The Red Widow; or, The Death-Dealers of London — John Shaqi
The Red Widow; or, The Death-Dealers of LondonLe Queux, William
General
The Red Widow; or, The Death-Dealers of London
Le Queux, William
Mystery fiction
Next day all three went in the car up the beautiful valley of the
Conway, with the wild hills on either side, through Eglwys Bach and
Llanrwst, past Gwydyr Castle, and on by the Falcon Rock to that gem of
North Wales, Bettws-y-coed.
To Mrs. Emery the widow was exceedingly amiable, and the day passed most
pleasantly.
As they were motoring back through the mountains, purple in the sunset,
between Capel Curig and Bangor, the widow, turning to Emery, suddenly
said:
"I wonder, Mr. Emery, if you would advise me upon a little point of
business? I’m rather perturbed, and I would so much like your
professional advice. Can I see you after dinner to-night?"
"Most certainly," was his reply. "Any advice I can give you I will do
so to the best of my ability," said the sharp young lawyer, well pleased
at the prospect of a wealthy client.
That night at dinner Mrs. Morrison, radiant and handsome, wore a
striking gown of black-and-gold, with a gold band in her red hair, and
her string of fine pearls. In the big white-and-gold dining-room she
was the most remarked of all the women there, but she pretended to take
no notice of the sensation caused by her entrance into the room. Yet
that gown had cost her sixty guineas in Dover Street, and, in secret,
she was amused at the excitement its appearance had caused among the
moneyed folk of Lancashire-by-the-Sea, who, after all, be it said, are
honest people and who are more thorough than the shallow "Society" of
post-war London.
After dinner, while Mrs. Emery went into the lounge and joined a woman
and her daughter whom she knew, her husband went to Mrs. Morrison’s
sitting-room, where he found coffee awaiting him.
She produced a big silver box of cigarettes, and when she had served him
with coffee and liqueur she lit a cigarette and settled herself to talk.
"The fact, Mr. Emery, is this," the woman with the wonderful hair
commenced, when he had seated himself. "My late husband was a
shipbuilder at Govan. Only recently I discovered that some twenty years
ago he was guilty of some sharp practice in a financial deal which,
while he and his friends enriched themselves, a man named Braybourne and
his wife were both ruined. Braybourne died recently, but his widow is
living in London. Now knowledge of this affair has greatly upset me,
for I had the greatest faith in my dear husband’s honesty."
"Naturally," remarked the young lawyer. "The knowledge of such a stigma
attaching to his name must grieve you."
"Exactly. And I want somehow to make reparation. Not while I am
alive—but after my death," she said. "I have been wondering what course
would be best to pursue. I don’t know Mrs. Braybourne, and probably she
is in ignorance of my existence. Yet I should much like to do something
in order to relieve my conscience. What would you advise?"
The young solicitor was silent for a few moments. At last he replied:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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