"Who is she?" asked Florence as she looked at the card. "Did my father know countesses?"
"Yes," said Jones briefly. "Be very careful what you say to her.
Admit nothing. She claims to be a cousin of your mother. Perhaps."
"My mother?" Without waiting for any further advice from Jones, whom Florence in her young years thought presuming upon his authority, she ran downstairs to the library. Her mother, to learn some facts about the mother of whom she knew nothing!
"You knew my mother?" she cried without ceremony,
Jones heard the countess say: "I did, my child; and heaven is witness that you are the exact picture of her at your age. And I knew your father."
Jones straightened, his hands shut tightly.
"Tell me about my father!"
The countess smiled. It was Katrina. Pushkin come to life, the same impulsiveness. "I knew him but slightly. I was a mere child myself when he used to pinch my cheeks. I met him again the other night, but he did not recognize me; and I could not find it in my heart to awaken his memory in a public restaurant."
Presently Jones came in to announce that two detectives requested to see Florence. The two men entered, informing her that they had been instructed to investigate the disappearance of Stanley Hargreave.
"Who are you, miss?"
"I am his daughter."
"Ah!"
One of the detectives questioned Florence minutely, while the other wandered about the rooms, feeling the walls, using the magnifying gla.s.s, turning back the rugs. Even the girl"s pretty room did not escape his scrutiny. By and by he returned to the library and beckoned to his companion. The two conferred for a moment. One chanced to look into the mirror. He saw the bright eyes of the countess gazing intelligently into his.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PEACEFUL BUTLER ENTERED INTO THE FIELD OF ACTION]
"I"m afraid we"ll have to ask you to accompany us to the station, miss."
"Why?"
"Some technicalities. We must have some proof of your right to be in this house. So far as we have learned, Hargreave was unmarried. It will take but a few minutes."
"And I will accompany you," said the countess. "We"ll be back within half an hour. I"ll tell them what I know."
Jones, in the hall, caught sight of the reporter coming up the steps.
Here was some one he could depend upon.
"Why, Mr. Norton!"
The reporter eyed the countess in amazement.
"You look surprised. Naturally. I am a cousin of Miss Florence"s mother. You might say that I am her aunt. It"s a small world, isn"t it?" But if wishing could poison, the reporter would have died that moment.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" one of the detectives demanded.
"I am going to ask that very question of you," said Norton urbanely.
"We are from headquarters," replied one, showing his badge.
"What headquarters? What are they asking you to do?" he said to Florence.
"They say I must go to the police station with them."
"Not the least in the world," laughed the reporter. "You two clear out of here as fast as your rascally legs can carry you. I don"t know what your game is, but I do know every reputable detective in New York, and you don"t belong."
"Good heavens!" exclaimed the countess; "do you mean to say that these men are not real detectives?"
"This girl goes to the police station, young man. So much the worse for you if you meddle. Take yourself off!"
"All in good time."
"Here, Jenner, you take charge of the girl. I"ll handle this guy. He shall go to the station, too."
What followed would always be vividly remembered by Florence, fresh from the peace and happiness of her school life. Norton knocked his opponent down. He rose and for a moment the room seemed full of legs and arms and panting men. A foot tripped up Norton and he went down under the bogus detective. He never suspected that the tripping foot was not accidental. He was too busy.
The other man dragged Florence toward the hall, but there the peaceful butler entered into the field of action with a very unattractive automatic. The detective threw up his hands.
The struggle went on in the library. A trick of jiu-jutsu brought about the downfall of Norton"s man, and Norton ran out into the hall to aid Jones. He searched the detective"s pockets and secured the revolver. The result of all this was that the two bogus detectives soon found themselves in charge of two policemen, and they were marched off to the station.
"Your advent was most providential, Mr. Norton," said Jones in his usual colorless tones.
"I rather believe so. Why don"t you pack up and clear out for a while?"
"I am stronger in this house than elsewhere," answered the butler enigmatically.
"Well, you know best," said the reporter.
The countess was breathing rapidly. No, on second thought she had no wish to throw her arms about the reporter"s neck and kiss him.
CHAPTER III
The countess did not remain long after the departure of the police with the bogus detectives. It had been a very difficult corner to wriggle out of, all because Braine had added to his plans after she had left the apartment. But for the advent of the meddling reporter the coup would have succeeded, herself apparently perfectly innocent of complicity. That must be the keynote of all her plans: to appear quite innocent and leave no trail behind her. She had gained the confidence of Florence and her companion. And she was rather certain that she had impressed this lazy-eyed reporter and the stolid butler. She had told nothing but the truth regarding her relationship. They would find that out. She was Katrina Pushkin"s cousin. But blood with her counted as naught. She had room in her heart but for two things, Braine and money to spend on her caprices.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SHE HAD GAINED THE CONFIDENCE OF FLORENCE]
"How long has your highness known Mr. Braine?" asked the reporter idly, as he smoothed away all signs of his recent conflict.
"Oh, the better part of a year. Mr. Hargreave did not recognize me the other night. That was quite excusable, for when he last saw me I was not more than twelve. My child," she said to Florence, "build no hopes regarding your mother. She is doubtless dead. Upon some trivial matter--I do not know what it was--she was confined to the fortress.
That was seventeen years ago. When you enter the fortress at St.
Petersburg, you cease to be."
"That is true enough."