"Well, Eddy Vail learnt the truth, as he found his wife dead. Also, in order to carry on the business and keep up her disguise, Lady Branwin had to tell Badoura who she really was."
"Then Vail and Badoura were accomplices after the fact?"
"Yes, they were. How learned you are, grannie," said Ralph, with a smile. "For that reason they bolted before the police could get hold of them. Inspector Lanton was very anxious to bring them forward as witnesses."
"It is just as well that he did not, else many more details would have been in the papers. As it is, the romance of those two sisters and the substituted child, and Dora strangling Flora, or Flora, Dora--I'm sure I don't know which--has startled everyone."
"That is why I am taking Audrey away, so that people may forget the affair, grannie. And it was Dora Lady Branwin who strangled Flora Madame Coralie. She did it, I believe, on the impulse of the moment when Flora threatened to tell the truth to Sir Joseph."
"Do you think that the man would have turned Audrey out of doors had he found she was not his daughter?"
"He turned her out of doors when he thought that she was," said Shawe, grimly. "And but for your help, dear Lady Sanby, Audrey would have been in a terrible position."
"I think you should rather thank Lady Branwin, who took the poor child in when Sir Joseph behaved so brutally."
"Yes. She loved Audrey, and it was for Audrey's sake that she strangled her wicked sister, even if she drowned Sir Joseph for her own sake. It is very strange," added Ralph, musingly, "that Audrey never suspected the false Madame Coralie was her mother."
"Oh, the very resemblance and the knowledge that Flora and Dora were twins put Audrey off the scent," explained Lady Sanby, easily. "I see no difficulty about the matter. Then the birthmark was misleading, and Lady Branwin changed her voice by some drink, from being soft into a harsh note. Finally, she nearly always wore that yashmak."