The Sign of the Stranger Part 40

Then Keene paused, and a dead silence again fell among us.

"Well," remarked Logan at last. "You have heard the truth regarding that incident by one who was its eye-witness. Therefore, I will go further and tell you what happened afterwards."

I looked at the proud woman who had sneered at my love for Lolita, and who was now swaying pale and unsteadily before us, but even then, after these startling revelations, I did not discern with what marvellous cleverness and daring she had schemed to shield herself at the price of the life of my well-beloved.

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

THE AFFAIR IN SIBBERTON PARK.

"The woman Marie Lejeune quickly developed from the smart ladies' maid of the Comtesse de Martigny, a gay Parisienne, into the shrewdest and cleverest of adventuresses, and aided by the two Italians, made several large and successful coups at Vichy, Aix-les-Bains, and elsewhere,"

continued the man Logan, speaking in the same clear, decisive tones, addressing the Earl. "I, however, had parted from them, and was conducting an honest business in London, while Mr Keene had left on a shooting expedition in Africa, where he afterwards met you, and I presume gave his name as Smeeton in order that you should not connect him with the person who had been at San Remo that season.

"Until your marriage, the Frenchwoman did not trouble your wife nor Lolita in the least. She waited her time until Lady Marigold had married and was wealthy and you returned to London from your honeymoon in Cairo, when one day she called at Stanchester House, saw the Countess, and by showing her the letter she had written to Atherton succeeded in extracting blackmail from her, a course which she has continued until quite recently. And not only this," he added, "but she approached Lolita secretly and made large requests, threatening that if they were not complied with she would denounce her as the murderess of poor Randolph Glover at San Remo! Her ladyship, helpless and terrified, was forced to comply with these demands although entirely innocent of the crime. On the other hand, however, there was some truth in the woman's allegation against Lady Stanchester--who, by the way, believed that Richard Keene was dead--and these facts were confirmed by Wingfield who, previous to being in the employment of Mr Keene, was valet to Major Atherton.

"One day, it appeared that the woman Lejeune, in an interview in which she repeated her usual demands for money, told her of Wingfield's allegations against her and how she could ruin her in your eyes by bringing forward the young valet. The Countess thereupon paid the sum demanded, but from that moment entered into a conspiracy against Wingfield, fearing the revelation he might make concerning her. Her friendship with Atherton had long ago given rise to rumour, and these, she knew, had reached your ears before your marriage. Therefore she was now in fear of both the Frenchwoman and the valet. She knew where Marie Lejeune, Belotto and Ostini were living in London, and in order to free herself gave information to Scotland Yard, who held a warrant from the French police for their arrest. The trio were, however, wary, and fearing arrest rapidly changed their place of abode, with the result that the police were baffled."

"And all this time Lolita was being blackmailed?" asked the Earl.

"Yes," answered my love faintly. "It is true, George, all this--every word of it."

"Matters continued thus for two years, until last August, when a tragedy occurred," Logan went on. "The young valet, Wingfield, whose love for Lady Lolita had now cooled and who had told her ladyship of his lowly station and of how he had been in the service of Major Atherton, had some time before got into low water, and Lady Lolita, in order to a.s.sist him, had first given him money and then, when her private resources were drained by the woman Lejeune's demands, had given him articles of jewellery, which he sold or p.a.w.ned. The young man's opinion regarding the death of Randolph Glover had changed, for he explained to her ladyship how he had discovered in San Remo that the unfortunate young officer had fallen a prey to those harpies, and that the manoeuvre had been carried out and the charge laid against her ladyship in order to extract blackmail. Lady Lolita had then entered into negotiations with young Wingfield to effect her release from the bondage in which the Frenchwoman held her, and these continued for some months, until that fateful night in August. Of what occurred then her ladyship herself can best explain to us."

And, pausing, he turned to my love to allow her to tell us with her own lips.

For a few moments she remained pale and silent. Her great blue eyes met mine, and then looking me straight in the face she said--

"What Mr Logan has told you is perfectly correct. The poor young man was working in my interests, and I had written him a cipher letter making an appointment to meet me in the park at a spot where we had met several times previously, as I knew, secretly watching the Frenchwoman and her accomplices in London as he was, he had something to report to me. That afternoon, however, as I drove through the village I saw at the window of the Stanchester Arms the one man whom I feared would denounce me--the man who had been witness of the affair at San Remo, and who had openly expressed belief in my guilt--Richard Keene. He had come to Sibberton evidently to make inquiries about me. By his presence there, I knew he meant mischief.

"That same evening I also received a secret visit from Marie Lejeune.

Still I kept the appointment and walked across the park by a circuitous route, in order that none of the servants should recognise me. I knew I had plenty of time by the chiming of the stable clock, therefore I did not hurry. But when I reached the hollow I found he was not there, and had waited for a moment in expectation, when of a sudden I saw something in the darkness lying close to me. I bent and to my horror discovered that it was the young man Wingfield--dead! I screamed and rushed away, not knowing whither I went, but scarcely had I gone a few yards when I ran right into the arms of Mr Logan. I had, in my horror, picked up the knife lying at the dead man's side, a long, thin Italian dagger, and when he met me I still held it in my hand. That very fact, of which I was unconscious at the moment, convinced him of my guilt. Thus on a second occasion was I suspected of a crime of which I was innocent. Of what occurred afterwards I have little recollection. I only know that Mr Logan took the knife from my hand, and that for hours we wandered, he trying to obtain from me the true facts against Marigold which the dead man had alleged. Then at dawn we parted, and I was met by Mr Woodhouse, who set about swiftly to remove every piece of evidence that might convict me of the mysterious crime. Ah!" she cried, "G.o.d alone knows how much I have suffered--how Marie Lejeune and her accomplices have tortured me."

"I admit," declared Logan frankly, "that I believed Lady Lolita to be guilty. The horror at finding the dead man and the knowledge that the great intrigue was still in progress produced upon her an effect which I unfortunately mistook for guilt. You must first know that on the night in question, being again a.s.sociated with Marie Lejeune, I had accompanied her to Sibberton, whither she went at Lady Lolita's request.

Her ladyship saw her privately, while I awaited her in the `Mermaid'

over at Geddington. Marie had, by secret means, learnt of Lolita's intention to meet Hugh Wingfield in the park that night, therefore on leaving the Hall she awaited in order to watch and obtain knowledge of the negotiations against her which she knew were in progress between the valet and her ladyship, while I, surprised at her long absence, strolled across to the park in order to meet her on her return, as the way was dark and lonely.

"According to the statement she afterwards made to me, it appears that she watched the young valet's arrival. He stood listening for about five minutes, when suddenly a woman, whom by her ermine cloak she knew was Lady Lolita, approached in the gloom, but as the young man uttered her name and put his hand out to welcome her, she stepped nimbly past him and struck him full in the back--a fatal blow. It was but the work of a single instant. `Ah! my lady!' he gasped, clutching at her cloak.

`You--you've killed me!' And he sank upon the ground and expired. At that instant Marie Lejeune stepped from her hiding-place and the two women met face to face. Then Marie was staggered to discover that the woman who wore Lady Lolita's cloak was not Lady Lolita herself--but that woman standing there!" he exclaimed, pointing to the Countess, "Lady Stanchester!"

"Lady Stanchester!" we all gasped in one breath, while the wretched woman thus denounced stood before us, swaying and shrinking from our gaze.

"But surely she was still at Aix-les-Bains!" I cried.

"No," he declared. "She had returned to London on the previous day, and was living at Burton's boarding-house, in Hereford Road, Bayswater, under the name of Mrs Frith. That very morning she had seen the young valet in Westbourne Grove, and had followed him down to Sibberton. As soon as she saw him take a ticket for Kettering she knew of his intention to meet Lady Lolita clandestinely, therefore she saw in that her opportunity to deal him a fatal blow, and thus prevent any ugly revelation regarding her past."

"But the cloak?" I asked.

"Lady Lolita had lent it to her just before her departure for Aix, and she wore it on that night." Then I saw how, by my neglecting to tell Lolita of the finding of the cloak by the gamekeeper Jacobs, I had myself withheld the truth from her! Had she known that the cloak she had lent Marigold had been found torn and cast aside, she would of course have suspected the ident.i.ty of the a.s.sa.s.sin.

"The young man's acquaintance with Lolita and Marigold accounts, I suppose, for his having watched my movements in London!" remarked the Earl.

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.

THE TRUTH.

"You see," Logan went on, "Lady Stanchester feared the revelation which the young valet could make concerning her, therefore, knowing that Lady Lolita was in the habit of writing to him in cipher and that they had arranged to meet that night in the park, she saw that if she killed him suspicion must be thrown upon her husband's sister. Besides, she was believed to be still at Aix, the only person having knowledge of her secret presence in London being Marie, with whom she had an interview that very day. Judge her dismay, therefore, when at the moment of the committal of the crime she came face to face with Marie herself, her bitterest enemy! Only a gasp of surprise escaped the mouths of both women. They glared into each other's faces, and while the Countess knew that her terrible secret was not her own, Marie Lejeune saw gloatingly that her power over the wealthy woman was now that of life or death. It was not to the Frenchwoman's interest to tell the truth to the police while Lady Stanchester submitted to blackmail, therefore in this second case, as in the first, the facts against Lady Lolita were sufficiently circ.u.mstantial to secure her conviction, and more especially that she held the knife in her hand when I had encountered her at the scene of the crime."

"But surely you told Lady Lolita that you were satisfied that the charge against her was a false one?" I asked.

"Certainly I did--after Marie Lejeune had told me the truth. I did not, however, tell her who was the actual a.s.sa.s.sin, as Marie would not allow me. Nevertheless in neither case could her actual innocence be proved unless Marie Lejeune spoke the truth--and this she refused to do, first because she must by so doing implicate herself; and secondly that she would then lose the power for blackmail which she had established with such devilish ingenuity. It was true, as Lady Lolita declared to me, she was their victim--and to drive her to self-destruction was equally their object--in order to save themselves."

The Earl stood listening to the terrible allegations against his wife, scarcely moving a muscle of his features.

"From the moment of Wingfield's death Lady Stanchester, against whom the French police held a warrant for her implication in certain frauds of the gang, was entirely in the Frenchwoman's unscrupulous hands," Logan continued, "but knowing Lady Lolita's peril, and sympathising with her-- the unconscious victim of the evil deeds of both these women--I took her side against them and joined myself in secret with Mr Keene, although at the time I was still allied with them.

"Keene also joined us, but with a view to freeing Lady Lolita from the false charges against her. He knew the truth regarding Lady Stanchester, and with us sought concealment in a farm in the vicinity, our object being to keep observation upon the movements of the Countess.

We should have remained longer, had it not been for the jealousy of Belotto, who one night attacked Marie Lejeune and we were compelled to call in a doctor. Moreover we were compelled, owing to that, to escape abroad again. After a short time, however, the Countess--still compelled to submit to blackmail heavily and even to give some of her jewellery in lieu of money, and living in daily terror that the Frenchwoman should give secret information to the police regarding the a.s.sa.s.sination of Wingfield--wrote to me in Lucerne expressing a desire to meet Marie again, and come to some amicable arrangement with her. I arranged the meeting, came to London, and escorted Lady Stanchester to Milan. By some means Mr Woodhouse obtained knowledge of her intention and follow us. Perhaps he will tell you what occurred."

"Certainly," I said. And then I related the result of my vigilance, and the adventure which subsequently happened to me.

"You were struck down by a man whom Marie had on watch outside the house and carried into the place afterwards," explained Logan, when I had concluded my narrative.

"Why Marie received us in the apartment that was not her own," he continued, "was in order that the Countess should not afterwards be able to inform the police of her whereabouts. She invited Lady Stanchester and ourselves to supper, when a fresh and very ingenious scheme of fraud upon jewellers in Paris, in which she intended to compel her ladyship to take part, was discussed. Presently the two women quarrelled, mutual recriminations followed, whereupon Marie openly accused her visitor of Wingfield's murder and threatened that if she refused her a.s.sistance in this new scheme she intended to denounce her. Scarcely, however, had the Frenchwoman uttered these words when Lady Stanchester rose suddenly, drew a knife, and stabbed her to the heart while she sat at table. For a moment we all sat dumbfounded and horrified. Then the question arose how best to dispose of the body. The man who had driven us there was one of our accomplices, therefore it was resolved to drive out about two miles, and place it in the ca.n.a.l.

"While they carried it out I was to remain behind, to remove all trace of the crime. The murderess sat motionless in the corner of the room, appalled by her own deed. Judge my surprise, however, when, a few minutes later, the body of Marie was brought back again, and then Mr Woodhouse, whom we all believed to be here, at Sibberton, was carried in! He was placed in such a position that whoever discovered the tragedy would believe that he was the murderer. The guilty woman screamed aloud when her eyes fell upon her husband's secretary, saying, `Strike him again! Make certain he's dead, or he will tell the truth-- he will expose me!' But we dragged her away, and two hours afterwards I sat with her in the Bale express, travelling towards London.

"To-night I came down here to see her in secret, in order to plead with her to release Lady Lolita from the terrible thraldom of suspicion--yet it seems that in order to save herself she had actually uttered the false charges to her husband. Had I not met Lady Lolita in the pleasure-grounds to-night, she would, ere this, have been driven to the last extremity."

"Ah!" I cried, standing aghast at the extraordinary story, "it is, indeed, the hand of Providence that has directed your presence here to-night, Mr Logan. You have, if nothing else, made atonement for the part you yourself played in the affair, by coming forward and exposing a guilty woman and saving from death one who is pure, innocent and long-suffering--the woman I love."

Lady Lolita grasped my hand tightly, but no word pa.s.sed her quivering lips.

Keene, however, said--

"Although Lady Lolita looked upon me as her enemy from the first, I was, in reality, her friend. I allied myself with Mr Logan and the two Italians in order to discover their intrigue and to save her ladyship."

"And you have done so," Lolita declared. "I can never sufficiently thank either you or Mr Logan. You have, moreover, saved me from the sin of self-destruction," she faltered, and then she burst into tears.

"And you?" cried the Earl, in anger and loathing, turning upon his statuesque wife who stood there, erect, immovable, as though turned to stone. "And you, woman!--What have you to reply to all this?"

Her white lips moved, but no sound escaped them. She tried to speak--to deny the truth, perhaps, but words failed her. She raised her hand, moved slightly, then, staggering, fell forward heavily without a hand to save her.

So painful, so terrible, so dramatic was that scene between husband and wife that we all of us withdrew and have ever since been trying to efface it from our recollections.

Thus was the awful truth revealed that the woman whom half London envied had committed a second murder in order to conceal the first, and that she had actually gone out to Milan with the distinct and premeditated object of taking the Frenchwoman's life.

Never till my dying day shall I forget those terrible moments when before our eyes the love of the Earl of Stanchester turned to hatred, and when he spurned her senseless body with his foot as he turned from her in disgust and left the Hall. I will not attempt to describe it--it was far too painful, too terrible, too awful to be placed upon record.

Would that it could for ever be wiped from the tablets of my memory.