Читать книгу The Lady in Blue - Fred M. White - Страница 5

Table of Contents

It was with something more than pity in his heart that Kelso stood there watching the slim, shaking figure before him. Audrey Blair was paying a heavy price for that which, after all, was little more than vanity. He could see the same regret in Denver's eyes, a strange contrast to the cold, hard impassiveness of the strange woman, seated silently on the edge of her chair as if she belonged to another world. But it was no time to waste upon idle sentiment. Something would have to be done, and done at once.

"It is easy to be wise after the event," Denver said. "This is exactly what I expected. It is quite plain now how easy it is for Blanche Trevenner to laugh at you and defy us all. She knows perfectly well that the Grand Duke is more or less powerless. And that's not the worst of it. I am betraying no secret when I say that Miss Trevenner is in dire need of money. At the present moment she would do almost anything to obtain a few thousands. It won't be very long before that tiara is broken up and the stones sold separately. The Duke won't mind so very much because he will look to the elder Hermann to recoup him. We shall have to move very carefully indeed. It is perhaps fortunate that Blanche Trevenner does not know that she has two resolute men to deal with. She will count upon the probability of Mr. Reggie Hermann being afraid to take anybody into his confidence."

"Can't you do anything now?" Audrey asked.

"I am afraid not," Denver went on. "I shall have to think out some plan. It would be the greatest mistake in the world to go to Blanche Trevenner and accuse her bluntly of the theft. We shall have to use far more diplomatic methods than that. We must lay a trap for her—indeed, strategy is the only way out. Once the tiara is in our possession again, we can laugh at her. I'll see young Hermann in the morning and ascertain how long it will be before the loss of the gems is discovered. Then I'll sit down and scheme out a plot much in the same way as I would work out a play."

"Then there's no more to be said now?" Audrey asked. "There is no way in which I can help you?"

"I am afraid not. The best thing you can do is to go home to bed and leave Kelso and myself to talk the matter over."

Audrey rose wearily and crossed the room in the direction of the frozen automaton sitting erect on the edge of her chair. In her turn the quaint figure rose and moved swiftly towards the door. A moment or two later Denver and his guest were alone.

"Well, this is a pretty nice mess," he said. "Take another cigarette, will you? Now, look here, Kelso, I don't care twopence about young Hermann, but I have a strong liking for the poor little girl, and I will do a good deal to get her out of this mess. I don't mind telling you that the part I like least relates to the Grand Duke himself. Unfortunately, for all parties concerned, the Duke was at the theatre last night, and, of course, tumbled to the fact that little Audrey was wearing his jewels. He didn't go round and protest like a decent fellow would have done, but sent a message round asking Audrey Blair to see him. He was not so much concerned for the recovery of his gems as the possibility of getting that little girl into his power. He's a brute of a man, a regular tiger that ought to be shot at sight and thrown into the nearest ditch. Just imagine a poor, frightened child under the thumb of a creature like that! I tell you, the prospect troubles me a great deal more than the chance of an open scandal. You may be pretty certain that the Grand Duke will be at the Sovereign Theatre to-morrow night, bent on an interview with Audrey Blair. It is rather a fortunate thing that he doesn't know where to find her except at the theatre. I think the best thing you can do is to see Hermann to-morrow and act as my representative. Meanwhile, I'll make it my business to keep a keen eye on the Duke. He's pretty certain to be at Lady Goring's big dance to-morrow night. In fact, everybody worth knowing will be present. Did you get a card?"

"Oh, yes," Kelso said. "To tell the truth it is not very much in my line, but the Gorings are old friends of my people, and I could not very well refuse."

"It's just as well you didn't, as things have turned out. You had better trot along now and see Hermann in the morning. You ought to catch him before he goes to business. Then we can meet later in the day, and, if anything prevents us, remember that I have a box at the Sovereign for to-morrow evening, and you can join me there."

Kelso went off presently and thence to bed, to sleep as best he could. The strange story to which he had listened had made a profound impression upon him, and all his sympathy had gone out for the girl, whose simple vanity had brought so much sorrow on her sunny head. Kelso was not an impressionable man, and hitherto women had troubled him but little. He had preferred a life of sport and adventure, he had turned his back upon the simple joys of an existence in the country; but now he was beginning to think about his duty to the family property, and all this had been brought about by a beautiful face and a pair of blue eyes, mutely appealing to him for help and protection. Up to now he had laughed at the class of society man who prefers to select his wife from the chorus of a musical comedy, but then it seemed to him that Audrey Blair belonged to a different class altogether. To begin with, she was unmistakably a lady; there was something fascinating in the mystery that surrounded her, even in the strange creature whom she had chosen for her companion.

Kelso was thinking this over as he made a somewhat less hearty breakfast than usual, and then hurried off to Dover-street, where Denver had informed him Hermann had his luxurious retreat. He found the man in question seated moodily at the breakfast table, smoking a cigarette and toying with a cup of coffee. By his elbow was a decanter of brandy and a liqueur glass, which had been filled not for the first time. Hermann was inclined to resent this intrusion, and took no pains to conceal the fact. He was comparatively new to society and its ways, but quite aware or the fact that the circle in which he now found himself resented his intrusion, and suffered him merely for the sake of his money. He was a vapid youth of small ambitions, the greatest of which was to marry into some old family and forget the fact that his race was the oldest in the world. In some vague way Kelso's cool aloofness irritated him. He pointed to the cigarette box.

"What can I do for you?" he asked.

"I think it is rather the other way about," Kelso answered coldly. "You may possibly think that I'm interfering with your business, but when I tell you that I am concerned on behalf of Miss Blair, you may change your mind. Last night she told Mr. Denver and myself the story of the trouble. I am not saying that she is not largely to blame, but I think you'll admit that you were still more foolish to lend those diamonds, even if it were only for one evening. Of course, you know that the Grand Duke was present at the Sovereign on Saturday night, and identified the stones. Otherwise he would hardly have asked Miss Blair to see him."

Hermann groaned aloud. There was not an atom of fight left in him. He no longer resented the presence of this stranger; indeed, he was only too ready and willing to accept help from any quarter.

"I beg your pardon," he said. "Heavens, what a fool I've been!"

"Men in love, will do foolish things," Kelso smiled.

"But I ain't," Hermann protested. "I'm not quite such a fool as that. These little actress girls are all very well to knock about with, don't you know; but we don't marry them. They're all right in their class, and Audrey Blair's a good specimen——"

"Miss Blair is a lady," Kelso said icily. "I much prefer to keep to the point. Miss Blair is most anxious to get those diamonds back again, and Mr. Denver and myself have promised to do everything to assist. We have a dangerous and unscrupulous woman to deal with, and it will be necessary to fight her with her own weapons. We shall have to get the jewels back much in the same way as they were stolen. I feel uncomfortably conscious of the fact that I am being dragged into a vulgar conspiracy, but that is not the point. To my mind the greatest danger lies in the fact that the Grand Duke knows that somebody or other has parted with his tiara, and he thinks that it is still in the hands of Miss Blair. Now I want you to tell me, exactly, how long we have before the thing reaches an open scandal. You'll have to be quite frank with me. I want to know how those diamonds came into your possession?"

"They were never in my possession at all," Hermann said sulkily. "If you must know it, we are diamond brokers, and, at the same time, advance vast sums of money on family treasures. We're not supposed to do that through Hatton Garden, so, for the purpose, we run a big place in Bond-street. That is how the Grand Duke came into our hands. A little while ago he wanted an immediate cash advance of ten thousand pounds, and we lent it him on the tiara. I had the business in hand myself and I placed the jewels in the safe, of which, of course, I have one of the keys. All the trouble arose one evening last week at a theatrical supper party. It began in the way of a joke, but, before the party broke up, I had pledged myself to lend Audrey Blair something very magnificent, in the way of a diamond ornament, to wear on the first night of the new play. As I was under the impression that the Grand Duke had left England, it seemed to me to be quite safe to use his jewels. Of course, I never dreamed that Blanche Trevenner knew so much, and it did not occur to me that she would be audacious enough to steal the tiara. But there it is, and, if the story gets out, the old man will be furious. The loss of the money will be bad enough, but it will be the damage to the business that will hit hardest. I shouldn't wonder if he chucks me out, stops my allowance, and all that sort of thing, don't you know. I dare say I can manage to keep the thing dark for two or three days, that is, of course, if the Grand Duke doesn't decide to take a hand in the game."

Hermann went drifting on in the same mournful strain, but Kelso was no longer listening. Nothing was to be gained now by prolonging the interview, and he took his departure presently, with the intention of seeing Denver without delay. But Denver, apparently, was otherwise engaged, and, when the hour to dress arrived, he was still invisible. So there was nothing, therefore, but an early meal and a visit to the Sovereign Theatre. It was some minutes past eight when Kelso entered the box, but Denver had not yet arrived, neither had the curtain gone up, but the packed audience were already giving signs of impatience. And then, in some strange, inscrutable way, tongues began to buzz, and the audience thrilled, as crowds do in the knowledge of some impending disaster. Something evidently had happened, but, up there in the box, Kelso was too aloof from the rest to gather exactly what it was. There was a long pause, and then the stage-manager appeared before the curtain.

"A most unpleasant thing has happened, ladies and gentlemen," he said. "I have no doubt that it will be explained satisfactorily, but Miss Audrey Blair has disappeared from the theatre. She was in her dressing-room a little time ago, ready for her part, and now she has vanished. She must have left the theatre dressed just as she was, but though I have questioned everybody closely, nobody seemed to have witnessed her departure. As she was ready to play, her understudy did not remain, and, consequently, it is impossible for us to go on with the piece. If——"

But the rest of the sentence was drowned in the clamour which broke out from the excited audience. Kelso was conscious of the fact that some one was grasping him by the arm, and he turned to find Denver standing behind him. From the expression of his face he had heard all that had passed.

"This is a pretty business," he said. "Come round behind with me, and we will make inquiries."

But the stage-manager had very little to say and very little to add to what he had already told the audience.

"Miss Blair came down to the theatre as usual," he explained, "and went at once to her dressing-room. As you know, she comes on very early in the piece, and she was dressed for her part before eight o'clock. I saw her when she came in, and she seemed to be unusually quiet and depressed. Beyond saying that she had a slight headache she did not complain. How she managed to leave her dressing-room and get away through the stage-door without anybody seeing her is a mystery. And yet everybody swears that nobody left the theatre. I am absolutely bewildered."

"Did she have a visitor or a letter of any kind?" Denver asked.

"I believe there was one letter," the manager said. "Now I come to think of it, I saw an envelope lying on the dressing-room floor."

Denver asked to see the envelope. When it was produced, he turned over the flap and regarded it more or less critically. Without a word of explanation he returned it to the stage-manager, and, placing his hand in Kelso's arm, led him into the street.

"The plot thickens," he said. "We'll have a taxi as far as my rooms, and discuss this business until it is time to go to Lady Goring's dance. We shall see the Duke there."

"What's he got to do with it?" Kelso asked.

"Well, his monogram was on the back of that envelope. It looks as if we are going to have an exciting evening."