“That Miss Flora Millar,the lady who had caused the disturbance,has actually been arrested.It appears that she was formerly a _danseuse_ at the Allegro,and that she has known the bridegroom for some years.There are no further particulars,and the whole case is in your hands now—so far as it has been set forth in the public press.”
“And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be.I would not have missed it for worlds.But there is a ring at the bell, Watson,and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four,I have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client.Do not dream of going, Watson,for I very much prefer having a witness,if only as a check to my own memory.”
“Lord Robert St. Simon,” announced our page-boy,throwing open the door. A gentleman entered,with a pleasant, cultured face, high-nosed and pale,with something perhaps of petulance about the mouth,and with the steady,well-opened eye of a man whose pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his golden eyeglasses.
“Good-day, Lord St. Simon,” said Holmes,rising and bowing. “Pray take the basket-chair.This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Watson.Draw up a little to the fire,and we will talk this matter over.”
“A most painful matter to me,as you can most readily imagine, Mr. Holmes.I have been cut to the quick.I understand that you have already managed several delicate cases of this sort,sir, though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of society. ”
“No, I am descending.”
“I beg pardon.”
“My last client of the sort was a king.”
“Oh, really!I had no idea. And which king?”
“The King of Scandinavia.”
“What!Had he lost his wife?”
“You can understand,” said Holmes suavely,“that I extend to the affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to you in yours.”
“Of course!Very right!very right!I’m sure I beg pardon. As to my own case,I am ready to give you any information which may assist you in forming an opinion.”
“Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public prints,nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct—this article,for example, as to the disappearance of the bride.”
Lord St. Simon glanced over it. “Yes, it is correct, as far as it goes.”
“But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most directly by questioning you.”
“Pray do so.”
“When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?”
“In San Francisco, a year ago.”
“You were travelling in the States?”
“Yes.”
“Did you become engaged then?”
“No.”
“But you were on a friendly footing?”
“I was amused by her society,and she could see that I was amused.”
“Her father is very rich?”
“He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope.”
“And how did he make his money?”
“In mining. He had nothing a few years ago.Then he struck gold, invested it,and came up by leaps and bounds.”
“Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady’s—your wife’s character?”
The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down into the fire.“You see, Mr. Holmes,” said he,“my wife was twenty before her father became a rich man.During that time she ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of traditions. She is impetuous—volcanic, I was about to say. She is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the name which I have the honour to bear”—he gave a little stately cough—“had I not thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her.”
“Have you her photograph?”
“I brought this with me.” He opened a locket and showed us the full face of a very lovely woman.It was not a photograph but an ivory miniature,and the artist had brought out the full effect of the lustrous black hair,the large dark eyes, and the exquisite mouth.Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it.Then he closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon.
“The young lady came to London, then,and you renewed your acquaintance?”
“Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season.I met her several times, became engaged to her,and have now married her.”
“She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?”
“A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family.”
“And this, of course, remains to you,since the marriage is a _fait accompli_?”
“I really have made no inquiries on the subject.”
“Very naturally not.Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the wedding?”
“Yes.”
“Was she in good spirits?”
“Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our future lives. ”
“Indeed!That is very interesting.And on the morning of the wedding?”
“She was as bright as possible—at least until after the ceremony. ”
“And did you observe any change in her then?”
“Well, to tell the truth,I saw then the first signs that I had ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible bearing upon the case.”
“Pray let us have it, for all that.”
“Oh, it is childish.She dropped her bouquet as we went towards the vestry.She was passing the front pew at the time,and it fell over into the pew.There was a moment’s delay,but the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again,and it did not appear to be the worse for the fall.Yet when I spoke to her of the matter,she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage,on our way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause. ”
“Indeed!You say that there was a gentleman in the pew.Some of the general public were present, then?”
“Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is open. ”
“This gentleman was not one of your wife’s friends?”
“No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy,but he was quite a common-looking person.I hardly noticed his appearance.But really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point. ”
“Lady St. Simon, then,returned from the wedding in a less cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do on re-entering her father’s house?”
“I saw her in conversation with her maid.”
“And who is her maid?”
“Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California with her. ”
“A confidential servant?”
“A little too much so.It seemed to me that her mistress allowed her to take great liberties.Still, of course, in America they look upon these things in a different way. ”
“How long did she speak to this Alice?”
“Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of.”
“You did not overhear what they said?”
“Lady St. Simon said something about ‘jumping a claim.’ She was accustomed to use slang of the kind.I have no idea what she meant.”
“American slang is very expressive sometimes.And what did your wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?”
“She walked into the breakfast-room.”
“On your arm?”
“No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that.Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so,she rose hurriedly, muttered some words of apology,and left the room. She never came back.”