After that we took it in turns to watch, I having made it right with the night-porter of the hotel, for a pecuniary consideration, to take no notice of our going or coming.
For a whole week the notorious Frenchman did not emerge after he entered the house at dinner-time. I was sorely puzzled regarding the identity of that motor-cyclist. Would he return, or had he left the neighbourhood?
Early one morning Rayner, having taken his turn of watching, returned to say that Bertini, with his motor-cycle, had again met the "foreign gentleman" at the railway bridge--the same spot at which I had seen them meet.
They had remained about half an hour in conversation, after which the stranger had mounted and rode away again on the Norwich road, while Jeanjean had returned to his lodgings.
My mind was then made up. That same morning I took train to Norwich, where I hired a motor-car for a fortnight, and paying down a substantial deposit, drove the car--an open "forty," though a trifle old-fashioned--as far as Aylsham, a distance of ten miles, or half-way between Norwich and Cromer. There I put up at a small hotel, where I spent the rest of the day in idleness, and afterwards dined.
Aylsham is a sleepy little place, with nothing much to attract the visitor save its church and ancient houses. Therefore, I devoted myself to the newspapers until just before the hotel closed for the night.
Then I rang up Rayner on the telephone as I had made arrangement to do.
"That's me, sir," was his answer to my inquiry.
"Yes, sir. A lady called to see you at seven o'clock--a young French lady. I saw her and explained that you were away until to-morrow, and----"
"Yes, yes!" I cried eagerly. "A French lady. Did she give her name?"
"No, sir. She only told me to tell you that if I mentioned the word 'nightingale,' you would know."
"The Nightingale!" I gasped, astounded. It was Lola! And she had called upon me!
"When is she coming back?" I demanded eagerly.
"She didn't say, sir--only told me to tell you how sorry she was that you were out. She had travelled a long way to see you."
"But didn't she say she'd call back?" I demanded, full of chagrin that I should have so unfortunately been absent.
"No, sir. She said she might be able to call sometime to-morrow afternoon, but was not at all certain."