The Betrayal of John Fordham. Farjeon Benjamin Leopold

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СКАЧАТЬ examined my keys, and I fancied I discerned traces of wax upon them. I inquired my way to the nearest locksmith, and giving him the bunch asked whether an impression in wax had been taken of any of them.

      "Of a certainty, monsieur," he said, "else I could not have made them."

      "It is you, then, who made the duplicates?"

      "Assuredly, it is I, monsieur."

      "Of how many?"

      "Of two, monsieur."

      "Of these two?" indicating the keys of my two trunks.

      "Exactly, monsieur."

      "From impressions in wax which you received."

      "Yes, yes, monsieur," he said, redundantly affirmative. "Have you come to ask for them? But they were delivered and paid for last night."

      "By a thin-faced, middle-aged woman, with gray eyes and a white face?"

      "The description is perfect. I trust the keys are to your satisfaction, and that they fit the locks."

      "They fit admirably," I said, and I gave him good morning.

      Annette! She was in my wife's pay; together they had conspired against me. The first practical step towards obtaining access to my boxes was taken when Barbara informed me that she had mislaid one of her keys, and borrowed my bunch; then the impressions in wax, and Annette going to the locksmith to give the order; then the packet containing the keys which Annette had secretly conveyed to my wife while my back was turned; then Barbara's complaint this morning that my cigar made her ill, and my going out to smoke. During my absence my trunk was opened and rifled. The petty little mystery was solved.

      It was late when I returned to the hotel. I expected a stormy scene, it being now two hours after the time I had appointed to take Barbara to see the sights of Paris; but she was not in our rooms to reproach me. In the bedroom I noticed that two padlocks had been newly fixed to each of her trunks. I went into the office to make inquiries.

      "Madame is out," said the manager.

      "On foot?"

      "No, monsieur; in the carriage that was ordered."

      "Did she go alone?"

      "No, monsieur; Annette accompanied her."

      "Annette!" I exclaimed. "Has she not her duties to attend to here?"

      "She is no longer in our service," was the reply. "She is engaged by madame. It was sudden, but she begged to be allowed to leave. Your wife implored also, monsieur, and as another woman who had been with us before as chambermaid was ready to take her place, we consented – to oblige madame."

      "Is Annette a good servant?"

      "An excellent domestic."

      "Trustworthy, honest, and sober?"

      "Perfectly. Madame could not desire a better."

      Every word he spoke was in Annette's favor, and I felt that another burden was on my life. If I could not cope with Barbara alone, how much less able was I to cope with her now that she had such an ally as this sly creature?

      At five o'clock they came in together, my wife flushed and elated, Annette quiet and placid as usual.

      "I have had a lovely day," said Barbara, as Annette assisted her to disrobe. "I suppose my dear boy has been running all over the city in search of me."

      "You are mistaken," I replied. "I have not searched for you at all."

      "I am not going to believe everything you say, you bad boy," she said, darting into the bedroom.

      I divined the reason; it was to ascertain whether the padlocks on her boxes had been tampered with. Reassured on this point, she resumed her chatter.

      "How lonely my dear boy must have been! I declare he has been smoking. Annette, give me my cloves. Will you have one, John? No? Is it not good of Annette to accept the situation I offered her? She will travel with us to Switzerland and Italy, and will tell us all we want to know about the hotels there, and what is worth seeing, and what not. She will save you no end of money. And what a perfect lady's maid she is! I wonder what possessed me to leave England without one; but I am glad now that I did not engage one there, for I could not have got anybody half so handy and clever as Annette."

      While my wife was speaking Annette made no sign, and nothing in her manner indicated that she understood what was being said in her praise. Had she been a stone image she could not have shown less interest. This was carrying acting too far, for her name being frequently mentioned, she would naturally have exhibited some curiosity.

      "And only thirty-five pounds a year," my wife continued, and would have continued her prattle had I not interrupted her.

      "I should like to speak to you alone, Barbara."

      "We are alone, you dear boy." I looked towards the imperturbable woman she had engaged. "Oh, do you object to Annette? What difference can she make? She understands no language but her own."

      "I should prefer to be alone with you."

      "To say disagreeable things, I suppose, when there are no witnesses present. Oh, I know you. She shall not go."

      "Do you think it right to oppose me in such a small matter? Surely we ought to keep our quarrels to ourselves."

      "Who is quarreling?" she retorted. "I am not. And as to what is right and wrong, I am as good a judge as you."

      "Annette," said I, addressing the woman in French, "leave the room."

      "Oui, monsieur," she replied, with perfect submissiveness, and was about to go when my wife said:

      "Annette, remain here."

      "Oui, madame," she replied, without any indication of surprise at these contradictory orders. To outward appearance she was an absolutely passive agent, ready at a word to go hither or thither, to say yea or nay, without the least feeling or interest in the matter; but any one who judged her by this standard would have found himself grievously at fault.

      "Very well," I said. "I will postpone speaking of a very serious subject till I can do so out of the hearing of strangers. I will only say now that you should not have engaged this woman without consulting me."

      "Indeed, I shall not consult you," returned Barbara, "upon my domestic arrangements, and I am astonished at your interference. It is I who have to attend to them, and I will not be thwarted and ordered to do this or that. You think a wife is a slave; I will show you that she is not." She paused a moment, and then shrugged her shoulders. "What you have to say had best be said at once, perhaps. In heaven's name let us get it over." She stepped to Annette's side, and whispered a word or two in her ear; the next moment we were alone. "Now, John, what is it?"

      "With the connivance of that woman you have had false keys made, with which, in my absence – artfully contrived by yourself – you have opened my trunks."

      "Go on."

      "You admit it."

      "I admit nothing. Go on."

      "With those false keys you ransacked my trunks, and stole certain СКАЧАТЬ