The Crystal Claw by William Le Queux

As we danced Marigold told me something more about herself. She lived, I found, with three other business girls at a boarding house in Bayswater, going by tube to Dover Street each day. She had met Audley and for a time they had been rather friendly, seeing a good deal of each other. I guessed, though of course she did not tell me, that the friendship bade fair to ripen into something deeper. Then Audley had suddenly disappeared.

As our dance ended Mrs. Powell came up and we all went up the narrow wooden staircase to the balcony where, as we enjoyed our Bohemian supper, we could watch the dancing below.

It was just before midnight, when the fun was fast and furious and the "Hamyardians," as the merry circle call themselves, were enjoying themselves in the wildest and most nonsensical fashion, that Marigold Day, glancing at her wrist watch, declared that she must go. I went down with her to the door.

"Can't you tell me some more about Audley? " I asked just before she entered her taxi.

She shook her head. "Don't ask me, please," she said and she entered the taxi and was driven away towards Bayswater.

"Well, what do you think of Marigold? " asked Mrs. Powell, as I resumed my seat at the supper table.

"She's altogether charming, of course," I replied, "but rather -- well, I don't quite know the word. I should almost say mysterious: at any rate she seems to be troubled about something and trying to hide it."

"That's it, exactly," declared my hostess. "During the past few months she seems to have become an entirely different girl. As you know, we were the closest of friends. She seems to live in constant dread of something, but she absolutely refuses to tell me what it is. Indeed, she declares there is nothing wrong, but that is nonsense. No one who knew her six months ago could fail to realize that something is very wrong indeed."

"Do you know anything about her friend, Mr. Audley," I ventured to ask.

"Not very much," said Mrs. Powell. "Of course, I have met him. Marigold was getting very fond of him, I believe, but she will not talk about him."

Powell came up and declared it was time to go and I had no opportunity of questioning Mrs. Powell any further, much as I wished to do so. However, I determined to see her again and also to meet Marigold Day and see whether either of them could give me further details about Audley. Was he the real Audley? I wondered, or the man who had taken his name.

A few days later I received a letter from Mrs. Shaylor inviting me to go to Bexhill.

I was in two minds about accepting. I wanted to see Thelma -- wanted to help her and certainly did not want to lose touch with her as I might if I refused to go. But was it wise?

Of course, inclination conquered prudence and I went. I found that she and her mother lived in a pretty red-roofed, red-brick detached house, with high gables, and a small garden in front. It stood in Bedford Avenue, close to the Sackville Hotel and facing the sea.

Mrs. Shaylor, a pleasant, grey-haired woman of a very refined type, greeted me warmly and thanked me cordially for what I had done for her daughter in Mürren, while Thelma expressed her delight at seeing me again.

I got a chance during the morning of speaking to Mrs. Shaylor alone and asked her if Thelma had heard anything more of her husband.

"Not a word," was Mrs. Shaylor's reply. "It is a most disastrous affair for her, poor girl. The suspense and anxiety are killing her."

"She does not look so well," I replied. I had, in fact, been struck by the change in the girl. She was paler and thinner and it was evident the strain was telling on her rather heavily.

"I understand you did not know very much of Mr. Audley," I said.

"Very little indeed, unfortunately," was Mrs. Shaylor's reply. "Thelma met him when she was staying with her aunt at the Majestic at Harrogate, and they became friendly. He appeared to have considerable means for he gave Thelma some very beautiful jewelry. He came down here once, saw me, and asked if he might marry her. He told me certain things about his relations in India, and she seemed so entirely devoted to him that I gave my consent to their marriage in three months. But, judge my surprise when a fortnight later they were married secretly and left next day for Switzerland for their honeymoon."