"A confession!" gasped her lover. "What?"
"On that fatal evening when poor Nelly was so brutally killed I had an appointment to meet you at the spot," she answered. "And I kept it."
"You did? Why, I thought you were prevented."
"I was, but I arrived there late. Unconscious of the fearful tragedy, I walked there, and in the twilight waited in the gateway leading to the meadow, the very spot where Mariette and Nelly had been standing an hour before. While there the high wind blew my hair about and several of the pins fell out. I picked them up, all save one--the one you discovered."
"It was yours!" he cried dismayed.
"Yes, mine," she replied. "I waited there alone about ten minutes, then pa.s.sed beneath the railway bridge and there saw straight before me, a little way beyond, Nelly lying beside her machine. We had quarrelled earlier in the day over a trifling matter and she had uttered some rather insulting words: therefore, believing that she had merely had a fall and would recover in a few minutes, I left her lying where she was.
I saw no blood, and never dreamt that she was dead. At her throat was the brooch Charles Holroyde had given her, an ornament upon which she set great store. Suddenly the temptation to annoy her came over me, and I bent and s.n.a.t.c.hed it off. At that moment you had already discovered the crime, and gone for a.s.sistance. It was my intention to keep the brooch, so that she might believe it had been stolen. Judge my horror when a few hours later I knew the ghastly truth, while in my possession there remained the missing brooch about which the papers afterwards made so many comments. Again, the hairpin you discovered being one of mine was still another fact which caused me the greatest terror, lest the police should ascertain from whose hair the pin had fallen. In order to make it appear that I had not been to Cross Lane I that night wrote a letter to you regretting that I was prevented from meeting you, and early next morning tore it into fragments and cast it at the roadside, where it was subsequently discovered by the detectives. Yet the fear that the brooch might be discovered in my possession was ever upon me, so one night I took all my remaining pins, together with the brooch, and buried them in the garden, where, I suppose, they still remain. Ever since that day until now I have feared lest my theft should be discovered and my presence at the scene of the tragedy proved, for I saw how suspicious were the circ.u.mstances, especially as we had had a slight difference earlier that day and someone might have overheard our high words. For months my life has been overshadowed by a terrible dread, but now that I know the truth I hesitate no longer to speak."
"And the miniature we discovered by Nelly"s side was the one you gave her to return to my family?" George exclaimed, turning quickly to Mariette, astounded at the remarkable explanation.
"Yes. She said she knew you, and that you loved Liane. Therefore she would return it to your father without stating whence it had come."
"But you say that Charles Holroyde was my brother," he exclaimed, puzzled. "I do not understand."
"Think for a moment, and you will see that all I have spoken is the truth," she answered. "Before his death he told me the whole of the circ.u.mstances; how your mother, Lady Stratfield, died a few months after your birth, and how your father, a year afterwards, married another lady, whom he subsequently divorced. The latter, a lady of means, came and lived in France, where Charles was educated, but when he knew how unjustly your father had treated his mother he declined to take the name of Stratfield, and preferred his mother"s maiden name. He--"
"Ah, yes, I remember?" cried George, amazed. "It was my father"s unhappy second marriage that had caused him to become gloomy, misanthropic, and a hater of womankind. The subject was scarcely ever mentioned between us, but now I distinctly remember that the lady"s name was Holroyde. I knew that she had a son, but have always been led to suppose that he died when only a few months old."
"No," Mariette replied. "He was foully murdered for the money he had won at roulette by that man standing there," and she pointed towards Zertho, who stood trembling, crushed by her terrible denunciation.
"Fancy poor Charlie Holroyde actually being your brother!" Liane exclaimed, looking up tenderly into the face of the man she so fondly loved. "Yet it is not surprising, for, strangely enough, I have many times thought that your face strongly resembled his. But my father is cleared of the terrible stigma, and no suspicion can now be cast upon me, therefore we have nothing to fear."
"True, darling," he answered. "We have nothing to fear, save one thing."
"What is that?" she inquired eagerly.
He hesitated. His words were overheard by all in the room, and every eye was upon him. The man accused moved across to the table and stood leaning against it, swaying unsteadily. His pa.s.sage was still barred resolutely.
"You forget the offer of marriage which, under my father"s will, I am compelled to make to Mariette, if I am not to remain a pauper all my days."
As he spoke there was a quick movement behind him, a flood of golden sunlight suddenly lit up the room as the jalousies of one of the windows were dashed open, and as he turned he saw the figure of Zertho disappearing through the window.
With a cry, the fugitive leaped down upon the flower-bed outside, hat in hand, and an instant later had gained the road and was flying down through the fortifications towards La Condamine.
For scarcely a second Max Richards hesitated, then rushed after him to give him into the hands of the police. Zertho had long been watching his opportunity, and, being strong and athletic, had reached the window at a single bound, and had escaped almost before they could realise what had occurred.
For a few moments all were dismayed, but were quickly rea.s.sured by Mariette, who declared that the police must sooner or later arrest him.
Then, turning to George, she added,--
"You have spoken of your father"s will. Well, your solicitors may make the offer, but I shall refuse."
"You will refuse!" cried Liane, joyously.
"Yes," she answered, smiling in contentment. "I shall refuse because I am already engaged to marry Max, the man whose words have cleared your father, and whose evidence will convict the man who has held you so long beneath the thrall of terror."
"You are to marry Max!" Liane exclaimed, surprised.
"Yes. We have known each other some years now, and as I have recently won sufficient money which, invested, will bring us in a modest income, we have agreed to marry and relinquish gambling. One of our promises to each other is that after marriage neither of us shall enter the Casino on any pretext whatsoever. I shall certainly keep it, and I feel a.s.sured that Max will."
"I"m sure you have our heartiest congratulations," Captain Brooker said, smiling. "I"ve known Max a long time, and although once he has been one of us and an outsider, he is, nevertheless, at heart a gentleman."
Mariette, known as "The Golden Hand," and believed by _habitues_ of Monte Carlo to be thoroughly unscrupulous, and an adventuress of the very worst type, was now an entirely different person to the woman who flung down her gold so recklessly upon the tables. Her life had not been altogether blameless, nevertheless there was still sufficient generosity, tenderness, and love within her heart to render her a devoted wife with a man who would love and cherish her.
"Make your offer to marry me as soon as you wish," she laughed. "You know what my reply will be."
"A reply," he said, "that will bring me fifty thousand pounds."
"You are indeed my friend, Mariette," Liane said, stretching forth her hand. "Forgive me for believing that you were my enemy."
The other grasped it warmly, answering,--
"I have forgiven all--everything save the terrible offences of the man who has fled, offences before G.o.d and man that are beyond atonement."
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
RED AND BLACK.
The fugitive was already out of sight when his pursuer gained the road.
In the crooked streets of Monaco, with their dark arches, narrow pa.s.sages and steep inclines, it is easy to evade pursuit, and Zertho, to whom the place was well-known, was fully aware that if he could gain the foot of the rock he could get clean away. He crushed his hat on his head and ran swiftly as a deer.
Max knew the road the accused man must take, and dashed after him, hatless, as fast as his legs would carry him. Suddenly, however, he entered a crooked lane, only to find himself in a _cul-de-sac_. He quickly retraced his steps and gained the square in front of the Palace, but by this time the man he was pursuing was already at the foot of the rock. Rushing up to the wall of the fortifications he peered over, and saw far below the fugitive spring into a open cab and drive rapidly towards La Condamine. To overtake him now was impossible. The police must take up the chase.
He ran back to the Villa Fortunee to tell Mariette and the others of his failure and obtain her sanction to invoke the aid of police, while the other sat bolt upright in the cab, staring straight before him, not daring to glance behind. Yet all seemed peaceful in that calm sunset hour. Along the boulevard around the bay he drove at a spanking pace, but in front the road to Monte Carlo rose steeply, and soon they were only travelling at walking pace.
"Quicker!" he cried, impatiently to the driver; and with an oath added: "Whip your horses! Quicker!"
"Impossible, m"sieur," the man answered without turning towards him.
The moments that went by during that slow ascent seemed hours. Each instant he expected to hear loud cries and demands as the police bore down upon him. He knew that his face must betray the deadly terror that held him paralysed. Like a fox going to cover he had headed instinctively for Monte Carlo, but knew not how he was about to act, or whither he was going. He knew that he must fly to save his liberty and life, and had a vague idea that if he crossed into Italy the pursuit would thereby be delayed.
"Where to, m"sieur?" inquired the driver, when at last they gained the brow of the hill.
"The Casino! Quick!" he answered, after an instant"s reflection. Then to himself, he muttered behind his set teeth: "One throw. My last chance. Life or death!"
He sprang from the cab, tossed the man a ten-franc piece, and ran up the red-carpeted steps to the atrium, showed his white ticket to the two doorkeepers, and entered the hot, garish gaming-rooms.
The atmosphere was troubled, faint with the thousand perfumes exhaled from the tightly-laced corsets of the women. Charming and pretty as many of the latter are, they are, nevertheless, designedly or unconsciously, the most active and dangerous companions at the tables.
Their influence upon their fellow-players is always on the side of the bank.
Queen Roulette is the most absorbing and most imperious of all mistresses. The most determined, young or old, audacious or timid, find themselves powerless to resist her, for when the fatal fascination creeps upon them she engages their brain, saps their spirit, holds captive their senses, breaks asunder their resolutions, and lures them to their ruin. She is indeed an enchantress infernal.
The jingle and chatter jarred upon his unstrung nerves. For a moment he stood nauseated, half-dazed by the thousand memories, hideous spectres of a guilty past, that crowded upon him.