naturally mr. and mrs. shawe did not care about interrupting their honeymoon by a visit to town, especially on an errand connected with criminal matters. but the necessity of taking such a journey was very great, seeing that perry toat assured them how the arranged interview with madame coralie and her husband would probably clear up matters in a surprising way. apparently the detective knew much more than she was prepared to admit, for once or twice she looked at the young couple in an odd way. ralph saw her stealthy glances, but did not ask her in the presence of his wife what they meant. warned by experience, he hesitated to be too abrupt in his questioning. he did not know what astonishing fact might be told.
but the young man did express surprise when he examined the photograph of madame coralie. it was the woman herself without doubt, for her face, although looking much younger, was too strongly marked to be mistaken. she was dressed as a nurse, and looked quite pretty, as her figure was more shapely and the garb became her. of course, the birthmark was not revealed by the photographic process, or if it had been--ralph was not sufficiently an expert to know--was eliminated carefully, so that the subject of the portrait might appear at her best.
"where did you get this?" asked ralph, when the trio walked back to the three fishers to get ready for the midday journey.
"i have been hunting for it for a long time," replied perry toat, replacing the photograph in her pocket, "and at length procured it from an old servant of colonel ilse, who had been in the house when madame coralie acted as nurse to mrs. ilse. she called herself mrs. askew then."
"askew, askew!" muttered shawe, musingly. "and her true name is arkwright."
"she used a false name with the same initial letter because of the marks on her linen, no doubt," said miss toat. "of course, this portrait was taken more than twenty years ago, but there is sufficient resemblance for me to recognise it as that of madame coralie."
"but as she always wears a yashmak--"
"you forget my midnight exploration of the pink shop, when i saw madame coralie in bed without the yashmak and by the light of my bull's-eye lantern," said the detective, quickly.
"then you are sure that she is the nurse who stole the child?"
"quite sure. it appears she was jealous of mrs. ilse, as she was in love with the colonel at the time, although she had no grounds to go upon. he was not the colonel then, of course."
"he is pleased at your discovery, i expect?" said audrey.
perry toat cast one of her stealthy glances at the young wife. "very pleased indeed," she assented cordially, "since the discovery of madame coralie as the nurse may give him back his daughter."
at the three fishers audrey found a curt note from her father saying that he was coming down to see her that afternoon, as he had obtained her address from lady sanby. sir joseph had learnt all about the wedding and how lady sanby had acted as the fairy godmother. perhaps for this reason he was willing to be reconciled to his daughter. but a letter from miss rosy pearl to ralph, which had arrived by the same post, put a different complexion on the affair. miss pearl wrote saying that she had prevailed on sir joseph to become friends again with audrey, and that she would come herself with the millionaire to weed-on-the-sands to witness the reconciliation. "fortunately i am not engaged at any music-hall for two weeks," wrote the dancer, "so i can stay at the three fishers for the night and cultivate the society of your wife. i may tell you that if she were not at weed-on-the-sands i would not be able to come down with sir joseph, as in my profession one can never be too careful."
ralph laughed at this display of miss pearl's uneasy virtue. "i am afraid that she will not find us here," he said to audrey.
"not this afternoon," replied the girl, quickly, "but we can return by the late train. i should like to become reconciled with papa."
"i think lady sanby has something to do with sir joseph's desire to be on speaking terms with us," said ralph, a trifle drily. "no doubt she gave him a good talking to. however, i shall leave a note saying that we shall return by--when can we return, miss toat?"
the detective thought for a moment or so. "we leave here by the half-past twelve train," she said, looking at the watch attached to her wrist, "and get to london at half-past two o'clock. we shall reach my office in buckingham street at three, and there i expect to find madame coralie and eddy vail waiting for us. the interview will likely be a long one--say two or three hours. you can catch the six o'clock train, and there is also one at eight, if you prefer to dine in london."
"we will take the six train back," said audrey, quickly, "as i don't want to keep my father waiting longer than i can help."
"to say nothing of miss pearl," said ralph, with a shrug. "she would be horrified if we did not arrive at the three fishers until eight o'clock, and she found herself alone with her future husband at that disgraceful hour. by the way, miss toat," he went on, quickly, for he saw that audrey was about to rebuke him for his flippant speech, "does colonel ilse know that--"
"he knows that this interview is taking place," interrupted the detective, rapidly, "and he will be present at it, so that madame coralie may be forced to tell him where his long-lost daughter is to be found. of course, we have the affair of the murder to deal with also; but it is just as well to get the whole matter finished off at once."
"i, for one, shall be delighted," said shawe, with emphasis. "i am very, very tired of the whole sordid business."
"i think you must have been when you wrote that anonymous letter," said miss toat, with a sly smile.
ralph laughed. "it was very clever of you to trace the writing of it to me," he remarked coolly. "however, my wife now understands why i wrote it."
here audrey intimated her opinion that they would lose the train if they did not start at once for the station. the other agreed, and a brisk walk soon took them on to the platform. shortly they were on their way to the junction, and there transferred their three selves to the main express. during the journey they talked a great deal about the case, as they had a compartment to themselves. ralph saw, although audrey did not, that miss toat was keeping back something which she was anxious to tell, and wondered what it could be.
when the train left the junction it steamed through a clear atmosphere, and in the midst of sunshine. but as it drew near to the metropolis the air became dense and smoky, and by the time it arrived at the terminus the three travellers found themselves environed by a thick fog. not a glimpse of the sun was to be seen, and all round was a cotton-wool atmosphere, disagreeable and dispiriting. audrey shivered when she stepped out on to the london platform, and was glad that ralph had insisted on bringing a fur cloak with him for her to wear.
"what an extraordinary climate," she said, with a shudder; "scarcely an hour ago and we were in broad sunshine. now look at it."
"look at what?" asked ralph, laughing. "we can see nothing."
and, indeed, he was right. from victoria station to the strand they were in a kind of cloud-land, through which the taxi-cab crawled at a cautious pace. it took them three quarters of an hour to reach buckingham street, and here the fog was denser than ever. miss toat, leading the way up the narrow stairs to her office, simply groped amidst familiar surroundings like a miner in a coal mine. however, the two rooms of the office blazed with electric lights, and the warmth and the illumination were quite comfortable after the chilly gloom of the streets. madame coralie and her husband were waiting, but colonel ilse had not yet put in an appearance.
the proprietress of the pink shop had for once discarded her turkish dress and yashmak. she wore a quiet costume and a loose cloak to hide her shapeless figure, together with a thick black veil, which masked the disfigured face. eddy appeared over-dressed and more cherubic than ever in a quite unnecessary fur coat--for the day was warm in spite of the fog, and he did not need it. his face, however, was very pale, and he looked decidedly uncomfortable as he grinned uneasily at mrs. shawe.
"dear aunt flora, how are you?" said the girl, coming forward.
madame coralie kept her at arm's length, and simply shook her hand. "you are mrs. shawe now," she said quietly, "and do not belong to me."
"i shall always look upon you as my aunt, and i shall never forget your kindness to me in my hour of need," said audrey, hurt by this cold behaviour.
"you are a good child," said madame coralie, quietly, and in a steady voice, "but i have not done all that i wish to do. i intend to see your father and make him give you an allowance."
"oh, papa will do that in any case, i think," said mrs. shawe, eagerly. "he is going down to-day to weed-on-the-sands to the three fishers hotel, where ralph and i are staying."
"your father has gone down to see you, and you are not there?"
"we had to come up at the request of miss toat to see about this business, aunt flora," said audrey, quickly; "but we shall return by the six or eight o'clock train to see papa and miss rosy pearl."
madame coralie started. "what has miss pearl got to do with your father going down to see you?" she asked in an angry tone.
"miss pearl, so she says," remarked ralph, "has persuaded sir joseph to forgive audrey."
"oh!" madame coralie shook from head to foot with silent rage, "how dare she! that woman--how dare she! to go down to weed-on-the-sands with your father and on such an errand!"
"she means well, aunt."
"i shall see to that later," retorted madame coralie, ominously.
"quite so," said perry toat, looking up briskly, as she sat down at her desk. "meanwhile we must see to the matter in hand."
"that is what i wish to know about," said madame coralie, sharply. "eddy told me that you had been talking to him, and insisted that i should come with him this day. perhaps you will tell me what it all means. this fool," she added, glaring at eddy through her veil, "pretends he knows nothing."
eddy swallowed something and balanced his smart silk hat on his knee. "i only know that miss toat seems to think that i killed--er--lady branwin."
"that is ridiculous," said madame coralie, resolutely. "are you going to re-open that painful case?" she asked perry toat, abruptly.
"i don't think that it was ever closed," said the detective, quietly, "and in view of what miss pearl overheard it is necessary to talk about the matter, however painful it may be to you, madame."
"what did miss pearl overhear?"
"you shall know later."
"it is my belief," said madame coralie, folding her arms and speaking in a loud tone, "that miss pearl is implicated in the matter."
"we shall prove that in a certain way," said perry toat, quickly, "as miss pearl certainly saw lady branwin dead. she stole down into the lower passage and entered the bedroom about nine."
"what was she doing wandering about my house at that hour?" demanded madame coralie, fiercely.
"you shall learn soon. meanwhile, we must wait for the arrival of colonel ilse," and she looked directly at madame coralie to see what effect the name had on her.
whatever recollections the name brought to madame coralie, she did not reveal that they startled her, but remained silent behind the thick folds of the veil which masked her face. audrey would have spoken, if only to ask why perry toat was badgering her aunt, when the door opened and colonel ilse made his appearance. he looked spic and span, and entirely military in his upright carriage.
"i am glad to see you, colonel ilse," said perry toat. and audrey, whose hand was on the arm of her aunt, felt the woman quiver, although she did not open her mouth.
the colonel seemed rather perturbed, and addressed himself to miss toat after a hurried glance at audrey.
"you wrote saying you had found the nurse who stole my daughter elsie," he said in faltering tones.
"yes," said perry toat, deliberately pointing to madame coralie, "there she is, colonel."
"it is a lie!" breathed madame coralie, under her breath.
"it is not a lie," said the detective, coldly, "no more than the fact that your husband killed lady branwin is a lie."
eddy jumped to his feet with a shrill, hysterical laugh. "i did not kill lady branwin," he said excitedly. "i can prove that i did not."
"hold your tongue, you fool!" cried madame coralie, savagely.
"prove your innocence," commanded perry toat, who looked puzzled.
"lady branwin," said vail, still shrilly, "is not dead."
"not dead?" everyone looked bewildered.
eddy stretched out his hand and pulled the veil from his wife's face. "this woman is lady branwin," he said, with a choking note in his voice.
"my mother--my mother!" cried audrey, rising to her feet and grasping at ralph for support.
