CHAPTER XIV
Late in the afternoon, Gimblet, returning to the flat in Whitehall,found a visitor awaiting him there.
Higgs, hearing his footstep in the hall, hurried out to meet him andinform him of the fact.
"A young lady, sir. She gave me this card, and wants to see you onbusiness. She's been here about ten minutes, and I've taken tea in toher, not knowing how long you might be, sir."
Gimblet took the card and read: "Miss Seraphina Finner, InanityTheatre." "Where is she?" he asked.
"In the waiting-room," replied Higgs; and Gimblet went at once into thesmall sitting-room he set apart to be used by people unknown to him.
As he opened the door Gimblet checked himself for a moment on thethreshold with the sensation of entering some one else's room bymistake. His visitor had pushed most of the furniture back againstthe wall, and was, when he first caught sight of her, in the act ofpirouetting round in the middle of the floor, with her skirts liftedhigh and one foot raised to the level of the mantelpiece. Her back wastowards him, but at the sound of the opening door she twisted round witha swinging movement, and confronted him with a laugh.
"They told me you were out," said Miss Finner gaily, and without anytrace of embarrassment, "so I just started doing a bit of practising tofill up the time while the tea is standing. Waste not, want not, that'smy motto," she added.
"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting," the detective began; "won't yousit down now?" And he pulled out a chair she had piled with some othersin a corner, and offered it to her.
"I suppose I may as well," admitted the young woman; "though it doesseem a pity not to do a bit of exercising now I've cleared the room. Yousee, I dance in 'The Jodeling Girl,' and one has to keep one's limbssupple, or, if you aren't up to the mark one night, they put on somebodyelse. Fact is," she added confidentially, "that's why they took me on.Dixie Topping, who used to be one of the four of us that do the danceI'm in, let herself get stiff, and one night when it came to kickingWilliam Tell's apple off the boy's head, she missed it clean, and, asit's got to be done in time with the music, that put the conductor out,so when she had another try, and missed it again, he got so mad thatthey sacked her and put me on. Ill wind that blows no one any good,"said Miss Seraphina philosophically.
Her belongings were strewn about the room: a great bouquet of carnationslay on a chair, gloves and scarf were thrown on the bookshelf, while anenormous hat covered with flowers and ribbons was poised on a cabinet.She had drawn a curtain across the window, no doubt out of considerationfor her complexion, as Gimblet happened to have chosen for this roomhangings of a becoming rose colour; and the air was filled with thereek of inexpensive scent. The detective compared it mentally, andextremely unfavourably, with the Arome de la Corse. Altogether he wouldnot have recognised his own room, to such an extent had ten minutes ofMiss Seraphina Finner's occupation removed all former traces of his ownindividuality. He actually started as he suddenly noticed, perched onthe mantelpiece, a pair of small white animals: a smooth-haired cat witheyes of a greenish yellow, and a dog no bigger, but with a long, silkycoat. It appeared to be one of the tribe known to the unappreciativeas Fidos, and to the admiring owners as Toy Poms. It stood at one endof the shelf, fidgeting and whining, but not daring to jump. The cathad retired to the extreme opposite corner, where it sat with its pawsvery close together and its tail curled tightly round them, surveyingthe restless behaviour of the dog with a look of sleepy disdain. Thefeelings with which Gimblet saw these two, but more especially the dog,sharing this point of vantage with his best blue and white china may beimagined. He was speechless; and perhaps it was just as well.
"I hope you don't mind Nigger and Pompom," said Miss Finner, as sheaccepted a cup of tea, "lots of lumps, please, and heaps of cream too.Seraphina's pets are her inseparable companions! Don't they look sweetup there? I put them there to be out of the way while I was on my lightfantastic. It bothers me never to know when my foot will come down onone of them, instead of the floor. Pompom seems to enjoy being trampledon by the way he's always in the middle of the room." She seized thewoolly dog by the scruff of the neck and deposited it in her lap. "Wasyou frightened of falling on your heady peady, darling," she murmured,fondling it ecstatically. "No, no, you mustn't lick your auntie'sface; might give you a pain in your little inside. Isn't she a sweetlittle affectionate thing?" she asked, raising her eyes for a moment toGimblet's. "Yes," she went on, as the little dog danced on her knee in afrantic effort to make clear his need to share the cake she had taken,"Pompom shall have a cake too. His auntie wouldn't let her darling gohungry, no, she wouldn't! And Nigger shall have some cream for a nicetreat."
She poured some cream into a saucer and placed it on the floor ather feet. The cat, which had watched the attentions showered onPompom with the cold eye of indifference, now abandoned its pose ofsuperiority, and jumping lightly to the ground approached the saucer onnoiseless, unhurried tiptoes. It began to lap the cream with a genteel,condescending air, and with due regard for its whiskers, shaking itshead sharply if a drop adhered to one of their long, stiff hairs.
Miss Finner contemplated the sight with admiring delight.
"Doesn't it do your heart good to see how he likes it?" she asked, "andaren't his manners lovely? Oh, Pompom, what an example he is to you,darling!" she exclaimed, as Pompom snatched at a piece of cake andswallowed it with one gulp. "Try and behave like your brother does, myangel. He's always the same," she went on, "I don't care where you puthim, Nigger is always the perfect gentleman. Why! I took them acrossto Paris at Easter. Didn't know what a trouble I should have smugglingPompom home again, or I should have left her behind in London. I tiedfeathers all over her, though, and put her in a bonnet box, so they tookher for a hat, the darling. As if any hat was half as beautiful! But,as I was saying, we had a beast of a crossing. Oh my! that channel! Andpoor Pompom was one of the first to feel it. And much as I love her, Imust say, she just gave way, and never made the tiniest little effortto hide her feelings. But Nigger! If you'll believe me, that cat wasso ashamed of the way he felt he was going to behave that the tearsstreamed down his face, and he just mewed and mewed till I could havecried; only being so sick myself I really didn't care, as a matter offact. But though he felt so bad he didn't forget his manners and hewouldn't be sick, he simply wouldn't, till I gave him a basin. Thencertainly. Oh Lord!" Miss Finner stopped. The recollection was too mucheven for her; she was also slightly out of breath.
Gimblet listened to her with amusement. Though he wondered vaguely whather business with him could be, he let her run on, supposing that shewould disclose it in time. After a moment she resumed in serious tones:
"It's a good thing, don't you think, to have a fad of some kind? It's sohard to get noticed, isn't it? Expect you found that when you startedlooking for thieves? People won't see that one's any different toanyone else, do what you like. But manage to have something really outof the common about you, and you get your chance. That's what I think.They forget me all right, but they remember my white cat and dog, andafter a little they begin to notice me too. I had a pretty hard time atfirst, I tell you," Miss Finner sighed. "But I'm getting on well now,thanks," she continued, with a return of her former vivacity. "Of courseI haven't got a speaking part yet, but I'm doing a dance, and that'ssomething at the Inanity. Some one sent me a diamond brooch last week,"she added with pride, pointing to an ugly little diamond star. "What doyou think of it? You're a judge of stones, I should think, being alwaysin the society of burglars, as one may say."
Gimblet examined and admired. "I'm afraid, though, I'm not really ajudge," he said.
"That's your modesty. But, as you see, I'm prosperous. And it isn'tafter the reward that I've come. Not that I'll deny that the money wouldalways be useful. Still, it's the ad. I'm thinking about. Will you putmy name in the paper now? 'Miss Seraphina Finner of the Inanity bringsnews of the missing ladies.' That's what I'd like to see, right across aposter."
A flicker of interest showed itself for an in
stant on Gimblet's face."So that's it," he said to himself.
Aloud he answered: "I don't know whether I can promise you that justyet. It rather depends, you know. But if I am called upon to send anycommunication on the subject to the press, you may be sure that, ifpossible, your name shall be inserted."
Seraphina pouted. "I call that stingy," she complained. "He might put uson a poster, Pompom, mightn't he? He's an unkind, cruel man, he is."
"What do you know of the missing ladies?" asked Gimblet, disregardingthese observations.
Miss Finner assumed an air of importance. "I didn't know anything aboutit till lunchtime," she said. "Not being what you'd call an early riser,it's not often I take a squint at the newspapers unless it's in theafternoon. But to-day a friend came to see me and we had lunch together.By and by she begins talking about one thing and another, and presentlyshe says: 'Have you read about these ladies that have disappeared?'So I said no, what was it, and she said: 'What! haven't you seen thepaper? There's an exciting bit about them in this morning's _Crier_.'When she'd told me all she could remember, I began to get interested. Ihad a feeling, you know, as if this was in my part. So I sent out fora paper, and they brought in one of the evening editions which had thereward and description of the ladies in it, as well as everything, or somy friend said, that the _Crier_ had. I read it all out loud, and whenI came to the part about wearing a white dress with mauve cloak heavilyembroidered and a large amount of valuable jewellery, I said to myself:'This, Seraphina, my dear, is where you walk on.' By the time I'dfinished the paragraph I was certain sure. It was just a fluke," saidMiss Finner reflectively, "that I ever saw that description or heardanything about it at all, for, as I say, I don't look at the papers morethan about once in a fortnight, unless it's the notices of a new show."
Gimblet's murmured comment might have passed for astonishment,agreement, or merely encouragement to proceed. He thought it best to lether tell her story in her own way.
"It's a funny thing," she went on after a moment's silence; "it seemssomehow as if it was meant to be, doesn't it? Well, the reason why Ifelt so excited, when I read the description, was because I had seen theladies later than anyone else. I saw them on Monday night, after theyleft the opera."
"And where did you see them?" asked Gimblet, bending over the cat,which, having finished the cream, was rubbing itself in a friendlyfashion against his leg, where it left a covering of white hairs on hisdark trousers. "Poor pussy," he said, stroking it.
"I was driving home from the theatre in a taxi," said Seraphina. "Ilive up in Carolina Road, N.W. I don't suppose you know it; up beyondRegent's Park, to the right, as you may say, of Maida Vale. It was avery hot, sultry night, you remember, and I'd got the cab open so as toget a little air. I was tired for some reason--it's not often you cantire me--and I put my head back, and my feet on one of the back seats,and as near as possible went off into a snooze. That's why I can't tellyou exactly which street it was in, and I'm afraid that makes it veryawkward." Miss Finner's voice was full of regret.
"Suddenly we swung round a corner with such a bump that it roused me,and I sat up and took notice. We were driving through a nice widestreet, with trees on each side, and good-sized houses set back inlittle gardens, all separate from each other. Each garden had two gates,and just room for a carriage to drive in and out. There wasn't a lightto be seen in one of them, and I thought how early the people in thoseparts went to bye-bye. And then I caught sight of an open doorway, withthe light shining from it out into the small yard or garden in front,and a street lamp standing exactly in front of it; so that between thetwo the place was well lit up. There was a carriage just driving outthrough the gate, and there were no shrubs or bushes in the garden,nothing but a little yard it was, I think, so I could see the two ladiesstanding in front of the door as plain as the nose on your face.
"I turned round when we'd passed and stared back at them, for the streetwasn't crowded with people in gorgeous opera cloaks and blazing withdiamonds, like one of these two was. I suppose it was Mrs. Vanderstein.She was standing a little to one side, as if she'd taken a step or twoafter the carriage, and was looking after it still. She had on a whitedress, all sparkling, and a mauve or pink cloak thrown open and back onher shoulders, so I could see the jewels flashing and shining away allover her as right as rain, just like it says in the papers. There wasa tiara on the top of her head as big as, as--" Seraphina gazed roundsearchingly for a simile--"as big as that chandelier. Oh, it can't havebeen anyone else! And besides, there was the other young lady; I didn'tlook at her so much, but I can swear she had a red cloak on. There now!As soon as I read about them I remembered what I'd seen on Monday night,and I said to my friend: 'My dear, I'm going out to keep an appointmentwith my photographer. Ta-ta.' I wasn't going to let on to her, ofcourse. She's a bit of a cat, as a matter of fact."
Miss Finner stopped, fixing on Gimblet a gaze full of modest pride. ButGimblet sat, to all appearance, lost in thought. Though his eye methers, it was with an abstracted look, and this in spite of the fact thatMiss Finner's eyes were blue and darkly fringed. He could not fail toobserve her curls of gold, the pink transparency of her cheek, the broadgreen and white stripes of her silken gown. He could not fail to hear,whenever she moved, the jingling of bracelets, of the many charms thatwere suspended from the chain around her white throat, and the merrypeal of her laugh; but all this seemed to be escaping his attention, andMiss Finner could detect nowhere the glances of admiration, which sheconsidered the least that was due to her.
Instead, he had nothing but prosaic questions for her.
"What time do you say this was?"
"After the theatre. Nearly midnight. I was late getting away."
"You don't know the name of the street? Could you find your way to itagain?"
"Afraid not, it's not the way one generally goes. I've no idea where itwas, beyond what I've told you."
"And the house? Did you notice nothing about it to distinguish it fromits neighbours?"
"No, I didn't look at it specially. Yes, I did, though; there was aboard with 'To Let' on it, up on the railings. The light from the lampshowed it very clearly."
"That's the only thing you can remember?"
"Yes," said Seraphina.
"You said the door was open. Could you see anything of the inside of thehouse?"
"No, or at least I didn't notice anything. There might have been someone standing in the hall. I don't know."
"Try and remember," urged Gimblet.
Miss Finner shut her eyes, contracted her brows, and gave herself up toreflection.
"No good," she remarked, after an interval in which one might havecounted twenty.
"Did you notice the carriage which was driving away?"
"Can't say I did. It was a brougham, I think. I looked at the people onthe pavement."
"Did you see lights in the house--in the windows, I mean?"
"No, I think the only light came from the door."
"Were you able to observe the expression on the ladies' faces?"
"Oh no, we went by too quick for anything of that sort. I didn't noticetheir faces at all, except that I believe they were both more or lessyoung women."
"You can't think of anything else, however trivial?"
Miss Finner could not.
"If anything else comes back to me, I'll let you know," she saidhopefully. "Don't you think you can find them from what I've told you?"
"I don't think there ought to be much difficulty in discovering thehouse, or at all events the street," said the detective, "thanks foryour information, which may prove most valuable. You must allow me topresent you with the reward offered in the papers."
After a slight show of protest she did allow him.
"Well, I must be off now," she said, after that formality wasaccomplished, and proceeded to gather her things together. "Thank youfor the tea. But, I say, don't you want to know a little more of thebeauteous stranger who is the bearer of the good tidings? You don't evenknow my name."<
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"Oh yes, Miss Finner, I do know it," Gimblet assured her. "You left acard in the hall; I saw it as I came in, but I should of course bedelighted to know more of you than that."
"Know then," said Seraphina, speaking in high, clear tones and with anassumption of affectation, "know then that I am not what I seem. Myname, indeed, is a disguise, for my father, worthy man, was a Fynnerwith a y, an obscure relation of the noble house of Fynner of LochFyne. Though honest, he was poor; and my beloved and beautiful mothercame of a line as well connected and impecunious as his own. Themarriage aroused the wrath of both families, and the head of my father'shouse, proud and haughty earl that he was, would never be brought toacknowledge his unhappy cousins. I was educated in a convent, and, atthe death of my parents, found myself at the age of sixteen alone, andwithout a penny in the world. Scorning to beg, I adopted the professionof the stage, chiefly with a view to supporting an aged and sufferingrelative, the aunt of my father's cousin. Now you know all there is toknow about the innocent and unfortunate daughter of a gallant gentleman,the scion of a proud, but noble race."
Miss Finner tilted her nose skyward and drew herself up haughtily. Then,with a disconcerting suddenness, she winked at Gimblet, and burst into apeal of laughter.
"If you can't detect something fishy in that story," she cried, "you'renot the detective you're cracked up to be! But I often say that pieceabout my family. A poor chap I used to know in my young days, when Iwas in the provinces, made it up for me. A poet, he called himself, andwas always making up things; very pretty some of them were--if you likethat sort of thing. It was him that thought of my name, and I've neverregretted it really. But I never heard that he got anyone else to takeany notice of his composings, poor fellow." Miss Finner sighed andlooked rather sadly out of the window. "He was a good sort," she addedreminiscently; "one of the best. I put that bit in myself about beingeducated in a convent," she concluded, pulling at her gloves. "It's theusual thing."
With a white dog under one arm and a white cat under the other, MissSeraphina Finner, of the Inanity, talked herself out into the hall, and,after an interval for the purpose of regaling Gimblet with an anecdoteof her earlier struggles, finally talked herself through the door andout of the flat altogether.
Gimblet, returning to the little room and absently rearranging thedisplaced chairs and tables in their habitual order, found it moresilent and lonely than before Seraphina had ever entered there, with herincessant chatter, her boisterous mirth, and her happy vulgarity. Ashe moved about the place, restoring to it the appearance of every-daytidiness, his mind was busy with the information she had brought and thequestion of his next move. He decided on it quickly as he was finishinghis task, and only lingered to pull back the curtain and throw open thewindow, so that the odour of scent that Seraphina had bequeathed mighthave an opportunity of dispersing. This he did, and then taking his hatand a light overcoat, for the evening was chilly and the weather hadturned afresh to rain, he went down to the street and hailed a taxi.