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
At about three o’clock that afternoon, having ascertained that none of
the servants were about, he slipped silently to Mrs. Pollen’s bedroom,
the door of which was unlocked, and, entering quickly, closed the door
after him. Then, walking straight to a big dressing-case which lay upon
a chair near the window, he took out a bunch of keys and tried one after
the other in an effort to open it.
He failed, none of the keys would fit.
"If I force it she’ll suspect," he murmured. "No, I must give it up for
the present—curse it!"
Then he made a tour of the room, opened the wardrobe, and examined the
contents of several drawers, but though some expensive jewellery was
there, he cast it aside in contempt.
Mr. Greig did not want jewels. It was evident that he was in search of
something else far more interesting. But that lock upon the
dressing-case was an unusually good one, and had defied all his many
keys.
There was but one course to pursue, and that was to retreat to his own
room, which he did in great disappointment and chagrin.
That evening he watched the two women on their return. His movements
were those of a practised watcher. He was unobtrusive, disinterested in
everything save the picturesque surroundings, and behaved as though he
had no interest whatever in any person in the hotel.
That evening, while in the garden after dinner, he found himself sitting
on a seat beside Mrs. Morrison, and ventured to address a remark to her
regarding the glorious sunset.
What more natural than in a few moments Ena and her friend were chatting
affably with the new-comer.
"This is my first visit to Scotland," Ena declared, though it was a
falsehood, "and I’m delighted with it. My views—those of a
Londoner—have entirely altered concerning Scotland and the Scottish
people. I don’t agree now with the ridicule cast upon them."
"I’m very glad of that," declared Mr. Greig. "In the south you don’t
really understand us, I think. And perhaps we here don’t quite
understand you. National prejudices are very hard to break down."
"They are. But you see the majority of the English never come north.
They view the Scottish people by the ridicule cast upon them by
performers on our music-halls. It is unfortunate, but it is a fact."
"Never mind," laughed the pleasant-faced man from Glasgow. "Our
national pride is never hurt by those amblers on the stage who wax fat
upon the profits of their mimicry. We only laugh at it up here, I
assure you," he declared to Mrs. Pollen.
The conversation drifted naturally to the fact that Mrs. Morrison told
him her name, which was Scottish, and the identity of her late husband,
so well known in Glasgow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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