between her father and mrs. mellop audrey had a most unpleasant time for the next two weeks. sir joseph was more bent than ever upon her marriage with lord anvers, and asked him to dinner, so that he might prosecute his suit. the proposed suitor was a pale-faced, sandy-haired, insignificant little man, with a pair of wicked-looking black eyes. at the first sight people never took anvers to be the strong man he really was, as they were deceived by his uninteresting looks. but his eyes, and subsequently his acts, soon showed him in his true light as a capable little scoundrel, who extracted all he could from anyone and anything in order to benefit himself. just now anvers, being desperately hard up, decided that it was necessary for him to marry audrey and audrey's dowry. he wanted the money more than the maid, but, seeing that she was pretty, he was not unwilling to take the two together, even though this meant the loss of his freedom.
audrey took a violent dislike to him. even before he had been suggested to her as a possible husband she had never liked him, as there was an atmosphere of impurity about him which repelled her. but that he should seek to be her husband made her more active in her dislike, and when he pressed his suit she told him plainly that she would never marry him. lord anvers, not being troubled with delicacy, simply laughed.
"oh, but you must marry me," he said brutally to the quivering girl; "your father wishes it."
"my father can wish it, but he won't get it," retorted miss branwin, all her outraged soul flashing with sapphire lights in her eyes. "i don't love you, and i never shall love you."
"oh, i know there's another man," said anvers, coolly. "your father told me to be prepared for the objection, that your affections were engaged."
"my affections have nothing to do with the matter, lord anvers. if there wasn't another man in the world, i wouldn't marry you."
"why not?"
"oh! we won't go into particulars," she said sharply. "i have heard--"
"a lot of lies, i assure you. i'm not a bad chap, as chaps go, and, upon my soul, i'll try and make you happy."
"i want a better husband than one who is not bad as chaps go," said audrey, coldly. "i want a man i can respect--a galahad."
"never heard of him," confessed anvers, candidly, "unless it's another name for a fellow called shawe."
"perhaps it is," replied miss branwin, holding herself very straight, "and you can tell my father that i shall marry no one else but mr. shawe."
"oh, come, give me a chance," pleaded the aristocratic black sheep.
"i have given you a chance to propose to me and i refuse you."
anvers looked bewildered. he was unaccustomed to this very plain speaking on the part of a spinster. "you don't let a chap down easy; and i shan't lose heart, anyhow. your 'no' means 'yes.' a woman sometimes doesn't accept a chap straight away."
"this woman will never accept you, lord anvers. so if you are a gentleman you will refrain from troubling me."
"'fraid i can't, miss branwin. i love you."
"you love my money," she retorted scornfully, and exasperated by this obstinacy. "you know it is only the money."
"oh, money's a good thing," said the truthful anvers, easily; "but, really, upon my word, you know, you're so pretty that i'd marry you without a penny."
audrey burst out laughing. "such candour on your part deserves candour on mine," she said quietly. "i say 'no' to your proposal, and i mean it."
for the time being anvers saw that he was beaten, so took his leave. "but i shall come back again," he warned his lady-love. "i'll bring you up to the scratch somehow, see if i don't." and he reported the conversation to sir joseph, with the remark that he would never stop proposing until audrey accepted his soiled title and his brutal self.
of course, branwin scolded the girl. she made no protest during the storm of words, and let sir joseph talk himself into exhaustion. when the millionaire could say no more she faced him calmly. "i shall never marry lord anvers, papa, and i shall marry ralph whenever i can."
"oh, you will, and when--when, confound you?" roared branwin.
"when he learns who killed my mother," said audrey, and passed out of the room without noticing the sudden greyness which replaced the purple hues of her father's large face.
what with anxiety to learn who had murdered her mother, and with the insistent troubles around her, audrey felt angry with everyone and everything. even ralph seemed to be against her since he had waxed lukewarm in prosecuting his search for the assassin. audrey had not seen him since he had advised her to heed the warning of the anonymous letter, and she had received no communication likely to show that he was looking into the matter of the murder. under these circumstances, she resolved to take up the rôle of an amateur detective herself. since there was no one else who loved the dead sufficiently to avenge the crime, audrey at least made up her mind to hunt down the murderer.
she began one afternoon by driving to perry toat's office, for ralph had written down its whereabouts. sir joseph, sullen and angry with his daughter, had gone to his club, and mrs. mellop in her bedroom was fretting over the destruction of her hopes. therefore, there was no one to spy on the girl, and, having dressed herself plainly, she took a taxi-cab in kensington high street and drove to the strand. perry toat's office was in buckingham street, and the detective herself was disengaged. she admitted audrey into her private sanctum the moment she read the name on the card.
"i thought you would come, miss branwin," said perry toat, cordially, "as mr. shawe told me that you were different from most girls. few would wish to undertake the search you propose to make."
"few girls, if any, have had a mother murdered in so barbarous a fashion," was audrey's reply, and she eyed with some disapproval the garish complexion and burnished hair and general renovation of miss toat.
the detective smiled, guessing the thought of her visitor. "this and this"--she touched her hair and skin--"are a concession to business demands. i had to submit to this sort of thing in order to gain permission to remain for searching purposes at the pink shop."
"oh!" audrey understood. "and did you find out anything?"
"i told mr. shawe all i had discovered, and what theories i formed on the discoveries," said miss toat, glancing at her watch. "he explained to me that he had reported everything to you over a week ago."
"yes," admitted miss branwin, "but he did not give me any hope that anything would come of what you have learnt."
"i fear not. the clues are so slight, miss branwin. by the way"--perry toat looked again at her watch--"i can only give you ten minutes or so, as i am expecting another client--colonel ilse. ah! poor man, he comes to me to be helped in finding his stolen daughter."
"his stolen daughter?" echoed audrey.
"yes. his wife died in child-birth some twenty years ago, and the child was stolen by an hospital nurse who attended her. there was some grudge, i believe. but why should i bother you with the troubles of other people when you have so many of your own?" said miss toat, in a lively way. "come, time is short. what do you wish me to tell you?"
"what is your opinion of the case as it now stands?" asked audrey, abruptly.
"it's a difficult and mysterious case," said the detective, slowly, "and it is my opinion that madame coralie can tell the truth."
"do you think that she is guilty?"
"no. that is, if she is guilty, it is because she employed someone else to murder your mother. i don't believe she strangled lady branwin herself."
"why not?"
"because madame coralie proved an alibi."
"ah!" audrey nodded. "then mr. shawe did not tell you about my idea as to the clock in the still-room being wrong?"
miss toat looked at her quickly. "no. what is your idea?"
audrey related what she knew of the discrepancy between the statement of madame coralie, her husband, and badoura, and her own. "it was nearly half-past eight when madame came to see me at the door," said audrey, positively.
miss toat looked steadily at the girl. "strange," she said, in a musing tone. "now, i wonder why mr. shawe did not tell me this?"
"it is important, is it not?" asked audrey, eagerly.
"very important. if we can prove what you say, it will show that it was possible for madame coralie to have been with lady branwin at eight."
"then she must be guilty," said audrey, triumphantly.
"no. i suspect eddy vail, her husband. he, as well as his wife, was in dire need of money, and he may have committed the deed, although his wife may have suggested its commission. if i could only trace the diamonds"--and miss toat, thinking hard, began to trace figures on her blotting-paper.
"i have seen that man vail," said miss branwin, after a pause. "mr. shawe described him to me, and i recognised the description at once. he was hanging about walpole lane when my mother came back for the red bag which contained the diamonds."
"oh!"--miss toat looked up--"that's a strong point. did your mother happen to mention, when in the lane, that the diamonds were in the bag?"
"no," said audrey, after some thought; "she simply asked for the bag. but i am sure that madame coralie must have known about the diamonds, as my poor mother would be sure to tell her."
"have you ever seen madame coralie?" asked miss toat, sharply.
"only in the half-darkness, when she came to the door at half-past eight to tell me that my mother would remain for the night."
"then," said perry toat, rising, "go to the pink shop and see her now. you are so straightforward and earnest that you may succeed where i fail. ask all the questions you can think of, and see what madame coralie looks like."
"hear what she says, you mean."
"no, i do not. hear what she says, of course; but you may be sure that if she has anything to hide she will be most guarded in her answers. but look into her face, and watch the change of colour, and--oh!" miss toat stopped in dismay. "i forgot, madame coralie wears a yashmak constantly."
"in that case i shall get her to remove it," said audrey, quickly. "i see what you mean, and i shall manage in some way to see her face. if she is guilty i shall know somehow."
"i wish i could come with you myself," said miss toat, hastily following audrey to the door, which opened into a small outer office; "but i fear that colonel ilse--ah! here he is."
miss branwin saw before her a slender and very straight man, with a grey moustache and grey hair, with a tanned face and a general military look. he had kind blue eyes, and when he saw so pretty a girl emerge from the dingy office of perry toat these same eyes lighted up with admiration. with a bow to the detective he stood on one side to let the girl pass. audrey gave a swift glance at his clearly-cut face as she went out. there seemed to be something familiar about colonel ilse's countenance; but she could not say precisely what it was. besides, her mind was too much taken up with the late conversation with miss toat to concern itself with so trifling a matter. the detective accompanied her to the outer door.
"see me to-morrow at three o'clock," she said, in a low voice, "and tell me if you have succeeded in getting madame coralie to remove her yashmak."
miss branwin readily promised this, as she felt that she needed miss toat's professional assistance in the quest which she was now undertaking. she felt eager to reach the pink shop and to question madame coralie, and her heart beat quickly as she climbed into a 'bus which would take her to kensington. sir joseph would have been furious had he seen his daughter travelling on so humble a vehicle; but audrey enjoyed the novelty of the sensation. indeed, she was beginning to find out, for the first time since her mother's death, that life was worth living. and, although she did not know it, she was suffering from a severe attack of detective fever.
the progress of the 'bus seemed slow to the impatient girl; but in due time she came to kensington high street. here she alighted, and turned into walpole lane without delay. shortly she found herself before the mysterious door of the pink shop, and entered with a beating heart and a general sense that there was a crisis at hand.
"is madame coralie to be seen?" she asked badoura, who came forward in her quaint turkish dress to receive her.
"i will inquire, miss," said badoura, looking at her closely. "oh! it is miss branwin, is it not?"
"yes, and i wish particularly to see madame coralie."
"will you please wait here, miss?" said badoura, and, leaving audrey near the door of the empty shop--it was too early for the usual customers--she walked towards an alcove on the left.
audrey saw the girl pass through the pink silk curtains into the alcove, and heard a faint murmur of voices. deeming that all was fair in the dangerous and anxious search which she was undertaking she drew near, and distinctly heard madame coralie gasp with dismay.
"tell miss branwin that i cannot see her," said madame coralie, sharply.
audrey at once stepped forward and swept aside the pink curtain. "but you must, madame," she said quietly.
the woman waved badoura to leave the alcove, and beckoned miss branwin to enter, making some remark in muffled tones as she did so. suddenly, as she rose quickly to her feet, a tack caught the yashmak, and it was ripped off. audrey saw madame coralie's side face, and gave a cry of surprise and terror.
"mother!" she cried, then sank her voice with fear. "mother! oh, mother!"
