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"The king told Madame de Pompadour that he did not want me to go to Paris; I am of his Majesty's opinion, I don't want to go to Paris," wrote Voltaire to the Marquis of Paulmy. He took fright and sought refuge in Switzerland, where he soon settled on the Lake of Geneva, pending his purchase of the estate of Ferney in the district of Gex and that of Tourney in Burgundy.
"Once he entertained two very strange-looking shabby individuals when he was at Aix-les-Bains with Mr. De Gex." "With Mr. De Gex!" I echoed. "Was the Baron a friend of his?" "Yes, an intimate friend. They often had big deals together in which Count Chamartin, who lived in Madrid, participated." "Ah! That is distinctly interesting," I said. "Did the Baron, when in London, visit Mr.
"And you have no other niece?" "None I assure you. But why do you ask such a question? You puzzle me." "Not more than you puzzle me, Mr. De Gex," I replied with pique. "It would be so much easier if you would be frank and open with me." "My dear sir, you seem to me to have a bee in your bonnet about something or other. Tell me, now, what is it?"
Sanz, though a hired assassin as was his friend Despujol, should not be arrested yet, for the longer he remains at liberty the more extensive will be our information against the arch-schemer of Europe, Oswald De Gex." Rivero spent the evening with me. We dined at the Clarendon, across Hammersmith Bridge, and afterwards we idled in one of the foreign cafés near Piccadilly Circus.
I am a poor man, and will be out of pocket by the transaction from the hour I start for Gex to that when you pay me my fair share of the reward." By way of a reply he took out a case from his pocket.
But I know that Mr. De Gex owed the Baron a very considerable sum over a financial deal regarding some oil wells in Roumania. Only a few months ago he mentioned to Mr. Grant, one of his friends, in my presence, that he hoped De Gex would very soon settle with him. In fact he seemed annoyed at the delay in the payment." This statement caused me to reflect deeply.
They were about to shut the Porte St. Gervais, the north gate of Geneva. The sergeant of the gate had given his men the word to close; but at the last moment, shading his eyes from the low light of the sun, he happened to look along the dusty road which led to the Pays de Gex, and he bade the men wait.
"Ah!" exclaimed Rivero. "Despujol would not risk the train. He always arranges a secret means of escape. In this case he prepared it on the day before. Without a doubt he knew that watch was being kept." "Or was it that De Gex knew that I was here?" I suggested.
"So do I. The opinion of Professor Vega may throw some light upon the affair." "I shall call at the Princesa Hospital to-morrow," I said, and then I inquired the latest information concerning De Gex and his French friend. There was little to report. De Gex had not been out of the hotel, though Suzor had gone to purchase some cigars at eleven o'clock that morning.
Oswald De Gex's denials were, in themselves, only thin, and yet they were all very clever and carefully prepared. The story of how his wife had left his little son in Westbourne Grove to be discovered by the police was no doubt well thought out. De Gex and his wife were actually on most affectionate terms, hence the tale he had told had been purposely concocted, in order to mislead me.
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