Leucha Redmayne was, as her father had declared, a very clever young
woman.
She was known as "the Ladybird" on account of her habit of flitting from
place to place, constantly taking situations in likely families. Most
of the ladies in whose service she had been had regretted when she left,
and many of them actually offered her higher wages to remain. She was
quick and neat, had taken lessons in hairdressing and dressmaking in
Paris, could speak French fluently, and possessed that quiet, dignified
demeanour so essential to the maid of an aristocratic woman.
Her references were excellent. A well-known Duchess--whose jewels,
however, had been too carefully guarded--and half a dozen other titled
ladies testified to her honesty and good character, and also to their
regret on account of her being compelled to leave their service;
therefore, armed with such credentials, she never had difficulty in
obtaining any situation that was vacant.
So ingenious was she, and so cleverly did she contrive to make her
excuses for leaving the service of her various mistresses, that nobody,
not even the most astute officers from Scotland Yard, ever suspected
her.
The case of Lady Harefield's jewels, which readers of the present
narrative of a royal scandal will well remember, was a typical one.
Leucha, who saw in the _Morning Post_ that Lady Harefield wanted a maid
to travel, applied, and at once obtained the situation. She soon
discovered that her Ladyship possessed some extremely valuable diamonds;
but they were in the bank at Derby, near which town the country place
was situated. She accompanied her Ladyship to the Riviera for the
season, and then returning to England found out that her mistress
intended to go to Court upon a certain evening, and that she would have
the diamonds brought up from Derby on the preceding day. His Lordship's
secretary was to be sent for them. As soon as she obtained this
information she was taken suddenly ill, and left Lady Harefield's
service to go back to her fictitious home in the country. At once she
called her father and Bourne, with the result that on the day in
question, when Lord Harefield's secretary arrived at St. Pancras
Station, the bag containing the jewels disappeared, and was never again
seen.
More than once too, she had, by pre-arrangement with her father, left
her mistress's bedroom window open and the jewel-case unlocked while the
family were dining, with the result that the precious ornaments had been
mysteriously abstracted. Many a time, after taking a situation, and
finding that her mistress's jewels were paste, she had calmly left at
the end of the week, feigning to be ill-tempered and dissatisfied, and
not troubling about wages. If there were no jewels she never remained.
And wherever she chanced to be--in London, in the country, or up in
Scotland--either one or other of her father's companions was generally
lurking near to receive her secret communications.
Hers had from childhood been a life full of strange adventures, of
ingenious deceptions, and of clever subterfuge. So closely did she keep
her own counsel that not a single friend was aware of her motive in so
constantly changing her employment; indeed, the majority of them put it
down to her own fickleness, and blamed her for not "settling down."
Such was the woman whom the Crown Princess Claire had taken into her
service.
At the Savoy, where she took up a temporary abode under the title of
Baroness Deitel of Frankfort, Leucha quickly exhibited her skill as
lady's maid. Indeed, even Henriette was not so quick or deft as was
this dark-eyed young woman who was the spy of a gang of thieves.
While she dressed the Princess's hair, her Highness explained how her
valuable jewels had been stolen, and how her father had so generously
restored them to her.
"Guy--Mr. Bourne, I mean--has already told me. He is back in London,
and is lying low because of the police. They suspect him on account of
a little affair up in Edinburgh about three months ago."
"Where is he?" asked the Princess; "I would so like to see him."
"He is living in secret over at Hammersmith. He dare not come here, I
think."
"But we might perhaps pay him a visit--eh?"
From the manner in which the girl inadvertently referred to Bourne by
his Christian name, her Highness suspected that they were fond of each
other. But she said nothing, resolving to remain watchful and observe
for herself.
That same evening, after dinner, when Ignatia was sleeping, and they sat
together in her Highness's room overlooking the dark Thames and the long
lines of lights of the Embankment, "the Ladybird," at the Princess's
invitation, related one or two of her adventures, confessing openly to
the part she had played as her father's spy. She would certainly have
said nothing had not her Highness declared that she was interested, and
urged her to tell her something of her life. Though trained as an
assistant to these men ever since she had left the cheap boarding-school
at Weymouth, she hated herself for the despicable part she had played,
and yet, as she had often told herself, it had been of sheer necessity.
"Yes," she sighed, "I have had several narrow escapes of being suspected
of the thefts. Once, when in Lady Milborne's service, down at Lyme
Regis, I discovered that she kept the Milborne heirlooms, among which
were some very fine old rubies--which are just now worth more than
diamonds in the market--in a secret cupboard in the wall of her bedroom,
behind an old family portrait. My father, with Guy, Kinder, and two
others, were in the vicinity of the house ready to make the _coup_; and
I arranged with them that on a certain evening, while her Ladyship was
at dinner, I would put the best of the jewels into a wash-leather bag
and lower them from the window to where Guy was to be in waiting for
them in the park. He was to cut the string and disappear with the bag,
while I would draw up the string and put it upon the fire. Her Ladyship
seldom went to the secret cupboard, and some days might elapse before
the theft was discovered. Well, on the evening in question I slipped up
to the bedroom, obtained the rubies and let them out of the window. I
felt the string being cut, and hauling it back again quickly burnt it,
and then got away to another part of the house, hoping that her Ladyship
would not go to her jewels for a day or two. In the meantime I dare not
leave her service, or suspicion might fall upon me. Besides, the
Honourable George, her eldest son--a fellow with a rather bad reputation
for gambling and racing--was about to be married to the daughter of a
wealthy landowner in the neighbourhood; a most excellent match for him,
as the Milbornes had become poor owing to the depreciation in the value
of land.
"About two hours after I had let down the precious little bag I chanced
to be looking out into the park from my own window, and saw a man in the
public footway strike three matches in order to light his pipe--the
signal that my friends wanted to speak to me. In surprise I slipped
out, and there found Guy, who, to my utter amazement, told me that they
had not received the bag; they had been forestalled by a tall man in
evening dress who had emerged from the Hall, and who chanced to be
walking up and down smoking when the bag dangled in front of him!
Imagine my feelings!
"Unfortunately I had not looked out, for fear of betraying myself; and
as it was the exact hour appointed, I felt certain that my friend would
be there. The presence of the man in evening dress, however, deterred
them from emerging from the bushes, and they were compelled to remain
concealed and watch my peril. The man looked up, and though the room
was in darkness, he could see my white apron. Then in surprise he cut
the string, and having opened the bag in the light, saw what it
contained, placed it in his pocket, and re-entered the house. Guy
described him, and I at once knew that it was the Honourable George, my
mistress's son. He would no doubt denounce me as a thief.
"I saw the extreme peril of the situation. I had acted clumsily in not
first ascertaining that the way was clear. To fly at once was to
condemn myself. I reflected for a moment, and then, resolving upon a
desperate course of action, returned to the house, in spite of Bourne's
counsel to get away as quickly as possible. I went straight to her
Ladyship's room, but from the way she spoke to me saw that up to the
present her son had told her nothing. This was fortunate for me. He
was keeping the secret in order, no doubt, to call the police on the
morrow and accuse me in their presence. I saw that the only way was to
bluff him; therefore I went very carefully to work.
"Just before midnight I slipped into his sitting-room, which adjoined
his bedroom, and secreted myself behind the heavy plush curtains that
were drawn; then when he was asleep I took the rubies from the drawer in
which he had placed them, but in doing so the lock of the drawer
clicked, and he awoke. He saw me, and sprang up, openly accusing me of
theft. Whereupon I faced him boldly, declaring that if he did not keep
his mouth closed I would alarm the household, who would find me alone in
his room at that hour. He would then be compromised in the eyes of the
woman whom in two days he was about to marry. Instantly he recognised
that I held the whip-hand. He endeavoured, however, to argue; but I
declared that if he did not allow me to have the rubies to replace in
the cupboard and maintain silence, I would arouse the household. Then
he laughed, saying, `You're a fool, Leucha. I'm very hard up, and you
quite providentially lowered them down to me. I intend to raise money
on them to-morrow.' `And to accuse me!' I said. `No, you don't. I
shall put them back, and we will both remain silent. Both of us have
much to lose--you a wife, and I my liberty. Why should either of us
risk it? Is it really worth while?' This argument decided him. I
replaced the jewels, and next day left Lady Milborne's service.
"That was, however, one of the narrowest escapes I ever had, and it
required all my courage to extricate myself, I can tell you."
"So your plots were not always successful," remarked the Princess,
smiling and looking at her wonderingly. She was surely a girl of great
resource and ingenuity.
"Not always, your Highness. One, which father had planned here a couple
of months ago, and which was to be effected in Paris, has just failed in
a peculiar way. The lady went to Paris, and, unknown to her husband,
suddenly sold all her jewels _en masse_ in order to pay her debts at
bridge."
"She forestalled him!"
"Exactly," laughed the girl. "But it was a curious _contretemps_, was
it not?"
Next day proved an eventful one to the Crown Princess, for soon after
eleven o'clock, when with Leucha and Ignatia she went out of the hotel
into the Strand, a man selling the _Evening News_ held a poster before
her, bearing in large capitals the words:--
EVENING NEWS, FRIDAY, JUNE 26th.