the story I was looking for. It was to this
effect. Some five or six years ago, a woman named
Raymond suddenly made her appearance in the neighbourhood
to which I am referring. She was described to
me as being quite young, probably not more than seventeen
or eighteen, very handsome, and looking as if she
came from the country. I should be wrong in
saying that she found her level in going to this particular
quarter, or associating with these people, for from
what I was told, I should think the worst den in London
far too good for her. The person from whom I
got my information, as you may suppose, no great Puritan,
shuddered and grew sick in telling me of the nameless
infamies which were laid to her charge. After
living there for a year, or perhaps a little more,
she disappeared as suddenly as she came, and they
saw nothing of her till about the time of the Paul
Street case. At first she came to her old haunts
only occasionally, then more frequently, and finally
took up her abode there as before, and remained for
six or eight months. It’s of no use my
going into details as to the life that woman led;
if you want particulars you can look at Meyrick’s
legacy. Those designs were not drawn from his
imagination. She again disappeared, and the people
of the place saw nothing of her till a few months
ago. My informant told me that she had taken
some rooms in a house which he pointed out, and these
rooms she was in the habit of visiting two or three
times a week and always at ten in the morning.
I was led to expect that one of these visits would
be paid on a certain day about a week ago, and I accordingly
managed to be on the look-out in company with my cicerone
at a quarter to ten, and the hour and the lady came
with equal punctuality. My friend and I were
standing under an archway, a little way back from
the street, but she saw us, and gave me a glance that
I shall be long in forgetting. That look was
quite enough for me; I knew Miss Raymond to be Mrs.
Herbert; as for Mrs. Beaumont she had quite gone out
of my head. She went into the house, and I watched
it till four o’clock, when she came out, and
then I followed her. It was a long chase, and
I had to be very careful to keep a long way in the
background, and yet not lose sight of the woman.
She took me down to the Strand, and then to Westminster,
and then up St. James’s Street, and along Piccadilly.
I felt queerish when I saw her turn up Ashley Street;
the thought that Mrs. Herbert was Mrs. Beaumont came
into my mind, but it seemed too impossible to be true.
I waited at the corner, keeping my eye on her all
the time, and I took particular care to note the house
at which she stopped. It was the house with the
gay curtains, the home of flowers, the house out of
which Crashaw came the night he hanged himself in
his garden. I was just going away with my discovery,
when I saw an empty carriage come round and draw up
in front of the house, and I came to the conclusion
that Mrs. Herbert was going out for a drive, and I