“Then Armand played his ace of trumps. He confessed, swearing the Governor to secrecy, that Charles was his brother; he said that Charles had in his possession a family secret that it was vital to obtain. He talked and talked, and the upshot was that the Governor gave in.
“Charles would be brought by two warders to the house on the Sea Road after dark on the following day, the interview was to take place in a room with a single door and single window. One warder was to guard the door on the outside, the other would stand below the window. The whole interview was not to last longer than half an hour.
II
“Next evening after dark steps sounded on the path up to the house with the green verandahs. Madame Duplessis had retired to her room; she had dismissed the servants for the evening, and Armand himself opened the door. One of those little ten-cent whale oil lamps was the only light in the passage, but it was enough for Armand to see the forms of the warders and another form, that of his brother.
“The warders, unlike the Governor, weren’t particular about trifles; they didn’t bother about guarding doors and windows, sure of being able to pot anyone who made an attempt to leave the house, they sat on the fence in the moonlight counting the money Armand had given them, ten napoleons apiece.
“Half an hour passed, during which Madame Duplessis heard voices in argument from the room below, and then she heard the hall door open as Charles went out. Charles shaded his eyes against the moon, saw the warders approaching him from the fence, and walked off with them back to the prison he had come from.
“Then Madame Duplessis, hearing the front door close, came from her room, and found her husband in the passage.
“He seemed overcome by the interview with his brother.
“She asked him had he made plans for Charles’ escape, and he answered: ‘No.’ Then he went on to say that escape was impossible. They had talked the whole thing over and had come to that decision. She stood there in the hall listening to him, wondering dimly what had happened, for only a few hours before he had been full of plans and energy and now this interview seemed to have crushed all the life out of him.
“Then she said: ‘If that is so there is no use in our remaining any longer at Noumea.’ He agreed with her and went off to his room, leaving her there wondering more than ever what could have happened to throw everything out of gear in that way.