"I didn’t guess," Isa Benstein said, quietly. "I never guess anything.
You were near the Coroner’s court this morning, because I saw you. You
did not deem it prudent to appear, so you had a friend who gave you the
news _en passant_. After that you would deem it prudent to go away for a
little while beyond the range of the police. But unfortunately as usual
you have no money."
"Correct and logical in every detail," Lopez cried. "What a couple we
should have made."
"You indeed! The brilliant wife and the equally brilliant husband who
would have gambled everything away as soon as it was made. Strange,
too, a man so clever could be such a fool. So here you are stranded in
London without a feather to fly with."
"Correct again. Unless you are going to help me."
"Why should I help you? You are friendless as well as penniless. There
is only one man in London who would be glad for his own sake to supply
you with funds, and that is Sir Clement Frobisher. But you dare not go
near him or write to him or have any communication with him for fear of
the police."
"Once more absolutely correct, Isa. Truly a wonderful woman. If you
fail me——"
"We shall come to that presently. What do you know of that Streatham
business?"
"Very little indeed. If you want me to swear on my oath that I had
nothing to do with the crime I am prepared to do so."
"But you know perfectly well who the man is. He was lying dead on the
floor of the conservatory at Streatham, at the very time when you stole
the Crimson Moth placed there by Mr. Denvers."
Lopez started and turned colour slightly. He did not know that this was
mere conjecture on the part of his questioner, but it was. Speaking
from her intimate knowledge and calculating by time she felt sure that
she had not been far wrong. And here was the face of Lopez confirming
her impressions.
"You need not trouble to deny it," she went on. "I know pretty well
everything. Mr. Denvers had not left many minutes before the accident
happened. Was there an automatic steam-pipe in the conservatory?"
"Of course. And you may be quite certain that—but do you really know
everything, Isa?"
"Absolutely. I can speak from experience. I did not know till the night
of Lady Frobisher’s party, but I found out then. If you don’t believe
me, look here."
Mrs. Benstein bared her arm, and displayed the cruel circular wound
above the elbow. She was very pale now, and her eyes were dark. Very
slowly she pulled her sleeve down again.
"Now you can tell how much I know," she said. "Who was the man who lost
his life at Streatham?"
"I don’t know his name, but he appeared very familiar to me. He was a
Greek, a tool of Lefroy’s and that queer fellow Manfred. He was too
adventurous, and he died."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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