through the whole _menu_, so that the time slipped away, and we were
within five minutes of departure.

"And poor dear Philpotts, I had quite forgotten her. Come and help me
choose," and in duty bound I gallantly carried the food back to the
train.

I walked ahead briskly, and making my way to the places where we had
left the maid and child, jumped in.

They were gone, the two of them. Everything was gone, rugs, bags,
belongings, people. The seats were empty, and as the compartment was
quite empty, too, no one could tell me when they had left or where
they had gone.

I turned quickly round to my companion, who was, I thought, following
close at my heels, and found to my utter amazement that she also had
disappeared.

CHAPTER XI.

For the moment I was dazed and dumfounded, but I took a pull on myself
quickly. It was a clever plant. Had they sold me completely? That was
still to be seen. My one chance was in prompt action; I must hunt them
up, recover trace of them with all possible despatch, follow them, and
find them wherever they might be.

There was just the chance that they had only moved into another
carriage, thinking that when I missed them I should get out and hunt
for them in the station. To counter that I ran up and down the train,
in and out of the carriages, questing like a hound, searching
everywhere. So eager was I that I neglected the ordinary warnings that
the train was about to start; the guard's _fertig_ ("ready"), the
sounding horn, the answering engine whistle, I overlooked them all,
and we moved on before I could descend. I made as though to jump off
hastily, but was prevented.

"_Was ist das? Nein, nein, verboten._" A hand caught me roughly by the
collar and dragged me back. It was the enemy I had made in championing
my lady, the guard of the train, who gladly seized the chance of being
disagreeable to me.

I fought hard to be free, but by the time I had shaken him off the
speed had so increased that it would have been unsafe to leave the
train. I had no choice but to go on, harking back as soon as I could.
Fortunately our first stop was within five and twenty minutes, at
Vevey; and there in ten minutes more I found a train back to Lausanne,
so that I had lost less than an hour and a half in all.

But much may happen in that brief space of time. It was more than
enough for my fugitives to clear out of the Lausanne station and make
some new move, to hide away in an out-of-the-wa