Ensconced in my arm-chair sat Lady Fyneshade, while on the opposite side of the room, his bony hands clasped behind his back, stood her companion Markwick.
As I entered Mabel gave vent to a cry that betrayed alarm, and rose quickly to her feet, while her companion stood staring at me open-mouthed, with an expression of mingled fear and astonishment. Both glared at me as if I were an apparition.
But only for a single instant. Markwick"s face relaxed into a forced smile, while Mabel, laughing outright, stretched forth her hand frankly, exclaiming:
"Here you are at last, Stuart! How are you?"
I greeted her rather coldly, but she chattered on, telling me that Saunders had asked them in, saying that he expected me to return every moment. They had, it seems, already waited half an hour, and were just about to depart. Few words I addressed to the man who had first led me to the mysterious house in Gloucester Square. I merely greeted him, then turned again to Mabel. The strange expression on both their faces when I had entered puzzled me. There was, I felt certain, some deep motive underlying their call.
But successfully concealing my suspicions and addressing Mabel, I said as pleasantly as I could:
"It is not often you favour me with a visit nowadays."
"My time is unfortunately so much taken up," she answered, with a smile.
"But I wanted to see you very particularly to-day."
"What about?" I asked, seating myself on the edge of the table, my back towards her silent escort, while she in her turn sank back into her chair.
"About Fyneshade," she answered. "You remember all I told you on the afternoon when you called on me. Well, I have discovered he is back in London, but he has not returned home, and a letter to his club has elicited no reply."
"You want to see him?"
"I do. If he will hear me I can at once clear myself. You are one of my oldest friends and know the little differences that exist between us, therefore I seek your a.s.sistance to obtain an interview with him.
Invite him here, send me word the day and hour, and I will come also."
I hesitated. Her request was strange, and more curious that it should be made before the very man who, although hated by Fyneshade, was nevertheless his friend.
"I have no desire to interfere between husband and wife," I answered slowly. "But if any effort of mine will secure a reconciliation, I shall be only too pleased to do my best on your behalf."
"Ah!" she cried, a weight apparently lifted from her mind. "You are always loyal, Stuart; you are always generous to your friends. I know if you ask Fyneshade he will call on you. A letter to White"s will find him." Markwick, his hands still clasped behind his back, seeming taller and more slim than usual in his perfect-fitting, tightly-b.u.t.toned frock-coat, had crossed to the window, and was gazing abstractedly out upon the never-ceasing tide of London traffic below. He took no interest whatever in our conversation, but fidgeted about as if anxious to get away.
Mabel and I talked of various matters, when I suddenly asked her about Dora.
"Ma is coming to town with her this week," the Countess answered. "I had a letter from her a few days ago, and it appears that the house-party at Blatherwycke has been an unqualified success."
"Bethune has been there, I suppose," I hazarded, laughing.
"Bethune!" she echoed. "Why, haven"t you heard of him lately?"
"Not for several weeks. He is somewhere in Wales."
"I think not," she said. "From what I have heard from Ma, he arrived late one night at Blatherwycke, met Dora clandestinely somewhere on the Bulwick Road, and, wishing her farewell, left next day for the Continent. Since that n.o.body has heard a single word about him."
"Not even Dora?" I inquired, greatly surprised that Jack should have left again without a word to me.
"No. Dora, silly little goose, is crying her eyes out and quite spoiling her complexion. Their engagement is absolutely ridiculous."
"She loves him," I observed briefly.
"Nowadays a woman does not marry the man she loves. She does not learn to love until after marriage, and then, alas! her flirtation is not with her husband."
I sighed. There was much truth in what this smart woman of the world said. It is only among the middle cla.s.ses that persons marry for love.
The open flirtation in Belgravia would be voted a scandal if it occurred in Suburbia. There is one standard of morals in Mayfair, another in Mile End.
By dint of artful questioning I endeavoured to glean from her whether she knew the reason of Jack"s departure, but either by design or from ignorance she was as silent as the sphinx.
"The only other fact I know beyond what I have already told you," she replied, "was contained in a paragraph in the Morning Post, which stated that Captain Bethune, the well-known soldier-novelist, had left London for the Balkan States, in order to obtain material for a new romance upon which he is actively engaged. Really, novelists obtain as much advertis.e.m.e.nt and are quite as widely known as princes of reigning houses."
Markwick at that moment turned quickly and expressed a fear that he must be going, as he had an appointment in the City, while Mabel, rising, stretched forth her small hand in farewell, and urging me not to forget to arrange a meeting with Fyneshade, accompanied her companion out.
When they had gone I stood for a long time gazing down into the street, pondering deeply. I could not discern the object of their visit, nor why that curious expression should have crossed their faces when I appeared. The reason they had called was, however, quite apparent half an hour later, for, to my abject dismay, I found that the little cabinet in which I had kept the fragments of paper I had discovered in Jack"s chambers on the night of the tragedy had been wrenched open, the papers turned over hurriedly, and the whole of the letters abstracted.
Markwick had stolen them! I now recollected, quite distinctly, that at the moment I entered he had his hands behind his back endeavouring to conceal something.
I started forward to go and inform the police, but remembering that ere long I should place Grindlay in possession of all the tangled chain of facts, I rang the bell for Saunders instead.
"What time did Lady Fyneshade arrive," I asked, when he had responded to my summons.
"About half an hour before you returned, sir."
"Were they alone in this room the whole time?"
"Yes, sir. Her ladyship went to the piano and played several songs."
His words convinced me. Mabel had strummed on the piano in order to drown the sound of the breaking open of the cabinet.
For what reason, I strove to imagine, had Markwick obtained the letters?
How, indeed, could he have known their hiding-place, or that they were in my possession?
I felt absolutely certain that, having satisfied themselves of my absence, they had entered in order to obtain possession of those half-charred letters, and that on my unexpected return Mabel, in order to cover their confusion, had skillfully concocted an object for their visit. She had tricked me cleverly, and although half mad with anger at my loss, I could not help admiring her extraordinary self-possession and the calm circ.u.mstantial manner in which she had lied to me.
Business London had drawn its whirling fevered day to a close when I entered one of the bare waiting-rooms at New Scotland Yard, and sent my card to Inspector Grindlay. I had not long to wait, for in a few minutes he came in, greeting me bluffly with a hearty hand-shake, expressing pleasure that I had called.
"I want to consult you, Grindlay," I said seriously. "I have made a discovery."
"A discovery!" he laughed. "What is it, some mechanical invention?"
"No. A body!"
"A body!" he echoed, arching his thick, dark brows, and regarding me keenly.
"Yes," I said. "I want to tell you all about it, for I"ve come to seek your a.s.sistance. Shall we be disturbed?"
He crossed the room, locked the door, and then, motioning me to a chair, took one himself on the opposite side of the small table, and announced his readiness to hear my story.
Commencing at the beginning, I described my meeting with Sybil at Bagneres de Luchon, my love for her, the midnight marriage, and her death.
"What name did she give you?" he inquired interrupting me.