but meanwhile lechmere had not been idle. his steadygoing brain had not failed to see the danger arise after the matter of the countess's burglary had come into the hands of the police. and he seemed to fancy that he had discovered a way out of the difficulty. after a message to scotland yard making an appointment an hour later at the house of countess saens he had proceeded to the queen's hotel. he was a little disappointed to find that already jessie had departed some short time.
he was about to go off in search of jessie when she returned with her story. lechmere smiled with the air of a man who holds the key to the situation.
"you need not be in the least alarmed," he said. "hope was quite right when he suggested that perhaps i could help you in the matter. not only am i going to help, but i am going to put you a long way out of the reach of the police. we are going as far as countess saens's house."
"i am!" jessie exclaimed. "why, the mere fact of my being there face to face with the countess——"
"my dear young lady, you are not going to be face to face with the countess. she has gone abroad. you will go with me in a cab, you will keep your veil down and you will wait in the drawing-room[265] until i want you. i daresay all this sounds very abrupt, but it is quite necessary. now come bustle along before other things come to complicate matters."
jessie followed in a helpless kind of way. it seemed to her that she was off on another series of bewildering adventures before the last series was closed almost. but she had her previous experience to keep her courage to the sticking point and lechmere's face gave her confidence. "when am i going to get out of this coil?" she asked with a smile.
"you are going to get out of it very quietly," lechmere said gravely. "and after that you are going to marry my young friend ronald hope, whom i regard as a very lucky fellow. when the tangle itself is likely to end, heaven only knows. the best thing that could happen to the queen of asturia would be the death of the king. she would know what peace meant then and the removal of the king by natural means would enable europe to interfere and so check the designs of russia. but here we are."
the cab stopped at length and the occupants alighted. at lechmere's bidding, jessie raised her veil.
"the countess is not at home?" lechmere asked the footman. "how annoying! it is rather an urgent and private affair that miss vera galloway desires to see your mistress upon. but perhaps annette the maid will be able to answer a few questions for me. shew us into the drawing-room and send annette to us there."
the footman bowed and shewed no signs of astonishment. he was too used to strange requests[266] and equally strange visitors to that house. he led the way gravely enough upstairs and announced that he would at once send for annette to see miss galloway.
"so far, so good," lechmere muttered. "i shall want you to see annette a little later on, miss harcourt, but for the present i shall be glad if you will take your seat in the little inner drawing-room. it is just as well perhaps that you should overhear all that is said."
jessie asked no questions, but she could not altogether repress a natural curiosity to know what was going to take place next. from where she was seated she had a perfect view of all that was going on in the large drawing-room without being seen herself. annette came in quite self-possessed and just a little demure in the presence of the tall grey-faced stranger.
"i was told that miss galloway was here, m'sieu," she said. "it strikes to me, m'sieu——"
"as a matter of fact miss galloway is not here at all," said lechmere coolly. "this is another young lady whom you will see all in good time, but not quite yet. i had no desire to arouse the curiosity of your fellow servants. the footman, for instance, who is a very good-looking fellow, may be a lover of yours. ah, so there has been tender passages between you?"
"m'sieu is a gentleman and cannot be contradicted," annette said demurely. "if you say so——"
"oh, well. that is bad hearing, i am afraid you are a sad flirt. what a dreadful tragedy might be precipitated here if this thing came to the ears of your devoted robert."
[267]
annette changed colour and the smile died out of her eyes. she looked quite anxiously at the speaker.
"listen to me," he said sternly. "i am disposed to help you and shield you if you help me. if we make a kind of compact together i will say nothing about those champagne suppers and i will keep my own council over certain important papers that may later on be sold for a good round sum—a sum so big, in fact, that robert and yourself will be able to take a boarding-house. where was it that you preferred the establishment? ah, i have it—in brook street."
all the blood left the listener's cheeks, the audacious expression faded and left her eyes cloudy and troubled.
"m'sieu is too clever for me," she whispered. "what do you want me to do?"
"very little. it is about a robbery here. now it is positively absurd that miss galloway could be the thief as you suggested. you smile, you fancy that perhaps miss galloway has a double. now it all rests on you to say whether that double is the proper person or not. if she was produced by the police and you said it was not the lady who surprised you last night, why, there would be an end of the matter—for you and robert."
a look of quiet cunning intelligence flashed across annette's face.
"it is plain what you mean," she said. "i quite understand. i am brought face to face with the young lady and i stare at her again and again. i study her with a puzzled frown on my face—like this—and then i say that it is not the person. i am absolutely certain of my facts. she is different,[268] the eyes are not the same colour. i know not what the eyes and hair of your friend the young lady are like, but whether they are like the missing thief's are different. see, m'sieu?"
"i see perfectly well, annette," lechmere smiled. "you see that man loitering on the other side of the road? fetch him up here and say that mr. lechmere is waiting. he is a leading official at scotland yard, and i am to meet him here by appointment. oh, by the way, where is your robert to be found?"
"guards buildings," annette whispered. "he waits on the second floor gentleman there. but you will not——"
"no, i will not," said lechmere, passing his hand over his face to hide a smile, for he had made a further discovery. "play your part properly and i will play mine. and now go and fetch inspector taske here and say that i am waiting for him."
inspector taske came up and lechmere conducted him into the small drawing-room. at a sign from him jessie raised her veil. she began to understand what was coming.
"this is miss jessie harcourt," said lechmere, "daughter of my old friend colonel harcourt. it has been suggested that miss harcourt came here last night and stole certain papers. she only found it out this morning when she—er—came out of the hospital. all this absurd bother has arisen because miss harcourt is exceedingly like miss galloway whom the maid annette here stupidly picked out as the thief, picked her out at merehaven house, mind you, when she was in full evening dress at a party! then suspicions were[269] directed to my young lady friend here, forsooth because of the likeness, and she is being tracked by your fellows, taske. there is a strong light here, and i am going to settle the matter once and for all. now, annette, look very carefully at this lady and say if you have ever seen her before."
jessie bore the scrutiny more or less firmly and haughtily because she herself had never seen annette's face before. everything depended upon the girl's reply. her examination was long and careful, as if she did not want to outrage her conscience in the smallest degree. then she shook her head.
"the likeness is great," she said. "positively there are three young ladies almost the same. and we make mistakes—and did not you police bring a man all the way here from australia the other day on a charge of murder only to find he was the wrong person? and he had been sworn to, ma foi. therefore it behoves me to be careful. all the same, i can speak with confidence. if it were dark i could say that here was the thief. but in the daylight, non. her eyes were dark, the hair very rich brown. and here the eyes are grey and the hair a lovely shade of gold. this is not the lady."
the inspector turned slightly on his heel as if he had heard quite sufficient.
"this ends the matter," he said. "i am sorry that miss harcourt has been molested and i will see that she is not further annoyed. i wish you good morning, sir."
the inspector departed and at a sign from lechmere, jessie followed. annette bowed demurely, but the smile on her face vanished and her eyes grew troubled as she found herself alone. down in the[270] street the newsboys were shouting something. lechmere listened eagerly to hear:—
"alarming railway accident near paris. breakdown of a special train. suspected outrage on the part of the french anarchists. serious accident to the king of asturia. special."
