house in Queen's-gate Gardens, andafterwards lost control over my own actions, I have already explained.The motive of our marriage is an absolute enigma."
She stood before me white-faced and rigid.
"It is fortunate that Graham is here. Shall we seek the truth fromhim?" I asked.
"Yes," she responded. "Demand from him the reason of our mysteriousunion."
La Gioia touched the bell, gave an order to the servant, and, after afew moments of dead silence, Graham stood in the doorway.
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
CONCLUSION.
"You!" gasped the man, halting quickly in alarm.
"Yes," I said. "Enter, Mr Graham; we wish to speak with you."
"You've betrayed me--curse you!" he cried, turning upon La Gioia."You've told them the truth?"
The colour had died from his face, and he looked as grey and aged as onthe first occasion when we had met and he had tempted me.
"We desire the truth from your own lips," I said determinedly. "I amnot here without precautions. The house is surrounded by police, andthey will enter at a sign from me if you refuse an explanation--thetruth, mind. If you lie you will both be arrested."
"I know nothing," he declared, his countenance dark and sullen.
He made a slight instinctive movement towards his pocket, and I knewthat a revolver was there.
"You know the reason of our marriage," I said quickly. "What was it?"
"Speak!" urged La Gioia. "You can only save yourself by telling thetruth."
"Save myself!" he cried in a tone of defiance. "You wish to force me toconfession--you and this woman! You've acted cleverly. When sheinvited me here, this afternoon, I did not dream that she had outwittedme."
The woman had, however, made the appointment in ignorance of ourintentions, therefore she must have had some other motive. But he wasentrapped, and saw no way of escape.
"I have worked diligently all these months, and have solved the mysteryof what you really are," I said.
"Then that's sufficient for you, I suppose;" and his thin lips snappedtogether.
"No, it is not sufficient. To attempt to conceal anything further isuseless. I desire from you a statement of the whole truth."
"And condemn myself?"
"You will not condemn yourself if you are perfectly frank with us," Iassured him.
There was a long silence. His small eyes darted an evil look at LaGioia, who stood near him, erect and triumphant. Suddenly he answered,in a tone hard and unnatural--
"If you know all, as you declare, there is little need to say much aboutmy own association with Tattersett. Of the latter the police are wellaware that he is one of the most expert forgers in Europe. It was heand I who obtained thirty thousand pounds from the Credit Lyonnais inBordeaux, and who, among other little matters of business, trickedParr's for twenty thousand. At Scotland Yard they have all alongsuspected us, but have never obtained sufficient evidence to justifyarrest. We took very good care of that, for after ten years'partnership we were not likely to blunder." He spoke braggingly, forall thieves seem proud of the extent of their frauds.
"But you want to know about your marriage, eh?" he went on. "Well, totell the truth, it happened like this. The Major, who had dabbled inthe byways of chemistry as a toxicologist, held the secret of a certainmost deadly poison--one that was used by the ancients a thousand yearsago--and conceived by its means a gigantic plan of defrauding lifeinsurance companies. About that time he accidentally met Miss Wynd, andcultivated her acquaintance because, being extremely handsome, she wouldbe useful as a decoy. The secret marriage was accomplished, but just asthe elaborate plan was to be put into operation he made an astoundingdiscovery."
"What was the reason of the marriage?" I inquired breathlessly.
He paused in hesitation.
"Because it was essential that, in close association with us, we shouldhave a doctor of reputation, able to assist when necessary, and givedeath-certificates for production to the various life insurancecompanies. You were known to us by repute as a clever but impecuniousman, therefore it was decided that you should become our accomplice.With that object Tattersett, accompanied by a young woman, whom he paidto represent herself as Beryl Wynd, went to Doctors' Commons, andpetitioned for a special licence. Possession was obtained of the housein Queen's-gate Gardens which I had occupied two years previously underthe name of Ashwicke--for we used each other's names just ascircumstances required--paying the caretaker a ten-pound note; and, whenall was in readiness, you were called and bribed to marry Beryl, who wasalready there, rendered helpless with unbalanced brain by the deadlyvayana. I posed, as you will remember, as Wyndham Wynd, father of theyoung lady, and, after the marriage, in order to entrap you intobecoming our accomplice, tempted you to take her life. You refused,therefore you also fell a victim to a cigarette steeped in a decoctionof curare, handed you by the Major, and were sent out of the country, itbeing our intention, on your return, to threaten you with being a partyto a fraudulent marriage, and thus compel you to become our accomplice."
"But this paper which I found beneath her pillow?" And I took from mypocket the sheet of paper with the name of La Gioia upon it.
"It is a note I sent her, on the day before her visit to Queen's-gateGardens, in order to induce her to come and consult with me. She hadevidently carried it in her pocket."
"And this photograph?" I asked, showing him the picture I had foundconcealed in the Colonel's study.
"We took that picture of her as she lay, apparently dead, for productionafterwards to the life insurance company. The Colonel, who was a friendof Tattersett's, must have found it in the latter's room and secured it.It was only because two days after the marriage Sir Henry's wifeoverheard a conversation between myself and Tattersett, in which youwere mentioned, that we were prevented from making our gigantic coupagainst the life offices. While Beryl was asleep her ladyship found thewedding-ring. Then, knowing your address--for she had seen you withDoctor Raymond--she sought your acquaintance on your return, and, byingenious questioning, became half convinced that you were actuallyBeryl's husband. Your friend Raymond was slightly acquainted with her,and had been introduced to Beryl some months before."
"But I cannot see why I should have been specially chosen as victim ofthis extraordinary plot," my wife exclaimed, her arm linked in mine."You say that Tattersett made a discovery which caused him to alter hisplans. What was it?"
"He discovered a few hours after your marriage that you were hisdaughter!"
"His daughter--the daughter of that man?" she cried.
"Yes," he answered seriously. "He did not know it, however, until whenyou were lying insensible after the marriage, he discovered upon yourchest the tattoo-mark of the three hearts, which he himself had placedthere years before. Then, overcome by remorse, he administered anantidote, placed you upon a seat in Hyde Park, and witched until yourecovered consciousness and returned to Gloucester Square. It hadbefore been arranged that an insurance already effected upon you shouldbe claimed. The truth is," he went on, "that Wyndham Ashwicke, aliasMajor Tattersett, first married in York the daughter of a cavalryofficer, and by her you were born. A year afterwards, however, theyseparated, your mother died, and you were placed in the convent atBrunoy under the name of Wynd, while your father plunged into a life ofdissipation on the Continent which ended in the marriage with this lady,then known as La Gioia."
"It seems incredible?" my love declared. "I cannot believe it?"
"But Nora introduced you as Feo Ashwicke on the first occasion we metafter our marriage," I remarked.
"I well remember it. Nora must have discovered the secret of my birth,although, when I questioned her after your departure, she declared thatshe had only bestowed a fictitious name upon me as a joke."
"Yet Ashwicke was your actual name," I observed.
"You will find the register of your birth in York," interposed Graham."I have told you the truth."
"I will hear it from my
father's own lips," she said.
"Alas!" the grey-haired man answered very gravely, "that is impossible.Your father is dead."
"Dead?" I echoed. "Tattersett dead?"
"Yes; he was found lifeless in his rooms in Piccadilly East yesterdayafternoon. His man called me, and discovered upon the table a tiny tubecontaining some crystals of the secret vayana. He had evidently touchedthem accidentally with his fingers, and the result was fatal. Thepolice and doctor believe it to be due to natural causes, as I securedthe tube and destroyed it before their arrival. The news of thediscovery is in the evening papers;"