In the noise of the applause which greeted Osip and Zara, the terrified whisper of Mrs. Dumps passed unnoticed. The girl naturally searched for her mother, and she smiled, on catching¹ sight of her, next to the pretended Ferdy Baird. The eyes of Osip followed those of Zara, and alighted on the pallid² face of the country landlady³. At once he bowed abruptly⁴ to the audience, and walked hurriedly from the stage, leaving Butterfly, rather discourteously⁵, to follow at her leisure. Clarice, who had immediately grasped the significance of Mrs. Dumps' whisper, half rose, and tried to shake off the detaining grasp of the little woman.  
"He's trying to escape," said Clarice, excitedly, and, as the applause had now ceased, several people overheard and looked round, inquiringly.
 
"No!" murmured Mrs. Dumps, dragging the girl down, with unexpected strength, "hold your tongue, Mr. Ferdinand--for Zara's sake."
 
"Justice must be done," retorted Clarice, anxious to have the miscreant⁶ captured forthwith.
 
"For your own sake, then," muttered the woman, with white lips.
 
Clarice, truly surprised, dropped back into her seat. "What do you mean by that?" she demanded, indignantly.
 
"You know--you know," murmured the other, still holding on convulsively. "Zara said that she had power to make you marry her. If you make trouble over Osip, she may use that power in another way."
 
"What nonsense," returned Clarice, shrugging. All the same, she remained quiet, for the time being. From Mrs. Dumps' hurried speech, it was apparent that Zara really had some hold over Ferdy, and would not hesitate to use it to his harm, if anything came of his supposed interference with her shady doings. But Clarice wondered that Zara, bold and daring as she was, cared to connect herself with so dangerous a man as the assassin of so many people. Osip's association with her, and her accusation⁸ of the vicar, and her admitted presence near the house about the hour of the crime, looked as though she knew much more than she chose to tell. Also, her power over Ferdy might implicate⁹ him in some way in the infernal doings of the Purple Fern. Clarice, therefore, to save Ferdy from a possible accusation, resolved to take no measures to have Osip captured until such time as she knew more exactly how matters stood.
 
Shortly, Mrs. Dumps released her hold, and turned paler than ever. "Take me out; get me brandy--Three Star," whispered the little woman, who had undoubtedly¹⁰ received a great shock.
 
Clarice saw that she was on the verge¹¹ of fainting, so at once piloted her along the row of seats to the nearest bar, and procured¹² her a glass of liqueur brandy. The flighty barmaid--no doubt a friend of Ferdy's--saluted Clarice with an engaging smile and a slangy greeting, finally remarking that the old girl--meaning Mrs. Dumps--looked chippy. The insult to her years, as well as the strong liquor, brought back the colour to Mrs. Dumps' cheeks, and the stiffness to her back. Replacing the glass on the counter with a bang, she frowned on the saucy¹³ girl.
 
"You are a bold, painted hussy," snapped Mrs. Dumps, aggressively.
 
"The brandy's gone to your aunt's head, Ferdy," giggled¹⁴ the barmaid, in no wise disturbed; "take her home, dear boy, else she's bound to be run in, for looking so pretty."
 
"You brazen¹⁵ bag-a-rags," sniffed¹⁶ Mrs. Dumps, "you Jezebel of the slums, how dare you insult a lady, you horrid--" here Clarice, fearing that there would be trouble, since the barmaid was losing her temper, dragged Mrs. Dumps hurriedly away. "If you keep company with such bold sluts, Mr. Ferdinand," she said, indignantly, "you shan't marry my daughter."
 
"I'm not so sure that I do want to marry her," said Clarice, artfully.
 
Mrs. Dumps tossed her head. "Oh, I know, Mr. Ferdinand, none better. You changed your mind about Zara once before, and wanted to marry that ugly girl of Parson Clarke's. I'd have let you go myself, but Zara, who is fairly crazy about you,--I don't know why, as you ain't my idea of what a husband should be--found means to bring you back again, and keep them vows¹⁷, you wanted so lightheartedly to break."
 
"Did Zara tell you the means she employed?" asked Clarice, quickly.
 
"No, she didn't, though I begged her to make a clean breast of it, so you needn't think that she has betrayed you, whatever you have done--though I'm sure I don't know if you are bad, smiling there, as if butter wouldn't melt in your mouth."
 
This speech assured Clarice that, whatever power Zara possessed¹⁸ over Ferdy, certainly Mrs. Dumps did not know its source, and therefore she merely laughed. Then, to gain further information, Clarice carried the war into the enemy's camp. "It is very easy blaming me, Mrs. Dumps," she said, spiritedly, "but how can you expect me to marry a girl who associates with a man like Osip."
 
"There!" wailed¹⁹ Mrs. Dumps, as they went down the grand staircase of the Music Hall, "I thought you'd say that. As if I knew. Zara never said that Osip was with her. If she had I'd have made her come home again. You don't think that I want Twine²⁰'s child and mine, murdered and stamped with Purple Ferns like a letter. But I'll have it out with her to-night. She'll tell me what she means, by keeping gory²¹ assassins from the gallows²²."
 
"You should tell the police."
 
"I shan't, and you shan't either, Mr. Ferdinand. Though why the police--a silly lot, I say--don't spot the man coming forward in that brazen way is more than I know. I saw who he was, the very moment I clapped eyes on him, and though I do owe him seven and sixpence, that's no reason I should disgrace Zara by hanging him. But I'll speak to Zara, when I take her home in that steam engine of hers, as is so expensive and useless. You needn't come, Mr. Ferdinand."
 
But Clarice did not intend to give up her chase for information yet, especially as she was now on the way to learn much. "Oh, but I must come, Mrs. Dumps," she said, coolly; "you know that I escort Zara home every night." This was a chance shot, but it told.
 
"I know you do, and why shouldn't you, seeing you are to be my son-in-law," whimpered Mrs. Dumps. "Much as I hate the music-hall, I'd have come myself during the past three weeks to take the child home, rather than let her go alone. But I always trusted that you would look after her, Mr. Ferdinand, though you do know grinning Jezebels behind bars. Here's the stage door--what a hole! Why, my backyard is cleaner, and ain't got such dirt about it. Oh, that a child of Twine should come to this, and him a godly man with a gift of speech surprising, though he did wag his elbow more than he need have done, and was brought to an early grave with a handsome tombstone in consequence."
 
While Mrs. Dumps ran on in this disconnected fashion, Clarice saw at the far end of the alley²³, which led to the stage door of the Mascot²⁴ Music Hall, a smart motor-car in charge of a smart chauffeur²⁵. She was about to ask Mrs. Dumps if this was the steam-engine she referred to as belonging to Zara, when the stage door opened, and the girl herself came out, looking wonderfully pretty, and wonderfully angry. She mistook Clarice for her brother, as everyone else had done, and came up to him at once.
 
"Oh, there you are, Ferdy," she said, speaking as fast as her mother was in the habit of doing. "I am glad you have come. I'm in such a rage. I can't do my second turn to-night at the Muses²⁶ Hall, as Brown has gone off."
 
"Brown! Who is Brown?"
 
"You know--you know," said Zara, pettishly²⁷. "He does the Chrysalis, and very badly, too. I've only had him for a few weeks, as a kind of makeshift. He's gone mad, I think, for he bolted immediately after the call, and in his stage kit²⁸ too. I'll have to pay a forfeit²⁹ to the Muses Hall manager, and I don't like doing that. It's bad for my pocket and for my reputation. But we can't stop talking here all night. Come on, mother"--she took Mrs. Dumps' arm--"were you very much shocked with my sketch³⁰?"
 
"I've had a shock," said Mrs. Dumps, as she was hurried down the alley, "that will last me till my dying day."
 
"Oh, bother," said Zara, apparently³¹ thinking that the Puritanic little woman referred to the sketch. "I wish you hadn't come now. I might have guessed that you would find fault. Now, how are we going, Ferdy?" They were standing³² beside the motor-brougham by this time.
 
"I get inside and Mr. Ferdinand can go with the driver," said Mrs. Dumps, determinedly³³. "I shan't chance the night air, after the turn I had, when you had to get the sal volatile³⁴ for me, Zara. And I want to speak to you, miss. How dare you----"
 
"Here! Here! Don't talk, but get in," and Zara, dexterously³⁵ pushing her parent into the brougham, slipped inside herself. "Get on the box with Hastings, Ferdy, and tell him to drive home."
 
Clarice found it rather a new and quaint³⁶ experience to be in the company of a smart chauffeur, driving through the brilliantly lighted streets of the metropolis³⁷. To keep up her assumed character she lighted a cigarette, and really enjoyed the situation. Hastings seemed to be of a reticent³⁸ turn of mind, as he only made a few short remarks about the running of the car, and carefully attended to his business. Clarice was glad, as she would not have known what to say, had the man been talkative. And she knew that Ferdy must have been in the habit of chattering³⁹ to the chauffeur, from the remark Hastings made when the brougham stopped before a door in Saracen Square, where Zara dwelt.
 
"You're very quiet to-night, Mr. Baird," said the man, smiling. "I expect you'd rather have been inside the machine."
 
Clarice stared haughtily⁴⁰ at the familiarity of this speech, and Hastings looked rather puzzled. Ferdy apparently was very free and easy with Zara's servants. But there was no time to consider the matter, for Zara stepped out of the brougham, and ............