|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 27
Her voice broke and she took out a handkerchief. Again that odor
of lilacs in the room.
"For a time I saw the captain often in London; and then I began to
notice a change. Back among his own kind, with the lonely days in
India a mere memory--he seemed no longer to--to care for me.
Then--last Thursday morning--he called on me to tell me that he
was through; that he would never see me again--in fact, that he
was to marry a girl of his own people who had been waiting--"
The woman looked piteously about at us.
"I was desperate," she pleaded. "I had given up all that life held
for me--given it up for a man who now looked at me coldly and spoke
of marrying another. Can you wonder that I went in the evening to
his rooms--went to plead with him--to beg, almost on my knees?
It was no use. He was done with me--he said that over and over.
Overwhelmed with blind rage and despair, I snatched up that knife
from the table and plunged it into his heart. At once I was filled
with remorse. I--"
"One moment," broke in Hughes. "You may keep the details of your
subsequent actions until later. I should like to compliment you,
Countess. You tell it better each time."
He came over and faced Bray. I thought there was a distinct note
of hostility in his voice.
"Checkmate, Inspector!" he said. Bray made no reply. He sat there
staring up at the colonel, his face turned to stone.
"The scarab pin," went on Hughes, "is not yet forthcoming. We are
tied for honors, my friend. You have your confession, but I have
one to match it."
"All this is beyond me," snapped Bray.
"A bit beyond me, too," the colonel answered. "Here are two people
who wish us to believe that on the evening of Thursday last, at half
after six of the clock, each sought out Captain Fraser-Freer in his
rooms and murdered him."
He walked to the window and then wheeled dramatically.
"The strangest part of it all is," he added, "that at six-thirty
o'clock last Thursday evening, at an obscure restaurant in Soho
--Frigacci's--these two people were having tea together!"
I must admit that, as the colonel calmly offered this information,
I suddenly went limp all over at a realization of the endless maze
of mystery in which we were involved. The woman gave a little cry
and Lieutenant Fraser-Freer leaped to his feet.
"How the devil do you know that?" he cried.
"I know it," said Colonel Hughes, "because one of my men happened
to be having tea at a table near by. He happened to be having tea
there for the reason that ever since the arrival of this lady in
London, at the request of--er--friends in India, I have been
keeping track of her every move; just as I kept watch over your
late brother, the captain."
Without a word Lieutenant Fraser-Freer dropped into a chair and
buried his face in his hands.
"I'm sorry, my son," said Hughes. "Really, I am. You made a
heroic effort to keep the facts from coming out--a man's-size
effort it was. But the War Office knew long before you did that
your brother had succumbed to this woman's lure--that he was
serving her and Berlin, and not his own country, England."
Fraser-Freer raised his head. When he spoke there was in his voice
an emotion vastly more sincere than that which had moved him when
he made his absurd confession.
"The game's up," he said. "I have done all I could. This will
kill my father, I am afraid. Ours has been an honorable name,
Colonel; you know that--a long line of military men whose loyalty
to their country has never before been in question. I thought my
confession would and the whole nasty business, that the
investigations would stop, and that I might be able to keep forever
unknown this horrible thing about him--about my brother."
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|