The Mystery of the Lost Dauphin Part 14

"Bah!" exclaimed Giacinto, with a flash of his perfect teeth, "'tis some piece of gallantry--a question of petticoats."

"Or of politics. We must not lose sight of him, for holding on to the end of a thread sometimes leads to a bobbin. This inn, in which _our_ Volpetti is in the habit of stopping, is so suspicious a place that even the air is infected. If the Marquis awaits a lady, luck to him! But if not--"

"I swear 'tis love," a.s.serted Giacinto, failing to comprehend the other's indifference to the romantic.

"Well, now let us get to business. If our brother knights have correctly informed us, Volpetti will reach the inn today. Are you sure you will recognize him? You know the fox is clever in disguises."

"Do you think he can escape me?" cried Giacinto, his face distorted with a spasm of hatred. "Not even if he comes as the devil, his brother. Why we are both Sicilians from Catania. I remember him when he walked barefoot recruiting victims for the gambling houses. Later on he entered the novitiate of a monastery. Then, I witnessed his initiation as spy--under the direction--well in reality, in the employ of Queen Caroline. O he is an adept, a born spy and happy only when exercising his profession. He was Fouche's most dangerous agent and now performs the same office to Lecazes. But to every man his hour! There are many accounts pending between Volpetti and me! First, my brother Raphael's long imprisonment; secondly, the ill treatment of Grazia, that unfortunate girl; thirdly, the splendid Romeldi's death on the gibbet; fourthly, the conspiracy of the 19th of August. Why has this mission been a.s.signed me? Because the Knights know well that Volpetti will not escape me."

"Contain yourself" said the other. "To accomplish your purpose, calmness is essential."

"Fear nothing," answered Giacinto, "I shall seem ice."

"Does Volpetti know you by sight?"

"As well as he does his own shirt, and his claws must have fastened into me at Trieste, if the Knights had not protected me. Set a thief to catch a thief. But here in England he and I are man to man."

"Even in England spies are aided by other spies. Change your tactics, Giacinto. The devil! Lecazes snaps his fingers at scruples. The League must learn that the enemy is full of insidious perfidy. We no longer fight on the open as in the times of Napoleon. But the duel between Revolution and Reaction is raging none the less fiercely. The hour is ripe for blows and are we, the Knights of Liberty, to content ourselves with Platonic phrases? Are we not to wreak vengeance at last? We are so numerous as scarcely to know one another and yet so little is accomplished. 'Tis a competent leader that we need."

"Platonism is dead," cried Giacinto. "Our business is to grapple with the police. Volpetti's fate will soon be a warning to Lecazes and those who are his masters. Every English Carbonaro will soon see that events are at last shaping themselves--"

"What do you know?" eagerly demanded the other.

"I scent the critical moment approaching. I read men's thoughts upon their foreheads. My friend, societies do much, but at times one man arises who by a swift stroke accomplishes what societies are only meditating."

"You a.s.sume the air of a prophet."

"Well, time will tell. Now to our work. Volpetti will soon arrive, either alone or with a companion. He is to embark from Dover. When he reaches this inn, you and I shall enter his room and dispatch him before he has time to say 'Amen.' The Polipheme awaits us in the harbor. The captain is our brother and confederate. I trust Volpetti will come alone for so he will fall to me; but if he be accompanied, both of us shall be implicated."

"And why not both of us even if he come alone? Should one waste honor on dogs?"

Here Giacinto interrupted, saying:

"Did I not tell you it was a love affair? Behold the lady!"

The Marquis de Breze had just hurried to meet two new comers, a man of middle age and a young girl. Both wore shabby traveling garments and had the appearance of Irish peasants. But in spite of her clothes, the beautiful imperious face of the girl immediately excited admiration while the man's grace and dignity revealed the aristocrat.

Giacinto grasped his friend's hand, and the other whispered:

"How remarkable!"

"What?" asked Giacinto.

"The resemblance."

"What resemblance?"

"Why the man and girl are reproductions of the guillotined king and queen."

"I have seen them only in pictures; but by the devil! they are indeed before us."

The Carbonari gazed at each other in amazement.

Chapter II

THE TRAPPED FOX

Naundorff and Amelie followed de Breze toward the stairway and, in so doing, pa.s.sed the two Carbonari, who, pretending absorption in their ale and salmon, did not raise their eyes.

Rene led his friends to the chambers he had engaged for them and when the doors were closed, he threw himself upon his knees before the father exclaiming:

"Forgive me!"

"What is it, Rene?"

"I have been robbed of your papers."

Naundorff turned pale and fell against the wall. But quickly recovering himself, he said:

"Rene, you have lost my name, but you first saved my life," and with simple dignity he drew the Marquis to his breast while Amelie trembled and dropped tears from her beautiful eyes.

"And the ma.n.u.script?"

"I have it with me."

"How were you robbed of the box?"

Rene explained.

"That Count de Keller is my evil genius. He is none other than the Volpetti who under the alias 'Naundorff' bestowed that name upon me in Prussia. He represents the police who like a web envelop me. 'Twas the police that directed the blows from which you rescued me in London. And that police will now pursue you, Rene. I regret that we have undertaken this voyage, for how are we to succeed in this difficult undertaking, having lost my certificates of ident.i.ty? Let us renounce the project and return, I to exile and you to your country. I am not safe in England; therefore I shall remove to Holland. In that land of liberty and justice, I may find the happiness I seek, the simple happiness of family life. Rene, I seem to hear again the words spoken to me in my dungeon: _Your friends shall perish_."

Rene looked at Amelie. Her tears were dry and her lofty countenance expressed only resolution. His discouragement was swept away and he turned to the father, saying:

"I shall never give up the fight. And what of the knave who robbed me?

Is he to laugh in my face? Listen. Volpetti will soon be here. I also have become a spy. I have tracked him by pouring out torrents of money."

"Bravo, my Rene!" said Amelie, giving him her hand.

"Girl," sighed Naundorff, "you have inherited the intrepidity of your grandmother, Marie Antoinette and great-grandmother, Marie Therese, combined; I, the stoicism and pa.s.sivity of my father. While I am with you, my blood rises and I believe in the impossible; my fears vanish, my dual personality merges into one and I a.s.sure myself that I am not a self-duped fool--G.o.d bless you!"

"Father," she exclaimed, "you have not the right to surrender claims which your children inherit. Do you think that the iniquitous regime on the French throne will last indefinitely? Has not that wonderful colossus, Napoleon, rolled on the ground from his pedestal? Another usurper today rules our country. Is his hour never to come?"

She was a picture of splendid anger and sublime indignation.

"Amelie, you frighten me," said Naundorff.