“Very successful. I could not have guessed how pleasing it would be.”
”Congratulations.”
“Enough,” he said. “I have something to tell you which will be of great interest to you.”
“Regarding you and this lady?”
“Indeed it concerns her. …”
I thought: Oh no. He is just being cruel. He knows my feelings. I have betrayed them. He knows a great deal about women. He just wants to torment me. Charles first… now him.
“It also concerns you … deeply,” he went on. “Shall we be serious? This is a very serious matter.”
“About you and Madalenna de’ Pucci. I don’t…”
“It concerns you, too. Come, sit down, so that I can see you. I have been working hard on your behalf. It saddened me to see you as you were … and as you are now. So I determined to make you as you were before. So I went to work. First let us take the beautiful Italian. I told you I had met her before.”
“Yes, you did mention that. You took the picture of her.”
“It was also a picture of you, was it not? Now listen to me. I was greatly interested to see the lady because I knew her … but not as Madalenna de’ Pucci. That, I have proved now, was not her real name.”
“Who is she then?”
“She is, in a manner of speaking, a connection of yours. Her name is Adele St. Allengere.”
I stared at him in astonishment.
“You see it was too fortuitous. People are never careful enough. There are these little slip-ups and these result in the big scheme falling to the ground. You have seen something of life in Villers-Mure and in Carsonne. We are a fiery people. You know of the feud between my house and that of St. Allengere. Vendetta. It is a common word on the border because of our volatile neighbours. We love and hate … vehemently. There is much to tell you. I began to piece things together when you told me so much, and because I did not wish to see you unhappy living under a cloud of suspicion as you would have done perhaps all your life, I determined to unravel the mystery. Also, it intrigued me. I have put the confession in the hands of the French police who are now in touch with those in this country. Soon the mystery will be revealed but I wished to tell you first.”
“You are keeping me in suspense.”
“You deserve it for thinking I had left you to go in search of the beautiful Italian. You did believe that, did you not? And it was true. But not for the reason you had decided on. You were most displeased.”
“Please tell me what all this is about?”
“It is all about Vendetta and a wicked old man who is now considerably chastened. You were right. I had gone back to France to look for Adele St. Allengere. I was determined to have the whole story from her. It is not difficult for me. I have many people working for me. I told you we were feudal in our part of the world. My word is law and if I say, ‘Find Adele St. Allengere,’ she will be found.”
“I still can’t understand what all this is about.”
“I am telling it badly. I will begin at the beginning. Two brothers went to France when their father was alive. They were Charles the elder, and Philip, who was to become your husband. Charles was the lover of pleasure. Philip was seriously interested in the business of producing silk. They visited Villers-Mure where they were accepted as distant connections of the family … the Huguenot branch. The old man—stern bigot that he was—was not pleased about this, and the displeasure of the Catholic St. Allengeres towards the Huguenots has lasted for three hundred years. But they were members of the family; moreover he wanted to know how the silk industry was progressing in England. So they were accepted into the house. He saw that Philip was the one who cared about the business. Charles he had dismissed as no good.
“Now, he had had a group of men working for some time on a special kind of silk which was to be different from any other kind which had ever been produced. It was very secret. The old man’s granddaughter Heloi’se was being courted by one of the men who was working on this project so that she was aware of what was going on and he gave her access to the particular section where the research work was in progress. This would have been forbidden had it been known. Charles Sallonger was a very plausible young man, handsome too, apparently; he was different from anyone Heloise had ever known before. She fell in love with him. She must have talked to him about the secret work which was being done and he prevailed on her to show him the formula. This, poor lovesick girl, she did. Then … the brothers departed. Heloise realized that she had—as they say—given herself to a philanderer. More than that she had betrayed her family’s secret to him. When it was learned that the English had put this special silk on the market and claimed credit for having discovered the method of producing it, the St. Allengere household was in turmoil. Unable to bear the shame of having betrayed her family to a false lover, Heloise drowned herself in the river which wound its way through the grounds of the house. She left a note, however, in which she explained what she had done, but she omitted to mention her lover’s name. As Charles had appeared to be indifferent to business, it was naturally concluded that Philip was the thief and the false lover. You now know something of what the old man is like. He demanded vengeance and set out to get it.”
“So Philip was to have been murdered. …”
”Yes. The first attempt went wrong—in the case of the Italian Lorenzo. The overturned carriage was a way of getting into the house and when she was there Adele with her servant stole the gun from the gun room. They took it with them when they left. Then one of Alphonse’s hired killers was commanded to lure Philip into the forest and shoot him. This is what he did making it appear suicide.”
“It is all becoming horribly clear.”
“Then, recently, the fact that Charles was the culprit was revealed.”
“I know,” I cried, “I told Rene in the graveyard.”
“So it was decided that Charles should pay the full penalty. Adele was despatched to England once more. She had ill luck from her point of view because the fire she started did not have the desired effect on account of the valet’s returning early. Adele had to try again.”
“So she poisoned the wine. How can you be sure of this?”
“I had it from Adele’s own lips.”
“Why did she tell you?”
“When I saw the picture I recognized her immediately. I guessed she was up to some mischief here. I was intrigued by the story of the unfortunate Lorenzo and the fact that shortly after Adele’s visit, your husband died. Then, of course, Charles’s life was in danger twice after her visits. I know the way the St. Allengeres work. I knew she was up to no good.”
“Then you have no proof.”
“But I have. I have Adele’s written confession.”
“Do you mean she gave it to you?”
“I am very determined when I decide on a certain action. I was sure that the St. Allengeres had had a hand in this. It is just the way the old man would work. I will not be over modest. We de la Tours have ruled our neighbourhood for years. In the old days we were all powerful. Times have changed but customs cling. I wanted Adele brought to me and my wishes were obeyed.”
”You mean you held her prisoner?”
“I did. I demanded the truth. I let her think that I knew a great deal more than I did. And while I had her there in my castle I went to see the old man.” His eyes glistened. “It was a great occasion for me. Face to face with the old villain himself. We were two titans … though you will doubtless think me immodest for saying it. I come from a long line of ruling Comtes and he was the head of the St. Allengeres who hold the none-less-kinglike sway in their little terrain. Villers-Mure is like a little state within the bigger state of Carsonne; but it is independent of Carsonne … like Burgundy and France of old. That is one of the reasons why he hates my family. We have always been determined that he shall not encroach further.”