Several times during the night Nella inquired for her father, but could gain no knowledge of his whereabouts. Now, at half-past six in the morning, a rumour had mysteriously spread among the servants of the hotel about the happenings of the night before. How it had originated no one could have determined, but it had originated.
‘Where is my father?’ Nella asked of Hans.
He shrugged his shoulders, and pointed upwards. ‘Somewhere at the top, they say.’
Nella almost ran out of the room. Her interruption of the interview between Jules and Theodore Racksole has already been described. As she came downstairs with her father she said again, ‘Prince Eugen is dying—but I think you can save him.’
‘I?’ exclaimed Theodore.
‘Yes,’ she repeated positively. ‘I will tell you what I want you to do, and you must do it.’
Chapter Twenty-Nine THEODORE IS CALLED TO THE RESCUE
AS Nella passed downstairs from the top storey with her father—the lifts had not yet begun to work—she drew him into her own room, and closed the door.
‘What’s this all about?’ he asked, somewhat mystified, and even alarmed by the extreme seriousness of her face.