In order to enfilade the new-comer scientifically, Corbett backed to the corner. Claude glanced at the three, saw the revolver, and said with a comical air of relief:
"Thank goodness, nothing has happened. Put away your pistol, Mr.
Corbett; you will not need it."
Although the barrister"s manner differed considerably from the brusque methods adopted by Mr. White, the American remained on his guard. He said stiffly:
"You all seem to know me fairly well; but if you had the advantage of closer acquaintance, you would allow that I am not the man to be rushed on a confidence trick. If somebody doesn"t explain quick I will lose my temper, and there will be trouble."
"I sympathize with you!" cried Bruce. "But the first thing you must learn in this country is to keep dry cigars for your visitors. Our respective tastes differ in that respect."
"I guess I"ll cotton to you, stranger; but I"m tired holding this pistol."
"Put it away, then. I tell you it is not wanted. White, listen to me.
You have hit upon the wrong man."
"Wrong man!" cried the detective, feeling more confident in the barrister"s presence. "Why, I"ve had a cable about him from New York."
"Possibly; but you"re mistaken, nevertheless. Mr. Corbett has not been within five thousand miles of England for years, possibly not in his life."
"Bully for you, stranger!" broke in Corbett.
"Then who is Mr. Sydney H. Corbett whom you believe, as well as I, to be the murderer of Lady d.y.k.e?"
"Steady, White. The last time I saw you I appealed to you to go slow.
The man whom you want, simply because he happens to be the real occupant of these rooms, is at present travelling to London as fast he can from Florence, and his sister, Mrs. Hillmer, is with him."
"Florence! Mrs. Hillmer!" gasped the policeman. "I"ve just arranged to have her watched there."
"Your arrangements, though admirable, are somewhat late in the day."
"Then what is her brother"s name?"
"Albert Mensmore. For some reason, hidden at this moment, he lived here under the name of the gentleman who has, I see, been giving you a practical lesson in the art of not jumping at conclusions."
"Have you known this long?"
"For some weeks."
"Then why didn"t you tell me?"
"Because I have no definite reason for connecting Mensmore with Lady d.y.k.e"s death. If I had, his action in returning to London the moment he hears of the charge would shake my belief."
"Who told him?"
"Mrs. Hillmer."
"Oh, this business is quite beyond me. I can"t fathom it a little bit."
And White sank dejectedly to his chair again.
"I don"t know what you"re talking about, gentlemen," said Corbett, pocketing his revolver; "but it dawns upon me that I shan"t be required to shoot anybody or sleep in jail to-night."
"Why didn"t you answer my questions properly, and save all this nonsense?"
"I"ll tell you why, sir. The name of a friend of mine has been mentioned. Albert Mensmore has been more than a brother to me. I allowed you meant mischief to him, as you thought you were talking to him all the time. I don"t know much about you, but I hope that your first action would not be to give away your chum if he is in trouble."
The detective did not answer, though his look of astonishment at Corbett"s declaration of motive was eloquent enough.
"Before we quit this business," went on the American, "let me say one thing. Any man who tells you that Albert Mensmore murdered a woman is telling you a lie. I don"t know anything about this Lady d.y.k.e, or how she may have died, but I do know my friend. He"s good in a tight place, but, to think of him killing a woman--Jehosh, it"s sickening."
Mrs. Robinson burst in, with face aflame.
"Is this palaverin" to go on all night?" she demanded angrily. "Here"s the dinner sphilin", after all me worry and bother, with the head of me vexed to know who is the masther and who ishn"t."
"All right, mother," laughed Corbett. "Bring in the whole caboodle."
"Mr. Corbett," said Bruce, "I hope you will come and have lunch with me to-morrow, at this address," handing him a card. "I want to have a long talk with you. Mr. White, if you come with me I will explain a good deal to you of which you are now in ignorance."
"Surely, Mr. Corbett will answer a few questions first," said the detective.
"Don"t you think you have troubled him sufficiently for this evening?
Besides, he can tell us nothing. All the explanation is really due to him, and I propose to give it to him to-morrow. Come, White, this time I promise you that a considerable portion of your inquiry shall be cleared up, and I do not speak without foundation, as you have often learned hitherto."
So the mysterious Sydney H. Corbett was left in undisturbed possession of his flat and his dinner, while the trio pa.s.sed out into the quietude of the streets.
CHAPTER XXI
HOW LADY d.y.k.e LEFT RALEIGH MANSIONS
Mr. White was actually inclined to preserve silence while they walked to Victoria Street. The events of the preceding hour had not exactly conduced to the maintenance, in the eyes of his brother officer, of that pre-eminent sagacity which he invariably claimed.
His companion rubbed in this phase of the matter by saying: "I should think, Jim, you will give Raleigh Mansions wide berth for some time to come, after making two bad breaks there."
But it was no part of Bruce"s scheme that the detective should be rendered desperate by repeated failures. "It is not Mr. White"s fault,"
he said, "that these errors have occurred. They are rather the result of his pertinacity in leaving no clue unsolved which promises to lead to success. When this case ends, if ever it does end, I feel sure he will admit that he has never before encountered so much difficulty in unravelling the most complex problems within his experience."
"That is so," chimed in the senior detective. "The thing that beats me in this affair is the want of a beginning, so to speak. One would imagine it the work of a lunatic if Lady d.y.k.e herself had not contributed so curiously to the mystery of her disappearance."
"There you are, White; that is the true scent. Find the motive and we find the murderer, if Lady d.y.k.e was wilfully put to death."
"_If_ she was, Mr. Bruce? Have you any doubt about it?"
"There cannot be certainty when we are groping in the dark. But the gloom is pa.s.sing; we are on the eve of a discovery."