CHAPTER VI
An Astonishing Request
I sat down again and examined my find more closely. I am no connoisseurof lace, yet even I could appreciate the handkerchief's exquisitebeauty. But how came it here, crushed into a corner of this chair? Whosewas it? Some instinct--or was it merely a delusive hope?--told me thatit belonged to Marcia Lawrence--that it was she who had left ithere--that the tears which dampened it were her tears, tears of bitter,bitter sorrow for dead hopes and a future which had changed from gold togrey. She had stolen into the library for a moment's peace, that shemight face her sorrow and decide what she must do. She had left it----
But I shook myself together impatiently. All this was merely theorising;I must lay my foundation first, get my facts; then perhaps it might bepossible to build a theory which would prove the right one. Thus far inthe investigation, I felt that I had been met with evasion rather thanwith frankness; I suspected that an attempt was being made to puzzle andbewilder me; I could see that my presence in the house was unwelcome toMrs. Lawrence. Well, my stay would be a short one; I dropped thehandkerchief into my pocket, opened the door, and stepped out into thehall.
The front door was open and two men were tugging an immense palm throughit. Another was engaged in taking down the wreaths of smilax. By thetenderness with which he handled them I recognised the decorator. Hestopped and looked at me inquiringly as I went toward him.
"I've come down from New York," I explained, "at the request of Mr.Curtiss to assist him in finding Miss Lawrence. You, I believe, are thelast person who is known to have seen her. I'd like to ask you a fewquestions."
"Go ahead," he said, beaming with self-importance. "I'll be glad to tellyou anything I know, sir."
"Do you remember what time it was when you called Miss Lawrence down tohave a last look at the decorations?"
"It must have been nearly half-past eleven, sir. I remember hearing aclock strike eleven and thinking it'd take me about half an hour to getthrough."
"Did you notice anything peculiar in her behaviour?"
"Peculiar? No, sir. She was very kind and said some nice things about mywork."
"She did not seem sad nor depressed?"
"Oh, no, sir; quite the contrary."
"When she left you, did she return upstairs?"
"I think so, sir. At least, she started for the stairs. I stepped intothe dining-room for a moment to make sure everything was all right, andwhen I came out again she was gone."
"Was there any one else in the hall?"
"No, sir; I think not; not just at that moment, though of course peoplewere passing back and forth through it all the time."
"Did you notice a man loitering about--a stranger--middle-aged,dark-complexioned, with a dark beard or moustache--rather striking inappearance--perhaps a little dissolute?"
"No, sir," he answered, with a stare of surprise. "I didn't see anystranger about the whole morning--nobody I didn't know."
I confess I was rather disappointed; I had hoped that my shot wouldtell.
"And you heard no unusual noise--no scream, nor anything of that sort."
"No, sir; though I was so busy and worried I dare say I wouldn't haveheard a cannon-shot."
"When did you learn that something was wrong?"
"I heard Mrs. Lawrence asking if any one had seen her daughter. Then shesent some of the servants to look for her."
"What time was that?"
"About ten minutes after I had spoken to her."
"Yes--what then?"
"Well, I didn't pay much attention, at first; but when the bridesmaidscame, they raised such a hullabaloo that I couldn't help but takenotice."
"What did Mrs. Lawrence do?"
"Why, she tried to quiet them--I must say she was the coolest one in thehouse--except one."
"Who was that?"
"Miss Lawrence's maid. She just sat there on the stairs and glowered andgrinned and chewed her nails and never said a word. She gave me thecreeps. I could swear she knew all about it and was glad of it."
I repressed a chuckle of satisfaction. Here was better luck than I hadexpected.
"How was Miss Lawrence dressed when you saw her?" I asked.
"All in rustly white. I judged it was her wedding-dress."
"And you say she seemed quite as usual?"
"Yes, sir; only, of course, excited, as any woman would be--though calm,too, and with a sort of deep glow in her eyes when she looked at you. Ican't describe it, sir; but I remember thinking that the man who was toget her was a mighty lucky fellow. Did you know her, sir?"
"No," I said; "I've never seen her."
"Ah," he added, closing his eyes for an instant, "if you'd seen herthen, you'd never forget it. I never will. I never saw another woman totouch her!" and he turned away to his work, with the vision he hadconjured up evidently still before him.
As I started along the hall, I saw through the open front door amail-carrier coming up the walk. I hastened to meet him--this wasanother fortunate chance.
"How many deliveries do you make a day out here?" I asked, as he came upthe steps with a bundle of letters in his hand--I could guess thebelated congratulations which were among them!
"Only two--morning and afternoon," he answered.
"What time in the morning?"
"About nine o'clock, usually."
"It was about that time this morning?"
"Yes, sir; maybe ten minutes after nine."
"Who took the mail?"
"I put it in the box here in the vestibule, as I always do," he said,and suited the action to the word.
I watched him as he walked away. So it had not been a letter which hadcaused Miss Lawrence's sudden panic. That reduced the possibilities totwo. Either she had received a visitor or a telegram. I must endeavourto----
A voice at my elbow aroused me.
"Mrs. Lawrence wishes to see you, sir," it said.
I turned, to find standing beside me the woman who had brought the noteto Mrs. Lawrence in the library--the woman whose attitude of malignanttriumph had so startled me. I blessed the chance which made it possiblefor me to question her alone.
"Very well," I said. "Are you Mrs. Lawrence's maid?"
"No, sir; I'm Miss Marcia's maid."
"Ah!" I said, and permitted myself to look at her more closely. She wasa woman apparently somewhat over thirty. She had very black hair andeyes, and her face, while not actually repellent, had in it a certainfierceness and hardness far from attractive. A fiery and emotionalnature was evident in every line of it--a sinister nature, too, itseemed to me--and I remembered her as I had seen her standing in thelibrary door, exulting in another's misery. I pictured her as thedecorator had described her, sitting on the stair, grinning and bitingher nails in a kind of infernal triumph. Why should Miss Lawrence havechosen such a woman to attend her? As I looked at her, I saw the follyof attempting to win her confidence--the whip was the only weapon thatcould touch her--and it must be wielded mercilessly.
"Mrs. Lawrence wishes to see you," she said again, and I fancied therewas defiance in the eyes she turned upon me for the merest instant.
"In a moment. Was it you who found the note your mistress left for Mr.Curtiss?"
"Yes, sir," and she glanced at me again, this time with a quicksuspicion.
"It was on her dressing-table, I believe?"
"Yes, sir."
"How did you happen to find it?"
"I just happened to see it, sir."
"It was lying in plain sight?"
"Yes, sir."
"Not concealed in any way--nothing lying over it?"
She hesitated an instant, and shot me another quick glance before sheanswered.
"I believe not, sir," she said at last.
"Of course it wouldn't be concealed," I said reassuringly. "MissLawrence probably left it where she thought it would be most quicklyseen, don't you think so?"
"Yes, sir; I suppose so."
"And her dressing-table was a very conspicuous place?
"
"Yes, sir; very conspicuous."
"In that case," I said slowly, "it seems most peculiar that the letterwasn't discovered at once."
She flushed hotly under my gaze and opened her lips to reply, butthought better of it and started hastily up the stair. I followed her insilence; but I had much to think about. What connection had she withMiss Lawrence's disappearance? What connection could she have? MissLawrence would scarcely make a confidante of her maid, more especiallyof such a maid as this! At the stairhead I held her back for a finalquestion.
"When did you see your mistress last?"
"When she left her room to go downstairs to look at the decorations,"she answered, so docilely that I was inclined to believe her formerdefiance wholly my imagination.
"You remained behind in the room?"
"Yes, sir."
"And she did not return?"
"No, sir."
"Then how do you explain the presence of the letter on the dresser?"
She flushed again, more hotly than before; she realised that I hadcaught her in a lie.
"I--I can't explain it, sir," she stammered. "I didn't consider it anyof my business," she added fiercely.
"I think you'll find it difficult to explain," I said, with irony; "evenmore difficult than how it came to lie there unperceived for nearlythree hours. You'll pardon me if I find the story hard to believe."
"It's nothing to me whether or not you believe it!" she retorted andmade a motion to go on again.
"No," I said; "wait a moment. Which is her room?"
"This one here," and she pointed to a half-open door just beside us.
Ignoring her gesture of protest, I pushed the door back and steppedinside.
The room was a large and pleasant one, well lighted and looking out uponthe grove at the east side of the house. There was some little disorderapparent, and over a chair at the farther side of the room I saw a veillying--no doubt the bridal veil. For the moment I did not seek to seemore, but turned back into the hall.
"Nothing there," I said, as though my inspection of the room was ended."I suppose you helped Miss Lawrence to dress?"
"Yes, sir."
"And she had on her wedding-gown when she went downstairs?"
"Yes, sir, all but the veil."
"What was the colour of the gown?"
"White, sir," she answered, with evident contempt. "White satin madevery plain."
"With a train?"
"Yes, sir, with a train."
"Thank you," I said. Plainly, a woman garbed in that fashion must be amarked object, wherever she went. Then, seeing that the maid waited forfurther questions, I added, "That is all, I believe."
She opened a door just across the hall and motioned me to precede her. Ifound myself in a pleasant sitting-room, and looked about for Mrs.Lawrence, but she was not there. The maid went to an inner door whichstood half-open, and knocked.
"In a moment," called a low voice, and I heard a rustle of draperies.Instinctively I knew that Mrs. Lawrence had been upon her knees.
But I was not prepared for the deep distress which I saw in hercountenance the instant she appeared upon the threshold. So worn anddrawn was it, so changed even in the brief time since I had seen herlast, that I scarcely knew her. What had happened? Was her self-controlgiving way under the strain, or had there been some new shock, some morepoignant blow which she had been unable to withstand?
She came straight to me where I stood staring, perhaps a littlebrutally, and lifted tear-dimmed eyes to mine.
"Mr. Lester," she said, in a choked voice, "I must ask that this searchfor Marcia cease."
That Affair at Elizabeth Page 6
