Part 18 (1/2)

”Why should you think that she is not here?” Beatrice asked.

”Because the engagement took place at Simla. This young lady was staying with her brother and his wife; unfortunately I did not catch the name.

The curious part of the affair is that she is a ward of your late father.”

Beatrice looked puzzled for a moment. She did not quite understand.

”You mean that my father was guardian under a will or something of that kind?” she asked.

”That's it, miss,” Field exclaimed. ”We ought to be able to identify the young lady between us, especially as the affair only took place three years ago or so, as I understand. If you will pardon me for saying so, Sir Charles was a very careless gentleman, and hardly the man that a careful parent would choose as a guardian. The young lady's father must have known yours very intimately indeed, or very little, it does not matter which. Still, I don't suppose that Sir Charles had many of these affairs on hand. Now, see if you can recollect anything of the kind happening during the last three or four years, Miss Darryll.”

Beatrice thought the matter over carefully for a moment. Her face lighted up presently.

”I fancy that I have it,” she said. ”Lord Edward Decie, who was a great friend of my father, died about three years ago. The two men did a lot of speculating together, and indeed Lord Edward pa.s.sed for a shrewd and successful man. When he died I know my father was executor under the will and that he had some control over the Hon. Violet Decie. I never saw the girl, because she went to India with a married brother, and, for all I know she is there still. I understood that she was rather an impulsive kind of girl who did wild things on the spur of the moment.

But you can easily inquire.”

Field's face expressed a guarded satisfaction. So far he was not very much out.

”That is the young lady, miss,” he cried. ”I'll put the inquiries on foot at once. And I don't think that I need detain you any longer.”

”One minute,” Beatrice said. ”What about Colonel Berrington? What steps have you taken to find him? Are you going to have that house at Wandsworth watched?”

Field intimated that he was, though in his opinion it was time wasted.

”They will expect something of the kind, you see,” he said. ”Of course it is a help to me that my presence in the house was not suspected. They may conclude that Berrington was alone in the business, and on the other hand they may not conclude anything of the kind. But, all the same, I am going to have the house carefully watched.”

Before the day was out the disappearance of Sir Charles's body was obscured by the strange absence of Colonel Berrington. Field would have kept this latter fact concealed as far as possible, but then Berrington's landlady had been his old nurse, and she was not rational in the matter at all. The authorities had promised to do all they could, though the press accused them of being exceedingly lax in the business.

As a matter of fact, Field had given his chiefs an inkling of the situation, so that they were really doing their best all the time. A carefully planned watch on the Wandsworth Common house had come to nothing, but the people there had not yet returned; indeed very little could have been done if they had.

And Field was turning in another direction. He had to trace the young lady who at one time had been engaged to Carl Sartoris, and he had found it a more difficult business than he had antic.i.p.ated. It was a delicate business, too, calling for tactful manipulation. A somewhat talkative aunt of the young lady was found at length. She took Field for a lawyer who was seeking the Honorable Violet for her own advantage.

”Oh, yes. She has been back from India a long time,” Lady Parkstone said. ”Violet is a very strange and clever girl. Yes, she has been engaged more than once. But the engagements are always broken off.

Violet was always in love with herself. But very clever, as I said before. At one time she bade fair to become quite a famous artist, and she has had stories in the magazines. Her last fad was the stage and that has lasted quite a long time. In fact she is on the stage now.”

”In London, my lady?” Field asked. ”She is not acting under her own name, of course?”

”No,” Lady Parkstone explained. ”She is Miss Adela Vane; at present she is playing at the Comedy Opera House. It is just possible that you know the name.”

Field knew the name very well. He departed presently well satisfied with the progress that he had made. It was getting quite late by the time he had found out where Miss Vane lodged, but he had time to go back to Scotland Yard again. There, a note from the superintendent of the Wandsworth Police was awaiting him, asking him to go down as soon as possible. The note was vague but it suggested possibilities.

The Wandsworth authorities had not much to say, but they had one detail.

Last night one of the men who was told to watch No. 100 had seen something. The windows were all shuttered from top to bottom, each shutter having a little ventilator in it. Field nodded, for he had noticed this himself.

”Very well, then,” the superintendent went on. ”So far as we know the house is empty. But is it? If so why should a light have been seen last night, behind the little round ventilator? The light came and went, and in a great flas.h.i.+ng, dazzling kind of way for half an hour, and then stopped. It was as if a child was playing with the switch of the electric light.”

Field nodded and smiled. He looked exceedingly pleased with himself.

”Guess I understand,” he said. ”Especially as we are seeking for a military gentleman. We'll go as far as Audley Place at once, and investigate. Only we shall have to call at the Post Office and borrow a clerk out of the telegraph department. Come along.”