The Mystery of M. Felix

by B. L. Farjeon

"'It will seem an eternity.'

"Feeling that it would be useless to prolong the interview, and anxious to go upon his errand, our reporter bade her good-night with a friendly pressure of the hand, commended her to the care of the kind Inspector, and left the station. He walked a little way into the Strand before he stopped to look at the card in the woman's purse; had he done so in Bow Street, a policeman might have seen him and reported the action, as he had just left the police station. By the light of a street lamp he read the address, 21 Forston Street, Kentish Town. There was no name on the card, but as there was no other writing in the purse he knew that this must be the address to which he was to go. He hailed a cab, and bade the man drive quickly.

"His compulsory examination of the purse had led to a knowledge of its contents--a small key and two pounds four shillings in gold and silver, in addition to the card. He thought himself justified in looking at the handkerchief which the woman had given him. It was of fine cambric, and in one corner were the initials E. B. According to the woman's statement, these were the initials of her name which she wished to keep from the eyes of the policeman, so that they might not lead to her identification. Then the name she gave to Inspector Jealous was false; she was not Mary Weston.

"This discovery would have damped the ardor of a less sympathetic and enthusiastic man than our reporter, and would have instilled in him a feeling of distrust. But our reporter is made of exceptional stuff, and the discrepancy did not weaken his faith in her. She had been frank with him; she had told him that she desired to keep her name from the knowledge of the police; the hesitation with which she had given the false name in the police station proved that she was not an adept in duplicity; and in addition, his brief association with her had inspired him with so much pity and confidence that it would have needed stronger evidence to shake him. The longer he thought of her, the firmer was his conviction that she was a lady of gentle culture, who had by some strange means been thrown into a cruel position, in which she had suffered some deep wrong. This in itself might not have been powerful enough to induce him to champion her cause, but what wooed and fixed him irresistibly was the strong impression that there existed between her and M. Felix a link which, found, would lead to the clearing up of the mystery.

"As the cab drew up at 21 Forston Street, Kentish Town, our reporter looked at his watch. It was two o'clock." Paying the cabman and dismissing him, our reporter paused a moment to consider his position and its surroundings.

"The street was very quiet; not a soul was visible. The houses in it struck the mean between rich and poor; some were two, some were three stories in height, and the rents (our reporter is a judge in such matters) would vary between forty and sixty pounds a year. This was sufficiently respectable, and he was pleased that his errand had not landed him in a poorer locality.

"But two o'clock in the morning. A strange hour to present himself for the first time, and under such suspicious circumstances, to a young lady waiting in anxious suspense for the return of her mother. It must be done, however, and the sooner done the better. He took out the latch key, opened the street door, closed it behind him, and stood in the dark passage. He did not wait now; he knew that he must go straight on with his task. Therefore he lit a match, and by the aid of its light made his way to the first floor landing. There were two doors, one a side door which he supposed led to the smaller room, the other a larger door facing him, through the crevices in which he saw the gleam of a lamp or candle. He knocked gently, and waited, holding in his hand the purse, the latch key, the handkerchief, and the letter which the woman had given him.

"Expedition now did not rest with him; it rested with the occupant of the chamber to which he desired admittance. But his gentle tapping, repeated again and again, met with no response. What should he do? To continue tapping, or to knock aloud, would arouse other inmates, and would subject him to an awkward examination. There was nothing for it but to try the handle. It turned in his hand, and the door was open.

"Still he paused upon the threshold, and said in his softest tones, 'Miss Constance! Miss Constance!' He received no reply, but heard a gentle breathing. Boldly he entered the room, and pushed the door behind him, but did not quite close it.

"There was a lamp alight on the table, and before it a book, the pages of which were divided and held apart by a miniature in a gold frame. Leaning back in a chair, one arm hanging listlessly down, the other resting on the table, the fingers just touching the miniature, was a young girl, the beauty of whose face was positively startling. Rather dark than fair, with features cut in the Greek mould, and long eyelashes veiling the sleeping eyes, with lips slightly parted, the picture was one upon which an artist would have loved to dwell. Her loosened hair, which was of a rich brown, hung upon her shoulders, but did not hide the exquisitely shaped ears; her hands were small and white, and the foot in a worked slipper which peeped beneath her dress was as beautifully formed. In silence our reporter gazed and admired.