In Direst Peril | Page 8

"My aunt has been telling you of my dreadful news," she began, and I
answered with a mere nod. Her next words almost took my breath away.
"I am glad that you have called, and if you had not done so, I should
have taken the liberty to send for you. You are a man of courage and
experience, Captain Fyffe, and I wish to ask your advice and help."
I answered that I should be glad to render any service in my power, but
I was afraid to show how eager I was to be of use to her, and I thought
that my answer sounded grudging and reluctant.
"Thank you," she said, simply. I could see her great eyes shining from
the dusk in which she sat, and they seemed never to leave my face for a
moment. "I heard you say just now that Mr. Brunow had told you the
story. Did he show you this?"
She drew a scrap of paper from the bosom of her dress, and I took it
from her hand. I told her I had seen it before, and returned it to her.
"Without this," she went on, "I should have had no faith in Mr.
Brunow's statement; but I have compared it with old letters of my
father's, and I have no doubt that it was written by his hand. Now,
Captain Fyffe"--she did her hardest to be business-like and

commonplace in manner through all this interview, and my honor and
esteem rose higher every moment--"now, Captain Fyffe, I want to ask
you if in your judgment there is anything which can be done. I come to
you--I tell you frankly--because you have already done my family one
incalculable service. It is a poor way of offering thanks to burden you
with a new trouble."
"If I have done anything to save you from grief or trouble, Miss
Rossano," I replied, "I can ask for no better reward than to be allowed
to repeat my service."
If she had been anybody but the woman she was she might have
accepted my words, which I knew were spoken with coldness and
restraint, as a mere surface compliment of no value. But I never knew
her yet mistaken' in respect of that one virtue of sincerity. It is
especially her own, and it is the touchstone by which a true heart tests
all others.
"Thank you," she answered, simply.
I told her it was four weeks that day since I had first heard of the matter,
and that I had since given it a good deal of practical consideration. I
drew for her a rough map of the country, showing the roads, marking
the places where guards were posted, and so on, and I gave her what
information I had been able to acquire about the rates of possible travel.
From Itzia I calculated we could, if well mounted, cross the frontier in
about nine hours. There were no telegraph wires in that region in those
days, and I pointed out that with a start of a single hour escape was
probable. I laid stress on the value of the sympathetic attendant, and she
hung with clasped hands and suspended breath on every word I spoke.
"You have thought of all this already?" she asked, when I had said all I
then had to say.
"I have thought of little else," I answered. "But now I must tell you that
all this will cost money."
"We can see to that," said Lady Rollinson, who was almost as

interested as her niece. She showed it another way; for while Miss
Rossano had listened without a word, the old lady had been full of
starts and ejaculations.
"I must be able to tell the man on whose aid I shall have to rely that the
relatives of the count are wealthy, and that they will reward him
handsomely. I may even have to promise him an independence for
life."
"You may promise him anything it is in my power to give him," cried
Miss Rossano. "If I could secure my father's liberty I would surrender
every penny I have in the world."
"The man is a common soldier," I responded. "He has his rations and
his clothes, and a few copper coins a day to find him a little beer and
tobacco. To such a man a pension of a pound a week would look like
Paradise. Much depends on his condition. If he is a single man, I may
secure him. If he is married and has a family, I shall find greater
difficulties in the way. The great thing is not to hope too much. I will
try, if you will allow me, and I will leave no stone unturned."
"Captain Fyffe, how shall I