Suddenly, hoping to further stir the chords of her memory, I asked:
"Mr. Oswald De Gex--who lives in Stretton Street."
"I'm afraid I--I don't know him," she replied. "Who is he?"
"Surely you know Stretton Street?" I asked.
"No--where is it?" she inquired in that strange inert manner which characterized her mentality.
I did not pursue the question further, for it was evident that she now had no knowledge of the man in whose house I had seen her lying--apparently dead. And if she were not dead whose body was it that had been cremated? That was one of the main points of the problem which, try how I would, I failed to grasp.
As she stood in her mother's cosy little drawing-room Gabrielle Tennison presented a strangely tragic figure. In the grey London light she was very beautiful it was true, but upon her pale countenance was that terribly vacant look which was the index of her overwrought brain. Her memory had been swept away by some unknown horror--so the doctors had declared. And yet she seemed to remember distinctly what Doctor Moroni had alleged against me in Florence!
Therefore I questioned her further concerning the Italian, and found that she recollected quite a lot about him.
"He has been very kind to you--has he not?" I asked.
"Yes. He is an exceedingly kind friend. He took me to see several doctors in Florence and Rome. All of them said I had lost my memory," and she smiled sweetly.
"But you don't recollect what happened to you when you were away, until you were found wandering near Petersfield. Tell us, dear."
"No--no, not exactly," the girl answered. "All I recollect is that it was all red, green and gold--oh! such bright dazzling colours--red, green and gold! At first they were glorious--until--until sight of them blinded me--they seemed to burn into my brain--eh!" And she drew back and placed her right arm across her eyes as though to shut out from her gaze something that appalled her. "There they are!" she shrieked. "I see them again--always the same, day and night--red, green and gold!--red, green and gold!"
I exchanged glances with the woman Alford. It was apparent that the shock the girl had sustained had been somehow connected with the colours red, green and gold.
