THE DOCTOR'S PROTÉGÉE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 512, 26 October 1912, Page 2

THE DOCTOR'S PROTÉGÉE.

® By ALBERT LEE, Author of "The Baronet in Corduroy," "The Key of the Holy f House," King Stork of the Netherlands," " The Black Disc," &c.

(All Rights Reserved.)

CHAPTER XXl.— [Continued $ Turning on my heel, I crossed the floor in silence. It was so dark that I missed the door, and had to feel for it cautiously. At last', after carefully traversing the wall, I found the door, opened it, and slipped out of the room, drew the door softly after me, and stood free in the dark land-

For a moment I hesitated. Should I mount the stairs and see how the sick man was, or hurry away, and think of my future course in view of the facts that were now before me The decision was to ascend, and that was what I did. The crir had passed, and when I told Marie what she must do I left her.

While I was coming down the stairs I heard the door of the room from which I had escaped open, and I halted. One after another the iren came out, and tramped down ffairs without any care for secrecy, one by one they reached the street and went their separate ways. The last to emerge from the Voom was the president —for so I judged him to be from the voice. He spokt in a low tone to the man who was with him as they halted for a brief space on the landing.

"Regnauld, you will start for Cannes by the earliest train, and Desprez will accompany you." "Yes, monsieur," came the unwilling response. Then the key was turned in the lock, and the two men descended. I waited for a while, went down quietly, stood for a few moments on the steps outside the house, looked up and down to see whether the way was clear, and, finding the Rue de Philippe empty, returned to my hotel.

CHAPTER XXII. THE PURSUIT. Teresina was to die by order of the Committee of Paris. That was the terrible fact which kept me awake during the remainder of that eventful night, and the thought of her danger was maddening. By remaining to hear the result of the conference of the Committee of a Paris I had lost the train homewards I had intended to take; but in a sense I was satisfied to use tne time which was mine because cf the delay to decide as to my future course.

Should I return to the Vallauris? Self-preservation, which is one of our strongest instincts, urged me to return home at once. Yet my regard for Teresina made me hesitate. If I failed to hasten to the yacht, accepting the risks, her death was an absolute certainty; for I was convinced that the messengers of the Fraternity would not be deterred from the endeavour to carry out the resolution of the Commitee. Suppose that Regnauld failed, there was Desprex ready to make another attempt. It was a cruel position, an awful alternative, and one which meant death or misery for someone —for Teresina or myself. I seemed to have an assurance that if I went on board and told Telamone and Berens all that I had heard and seen Teresina would be allowed to go free, and they would deal with me alone, when I had made it known ** them that it was I and not she who had put the Scarlet-Cross package into safe hiding. In my own mind I decided that if she wished the secret kept I would keep .it. If she sa : ' that it might be divulged, then, on condition that we were set frec._ I would put them in the way of obtaining possession of the thing they were so eagerly seeking. It was time to rise before I came to a decision as to the course I should pursue. As I lay in bed, going again over all the possibilities, as I had done a score of times before, I felt ashamed of what I deemed my cowardice; for it was surely such to consider my own safety anr' leave Teresina in so much danger without a wholehearted endeavour to save her.

I. turned to the bell, rang it vigorously, and waited impatiently for an answer to mv summons.

• "Bring me a time-'.qbV.!" I cried, when the man answered; and when the Continental Bradshaw was brought in, I looked up the trains for Cannes, choosing that place on the ch.nnce that the Yollauris might yet be Ihere. A train would start at ten, r.ivj although there was time for leisurely preparation, now that my course, was fully , decided upon, I crossed with feverish haste. Long before eight o'clock I was pacing the Rue de Mason, endeavouring in thnt manner to while away the time until I cou.d slart for the station. Once in the train, feeling it moving with me, I should have ihe satisfaction of knowing that I was doing something towards putting Tcrjsina beyond the r;-:tch of clanger; but loitering here for-vwo long hours, who was to know what might happen? Regnauld and Desprez might have started already I ' . '

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The bare possibility was like a stab. I pictured myself boarding the Vallauris too late, and finding Teresina lying f dead in her cabin, whereas, if I had but come to my decision sooner, I might have saved her. "Fear hath it has been said; but surely none ever suffered greater mental torture than I endured in that terrible moment of uncertainty.

It occurred to me presently that I might set my mind at rest on the point if I examined the time-table, to see what trains started for Cannes. I might discover whether it was possible that I was forestalled, and, acting on the thought, I swung round on my heel to return. I was at the extreme end of the Rue de Mason, and had more than a quarter of a mile to go in order to reach the hotel; but I covered the ground at a pace which made the workmen who were passing down the boulevard turn and stare after me in wonder. When I looked up the trains I went sick with dread, and had to sit down. The sweat came out on my forehead in great beads, and the book fell from my nerveless fingers, for it was there shown that a train had already started while I lay in bed debating as to the course I should pursue. What a fool I was, to have wasted my time in considering and hesitating, and caring for my own safety, when I should have been acting—when, instead of lying in bed, weighing the pros and cons of the matter, I should have been up and on the way, travelling mile for mile with the Fraternity's emissaries! The hour that remained for waiting seemed an intolerable time of inactivity. It came to my mind that it might yet be possible to overtake the two men. Regnauld might not easily find the Vallauris, and in that case' I might come on level terms with him and his companion. I strolled down the boulevard for the sake of passing the time, and presently came to a gunsmith's shop. The sight of firearms in the window put an idea into my mind, and, walking in, I purchased a revolver and some ammunition. It would serve me in case I caught these, men at their fiendish task', in which event I would shoot them down without mercy. I would do anything to spare Teresina. There was also one tiny weapon, so small that it would slip into the pocket of my vest. The other might be found and taken from me by Telamone or Berens, but this I could keep secret, and it would some day serve my turn. As events proved, there came a lime when I was thankful for my forethought.

My mind was no more easy when I found myself in the train, and actually on the move towards Cannes. There was always the thought of the five hours' start, for by the time I reached Cannes Teresina might be dead. It was horrible to think of. And how slowly the train went! It seemed to crawl, and was for ever stopping. At every halt I thought afresh of the woman I loved lying in her cabin, with no woman for a companion; for surely my sister had not ,been brought away with her. I tried to read, but between me and the open page came the fateful picture of the man with the dagger—the man with the low left shoulder —creeping into the place where Teresina lay. I could see him cross the floor on tiptoe to where she lay, and see as well the flash of steel! I could hear the horrid thud of the vicious blow, a gasp.i froni. the sleeper—and then came the j eternal stillness:

"I shall go mad if this lasts much longer," I cried, springing to my feet and pacing the floor of the carriage, of which I was the only oc-

cupant. Perhaps it was well that it was so, for had there been other passengers they might have thought me elemented, and then some hindrance would have come to my progress.

I was yet some twenty miles from Cannes when I caught a glimpse of the sea at the end of a gorge formed by the deep purple hills. On the blue sea, over which the dusk , was beginning to fall, I saw a yacht, cream-white, with one broad line of scarlet drawn from bow to stern, and a band of the. same colour about the white funnel.

"It must be the Vallauris," I exclaimed, leaning out of the window, not to lose sight of her so long as it was possible to see down the gorge. • ■ # A minute or two later tl*e train slowed down, and ultimately stopped at a station. I wpnderod what I should do —whether to get off the train and see for myself if that were the yacht I sought or not. That it was the Vallauris I was morally certain, for I had never seen one like her before, and even the peculiar sweep of her bow was unlike any other I had seen. She was either the Vallauris, such as I had seen shown up by the searchlight on the night of', my escape, or she was a twin yacht. But suppose that I got

•*-*■ the train, and, on closer ac

quaintance, she proved to be some other craft than that I sought, there would be a loss of valuable time I —perhaps a fatal loss. I was undecided as to what to do, but the difficulty was unexpectedly settled for me. A train ran into the station at an opposite platform —a local one from Cannes. Out of it stepped a man whom I thought I had seen before, and following him was one the sight of whom brought an exclamation to my lips. His shoulders were not level, the left one being very much lower than the right, and his squally-cut beard, like the hair on his head, was sandy-coloured.-It was Regnauld. I knew him instantly, and understood now. that the other man was Desprez. Stepping out of the train, and feeling in my pocket for my revolver, to assure myself that it was in readiness if needed, I mounted the steps and crossed the bridge, purposing to dog the men and watch their movements; but there was a crowd of passengers coming in the opposite direction at the time, and retarding my progress. When I got outside the station the men were gone. My leading idea was to make direct for the harbour, and get on board the yacht I had seen, if on closer inspection sfie proved to be the Vallauris. In spite of an occasional warning as to my ankle's weakness, due to my exertions of late, and my forgetfulness of it in the stress of recent events, I hurried down the road which led to the sea.

But first I had to find my way along the dark and narrow streets of the town, the name of which I had not troubled to look for when the train ran into the station. On either hand ere the mysterious labyrinths into which an assassin might dive, and be lost to the pursuers. But I had eyes which .saw not that evening. Neither did I

see the women with their swarthy skins and dark eyes, their gailycoloured dresses, the ponies with their red-and-blue tassels, the shop;: with gay awnings, the frescoes or. the houses, the bookstalls. They were all there, but I saw none of them, for my eyes were searching everywhere for two men —those who had come from Paris to carry out the murderous decree of the committee.

At last I got away from the town and reached the descending road which wound between green slopes, of meadow, rose gardens, and orange groves, which for a wh;k'

hid the sea; but after a while the yacht and the blue waters on which she lay came into view. I put my hands to my eyes, making binoculars of them, to see more plainly in the gathering twilight, and feit certain "that fancy had not played with me. It was the Vallaruis, without a boat of any kind on the waters between her and the shore, and I thanked Heaven that I was in time, for surely Regnnukl and Desprez had not so outdistanced me as to have got on board. I

should at all events save Teresina from the dagger which Regnauld had concealed about hnn.

"What is the name of the yacht out there?" I asked of a fisherman who was standing on the jetty, ;\>- I pointed to the steamer which began to show her lights. "The Vallauris, monsieur." "Has anyone crossed to her within the last few minutes?"

"Two men, monsieur," came the indifferently-spoken reply. "What!" I cried, aghast, to think that, after all, I was too late. The man stared at me curious'y, and probably he thought me mad. "Is it wonderful, monsieur, th?l two men should cross to the vacht?" he asked.

"What sort of men were they?" I inquired, putting aside the fisherman's question.

"One had a bare chin and bh>rk | hair; the other's hair was sandy, so ' was bis beard." 1

" 'Tis Regnauld!" I cried, betide myself with fear. The man shook his head and sp it into the water. "I know no names, monsieur.' I pulled out a big piece of silver. "I will give you this if you w ]■ 'take me out to the Yalkiuris qu c'.:Iy," I said; and the fisherman was alert at once. He tossed the net at which he was working on the shiivrl:, m-i, bidding me jump into the boat, went for his oars at a run. (To be Continued.) D.P.—l3.