The Lost Ambassador | Page 5

response. What I saw startled me. The
man's whole expression had changed. His mouth had come together
with a new firmness. A frown which I had never seen before had
darkened his forehead. His eyes had become little points of light. I
realized then, perhaps for the first time, their peculiar color,--a sort of
green tinged with gray. He presented the appearance of a man of
intelligence and acumen who is thinking deeply over some matter of
vital importance.
"Well, what is it, Louis?" I asked. "Are you repenting of your offer
already? Don't you want to take me to this other place?"

"It is not that, monsieur," Louis answered softly, "only I was wondering
if I had been a little rash."
"Rash?" I repeated.
Louis nodded his head slowly, but he paused for several moments
before speaking.
"I was only wondering," said he, "whether, after all, it would amuse
you. There is nothing to be seen, not so much as here. Afterwards,
perhaps, you might regret--you might think that I had done wrong in
not telling you certain things about the place which must remain
secret."
"We will risk that," I answered, rising. "Let me come with you and I
will judge for myself."
Louis followed my example, but I fancied that I still detected a slight
unwillingness in his movements. My request for the bill had been met
with a smile and a polite shake of the head. Louis whispered in my ear
that we were the guests of the management,--that it would not be
correct to offer the money for our entertainment. So I was forced to
content myself with tipping the head-waiter and the vestiaire, the
chausseur who opened the door, and the tall commissionnaire who
welcomed us upon the pavement and whistled for a petite voiture.
"Where to, messieurs?" the man asked, as the carriage drew up.
Even then Louis hesitated. He was sitting on the side of the carriage
nearest to the pavement, and he rose to his feet as the question was
asked. It seemed to me that he almost whispered the address into the
ear of the coachman. At any rate, I heard nothing of it. The man nodded,
and turned eastward.
"Bon soir, messieurs!" the commissionnaire called out, with his hat in
his hand.
"Bon soir!" I answered, with my eyes fixed upon the flaring lights of

the Boulevard, towards which we had turned.
CHAPTER III
DELORA
I found Louis, during that short drive, most unaccountably silent.
Several times I made casual remarks. Once or twice I tried to learn
from him what sort of a place this was to which we were bound. He
answered me only in monosyllables. I was conscious all the time of a
certain subtle but unmistakable change in his manner. Up to the
moment of his suggesting this expedition he had remained the suave,
perfectly mannered superior servant, accepted into equality for a time
by one of his clients, and very careful not to presume in any way upon
his position. It is not snobbish to say this, because it was the truth.
Louis was chief maitre d'hotel at one of the best restaurants in London.
I was an ex-officer in a cavalry regiment, brother of the Earl of
Welmington, with a moderate income, and a more than moderate idea
of how to spend it. Louis was servant and I was master. It had pleased
me to make a companion of him for a short time, and his manner had
been a perfect acknowledgment of our relative positions. And now it
seemed to me that there was a change. Louis had become more like a
man, less like a waiter. There was a strength in his face which I had not
previously observed, a darkening anxiety which puzzled me. He treated
my few remarks with scant courtesy. He was obviously thinking about
something else. It seemed as though, for some inexplicable reason, he
had already repented of his suggestion.
"Look here, Louis," I said, "you seem a little bothered about taking me
to this place. Perhaps they do not care about strangers there. I am not at
all keen, really, and I am afraid I am not fit company for anybody.
Better drop me here and go on by yourself. I can amuse myself all right
at some of these little out-of-the-way places until I feel inclined to go
home."
Louis turned and looked at me. For a moment I thought that he was
going to accept my offer. He opened his mouth but said nothing. He

looked away into the darkness once more, and then back into my face.
By this time I knew that he had made up his mind. He was more like
himself again.
"Monsieur Rotherby," he said, "if I have hesitated at all,