May 27, 2025 • 15 mins
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?
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter seventeen 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.
Recording by Chauven mac Kelpan, Chapter seventeen, The Crystal. Have
(00:21):
you an appointment, madam asked the elderly woman who opened
the door of Madame Vino's flat for juliet She was
a person of almost oppressively respectable appearance, with gray hair
parted in the middle, gold rimmed prince neze resting on
a thin nose, and a neat body clad in black silk.
If Madame Vino needed a chaperone, her door opener was ideal.
(00:46):
Juliette had run upstairs so fast that she was breathing hard.
Passing the office of the Inner Circle had disgusted her.
She felt contaminated, almost ill, But the sight of this
woman was like a dash of cool on a hot forehead.
I have no appointment, she answered, but I came because
of a message. I'm the Duchess of Claernemay please to
(01:11):
walk in, Madam, said the woman, without any evidence of
being impressed. I will give you a private room to
wait in. They stood in a hall, white paneled carpeted
with red. The spruce black silk figure threw open a door,
and Juliet entered a tiny room, hardly more than a closet.
(01:32):
The only furnishing consisted of a luxurious easy chair, a
table on which there were magazines in a box of cigarettes,
and on the wall a mirror. This mirror was opposite
the chair, and behind the chair was a second door.
Any One opening that door would see a reflected image
of the sitter in the chair. As Juliet sank into
(01:54):
the chintz covered depths, the murmur of voices reached her.
She thought, in fact, that she had heard sounds from
two rooms, one on each side of the tiny cubicle
in which she had been put to wait. This little
hole is for special visitors, she told herself. Probably that
woman was ordered to bring me here if I came,
(02:16):
Madame Vino's room must be on the right side of this,
and it's her voice I hear on the side, talking
to a client on the left. I suppose it's the
ordinary waiting room, full of people jabbering to each other
about Madame Veno and the wonderful things they've heard about
her from their friends or else. It's the room where
they keep up the practice of manicuring clins and nails.
(02:39):
But I'm sure she means to sneak me in ahead
of them. Julia was right. In less than ten minutes,
there was a click of a latch, and the door
opposite the mirror opened. In the long glass, her eyes
met the smiling ones of a pale, dark woman with
a clever, somewhat common face. There was nothing mystic about
(02:59):
her appearance, but on the other hand, there was nothing meretricious,
no attempt at eastern allurements. Juliette had already guessed from
the ordinary furnishing of the flat that Madame Veno's machier
was clean, straightforward frankness, as opposed to the cult of
dim rooms, purple curtains and incense. Now this impression was confirmed.
(03:23):
The one false note was a heavy perfume, such as
some women adore and are unable to resist. I'm glad
to see you, duchess, said the woman. I hoped you
would call, and I am going to slip you in
before the others who are waiting their turn. They won't know,
so no harm's done. Will you come into my room?
(03:44):
She spoke, cheerfully, briskly, rather more like an englishwoman than
an American, and Juliet wondered if she were an English jewess.
The door led into an alcove of a fair sized room,
decorated in green. It was, as little is possible, like
the mysterious sanctum of an ordinary fortune teller or crystal gazer.
(04:07):
Juliet had seen two or three of these in several countries.
They had always been Egyptian, or at least reminiscent of
Leon baxt This might have been any woman's boudoir, but
when Madame Veno had drawn the thin green curtains, the
place seemed to fill with an emerald dusk, like the
dusk of dreams or the green dimness under sea. I
(04:31):
suppose you think I'm not very psychic, the mistress of
the room remarked, placing a chair for her visitor on
a table covered with a square of green velvet. People
do think that, then, when they've consulted me their surprised.
Sometimes they get better results than from those who go
in for what I call scenery. You know what I mean, yes,
(04:55):
said Juliet. I suppose I do know. All I want
to put in the right frame of mind is green,
explained Madame Vino, this kind of green twilight. She switched
away the velvet covering from the table. Underneath was a
cushion and a crystal which reflected the prevailing color. Then
(05:16):
she sat down opposite the Duchess. The Countess told you
what happened when I was looking into the crystal for her,
she asked, Madame. The Saint Hille said that you saw
something which concerned me. But how do you know it
concerned me? Your face came into the crystal. I've seen
your photograph and recognized you. Besides, I felt I felt
(05:39):
you were in great trouble. What else did you see
in the crystal? Let me look again now you are here,
and see if the same thing comes. As she spoke,
Madame Veno bent forward and gazed closely into the transparent
ball on a black base. Some moments passed and dead silence.
(06:01):
Juliette watched the woman's features, which became fixed and mask like. Suddenly,
Madame Veno started slightly and began to speak. I see
a handsome young man, very charming. It is your husband, Duchess.
(06:21):
He is lying ill in a poor room. Seems to
be a kind of a cellar. He tosses about. He
is delirious. He calls for you. I know that because
at the same time I see the picture, I hear
his voice. The name is Juliet. I think he has
(06:43):
had an accident, but I can't see what it was.
I only know that he has hurt his head. I
feel the pain myself, and I feel what he is
thinking about you and something else. Ah, a rope of
pearl pearls Now, I get a whisper. It comes to
me from his thoughts. He went in search of something
(07:07):
that was lost, a thing of great value. Yes, the pearls.
Did he get them? Julia asked mechanically. She had little
if any faith in the woman, but a faint thrill
ran through her. She could not help being slightly impressed
by the cirrus's change of manner and the hypnotized look
(07:28):
in her eyes. He got them, and then they were
taken away. But they are in the house where he is.
It is not a good house. It is a house
of thieves. Ah. I must find out where it is,
or I can do you no good or else. If
I cannot find the house. I must will the man
(07:49):
who has got the pearls to communicate with me. I
see him plainly. Why shouldn't he communicate with me, asked Julia.
Will power doesn't act like that, explained Madam Veno. I
could create a chord between another intelligence and my own,
not between two outside intelligences. Ah, the picture has faded
(08:14):
from the crystal, but it will come again. And for
the moment we've seen enough. I have the man's face
clearly before my eyes. I will concentrate upon him as
I have never concentrated before. I feel sure of the
power to draw him to me. How, Juliette inquired, I
(08:36):
can't tell. Yet. He may be impelled to consult me
about his future, to have his luck foretold. That's the
light I will work on in exerting influence. I shall
remember his face from the crystal. I can't make a
mistake once I get him here, I shan't hesitate to
use hypnotism. If that succeeds, I'll phone you to come
(08:57):
round at once with detective, said Juliet. Madame Veno's face changed,
flushing slightly over its sullenness. Oh no, duchess, she exclaimed, emphatically.
That wouldn't do at all. Women in my profession can't
encourage detectives to come spying into their methods. So far,
I've never had any trouble, but I've had to be
(09:20):
very careful. Detectives are the enemy. I shall be very sorry,
indeed to be disobliging, but I'm afraid I must let
this business drop unless you give me your word not
to bring a detective into it. Indeed, I think I
must ask you not to bring any third party if
you promise this. I don't think I'm conceited in saying
(09:40):
I can positively make you an important promise. In return,
by my wheel power, I will do for you what
no detective on this earth could do. I'll draw into
your circle the man who has got your husband lying
helpless in this house, and who has got your pearls.
Do you believe I am able to do this or
(10:01):
do you not? I can't say I quite believe. Juliet confessed.
She might have been more definite yet not had gone
beyond the truth. She might have said. What I think
is that you're a trickster. There's anything in this at
all beyond mere nonsense. You know where my husband is,
(10:23):
and you're playing a deep game for money, but something
more in the girl not to say this. She was
afraid to say it, afraid to make the seerus afraid.
If Pat had been kidnapped and this woman were a
cat's paw of those who wanted a ransom, Juliette was
willing to pay if only Pat were true, if only
(10:47):
he hadn't left her of his own free will. For
the love of Lida, she would give every penny she
had in the world to get him back, and not
grudge it. She reflected hastily that if Madame Vino took
her for a fool, it would be better to let
it go at that, rather than risk losing a chance,
(11:07):
possibly the only chance of saving Pat. As for telling
Jack and Sanders secretly, this course must be decided later.
There was surely no more harm in deceiving such a
woman than in tricking a dangerous animal. So far as
moral principles were concerned. The one question was could Madame
(11:30):
Vino safely be deceived or would she find a way
of forcing a promise to be kept. That question was
answered at once. I don't blame you, said Madame, with
a good natured smile. These great forces of nature are
beyond belief to those who haven't tested them. But I
(11:51):
know by experience what I can do. I know also
what I can't do. I can do nothing of the
people whose interests I serve work against me, consciously or unconsciously.
Now I read your mind as I read the crystal.
I see your thinking whether or not to make a
mental reservation about that promise. Well, I don't want to
(12:14):
control you, dutchess, though I could do so. But if
you bring anyone into this, the whole effort will be
in vain. I might get the man we want here,
I might hypnotize him to the point of speaking out.
I might phone you. And yet if you weren't alone,
(12:35):
or if someone were spying outside, my power over him
would break like that. She snapped her fingers together, her
black eyes holding Juliet's. Now, she went on when she
got in her effect, I'm going to give you a
proof of good faith. My fee for a consultation, just
an ordinary one, not a special like this, is twenty
(12:58):
five dollars. No, don't take out your purse, Duchess. I
won't accept the scent unless I bring off the stunt.
The rest is up to you, very well, said Juliet
on a sudden resolution. Let it be so. I promise
what you ask, and I'll keep my promise. If you
(13:19):
send for me, I'll come alone and I'll tell nobody.
But I'm not a child. I must protect myself in
some way. When I start for your place next time,
I shall leave a letter for my cousin Captain Manners,
to be delivered by hand. If I'm not back in
two hours after leaving home and the letter, I shall
tell him everything, but it won't be sent if all
(13:42):
goes right. So if you play fair, you've nothing to
dread unless the letter should be sent to your cousin
by mistake. My maid is a very intelligent woman, said Juliet.
She doesn't make mistakes. Oh, you'll leave the letter with
your maid to Madame Veno. Yes, do you agree to
(14:03):
the arrangement? I do, returned Madame Juliet rose to go.
She was feeling intensely excited, if not really hopeful. Even
if there were a plot, it seemed as if it
might be the best way of setting to work, and
she saw herself beating Sanders as a detective. So far
(14:25):
he had made only trifling discoveries fingerprints on the safe,
which told nothing. Since they were Pat and Leda Pavoias,
there were no clues which might solve the mystery of
Pat's disappearance or lead defining the lost pearls. As for Jack,
he was light as man. Now he believed the story
(14:45):
which explained the fingerprints. She Juliet, might soon show these
two men that alone she had accomplished more than either
in solving the double mystery end of chapter seventeen. As
a
Chapter seventeen 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.
Recording by Chauven mac Kelpan, Chapter seventeen, The Crystal. Have
(00:21):
you an appointment, madam asked the elderly woman who opened
the door of Madame Vino's flat for juliet She was
a person of almost oppressively respectable appearance, with gray hair
parted in the middle, gold rimmed prince neze resting on
a thin nose, and a neat body clad in black silk.
If Madame Vino needed a chaperone, her door opener was ideal.
(00:46):
Juliette had run upstairs so fast that she was breathing hard.
Passing the office of the Inner Circle had disgusted her.
She felt contaminated, almost ill, But the sight of this
woman was like a dash of cool on a hot forehead.
I have no appointment, she answered, but I came because
of a message. I'm the Duchess of Claernemay please to
(01:11):
walk in, Madam, said the woman, without any evidence of
being impressed. I will give you a private room to
wait in. They stood in a hall, white paneled carpeted
with red. The spruce black silk figure threw open a door,
and Juliet entered a tiny room, hardly more than a closet.
(01:32):
The only furnishing consisted of a luxurious easy chair, a
table on which there were magazines in a box of cigarettes,
and on the wall a mirror. This mirror was opposite
the chair, and behind the chair was a second door.
Any One opening that door would see a reflected image
of the sitter in the chair. As Juliet sank into
(01:54):
the chintz covered depths, the murmur of voices reached her.
She thought, in fact, that she had heard sounds from
two rooms, one on each side of the tiny cubicle
in which she had been put to wait. This little
hole is for special visitors, she told herself. Probably that
woman was ordered to bring me here if I came,
(02:16):
Madame Vino's room must be on the right side of this,
and it's her voice I hear on the side, talking
to a client on the left. I suppose it's the
ordinary waiting room, full of people jabbering to each other
about Madame Veno and the wonderful things they've heard about
her from their friends or else. It's the room where
they keep up the practice of manicuring clins and nails.
(02:39):
But I'm sure she means to sneak me in ahead
of them. Julia was right. In less than ten minutes,
there was a click of a latch, and the door
opposite the mirror opened. In the long glass, her eyes
met the smiling ones of a pale, dark woman with
a clever, somewhat common face. There was nothing mystic about
(02:59):
her appearance, but on the other hand, there was nothing meretricious,
no attempt at eastern allurements. Juliette had already guessed from
the ordinary furnishing of the flat that Madame Veno's machier
was clean, straightforward frankness, as opposed to the cult of
dim rooms, purple curtains and incense. Now this impression was confirmed.
(03:23):
The one false note was a heavy perfume, such as
some women adore and are unable to resist. I'm glad
to see you, duchess, said the woman. I hoped you
would call, and I am going to slip you in
before the others who are waiting their turn. They won't know,
so no harm's done. Will you come into my room?
(03:44):
She spoke, cheerfully, briskly, rather more like an englishwoman than
an American, and Juliet wondered if she were an English jewess.
The door led into an alcove of a fair sized room,
decorated in green. It was, as little is possible, like
the mysterious sanctum of an ordinary fortune teller or crystal gazer.
(04:07):
Juliet had seen two or three of these in several countries.
They had always been Egyptian, or at least reminiscent of
Leon baxt This might have been any woman's boudoir, but
when Madame Veno had drawn the thin green curtains, the
place seemed to fill with an emerald dusk, like the
dusk of dreams or the green dimness under sea. I
(04:31):
suppose you think I'm not very psychic, the mistress of
the room remarked, placing a chair for her visitor on
a table covered with a square of green velvet. People
do think that, then, when they've consulted me their surprised.
Sometimes they get better results than from those who go
in for what I call scenery. You know what I mean, yes,
(04:55):
said Juliet. I suppose I do know. All I want
to put in the right frame of mind is green,
explained Madame Vino, this kind of green twilight. She switched
away the velvet covering from the table. Underneath was a
cushion and a crystal which reflected the prevailing color. Then
(05:16):
she sat down opposite the Duchess. The Countess told you
what happened when I was looking into the crystal for her,
she asked, Madame. The Saint Hille said that you saw
something which concerned me. But how do you know it
concerned me? Your face came into the crystal. I've seen
your photograph and recognized you. Besides, I felt I felt
(05:39):
you were in great trouble. What else did you see
in the crystal? Let me look again now you are here,
and see if the same thing comes. As she spoke,
Madame Veno bent forward and gazed closely into the transparent
ball on a black base. Some moments passed and dead silence.
(06:01):
Juliette watched the woman's features, which became fixed and mask like. Suddenly,
Madame Veno started slightly and began to speak. I see
a handsome young man, very charming. It is your husband, Duchess.
(06:21):
He is lying ill in a poor room. Seems to
be a kind of a cellar. He tosses about. He
is delirious. He calls for you. I know that because
at the same time I see the picture, I hear
his voice. The name is Juliet. I think he has
(06:43):
had an accident, but I can't see what it was.
I only know that he has hurt his head. I
feel the pain myself, and I feel what he is
thinking about you and something else. Ah, a rope of
pearl pearls Now, I get a whisper. It comes to
me from his thoughts. He went in search of something
(07:07):
that was lost, a thing of great value. Yes, the pearls.
Did he get them? Julia asked mechanically. She had little
if any faith in the woman, but a faint thrill
ran through her. She could not help being slightly impressed
by the cirrus's change of manner and the hypnotized look
(07:28):
in her eyes. He got them, and then they were
taken away. But they are in the house where he is.
It is not a good house. It is a house
of thieves. Ah. I must find out where it is,
or I can do you no good or else. If
I cannot find the house. I must will the man
(07:49):
who has got the pearls to communicate with me. I
see him plainly. Why shouldn't he communicate with me, asked Julia.
Will power doesn't act like that, explained Madam Veno. I
could create a chord between another intelligence and my own,
not between two outside intelligences. Ah, the picture has faded
(08:14):
from the crystal, but it will come again. And for
the moment we've seen enough. I have the man's face
clearly before my eyes. I will concentrate upon him as
I have never concentrated before. I feel sure of the
power to draw him to me. How, Juliette inquired, I
(08:36):
can't tell. Yet. He may be impelled to consult me
about his future, to have his luck foretold. That's the
light I will work on in exerting influence. I shall
remember his face from the crystal. I can't make a
mistake once I get him here, I shan't hesitate to
use hypnotism. If that succeeds, I'll phone you to come
(08:57):
round at once with detective, said Juliet. Madame Veno's face changed,
flushing slightly over its sullenness. Oh no, duchess, she exclaimed, emphatically.
That wouldn't do at all. Women in my profession can't
encourage detectives to come spying into their methods. So far,
I've never had any trouble, but I've had to be
(09:20):
very careful. Detectives are the enemy. I shall be very sorry,
indeed to be disobliging, but I'm afraid I must let
this business drop unless you give me your word not
to bring a detective into it. Indeed, I think I
must ask you not to bring any third party if
you promise this. I don't think I'm conceited in saying
(09:40):
I can positively make you an important promise. In return,
by my wheel power, I will do for you what
no detective on this earth could do. I'll draw into
your circle the man who has got your husband lying
helpless in this house, and who has got your pearls.
Do you believe I am able to do this or
(10:01):
do you not? I can't say I quite believe. Juliet confessed.
She might have been more definite yet not had gone
beyond the truth. She might have said. What I think
is that you're a trickster. There's anything in this at
all beyond mere nonsense. You know where my husband is,
(10:23):
and you're playing a deep game for money, but something
more in the girl not to say this. She was
afraid to say it, afraid to make the seerus afraid.
If Pat had been kidnapped and this woman were a
cat's paw of those who wanted a ransom, Juliette was
willing to pay if only Pat were true, if only
(10:47):
he hadn't left her of his own free will. For
the love of Lida, she would give every penny she
had in the world to get him back, and not
grudge it. She reflected hastily that if Madame Vino took
her for a fool, it would be better to let
it go at that, rather than risk losing a chance,
(11:07):
possibly the only chance of saving Pat. As for telling
Jack and Sanders secretly, this course must be decided later.
There was surely no more harm in deceiving such a
woman than in tricking a dangerous animal. So far as
moral principles were concerned. The one question was could Madame
(11:30):
Vino safely be deceived or would she find a way
of forcing a promise to be kept. That question was
answered at once. I don't blame you, said Madame, with
a good natured smile. These great forces of nature are
beyond belief to those who haven't tested them. But I
(11:51):
know by experience what I can do. I know also
what I can't do. I can do nothing of the
people whose interests I serve work against me, consciously or unconsciously.
Now I read your mind as I read the crystal.
I see your thinking whether or not to make a
mental reservation about that promise. Well, I don't want to
(12:14):
control you, dutchess, though I could do so. But if
you bring anyone into this, the whole effort will be
in vain. I might get the man we want here,
I might hypnotize him to the point of speaking out.
I might phone you. And yet if you weren't alone,
(12:35):
or if someone were spying outside, my power over him
would break like that. She snapped her fingers together, her
black eyes holding Juliet's. Now, she went on when she
got in her effect, I'm going to give you a
proof of good faith. My fee for a consultation, just
an ordinary one, not a special like this, is twenty
(12:58):
five dollars. No, don't take out your purse, Duchess. I
won't accept the scent unless I bring off the stunt.
The rest is up to you, very well, said Juliet
on a sudden resolution. Let it be so. I promise
what you ask, and I'll keep my promise. If you
(13:19):
send for me, I'll come alone and I'll tell nobody.
But I'm not a child. I must protect myself in
some way. When I start for your place next time,
I shall leave a letter for my cousin Captain Manners,
to be delivered by hand. If I'm not back in
two hours after leaving home and the letter, I shall
tell him everything, but it won't be sent if all
(13:42):
goes right. So if you play fair, you've nothing to
dread unless the letter should be sent to your cousin
by mistake. My maid is a very intelligent woman, said Juliet.
She doesn't make mistakes. Oh, you'll leave the letter with
your maid to Madame Veno. Yes, do you agree to
(14:03):
the arrangement? I do, returned Madame Juliet rose to go.
She was feeling intensely excited, if not really hopeful. Even
if there were a plot, it seemed as if it
might be the best way of setting to work, and
she saw herself beating Sanders as a detective. So far
(14:25):
he had made only trifling discoveries fingerprints on the safe,
which told nothing. Since they were Pat and Leda Pavoias,
there were no clues which might solve the mystery of
Pat's disappearance or lead defining the lost pearls. As for Jack,
he was light as man. Now he believed the story
(14:45):
which explained the fingerprints. She Juliet, might soon show these
two men that alone she had accomplished more than either
in solving the double mystery end of chapter seventeen. As
a
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