CONCERNS MRS. PETRE.
Days, weeks, passed, but I could obtain no further clue. The month of
March lengthened into April, but we were as far as ever from a solution
of the mystery.
Since my return from Brussels I had, of course seen Phrida many, many
times, and though I had never reverted again to the painful subject, yet
her manner and bearing showed only too plainly that she existed in
constant dread!
Her face had become thin and haggard, with dark rings around her eyes and
upon it was a wild, hunted expression, which she strove to disguise, but
in vain.
She now treated me with a strange, cold indifference, so unlike her real
self, while her attitude was one of constant attention and strained
alertness.
The woman Petre had apparently not been approached by Scotland Yard,
therefore as the days went by I became more and more anxious to see her,
to speak with her--and, if necessary, to come to terms with her.
Therefore, without a word to anyone, I one evening caught the six o'clock
train from Liverpool Street, and before eight was eating my dinner in the
big upstairs room of The Cups Hotel, while the hall-porter was
endeavouring to discover for me the whereabouts of Melbourne House.
I had nearly finished my meal when the uniformed servant entered, cap in
hand, saying:
"I've found, sir, that the house you've been inquiring for is out on the
road to Marks Tey, about a mile. An old lady named Miss Morgan lived
there for many years, but she died last autumn, and the place has, they
say, been let furnished to a lady--a Mrs. Petre. Is that the lady you are
trying to find?"
"It certainly is," I replied, much gratified at the man's success. Then,
placing a tip in his palm, I drank off my coffee, put on my overcoat, and
descended to the taxi which he had summoned for me.
He gave directions to the driver, and soon we were whirling along the
broad streets of Colchester, and out of the town on the dark, open road
which led towards London. Presently we pulled up, and getting out, I
found myself before a long, low, ivy-covered house standing back behind a
high hedge of clipped box, which divided the small, bare front garden
from the road. Lonely and completely isolated, it stood on the top of a
hill with high, leafless trees behind, and on the left a thick copse. In
front were wide, bare, open fields.
Opening the iron gate I walked up the gravelled path to the door and
rang. In a window on the right a light showed, and as I listened I heard
the tramp of a man's foot upon the oilcloth of the hall, and next moment
the door was unlocked and opened.
A tall, thin-faced young man of somewhat sallow complexion confronted me.
He had keen, deep-set eyes, broad forehead, and pointed chin.
"Is Mrs. Petre at home?" I inquired briefly.
In a second he looked at me as though with distrust, then apparently
seeing the taxi waiting, and satisfying himself that I was a person of
respectability, he replied in a refined voice:
"I really don't know, but I'll see, if you will step in?" and he ushered
me into a small room at the rear of the house, a cosy but
plainly-furnished little sitting-room, wherein a wood fire burned with
pleasant glow.
I handed him my card and sat down to wait, in the meanwhile inspecting my
surroundings with some curiosity.
Now, even as I recall that night, I cannot tell why I should have
experienced such a sense of grave insecurity as I did when I sat there
awaiting the woman's coming. I suppose we all of us possess in some
degree that strange intuition of impending danger. It was so with me that
night--just as I have on other occasions been obsessed by that curious,
indescribable feeling that "something is about to happen."
There was about that house an air of mystery which caused me to hesitate
in suspicion. Whether it was owing to its lonely position, to the heavy
mantle of ivy which hid its walls, to the rather weird and unusual
appearance of the young man who had admitted me, or to the mere fact that
I was there to meet the woman who undoubtedly knew the truth concerning
the tragic affair, I know not. But I recollect a distinct feeling of
personal insecurity.
I knew the woman I was about to meet to be a cold, hard, unscrupulous
person, who, no doubt, held my love's liberty--perhaps her life--in the
hollow of her hand.
That horrifying thought had just crossed my mind when my reflections were
interrupted by the door opening suddenly and there swept into the room
the lady upon whom I had called.
"Ah! Mr. Royle!" she cried in warm welcome, extending her rather large
hand as she stood before me, dressed quietly in black, relieved by a
scarlet, artificial rose in her waistband. "So you've come at last. Ah!
do you know I've wanted to meet you for days. I expected you would come
to me the moment you returned from Brussels."
I started, and stood staring at her without replying. She knew I had been
to Belgium. Yet, as far as I was aware, nobody knew of my visit--not even
Haines.
"You certainly seem very well acquainted with my movements, Mrs. Petre,"
I laughed.
But she only shrugged her shoulders. Then she said:
"I suppose there was no secrecy regarding your journey, was there?"
"Not in the least," I replied. "I had business over there, as I very
often have. My firm do a big business in Belgium and Holland."
She smiled incredulously.
"Did your business necessitate your visiting all the hotels and
music-halls?"
"How did you know that?" I asked in quick surprise.
But she only pursed her lips, refusing to give me satisfaction. I saw
that I must have been watched--perhaps by Digby himself. The only
explanation I could think of was that he, with his clever cunning, had
watched me, and had written to this woman, his accomplice, telling her of
my search.
"Oh! don't betray the source of your information if you consider it so
indiscreet," I said with sarcasm a few moments later. "I came here, Mrs.
Petre, in response to your invitation. You wished to see me?"
"I did. But I fear it is now too late to avert what I had intended," was
her quiet response. The door was closed, the room was silent, and we were
alone.
Seated in an armchair the woman leaned back and gazed at me strangely
from beneath her long, half-closed lashes, as though undecided what she
should say. I instantly detected her hesitation, and said:
"You told me in your message that something unexpected had occurred. What
is it? Does it concern our mutual friend, Digby?"
"Friend!" she echoed. "You call him your friend, and yet at the same time
you have been in search of him, intending to betray him to the police!"
"Such was certainly not my intention," I declared firmly. "I admit that I
have endeavoured to find him, but it was because I wished to speak with
him."
"Ah! of course," she sneered. "That girl Shand has, perhaps, made a
statement to you, and now you want to be inquisitive, eh? She's been
trying to clear herself by telling you some fairy-tale or another, I
suppose?"
"I repeat, Mrs. Petre," I said with anger, "I have no desire nor
intention to act towards Digby in any way other than with friendliness."
"Ah! You expect me to believe that, my dear sir," she laughed, snapping
her fingers airily. "No, that girl is his enemy, and I am hers."
"And that is the reason why you have sent the anonymous letter to the
police!" I said in a low, hard voice, my eyes full upon her.
She started at my words.
"What letter?" she asked, in pretence of ignorance.
"The one mentioned at the adjourned inquest at Kensington," I replied.
"The one in which you offer to sell the life of the woman I love!"
"So you know she is guilty--eh?" the woman asked. "She has confessed it
to you--has she not?"
"No. She is innocent," I cried. "I will never believe in her guilt until
it is proved."
"Then it will not be long, Mr. Royle, before you will have quite
sufficient proof," she replied with a triumphant smile upon her lips.
"You are prepared to sell those proofs, I understand," I said, suddenly
assuming an air of extreme gravity. "Now, I'm a business man. If you wish
to dispose of this information, why not sell it to me?"
She laughed in my face.
"No, not to you, my dear sir. My business is with the police, not with
the girl's lover," was her quick response.
"But the price," I said. "I will outbid the police if necessary."
"No doubt you would be only too glad of the chance of saving the girl who
has so cleverly deceived you. But, without offence, Mr. Royle, I
certainly think you are a fool to act as you are now acting," she added.
"A foul crime of jealousy has been committed, and the assassin must pay
the penalty of her crime."
"And you allege jealousy as the motive?" I gasped.
"Most certainly," she answered. Then, after a pause of a few seconds, she
added--"The girl you have so foolishly trusted and in whom you still
believe so implicitly, left her home in Cromwell Road in the night, as
she had often done before, and walked round to Harrington Gardens in
order to see Digby. There, in his rooms, she met her rival--she had
suspicions and went there on purpose armed with a knife. And with it she
struck the girl down, and killed her."
"It's a lie!" I cried, starting to my feet. "A foul, wicked lie!"
"But what I say can be proved."
"At a price," I said bitterly.
"As you are a business man, so I am a business woman, Mr. Royle," she
replied quite calmly. "When I see an opportunity of making money, I do
not hesitate to seize it."
"But if you know the truth--if this is the actual truth which at present
I will not believe--then it is your duty, nay, you are bound by law to go
to the police and tell them what you know."
"I shall do that, never fear," she laughed. "But first I shall try and
get something for my trouble."
"And whom do you intend to bring up as witness against Miss Shand?" I
asked.
"Wait and see. There will be a witness--an eye-witness, who was present,
and whose evidence will be corroborated," she declared in due course
with a self-satisfied air. "I have not resolved to reveal the truth
without fully reviewing the situation. When the police know--as they
certainly will--you will then find that I have not lied, and perhaps you
will alter your opinion of the girl you now hold in such high esteem."