too; with such anerve. Not a soul could have equalled you at the business. You mighthave been at it all your life," said the maid, with affectionatefamiliarity, that of a humble performer paying tribute to a greatartist in crime.
She was a decent, respectable-looking body too, this confederate whomI concluded was masquerading as maid. The very opposite of the youngerwoman (about her more directly), a neatly dressed unassuming person,short and squat in figure, with a broad, plain, and, to the casualobserver, honest face, slow in movement and of no doubt sluggishtemperament, not likely to be moved or distressed by conscience,neither at the doing or the memory of evil deeds.
Now the conductor came up and civilly bowed them towards theircarriage, mine, which they entered at the other end as I left itmaking for the restaurant, not a little interested in what I hadheard.
Who and what could these two people be with whom I was so strangelyand unexpectedly thrown? The one was a lady, I could hardly bemistaken in that; it was proved in many ways, voice, air, aspect, allspoke of birth and breeding, however much she might have fallen awayfrom or forfeited her high station.
She might have taken to devious practices, or been forced into them;whatever the cause of her present decadence she could not have beenalways the thief she now confessed herself. I had it from her ownlips, she had acknowledged it with some show of remorse. There mustsurely have been some excuse for her, some overmastering temptation,some extreme pressure exercised irresistibly through her emotions, heraffections, her fears.
What! this fair creature a thief? This beautiful woman, so richlyendowed by nature, so outwardly worthy of admiration, a despicabledegraded character within? It was hard to credit it. As I stillhesitated, puzzled and bewildered, still anxious to give her thebenefit of the doubt, she came to the door of the buffet where I wasnow seated at lunch, and allowed me to
survey her more curiously andmore at leisure.
"A daughter of the gods, divinely tall and most divinely fair."
The height and slimness of her graceful figure enhanced by thetight-fitting tailor-made ulster that fell straight from collar toheel; her head well poised, a little thrown back with chin in the air,and a proud defiant look in her undeniably handsome face. Fine eyes ofdarkest blue, a well-chiseled nose with delicate, sensitive nostrils,a small mouth with firm closely compressed lips, a wealth of glossychestnut hair, gathered into a knot under her tweed travelling cap.
As she faced me, looking straight at me, she conveyed the impressionof a determined unyielding character, a woman who would do much, daremuch, who would go her own road if so resolved, undismayed andundeterred by any difficulties that might beset her.
Then, to my surprise, although I might have expected it, she came andseated herself at a table close to my elbow. She had told hercompanion that she wanted to know more about me, that she would liketo enlist me in her service, questionable though it might be, and hereshe was evidently about to make the attempt. It was a littlebarefaced, but I admit that I was amused by it, and not at allunwilling to measure swords with her. She was presumably anadventuress, clever, designing, desirous of turning me round herfinger, but she was also a pretty woman.
"I beg your pardon," she began almost at once in English, when thewaiter had brought her a plate of soup, and she was toying with thefirst spoonful, speaking in a low constrained, almost sullen voice, asthough it cost her much to break through the _convenances_ in thusaddressing a stranger.
"You will think it strange of me," she went on, "but I am ratherawkwardly situated, in fact in a position of difficulty, even ofdanger, and I venture to appeal to you as a countryman, an Englishofficer."
"How do you know that?" I asked, quickly concluding that my lightbaggage had been subjected to scrutiny, and wondering what subterfugeshe would adopt to explain it.
"It is easy to see that. Gentlemen of your cloth are as easilyrecognizable as if your names were printed on your back."
"And as they are generally upon our travelling belongings." I lookedat her steadily with a light laugh, and a crimson flush came on herface. However hardened a character, she had preserved the faculty ofblushing readily and deeply, the natural adjunct of a cream-likecomplexion.
"Let me introduce myself in full," I said, pitying her obviousconfusion; and I handed her my card, which she took with a shamefacedair, rather foreign to her general demeanour.
"Lieut.-Colonel Basil Annesley, Mars and Neptune Club," she readaloud. "What was your regiment?"
"The Princess Ulrica Rifles, but I left it on promotion. I amunattached for the moment, and waiting for reemployment."
"Your own master then?"
"Practically, until I am called upon to serve. I hope to get a staffappointment. Meanwhile I am loafing about Europe."
"Do you go beyond Lucerne?"
"Across the St. Gothard certainly, and as far as Como, perhaps beyond.And you? Am I right in supposing we are to be fellow travellers by theEngadine express?" I went on by way of saying something. "To Lucerneor further?"
