My cousin would have walked to the train and had a drink into the bargain.
* * * * *
While the train thundered northward through a drowsy world, a council of five sat up in a salon lit and laid its plans. By far its most valuable member was Señor Don Fedriani, travelling by chance from Biarritz to the French capital….
It was, indeed, in response to his telegram from Poitiers that, a few minutes before seven o'clock the next morning, two detectives boarded our train at the Gare Austerlitz.
Five minutes later we steamed into the Quai d'Orsay.
Jill, carefully primed, was the first to alight.
Except for Piers, Duke of Padua, the rest of us followed as ordinary passengers would. It was, of course, plain that we had no connection with Jill….
That Mr. Leslie Trunk should meet her himself was quite in order. That, having thus put his neck into the noose, he should proceed to adjust the rope about his dew-lap, argued an unexpected generosity.
'Yes, he had sent the wire. He had taken that responsibility. How was
Piers? Well, there was plenty of hope.' He patted her delicate hand.
'She must be brave, of course…. Yes, he had just left him. He was
in a nursing-home—crazy to see her. They would go there at once.'
We all went 'there' at once—including Piers, Duke of Padua.