For the moment it seemed that he had forgotten his fellow conspirators. But as soon as he had passed out of the room he turned back.
"Stay where you are," he said. "You will be wanted presently."
The five of us were left staring after him through the open door of the drawing-room. It was the Chief Constable who broke the silence.
"What's his game now?"
"He appears to be engaged in convincing a woman against her will," said I. "Were you able to follow the conversation?"
"Not altogether. He appears to have made up his mind that Madame shall do something, and Madame appears to have made up hers that she won't. But exactly what it is, I can't say. I don't mind betting a shilling, all the same, that the damned fellow will get his way. Upon my word I have never seen his equal!"
The Chief Constable laughed in a hollow voice, and removed another bead of honest perspiration from his countenance.
Fitz's departure with the Countess marked the renewal of our suspense. Here were the five of us landed indefinitely, biting our thumbs. The situation was rather absurd. Five law-abiding Englishmen assembled with fell intent in a private house, yet knowing very little of the business they had on hand. Each had made his way by stealth, and under false pretences, into the very heart of the place. In this comfortable drawing-room we had no locus standi at all. To all in the establishment we were total strangers, and to us they were equally strange. Would Fitz never return? Would the call to action never be made? A man with a high forehead and the look of an official came to the threshold of the room, looked in upon us pensively, and then went away again. Two minutes later a second individual repeated the performance. Doubtless we were five strange and unexpected birds—but the whole business was beginning to be ridiculous.
I looked at my watch. It was twenty-five minutes past ten. Then the undefeated O'Mulligan sat down at the piano and began to play the latest masterpiece in vogue at the Tivoli. The strains of his searching melody had the effect of bringing to us another servant with a further supply of coffee.
"Can you tell me if the Ambassador is dining out to-night?" I said to the servant.