Part 17 (1/2)
His patent detachable lock, however, had disappeared, like the jewels.
And despite the sensation of sickness, and pain in the head, there were no symptoms of drugging by chloroform, or any odour of chloroform or other anaesthetic in the room.
It struck Annesley as strange, almost terrifying, that these details of the _Monarchic_ ”sensation” should come back to her now; but she could not doubt that she had actually read them, and the rest of the story continued to reprint itself on her brain, as the unrolling of a film might bring back to one of the actors poses of his own which he had let slip into oblivion.
She remembered how some of the more important pa.s.sengers had suggested that everybody on board should be searched, even to the s.h.i.+p's officers, sailors, and employes of all sorts; that the search had been made and nothing found, but that a lady supposed to possess clairvoyant powers had offered Mr. Jekyll or Jedkill to _consult her crystal_ for his benefit.
She had done so, and had seen wireless messages pa.s.sing between someone on the _Monarchic_ and someone on another s.h.i.+p, with whom the former person appeared to be in collusion. She had seen a small, fair man, dressed as a woman, hypnotizing the jewellers' agent into the belief that he was locking his door when instead he was leaving it unlocked.
Then she had seen this man who, she a.s.serted firmly, was dressed like a woman, walk into his victim's cabin, hypnotize him into still deeper unconsciousness, and take from his belt three long strings of pearls and several magnificent diamonds, set and unset. These things she saw made up into a bundle, wrapped in waterproof cloth, attached to a faintly illuminated life-preserver, and thrown overboard.
Almost immediately after, she said, the life preserver was picked up by a man in a small motor-launch let down from a steam yacht. The launch quickly returned to the yacht, was taken up, and the yacht made off in the darkness.
No life belt was missing from the _Monarchic_ and even if suspicion could be entertained against any ”small, fair man” (which was not the case, apparently), there was no justification for a search. Therefore, although a good many people believed in the seeress's vision, it proved nothing, and the sensational affair remained as deep a mystery as ever when the _Monarchic_ docked.
”The Countess de Santiago was the woman who looked in the crystal!”
Annesley said to herself. She wondered why, if Knight had been vexed with the Countess for speaking of their friends.h.i.+p and of the _Monarchic_, as he had once seemed to be, he should refer to it before these strangers.
She looked down the table, past the other faces to his face, and the thought that came to her mind was, how simple and almost meaningless the rest were compared to his. Among the fourteen guests--seven women and seven men--though some had charm or distinction, his face alone was complex, mysterious, and baffling.
Yet she loved it. Now, more than ever, she loved and admired it!
The dinner ended with a discussion between Knight and Constance as to how the Countess de Santiago could be induced to pay a visit to Valley House, despite the fact that she had never met Lord and Lady Annesley-Seton.
Like most women who had lived in Spanish countries, the Countess was rather a ”stickler for etiquette,” her friend Nelson Smith announced.
Besides, her experience as an ”amateur clairvoyante” made her quick to resent anything which had the air of patronage. One must go delicately to work to think out a scheme, if Lady Annesley-Seton were really in ”dead earnest” about wanting her to come.
At this point Knight reflected for a minute, while everyone hung upon his silence; and at last he had an inspiration:
”I'll tell you what we can do!” he exclaimed. ”My wife and I--you're willing, aren't you, Anita?--can ask her to stay over this week-end with us. I think she'll come if she isn't engaged; and we can invite you to meet her at dinner.”
”Oh, you must invite us _all_!” pleaded a pretty woman sitting next to Knight.
”All of you who care to come, certainly,” he agreed. ”Won't we, Anita?”
”Oh, of course. It will be splendid if everybody will dine with us!”
Annesley backed him up with one of the girlish blushes that made her seem so young and ingenuously attractive. ”We can--send a telegram to the Countess.”
She did her best to speak enthusiastically, and succeeded. No one save Knight and Constance guessed it was an effort.
Knight saw, and was grateful. Constance saw also, and smiled to herself at what she fancied was the girl's jealousy of an old friend of the new husband--an old friend who was ”one of the most beautiful women” the girl had seen. Annesley's hesitation inclined Constance to be more interested than ever in the Countess de Santiago.
CHAPTER XII
THE CRYSTAL
Motoring back from Valley House to the Knowle Hotel, Annesley was asking herself whether she might dare refer to the _Monarchic_, and mention the story she had read In the _Morning Post_. She burned to do so, yet stopped each time a question pressed to her lips, remembering Knight's eyes as he had looked at the Countess in the Savoy restaurant the day before the wedding.
Perhaps the wish would have conquered if some imp had not whispered, ”What about that purple envelope, addressed in a woman's handwriting?