Meanwhile the fates were working in another direction. Field had
stumbled, more or less by accident, upon a startling discovery. He had,
it will be remembered, called upon the little actress to whom he had
rendered so signal a service on the night of the theatre panic, and whom
in the heat and confusion of the moment he had failed to recognize, but
now he knew that he was face to face with the lady whom he had seen with
Sartoris at Audley Place.
Field was not often astonished, but he gave full rein to that emotion
now. For he had made more than one discovery at the same time. In the
first place he had found Miss Violet Decie, Sir Charles Darryll's ward,
who proved at the same time to be the actress known as Adela Vane. But
that was a minor discovery compared to the rest. Here was the girl who
at one time had been engaged to Carl Sartoris, and who was supposed to
be connected more or less with his misfortunes.
Here was the girl, too, who might be in a position to supply the key to
the mystery. Undoubtedly, the backbone of the whole thing was the desire
for money. Sir Charles Darryll and his friend Lord Edward Decie had been
engaged in some adventurous speculation together in Burmah. They had
doubtless deemed that speculation to be worthless, but Carl Sartoris had
found that they were mistaken. Therefore, trusting to his changed
appearance and his disguise, he had asked his old sweetheart to call
upon him. The conversation that Field had overheard in the conservatory
was going to be useful.
The curious questioning look in the girl's eyes recalled Field to
himself. He had instantly to make up his mind as to his line of action.
Miss Decie, to give her her proper name, gave the inspector a little
time to decide what to do.
"How can I ever sufficiently thank you?" she asked. "Really, I could not
sleep all night for thinking about the horror of the thing and your
brave action. It was splendid!"
"Not at all," Field said modestly. "I am accustomed to danger. You see I
am a police officer, a detective inspector from Scotland Yard. It is a
little strange that I should have been able to do you a service, seeing
that I came to the theatre on purpose to see you."
The girl's eyes opened a little wider, but she said nothing.
"Perhaps I had better be quite candid," Field went on. "I want you to
help me if you can."
"Most assuredly. After last night, I will do anything you like. Pray go
on."
"Thank you very much," Field replied. "It is very good of you to make my
task easier. You see I am closely connected with the inquiry into the
sudden death of Sir Charles Darryll and the subsequent startling
disappearance of his body. Were not your father and Sir Charles great
friends in India long ago? Do you recollect that?"
The girl nodded; her eyes were dilated with curiosity. Field could not
find it in his heart to believe that she was a bad girl.
"They had adventures together," she said. "They were going to make a
fortune over some mine or something of that kind. But it never came to
anything."
"You are absolutely sure of that?" Field asked.
"Well, so far as I know, the thing came to nothing. Some man was
employed to make certain investigations, and he reported badly of the
scheme. I only heard all this talk as a child, and I was not
particularly interested. You see, I knew very little of Sir Charles,
though he was my guardian. There were certain papers that he deposited
with a solicitor who used to get him out of messes from time to time,
but really I am as ignorant as you are."
"You don't even know the name of the solicitor?" Field asked.
"I do now," the girl said. "I found it among some letters. Do you know
that a Mr. Sartoris, who claims to know my father and Sir Charles, also
wrote me on the same matter? He asked me to go and see him at
Wandsworth. He is a crippled gentleman, and very nice. He has a lovely
conservatory-room full of flowers. I was at his house only last night,
and he talked to me very much the same way as you are doing."
"I know that," Field said calmly. "I was hiding in the conservatory and
listened."
Miss Decie gave a little cry of astonishment.
"Our profession leads us into strange places," Field said. "I heard all
that conversation, so there is no occasion to ask you to repeat it. You
will recollect saying that Mr. Sartoris reminded you of somebody that
you knew years ago in India. Have you made up your mind who the
gentleman in question does resemble?"
The girl's face grew white, and then the red blood flamed into her
cheeks ago.
"I have a fancy," she said. "But are not these idle questions?"
"I assure you that they are vital to this strange investigation," Field
said earnestly.
"Then I had better confess to you that Mr. Sartoris reminded me of a
gentleman to whom I was once engaged in India; I was greatly deceived in
the man to whom I was engaged; indeed it was a tragic time altogether. I
don't like to speak of it."
"Loth as I am to give you pain, I must proceed," Field said. "Was the
gentleman you speak of known as a Mr. Carl Grey, by any chance."
"Yes, that was the name. I see you know a great deal more than I
anticipated. I suppose you have been making investigations. But I cannot
possibly see what----"
"What this has to do with the death of Sir Charles Darryll? My dear
young lady, this is a very complicated case; at least it looks like one
at present, and its ramifications go a long way. I want to know all you
can tell me about Carl Grey."
"I can tell you nothing that is good," the girl said. She had risen from
the chair and was pacing up and down the room in a state of considerable
agitation. "There was a tragedy behind it all. I don't think that I
really and truly loved Carl Grey; I fancy that he fascinated me. There
was another man that I cared more for. He died trying to save my life."
Field nodded encouragement; a good deal of this he knew already.
"Let me make it easy for you if I can," he said. "I have found out a
great deal from a little conversation, part of which I overheard between
Colonel Berrington and Miss Mary Grey, or Miss Mary Sartoris, which you
like. There was a mysterious affair, but it resulted in the death or
disappearance of the other man and the permanent crippling of Carl Grey.
Am I misinformed, or is this practically the case?"
"I cannot see what this has to do with Sir Charles Darryll," Violet
Decie said slowly.
"Pardon me, but it has a great deal to do with the case," Field replied.
"If you knew all that I do you would not hesitate for a moment. If you
care to write it down----"
The girl stopped in her restless walk; her eyes were heavy with tears.
"I'll tell you," she said. "I must not forget that I owe my life to your
bravery. As I said before, I was engaged to Carl Grey. But for his
sister I don't think that I should ever have consented. But there it
was, and I loved another man at the time. And the other man loved me.
There was a deal of jealousy between the two, and I was frightened. Carl
Grey was always queer and mysterious; he was ever seeking to penetrate
the mysteries of the East. Strange men would come to his bungalow late
at night, and I heard of weird orgies there. But I did not see anything
of this till one day when I was riding on the hills with Mr. Grey. We
had a kind of quarrel on the way, and he was very difficult that day. We
came presently to a kind of temple in ruins, which we explored. There
was a vault underneath, and Mr. Grey pressed me to enter. It all seems
like a dream now; but there were natives there and some kind of ceremony
progressing. The air of the place seemed to intoxicate me; I seemed to
be dragged into the ceremony, Mr. Grey and I together. Somebody dressed
me in long white robes. Even to this day I don't know whether it was a
dream or a reality. Then there was a disturbance, and the other man came
in; I do not recollect anything after but blows and pistol shots; when I
came to myself I was in the jungle with my horse by my side. From that
day to this I have never seen or heard of Mr. Grey, and I never again
beheld the man I loved, and who gave his life to save me."
Field listened patiently enough to the strange story. He had yet a few
questions to ask.
"You think that Mr. Grey had been initiated into the mysteries of those
rites?" he asked. "And that his idea was to initiate you into them
also?"
"I think so," Violet Decie said with a shudder. "There are such strange
and weird things in the East that even the cleverest of our scholars
know nothing of them. An old nurse used to tell the most dreadful tales.
Perhaps the man who died for me could have explained. I presume that he
followed me, expecting mischief of some kind."
"I dare say he did," Field replied. "Did an explanation follow?"
"No. I declined to see Mr. Grey again. I heard that he had met with an
accident; they said that he was maimed for life. And people blamed me
for being callous and heartless. As if they knew! Even Mr. Grey's sister
was angry with me. But nothing could induce me to look upon the face of
that man again, and I left Simla soon afterwards."
"And that is all you have to tell me?" Field asked.
"I don't think there is any more. It is rather strange that this thing
should crop up again like this, so soon after I have been to see Mr.
Sartoris, who reminded me so strangely of Carl Grey. Only of course, Mr.
Sartoris is much older."
"I fancy there is not so much difference between their ages," Field said
grimly. "You see, a clever disguise goes a long way. And you say that
you never saw Mr. Grey after that supposed accident. A thing like that
changes people dreadfully."
The girl looked up with a startled expression in her eyes.
"You don't mean to say," she faltered. "You don't mean to suggest
that----"
"That Mr. Grey and Mr. Sartoris are one and the same person," Field said
quietly. "My dear young lady, that is actually the fact. Mr. Sartoris
knew or thought that you could give him certain information. It was
necessary to see you. The name of Sartoris would convey nothing to you,
and in that interview the man was right. But you might have recognised
him, and so he disguised himself. I saw the disguise assumed; I saw you
come into the room amongst the flowers. And long before you had finished
what you had to say I began to see the motive for what looked like a
purposeless and cruel crime. But you were certainly talking to Carl Grey
last night."
The girl shuddered violently and covered her face with her hands. The
whole thing had come back to her now; she blushed to the roots of her
hair as she realised that she had kissed the man that she only thought
of with horror and detestation.
"If I had known, no power on earth would have induced me to enter that
house," she said. "That man seems to be as cruel and cunning as ever.
But why should he have had a hand in the stealing of the body of Sir
Charles Darryll?"
"We will come to that presently," Field said drily. "Sartoris wanted
certain information from you, the address of a lawyer or something of
that kind. You were not quite sure last night whether or not you could
find the information. Did you?"
"Yes," Violet Decie said. "I found it in an old memorandum book of
mine."
"And you were going to post the address to Mr. Sartoris?"
"I am afraid the mischief is done," the girl said. "It was posted early
this morning."