“I will use my own discretion,” said Frank Amberley. “But I could not take any important step without your special sanction. You will send this Italian valet to me?”
“At once—early to-morrow morning.”
“We will set him to work directly he can make his own personal arrangements. I will make a point of seeing madam. If I do not succeed in obtaining an interview with her at her residence, I will endeavor to surprise her at the opera-house. I think it best to defer engaging a detective to accompany Gilardoni until I see him. You will not be able to come up to-morrow?”
“I fear not. Besides, I could not endure to be present when you inform him of my position.”
“Well, then, what I have to do is, firstly, this evening, to try to find a chance of enlightening Miss Turquand; secondly, to-morrow morning, to hold a consultation with and give instructions to this Leonardo Gilardoni; thirdly, to-morrow evening, to endeavor to surprise Madam Guiscardini into some kind of admission, and, if I do not see her, I must make an opportunity of doing so on Saturday or Monday, or some time next week. The way is plain enough. Whether it leads to a happy harbor of rest remains to be seen.”
“It will be impossible for me ever to thank you sufficiently,” said Paul Desfrayne.
“Do not speak of that,” replied Frank Amberley. “Are you obliged to return to your quarters at once?”
“At once; yes.”
The two men clasped hands, and parted.
Lady Quaintree found that her husband’s illness was not of a seriously alarming nature, but yet sufficiently grave to justify Gerald in sending for her. The doctor had ordered the patient to bed; but it was not necessary for any one to remain with him to watch. Her ladyship, therefore, with her son and the two young ladies, was at liberty to dine as usual.