“Right, sir.”

“Make sure you have him ready for me. Lock him in one of the rooms so that he doesn’t stray.”

All the servants at Eversleigh had learned to obey Dickon without question, and I could see the same applied to Jonathan.

Twenty minutes later I rang the bell at Enderby and one of the servants opened the door.

“Oh, Mabel,” I said. “I’m not calling to see my aunt. I just wanted a word with Alberic.”

“You’ve just missed him, Mrs. Frenshaw.”

“Missed him! He’s back from London then?”

“Only just a little while ago. He’s been in and out again.”

“Where did he go?”

“That I don’t know, Madam.”

“All right. Thank you very much.”

I hurried back to Jonathan. As I mounted my horse I said: “He’s been… and he’s gone.”

“That could mean he is trying to get to France. You stay behind. Make sure you hold Grafter till I return.”

“I’m coming with you,” I said.

He was off and I was beside him.

I shouted: “How will you find him? He could be anywhere along the coast.”

“We’ll go where you found him.”

“It’s a lonely spot.”

“Isn’t there a dilapidated boathouse somewhere?”

“Yes.”

“It is possible that he has anticipated an urgent flight. I wonder what was in that boathouse?”

“Nobody ever goes there. It will be washed out to sea one of these days. It only needs a gale to break it up.”

“But it would serve to keep a boat in readiness.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“Dear Claudine, my way of life leads me to believe everything is possible.”

“If he is not there… what then?”

“I shall go along the coast. He’s got to be stopped getting away. They will all be alerted. Unless my theory is correct and he has a boat in readiness, he is not going to find it very easy to get out of England.”

“There are many coves and bays along the coast which are isolated.”

“He’ll need a boat and that will be difficult.”

We were off again and it was only when we were forced to slow down that we could talk.

I could smell the sea now, hear the melancholy cry of the gulls. We had galloped down to the bay. This was the spot where Evie and Dolly had called me to their aid when they found Alberic.

We went down to the sandy beach.

I stared. A little boat was a short distance out at sea bobbing on the waves.

“Alberic,” I shouted.

He was battling with the oars, desperately trying to fight the sea. He could not possibly hope to cross the Channel in such a boat, could he? Perhaps it was just possible and he was a desperate man.

Jonathan stood there watching. He was looking helplessly about him. There was no one in sight, no vessel which could take us after the fugitive.

We had come so far; we were in sight of our prey and the wind was helping to carry him out of our reach.

Alberic had now shipped his oars and was letting the wind act for him. For a few seconds we stood there staring at the little craft bobbing about on the waves, every second being carried farther away from the English coast.

I was close to Jonathan and the explosion nearly knocked me off my feet.

I was looking out to sea. As far as I could discern, Alberic was slumped over the side of the boat. It turned over suddenly and Alberic was in the sea.

Jonathan lifted his gun and fired again. I saw the reddish tint on the water all round the boat.

Jonathan stood still watching. It seemed a very long time that we stood there. The waves were tossing the boat about as though it were light as air. It was being carried out to sea. I watched it go farther and farther away.

There was no sign of Alberic.

I turned to Jonathan. I had a great impulse to run away, to be alone, to overcome this terrible emotion which beset me. I had never seen a man kill another before.

Alberic is dead, I kept thinking. Jonathan killed him. Death is awesome; even the deaths of those one does not know affect one. And this is someone with whom I have laughed and joked… someone merry, and happy and good-natured. It had shattered my peace to see him killed by a man with whom I had shared the utmost intimacy.

Jonathan breathed with satisfaction.

I said: “You killed him. You killed Alberic.”

“That was lucky. Half an hour later and I should have been too late.”

“But we knew him. Aunt Sophie was fond of him… and now he is dead.”

He took me by the shoulders and shook me. “Stop it,” he said. “You’re getting hysterical. He’s dead, yes, and rightly so. How many people do you think might die if he were allowed to continue with his work? Your own grandmother was murdered by his kind. Thank God we found out what he really was.”

“You… you’re quite callous…”

“When it comes to his sort, yes. I have no more compunction in killing him than I would a snake.”

I put my hands to my face and felt the tears there.

“Come on,” he said. “Don’t be a fool, Claudine. We were out to catch him… and we’ve caught him.”

I looked at him in horror and I said: “But it was because of me… don’t you see? It was I who saw him. It was I who told… and because of that he’s dead. I killed him, in a way.”

“Congratulate yourself. One more little spy eliminated. You did good work, Claudine.”

“I… killed him. I have committed adultery and now… murder.”

He burst out laughing. It did not occur to me that he, too, was overwrought. He had just killed a man, a man whom we had all known, and he had ridden full speed from London in pursuit of that man. I had glimpsed the ruthlessness of him, which I had always known was there, but I had never seen it put to such practice as I had in the last half hour.

“Sometimes I think I hate you,” I said. “You are so—uncaring. Even if he had to be killed… even if he is responsible for the deaths of others… you seemed to enjoy killing him.”

He said coolly: “I enjoy seeing a mission satisfactorily concluded.”

I looked out to sea. “I can see the red tinge still there.”

“He’s dead, all right. I want to wait awhile. I wouldn’t want him to be washed ashore and nursed back to health by well-meaning little girls.”

I turned away but he caught me and held me to him for a few moments.

“You’re learning about life and the times we live in, Claudine,” he said. “Not very pleasant sometimes, I have to admit. We have to keep this country prosperous. We have to serve our country’s needs and when the snakes appear we scent them out and kill them. That’s how it is, Claudine. It was the greatest good luck that you happened to be in Benbow’s. You were sharp to recognize Blanchard. That has been a great help to us, to know that he is in London. But when Alberic came in, that was sheer good fortune.”

“For you,” I said. “For him… death.”

“Oh dear, you are determined to be melodramatic and sentimental with it. Alberic was playing with death. He knew that and he wouldn’t be so very surprised that it has caught up with him. There.” He kissed me gently. “We’ve got Alberic. Now we have to be careful. The fishes will finish him off.”

“Oh, please don’t talk like that about a human being.”

“Poor little Claudine, you keep rough company, I’m afraid. Never mind. You were one of us for a day or so. You did very well on the journey. I was proud of you. Now let us think what shall be done. We shall go back to the house. I doubt Grafter will be there. I imagine Alberic warned him. I wonder what papers he was taking with him. They are at the bottom of the ocean by now. This is to be a secret matter, Claudine. You don’t know what happened to Alberic, remember. He’ll be missing and maybe presumed drowned. As for Billy Grafter, if we’ve missed him and he’s disappeared, it will be thought he was with Alberic. But let’s hope he was not warned and is still at the house. There must be no shouting the truth from the housetops. The less that is known, the better.”

“I’ll say nothing,” I said.

“That’s right. I shall have to go back to London.”

“At once?”

“Yes, the fact that Blanchard is known to be in London will cause a flutter. He is one of the founders of the French revolution. You can guess what he is trying to do here.”

“But the revolution is over now. The Republic is being accepted by some states.”

“The French would still like to see us behave as madly as they did. We’re enemies, remember. We’re actually at war with them. I shall leave for London early tomorrow morning. They’ll still be searching for Alberic. Claudine, you must pull yourself together. You must not betray anything. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“You have to put aside all those sentimental notions of yours. Alberic might have been a very pretty boy but he was a spy working against this country and he got his deserts. Remember that. He would have done the same to me if he had had the chance. It’s all the luck of the game.”

“I understand,” I repeated.

“Good. I’m now sure he’s dead. We can safely leave him. I can’t see any sign of the boat now. Oh… is that broken spar right out there… part of it? Yes, I think it is. Now, Claudine, are you calm? Are you ready? We shall go back to Eversleigh and I shall leave tomorrow. You will resume life as though nothing extraordinary has happened. You can tell everyone about the excitement of the royal wedding and how the Prince had to be held up at the ceremony because he was drunk. That’ll make them laugh. And you’ll not betray you know where Alberic is… because he is going to be thought missing… possibly drowned. That’s the best way for us all.”