May 27, 2025 • 19 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 (00:01):
Chapter twenty of The Great Pearl Secret. This is a
LibriVox recording. All Librivoux recordings.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Are in the public domain.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
For more information or to volunteer, please visit lebrivox dot org.
Recording by Marie Fatima de Silva. The Great Pearl Secret
by Charles Norris Williamson, Chapter twenty The Third Degree, to
(00:31):
begin with, where's the Duchess at a rehearsal, Monsieur of
an entertainment? Madame van Eston has got up Mademoiselle Pavoye
will we don't want to hear about her. The Duchess
isn't other rehearsal, then I do not know where she is.
It is her affair, not mine. Simon looked the picture
(00:55):
of injured innocence. Perhaps you don't know what greet Sanders, but.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
You see you've made so many of.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Her affairs your affairs. It's hard to tell where you
draw the line. The French maid turned pale in rather
repulsive way. She had, beginning at the lips, which she
bit to keep their color from her looks. She might
have been furious or frightened. I do not understand you, monsieur.
(01:22):
She almost spat. That doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Much.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
What does matter is we understand you under her black
dotted veil. Simons olive, sullenness, grinned. Monsieur accuses me of
something Sanders grinned with yetmos cruelty. Well, what do you
think I think a person has perhaps told lies about me?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Monsieur. Ah.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
The detective leapt in his chair, as if he had
caught her, as if she had given him a chance
for which he'd waited. Ah, what's the name of that person?
The French woman began to feel sick. Her fears, though acute,
had been vague, suddenly they became definite. She floundered so
(02:11):
much depended on saying the right thing that she was
terribly afraid.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Of saying the wrong one.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
She glanced at Captain Manners again, but he had taken
up a paper. To her horror, it was the Inner Circle,
which Saunders had bought and brought in to discuss. Her
knees turned water. She could not help giving a faint gasp.
Her eyes were fixed on the whisperer's page, which was
(02:40):
held up as if purposely. Both men saw the stare,
and into the minds of both sprang the same thought.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Jack had had it before. He had even.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Hinted it to Juliet, who loved it to scorn and
remarked that she knew Simon better than he could possibly
know her.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Sunders had had the thought and mentioned it.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
To Manners, but there was no proof, and the frenchwoman's
shadower had never seen her go to the office of
the Inner Circle. As for letters, Sunders had put togo
on to watching for them. Simone had sent out none
at all from the house. Yet now that one bleak
(03:26):
glare at the open paper, and both men were as
sure as if the woman had confessed. You think your
editor has been talking, eh, the detective said, that's as
maybe anyhow we know. The telephone bell rang. Jack took
up the receiver. Yes, mister Sanders is here, he replied,
(03:48):
to some question.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
He'll speak with you in a second. Hold the line.
Sunders bounded to the phone.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yes, yes, good, were the only words he said. But Jack,
he was speaking to his man at the cafe. Then
he turned again to Simon, come here and call your
friend de Fasquell, he sharply ordered. Tell him he must
turn up at his house at once, or that will
be a disaster for you both. Simone grasped the back
(04:18):
of a chair and clung to it. I cannot monsieur,
she goped, I know Monsieur de Fasquelle only by seeing
him here.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I don't waste.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Words, Sanders cut her short.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
It will be the worse for you if you do.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
You've just been with him now at Rudin's call him
up at his hotel if I will not, she stammered,
Do you want to go to prison while he is
left free to marry his girl in Marseille. That was
a chance shot, but it found its billet. He has
(04:56):
no girl in Marseille, Simon shrilled, Oh, yes he has.
I have his doss here from the Paris police. If
you get him here and make him tell the truth,
I promise you that marriage won't take place. I will
call him, said Simon, sickly pale, she flitted across the
(05:16):
room to the telephone. Sanders rubbed his hands and nodded
to Jack, But Jack was glancing at his wrist watch.
What am I to do, he asked the detective in
a low voice.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
The time's almost.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Here for me to keep my appointment with Mademoiselle Parvoye.
Go to it, said Sanders. I'm equal to Simon and
the Faskull. Now I've got proof enough to bluff on
my weaitterman phoned that the pair were talking about the
pearls and apparently black guarding each other. I'll strip them
(05:52):
of their secrets like a tree of ripe fruit. But
look here, I have a hunch that there's more in
this in a circle business that meets the eye. Simone's
been a cat spawn. There may be wheels within wheels
when you go to meet Mademoiselle Pavoya, take my tip
and accept old Nick's offer.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
What have him with me?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yes, wherever Pavoya send you, she may not send me anywhere.
I think she will send you somewhere. Meanwhile, I'll pump
Simon and the fast Well dry. When you get back,
I may have the pearls in pink cotton. Manners was torn.
He wished to hear what Simone said over the telephone.
(06:38):
He wished to stay and witness the scene through between her,
the fast Well, and Saunders. But most of all, he
wished not to be late for Ledda. Nothing was worth that.
Jack arrived at the theater just after Ledda had finished
rehearsing a dance which she herself had arranged for the
(06:58):
charity fat with Missus van Eston's spoiled little girl. Mademoiselle Pavoyer,
was in her dressing room, he was told, and was
expecting him. He went there quickly, afraid of being caught
by someone he knew on the way, and forced to
stop and talk nonsense, for the place was like a
(07:20):
rabbit warren, alive with pretty women and men who thought
they were society incarnate.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Lydda wore the swan costume.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
She had worn the first night of their meeting, or
one much like it, and the thought of that wonderful
night thrilled him. How had he lived before that time?
Yet he had gone out of her presence to doubt
her truth, her honor. Never could he forgive himself for that.
(07:49):
Never could he worship her quite enough to make up
for those hours of disloyalty. She held out her hands
to him, and he crushed first one then the other
against his lips. My Swan godess, he exclaimed, You're too
marvelous like this. I can hardly believe your flesh and
blood that I'm not dreaming you.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I love you so much.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
She drew her hands away and pushed him back when
he would have taken her in his arms, wings and all.
Perhaps you are dreaming me, she smiled, dreaming the woman
you think I am, and you're not to do that.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
My hand's only yet.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
You said you cared, You said you'd never felt for
any man as you felt when our eyes first met.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Ah.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I said that, when you'd confessed doubting me and begged forgiveness,
and vowed that nothing on earth, or in heaven or
the other place could ever make you doubt again, I
owed you some confession in return. Then it was true.
Yes it was true, and he's still. But of course
(09:00):
I do not change.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yet. We are to be friends, and nothing more.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Until all is made clear, until even your cousin believes
in me and doesn't think you'd be better dead than
loving Leader, Parvoya. If that day could ever come, it
will come soon, Oh Leada. Remember that first night at
your house. You let me hold you in my arms then,
(09:24):
But that was as a friend. You understood.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I know. I was so sterred, so hard pressed.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
I wanted protection from someone sincere, and you were the
sincerest man I ever saw. Yes, I did understand, I
do now, and I won't bother you. Leader, though, It's
hard work, this friendship business to a man who worships
a beautiful woman as I worship you.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
But it's a bargain friendship till the day.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
May it be tomorrow, amen, she echoed, with one of
her fleeting smiles. That came so seldom. Now, let us
talk not of ourselves, but of your cousin. We ought
to have begun with her. No, yes, because there may
be danger. I'll tell you quickly.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
All I know.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
You have met a friend, an acquaintance of mine, the
Comtesse de Saintville. Oh yes, wife of a diplomat of sorts,
isn't she. I've heard you were intimate. That isn't true.
But she has Polish blood, and for that or some
other reason, she likes to come to my house. I
(10:37):
have been able to do her a good turn now
and then. I wouldn't tell this to anyone except you,
mon Amie. But she's a great bridge player and loses
more money than she ought. Lately she got into a
bad what you call scrape. She asked me to lend
her a thousand dollars. You see, she dared not let
(10:57):
her husband know, but I could. And it was when
I was putting aside every soup for markof I could
do nothing except promise to help later. I do not
love Sonia the Saintville, yet I'm sorry for her. I
was afraid that, in desperation, she would do some stupid thing.
(11:18):
The other day I had a windfall. A friend in
Paris who had borrowed fifty thousand francs sent it back
to me. I'd never expected to see the money again,
so I phoned Sonia that now I could let her
have the thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
She answered that the thousand.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Would no longer be of use, but two thousand would
save her. From the way she spoke, I understood the
things were very grave. I said she should have the
two thousand. She came to my house and I gave
it to her in notes. I hadn't seen her for days,
and she was looking ill changed. I spoke to the
(12:00):
poor thing, and she broke down. It is the confession
she made which will interest you, my friend. You would
never guess she had got into the power of that
inner circle band. They were blackmailing her, yes, in a
queer way. Did you ever suspect that mister Lowndes Billy Lounce,
(12:21):
I hear him called was for something in that paper.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Good lord, No, Billy Lowndes, not that I ever liked him,
but I didn't.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Think he was as big a rata as that he
was in love with my cousin Juliet hard Hit before
she married.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
And by a.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Sort of coincidence, Lounce's sister, Emmy Lady West you may
have met her or working in Paris or London, made
rather than ass of herself over Claire Marner.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Perhaps that partly explains some things, if we can patch
them together. Listen. It was at missus.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Billy Loundes Sonya said that she lost most of her money.
There's a set there that plays very high. They make
the Lowness Flat a sort of private club. Sonya was
dunned and frightened over her husband. Billy Launce offered to
lend her the whole lot. She thought, how good natured,
(13:24):
but soon she learned it was not goodness.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
He wanted something.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
The condition was that she should get the Duchess of
Clemarna to go and consult a palmist, crystal gazer person
and Madame Vino.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Did you ever hear of her? No? Yes, by Jove,
her name's on.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
The building of the Inner Circle the plot thickens. But
how oh Saunders and I have caught my cousin, Juliet's maid.
We're sure it's she who gave away things to the whisperer.
Sanders is putting her through the third degree. Now, I
couldn't stop to hear it out. I was due here. Besides,
(14:08):
it looks as if the woman Simone was mixed up
in the disappearance of the pearls with the chap who
brought them from France, the Fasquell. Perhaps this Veno person
is in the affair too, and the whole business may
be one with the ramifications.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
That is what I've wondered since Sonia confessed today what
they made her do.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
She was to go to the Duchess and tell her
that Madame Vino had seen Claire Manner in the Crystal,
that she could help her find him. Sonia suspected something queer.
She was sure at once that Lundes was on that
horrid paper, perhaps editor of that vile whisperer, and she'd
(14:56):
heard the story about his being in love with your
cousin when she was misfair. So she told him she
couldn't do this commission. Then Launce lost all his good nature.
He threatened that the whisperer of the Inner Circle might
get some new material from him to whisper about the
(15:17):
dead be paragraphs hinting of her debts and the ruin
of her husband's career. That would have been the end
of all things for Sonia, so she consented. After all,
she called on the Duchess and told her that Madame
Vino wanted to see her. When was that three days ago?
(15:37):
Juliette never breathed a word to Sanders on me. She
left us in the dark. She would most women would.
I should have let you know before, but Sonia told
me only today. I wrote at once and asked you
to come. Thank you, my white swan. Many women in
your place would have sat still and let Porsche Juliet
(16:00):
go to the devil for treating you in the cattish
way she has.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I've no grudge against her.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
I should have done so in her place if if
the man had been new instead of Clemmara, Darling. You
expect to keep me at arms length after that? Yes, yes, listen.
The Duchess went to Madame Vino.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
How do you know?
Speaker 1 (16:26):
The Vino woman herself was to inform Sonia if she
didn't turn up.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
In that case, Sonia was to urge the duchess.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
She Sonia I mean, was forced to go to Vino's
place as if to have her hand read, because they
wouldn't risk anything in writing. Luckily, she had to make
only one visit because the very first time she was
told the Duchess had been there. She was to come
again on the third day. That was all arranged, though
(16:57):
Sonia imagined that the Duchess didn't know this. She was
to think the arrangement was made later. But the third
day is today, Sonia thought. The first call the Duchess
made was late in the afternoon, and something was dropped
about the same hour next time.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I believe she must be at Veno's at this moment.
And if those Inner.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Circle people are in the thing and it's a plot
of some sort, I'll go there.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Now.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
What to the Inner Circle office? Not first anyhow, maybe
later that depends. But now to Madame Veno's. Oh, I'm worried.
Lida put out her hands and laid them on his
khaki clad arms. They say these Inner Circle people may
be a nest of crooks. I don't doubt they are
(17:51):
right for once, but I'm not going alone. I thought
your detective was busy with the maid and the pearl carrier.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
He is. But you know old Nick, you must. You
couldn't have known Pat without Old Nick. Good old Nick.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Of course I know him since Paris, when Clairemina was
ill at my house. Well, Nick's going over the top
with me as a volunteer. I don't know whether I
shall find anything for him to do, but if so,
he'll be ready. Yes, yes, he'd do anything for clare
Manor and even for Claireminer's wife. Good Bye, my darling.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Wish me luck.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
I do, I do, I kiss to speed the wish.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
No, only my hand.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Wait how long in God's name till the Duke's found
and the pearls.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
End of chapter twenty
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Z
Chapter twenty of The Great Pearl Secret. This is a
LibriVox recording. All Librivoux recordings.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Are in the public domain.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
For more information or to volunteer, please visit lebrivox dot org.
Recording by Marie Fatima de Silva. The Great Pearl Secret
by Charles Norris Williamson, Chapter twenty The Third Degree, to
(00:31):
begin with, where's the Duchess at a rehearsal, Monsieur of
an entertainment? Madame van Eston has got up Mademoiselle Pavoye
will we don't want to hear about her. The Duchess
isn't other rehearsal, then I do not know where she is.
It is her affair, not mine. Simon looked the picture
(00:55):
of injured innocence. Perhaps you don't know what greet Sanders, but.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
You see you've made so many of.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Her affairs your affairs. It's hard to tell where you
draw the line. The French maid turned pale in rather
repulsive way. She had, beginning at the lips, which she
bit to keep their color from her looks. She might
have been furious or frightened. I do not understand you, monsieur.
(01:22):
She almost spat. That doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Much.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
What does matter is we understand you under her black
dotted veil. Simons olive, sullenness, grinned. Monsieur accuses me of
something Sanders grinned with yetmos cruelty. Well, what do you
think I think a person has perhaps told lies about me?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Monsieur. Ah.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
The detective leapt in his chair, as if he had
caught her, as if she had given him a chance
for which he'd waited. Ah, what's the name of that person?
The French woman began to feel sick. Her fears, though acute,
had been vague, suddenly they became definite. She floundered so
(02:11):
much depended on saying the right thing that she was
terribly afraid.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Of saying the wrong one.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
She glanced at Captain Manners again, but he had taken
up a paper. To her horror, it was the Inner Circle,
which Saunders had bought and brought in to discuss. Her
knees turned water. She could not help giving a faint gasp.
Her eyes were fixed on the whisperer's page, which was
(02:40):
held up as if purposely. Both men saw the stare,
and into the minds of both sprang the same thought.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Jack had had it before. He had even.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Hinted it to Juliet, who loved it to scorn and
remarked that she knew Simon better than he could possibly
know her.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Sunders had had the thought and mentioned it.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
To Manners, but there was no proof, and the frenchwoman's
shadower had never seen her go to the office of
the Inner Circle. As for letters, Sunders had put togo
on to watching for them. Simone had sent out none
at all from the house. Yet now that one bleak
(03:26):
glare at the open paper, and both men were as
sure as if the woman had confessed. You think your
editor has been talking, eh, the detective said, that's as
maybe anyhow we know. The telephone bell rang. Jack took
up the receiver. Yes, mister Sanders is here, he replied,
(03:48):
to some question.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
He'll speak with you in a second. Hold the line.
Sunders bounded to the phone.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yes, yes, good, were the only words he said. But Jack,
he was speaking to his man at the cafe. Then
he turned again to Simon, come here and call your
friend de Fasquell, he sharply ordered. Tell him he must
turn up at his house at once, or that will
be a disaster for you both. Simone grasped the back
(04:18):
of a chair and clung to it. I cannot monsieur,
she goped, I know Monsieur de Fasquelle only by seeing
him here.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I don't waste.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Words, Sanders cut her short.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
It will be the worse for you if you do.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
You've just been with him now at Rudin's call him
up at his hotel if I will not, she stammered,
Do you want to go to prison while he is
left free to marry his girl in Marseille. That was
a chance shot, but it found its billet. He has
(04:56):
no girl in Marseille, Simon shrilled, Oh, yes he has.
I have his doss here from the Paris police. If
you get him here and make him tell the truth,
I promise you that marriage won't take place. I will
call him, said Simon, sickly pale, she flitted across the
(05:16):
room to the telephone. Sanders rubbed his hands and nodded
to Jack, But Jack was glancing at his wrist watch.
What am I to do, he asked the detective in
a low voice.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
The time's almost.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Here for me to keep my appointment with Mademoiselle Parvoye.
Go to it, said Sanders. I'm equal to Simon and
the Faskull. Now I've got proof enough to bluff on
my weaitterman phoned that the pair were talking about the
pearls and apparently black guarding each other. I'll strip them
(05:52):
of their secrets like a tree of ripe fruit. But
look here, I have a hunch that there's more in
this in a circle business that meets the eye. Simone's
been a cat spawn. There may be wheels within wheels
when you go to meet Mademoiselle Pavoya, take my tip
and accept old Nick's offer.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
What have him with me?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yes, wherever Pavoya send you, she may not send me anywhere.
I think she will send you somewhere. Meanwhile, I'll pump
Simon and the fast Well dry. When you get back,
I may have the pearls in pink cotton. Manners was torn.
He wished to hear what Simone said over the telephone.
(06:38):
He wished to stay and witness the scene through between her,
the fast Well, and Saunders. But most of all, he
wished not to be late for Ledda. Nothing was worth that.
Jack arrived at the theater just after Ledda had finished
rehearsing a dance which she herself had arranged for the
(06:58):
charity fat with Missus van Eston's spoiled little girl. Mademoiselle Pavoyer,
was in her dressing room, he was told, and was
expecting him. He went there quickly, afraid of being caught
by someone he knew on the way, and forced to
stop and talk nonsense, for the place was like a
(07:20):
rabbit warren, alive with pretty women and men who thought
they were society incarnate.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Lydda wore the swan costume.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
She had worn the first night of their meeting, or
one much like it, and the thought of that wonderful
night thrilled him. How had he lived before that time?
Yet he had gone out of her presence to doubt
her truth, her honor. Never could he forgive himself for that.
(07:49):
Never could he worship her quite enough to make up
for those hours of disloyalty. She held out her hands
to him, and he crushed first one then the other
against his lips. My Swan godess, he exclaimed, You're too
marvelous like this. I can hardly believe your flesh and
blood that I'm not dreaming you.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I love you so much.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
She drew her hands away and pushed him back when
he would have taken her in his arms, wings and all.
Perhaps you are dreaming me, she smiled, dreaming the woman
you think I am, and you're not to do that.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
My hand's only yet.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
You said you cared, You said you'd never felt for
any man as you felt when our eyes first met.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Ah.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I said that, when you'd confessed doubting me and begged forgiveness,
and vowed that nothing on earth, or in heaven or
the other place could ever make you doubt again, I
owed you some confession in return. Then it was true.
Yes it was true, and he's still. But of course
(09:00):
I do not change.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yet. We are to be friends, and nothing more.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Until all is made clear, until even your cousin believes
in me and doesn't think you'd be better dead than
loving Leader, Parvoya. If that day could ever come, it
will come soon, Oh Leada. Remember that first night at
your house. You let me hold you in my arms then,
(09:24):
But that was as a friend. You understood.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I know. I was so sterred, so hard pressed.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
I wanted protection from someone sincere, and you were the
sincerest man I ever saw. Yes, I did understand, I
do now, and I won't bother you. Leader, though, It's
hard work, this friendship business to a man who worships
a beautiful woman as I worship you.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
But it's a bargain friendship till the day.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
May it be tomorrow, amen, she echoed, with one of
her fleeting smiles. That came so seldom. Now, let us
talk not of ourselves, but of your cousin. We ought
to have begun with her. No, yes, because there may
be danger. I'll tell you quickly.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
All I know.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
You have met a friend, an acquaintance of mine, the
Comtesse de Saintville. Oh yes, wife of a diplomat of sorts,
isn't she. I've heard you were intimate. That isn't true.
But she has Polish blood, and for that or some
other reason, she likes to come to my house. I
(10:37):
have been able to do her a good turn now
and then. I wouldn't tell this to anyone except you,
mon Amie. But she's a great bridge player and loses
more money than she ought. Lately she got into a
bad what you call scrape. She asked me to lend
her a thousand dollars. You see, she dared not let
(10:57):
her husband know, but I could. And it was when
I was putting aside every soup for markof I could
do nothing except promise to help later. I do not
love Sonia the Saintville, yet I'm sorry for her. I
was afraid that, in desperation, she would do some stupid thing.
(11:18):
The other day I had a windfall. A friend in
Paris who had borrowed fifty thousand francs sent it back
to me. I'd never expected to see the money again,
so I phoned Sonia that now I could let her
have the thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
She answered that the thousand.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Would no longer be of use, but two thousand would
save her. From the way she spoke, I understood the
things were very grave. I said she should have the
two thousand. She came to my house and I gave
it to her in notes. I hadn't seen her for days,
and she was looking ill changed. I spoke to the
(12:00):
poor thing, and she broke down. It is the confession
she made which will interest you, my friend. You would
never guess she had got into the power of that
inner circle band. They were blackmailing her, yes, in a
queer way. Did you ever suspect that mister Lowndes Billy Lounce,
(12:21):
I hear him called was for something in that paper.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Good lord, No, Billy Lowndes, not that I ever liked him,
but I didn't.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Think he was as big a rata as that he
was in love with my cousin Juliet hard Hit before
she married.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
And by a.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Sort of coincidence, Lounce's sister, Emmy Lady West you may
have met her or working in Paris or London, made
rather than ass of herself over Claire Marner.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Perhaps that partly explains some things, if we can patch
them together. Listen. It was at missus.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Billy Loundes Sonya said that she lost most of her money.
There's a set there that plays very high. They make
the Lowness Flat a sort of private club. Sonya was
dunned and frightened over her husband. Billy Launce offered to
lend her the whole lot. She thought, how good natured,
(13:24):
but soon she learned it was not goodness.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
He wanted something.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
The condition was that she should get the Duchess of
Clemarna to go and consult a palmist, crystal gazer person
and Madame Vino.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Did you ever hear of her? No? Yes, by Jove,
her name's on.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
The building of the Inner Circle the plot thickens. But
how oh Saunders and I have caught my cousin, Juliet's maid.
We're sure it's she who gave away things to the whisperer.
Sanders is putting her through the third degree. Now, I
couldn't stop to hear it out. I was due here. Besides,
(14:08):
it looks as if the woman Simone was mixed up
in the disappearance of the pearls with the chap who
brought them from France, the Fasquell. Perhaps this Veno person
is in the affair too, and the whole business may
be one with the ramifications.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
That is what I've wondered since Sonia confessed today what
they made her do.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
She was to go to the Duchess and tell her
that Madame Vino had seen Claire Manner in the Crystal,
that she could help her find him. Sonia suspected something queer.
She was sure at once that Lundes was on that
horrid paper, perhaps editor of that vile whisperer, and she'd
(14:56):
heard the story about his being in love with your
cousin when she was misfair. So she told him she
couldn't do this commission. Then Launce lost all his good nature.
He threatened that the whisperer of the Inner Circle might
get some new material from him to whisper about the
(15:17):
dead be paragraphs hinting of her debts and the ruin
of her husband's career. That would have been the end
of all things for Sonia, so she consented. After all,
she called on the Duchess and told her that Madame
Vino wanted to see her. When was that three days ago?
(15:37):
Juliette never breathed a word to Sanders on me. She
left us in the dark. She would most women would.
I should have let you know before, but Sonia told
me only today. I wrote at once and asked you
to come. Thank you, my white swan. Many women in
your place would have sat still and let Porsche Juliet
(16:00):
go to the devil for treating you in the cattish
way she has.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I've no grudge against her.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
I should have done so in her place if if
the man had been new instead of Clemmara, Darling. You
expect to keep me at arms length after that? Yes, yes, listen.
The Duchess went to Madame Vino.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
How do you know?
Speaker 1 (16:26):
The Vino woman herself was to inform Sonia if she
didn't turn up.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
In that case, Sonia was to urge the duchess.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
She Sonia I mean, was forced to go to Vino's
place as if to have her hand read, because they
wouldn't risk anything in writing. Luckily, she had to make
only one visit because the very first time she was
told the Duchess had been there. She was to come
again on the third day. That was all arranged, though
(16:57):
Sonia imagined that the Duchess didn't know this. She was
to think the arrangement was made later. But the third
day is today, Sonia thought. The first call the Duchess
made was late in the afternoon, and something was dropped
about the same hour next time.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I believe she must be at Veno's at this moment.
And if those Inner.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Circle people are in the thing and it's a plot
of some sort, I'll go there.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Now.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
What to the Inner Circle office? Not first anyhow, maybe
later that depends. But now to Madame Veno's. Oh, I'm worried.
Lida put out her hands and laid them on his
khaki clad arms. They say these Inner Circle people may
be a nest of crooks. I don't doubt they are
(17:51):
right for once, but I'm not going alone. I thought
your detective was busy with the maid and the pearl carrier.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
He is. But you know old Nick, you must. You
couldn't have known Pat without Old Nick. Good old Nick.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Of course I know him since Paris, when Clairemina was
ill at my house. Well, Nick's going over the top
with me as a volunteer. I don't know whether I
shall find anything for him to do, but if so,
he'll be ready. Yes, yes, he'd do anything for clare
Manor and even for Claireminer's wife. Good Bye, my darling.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Wish me luck.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
I do, I do, I kiss to speed the wish.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
No, only my hand.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Wait how long in God's name till the Duke's found
and the pearls.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
End of chapter twenty
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Z
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