The Mystery of the Blue Train - Agatha Christie [38]
“While Mrs. Kettering was telling you this, where was the gentleman?”
“He was standing in the other compartment, sir, looking out of the window.”
“Can you describe him to us?”
“Well, you see, sir, I hardly saw him. He had his back to me most of the time. He was a tall gentleman and dark; that’s all I can say. He was dressed very like another gentleman in a dark blue overcoat and a grey hat.”
“Was he one of the passengers on the train?”
“I don’t think so, sir; I took it that he had come to the station to see Mrs. Kettering in passing through. Of course he might have been one of the passengers; I never thought of that.”
Mason seemed a little flurried by the suggestion.
“Ah!” M. Carrège passed lightly to another subject. “Your mistress later requested the conductor not to rouse her early in the morning. Was that a likely thing for her to do, do you think?”
“Oh yes, sir. The mistress never ate any breakfast and she didn’t sleep well at nights, so that she liked sleeping on in the morning.”
Again M. Carrège passed to another subject.
“Amongst the luggage there was a scarlet morocco case, was there not?” he asked. “Your mistress’s jewel case?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did you take that case to the Ritz?”
“Me take the mistress’s jewel case to the Ritz! Oh no, indeed, sir.” Mason’s tones were horrified.
“You left it behind you in the carriage?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Had your mistress many jewels with her, do you know?”
“A fair amount, sir; made me a bit uneasy sometimes, I can tell you, with those nasty tales you hear of being robbed in foreign countries. They were insured, I know, but all the same it seemed a frightful risk. Why, the rubies alone, the mistress told me, were worth several hundred thousand pounds.”
“The rubies! What rubies?” barked Van Aldin suddenly.
Mason turned to him. “I think it was you who gave them to her, sir, not very long ago.”
“My God!” cried Van Aldin. “You don’t say she had those rubies with her? I told her to leave them at the bank.”
Mason gave once more the discreet cough which was apparently part of her stock-in-trade as a lady’s maid. This time it expressed a good deal. It expressed far more clearly than words could have done, that Mason’s mistress had been a lady who took her own way.
“Ruth must have been mad,” muttered Van Aldin. “What on earth could have possessed her?”
M. Carrège in turn gave vent to a cough, again a cough of significance. It riveted Van Aldin’s attention on him.
“For the moment,” said M. Carrège, addressing Mason, “I think that is all. If you will go into the next room, Mademoiselle, they will read over to you the questions and answers, and you will sign accordingly.”
Mason went out escorted by the clerk, and Van Aldin said immediately to the Magistrate:
“Well?”
M. Carrège opened a drawer in his desk, took out a letter, and handed it across to Van Aldin.
“This was found in Madame’s handbag.”
Chere Amie, (the letter ran)—I will obey you; I will be prudent, discreet—all those things that a lover most hates. Paris would perhaps have been unwise, but the Isles d’Or are far away from the world, and you may be assured that nothing will leak out. It is like you and your divine sympathy to be so interested in the work on famous jewels that I am writing. It will, indeed, be an extraordinary privilege to actually see and handle these historic rubies. I am devoting a special passage to “Heart of Fire.” My wonderful one! Soon I will make up to you for all those sad years of separation and emptiness.
Your ever-adoring,
Armand.
Fifteen
THE COMTE DE LA ROCHE
Van Aldin read the letter through in silence. His face turned a dull angry crimson. The men watching him saw the veins start out on his forehead, and his big hands clench themselves unconsciously. He handed back the letter without a word. M. Carrège was looking with close attention at his desk, M. Caux’s eyes