CONCERNS A NECKLACE.
“Look at that drunken ass being carried out of his box.”
The speaker stood beside his partner on the floor of the hall, fanning
her with an ostrich plume.
The girl laughed.
“Why can’t you men keep sober?” she said, only partly in jest. They
remained watching Levi and those assisting him until the group passed
out of the box and was lost to sight.
Others had watched him too, and because the conclusion they had all
jumped at was that the fellow, whoever he might be, had drunk too much,
the incident of his sudden death caused no commotion, and the ball went
on as gaily as though nothing untoward had occurred.
Stretched on a sofa in the secretary’s office, Schomberg lay strangely
stiff, seeing that he could not have been dead over half an hour. A
doctor had been discovered among the dancers, and, dressed to resemble
a well-known comedian, he presented a ludicrous figure as he bent
over the dead man, listening through his stethoscope. Presently he
straightened himself and shook his head.
“Quite dead,” he said. “Who is he? Does anybody know anything about
him?”
He looked about at the various people standing by.
“It’s Levi Schomberg,” Preston said. “He was one of Mrs.
Mervyn-Robertson’s guests. It was her box we found him in.”
“Mervyn-Robertson? You mean the woman they call Jessica?” the doctor
asked with a curious look.
“Yes.”
“May I ask if she is a friend of yours?”
“I know her to speak to,” Preston answered, “so does my friend here,
but I can’t say she is a friend of ours. To what do you attribute
death, doctor?”
“I can’t say at off-hand. Heart, most likely; the heat and general
excitement may have induced the final attack. We must communicate with
his friends. Are they here?”
“I believe so. I don’t know Schomberg myself.”
“I thought the attendant said you were both friends of his.”
“We told the attendant we knew him, to get into the box. We could see
from the hall that something was amiss with him.”
“How could you? Hadn’t he a mask on?”
“Yes, but we had discovered his identity early in the evening.”
“Indeed? You will forgive my asking, but what made you take so much
interest in this man whom you say you knew only by sight?”
Preston hesitated. Then he said awkwardly:
“Nothing in particular.”
“Oh, come,” the doctor exclaimed, “you must have had a reason. Nobody
tries to discover who disguised people are for no reason. You had
better tell me.”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Well, as you put it that way, I had better tell you there are one or
two curious features surrounding this man’s death. On the face of it he
would appear to have died of natural causes, but certain points tend to
dispel that theory. For instance, _rigor mortis_ would not have set in
so quickly had death been due to natural causes, such as stoppage of
the heart’s action. There will have to be an inquest.”
The authorities having been notified of the occurrence, about half an
hour later Preston and Blenkiron, accompanied by the doctor, whose name
was Johnson, returned to the hall. None of the revelers had as yet
left, apparently, for the floor was as thronged with dancers as when
they had been there last.
“Point me out the box where he was found, will you?” Johnson said
presently.
“That is the one,” Blenkiron replied, indicating it, “next to the box
with the woman with scarlet plumes.”
“There are people in it now,” Johnson observed. “Do you know who they
are? Why, one of them is that snake woman everybody has been talking
about.”
“We are under the impression, though we don’t know for certain,”
Preston replied guardedly, “that the snake woman is Mrs.
Mervyn-Robertson herself, and that the man talking to her is called
Stapleton.”
“Do you mean Aloysius Stapleton, the organizer of this ball?”
“Yes.”
“Well, if Schomberg was one of their party they apparently have not
heard what has happened, and somebody ought to tell them.”
“Hadn’t you better tell them, Doctor Johnson?”
“I suppose I must. And as you and your friend rendered ‘first aid’ you
had better come with me to confirm my statements.”
Jessica and the woman and the three men with them still wore their
masks, though some of the dancers had now discarded theirs. When Doctor
Johnson and his companions were admitted to the box, Jessica and her
friends were in the highest spirits. Jessica herself was laughing
loudly, while two of the men had become uproarious. The doctor had sent
in his card and asked if he might speak to Mrs. Mervyn-Robertson alone,
but she had sent out word that he had better come into the box.
“Mrs. Mervyn-Robertson, I believe?” he said, addressing her.
“Now, who told you that, Doctor Johnson?” she exclaimed, still
laughing, and her friends laughed too. “All night I have tried to
retain my incognita, but people one after another have penetrated
it. Sit down and have some champagne, won’t you?” and she pushed a
chair towards him. He saw at once that she herself had drunk as much
champagne as was good for her.
“Thank you very much,” he said, “but I won’t, if you will excuse me. I
would sooner have said in private, Mrs. Robertson, what I have to tell
you, but as you have insisted on my coming in I must tell it to you
here. One of your guests to-night was, I believe, a Mr. Schomberg?”
“Yes,” she answered. “Why, what has become of him?” she added, looking
round. “We have not seen him for quite a long time. Mr. Johnson you
might introduce your friends,” as Preston and Blenkiron still stood in
the background.
“I will in a moment. But first I have some rather dreadful news to
break to you, Mrs. Robertson. You must brace yourself for a shock. Mr.
Schomberg has died suddenly. He died here, in this box, less than an
hour ago.”
At once everybody grew solemn. The party became hushed.
“Levi--_dead_!” Jessica gasped after a pause. “It is impossible. He was
here only just now, and quite well!”
“An hour ago,” Johnson corrected. “I was sent for, and I found Mr.
Schomberg lying on the sofa in the secretary’s office, dead.”
“But where did he die? And who found him?”
“As I say, he died in this box, where he was found by these two
gentlemen, whom I think you know,” and he turned to the masked figures
at his elbow, “Mr. Blenkiron and Captain Preston.”
As his name was mentioned, it struck Preston that Jessica gave a little
start. He told Blenkiron afterwards, however, that he could have sworn
she did.
Jessica bowed.
“But how did you come to be in this box?” she asked, looking up at them
from where she sat.
“I must apologize for our having intruded, Mrs. Robertson,” Preston
said, “but how it happened was this,” and he went on to explain how he
and Blenkiron, noticing that the masked man sitting alone in her box
appeared to be unwell, had obtained admittance to the box.
“That was most kind of you,” Jessica said when he stopped speaking.
“But really this news is too terrible. I can’t realize it. Poor Levi!
And he seemed so well to-night, and in such excellent spirits.”
She stopped abruptly.
“I wonder who it was sent in to see him early in the evening?” she
said after a pause. “He seemed put out when he came back, and didn’t
volunteer to tell anybody what was amiss, so of course I couldn’t ask
him. But he got all right again a little later.”
“That would hardly have any bearing on the cause of death, Mrs.
Robertson.”
It was Johnson who spoke. He was looking hard at her through the holes
in his mask. Apparently through forgetfulness he had not taken it off.
“No, of course it wouldn’t,” Jessica answered mechanically. Her
thoughts seemed to be far away. “Tell me, Doctor Johnson,” she said
suddenly, in a different tone, “to what cause do you attribute his
sudden death?”
“At first I attributed it to natural causes, but afterwards I changed
my opinion,” he replied in measured tones.
He was still looking hard at her.
“And what made you change your opinion?”
“One or two things which would take too long to explain. No doubt the
actual cause will be arrived at during the inquest.”
“There will be an inquest, then?”
Preston fancied her voice trembled a little.
“In the circumstances there will have to be.”
“You mean you think he took his life--and by poison?”
“Oh, no, Mrs. Robertson, you mistake me. But there is no need to go
further into the matter now. You would like, I dare say, to view the
body presently.”
“Must I?”
“Certainly not, unless you wish to. I thought perhaps you might wish
to.”
“I would much sooner not. The whole thing has upset me terribly, as I
am sure it has upset us all.”
She leant forward, poured herself out a glass of champagne, and emptied
the glass at a draught.
“Captain Preston and Mr. Blenkiron,” she said, “do help yourselves, and
you too, Doctor Johnson. I am sure this affair must have given you all
a shock.”
Once more Preston and his friend were mingling in the gay throng.
Doctor Johnson had left them after thanking them for their services and
saying they would no doubt be called to give evidence at the inquest. A
little group at one of the tables in the big supper-room were talking
in animated tones, and Preston happened to overhear scraps of their
conversation.
“Yes, a woman has been arrested ... was arrested ten minutes ago ...
the pearls were found in her possession. The man with her ... became
furiously indignant, declared he had been with her all the night. Then
she was confronted with the owner of the necklace, who swore she had
sat beside her at supper ... the thief, or alleged thief, is quite a
girl ... yes, I was standing by when they took her mask off....”
“Who is she? Have you any idea?” somebody asked.
“None at all. You can stake your life though, that at a show of this
sort there are bound to be professional crooks about. Look at the
diamonds here to-night! They must run into fortunes and fortunes. Well,
here’s luck to us all, and I hope....”
That was as much as Preston heard and it did not interest him greatly.
Since leaving Jessica’s box he had been looking for Yootha, whom he
had seen last with Cora Hartsilver. But their box was now empty, from
which he concluded they were all dancing. Hopford, too, he had not come
across for some time. Preston knew that Hopford and Yootha were engaged
for several dances.
In the crowd Preston had lost sight of Blenkiron, and he now threaded
his way alone and aimlessly through the little groups of dancers
clustered together and resting. The band had become more riotous
than ever, the dancing more extravagant and grotesque. And all the
while, as he made his way along, he kept thinking of Schomberg and his
strange death. Again he saw the masked young man stooping over the
seated figure bent forward in the box and apparently leaning against
it. The figure had not moved then, neither had it moved during the
minutes which elapsed before he and Blenkiron had gone up to the box
to ascertain if anything were amiss. Could Schomberg already have been
dead when the slim man stood bending over him? If so, then why had the
latter not sent for a doctor, or raised the alarm?
And that slim young man, according to Hopford, had been La Planta.
Perhaps, though, Hopford had been mistaken. Then he thought of Jessica.
How surprised and distressed she had appeared to be when Doctor Johnson
had broken to her the news of Schomberg’s death. That she should be
was, of course, only natural in the circumstances, and yet----
What had become of Yootha? Where in the world had she got to? And
Cora, too, and Hopford? Perhaps Hopford had gone back to the office of
his newspaper; he had said he might have to go.
In vain he watched the dancers--swaying, revolving, always revolving,
until the scene made him dizzy. But he saw no sign of Yootha, or of any
of his party. At intervals he glanced at the box they had occupied, but
it remained empty. He was getting sick of the whole thing, and longed
to get back home. But he could not go home without first seeing Yootha.
He felt he had seen less of her that evening than he had hoped to do;
but then she loved dancing, and he would, he told himself, have been
a bear to prevent her dancing because himself unable, owing to his
wounded leg, to dance at all.
Suddenly his spirits rose. He had caught sight of Hopford ... he was
some way off.... Ah, there he was again! Wandering, he appeared to be
in search of some one. And at that instant Hopford saw him.
“Charlie, for heaven’s sake--I have been hunting for you everywhere,”
Hopford exclaimed when at last they came together. “An awful thing has
happened--it will give you a big shock, but I implore you not to worry,
because I am positive all will come right in the end. Cora knows about
it and is with Yootha now.”
“Yootha? Where is she, Harry? I have been trying to find her for the
last half an hour or more.”
“I can well believe that,” Hopford answered. “Now listen, Charlie, and
don’t get upset. A woman had her pearl necklace stolen to-night, and
the necklace has been found in Yootha’s vanity bag, and so--well, of
course they had to arrest her.”
“Arrest her! _Arrest Yootha?_”
“Why yes. You see the pearls were found in her possession. Have you
heard about Levi Schomberg, and----”
“Hang Levi Schomberg!” Preston cried out. “What the devil does Levi
Schomberg matter--forgive me, Harry, here, take me to Yootha at once
and let me see the police myself about this ridiculous trumped-up
charge!”