A Prisioner in Paris Read online

  Lord Lanwood thought to himself again that she was exceedingly intelligent for a young girl.

  Although it was against everything he had planned, he had to agree that she was talking sense.

  Aloud he now said,

  “I thought of going to some small and unknown hotel, but, after what you have just said, I think it would be wise to go to the one I always patronise.”

  “Of course you must,” Isa replied, “and you must appear as you always do and, of course, show that you are not interested in anything so degrading as the lower and commoner parts of Paris.”

  “You are talking very glibly,” Lord Lanwood said. “But I am still wondering just how we can save Charles. It must be so ghastly for him being held a prisoner of these rough people especially if they all look like Pierre.”

  “I expect they look worse,” Isa answered, “but then Charles has always been very brave. And, although Pierre thinks that they may have knocked him about a bit, he was well enough to have sent him to England with the message you received and promised to reward him with a large sum of money if, with Pierre’s help, you do manage to rescue him.”

  “That is exactly what we are going to do,” Lord Lanwood asserted. “I think you have been very clever, Isa, to find out as much as you have.”

  Isa gave a sigh.

  “There is so much more for us to do that is really essential if we are to rescue Charles without him being killed or injured unmercifully.”

  There was silence for a moment or two.

  Then Lord Lanwood said,

  “What you really have to discover besides rescuing Charles, is the name of the Frenchman who is causing all this trouble. If he really intends to invade my castle, he must be very rich and also very unscrupulous.”

  “I expect that he is both those things,” Isa agreed, “and many more besides. It is appalling to think that he is sitting there training these strange men to invade England and steal what he covets that belongs to you.”

  “I agree with every word you say,” Lord Lanwood replied. “Now we must go to bed and dream happy dreams so that we don’t start the morning depressed and anxious.”

  Her luggage was lying on the bed where she had opened her case before she went to see Pierre.

  “Everything I need is here and now goodnight, my Lord, and thank you very much for bringing me with you.”

  “That is what I am trying to say to you! Goodnight, Isa, and sleep peacefully. We will have plenty to worry about tomorrow without thinking about it tonight.”

  “I will most certainly try not to,” Isa promised him. “But you know how exciting it all is.”

  She shut the door as she spoke and Lord Lanwood went back to his own compartment.

  He was thinking how extraordinarily intelligent the Vicar’s daughter was and how lucky he had been to find someone who could speak the incredible language of the robbers and charlatans of Paris.

  He knew that without Isa he would feel helpless.

  As it was, he was optimistic enough that somehow by a miracle they would win through.

  He opened his suitcase and found to his relief after what Isa had said that Yates had put in his usual smart suits and evening dress as well as the rough clothes he had told him to do.

  It was like Yates to think of all the right things and he now wished that he had brought him with him.

  However, he knew that, although you told them not to, servants talked.

  It would be fatal for anyone in Paris, whatever their position in life, to know exactly why he had come to the City.

  *

  Unexpectedly and to his considerable surprise, Lord Lanwood slept deeply until the sun was shining outside.

  They only had a short distance to travel until the Express train reached Paris.

  He jumped out of bed and dressed.

  He was about to go to Isa’s door and tell her that he was ready for breakfast when he heard a knock on his own.

  He opened the door and found that she was outside smiling at him as she said,

  “I thought that you must be awake, my Lord, but I hoped that we could have breakfast before we arrive fairly soon at the Gare du Nord.”

  “It’s what I am looking forward to,” Lord Lanwood replied, “so don’t let us waste any more time.”

  He closed the door of his compartment behind him, having already put his night clothes into his case.

  They walked along the corridor and found not as many people as they expected in the restaurant car.

  They ate a good breakfast and it was impossible to converse confidentially as there were people sitting within hearing distance.

  They merely said very little to each other until Isa asked,

  “Have you decided where you will be staying in Paris, my Lord?”

  “After all that you said last night, we will go to the hotel where I always stay. It’s Le Grande Hôtel in the Champs Élysées and I always think it is one of the most comfortable and charming hotels in the whole of Paris.”

  “I have heard of it, of course, I have heard of it,” Isa enthused. “I will be very thrilled to stay there.”

  Her excitement was obvious and he could not help thinking how many women were never satisfied with the hotels they stayed at.

  They would invariably find everything to grumble about rather than praise.

  Pierre was waiting for them on the platform when they got off the train.

  Isa slipped into his hand a piece of paper on which she had written the name of the hotel.

  Without any conversation with him, she walked to Lord Lanwood’s side and they moved towards the exit.

  “I presume Pierre is not coming with us,” he said.

  “Of course not!” Isa exclaimed. “He knew it would be a great mistake to be seen with us, but I have to let him know where we will be staying so that he can tell us when he has communicated with Charles. He will also tell him why you have come to Paris.”

  “I think that’s very sensible, Isa, and, of course, it would be a disaster for Pierre’s comrades to be aware that he knows us.”

  “What he has to find out and he promised me last night that he would do so,” Isa explained, “is the name of the man who wants to steal your treasures. He said that he had heard it, but had not paid very much attention because it was not his job and the men who are actually employed to steal from you are very reluctant to talk about it.”

  “So I should hope,” Lord Lanwood replied rather harshly.

  It seemed incredible that anyone should go to such lengths to steal his treasures. Yet he supposed that crimes were almost always committed because of greed, the more they had the more they craved for.

  A friendly porter, who was carrying their luggage, found them a Hackney carriage and they drove off.

  Isa looked out of the window with delight at the busy streets they were passing through.

  “I have always loved Paris,” she said after neither of them had spoken for a long time. “I was so happy when Papa was here. I could not say the same of the places we visited, but Paris always seems much more exciting than any other City.”

  “I think that a large number of people would say the same,” Lord Lanwood agreed.

  He was thinking as they travelled on how sensibly Isa had dressed herself.

  Because she had to pretend to be a schoolgirl, she had obviously put on the clothes she must have worn three years ago when she actually was one.

  Although they were in plain colours and practical, she somehow added style to them that made her look very attractive.

  ‘She is a very clever child,’ Lord Lanwood said to himself again

  Almost as if she was one, he pointed out to her the attractive places they were passing, including the Opéra.

  “Papa took me once to the Opéra,” Isa said, “and I was so thrilled with it and the way it is built that I hardly had time to listen to the music.”

  Lord Lanwood laughed.

  “The Parisians would be very proud to hear yo
u say that. They are very proud of their Opéra just as they are proud of the Place de la Concorde and the Louvre.”

  “I do hope we will have time to visit the Louvre,” Isa said wistfully. “I love all the paintings there just as I love your Picture Gallery, my Lord. I spend as much time as I can looking in awe at your wonderful collection.”

  Lord Lanwood had no idea of this and he looked at her in surprise.

  “Perhaps I ought to have told you before,” Isa said a little shyly, “but your father always allowed anyone who was genuinely interested in paintings to go into the Gallery whenever they had the time and I have been coming since I was very small.”

  “Then you know that it is open to you now you are bigger and older,” Lord Lanwood said jokingly.

  She gave him a big smile.

  “Thank you very much, my Lord. I would rather have permission to see your wonderful paintings than own all the francs you have promised to give Pierre. But I am quite certain that he is going to work hard to earn them.”

  “I hope he is too, Isa. Otherwise we are lost.”

  “I don’t think we can ever be that,” Isa answered seriously. “You see this is a challenge to both of us and, if we cannot win through, then we should be very ashamed of ourselves.”

  Lord Lanwood looked at her in surprise.

  “Does it mean as much as that to you?” he asked.

  “Of course it does. I have known Charles ever since I was a small child and have loved your castle and everything in it. How could I bear to think that he was being ill-treated and you were being robbed of such unique treasures that could never be replaced?”

  She spoke with such an earnest sincerity that Lord Lanwood was very touched.

  As they drove on, he thought again how different she was from any other woman he had ever known.

  They arrived at the hotel, who welcomed him most warmly.

  “It is delightful to have you with us, my Lord,” the Manager said. “But I wish you had let us know that you were coming, because I would have kept your special suite which you always occupy.”

  “I only made up my mind a few hours before I left,” Lord Lanwood informed him. “But I am sure that you have another suite almost as good.”

  “Very fortunately one of the very best suites in the hotel became vacant this morning,” the Manager said, “and I think you, monsieur and mademoiselle, will find it very comfortable.”

  He had not exaggerated.

  Isa was thrilled to be able to look out onto the road below through the trees that bordered it.

  They had an excellent luncheon sent up to them as they thought that Pierre might arrive and it would have been a mistake to go downstairs until they had learnt what the position was.

  “I doubt if he will be here much before teatime,” Lord Lanwood said. “But it would be unwise for him to ask for us and for us to be out.”

  “I am quite happy to gaze out of the window and see the carriages going by,” Isa said. “I have never been in such a grand suite before.”

  “I guessed that you and your father stayed at the Embassy,” Lord Lanwood enquired.

  “That is true and it was all very strict protocol as you can imagine, my Lord. But they were very kind to us and Papa has known the Ambassador for many years.”

  *

  It was very late in the afternoon when they were beginning to despair of Pierre turning up.

  Then a servant came up to say to Lord Lanwood that there was a very strange caller asking for him at the back door.

  He did not know if his Lordship would wish to send him away, as he was not the sort of person they expected him to know.

  “I should have already warned the Manager,” Lord Lanwood replied, “that I have arranged with the Embassy in London to give them confidential information as to what is happening in the lower parts of Paris. I am sure the man who brings that information will look strange to you, but he will give me what the Ambassador requires.”

  He saw that this explanation went down well with the hotel servant, who hurried away to bring Pierre up to their sitting room.

  Pierre came in looking even more out of place in that particular environment than he had on the train.

  But he was polite enough to raise his hat.

  His dark greasy hair, which badly needed cutting and washing, fell down over his eyes.

  He brushed it on one side as he began,

  “’Ere I be, m’sieur and with news that I knows’ll please you.”

  Lord Lanwood waited to speak until the man who had brought the Frenchman up to the suite had closed the door.

  Even now he spoke in a low voice.

  “Come and sit down, Pierre, and tell me everything you have learnt.”

  Pierre obeyed him, sitting rather gingerly on one of the sofas in front of the fireplace.

  “It be like this, m’sieur,” he replied. “If I tells you too much, I’ll get into very big trouble and I’ll be the one to suffer not you.”

  “I will pay you for any suffering you may have,” Lord Lanwood promised him. “As you know, we are very anxious to learn what you have discovered.”

  “I thinks I ought to tell you first that Charles, as you calls ’im, ’as a bad arm.”

  He spoke in his usual language and Isa realised that Lord Lanwood had not understood what the man had said and so she translated it carefully for him.

  “He is wounded?” Lord Lanwood asked sharply. “Have they been rough with him?”

  “They said it were an accident,” Pierre replied, “but if you asks me ’e were thinkin’ of ’ow ’e could escape and they were determined to make certain ’e didn’t do so.”

  “So is he badly injured?” Lord Lanwood demanded when Isa had translated for him.

  She asked Pierre what had happened and, after he had talked for some time, she translated,

  “I think that he was being unnecessarily anxious to escape and I gather that he was actually creeping out of the door when they pulled him back and tied him up. It seems that then they injured his arm rather badly.

  Lord Lanwood drew in his breath.

  Then he said,

  “Tell Pierre to inform him that we have arrived.”

  “He has done that already,” Isa answered, “and he said that Charles was delighted.”

  There was silence for a moment.

  Then, just as Pierre was about to speak again, Isa piped up,

  “I have an idea!”

  “What is it?” Lord Lanwood enquired.

  “As Charles is obviously badly wounded and they must be anxious to keep him alive, Pierre should pretend that he is worse than he actually is and I will go and visit him as a nurse.”

  Lord Lanwood stared at her.

  “As a nurse!” he exclaimed. “But, of course, you cannot do that.”

  “Why not?” Isa questioned. “If Pierre tells Charles to say he is in worse pain than he actually is, it is obvious they will not want him to die or to be so ill that he cannot invade your castle as I know they intend to force him to do.”

  “I don’t like to think of you going into any danger,” Lord Lanwood said anxiously.

  “I will be all right if I am disguised as a nurse. As it so happens, I know a great deal about bandaging after helping Papa in his Parish. So no one will know that I am not who I pretend to be.”

  “I really don’t like to think of you being mixed up with those ghastly people,” Lord Lanwood retorted.

  Without answering, Isa turned and spoke to Pierre for some minutes.

  What she said obviously surprised him at first.

  Then he smiled and nodded.

  “Pierre agrees with me that it would be an excellent way for me to get to Charles,” Isa insisted, “and also to find out who is so anxious to steal your treasures that he is prepared to send them fighting and killing to obtain them.”

  There was silence for a while before Lord Lanwood said,

  “Tell Pierre that, if you are hurt or insulted in any way, I will no
t give him a penny of the money I promised him.”

  “I will tell him that, my Lord, but at the same time I feel sure he will not take me there unless he is certain that it is safe.”

  She paused for a moment before she added,

  “I will now go and change my dress and leave with him right away. We must only stop at the nearest chemist and buy the things I should be carrying as a nurse.”

  “I really don’t like you doing this,” Lord Lanwood protested again.

  “Yet it is something we have to do to find out what we have to know,” Isa insisted.

  She rose from the sofa and then disappeared into her bedroom.

  Lord Lanwood looked at Pierre and said in French,

  “Take good care of her. If she comes to any harm, I will be very angry.”

  He spoke slowly with a great deal of feeling behind his words and Pierre obviously understood what he said.

  He nodded.

  Then he talked quickly in a way that was meant to be reassuring.

  Unfortunately his Lordship did not comprehend one word of what he was saying.

  Before they expected it, Isa came back.

  She was wearing a very plain hat which was not unlike the type that nurses wore when making their calls.

  She had brushed all her hair to the back of her head and put it into a bun.

  She was wearing the plain clothes she had worn at school and there was a tie round her neck.

  What surprised Lord Lanwood was that she was wearing dark glasses that were obviously used to keep out the sun.

  But they made her look older and very much more professional.

  She was carrying her handbag as she walked up to Lord Lanwood and put out her hand.

  “I want a lot of small change,” she said, “for the items I have to buy. They will, I think, cost the equivalent of two or three pounds in English money.”

  “I will give you everything you need,” his Lordship said. “I only wish I could come with you. I don’t like you going alone with Pierre.”

  “He will look after me,” Isa reassured him. “I think we should take a carriage as far as we can simply because it will be quicker.”

  “Yes, yes of course,” Lord Lanwood agreed. “But don’t be longer than you can help as I will be extremely worried waiting for your return.”