The gas was out. The stew-pan and its accompaniments had vanished. On the marble slab were two plates, two napkins, two rolls of bread, and a dish, with another napkin in it, on which reposed two quaint little black b.a.l.l.s. Miserrimus Dexter, regarding me with a smile of benevolent interest, put one of the b.a.l.l.s on my plate, and took the other himself.
"Compose yourself, Mrs. Valeria," he said. "This is an epoch in your life. Your first Truffle! Don"t touch it with the knife. Use the fork alone. And--pardon me; this is most important--eat slowly."
I followed my instructions, and a.s.sumed an enthusiasm which I honestly confess I did not feel. I privately thought the new vegetable a great deal too rich, and in other respects quite unworthy of the fuss that had been made about it. Miserrimus Dexter lingered and languished over his truffles, and sipped his wonderful Burgundy, and sang his own praises as a cook until I was really almost mad with impatience to return to the real object of my visit. In the reckless state of mind which this feeling produced, I abruptly reminded my host that he was wasting our time, by the most dangerous question that I could possibly put to him.
"Mr. Dexter," I said, "have you seen anything lately of Mrs. Beauly?"
The easy sense of enjoyment expressed in his face left it at those rash words, and went out like a suddenly extinguished light. That furtive distrust of me which I had already noticed instantly made itself felt again in his manner and in his voice.
"Do you know Mrs. Beauly?" he asked.
"I only know her," I answered, "by what I have read of her in the Trial."
He was not satisfied with that reply.
"You must have an interest of some sort in Mrs. Beauly," he said, "or you would not have asked me about her. Is it the interest of a friend, or the interest of an enemy?"
Rash as I might be, I was not quite reckless enough yet to meet that plain question by an equally plain reply. I saw enough in his face to warn me to be careful with him before it was too late.
"I can only answer you in one way," I rejoined. "I must return to a subject which is very painful to you--the subject of the Trial."
"Go on," he said, with one of his grim outbursts of humor. "Here I am at your mercy--a martyr at the stake. Poke the fire! poke the fire!"
"I am only an ignorant woman," I resumed, "and I dare say I am quite wrong; but there is one part of my husband"s trial which doesn"t at all satisfy me. The defense set up for him seems to me to have been a complete mistake."
"A complete mistake?" he repeated. "Strange language, Mrs. Valeria, to say the least of it!" He tried to speak lightly; he took up his goblet of wine; but I could see that I had produced an effect on him. His hand trembled as it carried the wine to his lips.
"I don"t doubt that Eustace"s first wife really asked him to buy the a.r.s.enic," I continued. "I don"t doubt that she used it secretly to improve her complexion. But w hat I do _not_ believe is that she died of an overdose of the poison, taken by mistake."
He put back the goblet of wine on the table near him so unsteadily that he spilled the greater part of it. For a moment his eyes met mine, then looked down again.
"How do you believe she died?" he inquired, in tones so low that I could barely hear them.
"By the hand of a poisoner," I answered.
He made a movement as if he were about to start up in the chair, and sank back again, seized, apparently, with a sudden faintness.
"Not my husband!" I hastened to add. "You know that I am satisfied of _his_ innocence."
I saw him shudder. I saw his hands fasten their hold convulsively on the arms of his chair.
"Who poisoned her?" he asked, still lying helplessly back in the chair.
At the critical moment my courage failed me. I was afraid to tell him in what direction my suspicions pointed.
"Can"t you guess?" I said.
There was a pause. I supposed him to be secretly following his own train of thought. It was not for long. On a sudden he started up in his chair. The prostration which had possessed him appeared to vanish in an instant. His eyes recovered their wild light; his hands were steady again; his color was brighter than ever. Had he been pondering over the secret of my interest in Mrs. Beauly? and had he guessed? He had!
"Answer on your word of honor!" he cried. "Don"t attempt to deceive me!
Is it a woman?"
"It is."
"What is the first letter of her name? Is it one of the first three letters of the alphabet?"
"Yes."
"B?"
"Yes."
"Beauly?"
"Beauly."
He threw his hands up above his head, and burst into a frantic fit of laughter.
"I have lived long enough!" he broke out, wildly. "At last I have discovered one other person in the world who sees it as plainly as I do. Cruel Mrs. Valeria! why did you torture me? Why didn"t you own it before?"
"What!" I exclaimed, catching the infection of his excitement. "Are _your_ ideas _my_ ideas? Is it possible that _you_ suspect Mrs. Beauly too?"
He made this remarkable reply:
"Suspect?" he repeated, contemptuously. "There isn"t the shadow of a doubt about it. Mrs. Beauly poisoned her."
CHAPTER x.x.x. THE INDICTMENT OF MRS. BEAULY.
I STARTED to my feet, and looked at Miserrimus Dexter. I was too much agitated to be able to speak to him.
My utmost expectations had not prepared me for the tone of absolute conviction in which he had spoken. At the best, I had antic.i.p.ated that he might, by the barest chance, agree with me in suspecting Mrs. Beauly.
And now his own lips had said it, without hesitation or reserve! "There isn"t the shadow of a doubt: Mrs. Beauly poisoned her."
"Sit down," he said, quietly. "There"s nothing to be afraid of. n.o.body can hear us in this room."
I sat down again, and recovered myself a little.
"Have you never told any one else what you have just told me?" was the first question that I put to him.
"Never. No one else suspected her."
"Not even the lawyers?"
"Not even the lawyers. There is no legal evidence against Mrs. Beauly.
There is nothing but moral certainty."
"Surely you might have found the evidence if you had tried?"