"Well, the photograph was in her box. I found it when the servants
insisted on their boxes being searched. She confessed that she had
taken it from her last mistress, who was Senora Gredos. As you gave it
to Miss Loach, I should be glad to know how it came into the possession
of this woman."
"I really can't tell you, no more than I can say why Susan took it.
What was her reason?"
"Mr. Mallow is a handsome man--" began Jennings, when she stopped him
with a gesture.
"Do you mean to say--no, I'll never believe it."
"I was not going to say anything against Mallow's character. But this
foolish girl cherished a foolish infatuation for Mallow. She saw him
at Senora Gredos' house--"
"Ah!" said Juliet, turning pale. "I remember now. Basil mentioned
that Cuthbert gambled, but he did not say where."
"Mallow gambled a little at Maraquito's, as did your brother. The only
difference is that Mallow could afford to lose and your brother could
not. Are you sure you never heard the name of Maraquito?"
"Quite sure," said Juliet, meeting his gaze so calmly that he saw she
was speaking the truth. "Well, I understand how you got the
photograph, but how did this woman get it? I never heard my aunt
mention her, either as Maraquito or as Senora Gredos."
"Was your aunt open with you?"
"Perfectly open. She had nothing in her life to conceal."
"I am not so sure of that," murmured the detective. "Well, I cannot
say how Maraquito became possessed of this photograph."
Juliet shrugged her shoulders. "In that case we may dismiss the
matter," she said, wiping her dry lips; "and I can't see what the
photograph has to do with this crime."
"I can't see it myself, but one never knows."
"Do you accuse Mr. Mallow?"
"Supposing I did. I know Mr. Mallow was near this place on the night
of the murder and about the hour."
Juliet leaned against the wall and turned away her face. "It is not
true. What should bring him there?"
"He had business connected with the unfinished house at the back owned
by Lord Caranby. But I don't suppose anyone saw him."
"How do you know he was here then?" asked Juliet, gray and agitated.
"He confessed to me that he had been here. But we can talk of that
later--"
Juliet interposed. "One moment," she cried, "do you accuse him?"
"As yet I accuse no one. I must get more facts together. By the way,
Miss Saxon, will you tell the where you were on that night?"
"Certainly," she replied in a muffled voice, "at the Marlow Theatre
with my brother Basil."
"Quite so. But I don't think the play was to your liking."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well," said Jennings slowly, and watching the changing color of her
face, "in your house you do not favor melodrama. I wonder you went to
see this one at the Marlow Theatre."
"The writer is a friend of ours," said Juliet defiantly.
"In that case, you might have paid him the compliment of remaining till
the fall of the curtain."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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