The AvengerOppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
General
The Avenger
Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
Mystery fiction
"Ah!" she exclaimed, "you must not try to, what you say, pump me! You can
call it what you will. Only to Louise, as to me, it is very much a
personal affair. Shall we talk now, for a little, of other things?"
Wrayson sighed.
"I may not know, then," he begged, "where Louise has gone, or why?"
"It would not be her wish," the Baroness answered, "that I should
tell you."
"Very well," Wrayson said, "I will ask you no more questions. Only this.
I have told you of this man Bentham."
The Baroness inclined her head. He had told her nothing that was
news to her.
"Was he on your side, or opposed to you?"
"You are puzzling me," the Baroness confessed.
"Already," Wrayson explained, "I know as much of the affair as this.
Morris Barnes was in possession of something, I do not know whether it
was documents, or what possible material shape it had, but it brought him
in a considerable income, and both you and some others were endeavouring
to obtain possession of it. So far, I believe that neither of you have
succeeded. Morris Barnes has been murdered in vain; Bentham the lawyer,
who telephoned to me on the night of his death, has shared his fate. To
whose account do these two murders go, yours or the others'?"
"I cannot answer that question, Mr. Wrayson," the Baroness said.
"Do you know," Wrayson demanded, dropping his voice a little, "that, but
for my moral, if not actual perjury, Louise herself would have been
charged with the murder of Morris Barnes?"
"She had a narrow escape," the Baroness admitted.
"She had a narrow escape," Wrayson declared, "but the unfortunate part of
the affair is, that she is not even now safe!"
The Baroness looked at him curiously. She was in the act of drawing on
her gloves, but her fingers suddenly became rigid.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"I mean," Wrayson said, "that another person saw her come out of the
flats that night. It was a friend of mine, who kept silence at first
because he believed that it was a private assignation of my own. Since
then events have occurred to make him think differently. He has gone
over to the other side. He is spending his time with young Sydney
Barnes, and he has set himself to discover the mystery of Morris Barnes'
murder. He has even gone so far as to give me warning that I should be
better out of England."
"Who is this person?" the Baroness asked calmly.
"His name is Stephen Heneage, and he is a member of my club, the club to
which Louise's father also belongs," Wrayson replied.
The Baroness suddenly dropped her veil, but not before Wrayson had seen
a sudden change in her face. He remembered suddenly that Heneage was no
stranger to her, he remembered the embarrassment of their meeting at
the Alhambra.
"You know him, of course," he repeated. "Heneage is not a man to be
trifled with. He has had experience in affairs of this sort, he is no
ordinary amateur detective."
"Yes! I know Mr. Stephen Heneage," the Baroness said. "Tell me, does
Louise know?"
Wrayson shook his head.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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