'Well, I shouldn't have suggested your coming to the Yard if I hadn't wanted to do that. As a matter of fact, this scorpion job seems to resolve itself into a case of elaborate assassination by means of some unknown poison; and although I should have come to see you in any event, because you have helped me more than once, I came to-night at the suggestion of the Commissioner. He instructed me to retain your services if they were available.'
'I am honoured,' replied Stuart. 'But after all, Inspector, I am merely an ordinary suburban practitioner. My reputation has yet to be made. What's the matter with Halesowen of Upper Wimpole Street? He's the big man.'
'And if Sir Frank Narcombe was really poisoned—as Paris seems to think he was—he's also a big fool.' retorted Dunbar bluntly. 'He agreed that death was due to heart trouble.'
'I know he did; unsuspected ulcerative endocarditis. Perhaps he was right.'
'If he was right,' said Dunbar, taking up the piece of gold from the table, 'what was Gaston Max doing with this thing in his possession?'
'There may be no earthly connection between Max's inquiries and the death of Sir Frank.'
'On the other hand—there may! Leaving Dr. Halesowen out of the question, are you open to act as expert adviser in this case?'
'Certainly; delighted.'
'Your fee is your own affair, doctor. I will communicate with you later, if you wish, or call again in the morning.'
Dunbar wrapped up the scorpion's tail in the piece of tissue paper and was about to replace it in his note- case. Then:
'I'll leave this with you, doctor,' he said. 'I know it will be safe enough, and you might like to examine it at greater leisure.'
'Very well,' replied Stuart. 'Some of the engraving is very minute. I will have a look at it through a glass later.'
He took the fragment from Dunbar, who had again unwrapped it, and, opening a drawer of the writing-table in which he kept his cheque-book and some few other personal valuables, he placed the curious piece of gold-work within and relocked the drawer.
'I will walk as far as the cab-rank with you,' he said, finding himself to be possessed of a spirit of unrest. Whereupon the two went out of the room, Stuart extinguishing the lamps as he came to the door.
They had not left the study for more than two minutes ere a car drew up outside the house, and Mrs. M'Gregor ushered a lady into the room but lately quitted by Stuart and Dunbar, turning up the lights as she entered.
'The doctor has gone out but just now, Miss Dorian,' she said stiffly. 'I am sorry that ye are so unfortunate in your veesits. But I know he'll be no more than a few minutes.'
The girl addressed was of a type fully to account for the misgivings of the shrewd old Scotswoman. She had the slim beauty of the East allied to the elegance of the West. Her features, whilst cast in a charming European mould, at the same time suggested in some subtle way the Oriental. She had the long, almond-shaped eyes of the Egyptian, and her hair, which she wore unconventionally in a picturesque fashion reminiscent of the
She wore a cloak of purple velvet having a hooded collar of white fox fur; it fastened with golden cords. Beneath it was a white and gold robe, cut with classic simplicity of line and confined at the waist by an ornate Eastern girdle. White stockings and dull gold shoes exhibited to advantage her charming little feet and slim ankles, and she carried a handbag of Indian beadwork. Mlle. Dorian was a figure calculated to fire the imagination of any man and to linger long and sweetly in the memory.
Mrs. M'Gregor, palpably ill at ease, conducted her to an armchair.
'You are very good,' said the visitor, speaking with a certain hesitancy and with a slight accent most musical and fascinating. 'I wait a while if I may.'
'Dear, dear,' muttered Mrs. M'Gregor, beginning to poke the fire, 'he has let the fire down, of course! Is it out? No … I see a wee sparkie!'
She set the poker upright before the nearly extinguished fire and turned triumphantly to Mlle. Dorian, who was watching her with a slight smile.
'That will be a comforting blaze in a few minutes, Miss Dorian,' she said, and went towards the door.
'If you please,' called the girl, detaining her—'do you permit me to speak on the telephone a moment? As Dr. Stuart is not at home, I must explain that I wait for him.'
'Certainly, Miss Dorian,' replied Mrs. M'Gregor; 'use the telephone by all means. But I think the doctor will be back any moment now.'
'Thank you so much.'
Mrs. M'Gregor went out, not without a final backward glance at the elegant figure in the armchair. Mlle. Dorian was seated, her chin resting in her hand and her elbow upon the arm of the chair, gazing into the smoke arising from the nearly extinguished ember of the fire. The door closed, and Mrs. M'Gregor's footsteps could be heard receding along the corridor.
Mlle. Dorian sprang from the chair and took out of her handbag a number of small keys attached to a ring. Furtively she crossed the room, all the time listening intently, and cast her cloak over the back of the chair which was placed before the writing-table. Her robe of white and gold clung to her shapely figure as she bent over the table and tried three of the keys in the lock of the drawer which contained Stuart's cheque-book and in which he had recently placed the mysterious gold ornament. The third key fitted the lock, and Mlle. Dorian pulled open the drawer. She discovered first the cheque-book and next a private account-book; then from under the latter she drew out a foolscap envelope sealed with red wax and bearing, in Stuart's handwriting, the address:
Lost Property Office, Metropolitan Police, New Scotland Yard, S. W. I.
She uttered a subdued exclamation; then, as a spark of light gleamed within the open drawer, she gazed as if stupefied at the little ornament which she had suddenly perceived lying near the cheque-book. She picked it up and stared at it aghast. A moment she hesitated; then, laying down the fragment of gold and also the long envelope upon the table, she took up the telephone. Keeping her eyes fixed upon the closed door of the study, she asked for the number East 89512, and whilst she waited for the connection continued that nervous watching and listening. Suddenly she began to speak, in a low voice.
'Yes! … Miska speaks. Listen! One of the new keys—it fits. I have the envelope. But, also in the same drawer, I find a part of a broken gold
From somewhere outside the house came a low, wailing cry—a cry which Stuart, if he had heard it, must have recognized to be identical with that which he had heard in the night—but which he had forgotten to record in his written account.
'Ah!' whispered the girl—'there is the signal! It is the doctor who returns.' She listened eagerly, fearfully, to the voice which spoke over the wires. 'Yes—yes!'
Always glancing toward the door, she put down the instrument, took up the long envelope and paused for a moment, thinking that she had heard the sound of approaching footsteps. She exhibited signs of nervous indecision, tried to thrust the envelope into her little bag and realized that even folded it would not fit so as to escape observation. She ran across to the grate and dropped the envelope upon the smouldering fire. As she did so, the nicely balanced poker fell with a clatter upon the tiled hearth.
She started wildly, ran back to the table, took up the broken ornament and was about to thrust it into the open drawer, when the study door was flung open and Stuart came in.
Chapter 5 The Sealed Envelope
'MADEMOISELLE DORIAN!' cried Stuart joyously, advancing with outstretched hand. She leaned back against the table watching him—and suddenly he perceived the open drawer. He stopped. His expression changed
