Clementina

"On the evening of the 27th," said the Prince.

Clementina laughed softly in a way which he did not understand. She was

altogether in a strange, incomprehensible mood that afternoon, and when

he learnt next day that she had taken to her bed he was not surprised.

Perhaps he was not altogether grieved. It seemed right that she should

be punished for her stubbornness. Punishment might soften her.

But no message came to him during those two days, and on the morning of

the 27th he set out for Italy.

At the second posting stage, which he reached about three of the

afternoon, he crossed a hired carriage on its way to Innspruck. The

carriage left the inn door as the Prince drove up to it. He noticed the

great size of the coachman on the box, he saw also that a man and two

women were seated within the carriage, and that a servant rode on

horseback by the door. The road, however, was a busy one; day and night

travellers passed up and down; the Prince gave only a passing scrutiny

to that carriage rolling down the hill to Innspruck. Besides, he was

acquainted neither with Gaydon, who rode within the carriage, nor with

Wogan, the servant at the door, nor with O'Toole, the fat man on the

box.

At nightfall the Prince came to Nazareth, a lonely village amongst the

mountains with a single tavern, where he thought to sleep the night.

There was but one guest-room, however, which was already bespoken by a

Flemish lady, the Countess of Cernes, who had travelled that morning to

Innspruck to fetch her niece.

The Prince grumbled for a little, since the evening was growing stormy

and wild, but there was no remedy. He could not dispute the matter, for

he was shown the Countess's berlin waiting ready for her return. A

servant of the Count's household also had been left behind at Nazareth

to retain the room, and this man, while using all proper civilities,

refused to give up possession. The Prince had no acquaintance with the

officers of Dillon's Irish regiment, so that he had no single suspicion

that Captain Misset was the servant. He drove on for another stage,

where he found a lodging.

Meanwhile the hired carriage rolled into Innspruck, and a storm of

extraordinary violence burst over the country.