For a second he remained undecided. Should he take advantage of the fact that Karl was still there, burst into the room and shoot both him and the countess dead? It would mean saving Élisabeth, because it was only those two miscreants who had designs upon her life. But he dreaded the failure of so daring an attempt and, jumping from the balcony, he called Bernard.
"Élisabeth is going off in a motor-car. Karl is with her and has been told to poison her. Get out your revolver and come with me."
"What do you intend to do?"
"We shall see."
They went round the villa, slipping through the bushes that bordered the drive. The whole place, moreover, was deserted.
"Listen," said Bernard, "there's a car going off."
Paul, at first greatly alarmed, protested:
"No, no, it's only the noise of the engine."
In fact, when they came within sight of the front of the house, they saw at the foot of the steps a closed car surrounded by a group of some dozen soldiers. Its head-lamps, while lighting up one part of the garden, left the spot where Paul and Bernard stood in darkness.
A woman came down the steps and disappeared inside the car.