THIRD CHAPTER
IN THE NIGHT
Hugh Henfrey, startled by the sudden shot, shouted for assistance, andthen threw himself upon his knees beside the prostrate woman.
From a bullet wound over the right ear blood was slowly oozing andtrickling over her white cheek.
"Help! Help!" he shouted loudly. "Mademoiselle has been shot fromoutside! _Help!_"
In a few seconds the elderly manservant burst into the room in a stateof intense excitement.
"Quick!" cried Hugh. "Telephone for a doctor at once. I fear yourmistress is dying!"
Henfrey had placed his hand upon Mademoiselle's heart, but could detectno movement. While the servant dashed to the telephone, he listenedfor her breathing, but could hear nothing. From the wall he tore downa small circular mirror and held it against her mouth. There was noclouding.
There was every apparent sign that the small blue wound had provedfatal.
"Inform the police also!" Hugh shouted to the elderly Italian who was atthe telephone in the adjoining room. "The murderer must be found!"
By this time four female servants had entered the room where theirmistress was lying huddled and motionless. All of them were in_deshabille_. Then all became excitement and confusion. Hugh left themto unloosen her clothing and hastened out upon the veranda whereon theassassin must have stood when firing the shot.
Outside in the brilliant Riviera moonlight the scent of a wealth offlowers greeted his nostrils. It was almost bright as day. From theveranda spread a wide, fairy-like view of the many lights of Monte Carloand La Condamine, with the sea beyond shimmering in the moonlight.
The veranda, he saw, led by several steps down into the beautifulgarden, while beyond, a distance of a hundred yards, was the main gateleading to the roadway. The assassin, after taking careful aim andfiring, had, no doubt, slipped along, and out of the gate.
But why had Mademoiselle been shot just at the moment when she was aboutto reveal the secret of his lamented father's death?
He descended to the garden, where he examined the bushes which casttheir dark shadows. But all was silence. The assassin had escaped!
Then he hurried out into the road, but again all was silence. The onlyhope of discovering the identity of the criminal was by means of thepolice vigilance. Truth to tell, however, the police of Monte Carlo arenever over anxious to arrest a criminal, because Monte Carlo attractsthe higher criminal class of both sexes from all over Europe. If thepolice of the Principality were constantly making arrests it would bebad advertisement for the Rooms. Hence, though the Monte Carlo policeare extremely vigilant and an expert body of officers, they preferto watch and to give information to the bureaux of police of othercountries, so that arrests invariably take place beyond the frontiers ofthe Principality of Monaco.
It was not long before Doctor Leneveu, a short, stout, bald-headedlittle man, well known to habitues of the Rooms, among whom he had alarge practice, entered the house of Mademoiselle and was greeted byHugh. The latter briefly explained the tragic circumstances, whereuponthe little doctor at once became fussy and excited.
Having ordered everyone out of the room except Henfrey, he bent and madean examination of the prostrate woman.
"Ah! m'sieur," he said, "the unfortunate lady has certainly been shot atclose quarters. The wound is, I tell you at once, extremely dangerous,"he added, after a searching investigation. "But she is still alive," hedeclared. "Yes--she is still breathing."
"Still alive!" gasped Henfrey. "That's excellent! I--I feared that shewas dead!"
"No. She still breathes," the doctor replied. "But, tell me exactly whathas occurred. First, however, we will get them to remove her upstairs.I will telephone to my colleague Duponteil, and we will endeavour toextract the bullet."
"But will she recover, doctor?" asked Hugh eagerly in French. "What doyou think?"
The little man became serious and shook his head gravely.
"Ah! m'sieur, that I cannot say," was his reply. "She is in a very gravestate--very! And the brain may be affected."
Hugh held his breath. _Surely Yvonne Ferad was not to die with thesecret upon her lips!_
At the doctor's orders the servants were about to remove their mistressto her room when two well-dressed men of official aspect entered. Theywere officers of the Bureau of Police.
"Stop!" cried the elder, who was the one in authority, a tall,lantern-jawed man with a dark brown beard and yellow teeth. "Do nottouch that lady! What has happened here?"
Hugh came forward, and in his best French explained the circumstancesof the tragedy--how Mademoiselle had been shot in his presence by anunknown hand.
"The assassin, whoever he was, stood out yonder--upon the veranda--butI never saw him," he added. "It was all over in a second--and he hasescaped!"
"And pray who are you?" demanded the police officer bluntly. "Pleaseexplain."
Hugh was rather nonplussed. The question required explanation, no doubt.It would, he saw, appear very curious that he should visit Mademoiselleof Monte Carlo at that late hour.
"I--well, I called upon Mademoiselle because I wished to obtain someimportant information from her."
"What information? Rather late for a call, surely?"
The young Englishman hesitated. Then, with true British grit, he assumedan attitude of boldness, and asked:
"Am I compelled to answer that question?"
"I am Charles Ogier, chief inspector of the Surete of Monaco, and Ipress for a reply," answered the other firmly.
"And I, Hugh Henfrey, a British subject, at present decline to satisfyyou," was the young man's bold response.
"Is the lady still alive?" inquired the inspector of Doctor Leneveu.
"Yes. I have ordered her to be taken up to her room--of course, whenm'sieur the inspector gives permission."
Ogier looked at the deathly countenance with the closed eyes, and notedthat the wound in the skull had been bound up with a cotton handkerchiefbelonging to one of the maids. Mademoiselle's dark well-dressed hair hadbecome unbound and was straying across her face, while her handsome gownhad been torn in the attempt to unloosen her corsets.
"Yes," said the police officer; "they had better take her upstairs. Wewill remain here and make inquiries. This is a very queer affair--to saythe least," he added, glancing suspiciously at Henfrey.
While the servants carried their unconscious mistress tenderly upstairs,the fussy little doctor went to the telephone to call Doctor Duponteil,the principal surgeon of Monaco. He had hesitated whether to take thevictim to the hospital, but had decided that the operation could be donejust as effectively upstairs. So, after speaking to Duponteil, he alsospoke to the sister at the hospital, asking her to send up two nursesimmediately to the Villa Amette.
In the meantime Inspector Ogier was closely questioning the youngEnglishman.
Like everyone in Monte Carlo he knew the mysterious Mademoiselle bysight. More than once the suspicions of the police had been arousedagainst her. Indeed, in the archives of the Prefecture there reposed abulky dossier containing reports of her doings and those of her friends.Yet there had never been anything which would warrant the authorities toforbid her from remaining in the Principality.
This tragedy, therefore, greatly interested Ogier and his colleague.Both of them had spent many years in the service of the Paris Sureteunder the great Goron before being appointed to the responsiblepositions in the detective service of Monaco.
"Then you knew the lady?" Ogier asked of the young man who was naturallymuch upset over the startling affair, and the more so because the secretof his father's mysterious death had been filched from him by the handof some unknown assassin.
"No, I did not know her personally," Henfrey replied somewhat lamely. "Icame to call upon her, and she received me."
"Why did you call at this hour? Could you not have called in thedaytime?"
"Mademoiselle was in the Rooms until late," he said.
"Ah! Then you followed her home--eh?"
"Yes," he admitted.
The police officer pursed his lips and raised his eyes significantly athis colleague.
"And what was actually happening when the shot was fired? Describe it tome, please," he demanded.
"I was standing just here"--and he crossed the room and stood upon thespot where he had been--"Mademoiselle was over there beside the window.I had my back to the window. She was about to tell me something--toanswer a question I had put to her--when someone from outside shot herthrough the open glass door."
"And you did not see her assailant?"
"I saw nothing. The shot startled me, and, seeing her staggering,I rushed to her. In the meantime the assailant--whoever hewas--disappeared!"
The brown-bearded man smiled dubiously. As he stood beneath the electriclight Hugh saw doubt written largely upon his countenance. He instantlyrealized that Ogier disbelieved his story.
After all it was a very lame one. He would not fully admit the reason ofhis visit.
"But tell me, m'sieur," exclaimed the police officer. "It seemsextraordinary that any person should creep along this veranda." And hewalked out and looked about in the moonlight. "If the culprit wished toshoot Mademoiselle in secret, then he would surely not have done so inyour presence. He might easily have shot her as she was on her way home.The road is lonely up here."
"I agree, monsieur," replied the Englishman. "The whole affair is, tome, a complete mystery. I saw nobody. But it was plain to me that whenI called Mademoiselle was seated out upon the veranda. Look at herchair--and the cushions! It was very hot and close in the Roomsto-night, and probably she was enjoying the moonlight before retiring tobed."
"Quite possibly," he agreed. "But that does not alter the fact that theassassin ran considerable risk in coming along the veranda in the fullmoonlight and firing through the open door. Are you quite certain thatMademoiselle's assailant was outside--and not inside?" he asked, with aqueer expression upon his aquiline face.
Hugh saw that he was hinting at his suspicion that he himself had shother!
"Quite certain," he assured him. "Why do you ask?"
"I have my own reasons," replied the police officer with a hard laugh."Now, tell me what do you know about Mademoiselle Ferad?"
"Practically nothing."
"Then why did you call upon her?"
"I have told you. I desired some information, and she was about to giveit to me when the weapon was fired by an unknown hand."
"Unknown--eh?"
"Yes. Unknown to me. It might be known to Mademoiselle."
"And what was this information you so urgently desired?"
"Some important information. I travelled from London to Monte Carlo inorder to obtain it."
"Ah! Then you had a motive in coming here--some strong motive, I takeit?"
"Yes. A very strong motive. I wanted her to clear up certain mysterioushappenings in England."
Ogier was instantly alert.
"What happenings?" he asked, for he recollected the big dossier andthe suspicions extending over four or five years concerning the realidentity and mode of life of the handsome, sphinx-like woman YvonneFerad.
Hugh Henfrey was silent for a few moments. Then he said:
"Happenings in London that--well, that I do not wish to recall."
Ogier again looked him straight in the face.
"I suggest, M'sieur Henfrey"--for Hugh had given him his name--"Isuggest that you have been attracted by Mademoiselle as so many othermen have been. She seems to exercise a fatal influence upon somepeople."
"I know," Hugh said. "I have heard lots of things about her. Her successat the tables is constant and uncanny. Even the Administration areinterested in her winnings, and are often filled with wonder."
"True, m'sieur. She keeps herself apart. She is a mysterious person--themost remarkable in all the Principality. We, at the Bureau, have heardall sorts of curious stories concerning her--once it was rumoured thatshe was the daughter of a reigning European sovereign. Then we take allthe reports with the proverbial grain of salt. That Mademoiselle is awoman of outstanding intellect and courage, as well as of great beauty,cannot be denied. Therefore I tell you that I am intensely interested inthis attempt upon her life."
"And so am I," Hugh said. "I have a strong reason to be."
"Cannot you tell me that reason?" inquired the officer of the Surete,still looking at him very shrewdly. "Why fence with me?"
Henfrey hesitated. Then he replied:
"It is a purely personal matter."
"And yet, you have said that you were not acquainted with Mademoiselle!"remarked Ogier suspiciously.
"That is quite true. The first time I have spoken to her was thisevening, a few minutes before the attempt was made upon her life."
"Then your theory is that while you stood in conversation with hersomebody crept along the veranda and shot her--eh?"
"Yes."
Ogier smiled sarcastically, and turning to his colleague, ordered him tosearch the room. The inspector evidently suspected the young Englishmanof having shot Mademoiselle, and the search was in order to try anddiscover the weapon.
Meanwhile the brown-bearded officer called the Italian manservant, whogave his name as Giulio Cataldi, and who stated that he had been inMademoiselle Ferad's service a little over five years.
"Have you ever seen this Englishman before?" Ogier asked, indicatingHugh.
"Never, until to-night, m'sieur," was the reply. "He called about twentyminutes after Mademoiselle's return from the Rooms."
"Has Mademoiselle quarrelled with anybody of late?"
"Not to my knowledge, m'sieur. She is of a very quiet and evendisposition."
"Is there anyone you know who might possess a motive to shoot her?"asked Ogier. "The crime has not been committed with a motive of robbery,but either out of jealousy or revenge."
"I know of nobody," declared the highly respectable Italian, whosemoustache was tinged with grey. He shrugged his shoulders and showed hispalms as he spoke.
"Mademoiselle arrived here two months ago, I believe?" queried thepolice official.
"Yes, m'sieur. She spent the autumn in Paris, and during the summer shewas at Deauville. She also went to London for a brief time, I believe."
"Did she ever live in London?" asked Hugh eagerly, interrupting Ogier'sinterrogation.
"Yes--once. She had a furnished house on the Cromwell Road for about sixmonths."
"How long ago?" asked Henfrey.
"Please allow me to make my inquiries, monsieur!" exclaimed thedetective angrily.
"But the question I ask is of greatest importance to me in my owninquiries," Hugh persisted.
"I am here to discover the identity of Mademoiselle's assailant," Ogierasserted. "And I will not brook your interference."
"Mademoiselle has been shot, and it is for you to discover who fired ather," snapped the young Englishman. "I consider that I have just as muchright to put a question to this man as you have, that is"--he added withsarcasm--"that is, of course, if you don't suspect him of shooting hismistress."
"Well, I certainly do not suspect that," the Frenchman said. "But,to tell you candidly, your story of the affair strikes me as a veryimprobable one."
"Ah!" laughed Hugh, "I thought so! You suspect me--eh? Very well. Whereis the weapon?"
"Perhaps you have hidden it," suggested the other meaningly. "We shall,no doubt, find it somewhere."
"I hope you will, and that will lead to the arrest of the guiltyperson," Hugh laughed. Then he was about to put further questions to theman Cataldi when Doctor Leneveu entered the room.
"How is she?" demanded Hugh breathlessly.
The countenance of the fussy little doctor fell.
"Monsieur," he said in a low earnest voice, "I much fear thatMademoiselle will not recover. My colleague Duponteil concurs with thatview. We have done our best, but neither of us entertain any hope thatshe will live!" Then turning to Ogier, the doctor exclaimed: "This is anamazing affair--especially in face of what is whisp
ered concerning theunfortunate lady. What do you make of it?"
The officer of the Surete knit his brows, and with frankness replied:
"At present I am entirely mystified--entirely mystified!"