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THE GREAT PEARL SECRET
THE GREAT PEARL SECRET
BY C. N. & A. M. WILLIAMSON FRONTISPIECE BY JULIAN DE MISKEY GARDEN CITY, N. Y., AND TORONTO DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1921 COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY C. N. & A. M. WILLIAMSON ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN CONTENTS CHAPTER I. In Juliet's Sitting Room II. The Explanation III. "To Meet the Duchess" IV. The Letter with the Tsarina's Seal V. The Third Ringer of the Bell VI. Behind the Bookshelf VII. What Juliet
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CHAPTER I IN JULIET'S SITTING ROOM
CHAPTER I IN JULIET'S SITTING ROOM
A maid opened the door leading from a bedroom to a salon of the "royal suite" at Harridge's Hotel. Dusk had fallen, and entering, she switched on the electricity. The room, with its almost Louis Seize decorations, was suddenly flooded with light; and to her surprise the Frenchwoman saw a slim black figure nestled deep among cushions on a sofa before the fire. A small white face, with a frame of terra-cotta hair crushed under a mourning toque, turned a pair of big black eyes upon her. "Miladi Wes
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CHAPTER II THE EXPLANATION
CHAPTER II THE EXPLANATION
A perfectly charming young man came in—a young man so delightful to look at that it seemed almost too much that he should be a duke. With that merry brown face (the war had left a scar across cheek and temple), those Celtic grey eyes, that jet-black hair, that "figure for a fencer," and above all that engaging grin of his, the merest Nobody might hope to make his mark as Somebody. "Breezing in" (as Emmy had put it), he smiled his nice smile that brought a dimple like a cut line into each thin, t
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CHAPTER III "TO MEET THE DUCHESS"
CHAPTER III "TO MEET THE DUCHESS"
Mrs. Lowndes, Emmy West's sister-in-law, was giving a luncheon for the Duchess of Claremanagh; and the Duchess was late. Nine lovely ladies (including the hostess) were waiting for her in the Futurist drawing room of an apartment overlooking the Park. It was not to all tastes a beautiful drawing room, but it was expensive for all purses. So was the apartment; too expensive, Billy Lowndes' friends said, for his. As for the ladies, each one was beautiful, or her clothes were; for Nat Lowndes had c
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CHAPTER IV THE LETTER WITH THE TSARINA'S SEAL
CHAPTER IV THE LETTER WITH THE TSARINA'S SEAL
John Manners was not the messenger bringing the pearls. Even if he had been asked to bring them, he would not have accepted the responsibility of escorting Claremanagh's "ewe lamb" across the Atlantic. He knew more about those pearls than he wanted to know, for he had been in love with Juliet Phayre before he began to like Claremanagh—to like him in spite of himself, in spite of natural jealousy, and in spite of prejudice. It was a mere coincidence that he should be on the same ship with Monsieu
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CHAPTER V THE THIRD RINGER OF THE BELL
CHAPTER V THE THIRD RINGER OF THE BELL
Simone had been in the act of coming downstairs, dressed for a walk with her mistress's English bulldog, Admiral Beatty, when a vision flashed through the hall: a reedlike figure in black with a glint of red hair through a patterned veil. Simone stopped short, petrified, pulling so suddenly at the dog's leash that the reticent bull gave a grunt. It took a great deal to petrify Simone. She had been through an earthquake in Italy. She had escaped from a burning hotel in her first year of service i
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CHAPTER VI BEHIND THE BOOKSHELF
CHAPTER VI BEHIND THE BOOKSHELF
"Captain Manners, this is Monsieur Defasquelle, private secretary to Monsieur Mayen, of whom you have heard me speak," Claremanagh introduced the two men, as the messenger came in. He shook Defasquelle's hand and gave him one of the delightful smiles which helped to make him popular with all types and classes. Jack tried not to hear what Juliet's husband and the Frenchman said to each other. Not that there was any special reason why he shouldn't hear, for he'd heard Pat groan over the pawned pea
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CHAPTER VII WHAT JULIET TOLD JACK
CHAPTER VII WHAT JULIET TOLD JACK
At five minutes before five o'clock Jack Manners entered the Palm Room of the Hotel Lorne. This room adjoined the restaurant, and was crowded with small tables lit by pink-shaded electric candles. The Lorne was a good hotel, but too stodgily respectable to be amusing. As there was no band at meal times or tea time, its clients were mostly unmodern creatures with a strange preference for peace and quiet. It was well that Jack had arrived before the hour fixed, for at five precisely Juliet appeare
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CHAPTER VIII JULIET BREAKS THE SEALS
CHAPTER VIII JULIET BREAKS THE SEALS
At six forty-two the Duchess of Claremanagh descended from a plebeian taxicab in front of her pretentious home. She had sent away her own car, before going to the Lorne, and though there was no wrong in her secret, she was weighed down by a sense of guilt as she went to her room. This annoyed her, because the one guilty person in the house was Pat! She had heard, toward the end of her conversation with Jack, that the pearls had come while he was with the Duke; but the girl was too wretched to ca
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CHAPTER IX THE EYE THAT LOOKED TO THE RIGHT
CHAPTER IX THE EYE THAT LOOKED TO THE RIGHT
The two stared at each other in silence, and both were pale. Juliet's mind was confused. "The pearls false!" She tried to hammer the words into her brain, and understand fully what the thing would mean for her and Pat. She thought of Louis Mayen, the "super money-lender," who had kept the pearls for months, and supposed that Claremanagh also must be thinking of him. "What a treacherous, horrible man!" she broke out, at last. The Duke stared, almost stupidly—if he could be stupid. " Who is treach
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CHAPTER X THE HOUSE IN A CROSSTOWN STREET
CHAPTER X THE HOUSE IN A CROSSTOWN STREET
If Simone had not already telephoned to the private office of the Inner Circle's editor, she might have changed her mind about going there that night. She was less superstitious and of harder mental fibre than most Frenchwomen of the south and of her class; but after the quarrel between the Duke and Duchess something within her shrank from keeping the secret appointment she had made. It was not that she was suddenly conscience-stricken, or that she thought her mistress had suffered enough withou
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CHAPTER XI IN JACK'S PRIVATE SITTING ROOM
CHAPTER XI IN JACK'S PRIVATE SITTING ROOM
Next morning Jack Manners was hideously jerked from sleep before eight by the jangle of a telephone bell close to his bed. In self-defence he reached out and grabbed the receiver, in haste to stop the din. "Hello!" his voice said: but his tone said "Damn!" And he was astounded when Juliet answered. Juliet! 'phoning at this hour! Juliet, who had been at the opera last night, as he happened to know, and who had always loved her beauty sleep, as a young bird loves its nest! "I'm sorry to disturb yo
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CHAPTER XII "THE 'WHISPERER' STUFF"
CHAPTER XII "THE 'WHISPERER' STUFF"
"My goodness gracious !" gasped Natalie Lowndes. " Billy —wake up! Have you seen 'the Whisperer stuff'?" Billy woke up. It was just after dinner, early yet to begin the real evening at the Grumblers (known to some outsiders as the "Plunderers") Club; and Lowndes had been killing time with a nap. "Whisperer stuff?" he repeated, in a dazed, almost startled way; and when Billy looked startled he was not at his best. Some years ago he had been considered handsome: a big, athletic fellow with wavy au
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CHAPTER XIII A WOMAN'S EYES
CHAPTER XIII A WOMAN'S EYES
"Mademoiselle Pavoya, this is Captain John Manners, just back from France: a cousin of the Duchess of Claremanagh's," said the manager who was introducing Jack. Lyda Pavoya lifted her drooping head a little—only a little, and fixed upon Manners a pair of dark eyes. "A pair of dark eyes!" Simple words, and a simple act. There are many women in the world with dark eyes, and many had looked at John Manners. But these eyes of the Polish woman——! As they gave that upward look from under heavy lashes
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CHAPTER XIV SUPPER AT TWELVE
CHAPTER XIV SUPPER AT TWELVE
The house taken furnished by Lyda Pavoya belonged to a woman well known in society, who had gone abroad. Jack Manners had visited there before the war; but the drawing room was changed. There had been banal things in it. Now they were gone. Banality could not exist near Lyda. It seemed that in every form it must shrivel up, burnt away by the still fire of her strange, secret soul. Jack had pictured himself entering a room full of people, fellow guests, and finding no one, he feared that he had c
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CHAPTER XV THE FORTUNE TELLER
CHAPTER XV THE FORTUNE TELLER
Manners did not go to his hotel when he left Lyda. He walked for miles. He was happy. He was proud. He was wretched. He was ashamed. He believed in Lyda Pavoya. He doubted her. There would not have been room for the volcano of his feelings between four walls. That moment when he had held her in his arms had been the most wonderful if not the greatest in his life. But it had been only a moment. Her surrender for a few seconds had seemed to him then the most exquisite thing in the world: the child
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CHAPTER XVI THE GREY ROOM
CHAPTER XVI THE GREY ROOM
Pat Claremanagh floated in a grey sea, under a grey sky. It seemed to him that the grey sea and sky were part of some existence after death. He vaguely remembered that he had died. If it were not for the constant, heavy pain in his head, he thought that he could recall the whole incident. Yes, that was the word—"incident". It hardly mattered now, and wasn't worth while racking his brain over. That tin hat of his was too tight—much too tight. But he was too weak to lift his hands and take it off.
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CHAPTER XVII THE CRYSTAL
CHAPTER XVII THE CRYSTAL
"Have you an appointment, Madam?" asked the elderly woman who opened the door of Madame Veno's flat for Juliet. She was a person of almost oppressively respectable appearance, with grey hair parted in the middle, gold-rimmed pince nez resting on a thin nose, and a neat body clad in black silk. If Madame Veno needed a chaperon, her door opener was ideal! Juliet had run upstairs so fast that she was breathing hard. Passing the office of the Inner Circle had disgusted her. She felt contaminated, al
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CHAPTER XVIII THE BARGAIN
CHAPTER XVIII THE BARGAIN
Two days passed; and small as was Juliet's faith in Madame Veno, she did not stir from the house lest the woman should telephone in her absence. The strain of constant suspense was like a screw tightening her nerves to breaking point. Her irritation grew against Jack, who persisted in warning her that she would repent her suspicions of Lyda Pavoya. To his mind apparently the dancer's story accounted for everything. Lyda had volunteered a statement that she had touched the safe after Claremanagh
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CHAPTER XIX OLD NICK
CHAPTER XIX OLD NICK
"I wish to heaven the scent of Pat's tobacco weren't so d—d strong on that handkerchief in the packet. It's the blackest bit of evidence against him!" Manners was saying to the detective, in Claremanagh's study, when a tap came at the door. The two locked themselves in for their occasional seances in this room, and Jack himself answered the knock. He was about to scold Togo for disturbing him (a thing strictly forbidden to all except the Duchess) when the sight of Lyda's handwriting pencilled on
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CHAPTER XX THE THIRD DEGREE
CHAPTER XX THE THIRD DEGREE
"To begin with, where's the Duchess?" "At a rehearsal, Monsieur, of an entertainment Madame van Esten has got up. Mademoiselle Pavoya will——" "We don't want to hear about her. The Duchess isn't at the rehearsal." "Then I do not know where she is. It is her affair, not mine." Simone looked the picture of injured innocence. "Perhaps you don't know," agreed Sanders. "But you see, you've made so many of her affairs your affairs, it's hard to tell where you draw the line." The French maid turned pale
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CHAPTER XXI THE MIDDLE DOOR
CHAPTER XXI THE MIDDLE DOOR
"Tell her two gentlemen for a consultation," Jack Manners announced at Madame Veno's door, Nickson at his heels. "Madame can see no more clients this afternoon, sir," replied the neat woman in black silk. "She closes for business at six, and——" "It's not six yet," cut in Jack. "No, sir, but she has a lady with her now. I have orders to receive no one else." "Can't you forget those orders, and persuade her to make an exception for us?" As he spoke, Manners took from his pocket a cigarette-case an
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CHAPTER XXII THE WHOLE OF THE SECRET
CHAPTER XXII THE WHOLE OF THE SECRET
Madame Veno—alias Mrs. Sam Piggott—had a key to the door of the janitor's flat. She, her husband, and their associates could come and go as they chose when the janitor was away or upstairs. "You won't get anything out of your husband," she said to Juliet as the three went down, she leading with mingled defiance and reluctance. "He hasn't come back to his senses yet. It wasn't so much the blow—mind you, my husband was within his rights, defending his brother-in-law from assault!—it wasn't the blo
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