will ask Roger to bring you some.”
Her hand fluttered up to her throat, lingered there artistically, then dropped once more. “I don’t think it will be necessary. If I am troubled by it still this afternoon, then I might ask for one or two tablets.”
“Very good. You may want to rest an hour or so. The drive to the coast is long and fatiguing.” He left the room to the dry sound of her cough.
“She claims to be feeling poorly,” Roger explained to Saint-Germain later that morning. “I brought her the tea she asked for and said that I was looking forward to taking her down to Nice. She claimed to be enthusiastic, but said she did not think she was entirely well, and did not know how easily she would travel.”
“She coughed for me,” Saint-Germain said. “Apparently she is not as eager as she claimed to be.”
“Give her a break,” James protested, watching the other two. “Maybe she’s got a cold. She’s been through enough.”
“No matter what she has done, it’s possible, of course, that she has caught a cold,” Saint-Germain allowed. “But if you were as anxious as she has professed to be out of this country and on your way to Scotland, would you permit a cold to keep you from completing your journey?”
“She might be worn out,” James said, determined to discount anything Saint-Germain suggested. “If she’s tired enough, she might not be able to fight off a cold or any other bug that happens to be around.”
Saint-Germain’s dark eyes were wryly amused. “Is that what you thought when you tried to search her valise? Never mind, James. We’ll find out shortly what the case truly is.”
“How’re you planning to do that?” He was a little belligerent and huffy.
“Why, I want to find out if she is really ill. I will offer her a remedy. If she takes it, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt. If she doesn’t, then I will be extremely careful with her. As you should be.” He turned away toward the old wing where he had set up his laboratory. “And James, if you would not mind, I would like to begin this myself. You may talk to her later, if you choose, but just at first, let me.”
“You sound like you think I’d warn her …” James shot back. “I didn’t get to be good at my job by shooting off my mouth.”
“I am aware of that,” Saint-Germain said. “But you have gallantry, my American friend, and there are those who have a way of turning that virtue to their advantage. All I ask is that you remember that.”
Roger intervened before James could say anything more. “Should I get the Bugatti ready?”
“Yes. Whether Madame Kunst uses it, or one of us, it doesn’t matter: the car should be fueled, and ready.”
“You’re anticipating some difficulty other than this?” James asked, looking about him involuntarily.
“Nothing specific, but in as unsettled a situation as we are in, it might be best.” Saint-Germain gave James a penetrating, amused glance. “Do you wish to visit our patient in half an hour or so, to wish her godspeed?”
“Do you want me to?” James sounded irritable, but it was more from frustration at his own inactivity than genuine anger.
“Let us see how she responds to Roger.” He motioned toward his manservant. “And to me.”
James accepted this with a shrug, and went off to the old library to pass the better part of the morning in trying to decipher the medieval French of the oldest volumes there. He found it intriguing and it kept him from pacing the halls like a stalking tiger.
“How are you doing, Madame Kunst?” Saint-Germain inquired of his guest as he went into her room twenty minutes after his conversation with Roger and James.
“Very well,” she said listlessly.
“I trust so; the travel permit I have been able to secure for you is dated only for the next twenty-four hours. It would not be easy to get another one.” He came to stand at the foot of her bed. “I can arrange for you to stop at the physician’s, perhaps, but you might not wish to be subjected to the questions he is required to ask.”
Madame Kunst turned blush rather than pale. “I want to keep away from officials.”
“And so you shall. It is better for me, as well, to come as little to their attention as possible. Then, if it is satisfactory to you, I will make sure you have aspirin and brandy