"
As he spoke the drawing-room door, which the man had left slightly ajar
when he entered, was pushed open, and Mona made her appearance with her
arms full of clothing.
She glided straight to the detective's side, and handed him something
which, with a dextrous movement, he clapped upon Mrs. Montague's bowed
head.
It was a wig of rich, dark-red hair, which fell in lovely rings about the
woman's fair forehead and white neck.
She lifted her face with a cry of terror at Mr. Rider's act, and behold!
the beautiful Mrs. Vanderbeck was before them!
Ray knew at once why Mrs. Montague had looked so strangely to him as she
arose to greet him when he entered.
Her face had been artistically made up, with certain applications of
pencil and paint, to give her the appearance of being considerably older
than she was. But he wondered how she happened to be so made up that
morning.
"That is not all," Mr. Rider resumed, as he took a costly tailor-made
dress from Mona's arm and held it up before his speechless auditors.
"Here is the robe which was so badly rent at the time that Mrs.
Vanderbeck escorted Mr. Raymond Palmer to the great Doctor Wesselhoff for
treatment, while the fragment that was torn from it will fit into the
hole.
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