The Temptress

by William Le Queux

and I were implicated.We were on a midnight expedition, and a policeman who provedtroublesome received an ugly dig with a knife; therefore I was confidentthat if this were divulged I should be arrested and sentenced as one ofVictor's accessories. Then, again, I had been told by an Englishman whoknew him that Glanville had an ample income, and this was confirmed byhis offer to provide me with money until his release. Besides, he, onthe other hand, was anxious to marry me in order to secure my silence,because he knew I had discovered a secret of his which, if notpreserved, might bring dire consequences. It may have been for the bestthat we parted so quickly, for as soon as the marriage ceremony wasperformed I regretted the rash step, inasmuch as the recollection of mydiscovery regarding his alliance with this woman came back to me in allits hideous reality."

  "What alliance?" inquired Valerie, whose firm, set face was ascolourless as the dress she wore.

  "It is well you should feign ignorance," Gabrielle replied angrily.Then, turning to the two men, she said: "In order that you shallunderstand matters aright, I shall be compelled to describe the scene.It took place in a suite of rooms in the Boulevard Haussmann tenanted byan English dealer in gems named Nicholson."

  "What do you know of him?" cried Valerie in a husky voice.

  "Have patience and you shall hear," she answered with a sarcastic smile.Again addressing her companions, she continued her narrative, saying:"While this woman was living with Victor, she had enchanted Egerton andGlanville. Both, unaware of one another's feelings, were ecstatic overher face and figure; both worshipped her, and both were prepared to doanything to secure her favour."

  "That is true," admitted the artist moodily. "I was a brainless fool.Yet I did not know until now that Glanville had also been smitten by herfatal beauty."

  "He had, nevertheless, as you will see. This woman--who afterwardsassumed the name of Dedieu--with her usual crafty far-sightedness sawthat it was possible to turn the mad impetuosity of you and yourfellow-student to her advantage, and did not fail to embrace theopportunity. The scheme she concocted was indeed a fiendish one, whichshe carried out unaided, and the secret would have been safe even nowhad I not been the witness of her crime."

  "You--you saw me?" shrieked Valerie in dismay. "You lie! You sawnothing."

  "Her crime! What was it? Tell us quickly," urged Hugh.

  "The facts are almost incredible, but they are simply as follows:Nicholson was her lover, and the safe in his room contained a quantityof cut and uncut gems. She devised an ingenious plan by which she couldget rid of her lover, obtain the stones, and throw the guilt upon thetwo men who were infatuated with her."

  "Bah! don't believe her!--she's telling you a pretty romance!" declaredValerie, striving to appear unconcerned.

  But Gabrielle took no notice of her interruptions.

  "The way she set about it," she went on, "was, to say the least, skilfuland heartless. Showing favour to each, unknown to the other, she toldthem that Nicholson held her enthralled by means of a secret, and thatshe was unable to break from him in consequence. An insinuatingproposal she made was likely to lead to but one result--a promise fromeach that they would take Nicholson's life."

  "Wretch?" hissed the unhappy woman, under her breath.

  "She arranged the details of the assassination with both, instructingeach in the manner by which the Englishman was to be killed. Both werein ignorance of each other's intention, for she gave them strictinjunctions to preserve the secret as they valued their lives. Thesefacts I afterwards learnt, but I must tell you now how I became aware ofthe plot. Glanville had gone to London for a week, and I also had beenaway in the country for a few days. It was about half-past nine atnight when I arrived at the St. Lazare Station, and while passing downthe Boulevard Haussmann it suddenly occurred to me that Nicholson, beinga very intimate friend of Glanville's, would most probably be awarewhether he had returned from England. I scarcely know what prompted me,but I halted before the house and ascended the stairs. The conciergewas absent, and the staircase was in darkness, he having omitted tolight the gas."

  "Of course, you knew Nicholson," observed the artist. "I remember itwas I who introduced you."

  "Yes; I had frequently met him with Glanville, and had been to his roomsbefore. Without much difficulty I found the door. It was ajar, and Ipushed it open noiselessly. As I did so I heard loud excited talking,and recognised one of the voices as that of Valerie. The discovery thatshe had called upon this man excited my curiosity, and I resolved towatch them. They were in a room upon the left of the passage, the doorof which was almost closed. Passing with scarcely a sound, I enteredthe sitting-room, and glanced round for some place of concealment.There were several, but the one I decided upon was behind the heavycrimson curtains that were drawn across the window overlooking theboulevard. Scarcely had I retired into my hiding-place when I heard theEnglishman walk to the outer door and close it. Then he returned to theroom in a frenzy of passion, invoking terrible curses upon her. Theyspoke in English, which at that time I did not understand; yet it wasevident she had done something to arouse his hatred, for a few momentslater she screamed for mercy, and rushed headlong into the room where Iwas. He followed at her heels, and, clutching her by the throat, flungher backwards upon the sofa. His face was livid with passion, and forseveral minutes they struggled together. Then, almost before I wasaware of her intention, I heard a loud report. A puff of smoke curledbetween them as he relaxed his hold and grasped convulsively at hisbreast. `_Dieu_! Valerie! You--you've shot--me!' were the only wordsthat he uttered, for he reeled and fell backwards, striking his headviolently upon the corner of the table."

  "Did she really murder him?" asked the artist breathlessly.

  "Yes; the revolver with which, as I afterwards found, she had shot himthrough the heart, was still smoking in her hand. Flinging it from herto the opposite end of the room, she bent over the body of her lover andextracted the keys from his pocket. Crossing to the mock bookcase, shepressed a button and opened it, revealing the ponderous iron doors ofthe safe. Without hesitation she quickly applied the keys, and thehandles yielded. In a few moments she had cleared the two iron drawersof the white paper packets they contained. Satisfying herself that shehad not overlooked anything of value, she quickly closed the safe andtransferred the plunder to the pockets of her dress and jacket."

  "_Ciel_! She _does_ know!" escaped Valerie's lips involuntarily, as shestood trembling and leaning heavily upon the chair, her distended eyesglaring at the trio before her with a terrible fire of hatred.

  "But what of Nicholson?" asked Hugh. "Was he dead?"

  "Quite. Death had been almost instantaneous," Gabrielle replied,speaking in the same distinct, mechanical tones in which she hadrecounted the strange incidents. "When the murderess had concluded hersearch for the gems, she turned her attention to the body. First, shebent and satisfied herself that there was no movement of the heart,then, by dint of exerting every muscle, she managed to drag the body upand seat it in the chair at the writing-table. The limbs being not yetrigid, it was an easy task to place it in a natural position, with thearms leaning upon the table and head bending over, as if reading thepapers, which she spread out upon the blotting-pad. After she hadrearranged the room, she glanced at the watch she wore in a bangle uponher wrist. Lighting the reading-lamp and turning out the gas, she leftthe room with only a dim, subdued light. She had just completed thiswhen she started at the click of a latchkey in the outer door, andconcealed herself quickly behind a high screen which stood near thefireplace. Barely had she time to do this before Egerton entered, and,creeping up cautiously behind the dead man's chair, struck him aterrible, murderous blow in the back with a long sharp knife he carriedin his hand. The force he used caused the body to overbalance and roll,with the chair, upon the floor. With scarcely a second look at theresult of his horrible work, he turned and stole out as noiselessly ashe had entered. In a few minutes Valerie, having convinced herself ofhis departure, emerged from her hidi
ng-place, and again reseated thecorpse in its chair, at the same time removing the blood from theclothes with a cloth she obtained from a drawer. For a few minutes shewas engaged in staunching the blood, and prevented it from flowing overhis coat after she had withdrawn the knife from the wound. Subsequentlyshe went into the adjoining apartment, and was absent about ten minutes.When she re-entered, Glanville accompanied her. He, too, was alsoarmed with a knife, the blade of which gleamed in the ray of lamplightwhich fell upon it. The murderess crept stealthily behind the corpseand, bending over, placed her arms around its neck, as if caressing it,while at that moment, in obedience to a motion from her, the studentrushed up and struck it a violent blow with the knife full in