Carter struggled to his feet and, though a trifle dizzy yet from the blow of his unseen foe, was able to stagger into the house. There Trusia, with a woman's tender solicitude for those for whom she cares, without the intervention of servants poured from a near-by decanter, and forced Carter to drain, a goblet of wine. Under the stimulant his strength returned.
"If Count Sobieska will lend me his arm I think I can retire now. How I came in the yard—I see you are all curious though too polite to inquire—I'll tell you in the morning when I feel more fit. At present I have either a strange head or a beehive on my shoulders, I don't know which."
When he reached his room and the Count entering also had closed the door, Carter threw off much of the assumed languor, and told the Counselor the whole of the tale. The Krovitzer shook his head dubiously. "Josef found you at quarter past three this morning—yet you say Josef was not one of the two men. Did you see the faces of both?"
"Only a glance. Both were bearded. The one who came from the back part of the house was dark, black eyebrows, heavy black beard, pallid face, or so it looked in the moonlight. The visitor was undoubtedly Russian."
"It may have been soot," said Sobieska musingly. "I remember now that, while the rest of his face looked remarkably like a freshly scrubbed one, there was a long dark smear along one of Josef's eyebrows as we brought you into the house; but that is not enough to convict him of the treason, however strong a suspicion it arouses. Well, things are looking a trifle as if Vladimar not only knows where we are, but why we are here. We'll have to strike quickly—as soon, in fact, as we set foot in Krovitch again."
XVIII
I SAW—I KNOW
The next day they left Paris. Almost the first person Trusia espied at the railroad station was General Vladimar, a stately young aide, and the Casper Haupt of yesterday. Carter felt a thrill of recognition for the latter; he was the passer-by of the night before who had received Josef's signal, and, yes, it was the man who had met the Hereditary Servitor in the moonlit shadow of the porch.
The General bustled forward with easy appearance of boisterous friendliness. The group split; the King was adroitly surrounded by Sobieska, Muhlen-Sarkey and Carter, while Trusia and Sutphen advanced to meet and check the too curious Russian.