With her eloquent eyes she appealed to him as she spoke: "Mr Herrion.
Somehow you inspire me with confidence. Do help me to find my husband."
Herrion rose from his seat, saying: "Lady Remington, if that
blackguard, Malsano, is to be found in Europe, I will find him. If I
can trace your husband, I will do so for his sake, and for your sake,
and for the sake of his mother. I will go now and, look up the last
records of the gang. Will you give me the number of your telephone? It
may save time. And please hold yourself in readiness, as one never
knows how long or how soon it may take to unearth a criminal fox in his
burrow." When Mr Herrion left Green Street, he took a taxicab to
Scotland Yard, and promptly set in motion all the machinery that was
possible, in order to find out the whereabouts of Doctor Malsano. His
active mind was hard at work, and, under the influence of this
beautiful, frank American girl with the pleading eyes and soft voice, he
was determined to find Raife and restore him to his bride of a day or
so. He was satisfied that Raife was not in his sound mind, or he could
not have acted in so scandalous a manner. What ruse had been adopted to
lure him away? What fresh devilment was this master of crime at? This
should be a matter of international importance. Apart from all these
considerations, the pride of his craft had been stirred, and that was
not a light matter.
Hilda and Raife's mother sat late talking of the only subject possible
to them in the trying circumstances. Hilda had narrated the gist of her
interview with Detective-Inspector Herrion. For the first time Raife's
mother learnt a very bare outline of Raife's intrigue with Gilda
Tempest. It explained many of his moods that had appeared strange. It
reminded her of the conversation she had thought she had overheard as
she climbed the staircase to the old white room of the "Blue Boar" Inn
at Tunbridge Wells. She recalled the fact that the room had appeared
empty, yet she felt confident she had heard voices barely a moment
before. A rumour had spread, somehow, from somewhere, concerning the
silk rope that had been found under the library window, on the night
when the old butler, with a fine sense of strategy, had arranged for the
house to be surrounded. All these rumours and speculations were
disturbing the old lady's mind. Now, there was something almost
tangible in what Hilda had learnt about Gilda Tempest, her uncle, and
the reticule that had been picked up in the conservatory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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