I'll make him tell me who she is, and what she has to do with this crime."
"Do you think she has anything to do with it?" said Mrs. Vrain doubtfully.
"I am certain.
It must have been her shadow I saw on the blind."
"And the man's shadow was the Count's?" questioned Lydia.
"I think so.
He bought the cloak for the woman, visited the man Wrent at Jersey Street, and was seen by the servant in the back yard.
He did not act thus without some object, Mrs. Vrain, you may be sure of that."
"Sakes!" said Lydia, with a weary sigh. "I ain't sure of anything save that my head is buzzing like a sawmill.
Who is Wrent, anyhow?"
"I don't know.
An old man with white beard and a skull-cap of black velvet."
"Ugh!" said Mrs. Vrain, with a shiver. "Mark used to wear a black skull-cap, and the thought of it makes me freeze up.
Sounds like a judge of your courts ordering a man to be lynched.
Well, Mr. Denzil, it seems to me as you'd best hustle Ercole.
If he knows who the woman is—and he wouldn't buy cloaks for her if he didn't—he'll know who this Wrent is.
I guess he can supply all information."
"Where does he live?"
"Number 40, Marquis Street, St. James's.
You go and look him up, while I tell poppa what a mean white he is.
I guess poppa won't let him come near me again.
Pop's an honest man, though he ain't no Washington."
"Suppose I find out that he killed your husband?" asked Lucian, rising.
"Then you'd best lynch him right away," replied Lydia without hesitation. "I draw the line at murder—some!"
The barrister was somewhat disgusted to hear Mrs. Vrain so coolly devote her whilom admirer to a shameful death.
However, he knew that her heart was hard and her nature selfish; so there was little use in showing any outward displeasure at her want of charity. She had cleared herself from suspicion, and evidently cared not who suffered, so long as she was safe and well spoken of.
Moreover, Lucian had learned all he wished about her movements on the night of the crime, and taking a hasty leave, he went off to Marquis Street for the purpose of bringing Ferruci to book for his share in the terrible business.
However, the Count proved to be from home, and would not be back, so the servant said, until late that night.
Denzil therefore left a message that he would call at noon the next day, and drove from St. James's to Kensington, where he visited Diana.
Here he detailed what he had learned and done from the time he had visited Mrs. Bensusan up to the interview with Lydia.
Also he displayed the cloak, and narrated how Mrs. Vrain had cleared herself of its purchase.
To all this Diana listened with the greatest interest, and when Lucian ended she looked at him for some moments in silence.
In fact, Diana, with all her wit and common sense, did not know how to regard the present position of affairs.
"Well, Miss Vrain," said Lucian, seeing that she did not speak, "what do you think of it all?"
"Mrs. Vrain appears to be innocent," said Diana in a low voice.
"Assuredly she is!
The evidence of the Pegall family—given in all innocence—proves that she could not have been in Geneva Square or in Jersey Street on Christmas Eve."
"Then we come back to my original belief, Mr. Denzil. Lydia did not commit the crime herself, but employed Ferruci to do so."
"No," replied Denzil decidedly. "Whether the Italian is guilty or not, Mrs. Vrain knows nothing about it.
If she were cognisant of his guilt she would not have risked going with me to Baxter & Co., and letting me discover that Ferruci had bought the cloak.
Nor would she so lightly surrender a possible accomplice as she has done Ferruci.
Whatever can be said of Mrs. Vrain's conduct—and I admit that it is far from perfect—yet I must say that she appears, by the strongest evidence, to be totally innocent and ignorant.
She knows no more about the matter than her father does."
"Well," said Diana, unwilling to grant her stepmother too much grace, "we must give her the benefit of the doubt.
What about Ferruci?"
"So far as I can see, Ferruci is guilty," replied Lucian. "To clear himself he will have to give the same proof as Mrs. Vrain.
Firstly, he will have to show that he was not in Jersey Street on Christmas Eve; secondly, he will have to prove that he did not buy the cloak.
But in the face of the servant's evidence, and the statement of the shopwoman, he will find it difficult to clear himself.
Yet," added Lucian, remembering his failure with Lydia, "it is always possible that he may do so."
"It seems to me, Mr. Denzil, that your only chance of getting at the truth is to see the Italian."