The Sign of the Stranger

by William Le Queux

her, therefore, knowing that LadyLolita was in the habit of writing to him in cipher and that they hadarranged to meet that night in the park, she saw that if she killed himsuspicion must be thrown upon her husband's sister. Besides, she wasbelieved to be still at Aix, the only person having knowledge of hersecret presence in London being Marie, with whom she had an interviewthat very day. Judge her dismay, therefore, when at the moment of thecommittal of the crime she came face to face with Marie herself, herbitterest enemy! Only a gasp of surprise escaped the mouths of bothwomen. They glared into each other's faces, and while the Countess knewthat her terrible secret was not her own, Marie Lejeune saw gloatinglythat her power over the wealthy woman was now that of life or death. Itwas not to the Frenchwoman's interest to tell the truth to the policewhile Lady Stanchester submitted to blackmail, therefore in this secondcase, as in the first, the facts against Lady Lolita were sufficientlycircumstantial to secure her conviction, and more especially that sheheld the knife in her hand when I had encountered her at the scene ofthe crime."

  "But surely you told Lady Lolita that you were satisfied that the chargeagainst her was a false one?" I asked.

  "Certainly I did--after Marie Lejeune had told me the truth. I did not,however, tell her who was the actual assassin, as Marie would not allowme. Nevertheless in neither case could her actual innocence be provedunless Marie Lejeune spoke the truth--and this she refused to do, firstbecause she must by so doing implicate herself; and secondly that shewould then lose the power for blackmail which she had established withsuch devilish ingenuity. It was true, as Lady Lolita declared to me,she was their victim--and to drive her to self-destruction was equallytheir object--in order to save themselves."

  The Earl stood listening to the terrible allegations against his wife,scarcely moving a muscle of his features.

  "From the moment of Wingfield's death Lady Stanchester, against whom theFrench police held a warrant for her implication in certain frauds ofthe gang, was entirely in the Frenchwoman's unscrupulous hands," Logancontinued, "but knowing Lady Lolita's peril, and sympathising with her--the unconscious victim of the evil deeds of both these women--I took herside against them and joined myself in secret with Mr Keene, althoughat the time I was still allied with them.

  "Keene also joined us, but with a view to freeing Lady Lolita from thefalse charges against her. He knew the truth regarding LadyStanchester, and with us sought concealment in a farm in the vicinity,our object being to keep observation upon the movements of the Countess.We should have remained longer, had it not been for the jealousy ofBelotto, who one night attacked Marie Lejeune and we were compelled tocall in a doctor. Moreover we were compelled, owing to that, to escapeabroad again. After a short time, however, the Countess--stillcompelled to submit to blackmail heavily and even to give some of herjewellery in lieu of money, and living in daily terror that theFrenchwoman should give secret information to the police regarding theassassination of Wingfield--wrote to me in Lucerne expressing a desireto meet Marie again, and come to some amicable arrangement with her. Iarranged the meeting, came to London, and escorted Lady Stanchester toMilan. By some means Mr Woodhouse obtained knowledge of her intentionand follow us. Perhaps he will tell you what occurred."

  "Certainly," I said. And then I related the result of my vigilance, andthe adventure which subsequently happened to me.

  "You were struck down by a man whom Marie had on watch outside the houseand carried into the place afterwards," explained Logan, when I hadconcluded my narrative.

  "Why Marie received us in the apartment that was not her own," hecontinued, "was in order that the Countess should not afterwards be ableto inform the police of her whereabouts. She invited Lady Stanchesterand ourselves to supper, when a fresh and very ingenious scheme of fraudupon jewellers in Paris, in which she intended to compel her ladyship totake part, was discussed. Presently the two women quarrelled, mutualrecriminations followed, whereupon Marie openly accused her visitor ofWingfield's murder and threatened that if she refused her assistance inthis new scheme she intended to denounce her. Scarcely, however, hadthe Frenchwoman uttered these words when Lady Stanchester rose suddenly,drew a knife, and stabbed her to the heart while she sat at table. Fora moment we all sat dumbfounded and horrified. Then the question arosehow best to dispose of the body. The man who had driven us there wasone of our accomplices, therefore it was resolved to drive out about twomiles, and place it in the canal.

  "While they carried it out I was to remain behind, to remove all traceof the crime. The murderess sat motionless in the corner of the room,appalled by her own deed. Judge my surprise, however, when, a fewminutes later, the body of Marie was brought back again, and then MrWoodhouse, whom we all believed to be here, at Sibberton, was carriedin! He was placed in such a position that whoever discovered thetragedy would believe that he was the murderer. The guilty womanscreamed aloud when her eyes fell upon her husband's secretary, saying,`Strike him again! Make certain he's dead, or he will tell the truth--he will expose me!' But we dragged her away, and two hours afterwards Isat with her in the Bale express, travelling towards London.

  "To-night I came down here to see her in secret, in order to plead withher to release Lady Lolita from the terrible thraldom of suspicion--yetit seems that in order to save herself she had actually uttered thefalse charges to her husband. Had I not met Lady Lolita in thepleasure-grounds to-night, she would, ere this, have been driven to thelast extremity."

  "Ah!" I cried, standing aghast at the extraordinary story, "it is,indeed, the hand of Providence that has directed your presence hereto-night, Mr Logan. You have, if nothing else, made atonement for thepart you yourself played in the affair, by coming forward and exposing aguilty woman and saving from death one who is pure, innocent andlong-suffering--the woman I love."

  Lady Lolita grasped my hand tightly, but no word passed her quiveringlips.

  Keene, however, said--

  "Although Lady Lolita looked upon me as her enemy from the first, I was,in reality, her friend. I allied myself with Mr Logan and the twoItalians in order to discover their intrigue and to save her ladyship."

  "And you have done so," Lolita declared. "I can never sufficientlythank either you or Mr Logan. You have, moreover, saved me from thesin of self-destruction," she faltered, and then she burst into tears.

  "And you?" cried the Earl, in anger and loathing, turning upon hisstatuesque wife who stood there, erect, immovable, as though turned tostone. "And you, woman!--What have you to reply to all this?"

  Her white lips moved, but no sound escaped them. She tried to speak--todeny the truth, perhaps, but words failed her. She raised her hand,moved slightly, then, staggering, fell forward heavily without a hand tosave her.

  So painful, so terrible, so dramatic was that scene between husband andwife that we all of us withdrew and have ever since been trying toefface it from our recollections.

  Thus was the awful truth revealed that the woman whom half London enviedhad committed a second murder in order to conceal the first, and thatshe had actually gone out to Milan with the distinct and premeditatedobject of taking the Frenchwoman's life.

  Never till my dying day shall I forget those terrible moments whenbefore our eyes the love of the Earl of Stanchester turned to hatred,and when he spurned her senseless body with his foot as he turned fromher in disgust and left the Hall. I will not attempt to describe it--itwas far too painful, too terrible, too awful to be placed upon record.

  Would that it could for ever be wiped from the tablets of my memory.

  And what occurred afterwards? Patience, and I will tell you.

  CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.

  CONTAINING THE CONCLUSION.

  The tragic and untimely end of the smart, pretty, wonderfully-dressedCountess of Stanchester will still be fresh within the memory ofnewspaper readers.

  It will be recollected how, with her maid, she left Sibberton Hall forParis, and how in her room at the _Hotel Continental_ she was founddead, havi
ng unfortunately taken an overdose of morphia.

  At least such was the newspaper story, and happily so, for it sparedscandal and disgrace to one of England's noblest houses. To the publicthe truth never leaked out, and as a consequence the society papers werefull of regrets that a woman so young, so popular and so full of lifeand energy should have been cut off by accident in such a manner, whileeverywhere the deepest sympathy was expressed towards her husband.

  Keene and I accompanied him to Paris, and we three were the onlymourners at those terribly tragic last rites at Pere Lachaise. He stoodmotionless with uncovered head until the final act, and then with agreat bursting sob he turned away, and for a week I saw nothing of him.

  I returned to London on the following day, and in the great drawing-roomof Stanchester House, overlooking the Park, I stood and grasped thehands of