Detective and mystery stories; London (England) -- Fiction; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction
Lady Sanby laughed. "Poor Anvers, I think," she said seriously. "But
what about the Pink Shop?"
"It has been shut up, and the assistants have dispersed to the four
winds, resuming, I believe, their real names. Zobeide has gone with
her mother to Devonshire to live, Parizade has married her artist, and
Peri Banou is Audrey's maid, as you know."
"Fancy having a dumb maid, and yet it has its advantages. Peri
Banou--I do hope your wife will give her a less heathen name--will
keep Audrey's secrets thoroughly."
"Audrey has no secrets," said Ralph, somewhat stiffly, "and Peri Banou
is devoted to her."
"She has every reason to be. Few women would take a maid from that
Pink Shop. It was too notorious."
"Oh! my dear grannie, it was conducted in a most respectable way, both
by Madame Coralie and by Lady Branwin when she masqueraded as her
sister."
"Humph! I certainly heard nothing against it," said Lady Sanby. "But
how did Lady Branwin manage to conduct a business about which she knew
nothing?"
"Well, Eddy Vail learnt the truth, as he found his wife dead. Also, in
order to carry on the business and keep up her disguise, Lady Branwin
had to tell Badoura who she really was."
"Then Vail and Badoura were accomplices after the fact?"
"Yes, they were. How learned you are, grannie," said Ralph, with a
smile. "For that reason they bolted before the police could get hold
of them. Inspector Lanton was very anxious to bring them forward as
witnesses."
"It is just as well that he did not, else many more details would have
been in the papers. As it is, the romance of those two sisters and the
substituted child, and Dora strangling Flora, or Flora, Dora--I'm sure
I don't know which--has startled everyone."
"That is why I am taking Audrey away, so that people may forget the
affair, grannie. And it was Dora Lady Branwin who strangled Flora
Madame Coralie. She did it, I believe, on the impulse of the moment
when Flora threatened to tell the truth to Sir Joseph."
"Do you think that the man would have turned Audrey out of doors had
he found she was not his daughter?"
"He turned her out of doors when he thought that she was," said Shawe,
grimly. "And but for your help, dear Lady Sanby, Audrey would have
been in a terrible position."
"I think you should rather thank Lady Branwin, who took the poor child
in when Sir Joseph behaved so brutally."
"Yes. She loved Audrey, and it was for Audrey's sake that she
strangled her wicked sister, even if she drowned Sir Joseph for her
own sake. It is very strange," added Ralph, musingly, "that Audrey
never suspected the false Madame Coralie was her mother."
"Oh, the very resemblance and the knowledge that Flora and Dora were
twins put Audrey off the scent," explained Lady Sanby, easily. "I see
no difficulty about the matter. Then the birthmark was misleading, and
Lady Branwin changed her voice by some drink, from being soft into a
harsh note. Finally, she nearly always wore that yashmak."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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