Next day everywhere Geoffrey went he was followed silently and unobtrusively by the man Vulkovitch. He had a chat with Lane, but within hearing of the man, and pleading being unwell, he did not go up to the wireless station, but remained in the hotel all day in sight of the silent watcher.
He spent the afternoon with the little widow, whose father had recovered, but had not yet left his room.
After tea they went for a stroll together along the mountain path, and Vulkovitch, noticing that he was with her, relaxed his vigilance.
When alone she told him a great deal. She had been passionately fond of her late husband, who, before the war, had been assistant private secretary to King Peter of Serbia. Afterwards he had entered the diplomatic service, serving at the Legation in Paris. Then, when war broke out, he joined his regiment and fought valiantly against the Austrians until the terrible retreat. After the Peace he had been appointed to the Serbian Mission sent to London. But for the past six months, because he had discovered scandals concerning certain of the Serbian Ministers, he had been a marked man, and had eventually fallen the victim of a deliberate plot to close his lips by death.
Her father, however, knew nothing of what was in progress. She withheld the truth of her widowhood from him on account of his weak state of health.
“I am greatly annoyed at being constantly watched as I am,” Geoffrey declared frankly. “I am unable to continue my work at the wireless station because your friends fear that I may reveal the truth to somebody. The situation is most unpleasant.”
“Yes; I quite understand, M’sieur Falconer,” she said. “It was quite by accident that Boris admitted you. You thought to perform a friendly action towards me, and instead you stepped into our group. But I beg of you to have patience. I feared last night that they might kill you. They are all desperate persons, I assure you.”
“Did you form the complot?” asked the young radio-engineer.
“No. They did. They came to me and told me my husband had been tried by secret court-martial and executed, and then suggested revenge.”
“They came to you suggesting that you should bear the expenses of the plot?”
“Yes. I inherited a considerable fortune from my aunt, and they suggested that I should take this patriotic step, for by avenging the death of my poor husband I should rid Serbia of her enemies who are posing as her friends.”