Who?

by Elizabeth Kent

  CHAPTER XIV

  WHAT IS THE TRUTH?

  When Cyril arrived in Newhaven that evening, he was unpleasantlysurprised to find, as he got out of the train, that Judson had beentravelling in the adjoining compartment. Had the man been following him,or was it simply chance that had brought them together, he wondered. Oh!If he could only get rid of the fellow!

  "You have come to see me, I suppose," he remarked ungraciously.

  "Yes, my lord."

  "Very well, then, get into the car."

  Cyril was in no mood to talk, so the first part of the way wasaccomplished in silence, but at last, thinking that he might as wellhear what the man had to say, he turned to him and asked:

  "Have you found out anything of any importance?"

  "I fancy so, my lord."

  "Really! Well, what is it?"

  "If you will excuse me, my lord, I should suggest that we wait till weget to the castle," replied Judson, casting a meaning look at thechauffeur's back.

  "Just as you please." His contempt for Judson was so great that Cyrilwas not very curious to hear his revelations.

  "Now," said Cyril, as he flung himself into a low chair before thelibrary fire, "what have you to tell me?"

  Before answering Judson peered cautiously around; then, drawing forwarda straight-backed chair, he seated himself close to Cyril and folded hishands in his lap.

  "In dealing with my clients," he began, "I make it a rule instead ofsimply stating the results of my work to show them how I arrive at myconclusions. Having submitted to them all the facts I have collected,they are able to judge for themselves as to the value of the evidence onwhich my deductions are based. And so, my lord, I should like to go overthe whole case with you from the very beginning."

  Cyril gave a grunt which Judson evidently construed into an assent, forhe continued even more glibly:

  "The first point I considered was, whether her Ladyship had premeditatedher escape. But in order to determine this, we must first decide whomshe could have got to help her to accomplish such a purpose. The mostcareful inquiry has failed to reveal any one who would have been bothwilling and able to do so, except the sempstress, and as both mistressand maid disappeared almost simultaneously, one's first impulse is totake it for granted that Prentice was her Ladyship's accomplice. This iswhat every one, Scotland Yard included, believes."

  "And you do not?"

  "Before either accepting or rejecting this theory, I decided to visitthis girl's home. I did not feel clear in my mind about her. All theservants were impressed by her manner and personality, the butlerespecially so, and he more than hinted that there must be some mysteryattached to her. One of the things that stimulated their curiosity wasthat she kept up a daily correspondence with some one in Plumtree. Onreaching the village I called at once on the vicar. He is an elderlyman, much respected and beloved by his parishioners. I found him in astate of great excitement, having just read in the paper of Prentice'sdisappearance. I had no difficulty in inducing him to tell me the mainfacts of her history; the rest I picked up from the village gossips. Thegirl is a foundling. And till she came to Geralton she was an inmate ofthe vicar's household. He told me that he would have adopted her, butknowing that he had not sufficient means to provide for her future, hewisely refrained from educating her above her station. Nevertheless, Igathered that the privilege of his frequent companionship had refinedher speech and manners, and I am told that she now could pass muster inany drawing-room."

  "Did she ever learn French?" interrupted Cyril, eagerly.

  "Not that I know of, and I do not believe the vicar would have taughther an accomplishment so useless to one in her position."

  "Did she ever go to France?"

  "Never. But, why do you ask?"

  "No matter--I--but go on with your story."

  "Owing partly to the mystery which surrounded her birth and gave rise toall sorts of rumours, and partly to her own personality, the gentry ofthe neighbourhood made quite a pet of her. As a child she was askedoccasionally to play with the Squire's crippled daughter and later sheused to go to the Hall three times a week to read aloud to her. So,notwithstanding the vicar's good intentions, she grew up to be neither'fish, flesh, fowl, nor good red herring.' Now all went well till abouta year ago, when the Squire's eldest son returned home and fell in lovewith her. His people naturally opposed the match and, as he is entirelydependent upon them, there seemed no possibility of his marrying her.The girl appeared broken-hearted, and when she came to the castle, everyone, the vicar included, thought the affair at an end. I am sure,however, that such was not the case, for as no one at the vicarage wroteto her daily, the letters she received must have come from her youngman. Furthermore, she told the servants that she had a cousin inNewhaven, but as she has not a relative in the world, this is obviouslya falsehood. Who, then, is this mysterious person she visited? It seemsto me almost certain that it was her lover."

  "Possibly," agreed Cyril. "But I don't quite see what you are trying toprove by all this. If Prentice did not help her Ladyship to escape, whodid?"

  "I have not said that Prentice is not a factor in the case, only Ibelieve her part to have been a very subordinate one. Of one thing,however, I am sure, and that is that she did not return to Geralton onthe night of the murder."

  "How can you be sure of that?" demanded Cyril.

  "Because she asked for permission early in the morning to spend thenight in Newhaven and had already left the castle before the doctors'visit terminated. Now, although I think it probable that her Ladyshipmay for a long time have entertained the idea of leaving Geralton, yet Ibelieve that it was the doctors' visit that gave the necessary impetusto convert her idle longing into definite action. Therefore I concludethat Prentice could have had no knowledge of her mistress's suddenflight."

  "But how can you know that the whole thing had not been carefullypremeditated?"

  "Because her Ladyship showed such agitation and distress at hearing thedoctors' verdict. If her plans for leaving the castle had beencompleted, she would have accepted the situation more calmly."

  "Has nothing been heard of these doctors?"

  "Nothing. We have been able to trace them only as far as London. Theycould not have been reputable physicians or they would have answered ouradvertisements, and so I am inclined to believe that you were right andthat it was his Lordship who spread the rumours of her Ladyship'sinsanity."

  "I am sure of it," said Cyril.

  "Very good. Assuming, therefore, that Lady Wilmersley is sane, we willproceed to draw logical inferences from her actions." Judson paused amoment before continuing: "Now I am convinced that the only connectionPrentice had with the affair was to procure some clothes for hermistress, and these had probably been sometime in the latter'spossession."

  "H'm!" ejaculated Cyril sceptically. "I think it would have been prettydifficult to have concealed anything from that maid of hers."

  "Difficult, I grant you, but not impossible, my lord."

  "But if Prentice had no knowledge of the tragedy, why did she not returnto the castle? What has become of her? Why have the police been unableto find her?"

  "I believe that she joined her lover and that they are together on thecontinent, for in Plumtree I was told that the young man had recentlygone to Paris. As I am sure that she knows nothing of any importance, Ithought it useless to waste time and money trying to discover theirexact locality. That the police have not succeeded in finding her, Iascribe to the fact that they are looking for a young woman who leftNewhaven after and not before the murder."

  "You think she left before?"

  "Yes, and I have two reasons for this supposition. First, I can discoverno place where he or she, either separately or together, could havespent the night. Secondly, if they had left Newhaven the followingmorning or in fact at any time after the murder, they would certainlyhave been apprehended, as all the boats and trains were most carefullywatched."

  "But no one knew of her disappearance till twenty-four h
ours later, andduring that interval she could easily have got away unobserved."

  "No, my lord, there you are mistaken. From the moment that the policewere notified that a crime had been committed, every one, especiallyevery woman, who left Newhaven was most attentively scrutinised."

  "You are certain that Prentice could not have left Newhaven unnoticed,yet her Ladyship managed to do so! How do you account for that?"

  The detective paused a moment and looked fixedly at Cyril.

  "Her Ladyship had a very powerful protector, my lord," he finally said.

  "A protector! Who?"

  Again the detective did not reply immediately.

  "It's no use beating about the bush, my lord, I know everything."

  "Well then, out with it," cried Cyril impatiently. "What are youhesitating for? Have you found her Ladyship or have you not?"

  "I have, my lord."

  "You have! Then why on earth didn't you tell me at once? Where is she?"cried Cyril.

  There was a pause during which the detective regarded Cyril throughnarrowed lids.

  "She is at present at the nursing home of Dr. Stuart-Smith," he said atlast.

  "Nonsense!" exclaimed Cyril, sinking back into his chair and negligentlylighting another cigarette. "I thought you had discovered something. Youmean my wife, Lady Wilmersley----"

  "Pardon me for interrupting you, my lord. I don't make mistakes likethat. I repeat, the Dowager Lady Wilmersley is under the care of Dr.Smith."

  The man's tone was so assured that Cyril was staggered for a moment.

  "It isn't true," he asserted angrily.

  "Is it possible that you really do not know who the lady is that yourescued that day from the police?" exclaimed the detective, startled outof his habitual impassivity.

  "I confess that I do not. But of one thing I am sure, and that is thatshe is not the person you suppose."

  "Well, my lord, I must say that you have surprised me. Yet I ought tohave guessed it. It was stupid of me, very."

  "I tell you that you are on the wrong track. Lady Wilmersley has goldenhair. Well, this lady's hair is black."

  "She has dyed it."

  "She has not, for it has turned completely white," exclaimed Cyril,triumphantly.

  "Did she tell you so?"

  "Yes."

  "Her Ladyship is cleverer than I supposed," remarked the detective witha pitying smile.

  "I am not such a fool as you seem to think," retorted Cyril. "And I canassure you that the lady in question is incapable of deception."

  "All I can say is, my lord, that I am absolutely sure of her Ladyship'sidentity and that you yourself gave me the clue to her whereabouts."

  "I--how?"

  "I of course noticed that when you heard her Ladyship had golden hair,you were not only extremely surprised but also very much relieved. I atonce asked myself why such an apparently trivial matter should have sogreat and so peculiar an effect on you. As you had never seen herLadyship, I argued that you must that very day have met some one you hadreason to suppose to be Lady Wilmersley and that this person had darkhair. By following your movements from the time you landed I found thatthe only woman with whom you had come in contact was a young lady whohad joined you in Newhaven, and that she answered to the description ofLady Wilmersley in every particular, with the sole exception that shehad dark hair! I was, however, told that you had said that she was yourwife and had produced a passport to prove it. Now I had heard from yourvalet that her Ladyship was still in France, so you can hardly blame mefor doubting the correctness of your statement. But in order to makeassurance doubly sure, I sent one of my men to the continent. Hereported that her Ladyship had for some months been a patient atCharleroi, but had recently escaped from there, and that you are stillemploying detectives to find her."

  "I did not engage you to pry into my affairs," exclaimed Cyril savagely.

  "Nor have I exceeded my duty as I conceive it," retorted the detective."As your Lordship refused to honour me with your confidence, I had tofind out the facts by other means; and you must surely realise thatwithout facts it is impossible for me to construct a theory, and till Ican do that my work is practically valueless."

  "But my wife has nothing to do with the case."

  "Quite so, my lord, but a lady who claimed to be her Ladyship isintimately concerned with it."

  "I repeat that is all nonsense."

  "If your Lordship will listen to me, I think I can prove to you that asfar as the lady's identity is concerned, I have made no mistake. But todo this convincingly, I must reconstruct the tragedy as I conceive thatit happened."

  "Go ahead; I don't mind hearing your theory."

  "First, I must ask you to take it for granted that I am right inbelieving that Prentice was ignorant of her Ladyship's flight."

  "I will admit that much," agreed Cyril.

  "Thank you, my lord. Now let us try and imagine exactly what was herLadyship's position on the night of the murder. Her first care must havebeen to devise some means of eluding his Lordship's vigilance. This wasa difficult problem, for Mustapha tells me that his Lordship was notonly a very light sleeper but that he suffered from chronic insomnia.You may or may not know that his Lordship had long been addicted to theopium habit and would sometimes for days together lie in a stupor. Largequantities of the drug were found in his room and that explains how herLadyship managed to get hold of the opium with which she doctored hisLordship's coffee."

  "This is, however, mere supposition on your part," objected Cyril.

  "Not at all, my lord. I had the sediment of the two cups analysed andthe chemist found that one of them contained a small quantity of opium.Her Ladyship, being practically ignorant as to the exact nature of thedrug and of the effect it would have on a man who was saturated with it,gave his Lordship too small a dose. Nevertheless, he became immediatelystupefied."

  "Now, how on earth can you know that?"

  "Very easily, my lord. If his Lordship had not been rendered at onceunconscious, he would--knowing that an attempt had been made to drughim--have sounded the alarm and deputed Mustapha to guard her Ladyship,which was what he always did when he knew that he was not equal to thetask."

  "Well, that sounds plausible, at all events," acknowledged Cyril.

  "As soon as her Ladyship knew that she was no longer watched," continuedthe detective, "she at once set to work to disguise herself. As we know,she had provided herself with clothes, but I fancy her hair, her mostnoticeable feature, must have caused her some anxious moments."

  "She may have worn a wig," suggested Cyril, hoping that Judson wouldaccept this explanation of the difficulty, in which case he would beable triumphantly to demolish the latter's theory of the girl'sidentity, by stating that he could positively swear that her hair washer own.

  "No, my lord. After carefully investigating the matter I have come tothe conclusion that she did not. And my reasons are, first, that nohairdresser in Newhaven has lately sold a dark wig to any one, and,secondly, that no parcel arrived, addressed either to her Ladyship or toPrentice, which could have contained such an article. On the other hand,as his Lordship had for years dyed his hair and beard, her Ladyship hadonly to go into his dressing-room to procure a very simple means oftransforming herself."

  "But doesn't it take ages to dye hair?" asked Cyril.

  "If it is done properly, yes; but the sort of stain his Lordship usedcan be very quickly applied. I do not believe it took her Ladyship morethan half an hour to dye enough of her hair to escape notice, but in allprobability she had no time to do it very thoroughly and that whichescaped may have turned white. I don't know anything about that."

  This was a possibility which had not occurred to Cyril; but still herefused to be convinced.

  "Very well, my lord. Let me continue my story: Before her Ladyship hadcompleted her preparations, his Lordship awoke from his stupor."

  "What makes you think that?"

  "Because, if his Lordship had not tried to prevent her escape, she wouldhav
e had no reason for killing him. Probably they had a struggle, herhand fell on the pistol, and the deed was done----"

  "But what about the ruined picture?"

  "Her Ladyship, knowing that there was no other portrait of her inexistence, destroyed it in order to make it difficult for the police tofollow her."

  "H'm," grunted Cyril. "You make her Ladyship out a nice, cold-blooded,calculating sort of person. If you think she at all resembles the younglady at the nursing home, I can only tell you that you are vastlymistaken."

  "As I have not the honour of knowing the lady in question, I cannot formany opinion as to that. But let us continue: I wish to confess at oncethat I am not at all sure how her Ladyship reached Newhaven. Thatwaiting automobile complicates matters. On the face of it, it seems asif it must have some connection with the case. I have also a feelingthat it has, and yet for the life of me I cannot discover the connectinglink. Whatever the younger man was, the elder was undoubtedly aFrenchman, and I have ascertained that with the exception of an oldFrench governess, who lived with her Ladyship before her marriage, andof Mustapha and Valdriguez, Lady Wilmersley knew no foreigner whatever.Besides, these two men seem to have been motoring about the countryalmost at random, and it may have been the merest accident which broughtthem to the foot of the long lane just at the time when her Ladyship wasin all probability leaving the castle. Whether they gave her a lift asfar as Newhaven, I do not know. How her Ladyship reached the townconstitutes the only serious--I will not call it break--but hiatus--inmy theory. From half-past six the next morning, however, her movementscan be easily followed. A young lady, dressed as you know, approachedthe station with obvious nervousness. Three things attracted theattention of the officials: first, the discrepancy between thesimplicity, I might almost say the poverty, of her clothes, and the factthat she purchased a first-class ticket; secondly, that she did not wishher features to be seen; and thirdly, that she had no luggage except asmall hand-bag. How her Ladyship managed to elude the police, and whathas subsequently occurred to her, I do not need to tell your Lordship."

  "You haven't in the least convinced me that the young lady is herLadyship, not in the least. You yourself admit that there is a hiatus inyour story; well, that hiatus is to me a gulf which you have failed tobridge. Because one lady disappears from Geralton and another appearsthe next morning in Newhaven, you insist the two are identical. But youhave not offered me one iota of proof that such is the case."

  "What more proof do you want? She is the only person who left Newhavenby train or boat who even vaguely resembled her Ladyship."

  "That means nothing. Her Ladyship may not have come to Newhaven at all,but have been driven to some hiding-place in the Frenchman's car."

  "I think that quite impossible, for every house, every cottage, everystable and barn even, for twenty-five miles around, has been carefullysearched. Besides, this would mean that the murder had been premeditatedand the coming of the motor had been pre-arranged; and lastly, as thegardener's wife testifies that the car left Geralton certainly noearlier than eleven-thirty, and as the two men reached the hotel beforetwelve, this precludes the possibility that they could have done morethan drive straight back to the Inn, as the motor is by no means a fastone."

  "But, my man, they may have secreted her Ladyship in the town itself andhave taken her with them to France the next morning."

  "Impossible. In the first place, they left alone, the porter saw themoff; and secondly, no one except the two Frenchmen purchased a ticketfor the continent either in the Newhaven office or on the boat."

  Cyril rose from his seat. Judson's logic was horribly convincing; nosmallest detail had apparently escaped him. As the man piled argument onargument, he had found himself slowly and grudgingly accepting hisconclusions.

  "As you are in my employ, I take it for granted that you will not informthe police or the press of your--suspicions," he said at last.

  "Certainly not, my lord. On the other hand, I must ask you to allow meto withdraw from the case."

  "But why?" exclaimed Cyril.

  "Because my duty to you, as my client, prevents me from taking anyfurther steps in this matter."

  "I don't understand you!"

  "I gather that you are less anxious to clear up the mystery than toprotect her Ladyship. Am I not right?"

  "Yes," acknowledged Cyril.

  "You would even wish me to assist you in providing a safe retreat forher."

  "Exactly."

  "Well, my lord, that is just what I cannot do. It is my duty, as Iconceive it, to hold my tongue, but I should not feel justified inaiding her Ladyship to escape the consequences of her--her--action. Inorder to be faithful to my engagement to you, I am willing to let thepublic believe that I have made a failure of the case. I shall not evenallow my imagination to dwell on your future movements, but more thanthat I cannot do."

  "You take the position that her Ladyship is an ordinary criminal, butyou must realise that that is absurd. Even granting that she isresponsible for her husband's death--of which, by the way, we have noabsolute proof--are you not able to make allowances for a poor womangoaded to desperation by an opium fiend?"

  "I do not constitute myself her Ladyship's judge, but I don't think yourLordship quite realises all that you are asking of me. Even if I werewilling to waive the question of my professional honour, I should stilldecline to undertake a task which, I know, is foredoomed to failure.For, if _I_ discovered Lady Wilmersley with so little difficulty,Scotland Yard is bound to do so before long. The trail is toounmistakable. It is impossible--absolutely impossible, I assure you,that the secret can be kept."

  Cyril moved uneasily.

  "I wish I could convince your Lordship of this and induce you to allowthe law to take its course. Her Ladyship ought to come forward at onceand plead justifiable homicide. If she waits till she is arrested, itwill tell heavily against her."

  "But she is ill, really ill," insisted Cyril. "Dr. Stuart-Smith tells methat if she is not kept perfectly quiet for the next few weeks, hernervous system may never recover from the shock."

  "H'm! That certainly complicates the situation; on the other hand, youmust remember that discovery is not only inevitable but imminent, andthat the police will not stop to consider her Ladyship's nervous system.No, my lord, the only thing for you to do is to break the news to heryourself and to persuade her to give herself up. If you don't, you willboth live to regret it."

  "That may be so," replied Cyril after a minute's hesitation, "but inthis matter I must judge for myself. I still hope that you are wrong andthat either the young woman in question is not Lady Wilmersley or thatit was not her Ladyship who killed my cousin, and I refuse to jeopardiseher life till I am sure that there is no possibility of your having madea mistake. But don't throw up the case yet. So far you have only soughtfor evidence which would strengthen your theory of her Ladyship's guilt,now I want you to look at the case from a fresh point of view. I wantyou to start all over again and to work on the assumption that herLadyship did not fire the shot. I cannot accept your conclusion as finaltill we have exhausted every other possibility. These Frenchmen, forinstance, have they or have they not a connection with the case? Andthen there is Valdriguez. Why have you never suspected her? At theinquest she acknowledged that no one had seen her leave her Ladyship'sapartments and we have only her word for it that she spent the eveningin her room."

  "True. But, if I went on the principle of suspecting every one whocannot prove themselves innocent, I should soon be lost in a quagmire ofbarren conjectures. Of course, I have considered Valdriguez, but I canfind no reason for suspecting her."

  "Well, I could give you a dozen reasons."

  "Indeed, my lord, and what are they?"

  "In the first place, we know that she is a hard, unprincipled woman, orshe would never have consented to aid my cousin in depriving hisunfortunate wife of her liberty. A woman who would do that, is capableof any villainy. Then, on the witness-stand didn't you feel that she washolding something back?
Oh, I forgot you were not present at theinquest."

  "I was there, my lord, but I took good care that no one should recogniseme."

  "Well, and what impression did she make on you?"

  "A fairly favourable one, my lord. I think she spoke the truth and Ifancy that she is almost a religious fanatic."

  "You don't mean to say, Judson, that you allowed yourself to be taken inby her sanctimonious airs and the theatrical way that she kept clutchingat that cross on her breast? A religious fanatic indeed! Why, don't yousee that no woman with a spark of religion in her could have allowed hermistress to be treated as Lady Wilmersley was?"

  "Quite so, my lord, and it is because Valdriguez impressed me as anhonest old creature that I am still doubtful whether her Ladyship isinsane or not, and this uncertainty hampers me very much in my work."

  "Lady Upton assured me that her granddaughter's mind had never beenunbalanced and that his Lordship, although he frequently wrote to her,had never so much as hinted at such a thing; and if you believe theyoung lady at the nursing home to be Lady Wilmersley, I give you my wordthat she shows no sign of mental derangement."

  "Well, that seems pretty final, and yet--and yet--I cannot believe thatValdriguez is a vicious woman. A man in my profession acquires a curiousinstinct in such matters, my lord." The detective paused a moment andwhen he began again, he spoke almost as if he were reasoning withhimself. "Now, if my estimate of Valdriguez is correct, and if it isalso a fact that Lady Wilmersley has never been insane, there arecertainly possibilities connected with this affair which I have by nomeans exhausted--and so, my lord, I am not only willing but anxious tocontinue on the case, if you will agree to allow me to ignore herLadyship's existence."

  "Certainly. But tell me, Judson, how can you hope to reconcile two suchabsolutely contradictory facts?"

  "Two such apparently contradictory facts," gently corrected thedetective. "Well, my lord, I propose to find out more of this woman'santecedents. I have several times tried to get her to talk, but so farwithout the least success. She says that she will answer any questionput to her on the witness-stand, but that it is against her principlesto gossip about her late master and mistress. She is equally reticent asto her past life and when I told her that her silence seemed to me verysuspicious, she demanded--suspicious of what? She went on to say thatshe could not see that it was anybody's business, where she lived orwhat she had done, and that she had certainly no intention of gratifyingmy idle curiosity; and that was the last word I could get out of her.Although she treated me so cavalierly, I confess to a good deal ofsympathy with her attitude."

  "Have you questioned Mrs. Eversley about her?" asked Cyril. "She washousekeeper here when Valdriguez first came to Geralton and ought to beable to tell you what sort of person she was in her youth."

  "Mrs. Eversley speaks well of her. The only thing she told me which mayhave a bearing on the case is, that in the old days his Lordshipappeared to admire Valdriguez very much."

  "Ah! I thought so," cried Cyril.

  "But we cannot be too sure of this, my lord. For when I tried to findout what grounds she had for her statement, she had so little proof tooffer that I cannot accept her impression as conclusive evidence. As faras I can make out, the gossip about them was started by his Lordshipgoing to the Catholic church in Newhaven."

  "By going to the Catholic church!" exclaimed Cyril.

  "Exactly. Not a very compromising act on his Lordship's part, one wouldthink. But as his Lordship was not a Catholic, his doing so naturallyaroused a good deal of comment. At first the neighbourhood feared thathe had been converted by his mother, who had often lamented that she hadnot been allowed to bring up her son in her own faith. It was soonnoticed, however, that whenever his Lordship attended a popish service,his mother's pretty maid was invariably present, and so people began toput two and two together and before long it was universally assumed thatshe was the magnet which had drawn him away from his own church. I askedMrs. Eversley if they had been seen together elsewhere, and shereluctantly admitted that they had. On several occasions they were seenwalking in the Park but always, so Mrs. Eversley assured me, in fullview of the castle. She had felt it her duty to speak to Valdriguez onthe subject, and the latter told her that his Lordship was interested inher religion and that she was willing to run the risk of having herconduct misconstrued if she could save his soul from eternal damnation.She also gave Mrs. Eversley to understand that she had her mistress'ssanction, and as her Ladyship treated Valdriguez more as a companion andfriend than as a maid, Mrs. Eversley thought this quite likely and didnot venture to remonstrate further. So the intimacy, if such it could becalled, continued as before. What the outcome of this state of thingswould have been we do not know, for shortly afterwards both Lord andLady Wilmersley died and Valdriguez left Geralton. When his Lordshipwent away a few weeks later, a good many people suspected that he hadjoined her on the continent. Mrs. Eversley, however, does not believethis. She has the most absolute confidence in Valdriguez's virtue, and Ithink her testimony is pretty reliable."

  "Bah! Mrs. Eversley is an honest, simple old soul. A clever adventuresswould have little difficulty in hoodwinking her. Mark my words, you havefound the key to the mystery. What more likely than that hisLordship--whose morals, even as a boy, were none of the best--seducedValdriguez and that she returned to Geralton so as to have theopportunity of avenging her wrongs."

  "I can think of nothing more unlikely than that his Lordship should haveselected his cast-off mistress as his wife's attendant," Judson drilyremarked.

  "Not at all. You didn't know him," replied Cyril. "I can quite fancythat the situation would have appealed to his cynical humour."

  "Your opinion of the late Lord Wilmersley is certainly not flattering,but even if we take for granted that such an arrangement would not havebeen impossible to his Lordship, I still refuse to believe thatValdriguez would have agreed to it; even assuming that his Lordship hadwronged her and that she had nursed a murderous resentment against himall these years, I cannot see how she could have hoped to further herobject by accepting the humiliating position of his wife's maid. It alsoseems to me incredible that a woman whose passions were so violent as tofind expression in murder could have controlled them during a lifetime.But leaving aside these considerations, I have another reason to urgeagainst your theory: Would his Lordship have trusted a woman who, heknew, had a grievance against him, as he certainly trusted Valdriguez?She had free access to his apartments. What was there to have preventedher from giving him an overdose of some drug during one of the manytimes when he was half-stupefied with opium? Nothing. The risk ofdetection would have been infinitesimal. No, my lord, why Valdriguezreturned to Geralton is an enigma, I grant you, but your explanationdoes not satisfy me."

  "As long as you acknowledge that Valdriguez's presence here needs anexplanation and are willing to work to find that explanation, I don'tcare whether you accept my theory or not; all I want to get at is thetruth."

  "The truth, my lord," said the detective, as he rose to take his leave,"is often more praised than appreciated."