opinion, Stella Spencer was not a good or astraight woman.
And then had come that corroborative little piece of evidence of themispronunciation of a certain word, establishing another link in thechain of evidence that Stella Keane and Norah Burton were one and thesame person.
And if it were so, what was his duty? If he could prove her to be NorahBurton, and her undesirable relative, George Burton, now freed fromjail, could he permit such an adventuress to pass another day in thehouse of this honest gentleman whom she had so skilfully entrapped, assix years ago she had entrapped the guileless and trusting Jack Pomfret?
The morning dawned and found him still in the throes of anxious thought.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
As Murchison thought over matters in the cold, clear light of themorning, when the brain is at its freshest, he cursed the fate that everseemed to mix him up in the private affairs of his friends. First hadbeen that unhappy episode of poor Jack Pomfret, who had not strength ofmind to survive the disgrace he had brought upon himself by hisimpetuous folly.
Now there was this affair of Guy Spencer's, which he felt he must gothrough with and prove to the bottom. He must find out definitelywhether the likeness to Norah Burton was accidental, or whether thatscheming adventuress had, for the second time, ensnared a trusting andunsuspicious man.
On Tuesday night when he dined in Eaton Place with the Spencers, hewould seize an opportunity of putting to her a few leading questions.They would be of such a nature, that if his suspicions were correct,they would shake her self-possession.
Certainly, she had betrayed no embarrassment at the sight of him, andthat was a point in her favour. For, assuming that she was NorahBurton, the name of Murchison would be quite familiar to her, even ifshe had forgotten his appearance after the lapse of those six years.
In the meantime he would get as much information about Stella Keane ashe could before the date of the dinner. There was a man at his club,Gregory Fairfax, a middle-aged gossip, who was to be found in thesmoking-room every day at a certain hour.
Fairfax was a man of leisure and means, who had the reputation ofknowing more people, and all about them, than anybody in town. He mixedin a dozen different sets: smart, fast, and Bohemian. He was equally athome in Belgravia, Mayfair, South Kensington, and several otherquarters. He belonged to most of the best clubs, and many more that hadno pretensions to social distinction. His knowledge of the variousphases of London life was wide and extensive. He had also a marvellousmemory. He never forgot a face or the minutest details of a scandal.
To this gentleman, with whom he was on quite intimate terms, havingknown him from his first introduction to the London world, Hughrepaired, in the hope of getting to know all there was to know aboutthis mysterious young woman who had so suddenly and clandestinelyprojected herself into the Southleigh family.
After a few casual remarks, he opened the ball. It was an easy task,for there was nothing pleased Fairfax more than to place his extensivesocial knowledge at the service of any friend or acquaintance who was insearch of details.
"I say, Fairfax, I think you can help me in a little matter, because youhave the reputation of knowing everything about everybody."
Mr Fairfax smiled genially. He was very proud of his profound socialknowledge, and nothing pleased him more than to have his well-earnedreputation alluded to in flattering terms.
"Fire away, my young friend. I think I have picked up a bit in mytwenty-five years of London life. Who is it you want to ask me about?"
"I dined last night with my old friends the Southleighs; and there, forthe first time, I met Mrs Guy Spencer. I had heard of the marriage, ofcourse, but no particulars of the young lady until I came to town alittle while ago. All I have learned is that she was a Miss StellaKeane, and that she gives no very detailed account of her familyhistory. I gather the general impression is that there is a mysteryabout her, which she refuses to allow anybody to penetrate. Do you knowanything about her yourself?"
Fairfax assumed an air of great gravity and importance. He was now inhis element, about to pour out his stores of knowledge to an interestedand grateful listener.
"There may be one or two people who know as much as I know--alwaysremembering that there is no first-hand knowledge, but the chances are ahundred to one you would not come across them. It happens that I was agood deal in that rather queer set which frequented Mrs L'Estrange'sflat."
"She was supposed to be a well-bred woman, was she not?"
"Oh, certainly, so far as family went. But, judging in the light ofsubsequent events, there is no doubt she was a wrong 'un. The place,from the start, was simply a gambling-saloon. Sometimes, the play wasvery moderate. I am fond of a bit of a flutter myself, but I must ownthat I never lost very much, and for a long time I never had anysuspicions of foul play."
"Ah, but you had later on?" interrupted Hugh.
"I'll come to that before we get on to Miss Stella Keane. Then onenight something happened. Do you remember a little chap named Esmond,who used to go about everywhere?"
Yes, Hugh remembered Tommy Esmond, although his acquaintance with himhad been of the slightest.
"He was a funny little man, very genial and popular with everybody.Like myself, he didn't stick to any one particular set, but went into adozen different ones. One night he would be dining at a swagger clubwith a peer, the next he would be hobnobbing at a pot-house sort of aplace with a fifth-rate actor. Very eclectic was Tommy, and nobody everknew where the deuce he came from. He had been so long about thatpeople forgot to inquire, and looked upon him as a sort of institution,and took him for granted, as it were.
"Well, one night, one dreadful night, Tommy was discovered cheating by acouple of chaps who were too sharp for him. They were common sort offellows, might have been crooks themselves for all I know, and kicked upa deuce of a row. They went so far as to insinuate that Mrs L'Estrangewas not altogether innocent, and had a hand in the plunder. Result,Tommy had to make a bolt of it."
"What was your own opinion about it? Was it an accident?"
"I might not have believed it, but a similar thing took place about acouple of months later. Another man was found cheating, and this timeMrs L'Estrange refused to face the music. She closed down, anddisappeared from London. I have never met anybody who has seen or heardanything of her since. I expect she's to be found on the Continent likeher friend Tommy."
"And Miss Keane was an inmate of this suspicious household?"
"Yes, ever since I went to the house, up to a few days after Tommybolted. She left suddenly, and Mrs L'Estrange was very reticent as towhere she had gone to. The next I heard was that she had been marriedquietly to Guy Spencer."
"Did any suspicions attach to her?"
"No, it would not be fair to say that they did. She never playedherself, but she had a great knack of hovering about the tables. Andafter the Esmond episode one or two men whispered that she had beenhovering about them too much, and that Mrs L'Estrange thought she hadbetter get rid of her. It might be so or not."
"Did you ever come across a cousin of hers there, a man named Dutton?"
"Oh yes, a dozen or more times, for I went to the flat prettyfrequently. A common, under-bred fellow, not in the least like her, forin addition to being remarkably good-looking, her manners and appearancewere those of a lady."
"Do you know what has become of him?"
"Yes, he's an outside stockbroker, with a small office in the City. Iran against him only last week. I don't know whether he recognised meor not, but I looked the other way. With one or two exceptions, theL'Estrange _clientele_ was not one that you cared to recognise whenoutside the flat."
Fairfax had finished his narrative. Hugh thanked him warmly. Still, hehad not learned anything really of importance. There was no evidencethat Miss Keane had cheated, or helped others to cheat. The hoveringround the card-table was not a particularly suspicious action if takenby itself. She might be signalling to her confederates, of course
, butthere was no evidence on which to convict her.
A sudden thought struck Murchison which prompted him to put a questionto Fairfax.
"She might have been a decoy, to lure rich men to this gambling place,in order that they might be rooked by her accomplices." The middle-agedman shook his head. "I don't think so. She had no scope for that sortof game. Mrs L'Estrange hardly knew any body in her own world, forreasons which I daresay could be very satisfactorily explained, I shouldguess a not too clean or reputable past. She could not get the girlinto houses where she would pick up rich men."
"But you say some men came there who played heavily."
"A few," answered Fairfax. "But I always had a notion that Duttonpicked those up, in the course of his shady business, a mug here, a mugthere, who had a few thousands to throw away either