This House to Let Part 26

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

As Murchison thought over matters in the cold, clear light of the morning, when the brain is at its freshest, he cursed the fate that ever seemed to mix him up in the private affairs of his friends. First had been that unhappy episode of poor Jack Pomfret, who had not strength of mind to survive the disgrace he had brought upon himself by his impetuous folly.

Now there was this affair of Guy Spencer's, which he felt he must go through with and prove to the bottom. He must find out definitely whether the likeness to Norah Burton was accidental, or whether that scheming adventuress had, for the second time, ensnared a trusting and unsuspicious man.

On Tuesday night when he dined in Eaton Place with the Spencers, he would seize an opportunity of putting to her a few leading questions.

They would be of such a nature, that if his suspicions were correct, they would shake her self-possession.

Certainly, she had betrayed no embarra.s.sment at the sight of him, and that was a point in her favour. For, a.s.suming that she was Norah Burton, the name of Murchison would be quite familiar to her, even if she had forgotten his appearance after the lapse of those six years.

In the meantime he would get as much information about Stella Keane as he could before the date of the dinner. There was a man at his club, Gregory Fairfax, a middle-aged gossip, who was to be found in the smoking-room every day at a certain hour.

Fairfax was a man of leisure and means, who had the reputation of knowing more people, and all about them, than anybody in town. He mixed in a dozen different sets: smart, fast, and Bohemian. He was equally at home in Belgravia, Mayfair, South Kensington, and several other quarters. He belonged to most of the best clubs, and many more that had no pretensions to social distinction. His knowledge of the various phases of London life was wide and extensive. He had also a marvellous memory. He never forgot a face or the minutest details of a scandal.

To this gentleman, with whom he was on quite intimate terms, having known him from his first introduction to the London world, Hugh repaired, in the hope of getting to know all there was to know about this mysterious young woman who had so suddenly and clandestinely projected herself into the Southleigh family.

After a few casual remarks, he opened the ball. It was an easy task, for there was nothing pleased Fairfax more than to place his extensive social knowledge at the service of any friend or acquaintance who was in search of details.

"I say, Fairfax, I think you can help me in a little matter, because you have the reputation of knowing everything about everybody."

Mr Fairfax smiled genially. He was very proud of his profound social knowledge, and nothing pleased him more than to have his well-earned reputation alluded to in flattering terms.

"Fire away, my young friend. I think I have picked up a bit in my twenty-five years of London life. Who is it you want to ask me about?"

"I dined last night with my old friends the Southleighs; and there, for the first time, I met Mrs Guy Spencer. I had heard of the marriage, of course, but no particulars of the young lady until I came to town a little while ago. All I have learned is that she was a Miss Stella Keane, and that she gives no very detailed account of her family history. I gather the general impression is that there is a mystery about her, which she refuses to allow anybody to penetrate. Do you know anything about her yourself?"

Fairfax a.s.sumed an air of great gravity and importance. He was now in his element, about to pour out his stores of knowledge to an interested and grateful listener.

"There may be one or two people who know as much as I know--always remembering that there is no first-hand knowledge, but the chances are a hundred to one you would not come across them. It happens that I was a good deal in that rather queer set which frequented Mrs L'Estrange's flat."

"She was supposed to be a well-bred woman, was she not?"

"Oh, certainly, so far as family went. But, judging in the light of subsequent events, there is no doubt she was a wrong 'un. The place, from the start, was simply a gambling-saloon. Sometimes, the play was very moderate. I am fond of a bit of a flutter myself, but I must own that I never lost very much, and for a long time I never had any suspicions of foul play."

"Ah, but you had later on?" interrupted Hugh.

"I'll come to that before we get on to Miss Stella Keane. Then one night something happened. Do you remember a little chap named Esmond, who used to go about everywhere?"

Yes, Hugh remembered Tommy Esmond, although his acquaintance with him had been of the slightest.

"He was a funny little man, very genial and popular with everybody.

Like myself, he didn't stick to any one particular set, but went into a dozen different ones. One night he would be dining at a swagger club with a peer, the next he would be hobn.o.bbing at a pot-house sort of a place with a fifth-rate actor. Very eclectic was Tommy, and n.o.body ever knew where the deuce he came from. He had been so long about that people forgot to inquire, and looked upon him as a sort of inst.i.tution, and took him for granted, as it were.

"Well, one night, one dreadful night, Tommy was discovered cheating by a couple of chaps who were too sharp for him. They were common sort of fellows, might have been crooks themselves for all I know, and kicked up a deuce of a row. They went so far as to insinuate that Mrs L'Estrange was not altogether innocent, and had a hand in the plunder. Result, Tommy had to make a bolt of it."

"What was your own opinion about it? Was it an accident?"

"I might not have believed it, but a similar thing took place about a couple of months later. Another man was found cheating, and this time Mrs L'Estrange refused to face the music. She closed down, and disappeared from London. I have never met anybody who has seen or heard anything of her since. I expect she's to be found on the Continent like her friend Tommy."

"And Miss Keane was an inmate of this suspicious household?"

"Yes, ever since I went to the house, up to a few days after Tommy bolted. She left suddenly, and Mrs L'Estrange was very reticent as to where she had gone to. The next I heard was that she had been married quietly to Guy Spencer."

"Did any suspicions attach to her?"

"No, it would not be fair to say that they did. She never played herself, but she had a great knack of hovering about the tables. And after the Esmond episode one or two men whispered that she had been hovering about them too much, and that Mrs L'Estrange thought she had better get rid of her. It might be so or not."

"Did you ever come across a cousin of hers there, a man named Dutton?"

"Oh yes, a dozen or more times, for I went to the flat pretty frequently. A common, under-bred fellow, not in the least like her, for in addition to being remarkably good-looking, her manners and appearance were those of a lady."

"Do you know what has become of him?"

"Yes, he's an outside stockbroker, with a small office in the City. I ran against him only last week. I don't know whether he recognised me or not, but I looked the other way. With one or two exceptions, the L'Estrange _clientele_ was not one that you cared to recognise when outside the flat."

Fairfax had finished his narrative. Hugh thanked him warmly. Still, he had not learned anything really of importance. There was no evidence that Miss Keane had cheated, or helped others to cheat. The hovering round the card-table was not a particularly suspicious action if taken by itself. She might be signalling to her confederates, of course, but there was no evidence on which to convict her.

A sudden thought struck Murchison which prompted him to put a question to Fairfax.

"She might have been a decoy, to lure rich men to this gambling place, in order that they might be rooked by her accomplices." The middle-aged man shook his head. "I don't think so. She had no scope for that sort of game. Mrs L'Estrange hardly knew any body in her own world, for reasons which I daresay could be very satisfactorily explained, I should guess a not too clean or reputable past. She could not get the girl into houses where she would pick up rich men."

"But you say some men came there who played heavily."

"A few," answered Fairfax. "But I always had a notion that Dutton picked those up, in the course of his shady business, a mug here, a mug there, who had a few thousands to throw away either on the Stock Exchange or in gambling. If the flat was run on the crook, and it is even betting it was, I should say the proprietors--or the syndicate, call it what you like--were contented with quite small profits. I daresay a couple of thousand a year would keep Mrs L'Estrange in luxury, and I suppose she must have had a bit of money of her own."

"And, a.s.suming that they were all in league, Tommy Esmond and others would want their bit," suggested Hugh.

"Certainly," a.s.sented Fairfax; "but always granting that the show was run on the crook, it wouldn't be difficult to romp in thirty or forty pounds a night, with even the small players and the occasional mugs who were well-lined. Quite a decent amount to divide at the end of the week."

"Well, I am awfully obliged for all you have told me, Fairfax."

"But it doesn't help you much, eh?" queried the elder man, who detected a certain note of disappointment in his companion's tone.

"Well, candidly, it doesn't, but of course, that is no fault of yours.

We may dismiss the L'Estrange business, there is no evidence there. She might have signalled to her confederates or not. It might have been a perfectly innocent action. She didn't play herself, she just hovered round the tables to kill the time."

"Of course, either theory will fit," remarked the shrewd man of the world, who had picked up so much knowledge of life in his forty-five strenuous years.

He paused for a few moments before he spoke again.

"Now look here, Murchison, I can read you like a book. I haven't told you very much more than you know yourself, or could have pieced together. You are disappointed because I couldn't tell you anything of her history prior to her appearance in the L'Estrange household. Well, there, I am at fault. And you have a particular reason for wanting to know. In other words, you have some suspicions of your own."

Hugh felt he must be cautious. In connecting Mrs Spencer with Norah Burton he might be on the wrong track altogether, have been deceived by a striking, but purely accidental, resemblance. He could not be too frank with a man of Fairfax's temperament. Rumour had it that he would always respect a confidence, but his general reputation was that of a chatterbox. He spoke guardedly.

"Yes, certain undefined ones, quite undefined, please understand that."

Then, speaking a little more frankly, "What I dearly want to know is, was she a straight woman before she charmed my friend Guy Spencer into marrying her."

Fairfax smiled his slow, wise smile: "I am glad you have put your cards on the table. Of course I guessed from the beginning that it was what you were after. Well, I shan't breathe a word of this to anybody; I can hold my tongue when I have a mind. You have a deep interest in the matter for the sake of the Southleigh family, eh?"