Anton shrugged. 'I think perhaps he did, although he never admitted it.'
'But why should be - or anyone - do such a thing to Tomas?' George demanded.
'I imagine the reason was that he was afraid you were in some real danger that you knew nothing about,' said Faro and the man’s words returned to haunt him again. A matter of life or death.
'Dieter planned the kidnapping,' Anton explained. 'He told me that it was the President's wish and that he would be very angry if I did not obey.' Anton stopped and looked at Faro questioningly.
'Yes, Anton. Mr Faro knows - I've told him that we are half-brothers.' George said hastily, then shook his head bewildered, as Anton went on, 'I still cannot believe it. Our father wanting to murder one of his own sons. It is just too awful. How could any father do such a thing?'
To Faro, however, the answer was grimly obvious. The secret was out. President Gustav had somehow found out the truth, and knew that George was not his child. It explained a great deal and put both George and himself - if he and the President ever had the misfortune to meet - in deadly peril.
George had returned to the Glenatholl incident. 'Something that puzzled me was that I seemed to recognise the footsteps of the other kidnapper. Now I realise why they were familiar. They were yours, Anton.'
‘I am truly sorry.' And Anton sounded very repentant. 'But I have now taken the oath of fealty before a witness,' he nodded towards Faro. 'And I have promised to serve you loyally and never lie to you again.'
Anton's account had fitted some of the pieces together for Faro, but there were still unanswered gaps. Had it really been necessary to make George appear to be in deadly danger so that he could be withdrawn from Glenatholl and returned to Luxoria to be disposed of in his own country?
Perhaps that was only the most logical reason if his mother the Grand Duchess was no longer alive. But according to the telegraph message received on the train, she was alive and well and waiting for George in Luxoria.
'What about Helga?' Faro asked. 'Was she a part of Dieter's plot too?'
Anton shook his head. 'I don't know anything about her. Honestly, sir, I wasn't even aware of her at college. We never associated with the servants, of course. I don't remember seeing her and she wasn't very friendly, was she? She didn't want to talk to us or play cards on the journey to Paris.'
'She certainly did not look like a person with a fever, either,' remarked George the observant. 'She looked quite stout and healthy.'
'Do you know, I thought that too,' said Anton. 'And as she was going to Germany, it did seem odd that she left us in Paris,' He frowned. 'Unless she knew something from Dieter. Something he had told her or wanted her to do for him.'
'It could be that she was to send the wire to the Orient Express in Strasbourg,' said George, giving voice to that dire possibility occupying the forefront of Faro's mind. 'But Mr Faro was certain he saw her leaving the train there.'
'I might have been mistaken,' said Faro who had no wish for George to continue on his own grim line of thought that the wire from his mother was a fake. 'I only saw Helga's back view. I didn't see her face and as Dieter pointed out, perhaps quite rightly, a lot of servants wear the same sort of clothes.'
'Maybe she went to find out about the missing train - ' George began.
'Listen!'
A faint sound far off, growing steadily nearer.
What was this? A new danger? That fear was clearly visible in the scared looks the two boys exchanged.
Chapter 21
Under their feet the track began to vibrate. Distant puffs of steam and there, a hundred yards down the line, a train was fast approaching.
They waved. The driver saw them and blew on the whistle. Never had a sight been more welcome to Faro and the two boys than that of the engine of the State Railway of Luxoria as it braked to a halt.
Of more modest proportions and considerably less impressive than the Orient Express, the Luxorian engine was painted in the national colours and bore the royal flag. With a tall stove-pipe chimney in highly polished brass as well as the usual pipes, tubes and valves, exterior cylinders and brass-rimmed wheel-splashers, its open cab had a tiny roof which housed the driver and fireman in a space so small as to seem totally inadequate against the elements.
The head of the State Railways, in full ceremonial uniform, leapt down from the front carriage and bowed low to George. 'Welcome home, Your Highness.'
Acknowledging the man's greeting, George whispered gleefully to Faro: 'We're safe, safe - ' sounding as if he couldn't quite believe it.
Their luggage stowed aboard, Anton gave a sigh of relief.
'At last,' he said, grinning at George, and stood aside with a bow to let Faro precede him into the carriage. Lacking the extravagant furnishings of the Orient Express it was nevertheless comfortable, a blissful haven after their recent ordeal.
'Isn't it wonderful?' said George bouncing up and down on the plush chairs.
The railway official, consulting an important-looking gold watch on a handsome gold chain, assured his royal passenger that they should reach the border in less than forty minutes. The watch snapped shut, the signal was given to the waiting guard and after some strains, jerkings and renewed steam they were off at a steady pace down the line.
'Soon we'll be home. Just think,' said George, 'won't it be wonderful, Anton? All our familiar things again, there waiting for us.'
Staring out of the window, the two boys lapsed into German as they talked excitedly of horses, and games and the archery field.
Suddenly aware
