The Woman in the Alcove

  XXII. GUILT

  Was he Wellgood? Sears? Who? A lover of the woman certainly; that wasborne in on us by the passion of his cry:

  "Grizel! Grizel!"

  But how here? and why such fury in Mr. Grey's face and such amazement inthat of the inspector?

  This question was not to be answered offhand. Mr. Grey, advancing,laid a finger on the man's shoulder. "Come," said he, "we will have ourconversation in another room."

  The man, who, in dress and appearance looked oddly out of place inthose gorgeous rooms, shook off the stupor into which he had fallen andstarted to follow the Englishman. A waiter crossed their track with thesoup for our table. Mr. Grey motioned him aside.

  "Take that back," said he. "I have some business to transact with thisgentleman before I eat. I'll ring when I want you."

  Then they entered where I was. As the door closed I caught sight of theinspector's face turned earnestly toward me. In his eyes I read my duty,and girded up my heart, as it were, to meet--what? In that moment it wasimpossible to tell.

  The next enlightened me. With a total ignoring of my presence, dueprobably to his great excitement, Mr. Grey turned on his companion themoment he had closed the door and, seizing him by the collar, cried:

  "Fairbrother, you villain, why have you called on your wife like this?Are you murderer as well as thief?"

  Fairbrother! this man? Then who was he who was being nursed back to lifeon the mountains beyond Santa Fe? Sears? Anything seemed possible inthat moment.

  Meanwhile, dropping his hand from the other's throat as suddenly as hehad seized it, Mr. Grey caught up the stiletto from the table where hehad flung it, crying: "Do you recognize this?"

  Ah, then I saw guilt!

  In a silence worse than any cry, this so-called husband of the murderedwoman, the man on whom no suspicion had fallen, the man whom all hadthought a thousand miles away at the time of the deed, stared at theweapon thrust under his eyes, while over his face passed all thoseexpressions of fear, abhorrence and detected guilt which, fool that Iwas, I had expected to see reflected in response to the same test in Mr.Grey's equable countenance.

  The surprise and wonder of it held me chained to the spot. I was in astate of stupefaction, so that I scarcely noted the broken fragmentsat my feet. But the intruder noticed them. Wrenching his gaze from thestiletto which Mr. Grey continued to hold out, he pointed to the brokencup and saucer, muttering:

  "That is what startled me into this betrayal--the noise of breakingchina. I can not bear it since--"

  He stopped, bit his lip and looked around him with an air of suddenbravado.

  "Since you dropped the cups at your wife's feet in Mr. Ramsdell'salcove," finished Mr. Grey with admirable self-possession.

  "I see that explanations from myself are not in order," was the grimretort, launched with the bitterest sarcasm. Then as the full weight ofhis position crushed in on him, his face assumed an aspect startling tomy unaccustomed eyes, and, thrusting his hand into his pocket he drewforth a small box which he placed in Mr. Grey's hands.

  "The Great Mogul," he declared simply.

  It was the first time I had heard this diamond so named.

  Without a word that gentleman opened the box, took one look at thecontents, assumed a satisfied air, and carefully deposited the recoveredgem in his own pocket. As his eyes returned to the man before him, allthe passion of the latter burst forth.

  "It was not for that I killed her!" cried he. "It was because she defiedme and flaunted her disobedience in my very face. I would do it again,yet--"

  Here his voice broke and it was in a different tone and with a totalchange of manner he added: "You stand appalled at my depravity. You havenot lived my life." Then quickly and with a touch of sullenness: "Yoususpected me because of the stiletto. It was a mistake, using thatstiletto. Otherwise, the plan was good. I doubt if you know now how Ifound my way into the alcove, possibly under your very eyes; certainly,under the eyes of many who knew me."

  "I do not. It is enough that you entered it; that you confess yourguilt."

  Here Mr. Grey stretched his hand toward the electric button.

  "No, it is not enough." The tone was fierce, authoritative. "Do not ringthe bell, not yet. I have a fancy to tell you how I managed that littleaffair."

  Glancing about, he caught up from a near-by table a small brass tray.Emptying it of its contents, he turned on us with drawn-down featuresand an obsequious air so opposed to his natural manner that it was as ifanother man stood before us.

  "Pardon my black tie," he muttered, holding out the tray toward Mr.Grey.

  Wellgood!

  The room turned with me. It was he, then, the great financier, themultimillionaire, the husband of the magnificent Grizel, who had enteredMr. Ramsdell's house as a waiter!

  Mr. Grey did not show surprise, but he made a gesture, when instantlythe tray was thrown aside and the man resumed his ordinary aspect.

  "I see you understand me," he cried. "I who have played host at manya ball, passed myself off that night as one of the waiters. I came andwent and no one noticed me. It is such a natural sight to see a waiterpassing ices that my going in and out of the alcove did not attract theleast attention. I never look at waiters when I attend balls. I neverlook higher than their trays. No one looked at me higher than my tray. Iheld the stiletto under the tray and when I struck her she threw up herhands and they hit the tray and the cups fell. I have never been able tobear the sound of breaking china since. I loved her--"

  A gasp and he recovered himself.

  "That is neither here nor there," he muttered. "You summoned me underthreat to present myself at your door to-day. I have done so. I meantto restore you your diamond, simply. It has become worthless to me. Butfate exacted more. Surprise forced my secret from me. That young ladywith her damnable awkwardness has put my head in a noose. But donot think to hold it there. I did not risk this interview withoutprecautions, I assure you, and when I leave this hotel it will be as afree man."

  With one of his rapid changes, wonderful and inexplicable to me at themoment, he turned toward me with a bow, saying courteously enough:

  "We will excuse the young lady."

  Next moment the barrel of a pistol gleamed in his hand.

  The moment was critical. Mr. Grey stood directly in the line of fire,and the audacious man who thus held him at his mercy was scarcely a footfrom the door leading into the hall. Marking the desperation of his lookand the steadiness of his finger on the trigger, I expected to see Mr.Grey recoil and the man escape. But Mr. Grey held his own, though hemade no move, and did not venture to speak. Nerved by his courage, Isummoned up all my own. This man must not escape, nor must Mr. Greysuffer. The pistol directed against him must be diverted to myself.Such amends were due one whose good name I had so deeply if secretlyinsulted. I had but to scream, to call out for the inspector, but aremembrance of the necessity we were now under of preserving our secret,of keeping from Mr. Grey the fact that he had been under surveillance,was even at that moment surrounded by the police, deterred me, and Ithrew myself toward the bell instead, crying out that I would raise thehouse if he moved, and laid my finger on the button.

  The pistol swerved my way. The face above it smiled. I watched thatsmile. Before it broadened to its full extent, I pressed the button.

  Fairbrother stared, dropped his pistol, and burst forth with these twowords:

  "Brave girl!"

  The tone I can never convey.

  Then he made for the door.

  As he laid his hand on the knob, he called back:

  "I have been in worse straits than this!"

  But he never had; when he opened the door, he found himself face to facewith the inspector.