Mrs. Clear gave a screech, and dropped back on to the sofa, staring at Diana with wide-open and terrified eyes.
"And now, Mrs. Clear, I see you realise the situation," Lucian said coldly. "You must confess your share in this conspiracy."
"What conspiracy?" she interrupted furiously.
"The putting of Mr. Vrain into an asylum, and the pa.s.sing off of your husband, Michael Clear, as him."
"I don"t know anything about it."
"Come, now, you talk nonsense! If you refuse to speak I"ll have you arrested at once."
"Arrest me!" She bounded off the sofa with flashing eyes.
"Yes, on a charge of conspiracy. It is no use your getting angry, Mrs.
Clear, for it won"t improve your position. We--that is, this lady and myself--wish to know, firstly, how your husband came to be masquerading as Mr. Vrain; secondly, where we can find the man called Wrent, who employed your husband; and thirdly, Mrs. Clear, we wish to know, and the law wishes to know, who killed your husband."
"I don"t know who killed him," said the woman, looking rather afraid, "but I believe Wrent did."
"Who is Wrent?"
"I don"t know."
"You don"t know many things," said Diana, taking part in the conversation, "but you must tell us what you do know, otherwise I shall call in a policeman and have you arrested."
"You can"t prove anything against me."
"I think I can," said Lucian in the most cheerful manner. "I can prove that you were in No. 13 of this Square, seeing your husband, for I found on the fence dividing the back yard of that house from one in Jersey Street a sc.r.a.p of a veil such as you wear. Also the landlady and servant can prove that you called on Mr. Wrent several times, and were with him on the night of the murder. Then there is the evidence of your cloak, which you left behind, and which Wrent gave to the servant Rhoda. Also the evidence of Signor Ferruci----"
"Ferruci! What has he said about me?"
Lucian saw that revenge might make the woman speak, so he lied in the calmest manner to get at the truth. "Ferruci says that he contrived the whole conspiracy."
"So he did," said Mrs. Clear, with a nod.
"And took you to "The Haven," at Hampstead, on Christmas Eve."
"That"s true. He took me from Wrent"s house in Jersey Street. You need not go on, Mr. L. D. I admit the whole business."
"You do?" cried Lucian and Diana together.
"Yes, if only to spite that old villain Wrent, who has not paid me the money he promised."
Before Lucian and Miss Vrain could express their pleasure at Mrs. Clear coming to this sensible conclusion, the door opened suddenly, and little Miss Greeb, in a wonderful state of agitation, tripped in.
"Oh, Mr. Denzil! I"ve just been to Mrs. Bensusan"s, and Rhoda"s run away!"
"Run away!"
"Yes! She hasn"t been back all day, and left a note for Mrs. Bensusan saying she was going to hide, because she was afraid."
CHAPTER XXVII
A CONFESSION
Now, indeed, Lucian had his hands full. Rhoda, the red-headed servant of Mrs. Bensusan, had run away on the plea that she was afraid of something--what she did not explain in the note she left behind her, and it was necessary that she should be discovered, and forced into confessing what she knew of the conspiracy and murder. Mrs. Clear, not having been paid her hush money, had betrayed the confidence and misdeeds of Ferruci, thereby revealing an extent of villainy for which neither Diana nor Lucian was prepared. Now the Count had to be seen and brought to book for his doings, Lydia informed that her husband was in the asylum, and Vrain himself had to be released in due form from his legal imprisonment. How Lucian, even with the a.s.sistance of Diana, could deal with all these matters, he did not know.
"Why not see Mr. Link?" suggested Diana, when Mrs. Clear had departed, after making a clean breast of the nefarious transactions in which she had been involved. "He may take the case in hand again."
"No doubt," responded Denzil drily, "but I am not very keen to hand it over to him, seeing that he has abandoned it twice. Again, if I call in the police, it is all over with Lydia and the Count. They will be arrested and punished."
"For the murder of Clear?"
"Perhaps, if it can be proved that they have anything to do with it; certainly for the conspiracy to get the a.s.surance money by the feigned death of your father."
"Well," said Diana coldly, "and why should they not receive the reward of their deeds?"
"Quite so; but the question is, do you wish any scandal?"
Diana was silent. She had not looked at the matter from this point of view. It was true what Lucian said. If the police took up the case again, Lydia and her accomplice would be arrested, and the whole sordid story of their doings would be in the papers.
Diana was a proud woman, and winced at the idea of such publicity. It would be as well to avoid proceeding to such extremities. If the a.s.surance money was returned by Lydia, she would be reduced to her former estate, and by timely flight might escape the vengeance of the defrauded company. After all, she was the wife of Vrain, and little as Diana liked her, she did not wish to see the woman who was so closely related to the wronged man put in prison; not for her own sake, but for the sake of the name she so unworthily bore.
"I leave it in your hands," said Diana to Lucian, who was watching her closely.
"Very good," replied Denzil. "Then I think it will be best for me to see Ferruci first, and hear his confession; afterwards call on Mrs. Vrain, and learn what she has to say. Then----"
"Well," said Diana, curiously, "what then?"
"I will be guided by circ.u.mstances. In the meantime, for the sake of your name, we had better keep the matter as quiet as possible."
"Mrs. Clear may speak out."
"Mrs. Clear won"t speak," said Denzil grimly. "She will keep quiet for her own sake; and as Rhoda has left Jersey Street, there will be no danger of trouble from that quarter. First, I"ll see Lydia and the Count, to get to the bottom of this conspiracy; then I"ll set the police on Rhoda"s track, that she may be arrested and made to confess her knowledge of the murder."
"Do you think she knows anything?"
"I think she knows everything," replied Lucian with emphasis. "That is why she has run away. If we capture her, and force her to speak, we may be able to arrest Wrent."
"Why Wrent?" asked Diana.
"Have you forgotten what Mrs. Clear said? I agree with her that he is the a.s.sa.s.sin, although we can"t prove it as yet."
"But who is Wrent?"
"Ah!" said Lucian, significantly, "that is just what I wish to find out."