"But why should she so very much want to conceal it?"
Miss Toat looked at him greatly amazed. "Have you not been listening to what I have been saying, Mr. Shawe? Why, if Madame's customers knew that she could not remove a birthmark from her face, it would be a case of 'Physician, heal thyself' with them. They would lose confidence, and--"
"Yes, yes!" Ralph assented impatiently, and waved his hand. "I understand now; very naturally they would doubt her capability, in spite of her reputation. But what has this birthmark to do with the murder?"
"Nothing," said Perry Toat, promptly; "yet I was glad enough to see it for all that, in connection with a case. But never mind," she broke off abruptly, "we can talk of that later. I tell you about the disfigurement because it is just as well that you should learn everything about a woman so closely connected with the death of Lady Branwin. Also, it will be a useful mark to know in case she tries to get rid of more diamonds."
"What!" Shawe jumped up with an exclamation. "Do you mean to say that she has pawned the diamonds? In that case she must be guilty."
"It would look like it; but I am only theorising, remember."
"Oh, hang your theories! I think--" He stopped short, conscious that he had been rude to the little woman. "I beg your pardon," he went on ceremoniously, "but my nerves are out of order. Don't be vexed with me. I apologise."
Miss Toat nodded in a friendly way. "I quite understand," she said smoothly. "People unaccustomed to be mixed up with criminal matters usually do let their nerves get out of order, although I can't say that they usually apologise. There you have the advantage of the greater part of my clients. But to come to business. It is now some six or seven weeks since the murder. I discovered, by various inquiries, which I made here, there, and everywhere, that two months ago Madame Coralie was in deep water--financially. Now she is more prosperous." Miss Toat paused. "You can draw your own inference."
"You mean to say that she committed the murder in order to steal the diamonds, and has sold or pawned them to realise the spoil?"
Miss Toat nodded again. "That is my theory." The barrister put his hands into his pockets and began to pace the room, as was his custom when perplexed. "I don't see what evidence you have to support your theory," he remarked, after a pause.