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Page 29
"O, I did'nt wait to hear. I did'nt wait for anything. If folks was
going to talk about such things as that, I thought I had better be
anywhere than listening at the keyhole. I went right up stairs I can
tell you."
"And whom have you told of what you heard in the half dozen hours that
have gone by?"
"Nobody; how could you think so mean of me when I promised, and--"
It is not necessary to go any further into this portion of the
interview.
The Countess De Mirac possessed to its fullest extent the present fine
lady's taste for bric-a-brac. So much I had learned in my inquiries
concerning her. Remembering this, I took the bold resolution of
profiting by this weakness of hers to gain admission to her presence,
she being the only one sharing Mr. Blake's mysterious secret.
Borrowing a valuable antique from a friend of mine at that time in the
business, I made my appearance the very next day at her apartments,
and sending in an urgent request to see Madame, by the trim negress
who answered my summons, waited in some doubt for her reply.
It came all too soon; Madame was ill and could see no one. I was not,
however, to be baffled by one rebuff. Handing the basket I held to
the girl, I urged her to take it in and show her mistress what it
contained, saying it was a rare article which might never again come
her way.
The girl complied, though with a doubtful shake of the head which was
anything but encouraging. Her incredulity, however, must have been
speedily rebuked, for she almost immediately returned without the
basket, saying Madame would see me.
My first thoughts upon entering the grand lady's presence, was that
the girl had been mistaken, for I found the Countess walking the
floor in an abstracted way, drying a letter she had evidently but just
completed, by shaking it to and fro with an unsteady hand; the
placque I had brought, lying neglected on the table.
But at sight of my respectful form standing with bent head in the
doorway, she hurriedly thrust the letter into a book and took up the
placque. As she did so I marked her well and almost started at the
change I observed in her since that evening at the Academy. It was
not only that she was dressed in some sort of loose dishabille that
was in eminent contrast to the sweeping silks and satins in which I
had hitherto beheld her adorned; or that she was laboring under some
physical disability that robbed her dark cheek of the bloom that was
its chiefest charm. The change I observed went deeper than that; it
was more as if a light had been extinguished in her countenance. It
was the same woman I had beheld standing like a glowing column of
will and strength before the melancholy form of Mr. Blake, but with
the will and strength gone, and with them all the glow.
"She no longer hopes," thought I, and already felt repaid for my
trouble.
"This is a very pretty article you have brought me," said she with
something of the unrestrained love of art which she undoubtedly
possessed, showing itself through all her languor. "Where did it come
from, and what recommendations have you, to prove it is an honest
sale you offer me?"
"None," returned I, ignoring with a reassuring smile the first
question, "except that I should not be afraid if all the police in
New York knew I was here with this fine placque for sale."
She gave a shrug of her proud shoulder that bespoke the French
Countess and softly ran her finger round the edge of the placque.
"I don't need anything more of this kind," said she languidly;
"besides," and she set it down with a fretful air, "I am in no mood
to buy this afternoon." Then shortly, "What do you ask for it?"
I named a fabulous price.
She started and cast me a keen glance. "You had better take it to some
one else; I have no money to throw away."
With a hesitating hand I lifted the placque towards the basket. "I
would very much like to sell it to you," said I. "Perhaps--"
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