long neighbours began to call upon us, and we soonentered local society. Many times in those dull winter days I ponderedlong and deeply upon what I had seen in Zurich, wondering for whatreason she had so carefully prepared the bottle which had passed thecustoms at Charing Cross undiscovered, and still remained locked in thetravelling-trunk, surrounded by the wrappings she had placed upon it."
"Was any of the liqueur given to any one?" asked Boyd grimly.
Ere she could respond the door was thrown open, and Dick entered withLily Lowry. He had, it transpired, gone that day and besought herforgiveness.
In a single glance he realised what had occurred, and without a word heclosed the door, and both stood in silence to listen to her statement.
How strange a thing is this life of ours! We are in hell one hour, andin heaven the next.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
THE TRUTH REVEALED.
"Remain patient and I'll explain," Eva answered, glancing at thenew-comers. "First, however, let me relate a very curious circumstance.Hartmann, who lived somewhere in London, we saw seldom, but very soonafter taking possession of The Hollies, there one day called an oldfriend of Madame's, accompanied by her husband. They were the Blains.Mrs. Blain afterwards came frequently to us at The Hollies, and we oftenspent the day at Riverdene, while so intimate did the two women becomethat Madame took the house next to that rented by Mrs. Blain inKensington."
"Next door?" I gasped, astounded. "In Upper Phillimore Place?"
"Yes, the house next to the one you entered on that fatal night was inthe occupation of Madame," she explained. "We seldom went there,however, although I personally preferred the bright life in Kensingtonto that at Hampton. From the many private conversations, meaning looksand mysterious whisperings exchanged between Madame and Mrs. Blain therewas soon aroused within me a vague suspicion that something secret wasin progress. I liked old Mr. Blain exceedingly, and Mary became my bestfriend; nevertheless, my misgivings were strengthened, when one dayHartmann, unusually shabbily dressed and accompanied by the Blains,arrived at The Hollies and the trio were closeted for quite an hour withMadame. At length there also arrived a youngish good-looking man with alady of about his own age, and they were at once admitted to thedrawing-room, being enthusiastically welcomed. After half an hour or sowe all dined together, but in the drawing-room before dinner I noticedtwo tumblers half-filled with dirty water, in one a tiny glass rodevidently used for mixing, as though Hartmann had been exhibiting someof his secret experiments. On entering the dining-room, Madameintroduced her new guests to me as Mr. and Mrs. Coulter-Kerr, andsitting beside the husband I found him a most interesting andintelligent man, who literally adored his wife. In the course ofconversation it transpired that the newly-arrived pair were from India,and had taken the Blains' town house for the season, and further, thatHartmann, who had apparently become one of their most intimate friends,had established his laboratory in one of the top rooms of that house."
She paused and glanced across to the detective, who was listeningattentively with folded arms. As she related her story her great cleareyes became more luminous.
"A week later," she continued, "we went to London and there saw a gooddeal of our next-door neighbours. Madame was on terms of the closestintimacy with them, and frequently we would dine there, or they woulddine with us, while one evening Hartmann--who did not live there, butonly came to continue his scientific studies, assisted by Mr. Kerr, whotook the keenest interest in them--invited us up into his laboratory,and after showing us Mr. Kerr's collection of pet Indian snakes, which Iconfess I did not appreciate, he exhibited to us an experiment which hetold us had never been successfully accomplished by any other man excepthimself, namely, the liquefaction of hydrogen. To succeed in this, hetold us, all his efforts had been directed for years, and now that hehad successfully solved the problem he would one day launch it upon thescientific world as a bolt from the blue. Our friends gave excellentdinners, were evidently possessed of almost unlimited means, and werenever so happy as when the Blains and ourselves were at their table orplaying cards with them. Soon, however, another matter caused me deepreflection. One evening at The Hollies, after the Blains and Hartmannhad been closely closeted with Madame, discussing, as they so often did,their private affairs, I found lying beneath a book upon the table, andapparently overlooked, several plain cards, and others with devices,lines and circles roughly-drawn in ink. Then two or three days later,when I chanced to call in at the Kerrs, I noticed, stuck behind a mirrorover the mantelshelf, some cards exactly similar. I was alone,therefore my curiosity prompted me to examine them. Upon them I foundexactly similar devices!"
"Ah! what connexion had those cards with the affair?" interrupted Dick.
"A very curious one," she responded, pale, yet now firm in herdetermination to tell us everything. "Their discovery caused me a gooddeal of thought, especially as the secret consultations with Mr. Blainbecame more frequent when, after a fortnight or so in London, wereturned to The Hollies. One day, however, a further incident happened,which was, to say the least, extraordinary. While alone in Madame'sbedroom the cook entered, asking for some coppers to pay for some smallarticle which had been brought. She wanted sevenpence. I had onlysixpence in my purse, but remembering that in the little cabinet whereMadame kept her jewels I had seen a penny on the previous day I unlockedit and took it out. Strangely enough, this penny was wrapped up inpaper. I took it in my hand and turned it over to assure myself that itwas not any rare foreign coin, and was about to hand it to the cook whenMadame herself came in. `What's that you have?' she cried, in aninstant pale-faced in alarm. I told her that I had taken the penny fromthe cabinet, whereupon she betrayed the greatest apprehension, andsnatched up a piece of paper in which she carefully re-wrapped it.Then, telling me on no account to again touch it or open it, she gavethe cook a penny from her pocket and dismissed her. Almost next instantI felt an indescribable numbness in the hand that had held the forbiddencoin. The fingers seemed paralysed, and I had a faint idea that I hadfelt a strange roughness about the face of the copper, as though it hadbeen chipped. I complained to Madame of the curious feeling, whereuponshe flew to her small travelling medicine-chest, which she always keptlocked, and took therefrom a phial, from which she poured a few drops ofa dark green liquid into a glass of water. `There,' she said, betrayingquite undue alarm, I thought, `drink that. You'll be better veryquickly.' I gulped it down. It tasted very bitter, but within aquarter of an hour I felt no further pain. My hand had in a few secondscommenced to swell, but the medicine at once arrested it. Until longafterwards it never occurred to me that upon that penny was one of thoseinsidious but most deadly of poisons known to toxicologists, which,entering by an abrasion of the skin, would have quickly proved fatal hadnot my employer at once administered an antidote. Later, I succeeded inobtaining possession of that coin, and found upon it a series of almostinfinitesimal steel points, a puncture or scratch from any one of whichmust result in death."
I recollected how we had discovered that coin in her escritoire. Wemight congratulate ourselves that neither of us had held it in our handswithout its wrappings.
"For a long time I was greatly puzzled by these and other circumstances.Certain scraps of conversation which I overheard between Madame andBlain, and between my employer and Hartmann, increased my suspicions,and especially so when I found Madame carrying on a series of secretexperiments in her own rooms, often boiling certain decoctions over thetiny spirit-lamp used to heat her curling-irons. Several of the liquidsthus manufactured she placed in the tiny phials of her medicine-chest.All this time, while passing everywhere as my mother, Lady Glaslyn, shewas extremely kind to me, until I even began to believe that mysuspicions were unfounded. Only now do I know how subtle was hercunning, how ingenious and how daring she was. One day, in April, I,however, had my suspicions still more deeply strengthened by a strangerequest she made to me, namely, that if at any time I should chance towitness any uncommon scene in her house,
that I would breathe no word toa single soul. This struck me as peculiar, and I demanded the reason,whereupon she smiled, giving me bluntly to understand that my own safetylay alone in my secrecy, and pointing out that by obtaining quantitiesof goods and jewellery on credit, as I had done at her request fromfirms in Regent Street and Oxford Street, in the name of Lady Glaslyn, Ihad placed myself in grave peril of being arrested for fraud. I sawinstantly that this woman who had posed as my friend had most cleverlyspread about me a web from which there was now no possible escape. Sheevidently desired my assistance in whatever nefarious purpose she had inview."
"What a position!" I exclaimed. "Then the woman had compelled you toobtain the goods by fraud in order to secure a certain hold over you?"
"Of course," she answered in a low,