*CHAPTER XXVIII*
*AT THE WINDOW*
On that same afternoon the Red Widow was seated with Boyne in Lilla'spretty drawing-room in Pont Street.
She had come there hurriedly in response to a telephone message fromBoyne's wife, and they were now holding a council of war to decide upontheir actions in future.
"The only danger that can possibly threaten us is that infernal Frenchgirl and her lover," Boyne assured them, as he leaned back lazily in asilken easy chair, and puffed at his cigarette. He was smartly dressedwith a white slip in his waistcoat, fawn spats, and patent leathershoes. "At the present moment they hold their tongues in the hope ofsqueezing more money from us. Meanwhile we shall collect the sumassured upon dear Augusta, and quietly leave England for a little while.A pity the sum is not larger," he added.
"I was only thinking the same the other day," said Ena. "But how aboutthat girl Ramsay?"
"Oh, the end ought to be to-day, or at least to-morrow. I've madesecret inquiries in Wimbledon Park, and I hear that the doctor gave herup a day or so ago," he said grimly.
"That will be another distinct peril removed," remarked Lilla. "Itserves the girl right for being too inquisitive."
"And the man Durrant cannot be back yet, eh?" asked Ena.
"No," was Boyne's reply. "I see by the papers that the ship has arrivedat Cape Town. Even if he escaped there, and found his way back, hecould not arrive in London for another three weeks or more. So when hedoes return--if he ever does--he will find Marigold silent in her grave,that a disaster has occurred in Bridge Place, and that we are no longerin London."
"And Lionel?" asked the Red Widow.
"Oh, we have nothing to fear from him. He's only a gibbering idiot whobelieves my story that he committed a crime--killed a little girl namedMaggie--although he was quite innocent. I made him wear a hood wheneverhe saw me, and I did the same. He believed me to be a man named Wisden,the witness of his crime! And because of that he executed in blindobedience every order I gave him. The fact that for months he never sawmy face impressed him, and thus the terror of the police has so got uponhis unstrung nerves that he is fast going from bad to worse. As abacteriologist he is, of course, wonderful. He was marked out as acoming man by the professors at the Laboratory at Oxford, before he tookto drugs and his brain gave way."
"Where is he now?" asked Ena.
Boyne explained the man's hiding-place, adding: "I've given him money togo on with. When that is finished--well, we will consider what we shalldo."
"We shall want him again, no doubt," laughed Ena.
"Probably," said Boyne. "But remember, if there are any awkwardinquiries--as there may be if we can't settle completely withCeline--then we must be absent from London for a year or two."
"That's a pity," declared the Red Widow. "Recollect what I saidregarding that woman Vesey, whose hair is almost similar to mine. I mether at Brighton some time ago, and we became very chummy. She has aplace in Gloucestershire. And that other woman Sampson. Both affairswould be so easy--ten thousand each."
"I know, my dear Ena, but let us square up this present deal first.That solicitor in the City is horribly slow. He is out of town tillto-morrow. Time is going on. Each day brings us nearer openhostilities with Celine, therefore I suggest that Lilla should remain toreceive the money and settle up, while you and I get away. I proposegoing to Spain, and you--well, you know Sweden well. Why not slip overto Stockholm? We will all meet again, say, at Trouville in six weeks'time, and hold another consultation," suggested the man.
"Yes," Lilla said. "That's all very well. But it means that I'm to beleft alone to face Celine!"
"Well, it's the only way," declared her husband. "It is not wise for allof us to await the payment. I agree that the solicitor might easily haveobtained a settlement of the claim ere this--especially as it is notdisputed. But the more respectable the solicitor the slower he is."
"Are you sure that the fire at Bridge Place has aroused no suspicion?"asked Ena. "After a fire there's always an inquiry as to how itoriginated."
"Yes, when the place is insured. But mine was not--intentionally,"Boyne replied, with a grin. "We couldn't afford that upstairs laboratoryto be discovered. Besides, there was enough stuff in the tubes to killa whole town--all sorts of infectious diseases, from anthrax to bubonicplague. Lionel dabbled with them, and gleefully cultivated them withhis broth and his trays and tubes of gelatine."
"Well, as long as you are quite certain we are not watched, I don'tcare," said the handsome woman, who was so often seen at table at theRitz, the Carlton, and the Berkeley. "If we were, it would be mostdangerous to meet, even as we are doing now."
"Bah! You are both growing very nervy!" laughed Boyne derisively. "Itis so foolish. Nothing serious can happen. Even when the French girlgrows greedy, we can always settle with her. Between us we have laid upa nice little nest-egg for the future. I reckoned it out yesterday.The game is one of the few which is worth the candle."
"And the people in their graves are better off!" laughed Lilla, who wasutterly heartless and unscrupulous.
Boyne rose and obtained a fresh cigarette, while his wife rang the bellfor tea.
The latter was brought in upon a fine old Sheffield plate tray, andLilla poured it out.
When the man-servant had gone, the Red Widow, turning to Boyne's wife,said:
"I really think, Lilla, after what Bernie has suggested, that I shallplead illness and get away. I shall tell my friends I am going toSicily, but instead I shall run over to Stockholm. I know lots offriends there. Indeed, we might carry on our affairs there later. TheScandinavian is a good insurance company."
"English companies are better," Boyne declared. "I have little faith inforeign insurance companies. They always want to know just a little toomuch to suit our purpose. I've studied them all. My first case was inMilan eight years ago, and it nearly ended in disaster. I had to clearout suddenly and leave my claim--which has never been paid. And Iwasn't clumsy, I assure you. I got the stuff from old 'Grandfather' ofFrankfurt."
"Oh! 'Grandfather.' I've heard his name before," said Ena. "He sellstubes, doesn't he?"
"Sells them! Of course he did--and still does. You have to be wellintroduced, and he charges you very high, but his stuff isfirst-class--quite as good as Lionel's. 'Grandfather' I met once in theAdlon, in Berlin--a funny old professor with long hair. But, by Jove!he must have made a big fortune by this time. He charged a hundredpounds for a single tube of anthrax, sleeping sickness, or virulentpneumonia--and double for a certain poison which creates all thepost-mortem symptoms of heart-disease, and cannot be detected."
"Well now?" asked Lilla, sipping her tea from the pretty Crown Derbycup. "What are we to do?"
"As Bernie suggests, I think," said Ena. "I'll get away, and next dayBernie can go to Paris, and on by the Sud Express to Madrid."
"Then on to Barcelona," said Boyne. "I'm known there as Mr. Bennett.I've stayed once or twice at the Hotel Colon."
"No. I really can't be left alone," said Lilla. "As soon as you havegone that girl Celine will call."
"Don't see her, dear," urged the Red Widow.
"Oh! That's all very well, but I can't be out each time she comes. Ishould be compelled to see her. And no doubt she would have the manwith her. Then, when she found out that you had both gone, she wouldturn upon me."
"No, no," laughed Boyne. "You will have money ready to give her if sheturns very hostile, so as to afford us further time. Their only game isblackmail. They suspect something concerning the old man atChiswick--thanks to talking too loud in the presence of one's servants.It ought to be a lesson to us all."
"It is, Bernie," said the Red Widow, rising from her chair and crossingthe room to get her handbag which she had left on the sofa by thewindow.
As she took it up, she chanced to glance out into the street.
"My God!" she gasped. And n
ext second she sprang from the window. Herface was white as paper. "My God!" she repeated, reeling, and steadyingherself by the back of a chair.
"What's happened?" asked Boyne, springing up.
"No, no! For Heaven's sake, don't go near the window. He has seenme--I'm sure he recognised me!"
"Who?"
"Emery--that solicitor in Manchester! He--he--knows me as--as AugustaMorrison--the dead woman!"
"And did he see you?" cried Boyne in a low, hoarse voice. "Are youcertain?"
"Well--no--I--I'm not absolutely certain. He was looking up at thehouse, and he's coming here."
At that second the front door electric bell rang.
All three started.
"Why is he here?" asked Lilla. "Are inquiries already on foot?"
"If they are, then our game is up," declared Ena. "You must receive him,Lilla, but you must deny all knowledge of me. You know nothing ofAugusta Morrison."
"But he may call at Upper Brook Street," said Boyne quickly. "You mustnot return there."
"Did he recognise me? That's the question," asked Ena, still pale tothe lips.
A second later the man entered with a card upon his salver--the card ofthe Manchester solicitor, Mr. Emery.
"Oh!" exclaimed Lilla, taking it up. "Oh, yes--show him up."
Then as soon as the man had left, Ena slipped upstairs into one of thebedrooms to hide, in company with Bernard Boyne.
When the young Manchester solicitor was ushered in, he found thetea-things cleared--which had been effected several minutes before--andLilla rose to greet him.
"I believe you are Mrs. Braybourne," he said, bowing. "My name isEmery. I am the solicitor who effected a policy on the life of the lateMrs. Augusta Morrison in your favour. My client, I hear, with muchregret, has died, and I understand from the company that you have put inyour claim."
Mrs. Braybourne admitted that it was so, and offered her visitor a seat.
"I came this morning from Manchester, in order to consult with yoursolicitor," he went on. "Mrs. Morrison was a personal friend of mine,and she told me that she had, since her husband's death, discovered thatshe was indebted to Mr. Braybourne, hence her insurance on theassignment of the policy."
"It came as a great surprise to me," said Lilla, with her innatecleverness. "I had not the pleasure of knowing Mrs. Morrison, though Imet her husband several times, years ago. My late husband was a friendof his."
"So she told me when we were together at Llandudno," Emery said. "Itwas certainly very generous of her to try and make reparation for somewrong which her husband did to Mr. Braybourne. But I confess I amsomewhat surprised."
"At what?" asked the pseudo widow.
"Well--she gave me the impression that you were a person of limitedmeans. But that does not appear so," he said, glancing around theluxurious little apartment.
Lilla smiled quite calmly. She was uncertain whether her very unwelcomevisitor had recognised Ena through the window as his client, the falseAugusta Morrison.
"Of course, I have no idea what Mrs. Morrison told you concerningmyself. I only know that my late husband was interested in certainbusiness transactions with Mr. Morrison up in Scotland," she said, withan air of ignorance.
"True, Mrs. Braybourne; but how is it that you have instructed yoursolicitors here to press a claim of which you now declare you had noknowledge?"
For a second Lilla was cornered; but her quick woman's wit came to heraid, and smiling quite calmly, she said:
"Well, to tell you the truth, a solicitor of Mrs. Morrison in Londonwrote me quite recently, explaining in strict confidence the positionand the efforts your client had made to make reparation for herhusband's swindling. All I know is that Mr. Morrison's businessmorality left a great deal to be desired, and we came very near ruin.Indeed, we should have been ruined, had it not been for assistance Ireceived from my father."
"In what way?" asked the keen young lawyer.
"Well--I think I need not go into such details," said the clever womanwith whom he was confronted. "Your client, no doubt, admitted to you herhusband's double-dealing and how he very nearly ruined us. It wasbecause of that Mrs. Morrison of Carsphairn insured her life in myfavour."
Young Mr. Emery nodded, but his lips curled in a smile of incredulity.He paused for several moments, his gaze fixed upon the woman.
"Well," he said at last, "I have been at the head office of the companyto-day, after I found that your legal adviser was absent, and--well, totell you the truth, they are not altogether satisfied."
"Who?" asked Lilla, in surprise.
"The insurance company."
"Why?"
Again Mr. Emery paused, again he fixed his eyes upon the woman beforehim. He slowly rose from his chair and walked to the fireplace,whereupon he drew himself up. Placing his hands in his trouserspockets, he said, in a changed voice:
"Mrs. Braybourne, just because I have interested myself, rather undulyperhaps, in the affairs of my late client, Mrs. Morrison, I find myselfconfronted by several problems. I want you to assist me to solve atleast one of them."
"And what is that?" asked Lilla, quite calmly.
"Simply this," he said, fixing his dark eyes upon her. "I want you toexplain the fact why, as I came along the street, I should see, standinghere in your window, my late client, Mrs. Augusta Morrison?"