it was indeed lady branwin who sat there, quiet and silent and immovable, gazing at the astonished company. eddy, with a look of fear on his craven face, had sunk back into his chair the moment he had torn off the veil and had told the wonderful truth. the others could only stare and marvel at the revelation. audrey, womanlike, was the first to recover the use of her tongue, although perry toat--also womanlike--was on the point of breaking into speech.

"yes, you are my mother!" cried audrey. "yet i saw your face before at the pink shop. how was it i did not recognise you then?"

lady branwin, as it will be now convenient to call her, laid her finger on her right cheek. "you see, the birthmark of my sister flora is not here," she said quietly; "for that reason you know me for certain. even when the mark was there you thought i was your mother, because of the wonderful likeness, and it was only the mark which made you change your mind."

"you painted the birthmark on your face?" said miss toat, who seemed as astonished as anyone at this extraordinary development. she had expected to learn much, but never that the woman supposed to be dead was still in the flesh and masquerading as madame coralie.

"yes, i did," said the other, defiantly, "for reasons which i am now about to tell you. i was nearly discovered by audrey when my yashmak was torn off in the alcove of the shop, and i half believed and half wished that her instinct would tell her the truth. but her father had mentioned my sister to her, and she was, therefore, prepared to believe that i was her aunt when i told her that i and flora were twins."

"and were you twins?" demanded ralph, quickly.

"yes," said lady branwin, coolly. "in face and figure we were exactly alike, though not in mind, as flora was always the clever one. perhaps i may have been a trifle prettier, as the birthmark disfigured flora--joseph always said that i was. but flora's mark was not nearly so dark as this"--she touched her cheek. "oh, i forgot, i have washed it off."

"why did you do that?" asked perry toat, quickly. "did you come here to declare your real name and explain?"

"yes and no. i came prepared to put aside my veil and show my real face, according to what took place. eddy has taken me by surprise. but you can now understand, audrey"--she addressed herself to her daughter--"how it was that the birthmark and my story deceived you."

"yes," said mrs. shawe, faintly, and sitting down by her husband to cling to him as if for protection. "and i really believed you; your manner was so different from your true one."

"i acted a part, my dear, and, although i say it myself, i acted it very well, as all of you must admit."

"you wouldn't have kept your secret so long had you not worn the yashmak," ralph ventured to remark.

"perhaps not. the yashmak was a very good mask. i often wondered why flora wore it, if not for business purposes; as her birthmark was not so disfiguring as the one which i painted on my face."

"it was very faint," said colonel ilse, speaking for the first time, and in his crisp, military voice--"over twenty years ago, that is. but then mrs. askew, as she called herself, was a much younger woman."

"and not so fat," supplemented lady branwin, calmly. "yes, i remember flora then. after she left bleakleigh as a widow she tried many ways in which to make money. i told you some of them, audrey, although i don't think that i mentioned she had been an hospital nurse."

"and for an obvious reason," put in perry toat, in an acrid voice. the little woman was annoyed that her search for the hospital nurse had ended in this unexpected way. "you were afraid."

"why should i be afraid?" demanded lady branwin, coolly. "it was flora who kidnapped colonel ilse's daughter, not i. she told me all about it, and did so out of jealousy. she was in love with the colonel."

"i certainly was not in love with her," said the soldier, stiffly, and the flush which audrey had noticed on a former occasion appeared on his tanned face. "she made my life a burden to me, and finally took away my own child. i was left lonely," added ilse, pathetically, "as my dear wife died when elsie was born. perhaps, lady branwin, you can tell me what your sister did with my child."

"i can tell you many things which will astonish you," said the unmasked woman, drily, "and i intend to. perhaps had this fool"--she shot a glance of scorn and wrath at the unhappy vail--"not torn off my veil i would not have revealed myself. but you can see from the fact that i have washed off the pretended birthmark that i intended to do so if it were necessary. i now see that it is very necessary."

"i think it is," said perry toat, sharply, "as we have yet to learn who murdered madame coralie."

"are you going to accuse me of the crime? why not accuse eddy here, who put back the still-room clock?"

vail became violently emotional. "i put it back because i intended to return and steal the diamonds," he said loudly. "i don't mind owning that, as i have already told the story to miss toat. but when i came back after you turned me out of the house and found that my wife was strangled, i--"

"your wife?" interrupted ralph, suddenly. "how could you think it was your wife who was dead when she--as you thought, i presume--had just dismissed you from the still-room."

"i did not think that the dead woman was my wife," said eddy, sullenly. "i knew that there was a resemblance between my wife and lady branwin, as flora had long since told me that they were twins. but i saw the birthmark on my wife's face, comparatively faint as it was."

"then you knew all the time that lady branwin was masquerading as madame coralie?" demanded perry toat, much mortified, for she saw that this foolish, effeminate little creature had tricked her.

"yes, because she threatened to say that i had killed flora."

"and because i gave you my diamonds," retorted lady branwin.

"you went half shares," snapped eddy, crossly. "i didn't make half as much out of the business as i expected. i held my tongue and allowed my wife to be buried as you, because i knew that by putting back the still-room clock i laid myself open to having committed the crime. but i am perfectly innocent, and you know it."

"permit me to speak," said lady branwin, in harsh, hard tones, which recalled more than ever her assumption of her sister's character. "i intend to explain everything and to clear up the mystery."

"do you wish me to go?" asked colonel ilse, rising. "as you are not mrs. askew, and cannot tell me where my child is, i don't want to stay."

"i think you had better stay," said lady branwin, without wincing. "i told you before that i have much to say. i am tired of myself and tired of my life. i was unhappy as the wife of sir joseph, who always treated me in a most brutal fashion, and i am still more unhappy masquerading as my sister. i have to put up with the blackmailing and insolence of this beast." and lady branwin pointed an accusing finger at eddy, who shrank in his chair.

"you had better take care," he threatened, looking white-faced and cowardly, "for although i have told much, i can tell more."

"there is no need for you to tell anything," said lady branwin, scornfully, "since i am capable of revealing everything."

"perhaps," said perry toat, looking at her watch, "you had better get on with your story. it is growing late."

"i shall tell my story when it suits me," snarled lady branwin, turning on her savagely. "i am no longer the timid fool that i was. i am hard, i tell you; hard and determined in every way. now don't say a word," she went on, imperiously throwing up her hand; "let me talk. when i finish, you can make your comments. not that it matters to me what any of you say."

"mother," said audrey, imploringly, and strove to take lady branwin's hand.

"you are a good child, audrey," said the elder woman, preventing the action, "but when you know all you may not be so ready to be kind to me."

"i don't care what you have done," cried mrs. shawe, impetuously, "you are my mother; nothing can alter the relationship between us."

"oh, i think so," began perry toat. "you left the upper portion of the window open when you were conversing with madame coralie," she added, addressing herself to lady branwin, who sat looking as still and hard as any statue, "and you conversed rather loudly, so--"

"ah!" interrupted ralph, with a start, "is this what you kept back at weed-on-the sands, miss toat?"

"yes," she assented calmly. "i made miss pearl confess that she was not asleep. when eddy vail entered the court and disappeared into the house--"

"i did not disappear into the house," said the scamp, rudely. "i hid in the shadow, and watched the window to see the diamonds."

"ah! miss pearl lost sight of you, as you were in the shadow, no doubt," was miss toat's reply; "but perhaps you heard what your wife and lady branwin were talking about?"

"i didn't gather much," said eddy, quickly. "i saw that there were diamonds, and then ran upstairs to the still-room to alter the clock, and get ready to steal them. badoura, as she frequently did, left the inner door open. after i left on that night she locked it again and restored the key to--"

miss perry toat waved her hand impatiently.

"we know all about that," she said sharply. "but you"--she again addressed herself to lady branwin--"talked so loudly that miss pearl overheard your secret, and i forced her, by threatening to bring her in as an accomplice after the fact, to tell it to me."

"there is no need for you to call it a secret," said lady branwin, quite unmoved. "you have already told audrey that something can alter the relationship between us. i prefer to explain the matter myself since audrey is married, and i shall see no more of her."

"oh, yes, mother, you--"

"i am not your mother. you are no child of mine."

colonel ilse leaped to his feet, greatly agitated. "then she is--"

"yes, yes, yes!" cried lady branwin, impatiently. "she is your daughter!"

"elsie! elsie!" cried the colonel, and striding across the small room he caught the bewildered girl in his arms. "i might have guessed the truth at the first glimpse of you. you are so like your dear mother. i told you that you reminded me of one who was dear to me, and now--"

"yes, yes," murmured audrey, feverishly. "and i thought that you reminded me of someone."

"i remind you of the face you see in the glass," said the colonel, with deep emotion. "you have my eyes, dear. oh, my child--my darling elsie."

"ralph! ralph!" muttered mrs. shawe. "what--what"--she stretched out her hands to her equally bewildered husband--"can it be true?"

"i believe it is true, audrey--"

"elsie--elsie!" interrupted colonel ilse, vehemently.

"well, then, elsie--for the moment, at any rate," said the young husband. "i mentioned to you how impossible it was that sir joseph could be your father. he is not at all like you."

"neither am i," said lady branwin, who had been looking at the embrace of the newly-discovered father with sad and envious eyes. "but you had better restrain your emotion." she rose and crossed the room to lay her hand on audrey's arm, and in doing so brought herself near the door. "my dear, although i am not your mother you have been very dear to me. don't forget me entirely, my child."

"no, no!" said mrs. shawe, much agitated. "i shall still look on you as my mother, dear lady branwin."

the woman winced at the name, and drew back. "i only ask you to think kindly of me," she said in a low voice, "for we may never meet again. when you know everything--"

"oh, no, no!" cried poor audrey, anxiously. "i have learnt as much as i can bear just now. i do not wish to hear anything more," and she clung to her husband, while her father tightly clasped her hand as though fearful of losing her again.

"you must know all," said lady branwin, calmly, "because you won't see me again. i pass out of your life very, very soon."

"what would you do?" asked colonel ilse, sharply.

"i would tell you the whole truth."

"perhaps i know it," put in perry toat, who was on her feet. "you were quarrelling with your sister over the stolen child."

"ah! miss pearl heard that much and told you, did she?" sneered lady branwin, taking care to keep near the door. "what more?"

"nothing more. she said that your voices ceased suddenly."

"ah," said lady branwin, coolly and reflectively, "that must have been while i was strangling flora."

"oh!" there was a general cry of dismay and horror. eddy staggered to his feet and pointed a shaking finger at the woman. "you--you murdered my dear wife?" he stammered.

"yes," mocked lady branwin, sneeringly, "i murdered your dear wife, who for years had been blackmailing me. colonel ilse, you will understand that sir joseph was angry because i had no children; there was no prospect of my having any. then flora told me how she wished to be revenged on you, and offered to bring me your child as soon as it was born. i agreed."

"you wicked woman!" cried the colonel, glaring.

"yes, i am very wicked," said lady branwin, with a weary air. "and if you had lived my life you would have been wicked also--that is, if you could have endured such a life for so many years as i did. you needn't look so savage. your child had a good home. i was sorry it was not a boy, but under the circumstances i adopted the baby when flora brought it as my own, and audrey cannot say but what i have been a good mother."

"you have been very kind," said the girl, in muffled tones, and hiding her tearful face on her husband's breast.

"you are a wicked woman!" repeated colonel ilse again, shrinking from her.

"and a murderess!" said perry toat, indignantly. "why didn't you tell me?" she asked, turning on eddy.

"i didn't know for certain," stammered the young man.

"no one knew," said lady branwin, who was much the calmest of the party. "i managed to keep my secret very well, and you should not have known it now but that i chose to admit the truth. i grew weary of flora's blackmailing. for years and years she made my life a misery by threatening to tell sir joseph the truth. i took my diamonds to her on that night so as to pay a large bribe which she demanded. she said that the amount was not enough. in despair i sprang at her throat when she was threatening to go to sir joseph the next day and say to him that audrey was not his daughter. i knew that sir joseph would turn my poor girl into the streets, as he had never loved her. i strangled flora, and i am glad that i did so."

"but i wish to know," began perry toat, springing forward, "what--"

"you shall know no more. i go to do justice," and before anyone could move lady branwin was out of the room.

perry toat, crying out that she must be arrested, ran out of the office in pursuit. she arrived at the street door to see lady branwin disappear into the thick fog. all pursuit proved useless. the woman who had slain madame coralie vanished into the dense blackness of the fog, like the ghost she had long been supposed to be. only there rang in perry toat's ears her concluding words: "i go to do justice!"

"what does she mean?" cried the detective, helplessly. "what does she mean?"

there was no answer, and the fog came down thicker and darker than ever.