Ralph stared at the woman, then threw himself back in his chair with a short laugh. He was greatly disappointed in the reply.  
"It is ridiculous to believe or even hint that Madame Coralie should be guilty," he remarked sharply. "She proved a very clear alibi¹. No less than four people--her husband and her three assistants--proved that she was in the still-room when the crime was taking place below."
 
"Yes," assented² Miss Toat, leaning her chin on her hand and her elbow on the table, "that is what puzzles me. The alibi is very clear, and yet--of course, you understand that I am merely theorising."
 
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"--Shawe made an irritable³ gesture, for the strain on his nerves was great--"but the idea is ridiculous. If you had accused that dumb girl, who was in the shop on the ground floor when the crime was committed, it would have been more feasible. The bedroom is on the ground floor also."
 
"I see no reason to accuse Peri Banou," said Miss Toat, quietly.
 
"And you see a reason to accuse Madame Coralie?"
 
"Yes. My theory is--"
 
"Oh, never mind your theory, Miss Toat. Come to facts."
 
The detective was not at all put out by his short temper, as she saw that his nerves were worn thin, and sympathised with him. With a quick movement she drew the loose notes to her own side of the table. "Very good," she said in a brisk, businesslike tone. "Let us come to facts, if you please. Do you know why Madame Coralie wears a yashmak?"
 
"Inspector⁴ Lanton hinted something about it to me when at the inquest. It is to add to the attractions of the Turkish shop--to make it more mysterious, as it were."
 
"Ah!"--Miss Toat raised her pencilled eyebrows--"then the inspector did not tell you the exact truth. I expect Madame Coralie asked him to keep it quiet for obvious reasons."
 
"Obvious they may be," said Ralph, impatiently, "but I can't see them."
 
"Why, they are plain enough. The wearing of the yashmak is partly by way of a good advertisement, as it suggests mystery, and partly--this is the real reason, I expect--it is worn from necessity."
 
"From necessity?" Shawe stared hard at his visitor.
 
"Madame Coralie has a disfiguring birthmark on her right cheek, which, extending over mouth and chin, spoils her good looks. And she must have had some beauty when younger. Strange, is it not, Mr. Shawe, that she who can restore another woman's looks can do nothing with her own?"
 
"How do you know that she is marked in this way?"
 
"I saw it when she was asleep."
 
"But how did you enter her bedroom?" asked Ralph, much astonished.
 
The detective laughed. "When everyone was asleep I stole about the house investigating in list slippers⁵ and with a bull's-eye lantern. Madame Coralie lays aside her yashmak when in bed, so I easily saw that which she wishes to keep concealed⁶."
 
"But why should she so very much want to conceal⁷ it?"
 
Miss Toat looked at him greatly amazed. "Have you not been listening to what I have been saying, Mr. Shawe? Why, if Madame's customers knew that she could not remove a birthmark from her face, it would be a case of 'Physician, heal thyself' with them. They would lose confidence, and--"
 
"Yes, yes!" Ralph assented impatiently, and waved his hand. "I understand now; very naturally they would doubt her capability⁸, in spite of her reputation. But what has this birthmark to do with the murder?"
 
"Nothing," said Perry Toat, promptly⁹; "yet I was glad enough to see it for all that, in connection with a case. But never mind," she broke off abruptly¹⁰, "we can talk of that later. I tell you about the disfigurement because it is just as well that you should learn everything about a woman so closely connected with the death of Lady Branwin. Also, it will be a useful mark to know in case she tries to get rid of more diamonds."
 
"What!" Shawe jumped up with an exclamation¹¹. "Do you mean to say that she has pawned¹² the diamonds? In that case she must be guilty."
 
"It would look like it; but I am only theorising, remember."
 
"Oh, hang your theories! I think--" He stopped short, conscious that he had been rude to the little woman. "I beg your pardon," he went on ceremoniously, "but my nerves are out of order. Don't be vexed¹³ with me. I apologise."
 
Miss Toat nodded in a friendly way. "I quite understand," she said smoothly¹⁴. "People unaccustomed to be mixed up with criminal matters usually do let their nerves get out of order, although I can't say that they usually apologise. There you have the advantage of the greater part of my clients. But to come to business. It is now some six or seven weeks since the murder. I discovered, by various inquiries¹⁵, which I made here, there, and everywhere, that two months ago Madame Coralie was in deep water--financially. Now she is more prosperous." Miss Toat paused. "You can draw your own inference."
 
"You mean to say that she committed the murder in order to steal the diamonds, and has sold or pawned them to realise the spoil?"
 
Miss Toat nodded again. "That is my theory." The barrister put his hands into his pockets and began to pace the room, as was his custom when perplexed¹⁶. "I don't see what evidence you have to support your theory," he remarked, after a pause.
 
"Well, as we agreed at our first interview, Lady Branwin only arranged in five minutes to sleep at the Pink Shop, and it was merely by chance that she had the diamonds with her. That the murder was committed for the sake of the jewels is positive, since they are missing. Yet any outside person could not have known that the unfortunate woman was possessed¹⁷ of those jewels at that particular time. Madame Coralie knew--"
 
"Pardon me," interrupted Shawe. "In my own hearing she declared that she did not know what Lady Branwin had in the red bag."
 
Miss Toat shrugged¹⁸ her shoulders. "Naturally, for her own sake, she would say that, Mr. Shawe. But the fact remains¹⁹ that owing to the rapidity and unexpectedness of Lady Branwin's decision to sleep at the shop no outsider could have arranged beforehand to commit the crime for the sake of the jewels."
 
"But the key in the outside door of the court was--"
 
"That might all have been arranged as a false clue to throw the police off the scent²⁰."
 
"I doubt it," said Shawe, decisively, "and remember that your theory is entirely²¹ destroyed by the very strong alibi of Madame Coralie. The woman could not have been in two places at once."
 
"Well," said Perry Toat, cautiously, "I stated that I suspected Madame Coralie had strangled Lady Branwin, but I did not say that she had actually committed the deed herself."
 
"Oh! Then you think she employed someone else to commit the murder?"
 
"Yes, and for her own sake was careful to provide the alibi we know of. Lady Branwin came at five o'clock to the shop, and was murdered, according to the medical evidence, about eight. Madame Coralie had, therefore, ample time to tell her accomplice²² that Lady Branwin possessed the diamonds. Also, as Lady Branwin talked frequently of coming for treatment, and Madame always refused her, the evening when she agreed to give the treatment might have been arranged. Madame could also explain to her accomplice about the door in the outer wall of the court, and have arranged for the window of the bedroom to be open. Then--well, t............