The Slave of Silence

by Fred M. White

  CHAPTER XI

  Beatrice reached out a hand and steadied herself against a chair. Justfor a moment the whole world seemed to be spinning around her. Brave andcourageous as she was, these shocks, coming one after the other, hadbeen too much for her. When she opened her eyes again she found thatMark Ventmore was standing by her side.

  "Courage, darling," he whispered. "We seem to have come to the worst ofeverything. Whatever may be the result and meaning of this dastardlyoutrage, nothing can hurt your father."

  The colour was slowly coming back into the girl's pallid lips. With aneffort she struggled for the possession of herself. She was alone in theworld, she had a position that would cause most of her women friends toturn coldly from her, but Mark remained. And there was always thefeeling that she had nothing further to fear from Stephen Richford.

  "I can bear it all now," she said. "Tell me everything, please."

  "Up to the present there is very little to say," Inspector Fieldobserved. "I came here a little before ten this morning to open SirCharles's bedroom so as to be prepared for the visit of the jury and thecoroner. After the decision arrived at by both doctors, of course theinquest to-day would have been quite formal. It would have been deferredfor a few days pending the _post-mortem_ examination. I am putting itas delicately as possible."

  "Oh, I know, I know," Beatrice said with a shudder. "Only it is adreadful thing for a daughter to listen to. Will you go on, please?"

  "In the course of my duty I have to see that the seals have not beentampered with. Of course in a large hotel like this, where guests are inthe corridor all day and night, I never for a moment anticipatedanything wrong. Still, I examined the seals carefully and they appearedto me to be absolutely intact. With my sergeant we broke the seals andentered the room, the door of which was locked. Imagine our astonishmentwhen we found that the body of the poor gentleman had vanished. In allthe extraordinary cases that have ever come under my notice, I neverrecollect anything so amazing as this."

  It was amazing, stupendous--so much so, that nobody spoke for a littletime. Beatrice had taken a seat and sat waiting for somebody to askquestions. She was no longer dazed and frightened; her brain was workingrapidly. It seemed to her that she would be able to throw a light onthis mysterious disappearance presently.

  "Are you quite sure that the seals are intact?" Mark asked.

  "If you had asked me that question half an hour ago, I should have saidmost assuredly so, sir," Field replied. "I looked carefully to see. Wealways do. How on earth a body could have been spirited away like thiswith people about till late, to say nothing of the night watchman goinghis rounds, and the night porter down below--but we need not go intothat yet. My seals appeared to be in perfect order."

  "But that really could not have been the fact," Mark persisted. "I fancywe can dispense with the idea that Sir Charles was removed by spiritualagency. Now, would it not have been possible for anyone to have taken animpression of the seals?"

  "Just possible," Field admitted. "But what would have been the useof----"

  "A great deal of use, it seems to me," Mark went on. "But I will come tothat presently. Let us take one thing at a time. For some reason orother, those scoundrels have found it imperatively necessary to spiritaway the body of Sir Charles. Perhaps they are afraid of the result of a_post-mortem_. That is another point we need not bother about for thepresent. Did you give any orders to the watchman here to keep an eye onthat door?"

  "Well, I did," Field admitted. "I particularly mentioned the seals, incase any very zealous housemaid, imagining that somebody had beendisfiguring the doors, should remove them."

  "Then if the seals had been broken, the night watchman would havenoticed it?"

  "I should say that such a thing was highly possible," Field admittedwith an admiring glance in the direction of his questioner. "Really,sir, you would make an admirable detective. You mean that the scoundrelsmight require some little time in the next room and that anyinterruption----"

  "Precisely," Mark proceeded. "Let us admit, for the sake of argument,that these men were staying in the hotel last night. Where so manypeople come and go, they would not be noticed, and, on the whole, thatplan would be safer. If they were seen, even in the dead of night, inthe corridor--possibly in slippers and pajamas--by the watchman, nosuspicion would have been aroused. Previously they had managed to get animpression of the seal and made one like it. They then broke the sealand entered the room by means of a master key. The confederate outsideimmediately clapped on another seal, and those inside were quite safeuntil they were ready. After the body was stolen, another seal wasaffixed which gave them plenty of time and prevented discovery by thenight watchman, to say nothing of the addition of mystery to the thing."

  The inspector nodded approvingly. So far as he could see, the reasoningwas perfectly clear. But then it did not tend to throw any light on thestrange disappearance of the body.

  "So far I follow you perfectly, sir," Field said. "Nothing could beclearer or more logical. In that way it would be comparatively easy toenter the bedroom and make preparations for the removal of the bodywithout any chance of being interrupted. At this part the real troublebegins. The body is a bulky thing, and has to be removed from the hotel.How was that to be done? How could it be done without somebody knowing?That is where I am at fault."

  "It could be done in this way," Mark said. "The body might have beenremoved to a bedroom close by and packed in a large trunk by somebodywho ostensibly was going by a very early train."

  "Pardon me," the inspector interrupted, "nobody went by an early train.We have gone into that most carefully. Of course a lot of people haveleft early to-day--as they do every day--but, so far as I can hear,nobody in the least suspicious."

  "Then it was done in another manner. It is not quite clear to me how, atpresent, although I have my idea on the subject. Before I could speakdefinitely on that point I should like to see the night watchman and thehall porter."

  But neither of these officials was present. They had gone off duty atseven o'clock, and they did not return again till late in the afternoon.It seemed a pity to disturb their rest, but Field decided that they mustbe sent for--and indeed he had already dispatched a messenger for thatpurpose. Till the two men came to the hotel, nothing further could bedone in that direction. There was a little pause here.

  "I fancy I can throw some light on this," Beatrice said. "In the firstplace, will somebody ascertain for me whether the Countess de la Morayand General Gastang are still staying in the hotel? I feel pretty surethey are gone, but it is just possible that such may not be the case.Let this inquiry be made delicately, please."

  Inspector Field departed to ask the question himself. He came backpresently with the information that the General and the Countess hadalready gone, in fact they had not really been staying in the hotel atall--their luggage was elsewhere, as the hotel they generally favouredwas full--they had only come to the _Royal Palace Hotel_ for the night,and it had been their intention to proceed to Paris in the morning.

  "Then it is General Gastang and the Countess de la Moray that we have tolook after," Beatrice cried. "The Countess came to me last night in thedrawing-room. She professed to be an old friend of my father, and,indeed, I must confess that she knew a great deal about the family. Shewas very nice indeed, and asked me to go and stay with her near Paris.Being a little lonely just at present, I quite took to her. Subsequentlythe General was introduced to me. He brought a message to the Countess,who excused herself. Then some stranger came in and the Generalvanished. He was quite taken aback for a moment, and evidently went indeadly fear of being recognized. Of course this aroused my suspicions. Ihad heard of these well-dressed, good-class swindlers in hotels before,and immediately I thought of my jewels. I went straight to my room andthe door was locked. People were talking inside and I waited. Then thedoor opened and a man came out and walked away."

  "Would you recognize that man again, Miss?" Field asked eagerly.

  "I should cer
tainly be able to recognize him again," Beatrice saidquietly. She passed the point over rapidly. Something preventedher--shame, perhaps--from saying it was the man who called himself herhusband. "After that I entered my room. The Countess was taken aback,but very quickly she recovered herself. Then I noticed that there was athread of silk sticking to her hands, and after that I further noticedthat her hand was covered with wax. Even then the truth did not dawnupon me till I saw a similar thread sticking to the seal on the doorleading to my father's room. And then I knew that the Countess had takenan impression of the seal. They did not dare to take the impression inthe corridor, I suppose, and that was why they hit upon the cleverexpedient of using the privacy of my room for the purpose."

  "Excellent!" Field said. "Nothing could be better. Beyond the shadow ofa doubt these people are at the bottom of the whole business. Did youfrighten the lady, Miss?"

  "Not in the least," Beatrice replied. "I was particularly careful not toarouse suspicions that I had noticed anything out of the common. But Iknew perfectly well that I was just in time to save my diamonds.However, that has nothing to do with the question. The Countess cameback very late, under the pretence that she required my services as hermaid. She managed to drug me with some very powerful scent, I presume,with a view of using my room whilst I was unconscious, if any hitch tookplace. But you may be sure that these people are under the impressionthat nobody could possibly identify them with the outrage. There willnot be any great difficulty in tracing them."

  "Thanks to your skill and courage," Field said admiringly. "We can donothing further till we hear from the night porter and his colleague. Iwill make a few inquiries in the hotel, and I shall be very glad, Miss,if you will write down for me as clear and as accurate a description aspossible of the General and the Countess."

  A little time later Beatrice found herself alone with Mark. ColonelBerrington was waiting down in the hall. Mark looked tenderly intoBeatrice's pallid, beautiful face, and he gently stroked her head.

  "This is a very dreadful business for you, darling," he said. "Yourcourage----"

  "My courage can stand any strain so long as I know that I am free of myhusband," the girl said. "When I think of my troubles, and they begin toovercome me, I always go back to that reflection. It seems to lift me upand strengthen me. Mark, I believe I should have died, or killed myself,had I been compelled to be with that man."

  "You have not seen any more of him, I suppose?" Mark asked.

  "Last night," Beatrice whispered. "Mark, I did not tell the detectiveone thing--I felt that I really could not. I spoke of the man who wascloseted in my room with the Countess. I said I would recognize himagain. It was my husband, Stephen Richford."

  Mark's face expressed his amazement. Before he could reply the dooropened and Inspector Field came in again. His face was grave and stern.

  "This is a fouler business than ever I imagined," he said. "Both hallporter and night watchman are missing. Neither has been seen at theirlodgings since they left duty to-day."