CHAPTERXIV.CONCERNS A NECKLACE.
“Look at that drunken ass being carried out of his box.”
The speaker stood beside his partner on the floor of the hall, fanning her with an ostrich plume.
The girl laughed.
“Why can’t you men keep sober?” she said, only partly in jest. They remained watching Levi and those assisting him until the group passed out of the box and was lost to sight.
Others had watched him too, and because the conclusion they had all jumped at was that the fellow, whoever he might be, had drunk too much, the incident of his sudden death caused no commotion, and the ball went on as gaily as though nothing untoward had occurred.
Stretched on a sofa in the secretary’s office, Schomberg lay strangely stiff, seeing that he could not have been dead over half an hour. A doctor had been discovered among the dancers, and, dressed to resemble a well-known comedian, he presented a ludicrous figure as he bent over the dead man, listening through his stethoscope. Presently he straightened himself and shook his head.
“Quite dead,” he said. “Who is he? Does anybody know anything about him?”
He looked about at the various people standing by.
“It’s Levi Schomberg,” Preston said. “He was one of Mrs. Mervyn-Robertson’s guests. It was her box we found him in.”
“Mervyn-Robertson? You mean the woman they call Jessica?” the doctor asked with a curious look.
“Yes.”
“May I ask if she is a friend of yours?”
“I know her to speak to,” Preston answered, “so does my friend here, but I can’t say she is a friend of ours. To what do you attribute death, doctor?”
“I can’t say at off-hand. Heart, most likely; the heat and general excitement may have induced the final attack. We must communicate with his friends. Are they here?”
“I believe so. I don’t know Schomberg myself.”
“I thought the attendant said you were both friends of his.”
“We told the attendant we knew him, to get into the box. We could see from the hall that something was amiss with him.”
“How could you? Hadn’t he a mask on?”
“Yes, but we had discovered his identity early in the evening.”
“Indeed? You will forgive my asking, but what made you take so much interest in this man whom you say you knew only by sight?”
Preston hesitated. Then he said awkwardly:
“Nothing in particular.”
“Oh, come,” the doctor exclaimed, “you must have had a reason. Nobody tries to discover who disguised people are for no reason. You had better tell me.”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Well, as you put it that way, I had better tell you there are one or two curious features surrounding this man’s death. On the face of it he would appear to have died of natural causes, but certain points tend to dispel that theory. For instance,rigor mortiswould not have set in so quickly had death been due to natural causes, such as stoppage of the heart’s action. There will have to be an inquest.”
The authorities having been notified of the occurrence, about half an hour later Preston and Blenkiron, accompanied by the doctor, whose name was Johnson, returned to the hall. None of the revelers had as yet left, apparently, for the floor was as thronged with dancers as when they had been there last.
“Point me out the box where he was found, will you?” Johnson said presently.
“That is the one,” Blenkiron replied, indicating it, “next to the box with the woman with scarlet plumes.”
“There are people in it now,” Johnson observed. “Do you know who they are? Why, one of them is that snake woman everybody has been talking about.”
“We are under the impression, though we don’tknow for certain,” Preston replied guardedly, “that the snake woman is Mrs. Mervyn-Robertson herself, and that the man talking to her is called Stapleton.”
“Do you mean Aloysius Stapleton, the organizer of this ball?”
“Yes.”
“Well, if Schomberg was one of their party they apparently have not heard what has happened, and somebody ought to tell them.”
“Hadn’t you better tell them, Doctor Johnson?”
“I suppose I must. And as you and your friend rendered ‘first aid’ you had better come with me to confirm my statements.”
Jessica and the woman and the three men with them still wore their masks, though some of the dancers had now discarded theirs. When Doctor Johnson and his companions were admitted to the box, Jessica and her friends were in the highest spirits. Jessica herself was laughing loudly, while two of the men had become uproarious. The doctor had sent in his card and asked if he might speak to Mrs. Mervyn-Robertson alone, but she had sent out word that he had better come into the box.
“Mrs. Mervyn-Robertson, I believe?” he said, addressing her.
“Now, who told you that, Doctor Johnson?” she exclaimed, still laughing, and her friends laughed too. “All night I have tried to retain my incognita, but people one after another have penetratedit. Sit down and have some champagne, won’t you?” and she pushed a chair towards him. He saw at once that she herself had drunk as much champagne as was good for her.
“Thank you very much,” he said, “but I won’t, if you will excuse me. I would sooner have said in private, Mrs. Robertson, what I have to tell you, but as you have insisted on my coming in I must tell it to you here. One of your guests to-night was, I believe, a Mr. Schomberg?”
“Yes,” she answered. “Why, what has become of him?” she added, looking round. “We have not seen him for quite a long time. Mr. Johnson you might introduce your friends,” as Preston and Blenkiron still stood in the background.
“I will in a moment. But first I have some rather dreadful news to break to you, Mrs. Robertson. You must brace yourself for a shock. Mr. Schomberg has died suddenly. He died here, in this box, less than an hour ago.”
At once everybody grew solemn. The party became hushed.
“Levi—dead!” Jessica gasped after a pause. “It is impossible. He was here only just now, and quite well!”
“An hour ago,” Johnson corrected. “I was sent for, and I found Mr. Schomberg lying on the sofa in the secretary’s office, dead.”
“But where did he die? And who found him?”
“As I say, he died in this box, where he was found by these two gentlemen, whom I think you know,”and he turned to the masked figures at his elbow, “Mr. Blenkiron and Captain Preston.”
As his name was mentioned, it struck Preston that Jessica gave a little start. He told Blenkiron afterwards, however, that he could have sworn she did.
Jessica bowed.
“But how did you come to be in this box?” she asked, looking up at them from where she sat.
“I must apologize for our having intruded, Mrs. Robertson,” Preston said, “but how it happened was this,” and he went on to explain how he and Blenkiron, noticing that the masked man sitting alone in her box appeared to be unwell, had obtained admittance to the box.
“That was most kind of you,” Jessica said when he stopped speaking. “But really this news is too terrible. I can’t realize it. Poor Levi! And he seemed so well to-night, and in such excellent spirits.”
She stopped abruptly.
“I wonder who it was sent in to see him early in the evening?” she said after a pause. “He seemed put out when he came back, and didn’t volunteer to tell anybody what was amiss, so of course I couldn’t ask him. But he got all right again a little later.”
“That would hardly have any bearing on the cause of death, Mrs. Robertson.”
It was Johnson who spoke. He was looking hardat her through the holes in his mask. Apparently through forgetfulness he had not taken it off.
“No, of course it wouldn’t,” Jessica answered mechanically. Her thoughts seemed to be far away. “Tell me, Doctor Johnson,” she said suddenly, in a different tone, “to what cause do you attribute his sudden death?”
“At first I attributed it to natural causes, but afterwards I changed my opinion,” he replied in measured tones.
He was still looking hard at her.
“And what made you change your opinion?”
“One or two things which would take too long to explain. No doubt the actual cause will be arrived at during the inquest.”
“There will be an inquest, then?”
Preston fancied her voice trembled a little.
“In the circumstances there will have to be.”
“You mean you think he took his life—and by poison?”
“Oh, no, Mrs. Robertson, you mistake me. But there is no need to go further into the matter now. You would like, I dare say, to view the body presently.”
“Must I?”
“Certainly not, unless you wish to. I thought perhaps you might wish to.”
“I would much sooner not. The whole thing has upset me terribly, as I am sure it has upset us all.”
She leant forward, poured herself out a glass of champagne, and emptied the glass at a draught.
“Captain Preston and Mr. Blenkiron,” she said, “do help yourselves, and you too, Doctor Johnson. I am sure this affair must have given you all a shock.”
Once more Preston and his friend were mingling in the gay throng. Doctor Johnson had left them after thanking them for their services and saying they would no doubt be called to give evidence at the inquest. A little group at one of the tables in the big supper-room were talking in animated tones, and Preston happened to overhear scraps of their conversation.
“Yes, a woman has been arrested ... was arrested ten minutes ago ... the pearls were found in her possession. The man with her ... became furiously indignant, declared he had been with her all the night. Then she was confronted with the owner of the necklace, who swore she had sat beside her at supper ... the thief, or alleged thief, is quite a girl ... yes, I was standing by when they took her mask off....”
“Who is she? Have you any idea?” somebody asked.
“None at all. You can stake your life though, that at a show of this sort there are bound to be professional crooks about. Look at the diamonds here to-night! They must run into fortunes and fortunes. Well, here’s luck to us all, and I hope....”
That was as much as Preston heard and it did not interest him greatly. Since leaving Jessica’s box he had been looking for Yootha, whom he hadseen last with Cora Hartsilver. But their box was now empty, from which he concluded they were all dancing. Hopford, too, he had not come across for some time. Preston knew that Hopford and Yootha were engaged for several dances.
In the crowd Preston had lost sight of Blenkiron, and he now threaded his way alone and aimlessly through the little groups of dancers clustered together and resting. The band had become more riotous than ever, the dancing more extravagant and grotesque. And all the while, as he made his way along, he kept thinking of Schomberg and his strange death. Again he saw the masked young man stooping over the seated figure bent forward in the box and apparently leaning against it. The figure had not moved then, neither had it moved during the minutes which elapsed before he and Blenkiron had gone up to the box to ascertain if anything were amiss. Could Schomberg already have been dead when the slim man stood bending over him? If so, then why had the latter not sent for a doctor, or raised the alarm?
And that slim young man, according to Hopford, had been La Planta. Perhaps, though, Hopford had been mistaken. Then he thought of Jessica. How surprised and distressed she had appeared to be when Doctor Johnson had broken to her the news of Schomberg’s death. That she should be was, of course, only natural in the circumstances, and yet——
What had become of Yootha? Where in theworld had she got to? And Cora, too, and Hopford? Perhaps Hopford had gone back to the office of his newspaper; he had said he might have to go.
In vain he watched the dancers—swaying, revolving, always revolving, until the scene made him dizzy. But he saw no sign of Yootha, or of any of his party. At intervals he glanced at the box they had occupied, but it remained empty. He was getting sick of the whole thing, and longed to get back home. But he could not go home without first seeing Yootha. He felt he had seen less of her that evening than he had hoped to do; but then she loved dancing, and he would, he told himself, have been a bear to prevent her dancing because himself unable, owing to his wounded leg, to dance at all.
Suddenly his spirits rose. He had caught sight of Hopford ... he was some way off.... Ah, there he was again! Wandering, he appeared to be in search of some one. And at that instant Hopford saw him.
“Charlie, for heaven’s sake—I have been hunting for you everywhere,” Hopford exclaimed when at last they came together. “An awful thing has happened—it will give you a big shock, but I implore you not to worry, because I am positive all will come right in the end. Cora knows about it and is with Yootha now.”
“Yootha? Where is she, Harry? I have been trying to find her for the last half an hour or more.”
“I can well believe that,” Hopford answered. “Now listen, Charlie, and don’t get upset. A woman had her pearl necklace stolen to-night, and the necklace has been found in Yootha’s vanity bag, and so—well, of course they had to arrest her.”
“Arrest her!Arrest Yootha?”
“Why yes. You see the pearls were found in her possession. Have you heard about Levi Schomberg, and——”
“Hang Levi Schomberg!” Preston cried out. “What the devil does Levi Schomberg matter—forgive me, Harry, here, take me to Yootha at once and let me see the police myself about this ridiculous trumped-up charge!”