The Lone Wolf · Chapter
XI: Flight explained
Lanyard attempts to flee Troyon's hotel unseen after drugging Roddy, but encounters Lucia Bannon, who also wishes to escape.
What happens
Lanyard attempts to flee Troyon's hotel unseen after drugging Roddy, but encounters Lucia Bannon, who also wishes to escape. They leave together through a service route and take a fiacre. Lanyard sends an anonymous telegram to the Préfecture implicating the American assassin for Roddy's murder, then parts ways with Lucia at the telegraph bureau.
Themes in this chapter
Identity and Duality
Lanyard operates under the incognito of the Lone Wolf, concealing his true identity while orchestrating Roddy's revenge.
Loyalty and Betrayal
Lanyard's loyalty to Roddy drives him to frame the American assassin, while Lucia's trust in Lanyard is tested as she flees her father.
Surveillance and Paranoia
Lanyard is acutely aware of being watched by the sergent de ville and the telegraph clerk, and takes precautions to avoid detection.
Characters to notice
- Michael Lanyard
Leaves Troyon's hotel secretly, encounters Lucia, escorts her out, sends a telegram to frame the American assassin, then parts ways.
- Lucia Bannon
Meets Lanyard in the corridor, asks to leave with him, has no money, and is taken to the Gare du Nord after Lanyard sends his telegram.
- Roddy
Mentioned as the victim; Lanyard sends a telegram to avenge his murder.
- Bourke
Referenced as 'the man from Scotland Yard' who watched at the platform gates.
Key passages
“Now when Lanyard had locked the door, he told himself that the gruesome peace of those two bedchambers was ensured, barring mischance, for as long as the drug continued to hold dominion over the American; and he felt justified in reckoning that period apt to be tolerably protracted; while not before noon at earliest would any hôtelier who knew his business permit the rest of an Anglo-Saxon guest to be disturbed—lacking, that is, definite instructions to the contrary.”
Lanyard believed the drugged American would sleep until at least noon, and that no hotel staff would disturb a guest before then.
Lanyard's calculation of the drug's duration and hotel customs.
“He moved toward her swiftly, with long and silent strides, a lifted hand enjoining rather than begging her attention, aware as he drew nearer that a curious change was colouring the complexion of her temper: she passed quickly from dread to something oddly like relief, from repulsion to something strangely like welcome; and dropping the hand that had sought the doorknob, in her turn moved quietly to meet him.”
Lanyard approached Lucia silently, and her fear turned into relief as she willingly came to meet him.
Lucia's emotional shift upon seeing Lanyard.
“It was, then, not an ill-pleased Lanyard who slipped off into the night and the rain; but his exasperation was elaborate when the first object that met his gaze was that wretched fiacre, back in place before the door, Lucia Bannon leaning from its lowered window, the cocher on his box brandishing an importunate whip at the adventurer.”
Lanyard was satisfied with his telegram but annoyed to find Lucia's cab still waiting for him.
Lanyard's frustration at being delayed by Lucia.