A DENIAL
"What do you know of the stiletto?" repeated Mrs. Vrain anxiously.
She had risen to her feet, and, with an effort to be calm, was holding
on to the near chair. Her bright colour had faded to a dull white hue,
and her eyes had a look of horror in their depths which transformed her
from her childish beauty into a much older and more haggard woman than
she really was. It seemed as though Lucian, by some necromantic spell,
had robbed her of youth, vitality, and careless happiness. To him this
extraordinary agitation was a proof of her guilt; and hardening his
heart so as not to spare her one iota of her penalty--a mercy she did
not deserve--he addressed her sternly:
"I know that a stiletto purchased in Florence by your late husband hung
on the library wall of Berwin Manor. I know that it is gone!"
"Yes! yes!" said Lydia, moistening her white, dry lips, "it is gone; but
I do not know who took it."
"The person who killed your husband."
"I feared as much," she muttered, sitting down again. "Do you know the
name of the person?"
"As well as you do yourself. The name is Lydia Vrain!"
"I!" She threw herself back on the chair with a look of profound
astonishment on her colourless face. "Mr. Denzil," she stammered,
"is--is this--is this a jest?"
"You will not find it so, Mrs. Vrain."
The little woman clutched the arms of her chair and leaned forward with
her face no longer pale, but red with rage and indignation. "If you are
a gentleman, Mr. Denzil, I guess you won't keep me hanging on like this.
Let us get level. Do you say I killed Mark?"
"Yes, I do!" said Lucian defiantly. "I am sure of it."
"On what grounds?" asked Mrs. Vrain, holding her temper back with a
visible effort, that made her eyes glitter and her breath short.
"On the grounds that he was killed with that stiletto and----"
"Go slow! How do you know he was killed with that stiletto?"
"Because the ribbon which attached it to the wall was found in the
Geneva Square house, where your husband was killed. Miss Vrain
recognised it."
"Miss Vrain--Diana! Is she in England?"
"Not only in England, but in London."
"Then why hasn't she been to see me?"
Denzil did not like to answer this question, the more so as Lydia's
sudden divergence from the point of discourse rather disconcerted him.
It is impossible to maintain dignity in making a serious accusation when
the person against whom it is made thinks so little of it as to turn
aside to discuss a point of etiquette in connection with another woman.
Seeing that her accuser was silent and confused, Lydia recovered her
tongue and colour, and the equability of her temper. It was, therefore,
with some raillery that she continued her speech:
"I see how it is," she said contemptuously, "Diana has called you into
her councils in order to fix this absurd charge on to me. Afraid to come
herself, she sends you as the braver person of the partnership. I
congratulate you on your errand, Mr. Denzil."
"You can laugh as much as you like, Mrs. Vrain, but the matter is more
serious than you suppose."
"Oh, I am sure that my loving stepdaughter will make it as serious as
possible. She always hated me."
"Pardon me, Mrs. Vrain," said Lucian, colouring with annoyance, "but I
did not come here to hear you speak ill of Miss Vrain."
"I know that! She sent you here to speak ill _of_ me and do ill _to_ me.
Well, so you and she accuse me of killing Mark? I shall be glad to hear
the evidence you can bring forward. If you can make your charge good I
should smile. Oh, I guess so!"
Denzil noticed that when Mrs. Vrain became excited she usually spoke
plain English, without the U. S. A. accent, but on growing calmer, and, as
it were, recollecting herself, she adopted the Yankee twang and their
curious style of expression and ejaculation. This led him to suspect
that the fair Lydia was not a born daughter of the Great Republic,
perhaps not even a naturalised citizeness, but had assumed such
nationality as one attractive to society in Europe and Great Britain.
He wondered what her past really was, and if she and her father were the
doubtful adventurers Diana believed them to be. If so, it might happen
that Lydia would extricate herself out of her present unpleasant
position by the use of past experience. To give her no chance of such
dodging, Lucian rapidly detailed the evidence against her so that she
would be hard put to baffle it. But in this estimate he quite underrated
Lydia's nerve and capability of fence, let alone the dexterity with
which she produced a satisfactory reply to each of his questions.
"We will begin at the beginning, Mrs. Vrain," he said soberly, "say from
the time you drove your unfortunate husband out of his own house."
"Now, I guess that wasn't my fault," explained Lydia. "I wasn't in love
with old man Mark, but I liked him well enough, for he was a real
gentleman; and when that make-mischief Diana, who cocked her nose at me,
set out for Australia, we got on surprisingly well. Count Ferruci came
over to stay, as much at Mark's invitation as mine, and I didn't pay
too much attention to him anyhow."
"Miss Tyler says you did!"
"Sakes!" cried Mrs. Vrain, raising her eyebrows, "have you been talking
to that old stump? Well, just you look here, Mr. Denzil! It was Bella
Tyler who made all the mischief. She thought Ercole was sweet on her,
and when she found out he wasn't, she got real mad, and went to tell
Mark that I was making things hum the wrong way with the Count. Of
course Mark had a row with him, and, of course, I got riz--not having
done anything to lie low for. We had a row royal, I guess, and the end
of it was that Mark cleared out. I thought he would turn up again, or
apply for a divorce, though he hadn't any reason to. But he did neither,
and remained away for a whole year. While he was away I got quit of
Ercole pretty smart, I can tell you, as I wanted to shut up that old
maid's mouth. I never knew where Mark was, or guessed what became of
him, until I saw that advertisement, and putting two and two together to
make four, I called to see Mr. Link, where I found you running the
circus."
"Why did you faint on the mention of the stiletto?"
"I told you the reason, and Link also."
"Yes, but your reason was too weak to----"
"Oh, well, you're right enough there," interrupted Lydia, smiling. "All
that talk of nerves and grief wasn't true. I didn't give my real reason,
but I will now. When I heard that the old man had been stabbed by a
stiletto I remembered that the one on the library wall had vanished some
time before the Christmas Eve on which Mark was killed. So you may guess
I was afraid."
"For yourself?"
"I guess not; it wasn't any of my funeral. I didn't take the stiletto,
nor did I know who had; but I was afraid you might think Ferruci took
it. The stiletto was Italian, and the Count is Italian, so it struck me
you might put two and two together and suspect Ercole. I never thought
you'd fix on me," concluded Lydia, with a scornful toss of her head.
"As a matter of fact, I fixed on you both," said Lucian composedly.
"And for what reason? Why should I and the Count murder poor Mark, if
you please? He was a fool and a bore, but I wished him no harm. I was
sorry as any one when I heard of his death, and I offered a good reward
for the catching of the mean skunk that killed him. If I had done so
myself I wouldn't have been such a fool as to sharpen the scent of the
hounds on my own trail."
"You were in town on Christmas Eve?" said Denzil, not choosing to
explain the motives he believed the pair had for committing the crime.
"I was. What of that?"
"You were in Jersey Street, Pimlico, on that night."
"I was never in Pimlico in my life!" declared Lydia wrathfully, "and,
as I said before, I don't know where Jersey Street is."
"Do you know a man called Wrent?"
"I never heard of him!"
"Yet you visited him in Jersey Street on Christmas Eve, between seven
and eight o'clock."
"Did I, really?" cried Mrs. Vrain, ironically, "and how can you prove I
did?"
"By that cloak," said Lucian, pointing to where it lay on a chair. "You
wore that cloak and a velvet-spotted veil."
"I haven't worn a veil of that kind for over a year," said Lydia
decisively, "though I admit I used to wear veils of that sort. You can
ask my maid if I have any velvet-spotted veils in my wardrobe just now.
As to the cloak--I never wear rabbit skins."
"You might as a disguise."
"Sakes alive, man, what should I want with a disguise? I tell you the
cloak isn't mine. You can soon prove that. Find out who made it, and go
and ask in the shop if I bought it."
"How can I find out who made it?" asked Denzil, who was beginning to
feel that Lydia was one too many for him.
"Here! I'll show you!" said Lydia, and picking up the cloak she turned
over the tab at the neck, by which it was hung up. At the back of this
there was a small piece of tape with printed black letters. "Baxter &
Co., General Drapers, Bayswater," she read out, throwing down the cloak
contemptuously. "I don't go to a London suburb for my frocks; I get
them in Paris."
"Then you are sure this cloak isn't yours?" asked Lucian, much
perplexed.
"No! I tell you it isn't! Go and ask Baxter & Co. if I bought it. I'll
go with you, if you like; or better still," cried Mrs. Vrain, jumping up
briskly, "I can take you to see some friends with whom I stayed on
Christmas Eve. The whole lot will tell you that I was with them at
Camden Hill all the night."
"What! Can you prove an alibi?"
"I don't know what you call it," retorted Lydia coolly, "but I can prove
pretty slick that I wasn't in Pimlico."
"But--Mrs. Vrain--your friend--Ferruci was there!"
"Was he? Well, I don't know. I never saw him that time he was in town.
But if you think he killed Mark you are wrong. I do not believe Ercole
would kill a fly, for all he's an Italian."
"Do you think he took that stiletto?"
"No, I don't!"
"Then who did?"
"I don't know. I don't even know when it was taken. I missed it after
Christmas, because that old schoolma'am told me it was gone."
"Old schoolma'am!"
"Well, Bella Tyler, if you like that better," retorted Mrs. Vrain.
"Come, now, Mr. Denzil, I'm not going to let you go away without proving
my--what do you call it?--alibi. Come with me right along to Camden
Hill."
"I'll come just to satisfy myself," said Lucian, picking up the cloak,
"but I am beginning to feel that it is unnecessary."
"You think I am innocent? Well," drawled Lydia, as Lucian nodded, "I
think that's real sweet of you. I mayn't be a saint, but I'm not quite
the sinner that Diana of yours makes me out."
"Diana of mine, Mrs. Vrain?" said Lucian, colouring.
The little woman laughed at his blush.
"Oh, I'm not a fool, young man. I see how the wind blows!" And with a
nod she vanished.