At this juncture the men exchanged one or two remarks in a rapid undertone. Then, while one of them remained, apparently to keep guard over us, the other cantered away across the turf, struck the road close to the wood, and disappeared.
In the absence of his companion, who apparently was his superior in authority, the gendarme thawed to some extent. We gathered that the Château d’Uzerche was about eighty miles by road from Monte Carlo, and twelve or so miles from Digne, in the Bedeone Valley, also that no village lay within a radius of two miles of it. Small wonder, therefore, that no fire-escape had come.
“Where is la Baronne de Coudron?” the man asked suddenly.
We explained that we feared she had been either burnt or suffocated. At this he looked grave.
“And her companion, the Englishman Monsieur Paulton, where is he?”
Again we explained. He had escaped from the fire, but, since his escape, we had not seen him.
“Why do you want to know?” Faulkner asked, in his politest tones.
“Because,” the man answered, taken off his guard, “we have a warrant for the arrest of both Madame la Baronne and the Englishman.”
“Arrest! For what?” Faulkner asked.
“On several charges. The most recent is a charge of obtaining money by fraud—a large sum. There is also a charge of blackmail.”