by Clara Benson
‘I expect it was something about his birth,’ said Cedric. ‘There’s a story that Maria Wareham was thrown out of the house and married Mr. Wray senior in rather a hurry, from which I suppose we must draw our own conclusions. It was in a long, rambling letter Coddington sent me before he arrived. I didn’t pay too much attention to it at the time, but I read through it carefully after he died, in case there were any clues. It was certainly the sort of sneaking thing he’d do—make impudent remarks about a fellow’s parentage. I shouldn’t be surprised if he threatened to put it all in his book, in fact.’
‘Mr. Wray would have hated that,’ said Bea. ‘He was very confused, poor thing. He’s terribly proud to be a Wareham, but hates the fact that he’s descended from one of the less worthy ones. And to have everybody knowing that his mother wasn’t exactly what she ought to have been either would have tortured him, I imagine. I don’t know why Professor Coddington thought he had to mention it. If he’d had the sense to leave well alone then he might still be alive.’
‘I doubt it. If not Mr. Wray then someone else was bound to have landed him one on the noggin,’ said Goose cheerfully. ‘Sorry, Mother,’ he added, as he saw Bea’s face.
‘Mr. Wray is very ashamed of what he did,’ said Bea severely. ‘With any luck the police will let him sleep for a while when they get here. I have the feeling he hasn’t slept in days.’
‘I’m sure I shan’t sleep a wink myself tonight, after all the excitement!’ said Lavinia. ‘Thank you, Daphne. Perhaps I shall have just another little glass.’
She looked up in surprise to see Cynthia approaching her, pen and notebook in hand.
‘Now darling,’ said Cynthia briskly, ‘I know you won’t mind, but I simply must put you in my column this week, given everything that’s happened. All London will be simply dying to know about the events here at Belsingham once the story gets into the papers. Of course my readers are more interested in the human side of things, so we’ll start with that delightful frock of yours. Now, would you describe it as fuchsia or cerise?’
‘Oh!’ said Lavinia, gratified.
‘Come into the study and have a drink,’ said Cedric, once Freddy had finished telling his tale and the guests were all eagerly talking over the events of the evening. ‘Good show all round,’ he said, once they were seated. ‘The police will be here shortly, and they’ll take him away, and I can have my house back. I don’t suppose they’ll hang him, since he’s quite patently off his rocker, although I dare say Bea will want me to bring Jephson in—his firm has represented the Warehams for centuries, you know—but that can wait until tomorrow after the old fellow’s had a good night’s sleep. Still, order has been restored, more or less, and all I have to do now is decide whether to report the theft of these damned pearls. The whole house knows about it now, so the news is bound to get out sooner or later. Perhaps I’ll bite on the bullet and tell the police when they arrive. The publicity will be ghastly, but at least there’s a chance they might be found.’
‘Ah, yes, the pearls,’ said Freddy. ‘As a matter of fact, I have an idea about that.’
‘What’s that?’ said Cedric.
‘It’s just an inkling. I may be wrong, but if I’m not then there may be no need to report it at all.’
‘Well, then, out with it, dash it!’
‘Are the fake ones still in the safe? Might I see them? And I’ll need an eye-glass, if you have one.’
‘There’s one in the safe with the jewels,’ said Cedric. He took his key and fetched the enamelled box containing the fake pearls from the safe. Freddy turned on a desk lamp and examined the necklace carefully through the glass. Then he straightened up and handed the pearls to Cedric.
‘Have a look at the clasp,’ he said. ‘Can you see any sign that it’s been mended?’
‘No,’ said Cedric after a minute, and handed them back. ‘None at all. But if this is a fake, then there wouldn’t be a sign, would there? Because it never was mended—only the real pearls were.’
‘Exactly,’ said Freddy with satisfaction.
‘I don’t understand,’ said Cedric.
‘You will in a minute,’ said Freddy. He dropped the pearls and the glass into his pocket, then went out and came back. ‘Everyone’s still in the salon. Let’s go and have a look around upstairs before the police arrive. Be quiet, though. We don’t want anyone to see us.’
They went upstairs and into the West Wing, Cedric still mystified. Freddy stopped outside a bedroom door, glanced about, then entered. Inside, a sewing-machine stood on a table, while hanging from the door of the wardrobe was an unfinished toile model of an evening-dress, studded with pins and covered in mysterious chalk markings. Freddy ran his hands over the fabric, as though feeling for something.
‘Well, well,’ he said. He picked up a pair of scissors from the sewing-table and applied them carefully to the dress, where a wide fabric belt attached the bodice to the skirt.
‘Mrs. Dragusha will flay you alive if she sees you doing that,’ began Cedric, then his eyes widened as he saw Freddy draw something out from inside the band of toile. ‘Good heavens, the pearls!’ he exclaimed, as Freddy held up the necklace in triumph.
‘We’ll compare them to the ones in my pocket in a moment, but I think you’ll find these are the real ones,’ said Freddy.
‘What do you want?’ said the Duke suddenly, and Freddy turned to see Valentina Sangiacomo standing in the doorway, staring at the pearls in astonishment.
‘You’d better not say a word, Val,’ warned Freddy.
She did not reply, but continued to gaze at the pearls as though hypnotized.
‘Don’t tell me Kitty had anything to do with this,’ said Cedric, ‘because I won’t believe it.’
‘No,’ said Freddy. ‘This frock was merely a convenient place to hide the pearls while they were being smuggled out of the house. Nobody was searching for them, but the police were buzzing around, and if you’d decided to report them missing, then things might have got a bit awkward.’
‘So Mrs. Dragusha took them? But how?’ said Cedric.
‘It was easy,’ said Freddy. ‘A simple case of misdirection, and very effective with it. She arrived on Thursday and immediately began to lay the ground-work for her plan by hinting to everybody that she believed the pearls were fake, although they weren’t at all—not at that point. I expect she was very careful not to go anywhere near them, so that nobody could possibly accuse her of having swapped them before her accomplice arrived. That was Mr. Laurentius, of course. I don’t suppose he came down from London at all—in fact, I imagine a little investigation will show that he was staying somewhere in the area, waiting for Mrs. Dragusha to summon him. He came at your request, too—that was another smart move of hers, intended to make you think it was your idea, and that everything was above the board. He arrived, the very picture of a respectable jewel-dealer, announced that the pearls were fake, and was very careful to hand them back. He even insisted you get a second opinion from Keble’s, because he knew that by the time you spoke to them the real pearls would be long gone and Keble’s would merely confirm his verdict. Once he’d convinced us all that they weren’t real, Mrs. Dragusha was free to exchange the real ones for the false ones at her leisure, in the knowledge that Ro was likely to be particularly careless with them if she believed them to be worthless.’
He glanced up. Valentina was still standing in the doorway, listening attentively.
‘We ought to have realized at once, because Mr. Laurentius made a mistake by mentioning that the clasp had been mended. But only the real pearls had a mended clasp, while any copy would have been flawless, since whoever made the forgery didn’t have the real ones to work from, but presumably only photographs. And then there was Mrs. Dragusha’s supposed discretion. If she was so concerned with keeping the thing quiet, then how is it that the whole house knew? Because, of course, the success of her plan
depended on everybody’s believing that the pearls had been exchanged months ago, so that no suspicion could fall on her. It was very important that people should know of her pretended doubts, and so she took care to tell several people of them.’
‘Including Professor Coddington, I dare say,’ said Cedric.
‘Yes, and that’s where I have to admire her audacity. I expect she never imagined for a second that her story would prompt Coddington to go and steal the pearls. She must have been horrified when he got himself killed for them. A lesser woman would have backed out of the plan there and then, but she was brazen enough to carry it through—partly, I think, because she knew the police would probably not be consulted about the pearls, since you’d be unwilling to report the theft if you thought Ro had had something to do with it.’
‘But I thought the woman was a respectable dressmaker. What’s she doing stealing our jewellery?’
‘Oh, it’s quite a little side-line of hers, I gather. You might remember that she mentioned similar thefts in other great houses. I remembered it myself this afternoon, and called an old friend of mine, who happens to be the son of the Earl of Ashfield, and whose stepmother is another of Mrs. Dragusha’s clients. He told me in confidence that the Countess claimed to have lost some jewellery a while ago. Interestingly, Mrs. Dragusha was staying in the house at the time, and had hinted delicately that she believed the diamond bracelet was a copy. A cousin of hers was called in to confirm it, which he duly did.’
‘Good gracious!’ exclaimed the Duke.
‘At any rate, the family didn’t make too much of it publicly as the Countess is known to have something of an addiction to the horses, so they thought it was just the usual trouble—although she denied it absolutely—but doesn’t it sound familiar? After that I telephoned Scotland Yard, who, it turns out, have had their eye on Mr. Laurentius for some time now, although they have nothing specific on Mrs. Dragusha. She seems to have developed her reputation as a dressmaker in a very short time, however. Does anybody know where she sprang from?’
Cedric was about to reply, when he was interrupted by a little gasp from Valentina, and they looked up to see Mrs. Dragusha herself standing in the doorway. Centuries of good breeding immediately rose to the fore in the Duke’s mind, and he straightened up and reddened with all the embarrassment of a respectable gentleman who has just been caught in the act of entering a lady’s bedroom without invitation.
‘Ah, Mrs. Dragusha, now, the thing is—’ he began.
But Mrs. Dragusha was not interested in his apologies. She pushed Valentina into the room before her, then came in and closed the door, and they now saw that she was holding a little pistol in her hand.
‘Ah,’ said the Duke again, somewhat inadequately in the circumstances.
‘It seems I have been careless,’ said Mrs. Dragusha. ‘Or rather, Philip has. He told me of the mistake he had made, but he said he believed no-one had noticed it. It appears he was wrong. Now, let us not waste time in useless conversation. Since I imagine I am no longer a welcome guest in your house, your Grace, you will please to give me the pearls at once, and I will bid you farewell.’
Freddy looked down at the pearls in his hand and hesitated. Mrs. Dragusha’s face hardened.
‘You will find that I am not to be trifled with,’ she said. She took a step forward and raised the pistol. Valentina’s eyes widened, and she moved close to Freddy and clutched his arm as though to protect him.
‘Don’t shoot him!’ she said, then turned to him. ‘For goodness’ sake give her the pearls, you idiot. Don’t you know when you’ve lost the game? Here, give them to me. At least one of us has some sense.’
Before he could object, she grabbed the pearls from his hand and gave them to Mrs. Dragusha, who put them into her pocket with some satisfaction.
‘There,’ said Valentina. ‘Now you’d better run for it.’
‘Thank you, your Grace,’ said Mrs. Dragusha with mock politeness, then turned and left the room without another word.
‘Quick! After her!’ said Cedric. ‘I’ll get my shotgun. We can’t let her escape with the pearls! Quick, man, what are you waiting for?’ he said, as he saw Freddy make no move.
‘I’m not sure she did get the pearls,’ said Freddy, glancing at Valentina, who shrugged.
‘What?’ said Cedric.
Freddy brought the other necklace out of his pocket.
‘You did, didn’t you?’ he said to Valentina.
‘You’d better make sure,’ she said.
He dug the eye-glass out and examined the clasp of the necklace.
‘You must teach me how to do that one day,’ he said. ‘That was as fast as lightning.’
‘What the devil are you talking about?’ said Cedric.
‘These are the real ones,’ said Freddy. ‘Val took the fake ones out of my pocket just now and gave them to Mrs. Dragusha.’
‘Good Lord! Are you quite certain?’ said Cedric with dawning hope. He took the necklace and the eye-glass and examined them himself. ‘Well, of all the—I say, well done, young lady! That’s very quick thinking on your part. I shall tell Mrs. Fitzsimmons what a good girl you are.’
‘Thank you, your Grace,’ said Valentina respectfully, although Freddy sensed a slight air of complacency.
‘Still, we must catch Mrs. Dragusha at once,’ said Cedric. ‘She can’t have got very far. I’ll send the men out with the dogs just as soon as I’ve put these back in the safe. We don’t want anybody else trying to get his hands on them. We’ll have Keble’s down here and have them pronounce on the matter once and for all, but I should say there’s no doubt we’ve got them back. Excellent, excellent!’
He departed, and Freddy was left alone with Valentina. There was a brief silence.
‘Why did you give them back?’ he said at last.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I saw you take them this morning,’ he said. ‘When Ro dropped them in the waste-paper basket you picked them out and swapped them for the fake ones then, didn’t you? That was how Mrs. Dragusha got hold of them to put them in the dress. She was watching out for an opportunity, and created a diversion just at the right moment to allow you to make the exchange. I saw you do it, but didn’t realize what I’d seen until later. But why did you decide to swap them back?’
She chewed her lip, as though wondering how much to tell him.
‘It’s all up with her now,’ she said at last. ‘The game’s over, and if she gets caught then she’ll be better off without a crime this big to her name. Silly woman ought to have left these ones alone. I told her to go for something less obvious, but she would have her own way. A diamond bracelet here and there, now—that’s one thing. But something like the Belsingham pearls—why, everybody knows about them! Oh, I know his Grace made noises about not telling the police so as to protect his daughter from scandal, but he’d have thought better of it sooner or later, and then the hue and cry would have started, and we’d all have been in danger—including me, now everybody knows what she is.’
‘But where do you come in? Why did you help her?’
‘Don’t you do ever do things for your ma that you’d rather not?’
This was a revelation.
‘She’s your mother?’ he said.
‘So she says. I’ve never known any other, at any rate.’
‘Good Lord!’ he said, eyeing her in astonishment.
‘I can’t help it any more than you can help yours,’ she said with a touch of defiance. ‘And if you’re wondering whether I do this for her all the time, well I don’t. I make my own way, thank you very much, but sometimes if she wants something doing I might step in, that’s all.’
‘You were worried she might have killed the professor,’ he said suddenly, remembering one or two cryptic remarks she had made.
‘She’s got a bit of a hot temper,’ she said, with
out bothering to deny it. ‘I didn’t see how she could have done it, but I wanted to be sure. I didn’t want to get involved in a murder.’
‘But you’ll be in trouble now, won’t you?’
‘With who?’ she said coolly. ‘The police? Try proving I did anything. On your side all you can say for definite is that you saw me pick the necklace out of the basket to give back to her ladyship. No more than that. But I can prove I risked my own skin to get the real pearls back and give them to the Duke. Why, they ought to give me a medal!’
‘I wouldn’t quite go that far. But as a matter of fact I was talking about your mother. Won’t she be angry when she finds out what you’ve done?’
‘Probably, but I can always talk her round. She’s excitable, but she always calms down after a bit.’
‘I expect they’ll be hunting high and low for her now,’ said Freddy.
‘Let them try. They’ll never find her,’ she said. ‘She’ll be off abroad, most likely.’
‘And what shall you do now?’
She glanced at the clock and put a hand to her mouth in dismay.
‘Oh, Lord!’ she said, and hurried to the door. ‘Mrs. Fitzsimmons will be wanting me any minute, and I haven’t got anything done!’