There was music after dinner, and several of the men, including the millionaire, went to the smoking-room.
Was it possible, I wondered, for him to have again changed his plans? I sat in the saloon until nearly eight o'clock, but being anxious, I rose and went up on deck, in order to ascertain whether our host was still with his friends.
I passed the door of the smoking-room and peered in, uttering some chaffing words with affected gaiety.
Keppel was not there.
"They are asking for Mr. Keppel in the saloon," I said. "I thought he was here."
"No," responded Lord Stoneborough. "He went ashore a little time ago."
"Oh, thanks," I said. "I'll tell them."
The millionaire had escaped me!
I dashed down to my cabin, and without hesitation changed my dinner-frock for a dark stuff dress that I had never worn on board; then, going again on deck, I induced one of the sailors to row me ashore at once, securing the man's silence by a tip of half-a-sovereign.
If our eccentric host intended to leave Leghorn, he must leave by train and return to Pisa. Therefore at the corner of the Via Grande I entered a tram, and shortly afterwards alighted at the station. The great platform was dimly lit and deserted, for no train would depart, they told me, for another hour. It was the mail, and ran to Pisa to catch the night express to the French frontier at Modane. Most probably Keppel meant to catch this train.