"The woman Marie Lejeune quickly developed from the smart ladies' maid
of the Comtesse de Martigny, a gay Parisienne, into the shrewdest and
cleverest of adventuresses, and aided by the two Italians, made several
large and successful coups at Vichy, Aix-les-Bains, and elsewhere,"
continued the man Logan, speaking in the same clear, decisive tones,
addressing the Earl. "I, however, had parted from them, and was
conducting an honest business in London, while Mr Keene had left on a
shooting expedition in Africa, where he afterwards met you, and I
presume gave his name as Smeeton in order that you should not connect
him with the person who had been at San Remo that season.
"Until your marriage, the Frenchwoman did not trouble your wife nor
Lolita in the least. She waited her time until Lady Marigold had
married and was wealthy and you returned to London from your honeymoon
in Cairo, when one day she called at Stanchester House, saw the
Countess, and by showing her the letter she had written to Atherton
succeeded in extracting blackmail from her, a course which she has
continued until quite recently. And not only this," he added, "but she
approached Lolita secretly and made large requests, threatening that if
they were not complied with she would denounce her as the murderess of
poor Randolph Glover at San Remo! Her ladyship, helpless and terrified,
was forced to comply with these demands although entirely innocent of
the crime. On the other hand, however, there was some truth in the
woman's allegation against Lady Stanchester--who, by the way, believed
that Richard Keene was dead--and these facts were confirmed by Wingfield
who, previous to being in the employment of Mr Keene, was valet to
Major Atherton.
"One day, it appeared that the woman Lejeune, in an interview in which
she repeated her usual demands for money, told her of Wingfield's
allegations against her and how she could ruin her in your eyes by
bringing forward the young valet. The Countess thereupon paid the sum
demanded, but from that moment entered into a conspiracy against
Wingfield, fearing the revelation he might make concerning her. Her
friendship with Atherton had long ago given rise to rumour, and these,
she knew, had reached your ears before your marriage. Therefore she was
now in fear of both the Frenchwoman and the valet. She knew where Marie
Lejeune, Belotto and Ostini were living in London, and in order to free
herself gave information to Scotland Yard, who held a warrant from the
French police for their arrest. The trio were, however, wary, and
fearing arrest rapidly changed their place of abode, with the result
that the police were baffled."
"And all this time Lolita was being blackmailed?" asked the Earl.
"Yes," answered my love faintly. "It is true, George, all this--every
word of it."
"Matters continued thus for two years, until last August, when a tragedy
occurred," Logan went on. "The young valet, Wingfield, whose love for
Lady Lolita had now cooled and who had told her ladyship of his lowly
station and of how he had been in the service of Major Atherton, had
some time before got into low water, and Lady Lolita, in order to assist
him, had first given him money and then, when her private resources were
drained by the woman Lejeune's demands, had given him articles of
jewellery, which he sold or pawned. The young man's opinion regarding
the death of Randolph Glover had changed, for he explained to her
ladyship how he had discovered in San Remo that the unfortunate young
officer had fallen a prey to those harpies, and that the manoeuvre had
been carried out and the charge laid against her ladyship in order to
extract blackmail. Lady Lolita had then entered into negotiations with
young Wingfield to effect her release from the bondage in which the
Frenchwoman held her, and these continued for some months, until that
fateful night in August. Of what occurred then her ladyship herself can
best explain to us."
And, pausing, he turned to my love to allow her to tell us with her own
lips.
For a few moments she remained pale and silent. Her great blue eyes met
mine, and then looking me straight in the face she said--
"What Mr Logan has told you is perfectly correct. The poor young man
was working in my interests, and I had written him a cipher letter
making an appointment to meet me in the park at a spot where we had met
several times previously, as I knew, secretly watching the Frenchwoman
and her accomplices in London as he was, he had something to report to
me. That afternoon, however, as I drove through the village I saw at
the window of the Stanchester Arms the one man whom I feared would
denounce me--the man who had been witness of the affair at San Remo, and
who had openly expressed belief in my guilt--Richard Keene. He had come
to Sibberton evidently to make inquiries about me. By his presence
there, I knew he meant mischief.
"That same evening I also received a secret visit from Marie Lejeune.
Still I kept the appointment and walked across the park by a circuitous
route, in order that none of the servants should recognise me. I knew I
had plenty of time by the chiming of the stable clock, therefore I did
not hurry. But when I reached the hollow I found he was not there, and
had waited for a moment in expectation, when of a sudden I saw something
in the darkness lying close to me. I bent and to my horror discovered
that it was the young man Wingfield--dead! I screamed and rushed away,
not knowing whither I went, but scarcely had I gone a few yards when I
ran right into the arms of Mr Logan. I had, in my horror, picked up
the knife lying at the dead man's side, a long, thin Italian dagger, and
when he met me I still held it in my hand. That very fact, of which I
was unconscious at the moment, convinced him of my guilt. Thus on a
second occasion was I suspected of a crime of which I was innocent. Of
what occurred afterwards I have little recollection. I only know that
Mr Logan took the knife from my hand, and that for hours we wandered,
he trying to obtain from me the true facts against Marigold which the
dead man had alleged. Then at dawn we parted, and I was met by Mr
Woodhouse, who set about swiftly to remove every piece of evidence that
might convict me of the mysterious crime. Ah!" she cried, "God alone
knows how much I have suffered--how Marie Lejeune and her accomplices
have tortured me."
"I admit," declared Logan frankly, "that I believed Lady Lolita to be
guilty. The horror at finding the dead man and the knowledge that the
great intrigue was still in progress produced upon her an effect which I
unfortunately mistook for guilt. You must first know that on the night
in question, being again associated with Marie Lejeune, I had
accompanied her to Sibberton, whither she went at Lady Lolita's request.
Her ladyship saw her privately, while I awaited her in the `Mermaid'
over at Geddington. Marie had, by secret means, learnt of Lolita's
intention to meet Hugh Wingfield in the park that night, therefore on
leaving the Hall she awaited in order to watch and obtain knowledge of
the negotiations against her which she knew were in progress between the
valet and her ladyship, while I, surprised at her long absence, strolled
across to the park in order to meet her on her return, as the way was
dark and lonely.
"According to the statement she afterwards made to me, it appears that
she watched the young valet's arrival. He stood listening for about
five minutes, when suddenly a woman, whom by her ermine cloak she knew
was Lady Lolita, approached in the gloom, but as the young man uttered
her name and put his hand out to welcome her, she stepped nimbly past
him and struck him full in the back--a fatal blow. It was but the work
of a single instant. `Ah! my lady!' he gasped, clutching at her cloak.
`You--you've killed me!' And he sank upon the ground and expired. At
that instant Marie Lejeune stepped from her hiding-place and the two
women met face to face. Then Marie was staggered to discover that the
woman who wore Lady Lolita's cloak was not Lady Lolita herself--but that
woman standing there!" he exclaimed, pointing to the Countess, "Lady
Stanchester!"
"Lady Stanchester!" we all gasped in one breath, while the wretched
woman thus denounced stood before us, swaying and shrinking from our
gaze.
"But surely she was still at Aix-les-Bains!" I cried.
"No," he declared. "She had returned to London on the previous day, and
was living at Burton's boarding-house, in Hereford Road, Bayswater,
under the name of Mrs Frith. That very morning she had seen the young
valet in Westbourne Grove, and had followed him down to Sibberton. As
soon as she saw him take a ticket for Kettering she knew of his
intention to meet Lady Lolita clandestinely, therefore she saw in that
her opportunity to deal him a fatal blow, and thus prevent any ugly
revelation regarding her past."
"But the cloak?" I asked.
"Lady Lolita had lent it to her just before her departure for Aix, and
she wore it on that night." Then I saw how, by my neglecting to tell
Lolita of the finding of the cloak by the gamekeeper Jacobs, I had
myself withheld the truth from her! Had she known that the cloak she
had lent Marigold had been found torn and cast aside, she would of
course have suspected the identity of the assassin.
"The young man's acquaintance with Lolita and Marigold accounts, I
suppose, for his having watched my movements in London!" remarked the
Earl.