Should I wait and watch?
The idea occurred to me that if that unseen individual who had been present in the deck-house, and had suggested the destruction of the Vispera, had come ashore, he would certainly meet Keppel somewhere.
The time dragged on. The short train was backed into the station, but no passenger appeared. A controller inquired if I intended to go to Pisa, but I replied in the negative. At last several passengers approached leisurely, as is usual in Italy, one or two carrying wicker-covered flasks of Chianti to drink in viaggio; the inevitable pair of white-gloved carabineers strolled up and down, and the train prepared to start.
Of a sudden, almost before I was aware of it, I was conscious of two figures approaching. One was that of old Mr. Keppel, hot and hurrying, carrying a small brown hand-bag, and the other the figure of a woman, wearing a soft felt hat and long fawn travelling-cloak.
I drew back into the shadow to allow them to pass without recognising me. The miscreant had, it seemed to me, cleverly disguised himself as a woman.
Hurrying, the next moment they passed me by in search of an empty first-class compartment. The controller approached them to ask for their tickets. Keppel searched his pockets in a fidgety fashion, and said in English, which, of course, the man did not understand:
"We're going to the frontier."
The man glanced leisurely at the tickets, unlocked one of the doors, and allowed them to enter.
As the woman mounted into the carriage, however, a ray of light fell straight across her face, and revealed to my wondering eyes a countenance that held me absolutely bewildered.
The discovery I made at that moment increased the mystery tenfold. The countenance disclosed by the lamplight in the badly-lit station was not that of a man in female disguise, as I had suspected, but of a woman. Her identity it was that held me in amazement, for in that instant I recognised her as none other than the dark-haired, handsome woman whom I had seen lying dead upon the floor of the deck-house on the previous night.