It was a busy night at the Café Suisse. Guest promenaded the room in his tightly fitting frock coat, his grey wig, and newly grown imperial, exchanging greetings with his clients in many languages. The long table was full! Hartwell was there, and Hirsch, and Kauffman, Madame and the others. And always I fancied that when I approached their table their voices dropped a little, and covert glances followed me when I turned away. Had Madame succeeded in making them suspicious, I wondered.
They went into the club-room as usual, and a quiet time followed in the restaurant. I went to talk with Madame, but she had little to say to me. Somehow, though, I could not move a yard without feeling that her eyes were upon me. Once only she beckoned to me.
"Well," she asked, "have you found the place yet, where you will make so much money that you can send for the beloved Elsie?"
"I have answered two advertisements," I said; "one at a club, but they were no good. I am going to see a rich English lady to-morrow morning. She may engage me as butler."
"You are a very foolish young man, Herr Paul," she said. "You do not know how to look after yourself. You will never make any money!"
It was one o'clock the next morning before Guest and I turned homeward to our rooms, for we had thought it well to separate, and I could tell him what had passed between Lady Dennisford and myself. He heard me without interruption, but I saw his face twitch with anxiety.
"It is almost the last chance," he muttered.
Lady Dennisford had failed. I saw it in her face as soon as I entered the room, and her first few words confirmed it.
"It's no use, Jim," she declared. "I've done my best, but there isn't a soul who will listen to me."
"Good God!" I murmured, and sat down on the sofa.
"There is not a single man in the Cabinet of the slightest influence," she continued, "who will take this affair seriously. Lord Esherville assured me solemnly that the whole affair was absurd and impossible. Polloch declares that we have been brought to the brink of war with Germany twice already, through treating her overtures with too much suspicion. He is absolutely determined that the mistake shall not be repeated."
"How about the massing of troops on the French frontier?" I asked.