CHAPTER XIII
Sir Gregory lingered. "I suppose there's nothing to do but wait?" hesaid, as the door closed behind Sidney.
"Not much, I'm afraid," replied the detective. "Believe me, I am doingwhat is possible, and now that Chark has been talking to the press nodoubt the police, on their side, will do what they can. Did you hearanything in Grosvenor Street?"
"No," said Sir Gregory, "no one had been there. They had seen no more ofMr. Chark. But no doubt there will be folks calling to-day. I daresaythe street will be blocked by people wanting to know if what they'veseen in the papers is true. There's plenty of curiosity about. It wasbeginning already, from what I could see, when I came away; there werethree or four idlers staring at the house. What they thought they saw init, don't ask me. Expect the police soon moved them on. Too much of thislazy loafing about; I'd soon compel them to do some honest work, if Ihad my way."
"And yet you're against compelling them to be trained for the defence ofthe country!" murmured Gimblet. "Well, well! Just ordinary loafers, werethey?" he went on.
"That's all," said Sir Gregory, after a moment, during which he glaredfiercely at Gimblet.
"Except one young woman," he continued, as an afterthought. "Poor thing,she seemed really distressed; but more because she thought she'd neversee her money than on Mrs. Vanderstein's account."
"One of the maidservants?" suggested the detective.
"No, no, I think not. She came up just as I was leaving the house. 'Oh,sir,' she cried, 'can you tell me if there's any truth in what I've seenin the papers, about the lady that lives here having disappeared? Surelyit's not true?' She seemed so much concerned that I explained the stateof affairs to her. 'It is true,' I said, 'that the ladies of this housewent out on Monday night, and have not yet come back. But I hope we mayfind out where they are at any moment.' To my surprise no sooner had Isaid this than she leant back against the door-post as if she were goingto faint or something, devilish ill she looked, poor creature, and thenquite suddenly covered her face with her hands and burst into tears. Imust own," Sir Gregory confessed, "that the sight of so much feelingexhibited on Mrs. Vanderstein's account moved me considerably. A verylittle more and I should have mingled my tears with those of the poorgirl. 'Don't cry, my dear child,' I said, a good deal affected. 'It isnatural that those who care for her should feel anxious and upset, butwe must show a brave face and hope for the best.' Still, in spite of allI could say, she went on crying, and sobbed very piteously, poor thing;till at last, on my asking her how it was that she was so anxious aboutMrs. Vanderstein, she managed to regain control of herself, and said ina doleful tone: 'I'm only a poor girl, sir, and the lady owes us money.If she is lost it means a great deal to me.' I own I was disappointed,having thought her distress prompted by affection rather than mercenaryconsiderations; but people are all alike in this world; self-interest,Mr. Gimblet, that's the only motive that rules men's actions nowadays.However, I did my best to comfort her, and told her that whateverhappened Mrs. Vanderstein's bills would not go unpaid. I can't say Iwas very successful in my efforts to reassure her and she went off inthe end looking dreadfully woe-begone. 'Pon my word, I never saw such amiserable, frightened-looking little creature! I didn't like to let hergo without trying to help her in some way, but I hardly knew what to do,for she didn't look the sort one could offer money to," concluded SirGregory, who had the kindest heart in the world.
"What was she like?" asked Gimblet with a show of interest.
"A shop girl, I should say, but she had a foreign look about her:a lot of dark hair, and big dark eyes to match, and she was neatlydressed, trim and tidy. You know the sort of way these French girls getthemselves up, but all in black or some dark colour. Very quiet andrespectable-looking girl. The only thing I thought looked a bit flashyabout her was that she wore a heap of common jewellery, bracelets andbrooches all over, cheap and nasty; and I could see a string of greatbeads round her neck under her blouse, imitation pearls as big asmarbles. I was astonished, I must say, at her going in for that sortof thing, for in other ways she seemed a very nice, quiet girl. Lookedterribly ill, too, poor thing."
"I wonder who she was," said Gimblet. "Do you say she wore her necklaceunder her blouse?"
"Yes, I could see it through the muslin or whatever it was she had on.Some transparent stuff."
"That was rather curious. Girls of that class, who are fond of deckingthemselves out with such cheap ornaments, don't generally hide theirfinery. It's generally quite on the surface, I think."
"I should think it was unusual," agreed Sir Gregory. "She must havedressed in a hurry, and done it by mistake; don't you think so?"
Gimblet did not answer. He had been wandering about the room, in anaimless fashion, and now he paused beside a table and offered SirGregory the contents of a glass jar that stood upon it.
"Have some barley sugar?" he suggested. And, as Sir Gregory indignantlyrefused: "One must have a pet vice, and after all, this is my only one,"said he, putting a large piece into his mouth. But Sir Gregory onlyshook his head mournfully and refused to smile.
"I suppose," he said after a moment, with a shamefaced look, "that therecan't be anything in Chark's idea, can there?" His tone was that of onewho pleads to have a disturbing and discreditable doubt utterly removed.Gimblet remembered the warmth of the baronet's protestations to Sidney,and suppressed a smile.
"I think we may hope for a solution less shocking than Mr. Chark's,"he said hopefully. "As for whether his suspicions can have anything inthem or not, I can only say that they are nothing much more than thewildest of surmises. They amount to this. Mr. Sidney has lost money ina way disapproved of by Mrs. Vanderstein, and, on appealing to her forassistance, was met not only by reproaches but by threats that he wouldbe cut off from his inheritance. On the other hand, Mrs. Vandersteinis not very much older than her nephew, so that his expectations ofenjoying that inheritance could never be other than extremely remote,since the lady enjoys the best of health. Mr. Chark does not hesitate tohint that Sidney may have taken his aunt's life, in order that he mayat once inherit the money of which he is certainly in urgent need. Andif he could contemplate such a deed at all there may be said to be thisfurther inducement, that in the event of Mrs. Vanderstein remainingalive she would most likely marry again; when, if she had children, shewould probably--since she has full power over it--leave most if not allher fortune to them, whatever her late husband's hopes may have beenregarding the disposal of it.
"Chark takes these circumstances and finds in them a motive; he thentakes Mrs. Vanderstein's disappearance and proceeds to infer from that,that young Sidney has made away with her. His motive may exist, thoughit is a question whether such a motive is strong enough to induce soterrible a crime in a young man of Sidney's class and upbringing, who isin normal health, and we will presume, for the sake of argument, sane.But Chark has not, as far as I know, a shadow of evidence on which toassert that the lady has been injured in any way; and I think any suchconjecture is ridiculous without more to support it; while to suggestit publicly, as he has done, is quite scandalous. It is still perfectlypossible that Mrs. Vanderstein or Miss Turner received some urgentmessage while at the opera, which caused them to leave before the end ofthe performance. It may have been an appeal for help from some friend introuble, or something involving a certain secrecy of procedure. Thereare thousands of possible situations that might arise, to the conduct ofwhich privacy would be essential. Wait, Sir Gregory, at least to see ifwe get an answer to our advertisements, before allowing your imaginationto follow headlong in the wake of Mr. Chark's speculations."
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