Lady Molly of Scotland YardOrczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness
General
Lady Molly of Scotland Yard
Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness
Detective and mystery stories; Police -- Great Britain -- Fiction
“Yes, and in my opinion the only question in doubt is whether Arthur
Cutbush acted in collusion with Jane Turner or against her.”
“Well, suppose we go and elucidate that point--and some others--at
once,” concluded Lady Molly as she rose from the table.
She decided to return to Bristol that same evening. We were going by
the 8.50 p.m., and I was just getting ready--the cab being already at
the door--when I was somewhat startled by the sudden appearance into
my room of an old lady, very beautifully dressed, with snow-white hair
dressed high above a severe, interesting face.
A merry, rippling laugh issuing from the wrinkled mouth, and a closer
scrutiny on my part, soon revealed the identity of my dear lady,
dressed up to look like an extremely dignified _grande dame_ of the
old school, whilst a pair of long, old-fashioned earrings gave a
curious, foreign look to her whole appearance.
I didn’t quite see why she chose to arrive at the Grand Hotel,
Bristol, in that particular disguise, nor why she entered our names in
the hotel book as Grand Duchess and Princess Amalie von Starkburg,
from Germany; nor did she tell me anything that evening.
But by the next afternoon, when we drove out together in a fly, I was
well up in the _rôle_ which I had to play. My lady had made me dress
in a very rich black silk dress of her own, and ordered me to do my
hair in a somewhat frumpish fashion, with a parting, and a “bun” at
the back. She herself looked more like Royalty travelling incognito
than ever, and no wonder small children and tradesmen’s boys stared
open-mouthed when we alighted from our fly outside one of the
mean-looking little houses in Bread Street.
In answer to our ring, a smutty little servant opened the door, and my
lady asked her if Miss Jane Turner lived here and if she were in.
“Yes, Miss Turner lives here, and it bein’ Thursday and early closin’
she’s home from business.”
“Then please tell her,” said Lady Molly in her grandest manner, “that
the Dowager Grand Duchess of Starkburg-Nauheim and the Princess Amalie
desire to see her.”
The poor little maid nearly fell backwards with astonishment. She
gasped an agitated “Lor!” and then flew down the narrow passage and up
the steep staircase, closely followed by my dear lady and myself.
On the first-floor landing the girl, with nervous haste, knocked at a
door, opened it and muttered half audibly:
“Ladies to see you, miss!”
Then she fled incontinently upstairs. I have never been able to decide
whether that little girl thought that we were lunatics, ghosts, or
criminals.
But already Lady Molly had sailed into the room, where Miss Jane
Turner apparently had been sitting reading a novel. She jumped up when
we entered, and stared open-eyed at the gorgeous apparitions. She was
not a bad-looking girl but for the provoking, bold look in her black
eyes, and the general slatternly appearance of her person.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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