'Oh I am, very,' Dieter said smoothly. 'I had little chance of rest after I left you. I had to make my way to the telegraph office and - it was very trying - I found it was closed until morning. I had to wait all night and then there were many complications that I will not bore you with.'
'I take it that you were not attacked by brigands? We feared that you had been taken prisoner by them.'
'Brigands!' Dieter gave a start of surprise. 'You saw brigands at the railway hut?'
'We did indeed, and Anton was taken hostage.'
'Anton!' His eyelids fluttered briefly and again Faro suspected that his surprise was feigned. 'I gather that since I am told both boys are enjoying the ride on the engine at this moment, Anton took no ill from his experience.'
'He managed to escape. Apparently they did not make him prisoner and, in fact, he thought he recognised them as some of the President's guards.'
Dieter shook his head, a somewhat unconvincing gesture. 'That is a very odd happening. Why should the President have Anton taken prisoner?'
'Why indeed? His own son,' said Faro drily’
That broke through Dieter's calm. 'Er, Anton told you that?'
'George did.'
Dieter shook his head and said gravely, 'It was to be kept a secret, Mr Faro, for obvious reasons. Anton is illegitimate but his father is fond of him and wished him to accompany his own son to Scotland. You realise it would have been very degrading both to the President and to Anton for his fellow-pupils to know his true background.' He shook his head and continued. 'Especially knowing how the other boys would react to such information. They would have made his life unbearable.'
'Do you know what happened at the railway hut to George and myself and the porter?'
'No.' Dieter frowned. ‘I presume, like myself, you made your way to the telegraph office.'
'We were doing so when the hut was blown up.'
Dieter blinked as if in disbelief. 'Blown up! How dreadful. Who would do such a thing?'
'The same soldiers who took Anton.'
'But why, Mr Faro? Why should they do that if it was Anton they wanted?'
'The explosion was planned deliberately. But first they were to make sure that Anton, their main concern, was safe.' With a pause to let that sink in, he went on: 'You are an intelligent man, Dieter, you know something, I am sure, of the devious workings of Luxorian politics. Surely it is obvious to you that, whoever was in charge of this hostage-taking and destruction of the railway hut, George was the real target.'
‘I cannot imagine such a thing, Mr Faro,' Dieter said coldly. 'And your reasoning is beyond me.'
'Then might I ask you to consider some more of my reasoning, as you call it. May we talk about Glenatholl for a moment?'
'Glenatholl?' Dieter frowned as if he had some difficulty in remembering the place. 'I do not follow you.'
'First of all, I would like to discuss the accident to George's bodyguard Tomas.'
Dieter shrugged impatiently. ‘I have already told you that it was an unfortunate accident. He fell out of the window. I thought you knew that, Mr Faro. You were on the premises when it happened.'
Faro smiled grimly. 'You did not know then that Tomas came to see me just before I gave my lecture. He had some urgent secret information, concerning George.'
Dieter looked uneasy. 'And that was?' he demanded sharply.
'We will leave that for the moment,' Faro said smoothly. ‘I should like you to tell me instead about Helga and why she pretended to be leaving us in Paris when I saw her on the train at Strasbourg.'
'Mr Faro,' said Dieter wearily. 'She did leave us at Paris.'
'What about that ball of knitting wool?'
Dieter held up a hand in protest. 'We have gone into all that, Mr Faro. I can only insist once again that you were mistaken. As I told you at the time, it could not have been Helga. She was ill and wished to stay with her grandmother.'
'Very well. Tell me, how well did you know Helga?'
Dieter spread his hands wide. 'Hardly at all. I hardly remember her from Glenatholl. She was a servant and I had little to do with the domestic staff. I had exceptional duties looking after Anton and George. I was not interested in Helga, if that is what you are asserting, Mr Faro, I simply accepted what she told me.'
'To return to Anton. He has confessed all about George's kidnapping.'
'Has he indeed?' Again that flicker of uncertainty in the man's expression. 'I presume he has told you that it was really his idea, a practical joke to play on George.'
'A curious practical joke. Like the one on the ferry. To pretend someone tried to throw him overboard.'
Dieter made no denial, just a weary shrug of indifference. 'The kidnapping was a wager from the boys in his class. Anton insisted that I must help him if it was to succeed.'
'That was not quite Anton's version,' Faro interrupted. Dieter looked startled. 'But do go on.'
'We were to leave George in the old stable overnight.'
'With no regard to the dangers to his health, lying bound on a cold floor for hours,' Faro, said indignantly.
Dieter laughed grimly. 'He is a very strong child. Well used to the rigours of sleeping out all night. One of Glenatholl's more Spartan exercises is camping in the hills, survival in the open air with only one blanket, What I did not know when I agreed to what seemed a harmless schoolboy's prank was that Captain Reece and the royal train would be arriving that day to take George to Balmoral.'
'Did Anton know?'
'I am sure he did. George tells him everything.' Another weary sigh. 'Mr Faro, you are always searching for reasons. I put it to you that Anton had a very good one for pretending that George was kidnapped.'
'And that was?'
'Jealousy, Mr Faro, just plain jealousy. Surely
