“You can’t have learnt much about us if you don’t know that NOBODY KNOWS
WHO MR. BROWN IS….”
“You do,” said Tuppence quietly.
Again the colour deserted the other’s face.
“What makes you think that?”
“I don’t know,” said the girl truthfully. “But I’m sure.”
Mrs. Vandemeyer stared in front of her for a long time.
“Yes,” she said hoarsely, at last, “I know. I was beautiful, you see–very
beautiful–”
“You are still,” said Tuppence with admiration.
Mrs. Vandemeyer shook her head. There was a strange gleam in her
electric-blue eyes.
“Not beautiful enough,” she said in a soft dangerous voice.
“Not–beautiful–enough! And sometimes, lately, I’ve been afraid…. It’s
dangerous to know too much!” She leaned forward across the table. “Swear that
my name shan’t be brought into it–that no one shall ever know.” “I swear it.
And, once’s he caught, you’ll be out of danger.”
A terrified look swept across Mrs. Vandemeyer’s face.
“Shall I? Shall I ever be?” She clutched Tuppence’s arm. “You’re sure
about the money?”
“Quite sure.”
“When shall I have it? There must be no delay.”
“This friend of mine will be here presently. He may have to send cables,
or something like that. But there won’t be any delay–he’s a terrific hustler.”
A resolute look settled on Mrs. Vandemeyer’s face.
“I’ll do it. It’s a great sum of money, and besides”–she gave a curious
smile–“it is not–wise to throw over a woman like me!”
For a moment or two, she remained smiling, and lightly tapping her fingers
on the table. Suddenly she started, and her face blanched.
“What was that?”
“I heard nothing.”
Mrs. Vandemeyer gazed round her fearfully.
“If there should be some one listening—-”
“Nonsense. Who could there be?”
“Even the walls might have ears,” whispered the other. “I tell you I’m
frightened. You don’t know him!”
“Think of the hundred thousand pounds,” said Tuppence soothingly.
Mrs. Vandemeyer passed her tongue over her dried lips.
“You don’t know him,” she reiterated hoarsely. “He’s–ah!”
With a shriek of terror she sprang to her feet. Her outstretched hand
pointed over Tuppence’s head. Then she swayed to the ground in a dead faint.
Tuppence looked round to see what had startled her.
In the doorway were Sir James Peel Edgerton and Julius Hersheimmer.
CHAPTER XIII
THE VIGIL
SIR James brushed past Julius and hurriedly bent over the fallen woman.
“Heart,” he said sharply. “Seeing us so suddenly must have given her a
shock. Brandy–and quickly, or she’ll slip through our fingers.”
Julius hurried to the washstand.
“Not there,” said Tuppence over her shoulder. “In the tantalus in the
dining-room. Second door down the passage.”
Between them Sir James and Tuppence lifted Mrs. Vandemeyer and carried her
to the bed. There they dashed water on her face, but with no result. The lawyer
fingered her pulse.
“Touch and go,” he muttered. “I wish that young fellow would hurry up with
the brandy.”
At that moment Julius re-entered the room, carrying a glass half full of
the spirit which he handed to Sir James. While Tuppence lifted her head the
lawyer tried to force a little of the spirit between her closed lips. Finally
the woman opened her eyes feebly. Tuppence held the glass to her lips.
“Drink this.”
Mrs. Vandemeyer complied. The brandy brought the colour back to her white
cheeks, and revived her in a marvellous fashion. She tried to sit up–then fell
back with a groan, her hand to her side.
“It’s my heart,” she whispered. “I mustn’t talk.”
She lay back with closed eyes.
Sir James kept his finger on her wrist a minute longer, then withdrew it
with a nod.
“She’ll do now.”
All three moved away, and stood together talking in low voices. One and all
were conscious of a certain feeling of anticlimax. Clearly any scheme for
cross-questioning the lady was out of the question for the moment. For the time
being they were baffled, and could do nothing.
Tuppence related how Mrs. Vandemeyer had declared herself willing to
disclose the identity of Mr. Brown, and how she had consented to discover and
reveal to them the whereabouts of Jane Finn. Julius was congratulatory.
“That’s all right, Miss Tuppence. Splendid! I guess that hundred thousand