14 - Great Pearl Secret by Charles Norris Williamson, Alice Muriel Williamson

On the eve of the high-society wedding between the lovely Juliet Phayre and the enigmatic Duke of Claremanagh, Emmy West pays a visit, eager to catch a glimpse of the legendary Tsarina pearls, jewels meant only for the eyes of the Duchess. When Juliet confesses shes never laid eyes on them, Emmys surprising admission that she has seen them once sets off a series of questions. Considering the last duchess passed away many years ago, who could have possibly worn them? Who is this mysterious Lyda Pavoya? And most importantly, who exactly is the man Juliet is about to marry?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter fourteen of The Great Pearl Secret. This is a
LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
The Great Pearl Secret by Charles Norris Williamson, Chapter fourteen.

(00:23):
The house taken furnished by Little Pavoia belonged to a
woman well known in society who had gone abroad. Jack
Matters had visited there before the war, but the drawing
room was changed. There had been banal things in it,
now they were gone. Banaldy could not exist Neriletta. It
seemed that in every formant must shrivel up, burnt away

(00:45):
by the still fire of her strange secret soul. Jack
had pigeted himself, entering a room full of people, fellow guests,
and finding no one. He feared that he had come
too soon. If State Stars invited one for midnight, they
probably meant one to turn up at half past twelve,
so that if they sailed in at one o'clock one

(01:06):
would not be annoyed when the door opened five minutes
after his arrival. Therefore, he expected to see some theatrical
or social swell, but it was Lida, who appeared alone.
He had never met her off the stage until yesterday
at the door of the fair house. Then she had
been dressed in black and thickly veiled. He had guessed

(01:28):
her identity from the extreme grace and slimness of her
tall figure and the flame of her red hair glimpsed
through embroidered net. In Paris, where she had danced, he
had sat too far away to criticize her features, and
at the theater to night he had been dazzled by
the wonder of her as a swan woman. Now, as
she drifted in with the air of a tired, overworked

(01:49):
girl needing rest and mutely asking for help in securing it,
Jack had the thrill of a new revelation. How many
signs had this Polish dancer's nature was. He have a
different sort of thrill every time he met her, always
more poignant, more soul piercing than before. I'm glad to
see you, she said, I thought I should be here first.

(02:12):
I hope I've not kept you waiting not five minutes,
Jack assured her, good will you take off my wrap
for me? When I heard you had come, I wouldn't
wait for my maid. She had unfastened the emmer clasps
of a long, oddly shaped cloak of purple velvet lined
with clouds of green chiffon over gold. As Jack lifted

(02:33):
it from her white shoulders, to his surprise, he heard
himself exclaim, I'd imagined you in sables. What right had
he to make a personal comment like that? So other
people have told me, she said, But I have one peculiarity.
I never wear furs. To me, it is horrible that
women can cover themselves with the skins of lovely creatures

(02:55):
murdered for their pleasure, pathetic little faces and feats and
tails dangling all over them. No, when I was a child,
I suffered too much from the cruelty of the strong
to the weak to find joy in profiting from it.
By Jove, exclaimed Jack, I've thought sometimes of that sort
of thing, but I didn't suppose it ever occurred to women,

(03:17):
even the tenderest ones I've known. The women you have
known haven't had childhoods like mine, said Lena. Yet I
hoped you'd not be one to make fun of my feeling.
Another thing, I do not eat meat for the same
reason you will see it supper. But you shall have some,
so don't be discards. As she spoke, she smiled, and

(03:39):
Jack realized that it was the first time he had
seen her smile. That was strange, or it would have
been strange in another woman. Now he saw that it
would be more strange altogether out of keeping with this
character voluntarily opening itself to him if she laughed or
smiled often. Jack had obeyed a gesture of hers and

(03:59):
lay the faintly perfumed cloak on a sofa. Little war
dressed simple enough for the first dinner, gown of a schoolgirl,
gray and short, almost skimpy, yet somehow perfect, without a
single touch of trimming or a jewel. Shall we go
into the dining room, she asked, Supper will be ready,

(04:20):
It always is. I never haven't announced unless I have
a party to night. It's only you and me. You'll
not mind mind. The words spoke itself with the boy's
sincerity that Jack could not have pretended I didn't dare dream.
She led the way through open sliding doors to an
adjoining room, not turning her head to listen as she

(04:43):
let Jack push the half drawn portiers aside. What a
divine back she had, and what dimples in the delicate
flat shoulder blades. An almost overpowering desire gripped Jack to
kiss the white neck, just where a knot of shining
red here was kept in place by Jade Penn. He
would no more have ventured upon a liberty with this

(05:03):
creature of unfathomed reserves than he would have thrown himself
into the cage of a tigress. All the same, he
had definitely lost his head. He knew that he would
have sacrificed Juliet and pat for this girl, not deliberately,
not through conviction, but because he couldn't help himself if
it came to a choice. In the octagon shaped room

(05:25):
where its late mistress had given famous dinners for eight
nevertheless never more, a small table was laid and lit
with shaded candles, but no servants were there. Violets were
scattered on the lace table cover, the only flower decorations
for the guests. There were several elaborate cold dishes, and
champagne and ice for the hostess, brown bread and a

(05:49):
jug of milk. When she saw Jack look at this,
Liddle laughed out loud. I never take anything else at night,
she explained. I suppose I am a queer person. Probably
your thinking me odd in many ways for one to
have you alone with me at supper. I've a companion
who lives with me. Madame le Mercier a nice woman.

(06:11):
But I do what I wish without thinking of conventions.
If I hurt no one, people say so many things
about me, they can say no worse whatever I do.
That's partly why I act as I please. Yet I
think i'd do the same without an excuse. I invited
you because I want to talk with you alone. No,
Madame le Marcier, no servants. I'll wait on you myself,

(06:35):
not that said manners. You must let me wait on you.
We'll wait on each other. She smiled, a sense of
exquisite intimacy with this girl or a woman, he knew,
not what to call her. Took possession of Jack For
a few minutes. They ate and he talked of anything
that flashed into his mind. When Lidda had finished her milk,

(06:55):
he jumped up and filled the glass again. Then she said,
a prumptly, I recognized you at the theater from yesterday.
Did you think I would? No? Jack read into his
sun bleached here, But you must have known. I was
in Klermenow's study when you were there. I wasn't sure

(07:17):
yet you thought so, you're not a man who can
lie well, and you are the cousin of Klermenov's wife.
You thought badly of me. I'd no right to think badly.
Jack staved her off. It wasn't my affair. I asked
you here tonight to make it your affair. Jack had
a shock of disappointment. That wonderful heart piercing first look

(07:40):
of hers, which he had read, you are the man
I am thee woman hadn't meant much. After all, you see,
little went on. I think that perhaps you and I
have known each other a long time, in another life,
perhaps in more lives than one. Souls that have been
friends were more than friends, grouped together on earth many times.

(08:02):
No doubt. Did you feel this when we met to night, yes,
Jack said, his breath choked. I know it must have
been that. I knew even then it was the most
wonderful thing ever. I felt it even yesterday when I
passed you at Clermenov's door. She told him. I thought,
there's a man I may never see again, but we

(08:22):
could be friends, and we have been friends, though maybe
he has forgotten. When I was in the study behind
the curtains, Clermenov put me there. He didn't want me seeing.
I was sorry, you should believe things not true, I
did not. Jack protested. No, then I'm glad. The man

(08:43):
felt ashamed, remembering suddenly what he had believed yesterday, even
to day. Her words I am glad cut him to
the quick, and he hurried on along the way of Atonement.
You say you asked me here to make it my
affair about Clermenov. Tell me what you want me to do,
and I'll do it. I don't know yet what is best.

(09:06):
We will talk it over, she answered, But first you
will have to hear a story. It's a long story
how I met Klermanov and a great many things that
came of the meeting. You won't be bored. Do you
need an answer to that question? Lida gave him one
of her rare smiles. No, it was conventional of me
to ask. But it will not be conventional to tell

(09:29):
you the story. It would be even dangerous to tell
it to some men. I'm not afraid of you. Thank
you for saying that. She held out her hand to
him across the small round table. Jack seized it and
pressed it closely, instead of kissing the pink palm as
he was tempted to do. For a moment, Lida sat still,

(09:52):
her eyes cast down, as if she sought for words,
which eluded her. Then she began in a low voice
that was slightly monotonous, as though she spoke out of
an old dream. She paused sometimes, but manners remained silent,
asking no questions. He felt that she would prefer this.
She took him back with her the Petrograd Saint Petersburg. Then,

(10:14):
when she was sixteen, ten years before, she was dancing
in a secondary cafe and attracted attention so that the
place became popular. The man named Conrad Markov was the
real owner, though he posed as an amateur patron. By
his advice, the manager got Litted to sign a hard
and fast contract to dance at the same salary for
the next five years. Markov pretended a fatherly kindness for her,

(10:39):
and she was invited occasionally to visit his wife, a
frenchwoman who had lived for years in England. One night,
Markov brought a good looking Inglish boy of nineteen or
so to the cafe. This boy applauded Liddis dancing, and
was introduced to her at his own request, the Duke
of Clermenau. From the first he was enthusiastic about her tess.

(11:00):
Not in love, oh not at all in love, Lida insisted,
but anxious to help abudding genius. At the end of
a week, he had thought out a practical plan. He
would pay for the dancing lessons of which she had
dreamed as of an impossible paradise lessons from the great
Sophia Versova. It would cost a lot, yes, but he

(11:21):
had just had a few unexpected thousands left to him
by an aunt. If Lidda wouldn't accept, they were sure
to be spent on some foolery. She did accept, perhaps
she might have accepted even if Clermonov hadn't made it
quite clear how impersonal, how disinterested were his motives. Never
the dancer confessed, had she met a good man in

(11:42):
those days, she would have made an idol of this
handsome boy. But he didn't want her idolatry. He was
fancying himself in love with the wife of a dawn
at Oxford just then to free her from slavery. At
the cafe Clermenov paid a big indemnity, and at the
time Lida was grateful to Markov for arranging the business,
not then aware that he was the power behind the throne.

(12:06):
It was nearly two years later when the truth was
sprung upon the girl, just as she expected to go
with Versova to make her debut in Paris. Markov had
wished her to be educated and become a great dancer
without expense to himself. There were several ways in which
she could be valuable, and unless she promised her services
to him, he would prevent her from leaving Petrogod. Clermenov

(12:29):
had been too carelessly trustful to have the release from
her contract framed in a legal document, and Lida could
still be compelled to carry it out unless she agreed
to use the charm she had the fame she might
win in the secret Service of Russia. She would thus
be compelled. Lida was not old enough to understand the
hideousness of this bargain. She wasn't yet eighteen, and not

(12:51):
to go with Versova would have seemed worse than death.
It was only later, when she had soared to brilliant success,
that she realized fully what she was expected to do.
Engagements were offered to her in the capitals of different countries.
After Paris, Rome and then London, she met many men
of distinction, sailors, soldiers, diplomats, financiers. She was to flirt

(13:15):
with these men just how seriously was her own affair,
and get them inadvertently to tell her things useful to
the Tsar's government. Well, she had flirted, but she had
sickened at the business behind the flirtations. Very little information
reached Russia through little provoia. Reproaches and threats came to
her from Markov and as a warning of what he

(13:36):
could do to bring about her ruin if he chose.
Russians in England, France, Italy, America set the ball of
scandal rolling against her. According to them, she was a
professional siren, a mercenary, blood sucker, a tigress woman, a
devour of men's happiness and honor. Against such a campaign,

(13:57):
a woman placed as she was, found herself helpless. She
could only shrug her shoulders, go her own way and
try not to care. But the war, like an ill
wind that blows good to some, changed the world for Lidda.
She worked heart and soul in Paris for the Red Cross.
The Russian Revolution broke like a red sunrise, and with

(14:18):
the end of sardom, she hoped that Marcos's power over
her would end also. For some months she had no
word from him. Then he appeared in Paris, and a
bad moment for her. Clerminal had been there on leave.
He had come to her house complaining that he felt ill.
At luncheon, he had fallen from his chair in a
dead faint. The doctor had pronounced the attack a virulent

(14:42):
case of influenza. Clerminalv couldn't be moved. Lida, helped by
Madame le Mercier, had nursed him. He thought she had
saved his life, vowed that he owed her more than
she had ever owed him. There was endless gossip, of course,
but Lida had been so glad to repair her out
of gratitude that she hadn't much cared. It was soon

(15:04):
after Clermenal had gone back to the front, and while
people were still coupling their names in the scandalous way,
that Conrad Markoff arrived in Paris. At last, the time
has come when you can be of real use to me,
he had said. Lyda had hoped this was bluff, but
Markov explained he explained things of which she had never dreamed.

(15:25):
With brutal frankness, he told the girl that he had
made Klermenov's acquaintance in Petrogrod for a very special purpose.
He had married his French wife because she had been
made to the young Duchess of Clermenov and knew something
about the famous pearls. Always he had men associated with him,
had kept track of the family fortunes. He had known
that the boy intended to visit the scene of his

(15:45):
ancestors great romance, had it not been for some treachery.
He believed that his own wife had sent anonymous warnings
to the Klermenovs, the lost treasure would long ago have
returned to Russia. Now, though his associates were dead or
in Bolshevik prisons and the crown was a legend, he
Markov wanted the pearls for himself. Lyda had more than

(16:08):
repaid Klermenov's generosity, all of which Markov argued she owed
directly to him. She was in a position to demand
any favor she liked of the Duke. She must get
him to lend her the Serena pearls. If she refused
to do this, she should be denounced as a spy.
Even though her activities had been stopped by the Revolution,

(16:30):
the war was still on. Markov had letters which would
convict her. She the adored one. The divine answer would
be tried and shot some morning at dawn. It would
be nothing to die, Lyda had thought, but she loved France.
She could not bear to die as a traitor. What
to do? Then suddenly a plan came to her. She

(16:51):
agreed to ask Klermenov of the pearls. You see, she
explained to Manners, Markov had had a copy made from
an old portrait of the Serena. He meant me to
hand him over the real pearls and give the false
to Klermenov. But he didn't know that Klermenov's mother had
had them copied. Hardly any one did know, But Clermenov

(17:11):
had told me, and it was the copy that I
asked him to lend. He couldn't bear to refuse my
very first request, poor fellow. He hated to grant it.
Though it was just after he'd fallen in love with
Miss Phair, before they were engaged, there was enough talk
about him and me without my wearing those well known pearls.

(17:32):
It was part of my bargain with Markov to pair
with them in public, for he wanted my name to
be coupled with Klermenov's. It would give me power over
his future. And even if the Duke told people that
he was lending me a copy, they wouldn't believe it.
They would have laughed at the idea of Pervoy accepting
false pearls Clermenov sent to London for the things. My

(17:55):
wearing them made a sensation. Markov was wild with rage
when he saw what they were, wild against Cleermenov, not me.
He believed that I had been tricked. Of course, the
copy was of no use to him. He did not
take it, but he would not let me give it
back to the Duke. He was working up a scheme
of blackmail against us. Both I dared not disobey, and

(18:19):
once the mischief was done by my wearing the rope,
Klermenov didn't much mind whether I kept it or not.
I pretended to forget and he didn't mention the subject.
Then I got this surprise offer to dance in New York.
I was so glad, I thought I might get rid
of Markov. How foolish he sailed in the ship with

(18:40):
the Duke and Duchess, but kept out of their way.
Clermenov never knew he was on board, and perhaps wouldn't
have remembered him from those old Petrograde days if he
had seen his face. Now we come to these last
few days in New York, Lidda finished. Do you begin
to see Markov's game? Not quite? Jack answered, It was

(19:01):
the first time he had spoken since she began her story.
It isn't clear to me yet at least were pat
Klermenov's concerned. It wasn't to me at first, but Markov
made it clear he didn't try direct blackmail against the Duke.
He was afraid. I think that Klermenov would fight, even
though he'd hate scandal. For his wife's sake. I was

(19:22):
the cat's paw. Markoff really did have letters which I
sent to him in those hateful days when I had
to content him with a pretense of spying. There were
always those to hold over my head. And he threatened
to order the wearing of those wretched false pearls again
as an open insult to the Duchess. He thought that
for answer, she would ar the real ones. Then he

(19:42):
would be sure they were in New York, and he
might have the chance at last which he had been
trying for all these years, the chance to steal them.
By jove, you are unraveling the whole mystery. Jack broke out.
But let us shook her head. No, I'm afraid you'll
not think that when you've heard what's to co, she said.
I am afraid I shall make the mystery even deeper.

(20:04):
I was faced with shame for myself and the ruin
of Klermenov's happiness through my fault, my seeming selfishness. The
alternative was money, all but a great sum of money,
enough to console Markov for giving up his hope of
the pearls. Never till then had I told Klermenov Markov's tyranny.
But for his own sake and mind, I had to

(20:25):
explain something. We consulted about what was best to be done.
Klmenov wished to do what he called to wave the
red flag, but I made him realize what his wife's
feelings would be if he were mixed up in such
a case of law with me. At last, we agreed
that it would be wise to pay Markov and be
free of him. I earned a great deal of money

(20:46):
and spend it. It took some time to get the
sum together. I sold nearly all my jewels, and what
I didn't sell I pawned. Still there wasn't enough, and
Klermenov came to the rescue. He said it was for himself,
but of course it was far more for me. It
was only when the money was every sux in hand
that I dared give back the imitation pearls. I went

(21:09):
to do that when you met me at the door,
to do that, and to hand Clermenov two thirds of
the hush money for Markoff. The rest he had ready
in his safe. He offered. He wanted to meet the
man in exchange the money for the letters. Now, Captain Manters,
you know the whole history of the Pavoya Klermenov fair,
but perhaps you don't yet understand all the reasons why

(21:31):
I've told it. Two hours after we were introduced to
each other, you and I. Her eyes challenged him. Jack
saw that she wished him to understand. So he did
not mean to make a mistake, he thought before he spoke.
I wonder, he said, I could be more sure where

(21:51):
I am If I knew whether you are in the
secret of Pat's doings to night, Liddle looked puzzled and pale.
His doings to night? No, last night I saw markoff
and got back the letters. But to Night's doings, no,
I'm not in the secret. If there is a secret,
Jack caught at her words. He was intensely excited by

(22:13):
what she had told him, but kept his outward coolness.
Lyda had gone through a great strain. He did not
care to alarm her needlessly. You say, Pat saw markoff
and got the letters. You're sure of that? Yes, he
sent me to letters with a short note just after
receiving them, saying all was right. Did the note come

(22:34):
from home? No, from a club, the Grumblers. It was
written rather late. Didn't Pat say anything about himself, where
he was going from the club, What had happened since
you met, or what he meant to do to day?
Nothing except he was riding in a hurry after settling
up with Markoff and seeing the last of him, for

(22:56):
he had something rather important to do. That was all absolutely,
Captain Manors, you look strange. What have you to tell
me in exchange for my story? Why to begin with,
I don't understand as I thought I did, why I
have told it, Jack stammered. I imagined it was because
you knew Pat and my cousin had quarreled, that he

(23:16):
had left her, or anyhow disappeared, and you wanted me
to justify you with juliet LEI stared at him across
the table. Her hands suddenly pressed over her heart. Mon dieu,
she whispered, Clermenor disappeared, but went on, Jack collecting his wits.
If you didn't know, what did you mean when you

(23:37):
said that Markov's hand in the pear business didn't clear
up the mystery, but only made it more mysterious. I meant,
of course, those innuendos in that horrible paper, the hints
that the Duchess was wearing false pearls. It is not
to Markov's advantage to start such a rumor. Now he
has nothing to gain, no longer any hold over klermenor

(23:58):
or me. He would do himself no good but much harm. Oh,
Captain Manners, where can the Duke be? I came here tonight,
racking my brains vainly as to that Jack encouraged her. Now,
thanks to you, I've something to go upon something to
tell the detective, whom I shall see first thing tomorrow.
This mark off is my starting point. Now, his scheme

(24:20):
of years to steal the pearls? How he can have
got into the house, opened the safe, taking the things
out of the box, and sealed it up again with
the false pearls inside. I can't see yet, but Litis
sprang to her feet. You say he has done that.
Someone has done that? You? Uh? Pat didn't tell you
in his letter about what had happened to the box.

(24:43):
She must have seen. No, no, he didn't mention the
pearls orthobox. Who discovered the theft? Juliet Pat gave her
the sealed packet, and she's rather an expert. She found
the pearls were false, yet she wore them. Yes, then
that was because she thought, I don't say it? Can

(25:05):
you say it wasn't her thoughts? She accused her own husband,
whom she adores, or me? Was that not it? Jack
was silent with a little cry. Lida covered her face
with her hands, and he saw that she trembled. Hardly
knowing what he did, He went to her, took the
two cold hands and held them to his lips. She

(25:27):
looked up to him with eyes bright with tears, and
the next instant she was in his arms. We'll work together,
he said, You and I we'll drag this mystery up
by the roots. We'll find pat wherever he is, and
Juliet shall beg your pardon on her knees. End of
Chapter fourteen.