The run next day to Fontainebleau was glorious, and indeed the whole trip across to Boulogne was in most delightful weather, and they all thoroughly enjoyed it. At Boulogne they left the car to be brought to London by the chauffeur, and caught the next boat across to Folkestone and so on to London.
Geoffrey’s leave was up, so he had to be at the Works at Chelmsford on the following day. He seized the opportunity to run over to Witham, and there discovered that during his absence Mr. Mildmay had received two further cipher telegrams, one sent from Fontainebleau, and one from Beauvais, both signed “M. C.”
Now in his many conversations with the handsome widow she had never mentioned that she had any friend in London. On the contrary, on the night they had stopped at Abbeville, while they were dining at the old Tête de Boeuf, she had exclaimed across the table to Mrs. Beverley:
“It really is most sweet of you, dear, to put me up in London. I know nobody there nowadays. I’ve been away so long.”
She made no mention of the man who occupied those expensive chambers in Ryder Street, and as far as Geoffrey knew the pair had never met. Naturally, the young wireless engineer was often at Mrs. Beverley’s house, and his own observations, combined with what Sylvia told him, made it apparent to him that Madame Claudet was a most extravagant woman.
“We are out every night somewhere,” the girl said. “And madame will never allow us to pay a farthing. She must be very rich, for she’s ordered eight new frocks from Lucille’s.”
“She has no friends in London, has she?” Falconer asked casually.
“She didn’t have any when she arrived, but, of course, she now knows one or two people to whom we’ve introduced her.”
On the following day another curious telegram came through the wireless station at Witham. Dispatched from Marseilles, it had been sent across by wireless from Paris, and was addressed to Mildmay. It was in plain language, and read: “Urgent that Marguerite should come over. The change would do her good.--Jules.”
This puzzled Geoffrey more than ever. Why was madame wanted urgently at Marseilles, and what hidden meaning was contained in the declaration that the change would do her good? He was very anxious to ascertain if she ever met the mysterious Mildmay, and for that purpose he went to London one evening and again saw his friend the liftman.