Part 37 (1/2)

”And you are alone?” I inquired, thinking it strange that she should thus ask me to her hotel.

”Of course. I have come to London expressly to see you,” she responded.

”I went down to Budleigh-Salterton two days ago, but I ascertained at Denbury that you had left suddenly.”

”Whom did you see there?” I inquired, much interested.

”Your butler. He told me some absurd story, how that you had become temporarily irresponsible for your actions, and had disappeared, leaving no address.”

”And you came to London?”

”Of course.”

”And how did you find out where I was hidden, and my a.s.sumed name?”

She smiled mysteriously.

”It was easy enough, I a.s.sure you. A man of your influence in the City, and as well known as you are, has considerable difficulty in effectively concealing his ident.i.ty.”

”But who told you where I was staying?” I demanded.

”n.o.body. I discovered it for myself.”

”And yet the police have been searching for me everywhere, and have not yet discovered me!” I remarked, surprised.

”The police have one method,” she said. ”I have an entirely different one.”

”Tell me one thing,” I said, halting in our walk, for we were already at the commencement of Victoria Street--that street down which I had wandered blindly on that night long ago when I had lost myself--”tell me for what reason those previous appointments were made with me at Grosvenor Gate, at King's Cross, at Eastbourne, and elsewhere?”

”You kept them,” she replied. ”You surely know.”

”No, that's just it,” I said. ”Of course, I don't expect you to give credence to what I say--it sounds too absurd--but I have absolutely no knowledge of keeping those appointments except the one at Grosvenor Gate, and I am totally ignorant of having met anybody.” She paused, looking me full in the face with those grey eyes so full of mystery.

”I begin to think that what the butler told me contains some truth,” she observed bluntly.

”No,” I protested. ”My mind is in no way unhinged. I am fully aware of all that transpired at The Boltons, of--”

”At The Boltons?” she interrupted, turning a trifle pale. ”What do you mean?”

”Of the crime enacted at that house--in The Boltons.” She held her breath. Plainly she was not before aware that I had discovered the spot where the tragedy had taken place. My words had taken her by surprise, and it was evident that she was utterly confounded. My discovery I had kept a profound secret unto myself, and now, for the first time, had revealed it.

Her face showed how utterly taken aback she was. ”There is some mistake, I think,” she said lamely, apparently for want of something other to say.

”Surely your memory carries you back to that midnight tragedy!” I exclaimed rather hastily, for I saw she would even now mislead me, if she could. ”I have discovered where it took place--I have since re-entered that room?”

”You have!” she gasped in the low, hoa.r.s.e voice of one fearful lest her secret should be discovered. ”You have actually re-discovered the house--even though you were stone blind?”

”Yes,” I answered.

”How did you accomplish it?”