An Eye for an Eye Part 34

"I wonder who is the author of these type-written letters?" I said.

"If we knew that, it would let a flood of light into the whole matter."

"We shall, I hope, discover that in due course," he answered. "Let's finish these investigations before discussing our next move," and he continued, carefully placing back the letters in the secret drawers, now and then pausing to re-read one which chanced to attract his attention.

"Look at this," he said, pa.s.sing one over to me after he had glanced at it.

It was written on pale green paper in a fine fashionable woman's hand, a few brief lines, which ran:--

"My dear Eva,--I could not come to-day, but shall be there this evening.

Everything is complete. When the truth becomes known the discovery will, I antic.i.p.ate, startle the world. It must, for reasons you know, remain a strict secret. Do not breathe a word to a soul.--Yours ever.

"Anna."

"That may refer to the invention we found in the laboratory; a scientific discovery which no one has come forward to claim. But who, I wonder, is Anna?"

"She might be the dead woman," Boyd suggested.

"True," I agreed. "So she might."

During fully half an hour we still remained in that small cosy boudoir, which seemed to be Eva's own room, examining everything carefully and taking the utmost precaution to replace everything exactly as we found it. In this Boyd displayed real genius. Whatever was moved he rearranged it with an exactness little short of astounding. His astuteness was remarkable. Nothing escaped him, now that he was on the trail.

Yet, as I wandered about, examining things here and there, I could not repress a feeling of reproach, for had I not, after all, a.s.sisted in this secret search which had resulted so disastrously for the strange, mysterious woman I so dearly loved? She was now under the suspicion of the police. They would keep her under surveillance, for the evidence we had already obtained was sufficient to induce any magistrate to grant a warrant for her arrest. A sudden sense of a vast, immeasurable loss fell upon me.

The small box containing the greyish-blue powder had been replaced in the concealed drawer, and everything had been rearranged in the room, when the local officer said--

"At the end of the corridor there's another sitting-room."

"Very well," Boyd answered. "Let's see what it's like," and we all three, lights in hand, followed our guide until we entered a smaller sitting-room.

An easel stood in it and it was apparently used by Eva as a studio, for she, I knew, took lessons in painting. Upon the easel stood a canvas half finished, while near the window was a small writing-table, the one long drawer of which was locked. The lock was a common one and quickly yielded to Boyd's skeleton keys, but within we only found another collection of old letters, a quant.i.ty of pencil sketches, colours and other odds and ends connected with her art studies. Boyd was turning them over methodically, when suddenly an involuntary exclamation escaped him.

"Ah! What's this?" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, at the same time drawing forth a card about the size of a lady's visiting card, and held it out to me.

Upon it was drawn in ink a circle. It was executed in exactly the same manner as that we had found concealed beneath the plates in the dining-room at Phillimore Place.

Again he turned the things over and drew out three or four other cards of similar size and style, each bearing a device, one having upon its face the straight line exactly like that we had found in Kensington.

"You recognise these devices?" he inquired.

"Of course," I responded in an awed voice, utterly bewildered. "What, I wonder, can they denote?"

He shrugged his shoulders, examined each card carefully beneath the rays of his lamp, felt it, and after carefully examining all the heterogeneous collection of things in the drawer, placed them back again, closed it, and relocked it.

"Those cards bear some very important part in the tragedy, I feel a.s.sured," he said when he had finished, and turned to me with a puzzled expression. "They look innocent enough, and the devices are in no way forbidding; nevertheless, it is strange that we find here, in her possession, exact duplicates not only of the cards, but also of that coin carried by the dead man."

"It's all utterly astounding," I declared. Then, with a touch of poignant regret and despair, I added: "All these discoveries would cause me the highest gratification if I did not love her as fondly as I do."

"You surely could not make a murderess your wife, Urwin?" my friend said. "In this matter remember that we are striving to fathom a mystery which is one of the most profound and remarkable that has ever been reported at the Yard."

"I know," I answered, glancing around that small room wherein my well-beloved had spent her days in the study of art. "But what I cannot understand is how, being an actual victim of the tragedy, she is nevertheless at the same time implicated in the affair."

"That will be made plain later," he said with an air of confidence.

"One thing is quite clear, that she purchased certain poisons which are only known to those well versed in toxicology. We have that on old Lowry's own authority. If, then, she bought this drug it could only be for one purpose, namely, to commit murder. Well, she made an attempt upon you; therefore, why should you endeavour to shield her?"

"Because I love her," I answered, still unconvinced by his argument.

"Bah! Love is entirely out of the question in this matter, my dear fellow," he said, with a gesture of impatience. "She may have fascinated you because of her unusual beauty, but beyond that--well, in six months' time you'll thank Providence that you've not married her-- mark my words."

That was exactly what she herself had said, I reflected. She had prophesied that one day, ere long, I would hate the very mention of her name.

From room to room we pa.s.sed, examining everything, allowing nothing to escape us. There was a.s.suredly no sign of poverty in that house, but really the reverse, a lavish display of costly objects, which showed that its owner was capricious, with money at her command. No expense seemed to have been spared to render that abode the acme of comfort and modern convenience.

In one of the bedrooms in that same corridor, a room which we decided was Eva's from various dresses and other things it contained, we found standing upon the table a large panel photograph of a kind-faced, middle-aged woman, which the local officer at once recognised as that of Lady Glaslyn.

Boyd, taking it up, examined it long and earnestly beneath the light of the bull's-eye.

"Devilish good-looking for a woman of her age," he remarked thoughtfully, as he slowly replaced it upon the table. "Do you know?"

he added, turning to me, "I fancy I've met her somewhere--but where I can't for the life of me recollect. What do you know about the family?"

"Very little beyond what's in Burke, which only devotes three lines to them. The baronetcy was conferred in 1839, and Lady Glaslyn's husband, Sir Thomas, died six years ago. No mention is made of their country seat, so I presume they haven't one."

Boyd stroked his beard and gave vent to a low grunt of doubt.

"Well," he said, "I'm almost positive that I've met her before somewhere. I wonder where it was."

Quickly we rearranged the articles in the room which we had disturbed and pa.s.sed on to the next, the door of which faced us, forming the end of the long corridor.

"Hulloa!" Boyd cried. "What does this mean?"

We both looked, and by the light of the lantern saw that the door was a double one and that right across it was a long bar of steel or iron painted and grained the colour of the wood so as not to be noticeable, and securing it strongly.

"This is decidedly funny," the detective continued, bending down to examine something. "Look! it's sealed!"

I bent eagerly beside him, and there saw that the great sliding bolt ran in three large hasps, and that one of the k.n.o.bs of the bolt was secured by wire to the hasp, the two ends of the wire being secured together by a round seal of molten lead about the size of a shilling. By this the bolt was rendered immovable.

"Extraordinary!" I gasped, as we all stood wondering what might be therein concealed. "If we cut the wire then our presence here will be betrayed," I said.

But Boyd, who was still examining the seal with great care, exclaimed at last, pointing to it--

"Do you see two letters on the seal, `R.' and `M.'?"

"Yes," I answered. "What do you think they denote?"

"They tell us how this seal was impressed," the detective responded.

"These initials stand for Rete Mediterranea, and the machine with which the seal has been impressed is one of those used at every Italian railway station to seal merchandise and pa.s.sengers' baggage. It has certainly been placed upon the wire by one who knew how to handle the instrument with dexterity."

"There must be something in that room which her ladyship desires to keep secret," I remarked, both amazed and excited at this latest discovery.