THE CLEVER MRS STRAITHWAITE
Mr Carlyle had arrived at The Turrets in the very best possible spirits.Everything about him, from his immaculate white spats to the choicegardenia in his buttonhole, from the brisk decision with which he tookthe front-door steps to the bustling importance with which he hadpositively brushed Parkinson aside at the door of the library,proclaimed consequence and the extremely good terms on which he stoodwith himself.
"Prepare yourself, Max," he exclaimed. "If I hinted at a case ofexceptional delicacy that will certainly interest you by its romanticpossibilities----?"
"I should have the liveliest misgivings. Ten to one it would be a jewelmystery," hazarded Carrados, as his friend paused with the point of hiscommunication withheld, after the manner of a quizzical youngster with apromised bon-bon held behind his back. "If you made any more of it Ishould reluctantly be forced to the conclusion that the case involved asociety scandal connected with a priceless pearl necklace."
Mr Carlyle's face fell.
"Then it _is_ in the papers, after all?" he said, with an air ofdisappointment.
"What is in the papers, Louis?"
"Some hint of the fraudulent insurance of the Hon. Mrs Straithwaite'spearl necklace," replied Carlyle.
"Possibly," admitted Carrados. "But so far I have not come across it."
Mr Carlyle stared at his friend, and marching up to the table broughthis hand down on it with an arresting slap.
"Then what in the name of goodness are you talking about, may I ask?" hedemanded caustically. "If you know nothing of the Straithwaite affair,Max, what other pearl necklace case are you referring to?"
Carrados assumed the air of mild deprecation with which he frequentlyapologized for a blind man venturing to make a discovery.
"A philosopher once made the remark----"
"Had it anything to do with Mrs Straithwaite's--the Hon. MrsStraithwaite's--pearl necklace? And let me warn you, Max, that I haveread a good deal both of Mill and Spencer at odd times."
"It was neither Mill nor Spencer. He had a German name, so I will notmention it. He made the observation, which, of course, we recognize asan obvious commonplace when once it has been expressed, that in order tohave an accurate knowledge of what a man will do on any occasion it isonly necessary to study a single characteristic action of his."
"Utterly impracticable," declared Mr Carlyle.
"I therefore knew that when you spoke of a case of exceptional interestto _me_, what you really meant, Louis, was a case of exceptionalinterest to _you_."
Mr Carlyle's sudden thoughtful silence seemed to admit that possiblythere might be something in the point.
"By applying, almost unconsciously, the same useful rule, I became awarethat a mystery connected with a valuable pearl necklace and a beautifulyoung society belle would appeal the most strongly to your romanticimagination."
"Romantic! I, romantic? Thirty-five and a private inquiry agent! Youare--positively feverish, Max."
"Incurably romantic--or you would have got over it by now: the worstkind."
"Max, this may prove a most important and interesting case. Will you beserious and discuss it?"
"Jewel cases are rarely either important or interesting. Pearl necklacemysteries, in nine cases out of ten, spring from the miasma of socialpretence and vapid competition and only concern people who do not matterin the least. The only attractive thing about them is the name. They areso barren of originality that a criminological Linnaeus could classifythem with absolute nicety. I'll tell you what, we'll draw up a set oftables giving the solution to every possible pearl necklace case for thenext twenty-one years."
"We will do any mortal thing you like, Max, if you will allow Parkinsonto administer a bromo-seltzer and then enable me to meet the officialsof the Direct Insurance without a blush."
For three minutes Carrados picked his unerring way among the furnitureas he paced the room silently but with irresolution in his face. Twicehis hand went to a paper-covered book lying on his desk, and twice heleft it untouched.
"Have you ever been in the lion-house at feeding-time, Louis?" hedemanded abruptly.
"In the very remote past, possibly," admitted Mr Carlyle guardedly.
"As the hour approaches it is impossible to interest the creatures withany other suggestion than that of raw meat. You came a day too late,Louis." He picked up the book and skimmed it adroitly into Mr Carlyle'shands. "I have already scented the gore, and tasted in imagination thejoy of tearing choice morsels from other similarly obsessed animals."
"'Catalogue des monnaies grecques et romaines,'" read the gentleman."'To be sold by auction at the Hotel Drouet, Paris, salle 8, April the24th, 25th, etc.' H'm." He turned to the plates of photogravureillustration which gave an air to the volume. "This is an event, Isuppose?"
"It is the sort of dispersal we get about once in three years," repliedCarrados. "I seldom attend the little sales, but I save up and then havea week's orgy."
"And when do you go?"
"To-day. By the afternoon boat--Folkestone. I have already taken roomsat Mascot's. I'm sorry it has fallen so inopportunely, Louis."
Mr Carlyle rose to the occasion with a display of extremely gentlemanlyfeeling--which had the added merit of being quite genuine.
"My dear chap, your regrets only serve to remind me how much I owe toyou already. _Bon voyage_, and the most desirable of Eu--Eu--well,perhaps it would be safer to say, of Kimons, for your collection."
"I suppose," pondered Carrados, "this insurance business might have ledto other profitable connexions?"
"That is quite true," admitted his friend. "I have been trying for sometime--but do not think any more of it, Max."
"What time is it?" demanded Carrados suddenly.
"Eleven-twenty-five."
"Good. Has any officious idiot had anyone arrested?"
"No, it is only----"
"Never mind. Do you know much of the case?"
"Practically nothing as yet, unfortunately. I came----"
"Excellent. Everything is on our side. Louis, I won't go thisafternoon--I will put off till the night boat from Dover. That will giveus nine hours."
"Nine hours?" repeated the mystified Carlyle, scarcely daring to putinto thought the scandalous inference that Carrados's words conveyed.
"Nine full hours. A pearl necklace case that cannot at least be leftstraight after nine hours' work will require a column to itself in ourchart. Now, Louis, where does this Direct Insurance live?"
Carlyle had allowed his blind friend to persuade him into--as they hadseemed at the beginning--many mad enterprises. But none had ever, in thelight of his own experience, seemed so foredoomed to failure as when, ateleven-thirty, Carrados ordered his luggage to be on the platform ofCharing Cross Station at eight-fifty and then turned light-heartedly tothe task of elucidating the mystery of Mrs Straithwaite's pearl necklacein the interval.
The head office of the Direct and Intermediate Insurance Company provedto be in Victoria Street. Thanks to Carrados's speediest car, theyentered the building as the clocks of Westminster were striking twelve,but for the next twenty minutes they were consigned to the generaloffice while Mr Carlyle fumed and displayed his watch ostentatiously. Atlast a clerk slid off his stool by the speaking-tube and approachedthem.
"Mr Carlyle?" he said. "The General Manager will see you now, but as hehas another appointment in ten minutes he will be glad if you will makeyour business as short as possible. This way, please."
Mr Carlyle bit his lip at the pompous formality of the message but hewas too experienced to waste any words about it and with a mere nod hefollowed, guiding his friend until they reached the Manager's room.But, though subservient to circumstance, he was far from beingnegligible when he wished to create an impression.
"Mr Carrados has been good enough to give us a consultation over thissmall affair," he said, with just the necessary touches of deference andcondescension that it was impossible either to miss or to resent."Unfortunately he can do
little more as he has to leave almost at onceto direct an important case in Paris."
The General Manager conveyed little, either in his person or his manner,of the brisk precision that his message seemed to promise. The name ofCarrados struck him as being somewhat familiar--something a littleremoved from the routine of his business and a matter therefore that hecould unbend over. He continued to stand comfortably before his officefire, making up by a tolerant benignity of his hard and bulbous eye forthe physical deprivation that his attitude entailed on his visitors.
"Paris, egad?" he grunted. "Something in your line that France can takefrom us since the days of--what's-his-name--Vidocq, eh? Clever fellow,that, what? Wasn't it about him and the Purloined Letter?"
Carrados smiled discreetly.
"Capital, wasn't it?" he replied. "But there is something else thatParis can learn from London, more in your way, sir. Often when I drop into see the principal of one of their chief houses or the head of aGovernment department, we fall into an entertaining discussion of thisor that subject that may be on the tapis. 'Ah, monsieur,' I say, afterperhaps half-an-hour's conversation, 'it is very amiable of you andsometimes I regret our insular methods, but it is not thus that greatbusinesses are formed. At home, if I call upon one of our princes ofindustry--a railway director, a merchant, or the head of one of ourleading insurance companies--nothing will tempt him for a moment fromthe stern outline of the business in hand. You are too complaisant; themerest gossip takes advantage of you.'"
"That's quite true," admitted the General Manager, occupying therevolving chair at his desk and assuming a serious and very determinedexpression. "Slackers, I call them. Now, Mr Carlyle, where are we inthis business?"
"I have your letter of yesterday. We should naturally like all theparticulars you can give us."
The Manager threw open a formidable-looking volume with an immensedisplay of energy, sharply flattened some typewritten pages that hadventured to raise their heads, and lifted an impressive finger.
"We start here, the 27th of January. On that day Karsfeld, the PrincessStreet jeweller, y'know, who acted as our jewellery assessor, forwards aproposal of the Hon. Mrs Straithwaite to insure a pearl necklace againsttheft. Says that he has had an opportunity of examining it and passes itat five thousand pounds. That business goes through in the ordinary way;the premium is paid and the policy taken out.
"A couple of months later Karsfeld has a little unpleasantness with usand resigns. Resignation accepted. We have nothing against him, youunderstand. At the same time there is an impression among the directorsthat he has been perhaps a little too easy in his ways, a littletoo--let us say, expansive, in some of his valuations and tooaccommodating to his own clients in recommending to us business ofa--well--speculative basis; business that we do not care about and whichwe now feel is foreign to our traditions as a firm. However"--theGeneral Manager threw apart his stubby hands as though he would shatterany fabric of criminal intention that he might be supposed to beinsidiously constructing--"that is the extent of our animadversionagainst Karsfeld. There are no irregularities and you may take it fromme that the man is all right."
"You would propose accepting the fact that a five-thousand-poundnecklace was submitted to him?" suggested Mr Carlyle.
"I should," acquiesced the Manager, with a weighty nod. "Still--thisbrings us to April the third--this break, so to speak, occurring in ourroutine, it seemed a good opportunity for us to assure ourselves on oneor two points. Mr Bellitzer--you know Bellitzer, of course; know _of_him, I should say--was appointed _vice_ Karsfeld and we wrote to certainof our clients, asking them--as our policies entitled us to do--as amatter of form to allow Mr Bellitzer to confirm the assessment of hispredecessor. Wrapped it up in silver paper, of course; said it wouldcertify the present value and be a guarantee that would save them someformalities in case of ensuing claim, and so on. Among others, wrote tothe Hon. Mrs Straithwaite to that effect--April fourth. Here is herreply of three days later. Sorry to disappoint us, but the necklace hasjust been sent to her bank for custody as she is on the point of leavingtown. Also scarcely sees that it is necessary in her case as theinsurance was only taken so recently."
"That is dated April the seventh?" inquired Mr Carlyle, busy with penciland pocket-book.
"April seventh," repeated the Manager, noting this conscientiousnesswith an approving glance and then turning to regard questioningly theindifferent attitude of his other visitor. "That put us on ourguard--naturally. Wrote by return regretting the necessity andsuggesting that a line to her bankers, authorizing them to show us thenecklace, would meet the case and save her any personal trouble.Interval of a week. Her reply, April sixteenth. Thursday last.Circumstances have altered her plans and she has returned to Londonsooner than she expected. Her jewel-case has been returned from thebank, and will we send our man round--'our man,' Mr Carlyle!--onSaturday morning not later than twelve, please."
The Manager closed the record book, with a sweep of his hand cleared hisdesk for revelations, and leaning forward in his chair fixed Mr Carlylewith a pragmatic eye.
"On Saturday Mr Bellitzer goes to Luneburg Mansions and the Hon. MrsStraithwaite shows him the necklace. He examines it carefully, assessesits insurable value up to five thousand, two hundred and fifty pounds,and reports us to that effect. But he reports something else, MrCarlyle. It is not the necklace that the lady had insured."
"Not the necklace?" echoed Mr Carlyle.
"No. In spite of the number of pearls and a general similarity there arecertain technical differences, well known to experts, that made the factindisputable. The Hon. Mrs Straithwaite has been guilty ofmisrepresentation. Possibly she has no fraudulent intention. We arewilling to pay to find out. That's your business."
Mr Carlyle made a final note and put away his book with an air ofdecision that could not fail to inspire confidence.
"To-morrow," he said, "we shall perhaps be able to report something."
"Hope so," vouchsafed the Manager. "'Morning."
From his position near the window, Carrados appeared to wake up to thefact that the interview was over.
"But so far," he remarked blandly, with his eyes towards the great manin the chair, "you have told us nothing of the theft."
The Manager regarded the speaker dumbly for a moment and then turned toMr Carlyle.
"What does he mean?" he demanded pungently.
But for once Mr Carlyle's self-possession had forsaken him. Herecognized that somehow Carrados had been guilty of an appalling lapse,by which his reputation for prescience was wrecked in that quarter forever, and at the catastrophe his very ears began to exude embarrassment.
In the awkward silence Carrados himself seemed to recognize thatsomething was amiss.
"We appear to be at cross-purposes," he observed. "I inferred that thedisappearance of the necklace would be the essence of ourinvestigation."
"Have I said a word about it disappearing?" demanded the Manager, with acontempt-laden raucity that he made no pretence of softening. "You don'tseem to have grasped the simple facts about the case, Mr Carrados.Really, I hardly think----Oh, come in!"
There had been a knock at the door, then another. A clerk now enteredwith an open telegram.
"Mr Longworth wished you to see this at once, sir."
"We may as well go," whispered Mr Carlyle with polite depression to hiscolleague.
"Here, wait a minute," said the Manager, who had been biting histhumb-nail over the telegram. "No, not you"--to the lingeringclerk--"you clear." Much of the embarrassment that had troubled MrCarlyle a minute before seemed to have got into the Manager's system. "Idon't understand this," he confessed awkwardly. "It's from Bellitzer. Hewires: '_Have just heard alleged robbery Straithwaite pearls. Advisestrictest investigation._'"
Mr Carlyle suddenly found it necessary to turn to the wall and consult ahighly coloured lithographic inducement to insure. Mr Carrados aloneremained to meet the Manager's constrained glance.
"Still, _he_ tells us really not
hing about the theft," he remarkedsociably.
"No," admitted the Manager, experiencing some little difficulty with hisbreathing, "he does not."
"Well, we still hope to be able to report something to-morrow.Good-bye."
It was with an effort that Mr Carlyle straightened himself sufficientlyto take leave of the Manager. Several times in the corridor he stoppedto wipe his eyes.
"Max, you unholy fraud," he said, when they were outside, "you knew allthe time."
"No; I told you that I knew nothing of it," replied Carrados frankly. "Iam absolutely sincere."
"Then all I can say is, that I see a good many things happen that Idon't believe in."
Carrados's reply was to hold out a coin to a passing newsboy and to handthe purchase to his friend who was already in the car.
"There is a slang injunction to 'keep your eyes skinned.' That being outof my power, I habitually 'keep my ears skinned.' You would be surprisedto know how very little you hear, Louis, and how much you miss. In thelast five minutes up there I have had three different newsboys' accountof this development."
"By Jupiter, she hasn't waited long!" exclaimed Mr Carlyle, referringeagerly to the headlines. "'PEARL NECKLACE SENSATION. SOCIETY LADY'SL5000 TRINKET DISAPPEARS.' Things are moving. Where next, Max?"
"It is now a quarter to one," replied Carrados, touching the fingers ofhis watch. "We may as well lunch on the strength of this new turn.Parkinson will have finished packing; I can telephone him to come to usat Merrick's in case I require him. Buy all the papers, Louis, and wewill collate the points."
The undoubted facts that survived a comparison were few and meagre, forin each case a conscientious journalist had touched up a few vague ordoubtful details according to his own ideas of probability. All agreedthat on Tuesday evening--it was now Thursday--Mrs Straithwaite hadformed one of a party that had occupied a box at the new MetropolitanOpera House to witness the performance of _La Pucella_, and that she hadbeen robbed of a set of pearls valued in round figures at five thousandpounds. There agreement ended. One version represented the theft astaking place at the theatre. Another asserted that at the last momentthe lady had decided not to wear the necklace that evening and that itsabstraction had been cleverly effected from the flat during her absence.Into a third account came an ambiguous reference to Markhams, thewell-known jewellers, and a conjecture that their loss would certainlybe covered by insurance.
Mr Carlyle, who had been picking out the salient points of thenarratives, threw down the last paper with an impatient shrug.
"Why in heaven's name have we Markhams coming into it now?" he demanded."What have they to lose by it, Max? What do you make of the thing?"
"There is the second genuine string--the one Bellitzer saw. That belongsto someone."
"By gad, that's true--only five days ago, too. But what does our ladystand to make by that being stolen?"
Carrados was staring into obscurity between an occasional moment ofattention to his cigarette or coffee.
"By this time the lady probably stands to wish she was well out of it,"he replied thoughtfully. "Once you have set this sort of stone rollingand it has got beyond you----" He shook his head.
"It has become more intricate than you expected?" suggested Carlyle, inorder to afford his friend an opportunity of withdrawing.
Carrados pierced the intention and smiled affectionately.
"My dear Louis," he said, "one-fifth of the mystery is already solved."
"One-fifth? How do you arrive at that?"
"Because it is one-twenty-five and we started at eleven-thirty."
He nodded to their waiter, who was standing three tables away, and paidthe bill. Then with perfect gravity he permitted Mr Carlyle to lead himby the arm into the street, where their car was waiting, Parkinsonalready there in attendance.
"Sure I can be of no further use?" asked Carlyle. Carrados hadpreviously indicated that after lunch he would go on alone, but, becausehe was largely sceptical of the outcome, the professional man feltguiltily that he was deserting. "Say the word?"
Carrados smiled and shook his head. Then he leaned across.
"I am going to the opera house now; then, possibly, to talk to Markham alittle. If I have time I must find a man who knows the Straithwaites,and after that I may look up Inspector Beedel if he is at the Yard. Thatis as far as I can see yet, until I call at Luneburg Mansions. Comeround on the third anyway."
"Dear old chap," murmured Mr Carlyle, as the car edged its way aheadamong the traffic. "Marvellous shots he makes!"
In the meanwhile, at Luneburg Mansions, Mrs Straithwaite had beenpassing anything but a pleasant day. She had awakened with a headacheand an overnight feeling that there was some unpleasantness to be goneon with. That it did not amount to actual fear was due to the enormousself-importance and the incredible ignorance which ruled the butterflybrain of the young society beauty--for in spite of three years'experience of married life Stephanie Straithwaite was as yet on theenviable side of two and twenty.
Anticipating an early visit from a particularly obnoxious sister-in-law,she had remained in bed until after lunch in order to be able to denyherself with the more conviction. Three journalists who would haveafforded her the mild excitement of being interviewed had called andbeen in turn put off with polite regrets by her husband. Theobjectionable sister-in-law postponed her visit until the afternoon andfor more than an hour Stephanie "suffered agonies." When the visitor hadleft and the martyred hostess announced her intention of flyingimmediately to the consoling society of her own bridge circle,Straithwaite had advised her, with some significance, to wait for alead. The unhappy lady cast herself bodily down upon a couch and askedwhether she was to become a nun. Straithwaite merely shrugged hisshoulders and remembered a club engagement. Evidently there was no needfor him to become a monk: Stephanie followed him down the hall, arguingand protesting. That was how they came jointly to encounter Carrados atthe door.
"I have come from the Direct Insurance in the hope of being able to seeMrs Straithwaite," he explained, when the door opened rather suddenlybefore he had knocked. "My name is Carrados--Max Carrados."
There was a moment of hesitation all round. Then Stephanie readdifficulties in the straightening lines of her husband's face and rosejoyfully to the occasion.
"Oh yes; come in, Mr Carrados," she exclaimed graciously. "We are notquite strangers, you know. You found out something for Aunt Pigs; Iforget what, but she was most frantically impressed."
"Lady Poges," enlarged Straithwaite, who had stepped aside and waswatching the development with slow, calculating eyes. "But, I say, youare blind, aren't you?"
Carrados's smiling admission turned the edge of Mrs Straithwaite'simpulsive, "Teddy!"
"But I get along all right," he added. "I left my man down in the carand I found your door first shot, you see."
The references reminded the velvet-eyed little mercenary that the manbefore her had the reputation of being quite desirably rich, his queertaste merely an eccentric hobby. The consideration made her resolve tobe quite her nicest possible, as she led the way to the drawing-room.Then Teddy, too, had been horrid beyond words and must be made to sufferin the readiest way that offered.
"Teddy is just going out and I was to be left in solitary bereavement ifyou had not appeared," she explained airily. "It wasn't very compy onlyto come to see me on business by the way, Mr Carrados, but if those areyour only terms I must agree."
Straithwaite, however, did not seem to have the least intention ofgoing. He had left his hat and stick in the hall and he now threw hisyellow gloves down on a table and took up a negligent position on thearm of an easy-chair.
"The thing is, where do we stand?" he remarked tentatively.
"That is the attitude of the insurance company, I imagine," repliedCarrados.
"I don't see that the company has any standing in the matter. We haven'treported any loss to them and we are not making any claim, so far. Thatought to be enough."
"I assume that t
hey act on general inference," explained Carrados. "Alimited liability company is not subtle, Mrs Straithwaite. This oneknows that you have insured a five-thousand-pound pearl necklace withit, and when it becomes a matter of common knowledge that you have hadone answering to that description stolen, it jumps to the conclusionthat they are one and the same."
"But they aren't--worse luck," explained the hostess. "This was a stringthat I let Markhams send me to see if I would keep."
"The one that Bellitzer saw last Saturday?"
"Yes," admitted Mrs Straithwaite quite simply.
Straithwaite glanced sharply at Carrados and then turned his eyes withlazy indifference to his wife.
"My dear Stephanie, what are you thinking of?" he drawled. "Of coursethose could not have been Markhams' pearls. Not knowing that you aremuch too clever to do such a foolish thing, Mr Carrados will begin tothink that you have had fraudulent designs upon his company."
Whether the tone was designed to exasperate or merely fell upon afertile soil, Stephanie threw a hateful little glance in his direction.
"I don't care," she exclaimed recklessly; "I haven't the least littleobjection in the world to Mr Carrados knowing exactly how it happened."
Carrados put in an instinctive word of warning, even raised an arrestinghand, but the lady was much too excited, too voluble, to be denied.
"It doesn't really matter in the least, Mr Carrados, because nothingcame of it," she explained. "There never were any real pearls to beinsured. It would have made no difference to the company, because I didnot regard this as an ordinary insurance from the first. It was to be aloan."
"A loan?" repeated Carrados.
"Yes. I shall come into heaps and heaps of money in a few years' timeunder Prin-Prin's will. Then I should pay back whatever had beenadvanced."
"But would it not have been better--simpler--to have borrowed purely onthe anticipation?"
"We have," explained the lady eagerly. "We have borrowed from all sortsof people, and both Teddy and I have signed heaps and heaps of papers,until now no one will lend any more."
The thing was too tragically grotesque to be laughed at. Carrados turnedhis face from one to the other and by ear, and by even finerperceptions, he focussed them in his mind--the delicate, feather-headedbeauty, with the heart of a cat and the irresponsibility of a kitten,eye and mouth already hardening under the stress of her frantic life,and, across the room, her debonair consort, whose lank pose andnonchalant attitude towards the situation Carrados had not yetcategorized.
Straithwaite's dry voice, with its habitual drawl, broke into hisreflection.
"I don't suppose for a moment that you either know or care what thismeans, my dear girl, but I will proceed to enlighten you. It means theextreme probability that unless you can persuade Mr Carrados to hold histongue, you, and--without prejudice--I also, will get two years' hard.And yet, with unconscious but consummate artistry, it seems to me thatyou have perhaps done the trick; for, unless I am mistaken, Mr Carradoswill find himself unable to take advantage of your guileless confidence,whereas he would otherwise have quite easily found out all he wanted."
"That is the most utter nonsense, Teddy," cried Stephanie, with petulantindignation. She turned to Carrados with the assurance of meetingunderstanding. "We know Mr Justice Enderleigh very well indeed, and ifthere was any bother I should not have the least difficulty in gettinghim to take the case privately and in explaining everything to him. Butwhy should there be? Why indeed?" A brilliant little new idea possessedher. "Do you know any of these insurance people at all intimately, MrCarrados?"
"The General Manager and I are on terms that almost justify us inaddressing each other as 'silly ass,'" admitted Carrados.
"There you see, Teddy, you needn't have been in a funk. Mr Carradoswould put everything right. Let me tell you exactly how I had arrangedit. I dare say you know that insurances are only too pleased to pay forlosses: it gives them an advertisement. Freddy Tantroy told me so, andhis father is a director of hundreds of companies. Only, of course, itmust be done quite regularly. Well, for months and months we had bothbeen most frightfully hard up, and, unfortunately, everyone else--atleast all our friends--seemed just as stony. I had been absolutelyracking my poor brain for an idea when I remembered papa's weddingpresent. It was a string of pearls that he sent me from Vienna, only amonth before he died; not real, of course, because poor papa was alwaysquite utterly on the verge himself, but very good imitation and inperfect taste. Otherwise I am sure papa would rather have sent a silverpenwiper, for although he had to live abroad because of what peoplesaid, his taste was simply exquisite and he was most romantic in hisideas. What do you say, Teddy?"
"Nothing, dear; it was only my throat ticking."
"I wore the pearls often and millions of people had seen them. Of courseour own people knew about them, but others took it for granted thatthey were genuine for me to be wearing them. Teddy will tell you that Iwas almost babbling in delirium, things were becoming so ghastly, whenan idea occurred. Tweety--she's a cousin of Teddy's, but quite an agedperson--has a whole coffer full of jewels that she never wears and Iknew that there was a necklace very like mine among them. She was goingalmost immediately to Africa for some shooting, so I literally flew intothe wilds of Surrey and begged her on my knees to lend me her pearls forthe Lycester House dance. When I got back with them I stamped on theclasp and took it at once to Karsfeld in Princess Street. I told himthey were only paste but I thought they were rather good and I wantedthem by the next day. And of course he looked at them, and then lookedagain, and then asked me if I was certain they were imitation, and Isaid, Well, we had never thought twice about it, because poor papa wasalways rather chronic, only certainly he did occasionally have fabulousstreaks at the tables, and finally, like a great owl, Karsfeld said:
"'I am happy to be able to congratulate you, madam. They are undoubtedlyBombay pearls of very fine orient. They are certainly worth fivethousand pounds.'"
From this point Mrs Straithwaite's narrative ran its slangy, obviouscourse. The insurance effected--on the strict understanding of the ladywith herself that it was merely a novel form of loan, and aftersatisfying her mind on Freddy Tantroy's authority that the Direct andIntermediate could stand a temporary loss of five thousand pounds--thegenuine pearls were returned to the cousin in the wilds of Surrey andStephanie continued to wear the counterfeit. A decent interval wasallowed to intervene and the plot was on the point of maturity when thecompany's request for a scrutiny fell like a thunderbolt. With manytouching appeals to Mr Carrados to picture her frantic distraction, withappropriate little gestures of agony and despair, Stephanie describedher absolute prostration, her subsequent wild scramble through the jewelstocks of London to find a substitute. The danger over, it becameincreasingly necessary to act without delay, not only to anticipatepossible further curiosity on the part of the insurance, but in order tosecure the means with which to meet an impending obligation held overthem by an inflexibly obdurate Hebrew.
The evening of the previous Tuesday was to be the time; the opera house,during the performance of _La Pucella_, the place. Straithwaite, who wasnot interested in that precise form of drama, would not be expected tobe present, but with a false moustache and a few other touches which hisexperience as an amateur placed within his easy reach, he was to occupya stall, an end stall somewhere beneath his wife's box. At an agreedsignal Stephanie would jerk open the catch of the necklace, and as sheleaned forward the ornament would trickle off her neck and disappearinto the arena beneath. Straithwaite, the only one prepared foranything happening, would have no difficulty in securing it. He wouldlook up quickly as if to identify the box, and with the jewels in hishand walk deliberately out into the passage. Before anyone had quiterealized what was happening he would have left the house.
Carrados turned his face from the woman to the man.
"This scheme commended itself to you, Mr Straithwaite?"
"Well, you see, Stephanie is so awfully clever that I took it forgra
nted that the thing would go all right."
"And three days before, Bellitzer had already reported misrepresentationand that two necklaces had been used!"
"Yes," admitted Straithwaite, with an air of reluctant candour, "I had asuspicion that Stephanie's native ingenuity rather fizzled there. Youknow, Stephanie dear, there _is_ a difference, it seems, between Bombayand Californian pearls."
"The wretch!" exclaimed the girl, grinding her little teeth vengefully."And we gave him champagne!"
"But nothing came of it; so it doesn't matter?" prompted Straithwaite.
"Except that now Markhams' pearls have gone and they are hinting at allmanner of diabolical things," she wrathfully reminded him.
"True," he confessed. "That is by way of a sequel, Mr Carrados. I willendeavour to explain that part of the incident, for even yet Stephanieseems unable to do me justice."
He detached himself from the arm of the chair and lounged across theroom to another chair, where he took up exactly the same position.
"On the fatal evening I duly made my way to the theatre--a little late,so as to take my seat unobserved. After I had got the general hang Iglanced up occasionally until I caught Stephanie's eye, by which I knewthat she was there all right and concluded that everything was goingalong quite jollily. According to arrangement, I was to cross thetheatre immediately the first curtain fell and standing oppositeStephanie's box twist my watch chain until it was certain that she hadseen me. Then Stephanie was to fan herself three times with herprogramme. Both, you will see, perfectly innocent operations, and yetconveying to each other the intimation that all was well. Stephanie'sidea, of course. After that, I would return to my seat and Stephaniewould do her part at the first opportunity in Act II.
"However, we never reached that. Towards the end of the first actsomething white and noiseless slipped down and fell at my feet. For themoment I thought they were the pearls gone wrong. Then I saw that it wasa glove--a lady's glove. Intuition whispered that it was Stephanie'sbefore I touched it. I picked it up and quietly got out. Down among thefingers was a scrap of paper--the corner torn off a programme. On itwere pencilled words to this effect:
"'Something quite unexpected. Can do nothing to-night. Go back at once and wait. May return early. Frightfully worried.--S.'"
"You kept the paper, of course?"
"Yes. It is in my desk in the next room. Do you care to see it?"
"Please."
Straithwaite left the room and Stephanie flung herself into a charmingattitude of entreaty.
"Mr Carrados, you will get them back for us, won't you? It would notreally matter, only I seem to have signed something and now Markhamsthreaten to bring an action against us for culpable negligence inleaving them in an empty flat."
"You see," explained Straithwaite, coming back in time to catch thedrift of his wife's words, "except to a personal friend like yourself,it is quite impossible to submit these clues. The first one alone wouldraise embarrassing inquiries; the other is beyond explanation.Consequently I have been obliged to concoct an imaginary burglary in ourabsence and to drop the necklace case among the rhododendrons in thegarden at the back, for the police to find."
"Deeper and deeper," commented Carrados.
"Why, yes. Stephanie and I are finding that out, aren't we, dear?However, here is the first note; also the glove. Of course I returnedimmediately. It was Stephanie's strategy and I was under her orders. Insomething less than half-an-hour I heard a motor car stop outside. Thenthe bell here rang.
"I think I have said that I was alone. I went to the door and found aman who might have been anything standing there. He merely said: 'MrStraithwaite?' and on my nodding handed me a letter. I tore it open inthe hall and read it. Then I went into my room and read it again. Thisis it:
"'DEAR T.,--Absolutely ghastly. We simply must put off to-night. Will explain that later. Now what do you think? Bellitzer is here in the stalls and young K. D. has asked him to join us at supper at the Savoy. It appears that the creature is Something and I suppose the D.'s want to borrow off him. I can't get out of it and I am literally quaking. Don't you see, he will spot something? Send me the M. string at once and I will change somehow before supper. I am scribbling this in the dark. I have got the Willoughby's man to take it. Don't, don't fail.--S.'"
"It is ridiculous, preposterous," snapped Stephanie. "I never wrote aword of it--or the other. There was I, sitting the whole evening. AndTeddy--oh, it is maddening!"
"I took it into my room and looked at it closely," continued theunruffled Straithwaite. "Even if I had any reason to doubt, the internalevidence was convincing, but how could I doubt? It read like acontinuation of the previous message. The writing was reasonably likeStephanie's under the circumstances, the envelope had obviously beenobtained from the box-office of the theatre and the paper itself was asheet of the programme. A corner was torn off; I put against it theprevious scrap and they exactly fitted." The gentleman shrugged hisshoulders, stretched his legs with deliberation and walked across theroom to look out of the window. "I made them up into a neat littleparcel and handed it over," he concluded.
Carrados put down the two pieces of paper which he had been minutelyexamining with his finger-tips and still holding the glove addressed hissmall audience collectively.
"The first and most obvious point is that whoever carried out the schemehad more than a vague knowledge of your affairs, not only in general butalso relating to this--well, loan, Mrs Straithwaite."
"Just what I have insisted," agreed Straithwaite. "You hear that,Stephanie?"
"But who is there?" pleaded Stephanie, with weary intonation."Absolutely no one in the wide world. Not a soul."
"So one is liable to think offhand. Let us go further, however, merelyaccounting for those who are in a position to have information. Thereare the officials of the insurance company who suspect something; thereis Bellitzer, who perhaps knows a little more. There is the lady inSurrey from whom the pearls were borrowed, a Mr Tantroy who seems tohave been consulted, and, finally, your own servants. All these peoplehave friends, or underlings, or observers. Suppose Mr Bellitzer'sconfidential clerk happens to be the sweetheart of your maid?"
"They would still know very little."
"The arc of a circle may be very little, but, given that, it is possibleto construct the entire figure. Now your servants, Mrs Straithwaite? Weare accusing no one, of course."
"There is the cook, Mullins. She displayed alarming influenza on Tuesdaymorning, and although it was most frightfully inconvenient I packed heroff home without a moment's delay. I have a horror of the influ. ThenFraser, the parlourmaid. She does my hair--I haven't really got a maid,you know."
"Peter," prompted Straithwaite.
"Oh yes, Beta. She's a daily girl and helps in the kitchen. I have nodoubt she is capable of any villainy."
"And all were out on Tuesday evening?"
"Yes. Mullins gone home. Beta left early as there was no dinner, and Itold Fraser to take the evening after she had dressed me so that Teddycould make up and get out without being seen."
Carrados turned to his other witness.
"The papers and the glove have been with you ever since?"
"Yes, in my desk."
"Locked?"
"Yes."
"And this glove, Mrs Straithwaite? There is no doubt that it is yours?"
"I suppose not," she replied. "I never thought. I know that when I cameto leave the theatre one had vanished and Teddy had it here."
"That was the first time you missed it?"
"Yes."
"But it might have gone earlier in the evening--mislaid or lost orstolen?"
"I remember taking them off in the box. I sat in the corner farthestfrom the stage--the front row, of course--and I placed them on thesupport."
"Where anyone in the next box could abstract one without much difficultyat a favourable moment."
"That is quite likely. But we didn't see anyone in the
next box."
"I have half an idea that I caught sight of someone hanging back,"volunteered Straithwaite.
"Thank you," said Carrados, turning towards him almost gratefully. "Thatis most important--that you think you saw someone hanging back. Now theother glove, Mrs Straithwaite; what became of that?"
"An odd glove is not very much good, is it?" said Stephanie. "CertainlyI wore it coming back. I think I threw it down somewhere in here.Probably it is still about. We are in a frantic muddle and nothing isbeing done."
The second glove was found on the floor in a corner. Carrados receivedit and laid it with the other.
"You use a very faint and characteristic scent, I notice, MrsStraithwaite," he observed.
"Yes; it is rather sweet, isn't it? I don't know the name because it isin Russian. A friend in the Embassy sent me some bottles fromPetersburg."
"But on Tuesday you supplemented it with something stronger," hecontinued, raising the gloves delicately one after the other to hisface.
"Oh, eucalyptus; rather," she admitted. "I simply drenched myhandkerchief with it."
"You have other gloves of the same pattern?"
"Have I? Now let me think! Did you give them to me, Teddy?"
"No," replied Straithwaite from the other end of the room. He hadlounged across to the window and his attitude detached him from thediscussion. "Didn't Whitstable?" he added shortly.
"Of course. Then there are three pairs, Mr Carrados, because I never letBimbi lose more than that to me at once, poor boy."
"I think you are rather tiring yourself out, Stephanie," warned herhusband.
Carrados's attention seemed to leap to the voice; then he turnedcourteously to his hostess.
"I appreciate that you have had a trying time lately, Mrs Straithwaite,"he said. "Every moment I have been hoping to let you out of thewitness-box----"
"Perhaps to-morrow----" began Straithwaite, recrossing the room.
"Impossible; I leave town to-night," replied Carrados firmly. "You havethree pairs of these gloves, Mrs Straithwaite. Here is one. The othertwo----?"
"One pair I have not worn yet. The other--good gracious, I haven't beenout since Tuesday! I suppose it is in my glove-box."
"I must see it, please."
Straithwaite opened his mouth, but as his wife obediently rose to herfeet to comply he turned sharply away with the word unspoken.
"These are they," she said, returning.
"Mr Carrados and I will finish our investigation in my room," interposedStraithwaite, with quiet assertiveness. "I should advise you to lie downfor half-an-hour, Stephanie, if you don't want to be a nervous wreckto-morrow."
"You must allow the culprit to endorse that good advice, MrsStraithwaite," added Carrados. He had been examining the second pair ofgloves as they spoke and he now handed them back again. "They areundoubtedly of the same set," he admitted, with extinguished interest,"and so our clue runs out."
"I hope you don't mind," apologized Straithwaite, as he led his guest tohis own smoking-room. "Stephanie," he confided, becoming more cordial astwo doors separated them from the lady, "is a creature of nerves andindiscretions. She forgets. To-night she will not sleep. To-morrow shewill suffer." Carrados divined the grin. "So shall I!"
"On the contrary, pray accept my regrets," said the visitor. "Besides,"he continued, "there is nothing more for me to do here, I suppose...."
"It is a mystery," admitted Straithwaite, with polite agreement. "Willyou try a cigarette?"
"Thanks. Can you see if my car is below?" They exchanged cigarettes andstood at the window lighting them.
"There is one point, by the way, that may have some significance."Carrados had begun to recross the room and stopped to pick up the twofictitious messages. "You will have noticed that this is the outsidesheet of a programme. It is not the most suitable for the purpose; thefirst inner sheet is more convenient to write on, but there the dateappears. You see the inference? The programme was obtained before----"
"Perhaps. Well----?" for Carrados had broken off abruptly and waslistening.
"You hear someone coming up the steps?"
"It is the general stairway."
"Mr Straithwaite, I don't know how far this has gone in other quarters.We may only have a few seconds before we are interrupted."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that the man who is now on the stairs is a policeman or has wornthe uniform. If he stops at your door----"
The heavy tread ceased. Then came the authoritative knock.
"Wait," muttered Carrados, laying his hand impressively onStraithwaite's tremulous arm. "I may recognize the voice."
They heard the servant pass along the hall and the door unlatched; thencaught the jumble of a gruff inquiry.
"Inspector Beedel of Scotland Yard!" The servant repassed their door onher way to the drawing-room. "It is no good disguising the fact fromyou, Mr Straithwaite, that you may no longer be at liberty. But I am._Is there anything you wish done?_"
There was no time for deliberation. Straithwaite was indeed between theunenviable alternatives of the familiar proverb, but, to do him justice,his voice had lost scarcely a ripple of its usual sang-froid.
"Thanks," he replied, taking a small stamped and addressed parcel fromhis pocket, "you might drop this into some obscure pillar-box, if youwill."
"The Markham necklace?"
"Exactly. I was going out to post it when you came."
"I am sure you were."
"And if you could spare five minutes later--if I am here----"
Carrados slid his cigarette-case under some papers on the desk.
"I will call for that," he assented. "Let us say about half-past eight."
* * * * *
"I am still at large, you see, Mr Carrados; though after reflecting onthe studied formality of the inspector's business here, I imagine thatyou will scarcely be surprised."
"I have made it a habit," admitted Carrados, "never to be surprised."
"However, I still want to cut a rather different figure in your eyes.You regard me, Mr Carrados, either as a detected rogue or a repentantass?"
"Another excellent rule is never to form deductions from uncertainties."
Straithwaite made a gesture of mild impatience.
"You only give me ten minutes. If I am to put my case before you, MrCarrados, we cannot fence with phrases.... To-day you have had anexceptional opportunity of penetrating into our mode of life. You will,I do not doubt, have summed up our perpetual indebtedness and the easycredit that our connexion procures; Stephanie's social ambitions andexpensive popularity; her utterly extravagant incapacity to see anyother possible existence; and my tacit acquiescence. You will, I know,have correctly gauged her irresponsible, neurotic temperament, andjudged the result of it in conflict with my own. What possibly hasescaped you, for in society one has to disguise these things, is that Istill love my wife.
"When you dare not trust the soundness of your reins you do not try topull up a bolting horse. For three years I have endeavoured to guideStephanie round awkward comers with as little visible restraint aspossible. When we differ over any project upon which she has set herheart Stephanie has one strong argument."
"That you no longer love her?"
"Well, perhaps; but more forcibly expressed. She rushes to the top ofthe building--there are six floors, Mr Carrados, and we are on thesecond--and climbing on to the banister she announces her intention ofthrowing herself down into the basement. In the meanwhile I havefollowed her and drag her back again. One day I shall stay where I amand let her do as she intends."
"I hope not," said Carrados gravely.
"Oh, don't be concerned. She will then climb back herself. But it willmark an epoch. It was by that threat that she obtained my acquiescenceto this scheme--that and the certainty that she would otherwise go onwithout me. But I had no intention of allowing her to land herself--tosay nothing of us both--behind the bars of a prison if I could help it.And, above
all, I wished to cure her of her fatuous delusion that she isclever, in the hope that she may then give up being foolish.
"To fail her on the occasion was merely to postpone the attempt. Iconceived the idea of seeming to cooperate and at the same timeinvolving us in what appeared to be a clever counter-fraud. The thoughtof the real loss will perhaps have a good effect; the publicity willcertainly prevent her from daring a second 'theft.' A sordid story, MrCarrados," he concluded. "Do not forget your cigarette-case in reality."
The paternal shake of Carrados's head over the recital was neutralizedby his benevolent smile.
"Yes, yes," he said. "I think we can classify you, Mr Straithwaite. Onepoint--the glove?"
"That was an afterthought. I had arranged the whole story and the firstnote was to be brought to me by an attendant. Then, on my way, in myovercoat pocket I discovered a pair of Stephanie's gloves which she hadasked me to carry the day before. The suggestion flashed--how much moreconvincing if I could arrange for her to seem to drop the writing inthat way. As she said, the next box _was_ empty; I merely tookpossession of it for a few minutes and quietly drew across one of hergloves. And that reminds me--of course there was nothing in it, but yourinterest in them made me rather nervous."
Carrados laughed outright. Then he stood up and held out his hand.
"Good-night, Mr Straithwaite," he said, with real friendliness. "Let megive you the quaker's advice: Don't attempt another conspiracy--but ifyou do, don't produce a 'pair' of gloves of which one is stillsuggestive of scent, and the other identifiable with eucalyptus!"
"Oh----!" said Straithwaite.
"Quite so. But at all hazard suppress a second pair that has the samepeculiarity. Think over what it must mean. Good-bye."
Twelve minutes later Mr Carlyle was called to the telephone.
"It is eight-fifty-five and I am at Charing Cross," said a voice heknew. "If you want local colour contrive an excuse to be with Markhamwhen the first post arrives to-morrow." A few more words followed, andan affectionate valediction.
"One moment, my dear Max, one moment. Do I understand you to say thatyou will post me on the report of the case from Dover?"
"No, Louis," replied Carrados, with cryptic discrimination. "I only saidthat I will post you on _a_ report of the case from Dover."