"I think you are very wise, my dear boy," she said, leaning back in her comfortable chair. "A journey round the world will do Audrey endless good."
"Audrey?" said Shawe, with a smile. "Colonel Ilse will call her Elsie."
"Well, that is natural, since it was her mother's name. The Colonel seems to be devoted1 to the memory of his wife. Had she lived, he would not have worshipped her so much."
"Grannie, that is cynical2. Some men can remain lovers always. I am sure that I shall always worship Audrey."
"Well," said Lady Sanby, with a charming smile, "in your case there is much excuse. You and Audrey--Elsie--oh, dear me, how puzzling it is for her to have two names!--but you have come through so much trouble in company that you understand one another better than most married people, and anxiety has drawn3 you together. Natural--very, very natural."
"Poor Audrey! She has had a very unhappy time lately," said the young man, gravely; "and, indeed, all her life she has had trouble, more or less. Sir Joseph never cared for her, you know."
"Oh, that man never cared for anyone save himself," said Lady Sanby, tartly4. "He was a bear--a clever bear, I admit, but still a bear. I suppose that one should not speak evil of the dead. All the same--well, I shall say no more."
"Let us speak of Sir Joseph as kindly5 as we can," observed Shawe, quietly, "for, after all, he has left Audrey two thousand a year."
"Out of an estate worth a million or two. It isn't much."
"It is enough for us both until I make an actual success as a barrister."
"Ah!" Lady Sanby wagged her old head, "that is the only thing I have to say against this very sensible journey. Is it wise, Ralph, to interrupt your career?"
"Yes, on the assumption that absence makes the heart grow fonder. But even if it were not wise, grannie, I should still undertake the journey for the sake of Audrey. So much of the case has been published in the papers that if Audrey and I remained in London we should constantly be bothered by silly people asking questions. If we travel for a year--as we intend to do--the affair will be forgotten."
"Lady Branwin went down with the deliberate intention of killing6 her husband, did she not, Ralph?"
"I really can't say. She certainly said in the office that she would never see Audrey again, and was going away to do justice. Perry Toat would have had her arrested, but she slipped away in the fog. Having learnt from Audrey that Sir Joseph and Miss Pearl were at the Three Fishers Hotel at Weed-on-the-Sands, she caught the six o'clock train and arrived at eight. Then she asked at the hotel where her husband was to be found. In this way she came on to the pier7, and, having made a scene which attracted the attention of those on the promenade8, she suddenly jumped at Branwin and flung both herself and him into the deep water. When the bodies were discovered they could scarcely be parted, so tight was Lady Branwin's embrace."
"Well, I expect the miserable9 woman had some idea of punishing the brute10 to whom she had been bound for so many unhappy years," said Lady Sanby, after a pause; "but I also think that she took sudden advantage of his being on the pier to drown both him and herself. Miss Pearl made a fine lot of trouble over the matter."
Shawe could not help smiling. "Miss Pearl was very much concerned about her reputation, and caused it to be generally known that she, like Sir Joseph, had really and truly believed Lady Branwin to be dead. Miss Pearl also made public the fact that she had induced Sir Joseph to make the codicil11 to his will giving Audrey, as my wife, the two thousand a year. Finally, she wrote a letter to the papers, and stated at the inquest that she had accompanied Sir Joseph to Weed-on-the-Sands with the sole idea of reconciling him to his daughter. In fact, she made herself out to be a conventional martyr12, and everyone believed her."
"Oh, I don't think the woman was really ill-natured," said the old lady, with a shrug13. "She certainly behaved very well over Audrey's money; but I expect she did so in order not to appear the unjust stepmother."
"Grannie, grannie, will you never credit anyone with good intentions?"
"Oh, I credit Miss Rosy14 Pearl with all the virtues15. She says she has them, so we must believe her. All the same, she has thought it necessary to accept an American engagement for three years."
"I expect she will return as the wife of an American millionaire."
"Not at all," said Lady Sanby, coolly. "She is going to marry Lord Anvers, with the intention of reforming him. He has followed her to the States for that purpose."
"Poor Miss Pearl!" said Ralph, in a sympathetic tone.
Lady Sanby laughed. "Poor Anvers, I think," she said seriously. "But what about the Pink Shop?"
"It has been shut up, and the assistants have dispersed16 to the four winds, resuming, I believe, their real names. Zobeide has gone with her mother to Devonshire to live, Parizade has married her artist, and Peri Banou is Audrey's maid, as you know."
"Fancy having a dumb maid, and yet it has its advantages. Peri Banou--I do hope your wife will give her a less heathen name--will keep Audrey's secrets thoroughly17."
"Audrey has no secrets," said Ralph, somewhat stiffly, "and Peri Banou is devoted to her."
"She has every reason to be. Few women would take a maid from that Pink Shop. It was too notorious."
"Oh! my dear grannie, it was conducted in a most respectable way, both by Madame Coralie and by Lady Branwin when she masqueraded as her sister."
"Humph! I certainly heard nothing against it," said Lady Sanby. "But how did Lady Branwin manage to conduct a business about which she knew nothing?"
"Well, Eddy19 Vail learnt the truth, as he found his wife dead. Also, in order to carry on the business and keep up her disguise, Lady Branwin had to tell Badoura who she really was."
"Then Vail and Badoura were accomplices20 after the fact?"
"Yes, they were. How learned you are, grannie," said Ralph, with a smile. "For that reason they bolted before the police could get hold of them. Inspector21 Lanton was very anxious to bring them forward as witnesses."
"It is just as well that he did not, else many more details would have been in the papers. As it is, the romance of those two sisters and the substituted child, and Dora strangling
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