FURTHER ADMISSIONS.
"The secret of Digby Kemsley is still a secret, and will ever remain a
secret."
I recollected Mrs. Petre uttering those words to me as that dark-faced
villain Ali had forced my inert head down upon the table.
Well, that same night when I had begged of Edwards my love's life, I sat
in his room at Scotland Yard and there made a formal declaration of what
had happened to me on that well-remembered night outside Colchester. I
formally demanded the arrest of the woman, of Ali, and of the young
man-servant, all of whom had conspired to take my life.
The clerk calmly took down my statement, which Edwards read over to me,
and I duly signed it.
Then, gripping his hand, I went forth into Parliament Street, and took a
taxi to Cromwell Road.
I had not seen Phrida for several days, and she was delighted at my
visit.
She presented a pale, frail, little figure in her simple gown of pale
pink ninon, cut slightly open at the neck and girdled narrow with
turquoise blue. Her skirt was narrow, as was the mode, and her long
white arms were bare to the shoulders.
She had been curled up before the fire reading when I entered, but she
jumped up with an expression of welcome upon her lips.
But not until her mother had bade me good-night and discreetly withdrew,
did she refer to the subject which I knew obsessed her by night and by
day.
"Well, Teddy," she asked, when I sat alone with her upon the pale green
silk-covered couch, her little hand in mine, "Where have you been? Why
have you remained silent?"
"I've been in Brussels," I replied, and then, quite frankly, I explained
my quest after the impostor.
She sat looking straight before her, her eyes fixed like a person, in a
dream. At last she spoke:
"I thought," she said in a strained voice, "that you would have shown
greater respect for me than to do that--when you knew it would place you
in such great peril!"
"I have acted in your own interests, dearest," I replied, placing my arm
tenderly about her neck. "Ah! in what manner you will never know."
"My interests!" she echoed, in despair. "Have I not told you that on the
day Digby Kemsley is arrested I intend to end my life," and as she drew a
long breath, I saw in her eyes that haunted, terrified look which told me
that she was driven to desperation.
"No, no," I urged, stroking her hair with tenderness. "I know all that
you must suffer, Phrida, but I am your friend and your protector. I will
never rest until I get at the truth."
"Ah! Revelation of the truth will, alas! prove my undoing!" she
whispered, in a voice full of fear. "You don't know, dear, how your
relentless chase of that man is placing me in danger."
"But he is an adventurer, an impostor--a fugitive from justice, and he
merits punishment!" I cried.
"Ah! And if you say that," she cried, wildly starting to her feet. "So do
I! So do I!"
"Come, calm yourself, dearest," I said, placing my hand upon her shoulder
and forcing her back into her chair. "You are upset to-night," and I
kissed her cold, white lips. "May I ring for Mallock? Wouldn't you like
to go to your room?"
She drew a deep sigh, and with an effort repressed the tears welling in
her deep-set, haunted eyes.
"Yes," she faltered in her emotion. "Perhaps I had better. I--I cannot
bear this strain much longer. You told me that the police did not suspect
me, but--but, now I know they do. A man has been watching outside the
house all day for two days past. Yes," she sobbed, "they will come, come
to arrest me, but they will only find that--that I've cheated them!"
"They will not come," I answered her. "I happen to know more than I can
tell you, Phrida," I whispered. "You need have no fear of arrest."
"But that woman Petre! She may denounce me--she will, I know!"
"They take no notice of such allegations at Scotland Yard. They receive
too much wild correspondence," I declared. "No, dearest, go to bed and
rest--rest quite assured that at present you are in no peril, and,
further, that every hour which elapses brings us nearer a solution of the
tragic and tantalising problem. May I ring for Mallock?" I asked, again
kissing her passionately upon those lips, hard and cold as marble, my
heart full of sympathy for her in her tragic despair.
"Yes," she responded faintly in a voice so low that I could hardly catch
it. So I crossed and rang the bell for her maid.
Then, when she had kissed me good-night, looking into my eyes with a
strange expression of wistfulness, and left the room, I dashed across to
that little table whereon the ivory-hilted knife was lying and seized the
important piece of evidence, so that it might not fall into Edwards'
hands.
I held it within my fingers, and taking it across to the fireplace,
examined it in the strong light. The ivory was yellow and old, carved
with the escutcheon bearing the three balls, the arms of the great House
of Medici. The blade, about seven inches long, was keen, triangular, and,
at the point, sharp as a needle. Into it the rust of centuries had eaten,
though in parts it was quite bright, evidently due to recent cleaning.
I was examining it for any stains that might be upon it--stains of the
life-blood of Marie Bracq. But I could find none. No. They had been
carefully removed, yet chemical analysis would, without doubt, reveal
inevitable traces of the ghastly truth.
I had my back to the door, and was still holding the deadly weapon in my
hand, scrutinising it closely, when I heard a slight movement behind me,
and turning, confronted Phrida, standing erect and rigid, like a statue.
Her face was white as death, her thin hands clenched, her haunted eyes
fixed upon me.
"Ah! I see!" she cried hoarsely. "You know--eh? You _know_!"
"No. I do not _know_, Phrida," was my deep reply, as I snatched her hand
and held it in my own. "I only surmise that this knife was used on that
fatal night, because of the unusual shape of its blade--because of the
medical evidence that by such a knife Marie Bracq was killed."
She drew a deep breath.
"And you are taking it as evidence--against me!"
"Evidence against you, darling!" I echoed in reproach. "Do you think that
I, the man who loves you, is endeavouring to convict you of a crime? No.
Leave matters to me. I am your friend--not your enemy!"
A silence fell between us. She neither answered nor did she move for some
moments. Then she said in a deep wistful tone:
"Ah! if I could only believe that you are!"
"But I am," I declared vehemently. "I love you, Phrida, with all my soul,
and I will never believe ill of you--never, never!"
"How can you do otherwise in these terrible circumstances?" she queried,
with a strange contraction of her brows.
"I love you, and because I love you so dearly--because you are all the
world to me," I said, pressing her to my heart, "I will never accept what
an enemy may allege--never, until you are permitted to relate your own
story."
I still held the weapon in my hand, and I saw that her eyes wandered to
it.
"Ah! Teddy!" she cried, with sudden emotion. "How can I thank you
sufficiently for those words? Take that horrible thing and hide it--hide
it anywhere from my eyes, for sight of it brings all the past back to me.
Yet--yet I was afraid," she went on, "I dare not hide it, lest any one
should ask what had become of it, and thus suspicions might be aroused.
Ah! every time I have come into this room it has haunted me--I seem to
see that terrible scene before my eyes--how--how they----"
But she broke off short, and covering her face with both hands added,
after a few seconds' silence:
"Ah! yes, take it away--never let me gaze upon it again. But I beg of
you, dear, to--to preserve my secret--my terrible secret!"
And she burst into tears.
"Not a single word shall pass my lips, neither shall a single soul see
this knife. I will take it and cast it away--better to the bottom of the
Thames. To-night it shall be in a place where it can never be found. So
go to your room, and rest assured that you, darling, have at least one
friend--myself."
I felt her breast heave and fall as I held her in my strong embrace.
Then without words she raised her white, tear-stained face and kissed me
long and fondly; afterwards she left me, and in silence tottered from the
room, closing the door after her.
I still held the knife in my hand--the weapon by which the terrible deed
had been perpetrated.
What could I think? What would you, my reader, have thought if the woman
you love stood in the same position as Phrida Shand--which God forbid?
I stood reflecting, gazing upon the antique poignard. Then slowly and
deliberately I made up my mind, and placing the unsheathed knife in my
breast pocket I went out into the hall, put on my coat and hat, and left
the house.
Half an hour later I halted casually upon Westminster Bridge, and when no
one was near, cast the ancient "Misericordia" into the dark flowing
waters of the river, knowing that Edwards and his inquisitive assistants
could never recover it as evidence against my love.
Four days later I received a letter from Frémy, dated from the Hotel
National at Strasbourg, stating that he had traced the fugitives from
Munich to the latter city, but there he had lost all trace of them. He
believed they had gone to Paris, and with his chief's permission he was
leaving for the French capital that night.
Weeks passed--weeks of terror and apprehension for my love, and of
keenest anxiety for myself.
The month of May went by, spring with all her beauties appeared in the
parks and faded in the heat and dust, while the London season commenced.
Men who were otherwise never seen in town, strolled up and down St.
James's Street and Piccadilly, smart women rode in the Row in the morning
and gave parties at night, while the usual crop of charitable functions,
society scandals, Parliamentary debates, and puff-paragraphs in the
papers about Lady Nobody's dances showed the gay world of London to be in
full swing.
My mantelshelf was well decorated with cards of invitation, for,
nowadays, the bachelor in London can have a really good time if he
chooses, yet I accepted few, spending most of my days immersed in
business--in order to occupy my thoughts--while my evenings I spent at
Cromwell Road.
For weeks Phrida had not referred to the tragedy in any way, and I had
been extremely careful to avoid the subject. Yet, from her pale, drawn
countenance--so unlike her former self--I knew how recollection of it
ever haunted her, and what dread terror had gripped her young heart.
Mrs. Shand, ignorant of the truth, had many times expressed to me
confidentially, fear that her daughter was falling into a bad state of
health; and, against Phrida's wishes, had called in the family doctor,
who, likewise ignorant, had ordered her abroad.
"Get her out of the dullness of this road, Mrs. Shand," he had said. "She
wants change and excitement. Take her to some gay place on the
Continent--Dinard, Trouville, Aix-les-Bains, Ostend--some place where
there is brightness and movement. A few weeks there will effect a great
change in her, I'm certain."
But Phrida refused to leave London, though I begged her to follow the
doctor's advice, and even offered to accompany them.
As far as I could gather, Van Huffel, in Brussels, had given up the
search for the fugitives; though, the more I reflected upon his replies
to my questions as to the real identity of Marie Bracq, the more
remarkable they seemed.
Who was she? That was the great problem uppermost always in my mind.
Phrida had declared that she only knew her by that name--that she knew
nothing further concerning her. And so frankly had she said this, that I
believed her.
Yet I argued that, if the death of Marie Bracq was of such serious moment
as the _Chef du Sureté_ had declared, then he surely would not allow the
inquiry to drop without making the most strenuous efforts to arrest those
suspected of the crime.
But were his suspicions, too, directed towards Phrida? Had he, I
wondered, been in consultation with Edwards, and had the latter, in
confidence, revealed to him his own theory?
I held my breath each time that idea crossed my mind--as it did so very
often.
From Frémy I had had several letters dated from the Préfecture of Police,
Brussels, but the tenor of all was the same--nothing to report.
One thing gratified me. Edwards had not approached my love, although I
knew full well, just as Phrida did, that day after day observation was
being kept upon the house in Cromwell Road, yet perhaps only because the
detective's duty demanded it. At least I tried to think so.
Still the one fact remained that, after all our efforts--the efforts of
Scotland Yard, of the Belgian police, and of my own eager inquiries--a
solution of the problem was as far off as ever.
Somewhere there existed a secret--a secret that, as Phrida had declared
to me, was inviolable.
Would it ever be revealed? Would the ghastly truth ever be laid bare?
The affair of Harrington Gardens was indeed a mystery of London--as
absolute and perfect an enigma of crime as had ever been placed before
that committee of experts at Scotland Yard--the Council of Seven.
Even they had failed to find a solution! How, then, could I ever hope to
be successful?
When I thought of it, I paced my lonely room in a frenzy of despair.