I recalled the police agent’s words instantly; and the danger to the girl appealed to me. For her sake I resolved to warn him.
They spoke together, and from his glances in my direction, I guessed she was telling him what I had done. As I approached them, he assumed the deferential air of a servant.
“A word with you,” I said.
He was full of surprise. “With me, sir?”
I drew him aside. “I have no desire to pry into your affairs, but I wish to warn you that you are in great danger of discovery here.”
“Danger! Of what? Surely you are mistaken, sir?” He spoke with a flourish of the hand and a bow, but his piercing eyes were fixed intently upon mine.
“I am a friend of Count Ladislas Tuleski, and I met you once or twice in his rooms in London a year ago. You are Count Peter Valdemar. This morning a police agent from Warsaw visited me, and regarded me as a suspect because of my friendship with the Count, and because I admitted that I had known you. Take the warning from me as a friend; and be on your guard. If I have recognized you, others may.”
It was safer for us both not to be seen together, so I walked off leaving him a very much surprised Count indeed.
CHAPTER II
ON THE DEVIL’S STAIRCASE
I HAD not walked three hundred yards towards the village when I met the police agent hurrying stationwards at a pace which would quickly bring him face to face with Count Peter and his companion.