An officer came out of the lodge. Karl gave the pass-word, "Hohenstaufen." The gate was opened and the motor dashed down a high-road which first passed through the little town of Èbrecourt and next wound among low hills.
So Paul Delroze, at an hour before midnight, was alone in the open country, with Élisabeth and Karl the spy. If he succeeded in mastering the spy, as he did not doubt that he could, Élisabeth would be free. There would then remain nothing to do but to return to Prince Conrad's villa, with the aid of the pass-word, and pick up Bernard there. Once the adventure was completed in accordance with Paul's designs, the tunnel would bring back all the three of them to the Château d'Ornequin.
Paul therefore gave way to the delight that was stealing over him. Élisabeth was with him, under his protection: Élisabeth, whose courage, no doubt, had yielded under the weight of her trials, but who had a claim upon his indulgence because her misfortunes were due to his fault. He forgot, he wished to forget all the ugly phases in the tragedy, in order to think only of the end that was near at hand, his wife's triumph and deliverance.
He watched the road attentively, so as not to miss his way when returning, and planned out his attack, fixing it at the first stop which they would have to make. He resolved that he would not kill the spy, but that he would stun him with a blow of his fist and, after knocking him down and binding him, throw him into some wood by the road-side.
They came to a fair-sized market-town, then two villages and then a town where they had to stop and show the car's papers. It was past eleven.
Then once more they were driving along country lanes which ran through a series of little woods whose trees lit up as they passed.
At that moment, the light of the lamps began to fail. Karl slackened speed. He growled:
"You dolt, can't you even keep your lamps alight? Have you got any carbide?"
Paul did not reply. Karl went on cursing his luck. Suddenly, he put on the brakes, with an oath:
"You blasted idiot! One can't go on like this. . . . Here, stir your stumps and light up."