"Miss Rosy Pearl, of the--"
"That music-hall creature--impossible!" Madame Coralie clenched her hands, and her black eyes looked extremely angry. "Why, it was Rosy Pearl who was my other customer who slept in this house on the night of the crime!"
"Oh!" Audrey grew pale. In a flash she saw what Madame Coralie meant.
[CHAPTER XIII.]
A BLIND CLUE
After that significant hint, Madame Coralie refused to speak any more, alleging that she was extremely busy and could not afford the time. However, she told her niece to call and see her again, when she would be more explicit. Meanwhile, the girl was obliged to return to her lover with what meagre information she had gleaned, Passing through the perfumed shop, now crowded with fashionable women, she rejoined Ralph on the pavement. Together they strolled up Walpole Lane in the direction of Kensington Palace.
"I told my aunt, as you suggested, about my father's intention to marry Miss Pearl," said Audrey, abruptly. "And you are right. She is jealous. Strange, is it not, after all these years? Besides"--Audrey shrugged her shoulders in a contemptuous way--"fancy any woman remaining faithful to my father."
"Women have odd tastes," said Shawe, quietly, "and your father is so masterful a man that he is certain to be successful with the fair sex. Humph! She is jealous, is she? Well, and what did she say?"
"Very little. It was her manner of speaking more than what she said. When I told her, you should have seen her eyes flash above the yashmak."
"Oh, never mind her eyes flashing, Audrey," said Shawe, impatiently. "What were her words?"