The Albert Gate Mystery | Page 5

which Brett found himself gave ready indications of
the character of its tenants. Tod's "Rajasthan" jostled a volume of the
Badminton Library on the bookshelves, a copy of the Allahabad
Pioneer lay beside the Field and the Times on the table, and many
varieties of horns made trophies with quaint weapons on the walls.
A complete edition of Ruskin, and some exquisite prints of Rossetti's
best known works, supplied a different set of emblems, whilst the room
generally showed signs of daily occupation.
"Anglo-Indian uncle, artistic niece," was the barrister's rapid comment,
but further analysis was prevented by the entrance of Miss Edith
Talbot.
The surprise of the pair was mutual.
Brett expected to see a young, pretty and clever girl, vain enough to
believe she had brains, and sufficiently well endowed with that rare
commodity to be able to twist the good-natured Earl of Fairholme
round her little finger.
Young, not more than twenty--unquestionably beautiful, with the
graceful contour and delicately-balanced features of a portrait by
Romney--Edith Talbot bore few of the marks that pass current as the
outward and visible signs of a modern woman of Society. That she
should be self-possessed and dressed in perfect taste were as obvious
adjuncts of her character as that each phase of her clear thought should
reflect itself in a singularly mobile face.

To such a woman pretence was impossible, the polite fictions of
fashionable life impossible. Brett readily understood why the Earl of
Fairholme had fallen in love with this fair creature. He had simply bent
in worship before a goddess of his own creed.
To the girl, Brett was equally a revelation.
Fairholme's introductory note described the barrister as "the smartest
criminal lawyer in London--one whose aid would be invaluable." She
expected to meet a sharp-featured, wizened, elderly man, with
gold-rimmed eye-glasses, a queer voice and a nasty habit of asking
unexpected questions.
In place of this commonplace personality, she encountered a handsome,
well-groomed gentleman--one who won confidence by his intellectual
face, and retained it by invisibly establishing a social equality.
Fortunately, there is yet in Britain an aristocracy wherein good birth is
synonymous with good breeding--a freemasonry whose passwords
cannot be simulated, nor its membership bought.
Brett read the wonder in the girl's eyes, and hastened to explain.
"The Earl of Fairholme," said Brett, "thought I might be of some
service in the matter of your brother's strange disappearance, Miss
Talbot. I am not a professional detective, but my friends are good
enough to believe that I am very successful in unravelling mysteries
that are beyond the ken of Scotland Yard. I have heard something of
the facts in this present affair. Will you trust me so far as to tell me all
that is known to you personally?"
"My uncle, General Fitzjames, has just gone to Scotland Yard," she
began, timidly.
"Quite so. Perhaps you prefer to await his return?"
"Oh, no, I do not mean that. But it is so hard to know how best to act.
Uncle expects the police to accomplish impossibilities. He says that
they should long since have found out what has become of Jack.

Perhaps they may resent my interference."
"My interference, to be exact," said Reggie, with the pleasant smile that
had fascinated so many women. Even Edith Talbot was not wholly
proof against its magic.
"I, personally, have little faith in them," she confessed.
"I have none."
"Well, I will do as you advise."
"Then I recommend you to take me into your confidence. I know
Scotland Yard and its methods. We do not follow the same path."
"I believe in you and trust you," said the girl.
So ingenuous was the look from the large, deep eyes which
accompanied this declaration of confidence, that many men would have
pronounced Miss Talbot to be an experienced flirt. Brett knew better.
He simply bowed his acknowledgements.
"What is it that you want to know?" she continued. "We ourselves are
no better informed than the newspapers as to what has actually
happened, save that four men have been killed as the result of a
carefully-planned robbery. As for my brother----"
She paused and strove hard to force back her tears.
"Your brother has simply vanished, Miss Talbot. If the criminals did
not scruple to leave four dead men behind, they would not draw the line
at a fifth. The clear inference is that your brother is alive, but under
restraint."
"I can see that it is possible he was alive until some time after the
tragedy at Albert Gate. But--but--what connection can Jack have with
the theft of diamonds worth millions? These people used him as their
tool in some manner. Why should they spare him when success had
crowned their efforts?"

"We are conversing in riddles. Will you explain?"
"You know that my