[_The reader has already been told how Falfani craftily approached
l'Echelle, and found him, as he thought, an easy prey. We know how
the communication was kept up between the two camps, how Falfani was
fooled into believing that he kept close watch over Colonel Annesley
through l'Echelle, how the latter told his real master the true news
of the progress made by Tiler. When there could be little doubt that
the chase was growing warm and had gone as far as Lyons, the Colonel
felt that there was danger and that he must take more active steps to
divert the pursuit and mislead the pursuers. The Colonel shall
continue in his own words._]
I was much disturbed when I learnt that Tiler had wired from Lyons. I
saw clearly what it meant. The next message would disclose the
whereabouts of the Lady Claire, at that time the only lady, as they
thought, in the case, and the lady with the real child. It would soon
be impossible for me to make use of the second with the sham child to
draw the pursuers after her. In this it must be understood that,
although I had no certainty of it, I took it for granted that the
little Lord Aspdale was with his aunt and not with his mother, who, as
I sincerely believed, had already reached Fuentellato.
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