CHAPTER XVIII
A MIDNIGHT CONFERENCE
Hunterleys remained in the hotel only long enough to change his strawhat for a cap, put on a long, light overcoat and take an ash stick fromhis wardrobe. He left the place by an unfrequented entrance andcommenced at once to climb to the back part of the town. Once or twicehe paused and looked around, to be sure that he was not followed. Whenhe had arrived as far as the Hotel de Prince de Galles, he crossed theroad. From here he walked very quickly and took three turns in rapidsuccession. Finally he pushed open a little gate and passed up a tiledwalk which led between a little border of rose trees to a small whitevilla, covered with creepers. A slim, girlish figure came suddenly outfrom the porch and danced towards him with outstretched hands.
"At last!" she exclaimed. "At last! Tell me, my co-guardian, how you aregoing to excuse yourself?"
He took her outstretched hands and looked down into her face. She wasvery small and dark, with lustrous brown eyes and a very sensitivemouth, which just now was quivering with excitement.
"All the excuses have gone out of my head, Felicia," he declared. "Youlook such a little elf in the moonlight that I can't do more than saythat I am sorry. But I have been busy."
She was suddenly serious. She clasped his arm with both her hands andturned towards the house.
"Of course you have," she sighed. "It seems too bad, though, in MonteCarlo. Sidney and David are like ghouls. I don't ask what it is allabout--I know better--but I wish it were all over, whatever it is."
"Is Sidney back?" Hunterleys asked eagerly.
She nodded.
"He came in half-an-hour ago, looking like a tramp. David is writing asthough he hadn't a moment to spare in life. They are both waiting foryou, I think."
"And you?" he enquired. "How do the rehearsals go?"
"The rehearsals are all right," she admitted, looking up at him almostpathetically. "It's the night itself that seems so awful. I know everyword, I know every note, and yet I can't feel sure. I can't sleep forthinking about it. Only last night I had a nightmare. I saw all thoserows and rows of faces, and the lights, and my voice went, my tongue wasdry and hard, not a word would come. And you were there--and theothers!"
He laughed at her.
"Little girl," he said solemnly, "I shall have to speak to Sidney. Oneof those two young men must take you out for a day in the countryto-morrow."
"They seem so busy," she complained. "They don't seem to have time tothink of me. I suppose I had better let you go in. They'd be furious ifthey thought I was keeping you."
They passed into the villa, and with a farewell pat of the handHunterleys left her and opened a door on the left-hand side of the hall.The young man who had met him coming out of the Opera was standing withhis hands in his pockets, upon the hearth-rug of an exceedinglyuntidy-looking apartment. There was a table covered with papers, anotherpiled with newspapers. There were books upon the floor, pipes andtobacco laid about haphazard. A space had been swept clear upon thelarger table for a typewriter, a telephone instrument stood against thewall. A man whose likeness to Felicia was at once apparent, swung roundin his chair as Hunterleys entered. He had taken off his coat andwaistcoat and his trousers seemed smothered with dust.
"Regular newspaper correspondent's den," Hunterleys remarked, as helooked around him. "I never saw such a mess in my life. I wonder Feliciaallows it."
"We don't let her come in," her brother chuckled. "Is the door closed?"
"Fast," Hunterleys replied, moving away from it.
"Things are moving," the other went on. "I took the small car out to-dayon the road to Cannes and I expect I was the first to see Douaille."
"I saw him myself," Hunterleys announced. "I was out on that road,walking."
"Douaille," Roche continued, "went direct to the Villa Mimosa. Grex wasthere, waiting for him. Draconmeyer and Selingman both kept out of theway."
Hunterleys nodded.
"Reasonable enough, that. Grex was the man to pave the way. Well?"
"At ten o'clock, Draconmeyer and Selingman arrived. The Villa Mimosagets more difficult every day. I have only one friend in the house,although it is filled with servants. Three-quarters of them only speakRussian. My man's reliable but he is in a terrible minority. Theconference took place in the library. It lasted about an hour and ahalf. Selingman and Draconmeyer came out looking fairly well satisfied.Half-an-hour later Douaille went on to Mentone, to the Hotel Splendide,where his wife and daughters are staying. No writing at all was done inthe room."
"The conference has really begun, then," Hunterleys observed moodily.
"Without a doubt," Roche declared. "I imagine, though, that the meetingthis evening was devoted to preliminaries. I am hoping next time," hewent on, "to be able to pass on a little of what is said."
"If we could only get the barest idea as to the nature of theproposals," Hunterleys said earnestly. "Of course, one can surmise. Ourpeople are already warned as to the long conferences which have takenplace between Grex and Selingman. They mean something--there's no doubtabout that. And then this invitation to Douaille, and his coming here sofurtively. Everything points the same way, but a few spoken words arebetter than all the surmises in the world. It isn't that they areunreasonable at home, but they must be convinced."
"It's the devil's own risk," Roche sighed, "but I am hard at it. I wasabout the place yesterday as much as I dared. My plans are all ready nowbut things looked pretty awkward at the villa to-night. If they aregoing to have the grounds patrolled by servants every time they meet,I'm done. I've cut a pane of glass out of the dome over the library, andI've got a window-cleaning apparatus round at the back, and a ladder.The passage along the roof is quite easy and there's a good deal ofcover amongst the chimneys, but if they get a hint, it will be touch andgo."
Hunterleys nodded. He was busy now, going through the long sheets ofwriting which the other young man had silently passed across to him. Forhalf-an-hour he read, making pencil notes now and then in the margin.When at last he had finished, he returned them and, sitting down at thetable, drew a packet of press cable sheets towards him and wrote forsome time steadily. When he had finished, he read through the result ofhis labours and leaned back thoughtfully in his chair.
"You will send this off from Cannes with your own, Briston?" he asked.
The young man assented.
"The car will be here at three," he announced. "They'll be on their wayby eight."
"Press message, mind, to the _Daily Post_. If the operator wants to knowwhat 'Number 1' means after '_Daily Post_,' you can tell him that itsimply indicates to which editorial room the message is to bedelivered."
"That's a clever idea," Roche mused. "Code dispatches to Downing Streetmight cause a little comment."
"They wouldn't do from here," Hunterleys declared. "They might be safeenough from Cannes but it's better to run no risks. These will be passedon to Downing Street, unopened. Be careful to-morrow, Sidney."
"I can't see that they can do anything but throw me out, Sir Henry,"Roche remarked. "I have my _Daily Post_ authority in my pocket, and mypassport. Besides, I got the man here to announce in the _Monte CarloNews_ that I was the accredited correspondent for the district, and thatDavid Briston had been appointed by a syndicate of illustrated papers torepresent them out here. That's in case we get a chance of takingphotographs. I had some idea of going out to interview MonsieurDouaille."
Hunterleys shook his head.
"I shouldn't. The man's as nervous as he can be now, I am pretty sure ofthat. Don't do anything that might put him on his guard. Mind, for allwe know he may be an honest man. To listen to what these fellows have tosay doesn't mean that he's prepared to fall in with their schemes. Bythe by, you've nothing about the place, I suppose, if you should beraided?"
"Not a thing," was the confident reply. "We are two English newspapercorrespondents, and there isn't a thing to be found anywhere that's notin keeping, except my rather large make-up outfit and my somewhat mixedwardr
obe. I am not the only newspaper correspondent who goes in forthat, though. Then there's Felicia. They all know who she is and theyall know that she's my sister. Anyhow, even if I do get into trouble upat the Villa Mimosa, I can't see that I shall be looked upon as anythingmore than a prying newspaper correspondent. They can't hang me forthat."
Hunterleys accepted a cigarette and lit it.
"I needn't tell you fellows," he said gravely, "that this place is alittle unlike any other in Europe. You may think you're safe enough, butall the same I wouldn't trust a living soul. By-the-by, I saw Felicia asI came in. You don't want her to break down, do you?"
"Good heavens, no!" her brother exclaimed.
"Break down?" David repeated. "Don't suggest such a thing!"
"It struck me that she was rather nervy," Hunterleys told them. "One ofyou ought to look after her for an hour or two to-morrow."
"I can't spare a moment," her brother sighed.
"I'll take her out," Briston declared eagerly. "There's nothing for meto do to-morrow till Sidney gets back."
"Well, between you, keep an eye on her," Hunterleys advised. "And,Sidney, I don't want to make a coward of you, and you and I both knowthat if there's danger ahead it's our job to face it, but have a care upat the Villa Mimosa. I don't fancy the law of this Principality wouldsee you out of any trouble if they got an idea that you were an EnglishSecret Service man."
Roche laughed shortly.
"Exactly my own idea," he admitted. "However, we've got to see itthrough. I sha'n't consider I've done my work unless I hear something ofwhat Grex and the others have to say to Douaille the next time theymeet."
Hunterleys found Felicia waiting for him outside. He shook his headreproachfully.
"A future prima donna," he said, "should go to bed at ten o'clock."
She opened the door for him and walked down the path, her hands claspedin his arm.
"A future prima donna," she retorted, "can't do always what she likes.If I go to bed too early I cannot sleep. To-night I am excited andnervous. There isn't anything likely to bring trouble upon--them, isthere?"
"Certainly not," he replied promptly. "Your brother is full ofenterprise, as you know. He runs a certain amount of risk in hiseagerness to acquire news, but I never knew a man so well able to takecare of himself."
"And--and Mr. Briston?"
"Oh, he's all right, anyway," Hunterleys assured her. "His is thesmaller part."
She breathed a little sigh of relief. They had reached the gate. Shestill had something to say. Below them flared the lights of Monte Carlo.She looked down at them almost wistfully.
"Very soon," she murmured, "I shall know my fate. Sir Henry," she addedsuddenly, "did I see Lady Hunterleys to-day on the Terrace?"
"Lady Hunterleys is here," he replied.
"Am I--ought I to go and see her?" she enquired. "You see, you have doneso much for me, I should like to do what you thought best."
"Just as you like, child," he replied, a little carelessly.
She clung to his arm. She seemed unwilling to let him go.
"Dear co-guardian," she murmured, "to-night I felt for a little time sohappy, as though all the good things in life were close at hand. Then Iwatched you come up, and your step seemed so heavy, and you stooped asthough you had a load on your shoulders."
He patted her hand.
"Little girl," he advised, "run away in and take care of your throat.Remember that everything depends upon the next few hours. As for me,perhaps I am getting a little old."
"Oh, la, la!" she laughed. "That's what Sidney says when I tease him. Iknow I am only the mouse, but I could gnaw through very strong cords.Look!"
Her teeth gleamed white in the moonlight. He swung open the gate.
"Sing your way into the hearts of all these strange people," he badeher, smiling. "Sing the envy and malice away from them. Sing so thatthey believe that England, after all, is the one desirable country."
"But I am going to sing in French," she pouted.
"Your name," he reminded her, "that is English. 'The little Englishprima donna,' that is what they will be calling you."
She kissed his hands suddenly as he parted from her and swung off downthe hill. Then she stood at the gate, looking down at the glitteringlights. Would they shine as brightly for her, she wondered, intwenty-four hours' time? It was so much to strive for, so much to lose,so wonderfully much to gain. Slowly her eyes travelled upwards. Thesymbolism of those higher lights calmed her fear. She drew a great sighof happiness.
"Felicia!"
She turned around with a soft little laugh.
"David!"