At a quarter past twelve she entered the carriage which drove slowly off. William had not appeared; and it looked as if she was taking this journey without his knowing anything about it.
Little more than twenty seconds later Ralph, who was going to the station on foot, was struck by a sudden idea, started to run, caught the landau halfway down the old boulevard and clung on to the back of it as best he could.
Presently what he had foreseen happened. At the turning of the road to the station, the driver turned suddenly to the right, lashed the horses savagely with his whip, and drove the carriage along dark and deserted side-streets which brought it out at the Jardin des Plantes. At the pace at which it was going it was impossible for the girl to get out of the carriage.
The horses had not far to gallop. They galloped into the deserted square and came to a sudden stop at the corner of it. The driver jumped down from his [[114]]seat, opened the door of the carriage and stepped into it.
Ralph heard the girl scream, but did not hurry himself. Certain that her assailant was no other than William he wished to learn what it was all about and get the meaning of events in the middle of their quarreling. But, almost on the instant, the attack seemed to him to assume such a dangerous complexion that he interfered at once.
“Speak, will you!” the girl’s confederate cried. “So you thought that you were going to decamp and leave me in the lurch? Well it’s true that I meant to let you down, but it’s just because you know it that I’m not going to leave you now. Come, speak—tell me—if you don’t——”
Ralph was frightened. He remembered the groans of Miss Bakersfield. A sharp turn of the wrist and the victim died. He opened the door, caught the confederate by the leg, flung him to the ground, and dragged him roughly to one side. The ruffian tried to put up a fight. With a sharp twist Ralph broke his arm.
“Six weeks’ rest,” he said. “And if you start annoying the lady again I’ll break your spine for you.”
He went back to the carriage. The girl was already nearly out of sight in the darkness.
“Run, little one,” he said. “I know where you’re going and you shan’t escape me, I’ve had enough of [[115]]playing the St. Bernard without even getting a lump of sugar for my pains. When Lupin sets out on a path, he goes to the end of it and never fails to reach his goal. You are his goal to-day, you and your green eyes and warm lips!”