Next morning Hambledon was up early and went to Charing Cross, where
he watched the banker's departure. Afterwards he returned, and with
our suit-cases we travelled down to the London Terminal Aerodrome at
Croydon, where, just before noon, we entered one of the large
passenger aeroplanes which fly between London and Paris. Within half
an hour of our arrival at the aerodrome we were already in the air
sailing gaily southward towards Lympne, near Folkestone, where we had
to report previous to crossing the Channel.
The morning was bright, and although cold the visibility was
excellent. Below us spread a wide panorama of tiny square fields and
small clusters of houses that were villages, and larger ones with
straight roads running like ribbons through them, which were towns.
The dark patches dotting the ground beneath us were woods and
coppices, while running straight beneath was a tiny train upon the
railway between Folkestone and London. There were three other
passengers beside ourselves, apparently French business men, who were
all excitement, it evidently being their first flight.
Very soon we could see the sea, and presently we could also discern
the French coast.
As we approached Lympne the observer telephoned by wireless back to
Croydon telling them of our position, and in a few moments we were
high over the Channel. At Marquise, on the other side, we again
reported, and then following the railway line we sped towards Paris
long before the express, by which the banker was travelling, had left
Calais.
Indeed, shortly before three o'clock we had installed ourselves at the
Hôtel Terminus at the Gare St. Lazare, in Paris, and afterwards took
a stroll along the boulevards, awaiting the time when the express from
Calais was due at the Gare du Nord.
Shortly before half-past five Hambledon left me and took a taxi to the
station for the purpose of watching Suzor's arrival and ascertaining
his destination, which, of course, I feared to do, lest he should
recognize me.
It was not until past nine o'clock that evening that my friend
returned to the hotel. He described how Suzor on arrival at the Gare
du Nord had been met by a young English lady, and the pair had driven
straight to the Rotonde Restaurant at the corner of the Boulevard
Haussmann, where they had dined together.
"I dined near them, and one could see plainly that their conversation
was a very earnest one," declared my companion. "She seemed to be
relating something, and apparently was most apprehensive, while he, on
his part, seemed gravely perplexed. Though he ordered an expensive
meal they scarcely touched it. They sat in a corner and spoke in
English, but I could not catch a single word."
In response to my request he described Suzor's lady friend.
Then he added: "She wore only one ornament, a beautiful piece of
apple-green jade suspended round her neck by a narrow black ribbon.
When they rose and the waiter brought their coats, I heard him call
her Dorothy."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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