Bellamy raised her fingers to his lips and stole away. The electric lamps had been turned out, but the morning was cloudy and the light dim. Back in his own berth, he put his things together, ready to leave at Munich. Then he rang for the porter.
"I am getting out at the next stop," he announced.
"Very good, Monsieur," the man answered.
Bellamy looked at him closely.
"You are a Frenchman?"
"It is so, Monsieur!"
"I may be wrong," Bellamy continued slowly, "but I believe that if I asked you a question and it concerned some Germans and Austrians you would tell me the truth."
The man's gesture was inimitable. Englishmen to him were obviously the salt of the earth. Germans and Austrians--why, they existed as the cattle in the fields--nothing more. Bellamy gave him a sovereign.
"There were three Austrians who got in at Vienna," he said. "They are in numbers ten and eleven."
"But yes, Monsieur!" the man assented. "As yet I think they are fast asleep. Not one of them has rung for his coffee."
"Where are they booked for?"
"For London, Monsieur."
"You do not happen," Bellamy continued, "to have heard them say anything about leaving the train before then?"
"On the contrary, sir," the porter answered, "two of the gentlemen have been inquiring about the boat across to Dover. They were very anxious to travel by a turbine."
Bellamy nodded.
"Thank you very much. You will be so discreet as to forget that I have asked you any questions concerning them. As for me, if one would know, I am on my way to Berlin."
The bell rang. The man looked outside and put his head once more in Bellamy's coupe.
"It is one of the gentleman who has rung," he declared. "If anything is said about leaving the train, I shall report it at once to Monsieur."
"You will do well," Bellamy answered.
The porter returned in a few moments.
"Two of the gentlemen, sir," he announced, "are undressed and in their pyjamas. They have ordered their breakfast to be served after we leave Munich."
Bellamy nodded.
"Further, sir," the man continued, coming a little closer, "one of them asked me whether the English gentleman--meaning you--was going through to London or not. I told them that you were getting out at the next station and that I thought you were going to Berlin."