The Lady from Nowhere: A Detective Story — John Shaqi
The Lady from Nowhere: A Detective StoryHume, Fergus
Philosophy
The Lady from Nowhere: A Detective Story
Hume, Fergus
Detective and mystery stories; England -- Fiction; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction
Mrs. Brown, of West Kensington, stated that she knew the deceased
under the name of Miss Limrag. She arrived at Mrs. Brown's in the
month of May, '95, and after a six months' tenancy departed in the
month of October in the same year. Mrs. Brown was ignorant as to where
she come from, and equally at a loss to declare whither she went. Both
in coming and going Miss Limrag used as a means of transport the
yellow van, and during her residence she inhabited the Yellow Room of
her own furnishing for the consulting therein of the fortune-telling
fraternity.
Mrs. Kane testified that a lady who called herself Miss Milgar arrived
in Shelley Road, St. John's Wood, on the first day of November, '95,
and left the district in the last days of April, '96. Her conduct
during her six months' stay was similar to that described by Mrs.
Presk and Mrs. Brown. On the evidence of such conduct, and the facts
of the van and boudoir (both yellow in colour), Mrs. Kane had no
hesitation in declaring that the murdered Miss Ligram, of Grangebury,
was her eccentric lodger, Miss Milgar.
The information given by Miss Bain, of Crescent Villa, Hampstead,
showed that the name assumed there by the wandering lady was Margil,
and that she took possession of her lodgings there in the month of
November, '93--having arrived, according to her custom, in the yellow
van. While the lodger of Miss Bain, she gave herself up to the study
of dream-books, and the interpretation of visions. During her
occupancy of Crescent Villa, the landlady, in spite of all efforts,
could find out nothing about her past or discover where she came from;
and the so-called Miss Margil departed with her furniture towards the
end of April, 1894. She left no address.
Miss Lamb, resident at Richmond, entertained the unknown from
November, 1894, to April, 1895. She knew her by the strange name of
Ramlig, and always thought her weak in her mind, owing to her queer
mode of life, and belief in omens. When Miss Ramlig made any boastful
speech reflecting on her worldly prosperity, she would touch wood to
avert the omen. "Absit omen"; "Umberufen"; "In a good hour be it
spoken "; "N'importe." These words and phrases were continually on her
tongue; and she was a slave to all forms of superstition. She would
not walk under a ladder; if she spilt salt she threw a pinch over
her shoulder; an unexpected meeting with a magpie, a hunchback, a
cross-eyed person, or with a piebald horse, either made her rejoice in
the most extravagant fashion, or threw her into a fever of
apprehension. She was not communicative, and resisted all Miss Lamb's
attempts at social intercourse. During the whole period of her stay,
no words were spoken, and no event occurred, likely to throw light on
her past; nor, when she departed, did Miss Lamb discover whither she
intended to go. In coming, in staying, in going, Miss Ramlig was a
mystery.
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