"On the evening of the 27th," said the Prince.
Clementina laughed softly in a way which he did not understand. She was
altogether in a strange, incomprehensible mood that afternoon, and when
he learnt next day that she had taken to her bed he was not surprised.
Perhaps he was not altogether grieved. It seemed right that she should
be punished for her stubbornness. Punishment might soften her.
But no message came to him during those two days, and on the morning of
the 27th he set out for Italy.
At the second posting stage, which he reached about three of the
afternoon, he crossed a hired carriage on its way to Innspruck. The
carriage left the inn door as the Prince drove up to it. He noticed the
great size of the coachman on the box, he saw also that a man and two
women were seated within the carriage, and that a servant rode on
horseback by the door. The road, however, was a busy one; day and night
travellers passed up and down; the Prince gave only a passing scrutiny
to that carriage rolling down the hill to Innspruck. Besides, he was
acquainted neither with Gaydon, who rode within the carriage, nor with
Wogan, the servant at the door, nor with O'Toole, the fat man on the
box.
At nightfall the Prince came to Nazareth, a lonely village amongst the
mountains with a single tavern, where he thought to sleep the night.
There was but one guest-room, however, which was already bespoken by a
Flemish lady, the Countess of Cernes, who had travelled that morning to
Innspruck to fetch her niece.
The Prince grumbled for a little, since the evening was growing stormy
and wild, but there was no remedy. He could not dispute the matter, for
he was shown the Countess's berlin waiting ready for her return. A
servant of the Count's household also had been left behind at Nazareth
to retain the room, and this man, while using all proper civilities,
refused to give up possession. The Prince had no acquaintance with the
officers of Dillon's Irish regiment, so that he had no single suspicion
that Captain Misset was the servant. He drove on for another stage,
where he found a lodging.
Meanwhile the hired carriage rolled into Innspruck, and a storm of
extraordinary violence burst over the country.