"For good and all? Sacked, dropped out, or what?"
"Gone to follow up a game of his own. He thinks he knows better than any one else; believes the lady has harked back, and is following her to Amberieu, Maçon, Paris, England perhaps. God knows where. It's a wild goose chase, of course; but my lord leans to it, and so it is to be tried."
"You don't agree?"
"How can I when I'm satisfied he's wrong? She was seen in the express for Modane, making for the Mont Cenis tunnel. Of course that's the true direction. She was aiming for Italy from the first; the other sister, the divorced lady, is there; we've always known that. Go back to England! Bah! absolute rot. I'd stick to my opinion against fifty fools like Tiler."
"It's a bargain, then; I can count upon the cash? How soon shall you know? I'd like to begin at once; there's something I would tell you here, and now, that would interest you very much. But money down is my rule."
"Let me run up and ask his lordship. I won't keep you five minutes."
My lord gave his consent a little grudgingly, but was presently persuaded that it was to his own advantage to have a spy in the heart of the enemy's camp. That was soon seen when l'Echelle had pocketed his notes and gave us the news in exchange.
"Now that I'm my lord's man I don't mind telling you that the Colonel does not mean to stay long in Aix, not one minute longer than till the call comes."
"He expects a call?"