CHAPTER XLI
ANNETTE AT BAY
But meanwhile Lechmere had not been idle. His steadygoing brain had notfailed to see the danger arise after the matter of the countess'sburglary had come into the hands of the police. And he seemed to fancythat he had discovered a way out of the difficulty. After a message toScotland Yard making an appointment an hour later at the house ofCountess Saens he had proceeded to the queen's hotel. He was a littledisappointed to find that already Jessie had departed some short time.
He was about to go off in search of Jessie when she returned with herstory. Lechmere smiled with the air of a man who holds the key to thesituation.
"You need not be in the least alarmed," he said. "Hope was quite rightwhen he suggested that perhaps I could help you in the matter. Not onlyam I going to help, but I am going to put you a long way out of thereach of the police. We are going as far as Countess Saens's house."
"I am!" Jessie exclaimed. "Why, the mere fact of my being there face toface with the countess----"
"My dear young lady, you are not going to be face to face with thecountess. She has gone abroad. You will go with me in a cab, you willkeep your veil down and you will wait in the drawing-room until I wantyou. I daresay all this sounds very abrupt, but it is quite necessary.Now come bustle along before other things come to complicate matters."
Jessie followed in a helpless kind of way. It seemed to her that she wasoff on another series of bewildering adventures before the last serieswas closed almost. But she had her previous experience to keep hercourage to the sticking point and Lechmere's face gave her confidence."When am I going to get out of this coil?" she asked with a smile.
"_You_ are going to get out of it very quietly," Lechmere said gravely."And after that you are going to marry my young friend Ronald Hope, whomI regard as a very lucky fellow. When the tangle itself is likely toend, Heaven only knows. The best thing that could happen to the Queen ofAsturia would be the death of the king. She would know what peace meantthen and the removal of the king by natural means would enable Europe tointerfere and so check the designs of Russia. But here we are."
The cab stopped at length and the occupants alighted. At Lechmere'sbidding, Jessie raised her veil.
"The countess is not at home?" Lechmere asked the footman. "Howannoying! It is rather an urgent and private affair that Miss VeraGalloway desires to see your mistress upon. But perhaps Annette the maidwill be able to answer a few questions for me. Shew us into thedrawing-room and send Annette to us there."
The footman bowed and shewed no signs of astonishment. He was too usedto strange requests and equally strange visitors to that house. He ledthe way gravely enough upstairs and announced that he would at once sendfor Annette to see Miss Galloway.
"So far, so good," Lechmere muttered. "I shall want you to see Annette alittle later on, Miss Harcourt, but for the present I shall be glad ifyou will take your seat in the little inner drawing-room. It is just aswell perhaps that you should overhear all that is said."
Jessie asked no questions, but she could not altogether repress anatural curiosity to know what was going to take place next. From whereshe was seated she had a perfect view of all that was going on in thelarge drawing-room without being seen herself. Annette came in quiteself-possessed and just a little demure in the presence of the tallgrey-faced stranger.
"I was told that Miss Galloway was here, M'sieu," she said. "It strikesto me, M'sieu----"
"As a matter of fact Miss Galloway is not here at all," said Lechmerecoolly. "This is another young lady whom you will see all in good time,but not quite yet. I had no desire to arouse the curiosity of yourfellow servants. The footman, for instance, who is a very good-lookingfellow, may be a lover of yours. Ah, so there has been tender passagesbetween you?"
"M'sieu is a gentleman and cannot be contradicted," Annette saiddemurely. "If you say so----"
"Oh, well. That is bad hearing, I am afraid you are a sad flirt. What adreadful tragedy might be precipitated here if this thing came to theears of your devoted Robert."
Annette changed colour and the smile died out of her eyes. She lookedquite anxiously at the speaker.
"Listen to me," he said sternly. "I am disposed to help you and shieldyou if you help me. If we make a kind of compact together I will saynothing about those champagne suppers and I will keep my own councilover certain important papers that may later on be sold for a good roundsum--a sum so big, in fact, that Robert and yourself will be able totake a boarding-house. Where was it that you preferred theestablishment? Ah, I have it--in Brook Street."
All the blood left the listener's cheeks, the audacious expression fadedand left her eyes cloudy and troubled.
"M'sieu is too clever for me," she whispered. "What do you want me todo?"
"Very little. It is about a robbery here. Now it is positively absurdthat Miss Galloway could be the thief as you suggested. You smile, youfancy that perhaps Miss Galloway has a double. Now it all rests on youto say whether that double is the proper person or not. If she wasproduced by the police and you said it was _not_ the lady who surprisedyou last night, why, there would be an end of the matter--for you andRobert."
A look of quiet cunning intelligence flashed across Annette's face.
"It is plain what you mean," she said. "I quite understand. I am broughtface to face with the young lady and I stare at her again and again. Istudy her with a puzzled frown on my face--like this--and then I saythat it is not the person. I am absolutely certain of my facts. She isdifferent, the eyes are not the same colour. I know not what the eyesand hair of your friend the young lady are like, but whether _they are_like the missing thief's are different. See, M'sieu?"
"I see perfectly well, Annette," Lechmere smiled. "You see that manloitering on the other side of the road? Fetch him up here and say thatMr. Lechmere is waiting. He is a leading official at Scotland Yard, andI am to meet him here by appointment. Oh, by the way, where is yourRobert to be found?"
"Guards Buildings," Annette whispered. "He waits on the second floorgentleman there. But you will not----"
"No, I will not," said Lechmere, passing his hand over his face to hidea smile, for he had made a further discovery. "Play your part properlyand I will play mine. And now go and fetch Inspector Taske here and saythat I am waiting for him."
Inspector Taske came up and Lechmere conducted him into the smalldrawing-room. At a sign from him Jessie raised her veil. She began tounderstand what was coming.
"This is Miss Jessie Harcourt," said Lechmere, "daughter of my oldfriend Colonel Harcourt. It has been suggested that Miss Harcourt camehere last night and stole certain papers. She only found it out thismorning when she--er--came out of the hospital. All this absurd botherhas arisen because Miss Harcourt is exceedingly like Miss Galloway whomthe maid Annette here stupidly picked out as the thief, picked her outat Merehaven House, mind you, when she was in full evening dress at aparty! Then suspicions were directed to my young lady friend here,forsooth because of the likeness, and she is being tracked by yourfellows, Taske. There is a strong light here, and I am going to settlethe matter once and for all. Now, Annette, look very carefully at thislady and say if you have ever seen her before."
Jessie bore the scrutiny more or less firmly and haughtily because sheherself had never seen Annette's face before. Everything depended uponthe girl's reply. Her examination was long and careful, as if she didnot want to outrage her conscience in the smallest degree. Then sheshook her head.
"The likeness is great," she said. "Positively there are three youngladies almost the same. And we make mistakes--and did not you policebring a man all the way here from Australia the other day on a charge ofmurder only to find he was the wrong person? And he had been sworn to,_ma foi_. Therefore it behoves me to be careful. All the same, I canspeak with confidence. If it were dark I could say that here was thethief. But in the daylight, _non_. Her eyes were dark, the hair veryrich brown. And here the eyes are grey and the hair a lovely shade ofgold. This is not the
lady."
The Inspector turned slightly on his heel as if he had heard quitesufficient.
"This ends the matter," he said. "I am sorry that Miss Harcourt has beenmolested and I will see that she is not further annoyed. I wish you goodmorning, sir."
The Inspector departed and at a sign from Lechmere, Jessie followed.Annette bowed demurely, but the smile on her face vanished and her eyesgrew troubled as she found herself alone. Down in the street thenewsboys were shouting something. Lechmere listened eagerly to hear:--
"Alarming railway accident near Paris. Breakdown of a special train.Suspected outrage on the part of the French Anarchists. Serious accidentto the King of Asturia. Special."