Esther shook her head.
"Not through me," she answered.
"And Mainwaring, how did he become a conspirator?"
"I do not know," she replied, looking down again. "I do not know—how should I?"
He made no answer for a moment, during which his eyes never left the downcast face before him.
"Good-bye," he said simply, at last, and including Miss Darling in his leave-taking by a half bow, passed out of the room, carrying the red rose-bud with him.
It was a distinct source of pleasure to him, as he contemplated the little flower, to remember for whom its sister roses were destined. The tiny blood-red blossom seemed to put him in touch once more with his old life—that life which antedated his visit to the Folly—when Adèle Lamien was still unknown to him.
The first check experienced by Count Mellikoff in the fulfilment of his well-laid plans, was one of which he took but slight account.
In calling into action the machinery of the law, and thereby obtaining the warrant for Miss Hildreth's arrest, he overlooked one point. He had designedly delayed this summary action until such a moment, when knowing the Newbolds and Mr. Tremain to be well out of his way, he could proceed without apprehension of interference on their part.
He was quite well aware that to act against their combined forces would be a far more serious undertaking than to attack Miss Hildreth alone and unbefriended. But could he once accomplish her arrest, he believed that here in America, as in Russia, he had only to demand an official inquiry, as a matter of form, and it would at once be granted; at which inquiry, trusting to the strength of his evidence, he foresaw her immediate committal for trial, and expected by the time thebeau mondewere returning to New York, and before a cabal could be raised in Miss Hildreth's behalf, to be already on his way to Petersburg with his prisoner, about whose subsequent fate, when once she was handed over to the Imperial Chancellerie, he had no need to concern himself.
Then he would be free to seek Olga, and, laying his love and his life at her feet, demand that reward for the sake of which she had persuaded him to undertake this mission. Patouchki also would be convinced of his loyalty by this last signal service in the Emperor's behalf; and even the Tsar himself might bestow a further distinction upon him; one ribbon more, perhaps, to swell the number of those upon which his beautiful Olga set such store.
And, indeed, so far fortune had favoured him and his plans; up to a certain time events marched according as he directed. The warrant was obtained; Miss Hildreth was arrested; and, save John Mainwaring, none of her special friends were in town to stand by her or act in her defence. On Mainwaring, Count Mellikoff bestowed not a thought; he had not even seen him in the crowd of transient guests at the Folly, and his name was suggestive of nothing.
The matter of an immediate official inquiry, however, was not so easily managed. Count Mellikoff found countless obstacles to overcome, raised by that very organ, the law, which so far he had played upon to his own purpose. Innumerable technicalities and difficulties were for ever cropping up, resulting in unheard-of delays. Even Mellikoff's patience gave way at last, and he anathematised the entire Western continent, its institutions and customs, in language more forcible than polite. Despite of his choler, however, Vladimir Mellikoff was obliged to swallow his wrath, and bear with what patience he could muster, that most difficult of all trials—enforced inaction.
Meantime he heard again from Patouchki, and the tone of his letter was such as to create a fever of anxiety and unrest, that threatened to prostrate him mentally and physically. From Olga Naundorff he received neither word nor sign.
And so the long, hot days came and went, and by none of the waiting actors in that life-drama were they ever forgotten in the years that followed.
To Patricia, Philip, Esther, Dick Darling, Vladimir Mellikoff, and Rosalie James, each sunrise brought but an increasing weight of torturing anxiety; each nightfall was fraught with an additional burden of suspense.
Within the week after his return, Mr. Tremain had another interview with Miss Hildreth. He found her in the same half flippant, half rebellious mood that had so angered him at their last meeting. He stayed with her for more than an hour, during which she remained as adamant to all his arguments, entreaties, prayers. He left her at last in anger, and with hot words of passion as his farewell.
"You force me to draw my own conclusions," he said. "It would be more reasonable if you would give me ever so foolish a motive as your reason for denying the truth of the assertion contained in this letter." He struck John Mainwaring's offending epistle as he spoke. "Once more, Patricia, will you, or will you not, acknowledge this affirmation as true?"
She had grown very pale under the lash of his ill-concealed anger; but she gave no other sign either of embarrassment or yielding, and when she answered she looked him straight in the eyes, and spoke without a falter in her clear musical voice:
"I have nothing to say, Philip. Mr. Mainwaring is the best person for you to apply to for confirmation, since he has made the statement."
"And that is all you have to tell me—all you will tell me?" he asked, his voice reflecting the doubt and pain of his mind. "At least, Patricia, since I know on what grounds Count Mellikoff will seek to justify your arrest, you might confide the truth to me. Are you, or are you not——"
"My dear Philip," she broke in hastily, the colour rushing to her face in a sudden overwhelming torrent, "cannot you see what I am?—is not that enough? Why should you try to solve Vladimir Mellikoff's motives? It is he who has brought this charge against me, let him prove its validity."
"And Mainwaring?" he asked, slowly, looking at her keenly.
"Mr. Mainwaring shall answer to me for his officiousness," she replied, quietly.
"And this is all you have to say, Patricia? This is all you will tell me?"
"Yes, that is all I have to say," she answered.
And at her reply he turned from her abruptly and left her; nor did he again seek an interview with her during the few days that remained before her quasi-trial.
Philip could not but contrast the emotions with which he had sought this meeting, with those which overwhelmed him at its close. John Mainwaring's letter had apparently opened the way to a satisfactory unravelling of the tangled skein, and it was with a full belief in the solution thus presented, that he had gone to Patricia, and begged for a more explicit explanation than that suggested in Mainwaring's statement. He believed also, that at last he had fathomed Mdlle. Lamien's part in the transaction, and the secret of her power over him; he had already accused her of being Count Mellikoff's accomplice, and now he thought he saw how it was that all unconsciously she played advantageously into his hands.
It needed but a word from Patricia to reduce his theory to reality; but this word Miss Hildreth declined to pronounce, nor could he force from her any admission upon which he could establish his hypothesis. The only outcome of his interview with her was a return to the old uncertainty and doubt that had made his life a torture for so many days.
To the great surprise of every one, Mr. Tremain did not appear as Miss Hildreth's solicitor, nor, indeed, take any active part in her behalf. It was John Mainwaring who was selected by Patricia as her adviser, and to John Mainwaring she opened her whole heart; holding nothing back, and in no way excusing or exonerating herself for the part she had played in the plot, that bid fair to develop all the characteristics of tragedy before its termination. She bound the young lawyer by the most solemn of promises not to reveal certain portions of her confession, although the consequences of his secrecy might be the worst possible for her. And Mainwaring, being a man of quick sympathies and ardent chivalry, had, under the spell of her beauty and her emotion, passed his word of honour to use only such particulars of her statement, in her support, as she should designate.
"I think you are mistaken," he had said, after urging a greater latitude upon her, "I cannot say how far your reticence may not tell against you. I wish you would be quite frank with me, Miss Hildreth, or rather let me be on your behalf. I don't believe you half realise the gravity of your position, or how terrible the result may be for you should I fail to overthrow the validity of the warrant. You see a certain amount of complicity we must acknowledge, since we cannot set up analibi, and that will go just so much against you if I may not show the context. Won't you reconsider, Miss Hildreth, or let me take another opinion upon the matter?"
"No," she answered with decision, "I cannot reconsider. It is impossible. Only think in what a position it would place him were I to allow you to proclaim my miserable attitude. No, be the consequences what they may, I have brought sorrow and shame enough upon Philip Tremain through my influence, I will not disgrace him publicly by having my weakness dragged out to the light of day. You have given me your word, Mr. Mainwaring. I have no fear of your breaking it, and I do not care for any second opinion. I must stand or fall by the line of argument we have marked out between us."
And from this decision he could not move her.
After he left her, Miss Hildreth sat for a long time quite still and motionless. The slow heavy tears gathered in her eyes and fell down her cheeks unnoticed and unchecked; the sobs, deep weary sobs, burst now and then from her brave heart; and at last, as the evening shadows lengthened into night, and all about her became wrapt in soft impalpable darkness, she fell upon her knees, bowing her proud head to the ground, and praying as she had never prayed before; entreating forgiveness for her wilful pride, her cruel selfishness, her obdurate egotism, through which, not she only had been brought to so terrible an alternative, but he whom she loved bid fair to be dragged down with her in her fall.
"No, no, no," she cried aloud, clasping her hands together and throwing them outward in a passionate gesture of entreaty, "I will never give in. I will never confess the shameful part I have taken in this deception. I will never, my poor Philip, by word or sign permit one slight or sneer to fall on you through me. If I have failed in everything else, I will not fail in this. At least, I have courage and endurance left, I am not afraid but that they will stand me in good stead; and should the very worst consequences fall upon me, I deserve them all. Yes, every individual item, in that horrible possibility of which he spoke, is not too much for me to bear in punishment. Oh, Philip, Philip, to think I should be the one to bring the disgrace upon you of biting scorn, and evil laughter, and venomous tongues! I, who love you, and yet whose love can point to no higher achievement than this!"
The morning of the fateful 15th of September dawned at last; and long before the hour fixed for the official inquiry, the court-room was filled to overflowing by a crowd gathered from every grade of Society, to each member of which the arrest and possible fate of so prominent a person as Patricia Hildreth assumed a special and individual importance.
The very secrecy and mystery that had surrounded the case from the outset, and the reticence of the Press regarding it—usually so garrulous and self-opinionated—served only to whet the sensation-loving appetite of the community. The examination being held in open court, any one was free to enter, and to exercise that naïve candour of criticism and good-natured interference in other people's affairs peculiarly American. Not a member of the assemblage but was cognisant of the case in all its details, or who could not, at a moment's notice, reel off a synopsis of its peculiar features, embracing the names, social standing, personal incomes, and general habits of the persons most implicated in it.
The Folly, theDeerhound, and Esther Newbold, as the mistress of both, were fully canvassed, together with Miss Darling's openly expressed anger at being detained by the accusing party to give special evidence, and Mr. Tremain's extraordinary conduct in refusing to act as Miss Hildreth's solicitor; while Patricia's private life, her jewels, wealth, and beauty, were scarcely more absorbing topics than were the treachery, blackheartedness and ingratitude of Vladimir Mellikoff; who, having been received with such cordial hospitality, returned it in so evil and back-handed a fashion.
A strong party of Patricia's friends occupied prominent places, among whom were George Newbold, Sir Piers Tracey, Freddy Slade, and Jack Howard, further enforced by a feminine contingent of thesuper-chics, to whom a morning spent in a court of inquiry, of which they formed, as it were, an independent jury, to decide upon the guilt or innocence of one of their own sex and order, offered too new a sensation to be despised in this age of satiated experience. They came, therefore, arrayed in the most exquisite of costumes, and bringing with them their individual fads and fancies in the way of salts, eau-de-cologne, and fans. They rustled into their places with the same arrogance and assurance with which they distinguished a "first night" at Wallack's or the opera, and, raising their long tortoise-shell handledpince-nezswith elaborate superciliousness, gazed at the gathering crowd with the same indifference as they inspected the unfamiliar face of an aspirant to histrionic fame whose success was still in embryo.
Patricia Hildreth had indeed no severer tribunal to stand before than these butterflies of the hour, who were equally ready to bestow upon her smiles, congratulations, and assurances of their undeviating fidelity, or scoffs and jeers of objurgation—none the less defamatory because spoken in soft tones and with downcast eyes—according as the decision was given for or against her.
As the great clock in the tower of the City Hall struck ten, echoed by all the lesser clocks of the neighbourhood, the little crowd of black-coated lawyers and attorneys, that filled the space between the bench and a certain railed off space, within which a chair had been placed, separated, the different members taking their places to right and left of the official bench set apart for the District Judge, before whom Patricia Hildreth was to stand arraigned, by virtue of arrest, on a charge of murder. It was understood, of course, that the proceedings were in a manner informal; the inquiry purported to deal solely with the validity of the warrant issued against Miss Hildreth, and did not in any sense partake of the nature of a trial; that, should Count Mellikoff substantiate the arrest, would take place in St. Petersburg, before a Russian tribunal. Nevertheless, to all those concerned in the case, and to the onlookers, this official inquiry was regarded in the light of a trial, especially since, owing to the gravity of the circumstances, witnesses were to be allowed on both sides.
John Mainwaring's dark, clean-shaven face wore a somewhat anxious expression as he bent down towards George Newbold and spoke earnestly to him. Mr. Tremain, Esther, and Miss Darling were not present in the court-room; later they were to be called to give evidence. Count Mellikoff was there, however, looking very pale but perfectly self-possessed, his deep-set burning eyes flashing looks of disdain upon the unfriendly crowd, whose hostile expressions did not fail to reach his ears.
As his solicitor Vladimir had engaged Peter Munger, one of the most famous members of the Bar, whose name alone was supposed to ensure success. He was a large man, with a forbidding forehead and an offensive smile; and his very aggressiveness was popularly supposed to weigh heavily with the Bench.
He spoke very little to any one, but scowled darkly upon Mainwaring, and muttered a rather unprofessional expletive beneath his breath, against his opponent's youth and inexperience.
"I had rather it had been Tremain," he had growled out to Count Mellikoff, when first apprised of the name of Patricia's solicitor, "it's worth my while to beathim; but that youngster—bah!" And out flew a shower of little chewed-up quids of paper, which it was the great man's habit to indulge in as a break-water to the more pernicious tobacco.
Count Mellikoff had shrugged his shoulders and held out his hands in deprecation, but made no other reply, upon which the giant snorted out something not over polite regarding foreigners, which Vladimir felt it was wiser not to notice.
As the last stroke of the hour died upon the air a moment's silence fell upon the assembly, and in that silence the peal of old Trinity's bells rang out, calling the worshippers to morning service. Vladimir, as he listened to the deep peal, thought of Petersburg, and found himself waiting involuntarily for the victorious pæan, "How glorious is our God in Zion," which in his country followed the striking of the hour, drowning the sadder notes of theMiserere.
But the bells ceased, and with their final chord of aërial music the small door behind the official bench was thrown open, and the legalcortègeentered and took their seats in a silence that was absolute, save for the throbbing of the air stirred by the expectant breathing of the waiting crowd.
Judge Anstice, the District Judge for New York, was eminently imposing both in person and manner. He was unusually tall, with an intellectual head, a face of much power and kindliness, and a reputation for leniency whenever compatible with a strict observance of justice. It was to him that both John Mainwaring and Mr. Tremain looked instinctively for sympathy, though knowing him to be before all things a strict disciplinarian in all points pertaining to his profession. He was, moreover, a popular favourite with the public, who hailed his appearance with subdued satisfaction.
The half murmur of applause which greeted Judge Anstice developed into decided expressions of excitement as a tall, slight figure advanced, piloted up the narrow aisle by a policeman, and shown into the railed off space before the Bench. The new-comer was Patricia Hildreth, and the hush of expectation, that followed close upon the audible comments called forth by her appearance, became breathless, as, with a firm step and upright bearing, she took the place indicated and stood for a moment confronting her accusers.
Her beautiful face was colourless, her blue eyes looked black and luminous beneath the dark brows, her lips were resolutely closed, with just a touch of defiance in the firm set curves. She was dressed plainly in black, and she wore no veil.
It had never been Miss Hildreth's custom to hide her beauty when most triumphant; why should she do so now in the hour of her extremity?
It was intimated to her that she was at liberty to sit down, and with a slight bend of her proud head she availed herself of the permission.
Mr. Munger opened the proceedings with a short and technical explanation as to the nature and purport of the warrant of arrest, the issuing of which had been formally requested by the Russian Government, and acceded to by that of the United States, not as a matter of absolute right, but through that comity of nations by which the relationships existing between two great powers were kept intact and justly balanced. The warrant thus issued had been executed upon the person of Patricia Hildreth,aliasAdèle Lamien,aliasAdèle Lallovich, on the charge of her having been an accomplice in the murder of Stevan Lallovich, which occurred at St. Petersburg in the month of December last. The investigation of this warrant was what they had before them now, and in so doing he would first call attention to the point of nationality, since upon this point very much depended. Should Miss Hildreth, or rather should Adèle Lamien, prove to be a Muscovite subject, the American authorities could have but one course open to them, namely, to surrender her to the Russian officials, and let her be put upon trial in the country, and according to the laws, where the crime was committed.
A like course had been adopted by another foreign Power, when the United States was the petitioner, and the offender a political criminal. Spain had at once delivered up this fugitive from justice,[1]though not legally compelled to do so, and the offender was brought to trial solely through the courtesy of a foreign Government. Having then this case as a precedent, it would, according to national honour, be impossible to refuse a like amenity in the present instance. As the Bench was aware, the circumstances in the case now before them were of so extraordinary a nature, it had been deemed wise to allow of evidence being given, a course entirely at variance with the usual procedure in such cases. Special emergencies, however, required special treatment. But before he availed himself of the privilege thus accorded, he would call the attention of the Bench to a few of the peculiarities of this case, by which it would be seen how weighty and grave were the reasons which led to the demand and the issuing of the warrant.
In his opinion there had never been a more deliberately planned and executed murder than that of Count Stevan Lallovich, nor one in which greater skill andfinessehad been displayed, both before and after the perpetration of it. It was needless for him to tell the Bench who the lady purported to be that stood accused before them; her name and her position were far too well known and defined to require any blazoning forth by him. His task was the more unpleasant one of proving that this Patricia Hildreth had no right to her recognised patronymic, since she, under the name of Adèle Lamien, had contracted a marriage with Count Stevan Lallovich, and had subsequently consented to, and participated in, the murder of the same Stevan Lallovich. It was owing to these exceptional features that the warrant had been issued against her, and he submitted to his honour that the papers of arrest would be found regular on all these points.
Having gone thus far, Mr. Munger paused and threw an imperative glance at the Judge and auditors collectively; it was plainly evident that his statement had made a decided impression.
The public interest in the case had been pronounced enough even when but little of its real nature had been revealed, and now, when the true aspect of the charge was exposed, and Patricia Hildreth stood stripped of all protection, even that afforded her by her name and position, and was openly branded not only as a murderer, but as a wilful impostor and adventuress, the excitement reached fever heat, and not one pair of all those hundreds of watching eyes but were turned upon the proud beautiful face of the accused woman; that face never faltered nor winced beneath their gaze, eager though they were to note the first sign or expression of fear upon it.
After this scarcely perceptible pause, Mr. Munger took up his theme again, and in incisive phrases, with rough eloquence, told the story of the brilliant, dissolute, captivating Russian noble, Stevan Lallovich; painting his character in forcible lights and deep shadows; dwelling strongly on his blood connection with the Muscovite Emperor, his life at Court, the unstinted adulation poured upon him, the continuous round of success that attended his every caprice; until it became an article of belief in his circle that he had but to express a wish, or whisper a desire, and the fulfilment of it was accomplished without the asking. Like Jove of old, did he but nod his head his whole world trembled, or smile and they rejoiced. With great skill the able pleader brought down his narrative to ten years ago, when, as he said, with a disagreeable smile, Miss Hildreth, then in the full glory of her exceptional beauty, had left her native country—he would not suggest under what circumstances—and for the greater part of those succeeding ten years had been an independent wanderer over the European continent, answerable to no one; concerning her experiences during those ten years Miss Hildreth was known to be obstinately reticent. They had her admission, however, as he would show later, of her having been in St. Petersburg a part of that time, and also of her having known Count Stevan Lallovich. The date of her acknowledged visit to Petersburg comprised the month before and the very day of Count Stevan's murder. She returned to America early in February, the crime having been committed in the December previous.
It was a well-known fact among Count Lallovich's friends, that about a year before his ill-fated death he had become so infatuated by the extreme beauty of a foreign lady—foreign in the sense of her not being a Muscovite subject—as to marry her according to the ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church, which Church, not holding communion with the Greek religion, is looked upon in Russia as schismatic. After a few months of retired felicity the affair became known to the Tsar, who revoked the marriage by Imperial ukase, and recalled Count Stevan to Petersburg; the unfortunate lady was thus turned adrift, with her character ruined, and her personality numbered among the many suspects, over whom the Chancellerie keeps so close a watch.
On the morning of the 28th of December, Count Stevan Lallovich was found murdered in his own palace, stabbed through the heart. The assassin had left behind no more tangible proof of identity than was contained in a small handkerchief, evidently dropped in the haste of flight, marked across one corner in embroidered lettersA. de L.; above these letters the initialsP. H.had been carelessly written in ink. The handkerchief was that of a woman, and was traced as belonging to Adèle Lamien, or de Lallovich, Count Stevan's repudiated wife. Suspicion fell naturally upon this woman, a suspicion which soon became assurance; but she, with consummate cunning, eluded every effort put forth for her apprehension, and finally escaped to America, landing in New York some time within the month of February last.
It would be understood that in so grave and terrible a crime, where the victim was a member of the Imperial Russian family, no efforts would be spared to track and find the perpetrator of the deed. From positive and unimpeachable evidence the Chancellerie had reason to believe the assassin to be in the United States, and they accordingly authorised Count Vladimir Mellikoff, a member of the Tsar's household, to act as their agent in the matter; and he it was who in the furtherance of this work had traced the criminal link by link, and bit by bit, until he was able to lodge such information before the proper authorities in this country as resulted in the arrest of Patricia Hildreth; who now, as Adèle Lamien, or Lallovich, stands accused of her husband's murder.
"That, your honour," summed up Mr. Munger, "is my statement. To prove the regularity of the warrant, and the validity of the evidence upon which it was issued, I propose first to show that the lady calling herself Patricia Hildreth is,in propriâ personâ, Adèle Lallovich, and that by her marriage with Stevan Lallovich, she becamede factoa Russian subject, and is therefore answerable to Russian authority. To do this, I will avail myself of the precedent established for this case, by taking informal evidence upon it. I will therefore ask Count Mellikoff to come forward."
[1]The late Mr. W. M. Tweed.
[1]The late Mr. W. M. Tweed.
As Vladimir Mellikoff stepped out from the group of men surrounding him and took the place indicated by Mr. Munger, a low murmur of disapproval surged up from the highly wrought crowd of listeners and onlookers, at the sound of which his colourless face flushed, for one brief second, while the dark eyes in the cavernous sockets gleamed intemperately, and the mouth beneath the dark beard and moustache tightened visibly.
He gave his evidence quietly and dispassionately, but with great deliberation, his restless eyes glancing now at Miss Hildreth's calm, unmoved face, now at John Mainwaring's dark, shapely, outlined countenance, and back again to Mr. Munger's beetling brow and heavy frown.
Each word he uttered told with distinct force against Patricia, and gathering confidence as he went on, Count Vladimir carried the wavering opinions of the public with him.
Ably interrogated, he proved the presence of Miss Hildreth in St. Petersburg at the time of Count Stevan's murder, her acquaintance with him, and her precipitate and mysterious flight from the Russian capital the morning after the perpetration of the crime. He next proved that a lady, calling herself Adèle Lamien, had taken passage and sailed in a steamship of the International Line from London for New York; that, on the ship's arrival at the latter port, Miss Hildreth was found to be among the passengers, while Adèle Lamien was missing. Miss Hildreth's friends were kept in ignorance of her arrival for several days, and when questioned regarding her sudden and unexpected return, she displayed the greatest reticence.
He, Vladimir Mellikoff, had arrived in New York somewhat later in the same month of February, but, owing to various causes of delay, he made no progress in his mission for several weeks; and, while waiting the further development of events, he had accepted an invitation extended to him by Mr. George Newbold, to pay him a visit at his country-house, the Folly, on Staten Island. The first evening of his arrival he met Miss Hildreth, and from something in her manner, he was led to observe her closely; these observations resulted in the conviction that she was playing a part, which it was vitally important she should succeed in. An unexpected clue to her secret had fallen into his hands that very evening; he had found beneath Miss Hildreth's chair, when she and the house party had withdrawn for the rehearsal, a fine cambric handkerchief, edged with lace and embroidered in a monogram,A. de L.; the very counterpart, in fact, of the one left by the criminal in her precipitate flight from the rooms of the murdered Stevan Lallovich, the only point of difference being that the one now in his possession did not have the written initialsP. H.upon it.
He next drew attention to the presence at the Folly of a person calling herself Adèle Lamien, who filled the position of governess to Mr. Newbold's little daughter. He, personally, had not met Mdlle. Lamien during his visit; but others had done so who would prove her identity with the lady before them. He had, however, been witness to an interview between Mdlle. Lamien and Mr. Philip Tremain, during which Mr. Tremain made no secret of his knowledge concerning that lady's past life. He had also in his possession a note addressed to Miss Darling, one of the young lady guests at the Folly, signed Adèle Lamien, written on paper bearing the Lallovich crest, and dated the 3rd of May; the very evening on which Miss Hildreth was said to have arrived at the Folly.
During all of Count Mellikoff's narration, Patricia never once took her eyes from his dark, inscrutable face; she watched him with the same expressionless countenance which she had worn from the opening of the inquiry. But at the mention of the interview between Adèle Lamien and Philip Tremain her face changed perceptibly, a wave of emotion passed over it as she turned her troubled eyes appealingly towards John Mainwaring. Then the mask of impenetrability settled over it again, and she sat immovable, her hands clasped together on her lap, her head thrown back in proud defiance.
Count Mellikoff's further statements were purely technical, and related chiefly to his position in Russia, his credibility, authority, etc., all of which were vouched for by the Russian Ambassador.
As Vladimir resumed his seat, a low murmur of disapproval escaped from the crowd, a murmur promptly subdued, but that told of the growing excitement. Mr. Munger, on hearing its threatening notes, tossed back his head with a snort of defiance, and called up his next witness with prompt alacrity.
As the slight, thin figure of Rosalie James appeared in answer to Mr. Munger's call, another change passed rapidly across Patricia's face, her lips curled slightly, while into her eyes there flashed a look of comprehension. Had not Philip hinted at some hidden woman enemy; some one to whom she, Patricia, had given cause for anger, for retaliation, for revenge? And had not this girl, with the sharply outlined face, always held aloof from her? Had she not often found those keen, observant eyes fixed upon her with the same scrutiny with which they now regarded her? She had put Mr. Tremain's supposition by as not worth consideration; she saw now how important had been its bearing, for in Rosalie James she recognised, with a woman's quick perception, her most pronounced and calculating enemy. And with this certainty came another.
This girl loved Philip, and knowing her passion to be hopeless, she had sought out, with the unfailing prescience of slighted love, the woman who was her rival, hoping that in striking at her she would also wound the man who had rejected her. Love is proverbially cruel, none knew this truth better than Miss Hildreth; it was, therefore, with a strange illogical sympathy that she listened to Miss James's defamation of her.
Rosalie spoke in her usual high pitched voice, every note of which carried her words into the furthest corners of the crowded room. Under Mr. Munger's manipulation she gave a condensed and telling account of her instrumentality in the arrest of Miss Hildreth. In substance it was as follows.
She had been a guest at the Folly at the same time as Patricia, and had taken part in the same theatricals, though not in the same play. She had often heard Miss Hildreth discussed before she met her, and from what had been said had formed no very high opinion of that lady's character. Miss Hildreth was always singularly reticent concerning her experiences during her residence abroad. She had only once heard her make any voluntary allusion to her visit to St. Petersburg, and that was on the morning of the 4th of May, when some of the house party were gathered together in Mrs. Newbold's boudoir. Miss Hildreth had then related a curious tale; she had not actually detailed the murder of Count Stevan Lallovich, but she had alluded to it very pertinently and with great excitement of manner. She had also distinctly named Adèle Lallovich as the victim of a moral crime, and had intimated the form of her revenge.
To her, Miss Hildreth had from the first appeared as a woman with a secret, and she had determined to fathom that secret. She had her reasons for doing so, they were purely personal reasons. She had, from the first day of her arrival at the Folly, heard a great deal about Adèle Lamien. She had seen her once or twice, but had paid little attention to her, noticing only that she shunned observation and kept as much in the background as possible. On the arrival of Mr. Tremain, however, Mdlle. Lamien apparently lost her shyness, for she, Miss James, had several times seen them together, and had once discovered the governess in a state of great agitation.
She had not liked Mdlle. Lamien at any time, and believed her quite capable of the most flagrant deception. Mrs. Newbold had been remonstrated with for her credulity, and on one such occasion she had related to her guests an extraordinary story, which purported to be that of her governess, and which was substantially that of Adèle Lallovich, as told by Count Mellikoff; the details and make-up differed somewhat, and the murder of Count Stevan was not touched upon, but the main features were the same. Mr. Tremain was present on the occasion, and it had occurred to her at the time that Mrs. Newbold had some covert meaning in her recitation; at all events Mr. Tremain seemed much moved by it. Mdlle. Lamien was not at the dinner-table when her story was discussed.
She had first suspected Miss Hildreth and Mdlle. Lamien of being one and the same person, from a hint thrown out by Count Mellikoff. She had previously remarked that Mdlle. Lamien and Miss Hildreth were never present at the same time, and on the evening of Miss Hildreth's arrival, it was given out that Mdlle. Lamien had suddenly been called away. It was not long before these suspicions became assurances; she could not form an opinion as to the motives for the deception being practised upon them all; she had no previous acquaintance with Miss Hildreth, consequently she could not vouch absolutely for her identity; but in any case it was plain that the lady passing under that name had some desperate motive for doing so.
It was not until the last day of Mr. Tremain's visit at the Folly that the nature of this intrigue was made plain. The theatricals took place on the evening of the 4th of May, Mr. Newbold's birthday; on the following morning Mr. Tremain announced his departure for that afternoon. About half-past four she and Count Mellikoff were seated on the stone terrace beneath the library windows; they did not observe any one enter the room until close on to five o'clock, when Mr. Tremain came in, walked first up to the book-cases and then passed on into the music-room, which was separated byportièresonly from the library. She and the Count remained a few moments longer on the terrace, and then entered the library by one of the open French windows; as they did so a sudden exclamation from the inner room arrested them, and they thus became the listeners to a very remarkable interview between Mr. Tremain and Adèle Lamien, during which Mdlle. Lamien played and sang in a manner which seemed to greatly affect Mr. Tremain. At the close of the song he had offered himself to Mdlle. Lamien, and this had called forth from her a confused and rambling statement, in which she hinted at crime and shame being not unknown to her. Mr. Tremain's ardour, however, had not been daunted by these equivocal innuendoes; he pressed her for an answer, and Mdlle. Lamien had at last accepted him conditionally. The interview terminated by Mdlle. Lamien exclaiming, excitedly: "Surely this should be triumph enough, even for me, to know that I have won you from the remembrance, nay, from the very presence, of Patricia Hildreth!"
She had thought them remarkable words at the time; but they assumed a still greater significance when Mdlle. Lamien pushed back theportièresand, walking rapidly across the library, turned as she reached the open door and looked back. Believing herself to be alone, she let the mask of deception fall from her, and, despite all disguise of paint and powder, they recognised in the countenance thus turned towards them, smiling and triumphant, the face of Patricia Hildreth!
Miss James gave her evidence throughout in so calm and assured a manner, and in such cold and concise sentences, as to admit of no interruption and impress the seal of unimpeachable truth on all she said. Both her face and voice were hard and impassive; but, notwithstanding her pronounced, unsympathetic attitude, she carried weight with her, and reduced the majority of wavering opinions into affirmative antagonism against Patricia.
Looked at through the medium of Count Mellikoff's and Miss James's statements, that lady's conduct did indeed appear not only perplexing but condemning.
With the close of Miss James's testimony, the noon recess was called, and to the relief of every one the mental strain and tension was laid aside for an hour.
Miss Hildreth walked out of the court-room with the same firm tread and upright bearing with which she had entered it; Judge Anstice disappeared through a private door, and his withdrawal was followed by the instantaneous appearance, on every side, of sandwich-boxes and lunch-baskets. The ladies under George Newbold's escort regaled themselves on chickens' wings and "cup;" the humbler crowd making audible comments thereon over their humbler fare.
The silence was broken by a Babel of voices all raised to concert pitch, all going together, and all discussing volubly the events of the morning.
The public pulse stood at fever height, and public opinion, with its usual consistency, was veering round in favour of Vladimir Mellikoff. Miss Hildreth had been chief favourite when the inquiry opened, but Miss Hildreth's chances for keeping that position looked scarcely favourable now, judging from public expressions.
The refreshment hour passed all too quickly, and with the prompt return of Judge Anstice, the crowd settled itself down, re-nerved and fortified, for the long afternoon's work that evidently lay before it.
Once more Miss Hildreth took her place within the railed-off space, and those nearest to her were quick to perceive the additional pallor of her face, and the troubled look in her dark blue eyes.
Almost imperceptibly themodus operandiof this informal inquiry had assumed the proportions and importance of a legal trial; and so exceptional and perplexing were the circumstances surrounding the case, the usual manner of procedure was tacitly waived, and the investigation carried on on broader lines. The dramatic element so predominated, it insensibly bore both the Bench and the crowd along with it, breaking down all ordinary barriers of legal treatment.
The stipulated point at issue was of course the examination of the warrant papers, and if Judge Anstice stretched the cordon in this respect it was scarcely to be wondered at. The case virtually had no precedent; it was only in deference to that unwritten code of the courtesy of common law between nations that any such inquiry took place at all, and had the charge been a less grave one than that of murder, no proceedings would have been entered upon. But, as has been said, exceptional cases demand exceptional remedies, and since an arrest and inquiry had been granted, the lines for the carrying out of the latter could not be too broad and comprehensive.
Mr. Munger reappeared like a giant refreshed, and immediately called up Mrs. Newbold as his next ally. Esther's fair, pretty face, flushed and anxious, looked as much out of keeping with its surroundings as did her costume of lace and muslin. She glanced appealingly at Miss Hildreth before speaking, and that silent appeal called up a ghost of a smile to Patricia's lips.
Despite the soft prettiness of her blonde colouring, however, Mrs. Newbold could lay claim to plenty of self-possession, and Mr. Munger found her not quite so malleable as he had imagined. She answered any question put directly to her as briefly as possible, but she would not advance any detail or explanation. Notwithstanding the neutrality of her replies, however, her evidence was gravely important, for it established beyond question the fact that Miss Hildreth and Marianne's governess, known at the Folly as Adèle Lamien, were one and the same person. Esther did not attempt to deny this, nor did she vouchsafe any explanation concerning it. When asked if she had always been cognisant of this fact, she answered, simply:
"Yes."
"Had she then assisted Miss Hildreth in the deception?"
"Yes."
"Had she told the story purporting to be that of Adèle Lamien, as recounted by Miss James?"
"Yes."
"Was she present when Miss Hildreth indicated that of Adèle Lallovich?"
"Yes."
"Did she endeavour to stop her?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because she thought Miss Hildreth was indiscreet."
"Was she acquainted with Miss Hildreth's reasons for wishing to keep her identity with Adèle Lamien secret?"
Mrs. Newbold's face flushed, and she turned another appealing look upon Patricia before she replied, slowly:
"Yes."
"Would she state those reasons?"
"No, she could not."
"Why?"
"She was under a promise."
"To whom?"
"She would rather not say."
"To Miss Hildreth?"
"Yes."
"Had she agreed with Miss Hildreth's reasons?"
"Not altogether."
"Yet she assisted her to carry them out. Why?"
"She would rather not say."
"Had those reasons anything to do with Mr. Tremain?"
Mrs. Newbold was silent, and, with a snort and a smile, Mr. Munger continued:
"Did Mrs. Newbold know Adèle Lamien, or Lallovich, to have committed a crime at some period of her life?"
"Yes, she had been told so."
"And Mrs. Newbold was perfectly sure that the lady calling herself Miss Hildreth was the same person who, at the Folly, was known as Adèle Lamien?"
"Yes."
"Then Mrs. Newbold believed her friend—Miss Hildreth—to be guilty of murder?"
Clear and sharp came the answer:
"No, I do not."
"What then did Mrs. Newbold believe?"
And Esther, her face flushing and paling alternately, her blue eyes fixed dauntlessly upon her tormenter, replied, that while forced to admit that Patricia Hildreth and the person purporting to be Adèle Lamien were to her certain knowledge one and the same, to the best of her belief this was not the whole truth. Miss Hildreth had reasons, grave reasons, for what she had done, and she, Mrs. Newbold, had consented to help her, never foreseeing the grave and terrible consequences that might ensue. She was not at liberty to state those reasons; but she was as certain as she stood before them then, that Miss Hildreth was absolutely guiltless of the crime of which she was accused.
"How did Mrs. Newbold account for the two handkerchiefs markedA. de L.?"
"She could not account for them."
"Had Miss Hildreth ever spoken to her concerning her life abroad—especially her life at St. Petersburg?"
"No; Miss Hildreth had always been uncommunicative on all such topics."
This closed Mrs. Newbold's statement; and Esther could not but feel, as her husband handed her to a seat not far from Patricia, that she had done more to injure her friend's cause than to help it.
"Oh, if she would but have let me speak!" she said to her husband, the tears dimming the brightness of her blue eyes.
Patricia caught the half whispered exclamation, and saw the glistening tear-drops; but she only folded her hands more closely together, and waited with a look of quiet endurance on her pale face.
Dick Darling was next interrogated, and her violent partisanship was decidedly refreshing to the excited listeners. She indignantly denied any possible connection between Miss Hildreth and Adèle Lallovich; but when pinned down to say why, she could only shake her brown head and declare she was sure of it from a moral point of view.
Yes, she had received the pink note from Mdlle. Lamien, on the evening of the 3rd of May. She could not say if the handwriting was that of Miss Hildreth, or if it was the same as that on the handkerchief. She was not familiar with Miss Hildreth's calligraphy. She had never had the smallest suspicion of Miss Hildreth's identity with Mdlle. Lamien; she didn't believe it. She was not given to looking for suspicious motives in every-day life; thank goodness she was not a sneak, and hoped she never might be; this last with a malevolent glance at Miss James. Miss Hildreth had told the story of Adèle Lallovich at her special request. Yes, she had used both names in telling it, Lamien and Lallovich.
Miss Darling finished with an open scowl at Mr. Munger, and a smile at Patricia, and fluttered off to Esther's side, where she kept up a running commentary on all subsequent events.
Once more there was a few moments' interval or breathing space, and then Mr. Munger played his trump card by requesting Philip Tremain to step forward. It had been, undoubtedly, a disagreeable surprise publicly when it transpired that Mr. Tremain was not to appear as Miss Hildreth's solicitor; but it created a still greater sensation that he should be called in evidence against her; and, for a few moments, as he stood there, composed, dignified, and impassive, such a silence fell upon the assemblage that even the dropping of the proverbial pin would have resounded loudly.
And in that brief interval Philip lost all sight or knowledge of those around him; he saw only the pale, proud face of the woman he loved, the close-shut curve of her lips, the anxious expectancy of her eyes. Was she fearful of him then, and of what he might say? he asked himself a little bitterly. She had never rightly estimated his love, why should he expect her to do so now?
Perhaps, since she had deceived him, she judged him by her standpoint of deception.
Then he lost touch with the more personal elements of the scene, and remembered only where he was, and why he stood there. That woman yonder, that dark, silent, motionless figure, with the clasped hands and the pallid beautiful face, was Patricia Hildreth—the woman of his life-long devotion, the love of his youth and his manhood—and she was charged with what? Murder!
And he? He could do nothing to exonerate her, nothing; he was helpless, powerless. She had refused even to give him an explanation of her position, and should Vladimir Mellikoff come off triumphant and she be taken from him, taken away to that Russia whose hand is as iron, whose vengeance is of blood, whose retribution stern as death, he should never know—never, never—how much of truth, how much of falsehood, she had kept back from him; or what was the secret that not all his passionate pleadings could wrest from her.
Patricia had not lifted her eyes from her folded hands, or apparently taken any notice of Philip's appearance; only for one brief moment a faint wave of colour tinged her cheeks and faded slowly away.
Mr. Munger's harsh voice broke the silence, and with an audible sigh of relief the audience fixed its attention upon Mr. Tremain. In replying to the lawyer's questions, Philip made his statement as brief as possible.
He had gone to the Folly by invitation, and had had no expectation of meeting Miss Hildreth there; he had not seen Miss Hildreth for ten years previous to his meeting her at the Folly. He had not found her particularly changed; and had not had much intercourse with her. Yes, he acted in the same play with her—The Ladies' Battle—on the evening of Mr. Newbold's birthday, but as Miss Hildreth did not arrive until the afternoon of the day before, they had not rehearsed together. He had first met Mdlle. Lamien the evening of his arrival at the Folly; she had interested him at once, and increased that interest by her courage on the occasion of the carriage accident. He had never for a moment suspected Mdlle. Lamien and Miss Hildreth of being the same person; he could see no resemblance between them beyond height and certain tones of voice. No, he had never seen Mdlle. Lamien in full daylight; at the time of the accident she wore a thick black veil drawn closely over her face.
Miss Hildreth had never spoken to him of her absence abroad, or volunteered any information concerning it. He had known Miss Hildreth for ten years; yes, at one time they had been engaged to be married. The interview described by Miss James had certainly taken place between him and Mdlle. Lamien; he had no wish to repudiate his position; at the end of the interview he considered himself engaged to Mdlle. Lamien; nothing had since occurred to alter his relations towards her. He had been out of town from August to September; his orders were that no letters or papers should be forwarded to him. He returned to New York on the evening of the 8th of September; he had only just reached his rooms when Miss Hildreth's arrest was made known to him; it was Miss Darling who told him. He had gone at once to Ludlow Street but was denied admittance; he then went to Mrs. Newbold's house in Madison Avenue. It was only two days ago that he had learned that Miss Hildreth and Mdlle. Lamien were supposed to be one and the same person. Yes, he had asked Miss Hildreth either to confirm or negative the charge, but she had declined to do so. He had no reason to believe that Miss Hildreth had contracted an unhappy alliance while abroad, nor had he any for denying the possibility of her having done so. Miss Hildreth was his friend, he would not therefore insult her by protesting his belief in her innocence. He had never seen Count Vladimir Mellikoff before meeting him at the Folly, on the evening of the 2nd of May.
With the termination of Mr. Tremain's statement further inquiry was adjourned until the following morning. The long, hot day had run its course at last, and as the pent-up crowd surged out into the mellow, lambent atmosphere of the summer evening, and melted away in all directions, twilight and desertion settled down upon the empty court-room.
Patricia, turning for one last look, as she passed out of the private door, smiled sadly at the change wrought in so short a time. Would it be so when she too had passed out of the lives of those who surrounded her now? Would her name—her place—become but an empty memory—a recollection to be put aside with all haste? Would he forget her, too—he, Philip, for whose love she had played so hazardous a game? Wouldheforget her, as these people forgot her, glad to rush away from the excitement of looking at her to the greater excitement of condemning her? Must she, too, like Adèle Lallovich, drink to the very dregs the bitter cup of humiliation and desertion?
When all this grim comedy—this farce that touched so close on tragedy—was over, when Russia's hand had closed upon her, would he think of her then? Would he come to know her better when she had passed from out his life for ever, and, perchance, give now and then one backward look, one sigh, to the days that were no more?
"Ah, Philip," she murmured, "I would rather far you should never know, lest in knowing you should come to despise me for my weakness and my love!"
On the second day of the inquiry public excitement and interest reached a higher pitch than ever, when it became known that Mr. Mainwaring would occupy the greater part of the morning in refuting the evidence given, and in protesting against the legality of the warrant.
Considering how positive had been the evidence, even of Miss Hildreth's own friends, it was difficult to see what possible line of argument the young lawyer could take, with any surety of success. Mrs. Newbold's testimony had disposed effectually of any doubts as to the identity of Miss Hildreth with that of the governess at the Folly—Adèle Lamien—and with this fact established irrefutably, was not Miss Hildreth's complicity in the murder of Stevan Lallovich a foregone conclusion?
The suborning of Miss Hildreth's particular friends against her had certainly been a master stroke on Mr. Munger's part; how could John Mainwaring confute such a mass of convicting testimony? Of course he was bound to make a brave fight for his client; but—and here the public shrugged its shoulders collectively—they were sorry for him, and sorry for the poor figure he must inevitably cut; and then went to work to show their sorrow by discussing Patricia's guilt as a proved premise, and her probable fate only a question of time.
John Mainwaring had once again sought Miss Hildreth, and, with every argument he could bring to bear, every pleading of rhetoric and common-sense, entreated her to reconsider her decision, and loose him from that promise of reservation respecting one point in her confession.
But Patricia was not to be moved one jot or tittle. She heard him to the end in silence, sitting, as Philip had last seen her, at the little table, her hands clasped upon it, and leaning slightly forward. Her face looked worn and sad, her eyes pathetic in their weariness, but the beautiful lips were set in firm decision, their expression one of dauntless courage and endurance.
The sweet, pungent perfume of the Maréchal Niel roses, grouped together in a tall glass vase, filled the heavy atmosphere with overpowering sweetness. She waited until John Mainwaring had quite finished speaking, and then said, slowly, and with the musical notes of her voice less reverberant than usual:
"No, Mr. Mainwaring, I cannot alter my decision; I cannot give you leave to drag my poor secret out into the light of day; not, believe me, on my own account, but onhis. To you only have I opened my whole heart—you alone know my weakness and my strength. For my own part, I should care very little how much was known of my motives; but for him—for Philip Tremain—I could not bear the thought and live, that, through me, and my love, he should be exposed to public ridicule. Ah, Mr. Mainwaring, was it for nothing, do you think, that I sat through those long, terrible hours yesterday, and heard the murmurs of the crowd, their open comments, their cruel innuendoes, their still more cruel laughter? Do I not know how eagerly they would seize upon my poor secret, and, tearing it limb from limb, dissect it and discuss it, in their cold, cruel, analysing fashion, until even the garment of reverence that clothes all love, however poor and mean, was torn from it, and it lay revealed—a poor denuded passion in tatters? Do you think he could bear that? Do you think Philip Tremain could hold up his head against such disgrace? Would he not despise and hate the one who brought it upon him, and would he not have reason to cast from him for ever all memory or recollection of such an one? Could I plead anything in extenuation to him—then? No; better, far better, the worst fate that can befall me than to clear myself in the eyes of the world, at the expense of sinking for ever in the estimation of him, to gain whose love I have placed myself in so terrible a position."
John Mainwaring made no reply; indeed, what answer could he make to such passionless reasoning as this? Whenever he was brought face to face with Patricia, and listened to her clear, calm voice, he felt himself carried away by the very attitude of her pleading. He saw things only from her point of view, and was ready to acquiesce and agree with her, however over-strained he considered her arguments. But when he was away from her, and without the radius of her personal influence, he was apt to anathematise himself in unparliamentary language, and to wish Miss Hildreth's selection of a lawyer had fallen on some one less susceptible to impressions.
"Since you give me no option, Miss Hildreth," he said presently, somewhat sullenly, "I must perforce make the best of my material; but, I warn you, my reasoning will sound very weak after yesterday's testimony, and Munger is sure to pounce upon its weakest point, in substantiation of which I have nothing to advance—positively nothing."
"I am very sorry for you, Mr. Mainwaring, believe me," she answered, earnestly, "and very grateful; but I cannot change my mind."
Then he had gone away, and for many long minutes Miss Hildreth sat as he had left her, her hands outstretched upon the table, her face quiet and expressionless, save for the close set curve of the mobile lips.
John Mainwaring, on leaving Miss Hildreth, walked quickly to his office, not in the most enviable frame of mind. As he entered the outer room, his clerk came forward and whispered a few words to him, then preceding him to the inner office, opened the door and held it back for Mainwaring to enter. As he did so, a dark figure rose up from the depths of a lounging chair, and advanced towards him. The brilliant sunshine from the outer room struck full athwart the stranger's face, and revealed the features of the Italian, Mattalini; then the door swung to, and the clerk returned to his desk in the full glare of the hot sunshine.
By ten o'clock the court-room was again filled to overflowing, apparently with the identical crowd of the day before. The battalion of fashionable ladies showed an increase of recruits, and the knot of lawyers gathered about the Bench was augmented in numbers. Close beside the railed off space, sat Mrs. Newbold and Dick Darling, while not far off, engaged in earnest conversation, were Mr. Tremain and Mainwaring.
Again there arose the concentrated murmur of many voices as Miss Hildreth took her place within the rails, and at the same moment Judge Anstice walked quietly to his seat on the Bench; and so began the second act in the tragic drama.
Mr. Munger intimated to his honour that his part in the proceedings had terminated with yesterday's evidence; which, he repeated, was in itself sufficient to incriminate a dozen suspects, and to prove a dozenprimâ faciecases. Bearing this in mind, it was not necessary for him to recapitulate it in detail, or indeed to make any comments upon it. The point at issue was the identity of the lady arrested with the person named in the warrant as Adèle Lamien, or Lallovich. Yesterday's evidence—that of Miss Hildreth's intimate friends, and especially Mrs. Newbold's—had conclusively established that point; there could therefore be no hesitancy in proclaiming the warrant a valid one, and surrendering the lady up to the Russian Government. As to the guilt or innocence of Adèle Lamien, or Lallovich, in the affair of Count Stevan's murder, they were not called to pronounce upon; she must take her trial on that charge in the country where the crime was committed. The only point they were called upon to prove, was the legality of the warrant papers, and the identity of the person arrested; this point having been substantiated beyond question, he could not see any cause for further delay in the matter.
And then Mr. Munger sat down with an ugly triumphant frown on his rough-hewn face, and out flew a shower of his favourite paper pellets.
The silence that followed was intense. The hot summer sun beating in through the bare windows fell across a sea of expectant, excited faces, all turned in one direction, towards the slight, dark, upright figure seated within the railed off space. She, who, as the rich and beautiful Miss Hildreth, had been the object of their covetous envy, and who now, as Adèle Lamien, stood charged with so vile a complicity in crime as to separate her for ever from the poorest and lowest of that onlooking multitude, beside whose poverty and honesty her wealth and beauty fell away in torn and soiled fragments.
In the midst of this silence John Mainwaring arose to address the Bench.
Mr. Mainwaring's face was at all times non-committal, it wore now an absolutely sphinx-like imperturbability. Tossing back the heavy lock of black hair that fell over his forehead, and squaring his shoulders with a motion that bespoke both doggedness and obstinacy, Mr. Mainwaring's first words fell upon the listening audience with ringing distinctness, and with sudden, unexpected surprise.
"His learned friend," he said, "had proved, beyond all shadow of doubt, the question of Miss Hildreth's identity with the lady, who, as governess to Mrs. Newbold's little daughter, was known as Adèle Lamien. It was not a point upon which they could for one moment disagree; he had no reason or desire to raise issue upon it; in fact, he not only acknowledged the identity, but had been cognizant of it from the outset. Miss Hildreth herself had no wish to dispute it; so far, indeed, from that being the case, he desired particularly to impress upon his honour the absolute truth of the assertion. Miss Hildreth was one and the same person as that Adèle Lamien, who became Marianne Newbold's governess. He wished to keep this fact distinctly before them; it was a very important fact, as he would show them before he had finished."
At this uncalculated-upon acceptance of their theory, both Mr. Munger and Count Mellikoff showed signs of perturbation. They had not, at any one of their conferences upon the line Mainwaring was likely to take up, imagined so bold an expedient as his flitching from them the very corner-stone of their plan, and building upon it such an edifice as should best suit his requirements. It was a decidedly clever move, and sent John Mainwaring up in Mr. Munger's estimation at a bound.
"Well, then," continued Patricia's defender, "that point well established, he would go on to the next; and here he must just remind them of Mr. Munger's concise recapitulation of the case. They were not there on any other business than that of proving, or disproving, the legality of the warrant on which Miss Hildreth had been arrested, as also of proving the identity of Miss Hildreth with that of Adèle Lamien, or Lallovich, named in the warrant, who was charged with complicity in the murder of her husband, Count Stevan Lallovich. This was the only point at issue; all other points were extraneous, and they need not trouble themselves about them. Now, while he acknowledged frankly that Mr. Munger had proved the identity of Miss Hildreth with that of the person received and known at the Folly as Adèle Lamien, he desired humbly to submit one question to his honour. In establishing the validity of this identity, how had they proved the identity of the Adèle Lamien—Mrs. Newbold's governess—with that of the Adèle Lamien, or Lallovich, who had murdered her quasi-husband, Count Stevan? He unhesitatingly declared that they had not established such identity in any particular.
"They had heard," he said, "a great deal of testimony, all of which had been cited only to prove that Miss Hildreth and the governess at the Folly were one and the same. That was not at all difficult to prove, because Miss Hildreth had never for one moment denied the impeachment; but he must say he failed to see how proving that, proved also her identity with the cast-off wife of the dissolute young Russian noble, Stevan Lallovich; and until such identity was established, he certainly should protest against the accused being delivered up to the tender mercies of the Russian authorities. He would not call into question the truth of the facts and details, concerning the murder, as related to them—they could all be verified if necessary; but it was not necessary. Undoubtedly the poor deserted woman had committed the crime imputed to her—it would be but a savage justice after all. With that he had nothing to do; but when it came to the arrest of a lady, an American citizen, in her own country, on the charge of so grave a crime, it behoved that country to be very careful in its investigations, and to leave no stone unturned to come at the actual truth. It was a terrible alternative, that of handing over a fellow-countryman to the despotic treatment of a foreign Power, and before such a thing was made possible, every item of extenuation should be urged in behalf of the accused.
"He had listened to every word of the evidence, and while in every instance he could lay his finger on weak links, he would pass them all over, and recall only to his honour the substance of Miss James's, and Mr. Tremain's, statements. The former had dwelt mostly upon the evidence of her own eyes, and upon the nature of an interview which had taken place between Mrs. Newbold's governess and Mr. Tremain. Miss James had not hesitated to affirm that she recognised in the lady's face, despite artistic accessories, the countenance and features of Miss Hildreth. Mr. Tremain, on the contrary, assured them positively that he had never at any time during his visit at the Folly, entertained the slightest suspicion of this identity; it was not until after Miss Hildreth's arrest that this complication was made known to him, and Miss Hildreth, to whom he appealed for confirmation or reputation, refused to reply. Miss Hildreth had her own reasons for thus treating the matter.
"He would next ask them to listen to a very strange chapter in this strange story, and if it appeared incredible and beyond possibility, he must beg them to remember that truth was often stranger than fiction.
"Early in the autumn of the last year Miss Hildreth had gone to Russia, with the intention of travelling from place to place to form her own opinions upon the customs and people of that country. While on one of her expeditions one of the horses cast a shoe, and while waiting its replacement she was invited to rest at a villa some four miles outside of St. Petersburg. She did so, and was greatly impressed by the luxury and beauty displayed in the interior arrangements of the unpretending mansion. It was some little time before the lady of the house came to her; but, from the moment she entered thesalon, Miss Hildreth was conscious of a sudden curious sympathy, that sprang to life in her heart, combined with a puzzling certainty of having in some past situation met and known the beautiful woman, who advanced towards her with a smile of welcome. This perplexing enigma was presently solved in the most commonplace way; Miss Hildreth and her hostess, rising together to examine some object of art, passed a long mirror, and one glance towards it was sufficient to explain the familiarity of the stranger's countenance and bearing; between the two ladies there existed a marked and positive likeness in feature, form, and colouring. So pronounced indeed was it that both commented upon it. The impromptu visit lasted some hours, and on parting Miss Hildreth carried with her the name and rank of her chance acquaintance. She was known to her narrow, outside world as Adèle Lamien, but she was in reality secretly married to Count Stevan Lallovich, a near relative of the Tsar.
"Being often at Court and mingling in Court society, it was not long before Miss Hildreth came in contact with Stevan Lallovich, who was accounted the gayest, wealthiest, most fascinating, and most dissolute man of his circle. He chose to devote himself conspicuously to Miss Hildreth, and though posing as a bachelor, he more than once hinted at some special reason for his attentions. Miss Hildreth accounted for them as a tacit acknowledgment of the likeness that existed between herself and his wife. She more than once drove out to the villa across the Troitski Bridge, and each time returned more and more interested in its mistress.
"Early in December, all St. Petersburg was thrown into a state of consternation by the murder of Count Stevan Lallovich, who was found dead in his palace, stabbed through the heart. With one of those marvellous intuitions, granted only to women, Miss Hildreth, on first hearing the bald details, felt confident as to the hand that had dealt the fatal blow. She hurried alone and by night to the villa, and there found the poor wife, whom desertion had changed into a demon of revenge, and without a moment's reflection changed clothes with her, and by morning both were flying across country, making straight for the frontier, protected by Miss Hildreth's passport for herself and maid, and by her unstinted use of money. In Paris they separated, Miss Hildreth continuing her journey to England, and embarking on board theSuisse, of the International Line, as Adèle Lamien, for the express purpose of turning the Russian police off the track. The real Adèle Lamien, or Lallovich, remained under the protection of her mother's family, well-to-do people in the west of France."
So far, Mainwaring had gone on from point to point with rapid and uninterrupted utterance, carrying his audience with him, who, from sheer amazement, sat spell-bound and breathlessly attentive. He stopped now, and with another upward toss of his head threw back the offending lock of hair, turned a quick comprehensive look at his audience, and then fixed his eyes for a brief second upon Patricia.
She sat bending forward a little, her hands folded, her face raised, on either cheek a streak of vivid crimson staining their wax-like pallor; her eyes beneath the dark, straight brows met his with one responsive flash of their old quick fire.
With the very slightest smile of encouragement upon his lips, John Mainwaring drew a deep breath and took up the thread of his discourse.