after that significant hint, madame coralie refused to speak any more, alleging that she was extremely busy and could not afford the time. however, she told her niece to call and see her again, when she would be more explicit. meanwhile, the girl was obliged to return to her lover with what meagre information she had gleaned, passing through the perfumed shop, now crowded with fashionable women, she rejoined ralph on the pavement. together they strolled up walpole lane in the direction of kensington palace.
"i told my aunt, as you suggested, about my father's intention to marry miss pearl," said audrey, abruptly. "and you are right. she is jealous. strange, is it not, after all these years? besides"--audrey shrugged her shoulders in a contemptuous way--"fancy any woman remaining faithful to my father."
"women have odd tastes," said shawe, quietly, "and your father is so masterful a man that he is certain to be successful with the fair sex. humph! she is jealous, is she? well, and what did she say?"
"very little. it was her manner of speaking more than what she said. when i told her, you should have seen her eyes flash above the yashmak."
"oh, never mind her eyes flashing, audrey," said shawe, impatiently. "what were her words?"
"all she said was that rosy pearl was the customer who slept at the pink shop on the night of the crime."
"what!" ralph stopped suddenly, and stared. "the lady who refused to allow her name to be given--who slept in the upstairs bedroom?"
"yes. and i think that my aunt means to hint--"
"oh, i see what she means," interrupted ralph, quickly. "her jealousy gives the hint very plainly. rosy pearl was in the house; rosy pearl wants to become the second lady branwin, so rosy pearl gets rid of--"
"no, no!" interrupted audrey in her turn, and looking pale. "i can't think that she strangled my mother."
"she had every reason to," said ralph, grimly. "and as madame coralie admits that she has the diamonds, robbery cannot now be given as the motive for the committal of the crime."
"do you believe that rosy pearl really did murder my mother so that the way might be opened to her to be my father's second wife?"
"i can't say for certain, until i examine into the matter more closely," said shawe, anxiously, "but it certainly looks like it. sir joseph is a millionaire, and from the sudden way in which he announced his intention of making her his wife it is evident that the two discussed the matter while your mother was still alive." he paused, and thought for a few minutes. "i tell you what, audrey, i shall go at once to perry toat and tell her this."
"can i come also?" asked audrey, again feeling the detective fever.
"no. it is just as wise not to arouse your father's suspicions."
"why should they be aroused?" asked audrey, quickly. "he knows nothing of rosy pearl's doings on that night."
"no, i daresay he doesn't," replied shawe, turning away his face; "but if he thought that you were looking into this case, and that miss pearl was suspected, he might make trouble. go back home, audrey, my darling, and leave me to deal with the matter."
"very well; but you must promise to come and tell me all about it. meet me at the usual place in the gardens to-morrow afternoon at three."
"yes." ralph glanced at his watch. "i must get a taxi and drive as hard as i can to buckingham street, or miss toat may leave her office. it's after five o'clock as it is."
"what are you going to do exactly, ralph?" asked audrey, detaining him.
"explain matters to perry toat, and ask her to look up miss pearl," said the young man, hastily, and fairly ran away from the girl.
audrey returned to her home filled with anxious fears. there was something strange about her lover's unwillingness to discuss matters freely with her. also, she could not conceive why he wished her to obey the instructions of the anonymous letter and abandon all further search for the assassin. with the instinct of a woman in love, she felt that there was a veil between her and ralph. but why there should be, she could not conceive. "the only thing to be done is to wait patiently," audrey thought, as she dressed for dinner. "sooner or later i shall learn why ralph is behaving so strangely."
meanwhile, shawe, never thinking that audrey was puzzled by his odd reluctance, had found perry toat on the point of leaving her office. when he breathlessly explained his errand she sat down to gather details. the idea that rosy pearl had been sleeping in the pink shop on the night when lady branwin had been murdered revealed matters in a new light. had she known about the diamonds being in madame coralie's possession, she might have been still more certain; but since ralph had solemnly promised audrey to keep silent on this particular point, he could not impart all his suspicions to the detective. however, she learnt enough to suggest the building up of another and more feasible theory.
"of course, rosy pearl's desire to become lady branwin the second provides a strong motive for the commission of the crime."
"but we don't know that miss pearl is anxious to marry sir joseph. he is anxious to marry her, but that is quite a different thing."
"miss pearl, to my knowledge, is a woman who has always had an eye to the main chance," said perry toat, drily. "she has kept herself highly respectable, so that she might make a good match. branwin is wealthy, and can give her rank and position. she would do much to become his wife."
"would she commit a murder?" asked shawe, doubtfully.
"she might, and she might not. i can say nothing more until i learn precisely what she was doing on that night."
"how can you learn?"
"i shall question parizade."
"the blind girl? what can she tell?"
"i don't know, but i shall be able to get all information from her, whatever she may know."
"but, being blind, she can see nothing."
"she may have heard something," said perry toat, with emphasis. "having lost her eyesight her hearing has become very keen, and also she has a very powerful sense of smell."
"what," ralph joked, "do you expect her to nose the trail like a dog?"
"i don't know what i expect; but the fact is, mr. shawe, i have made friends with all the four girls in the shop. madame coralie for her own sake will say nothing, but if those girls know anything i may induce them to speak. badoura"--miss toat ticked off the names on her fingers--"can be worked by appealing to her jealousy, as she loves eddy vail. zobeide, who is deaf, is anxious to get money and retire with her mother, whom she dearly loves, to the seaside. peri banou is an extravagant little minx, who is always in want of cash; while parizade has a lover."
"really!" ralph expressed his astonishment. "but she is blind."
"she is pretty, and the man who loves her is an artist. now, if i offer to share the reward of one thousand pounds with any one of these girls i may learn much; in fact, i am going to the shop to see parizade to-night."
"i thought you had learnt all you wished to learn from her," said shawe, uneasily. he had been told on a previous occasion what the blind girl knew, and the information had not pleased him.
"i wish to check her statements," said miss toat, quickly. "however, to-morrow something may be learnt worth your hearing from badoura. she is one of the witnesses for the alibi, and i intend to ask her at what time madame coralie left the still-room to see miss branwin at the door of the shop."
"but i don't quite see--"
"how can you, mr. shawe? you are not a detective. everyone to his trade."
"her trade," corrected the barrister, quietly, as a return for the snub. "however, i shall see you to-morrow, and i trust that you will have something to tell me."
"i shall do my best. i can't do more," replied perry toat, with a shrug. and with this mild assurance the young man was obliged to be content.
perry toat had already arranged her plans. she had learnt on the previous day from badoura, with whom she was in communication, that madame coralie was going to the theatre with her husband that evening. therefore, when she arrived in walpole lane, she was not surprised to find the forewoman in a bad temper. this was natural, seeing that she loved eddy vail to such an extent that she resented his going out with his lawful wife. this was illogical; but badoura, having been tricked into caring for the handsome scamp, was far past reason.
"i wish i hadn't fallen in love with him," she wailed to miss toat, when that businesslike lady arrived at the shop. "he treats me so badly."
"what can you expect, my dear? as a married man he should remain true to his wife. the mere fact that he pretended to love you when he should not, shows the kind of profligate he is."
"but madame coralie is so old," said badoura, with a flush, which made her look very pretty. "she won't live for ever, and then--"
"then you hope to marry eddy vail. my dear girl, i wouldn't count too much on that if i were you. mr. vail will do what suits him best."
"i shall make him marry me," said badoura, fiercely.
"can you?" asked perry toat, sceptically. "yes. i know something."
"what is it?"
"i shan't tell you. eddy vail has no hold over me, as i have always kept myself to myself, so far as he is concerned. it is only because i am in love that i make such a fool of myself. but i know!" and she nodded.
"come, tell me," coaxed perry toat, seeing in a flash how she could bring the girl to betray whatever she knew about mr. vail.
"i shan't. you are a detective, and i'm afraid of you. if i did right i should tell madame coralie how you come here as a spy."
"if you do you will lose any chance of sharing the reward with me," miss toat assured her, coolly. "besides, the mischief is done, and i know a lot."
"but you say that you will share the reward with the other girls."
"of course. i shall share it with anyone who can put me on the right scent to trace the murderer. if you know anything"--she looked very straightly at badoura--"remember you risk five hundred pounds by not telling me."
"i shall tell nothing," said badoura, resolutely, "unless eddy proves false to me." and she cut short the conversation by going out for a walk.
perry toat immediately resolved in some way to prove to the girl that eddy vail was falseness itself. "but i wonder what she knows?" the detective asked herself as she went in search of parizade.
the blind girl was in her bedroom lying down, as the heat of the day and the hard work in the shop had tried her delicate constitution somewhat severely. the moment she heard miss toat's step she called her by name.
"how did you know it was me?" asked the newcomer, taking a seat beside the bed.
parizade laughed. "oh, i can tell your footsteps," she admitted; "that is one way, and the other is by that scent you use."
miss toat sniffed her handkerchief. "peruvian fragrance," she said with a laugh; "yes, it is an uncommon scent. george brings it to me; he's a purser on a steamer, you know."
parizade, in her darkness, groped for the detective's hand. "yes, dear, i know, and it is because you are in love, as i am, that i like you so much. i don't mind your being a detective at all, but i do hope you'll marry soon and give up the horrid business."
"there's no chance of my marrying george until i get this thousand pounds' reward which sir joseph branwin offers."
"and i am to get half of it, if i can help you, remember," said the blind girl. "like yourself, i can't marry walter until we have money. then we can live in the country in a tiny cottage, and he can paint his pictures while i look after the household."
"but can you do that, parizade, seeing you are blind?"
"oh, i have eyes at the end of my fingers," said the other, caressingly. "why, i know every bit of this large house, so it will not be difficult to learn all about a small cottage. but fancy walter loving a blind girl like me."
"you are so pretty, parizade."
"i am glad of that, and it's all really genuine. oh"--parizade fell back on her pillows with a sigh--"how glad i shall be to take my own name and leave this horrid pink shop. has what i told you given you any help? i do so want my share of the reward."
"i have got no help from it so far," said miss toat, shaking her head. "tell me again exactly what happened."
"oh, i have told you over and over again," said parizade, petulantly. "there was another person in the house on that night."
"i know; rosy pearl," said the detective, swiftly.
"yes; she was the customer who slept in the upstairs bedroom, and who did not wish her name to be known. inspector lanton was told by madame, but as miss pearl knew nothing she was not called as a witness at her own request. but how did you learn the name, miss toat? madame warned the girls not to tell it to anyone."
"i learnt it indirectly from madame herself," said miss toat, evasively. "i suppose she was the person you heard breathing in the passage?"
"no," said parizade, decisively. "i am sure that person was a man."
"why do you think so?"
"because the breathing was so heavy, and there was that smell of harris tweed--you can't mistake that smell--and only men wear harris tweed."
"yes and no. ladies sometimes have dresses made of it. but describe exactly how you came to hear and smell this person."
"oh"--parizade yawned--"i have told you so often."
"tell me again. every time you tell me i get a fresh idea."
"well," said the blind girl, lying back passively, "on the night of the murder--of course, we none of us knew anything about it until next morning--madame and the girls went to bed just after nine o'clock, as we were all so tired. madame, after she saw miss branwin at the door to say that her mother would remain for treatment, sent away her husband and retired. it was just after nine when i remembered that i left a present from walter to me in the shop. i didn't want the other girls to see it, so i went down about half-past nine."
"in the darkness, of course?" said the listening detective.
"yes. darkness and light are the same to me. i know the house so well that i never stumble or miss my way. well, i found the present--a pair of gloves--just where peri banou had been lying in the alcove--i believe she must have seen them. then, in returning along the lower passage, i heard the sound of heavy breathing at the end near the door which leads into the court."
"that was locked."
"it always is; but it might have been open for all i know on that night. i knew someone was there, and guessed that it was a man, as i smelt the peculiar scent of harris tweed so strongly. i fancied that eddy vail had not gone away, but had come back."
"you mean that he had remained in the house?" corrected perry toat.
"oh, yes. at all events, i fancied it was eddy; so, not wishing to get myself into trouble with madame, as she might have asked him to stay, i went upstairs and said nothing. next day i learnt about the murder, and both madame and eddy said that he had really left the house. then i became certain that there had been a stranger in the passage."
"rosy pearl, perhaps?"
"no. she was sleeping upstairs. but you may guess that i said nothing to anyone about what i had heard and smelt."
"why did you not? it might have given inspector lanton a clue."
parizade shuddered. "oh, i didn't want to be mixed up with the police. it was best, i thought, to hold my tongue. i never told anyone until you came and said you were a detective."
"well, and why did you tell me? you were frightened when i told you my profession, if i remember rightly."
"yes. but, somehow, your being a woman made it seem better. i don't mind a lady detective. then when you told about the reward i thought i might help you and get half, so that i might marry walter."
"you shall get it, if i am successful," said miss toat, emphatically. "but do you really think that there was a man in the passage on that night?"
"yes, i do--near the house door that leads into the court. he escaped in that way, and i believe he murdered lady branwin. i could swear to it."
"it will be hard to trace the criminal, male or female, by the smell of harris tweed alone," commented perry toat, doubtfully. "it's a blind clue."
