CHAPTER XII
THE TENDER MERCIES OF TWO LADIES
By way of a commencement, Miss Broad was conscious of two things--thatMiss Bewicke was looking her best; that she herself was looking herworst; at least, she was nearly certain she was looking her worst, shefelt so hideous.
Miss Bewicke had a knack of walking--it came by nature, though therewere those who called it a trick--which gave her a curious, and,indeed, humorous, air of importance altogether beyond anything herstature seemed to warrant. This enabled her to overwhelm men, and evenwomen who were much taller than herself, with a grace which waspositively charming. She moved across that spacious hall, lookingstraight at Miss Broad, as if there was nothing there; and was walkingpast with an apparent unconsciousness of there being anyone within amile, though she brushed against the other's skirts as she passed,which was a little more than Miss Broad could endure. She was notgoing all the way to Brighton to be treated by that woman as if shewere a nonentity.
'Miss Bewicke!'
The lady, who had passed, turned.
'I beg your pardon?'
'Can I speak to you?'
'Speak to me?' She regarded the other with a smile which, if pretty,was impertinent. 'I'm afraid I haven't the pleasure.'
'I am Miss Broad.'
'Broad?--Broad? I don't seem to remember.'
'Perhaps you remember Mr Holland.'
'Mr Holland?--Guy Holland? Oh, yes, I have good cause for rememberinghim.'
'Mr Holland has spoken of me to you?'
'Oh! You are that Miss Broad! I have pleasure in wishing you goodmorning.'
Miss Bewicke walked off as if, so far as she was concerned, the matterwas at an end; but so abrupt a termination to the interview the otherwould not permit.
'I am sorry to detain you, Miss Bewicke, but, as I have said, I wishto speak to you.'
'Yes. What do you wish to say?'
'Can I not speak to you in private?'
'By all means.' Miss Bewicke led the way into a sitting-room. As soonas they were in, and the door closed, before the other had a chance toopen her lips, she herself began the ball. 'Miss Broad, before youspeak, there is something which I wish to say to you. You incited MrGuy Holland to commit, last night, a burglary upon my premises.'
If she expected the other to show signs of confusion, or to attemptdenial, she was mistaken. Miss Broad did not flinch.
'I did.'
'You admit it?'
'I do.'
'Are you aware that in so doing you were guilty of a criminal action?'
'As to that I know nothing, and care less.'
'I have only to send for a policeman to have you sentenced to a termof imprisonment.'
'I understand how it is you have been so successful on the stage. Youreally are an excellent actress. You bear yourself as if you were theinjured party, while all the time you know very well that it wasprecisely because you had robbed him that I advised him to despoil youof your booty.'
'You are perfectly aware that that is false.'
'On the contrary, I am perfectly aware that it is true. Where is MrHolland? Is he here with you?'
'Miss Broad!'
'Or did you dare to make his doing, what you know he was perfectlyjustified in doing, an affair of the police?'
'I came upon Guy Holland, at dead of night, engaged in robbing me, andI sent him from me with my blessing.'
'Then where is he?'
'I know no more than this chair.'
'Miss Bewicke, I called at your rooms this morning. I saw hiswalking-stick upon your table. When I asked how it came there, thewoman who had opened the door said, in effect, that he had left itbehind in his hurry to go away with you.'
'The woman! What woman?'
'She said she was your companion.'
'Casata? Louise Casata never said anything so monstrous.'
'Not in so many words; but that was what she intended me tounderstand.'
'You believed it? What a high opinion you appear to have of us! Guymust be worse even than I imagined, or you, his promised wife, wouldnot judge him with such hard judgment.'
'I did not believe it; but I did believe that you called in the policelast night.'
'I didn't; I called in no one. I simply told him to go, and he went.'
'You are laughing. You know where he is. I can see it in your face.'
'Then you are indeed a seer.'
'This morning, when he did not come, as he promised he would, andalways has done, someone gave me this. What am I to think?'
Miss Broad handed Miss Bewicke the two typewritten lines, which thatlady carefully regarded.
'Someone? Who was someone?'
'A little boy. I thought it was a message from Guy. By the time Ifound it wasn't, he was gone. I don't know who he was, nor from whomhe came, if it wasn't from you.'
It certainly did not come from me. Miss Broad, I begin to find youamusing. I also begin to understand what it is Guy Holland perceivesin you to like. You are more of a woman than I am; that is, there isin you more of the natural savage, which, to a man of his temperament,goes to make a woman.'
'I want none of your praises.'
'I'm not going to give you any, or compliments either. I doubt ifyou're in a frame of mind to properly appreciate any sort ofsleight-of-hand. Let me finish. I had an engagement for luncheon; asyou have made me late for it, perhaps you will do me the honour oflunching with me here.'
'No, thank you.'
'Pardon me, you will.'
'Excuse me, I won't.'
'We shall see.'
Miss Bewicke touched the bell button. Miss Broad eyed her with flamingcheeks.
'It's no use your ordering anything to eat for me, because I sha'n'ttouch it. You treat me as if I were a child. I'm not a child.'
'My dear Miss Broad, we are both of us women--both of us; and thereare senses in which women and children are synonyms. Mr Holland wasonce in love with me--he was, I assure you. He is now in love withyou, which fact creates between us a bond of sympathy.'
'I don't see it.'
'No? I do. You will. He appears to have got himself into, we will putit, a rather equivocal position. It is our bounden duty, as jointsympathisers, to get him out of it. We will discuss our bounden duty;but I never can discuss anything when I'm starving, which I am.'
To the waiter who appeared Miss Bewicke gave orders for an immediatelunch for two. Miss Broad kept silence. The truth was, she was notfinding Miss Bewicke altogether the sort of person she expected. Thatlittle lady went on,--
'I'm free to confess, my dear Miss Broad; by the way, may I call youLetty?'
'No; you may not.'
'Thank you; you are so sweet. As I was about to remark, mydear--Letty'--the other winced, but was still--'I'm free to confessthat I think it not improbable that something has happened to MrHolland.'
'You know that something has happened?'
'I don't know--I surmise. I put two and two together, thus:--To beginwith, I don't think that you were the only person who egged him on tofelony.'
Miss Broad again was speechless. She remembered Mr Holland's tale ofhis encounter with Miss Casata.
'There was a preciseness about his proceedings which set me thinkingat the time, and has kept me thinking ever since. I'm pretty shrewd,you know. Now, I happen to be aware that a certain person of myacquaintance has been on too good terms with Mr Horace Burton. Youhave heard of Mr Horace Burton? I thought so. Such a nice young man!Now, however, this certain person is on the worst terms with Mr HoraceBurton. For sufficient reasons, I assure you. She has been evolvingfantastic schemes of vengeance on the deceitful wretch; she's just alittle cracked, you know. To ruin Mr Horace Burton by assisting GuyHolland to deprive him of his fortune would be just the kind of notionwhich would commend itself to her. I fancy that that's exactly whatshe did do. Didn't she, my dear?'
Miss Broad was breathing a little hard. The other's keen intuitionstartled her.
&
nbsp; 'It was I who told him to take what was his own.'
'Yes, I know; but the first suggestion did not come from you. However,so long as we understand each other, that's the point. To proceed--MrHorace Burton would be cautious that this certain person's sweetnesshad turned to gall, and also that she was wishful to pay him out inhis own coin. He might even have a notion of the form that payment wasto take, having learned it from the certain person's own lips. If so,you may be quite sure that he or his friends saw Guy Holland enter mypremises, if nobody else did. They saw him come out. They were to thefull as anxious to obtain possession of that ruby as ever he could be.So they took it from him.'
'Took it from him--with violence?'
'Do you think they could take it from him without violence--that hewould hand it over practically upon request? That's not like Guy; notthe Guy I knew. He'd fight for it tooth and nail himself against aregiment.'
'Do you think then they hurt him?'
'It looks as if they did something to him. He never went home. Theremust have been some reason why he didn't. There is at least apossibility that it was because he couldn't.'
'Do you think they--killed him?'
'Ah, now you ask too much. I should say certainly not. It would beunintentionally if they did. That would be too big a price even for MrHorace Burton to pay. If they attacked him in fair fight, I should saythat he killed someone before they did him; and that when they did itwas because they had to. But the possibility is that they never lethim have a chance; that they stole on him unawares, and had him attheir mercy before he knew that danger threatened.'
'Miss Bewicke, you are so clever--so much cleverer than I--'
'My dear!'
'Come up to town with me and help me look for him, and go with me tothe police, and--'
'Set all London by the ears? I know. We'll do it; but here comeslunch. You sit down to lunch with me, and we'll talk things over whilewe lunch. You see how far talking things over has already brought us;and after lunch we'll go to town, as you suggest, and find out what'shappened to Guy Holland, and where he is, or we'll know the reasonwhy. But if you won't lunch with me, then nothing remains but to wishyou good day, and, so far as I'm concerned, there'll be an end of thematter. I'll have nothing to do with a person who won't eat my breadand salt.'
So the ladies lunched together. Although Miss Broad declared that shecould not swallow a morsel, Miss Bewicke induced her to dispose ofseveral. Indeed, she handled her with so much skill that by the timethe meal was through--it was not a long one--one would have thoughtthat they really were on decent terms with one another, though MissBroad was still a trifle scratchy. But then her nerves were out oforder, and when a lady's nerves are out of order, she is apt,occasionally, to stray from those well-defined paths which etiquetteand good breeding require her to tread; in short, she does not knowwhat she is doing, or what anybody else is doing either, which MissBewicke quite understood, so that her guest's eccentricities,apparently, simply amused her.
And the two young ladies went up together in the same compartment toLondon to look for Mr Holland, and to call down, if necessary,vengeance on his enemies and those who had despitefully used him.