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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10556-0.txt b/10556-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c47440 --- /dev/null +++ b/10556-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7946 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10556 *** + +[Illustration: "The old man in the corner."] + + + + +THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER + +BY + +BARONESS ORCZY + + + + +TO MY DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT + +COUNT AND COUNTESS WASS OF CZEGE + +IN REMEMBRANCE +OF MANY HAPPY DAYS SPENT +IN TRANSYLVANIA + +_October, 1908_ + + + + +CONTENTS + +Chapter + + I. THE FENCHURCH STREET MYSTERY + II. A MILLIONAIRE IN THE DOCK + III. HIS DEDUCTION + IV. THE ROBBERY IN PHILLIMORE TERRACE + V. A NIGHT'S ADVENTURE + VI. ALL HE KNEW + VII. THE YORK MYSTERY + VIII. THE CAPITAL CHARGE + IX. A BROKEN-HEARTED WOMAN + X. THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY + XI. MR. ERRINGTON + XII. THE LIVERPOOL MYSTERY + XIII. A CUNNING RASCAL + XIV. THE EDINBURGH MYSTERY + XV. A TERRIBLE PLIGHT + XVI. NON PROVEN + XVII. UNDENIABLE FACTS + XVIII. THE THEFT AT THE ENGLISH PROVIDENT BANK + XIX. CONFLICTING EVIDENCE + XX. AN ALIBI + XXI. THE DUBLIN MYSTERY + XXII. FORGERY + XXIII. A MEMORABLE DAY + XXIV. AN UNPARALLELED OUTRAGE + XXV. THE PRISONER + XXVI. A SENSATION + XXVII. TWO BLACKGUARDS +XXVIII. THE REGENT'S PARK MURDER + XXIX. THE MOTIVE + XXX. FRIENDS + XXXI. THE DE GENNEVILLE PEERAGE + XXXII. A HIGH-BRED GENTLEMAN +XXXIII. THE LIVING AND THE DEAD + XXXIV. THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH IN PERCY STREET + XXXV. SUICIDE OR MURDER? + XXXVI. THE END + + + + +THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FENCHURCH STREET MYSTERY + + +The man in the corner pushed aside his glass, and leant across the +table. + +"Mysteries!" he commented. "There is no such thing as a mystery in +connection with any crime, provided intelligence is brought to bear upon +its investigation." + +Very much astonished Polly Burton looked over the top of her newspaper, +and fixed a pair of very severe, coldly inquiring brown eyes upon him. + +She had disapproved of the man from the instant when he shuffled across +the shop and sat down opposite to her, at the same marble-topped table +which already held her large coffee (3d.), her roll and butter (2d.), +and plate of tongue (6d.). + +Now this particular corner, this very same table, that special view of +the magnificent marble hall--known as the Norfolk Street branch of the +Aërated Bread Company's depôts--were Polly's own corner, table, and +view. Here she had partaken of eleven pennyworth of luncheon and one +pennyworth of daily information ever since that glorious +never-to-be-forgotten day when she was enrolled on the staff of the +_Evening Observer_ (we'll call it that, if you please), and became a +member of that illustrious and world-famed organization known as the +British Press. + +She was a personality, was Miss Burton of the _Evening Observer_. Her +cards were printed thus: + +[Illustration: Miss MARY J. BURTON. _Evening Observer_.] + +She had interviewed Miss Ellen Terry and the Bishop of Madagascar, Mr. +Seymour Hicks and the Chief Commissioner of Police. She had been present +at the last Marlborough House garden party--in the cloak-room, that is +to say, where she caught sight of Lady Thingummy's hat, Miss +What-you-may-call's sunshade, and of various other things modistical or +fashionable, all of which were duly described under the heading "Royalty +and Dress" in the early afternoon edition of the _Evening Observer_. + +(The article itself is signed M.J.B., and is to be found in the files of +that leading halfpennyworth.) + +For these reasons--and for various others, too--Polly felt irate with +the man in the corner, and told him so with her eyes, as plainly as any +pair of brown eyes can speak. + +She had been reading an article in the _Daily Telegraph_. The article +was palpitatingly interesting. Had Polly been commenting audibly upon +it? Certain it is that the man over there had spoken in direct answer to +her thoughts. + +She looked at him and frowned; the next moment she smiled. Miss Burton +(of the _Evening Observer)_ had a keen sense of humour, which two years' +association with the British Press had not succeeded in destroying, and +the appearance of the man was sufficient to tickle the most ultra-morose +fancy. Polly thought to herself that she had never seen any one so pale, +so thin, with such funny light-coloured hair, brushed very smoothly +across the top of a very obviously bald crown. He looked so timid and +nervous as he fidgeted incessantly with a piece of string; his long, +lean, and trembling fingers tying and untying it into knots of wonderful +and complicated proportions. + +Having carefully studied every detail of the quaint personality Polly +felt more amiable. + +"And yet," she remarked kindly but authoritatively, "this article, in an +otherwise well-informed journal, will tell you that, even within the +last year, no fewer than six crimes have completely baffled the police, +and the perpetrators of them are still at large." + +"Pardon me," he said gently, "I never for a moment ventured to suggest +that there were no mysteries to the _police_; I merely remarked that +there were none where intelligence was brought to bear upon the +investigation of crime." + +"Not even in the Fenchurch Street _mystery_. I suppose," she asked +sarcastically. + +"Least of all in the so-called Fenchurch Street _mystery_," he replied +quietly. + +Now the Fenchurch Street mystery, as that extraordinary crime had +popularly been called, had puzzled--as Polly well knew--the brains of +every thinking man and woman for the last twelve months. It had puzzled +her not inconsiderably; she had been interested, fascinated; she had +studied the case, formed her own theories, thought about it all often +and often, had even written one or two letters to the Press on the +subject--suggesting, arguing, hinting at possibilities and +probabilities, adducing proofs which other amateur detectives were +equally ready to refute. The attitude of that timid man in the corner, +therefore, was peculiarly exasperating, and she retorted with sarcasm +destined to completely annihilate her self-complacent interlocutor. + +"What a pity it is, in that case, that you do not offer your priceless +services to our misguided though well-meaning police." + +"Isn't it?" he replied with perfect good-humour. "Well, you know, for +one thing I doubt if they would accept them; and in the second place my +inclinations and my duty would--were I to become an active member of the +detective force--nearly always be in direct conflict. As often as not my +sympathies go to the criminal who is clever and astute enough to lead +our entire police force by the nose. + +"I don't know how much of the case you remember," he went on quietly. +"It certainly, at first, began even to puzzle me. On the 12th of last +December a woman, poorly dressed, but with an unmistakable air of having +seen better days, gave information at Scotland Yard of the disappearance +of her husband, William Kershaw, of no occupation, and apparently of no +fixed abode. She was accompanied by a friend--a fat, oily-looking +German--and between them they told a tale which set the police +immediately on the move. + +"It appears that on the 10th of December, at about three o'clock in the +afternoon, Karl Müller, the German, called on his friend, William +Kershaw, for the purpose of collecting a small debt--some ten pounds or +so--which the latter owed him. On arriving at the squalid lodging in +Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, he found William Kershaw in a wild +state of excitement, and his wife in tears. Müller attempted to state +the object of his visit, but Kershaw, with wild gestures, waved him +aside, and--in his own words--flabbergasted him by asking him +point-blank for another loan of two pounds, which sum, he declared, +would be the means of a speedy fortune for himself and the friend who +would help him in his need. + +"After a quarter of an hour spent in obscure hints, Kershaw, finding the +cautious German obdurate, decided to let him into the secret plan, +which, he averred, would place thousands into their hands." + +Instinctively Polly had put down her paper; the mild stranger, with his +nervous air and timid, watery eyes, had a peculiar way of telling his +tale, which somehow fascinated her. + +"I don't know," he resumed, "if you remember the story which the German +told to the police, and which was corroborated in every detail by the +wife or widow. Briefly it was this: Some thirty years previously, +Kershaw, then twenty years of age, and a medical student at one of the +London hospitals, had a chum named Barker, with whom he roomed, +together with another. + +"The latter, so it appears, brought home one evening a very considerable +sum of money, which he had won on the turf, and the following morning he +was found murdered in his bed. Kershaw, fortunately for himself, was +able to prove a conclusive _alibi_; he had spent the night on duty at +the hospital; as for Barker, he had disappeared, that is to say, as far +as the police were concerned, but not as far as the watchful eyes of his +friend Kershaw were able to spy--at least, so the latter said. Barker +very cleverly contrived to get away out of the country, and, after +sundry vicissitudes, finally settled down at Vladivostok, in Eastern +Siberia, where, under the assumed name of Smethurst, he built up an +enormous fortune by trading in furs. + +"Now, mind you, every one knows Smethurst, the Siberian millionaire. +Kershaw's story that he had once been called Barker, and had committed a +murder thirty years ago, was never proved, was it? I am merely telling +you what Kershaw said to his friend the German and to his wife on that +memorable afternoon of December the 10th. + +"According to him Smethurst had made one gigantic mistake in his clever +career--he had on four occasions written to his late friend, William +Kershaw. Two of these letters had no bearing on the case, since they +were written more than twenty-five years ago, and Kershaw, moreover, had +lost them--so he said--long ago. According to him, however, the first of +these letters was written when Smethurst, alias Barker, had spent all +the money he had obtained from the crime, and found himself destitute in +New York. + +"Kershaw, then in fairly prosperous circumstances, sent him a £10 note +for the sake of old times. The second, when the tables had turned, and +Kershaw had begun to go downhill, Smethurst, as he then already called +himself, sent his whilom friend £50. After that, as Müller gathered, +Kershaw had made sundry demands on Smethurst's ever-increasing purse, +and had accompanied these demands by various threats, which, considering +the distant country in which the millionaire lived, were worse than +futile. + +"But now the climax had come, and Kershaw, after a final moment of +hesitation, handed over to his German friend the two last letters +purporting to have been written by Smethurst, and which, if you +remember, played such an important part in the mysterious story of this +extraordinary crime. I have a copy of both these letters here," added +the man in the corner, as he took out a piece of paper from a very +worn-out pocket-book, and, unfolding it very deliberately, he began to +read:-- + +"'Sir,--Your preposterous demands for money are wholly unwarrantable. I +have already helped you quite as much as you deserve. However, for the +sake of old times, and because you once helped me when I was in a +terrible difficulty, I am willing to once more let you impose upon my +good nature. A friend of mine here, a Russian merchant, to whom I have +sold my business, starts in a few days for an extended tour to many +European and Asiatic ports in his yacht, and has invited me to accompany +him as far as England. Being tired of foreign parts, and desirous of +seeing the old country once again after thirty years' absence, I have +decided to accept his invitation. I don't know when we may actually be +in Europe, but I promise you that as soon as we touch a suitable port I +will write to you again, making an appointment for you to see me in +London. But remember that if your demands are too preposterous I will +not for a moment listen to them, and that I am the last man in the world +to submit to persistent and unwarrantable blackmail. + + 'I am, sir, + 'Yours truly, + 'Francis Smethurst.' + +"The second letter was dated from Southampton," continued the old man in +the corner calmly, "and, curiously enough, was the only letter which +Kershaw professed to have received from Smethurst of which he had kept +the envelope, and which was dated. It was quite brief," he added, +referring once more to his piece of paper. + +"'Dear Sir,--Referring to my letter of a few weeks ago, I wish to inform +you that the _Tsarskoe Selo_ will touch at Tilbury on Tuesday next, the +10th. I shall land there, and immediately go up to London by the first +train I can get. If you like, you may meet me at Fenchurch Street +Station, in the first-class waiting-room, in the late afternoon. Since I +surmise that after thirty years' absence my face may not be familiar to +you, I may as well tell you that you will recognize me by a heavy +Astrakhan fur coat, which I shall wear, together with a cap of the same. +You may then introduce yourself to me, and I will personally listen to +what you may have to say. + + 'Yours faithfully, + 'Francis Smethurst.' + +"It was this last letter which had caused William Kershaw's excitement +and his wife's tears. In the German's own words, he was walking up and +down the room like a wild beast, gesticulating wildly, and muttering +sundry exclamations. Mrs. Kershaw, however, was full of apprehension. +She mistrusted the man from foreign parts--who, according to her +husband's story, had already one crime upon his conscience--who might, +she feared, risk another, in order to be rid of a dangerous enemy. +Woman-like, she thought the scheme a dishonourable one, for the law, she +knew, is severe on the blackmailer. + +"The assignation might be a cunning trap, in any case it was a curious +one; why, she argued, did not Smethurst elect to see Kershaw at his +hotel the following day? A thousand whys and wherefores made her +anxious, but the fat German had been won over by Kershaw's visions of +untold gold, held tantalisingly before his eyes. He had lent the +necessary £2, with which his friend intended to tidy himself up a bit +before he went to meet his friend the millionaire. Half an hour +afterwards Kershaw had left his lodgings, and that was the last the +unfortunate woman saw of her husband, or Müller, the German, of his +friend. + +"Anxiously his wife waited that night, but he did not return; the next +day she seems to have spent in making purposeless and futile inquiries +about the neighbourhood of Fenchurch Street; and on the 12th she went to +Scotland Yard, gave what particulars she knew, and placed in the hands +of the police the two letters written by Smethurst." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A MILLIONAIRE IN THE DOCK + + +The man in the corner had finished his glass of milk. His watery blue +eyes looked across at Miss Polly Burton's eager little face, from which +all traces of severity had now been chased away by an obvious and +intense excitement. + +"It was only on the 31st," he resumed after a while, "that a body, +decomposed past all recognition, was found by two lightermen in the +bottom of a disused barge. She had been moored at one time at the foot +of one of those dark flights of steps which lead down between tall +warehouses to the river in the East End of London. I have a photograph +of the place here," he added, selecting one out of his pocket, and +placing it before Polly. + +"The actual barge, you see, had already been removed when I took this +snapshot, but you will realize what a perfect place this alley is for +the purpose of one man cutting another's throat in comfort, and without +fear of detection. The body, as I said, was decomposed beyond all +recognition; it had probably been there eleven days, but sundry +articles, such as a silver ring and a tie pin, were recognizable, and +were identified by Mrs. Kershaw as belonging to her husband. + +"She, of course, was loud in denouncing Smethurst, and the police had no +doubt a very strong case against him, for two days after the discovery +of the body in the barge, the Siberian millionaire, as he was already +popularly called by enterprising interviewers, was arrested in his +luxurious suite of rooms at the Hotel Cecil. + +"To confess the truth, at this point I was not a little puzzled. Mrs. +Kershaw's story and Smethurst's letters had both found their way into +the papers, and following my usual method--mind you, I am only an +amateur, I try to reason out a case for the love of the thing--I sought +about for a motive for the crime, which the police declared Smethurst +had committed. To effectually get rid of a dangerous blackmailer was the +generally accepted theory. Well! did it ever strike you how paltry that +motive really was?" + +Miss Polly had to confess, however, that it had never struck her in that +light. + +"Surely a man who had succeeded in building up an immense fortune by his +own individual efforts, was not the sort of fool to believe that he had +anything to fear from a man like Kershaw. He must have _known_ that +Kershaw held no damning proofs against him--not enough to hang him, +anyway. Have you ever seen Smethurst?" he added, as he once more fumbled +in his pocket-book. + +Polly replied that she had seen Smethurst's picture in the illustrated +papers at the time. Then he added, placing a small photograph before +her: + +"What strikes you most about the face?" + +"Well, I think its strange, astonished expression, due to the total +absence of eyebrows, and the funny foreign cut of the hair." + +"So close that it almost looks as if it had been shaved. Exactly. That +is what struck me most when I elbowed my way into the court that morning +and first caught sight of the millionaire in the dock. He was a tall, +soldierly-looking man, upright in stature, his face very bronzed and +tanned. He wore neither moustache nor beard, his hair was cropped quite +close to his head, like a Frenchman's; but, of course, what was so very +remarkable about him was that total absence of eyebrows and even +eyelashes, which gave the face such a peculiar appearance--as you say, a +perpetually astonished look. + +"He seemed, however, wonderfully calm; he had been accommodated with a +chair in the dock--being a millionaire--and chatted pleasantly with his +lawyer, Sir Arthur Inglewood, in the intervals between the calling of +the several witnesses for the prosecution; whilst during the examination +of these witnesses he sat quite placidly, with his head shaded by his +hand. + +"Müller and Mrs. Kershaw repeated the story which they had already told +to the police. I think you said that you were not able, owing to +pressure of work, to go to the court that day, and hear the case, so +perhaps you have no recollection of Mrs. Kershaw. No? Ah, well! Here is +a snapshot I managed to get of her once. That is her. Exactly as she +stood in the box--over-dressed--in elaborate crape, with a bonnet which +once had contained pink roses, and to which a remnant of pink petals +still clung obtrusively amidst the deep black. + +"She would not look at the prisoner, and turned her head resolutely +towards the magistrate. I fancy she had been fond of that vagabond +husband of hers: an enormous wedding-ring encircled her finger, and +that, too, was swathed in black. She firmly believed that Kershaw's +murderer sat there in the dock, and she literally flaunted her grief +before him. + +"I was indescribably sorry for her. As for Müller, he was just fat, +oily, pompous, conscious of his own importance as a witness; his fat +fingers, covered with brass rings, gripped the two incriminating +letters, which he had identified. They were his passports, as it were, +to a delightful land of importance and notoriety. Sir Arthur Inglewood, +I think, disappointed him by stating that he had no questions to ask of +him. Müller had been brimful of answers, ready with the most perfect +indictment, the most elaborate accusations against the bloated +millionaire who had decoyed his dear friend Kershaw, and murdered him in +Heaven knows what an out-of-the-way corner of the East End. + +"After this, however, the excitement grew apace. Müller had been +dismissed, and had retired from the court altogether, leading away Mrs. +Kershaw, who had completely broken down. + +"Constable D 21 was giving evidence as to the arrest in the meanwhile. +The prisoner, he said, had seemed completely taken by surprise, not +understanding the cause or history of the accusation against him; +however, when put in full possession of the facts, and realizing, no +doubt, the absolute futility of any resistance, he had quietly enough +followed the constable into the cab. No one at the fashionable and +crowded Hotel Cecil had even suspected that anything unusual had +occurred. + +"Then a gigantic sigh of expectancy came from every one of the +spectators. The 'fun' was about to begin. James Buckland, a porter at +Fenchurch Street railway station, had just sworn to tell all the truth, +etc. After all, it did not amount to much. He said that at six o'clock +in the afternoon of December the 10th, in the midst of one of the +densest fogs he ever remembers, the 5.5 from Tilbury steamed into the +station, being just about an hour late. He was on the arrival platform, +and was hailed by a passenger in a first-class carriage. He could see +very little of him beyond an enormous black fur coat and a travelling +cap of fur also. + +"The passenger had a quantity of luggage, all marked F.S., and he +directed James Buckland to place it all upon a four-wheel cab, with the +exception of a small hand-bag, which he carried himself. Having seen +that all his luggage was safely bestowed, the stranger in the fur coat +paid the porter, and, telling the cabman to wait until he returned, he +walked away in the direction of the waiting-rooms, still carrying his +small hand-bag. + +"'I stayed for a bit,' added James Buckland, 'talking to the driver +about the fog and that; then I went about my business, seein' that the +local from Southend 'ad been signalled.' + +"The prosecution insisted most strongly upon the hour when the stranger +in the fur coat, having seen to his luggage, walked away towards the +waiting-rooms. The porter was emphatic. 'It was not a minute later than +6.15,' he averred. + +"Sir Arthur Inglewood still had no questions to ask, and the driver of +the cab was called. + +"He corroborated the evidence of James Buckland as to the hour when the +gentleman in the fur coat had engaged him, and having filled his cab in +and out with luggage, had told him to wait. And cabby did wait. He +waited in the dense fog--until he was tired, until he seriously thought +of depositing all the luggage in the lost property office, and of +looking out for another fare--waited until at last, at a quarter before +nine, whom should he see walking hurriedly towards his cab but the +gentleman in the fur coat and cap, who got in quickly and told the +driver to take him at once to the Hotel Cecil. This, cabby declared, had +occurred at a quarter before nine. Still Sir Arthur Inglewood made no +comment, and Mr. Francis Smethurst, in the crowded, stuffy court, had +calmly dropped to sleep. + +"The next witness, Constable Thomas Taylor, had noticed a shabbily +dressed individual, with shaggy hair and beard, loafing about the +station and waiting-rooms in the afternoon of December the 10th. He +seemed to be watching the arrival platform of the Tilbury and Southend +trains. + +"Two separate and independent witnesses, cleverly unearthed by the +police, had seen this same shabbily dressed individual stroll into the +first-class waiting-room at about 6.15 on Wednesday, December the 10th, +and go straight up to a gentleman in a heavy fur coat and cap, who had +also just come into the room. The two talked together for a while; no +one heard what they said, but presently they walked off together. No one +seemed to know in which direction. + +"Francis Smethurst was rousing himself from his apathy; he whispered to +his lawyer, who nodded with a bland smile of encouragement. The employés +of the Hotel Cecil gave evidence as to the arrival of Mr. Smethurst at +about 9.30 p.m. on Wednesday, December the 10th, in a cab, with a +quantity of luggage; and this closed the case for the prosecution. + +"Everybody in that court already _saw_ Smethurst mounting the gallows. +It was uninterested curiosity which caused the elegant audience to wait +and hear what Sir Arthur Inglewood had to say. He, of course, is the +most fashionable man in the law at the present moment. His lolling +attitudes, his drawling speech, are quite the rage, and imitated by the +gilded youth of society. + +"Even at this moment, when the Siberian millionaire's neck literally and +metaphorically hung in the balance, an expectant titter went round the +fair spectators as Sir Arthur stretched out his long loose limbs and +lounged across the table. He waited to make his effect--Sir Arthur is a +born actor--and there is no doubt that he made it, when in his slowest, +most drawly tones he said quietly; + +"'With regard to this alleged murder of one William Kershaw, on +Wednesday, December the 10th, between 6.15 and 8.45 p.m., your Honour, I +now propose to call two witnesses, who saw this same William Kershaw +alive on Tuesday afternoon, December the 16th, that is to say, six days +after the supposed murder.' + +"It was as if a bombshell had exploded in the court. Even his Honour was +aghast, and I am sure the lady next to me only recovered from the shock +of the surprise in order to wonder whether she need put off her dinner +party after all. + +"As for me," added the man in the corner, with that strange mixture of +nervousness and self-complacency which had set Miss Polly Burton +wondering, "well, you see, _I_ had made up my mind long ago where the +hitch lay in this particular case, and I was not so surprised as some of +the others. + +"Perhaps you remember the wonderful development of the case, which so +completely mystified the police--and in fact everybody except myself. +Torriani and a waiter at his hotel in the Commercial Road both deposed +that at about 3.30 p.m. on December the 10th a shabbily dressed +individual lolled into the coffee-room and ordered some tea. He was +pleasant enough and talkative, told the waiter that his name was William +Kershaw, that very soon all London would be talking about him, as he was +about, through an unexpected stroke of good fortune, to become a very +rich man, and so on, and so on, nonsense without end. + +"When he had finished his tea he lolled out again, but no sooner had he +disappeared down a turning of the road than the waiter discovered an old +umbrella, left behind accidentally by the shabby, talkative individual. +As is the custom in his highly respectable restaurant, Signor Torriani +put the umbrella carefully away in his office, on the chance of his +customer calling to claim it when he had discovered his loss. And sure +enough nearly a week later, on Tuesday, the 16th, at about 1 p.m., the +same shabbily dressed individual called and asked for his umbrella. He +had some lunch, and chatted once again to the waiter. Signor Torriani +and the waiter gave a description of William Kershaw, which coincided +exactly with that given by Mrs. Kershaw of her husband. + +"Oddly enough he seemed to be a very absent-minded sort of person, for +on this second occasion, no sooner had he left than the waiter found a +pocket-book in the coffee-room, underneath the table. It contained +sundry letters and bills, all addressed to William Kershaw. This +pocket-book was produced, and Karl Müller, who had returned to the +court, easily identified it as having belonged to his dear and lamented +friend 'Villiam.' + +"This was the first blow to the case against the accused. It was a +pretty stiff one, you will admit. Already it had begun to collapse like +a house of cards. Still, there was the assignation, and the undisputed +meeting between Smethurst and Kershaw, and those two and a half hours of +a foggy evening to satisfactorily account for." + +The man in the corner made a long pause, keeping the girl on +tenterhooks. He had fidgeted with his bit of string till there was not +an inch of it free from the most complicated and elaborate knots. + +"I assure you," he resumed at last, "that at that very moment the whole +mystery was, to me, as clear as daylight. I only marvelled how his +Honour could waste his time and mine by putting what he thought were +searching questions to the accused relating to his past. Francis +Smethurst, who had quite shaken off his somnolence, spoke with a curious +nasal twang, and with an almost imperceptible soupçon of foreign accent, +He calmly denied Kershaw's version of his past; declared that he had +never been called Barker, and had certainly never been mixed up in any +murder case thirty years ago. + +"'But you knew this man Kershaw,' persisted his Honour, 'since you wrote +to him?' + +"'Pardon me, your Honour,' said the accused quietly, 'I have never, to +my knowledge, seen this man Kershaw, and I can swear that I never wrote +to him.' + +"'Never wrote to him?' retorted his Honour warningly. 'That is a strange +assertion to make when I have two of your letters to him in my hands at +the present moment.' + +"'I never wrote those letters, your Honour,' persisted the accused +quietly, 'they are not in my handwriting.' + +"'Which we can easily prove,' came in Sir Arthur Inglewood's drawly +tones, as he handed up a packet to his Honour; 'here are a number of +letters written by my client since he has landed in this country, and +some of which were written under my very eyes.' + +"As Sir Arthur Inglewood had said, this could be easily proved, and the +prisoner, at his Honour's request, scribbled a few lines, together with +his signature, several times upon a sheet of note-paper. It was easy to +read upon the magistrate's astounded countenance, that there was not the +slightest similarity in the two handwritings. + +"A fresh mystery had cropped up. Who, then, had made the assignation +with William Kershaw at Fenchurch Street railway station? The prisoner +gave a fairly satisfactory account of the employment of his time since +his landing in England. + +"'I came over on the _Tsarskoe Selo_,' he said, 'a yacht belonging to a +friend of mine. When we arrived at the mouth of the Thames there was +such a dense fog that it was twenty-four hours before it was thought +safe for me to land. My friend, who is a Russian, would not land at all; +he was regularly frightened at this land of fogs. He was going on to +Madeira immediately. + +"'I actually landed on Tuesday, the 10th, and took a train at once for +town. I did see to my luggage and a cab, as the porter and driver told +your Honour; then I tried to find my way to a refreshment-room, where I +could get a glass of wine. I drifted into the waiting-room, and there I +was accosted by a shabbily dressed individual, who began telling me a +piteous tale. Who he was I do not know. He _said_ he was an old soldier +who had served his country faithfully, and then been left to starve. He +begged of me to accompany him to his lodgings, where I could see his +wife and starving children, and verify the truth and piteousness of his +tale. + +"'Well, your Honour,' added the prisoner with noble frankness, 'it was +my first day in the old country. I had come back after thirty years with +my pockets full of gold, and this was the first sad tale I had heard; +but I am a business man, and did not want to be exactly "done" in the +eye. I followed my man through the fog, out into the streets. He walked +silently by my side for a time. I had not a notion where I was. + +"'Suddenly I turned to him with some question, and realized in a moment +that my gentleman had given me the slip. Finding, probably, that I would +not part with my money till I _had_ seen the starving wife and children, +he left me to my fate, and went in search of more willing bait. + +"'The place where I found myself was dismal and deserted. I could see no +trace of cab or omnibus. I retraced my steps and tried to find my way +back to the station, only to find myself in worse and more deserted +neighbourhoods. I became hopelessly lost and fogged. I don't wonder that +two and a half hours elapsed while I thus wandered on in the dark and +deserted streets; my sole astonishment is that I ever found the station +at all that night, or rather close to it a policeman, who showed me the +way.' + +"'But how do you account for Kershaw knowing all your movements?' still +persisted his Honour, 'and his knowing the exact date of your arrival +in England? How do you account for these two letters, in fact?' + +"'I cannot account for it or them, your Honour,' replied the prisoner +quietly. 'I have proved to you, have I not, that I never wrote those +letters, and that the man--er--Kershaw is his name?--was not murdered by +me?' + +"'Can you tell me of anyone here or abroad who might have heard of your +movements, and of the date of your arrival?' + +"'My late employés at Vladivostok, of course, knew of my departure, but +none of them could have written these letters, since none of them know a +word of English.' + +"'Then you can throw no light upon these mysterious letters? You cannot +help the police in any way towards the clearing up of this strange +affair?' + +"'The affair is as mysterious to me as to your Honour, and to the police +of this country.' + +"Francis Smethurst was discharged, of course; there was no semblance of +evidence against him sufficient to commit him for trial. The two +overwhelming points of his defence which had completely routed the +prosecution were, firstly, the proof that he had never written the +letters making the assignation, and secondly, the fact that the man +supposed to have been murdered on the 10th was seen to be alive and +well on the 16th. But then, who in the world was the mysterious +individual who had apprised Kershaw of the movements of Smethurst, the +millionaire?" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HIS DEDUCTION + + +The man in the corner cocked his funny thin head on one side and looked +at Polly; then he took up his beloved bit of string and deliberately +untied every knot he had made in it. When it was quite smooth he laid it +out upon the table. + +"I will take you, if you like, point by point along the line of +reasoning which I followed myself, and which will inevitably lead you, +as it led me, to the only possible solution of the mystery. + +"First take this point," he said with nervous restlessness, once more +taking up his bit of string, and forming with each point raised a series +of knots which would have shamed a navigating instructor, "obviously it +was _impossible_ for Kershaw not to have been acquainted with Smethurst, +since he was fully apprised of the latter's arrival in England by two +letters. Now it was clear to me from the first that _no one_ could have +written those two letters except Smethurst. You will argue that those +letters were proved not to have been written by the man in the dock. +Exactly. Remember, Kershaw was a careless man--he had lost both +envelopes. To him they were insignificant. Now it was never _disproved_ +that those letters were written by Smethurst." + +"But--" suggested Polly. + +"Wait a minute," he interrupted, while knot number two appeared upon the +scene, "it was proved that six days after the murder, William Kershaw +was alive, and visited the Torriani Hotel, where already he was known, +and where he conveniently left a pocket-book behind, so that there +should be no mistake as to his identity; but it was never questioned +where Mr. Francis Smethurst, the millionaire, happened to spend that +very same afternoon." + +"Surely, you don't mean?" gasped the girl. + +"One moment, please," he added triumphantly. "How did it come about that +the landlord of the Torriani Hotel was brought into court at all? How +did Sir Arthur Inglewood, or rather his client, know that William +Kershaw had on those two memorable occasions visited the hotel, and that +its landlord could bring such convincing evidence forward that would for +ever exonerate the millionaire from the imputation of murder?" + +"Surely," I argued, "the usual means, the police--" + +"The police had kept the whole affair very dark until the arrest at the +Hotel Cecil. They did not put into the papers the usual: 'If anyone +happens to know of the whereabouts, etc. etc'. Had the landlord of that +hotel heard of the disappearance of Kershaw through the usual channels, +he would have put himself in communication with the police. Sir Arthur +Inglewood produced him. How did Sir Arthur Inglewood come on his track?" + +"Surely, you don't mean?" + +"Point number four," he resumed imperturbably, "Mrs. Kershaw was never +requested to produce a specimen of her husband's handwriting. Why? +Because the police, clever as you say they are, never started on the +right tack. They believed William Kershaw to have been murdered; they +looked for William Kershaw. + +"On December the 31st, what was presumed to be the body of William +Kershaw was found by two lightermen: I have shown you a photograph of +the place where it was found. Dark and deserted it is in all conscience, +is it not? Just the place where a bully and a coward would decoy an +unsuspecting stranger, murder him first, then rob him of his valuables, +his papers, his very identity, and leave him there to rot. The body was +found in a disused barge which had been moored some time against the +wall, at the foot of these steps. It was in the last stages of +decomposition, and, of course, could not be identified; but the police +would have it that it was the body of William Kershaw. + +"It never entered their heads that it was the body of _Francis +Smethurst, and that William Kershaw was his murderer_. + +"Ah! it was cleverly, artistically conceived! Kershaw is a genius. Think +of it all! His disguise! Kershaw had a shaggy beard, hair, and +moustache. He shaved up to his very eyebrows! No wonder that even his +wife did not recognize him across the court; and remember she never saw +much of his face while he stood in the dock. Kershaw was shabby, +slouchy, he stooped. Smethurst, the millionaire, might have served in +the Prussian army. + +"Then that lovely trait about going to revisit the Torriani Hotel. Just +a few days' grace, in order to purchase moustache and beard and wig, +exactly similar to what he had himself shaved off. Making up to look +like himself! Splendid! Then leaving the pocket-book behind! He! he! he! +Kershaw was not murdered! Of course not. He called at the Torriani Hotel +six days after the murder, whilst Mr. Smethurst, the millionaire, +hobnobbed in the park with duchesses! Hang such a man! Fie!" + +He fumbled for his hat. With nervous, trembling fingers he held it +deferentially in his hand whilst he rose from the table. Polly watched +him as he strode up to the desk, and paid twopence for his glass of milk +and his bun. Soon he disappeared through the shop, whilst she still +found herself hopelessly bewildered, with a number of snap-shot +photographs before her, still staring at a long piece of string, +smothered from end to end in a series of knots, as bewildering, as +irritating, as puzzling as the man who had lately sat in the corner. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ROBBERY IN PHILLIMORE TERRACE + + +Whether Miss Polly Burton really did expect to see the man in the corner +that Saturday afternoon, 'twere difficult to say; certain it is that +when she found her way to the table close by the window and realized +that he was not there, she felt conscious of an overwhelming sense of +disappointment. And yet during the whole of the week she had, with more +pride than wisdom, avoided this particular A.B.C. shop. + +"I thought you would not keep away very long," said a quiet voice close +to her ear. + +She nearly lost her balance--where in the world had he come from? She +certainly had not heard the slightest sound, and yet there he sat, in +the corner, like a veritable Jack-in-the-box, his mild blue eyes staring +apologetically at her, his nervous fingers toying with the inevitable +bit of string. + +The waitress brought him his glass of milk and a cheese-cake. He ate it +in silence, while his piece of string lay idly beside him on the table. +When he had finished he fumbled in his capacious pockets, and drew out +the inevitable pocket-book. + +Placing a small photograph before the girl, he said quietly: + +"That is the back of the houses in Phillimore Terrace, which overlook +Adam and Eve Mews." + +She looked at the photograph, then at him, with a kindly look of +indulgent expectancy. + +"You will notice that the row of back gardens have each an exit into the +mews. These mews are built in the shape of a capital F. The photograph +is taken looking straight down the short horizontal line, which ends, as +you see, in a _cul-de-sac_. The bottom of the vertical line turns into +Phillimore Terrace, and the end of the upper long horizontal line into +High Street, Kensington. Now, on that particular night, or rather early +morning, of January 15th, Constable D 21, having turned into the mews +from Phillimore Terrace, stood for a moment at the angle formed by the +long vertical artery of the mews and the short horizontal one which, as +I observed before, looks on to the back gardens of the Terrace houses, +and ends in a _cul-de-sac_. + +"How long D 21 stood at that particular corner he could not exactly say, +but he thinks it must have been three or four minutes before he noticed +a suspicious-looking individual shambling along under the shadow of the +garden walls. He was working his way cautiously in the direction of the +_cul-de-sac_, and D 21, also keeping well within the shadow, went +noiselessly after him. + +"He had almost overtaken him--was, in fact, not more than thirty yards +from him--when from out of one of the two end houses--No. 22, Phillimore +Terrace, in fact--a man, in nothing but his night-shirt, rushed out +excitedly, and, before D 21 had time to intervene, literally threw +himself upon the suspected individual, rolling over and over with him on +the hard cobble-stones, and frantically shrieking, 'Thief! Thief! +Police!' + +"It was some time before the constable succeeded in rescuing the tramp +from the excited grip of his assailant, and several minutes before he +could make himself heard. + +"'There! there! that'll do!' he managed to say at last, as he gave the +man in the shirt a vigorous shove, which silenced him for the moment. +'Leave the man alone now, you mustn't make that noise this time o' +night, wakin' up all the folks.' The unfortunate tramp, who in the +meanwhile had managed to get onto his feet again, made no attempt to +get away; probably he thought he would stand but a poor chance. But the +man in the shirt had partly recovered his power of speech, and was now +blurting out jerky, half--intelligible sentences: + +"'I have been robbed--robbed--I--that is--my master--Mr. Knopf. The desk +is open--the diamonds gone--all in my charge--and--now they are stolen! +That's the thief--I'll swear--I heard him--not three minutes ago--rushed +downstairs--the door into the garden was smashed--I ran across the +garden--he was sneaking about here still--Thief! Thief! Police! +Diamonds! Constable, don't let him go--I'll make you responsible if you +let him go--' + +"'Now then--that'll do!' admonished D 21 as soon as he could get a word +in, 'stop that row, will you?' + +"The man in the shirt was gradually recovering from his excitement. + +"'Can I give this man in charge?' he asked. + +"'What for?' + +"'Burglary and housebreaking. I heard him, I tell you. He must have Mr. +Knopf's diamonds about him at this moment.' + +"'Where is Mr. Knopf?' + +"'Out of town,' groaned the man in the shirt. 'He went to Brighton last +night, and left me in charge, and now this thief has been and--' + +"The tramp shrugged his shoulders and suddenly, without a word, he +quietly began taking off his coat and waistcoat. These he handed across +to the constable. Eagerly the man in the shirt fell on them, and turned +the ragged pockets inside out. From one of the windows a hilarious voice +made some facetious remark, as the tramp with equal solemnity began +divesting himself of his nether garments. + +"'Now then, stop that nonsense,' pronounced D 21 severely, 'what were +you doing here this time o' night, anyway?' + +"'The streets o' London is free to the public, ain't they?' queried the +tramp. + +"'This don't lead nowhere, my man.' + +"'Then I've lost my way, that's all,' growled the man surlily, 'and +p'raps you'll let me get along now.' + +"By this time a couple of constables had appeared upon the scene. D 21 +had no intention of losing sight of his friend the tramp, and the man in +the shirt had again made a dash for the latter's collar at the bare idea +that he should be allowed to 'get along.' + +"I think D 21 was alive to the humour of the situation. He suggested +that Robertson (the man in the night-shirt) should go in and get some +clothes on, whilst he himself would wait for the inspector and the +detective, whom D 15 would send round from the station immediately. + +"Poor Robertson's teeth were chattering with cold. He had a violent fit +of sneezing as D 21 hurried him into the house. The latter, with another +constable, remained to watch the burglared premises both back and +front, and D 15 took the wretched tramp to the station with a view to +sending an inspector and a detective round immediately. + +"When the two latter gentlemen arrived at No. 22, Phillimore Terrace, +they found poor old Robertson in bed, shivering, and still quite blue. +He had got himself a hot drink, but his eyes were streaming and his +voice was terribly husky. D 21 had stationed himself in the dining-room, +where Robertson had pointed the desk out to him, with its broken lock +and scattered contents. + +"Robertson, between his sneezes, gave what account he could of the +events which happened immediately before the robbery. + +"His master, Mr. Ferdinand Knopf, he said, was a diamond merchant, and a +bachelor. He himself had been in Mr. Knopf's employ over fifteen years, +and was his only indoor servant. A charwoman came every day to do the +housework. + +"Last night Mr. Knopf dined at the house of Mr. Shipman, at No. 26, +lower down. Mr. Shipman is the great jeweller who has his place of +business in South Audley Street. By the last post there came a letter +with the Brighton postmark, and marked 'urgent,' for Mr. Knopf, and he +(Robertson) was just wondering if he should run over to No. 26 with it, +when his master returned. He gave one glance at the contents of the +letter, asked for his A.B.C. Railway Guide, and ordered him (Robertson) +to pack his bag at once and fetch him a cab. + +"'I guessed what it was,' continued Robertson after another violent fit +of sneezing. 'Mr. Knopf has a brother, Mr. Emile Knopf, to whom he is +very much attached, and who is a great invalid. He generally goes about +from one seaside place to another. He is now at Brighton, and has +recently been very ill. + +"'If you will take the trouble to go downstairs I think you will still +find the letter lying on the hall table. + +"'I read it after Mr. Knopf left; it was not from his brother, but from +a gentleman who signed himself J. Collins, M.D. I don't remember the +exact words, but, of course, you'll be able to read the letter--Mr. J. +Collins said he had been called in very suddenly to see Mr. Emile Knopf, +who, he added, had not many hours to live, and had begged of the doctor +to communicate at once with his brother in London. + +"'Before leaving, Mr. Knopf warned me that there were some valuables in +his desk--diamonds mostly, and told me to be particularly careful about +locking up the house. He often has left me like this in charge of his +premises, and usually there have been diamonds in his desk, for Mr. +Knopf has no regular City office as he is a commercial traveller.' + +"This, briefly, was the gist of the matter which Robertson related to +the inspector with many repetitions and persistent volubility. + +"The detective and inspector, before returning to the station with their +report, thought they would call at No. 26, on Mr. Shipman, the great +jeweller. + +"You remember, of course," added the man in the corner, dreamily +contemplating his bit of string, "the exciting developments of this +extraordinary case. Mr. Arthur Shipman is the head of the firm of +Shipman and Co., the wealthy jewellers. He is a widower, and lives very +quietly by himself in his own old-fashioned way in the small Kensington +house, leaving it to his two married sons to keep up the style and +swagger befitting the representatives of so wealthy a firm. + +"'I have only known Mr. Knopf a very little while,' he explained to the +detectives. 'He sold me two or three stones once or twice, I think; but +we are both single men, and we have often dined together. Last night he +dined with me. He had that afternoon received a very fine consignment of +Brazilian diamonds, as he told me, and knowing how beset I am with +callers at my business place, he had brought the stones with him, +hoping, perhaps, to do a bit of trade over the nuts and wine. + +"'I bought £25,000 worth of him,' added the jeweller, as if he were +speaking of so many farthings, 'and gave him a cheque across the dinner +table for that amount. I think we were both pleased with our bargain, +and we had a final bottle of '48 port over it together. Mr. Knopf left +me at about 9.30, for he knows I go very early to bed, and I took my new +stock upstairs with me, and locked it up in the safe. I certainly heard +nothing of the noise in the mews last night. I sleep on the second +floor, in the front of the house, and this is the first I have heard of +poor Mr. Knopf's loss--' + +"At this point of his narrative Mr. Shipman very suddenly paused, and +his face became very pale. With a hasty word of excuse he +unceremoniously left the room, and the detective heard him running +quickly upstairs. + +"Less than two minutes later Mr. Shipman returned. There was no need for +him to speak; both the detective and the inspector guessed the truth in +a moment by the look upon his face. + +"'The diamonds!' he gasped. 'I have been robbed.'" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A NIGHT'S ADVENTURE + + +"Now I must tell you," continued the man in the corner, "that after I +had read the account of the double robbery, which appeared in the early +afternoon papers, I set to work and had a good think--yes!" he added +with a smile, noting Polly's look at the bit of string, on which he was +still at work, "yes! aided by this small adjunct to continued thought--I +made notes as to how I should proceed to discover the clever thief, who +had carried off a small fortune in a single night. Of course, my methods +are not those of a London detective; he has his own way of going to +work. The one who was conducting this case questioned the unfortunate +jeweller very closely about his servants and his household generally. + +"'I have three servants,' explained Mr. Shipman, two of whom have been +with me for many years; one, the housemaid, is a fairly new comer--she +has been here about six months. She came recommended by a friend, and +bore an excellent character. She and the parlourmaid room together. The +cook, who knew me when I was a schoolboy, sleeps alone; all three +servants sleep on the floor above. I locked the jewels up in the safe +which stands in the dressing-room. My keys and watch I placed, as usual, +beside my bed. As a rule, I am a fairly light sleeper. + +"'I cannot understand how it could have happened--but--you had better +come up and have a look at the safe. The key must have been abstracted +from my bedside, the safe opened, and the keys replaced--all while I was +fast asleep. Though I had no occasion to look into the safe until just +now, I should have discovered my loss before going to business, for I +intended to take the diamonds away with me--' + +"The detective and the inspector went up to have a look at the safe. The +lock had in no way been tampered with--it had been opened with its own +key. The detective spoke of chloroform, but Mr. Shipman declared that +when he woke in the morning at about half-past seven there was no smell +of chloroform in the room. However, the proceedings of the daring thief +certainly pointed to the use of an anaesthetic. An examination of the +premises brought to light the fact that the burglar had, as in Mr. +Knopf's house, used the glass-panelled door from the garden as a means +of entrance, but in this instance he had carefully cut out the pane of +glass with a diamond, slipped the bolts, turned the key, and walked in. + +"'Which among your servants knew that you had the diamonds in your house +last night, Mr. Shipman?' asked the detective. + +"'Not one, I should say,' replied the jeweller, 'though, perhaps, the +parlourmaid, whilst waiting at table, may have heard me and Mr. Knopf +discussing our bargain.' + +"'Would you object to my searching all your servants' boxes?' + +"'Certainly not. They would not object, either, I am sure. They are +perfectly honest.' + +"The searching of servants' belongings is invariably a useless +proceeding," added the man in the corner, with a shrug of the shoulders. +"No one, not even a latter-day domestic, would be fool enough to keep +stolen property in the house. However, the usual farce was gone through, +with more or less protest on the part of Mr. Shipman's servants, and +with the usual result. + +"The jeweller could give no further information; the detective and +inspector, to do them justice, did their work of investigation minutely +and, what is more, intelligently. It seemed evident, from their +deductions, that the burglar had commenced proceedings on No. 26, +Phillimore Terrace, and had then gone on, probably climbing over the +garden walls between the houses to No. 22, where he was almost caught in +the act by Robertson. The facts were simple enough, but the mystery +remained as to the individual who had managed to glean the information +of the presence of the diamonds in both the houses, and the means which +he had adopted to get that information. It was obvious that the thief or +thieves knew more about Mr. Knopf's affairs than Mr. Shipman's, since +they had known how to use Mr. Emile Knopf's name in order to get his +brother out of the way. + +"It was now nearly ten o'clock, and the detectives, having taken leave +of Mr. Shipman, went back to No. 22, in order to ascertain whether Mr. +Knopf had come back; the door was opened by the old charwoman, who said +that her master had returned, and was having some breakfast in the +dining-room. + +"Mr. Ferdinand Knopf was a middle-aged man, with sallow complexion, +black hair and beard, of obviously Hebrew extraction. He spoke with a +marked foreign accent, but very courteously, to the two officials, who, +he begged, would excuse him if he went on with his breakfast. + +"'I was fully prepared to hear the bad news,' he explained, 'which my +man Robertson told me when I arrived. The letter I got last night was a +bogus one; there is no such person as J. Collins, M.D. My brother had +never felt better in his life. You will, I am sure, very soon trace the +cunning writer of that epistle--ah! but I was in a rage, I can tell +you, when I got to the Metropole at Brighton, and found that Emile, my +brother, had never heard of any Doctor Collins. + +"'The last train to town had gone, although I raced back to the station +as hard as I could. Poor old Robertson, he has a terrible cold. Ah yes! +my loss! it is for me a very serious one; if I had not made that lucky +bargain with Mr. Shipman last night I should, perhaps, at this moment be +a ruined man. + +"'The stones I had yesterday were, firstly, some magnificent Brazilians; +these I sold to Mr. Shipman mostly. Then I had some very good Cape +diamonds--all gone; and some quite special Parisians, of wonderful work +and finish, entrusted to me for sale by a great French house. I tell +you, sir, my loss will be nearly £10,000 altogether. I sell on +commission, and, of course, have to make good the loss.' + +"He was evidently trying to bear up manfully, and as a business man +should, under his sad fate. He refused in any way to attach the +slightest blame to his old and faithful servant Robertson, who had +caught, perhaps, his death of cold in his zeal for his absent master. As +for any hint of suspicion falling even remotely upon the man, the very +idea appeared to Mr. Knopf absolutely preposterous. + +"With regard to the old charwoman, Mr. Knopf certainly knew nothing +about her, beyond the fact that she had been recommended to him by one +of the tradespeople in the neighbourhood, and seemed perfectly honest, +respectable, and sober. + +"About the tramp Mr. Knopf knew still less, nor could he imagine how he, +or in fact anybody else, could possibly know that he happened to have +diamonds in his house that night. + +"This certainly seemed the great hitch in the case. + +"Mr. Ferdinand Knopf, at the instance of the police, later on went to +the station and had a look at the suspected tramp. He declared that he +had never set eyes on him before. + +"Mr. Shipman, on his way home from business in the afternoon, had done +likewise, and made a similar statement. + +"Brought before the magistrate, the tramp gave but a poor account of +himself. He gave a name and address, which latter, of course, proved to +be false. After that he absolutely refused to speak. He seemed not to +care whether he was kept in custody or not. Very soon even the police +realized that, for the present, at any rate, nothing could be got out of +the suspected tramp. + +"Mr. Francis Howard, the detective, who had charge of the case, though +he would not admit it even to himself, was at his wits' ends. You must +remember that the burglary, through its very simplicity, was an +exceedingly mysterious affair. The constable, D 21, who had stood in +Adam and Eve Mews, presumably while Mr. Knopf's house was being robbed, +had seen no one turn out from the _cul-de-sac_ into the main passage of +the mews. + +"The stables, which immediately faced the back entrance of the +Phillimore Terrace houses, were all private ones belonging to residents +in the neighbourhood. The coachmen, their families, and all the grooms +who slept in the stablings were rigidly watched and questioned. One and +all had seen nothing, heard nothing, until Robertson's shrieks had +roused them from their sleep. + +"As for the letter from Brighton, it was absolutely commonplace, and +written upon note-paper which the detective, with Machiavellian cunning, +traced to a stationer's shop in West Street. But the trade at that +particular shop was a very brisk one; scores of people had bought +note-paper there, similar to that on which the supposed doctor had +written his tricky letter. The handwriting was cramped, perhaps a +disguised one; in any case, except under very exceptional circumstances, +it could afford no clue to the identity of the thief. Needless to say, +the tramp, when told to write his name, wrote a totally different and +absolutely uneducated hand. + +"Matters stood, however, in the same persistently mysterious state when +a small discovery was made, which suggested to Mr. Francis Howard an +idea, which, if properly carried out, would, he hoped, inevitably bring +the cunning burglar safely within the grasp of the police. + +"That was the discovery of a few of Mr. Knopf's diamonds," continued the +man in the corner after a slight pause, "evidently trampled into the +ground by the thief whilst making his hurried exit through the garden of +No. 22, Phillimore Terrace. + +"At the end of this garden there is a small studio which had been built +by a former owner of the house, and behind it a small piece of waste +ground about seven feet square which had once been a rockery, and is +still filled with large loose stones, in the shadow of which earwigs and +woodlice innumerable have made a happy hunting ground. + +"It was Robertson who, two days after the robbery, having need of a +large stone, for some household purpose or other, dislodged one from +that piece of waste ground, and found a few shining pebbles beneath it. +Mr. Knopf took them round to the police-station himself immediately, and +identified the stones as some of his Parisian ones. + +"Later on the detective went to view the place where the find had been +made, and there conceived the plan upon which he built big cherished +hopes. + +"Acting upon the advice of Mr. Francis Howard, the police decided to let +the anonymous tramp out of his safe retreat within the station, and to +allow him to wander whithersoever he chose. A good idea, perhaps--the +presumption being that, sooner or later, if the man was in any way mixed +up with the cunning thieves, he would either rejoin his comrades or even +lead the police to where the remnant of his hoard lay hidden; needless +to say, his footsteps were to be literally dogged. + +"The wretched tramp, on his discharge, wandered out of the yard, +wrapping his thin coat round his shoulders, for it was a bitterly cold +afternoon. He began operations by turning into the Town Hall Tavern for +a good feed and a copious drink. Mr. Francis Howard noted that he seemed +to eye every passer-by with suspicion, but he seemed to enjoy his +dinner, and sat some time over his bottle of wine. + +"It was close upon four o'clock when he left the tavern, and then began +for the indefatigable Mr. Howard one of the most wearisome and +uninteresting chases, through the mazes of the London streets, he ever +remembers to have made. Up Notting Hill, down the slums of Notting +Dale, along the High Street, beyond Hammersmith, and through Shepherd's +Bush did that anonymous tramp lead the unfortunate detective, never +hurrying himself, stopping every now and then at a public-house to get a +drink, whither Mr. Howard did not always care to follow him. + +"In spite of his fatigue, Mr. Francis Howard's hopes rose with every +half-hour of this weary tramp. The man was obviously striving to kill +time; he seemed to feel no weariness, but walked on and on, perhaps +suspecting that he was being followed. + +"At last, with a beating heart, though half perished with cold, and with +terribly sore feet, the detective began to realize that the tramp was +gradually working his way back towards Kensington. It was then close +upon eleven o'clock at night; once or twice the man had walked up and +down the High Street, from St. Paul's School to Derry and Toms' shops +and back again, he had looked down one or two of the side streets +and--at last--he turned into Phillimore Terrace. He seemed in no hurry, +he oven stopped once in the middle of the road, trying to light a pipe, +which, as there was a high east wind, took him some considerable time. +Then he leisurely sauntered down the street, and turned into Adam and +Eve Mews, with Mr. Francis Howard now close at his heels. + +"Acting upon the detective's instructions, there were several men in +plain clothes ready to his call in the immediate neighbourhood. Two +stood within the shadow of the steps of the Congregational Church at the +corner of the mews, others were stationed well within a soft call. + +"Hardly, therefore, had the hare turned into the _cul-de-sac_ at the +back of Phillimore Terrace than, at a slight sound from Mr. Francis +Howard, every egress was barred to him, and he was caught like a rat in +a trap. + +"As soon as the tramp had advanced some thirty yards or so (the whole +length of this part of the mews is about one hundred yards) and was lost +in the shadow, Mr. Francis Howard directed four or five of his men to +proceed cautiously up the mews, whilst the same number were to form a +line all along the front of Phillimore Terrace between the mews and the +High Street. + +"Remember, the back-garden walls threw long and dense shadows, but the +silhouette of the man would be clearly outlined if he made any attempt +at climbing over them. Mr. Howard felt quite sure that the thief was +bent on recovering the stolen goods, which, no doubt, he had hidden in +the rear of one of the houses. He would be caught _in flagrante +delicto_, and, with a heavy sentence hovering over him, he would +probably be induced to name his accomplice. Mr. Francis Howard was +thoroughly enjoying himself. + +"The minutes sped on; absolute silence, in spite of the presence of so +many men, reigned in the dark and deserted mews. + +"Of course, this night's adventure was never allowed to get into the +papers," added the man in the corner with his mild smile. "Had the plan +been successful, we should have heard all about it, with a long +eulogistic article as to the astuteness of our police; but as it +was--well, the tramp sauntered up the mews--and--there he remained for +aught Mr. Francis Howard or the other constables could ever explain. The +earth or the shadows swallowed him up. No one saw him climb one of the +garden walls, no one heard him break open a door; he had retreated +within the shadow of the garden walls, and was seen or heard of no +more." + +"One of the servants in the Phillimore Terrace houses must have belonged +to the gang," said Polly with quick decision. + +"Ah, yes! but which?" said the man in the corner, making a beautiful +knot in his bit of string. "I can assure you that the police left not a +stone unturned once more to catch sight of that tramp whom they had had +in custody for two days, but not a trace of him could they find, nor of +the diamonds, from that day to this." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ALL HE KNEW + + +"The tramp was missing," continued the man in the corner, "and Mr. +Francis Howard tried to find the missing tramp. Going round to the +front, and seeing the lights at No. 26 still in, he called upon Mr. +Shipman. The jeweller had had a few friends to dinner, and was giving +them whiskies-and-sodas before saying good night. The servants had just +finished washing up, and were waiting to go to bed; neither they nor Mr. +Shipman nor his guests had seen or heard anything of the suspicious +individual. + +"Mr. Francis Howard went on to see Mr. Ferdinand Knopf. This gentleman +was having his warm bath, preparatory to going to bed. So Robertson told +the detective. However, Mr. Knopf insisted on talking to Mr. Howard +through his bath-room door. Mr. Knopf thanked him for all the trouble he +was taking, and felt sure that he and Mr. Shipman would soon recover +possession of their diamonds, thanks to the persevering detective. + +"He! he! he!" laughed the man in the corner. "Poor Mr. Howard. He +persevered--but got no farther; no, nor anyone else, for that matter. +Even I might not be able to convict the thieves if I told all I knew to +the police. + +"Now, follow my reasoning, point by point," he added eagerly. + +"Who knew of the presence of the diamonds in the house of Mr. Shipman +and Mr. Knopf? Firstly," he said, putting up an ugly claw-like finger, +"Mr. Shipman, then Mr. Knopf, then, presumably, the man Robertson." + +"And the tramp?" said Polly. + +"Leave the tramp alone for the present since he has vanished, and take +point number two. Mr. Shipman was drugged. That was pretty obvious; no +man under ordinary circumstances would, without waking, have his keys +abstracted and then replaced at his own bedside. Mr. Howard suggested +that the thief was armed with some anaesthetic; but how did the thief +get into Mr. Shipman's room without waking him from his natural sleep? +Is it not simpler to suppose that the thief had taken the precaution to +drug the jeweller _before_ the latter went to bed?" + +"But--" + +"Wait a moment, and take point number three. Though there was every +proof that Mr. Shipman had been in possession of £25,000 worth of goods +since Mr. Knopf had a cheque from him for that amount, there was no +proof that in Mr. Knopf's house there was even an odd stone worth a +sovereign. + +"And then again," went on the scarecrow, getting more and more excited, +"did it ever strike you, or anybody else, that at _no_ time, while the +tramp was in custody, while all that searching examination was being +gone on with, no one ever saw Mr. Knopf and his man Robertson together +at the same time? + +"Ah!" he continued, whilst suddenly the young girl seemed to see the +whole thing as in a vision, "they did not forget a single detail--follow +them with me, point by point. Two cunning scoundrels--geniuses they +should be called--well provided with some ill-gotten funds--but +determined on a grand _coup_. They play at respectability, for six +months, say. One is the master, the other the servant; they take a house +in the same street as their intended victim, make friends with him, +accomplish one or two creditable but very small business transactions, +always drawing on the reserve funds, which might even have amounted to a +few hundreds--and a bit of credit. + +"Then the Brazilian diamonds, and the Parisians--which, remember, were +so perfect that they required chemical testing to be detected. The +Parisian stones are sold--not in business, of course--in the evening, +after dinner and a good deal of wine. Mr. Knopf's Brazilians were +beautiful; perfect! Mr. Knopf was a well-known diamond merchant. + +"Mr. Shipman bought--but with the morning would have come sober sense, +the cheque stopped before it could have been presented, the swindler +caught. No! those exquisite Parisians were never intended to rest in Mr. +Shipman's safe until the morning. That last bottle of '48 port, with the +aid of a powerful soporific, ensured that Mr. Shipman would sleep +undisturbed during the night. + +"Ah! remember all the details, they were so admirable! the letter posted +in Brighton by the cunning rogue to himself, the smashed desk, the +broken pane of glass in his own house. The man Robertson on the watch, +while Knopf himself in ragged clothing found his way into No. 26. If +Constable D 21 had not appeared upon the scene that exciting comedy in +the early morning would not have been enacted. As it was, in the +supposed fight, Mr. Shipman's diamonds passed from the hands of the +tramp into those of his accomplice. + +"Then, later on, Robertson, ill in bed, while his master was supposed to +have returned--by the way, it never struck anybody that no one saw Mr. +Knopf come home, though he surely would have driven up in a cab. Then +the double part played by one man for the next two days. It certainly +never struck either the police or the inspector. Remember they only saw +Robertson when in bed with a streaming cold. But Knopf had to be got out +of gaol as soon as possible; the dual _rôle_ could not have been kept up +for long. Hence the story of the diamonds found in the garden of No. 22. +The cunning rogues guessed that the usual plan would be acted upon, and +the suspected thief allowed to visit the scene where his hoard lay +hidden. + +"It had all been foreseen, and Robertson must have been constantly on +the watch. The tramp stopped, mind you, in Phillimore Terrace for some +moments, lighting a pipe. The accomplice, then, was fully on the alert; +he slipped the bolts of the back garden gate. Five minutes later Knopf +was in the house, in a hot bath, getting rid of the disguise of our +friend the tramp. Remember that again here the detective did not +actually see him. + +"The next morning Mr. Knopf, black hair and beard and all, was himself +again. The whole trick lay in one simple art, which those two cunning +rascals knew to absolute perfection, the art of impersonating one +another. + +"They are brothers, presumably--twin brothers, I should say." + +"But Mr. Knopf--" suggested Polly. + +"Well, look in the Trades' Directory; you will see F. Knopf & Co., +diamond merchants, of some City address. Ask about the firm among the +trade; you will hear that it is firmly established on a sound financial +basis. He! he! he! and it deserves to be," added the man in the corner, +as, calling for the waitress, he received his ticket, and taking up his +shabby hat, took himself and his bit of string rapidly out of the room. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE YORK MYSTERY + + +The man in the corner looked quite cheerful that morning; he had had two +glasses of milk and had even gone to the extravagance of an extra +cheese-cake. Polly knew that he was itching to talk police and murders, +for he cast furtive glances at her from time to time, produced a bit of +string, tied and untied it into scores of complicated knots, and +finally, bringing out his pocket-book, he placed two or three +photographs before her. + +"Do you know who that is?" he asked, pointing to one of these. + +The girl looked at the face on the picture. It was that of a woman, not +exactly pretty, but very gentle and childlike, with a strange pathetic +look in the large eyes which was wonderfully appealing. + +"That was Lady Arthur Skelmerton," he said, and in a flash there flitted +before Polly's mind the weird and tragic history which had broken this +loving woman's heart. Lady Arthur Skelmerton! That name recalled one of +the most bewildering, most mysterious passages in the annals of +undiscovered crimes. + +"Yes. It was sad, wasn't it?" he commented, in answer to Polly's +thoughts. "Another case which but for idiotic blunders on the part of +the police must have stood clear as daylight before the public and +satisfied general anxiety. Would you object to my recapitulating its +preliminary details?" + +She said nothing, so he continued without waiting further for a reply. + +"It all occurred during the York racing week, a time which brings to the +quiet cathedral city its quota of shady characters, who congregate +wherever money and wits happen to fly away from their owners. Lord +Arthur Skelmerton, a very well-known figure in London society and in +racing circles, had rented one of the fine houses which overlook the +racecourse. He had entered Peppercorn, by St. Armand--Notre Dame, for +the Great Ebor Handicap. Peppercorn was the winner of the Newmarket, and +his chances for the Ebor were considered a practical certainty. + +"If you have ever been to York you will have noticed the fine houses +which have their drive and front entrances in the road called 'The +Mount.' and the gardens of which extend as far as the racecourse, +commanding a lovely view over the entire track. It was one of these +houses, called 'The Elms,' which Lord Arthur Skelmerton had rented for +the summer. + +"Lady Arthur came down some little time before the racing week with her +servants--she had no children; but she had many relatives and friends in +York, since she was the daughter of old Sir John Etty, the cocoa +manufacturer, a rigid Quaker, who, it was generally said, kept the +tightest possible hold on his own purse-strings and looked with marked +disfavour upon his aristocratic son-in-law's fondness for gaming tables +and betting books. + +"As a matter of fact, Maud Etty had married the handsome young +lieutenant in the Hussars, quite against her father's wishes. But she +was an only child, and after a good deal of demur and grumbling, Sir +John, who idolized his daughter, gave way to her whim, and a reluctant +consent to the marriage was wrung from him. + +"But, as a Yorkshireman, he was far too shrewd a man of the world not to +know that love played but a very small part in persuading a Duke's son +to marry the daughter of a cocoa manufacturer, and as long as he lived +he determined that since his daughter was being wed because of her +wealth, that wealth should at least secure her own happiness. He refused +to give Lady Arthur any capital, which, in spite of the most carefully +worded settlements, would inevitably, sooner or later, have found its +way into the pockets of Lord Arthur's racing friends. But he made his +daughter a very handsome allowance, amounting to over £3000 a year, +which enabled her to keep up an establishment befitting her new rank. + +"A great many of these facts, intimate enough as they are, leaked out, +you see, during that period of intense excitement which followed the +murder of Charles Lavender, and when the public eye was fixed +searchingly upon Lord Arthur Skelmerton, probing all the inner details +of his idle, useless life. + +"It soon became a matter of common gossip that poor little Lady Arthur +continued to worship her handsome husband in spite of his obvious +neglect, and not having as yet presented him with an heir, she settled +herself down into a life of humble apology for her plebeian existence, +atoning for it by condoning all his faults and forgiving all his vices, +even to the extent of cloaking them before the prying eyes of Sir John, +who was persuaded to look upon his son-in-law as a paragon of all the +domestic virtues and a perfect model of a husband. + +"Among Lord Arthur Skelmerton's many expensive tastes there was +certainly that for horseflesh and cards. After some successful betting +at the beginning of his married life, he had started a racing-stable +which it was generally believed--as he was very lucky--was a regular +source of income to him. + +"Peppercorn, however, after his brilliant performances at Newmarket did +not continue to fulfil his master's expectations. His collapse at York +was attributed to the hardness of the course and to various other +causes, but its immediate effect was to put Lord Arthur Skelmerton in +what is popularly called a tight place, for he had backed his horse for +all he was worth, and must have stood to lose considerably over £5000 on +that one day. + +"The collapse of the favourite and the grand victory of King Cole, a +rank outsider, on the other hand, had proved a golden harvest for the +bookmakers, and all the York hotels were busy with dinners and suppers +given by the confraternity of the Turf to celebrate the happy occasion. +The next day was Friday, one of few important racing events, after which +the brilliant and the shady throng which had flocked into the venerable +city for the week would fly to more congenial climes, and leave it, with +its fine old Minster and its ancient walls, as sleepy, as quiet as +before. + +"Lord Arthur Skelmerton also intended to leave York on the Saturday, and +on the Friday night he gave a farewell bachelor dinner party at 'The +Elms,' at which Lady Arthur did not appear. After dinner the gentlemen +settled down to bridge, with pretty stiff points, you may be sure. It +had just struck eleven at the Minster Tower, when constables McNaught +and Murphy, who were patrolling the racecourse, were startled by loud +cries of 'murder' and 'police.' + +"Quickly ascertaining whence these cries proceeded, they hurried on at a +gallop, and came up--quite close to the boundary of Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's grounds--upon a group of three men, two of whom seemed to +be wrestling vigorously with one another, whilst the third was lying +face downwards on the ground. As soon as the constables drew near, one +of the wrestlers shouted more vigorously, and with a certain tone of +authority: + +"'Here, you fellows, hurry up, sharp; the brute is giving me the slip!' + +"But the brute did not seem inclined to do anything of the sort; he +certainly extricated himself with a violent jerk from his assailant's +grasp, but made no attempt to run away. The constables had quickly +dismounted, whilst he who had shouted for help originally added more +quietly: + +"'My name is Skelmerton. This is the boundary of my property. I was +smoking a cigar at the pavilion over there with a friend when I heard +loud voices, followed by a cry and a groan. I hurried down the steps, +and saw this poor fellow lying on the ground, with a knife sticking +between his shoulder-blades, and his murderer,' he added, pointing to +the man who stood quietly by with Constable McNaught's firm grip upon +his shoulder, 'still stooping over the body of his victim. I was too +late, I fear, to save the latter, but just in time to grapple with the +assassin--" + +"'It's a lie!' here interrupted the man hoarsely. 'I didn't do it, +constable; I swear I didn't do it. I saw him fall--I was coming along a +couple of hundred yards away, and I tried to see if the poor fellow was +dead. I swear I didn't do it.' + +"'You'll have to explain that to the inspector presently, my man,' was +Constable McNaught's quiet comment, and, still vigorously protesting his +innocence, the accused allowed himself to be led away, and the body was +conveyed to the station, pending fuller identification. + +"The next morning the papers were full of the tragedy; a column and a +half of the _York Herald_ was devoted to an account of Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's plucky capture of the assassin. The latter had continued to +declare his innocence, but had remarked, it appears, with grim humour, +that he quite saw he was in a tight place, out of which, however, he +would find it easy to extricate himself. He had stated to the police +that the deceased's name was Charles Lavender, a well-known bookmaker, +which fact was soon verified, for many of the murdered man's 'pals' +were still in the city. + +"So far the most pushing of newspaper reporters had been unable to glean +further information from the police; no one doubted, however, but that +the man in charge, who gave his name as George Higgins, had killed the +bookmaker for purposes of robbery. The inquest had been fixed for the +Tuesday after the murder. + +"Lord Arthur had been obliged to stay in York a few days, as his +evidence would be needed. That fact gave the case, perhaps, a certain +amount of interest as far as York and London 'society' were concerned. +Charles Lavender, moreover, was well known on the turf; but no bombshell +exploding beneath the walls of the ancient cathedral city could more +have astonished its inhabitants than the news which, at about five in +the afternoon on the day of the inquest, spread like wildfire throughout +the town. That news was that the inquest had concluded at three o'clock +with a verdict of 'Wilful murder against some person or persons +unknown,' and that two hours later the police had arrested Lord Arthur +Skelmerton at his private residence, 'The Elms,' and charged him on a +warrant with the murder of Charles Lavender, the bookmaker." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE CAPITAL CHARGE + + +"The police, it appears, instinctively feeling that some mystery lurked +round the death of the bookmaker and his supposed murderer's quiet +protestations of innocence, had taken a very considerable amount of +trouble in collecting all the evidence they could for the inquest which +might throw some light upon Charles Lavender's life, previous to his +tragic end. Thus it was that a very large array of witnesses was brought +before the coroner, chief among whom was, of course, Lord Arthur +Skelmerton. + +"The first witnesses called were the two constables, who deposed that, +just as the church clocks in the neighbourhood were striking eleven, +they had heard the cries for help, had ridden to the spot whence the +sounds proceeded, and had found the prisoner in the tight grasp of Lord +Arthur Skelmerton, who at once accused the man of murder, and gave him +in charge. Both constables gave the same version of the incident, and +both were positive as to the time when it occurred. + +"Medical evidence went to prove that the deceased had been stabbed from +behind between the shoulder-blades whilst he was walking, that the wound +was inflicted by a large hunting knife, which was produced, and which +had been left sticking in the wound. + +"Lord Arthur Skelmerton was then called and substantially repeated what +he had already told the constables. He stated, namely, that on the night +in question he had some gentlemen friends to dinner, and afterwards +bridge was played. He himself was not playing much, and at a few minutes +before eleven he strolled out with a cigar as far as the pavilion at the +end of his garden; he then heard the voices, the cry and the groan +previously described by him, and managed to hold the murderer down until +the arrival of the constables. + +"At this point the police proposed to call a witness, James Terry by +name and a bookmaker by profession, who had been chiefly instrumental in +identifying the deceased, a 'pal' of his. It was his evidence which +first introduced that element of sensation into the case which +culminated in the wildly exciting arrest of a Duke's son upon a capital +charge. + +"It appears that on the evening after the Ebor, Terry and Lavender were +in the bar of the Black Swan Hotel having drinks. + +"'I had done pretty well over Peppercorn's fiasco,' he explained, 'but +poor old Lavender was very much down in the dumps; he had held only a +few very small bets against the favourite, and the rest of the day had +been a poor one with him. I asked him if he had any bets with the owner +of Peppercorn, and he told me that he only held one for less than £500. + +"'I laughed and said that if he held one for £5000 it would make no +difference, as from what I had heard from the other fellows, Lord Arthur +Skelmerton must be about stumped. Lavender seemed terribly put out at +this, and swore he would get that £500 out of Lord Arthur, if no one +else got another penny from him. + +"'It's the only money I've made to-day,' he says to me. 'I mean to get +it.' + +"'You won't,' I says. + +"'I will,' he says. + +"'You will have to look pretty sharp about it then,' I says, 'for every +one will be wanting to get something, and first come first served.' + +"'Oh! He'll serve me right enough, never you mind!' says Lavender to me +with a laugh. 'If he don't pay up willingly, I've got that in my pocket +which will make him sit up and open my lady's eyes and Sir John Etty's +too about their precious noble lord.' + +"'Then he seemed to think he had gone too far, and wouldn't say anything +more to me about that affair. I saw him on the course the next day. I +asked him if he had got his £500. He said: "No, but I shall get it +to-day."' + +"Lord Arthur Skelmerton, after having given his own evidence, had left +the court; it was therefore impossible to know how he would take this +account, which threw so serious a light upon an association with the +dead man, of which he himself had said nothing. + +"Nothing could shake James Terry's account of the facts he had placed +before the jury, and when the police informed the coroner that they +proposed to place George Higgins himself in the witness-box, as his +evidence would prove, as it were, a complement and corollary of that of +Terry, the jury very eagerly assented. + +"If James Terry, the bookmaker, loud, florid, vulgar, was an +unprepossessing individual, certainly George Higgins, who was still +under the accusation of murder, was ten thousand times more so. + +"None too clean, slouchy, obsequious yet insolent, he was the very +personification of the cad who haunts the racecourse and who lives not +so much by his own wits as by the lack of them in others. He described +himself as a turf commission agent, whatever that may be. + +"He stated that at about six o'clock on the Friday afternoon, when the +racecourse was still full of people, all hurrying after the day's +excitements, he himself happened to be standing close to the hedge which +marks the boundary of Lord Arthur Skelmerton's grounds. There is a +pavilion there at the end of the garden, he explained, on slightly +elevated ground, and he could hear and see a group of ladies and +gentlemen having tea. Some steps lead down a little to the left of the +garden on to the course, and presently he noticed at the bottom of these +steps Lord Arthur Skelmerton and Charles Lavender standing talking +together. He knew both gentlemen by sight, but he could not see them +very well as they were both partly hidden by the hedge. He was quite +sure that the gentlemen had not seen him, and he could not help +overhearing some of their conversation. + +"'That's my last word, Lavender,' Lord Arthur was saying very quietly. +'I haven't got the money and I can't pay you now. You'll have to wait.' + +"'Wait? I can't wait,' said old Lavender in reply. 'I've got my +engagements to meet, same as you. I'm not going to risk being posted up +as a defaulter while you hold £500 of my money. You'd better give it me +now or--' + +"But Lord Arthur interrupted him very quietly, and said: + +"'Yes, my good man.... or?' + +"'Or I'll let Sir John have a good look at that little bill I had of +yours a couple of years ago. If you'll remember, my lord, it has got at +the bottom of it Sir John's signature in _your_ handwriting. Perhaps +Sir John, or perhaps my lady, would pay me something for that little +bill. If not, the police can have a squint at it. I've held my tongue +long enough, and--' + +"'Look here, Lavender,' said Lord Arthur, 'do you know what this little +game of yours is called in law?' + +"'Yes, and I don't care,' says Lavender. 'If I don't have that £500 I am +a ruined man. If you ruin me I'll do for you, and we shall be quits. +That's my last word.' + +"He was talking very loudly, and I thought some of Lord Arthur's friends +up in the pavilion must have heard. He thought so, too, I think, for he +said quickly: + +"'If you don't hold your confounded tongue, I'll give you in charge for +blackmail this instant.' + +"'You wouldn't dare,' says Lavender, and he began to laugh. But just +then a lady from the top of the steps said: 'Your tea is getting cold,' +and Lord Arthur turned to go; but just before he went Lavender says to +him: 'I'll come back to-night. You'll have the money then.' + +"George Higgins, it appears, after he had heard this interesting +conversation, pondered as to whether he could not turn what he knew into +some sort of profit. Being a gentleman who lives entirely by his wits, +this type of knowledge forms his chief source of income. As a +preliminary to future moves, he decided not to lose sight of Lavender +for the rest of the day. + +"'Lavender went and had dinner at The Black Swan,' explained Mr. George +Higgins, 'and I, after I had had a bite myself, waited outside till I +saw him come out. At about ten o'clock I was rewarded for my trouble. He +told the hall porter to get him a fly and he jumped into it. I could not +hear what direction he gave the driver, but the fly certainly drove off +towards the racecourse. + +"'Now, I was interested in this little affair,' continued the witness, +'and I couldn't afford a fly. I started to run. Of course, I couldn't +keep up with it, but I thought I knew which way my gentleman had gone. I +made straight for the racecourse, and for the hedge at the bottom of +Lord Arthur Skelmerton's grounds. + +"'It was rather a dark night and there was a slight drizzle. I couldn't +see more than about a hundred yards before me. All at once it seemed to +me as if I heard Lavender's voice talking loudly in the distance. I +hurried forward, and suddenly saw a group of two figures--mere blurs in +the darkness--for one instant, at a distance of about fifty yards from +where I was. + +"'The next moment one figure had fallen forward and the other had +disappeared. I ran to the spot, only to find the body of the murdered +man lying on the ground. I stooped to see if I could be of any use to +him, and immediately I was collared from behind by Lord Arthur +himself.' + +"You may imagine," said the man in the corner, "how keen was the +excitement of that moment in court. Coroner and jury alike literally +hung breathless on every word that shabby, vulgar individual uttered. +You see, by itself his evidence would have been worth very little, but +coming on the top of that given by James Terry, its significance--more, +its truth--had become glaringly apparent. Closely cross-examined, he +adhered strictly to his statement; and having finished his evidence, +George Higgins remained in charge of the constables, and the next +witness of importance was called up. + +"This was Mr. Chipps, the senior footman in the employment of Lord +Arthur Skelmerton. He deposed that at about 10.30 on the Friday evening +a 'party' drove up to 'The Elms' in a fly, and asked to see Lord Arthur. +On being told that his lordship had company he seemed terribly put out. + +"'I hasked the party to give me 'is card,' continued Mr. Chipps, 'as I +didn't know, perhaps, that 'is lordship might wish to see 'im, but I +kept 'im standing at the 'all door, as I didn't altogether like his +looks. I took the card in. His lordship and the gentlemen was playin' +cards in the smoking-room, and as soon as I could do so without +disturbing 'is lordship, I give him the party's card.' + +"'What name was there on the card?' here interrupted the coroner. + +"'I couldn't say now, sir,' replied Mr. Chipps; 'I don't really +remember. It was a name I had never seen before. But I see so many +visiting cards one way and the other in 'is lordship's 'all that I can't +remember all the names.' + +"'Then, after a few minutes' waiting, you gave his lordship the card? +What happened then?' + +"''Is lordship didn't seem at all pleased,' said Mr. Chipps with much +guarded dignity; 'but finally he said: "Show him into the library, +Chipps, I'll see him," and he got up from the card table, saying to the +gentlemen: "Go on without me; I'll be back in a minute or two." + +"'I was about to open the door for 'is lordship when my lady came into +the room, and then his lordship suddenly changed his mind like, and said +to me: "Tell that man I'm busy and can't see him," and 'e sat down again +at the card table. I went back to the 'all, and told the party 'is +lordship wouldn't see 'im. 'E said: "Oh! it doesn't matter," and went +away quite quiet like.' + +"'Do you recollect at all at what time that was?' asked one of the jury. + +"'Yes, sir, while I was waiting to speak to 'is lordship I looked at +the clock, sir; it was twenty past ten, sir.' + +"There was one more significant fact in connection with the case, which +tended still more to excite the curiosity of the public at the time, and +still further to bewilder the police later on, and that fact was +mentioned by Chipps in his evidence. The knife, namely, with which +Charles Lavender had been stabbed, and which, remember, had been left in +the wound, was now produced in court. After a little hesitation Chipps +identified it as the property of his master, Lord Arthur Skelmerton. + +"Can you wonder, then, that the jury absolutely refused to bring in a +verdict against George Higgins? There was really, beyond Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's testimony, not one particle of evidence against him, +whilst, as the day wore on and witness after witness was called up, +suspicion ripened in the minds of all those present that the murderer +could be no other than Lord Arthur Skelmerton himself. + +"The knife was, of course, the strongest piece of circumstantial +evidence, and no doubt the police hoped to collect a great deal more now +that they held a clue in their hands. Directly after the verdict, +therefore, which was guardedly directed against some person unknown, the +police obtained a warrant and later on arrested Lord Arthur in his own +house." + +"The sensation, of course, was tremendous. Hours before he was brought +up before the magistrate the approach to the court was thronged. His +friends, mostly ladies, were all eager, you see, to watch the dashing +society man in so terrible a position. There was universal sympathy for +Lady Arthur, who was in a very precarious state of health. Her worship +of her worthless husband was well known; small wonder that his final and +awful misdeed had practically broken her heart. The latest bulletin +issued just after his arrest stated that her ladyship was not expected +to live. She was then in a comatose condition, and all hope had perforce +to be abandoned. + +"At last the prisoner was brought in. He looked very pale, perhaps, but +otherwise kept up the bearing of a high-bred gentleman. He was +accompanied by his solicitor, Sir Marmaduke Ingersoll, who was evidently +talking to him in quiet, reassuring tones. + +"Mr. Buchanan prosecuted for the Treasury, and certainly his indictment +was terrific. According to him but one decision could be arrived at, +namely, that the accused in the dock had, in a moment of passion, and +perhaps of fear, killed the blackmailer who threatened him with +disclosures which might for ever have ruined him socially, and, having +committed the deed and fearing its consequences, probably realizing that +the patrolling constables might catch sight of his retreating figure, +he had availed himself of George Higgins's presence on the spot to +loudly accuse him of the murder. + +"Having concluded his able speech, Mr. Buchanan called his witnesses, +and the evidence, which on second hearing seemed more damning than ever, +was all gone through again. + +"Sir Marmaduke had no question to ask of the witnesses for the +prosecution; he stared at them placidly through his gold-rimmed +spectacles. Then he was ready to call his own for the defence. Colonel +McIntosh, R.A., was the first. He was present at the bachelors' party +given by Lord Arthur the night of the murder. His evidence tended at +first to corroborate that of Chipps the footman with regard to Lord +Arthur's orders to show the visitor into the library, and his +counter-order as soon as his wife came into the room. + +"'Did you not think it strange, Colonel?' asked Mr. Buchanan, 'that Lord +Arthur should so suddenly have changed his mind about seeing his +visitor?' + +"'Well, not exactly strange,' said the Colonel, a fine, manly, soldierly +figure who looked curiously out of his element in the witness-box. 'I +don't think that it is a very rare occurrence for racing men to have +certain acquaintances whom they would not wish their wives to know +anything about.' + +"'Then it did not strike you that Lord Arthur Skelmerton had some +reason for not wishing his wife to know of that particular visitor's +presence in his house?' + +"'I don't think that I gave the matter the slightest serious +consideration,' was the Colonel's guarded reply. + +"Mr. Buchanan did not press the point, and allowed the witness to +conclude his statements. + +"'I had finished my turn at bridge,' he said, 'and went out into the +garden to smoke a cigar. Lord Arthur Skelmerton joined me a few minutes +later, and we were sitting in the pavilion when I heard a loud and, as I +thought, threatening voice from the other side of the hedge. + +"'I did not catch the words, but Lord Arthur said to me: "There seems to +be a row down there. I'll go and have a look and see what it is." I +tried to dissuade him, and certainly made no attempt to follow him, but +not more than half a minute could have elapsed before I heard a cry and +a groan, then Lord Arthur's footsteps hurrying down the wooden stairs +which lead on to the racecourse.' + +"You may imagine," said the man in the corner, "what severe +cross-examination the gallant Colonel had to undergo in order that his +assertions might in some way be shaken by the prosecution, but with +military precision and frigid calm he repeated his important statements +amidst a general silence, through which you could have heard the +proverbial pin. + +"He had heard the threatening voice _while_ sitting with Lord Arthur +Skelmerton; then came the cry and groan, and, _after that_, Lord +Arthur's steps down the stairs. He himself thought of following to see +what had happened, but it was a very dark night and he did not know the +grounds very well. While trying to find his way to the garden steps he +heard Lord Arthur's cry for help, the tramp of the patrolling +constables' horses, and subsequently the whole scene between Lord +Arthur, the man Higgins, and the constables. When he finally found his +way to the stairs, Lord Arthur was returning in order to send a groom +for police assistance. + +"The witness stuck to his points as he had to his guns at Beckfontein a +year ago; nothing could shake him, and Sir Marmaduke looked triumphantly +across at his opposing colleague. + +"With the gallant Colonel's statements the edifice of the prosecution +certainly began to collapse. You see, there was not a particle of +evidence to show that the accused had met and spoken to the deceased +after the latter's visit at the front door of 'The Elms.' He told Chipps +that he wouldn't see the visitor, and Chipps went into the hall directly +and showed Lavender out the way he came. No assignation could have been +made, no hint could have been given by the murdered man to Lord Arthur +that he would go round to the back entrance and wished to see him there. + +"Two other guests of Lord Arthur's swore positively that after Chipps +had announced the visitor, their host stayed at the card-table until a +quarter to eleven, when evidently he went out to join Colonel McIntosh +in the garden. Sir Marmaduke's speech was clever in the extreme. Bit by +bit he demolished that tower of strength, the case against the accused, +basing his defence entirely upon the evidence of Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's guests that night. + +"Until 10.45 Lord Arthur was playing cards; a quarter of an hour later +the police were on the scene, and the murder had been committed. In the +meanwhile Colonel McIntosh's evidence proved conclusively that the +accused had been sitting with him, smoking a cigar. It was obvious, +therefore, clear as daylight, concluded the great lawyer, that his +client was entitled to a full discharge; nay, more, he thought that the +police should have been more careful before they harrowed up public +feeling by arresting a high-born gentleman on such insufficient evidence +as they had brought forward. + +"The question of the knife remained certainly, but Sir Marmaduke passed +over it with guarded eloquence, placing that strange question in the +category of those inexplicable coincidences which tend to puzzle the +ablest detectives, and cause them to commit such unpardonable blunders +as the present one had been. After all, the footman may have been +mistaken. The pattern of that knife was not an exclusive one, and he, on +behalf of his client, flatly denied that it had ever belonged to him. + +"Well," continued the man in the corner, with the chuckle peculiar to +him in moments of excitement, "the noble prisoner was discharged. +Perhaps it would be invidious to say that he left the court without a +stain on his character, for I daresay you know from experience that the +crime known as the York Mystery has never been satisfactorily cleared +up. + +"Many people shook their heads dubiously when they remembered that, +after all, Charles Lavender was killed with a knife which one witness +had sworn belonged to Lord Arthur; others, again, reverted to the +original theory that George Higgins was the murderer, that he and James +Terry had concocted the story of Lavender's attempt at blackmail on Lord +Arthur, and that the murder had been committed for the sole purpose of +robbery. + +"Be that as it may, the police have not so far been able to collect +sufficient evidence against Higgins or Terry, and the crime has been +classed by press and public alike in the category of so-called +impenetrable mysteries." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A BROKEN-HEARTED WOMAN + + +The man in the corner called for another glass of milk, and drank it +down slowly before he resumed: + +"Now Lord Arthur lives mostly abroad," he said. "His poor, suffering +wife died the day after he was liberated by the magistrate. She never +recovered consciousness even sufficiently to hear the joyful news that +the man she loved so well was innocent after all. + +"Mystery!" he added as if in answer to Polly's own thoughts. "The murder +of that man was never a mystery to me. I cannot understand how the +police could have been so blind when every one of the witnesses, both +for the prosecution and defence, practically pointed all the time to the +one guilty person. What do you think of it all yourself?" + +"I think the whole case so bewildering," she replied, "that I do not see +one single clear point in it." + +"You don't?" he said excitedly, while the bony fingers fidgeted again +with that inevitable bit of string. "You don't see that there is one +point clear which to me was the key of the whole thing? + +"Lavender was murdered, wasn't he? Lord Arthur did not kill him. He had, +at least, in Colonel McIntosh an unimpeachable witness to prove that he +could not have committed that murder--and yet," he added with slow, +excited emphasis, marking each sentence with a knot, "and yet he +deliberately tries to throw the guilt upon a man who obviously was also +innocent. Now why?" + +"He may have thought him guilty." + +"Or wished to shield or cover the retreat of _one he knew to be +guilty_." + +"I don't understand." + +"Think of someone," he said excitedly, "someone whose desire would be as +great as that of Lord Arthur to silence a scandal round that gentleman's +name. Someone who, unknown perhaps to Lord Arthur, had overheard the +same conversation which George Higgins related to the police and the +magistrate, someone who, whilst Chipps was taking Lavender's card in to +his master, had a few minutes' time wherein to make an assignation with +Lavender, promising him money, no doubt, in exchange for the +compromising bills." + +"Surely you don't mean--" gasped Polly. + +"Point number one," he interrupted quietly, "utterly missed by the +police. George Higgins in his deposition stated that at the most +animated stage of Lavender's conversation with Lord Arthur, and when the +bookmaker's tone of voice became loud and threatening, a voice from the +top of the steps interrupted that conversation, saying: 'Your tea is +getting cold.'" + +"Yes--but--" she argued. + +"Wait a moment, for there is point number two. That voice was a lady's +voice. Now, I did exactly what the police should have done, but did not +do. I went to have a look from the racecourse side at those garden steps +which to my mind are such important factors in the discovery of this +crime. I found only about a dozen rather low steps; anyone standing on +the top must have heard every word Charles Lavender uttered the moment +he raised his voice." + +"Even then--" + +"Very well, you grant that," he said excitedly. "Then there was the +great, the all-important point which, oddly enough, the prosecution +never for a moment took into consideration. When Chipps, the footman, +first told Lavender that Lord Arthur could not see him the bookmaker was +terribly put out; Chipps then goes to speak to his master; a few minutes +elapse, and when the footman once again tells Lavender that his lordship +won't see him, the latter says 'Very well,' and seems to treat the +matter with complete indifference. + +"Obviously, therefore, something must have happened in between to alter +the bookmaker's frame of mind. Well! What had happened? Think over all +the evidence, and you will see that one thing only had occurred in the +interval, namely, Lady Arthur's advent into the room. + +"In order to go into the smoking-room she must have crossed the hall; +she must have seen Lavender. In that brief interval she must have +realized that the man was persistent, and therefore a living danger to +her husband. Remember, women have done strange things; they are a far +greater puzzle to the student of human nature than the sterner, less +complex sex has ever been. As I argued before--as the police should have +argued all along--why did Lord Arthur deliberately accuse an innocent +man of murder if not to shield the guilty one? + +"Remember, Lady Arthur may have been discovered; the man, George +Higgins, may have caught sight of her before she had time to make good +her retreat. His attention, as well us that of the constables, had to be +diverted. Lord Arthur acted on the blind impulse of saving his wife at +any cost." + +"She may have been met by Colonel McIntosh," argued Polly. + +"Perhaps she was," he said. "Who knows? The gallant colonel had to +swear to his friend's innocence. He could do that in all +conscience--after that his duty was accomplished. No innocent man was +suffering for the guilty. The knife which had belonged to Lord Arthur +would always save George Higgins. For a time it had pointed to the +husband; fortunately never to the wife. Poor thing, she died probably of +a broken heart, but women when they love, think only of one object on +earth--the one who is beloved. + +"To me the whole thing was clear from the very first. When I read the +account of the murder--the knife! stabbing!--bah! Don't I know enough of +_English_ crime not to be certain at once that no English_man_, be he +ruffian from the gutter or be he Duke's son, ever stabs his victim in +the back. Italians, French, Spaniards do it, if you will, and women of +most nations. An Englishman's instinct is to strike and not to stab. +George Higgins or Lord Arthur Skelmerton would have knocked their victim +down; the woman only would lie in wait till the enemy's back was turned. +She knows her weakness, and she does not mean to miss. + +"Think it over. There is not one flaw in my argument, but the police +never thought the matter out--perhaps in this case it was as well." + +He had gone and left Miss Polly Burton still staring at the photograph +of a pretty, gentle-looking woman, with a decided, wilful curve round +the mouth, and a strange, unaccountable look in the large pathetic eyes; +and the little journalist felt quite thankful that in this case the +murder of Charles Lavender the bookmaker--cowardly, wicked as it +was--had remained a mystery to the police and the public. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY + + +It was all very well for Mr. Richard Frobisher (of the _London Mail_) to +cut up rough about it. Polly did not altogether blame him. + +She liked him all the better for that frank outburst of manlike +ill-temper which, after all said and done, was only a very flattering +form of masculine jealousy. + +Moreover, Polly distinctly felt guilty about the whole thing. She had +promised to meet Dickie--that is Mr. Richard Frobisher--at two o'clock +sharp outside the Palace Theatre, because she wanted to go to a Maud +Allan _matinée_, and because he naturally wished to go with her. + +But at two o'clock sharp she was still in Norfolk Street, Strand, inside +an A.B.C. shop, sipping cold coffee opposite a grotesque old man who was +fiddling with a bit of string. + +How could she be expected to remember Maud Allan or the Palace Theatre, +or Dickie himself for a matter of that? The man in the corner had begun +to talk of that mysterious death on the underground railway, and Polly +had lost count of time, of place, and circumstance. + +She had gone to lunch quite early, for she was looking forward to the +_matinée_ at the Palace. + +The old scarecrow was sitting in his accustomed place when she came into +the A.B.C. shop, but he had made no remark all the time that the young +girl was munching her scone and butter. She was just busy thinking how +rude he was not even to have said "Good morning," when an abrupt remark +from him caused her to look up. + +"Will you be good enough," he said suddenly, "to give me a description +of the man who sat next to you just now, while you were having your cup +of coffee and scone." + +Involuntarily Polly turned her head towards the distant door, through +which a man in a light overcoat was even now quickly passing. That man +had certainly sat at the next table to hers, when she first sat down to +her coffee and scone: he had finished his luncheon--whatever it +was--moment ago, had paid at the desk and gone out. The incident did not +appear to Polly as being of the slightest consequence. + +Therefore she did not reply to the rude old man, but shrugged her +shoulders, and called to the waitress to bring her bill. + +"Do you know if he was tall or short, dark or fair?" continued the man +in the corner, seemingly not the least disconcerted by the young girl's +indifference. "Can you tell me at all what he was like?" + +"Of course I can," rejoined Polly impatiently, "but I don't see that my +description of one of the customers of an A.B.C. shop can have the +slightest importance." + +He was silent for a minute, while his nervous fingers fumbled about in +his capacious pockets in search of the inevitable piece of string. When +he had found this necessary "adjunct to thought," he viewed the young +girl again through his half-closed lids, and added maliciously: + +"But supposing it were of paramount importance that you should give an +accurate description of a man who sat next to you for half an hour +to-day, how would you proceed?" + +"I should say that he was of medium height--" + +"Five foot eight, nine, or ten?" he interrupted quietly. + +"How can one tell to an inch or two?" rejoined Polly crossly. "He was +between colours." + +"What's that?" he inquired blandly. + +"Neither fair nor dark--his nose--" + +"Well, what was his nose like? Will you sketch it?" + +"I am not an artist. His nose was fairly straight--his eyes--" + +"Were neither dark nor light--his hair had the same striking +peculiarity--he was neither short nor tall--his nose was neither +aquiline nor snub--" he recapitulated sarcastically. + +"No," she retorted; "he was just ordinary looking." + +"Would you know him again--say to-morrow, and among a number of other +men who were 'neither tall nor short, dark nor fair, aquiline nor +snub-nosed,' etc.?" + +"I don't know--I might--he was certainly not striking enough to be +specially remembered." + +"Exactly," he said, while he leant forward excitedly, for all the world +like a Jack-in-the-box let loose. "Precisely; and you are a +journalist--call yourself one, at least--and it should be part of your +business to notice and describe people. I don't mean only the wonderful +personage with the clear Saxon features, the fine blue eyes, the noble +brow and classic face, but the ordinary person--the person who +represents ninety out of every hundred of his own kind--the average +Englishman, say, of the middle classes, who is neither very tall nor +very short, who wears a moustache which is neither fair nor dark, but +which masks his mouth, and a top hat which hides the shape of his head +and brow, a man, in fact, who dresses like hundreds of his +fellow-creatures, moves like them, speaks like them, has no peculiarity. + +"Try to describe _him_, to recognize him, say a week hence, among his +other eighty-nine doubles; worse still, to swear his life away, if he +happened to be implicated in some crime, wherein _your_ recognition of +him would place the halter round his neck. + +"Try that, I say, and having utterly failed you will more readily +understand how one of the greatest scoundrels unhung is still at large, +and why the mystery on the Underground Railway was never cleared up. + +"I think it was the only time in my life that I was seriously tempted to +give the police the benefit of my own views upon the matter. You see, +though I admire the brute for his cleverness, I did not see that his +being unpunished could possibly benefit any one. + +"In these days of tubes and motor traction of all kinds, the +old-fashioned 'best, cheapest, and quickest route to City and West End' +is often deserted, and the good old Metropolitan Railway carriages +cannot at any time be said to be overcrowded. Anyway, when that +particular train steamed into Aldgate at about 4 p.m. on March 18th +last, the first-class carriages were all but empty. + +"The guard marched up and down the platform looking into all the +carriages to see if anyone had left a halfpenny evening paper behind for +him, and opening the door of one of the first-class compartments, he +noticed a lady sitting in the further corner, with her head turned away +towards the window, evidently oblivious of the fact that on this line +Aldgate is the terminal station. + +"'Where are you for, lady?' he said. + +"The lady did not move, and the guard stepped into the carriage, +thinking that perhaps the lady was asleep. He touched her arm lightly +and looked into her face. In his own poetic language, he was 'struck all +of a 'eap.' In the glassy eyes, the ashen colour of the cheeks, the +rigidity of the head, there was the unmistakable look of death. + +"Hastily the guard, having carefully locked the carriage door, summoned +a couple of porters, and sent one of them off to the police-station, and +the other in search of the station-master. + +"Fortunately at this time of day the up platform is not very crowded, +all the traffic tending westward in the afternoon. It was only when an +inspector and two police constables, accompanied by a detective in plain +clothes and a medical officer, appeared upon the scene, and stood round +a first-class railway compartment, that a few idlers realized that +something unusual had occurred, and crowded round, eager and curious. + +"Thus it was that the later editions of the evening papers, under the +sensational heading, 'Mysterious Suicide on the Underground Railway,' +had already an account of the extraordinary event. The medical officer +had very soon come to the decision that the guard had not been mistaken, +and that life was indeed extinct. + +"The lady was young, and must have been very pretty before the look of +fright and horror had so terribly distorted her features. She was very +elegantly dressed, and the more frivolous papers were able to give their +feminine readers a detailed account of the unfortunate woman's gown, her +shoes, hat, and gloves. + +"It appears that one of the latter, the one on the right hand, was +partly off, leaving the thumb and wrist bare. That hand held a small +satchel, which the police opened, with a view to the possible +identification of the deceased, but which was found to contain only a +little loose silver, some smelling-salts, and a small empty bottle, +which was handed over to the medical officer for purposes of analysis. + +"It was the presence of that small bottle which had caused the report to +circulate freely that the mysterious case on the Underground Railway was +one of suicide. Certain it was that neither about the lady's person, nor +in the appearance of the railway carriage, was there the slightest sign +of struggle or even of resistance. Only the look in the poor woman's +eyes spoke of sudden terror, of the rapid vision of an unexpected and +violent death, which probably only lasted an infinitesimal fraction of a +second, but which had left its indelible mark upon the face, otherwise +so placid and so still." + +"The body of the deceased was conveyed to the mortuary. So far, of +course, not a soul had been able to identify her, or to throw the +slightest light upon the mystery which hung around her death. + +"Against that, quite a crowd of idlers--genuinely interested or +not--obtained admission to view the body, on the pretext of having lost +or mislaid a relative or a friend. At about 8.30 p.m. a young man, very +well dressed, drove up to the station in a hansom, and sent in his card +to the superintendent. It was Mr. Hazeldene, shipping agent, of 11, +Crown Lane, E.C., and No. 19, Addison Row, Kensington. + +"The young man looked in a pitiable state of mental distress; his hand +clutched nervously a copy of the _St. James's Gazette_, which contained +the fatal news. He said very little to the superintendent except that a +person who was very dear to him had not returned home that evening. + +"He had not felt really anxious until half an hour ago, when suddenly he +thought of looking at his paper. The description of the deceased lady, +though vague, had terribly alarmed him. He had jumped into a hansom, and +now begged permission to view the body, in order that his worst fears +might be allayed. + +"You know what followed, of course," continued the man in the corner, +"the grief of the young man was truly pitiable. In the woman lying there +in a public mortuary before him, Mr. Hazeldene had recognized his wife. + +"I am waxing melodramatic," said the man in the corner, who looked up at +Polly with a mild and gentle smile, while his nervous fingers vainly +endeavoured to add another knot on the scrappy bit of string with which +he was continually playing, "and I fear that the whole story savours of +the penny novelette, but you must admit, and no doubt you remember, that +it was an intensely pathetic and truly dramatic moment. + +"The unfortunate young husband of the deceased lady was not much worried +with questions that night. As a matter of fact, he was not in a fit +condition to make any coherent statement. It was at the coroner's +inquest on the following day that certain facts came to light, which for +the time being seemed to clear up the mystery surrounding Mrs. +Hazeldene's death, only to plunge that same mystery, later on, into +denser gloom than before. + +"The first witness at the inquest was, of course, Mr. Hazeldene himself. +I think every one's sympathy went out to the young man as he stood +before the coroner and tried to throw what light he could upon the +mystery. He was well dressed, as he had been the day before, but he +looked terribly ill and worried, and no doubt the fact that he had not +shaved gave his face a careworn and neglected air. + +"It appears that he and the deceased had been married some six years or +so, and that they had always been happy in their married life. They had +no children. Mrs. Hazeldene seemed to enjoy the best of health till +lately, when she had had a slight attack of influenza, in which Dr. +Arthur Jones had attended her. The doctor was present at this moment, +and would no doubt explain to the coroner and the jury whether he +thought that Mrs. Hazeldene had the slightest tendency to heart disease, +which might have had a sudden and fatal ending. + +"The coroner was, of course, very considerate to the bereaved husband. +He tried by circumlocution to get at the point he wanted, namely, Mrs. +Hazeldene's mental condition lately. Mr. Hazeldene seemed loath to talk +about this. No doubt he had been warned as to the existence of the small +bottle found in his wife's satchel. + +"'It certainly did seem to me at times,' he at last reluctantly +admitted, 'that my wife did not seem quite herself. She used to be very +gay and bright, and lately I often saw her in the evening sitting, as if +brooding over some matters, which evidently she did not care to +communicate to me.' + +"Still the coroner insisted, and suggested the small bottle. + +"'I know, I know,' replied the young man, with a short, heavy sigh. 'You +mean--the question of suicide--I cannot understand it at all--it seems +so sudden and so terrible--she certainly had seemed listless and +troubled lately--but only at times--and yesterday morning, when I went +to business, she appeared quite herself again, and I suggested that we +should go to the opera in the evening. She was delighted, I know, and +told me she would do some shopping, and pay a few calls in the +afternoon.' + +"'Do you know at all where she intended to go when she got into the +Underground Railway?' + +"'Well, not with certainty. You see, she may have meant to get out at +Baker Street, and go down to Bond Street to do her shopping. Then, +again, she sometimes goes to a shop in St. Paul's Churchyard, in which +case she would take a ticket to Aldersgate Street; but I cannot say.' + +"'Now, Mr. Hazeldene,' said the coroner at last very kindly, 'will you +try to tell me if there was anything in Mrs. Hazeldene's life which you +know of, and which might in some measure explain the cause of the +distressed state of mind, which you yourself had noticed? Did there +exist any financial difficulty which might have preyed upon Mrs. +Hazeldene's mind; was there any friend--to whose intercourse with Mrs. +Hazeldene--you--er--at any time took exception? In fact,' added the +coroner, as if thankful that he had got over an unpleasant moment, 'can +you give me the slightest indication which would tend to confirm the +suspicion that the unfortunate lady, in a moment of mental anxiety or +derangement, may have wished to take her own life?' + +"There was silence in the court for a few moments. Mr. Hazeldene seemed +to every one there present to be labouring under some terrible moral +doubt. He looked very pale and wretched, and twice attempted to speak +before he at last said in scarcely audible tones: + +"'No; there were no financial difficulties of any sort. My wife had an +independent fortune of her own--she had no extravagant tastes--' + +"'Nor any friend you at any time objected to?' insisted the coroner. + +"'Nor any friend, I--at any time objected to,' stammered the unfortunate +young man, evidently speaking with an effort. + +"I was present at the inquest," resumed the man in the corner, after he +had drunk a glass of milk and ordered another, "and I can assure you +that the most obtuse person there plainly realized that Mr. Hazeldene +was telling a lie. It was pretty plain to the meanest intelligence that +the unfortunate lady had not fallen into a state of morbid dejection for +nothing, and that perhaps there existed a third person who could throw +more light on her strange and sudden death than the unhappy, bereaved +young widower. + +"That the death was more mysterious even than it had at first appeared +became very soon apparent. You read the case at the time, no doubt, and +must remember the excitement in the public mind caused by the evidence +of the two doctors. Dr. Arthur Jones, the lady's usual medical man, who +had attended her in a last very slight illness, and who had seen her in +a professional capacity fairly recently, declared most emphatically that +Mrs. Hazeldene suffered from no organic complaint which could possibly +have been the cause of sudden death. Moreover, he had assisted Mr. +Andrew Thornton, the district medical officer, in making a postmortem +examination, and together they had come to the conclusion that death was +due to the action of prussic acid, which had caused instantaneous +failure of the heart, but how the drug had been administered neither he +nor his colleague were at present able to state. + +"'Do I understand, then, Dr. Jones, that the deceased died, poisoned +with prussic acid?' + +"'Such is my opinion,' replied the doctor. + +"'Did the bottle found in her satchel contain prussic acid?' + +"'It had contained some at one time, certainly.' + +"'In your opinion, then, the lady caused her own death by taking a dose +of that drug?' + +"'Pardon me, I never suggested such a thing; the lady died poisoned by +the drug, but how the drug was administered we cannot say. By injection +of some sort, certainly. The drug certainly was not swallowed; there was +not a vestige of it in the stomach.' + +"'Yes,' added the doctor in reply to another question from the coroner, +'death had probably followed the injection in this case almost +immediately; say within a couple of minutes, or perhaps three. It was +quite possible that the body would not have more than one quick and +sudden convulsion, perhaps not that; death in such cases is absolutely +sudden and crushing.' + +"I don't think that at the time any one in the room realized how +important the doctor's statement was, a statement which, by the way, was +confirmed in all its details by the district medical officer, who had +conducted the postmortem. Mrs. Hazeldene had died suddenly from an +injection of prussic acid, administered no one knew how or when. She +had been travelling in a first-class railway carriage in a busy time of +the day. That young and elegant woman must have had singular nerve and +coolness to go through the process of a self-inflicted injection of a +deadly poison in the presence of perhaps two or three other persons. + +"Mind you, when I say that no one there realized the importance of the +doctor's statement at that moment, I am wrong; there were three persons, +who fully understood at once the gravity of the situation, and the +astounding development which the case was beginning to assume. + +"Of course, I should have put myself out of the question," added the +weird old man, with that inimitable self-conceit peculiar to himself. "I +guessed then and there in a moment where the police were going wrong, +and where they would go on going wrong until the mysterious death on the +Underground Railway had sunk into oblivion, together with the other +cases which they mismanage from time to time. + +"I said there were three persons who understood the gravity of the two +doctors' statements--the other two were, firstly, the detective who had +originally examined the railway carriage, a young man of energy and +plenty of misguided intelligence, the other was Mr. Hazeldene. + +"At this point the interesting element of the whole story was first +introduced into the proceedings, and this was done through the humble +channel of Emma Funnel, Mrs. Hazeldene's maid, who, as far as was known +then, was the last person who had seen the unfortunate lady alive and +had spoken to her. + +"'Mrs. Hazeldene lunched at home,' explained Emma, who was shy, and +spoke almost in a whisper; 'she seemed well and cheerful. She went out +at about half-past three, and told me she was going to Spence's, in St. +Paul's Churchyard, to try on her new tailor-made gown. Mrs. Hazeldene +had meant to go there in the morning, but was prevented as Mr. Errington +called.' + +"'Mr. Errington?' asked the coroner casually. 'Who is Mr. Errington?' + +"But this Emma found difficult to explain. Mr. Errington was--Mr. +Errington, that's all. + +"'Mr. Errington was a friend of the family. He lived in a flat in the +Albert Mansions. He very often came to Addison Row, and generally stayed +late.' + +"Pressed still further with questions, Emma at last stated that latterly +Mrs. Hazeldene had been to the theatre several times with Mr. Errington, +and that on those nights the master looked very gloomy, and was very +cross. + +"Recalled, the young widower was strangely reticent. He gave forth his +answers very grudgingly, and the coroner was evidently absolutely +satisfied with himself at the marvellous way in which, after a quarter +of an hour of firm yet very kind questionings, he had elicited from the +witness what information he wanted. + +"Mr. Errington was a friend of his wife. He was a gentleman of means, +and seemed to have a great deal of time at his command. He himself did +not particularly care about Mr. Errington, but he certainly had never +made any observations to his wife on the subject. + +"'But who is Mr. Errington?' repeated the coroner once more. 'What does +he do? What is his business or profession?' + +"'He has no business or profession. + +"'What is his occupation, then? + +"He has no special occupation. He has ample private means. But he has a +great and very absorbing hobby.' + +"'What is that?' + +"'He spends all his time in chemical experiments, and is, I believe, as +an amateur, a very distinguished toxicologist.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MR. ERRINGTON + + +"Did you ever see Mr. Errington, the gentleman so closely connected with +the mysterious death on the Underground Railway?" asked the man in the +corner as he placed one or two of his little snap-shot photos before +Miss Polly Burton. + +"There he is, to the very life. Fairly good-looking, a pleasant face +enough, but ordinary, absolutely ordinary. + +"It was this absence of any peculiarity which very nearly, but not +quite, placed the halter round Mr. Errington's neck. + +"But I am going too fast, and you will lose the thread. + +"The public, of course, never heard how it actually came about that Mr. +Errington, the wealthy bachelor of Albert Mansions, of the Grosvenor, +and other young dandies' clubs, one fine day found himself before the +magistrates at Bow Street, charged with being concerned in the death of +Mary Beatrice Hazeldene, late of No. 19, Addison Row. + +"I can assure you both press and public were literally flabbergasted. +You see, Mr. Errington was a well-known and very popular member of a +certain smart section of London society. He was a constant visitor at +the opera, the racecourse, the Park, and the Carlton, he had a great +many friends, and there was consequently quite a large attendance at the +police court that morning. + +"What had transpired was this: + +"After the very scrappy bits of evidence which came to light at the +inquest, two gentlemen bethought themselves that perhaps they had some +duty to perform towards the State and the public generally. Accordingly +they had come forward, offering to throw what light they could upon the +mysterious affair on the Underground Railway. + +"The police naturally felt that their information, such as it was, came +rather late in the day, but as it proved of paramount importance, and +the two gentlemen, moreover, were of undoubtedly good position in the +world, they were thankful for what they could get, and acted +accordingly; they accordingly brought Mr. Errington up before the +magistrate on a charge of murder. + +"The accused looked pale and worried when I first caught sight of him in +the court that day, which was not to be wondered at, considering the +terrible position in which he found himself. + +"He had been arrested at Marseilles, where he was preparing to start for +Colombo. + +"I don't think he realized how terrible his position really was until +later in the proceedings, when all the evidence relating to the arrest +had been heard, and Emma Funnel had repeated her statement as to Mr. +Errington's call at 19, Addison Row, in the morning, and Mrs. Hazeldene +starting off for St. Paul's Churchyard at 3.30 in the afternoon. + +"Mr. Hazeldene had nothing to add to the statements he had made at the +coroner's inquest. He had last seen his wife alive on the morning of the +fatal day. She had seemed very well and cheerful. + +"I think every one present understood that he was trying to say as +little as possible that could in any way couple his deceased wife's name +with that of the accused. + +"And yet, from the servant's evidence, it undoubtedly leaked out that +Mrs. Hazeldene, who was young, pretty, and evidently fond of admiration, +had once or twice annoyed her husband by her somewhat open, yet +perfectly innocent, flirtation with Mr. Errington. + +"I think every one was most agreeably impressed by the widower's +moderate and dignified attitude. You will see his photo there, among +this bundle. That is just how he appeared in court. In deep black, of +course, but without any sign of ostentation in his mourning. He had +allowed his beard to grow lately, and wore it closely cut in a point. + +"After his evidence, the sensation of the day occurred. A tall, +dark-haired man, with the word 'City' written metaphorically all over +him, had kissed the book, and was waiting to tell the truth, and nothing +but the truth. + +"He gave his name as Andrew Campbell, head of the firm of Campbell & +Co., brokers, of Throgmorton Street. + +"In the afternoon of March 18th Mr. Campbell, travelling on the +Underground Railway, had noticed a very pretty woman in the same +carriage as himself. She had asked him if she was in the right train for +Aldersgate. Mr. Campbell replied in the affirmative, and then buried +himself in the Stock Exchange quotations of his evening paper. + +"At Gower Street, a gentleman in a tweed suit and bowler hat got into +the carriage, and took a seat opposite the lady. + +"She seemed very much astonished at seeing him, but Mr. Andrew Campbell +did not recollect the exact words she said. + +"The two talked to one another a good deal, and certainly the lady +appeared animated and cheerful. Witness took no notice of them; he was +very much engrossed in some calculations, and finally got out at +Farringdon Street. He noticed that the man in the tweed suit also got +out close behind him, having shaken hands with the lady, and said in a +pleasant way: '_Au revoir_! Don't be late to-night.' Mr. Campbell did +not hear the lady's reply, and soon lost sight of the man in the crowd. + +"Every one was on tenter-hooks, and eagerly waiting for the palpitating +moment when witness would describe and identify the man who last had +seen and spoken to the unfortunate woman, within five minutes probably +of her strange and unaccountable death. + +"Personally I knew what was coming before the Scotch stockbroker spoke. + +"I could have jotted down the graphic and lifelike description he would +give of a probable murderer. It would have fitted equally well the man +who sat and had luncheon at this table just now; it would certainly have +described five out of every ten young Englishmen you know. + +"The individual was of medium height, he wore a moustache which was not +very fair nor yet very dark, his hair was between colours. He wore a +bowler hat, and a tweed suit--and--and--that was all--Mr. Campbell might +perhaps know him again, but then again, he might not--he was not paying +much attention--the gentleman was sitting on the same side of the +carriage as himself--and he had his hat on all the time. He himself was +busy with his newspaper--yes--he might know him again--but he really +could not say. + +"Mr. Andrew Campbell's evidence was not worth very much, you will say. +No, it was not in itself, and would not have justified any arrest were +it not for the additional statements made by Mr. James Verner, manager +of Messrs. Rodney & Co., colour printers. + +"Mr. Verner is a personal friend of Mr. Andrew Campbell, and it appears +that at Farringdon Street, where he was waiting for his train, he saw +Mr. Campbell get out of a first-class railway carriage. Mr. Verner spoke +to him for a second, and then, just as the train was moving off, he +stepped into the same compartment which had just been vacated by the +stockbroker and the man in the tweed suit. He vaguely recollects a lady +sitting in the opposite corner to his own, with her face turned away +from him, apparently asleep, but he paid no special attention to her. He +was like nearly all business men when they are travelling--engrossed in +his paper. Presently a special quotation interested him; he wished to +make a note of it, took out a pencil from his waistcoat pocket, and +seeing a clean piece of paste-board on the floor, he picked it up, and +scribbled on it the memorandum, which he wished to keep. He then +slipped the card into his pocket-book. + +"'It was only two or three days later,' added Mr. Verner in the midst of +breathless silence, 'that I had occasion to refer to these same notes +again. + +"'In the meanwhile the papers had been full of the mysterious death on +the Underground Railway, and the names of those connected with it were +pretty familiar to me. It was, therefore, with much astonishment that on +looking at the paste-board which I had casually picked up in the railway +carriage I saw the name on it, "Frank Errington."' + +"There was no doubt that the sensation in court was almost +unprecedented. Never since the days of the Fenchurch Street mystery, and +the trial of Smethurst, had I seen so much excitement. Mind you, I was +not excited--I knew by now every detail of that crime as if I had +committed it myself. In fact, I could not have done it better, although +I have been a student of crime for many years now. Many people +there--his friends, mostly--believed that Errington was doomed. I think +he thought so, too, for I could see that his face was terribly white, +and he now and then passed his tongue over his lips, as if they were +parched. + +"You see he was in the awful dilemma--a perfectly natural one, by the +way--of being absolutely incapable of _proving_ an _alibi_. The +crime--if crime there was--had been committed three weeks ago. A man +about town like Mr. Frank Errington might remember that he spent certain +hours of a special afternoon at his club, or in the Park, but it is very +doubtful in nine cases out of ten if he can find a friend who could +positively swear as to having seen him there. No! no! Mr. Errington was +in a tight corner, and he knew it. You see, there were--besides the +evidence--two or three circumstances which did not improve matters for +him. His hobby in the direction of toxicology, to begin with. The police +had found in his room every description of poisonous substances, +including prussic acid. + +"Then, again, that journey to Marseilles, the start for Colombo, was, +though perfectly innocent, a very unfortunate one. Mr. Errington had +gone on an aimless voyage, but the public thought that he had fled, +terrified at his own crime. Sir Arthur Inglewood, however, here again +displayed his marvellous skill on behalf of his client by the masterly +way in which he literally turned all the witnesses for the Crown inside +out. + +"Having first got Mr. Andrew Campbell to state positively that in the +accused he certainly did _not_ recognize the man in the tweed suit, the +eminent lawyer, after twenty minutes' cross-examination, had so +completely upset the stockbroker's equanimity that it is very likely he +would not have recognized his own office-boy. + +"But through all his flurry and all his annoyance Mr. Andrew Campbell +remained very sure of one thing; namely, that the lady was alive and +cheerful, and talking pleasantly with the man in the tweed suit up to +the moment when the latter, having shaken hands with her, left her with +a pleasant '_Au revoir_! Don't be late to-night.' He had heard neither +scream nor struggle, and in his opinion, if the individual in the tweed +suit had administered a dose of poison to his companion, it must have +been with her own knowledge and free will; and the lady in the train +most emphatically neither looked nor spoke like a woman prepared for a +sudden and violent death. + +"Mr. James Verner, against that, swore equally positively that he had +stood in full view of the carriage door from the moment that Mr. +Campbell got out until he himself stepped into the compartment, that +there was no one else in that carriage between Farringdon Street and +Aldgate, and that the lady, to the best of his belief, had made no +movement during the whole of that journey. + +"No; Frank Errington was _not_ committed for trial on the capital +charge," said the man in the corner with one of his sardonic smiles, +"thanks to the cleverness of Sir Arthur Inglewood, his lawyer. He +absolutely denied his identity with the man in the tweed suit, and swore +he had not seen Mrs. Hazeldene since eleven o'clock in the morning of +that fatal day. There was no _proof_ that he had; moreover, according to +Mr. Campbell's opinion, the man in the tweed suit was in all probability +not the murderer. Common sense would not admit that a woman could have a +deadly poison injected into her without her knowledge, while chatting +pleasantly to her murderer. + +"Mr. Errington lives abroad now. He is about to marry. I don't think any +of his real friends for a moment believed that he committed the +dastardly crime. The police think they know better. They do know this +much, that it could not have been a case of suicide, that if the man who +undoubtedly travelled with Mrs. Hazeldene on that fatal afternoon had no +crime upon his conscience he would long ago have come forward and thrown +what light he could upon the mystery. + +"As to who that man was, the police in their blindness have not the +faintest doubt. Under the unshakable belief that Errington is guilty +they have spent the last few months in unceasing labour to try and find +further and stronger proofs of his guilt. But they won't find them, +because there are none. There are no positive proofs against the actual +murderer, for he was one of those clever blackguards who think of +everything, foresee every eventuality, who know human nature well, and +can foretell exactly what evidence will be brought against them, and act +accordingly. + +"This blackguard from the first kept the figure, the personality, of +Frank Errington before his mind. Frank Errington was the dust which the +scoundrel threw metaphorically in the eyes of the police, and you must +admit that he succeeded in blinding them--to the extent even of making +them entirely forget the one simple little sentence, overheard by Mr. +Andrew Campbell, and which was, of course, the clue to the whole +thing--the only slip the cunning rogue made--'_Au revoir_! Don't be late +to-night.' Mrs. Hazeldene was going that night to the opera with her +husband-- + +"You are astonished?" he added with a shrug of the shoulders, "you do +not see the tragedy yet, as I have seen it before me all along. The +frivolous young wife, the flirtation with the friend?--all a blind, all +pretence. I took the trouble which the police should have taken +immediately, of finding out something about the finances of the +Hazeldene _ménage_. Money is in nine cases out of ten the keynote to a +crime. + +"I found that the will of Mary Beatrice Hazeldene had been proved by +the husband, her sole executor, the estate being sworn at £15,000. I +found out, moreover, that Mr. Edward Sholto Hazeldene was a poor +shipper's clerk when he married the daughter of a wealthy builder in +Kensington--and then I made note of the fact that the disconsolate +widower had allowed his beard to grow since the death of his wife. + +"There's no doubt that he was a clever rogue," added the strange +creature, leaning excitedly over the table, and peering into Polly's +face. "Do you know how that deadly poison was injected into the poor +woman's system? By the simplest of all means, one known to every +scoundrel in Southern Europe. A ring--yes! a ring, which has a tiny +hollow needle capable of holding a sufficient quantity of prussic acid +to have killed two persons instead of one. The man in the tweed suit +shook hands with his fair companion--probably she hardly felt the prick, +not sufficiently in any case to make her utter a scream. And, mind you, +the scoundrel had every facility, through his friendship with Mr. +Errington, of procuring what poison he required, not to mention his +friend's visiting card. We cannot gauge how many months ago he began to +try and copy Frank Errington in his style of dress, the cut of his +moustache, his general appearance, making the change probably so +gradual, that no one in his own _entourage_ would notice it. He +selected for his model a man his own height and build, with the same +coloured hair." + +"But there was the terrible risk of being identified by his +fellow-traveller in the Underground," suggested Polly. + +"Yes, there certainly was that risk; he chose to take it, and he was +wise. He reckoned that several days would in any case elapse before that +person, who, by the way, was a business man absorbed in his newspaper, +would actually see him again. The great secret of successful crime is to +study human nature," added the man in the corner, as he began looking +for his hat and coat. "Edward Hazeldene knew it well." + +"But the ring?" + +"He may have bought that when he was on his honeymoon," he suggested +with a grim chuckle; "the tragedy was not planned in a week, it may have +taken years to mature. But you will own that there goes a frightful +scoundrel unhung. I have left you his photograph as he was a year ago, +and as he is now. You will see he has shaved his beard again, but also +his moustache. I fancy he is a friend now of Mr. Andrew Campbell." + +He left Miss Polly Burton wondering, not knowing what to believe. + +And that is why she missed her appointment with Mr. Richard Frobisher +(of the _London Mail_) to go and see Maud Allan dance at the Palace +Theatre that afternoon. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE LIVERPOOL MYSTERY + + +"A title--a foreign title, I mean--is always very useful for purposes of +swindles and frauds," remarked the man in the corner to Polly one day. +"The cleverest robberies of modern times were perpetrated lately in +Vienna by a man who dubbed himself Lord Seymour; whilst over here the +same class of thief calls himself Count Something ending in 'o,' or +Prince the other, ending in 'off.'" + +"Fortunately for our hotel and lodging-house keepers over here," she +replied, "they are beginning to be more alive to the ways of foreign +swindlers, and look upon all titled gentry who speak broken English as +possible swindlers or thieves." + +"The result sometimes being exceedingly unpleasant to the real _grands +seigneurs_ who honour this country at times with their visits," replied +the man in the corner. "Now, take the case of Prince Semionicz, a man +whose sixteen quarterings are duly recorded in Gotha, who carried enough +luggage with him to pay for the use of every room in an hotel for at +least a week, whose gold cigarette case with diamond and turquoise +ornament was actually stolen without his taking the slightest trouble to +try and recover it; that same man was undoubtedly looked upon with +suspicion by the manager of the Liverpool North-Western Hotel from the +moment that his secretary--a dapper, somewhat vulgar little +Frenchman--bespoke on behalf of his employer, with himself and a valet, +the best suite of rooms the hotel contained. + +"Obviously those suspicions were unfounded, for the little secretary, as +soon as Prince Semionicz had arrived, deposited with the manager a pile +of bank notes, also papers and bonds, the value of which would exceed +tenfold the most outrageous bill that could possibly be placed before +the noble visitor. Moreover, M. Albert Lambert explained that the +Prince, who only meant to stay in Liverpool a few days, was on his way +to Chicago, where he wished to visit Princess Anna Semionicz, his +sister, who was married to Mr. Girwan, the great copper king and +multi-millionaire. + +"Yet, as I told you before, in spite of all these undoubted securities, +suspicion of the wealthy Russian Prince lurked in the minds of most +Liverpudlians who came in business contact with him. He had been at the +North-Western two days when he sent his secretary to Window and +Vassall, the jewellers of Bold Street, with a request that they would +kindly send a representative round to the hotel with some nice pieces of +jewellery, diamonds and pearls chiefly, which he was desirous of taking +as a present to his sister in Chicago. + +"Mr. Winslow took the order from M. Albert with a pleasant bow. Then he +went to his inner office and consulted with his partner, Mr. Vassall, as +to the best course to adopt. Both the gentlemen were desirous of doing +business, for business had been very slack lately: neither wished to +refuse a possible customer, or to offend Mr. Pettitt, the manager of the +North-Western, who had recommended them to the Prince. But that foreign +title and the vulgar little French secretary stuck in the throats of the +two pompous and worthy Liverpool jewellers, and together they agreed, +firstly, that no credit should be given; and, secondly, that if a cheque +or even a banker's draft were tendered, the jewels were not to be given +up until that cheque or draft was cashed. + +"Then came the question as to who should take the jewels to the hotel. +It was altogether against business etiquette for the senior partners to +do such errands themselves; moreover, it was thought that it would be +easier for a clerk to explain, without giving undue offence, that he +could not take the responsibility of a cheque or draft, without having +cashed it previously to giving up the jewels. + +"Then there was the question of the probable necessity of conferring in +a foreign tongue. The head assistant, Charles Needham, who had been in +the employ of Winslow and Vassall for over twelve years, was, in true +British fashion, ignorant of any language save his own; it was therefore +decided to dispatch Mr. Schwarz, a young German clerk lately arrived, on +the delicate errand. + +"Mr. Schwarz was Mr. Winslow's nephew and godson, a sister of that +gentleman having married the head of the great German firm of Schwarz & +Co., silversmiths, of Hamburg and Berlin. + +"The young man had soon become a great favourite with his uncle, whose +heir he would presumably be, as Mr. Winslow had no children. + +"At first Mr. Vassall made some demur about sending Mr. Schwarz with so +many valuable jewels alone in a city which he had not yet had the time +to study thoroughly; but finally he allowed himself to be persuaded by +his senior partner, and a fine selection of necklaces, pendants, +bracelets, and rings, amounting in value to over £16,000, having been +made, it was decided that Mr. Schwarz should go to the North-Western in +a cab the next day at about three o'clock in the afternoon. This he +accordingly did, the following day being a Thursday. + +"Business went on in the shop as usual under the direction of the head +assistant, until about seven o'clock, when Mr. Winslow returned from his +club, where he usually spent an hour over the papers every afternoon, +and at once asked for his nephew. To his astonishment Mr. Needham +informed him that Mr. Schwarz had not yet returned. This seemed a little +strange, and Mr. Winslow, with a slightly anxious look in his face, went +into the inner office in order to consult his junior partner. Mr. +Vassall offered to go round to the hotel and interview Mr. Pettitt. + +"'I was beginning to get anxious myself,' he said, 'but did not quite +like to say so. I have been in over half an hour, hoping every moment +that you would come in, and that perhaps you could give me some +reassuring news. I thought that perhaps you had met Mr. Schwarz, and +were coming back together.' + +"However, Mr. Vassall walked round to the hotel and interviewed the hall +porter. The latter perfectly well remembered Mr. Schwarz sending in his +card to Prince Semionicz. + +"'At what time was that?' asked Mr. Vassall. + +"'About ten minutes past three, sir, when he came; it was about an hour +later when he left.' + +"'When he left?' gasped, more than said, Mr. Vassall. + +"'Yes, sir. Mr. Schwarz left here about a quarter before four, sir.' + +"'Are you quite sure?' + +"'Quite sure. Mr. Pettitt was in the hall when he left, and he asked him +something about business. Mr. Schwarz laughed and said, "not bad." I +hope there's nothing wrong, sir,' added the man. + +"'Oh--er--nothing--thank you. Can I see Mr. Pettitt?' + +"'Certainly, sir.' + +"Mr. Pettitt, the manager of the hotel, shared Mr. Vassall's anxiety, +immediately he heard that the young German had not yet returned home. + +"'I spoke to him a little before four o'clock. We had just switched on +the electric light, which we always do these winter months at that hour. +But I shouldn't worry myself, Mr. Vassall; the young man may have seen +to some business on his way home. You'll probably find him in when you +go back.' + +"Apparently somewhat reassured, Mr. Vassall thanked Mr. Pettitt and +hurried back to the shop, only to find that Mr. Schwarz had not +returned, though it was now close on eight o'clock. + +"Mr. Winslow looked so haggard and upset that it would have been cruel +to heap reproaches upon his other troubles or to utter so much as the +faintest suspicion that young Schwarz's permanent disappearance with +£16,000 in jewels and money was within the bounds of probability. + +"There was one chance left, but under the circumstances a very slight +one indeed. The Winslows' private house was up the Birkenhead end of the +town. Young Schwarz had been living with them ever since his arrival in +Liverpool, and he may have--either not feeling well or for some other +reason--gone straight home without calling at the shop. It was unlikely, +as valuable jewellery was never kept at the private house, but--it just +might have happened. + +"It would be useless," continued the man in the corner, "and decidedly +uninteresting, were I to relate to you Messrs. Winslow's and Vassall's +further anxieties with regard to the missing young man. Suffice it to +say that on reaching his private house Mr. Winslow found that his godson +had neither returned nor sent any telegraphic message of any kind. + +"Not wishing to needlessly alarm his wife, Mr. Winslow made an attempt +at eating his dinner, but directly after that he hurried back to the +North-Western Hotel, and asked to see Prince Semionicz. The Prince was +at the theatre with his secretary, and probably would not be home until +nearly midnight. + +"Mr. Winslow, then, not knowing what to think, nor yet what to fear, and +in spite of the horror he felt of giving publicity to his nephew's +disappearance, thought it his duty to go round to the police-station and +interview the inspector. It is wonderful how quickly news of that type +travels in a large city like Liverpool. Already the morning papers of +the following day were full of the latest sensation: 'Mysterious +disappearance of a well-known tradesman.' + +"Mr. Winslow found a copy of the paper containing the sensational +announcement on his breakfast-table. It lay side by side with a letter +addressed to him in his nephew's handwriting, which had been posted in +Liverpool. + +"Mr. Winslow placed that letter, written to him by his nephew, into the +hands of the police. Its contents, therefore, quickly became public +property. The astounding statements made therein by Mr. Schwarz created, +in quiet, businesslike Liverpool, a sensation which has seldom been +equalled. + +"It appears that the young fellow did call on Prince Semionicz at a +quarter past three on Wednesday, December 10th, with a bag full of +jewels, amounting in value to some £16,000. The Prince duly admired, and +finally selected from among the ornaments a necklace, pendant, and +bracelet, the whole being priced by Mr. Schwarz, according to his +instructions, at £10,500. Prince Semionicz was most prompt and +businesslike in his dealings. + +"'You will require immediate payment for these, of course,' he said in +perfect English, 'and I know you business men prefer solid cash to +cheques, especially when dealing with foreigners. I always provide +myself with plenty of Bank of England notes in consequence,' he added +with a pleasant smile, 'as £10,500 in gold would perhaps be a little +inconvenient to carry. If you will kindly make out the receipt, my +secretary, M. Lambert, will settle all business matters with you.' + +"He thereupon took the jewels he had selected and locked them up in his +dressing-case, the beautiful silver fillings of which Mr. Schwarz just +caught a short glimpse of. Then, having been accommodated with paper and +ink, the young jeweller made out the account and receipt, whilst M. +Lambert, the secretary, counted out before him 105 crisp Bank of England +notes of £100 each. Then, with a final bow to his exceedingly urbane and +eminently satisfactory customer, Mr. Schwarz took his leave. In the hall +he saw and spoke to Mr. Pettitt, and then he went out into the street. + +"He had just left the hotel and was about to cross towards St. George's +Hall when a gentleman, in a magnificent fur coat, stepped quickly out of +a cab which had been stationed near the kerb, and, touching him lightly +upon the shoulder, said with an unmistakable air of authority, at the +same time handing him a card: + +"'That is my name. I must speak with you immediately." + +"Schwarz glanced at the card, and by the light of the arc lamps above +his head read on it the name of 'Dimitri Slaviansky Burgreneff, de la +IIIe Section de la Police Imperial de S.M. le Czar.' + +"Quickly the owner of the unpronounceable name and the significant title +pointed to the cab from which he had just alighted, and Schwarz, whose +every suspicion with regard to his princely customer bristled up in one +moment, clutched his bag and followed his imposing interlocutor; as soon +as they were both comfortably seated in the cab the latter began, with +courteous apology in broken but fluent English: + +"'I must ask your pardon, sir, for thus trespassing upon your valuable +time, and I certainly should not have done so but for the certainty that +our interests in a certain matter which I have in hand are practically +identical, in so far that we both should wish to outwit a clever rogue.' + +"Instinctively, and his mind full of terrible apprehension, Mr. +Schwarz's hand wandered to his pocket-book, filled to overflowing with +the bank-notes which he had so lately received from the Prince. + +"'Ah, I see,' interposed the courteous Russian with a smile, 'he has +played the confidence trick on you, with the usual addition of so many +so-called bank-notes.' + +"'So-called,' gasped the unfortunate young man. + +"'I don't think I often err in my estimate of my own countrymen,' +continued M. Burgreneff; 'I have vast experience, you must remember. +Therefore, I doubt if I am doing M.--er--what does he call +himself?--Prince something--an injustice if I assert, even without +handling those crisp bits of paper you have in your pocket-book, that no +bank would exchange them for gold.' + +"Remembering his uncle's suspicions and his own, Mr. Schwarz cursed +himself for his blindness and folly in accepting notes so easily without +for a moment imagining that they might be false. Now, with every one of +those suspicions fully on the alert, he felt the bits of paper with +nervous, anxious fingers, while the imperturbable Russian calmly struck +a match. + +"'See here,' he said, pointing to one of the notes, 'the shape of that +"w" in the signature of the chief cashier. I am not an English police +officer, but I could pick out that spurious "w" among a thousand genuine +ones. You see, I have seen a good many.' + +"Now, of course, poor young Schwarz had not seen very many Bank of +England notes. He could not have told whether one 'w' in Mr. Bowen's +signature is better than another, but, though he did not speak English +nearly as fluently as his pompous interlocutor, he understood every word +of the appalling statement the latter had just made. + +"'Then that Prince,' he said, 'at the hotel--' + +"'Is no more Prince than you and I, my dear sir,' concluded the +gentleman of His Imperial Majesty's police calmly. + +"'And the jewels? Mr. Winslow's jewels?' + +"'With the jewels there may be a chance--oh! a mere chance. These forged +bank-notes, which you accepted so trustingly, may prove the means of +recovering your property.' + +"'How?' + +"'The penalty of forging and circulating spurious bank-notes is very +heavy. You know that. The fear of seven years' penal servitude will act +as a wonderful sedative upon the--er--Prince's joyful mood. He will give +up the jewels to me all right enough, never you fear. He knows,' added +the Russian officer grimly, 'that there are plenty of old scores to +settle up, without the additional one of forged bank-notes. Our +interests, you see, are identical. May I rely on your co-operation?' + +"'Oh, I will do as you wish,' said the delighted young German. 'Mr. +Winslow and Mr. Vassall, they trusted me, and I have been such a fool. I +hope it is not too late.' + +"'I think not,' said M. Burgreneff, his hand already on the door of the +cab. 'Though I have been talking to you I have kept an eye on the hotel, +and our friend the Prince has not yet gone out. We are accustomed, you +know, to have eyes everywhere, we of the Russian secret police. I don't +think that I will ask you to be present at the confrontation. Perhaps +you will wait for me in the cab. There is a nasty fog outside, and you +will be more private. Will you give me those beautiful bank-notes? Thank +you! Don't be anxious. I won't be long.' + +"He lifted his hat, and slipped the notes into the inner pocket of his +magnificent fur coat. As he did so, Mr. Schwarz caught sight of a rich +uniform and a wide sash, which no doubt was destined to carry additional +moral weight with the clever rogue upstairs. + +"Then His Imperial Majesty's police officer stepped quickly out of the +cab, and Mr. Schwarz was left alone." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A CUNNING RASCAL + + +"Yes, left severely alone," continued the man in the corner with a +sarcastic chuckle. "So severely alone, in fact, that one quarter of an +hour after another passed by and still the magnificent police officer in +the gorgeous uniform did not return. Then, when it was too late, Schwarz +cursed himself once again for the double-dyed idiot that he was. He had +been only too ready to believe that Prince Semionicz was a liar and a +rogue, and under these unjust suspicions he had fallen an all too easy +prey to one of the most cunning rascals he had ever come across. + +"An inquiry from the hall porter at the North-Western elicited the fact +that no such personage as Mr. Schwarz described had entered the hotel. +The young man asked to see Prince Semionicz, hoping against hope that +all was not yet lost. The Prince received him most courteously; he was +dictating some letters to his secretary, while the valet was in the next +room preparing his master's evening clothes. Mr. Schwarz found it very +difficult to explain what he actually did want. + +"There stood the dressing-case in which the Prince had locked up the +jewels, and there the bag from which the secretary had taken the +bank-notes. After much hesitation on Schwarz's part and much impatience +on that of the Prince, the young man blurted out the whole story of the +so-called Russian police officer whose card he still held in his hand. + +"The Prince, it appears, took the whole thing wonderfully +good-naturedly; no doubt he thought the jeweller a hopeless fool. He +showed him the jewels, the receipt he held, and also a large bundle of +bank-notes similar to those Schwarz had with such culpable folly given +up to the clever rascal in the cab. + +"'I pay all my bills with Bank of England notes, Mr. Schwarz. It would +have been wiser, perhaps, if you had spoken to the manager of the hotel +about me before you were so ready to believe any cock-and-bull story +about my supposed rogueries.' + +"Finally he placed a small 16mo volume before the young jeweller, and +said with a pleasant smile: + +"'If people in this country who are in a large way of business, and are +therefore likely to come in contact with people of foreign nationality, +were to study these little volumes before doing business with any +foreigner who claims a title, much disappointment and a great loss would +often be saved. Now in this case had you looked up page 797 of this +little volume of Gotha's Almanach you would have seen my name in it and +known from the first that the so-called Russian detective was a liar.' + +"There was nothing more to be said, and Mr. Schwarz left the hotel. No +doubt, now that he had been hopelessly duped he dared not go home, and +half hoped by communicating with the police that they might succeed in +arresting the thief before he had time to leave Liverpool. He +interviewed Detective-Inspector Watson, and was at once confronted with +the awful difficulty which would make the recovery of the bank-notes +practically hopeless. He had never had the time or opportunity of +jotting down the numbers of the notes. + +"Mr. Winslow, though terribly wrathful against his nephew, did not wish +to keep him out of his home. As soon as he had received Schwarz's +letter, he traced him, with Inspector Watson's help, to his lodgings in +North Street, where the unfortunate young man meant to remain hidden +until the terrible storm had blown over, or perhaps until the thief had +been caught red-handed with the booty still in his hands. + +"This happy event, needless to say, never did occur, though the police +made every effort to trace the man who had decoyed Schwarz into the cab. +His appearance was such an uncommon one; it seemed most unlikely that no +one in Liverpool should have noticed him after he left that cab. The +wonderful fur coat, the long beard, all must have been noticeable, even +though it was past four o'clock on a somewhat foggy December afternoon. + +"But every investigation proved futile; no one answering Schwarz's +description of the man had been seen anywhere. The papers continued to +refer to the case as 'the Liverpool Mystery.' Scotland Yard sent Mr. +Fairburn down--the celebrated detective--at the request of the Liverpool +police, to help in the investigations, but nothing availed. + +"Prince Semionicz, with his suite, left Liverpool, and he who had +attempted to blacken his character, and had succeeded in robbing Messrs. +Winslow and Vassall of £10,500, had completely disappeared." + +The man in the corner readjusted his collar and necktie, which, during +the narrative of this interesting mystery, had worked its way up his +long, crane-like neck under his large flappy ears. His costume of +checked tweed of a peculiarly loud pattern had tickled the fancy of some +of the waitresses, who were standing gazing at him and giggling in one +corner. This evidently made him nervous. He gazed up very meekly at +Polly, looking for all the world like a bald-headed adjutant dressed for +a holiday. + +"Of course, all sorts of theories of the theft got about at first. One +of the most popular, and at the same time most quickly exploded, being +that young Schwarz had told a cock-and-bull story, and was the actual +thief himself. + +"However, as I said before, that was very quickly exploded, as Mr. +Schwarz senior, a very wealthy merchant, never allowed his son's +carelessness to be a serious loss to his kind employers. As soon as he +thoroughly grasped all the circumstances of the extraordinary case, he +drew a cheque for £10,500 and remitted it to Messrs. Winslow and +Vassall. It was just, but it was also high-minded. + +"All Liverpool knew of the generous action, as Mr. Winslow took care +that it should; and any evil suspicion regarding young Mr. Schwarz +vanished as quickly as it had come. + +"Then, of course, there was the theory about the Prince and his suite, +and to this day I fancy there are plenty of people in Liverpool, and +also in London, who declare that the so-called Russian police officer +was a confederate. No doubt that theory was very plausible, and Messrs. +Winslow and Vassall spent a good deal of money in trying to prove a case +against the Russian Prince. + +"Very soon, however, that theory was also bound to collapse. Mr. +Fairburn, whose reputation as an investigator of crime waxes in direct +inverted ratio to his capacities, did hit upon the obvious course of +interviewing the managers of the larger London and Liverpool _agents de +change_. He soon found that Prince Semionicz had converted a great deal +of Russian and French money into English bank-notes since his arrival in +this country. More than £30,000 in good solid, honest money was traced +to the pockets of the gentleman with the sixteen quarterings. It seemed, +therefore, more than improbable that a man who was obviously fairly +wealthy would risk imprisonment and hard labour, if not worse, for the +sake of increasing his fortune by £10,000. + +"However, the theory of the Prince's guilt has taken firm root in the +dull minds of our police authorities. They have had every information +with regard to Prince Semionicz's antecedents from Russia; his position, +his wealth, have been placed above suspicion, and yet they suspect and +go on suspecting him or his secretary. They have communicated with the +police of every European capital; and while they still hope to obtain +sufficient evidence against those they suspect, they calmly allow the +guilty to enjoy the fruit of his clever roguery." + +"The guilty?" said Polly. "Who do you think--" + +"Who do I think knew at that moment that young Schwarz had money in his +possession?" he said excitedly, wriggling in his chair like a +Jack-in-the-box. "Obviously some one was guilty of that theft who knew +that Schwarz had gone to interview a rich Russian, and would in all +probability return with a large sum of money in his possession?" + +"Who, indeed, but the Prince and his secretary?" she argued. "But just +now you said--" + +"Just now I said that the police were determined to find the Prince and +his secretary guilty; they did not look further than their own stumpy +noses. Messrs. Winslow and Vassall spent money with a free hand in those +investigations. Mr. Winslow, as the senior partner, stood to lose over +£9000 by that robbery. Now, with Mr. Vassall it was different. + +"When I saw how the police went on blundering in this case I took the +trouble to make certain inquiries, the whole thing interested me so +much, and I learnt all that I wished to know. I found out, namely, that +Mr. Vassall was very much a junior partner in the firm, that he only +drew ten per cent of the profits, having been promoted lately to a +partnership from having been senior assistant. + +"Now, the police did not take the trouble to find that out." + +"But you don't mean that--" + +"I mean that in all cases where robbery affects more than one person the +first thing to find out is whether it affects the second party equally +with the first. I proved that to you, didn't I, over that robbery in +Phillimore Terrace? There, as here, one of the two parties stood to +lose very little in comparison with the other--" + +"Even then--" she began. + +"Wait a moment, for I found out something more. The moment I had +ascertained that Mr. Vassall was not drawing more than about £500 a year +from the business profits I tried to ascertain at what rate he lived and +what were his chief vices. I found that he kept a fine house in Albert +Terrace. Now, the rents of those houses are £250 a year. Therefore +speculation, horse-racing or some sort of gambling, must help to keep up +that establishment. Speculation and most forms of gambling are +synonymous with debt and ruin. It is only a question of time. Whether +Mr. Vassall was in debt or not at the time, that I cannot say, but this +I do know, that ever since that unfortunate loss to him of about £1000 +he has kept his house in nicer style than before, and he now has a good +banking account at the Lancashire and Liverpool bank, which he opened a +year after his 'heavy loss.'" + +"But it must have been very difficult--" argued Polly. + +"What?" he said. "To have planned out the whole thing? For carrying it +out was mere child's play. He had twenty-four hours in which to put his +plan into execution. Why, what was there to do? Firstly, to go to a +local printer in some out-of-the-way part of the town and get him to +print a few cards with the high-sounding name. That, of course, is done +'while you wait.' Beyond that there was the purchase of a good +second-hand uniform, fur coat, and a beard and a wig from a costumier's. + +"No, no, the execution was not difficult; it was the planning of it all, +the daring that was so fine. Schwarz, of course, was a foreigner; he had +only been in England a little over a fortnight. Vassall's broken English +misled him; probably he did not know the junior partner very intimately. +I have no doubt that but for his uncle's absurd British prejudice and +suspicions against the Russian Prince, Schwarz would not have been so +ready to believe in the latter's roguery. As I said, it would be a great +boon if English tradesmen studied Gotha more; but it was clever, wasn't +it? I couldn't have done it much better myself." + +That last sentence was so characteristic. Before Polly could think of +some plausible argument against his theory he was gone, and she was +trying vainly to find another solution to the Liverpool mystery. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE EDINBURGH MYSTERY + + +The man in the corner had not enjoyed his lunch. Miss Polly Burton could +see that he had something on his mind, for, even before he began to talk +that morning, he was fidgeting with his bit of string, and setting all +her nerves on the jar. + +"Have you ever felt real sympathy with a criminal or a thief?" he asked +her after a while. + +"Only once, I think," she replied, "and then I am not quite sure that +the unfortunate woman who did enlist my sympathies was the criminal you +make her out to be." + +"You mean the heroine of the York mystery?" he replied blandly. "I know +that you tried very hard that time to discredit the only possible +version of that mysterious murder, the version which is my own. Now, I +am equally sure that you have at the present moment no more notion as to +who killed and robbed poor Lady Donaldson in Charlotte Square, +Edinburgh, than the police have themselves, and yet you are fully +prepared to pooh-pooh my arguments, and to disbelieve my version of the +mystery. Such is the lady journalist's mind." + +"If you have some cock-and-bull story to explain that extraordinary +case," she retorted, "of course I shall disbelieve it. Certainly, if you +are going to try and enlist my sympathies on behalf of Edith Crawford, I +can assure you you won't succeed." + +"Well, I don't know that that is altogether my intention. I see you are +interested in the case, but I dare say you don't remember all the +circumstances. You must forgive me if I repeat that which you know +already. If you have ever been to Edinburgh at all, you will have heard +of Graham's bank, and Mr. Andrew Graham, the present head of the firm, +is undoubtedly one of the most prominent notabilities of 'modern +Athens.'" + +The man in the corner took two or three photos from his pocket-book and +placed them before the young girl; then, pointing at them with his long +bony finger-- + +"That," he said, "is Mr. Elphinstone Graham, the eldest son, a typical +young Scotchman, as you see, and this is David Graham, the second son." + +Polly looked more closely at this last photo, and saw before her a young +face, upon which some lasting sorrow seemed already to have left its +mark. The face was delicate and thin, the features pinched, and the +eyes seemed almost unnaturally large and prominent. + +"He was deformed," commented the man in the corner in answer to the +girl's thoughts, "and, as such, an object of pity and even of repugnance +to most of his friends. There was also a good deal of talk in Edinburgh +society as to his mental condition, his mind, according to many intimate +friends of the Grahams, being at times decidedly unhinged. Be that as it +may, I fancy that his life must have been a very sad one; he had lost +his mother when quite a baby, and his father seemed, strangely enough, +to have an almost unconquerable dislike towards him. + +"Every one got to know presently of David Graham's sad position in his +father's own house, and also of the great affection lavished upon him by +his godmother, Lady Donaldson, who was a sister of Mr. Graham's. + +"She was a lady of considerable wealth, being the widow of Sir George +Donaldson, the great distiller; but she seems to have been decidedly +eccentric. Latterly she had astonished all her family--who were rigid +Presbyterians--by announcing her intention of embracing the Roman +Catholic faith, and then retiring to the convent of St. Augustine's at +Newton Abbot in Devonshire. + +"She had sole and absolute control of the vast fortune which a doting +husband had bequeathed to her. Clearly, therefore, she was at liberty +to bestow it upon a Devonshire convent if she chose. But this evidently +was not altogether her intention. + +"I told you how fond she was of her deformed godson, did I not? Being a +bundle of eccentricities, she had many hobbies, none more pronounced +than the fixed determination to see--before retiring from the world +altogether--David Graham happily married. + +"Now, it appears that David Graham, ugly, deformed, half-demented as he +was, had fallen desperately in love with Miss Edith Crawford, daughter +of the late Dr. Crawford, of Prince's Gardens. The young lady, +however--very naturally, perhaps--fought shy of David Graham, who, about +this time, certainly seemed very queer and morose, but Lady Donaldson, +with characteristic determination, seems to have made up her mind to +melt Miss Crawford's heart towards her unfortunate nephew. + +"On October the 2nd last, at a family party given by Mr. Graham in his +fine mansion in Charlotte Square, Lady Donaldson openly announced her +intention of making over, by deed of gift, to her nephew, David Graham, +certain property, money, and shares, amounting in total value to the sum +of £100,000, and also her magnificent diamonds, which were worth +£50,000, for the use of the said David's wife. Keith Macfinlay, a lawyer +of Prince's Street, received the next day instructions for drawing up +the necessary deed of gift, which she pledged herself to sign the day of +her godson's wedding. + +"A week later _The Scotsman_ contained the following paragraph:-- + +"'A marriage is arranged and will shortly take place between David, +younger son of Andrew Graham, Esq., of Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, and +Dochnakirk, Perthshire, and Edith Lillian, only surviving daughter of +the late Dr. Kenneth Crawford, of Prince's Gardens.' + +"In Edinburgh society comments were loud and various upon the +forthcoming marriage, and, on the whole, these comments were far from +complimentary to the families concerned. I do not think that the Scotch +are a particularly sentimental race, but there was such obvious buying, +selling, and bargaining about this marriage that Scottish chivalry rose +in revolt at the thought. + +"Against that the three people most concerned seemed perfectly +satisfied. David Graham was positively transformed; his moroseness was +gone from him, he lost his queer ways and wild manners, and became +gentle and affectionate in the midst of this great and unexpected +happiness. Miss Edith Crawford ordered her trousseau, and talked of the +diamonds to her friends, and Lady Donaldson was only waiting for the +consummation of this marriage--her heart's desire--before she finally +retired from the world, at peace with it and with herself. + +"The deed of gift was ready for signature on the wedding day, which was +fixed for November 7th, and Lady Donaldson took up her abode temporarily +in her brother's house in Charlotte Square. + +"Mr. Graham gave a large ball on October 23rd. Special interest is +attached to this ball, from the fact that for this occasion Lady +Donaldson insisted that David's future wife should wear the magnificent +diamonds which were soon to become hers. + +"They were, it seems, superb, and became Miss Crawford's stately beauty +to perfection. The ball was a brilliant success, the last guest leaving +at four a.m. The next day it was the universal topic of conversation, +and the day after that, when Edinburgh unfolded the late editions of its +morning papers, it learned with horror and dismay that Lady Donaldson +had been found murdered in her room, and that the celebrated diamonds +had been stolen. + +"Hardly had the beautiful little city, however, recovered from this +awful shock, than its newspapers had another thrilling sensation ready +for their readers. + +"Already all Scotch and English papers had mysteriously hinted at +'startling information' obtained by the Procurator Fiscal, and at an +'impending sensational arrest.' + +"Then the announcement came, and every one in Edinburgh read, +horror-struck and aghast, that the 'sensational arrest' was none other +than that of Miss Edith Crawford, for murder and robbery, both so daring +and horrible that reason refused to believe that a young lady, born and +bred in the best social circle, could have conceived, much less +executed, so heinous a crime. She had been arrested in London at the +Midland Hotel, and brought to Edinburgh, where she was judicially +examined, bail being refused." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A TERRIBLE PLIGHT + + +"Little more than a fortnight after that, Edith Crawford was duly +committed to stand her trial before the High Court of Justiciary. She +had pleaded 'Not Guilty' at the pleading diet, and her defence was +entrusted to Sir James Fenwick, one of the most eminent advocates at the +Criminal Bar. + +"Strange to say," continued the man in the corner after a while, "public +opinion from the first went dead against the accused. The public is +absolutely like a child, perfectly irresponsible and wholly illogical; +it argued that since Miss Crawford had been ready to contract a marriage +with a half-demented, deformed creature for the sake of his £100,000 she +must have been equally ready to murder and rob an old lady for the sake +of £50,000 worth of jewellery, without the encumbrance of so undesirable +a husband. + +"Perhaps the great sympathy aroused in the popular mind for David Graham +had much to do with this ill-feeling against the accused. David Graham +had, by this cruel and dastardly murder, lost the best--if not the +only--friend he possessed. He had also lost at one fell swoop the large +fortune which Lady Donaldson had been about to assign to him. + +"The deed of gift had never been signed, and the old lady's vast wealth, +instead of enriching her favourite nephew, was distributed--since she +had made no will--amongst her heirs-at-law. And now to crown this long +chapter of sorrow David Graham saw the girl he loved accused of the +awful crime which had robbed him of friend and fortune. + +"It was, therefore, with an unmistakable thrill of righteous +satisfaction that Edinburgh society saw this 'mercenary girl' in so +terrible a plight. + +"I was immensely interested in the case, and journeyed down to Edinburgh +in order to get a good view of the chief actors in the thrilling drama +which was about to be unfolded there. + +"I succeeded--I generally do--in securing one of the front seats among +the audience, and was already comfortably installed in my place in court +when through the trap door I saw the head of the prisoner emerge. She +was very becomingly dressed in deep black, and, led by two policemen, +she took her place in the dock. Sir James Fenwick shook hands with her +very warmly, and I could almost hear him instilling words of comfort +into her. + +"The trial lasted six clear days, during which time more than forty +persons were examined for the prosecution, and as many for the defence. +But the most interesting witnesses were certainly the two doctors, the +maid Tremlett, Campbell, the High Street jeweller, and David Graham. + +"There was, of course, a great deal of medical evidence to go through. +Poor Lady Donaldson had been found with a silk scarf tied tightly round +her neck, her face showing even to the inexperienced eye every symptom +of strangulation. + +"Then Tremlett, Lady Donaldson's confidential maid, was called. Closely +examined by Crown Counsel, she gave an account of the ball at Charlotte +Square on the 23rd, and the wearing of the jewels by Miss Crawford on +that occasion. + +"'I helped Miss Crawford on with the tiara over her hair,' she said; +'and my lady put the two necklaces round Miss Crawford's neck herself. +There were also some beautiful brooches, bracelets, and earrings. At +four o'clock in the morning when the ball was over, Miss Crawford +brought the jewels back to my lady's room. My lady had already gone to +bed, and I had put out the electric light, as I was going, too. There +was only one candle left in the room, close to the bed. + +"'Miss Crawford took all the jewels off, and asked Lady Donaldson for +the key of the safe, so that she might put them away. My lady gave her +the key and said to me, "You can go to bed, Tremlett, you must be dead +tired." I was glad to go, for I could hardly stand up--I was so tired. I +said "Good night!" to my lady and also to Miss Crawford, who was busy +putting the jewels away. As I was going out of the room I heard Lady +Donaldson saying: "Have you managed it, my dear?" Miss Crawford said: "I +have put everything away very nicely."' + +"In answer to Sir James Fenwick, Tremlett said that Lady Donaldson +always carried the key of her jewel safe on a ribbon round her neck, and +had done so the whole day preceding her death. + +"'On the night of the 24th,' she continued, 'Lady Donaldson still seemed +rather tired, and went up to her room directly after dinner, and while +the family were still sitting in the dining-room. She made me dress her +hair, then she slipped on her dressing-gown and sat in the arm-chair +with a book. She told me that she then felt strangely uncomfortable and +nervous, and could not account for it. + +"'However, she did not want me to sit with her, so I thought that the +best thing I could do was to tell Mr. David Graham that her ladyship did +not seem very cheerful. Her ladyship was so fond of Mr. David; it always +made her happy to have him with her. I then went to my room, and at +half-past eight Mr. David called me. He said: "Your mistress does seem a +little restless to-night. If I were you I would just go and listen at +her door in about an hour's time, and if she has not gone to bed I would +go in and stay with her until she has." At about ten o'clock I did as +Mr. David suggested, and listened at her ladyship's door. However, all +was quiet in the room, and, thinking her ladyship had gone to sleep, I +went back to bed. + +"'The next morning at eight o'clock, when I took in my mistress's cup of +tea, I saw her lying on the floor, her poor dear face all purple and +distorted. I screamed, and the other servants came rushing along. Then +Mr. Graham had the door locked and sent for the doctor and the police.' + +"The poor woman seemed to find it very difficult not to break down. She +was closely questioned by Sir James Fenwick, but had nothing further to +say. She had last seen her mistress alive at eight o'clock on the +evening of the 24th. + +"'And when you listened at her door at ten o'clock,' asked Sir James, +'did you try to open it?' + +"'I did, but it was locked,' she replied. + +"'Did Lady Donaldson usually lock her bedroom at night?' + +"'Nearly always.' + +"'And in the morning when you took in the tea?' + +"'The door was open. I walked straight in.' + +"'You are quite sure?' insisted Sir James. + +"'I swear it,' solemnly asserted the woman. + +"After that we were informed by several members of Mr. Graham's +establishment that Miss Crawford had been in to tea at Charlotte Square +in the afternoon of the 24th, that she told every one she was going to +London by the night mail, as she had some special shopping she wished to +do there. It appears that Mr. Graham and David both tried to persuade +her to stay to dinner, and then to go by the 9.10 p.m. from the +Caledonian Station. Miss Crawford however had refused, saying she always +preferred to go from the Waverley Station. It was nearer to her own +rooms, and she still had a good deal of writing to do. + +"In spite of this, two witnesses saw the accused in Charlotte Square +later on in the evening. She was carrying a bag which seemed heavy, and +was walking towards the Caledonian Railway Station. + +"But the most thrilling moment in that sensational trial was reached on +the second day, when David Graham, looking wretchedly ill, unkempt, and +haggard, stepped into the witness-box. A murmur of sympathy went round +the audience at sight of him, who was the second, perhaps, most deeply +stricken victim of the Charlotte Square tragedy. + +"David Graham, in answer to Crown Counsel, gave an account of his last +interview with Lady Donaldson. + +"'Tremlett had told me that she seemed anxious and upset, and I went to +have a chat with her; she soon cheered up and....' + +"There the unfortunate young man hesitated visibly, but after a while +resumed with an obvious effort. + +"'She spoke of my marriage, and of the gift she was about to bestow upon +me. She said the diamonds would be for my wife, and after that for my +daughter, if I had one. She also complained that Mr. Macfinlay had been +so punctilious about preparing the deed of gift, and that it was a great +pity the £100,000 could not just pass from her hands to mine without so +much fuss. + +"'I stayed talking with her for about half an hour; then I left her, as +she seemed ready to go to bed; but I told her maid to listen at the door +in about an hour's time.' + +"There was deep silence in the court for a few moments, a silence which +to me seemed almost electrical. It was as if, some time before it was +uttered, the next question put by Crown Counsel to the witness had +hovered in the air. + +"'You were engaged to Miss Edith Crawford at one time, were you not?' + +"One felt, rather than heard, the almost inaudible 'Yes' which escaped +from David Graham's compressed lips. + +"'Under what circumstances was that engagement broken off?' + +"Sir James Fenwick had already risen in protest, but David Graham had +been the first to speak. + +"'I do not think that I need answer that question.' + +"'I will put it in a different form, then,' said Crown Counsel +urbanely--'one to which my learned friend cannot possibly take +exception. Did you or did you not on October 27th receive a letter from +the accused, in which she desired to be released from her promise of +marriage to you?' + +"Again David Graham would have refused to answer, and he certainly gave +no audible reply to the learned counsel's question; but every one in the +audience there present--aye, every member of the jury and of the +bar--read upon David Graham's pale countenance and large, sorrowful eyes +that ominous 'Yes!' which had failed to reach his trembling lips." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +"NON PROVEN" + + +"There is no doubt," continued the man in the corner, "that what little +sympathy the young girl's terrible position had aroused in the public +mind had died out the moment that David Graham left the witness-box on +the second day of the trial. Whether Edith Crawford was guilty of murder +or not, the callous way in which she had accepted a deformed lover, and +then thrown him over, had set every one's mind against her. + +"It was Mr. Graham himself who had been the first to put the Procurator +Fiscal in possession of the fact that the accused had written to David +from London, breaking off her engagement. This information had, no +doubt, directed the attention of the Fiscal to Miss Crawford, and the +police soon brought forward the evidence which had led to her arrest. + +"We had a final sensation on the third day, when Mr. Campbell, jeweller, +of High Street, gave his evidence. He said that on October 25th a lady +came to his shop and offered to sell him a pair of diamond earrings. +Trade had been very bad, and he had refused the bargain, although the +lady seemed ready to part with the earrings for an extraordinarily low +sum, considering the beauty of the stones. + +"In fact it was because of this evident desire on the lady's part to +sell at _any_ cost that he had looked at her more keenly than he +otherwise would have done. He was now ready to swear that the lady that +offered him the diamond earrings was the prisoner in the dock. + +"I can assure you that as we all listened to this apparently damnatory +evidence, you might have heard a pin drop amongst the audience in that +crowded court. The girl alone, there in the dock, remained calm and +unmoved. Remember that for two days we had heard evidence to prove that +old Dr. Crawford had died leaving his daughter penniless, that having no +mother she had been brought up by a maiden aunt, who had trained her to +be a governess, which occupation she had followed for years, and that +certainly she had never been known by any of her friends to be in +possession of solitaire diamond earrings. + +"The prosecution had certainly secured an ace of trumps, but Sir James +Fenwick, who during the whole of that day had seemed to take little +interest in the proceedings, here rose from his seat, and I knew at once +that he had got a tit-bit in the way of a 'point' up his sleeve. Gaunt, +and unusually tall, and with his beak-like nose, he always looks +strangely impressive when he seriously tackles a witness. He did it this +time with a vengeance, I can tell you. He was all over the pompous +little jeweller in a moment. + +"'Had Mr. Campbell made a special entry in his book, as to the visit of +the lady in question?' + +"'No.' + +"'Had he any special means of ascertaining when that visit did actually +take place?' + +"'No--but--' + +"'What record had he of the visit?' + +"Mr. Campbell had none. In fact, after about twenty minutes of +cross-examination, he had to admit that he had given but little thought +to the interview with the lady at the time, and certainly not in +connection with the murder of Lady Donaldson, until he had read in the +papers that a young lady had been arrested. + +"Then he and his clerk talked the matter over, it appears, and together +they had certainly recollected that a lady had brought some beautiful +earrings for sale on a day which _must have been_ the very morning after +the murder. If Sir James Fenwick's object was to discredit this special +witness, he certainly gained his point. + +"All the pomposity went out of Mr. Campbell, he became flurried, then +excited, then he lost his temper. After that he was allowed to leave the +court, and Sir James Fenwick resumed his seat, and waited like a +vulture for its prey. + +"It presented itself in the person of Mr. Campbell's clerk, who, before +the Procurator Fiscal, had corroborated his employer's evidence in every +respect. In Scotland no witness in any one case is present in court +during the examination of another, and Mr. Macfarlane, the clerk, was, +therefore, quite unprepared for the pitfalls which Sir James Fenwick had +prepared for him. He tumbled into them, head foremost, and the eminent +advocate turned him inside out like a glove. + +"Mr. Macfarlane did not lose his temper; he was of too humble a frame of +mind to do that, but he got into a hopeless quagmire of mixed +recollections, and he too left the witness-box quite unprepared to swear +as to the day of the interview with the lady with the diamond earrings. + +"I dare say, mind you," continued the man in the corner with a chuckle, +"that to most people present, Sir James Fenwick's cross-questioning +seemed completely irrelevant. Both Mr. Campbell and his clerk were quite +ready to swear that they had had an interview concerning some diamond +earrings with a lady, of whose identity with the accused they were +perfectly convinced, and to the casual observer the question as to the +time or even the day when that interview took place could make but +little difference in the ultimate issue. + +"Now I took in, in a moment, the entire drift of Sir James Fenwick's +defence of Edith Crawford. When Mr. Macfarlane left the witness-box, the +second victim of the eminent advocate's caustic tongue, I could read as +in a book the whole history of that crime, its investigation, and the +mistakes made by the police first and the Public Prosecutor afterwards. + +"Sir James Fenwick knew them, too, of course, and he placed a finger +upon each one, demolishing--like a child who blows upon a house of +cards--the entire scaffolding erected by the prosecution. + +"Mr. Campbell's and Mr. Macfarlane's identification of the accused with +the lady who, on some date--admitted to be uncertain--had tried to sell +a pair of diamond earrings, was the first point. Sir James had plenty of +witnesses to prove that on the 25th, the day after the murder, the +accused was in London, whilst, the day before, Mr. Campbell's shop had +been closed long before the family circle had seen the last of Lady +Donaldson. Clearly the jeweller and his clerk must have seen some other +lady, whom their vivid imagination had pictured as being identical with +the accused. + +"Then came the great question of time. Mr. David Graham had been +evidently the last to see Lady Donaldson alive. He had spoken to her as +late as 8.30 p.m. Sir James Fenwick had called two porters at the +Caledonian Railway Station who testified to Miss Crawford having taken +her seat in a first-class carriage of the 9.10 train, some minutes +before it started. + +"'Was it conceivable, therefore,' argued Sir James, 'that in the space +of half an hour the accused--a young girl--could have found her way +surreptitiously into the house, at a time when the entire household was +still astir, that she should have strangled Lady Donaldson, forced open +the safe, and made away with the jewels? A man--an experienced burglar +might have done it, but I contend that the accused is physically +incapable of accomplishing such a feat. + +"'With regard to the broken engagement,' continued the eminent counsel +with a smile, 'it may have seemed a little heartless, certainly, but +heartlessness is no crime in the eyes of the law. The accused has stated +in her declaration that at the time she wrote to Mr. David Graham, +breaking off her engagement, she had heard nothing of the Edinburgh +tragedy. + +"'The London papers had reported the crime very briefly. The accused was +busy shopping; she knew nothing of Mr. David Graham's altered position. +In no case was the breaking off of the engagement a proof that the +accused had obtained possession of the jewels by so foul a deed.' + +"It is, of course, impossible for me," continued the man in the corner +apologetically, "to give you any idea of the eminent advocate's +eloquence and masterful logic. It struck every one, I think, just as it +did me, that he chiefly directed his attention to the fact that there +was absolutely no _proof_ against the accused. + +"Be that as it may, the result of that remarkable trial was a verdict of +'Non Proven.' The jury was absent forty minutes, and it appears that in +the mind of every one of them there remained, in spite of Sir James' +arguments, a firmly rooted conviction--call it instinct, if you +like--that Edith Crawford had done away with Lady Donaldson in order to +become possessed of those jewels, and that in spite of the pompous +jeweller's many contradictions, she had offered him some of those +diamonds for sale. But there was not enough proof to convict, and she +was given the benefit of the doubt. + +"I have heard English people argue that in England she would have been +hanged. Personally I doubt that. I think that an English jury, not +having the judicial loophole of 'Non Proven,' would have been bound to +acquit her. What do you think?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +UNDENIABLE FACTS + + +There was a moment's silence, for Polly did not reply immediately, and +he went on making impossible knots in his bit of string. Then she said +quietly-- + +"I think that I agree with those English people who say that an English +jury would have condemned her.... I have no doubt that she was guilty. +She may not have committed that awful deed herself. Some one in the +Charlotte Square house may have been her accomplice and killed and +robbed Lady Donaldson while Edith Crawford waited outside for the +jewels. David Graham left his godmother at 8.30 p.m. If the accomplice +was one of the servants in the house, he or she would have had plenty of +time for any amount of villainy, and Edith Crawford could have yet +caught the 9.10 p.m. train from the Caledonian Station." + +"Then who, in your opinion," he asked sarcastically, and cocking his +funny birdlike head on one side, "tried to sell diamond earrings to Mr. +Campbell, the jeweller?" + +"Edith Crawford, of course," she retorted triumphantly; "he and his +clerk both recognized her." + +"When did she try to sell them the earrings?" + +"Ah, that is what I cannot quite make out, and there to my mind lies the +only mystery in this case. On the 25th she was certainly in London, and +it is not very likely that she would go back to Edinburgh in order to +dispose of the jewels there, where they could most easily be traced." + +"Not very likely, certainly," he assented drily. + +"And," added the young girl, "on the day before she left for London, +Lady Donaldson was alive." + +"And pray," he said suddenly, as with comic complacency he surveyed a +beautiful knot he had just twisted up between his long fingers, "what +has that fact got to do with it?" + +"But it has everything to do with it!" she retorted. + +"Ah, there you go," he sighed with comic emphasis. "My teachings don't +seem to have improved your powers of reasoning. You are as bad as the +police. Lady Donaldson has been robbed and murdered, and you immediately +argue that she was robbed and murdered by the same person." + +"But--" argued Polly. + +"There is no but," he said, getting more and more excited. "See how +simple it is. Edith Crawford wears the diamonds one night, then she +brings them back to Lady Donaldson's room. Remember the maid's +statement: 'My lady said: "Have you put them back, my dear?"--a simple +statement, utterly ignored by the prosecution. But what did it mean? +That Lady Donaldson could not see for herself whether Edith Crawford had +put back the jewels or not, _since she asked the question_." + +"Then you argue--" + +"I never argue," he interrupted excitedly; "I state undeniable facts. +Edith Crawford, who wanted to steal the jewels, took them then and +there, when she had the opportunity. Why in the world should she have +waited? Lady Donaldson was in bed, and Tremlett, the maid, had gone. + +"The next day--namely, the 25th--she tries to dispose of a pair of +earrings to Mr. Campbell; she fails, and decides to go to London, where +she has a better chance. Sir James Fenwick did not think it desirable to +bring forward witnesses to prove what I have since ascertained is a +fact, namely, that on the 27th of October, three days before her arrest, +Miss Crawford crossed over to Belgium, and came back to London the next +day. In Belgium, no doubt, Lady Donaldson's diamonds, taken out of their +settings, calmly repose at this moment, while the money derived from +their sale is safely deposited in a Belgian bank." + +"But then, who murdered Lady Donaldson, and why?" gasped Polly. + +"Cannot you guess?" he queried blandly. "Have I not placed the case +clearly enough before you? To me it seems so simple. It was a daring, +brutal murder, remember. Think of one who, not being the thief himself, +would, nevertheless, have the strongest of all motives to shield the +thief from the consequences of her own misdeed: aye! and the power +too--since it would be absolutely illogical, nay, impossible, that he +should be an accomplice." + +"Surely----" + +"Think of a curious nature, warped morally, as well as physically--do +you know how those natures feel? A thousand times more strongly than the +even, straight natures in everyday life. Then think of such a nature +brought face to face with this awful problem. + +"Do you think that such a nature would hesitate a moment before +committing a crime to save the loved one from the consequences of that +deed? Mind you, I don't assert for a moment that David Graham had any +_intention_ of murdering Lady Donaldson. Tremlett tells him that she +seems strangely upset; he goes to her room and finds that she has +discovered that she has been robbed. She naturally suspects Edith +Crawford, recollects the incidents of the other night, and probably +expresses her feelings to David Graham, and threatens immediate +prosecution, scandal, what you will. + +"I repeat it again, I dare say he had no wish to kill her. Probably he +merely threatened to. A medical gentleman who spoke of sudden heart +failure was no doubt right. Then imagine David Graham's remorse, his +horror and his fears. The empty safe probably is the first object that +suggested to him the grim tableau of robbery and murder, which he +arranges in order to ensure his own safety. + +"But remember one thing: no miscreant was seen to enter or leave the +house surreptitiously; the murderer left no signs of entrance, and none +of exit. An armed burglar would have left some trace--_some one_ would +have heard _something_. Then who locked and unlocked Lady Donaldson's +door that night while she herself lay dead? + +"Some one in the house, I tell you--some one who left no trace--some one +against whom there could be no suspicion--some one who killed without +apparently the slightest premeditation, and without the slightest +motive. Think of it--I know I am right--and then tell me if I have at +all enlisted your sympathies in the author of the Edinburgh Mystery." + +He was gone. Polly looked again at the photo of David Graham. Did a +crooked mind really dwell in that crooked body, and were there in the +world such crimes that were great enough to be deemed sublime? + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE THEFT AT THE ENGLISH PROVIDENT BANK + + +"That question of motive is a very difficult and complicated one at +times," said the man in the corner, leisurely pulling off a huge pair of +flaming dog-skin gloves from his meagre fingers. "I have known +experienced criminal investigators declare, as an infallible axiom, that +to find the person interested in the committal of the crime is to find +the criminal. + +"Well, that may be so in most cases, but my experience has proved to me +that there is one factor in this world of ours which is the mainspring +of human actions, and that factor is human passions. For good or evil +passions rule this poor humanity of ours. Remember, there are the women! +French detectives, who are acknowledged masters in their craft, never +proceed till after they have discovered the feminine element in a crime; +whether in theft, murder, or fraud, according to their theory, there is +always a woman. + +"Perhaps the reason why the Phillimore Terrace robbery was never +brought home to its perpetrators is because there was no woman in any +way connected with it, and I am quite sure, on the other hand, that the +reason why the thief at the English Provident Bank is still unpunished +is because a clever woman has escaped the eyes of our police force." + +He had spoken at great length and very dictatorially. Miss Polly Burton +did not venture to contradict him, knowing by now that whenever he was +irritable he was invariably rude, and she then had the worst of it. + +"When I am old," he resumed, "and have nothing more to do, I think I +shall take professionally to the police force; they have much to learn." + +Could anything be more ludicrous than the self-satisfaction, the +abnormal conceit of this remark, made by that shrivelled piece of +mankind, in a nervous, hesitating tone of voice? Polly made no comment, +but drew from her pocket a beautiful piece of string, and knowing his +custom of knotting such an article while unravelling his mysteries, she +handed it across the table to him. She positively thought that he +blushed. + +"As an adjunct to thought," she said, moved by a conciliatory spirit. + +He looked at the invaluable toy which the young girl had tantalisingly +placed close to his hand: then he forced himself to look all round the +coffee-room: at Polly, at the waitresses, at the piles of pallid buns +upon the counter. But, involuntarily, his mild blue eyes wandered back +lovingly to the long piece of string, on which his playful imagination +no doubt already saw a series of knots which would be equally +tantalising to tie and to untie. + +"Tell me about the theft at the English Provident Bank," suggested Polly +condescendingly. + +He looked at her, as if she had proposed some mysterious complicity in +an unheard-of crime. Finally his lean fingers sought the end of the +piece of string, and drew it towards him. His face brightened up in a +moment. + +"There was an element of tragedy in that particular robbery," he began, +after a few moments of beatified knotting, "altogether different to that +connected with most crimes; a tragedy which, as far as I am concerned, +would seal my lips for ever, and forbid them to utter a word, which +might lead the police on the right track." + +"Your lips," suggested Polly sarcastically, "are, as far as I can see, +usually sealed before our long-suffering, incompetent police and--" + +"And you should be the last to grumble at this," he quietly interrupted, +"for you have spent some very pleasant half-hours already, listening to +what you have termed my 'cock-and-bull' stories. You know the English +Provident Bank, of course, in Oxford Street; there were plenty of +sketches of it at the time in the illustrated papers. Here is a photo of +the outside. I took it myself some time ago, and only wish I had been +cheeky or lucky enough to get a snap-shot of the interior. But you see +that the office has a separate entrance from the rest of the house, +which was, and still is, as is usual in such cases, inhabited by the +manager and his family. + +"Mr. Ireland was the manager then; it was less than six months ago. He +lived over the bank, with his wife and family, consisting of a son, who +was clerk in the business, and two or three younger children. The house +is really smaller than it looks on this photo, for it has no depth, and +only one set of rooms on each floor looking out into the street, the +back of the house being nothing but the staircase. Mr. Ireland and his +family, therefore, occupied the whole of it. + +"As for the business premises, they were, and, in fact, are, of the +usual pattern; an office with its rows of desks, clerks, and cashiers, +and beyond, through a glass door, the manager's private room, with the +ponderous safe, and desk, and so on. + +"The private room has a door into the hall of the house, so that the +manager is not obliged to go out into the street in order to go to +business. There are no living-rooms on the ground floor, and the house +has no basement. + +"I am obliged to put all these architectural details before you, though +they may sound rather dry and uninteresting, but they are really +necessary in order to make my argument clear. + +"At night, of course, the bank premises are barred and bolted against +the street, and as an additional precaution there is always a night +watchman in the office. As I mentioned before, there is only a glass +door between the office and the manager's private room. This, of course, +accounted for the fact that the night watchman heard all that he did +hear, on that memorable night, and so helped further to entangle the +thread of that impenetrable mystery. + +"Mr. Ireland as a rule went into his office every morning a little +before ten o'clock, but on that particular morning, for some reason +which he never could or would explain, he went down before having his +breakfast at about nine o'clock. Mrs. Ireland stated subsequently that, +not hearing him return, she sent the servant down to tell the master +that breakfast was getting cold. The girl's shrieks were the first +intimation that something alarming had occurred. + +"Mrs. Ireland hastened downstairs. On reaching the hall she found the +door of her husband's room open, and it was from there that the girl's +shrieks proceeded. + +"'The master, mum--the poor master--he is dead, mum--I am sure he is +dead!'--accompanied by vigorous thumps against the glass partition, and +not very measured language on the part of the watchman from the outer +office, such as--'Why don't you open the door instead of making that +row?' + +"Mrs. Ireland is not the sort of woman who, under any circumstances, +would lose her presence of mind. I think she proved that throughout the +many trying circumstances connected with the investigation of the case. +She gave only one glance at the room and realized the situation. On the +arm-chair, with head thrown back and eyes closed, lay Mr. Ireland, +apparently in a dead faint; some terrible shock must have very suddenly +shattered his nervous system, and rendered him prostrate for the moment. +What that shock had been it was pretty easy to guess. + +"The door of the safe was wide open, and Mr. Ireland had evidently +tottered and fainted before some awful fact which the open safe had +revealed to him; he had caught himself against a chair which lay on the +floor, and then finally sunk, unconscious, into the arm-chair. + +"All this, which takes some time to describe," continued the man in the +corner, "took, remember, only a second to pass like a flash through +Mrs. Ireland's mind; she quickly turned the key of the glass door, +which was on the inside, and with the help of James Fairbairn, the +watchman, she carried her husband upstairs to his room, and immediately +sent both for the police and for a doctor. + +"As Mrs. Ireland had anticipated, her husband had received a severe +mental shock which had completely prostrated him. The doctor prescribed +absolute quiet, and forbade all worrying questions for the present. The +patient was not a young man; the shock had been very severe--it was a +case, a very slight one, of cerebral congestion--and Mr. Ireland's +reason, if not his life, might be gravely jeopardised by any attempt to +recall before his enfeebled mind the circumstances which had preceded +his collapse. + +"The police therefore could proceed but slowly in their investigations. +The detective who had charge of the case was necessarily handicapped, +whilst one of the chief actors concerned in the drama was unable to help +him in his work. + +"To begin with, the robber or robbers had obviously not found their way +into the manager's inner room through the bank premises. James Fairbairn +had been on the watch all night, with the electric light full on, and +obviously no one could have crossed the outer office or forced the +heavily barred doors without his knowledge. + +"There remained the other access to the room, that is, the one through +the hall of the house. The hall door, it appears, was always barred and +bolted by Mr. Ireland himself when he came home, whether from the +theatre or his club. It was a duty he never allowed any one to perform +but himself. During his annual holiday, with his wife and family, his +son, who usually had the sub-manager to stay with him on those +occasions, did the bolting and barring--but with the distinct +understanding that this should be done by ten o'clock at night. + +"As I have already explained to you, there is only a glass partition +between the general office and the manager's private room, and, +according to James Fairbairn's account, this was naturally always left +wide open so that he, during his night watch, would of necessity hear +the faintest sound. As a rule there was no light left in the manager's +room, and the other door--that leading into the hall--was bolted from +the inside by James Fairbairn the moment he had satisfied himself that +the premises were safe, and he had begun his night-watch. An electric +bell in both the offices communicated with Mr. Ireland's bedroom and +that of his son, Mr. Robert Ireland, and there was a telephone installed +to the nearest district messengers' office, with an understood signal +which meant 'Police.' + +"At nine o'clock in the morning it was the night watchman's duty, as +soon as the first cashier had arrived, to dust and tidy the manager's +room, and to undo the bolts; after that he was free to go home to his +breakfast and rest. + +"You will see, of course, that James Fairbairn's position in the English +Provident Bank is one of great responsibility and trust; but then in +every bank and business house there are men who hold similar positions. +They are always men of well-known and tried characters, often old +soldiers with good-conduct records behind them. James Fairbairn is a +fine, powerful Scotchman; he had been night watchman to the English +Provident Bank for fifteen years, and was then not more than forty-three +or forty-four years old. He is an ex-guardsman, and stands six feet +three inches in his socks. + +"It was his evidence, of course, which was of such paramount importance, +and which somehow or other managed, in spite of the utmost care +exercised by the police, to become public property, and to cause the +wildest excitement in banking and business circles. + +"James Fairbairn stated that at eight o'clock in the evening of March +25th, having bolted and barred all the shutters and the door of the back +premises, he was about to lock the manager's door as usual, when Mr. +Ireland called to him from the floor above, telling him to leave that +door open, as he might want to go into the office again for a minute +when he came home at eleven o'clock. James Fairbairn asked if he should +leave the light on, but Mr. Ireland said: 'No, turn it out. I can switch +it on if I want it.' + +"The night watchman at the English Provident Bank has permission to +smoke, he also is allowed a nice fire, and a tray consisting of a plate +of substantial sandwiches and one glass of ale, which he can take when +he likes. James Fairbairn settled himself in front of the fire, lit his +pipe, took out his newspaper, and began to read. He thought he had heard +the street door open and shut at about a quarter to ten; he supposed +that it was Mr. Ireland going out to his club, but at ten minutes to ten +o'clock the watchman heard the door of the manager's room open, and some +one enter, immediately closing the glass partition door and turning the +key. + +"He naturally concluded it was Mr. Ireland himself. + +"From where he sat he could not see into the room, but he noticed that +the electric light had not been switched on, and that the manager +seemingly had no light but an occasional match. + +"'For the minute,' continued James Fairbairn, 'a thought did just cross +my mind that something might perhaps be wrong, and I put my newspaper +aside and went to the other end of the room towards the glass partition. +The manager's room was still quite dark, and I could not clearly see +into it, but the door into the hall was open, and there was, of course, +a light through there. I had got quite close to the partition, when I +saw Mrs. Ireland standing in the doorway, and heard her saying in a very +astonished tone of voice: 'Why, Lewis, I thought you had gone to your +club ages ago. What in the world are you doing here in the dark?' + +"'Lewis is Mr. Ireland's Christian name,' was James Fairbairn's further +statement. 'I did not hear the manager's reply, but quite satisfied now +that nothing was wrong, I went back to my pipe and my newspaper. Almost +directly afterwards I heard the manager leave his room, cross the hall +and go out by the street door. It was only after he had gone that I +recollected that he must have forgotten to unlock the glass partition +and that I could not therefore bolt the door into the hall the same as +usual, and I suppose that is how those confounded thieves got the better +of me.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +CONFLICTING EVIDENCE + + +"By the time the public had been able to think over James Fairbairn's +evidence, a certain disquietude and unrest had begun to make itself felt +both in the bank itself and among those of our detective force who had +charge of the case. The newspapers spoke of the matter with very obvious +caution, and warned all their readers to await the further development +of this sad case. + +"While the manager of the English Provident Bank lay in such a +precarious condition of health, it was impossible to arrive at any +definite knowledge as to what the thief had actually made away with. The +chief cashier, however, estimated the loss at about £5000 in gold and +notes of the bank money--that was, of course, on the assumption that Mr. +Ireland had no private money or valuables of his own in the safe. + +"Mind you, at this point public sympathy was much stirred in favour of +the poor man who lay ill, perhaps dying, and yet whom, strangely +enough, suspicion had already slightly touched with its poisoned wing. + +"Suspicion is a strong word, perhaps, to use at this point in the story. +No one suspected anybody at present. James Fairbairn had told his story, +and had vowed that some thief with false keys must have sneaked through +the house into the inner office. + +"Public excitement, you will remember, lost nothing by waiting. Hardly +had we all had time to wonder over the night watchman's singular +evidence, and, pending further and fuller detail, to check our growing +sympathy for the man who was ill, than the sensational side of this +mysterious case culminated in one extraordinary, absolutely unexpected +fact. Mrs. Ireland, after a twenty-four hours' untiring watch beside her +husband's sick bed, had at last been approached by the detective, and +been asked to reply to a few simple questions, and thus help to throw +some light on the mystery which had caused Mr. Ireland's illness and her +own consequent anxiety. + +"She professed herself quite ready to reply to any questions put to her, +and she literally astounded both inspector and detective when she firmly +and emphatically declared that James Fairbairn must have been dreaming +or asleep when he thought he saw her in the doorway at ten o'clock that +night, and fancied he heard her voice. + +"She may or may not have been down in the hall at that particular hour, +for she usually ran down herself to see if the last post had brought any +letters, but most certainly she had neither seen nor spoken to Mr. +Ireland at that hour, for Mr. Ireland had gone out an hour before, she +herself having seen him to the front door. Never for a moment did she +swerve from this extraordinary statement. She spoke to James Fairbairn +in the presence of the detective, and told him he _must_ absolutely have +been mistaken, that she had _not_ seen Mr. Ireland, and that she had +_not_ spoken to him. + +"One other person was questioned by the police, and that was Mr. Robert +Ireland, the manager's eldest son. It was presumed that he would know +something of his father's affairs; the idea having now taken firm hold +of the detective's mind that perhaps grave financial difficulties had +tempted the unfortunate manager to appropriate some of the firm's money. + +"Mr. Robert Ireland, however, could not say very much. His father did +not confide in him to the extent of telling him all his private affairs, +but money never seemed scarce at home certainly, and Mr. Ireland had, to +his son's knowledge, not a single extravagant habit. He himself had been +dining out with a friend on that memorable evening, and had gone on with +him to the Oxford Music Hall. He met his father on the doorstep of the +bank at about 11.30 p.m. and they went in together. There certainly was +nothing remarkable about Mr. Ireland then, his son averred; he appeared +in no way excited, and bade his son good night quite cheerfully. + +"There was the extraordinary, the remarkable hitch," continued the man +in the corner, waxing more and more excited every moment. "The +public--who is at times very dense--saw it clearly nevertheless: of +course, every one at once jumped to the natural conclusion that Mrs. +Ireland was telling a lie--a noble lie, a self-sacrificing lie, a lie +endowed with all the virtues if you like, but still a lie. + +"She was trying to save her husband, and was going the wrong way to +work. James Fairbairn, after all, could not have dreamt quite all that +he declared he had seen and heard. No one suspected James Fairbairn; +there was no occasion to do that; to begin with he was a great heavy +Scotchman with obviously no powers of invention, such as Mrs. Ireland's +strange assertion credited him with; moreover, the theft of the +bank-notes could not have been of the slightest use to him. + +"But, remember, there was the hitch; without it the public mind would +already have condemned the sick man upstairs, without hope of +rehabilitation. This fact struck every one. + +"Granting that Mr. Ireland had gone into his office at ten minutes to +ten o'clock at night for the purpose of extracting £5000 worth of notes +and gold from the bank safe, whilst giving the theft the appearance of a +night burglary; granting that he was disturbed in his nefarious project +by his wife, who, failing to persuade him to make restitution, took his +side boldly, and very clumsily attempted to rescue him out of his +difficult position--why should he, at nine o'clock the following +morning, fall in a dead faint and get cerebral congestion at sight of a +defalcation he knew had occurred? One might simulate a fainting fit, but +no one can assume a high temperature and a congestion, which the most +ordinary practitioner who happened to be called in would soon see were +non-existent. + +"Mr. Ireland, according to James Fairbairn's evidence, must have gone +out soon after the theft, come in again with his son an hour and a half +later, talked to him, gone quietly to bed, and waited for nine hours +before he fell ill at sight of his own crime. It was not logical, you +will admit. Unfortunately, the poor man himself was unable to give any +explanation of the night's tragic adventures. + +"He was still very weak, and though under strong suspicion, he was left, +by the doctor's orders, in absolute ignorance of the heavy charges which +were gradually accumulating against him. He had made many anxious +inquiries from all those who had access to his bedside as to the result +of the investigation, and the probable speedy capture of the burglars, +but every one had strict orders to inform him merely that the police so +far had no clue of any kind. + +"You will admit, as every one did, that there was something very +pathetic about the unfortunate man's position, so helpless to defend +himself, if defence there was, against so much overwhelming evidence. +That is why I think public sympathy remained with him. Still, it was +terrible to think of his wife presumably knowing him to be guilty, and +anxiously waiting whilst dreading the moment when, restored to health, +he would have to face the doubts, the suspicions, probably the open +accusations, which were fast rising up around him." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +AN _ALIBI_ + + +"It was close on six weeks before the doctor at last allowed his patient +to attend to the grave business which had prostrated him for so long. + +"In the meantime, among the many people who directly or indirectly were +made to suffer in this mysterious affair, no one, I think, was more +pitied, and more genuinely sympathised with, than Robert Ireland, the +manager's eldest son. + +"You remember that he had been clerk in the bank? Well, naturally, the +moment suspicion began to fasten on his father his position in the +business became untenable. I think every one was very kind to him. Mr. +Sutherland French, who was made acting manager 'during Mr. Lewis +Ireland's regrettable absence,' did everything in his power to show his +goodwill and sympathy to the young man, but I don't think that he or any +one else was much astonished when, after Mrs. Ireland's extraordinary +attitude in the case had become public property, he quietly intimated +to the acting manager that he had determined to sever his connection +with the bank. + +"The best of recommendations was, of course, placed at his disposal, and +it was finally understood that, as soon as his father was completely +restored to health and would no longer require his presence in London, +he would try to obtain employment somewhere abroad. He spoke of the new +volunteer corps organized for the military policing of the new colonies, +and, truth to tell, no one could blame him that he should wish to leave +far behind him all London banking connections. The son's attitude +certainly did not tend to ameliorate the father's position. It was +pretty evident that his own family had ceased to hope in the poor +manager's innocence. + +"And yet he was absolutely innocent. You must remember how that fact was +clearly demonstrated as soon as the poor man was able to say a word for +himself. And he said it to some purpose, too. + +"Mr. Ireland was, and is, very fond of music. On the evening in +question, while sitting in his club, he saw in one of the daily papers +the announcement of a peculiarly attractive programme at the Queen's +Hall concert. He was not dressed, but nevertheless felt an irresistible +desire to hear one or two of these attractive musical items, and he +strolled down to the Hall. Now, this sort of alibi is usually very +difficult to prove, but Dame Fortune, oddly enough, favoured Mr. Ireland +on this occasion, probably to compensate him for the hard knocks she had +been dealing him pretty freely of late. + +"It appears that there was some difficulty about his seat, which was +sold to him at the box office, and which he, nevertheless, found +wrongfully occupied by a determined lady, who refused to move. The +management had to be appealed to; the attendants also remembered not +only the incident, but also the face and appearance of the gentleman who +was the innocent cause of the altercation. + +"As soon as Mr. Ireland could speak for himself he mentioned the +incident and the persons who had been witness to it. He was identified +by them, to the amazement, it must be confessed, of police and public +alike, who had comfortably decided that no one _could_ be guilty save +the manager of the Provident Bank himself. Moreover, Mr. Ireland was a +fairly wealthy man, with a good balance at the Union Bank, and plenty of +private means, the result of years of provident living. + +"He had but to prove that if he really had been in need of an immediate +£5000--which was all the amount extracted from the bank safe that +night--he had plenty of securities on which he could, at an hour's +notice, have raised twice that sum. His life insurances had been fully +paid up; he had not a debt which a £5 note could not easily have +covered. + +"On the fatal night he certainly did remember asking the watchman not to +bolt the door to his office, as he thought he might have one or two +letters to write when he came home, but later on he had forgotten all +about this. After the concert he met his son in Oxford Street, just +outside the house, and thought no more about the office, the door of +which was shut, and presented no unusual appearance. + +"Mr. Ireland absolutely denied having been in his office at the hour +when James Fairbairn positively asserted he heard Mrs. Ireland say in an +astonished tone of voice: 'Why, Lewis, what in the world are you doing +here?' It became pretty clear therefore that James Fairbairn's view of +the manager's wife had been a mere vision. + +"Mr. Ireland gave up his position as manager of the English Provident: +both he and his wife felt no doubt that on the whole, perhaps, there had +been too much talk, too much scandal connected with their name, to be +altogether advantageous to the bank. Moreover, Mr. Ireland's health was +not so good as it had been. He has a pretty house now at Sittingbourne, +and amuses himself during his leisure hours with amateur horticulture, +and I, who alone in London besides the persons directly connected with +this mysterious affair, know the true solution of the enigma, often +wonder how much of it is known to the ex-manager of the English +Provident Bank." + +The man in the corner had been silent for some time. Miss Polly Burton, +in her presumption, had made up her mind, at the commencement of his +tale, to listen attentively to every point of the evidence in connection +with the case which he recapitulated before her, and to follow the +point, in order to try and arrive at a conclusion of her own, and +overwhelm the antediluvian scarecrow with her sagacity. + +She said nothing, for she had arrived at no conclusion; the case puzzled +every one, and had amazed the public in its various stages, from the +moment when opinion began to cast doubt on Mr. Ireland's honesty to that +when his integrity was proved beyond a doubt. One or two people had +suspected Mrs. Ireland to have been the actual thief, but that idea had +soon to be abandoned. + +Mrs. Ireland had all the money she wanted; the theft occurred six months +ago, and not a single bank-note was ever traced to her pocket; moreover, +she must have had an accomplice, since some one else was in the +manager's room that night; and if that some one else was her accomplice, +why did she risk betraying him by speaking loudly in the presence of +James Fairbairn, when it would have been so much simpler to turn out +the light and plunge the hall into darkness? + +"You are altogether on the wrong track," sounded a sharp voice in direct +answer to Polly's thoughts--"altogether wrong. If you want to acquire my +method of induction, and improve your reasoning power, you must follow +my system. First think of the one absolutely undisputed, positive fact. +You must have a starting-point, and not go wandering about in the realms +of suppositions." + +"But there are no positive facts," she said irritably. + +"You don't say so?" he said quietly. "Do you not call it a positive fact +that the bank safe was robbed of £5000 on the evening of March 25th +before 11.30 p.m." + +"Yes, that is all which is positive and--" + +"Do you not call it a positive fact," he interrupted quietly, "that the +lock of the safe not being picked, it must have been opened by its own +key?" + +"I know that," she rejoined crossly, "and that is why every one agreed +that James Fairbairn could not possibly--" + +"And do you not call it a positive fact, then, that James Fairbairn +could not possibly, etc., etc., seeing that the glass partition door was +locked from the inside; Mrs. Ireland herself let James Fairbairn into +her husband's office when she saw him lying fainting before the open +safe. Of course that was a positive fact, and so was the one that proved +to any thinking mind that if that safe was opened with a key, it could +only have been done by a person having access to that key." + +"But the man in the private office--" + +"Exactly! the man in the private office. Enumerate his points, if you +please," said the funny creature, marking each point with one of his +favourite knots. "He was a man who might that night have had access to +the key of the safe, unsuspected by the manager or even his wife, and a +man for whom Mrs. Ireland was willing to tell a downright lie. Are there +many men for whom a woman of the better middle class, and an +Englishwoman, would be ready to perjure herself? Surely not! She might +do it for her husband. The public thought she had. It never struck them +that she might have done it for her son!" + +"Her son!" exclaimed Polly. + +"Ah! she was a clever woman," he ejaculated enthusiastically, "one with +courage and presence of mind, which I don't think I have ever seen +equalled. She runs downstairs before going to bed in order to see +whether the last post has brought any letters. She sees the door of her +husband's office ajar, she pushes it open, and there, by the sudden +flash of a hastily struck match she realizes in a moment that a thief +stands before the open safe, and in that thief she has already +recognized her son. At that very moment she hears the watchman's step +approaching the partition. There is no time to warn her son; she does +not know the glass door is locked; James Fairbairn may switch on the +electric light and see the young man in the very act of robbing his +employers' safe. + +"One thing alone can reassure the watchman. One person alone had the +right to be there at that hour of the night, and without hesitation she +pronounces her husband's name. + +"Mind you, I firmly believe that at the time the poor woman only wished +to gain time, that she had every hope that her son had not yet had the +opportunity to lay so heavy a guilt upon his conscience. + +"What passed between mother and son we shall never know, but this much +we do know, that the young villain made off with his booty, and trusted +that his mother would never betray him. Poor woman! what a night of it +she must have spent; but she was clever and far-seeing. She knew that +her husband's character could not suffer through her action. +Accordingly, she took the only course open to her to save her son even +from his father's wrath, and boldly denied James Fairbairn's statement. + +"Of course, she was fully aware that her husband could easily clear +himself, and the worst that could be said of her was that she had +thought him guilty and had tried to save him. She trusted to the future +to clear her of any charge of complicity in the theft. + +"By now every one has forgotten most of the circumstances; the police +are still watching the career of James Fairbairn and Mrs. Ireland's +expenditure. As you know, not a single note, so far, has been traced to +her. Against that, one or two of the notes have found their way back to +England. No one realizes how easy it is to cash English bank-notes at +the smaller _agents de change_ abroad. The _changeurs_ are only too glad +to get them; what do they care where they come from as long as they are +genuine? And a week or two later _M. le Changeur_ could not swear who +tendered him any one particular note. + +"You see, young Robert Ireland went abroad, he will come back some day +having made a fortune. There's his photo. And this is his mother--a +clever woman, wasn't she?" + +And before Polly had time to reply he was gone. She really had never +seen any one move across a room so quickly. But he always left an +interesting trail behind: a piece of string knotted from end to end and +a few photos. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE DUBLIN MYSTERY + + +"I always thought that the history of that forged will was about as +interesting as any I had read," said the man in the corner that day. He +had been silent for some time, and was meditatively sorting and looking +through a packet of small photographs in his pocket-book. Polly guessed +that some of these would presently be placed before her for +inspection--and she had not long to wait. + +"That is old Brooks," he said, pointing to one of the photographs, +"Millionaire Brooks, as he was called, and these are his two sons, +Percival and Murray. It was a curious case, wasn't it? Personally I +don't wonder that the police were completely at sea. If a member of that +highly estimable force happened to be as clever as the clever author of +that forged will, we should have very few undetected crimes in this +country." + +"That is why I always try to persuade you to give our poor ignorant +police the benefit of your great insight and wisdom," said Polly, with +a smile. + +"I know," he said blandly, "you have been most kind in that way, but I +am only an amateur. Crime interests me only when it resembles a clever +game of chess, with many intricate moves which all tend to one solution, +the checkmating of the antagonist--the detective force of the country. +Now, confess that, in the Dublin mystery, the clever police there were +absolutely checkmated." + +"Absolutely." + +"Just as the public was. There were actually two crimes committed in one +city which have completely baffled detection: the murder of Patrick +Wethered the lawyer, and the forged will of Millionaire Brooks. There +are not many millionaires in Ireland; no wonder old Brooks was a +notability in his way, since his business--bacon curing, I believe it +is--is said to be worth over £2,000,000 of solid money. + +"His younger son Murray was a refined, highly educated man, and was, +moreover, the apple of his father's eye, as he was the spoilt darling of +Dublin society; good-looking, a splendid dancer, and a perfect rider, he +was the acknowledged 'catch' of the matrimonial market of Ireland, and +many a very aristocratic house was opened hospitably to the favourite +son of the millionaire. + +"Of course, Percival Brooks, the eldest son, would inherit the bulk of +the old man's property and also probably the larger share in the +business; he, too, was good-looking, more so than his brother; he, too, +rode, danced, and talked well, but it was many years ago that mammas +with marriageable daughters had given up all hopes of Percival Brooks as +a probable son-in-law. That young man's infatuation for Maisie +Fortescue, a lady of undoubted charm but very doubtful antecedents, who +had astonished the London and Dublin music-halls with her extravagant +dances, was too well known and too old-established to encourage any +hopes in other quarters. + +"Whether Percival Brooks would ever marry Maisie Fortescue was thought +to be very doubtful. Old Brooks had the full disposal of all his wealth, +and it would have fared ill with Percival if he introduced an +undesirable wife into the magnificent Fitzwilliam Place establishment. + +"That is how matters stood," continued the man in the corner, "when +Dublin society one morning learnt, with deep regret and dismay, that old +Brooks had died very suddenly at his residence after only a few hours' +illness. At first it was generally understood that he had had an +apoplectic stroke; anyway, he had been at business hale and hearty as +ever the day before his death, which occurred late on the evening of +February 1st. + +"It was the morning papers of February 2nd which told the sad news to +their readers, and it was those selfsame papers which on that eventful +morning contained another even more startling piece of news, that proved +the prelude to a series of sensations such as tranquil, placid Dublin +had not experienced for many years. This was, that on that very +afternoon which saw the death of Dublin's greatest millionaire, Mr. +Patrick Wethered, his solicitor, was murdered in Phoenix Park at five +o'clock in the afternoon while actually walking to his own house from +his visit to his client in Fitzwilliam Place. + +"Patrick Wethered was as well known as the proverbial town pump; his +mysterious and tragic death filled all Dublin with dismay. The lawyer, +who was a man sixty years of age, had been struck on the back of the +head by a heavy stick, garrotted, and subsequently robbed, for neither +money, watch, or pocket-book were found upon his person, whilst the +police soon gathered from Patrick Wethered's household that he had left +home at two o'clock that afternoon, carrying both watch and pocket-book, +and undoubtedly money as well. + +"An inquest was held, and a verdict of wilful murder was found against +some person or persons unknown. + +"But Dublin had not exhausted its stock of sensations yet. Millionaire +Brooks had been buried with due pomp and magnificence, and his will had +been proved (his business and personalty being estimated at £2,500,000) +by Percival Gordon Brooks, his eldest son and sole executor. The younger +son, Murray, who had devoted the best years of his life to being a +friend and companion to his father, while Percival ran after +ballet-dancers and music-hall stars--Murray, who had avowedly been the +apple of his father's eye in consequence--was left with a miserly +pittance of £300 a year, and no share whatever in the gigantic business +of Brooks & Sons, bacon curers, of Dublin. + +"Something had evidently happened within the precincts of the Brooks' +town mansion, which the public and Dublin society tried in vain to +fathom. Elderly mammas and blushing _débutantes_ were already thinking +of the best means whereby next season they might more easily show the +cold shoulder to young Murray Brooks, who had so suddenly become a +hopeless 'detrimental' in the marriage market, when all these sensations +terminated in one gigantic, overwhelming bit of scandal, which for the +next three months furnished food for gossip in every drawing-room in +Dublin. + +"Mr. Murray Brooks, namely, had entered a claim for probate of a will, +made by his father in 1891, declaring that the later will made the very +day of his father's death and proved by his brother as sole executor, +was null and void, that will being a forgery." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +FORGERY + + +"The facts that transpired in connection with this extraordinary case +were sufficiently mysterious to puzzle everybody. As I told you before, +all Mr. Brooks' friends never quite grasped the idea that the old man +should so completely have cut off his favourite son with the proverbial +shilling. + +"You see, Percival had always been a thorn in the old man's flesh. +Horse-racing, gambling, theatres, and music-halls were, in the old +pork-butcher's eyes, so many deadly sins which his son committed every +day of his life, and all the Fitzwilliam Place household could testify +to the many and bitter quarrels which had arisen between father and son +over the latter's gambling or racing debts. Many people asserted that +Brooks would sooner have left his money to charitable institutions than +seen it squandered upon the brightest stars that adorned the music-hall +stage. + +"The case came up for hearing early in the autumn. In the meanwhile +Percival Brooks had given up his racecourse associates, settled down in +the Fitzwilliam Place mansion, and conducted his father's business, +without a manager, but with all the energy and forethought which he had +previously devoted to more unworthy causes. + +"Murray had elected not to stay on in the old house; no doubt +associations were of too painful and recent a nature; he was boarding +with the family of a Mr. Wilson Hibbert, who was the late Patrick +Wethered's, the murdered lawyer's, partner. They were quiet, homely +people, who lived in a very pokey little house in Kilkenny Street, and +poor Murray must, in spite of his grief, have felt very bitterly the +change from his luxurious quarters in his father's mansion to his +present tiny room and homely meals. + +"Percival Brooks, who was now drawing an income of over a hundred +thousand a year, was very severely criticised for adhering so strictly +to the letter of his father's will, and only paying his brother that +paltry £300 a year, which was very literally but the crumbs off his own +magnificent dinner table. + +"The issue of that contested will case was therefore awaited with eager +interest. In the meanwhile the police, who had at first seemed fairly +loquacious on the subject of the murder of Mr. Patrick Wethered, +suddenly became strangely reticent, and by their very reticence aroused +a certain amount of uneasiness in the public mind, until one day the +_Irish Times_ published the following extraordinary, enigmatic +paragraph: + +"'We hear on authority which cannot be questioned, that certain +extraordinary developments are expected in connection with the brutal +murder of our distinguished townsman Mr. Wethered; the police, in fact, +are vainly trying to keep it secret that they hold a clue which is as +important as it is sensational, and that they only await the impending +issue of a well-known litigation in the probate court to effect an +arrest.' + +"The Dublin public flocked to the court to hear the arguments in the +great will case. I myself journeyed down to Dublin. As soon as I +succeeded in fighting my way to the densely crowded court, I took stock +of the various actors in the drama, which I as a spectator was prepared +to enjoy. There were Percival Brooks and Murray his brother, the two +litigants, both good-looking and well dressed, and both striving, by +keeping up a running conversation with their lawyer, to appear +unconcerned and confident of the issue. With Percival Brooks was Henry +Oranmore, the eminent Irish K.C., whilst Walter Hibbert, a rising young +barrister, the son of Wilson Hibbert, appeared for Murray. + +"The will of which the latter claimed probate was one dated 1891, and +had been made by Mr. Brooks during a severe illness which threatened to +end his days. This will had been deposited in the hands of Messrs. +Wethered and Hibbert, solicitors to the deceased, and by it Mr. Brooks +left his personalty equally divided between his two sons, but had left +his business entirely to his youngest son, with a charge of £2000 a year +upon it, payable to Percival. You see that Murray Brooks therefore had a +very deep interest in that second will being found null and void. + +"Old Mr. Hibbert had very ably instructed his son, and Walter Hibbert's +opening speech was exceedingly clever. He would show, he said, on behalf +of his client, that the will dated February 1st, 1908, could never have +been made by the late Mr. Brooks, as it was absolutely contrary to his +avowed intentions, and that if the late Mr. Brooks did on the day in +question make any fresh will at all, it certainly was _not_ the one +proved by Mr. Percival Brooks, for that was absolutely a forgery from +beginning to end. Mr. Walter Hibbert proposed to call several witnesses +in support of both these points. + +"On the other hand, Mr. Henry Oranmore, K.C., very ably and courteously +replied that he too had several witnesses to prove that Mr. Brooks +certainly did make a will on the day in question, and that, whatever his +intentions may have been in the past, he must have modified them on the +day of his death, for the will proved by Mr. Percival Brooks was found +after his death under his pillow, duly signed and witnessed and in every +way legal. + +"Then the battle began in sober earnest. There were a great many +witnesses to be called on both sides, their evidence being of more or +less importance--chiefly less. But the interest centred round the +prosaic figure of John O'Neill, the butler at Fitzwilliam Place, who had +been in Mr. Brooks' family for thirty years. + +"'I was clearing away my breakfast things,' said John, 'when I heard the +master's voice in the study close by. Oh my, he was that angry! I could +hear the words "disgrace," and "villain," and "liar," and +"ballet-dancer," and one or two other ugly words as applied to some +female lady, which I would not like to repeat. At first I did not take +much notice, as I was quite used to hearing my poor dear master having +words with Mr. Percival. So I went downstairs carrying my breakfast +things; but I had just started cleaning my silver when the study bell +goes ringing violently, and I hear Mr. Percival's voice shouting in the +hall: "John! quick! Send for Dr. Mulligan at once. Your master is not +well! Send one of the men, and you come up and help me to get Mr. Brooks +to bed." + +"'I sent one of the grooms for the doctor,' continued John, who seemed +still affected at the recollection of his poor master, to whom he had +evidently been very much attached, 'and I went up to see Mr. Brooks. I +found him lying on the study floor, his head supported in Mr. Percival's +arms. "My father has fallen in a faint," said the young master; "help me +to get him up to his room before Dr. Mulligan comes." + +"'Mr. Percival looked very white and upset, which was only natural; and +when we had got my poor master to bed, I asked if I should not go and +break the news to Mr. Murray, who had gone to business an hour ago. +However, before Mr. Percival had time to give me an order the doctor +came. I thought I had seen death plainly writ in my master's face, and +when I showed the doctor out an hour later, and he told me that he would +be back directly, I knew that the end was near. + +"'Mr. Brooks rang for me a minute or two later. He told me to send at +once for Mr. Wethered, or else for Mr. Hibbert, if Mr. Wethered could +not come. "I haven't many hours to live, John," he says to me--"my heart +is broke, the doctor says my heart is broke. A man shouldn't marry and +have children, John, for they will sooner or later break his heart." I +was so upset I couldn't speak; but I sent round at once for Mr. +Wethered, who came himself just about three o'clock that afternoon. + +"'After he had been with my master about an hour I was called in, and +Mr. Wethered said to me that Mr. Brooks wished me and one other of us +servants to witness that he had signed a paper which was on a table by +his bedside. I called Pat Mooney, the head footman, and before us both +Mr. Brooks put his name at the bottom of that paper. Then Mr. Wethered +give me the pen and told me to write my name as a witness, and that Pat +Mooney was to do the same. After that we were both told that we could +go.' + +"The old butler went on to explain that he was present in his late +master's room on the following day when the undertakers, who had come to +lay the dead man out, found a paper underneath his pillow. John O'Neill, +who recognized the paper as the one to which he had appended his +signature the day before, took it to Mr. Percival, and gave it into his +hands. + +"In answer to Mr. Walter Hibbert, John asserted positively that he took +the paper from the undertaker's hand and went straight with it to Mr. +Percival's room. + +"'He was alone,' said John; 'I gave him the paper. He just glanced at +it, and I thought he looked rather astonished, but he said nothing, and +I at once left the room.' + +"'When you say that you recognized the paper as the one which you had +seen your master sign the day before, how did you actually recognize +that it was the same paper?' asked Mr. Hibbert amidst breathless +interest on the part of the spectators. I narrowly observed the +witness's face. + +"'It looked exactly the same paper to me, sir,' replied John, somewhat +vaguely. + +"'Did you look at the contents, then?' + +"'No, sir; certainly not.' + +"'Had you done so the day before?' + +"'No, sir, only at my master's signature.' + +"'Then you only thought by the _outside_ look of the paper that it was +the same?' + +"'It looked the same thing, sir,' persisted John obstinately. + +"You see," continued the man in the corner, leaning eagerly forward +across the narrow marble table, "the contention of Murray Brooks' +adviser was that Mr. Brooks, having made a will and hidden it--for some +reason or other under his pillow--that will had fallen, through the +means related by John O'Neill, into the hands of Mr. Percival Brooks, +who had destroyed it and substituted a forged one in its place, which +adjudged the whole of Mr. Brooks' millions to himself. It was a terrible +and very daring accusation directed against a gentleman who, in spite of +his many wild oats sowed in early youth, was a prominent and important +figure in Irish high life. + +"All those present were aghast at what they heard, and the whispered +comments I could hear around me showed me that public opinion, at +least, did not uphold Mr. Murray Brooks' daring accusation against his +brother. + +"But John O'Neill had not finished his evidence, and Mr. Walter Hibbert +had a bit of sensation still up his sleeve. He had, namely, produced a +paper, the will proved by Mr. Percival Brooks, and had asked John +O'Neill if once again he recognized the paper. + +"'Certainly, sir,' said John unhesitatingly, 'that is the one the +undertaker found under my poor dead master's pillow, and which I took to +Mr. Percival's room immediately.' + +"Then the paper was unfolded and placed before the witness. + +"'Now, Mr. O'Neill, will you tell me if that is your signature?' + +"John looked at it for a moment; then he said: 'Excuse me, sir,' and +produced a pair of spectacles which he carefully adjusted before he +again examined the paper. Then he thoughtfully shook his head. + +"'It don't look much like my writing, sir,' he said at last. 'That is to +say,' he added, by way of elucidating the matter, 'it does look like my +writing, but then I don't think it is.' + +"There was at that moment a look in Mr. Percival Brooks' face," +continued the man in the corner quietly, "which then and there gave me +the whole history of that quarrel, that illness of Mr. Brooks, of the +will, aye! and of the murder of Patrick Wethered too. + +"All I wondered at was how every one of those learned counsel on both +sides did not get the clue just the same as I did, but went on arguing, +speechifying, cross-examining for nearly a week, until they arrived at +the one conclusion which was inevitable from the very first, namely, +that the will _was_ a forgery--a gross, clumsy, idiotic forgery, since +both John O'Neill and Pat Mooney, the two witnesses, absolutely +repudiated the signatures as their own. The only successful bit of +caligraphy the forger had done was the signature of old Mr. Brooks. + +"It was a very curious fact, and one which had undoubtedly aided the +forger in accomplishing his work quickly, that Mr. Wethered the lawyer +having, no doubt, realized that Mr. Brooks had not many moments in life +to spare, had not drawn up the usual engrossed, magnificent document +dear to the lawyer heart, but had used for his client's will one of +those regular printed forms which can be purchased at any stationer's. + +"Mr. Percival Brooks, of course, flatly denied the serious allegation +brought against him. He admitted that the butler had brought him the +document the morning after his father's death, and that he certainly, on +glancing at it, had been very much astonished to see that that document +was his father's will. Against that he declared that its contents did +not astonish him in the slightest degree, that he himself knew of the +testator's intentions, but that he certainly thought his father had +entrusted the will to the care of Mr. Wethered, who did all his business +for him. + +"'I only very cursorily glanced at the signature,' he concluded, +speaking in a perfectly calm, clear voice; 'you must understand that the +thought of forgery was very far from my mind, and that my father's +signature is exceedingly well imitated, if, indeed, it is not his own, +which I am not at all prepared to believe. As for the two witnesses' +signatures, I don't think I had ever seen them before. I took the +document to Messrs. Barkston and Maud, who had often done business for +me before, and they assured me that the will was in perfect form and +order.' + +"Asked why he had not entrusted the will to his father's solicitors, he +replied: + +"'For the very simple reason that exactly half an hour before the will +was placed in my hands, I had read that Mr. Patrick Wethered had been +murdered the night before. Mr. Hibbert, the junior partner, was not +personally known to me.' + +"After that, for form's sake, a good deal of expert evidence was heard +on the subject of the dead man's signature. But that was quite +unanimous, and merely went to corroborate what had already been +established beyond a doubt, namely, that the will dated February 1st, +1908, was a forgery, and probate of the will dated 1891 was therefore +granted to Mr. Murray Brooks, the sole executor mentioned therein." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +A MEMORABLE DAY + + +"Two days later the police applied for a warrant for the arrest of Mr. +Percival Brooks on a charge of forgery. + +"The Crown prosecuted, and Mr. Brooks had again the support of Mr. +Oranmore, the eminent K.C. Perfectly calm, like a man conscious of his +own innocence and unable to grasp the idea that justice does sometimes +miscarry, Mr. Brooks, the son of the millionaire, himself still the +possessor of a very large fortune under the former will, stood up in the +dock on that memorable day in October, 1908, which still no doubt lives +in the memory of his many friends. + +"All the evidence with regard to Mr. Brooks' last moments and the forged +will was gone through over again. That will, it was the contention of +the Crown, had been forged so entirely in favour of the accused, cutting +out every one else, that obviously no one but the beneficiary under that +false will would have had any motive in forging it. + +"Very pale, and with a frown between his deep-set, handsome Irish eyes, +Percival Brooks listened to this large volume of evidence piled up +against him by the Crown. + +"At times he held brief consultations with Mr. Oranmore, who seemed as +cool as a cucumber. Have you ever seen Oranmore in court? He is a +character worthy of Dickens. His pronounced brogue, his fat, podgy, +clean-shaven face, his not always immaculately clean large hands, have +often delighted the caricaturist. As it very soon transpired during that +memorable magisterial inquiry, he relied for a verdict in favour of his +client upon two main points, and he had concentrated all his skill upon +making these two points as telling as he possibly could. + +"The first point was the question of time, John O'Neill, cross-examined +by Oranmore, stated without hesitation that he had given the will to Mr. +Percival at eleven o'clock in the morning. And now the eminent K.C. +brought forward and placed in the witness-box the very lawyers into +whose hands the accused had then immediately placed the will. Now, Mr. +Barkston, a very well-known solicitor of King Street, declared +positively that Mr. Percival Brooks was in his office at a quarter +before twelve; two of his clerks testified to the same time exactly, and +it was _impossible_, contended Mr. Oranmore, that within three-quarters +of an hour Mr. Brooks could have gone to a stationer's, bought a will +form, copied Mr. Wethered's writing, his father's signature, and that +of John O'Neill and Pat Mooney. + +"Such a thing might have been planned, arranged, practised, and +ultimately, after a great deal of trouble, successfully carried out, but +human intelligence could not grasp the other as a possibility. + +"Still the judge wavered. The eminent K.C. had shaken but not shattered +his belief in the prisoner's guilt. But there was one point more, and +this Oranmore, with the skill of a dramatist, had reserved for the fall +of the curtain. + +"He noted every sign in the judge's face, he guessed that his client was +not yet absolutely safe, then only did he produce his last two +witnesses. + +"One of them was Mary Sullivan, one of the housemaids in the Fitzwilliam +mansion. She had been sent up by the cook at a quarter past four o'clock +on the afternoon of February 1st with some hot water, which the nurse +had ordered, for the master's room. Just as she was about to knock at +the door Mr. Wethered was coming out of the room. Mary stopped with the +tray in her hand, and at the door Mr. Wethered turned and said quite +loudly: 'Now, don't fret, don't be anxious; do try and be calm. Your +will is safe in my pocket, nothing can change it or alter one word of it +but yourself.' + +"It was, of course, a very ticklish point in law whether the +housemaid's evidence could be accepted. You see, she was quoting the +words of a man since dead, spoken to another man also dead. There is no +doubt that had there been very strong evidence on the other side against +Percival Brooks, Mary Sullivan's would have counted for nothing; but, as +I told you before, the judge's belief in the prisoner's guilt was +already very seriously shaken, and now the final blow aimed at it by Mr. +Oranmore shattered his last lingering doubts. + +"Dr. Mulligan, namely, had been placed by Mr. Oranmore into the +witness-box. He was a medical man of unimpeachable authority, in fact, +absolutely at the head of his profession in Dublin. What he said +practically corroborated Mary Sullivan's testimony. He had gone in to +see Mr. Brooks at half-past four, and understood from him that his +lawyer had just left him. + +"Mr. Brooks certainly, though terribly weak, was calm and more composed. +He was dying from a sudden heart attack, and Dr. Mulligan foresaw the +almost immediate end. But he was still conscious and managed to murmur +feebly: 'I feel much easier in my mind now, doctor--have made my +will--Wethered has been--he's got it in his pocket--it is safe +there--safe from that--' But the words died on his lips, and after that +he spoke but little. He saw his two sons before he died, but hardly +knew them or even looked at them. + +"You see," concluded the man in the corner, "you see that the +prosecution was bound to collapse. Oranmore did not give it a leg to +stand on. The will was forged, it is true, forged in the favour of +Percival Brooks and of no one else, forged for him and for his benefit. +Whether he knew and connived at the forgery was never proved or, as far +as I know, even hinted, but it was impossible to go against all the +evidence, which pointed that, as far as the act itself was concerned, he +at least was innocent. You see, Dr. Mulligan's evidence was not to be +shaken. Mary Sullivan's was equally strong. + +"There were two witnesses swearing positively that old Brooks' will was +in Mr. Wethered's keeping when that gentleman left the Fitzwilliam +mansion at a quarter past four. At five o'clock in the afternoon the +lawyer was found dead in Phoenix Park. Between a quarter past four and +eight o'clock in the evening Percival Brooks never left the house--that +was subsequently proved by Oranmore up to the hilt and beyond a doubt. +Since the will found under old Brooks' pillow was a forged will, where +then was the will he did make, and which Wethered carried away with him +in his pocket?" + +"Stolen, of course," said Polly, "by those who murdered and robbed him; +it may have been of no value to them, but they naturally would destroy +it, lest it might prove a clue against them." + +"Then you think it was mere coincidence?" he asked excitedly. + +"What?" + +"That Wethered was murdered and robbed at the very moment that he +carried the will in his pocket, whilst another was being forged in its +place?" + +"It certainly would be very curious, if it _were_ a coincidence," she +said musingly. + +"Very," he repeated with biting sarcasm, whilst nervously his bony +fingers played with the inevitable bit of string. "Very curious indeed. +Just think of the whole thing. There was the old man with all his +wealth, and two sons, one to whom he is devoted, and the other with whom +he does nothing but quarrel. One day there is another of these quarrels, +but more violent, more terrible than any that have previously occurred, +with the result that the father, heartbroken by it all, has an attack of +apoplexy and practically dies of a broken heart. After that he alters +his will, and subsequently a will is proved which turns out to be a +forgery. + +"Now everybody--police, press, and public alike--at once jump to the +conclusion that, as Percival Brooks benefits by that forged will, +Percival Brooks must be the forger." + +"Seek for him whom the crime benefits, is your own axiom," argued the +girl. + +"I beg your pardon?" + +"Percival Brooks benefited to the tune of £2,000,000." + +"I beg your pardon. He did nothing of the sort. He was left with less +than half the share that his younger brother inherited." + +"Now, yes; but that was a former will and--" + +"And that forged will was so clumsily executed, the signature so +carelessly imitated, that the forgery was bound to come to light. Did +_that_ never strike you?" + +"Yes, but--" + +"There is no but," he interrupted. "It was all as clear as daylight to +me from the very first. The quarrel with the old man, which broke his +heart, was not with his eldest son, with whom he was used to +quarrelling, but with the second son whom he idolised, in whom he +believed. Don't you remember how John O'Neill heard the words 'liar' and +'deceit'? Percival Brooks had never deceived his father. His sins were +all on the surface. Murray had led a quiet life, had pandered to his +father, and fawned upon him, until, like most hypocrites, he at last got +found out. Who knows what ugly gambling debt or debt of honour, suddenly +revealed to old Brooks, was the cause of that last and deadly quarrel? + +"You remember that it was Percival who remained beside his father and +carried him up to his room. Where was Murray throughout that long and +painful day, when his father lay dying--he, the idolised son, the apple +of the old man's eye? You never hear his name mentioned as being present +there all that day. But he knew that he had offended his father +mortally, and that his father meant to cut him off with a shilling. He +knew that Mr. Wethered had been sent for, that Wethered left the house +soon after four o'clock. + +"And here the cleverness of the man comes in. Having lain in wait for +Wethered and knocked him on the back of the head with a stick, he could +not very well make that will disappear altogether. There remained the +faint chance of some other witnesses knowing that Mr. Brooks had made a +fresh will, Mr. Wethered's partner, his clerk, or one of the +confidential servants in the house. Therefore _a_ will must be +discovered after the old man's death. + +"Now, Murray Brooks was not an expert forger, it takes years of training +to become that. A forged will executed by himself would be sure to be +found out--yes, that's it, sure to be found out. The forgery will be +palpable--let it be palpable, and then it will be found out, branded as +such, and the original will of 1891, so favourable to the young +blackguard's interests, would be held as valid. Was it devilry or +merely additional caution which prompted Murray to pen that forged will +so glaringly in Percival's favour? It is impossible to say. + +"Anyhow, it was the cleverest touch in that marvellously devised crime. +To plan that evil deed was great, to execute it was easy enough. He had +several hours' leisure in which to do it. Then at night it was +simplicity itself to slip the document under the dead man's pillow. +Sacrilege causes no shudder to such natures as Murray Brooks. The rest +of the drama you know already--" + +"But Percival Brooks?" + +"The jury returned a verdict of 'Not guilty.' There was no evidence +against him." + +"But the money? Surely the scoundrel does not have the enjoyment of it +still?" + +"No; he enjoyed it for a time, but he died, about three months ago, and +forgot to take the precaution of making a will, so his brother Percival +has got the business after all. If you ever go to Dublin, I should order +some of Brooks' bacon if I were you. It is very good." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +AN UNPARALLELED OUTRAGE + + +"Do you care for the seaside?" asked the man in the corner when he had +finished his lunch. "I don't mean the seaside at Ostend or Trouville, +but honest English seaside with nigger minstrels, three-shilling +excursionists, and dirty, expensive furnished apartments, where they +charge you a shilling for lighting the hall gas on Sundays and sixpence +on other evenings. Do you care for that?" + +"I prefer the country." + +"Ah! perhaps it is preferable. Personally I only liked one of our +English seaside resorts once, and that was for a week, when Edward +Skinner was up before the magistrate, charged with what was known as the +'Brighton Outrage.' I don't know if you remember the memorable day in +Brighton, memorable for that elegant town, which deals more in +amusements than mysteries, when Mr. Francis Morton, one of its most +noted residents, disappeared. Yes! disappeared as completely as any +vanishing lady in a music-hall. He was wealthy, had a fine house, +servants, a wife and children, and he disappeared. There was no getting +away from that. + +"Mr. Francis Morton lived with his wife in one of the large houses in +Sussex Square at the Kemp Town end of Brighton. Mrs. Morton was well +known for her Americanisms, her swagger dinner parties, and beautiful +Paris gowns. She was the daughter of one of the many American +millionaires (I think her father was a Chicago pork-butcher), who +conveniently provide wealthy wives for English gentlemen; and she had +married Mr. Francis Morton a few years ago and brought him her quarter +of a million, for no other reason but that she fell in love with him. He +was neither good-looking nor distinguished, in fact, he was one of those +men who seem to have CITY stamped all over their person. + +"He was a gentleman of very regular habits, going up to London every +morning on business and returning every afternoon by the 'husband's +train.' So regular was he in these habits that all the servants at the +Sussex Square house were betrayed into actual gossip over the fact that +on Wednesday, March 17th, the master was not home for dinner. Hales, the +butler, remarked that the mistress seemed a bit anxious and didn't eat +much food. The evening wore on and Mr. Morton did not appear. At nine +o'clock the young footman was dispatched to the station to make +inquiries whether his master had been seen there in the afternoon, or +whether--which Heaven forbid--there had been an accident on the line. +The young man interviewed two or three porters, the bookstall boy, and +ticket clerk; all were agreed that Mr. Morton did not go up to London +during the day; no one had seen him within the precincts of the station. +There certainly had been no accident reported either on the up or down +line. + +"But the morning of the 18th came, with its initial postman's knock, but +neither Mr. Morton nor any sign or news from him. Mrs. Morton, who +evidently had spent a sleepless night, for she looked sadly changed and +haggard, sent a wire to the hall porter at the large building in Cannon +Street, where her husband had his office. An hour later she had the +reply: 'Not seen Mr. Morton all day yesterday, not here to-day.' By the +afternoon every one in Brighton knew that a fellow-resident had +mysteriously disappeared from or in the city. + +"A couple of days, then another, elapsed, and still no sign of Mr. +Morton. The police were doing their best. The gentleman was so well +known in Brighton--as he had been a resident two years--that it was not +difficult to firmly establish the one fact that he had not left the +city, since no one saw him in the station on the morning of the 17th, +nor at any time since then. Mild excitement prevailed throughout the +town. At first the newspapers took the matter somewhat jocosely. 'Where +is Mr. Morton?' was the usual placard on the evening's contents bills, +but after three days had gone by and the worthy Brighton resident was +still missing, while Mrs. Morton was seen to look more haggard and +careworn every day, mild excitement gave place to anxiety. + +"There were vague hints now as to foul play. The news had leaked out +that the missing gentleman was carrying a large sum of money on the day +of his disappearance. There were also vague rumours of a scandal not +unconnected with Mrs. Morton herself and her own past history, which in +her anxiety for her husband she had been forced to reveal to the +detective-inspector in charge of the case. + +"Then on Saturday the news which the late evening papers contained was +this: + +"'Acting on certain information received, the police to-day forced an +entrance into one of the rooms of Russell House, a high-class furnished +apartment on the King's Parade, and there they discovered our missing +distinguished townsman, Mr. Francis Morton, who had been robbed and +subsequently locked up in that room since Wednesday, the 17th. When +discovered he was in the last stages of inanition; he was tied into an +arm-chair with ropes, a thick wool shawl had been wound round his mouth, +and it is a positive marvel that, left thus without food and very +little air, the unfortunate gentleman survived the horrors of these four +days of incarceration. + +"'He has been conveyed to his residence in Sussex Square, and we are +pleased to say that Doctor Mellish, who is in attendance, has declared +his patient to be out of serious danger, and that with care and rest he +will be soon quite himself again. + +"'At the same time our readers will learn with unmixed satisfaction that +the police of our city, with their usual acuteness and activity, have +already discovered the identity and whereabouts of the cowardly ruffian +who committed this unparalleled outrage.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE PRISONER + + +"I really don't know," continued the man in the corner blandly, "what it +was that interested me in the case from the very first. Certainly it had +nothing very out of the way or mysterious about it, but I journeyed down +to Brighton nevertheless, as I felt that something deeper and more +subtle lay behind that extraordinary assault, following a robbery, no +doubt. + +"I must tell you that the police had allowed it to be freely circulated +abroad that they held a clue. It had been easy enough to ascertain who +the lodger was who had rented the furnished room in Russell House. His +name was supposed to be Edward Skinner, and he had taken the room about +a fortnight ago, but had gone away ostensibly for two or three days on +the very day of Mr. Morton's mysterious disappearance. It was on the +20th that Mr. Morton was found, and thirty-six hours later the public +were gratified to hear that Mr. Edward Skinner had been traced to London +and arrested on the charge of assault upon the person of Mr. Francis +Morton and of robbing him of the sum of £10,000. + +"Then a further sensation was added to the already bewildering case by +the startling announcement that Mr. Francis Morton refused to prosecute. + +"Of course, the Treasury took up the case and subpoenaed Mr. Morton as a +witness, so that gentleman--if he wished to hush the matter up, or had +been in any way terrorised into a promise of doing so--gained nothing by +his refusal, except an additional amount of curiosity in the public mind +and further sensation around the mysterious case. + +"It was all this, you see, which had interested me and brought me down +to Brighton on March 23rd to see the prisoner Edward Skinner arraigned +before the beak. I must say that he was a very ordinary-looking +individual. Fair, of ruddy complexion, with snub nose and the beginning +of a bald place on the top of his head, he, too, looked the embodiment +of a prosperous, stodgy 'City gent.' + +"I took a quick survey of the witnesses present, and guessed that the +handsome, stylish woman sitting next to Mr. Reginald Pepys, the noted +lawyer for the Crown, was Mrs. Morton. + +"There was a large crowd in court, and I heard whispered comments among +the feminine portion thereof as to the beauty of Mrs. Morton's gown, +the value of her large picture hat, and the magnificence of her diamond +rings. + +"The police gave all the evidence required with regard to the finding of +Mr. Morton in the room at Russell House and also to the arrest of +Skinner at the Langham Hotel in London. It appears that the prisoner +seemed completely taken aback at the charge preferred against him, and +declared that though he knew Mr. Francis Morton slightly in business he +knew nothing as to his private life. + +"'Prisoner stated,' continued Inspector Buckle, 'that he was not even +aware Mr. Morton lived in Brighton, but I have evidence here, which I +will place before your Honour, to prove that the prisoner was seen in +the company of Mr. Morton at 9.30 o'clock on the morning of the +assault.' + +"Cross-examined by Mr. Matthew Quiller, the detective-inspector admitted +that prisoner merely said that he did not know that Mr. Morton was a +_resident_ of Brighton--he never denied having met him there. + +"The witness, or rather witnesses, referred to by the police were two +Brighton tradesmen who knew Mr. Morton by sight and had seen him on the +morning of the 17th walking with the accused. + +"In this instance Mr. Quiller had no question to ask of the witnesses, +and it was generally understood that the prisoner did not wish to +contradict their statement. + +"Constable Hartrick told the story of the finding of the unfortunate +Mr. Morton after his four days' incarceration. The constable had been +sent round by the chief inspector, after certain information given by +Mrs. Chapman, the landlady of Russell House. He had found the door +locked and forced it open. Mr. Morton was in an arm-chair, with several +yards of rope wound loosely round him; he was almost unconscious, and +there was a thick wool shawl tied round his mouth which must have +deadened any cry or groan the poor gentleman might have uttered. But, as +a matter of fact, the constable was under the impression that Mr. Morton +had been either drugged or stunned in some way at first, which had left +him weak and faint and prevented him from making himself heard or +extricating himself from his bonds, which were very clumsily, evidently +very hastily, wound round his body. + +"The medical officer who was called in, and also Dr. Mellish who +attended Mr. Morton, both said that he seemed dazed by some stupefying +drug, and also, of course, terribly weak and faint with the want of +food. + +"The first witness of real importance was Mrs. Chapman, the proprietress +of Russell House, whose original information to the police led to the +discovery of Mr. Morton. In answer to Mr. Pepys, she said that on March +1st the accused called at her house and gave his name as Mr. Edward +Skinner. + +"'He required, he said, a furnished room at a moderate rental for a +permanency, with full attendance when he was in, but he added that he +would often be away for two or three days, or even longer, at a time. + +"'He told me that he was a traveller for a tea-house,' continued Mrs. +Chapman, 'and I showed him the front room on the third floor, as he did +not want to pay more than twelve shillings a week. I asked him for a +reference, but he put three sovereigns in my hand, and said with a laugh +that he supposed paying for his room a month in advance was sufficient +reference; if I didn't like him after that, I could give him a week's +notice to quit.' + +"'You did not think of asking him the name of the firm for which he +travelled?' asked Mr. Pepys. + +"'No, I was quite satisfied as he paid me for the room. The next day he +sent in his luggage and took possession of the room. He went out most +mornings on business, but was always in Brighton for Saturday and +Sunday. On the 16th he told me that he was going to Liverpool for a +couple of days; he slept in the house that night, and went off early on +the 17th, taking his portmanteau with him.' + +"'At what time did he leave?' asked Mr. Pepys. + +"'I couldn't say exactly,' replied Mrs. Chapman with some hesitation. +'You see this is the off season here. None of my rooms are let, except +the one to Mr. Skinner, and I only have one servant. I keep four during +the summer, autumn, and winter season,' she added with conscious pride, +fearing that her former statement might prejudice the reputation of +Russell House. 'I thought I had heard Mr. Skinner go out about nine +o'clock, but about an hour later the girl and I were both in the +basement, and we heard the front door open and shut with a bang, and +then a step in the hall. + +"'"That's Mr. Skinner," said Mary. "So it is," I said, "why, I thought +he had gone an hour ago." "He did go out then," said Mary, "for he left +his bedroom door open and I went in to do his bed and tidy his room." +"Just go and see if that's him, Mary," I said, and Mary ran up to the +hall and up the stairs, and came back to tell me that that was Mr. +Skinner all right enough; he had gone straight up to his room. Mary +didn't see him, but he had another gentleman with him, as she could hear +them talking in Mr. Skinner's room.' + +"'Then you can't tell us at what time the prisoner left the house +finally?' + +"'No, that I can't. I went out shopping soon after that. When I came in +it was twelve o'clock. I went up to the third floor and found that Mr. +Skinner had locked his door and taken the key with him. As I knew Mary +had already done, the room I did not trouble more about it, though I did +think it strange for a gentleman to look up his room and not leave the +key with me.' + +"'And, of course, you heard no noise of any kind in the room then?' + +"'No. Not that day or the next, but on the third day Mary and I both +thought we heard a funny sound. I said that Mr. Skinner had left his +window open, and it was the blind flapping against the window-pane; but +when we heard that funny noise again I put my ear to the keyhole and I +thought I could hear a groan. I was very frightened, and sent Mary for +the police.' + +"Mrs. Chapman had nothing more of interest to say. The prisoner +certainly was her lodger. She had last seen him on the evening of the +16th going up to his room with his candle. Mary the servant had much the +same story to relate as her mistress. + +"'I think it was 'im, right enough,' said Mary guardedly. 'I didn't see +'im, but I went up to 'is landing and stopped a moment outside 'is door. +I could 'ear loud voices in the room--gentlemen talking.' + +"'I suppose you would not do such a thing as to listen, Mary?' queried +Mr. Pepys with a smile. + +"'No, sir,' said Mary with a bland smile, 'I didn't catch what the +gentlemen said, but one of them spoke so loud I thought they must be +quarrelling.' + +"'Mr. Skinner was the only person in possession of a latch-key, I +presume. No one else could have come in without ringing at the door?' + +"'Oh no, sir.' + +"That was all. So far, you see, the case was progressing splendidly for +the Crown against the prisoner. The contention, of course, was that +Skinner had met Mr. Morton, brought him home with him, assaulted, +drugged, then gagged and bound him, and finally robbed him of whatever +money he had in his possession, which, according to certain affidavits +which presently would be placed before the magistrate, amounted to +£10,000 in notes. + +"But in all this there still remained the great element of mystery for +which the public and the magistrate would demand an explanation: namely, +what were the relationships between Mr. Morton and Skinner, which had +induced the former to refuse the prosecution of the man who had not only +robbed him, but had so nearly succeeded in leaving him to die a terrible +and lingering death? + +"Mr. Morton was too ill as yet to appear in person. Dr. Mellish had +absolutely forbidden his patient to undergo the fatigue and excitement +of giving evidence himself in court that day. But his depositions had +been taken at his bedside, were sworn to by him, and were now placed +before the magistrate by the prosecuting counsel, and the facts they +revealed were certainly as remarkable as they were brief and +enigmatical. + +"As they were read by Mr. Pepys, an awed and expectant hush seemed to +descend over the large crowd gathered there, and all necks were strained +eagerly forward to catch a glimpse of a tall, elegant woman, faultlessly +dressed and wearing exquisite jewellery, but whose handsome face wore, +as the prosecuting counsel read her husband's deposition, a more and +more ashen hue. + +"'This, your Honour, is the statement made upon oath by Mr. Francis +Morton,' commenced Mr. Pepys in that loud, sonorous voice of his which +sounds so impressive in a crowded and hushed court. '"I was obliged, for +certain reasons which I refuse to disclose, to make a payment of a large +sum of money to a man whom I did not know and have never seen. It was in +a matter of which my wife was cognisant and which had entirely to do +with her own affairs. I was merely the go-between, as I thought it was +not fit that she should see to this matter herself. The individual in +question had made certain demands, of which she kept me in ignorance as +long as she could, not wishing to unnecessarily worry me. At last she +decided to place the whole matter before me, and I agreed with her that +it would be best to satisfy the man's demands. + +"'"I then wrote to that individual whose name I do not wish to disclose, +addressing the letter, as my wife directed me to do, to the Brighton +post office, saying that I was ready to pay the £10,000 to him, at any +place or time and in what manner he might appoint. I received a reply +which bore the Brighton postmark, and which desired me to be outside +Furnival's, the drapers, in West Street, at 9.30 on the morning of March +17th, and to bring the money (£10,000) in Bank of England notes. + +"'"On the 16th my wife gave me a cheque for the amount and I cashed it +at her bank--Bird's in Fleet Street. At half-past nine the following +morning I was at the appointed place. An individual wearing a grey +overcoat, bowler hat, and red tie accosted me by name and requested me +to walk as far as his lodgings in the King's Parade. I followed him. +Neither of us spoke. He stopped at a house which bore the name 'Russell +House,' and which I shall be able to swear to as soon as I am able to go +out. He let himself in with a latch-key, and asked me to follow him up +to his room on the third floor. I thought I noticed when we were in the +room that he locked the door; however, I had nothing of any value about +me except the £10,000, which I was ready to give him. We had not +exchanged the slightest word. + +"'"I gave him the notes, and he folded them and put them in his +pocket-book. Then I turned towards the door, and, without the slightest +warning, I felt myself suddenly gripped by the shoulder, while a +handkerchief was pressed to my nose and mouth. I struggled as best I +could, but the handkerchief was saturated with chloroform, and I soon +lost consciousness. I hazily remember the man saying to me in short, +jerky sentences, spoken at intervals while I was still weakly +struggling: + +"'"What a fool you must think me, my dear sir! Did you really think +that I was going to let you quietly walk out of here, straight to the +police-station, eh? Such dodges have been done before, I know, when a +man's silence has to be bought for money. Find out who he is, see where +he lives, give him the money, then inform against him. No you don't! not +this time. I am off to the continent with this £10,000, and I can get +to Newhaven in time for the midday boat, so you'll have to keep quiet +until I am the other side of the Channel, my friend. You won't be much +inconvenienced; my landlady will hear your groans presently and release +you, so you'll be all right. There, now, drink this--that's better.' He +forced something bitter down my throat, then I remember nothing more. + +"'"When I regained consciousness I was sitting in an arm-chair with some +rope tied round me and a wool shawl round my mouth. I hadn't the +strength to make the slightest effort to disentangle myself or to utter +a scream. I felt terribly sick and faint."' + +"Mr. Reginald Pepys had finished reading, and no one in that crowded +court had thought of uttering a sound; the magistrate's eyes were fixed +upon the handsome lady in the magnificent gown, who was mopping her eyes +with a dainty lace handkerchief. + +"The extraordinary narrative of the victim of so daring an outrage had +kept every one in suspense; one thing was still expected to make the +measure of sensation as full as it had ever been over any criminal case, +and that was Mrs. Morton's evidence. She was called by the prosecuting +counsel, and slowly, gracefully, she entered the witness-box. There was +no doubt that she had felt keenly the tortures which her husband had +undergone, and also the humiliation of seeing her name dragged forcibly +into this ugly, blackmailing scandal. + +"Closely questioned by Mr. Reginald Pepys, she was forced to admit that +the man who blackmailed her was connected with her early life in a way +which would have brought terrible disgrace upon her and upon her +children. The story she told, amidst many tears and sobs, and much use +of her beautiful lace handkerchief and beringed hands, was exceedingly +pathetic. + +"It appears that when she was barely seventeen she was inveigled into a +secret marriage with one of those foreign adventurers who swarm in every +country, and who styled himself Comte Armand de la Tremouille. He seems +to have been a blackguard of unusually low pattern, for, after he had +extracted from her some £200 of her pin money and a few diamond +brooches, he left her one fine day with a laconic word to say that he +was sailing for Europe by the _Argentina_, and would not be back for +some time. She was in love with the brute, poor young soul, for when, a +week later, she read that the _Argentina_ was wrecked, and presumably +every soul on board had perished, she wept very many bitter tears over +her early widowhood. + +"Fortunately her father, a very wealthy pork-butcher of Chicago, had +known nothing of his daughter's culpable foolishness. Four years later +he took her to London, where she met Mr. Francis Morton and married him. +She led six or seven years of very happy married life when one day, like +a thunderbolt from a clear, blue sky, she received a typewritten letter, +signed 'Armand de la Tremouille,' full of protestations of undying love, +telling a long and pathetic tale of years of suffering in a foreign +land, whither he had drifted after having been rescued almost +miraculously from the wreck of the _Argentina_, and where he never had +been able to scrape a sufficient amount of money to pay for his passage +home. At last fate had favoured him. He had, after many vicissitudes, +found the whereabouts of his dear wife, and was now ready to forgive all +that was past and take her to his loving arms once again. + +"What followed was the usual course of events when there is a blackguard +and a fool of a woman. She was terrorised and did not dare to tell her +husband for some time; she corresponded with the Comte de la Tremouille, +begging him for her sake and in memory of the past not to attempt to see +her. She found him amenable to reason in the shape of several hundred +pounds which passed through the Brighton post office into his hands. At +last one day, by accident, Mr. Morton came across one of the Comte de la +Tremouille's interesting letters. She confessed everything, throwing +herself upon her husband's mercy. + +"Now, Mr. Francis Morton was a business man, who viewed life practically +and soberly. He liked his wife, who kept him in luxury, and wished to +keep her, whereas the Comte de la Tremouille seemed willing enough to +give her up for a consideration. Mrs. Morton, who had the sole and +absolute control of her fortune, on the other hand, was willing enough +to pay the price and hush up the scandal, which she believed--since she +was a bit of a fool--would land her in prison for bigamy. Mr. Francis +Morton wrote to the Comte de la Tremouille that his wife was ready to +pay him the sum of £10,000 which he demanded in payment for her absolute +liberty and his own complete disappearance out of her life now and for +ever. The appointment was made, and Mr. Morton left his house at 9 a.m. +on March 17th with the £10,000 in his pocket. + +"The public and the magistrate had hung breathless upon her words. There +was nothing but sympathy felt for this handsome woman, who throughout +had been more sinned against than sinning, and whose gravest fault seems +to have been a total lack of intelligence in dealing with her own life. +But I can assure you of one thing, that in no case within my +recollection was there ever such a sensation in a court as when the +magistrate, after a few minutes' silence, said gently to Mrs. Morton: + +"'And now, Mrs. Morton, will you kindly look at the prisoner, and tell +me if in him you recognize your former husband?' + +"And she, without even turning to look at the accused, said quietly: + +"'Oh no! your Honour! of course that man is _not_ the Comte de la +Tremouille.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +A SENSATION + + +"I can assure you that the situation was quite dramatic," continued the +man in the corner, whilst his funny, claw-like hands took up a bit of +string with renewed feverishness. + +"In answer to further questions from the magistrate, she declared that +she had never seen the accused; he might have been the go-between, +however, that she could not say. The letters she received were all +typewritten, but signed 'Armand de la Tremouille,' and certainly the +signature was identical with that on the letters she used to receive +from him years ago, all of which she had kept. + +"'And did it _never_ strike you,' asked the magistrate with a smile, +'that the letters you received might be forgeries?' + +"'How could they be?' she replied decisively; no one knew of my marriage +to the Comte de la Tremouille, no one in England certainly. And, +besides, if some one did know the Comte intimately enough to forge his +handwriting and to blackmail me, why should that some one have waited +all these years? I have been married seven years, your Honour.' + +"That was true enough, and there the matter rested as far as she was +concerned. But the identity of Mr. Francis Morton's assailant had to be +finally established, of course, before the prisoner was committed for +trial. Dr. Mellish promised that Mr. Morton would be allowed to come to +court for half an hour and identify the accused on the following day, +and the case was adjourned until then. The accused was led away between +two constables, bail being refused, and Brighton had perforce to +moderate its impatience until the Wednesday. + +"On that day the court was crowded to overflowing; actors, playwrights, +literary men of all sorts had fought for admission to study for +themselves the various phases and faces in connection with the case. +Mrs. Morton was not present when the prisoner, quiet and self-possessed, +was brought in and placed in the dock. His solicitor was with him, and a +sensational defence was expected. + +"Presently there was a stir in the court, and that certain sound, half +rustle, half sigh, which preludes an expected palpitating event. Mr. +Morton, pale, thin, wearing yet in his hollow eyes the stamp of those +five days of suffering, walked into court leaning on the arm of his +doctor--Mrs. Morton was not with him. + +"He was at once accommodated with a chair in the witness-box, and the +magistrate, after a few words of kindly sympathy, asked him if he had +anything to add to his written statement. On Mr. Morton replying in the +negative, the magistrate added: + +"'And now, Mr. Morton, will you kindly look at the accused in the dock +and tell me whether you recognize the person who took you to the room in +Russell House and then assaulted you?' + +"Slowly the sick man turned towards the prisoner and looked at him; then +he shook his head and replied quietly: + +"'No, sir, that certainly was not the man.' + +"'You are quite sure?' asked the magistrate in amazement, while the +crowd literally gasped with wonder. + +"'I swear it,' asserted Mr. Morton. + +"'Can you describe the man who assaulted you?' + +"'Certainly. He was dark, of swarthy complexion, tall, thin, with bushy +eyebrows and thick black hair and short beard. He spoke English with +just the faintest suspicion of a foreign accent.' + +"The prisoner, as I told you before, was English in every feature. +English in his ruddy complexion, and absolutely English in his speech. + +"After that the case for the prosecution began to collapse. Every one +had expected a sensational defence, and Mr. Matthew Quiller, counsel +for Skinner, fully justified all these expectations. He had no fewer +than four witnesses present who swore positively that at 9.45 a.m. on +the morning of Wednesday, March 17th, the prisoner was in the express +train leaving Brighton for Victoria. + +"Not being endowed with the gift of being in two places at once, and Mr. +Morton having added the whole weight of his own evidence in Mr. Edward +Skinner's favour, that gentleman was once more remanded by the +magistrate, pending further investigation by the police, bail being +allowed this time in two sureties of £50 each." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +TWO BLACKGUARDS + + +"Tell me what you think of it," said the man in the corner, seeing that +Polly remained silent and puzzled. + +"Well," she replied dubiously, "I suppose that the so-called Armand de +la Tremouille's story was true in substance. That he did not perish on +the _Argentina_, but drifted home, and blackmailed his former wife." + +"Doesn't it strike you that there are at least two very strong points +against that theory?" he asked, making two gigantic knots in his piece +of string. + +"Two?" + +"Yes. In the first place, if the blackmailer was the 'Comte de la +Tremouille' returned to life, why should he have been content to take +£10,000 from a lady who was his lawful wife, and who could keep him in +luxury for the rest of his natural life upon her large fortune, which +was close upon a quarter of a million? The real Comte de la Tremouille, +remember, had never found it difficult to get money out of his wife +during their brief married life, whatever Mr. Morton's subsequent +experience in the same direction might have been. And, secondly, why +should he have typewritten his letters to his wife?" + +"Because--" + +"That was a point which, to my mind, the police never made the most of. +Now, my experience in criminal cases has invariably been that when a +typewritten letter figures in one, that letter is a forgery. It is not +very difficult to imitate a signature, but it is a jolly sight more +difficult to imitate a handwriting throughout an entire letter." + +"Then, do you think--" + +"I think, if you will allow me," he interrupted excitedly, "that we will +go through the points--the sensible, tangible points of the case. +Firstly: Mr. Morton disappears with £10,000 in his pocket for four +entire days; at the end of that time he is discovered loosely tied to an +arm-chair, and a wool shawl round his mouth. Secondly: A man named +Skinner is accused of the outrage. Mr. Morton, although he himself is +able, mind you, to furnish the best defence possible for Skinner, by +denying his identity with the man who assaulted him, refuses to +prosecute. Why?" + +"He did not wish to drag his wife's name into the case." + +"He must have known that the Crown would take up the case. Then, again, +how is it no one saw him in the company of the swarthy foreigner he +described?" + +"Two witnesses did see Mr. Morton in company with Skinner," argued +Polly. + +"Yes, at 9.20 in West Street; that would give Edward Skinner time to +catch the 9.45 at the station, and to entrust Mr. Morton with the +latch-key of Russell House," remarked the man in the corner dryly. + +"What nonsense!" Polly ejaculated. + +"Nonsense, is it?" he said, tugging wildly at his bit of string; "is it +nonsense to affirm that if a man wants to make sure that his victim +shall not escape, he does not usually wind rope 'loosely' round his +figure, nor does he throw a wool shawl lightly round his mouth. The +police were idiotic beyond words; they themselves discovered that Morton +was so 'loosely' fastened to his chair that very little movement would +have disentangled him, and yet it never struck them that nothing was +easier for that particular type of scoundrel to sit down in an arm-chair +and wind a few yards of rope round himself, then, having wrapped a wool +shawl round his throat, to slip his two arms inside the ropes." + +"But what object would a man in Mr. Morton's position have for playing +such extraordinary pranks?" + +"Ah, the motive! There you are! What do I always tell you? Seek the +motive! Now, what was Mr. Morton's position? He was the husband of a +lady who owned a quarter of a million of money, not one penny of which +he could touch without her consent, as it was settled on herself, and +who, after the terrible way in which she had been plundered and then +abandoned in her early youth, no doubt kept a very tight hold upon the +purse-strings. Mr. Morton's subsequent life has proved that he had +certain expensive, not altogether avowable, tastes. One day he discovers +the old love letters of the 'Comte Armand de la Tremouille.' + +"Then he lays his plans. He typewrites a letter, forges the signature of +the erstwhile Count, and awaits events. The fish does rise to the bait. +He gets sundry bits of money, and his success makes him daring. He looks +round him for an accomplice--clever, unscrupulous, greedy--and selects +Mr. Edward Skinner, probably some former pal of his wild oats days. + +"The plan was very neat, you must confess. Mr. Skinner takes the room in +Russell House, and studies all the manners and customs of his landlady +and her servant. He then draws the full attention of the police upon +himself. He meets Morton in West Street, then disappears ostensibly +after the 'assault.' In the meanwhile Morton goes to Russell House. He +walks upstairs, talks loudly in the room, then makes elaborate +preparations for his comedy." + +"Why! he nearly died of starvation!" + +"That, I dare say, was not a part of his reckoning. He thought, no +doubt, that Mrs. Chapman or the servant would discover and rescue him +pretty soon. He meant to appear just a little faint, and endured quietly +the first twenty-four hours of inanition. But the excitement and want of +food told on him more than he expected. After twenty-four hours he +turned very giddy and sick, and, falling from one fainting fit into +another, was unable to give the alarm. + +"However, he is all right again now, and concludes his part of a +downright blackguard to perfection. Under the plea that his conscience +does not allow him to live with a lady whose first husband is still +alive, he has taken a bachelor flat in London, and only pays afternoon +calls on his wife in Brighton. But presently he will tire of his +bachelor life, and will return to his wife. And I'll guarantee that the +Comte de la Tremouille will never be heard of again." + +And that afternoon the man in the corner left Miss Polly Burton alone +with a couple of photos of two uninteresting, stodgy, quiet-looking +men--Morton and Skinner--who, if the old scarecrow was right in his +theories, were a pair of the finest blackguards unhung. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE REGENT'S PARK MURDER + + +By this time Miss Polly Burton had become quite accustomed to her +extraordinary _vis-à -vis_ in the corner. + +He was always there, when she arrived, in the selfsame corner, dressed +in one of his remarkable check tweed suits; he seldom said good morning, +and invariably when she appeared he began to fidget with increased +nervousness, with some tattered and knotty piece of string. + +"Were you ever interested in the Regent's Park murder?" he asked her one +day. + +Polly replied that she had forgotten most of the particulars connected +with that curious murder, but that she fully remembered the stir and +flutter it had caused in a certain section of London Society. + +"The racing and gambling set, particularly, you mean," he said. "All the +persons implicated in the murder, directly or indirectly, were of the +type commonly called 'Society men,' or 'men about town,' whilst the +Harewood Club in Hanover Square, round which centred all the scandal in +connection with the murder, was one of the smartest clubs in London. + +"Probably the doings of the Harewood Club, which was essentially a +gambling club, would for ever have remained 'officially' absent from the +knowledge of the police authorities but for the murder in the Regent's +Park and the revelations which came to light in connection with it. + +"I dare say you know the quiet square which lies between Portland Place +and the Regent's Park and is called Park Crescent at its south end, and +subsequently Park Square East and West. The Marylebone Road, with all +its heavy traffic, cuts straight across the large square and its pretty +gardens, but the latter are connected together by a tunnel under the +road; and of course you must remember that the new tube station in the +south portion of the Square had not yet been planned. + +"February 6th, 1907, was a very foggy night, nevertheless Mr. Aaron +Cohen, of 30, Park Square West, at two o'clock in the morning, having +finally pocketed the heavy winnings which he had just swept off the +green table of the Harewood Club, started to walk home alone. An hour +later most of the inhabitants of Park Square West were aroused from +their peaceful slumbers by the sounds of a violent altercation in the +road. A man's angry voice was heard shouting violently for a minute or +two, and was followed immediately by frantic screams of 'Police' and +'Murder.' Then there was the double sharp report of firearms, and +nothing more. + +"The fog was very dense, and, as you no doubt have experienced yourself, +it is very difficult to locate sound in a fog. Nevertheless, not more +than a minute or two had elapsed before Constable F 18, the point +policeman at the corner of Marylebone Road, arrived on the scene, and, +having first of all whistled for any of his comrades on the beat, began +to grope his way about in the fog, more confused than effectually +assisted by contradictory directions from the inhabitants of the houses +close by, who were nearly falling out of the upper windows as they +shouted out to the constable. + +"'By the railings, policeman.' + +"'Higher up the road.' + +"'No, lower down.' + +"'It was on this side of the pavement I am sure.' + +"No, the other.' + +"At last it was another policeman, F 22, who, turning into Park Square +West from the north side, almost stumbled upon the body of a man lying +on the pavement with his head against the railings of the Square. By +this time quite a little crowd of people from the different houses in +the road had come down, curious to know what had actually happened. + +"The policeman turned the strong light of his bull's-eye lantern on the +unfortunate man's face. + +"'It looks as if he had been strangled, don't it?' he murmured to his +comrade. + +"And he pointed to the swollen tongue, the eyes half out of their +sockets, bloodshot and congested, the purple, almost black, hue of the +face. + +"At this point one of the spectators, more callous to horrors, peered +curiously into the dead man's face. He uttered an exclamation of +astonishment. + +"'Why, surely, it's Mr. Cohen from No. 30!' + +"The mention of a name familiar down the length of the street had caused +two or three other men to come forward and to look more closely into the +horribly distorted mask of the murdered man. + +"'Our next-door neighbour, undoubtedly,' asserted Mr. Ellison, a young +barrister, residing at No. 31. + +"'What in the world was he doing this foggy night all alone, and on +foot?' asked somebody else. + +"'He usually came home very late. I fancy he belonged to some gambling +club in town. I dare say he couldn't get a cab to bring him out here. +Mind you, I don't know much about him. We only knew him to nod to.' + +"'Poor beggar! it looks almost like an old-fashioned case of +garroting.' + +"'Anyway, the blackguardly murderer, whoever he was, wanted to make sure +he had killed his man!' added Constable F 18, as he picked up an object +from the pavement. 'Here's the revolver, with two cartridges missing. +You gentlemen heard the report just now?' + +"'He don't seem to have hit him though. The poor bloke was strangled, no +doubt.' + +"'And tried to shoot at his assailant, obviously,' asserted the young +barrister with authority. + +"'If he succeeded in hitting the brute, there might be a chance of +tracing the way he went.' + +"'But not in the fog.' + +"Soon, however, the appearance of the inspector, detective, and medical +officer, who had quickly been informed of the tragedy, put an end to +further discussion. + +"The bell at No. 30 was rung, and the servants--all four of them +women--were asked to look at the body. + +"Amidst tears of horror and screams of fright, they all recognized in +the murdered man their master, Mr. Aaron Cohen. He was therefore +conveyed to his own room pending the coroner's inquest. + +"The police had a pretty difficult task, you will admit; there were so +very few indications to go by, and at first literally no clue. + +"The inquest revealed practically nothing. Very little was known in the +neighbourhood about Mr. Aaron Cohen and his affairs. His female servants +did not even know the name or whereabouts of the various clubs he +frequented. + +"He had an office in Throgmorton Street and went to business every day. +He dined at home, and sometimes had friends to dinner. When he was alone +he invariably went to the club, where he stayed until the small hours of +the morning. + +"The night of the murder he had gone out at about nine o'clock. That was +the last his servants had seen of him. With regard to the revolver, all +four servants swore positively that they had never seen it before, and +that, unless Mr. Cohen had bought it that very day, it did not belong to +their master. + +"Beyond that, no trace whatever of the murderer had been found, but on +the morning after the crime a couple of keys linked together by a short +metal chain were found close to a gate at the opposite end of the +Square, that which immediately faced Portland Place. These were proved +to be, firstly, Mr. Cohen's latch-key, and, secondly, his gate-key of +the Square. + +"It was therefore presumed that the murderer, having accomplished his +fell design and ransacked his victim's pockets, had found the keys and +made good his escape by slipping into the Square, cutting under the +tunnel, and out again by the further gate. He then took the precaution +not to carry the keys with him any further, but threw them away and +disappeared in the fog. + +"The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against some person or +persons unknown, and the police were put on their mettle to discover the +unknown and daring murderer. The result of their investigations, +conducted with marvellous skill by Mr. William Fisher, led, about a week +after the crime, to the sensational arrest of one of London's smartest +young bucks. + +"The case Mr. Fisher had got up against the accused briefly amounted to +this: + +"On the night of February 6th, soon after midnight, play began to run +very high at the Harewood Club, in Hanover Square. Mr. Aaron Cohen held +the bank at roulette against some twenty or thirty of his friends, +mostly young fellows with no wits and plenty of money. 'The Bank' was +winning heavily, and it appears that this was the third consecutive +night on which Mr. Aaron Cohen had gone home richer by several hundreds +than he had been at the start of play. + +"Young John Ashley, who is the son of a very worthy county gentleman who +is M.F.H. somewhere in the Midlands, was losing heavily, and in his case +also it appears that it was the third consecutive night that Fortune +had turned her face against him. + +"Remember," continued the man in the corner, "that when I tell you all +these details and facts, I am giving you the combined evidence of +several witnesses, which it took many days to collect and to classify. + +"It appears that young Mr. Ashley, though very popular in society, was +generally believed to be in what is vulgarly termed 'low water'; up to +his eyes in debt, and mortally afraid of his dad, whose younger son he +was, and who had on one occasion threatened to ship him off to Australia +with a £5 note in his pocket if he made any further extravagant calls +upon his paternal indulgence. + +"It was also evident to all John Ashley's many companions that the +worthy M.F.H. held the purse-strings in a very tight grip. The young +man, bitten with the desire to cut a smart figure in the circles in +which he moved, had often recourse to the varying fortunes which now and +again smiled upon him across the green tables in the Harewood Club. + +"Be that as it may, the general consensus of opinion at the Club was +that young Ashley had changed his last 'pony' before he sat down to a +turn of roulette with Aaron Cohen on that particular night of February +6th. + +"It appears that all his friends, conspicuous among whom was Mr. Walter +Hatherell, tried their very best to dissuade him from pitting his luck +against that of Cohen, who had been having a most unprecedented run of +good fortune. But young Ashley, heated with wine, exasperated at his own +bad luck, would listen to no one; he tossed one £5 note after another on +the board, he borrowed from those who would lend, then played on parole +for a while. Finally, at half-past one in the morning, after a run of +nineteen on the red, the young man found himself without a penny in his +pockets, and owing a debt--gambling debt--a debt of honour of £1500 to +Mr. Aaron Cohen. + +"Now we must render this much maligned gentleman that justice which was +persistently denied to him by press and public alike; it was positively +asserted by all those present that Mr. Cohen himself repeatedly tried to +induce young Mr. Ashley to give up playing. He himself was in a delicate +position in the matter, as he was the winner, and once or twice the +taunt had risen to the young man's lips, accusing the holder of the bank +of the wish to retire on a competence before the break in his luck. + +"Mr. Aaron Cohen, smoking the best of Havanas, had finally shrugged his +shoulders and said: 'As you please!' + +"But at half-past one he had had enough of the player, who always lost +and never paid--never could pay, so Mr. Cohen probably believed. He +therefore at that hour refused to accept Mr. John Ashley's 'promissory' +stakes any longer. A very few heated words ensued, quickly checked by +the management, who are ever on the alert to avoid the least suspicion +of scandal. + +"In the meanwhile Mr. Hatherell, with great good sense, persuaded young +Ashley to leave the Club and all its temptations and go home; if +possible to bed. + +"The friendship of the two young men, which was very well known in +society, consisted chiefly, it appears, in Walter Hatherell being the +willing companion and helpmeet of John Ashley in his mad and extravagant +pranks. But to-night the latter, apparently tardily sobered by his +terrible and heavy losses, allowed himself to be led away by his friend +from the scene of his disasters. It was then about twenty minutes to +two. + +"Here the situation becomes interesting," continued the man in the +corner in his nervous way. "No wonder that the police interrogated at +least a dozen witnesses before they were quite satisfied that every +statement was conclusively proved. + +"Walter Hatherell, after about ten minutes' absence, that is to say at +ten minutes to two, returned to the club room. In reply to several +inquiries, he said that he had parted with his friend at the corner of +New Bond Street, since he seemed anxious to be alone, and that Ashley +said he would take a turn down Piccadilly before going home--he thought +a walk would do him good. + +"At two o'clock or thereabouts Mr. Aaron Cohen, satisfied with his +evening's work, gave up his position at the bank and, pocketing his +heavy winnings, started on his homeward walk, while Mr. Walter Hatherell +left the club half an hour later. + +"At three o'clock precisely the cries of 'Murder' and the report of +fire-arms were heard in Park Square West, and Mr. Aaron Cohen was found +strangled outside the garden railings." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE MOTIVE + + +"Now at first sight the murder in the Regent's Park appeared both to +police and public as one of those silly, clumsy crimes, obviously the +work of a novice, and absolutely purposeless, seeing that it could but +inevitably lead its perpetrators, without any difficulty, to the +gallows. + +"You see, a motive had been established. 'Seek him whom the crime +benefits,' say our French _confrères_. But there was something more than +that. + +"Constable James Funnell, on his beat, turned from Portland Place into +Park Crescent a few minutes after he had heard the clock at Holy Trinity +Church, Marylebone, strike half-past two. The fog at that moment was +perhaps not quite so dense as it was later on in the morning, and the +policeman saw two gentlemen in overcoats and top-hats leaning arm in arm +against the railings of the Square, close to the gate. He could not, of +course, distinguish their faces because of the fog, but he heard one of +them saying to the other: + +"'It is but a question of time, Mr. Cohen. I know my father will pay +the money for me, and you will lose nothing by waiting.' + +"To this the other apparently made no reply, and the constable passed +on; when he returned to the same spot, after having walked over his +beat, the two gentlemen had gone, but later on it was near this very +gate that the two keys referred to at the inquest had been found. + +"Another interesting fact," added the man in the corner, with one of +those sarcastic smiles of his which Polly could not quite explain, "was +the finding of the revolver upon the scene of the crime. That revolver, +shown to Mr. Ashley's valet, was sworn to by him as being the property +of his master. + +"All these facts made, of course, a very remarkable, so far quite +unbroken, chain of circumstantial evidence against Mr. John Ashley. No +wonder, therefore, that the police, thoroughly satisfied with Mr. +Fisher's work and their own, applied for a warrant against the young +man, and arrested him in his rooms in Clarges Street exactly a week +after the committal of the crime. + +"As a matter of fact, you know, experience has invariably taught me that +when a murderer seems particularly foolish and clumsy, and proofs +against him seem particularly damning, that is the time when the police +should be most guarded against pitfalls. + +"Now in this case, if John Ashley had indeed committed the murder in +Regent's Park in the manner suggested by the police, he would have been +a criminal in more senses than one, for idiocy of that kind is to my +mind worse than many crimes. + +"The prosecution brought its witnesses up in triumphal array one after +another. There were the members of the Harewood Club--who had seen the +prisoner's excited condition after his heavy gambling losses to Mr. +Aaron Cohen; there was Mr. Hatherell, who, in spite of his friendship +for Ashley, was bound to admit that he had parted from him at the corner +of Bond Street at twenty minutes to two, and had not seen him again till +his return home at five a.m. + +"Then came the evidence of Arthur Chipps, John Ashley's valet. It proved +of a very sensational character. + +"He deposed that on the night in question his master came home at about +ten minutes to two. Chipps had then not yet gone to bed. Five minutes +later Mr. Ashley went out again, telling the valet not to sit up for +him. Chipps could not say at what time either of the young gentlemen had +come home. + +"That short visit home--presumably to fetch the revolver--was thought to +be very important, and Mr. John Ashley's friends felt that his case was +practically hopeless. + +"The valet's evidence and that of James Funnell, the constable, who had +overheard the conversation near the park railings, were certainly the +two most damning proofs against the accused. I assure you I was having a +rare old time that day. There were two faces in court to watch which was +the greatest treat I had had for many a day. One of these was Mr. John +Ashley's. + +"Here's his photo--short, dark, dapper, a little 'racy' in style, but +otherwise he looks a son of a well-to-do farmer. He was very quiet and +placid in court, and addressed a few words now and again to his +solicitor. He listened gravely, and with an occasional shrug of the +shoulders, to the recital of the crime, such as the police had +reconstructed it, before an excited and horrified audience. + +"Mr. John Ashley, driven to madness and frenzy by terrible financial +difficulties, had first of all gone home in search of a weapon, then +waylaid Mr. Aaron Cohen somewhere on that gentleman's way home. The +young man had begged for delay. Mr. Cohen perhaps was obdurate; but +Ashley followed him with his importunities almost to his door. + +"There, seeing his creditor determined at last to cut short the painful +interview, he had seized the unfortunate man at an unguarded moment from +behind, and strangled him; then, fearing that his dastardly work was not +fully accomplished, he had shot twice at the already dead body, missing +it both times from sheer nervous excitement. The murderer then must have +emptied his victim's pockets, and, finding the key of the garden, +thought that it would be a safe way of evading capture by cutting across +the squares, under the tunnel, and so through the more distant gate +which faced Portland Place. + +"The loss of the revolver was one of those unforeseen accidents which a +retributive Providence places in the path of the miscreant, delivering +him by his own act of folly into the hands of human justice. + +"Mr. John Ashley, however, did not appear the least bit impressed by the +recital of his crime. He had not engaged the services of one of the most +eminent lawyers, expert at extracting contradictions from witnesses by +skilful cross-examinations--oh, dear me, no! he had been contented with +those of a dull, prosy, very second-rate limb of the law, who, as he +called his witnesses, was completely innocent of any desire to create a +sensation. + +"He rose quietly from his seat, and, amidst breathless silence, called +the first of three witnesses on behalf of his client. He called +three--but he could have produced twelve--gentlemen, members of the +Ashton Club in Great Portland Street, all of whom swore that at three +o'clock on the morning of February 6th, that is to say, at the very +moment when the cries of 'Murder' roused the inhabitants of Park Square +West, and the crime was being committed, Mr. John Ashley was sitting +quietly in the club-rooms of the Ashton playing bridge with the three +witnesses. He had come in a few minutes before three--as the hall porter +of the Club testified--and stayed for about an hour and a half. + +"I need not tell you that this undoubted, this fully proved, _alibi_ was +a positive bombshell in the stronghold of the prosecution. The most +accomplished criminal could not possibly be in two places at once, and +though the Ashton Club transgresses in many ways against the gambling +laws of our very moral country, yet its members belong to the best, most +unimpeachable classes of society. Mr. Ashley had been seen and spoken to +at the very moment of the crime by at least a dozen gentlemen whose +testimony was absolutely above suspicion. + +"Mr. John Ashley's conduct throughout this astonishing phase of the +inquiry remained perfectly calm and correct. It was no doubt the +consciousness of being able to prove his innocence with such absolute +conclusion that had steadied his nerves throughout the proceedings. + +"His answers to the magistrate were clear and simple, even on the +ticklish subject of the revolver. + +"'I left the club, sir,' he explained, 'fully determined to speak with +Mr. Cohen alone in order to ask him for a delay in the settlement of my +debt to him. You will understand that I should not care to do this in +the presence of other gentlemen. I went home for a minute or two--not in +order to fetch a revolver, as the police assert, for I always carry a +revolver about with me in foggy weather--but in order to see if a very +important business letter had come for me in my absence. + +"'Then I went out again, and met Mr. Aaron Cohen not far from the +Harewood Club. I walked the greater part of the way with him, and our +conversation was of the most amicable character. We parted at the top of +Portland Place, near the gate of the Square, where the policeman saw us. +Mr. Cohen then had the intention of cutting across the Square, as being +a shorter way to his own house. I thought the Square looked dark and +dangerous in the fog, especially as Mr. Cohen was carrying a large sum +of money. + +"'We had a short discussion on the subject, and finally I persuaded him +to take my revolver, as I was going home only through very frequented +streets, and moreover carried nothing that was worth stealing. After a +little demur Mr. Cohen accepted the loan of my revolver, and that is +how it came to be found on the actual scene of the crime; finally I +parted from Mr. Cohen a very few minutes after I had heard the church +clock striking a quarter before three. I was at the Oxford Street end of +Great Portland Street at five minutes to three, and it takes at least +ten minutes to walk from where I was to the Ashton Club.' + +"This explanation was all the more credible, mind you, because the +question of the revolver had never been very satisfactorily explained by +the prosecution. A man who has effectually strangled his victim would +not discharge two shots of his revolver for, apparently, no other +purpose than that of rousing the attention of the nearest passer-by. It +was far more likely that it was Mr. Cohen who shot--perhaps wildly into +the air, when suddenly attacked from behind. Mr. Ashley's explanation +therefore was not only plausible, it was the only possible one. + +"You will understand therefore how it was that, after nearly half an +hour's examination, the magistrate, the police, and the public were +alike pleased to proclaim that the accused left the court without a +stain upon his character." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +FRIENDS + + +"Yes," interrupted Polly eagerly, since, for once, her acumen had been +at least as sharp as his, "but suspicion of that horrible crime only +shifted its taint from one friend to another, and, of course, I know--" + +"But that's just it," he quietly interrupted, "you don't know--Mr. +Walter Hatherell, of course, you mean. So did every one else at once. +The friend, weak and willing, committing a crime on behalf of his +cowardly, yet more assertive friend who had tempted him to evil. It was +a good theory; and was held pretty generally, I fancy, even by the +police. + +"I say 'even' because they worked really hard in order to build up a +case against young Hatherell, but the great difficulty was that of time. +At the hour when the policeman had seen the two men outside Park Square +together, Walter Hatherell was still sitting in the Harewood Club, which +he never left until twenty minutes to two. Had he wished to waylay and +rob Aaron Cohen he would not have waited surely till the time when +presumably the latter would already have reached home. + +"Moreover, twenty minutes was an incredibly short time in which to walk +from Hanover Square to Regent's Park without the chance of cutting +across the squares, to look for a man, whose whereabouts you could not +determine to within twenty yards or so, to have an argument with him, +murder him, and ransack his pockets. And then there was the total +absence of motive." + +"But--" said Polly meditatively, for she remembered now that the +Regent's Park murder, as it had been popularly called, was one of those +which had remained as impenetrable a mystery as any other crime had ever +been in the annals of the police. + +The man in the corner cocked his funny birdlike head well on one side +and looked at her, highly amused evidently at her perplexity. + +"You do not see how that murder was committed?" he asked with a grin. + +Polly was bound to admit that she did not. + +"If you had happened to have been in Mr. John Ashley's predicament," he +persisted, "you do not see how you could conveniently have done away +with Mr. Aaron Cohen, pocketed his winnings, and then led the police of +your country entirely by the nose, by proving an indisputable _alibi_?" + +"I could not arrange conveniently," she retorted, "to be in two +different places half a mile apart at one and the same time." + +"No! I quite admit that you could not do this unless you also had a +friend--" + +"A friend? But you say--" + +"I say that I admired Mr. John Ashley, for his was the head which +planned the whole thing, but he could not have accomplished the +fascinating and terrible drama without the help of willing and able +hands." + +"Even then--" she protested. + +"Point number one," he began excitedly, fidgeting with his inevitable +piece of string. "John Ashley and his friend Walter Hatherell leave the +club together, and together decide on the plan of campaign. Hatherell +returns to the club, and Ashley goes to fetch the revolver--the revolver +which played such an important part in the drama, but not the part +assigned to it by the police. Now try to follow Ashley closely, as he +dogs Aaron Cohen's footsteps. Do you believe that he entered into +conversation with him? That he walked by his side? That he asked for +delay? No! He sneaked behind him and caught him by the throat, as the +garroters used to do in the fog. Cohen was apoplectic, and Ashley is +young and powerful. Moreover, he meant to kill--" + +"But the two men talked together outside the Square gates," protested +Polly, "one of whom was Cohen, and the other Ashley." + +"Pardon me," he said, jumping up in his seat like a monkey on a stick, +"there were not two men talking outside the Square gates. According to +the testimony of James Funnell, the constable, two men were leaning arm +in arm against the railings and _one_ man was talking." + +"Then you think that--" + +"At the hour when James Funnell heard Holy Trinity clock striking +half-past two Aaron Cohen was already dead. Look how simple the whole +thing is," he added eagerly, "and how easy after that--easy, but oh, +dear me! how wonderfully, how stupendously clever. As soon as James +Funnell has passed on, John Ashley, having opened the gate, lifts the +body of Aaron Cohen in his arms and carries him across the Square. The +Square is deserted, of course, but the way is easy enough, and we must +presume that Ashley had been in it before. Anyway, there was no fear of +meeting any one. + +"In the meantime Hatherell has left the club: as fast as his athletic +legs can carry him he rushes along Oxford Street and Portland Place. It +had been arranged between the two miscreants that the Square gate should +be left on the latch. + +"Close on Ashley's heels now, Hatherell too cuts across the Square, and +reaches the further gate in good time to give his confederate a hand in +disposing the body against the railings. Then, without another instant's +delay, Ashley runs back across the gardens, straight to the Ashton Club, +throwing away the keys of the dead man, on the very spot where he had +made it a point of being seen and heard by a passer-by. + +"Hatherell gives his friend six or seven minutes' start, then he begins +the altercation which lasts two or three minutes, and finally rouses the +neighbourhood with cries of 'Murder' and report of pistol in order to +establish that the crime was committed at the hour when its perpetrator +has already made out an indisputable _alibi_." + +"I don't know what you think of it all, of course," added the funny +creature as he fumbled for his coat and his gloves, "but I call the +planning of that murder--on the part of novices, mind you--one of the +cleverest pieces of strategy I have ever come across. It is one of those +cases where there is no possibility whatever now of bringing the crime +home to its perpetrator or his abettor. They have not left a single +proof behind them; they foresaw everything, and each acted his part with +a coolness and courage which, applied to a great and good cause, would +have made fine statesmen of them both. + +"As it is, I fear, they are just a pair of young blackguards, who have +escaped human justice, and have only deserved the full and ungrudging +admiration of yours very sincerely." + +He had gone. Polly wanted to call him back, but his meagre person was no +longer visible through the glass door. There were many things she would +have wished to ask of him--what were his proofs, his facts? His were +theories, after all, and yet, somehow, she felt that he had solved once +again one of the darkest mysteries of great criminal London. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE DE GENNEVILLE PEERAGE + + +The man in the corner rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and looked out upon +the busy street below. + +"I suppose," he said, "there is some truth in the saying that Providence +watches over bankrupts, kittens, and lawyers." + +"I didn't know there was such a saying," replied Polly, with guarded +dignity. + +"Isn't there? Perhaps I am misquoting; anyway, there should be. Kittens, +it seems, live and thrive through social and domestic upheavals which +would annihilate a self-supporting tom-cat, and to-day I read in the +morning papers the account of a noble lord's bankruptcy, and in the +society ones that of his visit at the house of a Cabinet minister, where +he is the most honoured guest. As for lawyers, when Providence had +exhausted all other means of securing their welfare, it brought forth +the peerage cases." + +"I believe, as a matter of fact, that this special dispensation of +Providence, as you call it, requires more technical knowledge than any +other legal complication that comes before the law courts," she said. + +"And also a great deal more money in the client's pocket than any other +complication. Now, take the Brockelsby peerage case. Have you any idea +how much money was spent over that soap bubble, which only burst after +many hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds went in lawyers' and +counsels' fees?" + +"I suppose a great deal of money was spent on both sides," she replied, +"until that sudden, awful issue--" + +"Which settled the dispute effectually," he interrupted with a dry +chuckle. "Of course, it is very doubtful if any reputable solicitor +would have taken up the case. Timothy Beddingfield, the Birmingham +lawyer, is a gentleman who--well--has had some misfortunes, shall we +say? He is still on the rolls, mind you, but I doubt if any case would +have its chances improved by his conducting it. Against that there is +just this to be said, that some of these old peerages have such peculiar +histories, and own such wonderful archives, that a claim is always worth +investigating--you never know what may be the rights of it. + +"I believe that, at first, every one laughed over the pretensions of the +Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville to the joint title and part revenues of +the old barony of Genneville, but, obviously, he _might_ have got his +case. It certainly sounded almost like a fairy-tale, this claim based +upon the supposed validity of an ancient document over 400 years old. It +was _then_ that a mediaeval Lord de Genneville, more endowed with muscle +than common sense, became during his turbulent existence much +embarrassed and hopelessly puzzled through the presentation made to him +by his lady of twin-born sons. + +"His embarrassment chiefly arose from the fact that my lady's +attendants, while ministering to the comfort of the mother, had, in a +moment of absent-mindedness, so placed the two infants in their cot that +subsequently no one, not even--perhaps least of all--the mother, could +tell which was the one who had been the first to make his appearance +into this troublesome and puzzling world. + +"After many years of cogitation, during which the Lord de Genneville +approached nearer to the grave and his sons to man's estate, he gave up +trying to solve the riddle as to which of the twins should succeed to +his title and revenues; he appealed to his Liege Lord and King--Edward, +fourth of that name--and with the latter's august sanction he drew up a +certain document, wherein he enacted that both his sons should, after +his death, share his titles and goodly revenues, and that the first son +born in wedlock of _either_ father should subsequently be the sole heir. + +"In this document was also added that if in future times should any +Lords de Genneville be similarly afflicted with twin sons, who had equal +rights to be considered the eldest born, the same rule should apply as +to the succession. + +"Subsequently a Lord de Genneville was created Earl of Brockelsby by one +of the Stuart kings, but for four hundred years after its enactment the +extraordinary deed of succession remained a mere tradition, the +Countesses of Brockelsby having, seemingly, no predilection for twins. +But in 1878 the mistress of Brockelsby Castle presented her lord with +twin-born sons. + +"Fortunately, in modern times, science is more wide-awake, and +attendants more careful. The twin brothers did not get mixed up, and one +of them was styled Viscount Tirlemont, and was heir to the earldom, +whilst the other, born two hours later, was that fascinating, dashing +young Guardsman, well known at Hurlingham, Goodwood, London, and in his +own county--the Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville. + +"It certainly was an evil day for this brilliant young scion of the +ancient race when he lent an ear to Timothy Beddingfield. This man, and +his family before him, had been solicitors to the Earls of Brockelsby +for many generations, but Timothy, owing to certain 'irregularities,' +had forfeited the confidence of his client, the late earl. + +"He was still in practice in Birmingham, however, and, of course, knew +the ancient family tradition anent the twin succession. Whether he was +prompted by revenge or merely self-advertisement no one knows. + +"Certain it is that he did advise the Hon. Robert de Genneville--who +apparently had more debts than he conveniently could pay, and more +extravagant tastes than he could gratify on a younger son's portion--to +lay a claim, on his father's death, to the joint title and a moiety of +the revenues of the ancient barony of Genneville, that claim being based +upon the validity of the fifteenth-century document. + +"You may gather how extensive were the pretensions of the Hon. Robert +from the fact that the greater part of Edgbaston is now built upon land +belonging to the old barony. Anyway, it was the last straw in an ocean +of debt and difficulties, and I have no doubt that Beddingfield had not +much trouble in persuading the Hon. Robert to commence litigation at +once. + +"The young Earl of Brockelsby's attitude, however, remained one of +absolute quietude in his nine points of the law. He was in possession +both of the title and of the document. It was for the other side to +force him to produce the one or to share the other. + +"It was at this stage of the proceedings that the Hon. Robert was +advised to marry, in order to secure, if possible, the first male heir +of the next generation, since the young earl himself was still a +bachelor. A suitable _fiancée_ was found for him by his friends in the +person of Miss Mabel Brandon, the daughter of a rich Birmingham +manufacturer, and the marriage was fixed to take place at Birmingham on +Thursday, September 15th, 1907. + +"On the 13th the Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville arrived at the Castle +Hotel in New Street for his wedding, and on the 14th, at eight o'clock +in the morning, he was discovered lying on the floor of his +bedroom--murdered. + +"The sensation which the awful and unexpected sequel to the De +Genneville peerage case caused in the minds of the friends of both +litigants was quite unparalleled. I don't think any crime of modern +times created quite so much stir in all classes of society. Birmingham +was wild with excitement, and the employés of the Castle Hotel had real +difficulty in keeping off the eager and inquisitive crowd who thronged +daily to the hall, vainly hoping to gather details of news relating to +the terrible tragedy. + +"At present there was but little to tell. The shrieks of the +chambermaid, who had gone into the Hon. Robert's room with his shaving +water at eight o'clock, had attracted some of the waiters. Soon the +manager and his secretary came up, and immediately sent for the police. + +"It seemed at first sight as if the young man had been the victim of a +homicidal maniac, so brutal had been the way in which he had been +assassinated. The head and body were battered and bruised by some heavy +stick or poker, almost past human shape, as if the murderer had wished +to wreak some awful vengeance upon the body of his victim. In fact, it +would be impossible to recount the gruesome aspect of that room and of +the murdered man's body such as the police and the medical officer took +note of that day. + +"It was supposed that the murder had been committed the evening before, +as the victim was dressed in his evening clothes, and all the lights in +the room had been left fully turned on. Robbery, also, must have had a +large share in the miscreant's motives, for the drawers and cupboards, +the portmanteau and dressing-bag had been ransacked as if in search of +valuables. On the floor there lay a pocket-book torn in half and only +containing a few letters addressed to the Hon. Robert de Genneville. + +"The Earl of Brockelsby, next-of-kin to the deceased, was also +telegraphed for. He drove over from Brockelsby Castle, which is about +seven miles from Birmingham. He was terribly affected by the awfulness +of the tragedy, and offered a liberal reward to stimulate the activity +of the police in search of the miscreant. + +"The inquest was fixed for the 17th, three days later, and the public +was left wondering where the solution lay of the terrible and gruesome +murder at the Castle Hotel." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +A HIGH-BRED GENTLEMAN + + +"The central figure in the coroner's court that day was undoubtedly the +Earl of Brockelsby in deep black, which contrasted strongly with his +florid complexion and fair hair. Sir Marmaduke Ingersoll, his solicitor, +was with him, and he had already performed the painful duty of +identifying the deceased as his brother. This had been an exceedingly +painful duty owing to the terribly mutilated state of the body and face; +but the clothes and various trinkets he wore, including a signet ring, +had fortunately not tempted the brutal assassin, and it was through them +chiefly that Lord Brockelsby was able to swear to the identity of his +brother. + +"The various employés at the hotel gave evidence as to the discovery of +the body, and the medical officer gave his opinion as to the immediate +cause of death. Deceased had evidently been struck at the back of the +head with a poker or heavy stick, the murderer then venting his blind +fury upon the body by battering in the face and bruising it in a way +that certainly suggested the work of a maniac. + +"Then the Earl of Brockelsby was called, and was requested by the +coroner to state when he had last seen his brother alive. + +"'The morning before his death,' replied his lordship, 'he came up to +Birmingham by an early train, and I drove up from Brockelsby to see him. +I got to the hotel at eleven o'clock and stayed with him for about an +hour.' + +"'And that is the last you saw of the deceased?' + +"'That is the last I saw of him,' replied Lord Brockelsby. + +"He seemed to hesitate for a moment or two as if in thought whether he +should speak or not, and then to suddenly make up his mind to speak, for +he added: 'I stayed in town the whole of that day, and only drove back +to Brockelsby late in the evening. I had some business to transact, and +put up at the Grand, as I usually do, and dined with some friends.' + +"'Would you tell us at what time you returned to Brockelsby Castle?' + +"'I think it must have been about eleven o'clock. It is a seven-mile +drive from here.' + +"'I believe,' said the coroner after a slight pause, during which the +attention of all the spectators was riveted upon the handsome figure of +the young man as he stood in the witness-box, the very personification +of a high-bred gentleman, 'I believe that I am right in stating that +there was an unfortunate legal dispute between your lordship and your +brother?' + +"'That is so.' + +"The coroner stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment or two, then he +added: + +"'In the event of the deceased's claim to the joint title and revenues +of De Genneville being held good in the courts of law, there would be a +great importance, would there not, attached to his marriage, which was +to have taken place on the 15th?' + +"'In that event, there certainly would be.' + +"'Is the jury to understand, then, that you and the deceased parted on +amicable terms after your interview with him in the morning?' + +"The Earl of Brockelsby hesitated again for a minute or two, while the +crowd and the jury hung breathless on his lips. + +"'There was no enmity between us,' he replied at last. + +"'From which we may gather that there may have been--shall I say--a +slight disagreement at that interview?' + +"'My brother had unfortunately been misled by the misrepresentations or +perhaps the too optimistic views of his lawyer. He had been dragged into +litigation on the strength of an old family document which he had never +seen, which, moreover, is antiquated, and, owing to certain wording in +it, invalid. I thought that it would be kinder and more considerate if +I were to let my brother judge of the document for himself. I knew that +when he had seen it he would be convinced of the absolutely futile basis +of his claim, and that it would be a terrible disappointment to him. +That is the reason why I wished to see him myself about it, rather than +to do it through the more formal--perhaps more correct--medium of our +respective lawyers. I placed the facts before him with, on my part, a +perfectly amicable spirit.' + +"The young Earl of Brockelsby had made this somewhat lengthy, perfectly +voluntary explanation of the state of affairs in a calm, quiet voice, +with much dignity and perfect simplicity, but the coroner did not seem +impressed by it, for he asked very drily: + +"'Did you part good friends?' + +"'On my side absolutely so.' + +"'But not on his?' insisted the coroner. + +"'I think he felt naturally annoyed that he had been so ill-advised by +his solicitors.' + +"'And you made no attempt later on in the day to adjust any ill-feeling +that may have existed between you and him?' asked the coroner, marking +with strange, earnest emphasis every word he uttered. + +"'If you mean did I go and see my brother again that day--no, I did +not.' + +"'And your lordship can give us no further information which might +throw some light upon the mystery which surrounds the Hon. Robert de +Genneville's death?' still persisted the coroner. + +"'I am sorry to say I cannot,' replied the Earl of Brockelsby with firm +decision. + +"The coroner still looked puzzled and thoughtful. It seemed at first as +if he wished to press his point further; every one felt that some deep +import had lain behind his examination of the witness, and all were on +tenter-hooks as to what the next evidence might bring forth. The Earl of +Brockelsby had waited a minute or two, then, at a sign from the coroner, +had left the witness-box in order to have a talk with his solicitor. + +"At first he paid no attention to the depositions of the cashier and +hall porter of the Castle Hotel, but gradually it seemed to strike him +that curious statements were being made by these witnesses, and a frown +of anxious wonder settled between his brows, whilst his young face lost +some of its florid hue. + +"Mr. Tremlett, the cashier at the hotel, had been holding the attention +of the court. He stated that the Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville had +arrived at the hotel at eight o'clock on the morning of the 13th; he had +the room which he usually occupied when he came to the 'Castle,' namely, +No. 21, and he went up to it immediately on his arrival, ordering some +breakfast to be brought up to him. + +"At eleven o'clock the Earl of Brockelsby called to see his brother and +remained with him until about twelve. In the afternoon the deceased went +out, and returned for his dinner at seven o'clock in company with a +gentleman whom the cashier knew well by sight, Mr. Timothy Beddingfield, +the lawyer, of Paradise Street. The gentlemen had their dinner +downstairs, and after that they went up to the Hon. Mr. de Genneville's +room for coffee and cigars. + +"'I could not say at what time Mr. Beddingfield left,' continued the +cashier, 'but I rather fancy I saw him in the hall at about 9.15 p.m. He +was wearing an Inverness cape over his dress clothes and a Glengarry +cap. It was just at the hour when the visitors who had come down for the +night from London were arriving thick and fast; the hall was very full, +and there was a large party of Americans monopolising most of our +_personnel_, so I could not swear positively whether I did see Mr. +Beddingfield or not then, though I am quite sure that it was Mr. Timothy +Beddingfield who dined and spent the evening with the Hon. Mr. de +Genneville, as I know him quite well by sight. At ten o'clock I am off +duty, and the night porter remains alone in the hall.' + +"Mr. Tremlett's evidence was corroborated in most respects by a waiter +and by the hall porter. They had both seen the deceased come in at seven +o'clock in company with a gentleman, and their description of the +latter coincided with that of the appearance of Mr. Timothy +Beddingfield, whom, however, they did not actually know. + +"At this point of the proceedings the foreman of the jury wished to know +why Mr. Timothy Beddingfield's evidence had not been obtained, and was +informed by the detective-inspector in charge of the case that that +gentleman had seemingly left Birmingham, but was expected home shortly. +The coroner suggested an adjournment pending Mr. Beddingfield's +appearance, but at the earnest request of the detective he consented to +hear the evidence of Peter Tyrrell, the night porter at the Castle +Hotel, who, if you remember the case at all, succeeded in creating the +biggest sensation of any which had been made through this extraordinary +and weirdly gruesome case. + +"'It was the first time I had been on duty at "The Castle," he said, +'for I used to be night porter at "Bright's," in Wolverhampton, but just +after I had come on duty at ten o'clock a gentleman came and asked if he +could see the Hon. Robert de Genneville. I said that I thought he was +in, but would send up and see. The gentleman said: "It doesn't matter. +Don't trouble; I know his room. Twenty-one, isn't it?" And up he went +before I could say another word.' + +"'Did he give you any name?' asked the coroner. + +"'No, sir.' + +"'What was he like?' + +"'A young gentleman, sir, as far as I can remember, in an Inverness cape +and Glengarry cap, but I could not see his face very well as he stood +with his back to the light, and the cap shaded his eyes, and he only +spoke to me for a minute.' + +"'Look all round you,' said the coroner quietly. 'Is there any one in +this court at all like the gentleman you speak of?' + +"An awed hush fell over the many spectators there present as Peter +Tyrrell, the night porter of the Castle Hotel, turned his head towards +the body of the court and slowly scanned the many faces there present; +for a moment he seemed to hesitate--only for a moment though, then, as +if vaguely conscious of the terrible importance his next words might +have, he shook his head gravely and said: + +"'I wouldn't like to swear.' + +"The coroner tried to press him, but with true British stolidity he +repeated: 'I wouldn't like to say.' + +"'Well, then, what happened?' asked the coroner, who had perforce to +abandon his point. + +"'The gentleman went upstairs, sir, and about a quarter of an hour later +he come down again, and I let him out. He was in a great hurry then, he +threw me a half-crown and said: "Good night."' + +"'And though you saw him again then, you cannot tell us if you would +know him again?' + +"Once more the hall porter's eyes wandered as if instinctively to a +certain face in the court; once more he hesitated for many seconds which +seemed like so many hours, during which a man's honour, a man's life, +hung perhaps in the balance. + +"Then Peter Tyrrell repeated slowly: 'I wouldn't swear.' + +"But coroner and jury alike, aye, and every spectator in that crowded +court, had seen that the man's eyes had rested during that one moment of +hesitation upon the face of the Earl of Brockelsby." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE LIVING AND THE DEAD + + +The man in the corner blinked across at Polly with his funny mild blue +eyes. + +"No wonder you are puzzled," he continued, "so was everybody in the +court that day, every one save myself. I alone could see in my mind's +eye that gruesome murder such as it had been committed, with all its +details, and, above all, its motive, and such as you will see it +presently, when I place it all clearly before you. + +"But before you see daylight in this strange case, I must plunge you +into further darkness, in the same manner as the coroner and jury were +plunged on the following day, the second day of that remarkable inquest. +It had to be adjourned, since the appearance of Mr. Timothy Beddingfield +had now become of vital importance. The public had come to regard his +absence from Birmingham at this critical moment as decidedly remarkable, +to say the least of it, and all those who did not know the lawyer by +sight wished to see him in his Inverness cape and Glengarry cap such as +he had appeared before the several witnesses on the night of the awful +murder. + +"When the coroner and jury were seated, the first piece of information +which the police placed before them was the astounding statement that +Mr. Timothy Beddingfield's whereabouts had not been ascertained, though +it was confidently expected that he had not gone far and could easily be +traced. There was a witness present who, the police thought, might throw +some light as to the lawyer's probable destination, for obviously he had +left Birmingham directly after his interview with the deceased. + +"This witness was Mrs. Higgins, who was Mr. Beddingfield's housekeeper. +She stated that her master was in the constant habit--especially +latterly--of going up to London on business. He usually left by a late +evening train on those occasions, and mostly was only absent thirty-six +hours. He kept a portmanteau always ready packed for the purpose, for he +often left at a few moments' notice. Mrs. Higgins added that her master +stayed at the Great Western Hotel in London, for it was there that she +was instructed to wire if anything urgent required his presence back in +Birmingham. + +"'On the night of the 14th,' she continued, 'at nine o'clock or +thereabouts, a messenger came to the door with the master's card, and +said that he was instructed to fetch Mr. Beddingfield's portmanteau, and +then to meet him at the station in time to catch the 9.35 p.m. up train. +I gave him the portmanteau, of course, as he had brought the card, and +I had no idea there could be anything wrong; but since then I have heard +nothing of my master, and I don't know when he will return.' + +"Questioned by the coroner, she added that Mr. Beddingfield had never +stayed away quite so long without having his letters forwarded to him. +There was a large pile waiting for him now; she had written to the Great +Western Hotel, London, asking what she should do about the letters, but +had received no reply. She did not know the messenger by sight who had +called for the portmanteau. Once or twice before Mr. Beddingfield had +sent for his things in that manner when he had been dining out. + +"Mr. Beddingfield certainly wore his Inverness cape over his dress +clothes when he went out at about six o'clock in the afternoon. He also +wore a Glengarry cap. + +"The messenger had so far not yet been found, and from this +point--namely, the sending for the portmanteau--all traces of Mr. +Timothy Beddingfield seem to have been lost. Whether he went up to +London by that 9.35 train or not could not be definitely ascertained. +The police had questioned at least a dozen porters at the railway, as +well as ticket collectors; but no one had any special recollection of a +gentleman in an Inverness cape and Glengarry cap, a costume worn by +more than one first-class passenger on a cold night in September. + +"There was the hitch, you see; it all lay in this. Mr. Timothy +Beddingfield, the lawyer, had undoubtedly made himself scarce. He was +last seen in company with the deceased, and wearing an Inverness cape +and Glengarry cap; two or three witnesses saw him leaving the hotel at +about 9.15. Then the messenger calls at the lawyer's house for the +portmanteau, after which Mr. Timothy Beddingfield seems to vanish into +thin air; but--and that is a great 'but'--the night porter at the +'Castle' seems to have seen some one wearing the momentous Inverness and +Glengarry half an hour or so later on, and going up to deceased's room, +where he stayed about a quarter of an hour. + +"Undoubtedly you will say, as every one said to themselves that day +after the night porter and Mrs. Higgins had been heard, that there was a +very ugly and very black finger which pointed unpleasantly at Mr. +Timothy Beddingfield, especially as that gentleman, for some reason +which still required an explanation, was not there to put matters right +for himself. But there was just one little thing--a mere trifle, +perhaps--which neither the coroner nor the jury dared to overlook, +though, strictly speaking, it was not evidence. + +"You will remember that when the night porter was asked if he could, +among the persons present in court, recognize the Hon. Robert de +Genneville's belated visitor, every one had noticed his hesitation, and +marked that the man's eyes had rested doubtingly upon the face and +figure of the young Earl of Brockelsby. + +"Now, if that belated visitor had been Mr. Timothy Beddingfield--tall, +lean, dry as dust, with a bird-like beak and clean-shaven chin--no one +could for a moment have mistaken his face--even if they only saw it very +casually and recollected it but very dimly--with that of young Lord +Brockelsby, who was florid and rather short--the only point in common +between them was their Saxon hair. + +"You see that it was a curious point, don't you?" added the man in the +corner, who now had become so excited that his fingers worked like long +thin tentacles round and round his bit of string. "It weighed very +heavily in favour of Timothy Beddingfield. Added to which you must also +remember that, as far as he was concerned, the Hon. Robert de Genneville +was to him the goose with the golden eggs. + +"The 'De Genneville peerage case' had brought Beddingfield's name in +great prominence. With the death of the claimant all hopes of prolonging +the litigation came to an end. There was a total lack of motive as far +as Beddingfield was concerned." + +"Not so with the Earl of Brockelsby," said Polly, "and I've often +maintained--" + +"What?" he interrupted. "That the Earl of Brockelsby changed clothes +with Beddingfield in order more conveniently to murder his own brother? +Where and when could the exchange of costume have been effected, +considering that the Inverness cape and Glengarry cap were in the hall +of the Castle Hotel at 9.15, and at that hour and until ten o'clock Lord +Brockelsby was at the Grand Hotel finishing dinner with some friends? +That was subsequently proved, remember, and also that he was back at +Brockelsby Castle, which is seven miles from Birmingham, at eleven +o'clock sharp. Now, the visit of the individual in the Glengarry +occurred some time after 10 p.m." + +"Then there was the disappearance of Beddingfield," said the girl +musingly. "That certainly points very strongly to him. He was a man in +good practice, I believe, and fairly well known." + +"And has never been heard of from that day to this," concluded the old +scarecrow with a chuckle. "No wonder you are puzzled. The police were +quite baffled, and still are, for a matter of that. And yet see how +simple it is! Only the police would not look further than these two +men--Lord Brockelsby with a strong motive and the night porter's +hesitation against him, and Beddingfield without a motive, but with +strong circumstantial evidence and his own disappearance as condemnatory +signs. + +"If only they would look at the case as I did, and think a little about +the dead as well as about the living. If they had remembered that +peerage case, the Hon. Robert's debts, his last straw which proved a +futile claim. + +"Only that very day the Earl of Brockelsby had, by quietly showing the +original ancient document to his brother, persuaded him how futile were +all his hopes. Who knows how many were the debts contracted, the +promises made, the money borrowed and obtained on the strength of that +claim which was mere romance? Ahead nothing but ruin, enmity with his +brother, his marriage probably broken off, a wasted life, in fact. + +"Is it small wonder that, though ill-feeling against the Earl of +Brockelsby may have been deep, there was hatred, bitter, deadly hatred +against the man who with false promises had led him into so hopeless a +quagmire? Probably the Hon. Robert owed a great deal of money to +Beddingfield, which the latter hoped to recoup at usurious interest, +with threats of scandal and what not. + +"Think of all that," he added, "and then tell me if you believe that a +stronger motive for the murder of such an enemy could well be found." + +"But what you suggest is impossible," said Polly, aghast. + +"Allow me," he said, "it is more than possible--it is very easy and +simple. The two men were alone together in the Hon. Robert de +Genneville's room after dinner. You, as representing the public, and the +police say that Beddingfield went away and returned half an hour later +in order to kill his client. I say that it was the lawyer who was +murdered at nine o'clock that evening, and that Robert de Genneville, +the ruined man, the hopeless bankrupt, was the assassin." + +"Then--" + +"Yes, of course, now you remember, for I have put you on the track. The +face and the body were so battered and bruised that they were past +recognition. Both men were of equal height. The hair, which alone could +not be disfigured or obliterated, was in both men similar in colour. + +"Then the murderer proceeds to dress his victim in his own clothes. With +the utmost care he places his own rings on the fingers of the dead man, +his own watch in the pocket; a gruesome task, but an important one, and +it is thoroughly well done. Then he himself puts on the clothes of his +victim, with finally the Inverness cape and Glengarry, and when the hall +is full of visitors he slips out unperceived. He sends the messenger for +Beddingfield's portmanteau and starts off by the night express." + +"But then his visit at the Castle Hotel at ten o'clock--" she urged. +"How dangerous!" + +"Dangerous? Yes! but oh, how clever. You see, he was the Earl of +Brockelsby's twin brother, and twin brothers are always somewhat alike. +He wished to appear dead, murdered by some one, he cared not whom, but +what he did care about was to throw clouds of dust in the eyes of the +police, and he succeeded with a vengeance. Perhaps--who knows?--he +wished to assure himself that he had forgotten nothing in the _mise en +scène_, that the body, battered and bruised past all semblance of any +human shape save for its clothes, really would appear to every one as +that of the Hon. Robert de Genneville, while the latter disappeared for +ever from the old world and started life again in the new. + +"Then you must always reckon with the practically invariable rule that a +murderer always revisits, if only once, the scene of his crime. + +"Two years have elapsed since the crime; no trace of Timothy +Beddingfield, the lawyer, has ever been found, and I can assure you that +it will never be, for his plebeian body lies buried in the aristocratic +family vault of the Earl of Brockelsby." + +He was gone before Polly could say another word. The faces of Timothy +Beddingfield, of the Earl of Brockelsby, of the Hon. Robert de +Genneville seemed to dance before her eyes and to mock her for the +hopeless bewilderment in which she found herself plunged because of +them; then all the faces vanished, or, rather, were merged in one long, +thin, bird-like one, with bone-rimmed spectacles on the top of its +beak, and a wide, rude grin beneath it, and, still puzzled, still +doubtful, the young girl too paid for her scanty luncheon and went her +way. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH IN PERCY STREET + + +Miss Polly Burton had had many an argument with Mr. Richard Frobisher +about that old man in the corner, who seemed far more interesting and +deucedly more mysterious than any of the crimes over which he +philosophised. + +Dick thought, moreover, that Miss Polly spent more of her leisure time +now in that A.B.C. shop than she had done in his own company before, and +told her so, with that delightful air of sheepish sulkiness which the +male creature invariably wears when he feels jealous and won't admit it. + +Polly liked Dick to be jealous, but she liked that old scarecrow in the +A.B.C. shop very much too, and though she made sundry vague promises +from time to time to Mr. Richard Frobisher, she nevertheless drifted +back instinctively day after day to the tea-shop in Norfolk Street, +Strand, and stayed there sipping coffee for as long as the man in the +corner chose to talk. + +On this particular afternoon she went to the A.B.C. shop with a fixed +purpose, that of making him give her his views of Mrs. Owen's mysterious +death in Percy Street. + +The facts had interested and puzzled her. She had had countless +arguments with Mr. Richard Frobisher as to the three great possible +solutions of the puzzle--"Accident, Suicide, Murder?" + +"Undoubtedly neither accident nor suicide," he said dryly. + +Polly was not aware that she had spoken. What an uncanny habit that +creature had of reading her thoughts! + +"You incline to the idea, then, that Mrs. Owen was murdered. Do you know +by whom?" + +He laughed, and drew forth the piece of string he always fidgeted with +when unravelling some mystery. + +"You would like to know who murdered that old woman?" he asked at last. + +"I would like to hear your views on the subject," Polly replied. + +"I have no views," he said dryly. "No one can know who murdered the +woman, since no one ever saw the person who did it. No one can give the +faintest description of the mysterious man who alone could have +committed that clever deed, and the police are playing a game of blind +man's buff." + +"But you must have formed some theory of your own," she persisted. + +It annoyed her that the funny creature was obstinate about this point, +and she tried to nettle his vanity. + +"I suppose that as a matter of fact your original remark that 'there are +no such things as mysteries' does not apply universally. There is a +mystery--that of the death in Percy Street, and you, like the police, +are unable to fathom it." + +He pulled up his eyebrows and looked at her for a minute or two. + +"Confess that that murder was one of the cleverest bits of work +accomplished outside Russian diplomacy," he said with a nervous laugh. +"I must say that were I the judge, called upon to pronounce sentence of +death on the man who conceived that murder, I could not bring myself to +do it. I would politely request the gentleman to enter our Foreign +Office--we have need of such men. The whole _mise en scène_ was truly +artistic, worthy of its _milieu_--the Rubens Studios in Percy Street, +Tottenham Court Road. + +"Have you ever noticed them? They are only studios by name, and are +merely a set of rooms in a corner house, with the windows slightly +enlarged, and the rents charged accordingly in consideration of that +additional five inches of smoky daylight, filtering through dusty +windows. On the ground floor there is the order office of some stained +glass works, with a workshop in the rear, and on the first floor landing +a small room allotted to the caretaker, with gas, coal, and fifteen +shillings a week, for which princely income she is deputed to keep tidy +and clean the general aspect of the house. + +"Mrs. Owen, who was the caretaker there, was a quiet, respectable woman, +who eked out her scanty wages by sundry--mostly very meagre--tips doled +out to her by impecunious artists in exchange for promiscuous domestic +services in and about the respective studios. + +"But if Mrs. Owen's earnings were not large, they were very regular, and +she had no fastidious tastes. She and her cockatoo lived on her wages; +and all the tips added up, and never spent, year after year, went to +swell a very comfortable little account at interest in the Birkbeck +Bank. This little account had mounted up to a very tidy sum, and the +thrifty widow--or old maid--no one ever knew which she was--was +generally referred to by the young artists of the Rubens Studios as a +'lady of means.' But this is a digression. + +"No one slept on the premises except Mrs. Owen and her cockatoo. The +rule was that one by one as the tenants left their rooms in the evening +they took their respective keys to the caretaker's room. She would then, +in the early morning, tidy and dust the studios and the office +downstairs, lay the fire and carry up coals. + +"The foreman of the glass works was the first to arrive in the morning. +He had a latch-key, and let himself in, after which it was the custom of +the house that he should leave the street door open for the benefit of +the other tenants and their visitors. + +"Usually, when he came at about nine o'clock, he found Mrs. Owen busy +about the house doing her work, and he had often a brief chat with her +about the weather, but on this particular morning of February 2nd he +neither saw nor heard her. However, as the shop had been tidied and the +fire laid, he surmised that Mrs. Owen had finished her work earlier than +usual, and thought no more about it. One by one the tenants of the +studios turned up, and the day sped on without any one's attention being +drawn noticeably to the fact that the caretaker had not appeared upon +the scene. + +"It had been a bitterly cold night, and the day was even worse; a +cutting north-easterly gale was blowing, there had been a great deal of +snow during the night which lay quite thick on the ground, and at five +o'clock in the afternoon, when the last glimmer of the pale winter +daylight had disappeared, the confraternity of the brush put palette and +easel aside and prepared to go home. The first to leave was Mr. Charles +Pitt; he locked up his studio and, as usual, took his key into the +caretaker's room. + +"He had just opened the door when an icy blast literally struck him in +the face; both the windows were wide open, and the snow and sleet were +beating thickly into the room, forming already a white carpet upon the +floor. + +"The room was in semi-obscurity, and at first Mr. Pitt saw nothing, but +instinctively realizing that something was wrong, he lit a match, and +saw before him the spectacle of that awful and mysterious tragedy which +has ever since puzzled both police and public. On the floor, already +half covered by the drifting snow, lay the body of Mrs. Owen face +downwards, in a nightgown, with feet and ankles bare, and these and her +hands were of a deep purple colour; whilst in a corner of the room, +huddled up with the cold, the body of the cockatoo lay stark and stiff." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +SUICIDE OR MURDER? + + +"At first there was only talk of a terrible accident, the result of some +inexplicable carelessness which perhaps the evidence at the inquest +would help to elucidate. + +"Medical assistance came too late; the unfortunate woman was indeed +dead, frozen to death, inside her own room. Further examination showed +that she had received a severe blow at the back of the head, which must +have stunned her and caused her to fall, helpless, beside the open +window. Temperature at five degrees below zero had done the rest. +Detective Inspector Howell discovered close to the window a wrought-iron +gas bracket, the height of which corresponded exactly with the bruise at +the back of Mrs. Owen's head. + +"Hardly however had a couple of days elapsed when public curiosity was +whetted by a few startling headlines, such as the halfpenny evening +papers alone know how to concoct. + +"'The mysterious death in Percy Street.' 'Is it Suicide or Murder?' +'Thrilling details--Strange developments.' 'Sensational Arrest.' + +"What had happened was simply this: + +"At the inquest a few certainly very curious facts connected with Mrs. +Owen's life had come to light, and this had led to the apprehension of a +young man of very respectable parentage on a charge of being concerned +in the tragic death of the unfortunate caretaker. + +"To begin with, it happened that her life, which in an ordinary way +should have been very monotonous and regular, seemed, at any rate +latterly, to have been more than usually chequered and excited. Every +witness who had known her in the past concurred in the statement that +since October last a great change had come over the worthy and honest +woman. + +"I happen to have a photo of Mrs. Owen as she was before this great +change occurred in her quiet and uneventful life, and which led, as far +as the poor soul was concerned, to such disastrous results. + +"Here she is to the life," added the funny creature, placing the photo +before Polly--"as respectable, as stodgy, as uninteresting as it is well +possible for a member of your charming sex to be; not a face, you will +admit, to lead any youngster to temptation or to induce him to commit a +crime. + +"Nevertheless one day all the tenants of the Rubens Studios were +surprised and shocked to see Mrs. Owen, quiet, respectable Mrs. Owen, +sallying forth at six o'clock in the afternoon, attired in an +extravagant bonnet and a cloak trimmed with imitation astrakhan +which--slightly open in front--displayed a gold locket and chain of +astonishing proportions. + +"Many were the comments, the hints, the bits of sarcasm levelled at the +worthy woman by the frivolous confraternity of the brush. + +"The plot thickened when from that day forth a complete change came over +the worthy caretaker of the Rubens Studios. While she appeared day after +day before the astonished gaze of the tenants and the scandalized looks +of the neighbours, attired in new and extravagant dresses, her work was +hopelessly neglected, and she was always 'out' when wanted. + +"There was, of course, much talk and comment in various parts of the +Rubens Studios on the subject of Mrs. Owen's 'dissipations.' The tenants +began to put two and two together, and after a very little while the +general consensus of opinion became firmly established that the honest +caretaker's demoralisation coincided week for week, almost day for day, +with young Greenhill's establishment in No. 8 Studio. + +"Every one had remarked that he stayed much later in the evening than +any one else, and yet no one presumed that he stayed for purposes of +work. Suspicions soon rose to certainty when Mrs. Owen and Arthur +Greenhill were seen by one of the glass workmen dining together at +Gambia's Restaurant in Tottenham Court Road. + +"The workman, who was having a cup of tea at the counter, noticed +particularly that when the bill was paid the money came out of Mrs. +Owen's purse. The dinner had been sumptuous--veal cutlets, a cut from +the joint, dessert, coffee and liqueurs. Finally the pair left the +restaurant apparently very gay, young Greenhill smoking a choice cigar. + +"Irregularities such as these were bound sooner or later to come to the +ears and eyes of Mr. Allman, the landlord of the Rubens Studios; and a +month after the New Year, without further warning, he gave her a week's +notice to quit his house. + +"'Mrs. Owen did not seem the least bit upset when I gave her notice,' +Mr. Allman declared in his evidence at the inquest; 'on the contrary, +she told me that she had ample means, and had only worked latterly for +the sake of something to do. She added that she had plenty of friends +who would look after her, for she had a nice little pile to leave to any +one who would know how "to get the right side of her."' + +"Nevertheless, in spite of this cheerful interview, Miss Bedford, the +tenant of No. 6 Studio, had stated that when she took her key to the +caretaker's room at 6.30 that afternoon she found Mrs. Owen in tears. +The caretaker refused to be comforted, nor would she speak of her +trouble to Miss Bedford. + +"Twenty-four hours later she was found dead. + +"The coroner's jury returned an open verdict, and Detective-Inspector +Jones was charged by the police to make some inquiries about young Mr. +Greenhill, whose intimacy with the unfortunate woman had been +universally commented upon. + +"The detective, however, pushed his investigations as far as the +Birkbeck Bank. There he discovered that after her interview with Mr. +Allman, Mrs. Owen had withdrawn what money she had on deposit, some +£800, the result of twenty-five years' saving and thrift. + +"But the immediate result of Detective-Inspector Jones's labours was +that Mr. Arthur Greenhill, lithographer, was brought before the +magistrate at Bow Street on the charge of being concerned in the death +of Mrs. Owen, caretaker of the Rubens Studios, Percy Street. + +"Now that magisterial inquiry is one of the few interesting ones which I +had the misfortune to miss," continued the man in the corner, with a +nervous shake of the shoulders. "But you know as well as I do how the +attitude of the young prisoner impressed the magistrate and police so +unfavourably that, with every new witness brought forward, his position +became more and more unfortunate. + +"Yet he was a good-looking, rather coarsely built young fellow, with +one of those awful Cockney accents which literally make one jump. But he +looked painfully nervous, stammered at every word spoken, and repeatedly +gave answers entirely at random. + +"His father acted as lawyer for him, a rough-looking elderly man, who +had the appearance of a common country attorney rather than of a London +solicitor. + +"The police had built up a fairly strong case against the lithographer. +Medical evidence revealed nothing new: Mrs. Owen had died from exposure, +the blow at the back of the head not being sufficiently serious to cause +anything but temporary disablement. When the medical officer had been +called in, death had intervened for some time; it was quite impossible +to say how long, whether one hour or five or twelve. + +"The appearance and state of the room, when the unfortunate woman was +found by Mr. Charles Pitt, were again gone over in minute detail. Mrs. +Owen's clothes, which she had worn during the day, were folded neatly on +a chair. The key of her cupboard was in the pocket of her dress. The +door had been slightly ajar, but both the windows were wide open; one of +them, which had the sash-line broken, had been fastened up most +scientifically with a piece of rope. + +"Mrs. Owen had obviously undressed preparatory to going to bed, and the +magistrate very naturally soon made the remark how untenable the theory +of an accident must be. No one in their five senses would undress with a +temperature at below zero, and the windows wide open. + +"After these preliminary statements the cashier of the Birkbeck was +called and he related the caretaker's visit at the bank. + +"'It was then about one o'clock,' he stated. 'Mrs. Owen called and +presented a cheque to self for £827, the amount of her balance. She +seemed exceedingly happy and cheerful, and talked about needing plenty +of cash, as she was going abroad to join her nephew, for whom she would +in future keep house. I warned her about being sufficiently careful with +so large a sum, and parting from it injudiciously, as women of her class +are very apt to do. She laughingly declared that not only was she +careful of it in the present, but meant to be so for the far-off future, +for she intended to go that very day to a lawyer's office and to make a +will.' + +"The cashier's evidence was certainly startling in the extreme, since in +the widow's room no trace of any kind was found of any money; against +that, two of the notes handed over by the bank to Mrs. Owen on that day +were cashed by young Greenhill on the very morning of her mysterious +death. One was handed in by him to the West End Clothiers Company, in +payment for a suit of clothes, and the other he changed at the Post +Office in Oxford Street. + +"After that all the evidence had of necessity to be gone through again +on the subject of young Greenhill's intimacy with Mrs. Owen. He listened +to it all with an air of the most painful nervousness, his cheeks were +positively green, his lips seemed dry and parched, for he repeatedly +passed his tongue over them, and when Constable E 18 deposed that at 2 +a.m. on the morning of February 2nd he had seen the accused and spoken +to him at the corner of Percy Street and Tottenham Court Road, young +Greenhill all but fainted. + +"The contention of the police was that the caretaker had been murdered +and robbed during that night before she went to bed, that young +Greenhill had done the murder, seeing that he was the only person known +to have been intimate with the woman, and that it was, moreover, proved +unquestionably that he was in the immediate neighbourhood of the Rubens +Studios at an extraordinarily late hour of the night. + +"His own account of himself, and of that same night, could certainly not +be called very satisfactory. Mrs. Owen was a relative of his late +mother's, he declared. He himself was a lithographer by trade, with a +good deal of time and leisure on his hands. He certainly had employed +some of that time in taking the old woman to various places of +amusement. He had on more than one occasion suggested that she should +give up menial work, and come and live with him, but, unfortunately, she +was a great deal imposed upon by her nephew, a man of the name of Owen, +who exploited the good-natured woman in every possible way, and who had +on more than one occasion made severe attacks upon her savings at the +Birkbeck Bank. + +"Severely cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel about this supposed +relative of Mrs. Owen, Greenhill admitted that he did not know him--had, +in fact, never seen him. He knew that his name was Owen and that was +all. His chief occupation consisted in sponging on the kind-hearted old +woman, but he only went to see her in the evenings, when he presumably +knew that she would be alone, and invariably after all the tenants of +the Rubens Studios had left for the day. + +"I don't know whether at this point it strikes you at all, as it did +both magistrate and counsel, that there was a direct contradiction in +this statement and the one made by the cashier of the Birkbeck on the +subject of his last conversation with Mrs. Owen. 'I am going abroad to +join my nephew, for whom I am going to keep house,' was what the +unfortunate woman had said. + +"Now Greenhill, in spite of his nervousness and at times contradictory +answers, strictly adhered to his point, that there was a nephew in +London, who came frequently to see his aunt. + +"Anyway, the sayings of the murdered woman could not be taken as +evidence in law. Mr. Greenhill senior put the objection, adding: 'There +may have been two nephews,' which the magistrate and the prosecution +were bound to admit. + +"With regard to the night immediately preceding Mrs. Owen's death, +Greenhill stated that he had been with her to the theatre, had seen her +home, and had had some supper with her in her room. Before he left her, +at 2 a.m., she had of her own accord made him a present of £10, saying: +'I am a sort of aunt to you, Arthur, and if you don't have it, Bill is +sure to get it.' + +"She had seemed rather worried in the early part of the evening, but +later on she cheered up. + +"'Did she speak at all about this nephew of hers or about her money +affairs? asked the magistrate. + +"Again the young man hesitated, but said, 'No! she did not mention +either Owen or her money affairs.' + +"If I remember rightly," added the man in the corner, "for recollect I +was not present, the case was here adjourned. But the magistrate would +not grant bail. Greenhill was removed looking more dead than +alive--though every one remarked that Mr. Greenhill senior looked +determined and not the least worried. In the course of his examination +on behalf of his son, of the medical officer and one or two other +witnesses, he had very ably tried to confuse them on the subject of the +hour at which Mrs. Owen was last known to be alive. + +"He made a very great point of the fact that the usual morning's work +was done throughout the house when the inmates arrived. Was it +conceivable, he argued, that a woman would do that kind of work +overnight, especially as she was going to the theatre, and therefore +would wish to dress in her smarter clothes? It certainly was a very nice +point levelled against the prosecution, who promptly retorted: Just as +conceivable as that a woman in those circumstances of life should, +having done her work, undress beside an open window at nine o'clock in +the morning with the snow beating into the room. + +"Now it seems that Mr. Greenhill senior could produce any amount of +witnesses who could help to prove a conclusive _alibi_ on behalf of his +son, if only some time subsequent to that fatal 2 a.m. the murdered +woman had been seen alive by some chance passer-by. + +"However, he was an able man and an earnest one, and I fancy the +magistrate felt some sympathy for his strenuous endeavours on his son's +behalf. He granted a week's adjournment, which seemed to satisfy Mr. +Greenhill completely. + +"In the meanwhile the papers had talked of and almost exhausted the +subject of the mystery in Percy Street. There had been, as you no doubt +know from personal experience, innumerable arguments on the puzzling +alternatives:-- + +"Accident? + +"Suicide? + +"Murder? + +"A week went by, and then the case against young Greenhill was resumed. +Of course the court was crowded. It needed no great penetration to +remark at once that the prisoner looked more hopeful, and his father +quite elated. + +"Again a great deal of minor evidence was taken, and then came the turn +of the defence. Mr. Greenhill called Mrs. Hall, confectioner, of Percy +Street, opposite the Rubens Studios. She deposed that at 8 o'clock in +the morning of February 2nd, while she was tidying her shop window, she +saw the caretaker of the Studios opposite, as usual, on her knees, her +head and body wrapped in a shawl, cleaning her front steps. Her husband +also saw Mrs. Owen, and Mrs. Hall remarked to her husband how thankful +she was that her own shop had tiled steps, which did not need scrubbing +on so cold a morning. + +"Mr. Hall, confectioner, of the same address, corroborated this +statement, and Mr. Greenhill, with absolute triumph, produced a third +witness, Mrs. Martin, of Percy Street, who from her window on the second +floor had, at 7.30 a.m., seen the caretaker shaking mats outside her +front door. The description this witness gave of Mrs. Owen's get-up, +with the shawl round her head, coincided point by point with that given +by Mr. and Mrs. Hall. + +"After that Mr. Greenhill's task became an easy one; his son was at home +having his breakfast at 8 o'clock that morning--not only himself, but +his servants would testify to that. + +"The weather had been so bitter that the whole of that day Arthur had +not stirred from his own fireside. Mrs. Owen was murdered after 8 a.m. +on that day, since she was seen alive by three people at that hour, +therefore his son could not have murdered Mrs. Owen. The police must +find the criminal elsewhere, or else bow to the opinion originally +expressed by the public that Mrs. Owen had met with a terrible untoward +accident, or that perhaps she may have wilfully sought her own death in +that extraordinary and tragic fashion. + +"Before young Greenhill was finally discharged one or two witnesses were +again examined, chief among these being the foreman of the glassworks. +He had turned up at the Rubens Studios at 9 o'clock, and been in +business all day. He averred positively that he did not specially notice +any suspicious-looking individual crossing the hall that day. 'But,' he +remarked with a smile, 'I don't sit and watch every one who goes up and +downstairs. I am too busy for that. The street door is always left open; +any one can walk in, up or down, who knows the way.' + +"That there was a mystery in connection with Mrs. Owen's death--of that +the police have remained perfectly convinced; whether young Greenhill +held the key of that mystery or not they have never found out to this +day. + +"I could enlighten them as to the cause of the young lithographer's +anxiety at the magisterial inquiry, but, I assure you, I do not care to +do the work of the police for them. Why should I? Greenhill will never +suffer from unjust suspicions. He and his father alone--besides +myself--know in what a terribly tight corner he all but found himself. + +"The young man did not reach home till nearly _five_ o'clock that +morning. His last train had gone; he had to walk, lost his way, and +wandered about Hampstead for hours. Think what his position would have +been if the worthy confectioners of Percy Street had not seen Mrs. Owen +'wrapped up in a shawl, on her knees, doing the front steps.' + +"Moreover, Mr. Greenhill senior is a solicitor, who has a small office +in John Street, Bedford Row. The afternoon before her death Mrs. Owen +had been to that office and had there made a will by which she left all +her savings to young Arthur Greenhill, lithographer. Had that will been +in other than paternal hands, it would have been proved, in the natural +course of such things, and one other link would have been added to the +chain which nearly dragged Arthur Greenhill to the gallows--'the link of +a very strong motive.' + +"Can you wonder that the young man turned livid, until such time as it +was proved beyond a doubt that the murdered woman was alive hours after +he had reached the safe shelter of his home? + +"I saw you smile when I used the word 'murdered,'" continued the man in +the corner, growing quite excited now that he was approaching the +_dénouement_ of his story. "I know that the public, after the magistrate +had discharged Arthur Greenhill, were quite satisfied to think that the +mystery in Percy Street was a case of accident--or suicide." + +"No," replied Polly, "there could be no question of suicide, for two +very distinct reasons." + +He looked at her with some degree of astonishment. She supposed that he +was amazed at her venturing to form an opinion of her own. + +"And may I ask what, in your opinion, these reasons are?" he asked very +sarcastically. + +"To begin with, the question of money," she said--"has any more of it +been traced so far?" + +"Not another £5 note," he said with a chuckle; "they were all cashed in +Paris during the Exhibition, and you have no conception how easy a thing +that is to do, at any of the hotels or smaller _agents de change_." + +"That nephew was a clever blackguard," she commented. + +"You believe, then, in the existence of that nephew?" + +"Why should I doubt it? Some one must have existed who was sufficiently +familiar with the house to go about in it in the middle of the day +without attracting any one's attention." + +"In the middle of the day?" he said with a chuckle. + +"Any time after 8.30 in the morning." + +"So you, too, believe in the 'caretaker, wrapped up in a shawl,' +cleaning her front steps?" he queried. + +"But--" + +"It never struck you, in spite of the training your intercourse with me +must have given you, that the person who carefully did all the work in +the Rubens Studios, laid the fires and carried up the coals, merely did +it in order to gain time; in order that the bitter frost might really +and effectually do its work, and Mrs. Owen be not missed until she was +truly dead." + +"But--" suggested Polly again. + +"It never struck you that one of the greatest secrets of successful +crime is to lead the police astray with regard to the time when the +crime was committed. That was, if you remember, the great point in the +Regent's Park murder. + +"In this case the 'nephew,' since we admit his existence, would--even if +he were ever found, which is doubtful--be able to prove as good an +_alibi_ as young Greenhill." + +"But I don't understand--" + +"How the murder was committed?" he said eagerly. "Surely you can see it +all for yourself, since you admit the 'nephew'--a scamp, perhaps--who +sponges on the good-natured woman. He terrorises and threatens her, so +much so that she fancies her money is no longer safe even in the +Birkbeck Bank. Women of that class are apt at times to mistrust the Bank +of England. Anyway, she withdraws her money. Who knows what she meant to +do with it in the immediate future? + +"In any case, she wishes to secure it after her death to a young man +whom she likes, and who has known how to win her good graces. That +afternoon the nephew begs, entreats for more money; they have a row; the +poor woman is in tears, and is only temporarily consoled by a pleasant +visit at the theatre. + +"At 2 o'clock in the morning young Greenhill parts from her. Two minutes +later the nephew knocks at the door. He comes with a plausible tale of +having missed his last train, and asks for a 'shake down' somewhere in +the house. The good-natured woman suggests a sofa in one of the studios, +and then quietly prepares to go to bed. The rest is very simple and +elementary. The nephew sneaks into his aunt's room, finds her standing +in her nightgown; he demands money with threats of violence; terrified, +she staggers, knocks her head against the gas bracket, and falls on the +floor stunned, while the nephew seeks for her keys and takes possession +of the £800. You will admit that the subsequent _mise en scène_--is +worthy of a genius. + +"No struggle, not the usual hideous accessories round a crime. Only the +open windows, the bitter north-easterly gale, and the heavily falling +snow--two silent accomplices, as silent as the dead. + +"After that the murderer, with perfect presence of mind, busies himself +in the house, doing the work which will ensure that Mrs. Owen shall not +be missed, at any rate, for some time. He dusts and tidies; some few +hours later he even slips on his aunt's skirt and bodice, wraps his +head in a shawl, and boldly allows those neighbours who are astir to see +what they believe to be Mrs. Owen. Then he goes back to her room, +resumes his normal appearance and quietly leaves the house." + +"He may have been seen." + +"He undoubtedly _was_ seen by two or three people, but no one thought +anything of seeing a man leave the house at that hour. It was very cold, +the snow was falling thickly, and as he wore a muffler round the lower +part of his face, those who saw him would not undertake to know him +again." + +"That man was never seen nor heard of again?" Polly asked. + +"He has disappeared off the face of the earth. The police are searching +for him, and perhaps some day they will find him--then society will be +rid of one of the most ingenious men of the age." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE END + + +He had paused, absorbed in meditation. The young girl also was silent. +Some memory too vague as yet to take a definite form was persistently +haunting her--one thought was hammering away in her brain, and playing +havoc with her nerves. That thought was the inexplicable feeling within +her that there was something in connection with that hideous crime which +she ought to recollect, something which--if she could only remember what +it was--would give her the clue to the tragic mystery, and for once +ensure her triumph over this self-conceited and sarcastic scarecrow in +the corner. + +He was watching her through his great bone-rimmed spectacles, and she +could see the knuckles of his bony hands, just above the top of the +table, fidgeting, fidgeting, fidgeting, till she wondered if there +existed another set of fingers in the world which could undo the knots +his lean ones made in that tiresome piece of string. + +Then suddenly--_à propos_ of nothing, Polly _remembered_--the whole +thing stood before her, short and clear like a vivid flash of +lightning:--Mrs. Owen lying dead in the snow beside her open window; one +of them with a broken sash-line, tied up most scientifically with a +piece of string. She remembered the talk there had been at the time +about this improvised sash-line. + +That was after young Greenhill had been discharged, and the question of +suicide had been voted an impossibility. + +Polly remembered that in the illustrated papers photographs appeared of +this wonderfully knotted piece of string, so contrived that the weight +of the frame could but tighten the knots, and thus keep the window open. +She remembered that people deduced many things from that improvised +sash-line, chief among these deductions being that the murderer was a +sailor--so wonderful, so complicated, so numerous were the knots which +secured that window-frame. + +But Polly knew better. In her mind's eye she saw those fingers, rendered +doubly nervous by the fearful cerebral excitement, grasping at first +mechanically, even thoughtlessly, a bit of twine with which to secure +the window; then the ruling habit strongest through all, the girl could +see it; the lean and ingenious fingers fidgeting, fidgeting with that +piece of string, tying knot after knot, more wonderful, more +complicated, than any she had yet witnessed. + +"If I were you," she said, without daring to look into that corner +where he sat, "I would break myself of the habit of perpetually making +knots in a piece of string." + +He did not reply, and at last Polly ventured to look up--the corner was +empty, and through the glass door beyond the desk, where he had just +deposited his few coppers, she saw the tails of his tweed coat, his +extraordinary hat, his meagre, shrivelled-up personality, fast +disappearing down the street. + +Miss Polly Burton (of the _Evening Observer_) was married the other day +to Mr. Richard Frobisher (of the _London Mail_). She has never set eyes +on the man in the corner from that day to this. + + +FINIS + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Old Man in the Corner, by Baroness Orczy + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10556 *** diff --git a/10556-h/10556-h.htm b/10556-h/10556-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5515330 --- /dev/null +++ b/10556-h/10556-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9423 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of + The Old Man in the Corner, + by Baroness Orczy. +</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; } + * { font-family: Times;} + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 12pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + PRE { font-family: Courier, monospaced; } + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10556 ***</div> + +<p> </p> + +<a name="image-1"><!-- Image 1 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/oldman.png" width="40%" +alt="'the Old Man in the Corner.'"> +</center> + +<h1>THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER</h1> +<h2> +BY BARONESS ORCZY +</h2> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_1"><!-- RULE4 1 --></a> +<center> + TO +</center> +<center> +MY DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT +</center> +<center> +COUNT AND COUNTESS WASS OF CZEGE +</center> +<center> +IN REMEMBRANCE +OF MANY HAPPY DAYS SPENT +IN TRANSYLVANIA +</center> +<center><i>October, 1908</i></center> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<hr> +<hr> + +<a name="TOC"><!-- TOC --></a> +<h2> + CONTENTS +</h2> + +<pre> +Chapter +</pre> +<pre> +<a href="#CH1">I.</a> — THE FENCHURCH STREET MYSTERY +<a href="#CH2">II.</a> — A MILLIONAIRE IN THE DOCK +<a href="#CH3">III.</a> — HIS DEDUCTION +<a href="#CH4">IV.</a> — THE ROBBERY IN PHILLIMORE TERRACE +<a href="#CH5">V.</a> — A NIGHT'S ADVENTURE +<a href="#CH6">VI.</a> — ALL HE KNEW +<a href="#CH7">VII.</a> — THE YORK MYSTERY +<a href="#CH8">VIII.</a> — THE CAPITAL CHARGE +<a href="#CH9">IX.</a> — A BROKEN-HEARTED WOMAN +<a href="#CH10">X.</a> — THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY +<a href="#CH11">XI.</a> — MR. ERRINGTON +<a href="#CH12">XII.</a> — THE LIVERPOOL MYSTERY +<a href="#CH13">XIII.</a> — A CUNNING RASCAL +<a href="#CH14">XIV.</a> — THE EDINBURGH MYSTERY +<a href="#CH15">XV.</a> — A TERRIBLE PLIGHT +<a href="#CH16">XVI.</a> — NON PROVEN +<a href="#CH17">XVII.</a> — UNDENIABLE FACTS +<a href="#CH18">XVIII.</a> — THE THEFT AT THE ENGLISH PROVIDENT BANK +<a href="#CH19">XIX.</a> — CONFLICTING EVIDENCE +<a href="#CH20">XX.</a> — AN ALIBI +<a href="#CH21">XXI.</a> — THE DUBLIN MYSTERY +<a href="#CH22">XXII.</a> — FORGERY +<a href="#CH23">XXIII.</a> — A MEMORABLE DAY +<a href="#CH24">XXIV.</a> — AN UNPARALLELED OUTRAGE +<a href="#CH25">XXV.</a> — THE PRISONER +<a href="#CH26">XXVI.</a> — A SENSATION +<a href="#CH27">XXVII.</a> — TWO BLACKGUARDS +<a href="#CH28">XXVIII.</a> — THE REGENT'S PARK MURDER +<a href="#CH29">XXIX.</a> — THE MOTIVE +<a href="#CH30">XXX.</a> — FRIENDS +<a href="#CH31">XXXI.</a> — THE DE GENNEVILLE PEERAGE +<a href="#CH32">XXXII.</a> — A HIGH-BRED GENTLEMAN +<a href="#CH33">XXXIII.</a> — THE LIVING AND THE DEAD +<a href="#CH34">XXXIV.</a> — THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH IN PERCY STREET +<a href="#CH35">XXXV.</a> — SUICIDE OR MURDER? +<a href="#CH36">XXXVI.</a> — THE END +</pre> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_2"><!-- RULE4 2 --></a> +<h2> + THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER +</h2> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH1"><!-- CH1 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER I +</h3> + +<h3> +THE FENCHURCH STREET MYSTERY +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +The man in the corner pushed aside his glass, and leant across the +table. +</p> +<p> +"Mysteries!" he commented. "There is no such thing as a mystery in +connection with any crime, provided intelligence is brought to bear upon +its investigation." +</p> +<p> +Very much astonished Polly Burton looked over the top of her newspaper, +and fixed a pair of very severe, coldly inquiring brown eyes upon him. +</p> +<p> +She had disapproved of the man from the instant when he shuffled across +the shop and sat down opposite to her, at the same marble-topped table +which already held her large coffee (3d.), her roll and butter (2d.), +and plate of tongue (6d.). +</p> +<p> +Now this particular corner, this very same table, that special view of +the magnificent marble hall—known as the Norfolk Street branch of the +Aërated Bread Company's depôts—were Polly's own corner, table, and +view. Here she had partaken of eleven pennyworth of luncheon and one +pennyworth of daily information ever since that glorious +never-to-be-forgotten day when she was enrolled on the staff of the +<i>Evening Observer</i> (we'll call it that, if you please), and became a +member of that illustrious and world-famed organization known as the +British Press. +</p> +<p> +She was a personality, was Miss Burton of the <i>Evening Observer</i>. Her +cards were printed thus: +</p> + +<a name="image-2"><!-- Image 2 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/card.png" width="33%" +alt="Miss Mary J. Burton. <I>Evening Observer</I>."> +</center> + +<p> +She had interviewed Miss Ellen Terry and the Bishop of Madagascar, Mr. +Seymour Hicks and the Chief Commissioner of Police. She had been present +at the last Marlborough House garden party—in the cloak-room, that is +to say, where she caught sight of Lady Thingummy's hat, Miss +What-you-may-call's sunshade, and of various other things modistical or +fashionable, all of which were duly described under the heading "Royalty +and Dress" in the early afternoon edition of the <i>Evening Observer</i>. +</p> +<p> +(The article itself is signed M.J.B., and is to be found in the files of +that leading halfpennyworth.) +</p> +<p> +For these reasons—and for various others, too—Polly felt irate with +the man in the corner, and told him so with her eyes, as plainly as any +pair of brown eyes can speak. +</p> +<p> +She had been reading an article in the <i>Daily Telegraph.</i> The article +was palpitatingly interesting. Had Polly been commenting audibly upon +it? Certain it is that the man over there had spoken in direct answer to +her thoughts. +</p> +<p> +She looked at him and frowned; the next moment she smiled. Miss Burton +(of the <i>Evening Observer)</i> had a keen sense of humour, which two years' +association with the British Press had not succeeded in destroying, and +the appearance of the man was sufficient to tickle the most ultra-morose +fancy. Polly thought to herself that she had never seen any one so pale, +so thin, with such funny light-coloured hair, brushed very smoothly +across the top of a very obviously bald crown. He looked so timid and +nervous as he fidgeted incessantly with a piece of string; his long, +lean, and trembling fingers tying and untying it into knots of wonderful +and complicated proportions. +</p> +<p> +Having carefully studied every detail of the quaint personality Polly +felt more amiable. +</p> +<p> +"And yet," she remarked kindly but authoritatively, "this article, in an +otherwise well-informed journal, will tell you that, even within the +last year, no fewer than six crimes have completely baffled the police, +and the perpetrators of them are still at large." +</p> +<p> +"Pardon me," he said gently, "I never for a moment ventured to suggest +that there were no mysteries to the <i>police</i>; I merely remarked that +there were none where intelligence was brought to bear upon the +investigation of crime." +</p> +<p> +"Not even in the Fenchurch Street <i>mystery</i>. I suppose," she asked +sarcastically. +</p> +<p> +"Least of all in the so-called Fenchurch Street <i>mystery</i>," he replied +quietly. +</p> +<p> +Now the Fenchurch Street mystery, as that extraordinary crime had +popularly been called, had puzzled—as Polly well knew—the brains of +every thinking man and woman for the last twelve months. It had puzzled +her not inconsiderably; she had been interested, fascinated; she had +studied the case, formed her own theories, thought about it all often +and often, had even written one or two letters to the Press on the +subject—suggesting, arguing, hinting at possibilities and +probabilities, adducing proofs which other amateur detectives were +equally ready to refute. The attitude of that timid man in the corner, +therefore, was peculiarly exasperating, and she retorted with sarcasm +destined to completely annihilate her self-complacent interlocutor. +</p> +<p> +"What a pity it is, in that case, that you do not offer your priceless +services to our misguided though well-meaning police." +</p> +<p> +"Isn't it?" he replied with perfect good-humour. "Well, you know, for +one thing I doubt if they would accept them; and in the second place my +inclinations and my duty would—were I to become an active member of the +detective force—nearly always be in direct conflict. As often as not my +sympathies go to the criminal who is clever and astute enough to lead +our entire police force by the nose. +</p> +<p> +"I don't know how much of the case you remember," he went on quietly. +"It certainly, at first, began even to puzzle me. On the 12th of last +December a woman, poorly dressed, but with an unmistakable air of having +seen better days, gave information at Scotland Yard of the disappearance +of her husband, William Kershaw, of no occupation, and apparently of no +fixed abode. She was accompanied by a friend—a fat, oily-looking +German—and between them they told a tale which set the police +immediately on the move. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that on the 10th of December, at about three o'clock in the +afternoon, Karl Müller, the German, called on his friend, William +Kershaw, for the purpose of collecting a small debt—some ten pounds or +so—which the latter owed him. On arriving at the squalid lodging in +Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, he found William Kershaw in a wild +state of excitement, and his wife in tears. Müller attempted to state +the object of his visit, but Kershaw, with wild gestures, waved him +aside, and—in his own words—flabbergasted him by asking him +point-blank for another loan of two pounds, which sum, he declared, +would be the means of a speedy fortune for himself and the friend who +would help him in his need. +</p> +<p> +"After a quarter of an hour spent in obscure hints, Kershaw, finding the +cautious German obdurate, decided to let him into the secret plan, +which, he averred, would place thousands into their hands." +</p> +<p> +Instinctively Polly had put down her paper; the mild stranger, with his +nervous air and timid, watery eyes, had a peculiar way of telling his +tale, which somehow fascinated her. +</p> +<p> +"I don't know," he resumed, "if you remember the story which the German +told to the police, and which was corroborated in every detail by the +wife or widow. Briefly it was this: Some thirty years previously, +Kershaw, then twenty years of age, and a medical student at one of the +London hospitals, had a chum named Barker, with whom he roomed, +together with another. +</p> +<p> +"The latter, so it appears, brought home one evening a very considerable +sum of money, which he had won on the turf, and the following morning he +was found murdered in his bed. Kershaw, fortunately for himself, was +able to prove a conclusive <i>alibi</i>; he had spent the night on duty at +the hospital; as for Barker, he had disappeared, that is to say, as far +as the police were concerned, but not as far as the watchful eyes of his +friend Kershaw were able to spy—at least, so the latter said. Barker +very cleverly contrived to get away out of the country, and, after +sundry vicissitudes, finally settled down at Vladivostok, in Eastern +Siberia, where, under the assumed name of Smethurst, he built up an +enormous fortune by trading in furs. +</p> +<p> +"Now, mind you, every one knows Smethurst, the Siberian millionaire. +Kershaw's story that he had once been called Barker, and had committed a +murder thirty years ago, was never proved, was it? I am merely telling +you what Kershaw said to his friend the German and to his wife on that +memorable afternoon of December the 10th. +</p> +<p> +"According to him Smethurst had made one gigantic mistake in his clever +career—he had on four occasions written to his late friend, William +Kershaw. Two of these letters had no bearing on the case, since they +were written more than twenty-five years ago, and Kershaw, moreover, had +lost them—so he said—long ago. According to him, however, the first of +these letters was written when Smethurst, alias Barker, had spent all +the money he had obtained from the crime, and found himself destitute in +New York. +</p> +<p> +"Kershaw, then in fairly prosperous circumstances, sent him a £10 note +for the sake of old times. The second, when the tables had turned, and +Kershaw had begun to go downhill, Smethurst, as he then already called +himself, sent his whilom friend £50. After that, as Müller gathered, +Kershaw had made sundry demands on Smethurst's ever-increasing purse, +and had accompanied these demands by various threats, which, considering +the distant country in which the millionaire lived, were worse than +futile. +</p> +<p> +"But now the climax had come, and Kershaw, after a final moment of +hesitation, handed over to his German friend the two last letters +purporting to have been written by Smethurst, and which, if you +remember, played such an important part in the mysterious story of this +extraordinary crime. I have a copy of both these letters here," added +the man in the corner, as he took out a piece of paper from a very +worn-out pocket-book, and, unfolding it very deliberately, he began to +read:— +</p> +<p> +"'Sir,—Your preposterous demands for money are wholly unwarrantable. I +have already helped you quite as much as you deserve. However, for the +sake of old times, and because you once helped me when I was in a +terrible difficulty, I am willing to once more let you impose upon my +good nature. A friend of mine here, a Russian merchant, to whom I have +sold my business, starts in a few days for an extended tour to many +European and Asiatic ports in his yacht, and has invited me to accompany +him as far as England. Being tired of foreign parts, and desirous of +seeing the old country once again after thirty years' absence, I have +decided to accept his invitation. I don't know when we may actually be +in Europe, but I promise you that as soon as we touch a suitable port I +will write to you again, making an appointment for you to see me in +London. But remember that if your demands are too preposterous I will +not for a moment listen to them, and that I am the last man in the world +to submit to persistent and unwarrantable blackmail. +</p> +<pre> + 'I am, sir, + 'Yours truly, + 'Francis Smethurst.' +</pre> +<p> +"The second letter was dated from Southampton," continued the old man in +the corner calmly, "and, curiously enough, was the only letter which +Kershaw professed to have received from Smethurst of which he had kept +the envelope, and which was dated. It was quite brief," he added, +referring once more to his piece of paper. +</p> +<p> +"'Dear Sir,—Referring to my letter of a few weeks ago, I wish to inform +you that the <i>Tsarskoe Selo</i> will touch at Tilbury on Tuesday next, the +10th. I shall land there, and immediately go up to London by the first +train I can get. If you like, you may meet me at Fenchurch Street +Station, in the first-class waiting-room, in the late afternoon. Since I +surmise that after thirty years' absence my face may not be familiar to +you, I may as well tell you that you will recognize me by a heavy +Astrakhan fur coat, which I shall wear, together with a cap of the same. +You may then introduce yourself to me, and I will personally listen to +what you may have to say. +</p> +<pre> + 'Yours faithfully, + 'Francis Smethurst.' +</pre> +<p> +"It was this last letter which had caused William Kershaw's excitement +and his wife's tears. In the German's own words, he was walking up and +down the room like a wild beast, gesticulating wildly, and muttering +sundry exclamations. Mrs. Kershaw, however, was full of apprehension. +She mistrusted the man from foreign parts—who, according to her +husband's story, had already one crime upon his conscience—who might, +she feared, risk another, in order to be rid of a dangerous enemy. +Woman-like, she thought the scheme a dishonourable one, for the law, she +knew, is severe on the blackmailer. +</p> +<p> +"The assignation might be a cunning trap, in any case it was a curious +one; why, she argued, did not Smethurst elect to see Kershaw at his +hotel the following day? A thousand whys and wherefores made her +anxious, but the fat German had been won over by Kershaw's visions of +untold gold, held tantalisingly before his eyes. He had lent the +necessary £2, with which his friend intended to tidy himself up a bit +before he went to meet his friend the millionaire. Half an hour +afterwards Kershaw had left his lodgings, and that was the last the +unfortunate woman saw of her husband, or Müller, the German, of his +friend. +</p> +<p> +"Anxiously his wife waited that night, but he did not return; the next +day she seems to have spent in making purposeless and futile inquiries +about the neighbourhood of Fenchurch Street; and on the 12th she went to +Scotland Yard, gave what particulars she knew, and placed in the hands +of the police the two letters written by Smethurst." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH2"><!-- CH2 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER II +</h3> + +<h3> +A MILLIONAIRE IN THE DOCK +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +The man in the corner had finished his glass of milk. His watery blue +eyes looked across at Miss Polly Burton's eager little face, from which +all traces of severity had now been chased away by an obvious and +intense excitement. +</p> +<p> +"It was only on the 31st," he resumed after a while, "that a body, +decomposed past all recognition, was found by two lightermen in the +bottom of a disused barge. She had been moored at one time at the foot +of one of those dark flights of steps which lead down between tall +warehouses to the river in the East End of London. I have a photograph +of the place here," he added, selecting one out of his pocket, and +placing it before Polly. +</p> +<p> +"The actual barge, you see, had already been removed when I took this +snapshot, but you will realize what a perfect place this alley is for +the purpose of one man cutting another's throat in comfort, and without +fear of detection. The body, as I said, was decomposed beyond all +recognition; it had probably been there eleven days, but sundry +articles, such as a silver ring and a tie pin, were recognizable, and +were identified by Mrs. Kershaw as belonging to her husband. +</p> +<p> +"She, of course, was loud in denouncing Smethurst, and the police had no +doubt a very strong case against him, for two days after the discovery +of the body in the barge, the Siberian millionaire, as he was already +popularly called by enterprising interviewers, was arrested in his +luxurious suite of rooms at the Hotel Cecil. +</p> +<p> +"To confess the truth, at this point I was not a little puzzled. Mrs. +Kershaw's story and Smethurst's letters had both found their way into +the papers, and following my usual method—mind you, I am only an +amateur, I try to reason out a case for the love of the thing—I sought +about for a motive for the crime, which the police declared Smethurst +had committed. To effectually get rid of a dangerous blackmailer was the +generally accepted theory. Well! did it ever strike you how paltry that +motive really was?" +</p> +<p> +Miss Polly had to confess, however, that it had never struck her in that +light. +</p> +<p> +"Surely a man who had succeeded in building up an immense fortune by his +own individual efforts, was not the sort of fool to believe that he had +anything to fear from a man like Kershaw. He must have <i>known</i> that +Kershaw held no damning proofs against him—not enough to hang him, +anyway. Have you ever seen Smethurst?" he added, as he once more fumbled +in his pocket-book. +</p> +<p> +Polly replied that she had seen Smethurst's picture in the illustrated +papers at the time. Then he added, placing a small photograph before +her: +</p> +<p> +"What strikes you most about the face?" +</p> +<p> +"Well, I think its strange, astonished expression, due to the total +absence of eyebrows, and the funny foreign cut of the hair." +</p> +<p> +"So close that it almost looks as if it had been shaved. Exactly. That +is what struck me most when I elbowed my way into the court that morning +and first caught sight of the millionaire in the dock. He was a tall, +soldierly-looking man, upright in stature, his face very bronzed and +tanned. He wore neither moustache nor beard, his hair was cropped quite +close to his head, like a Frenchman's; but, of course, what was so very +remarkable about him was that total absence of eyebrows and even +eyelashes, which gave the face such a peculiar appearance—as you say, a +perpetually astonished look. +</p> +<p> +"He seemed, however, wonderfully calm; he had been accommodated with a +chair in the dock—being a millionaire—and chatted pleasantly with his +lawyer, Sir Arthur Inglewood, in the intervals between the calling of +the several witnesses for the prosecution; whilst during the examination +of these witnesses he sat quite placidly, with his head shaded by his +hand. +</p> +<p> +"Müller and Mrs. Kershaw repeated the story which they had already told +to the police. I think you said that you were not able, owing to +pressure of work, to go to the court that day, and hear the case, so +perhaps you have no recollection of Mrs. Kershaw. No? Ah, well! Here is +a snapshot I managed to get of her once. That is her. Exactly as she +stood in the box—over-dressed—in elaborate crape, with a bonnet which +once had contained pink roses, and to which a remnant of pink petals +still clung obtrusively amidst the deep black. +</p> +<p> +"She would not look at the prisoner, and turned her head resolutely +towards the magistrate. I fancy she had been fond of that vagabond +husband of hers: an enormous wedding-ring encircled her finger, and +that, too, was swathed in black. She firmly believed that Kershaw's +murderer sat there in the dock, and she literally flaunted her grief +before him. +</p> +<p> +"I was indescribably sorry for her. As for Müller, he was just fat, +oily, pompous, conscious of his own importance as a witness; his fat +fingers, covered with brass rings, gripped the two incriminating +letters, which he had identified. They were his passports, as it were, +to a delightful land of importance and notoriety. Sir Arthur Inglewood, +I think, disappointed him by stating that he had no questions to ask of +him. Müller had been brimful of answers, ready with the most perfect +indictment, the most elaborate accusations against the bloated +millionaire who had decoyed his dear friend Kershaw, and murdered him in +Heaven knows what an out-of-the-way corner of the East End. +</p> +<p> +"After this, however, the excitement grew apace. Müller had been +dismissed, and had retired from the court altogether, leading away Mrs. +Kershaw, who had completely broken down. +</p> +<p> +"Constable D 21 was giving evidence as to the arrest in the meanwhile. +The prisoner, he said, had seemed completely taken by surprise, not +understanding the cause or history of the accusation against him; +however, when put in full possession of the facts, and realizing, no +doubt, the absolute futility of any resistance, he had quietly enough +followed the constable into the cab. No one at the fashionable and +crowded Hotel Cecil had even suspected that anything unusual had +occurred. +</p> +<p> +"Then a gigantic sigh of expectancy came from every one of the +spectators. The 'fun' was about to begin. James Buckland, a porter at +Fenchurch Street railway station, had just sworn to tell all the truth, +etc. After all, it did not amount to much. He said that at six o'clock +in the afternoon of December the 10th, in the midst of one of the +densest fogs he ever remembers, the 5.5 from Tilbury steamed into the +station, being just about an hour late. He was on the arrival platform, +and was hailed by a passenger in a first-class carriage. He could see +very little of him beyond an enormous black fur coat and a travelling +cap of fur also. +</p> +<p> +"The passenger had a quantity of luggage, all marked F.S., and he +directed James Buckland to place it all upon a four-wheel cab, with the +exception of a small hand-bag, which he carried himself. Having seen +that all his luggage was safely bestowed, the stranger in the fur coat +paid the porter, and, telling the cabman to wait until he returned, he +walked away in the direction of the waiting-rooms, still carrying his +small hand-bag. +</p> +<p> +"'I stayed for a bit,' added James Buckland, 'talking to the driver +about the fog and that; then I went about my business, seein' that the +local from Southend 'ad been signalled.' +</p> +<p> +"The prosecution insisted most strongly upon the hour when the stranger +in the fur coat, having seen to his luggage, walked away towards the +waiting-rooms. The porter was emphatic. 'It was not a minute later than +6.15,' he averred. +</p> +<p> +"Sir Arthur Inglewood still had no questions to ask, and the driver of +the cab was called. +</p> +<p> +"He corroborated the evidence of James Buckland as to the hour when the +gentleman in the fur coat had engaged him, and having filled his cab in +and out with luggage, had told him to wait. And cabby did wait. He +waited in the dense fog—until he was tired, until he seriously thought +of depositing all the luggage in the lost property office, and of +looking out for another fare—waited until at last, at a quarter before +nine, whom should he see walking hurriedly towards his cab but the +gentleman in the fur coat and cap, who got in quickly and told the +driver to take him at once to the Hotel Cecil. This, cabby declared, had +occurred at a quarter before nine. Still Sir Arthur Inglewood made no +comment, and Mr. Francis Smethurst, in the crowded, stuffy court, had +calmly dropped to sleep. +</p> +<p> +"The next witness, Constable Thomas Taylor, had noticed a shabbily +dressed individual, with shaggy hair and beard, loafing about the +station and waiting-rooms in the afternoon of December the 10th. He +seemed to be watching the arrival platform of the Tilbury and Southend +trains. +</p> +<p> +"Two separate and independent witnesses, cleverly unearthed by the +police, had seen this same shabbily dressed individual stroll into the +first-class waiting-room at about 6.15 on Wednesday, December the 10th, +and go straight up to a gentleman in a heavy fur coat and cap, who had +also just come into the room. The two talked together for a while; no +one heard what they said, but presently they walked off together. No one +seemed to know in which direction. +</p> +<p> +"Francis Smethurst was rousing himself from his apathy; he whispered to +his lawyer, who nodded with a bland smile of encouragement. The employés +of the Hotel Cecil gave evidence as to the arrival of Mr. Smethurst at +about 9.30 p.m. on Wednesday, December the 10th, in a cab, with a +quantity of luggage; and this closed the case for the prosecution. +</p> +<p> +"Everybody in that court already <i>saw</i> Smethurst mounting the gallows. +It was uninterested curiosity which caused the elegant audience to wait +and hear what Sir Arthur Inglewood had to say. He, of course, is the +most fashionable man in the law at the present moment. His lolling +attitudes, his drawling speech, are quite the rage, and imitated by the +gilded youth of society. +</p> +<p> +"Even at this moment, when the Siberian millionaire's neck literally and +metaphorically hung in the balance, an expectant titter went round the +fair spectators as Sir Arthur stretched out his long loose limbs and +lounged across the table. He waited to make his effect—Sir Arthur is a +born actor—and there is no doubt that he made it, when in his slowest, +most drawly tones he said quietly; +</p> +<p> +"'With regard to this alleged murder of one William Kershaw, on +Wednesday, December the 10th, between 6.15 and 8.45 p.m., your Honour, I +now propose to call two witnesses, who saw this same William Kershaw +alive on Tuesday afternoon, December the 16th, that is to say, six days +after the supposed murder.' +</p> +<p> +"It was as if a bombshell had exploded in the court. Even his Honour was +aghast, and I am sure the lady next to me only recovered from the shock +of the surprise in order to wonder whether she need put off her dinner +party after all. +</p> +<p> +"As for me," added the man in the corner, with that strange mixture of +nervousness and self-complacency which had set Miss Polly Burton +wondering, "well, you see, <i>I</i> had made up my mind long ago where the +hitch lay in this particular case, and I was not so surprised as some of +the others. +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps you remember the wonderful development of the case, which so +completely mystified the police—and in fact everybody except myself. +Torriani and a waiter at his hotel in the Commercial Road both deposed +that at about 3.30 p.m. on December the 10th a shabbily dressed +individual lolled into the coffee-room and ordered some tea. He was +pleasant enough and talkative, told the waiter that his name was William +Kershaw, that very soon all London would be talking about him, as he was +about, through an unexpected stroke of good fortune, to become a very +rich man, and so on, and so on, nonsense without end. +</p> +<p> +"When he had finished his tea he lolled out again, but no sooner had he +disappeared down a turning of the road than the waiter discovered an old +umbrella, left behind accidentally by the shabby, talkative individual. +As is the custom in his highly respectable restaurant, Signor Torriani +put the umbrella carefully away in his office, on the chance of his +customer calling to claim it when he had discovered his loss. And sure +enough nearly a week later, on Tuesday, the 16th, at about 1 p.m., the +same shabbily dressed individual called and asked for his umbrella. He +had some lunch, and chatted once again to the waiter. Signor Torriani +and the waiter gave a description of William Kershaw, which coincided +exactly with that given by Mrs. Kershaw of her husband. +</p> +<p> +"Oddly enough he seemed to be a very absent-minded sort of person, for +on this second occasion, no sooner had he left than the waiter found a +pocket-book in the coffee-room, underneath the table. It contained +sundry letters and bills, all addressed to William Kershaw. This +pocket-book was produced, and Karl Müller, who had returned to the +court, easily identified it as having belonged to his dear and lamented +friend 'Villiam.' +</p> +<p> +"This was the first blow to the case against the accused. It was a +pretty stiff one, you will admit. Already it had begun to collapse like +a house of cards. Still, there was the assignation, and the undisputed +meeting between Smethurst and Kershaw, and those two and a half hours of +a foggy evening to satisfactorily account for." +</p> +<p> +The man in the corner made a long pause, keeping the girl on +tenterhooks. He had fidgeted with his bit of string till there was not +an inch of it free from the most complicated and elaborate knots. +</p> +<p> +"I assure you," he resumed at last, "that at that very moment the whole +mystery was, to me, as clear as daylight. I only marvelled how his +Honour could waste his time and mine by putting what he thought were +searching questions to the accused relating to his past. Francis +Smethurst, who had quite shaken off his somnolence, spoke with a curious +nasal twang, and with an almost imperceptible soupçon of foreign accent, +He calmly denied Kershaw's version of his past; declared that he had +never been called Barker, and had certainly never been mixed up in any +murder case thirty years ago. +</p> +<p> +"'But you knew this man Kershaw,' persisted his Honour, 'since you wrote +to him?' +</p> +<p> +"'Pardon me, your Honour,' said the accused quietly, 'I have never, to +my knowledge, seen this man Kershaw, and I can swear that I never wrote +to him.' +</p> +<p> +"'Never wrote to him?' retorted his Honour warningly. 'That is a strange +assertion to make when I have two of your letters to him in my hands at +the present moment.' +</p> +<p> +"'I never wrote those letters, your Honour,' persisted the accused +quietly, 'they are not in my handwriting.' +</p> +<p> +"'Which we can easily prove,' came in Sir Arthur Inglewood's drawly +tones, as he handed up a packet to his Honour; 'here are a number of +letters written by my client since he has landed in this country, and +some of which were written under my very eyes.' +</p> +<p> +"As Sir Arthur Inglewood had said, this could be easily proved, and the +prisoner, at his Honour's request, scribbled a few lines, together with +his signature, several times upon a sheet of note-paper. It was easy to +read upon the magistrate's astounded countenance, that there was not the +slightest similarity in the two handwritings. +</p> +<p> +"A fresh mystery had cropped up. Who, then, had made the assignation +with William Kershaw at Fenchurch Street railway station? The prisoner +gave a fairly satisfactory account of the employment of his time since +his landing in England. +</p> +<p> +"'I came over on the <i>Tsarskoe Selo</i>,' he said, 'a yacht belonging to a +friend of mine. When we arrived at the mouth of the Thames there was +such a dense fog that it was twenty-four hours before it was thought +safe for me to land. My friend, who is a Russian, would not land at all; +he was regularly frightened at this land of fogs. He was going on to +Madeira immediately. +</p> +<p> +"'I actually landed on Tuesday, the 10th, and took a train at once for +town. I did see to my luggage and a cab, as the porter and driver told +your Honour; then I tried to find my way to a refreshment-room, where I +could get a glass of wine. I drifted into the waiting-room, and there I +was accosted by a shabbily dressed individual, who began telling me a +piteous tale. Who he was I do not know. He <i>said</i> he was an old soldier +who had served his country faithfully, and then been left to starve. He +begged of me to accompany him to his lodgings, where I could see his +wife and starving children, and verify the truth and piteousness of his +tale. +</p> +<p> +"'Well, your Honour,' added the prisoner with noble frankness, 'it was +my first day in the old country. I had come back after thirty years with +my pockets full of gold, and this was the first sad tale I had heard; +but I am a business man, and did not want to be exactly "done" in the +eye. I followed my man through the fog, out into the streets. He walked +silently by my side for a time. I had not a notion where I was. +</p> +<p> +"'Suddenly I turned to him with some question, and realized in a moment +that my gentleman had given me the slip. Finding, probably, that I would +not part with my money till I <i>had</i> seen the starving wife and children, +he left me to my fate, and went in search of more willing bait. +</p> +<p> +"'The place where I found myself was dismal and deserted. I could see no +trace of cab or omnibus. I retraced my steps and tried to find my way +back to the station, only to find myself in worse and more deserted +neighbourhoods. I became hopelessly lost and fogged. I don't wonder that +two and a half hours elapsed while I thus wandered on in the dark and +deserted streets; my sole astonishment is that I ever found the station +at all that night, or rather close to it a policeman, who showed me the +way.' +</p> +<p> +"'But how do you account for Kershaw knowing all your movements?' still +persisted his Honour, 'and his knowing the exact date of your arrival +in England? How do you account for these two letters, in fact?' +</p> +<p> +"'I cannot account for it or them, your Honour,' replied the prisoner +quietly. 'I have proved to you, have I not, that I never wrote those +letters, and that the man—er—Kershaw is his name?—was not murdered by +me?' +</p> +<p> +"'Can you tell me of anyone here or abroad who might have heard of your +movements, and of the date of your arrival?' +</p> +<p> +"'My late employés at Vladivostok, of course, knew of my departure, but +none of them could have written these letters, since none of them know a +word of English.' +</p> +<p> +"'Then you can throw no light upon these mysterious letters? You cannot +help the police in any way towards the clearing up of this strange +affair?' +</p> +<p> +"'The affair is as mysterious to me as to your Honour, and to the police +of this country.' +</p> +<p> +"Francis Smethurst was discharged, of course; there was no semblance of +evidence against him sufficient to commit him for trial. The two +overwhelming points of his defence which had completely routed the +prosecution were, firstly, the proof that he had never written the +letters making the assignation, and secondly, the fact that the man +supposed to have been murdered on the 10th was seen to be alive and +well on the 16th. But then, who in the world was the mysterious +individual who had apprised Kershaw of the movements of Smethurst, the +millionaire?" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH3"><!-- CH3 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER III +</h2> + +<h3> +HIS DEDUCTION +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The man in the corner cocked his funny thin head on one side and looked +at Polly; then he took up his beloved bit of string and deliberately +untied every knot he had made in it. When it was quite smooth he laid it +out upon the table. +</p> +<p> +"I will take you, if you like, point by point along the line of +reasoning which I followed myself, and which will inevitably lead you, +as it led me, to the only possible solution of the mystery. +</p> +<p> +"First take this point," he said with nervous restlessness, once more +taking up his bit of string, and forming with each point raised a series +of knots which would have shamed a navigating instructor, "obviously it +was <i>impossible</i> for Kershaw not to have been acquainted with Smethurst, +since he was fully apprised of the latter's arrival in England by two +letters. Now it was clear to me from the first that <i>no one</i> could have +written those two letters except Smethurst. You will argue that those +letters were proved not to have been written by the man in the dock. +Exactly. Remember, Kershaw was a careless man—he had lost both +envelopes. To him they were insignificant. Now it was never <i>disproved</i> +that those letters were written by Smethurst." +</p> +<p> +"But—" suggested Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Wait a minute," he interrupted, while knot number two appeared upon the +scene, "it was proved that six days after the murder, William Kershaw +was alive, and visited the Torriani Hotel, where already he was known, +and where he conveniently left a pocket-book behind, so that there +should be no mistake as to his identity; but it was never questioned +where Mr. Francis Smethurst, the millionaire, happened to spend that +very same afternoon." +</p> +<p> +"Surely, you don't mean?" gasped the girl. +</p> +<p> +"One moment, please," he added triumphantly. "How did it come about that +the landlord of the Torriani Hotel was brought into court at all? How +did Sir Arthur Inglewood, or rather his client, know that William +Kershaw had on those two memorable occasions visited the hotel, and that +its landlord could bring such convincing evidence forward that would for +ever exonerate the millionaire from the imputation of murder?" +</p> +<p> +"Surely," I argued, "the usual means, the police—" +</p> +<p> +"The police had kept the whole affair very dark until the arrest at the +Hotel Cecil. They did not put into the papers the usual: 'If anyone +happens to know of the whereabouts, etc. etc'. Had the landlord of that +hotel heard of the disappearance of Kershaw through the usual channels, +he would have put himself in communication with the police. Sir Arthur +Inglewood produced him. How did Sir Arthur Inglewood come on his track?" +</p> +<p> +"Surely, you don't mean?" +</p> +<p> +"Point number four," he resumed imperturbably, "Mrs. Kershaw was never +requested to produce a specimen of her husband's handwriting. Why? +Because the police, clever as you say they are, never started on the +right tack. They believed William Kershaw to have been murdered; they +looked for William Kershaw. +</p> +<p> +"On December the 31st, what was presumed to be the body of William +Kershaw was found by two lightermen: I have shown you a photograph of +the place where it was found. Dark and deserted it is in all conscience, +is it not? Just the place where a bully and a coward would decoy an +unsuspecting stranger, murder him first, then rob him of his valuables, +his papers, his very identity, and leave him there to rot. The body was +found in a disused barge which had been moored some time against the +wall, at the foot of these steps. It was in the last stages of +decomposition, and, of course, could not be identified; but the police +would have it that it was the body of William Kershaw. +</p> +<p> +"It never entered their heads that it was the body of <i>Francis +Smethurst, and that William Kershaw was his murderer</i>. +</p> +<p> +"Ah! it was cleverly, artistically conceived! Kershaw is a genius. Think +of it all! His disguise! Kershaw had a shaggy beard, hair, and +moustache. He shaved up to his very eyebrows! No wonder that even his +wife did not recognize him across the court; and remember she never saw +much of his face while he stood in the dock. Kershaw was shabby, +slouchy, he stooped. Smethurst, the millionaire, might have served in +the Prussian army. +</p> +<p> +"Then that lovely trait about going to revisit the Torriani Hotel. Just +a few days' grace, in order to purchase moustache and beard and wig, +exactly similar to what he had himself shaved off. Making up to look +like himself! Splendid! Then leaving the pocket-book behind! He! he! he! +Kershaw was not murdered! Of course not. He called at the Torriani Hotel +six days after the murder, whilst Mr. Smethurst, the millionaire, +hobnobbed in the park with duchesses! Hang such a man! Fie!" +</p> +<p> +He fumbled for his hat. With nervous, trembling fingers he held it +deferentially in his hand whilst he rose from the table. Polly watched +him as he strode up to the desk, and paid twopence for his glass of milk +and his bun. Soon he disappeared through the shop, whilst she still +found herself hopelessly bewildered, with a number of snap-shot +photographs before her, still staring at a long piece of string, +smothered from end to end in a series of knots, as bewildering, as +irritating, as puzzling as the man who had lately sat in the corner. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH4"><!-- CH4 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER IV +</h2> + +<h3> +THE ROBBERY IN PHILLIMORE TERRACE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Whether Miss Polly Burton really did expect to see the man in the corner +that Saturday afternoon, 'twere difficult to say; certain it is that +when she found her way to the table close by the window and realized +that he was not there, she felt conscious of an overwhelming sense of +disappointment. And yet during the whole of the week she had, with more +pride than wisdom, avoided this particular A.B.C. shop. +</p> +<p> +"I thought you would not keep away very long," said a quiet voice close +to her ear. +</p> +<p> +She nearly lost her balance—where in the world had he come from? She +certainly had not heard the slightest sound, and yet there he sat, in +the corner, like a veritable Jack-in-the-box, his mild blue eyes staring +apologetically at her, his nervous fingers toying with the inevitable +bit of string. +</p> +<p> +The waitress brought him his glass of milk and a cheese-cake. He ate it +in silence, while his piece of string lay idly beside him on the table. +When he had finished he fumbled in his capacious pockets, and drew out +the inevitable pocket-book. +</p> +<p> +Placing a small photograph before the girl, he said quietly: +</p> +<p> +"That is the back of the houses in Phillimore Terrace, which overlook +Adam and Eve Mews." +</p> +<p> +She looked at the photograph, then at him, with a kindly look of +indulgent expectancy. +</p> +<p> +"You will notice that the row of back gardens have each an exit into the +mews. These mews are built in the shape of a capital F. The photograph +is taken looking straight down the short horizontal line, which ends, as +you see, in a <i>cul-de-sac</i>. The bottom of the vertical line turns into +Phillimore Terrace, and the end of the upper long horizontal line into +High Street, Kensington. Now, on that particular night, or rather early +morning, of January 15th, Constable D 21, having turned into the mews +from Phillimore Terrace, stood for a moment at the angle formed by the +long vertical artery of the mews and the short horizontal one which, as +I observed before, looks on to the back gardens of the Terrace houses, +and ends in a <i>cul-de-sac</i>. +</p> +<p> +"How long D 21 stood at that particular corner he could not exactly say, +but he thinks it must have been three or four minutes before he noticed +a suspicious-looking individual shambling along under the shadow of the +garden walls. He was working his way cautiously in the direction of the +<i>cul-de-sac</i>, and D 21, also keeping well within the shadow, went +noiselessly after him. +</p> +<p> +"He had almost overtaken him—was, in fact, not more than thirty yards +from him—when from out of one of the two end houses—No. 22, Phillimore +Terrace, in fact—a man, in nothing but his night-shirt, rushed out +excitedly, and, before D 21 had time to intervene, literally threw +himself upon the suspected individual, rolling over and over with him on +the hard cobble-stones, and frantically shrieking, 'Thief! Thief! +Police!' +</p> +<p> +"It was some time before the constable succeeded in rescuing the tramp +from the excited grip of his assailant, and several minutes before he +could make himself heard. +</p> +<p> +"'There! there! that'll do!' he managed to say at last, as he gave the +man in the shirt a vigorous shove, which silenced him for the moment. +'Leave the man alone now, you mustn't make that noise this time o' +night, wakin' up all the folks.' The unfortunate tramp, who in the +meanwhile had managed to get onto his feet again, made no attempt to +get away; probably he thought he would stand but a poor chance. But the +man in the shirt had partly recovered his power of speech, and was now +blurting out jerky, half—intelligible sentences: +</p> +<p> +"'I have been robbed—robbed—I—that is—my master—Mr. Knopf. The desk +is open—the diamonds gone—all in my charge—and—now they are stolen! +That's the thief—I'll swear—I heard him—not three minutes ago—rushed +downstairs—the door into the garden was smashed—I ran across the +garden—he was sneaking about here still—Thief! Thief! Police! +Diamonds! Constable, don't let him go—I'll make you responsible if you +let him go—' +</p> +<p> +"'Now then—that'll do!' admonished D 21 as soon as he could get a word +in, 'stop that row, will you?' +</p> +<p> +"The man in the shirt was gradually recovering from his excitement. +</p> +<p> +"'Can I give this man in charge?' he asked. +</p> +<p> +"'What for?' +</p> +<p> +"'Burglary and housebreaking. I heard him, I tell you. He must have Mr. +Knopf's diamonds about him at this moment.' +</p> +<p> +"'Where is Mr. Knopf?' +</p> +<p> +"'Out of town,' groaned the man in the shirt. 'He went to Brighton last +night, and left me in charge, and now this thief has been and—' +</p> +<p> +"The tramp shrugged his shoulders and suddenly, without a word, he +quietly began taking off his coat and waistcoat. These he handed across +to the constable. Eagerly the man in the shirt fell on them, and turned +the ragged pockets inside out. From one of the windows a hilarious voice +made some facetious remark, as the tramp with equal solemnity began +divesting himself of his nether garments. +</p> +<p> +"'Now then, stop that nonsense,' pronounced D 21 severely, 'what were +you doing here this time o' night, anyway?' +</p> +<p> +"'The streets o' London is free to the public, ain't they?' queried the +tramp. +</p> +<p> +"'This don't lead nowhere, my man.' +</p> +<p> +"'Then I've lost my way, that's all,' growled the man surlily, 'and +p'raps you'll let me get along now.' +</p> +<p> +"By this time a couple of constables had appeared upon the scene. D 21 +had no intention of losing sight of his friend the tramp, and the man in +the shirt had again made a dash for the latter's collar at the bare idea +that he should be allowed to 'get along.' +</p> +<p> +"I think D 21 was alive to the humour of the situation. He suggested +that Robertson (the man in the night-shirt) should go in and get some +clothes on, whilst he himself would wait for the inspector and the +detective, whom D 15 would send round from the station immediately. +</p> +<p> +"Poor Robertson's teeth were chattering with cold. He had a violent fit +of sneezing as D 21 hurried him into the house. The latter, with another +constable, remained to watch the burglared premises both back and +front, and D 15 took the wretched tramp to the station with a view to +sending an inspector and a detective round immediately. +</p> +<p> +"When the two latter gentlemen arrived at No. 22, Phillimore Terrace, +they found poor old Robertson in bed, shivering, and still quite blue. +He had got himself a hot drink, but his eyes were streaming and his +voice was terribly husky. D 21 had stationed himself in the dining-room, +where Robertson had pointed the desk out to him, with its broken lock +and scattered contents. +</p> +<p> +"Robertson, between his sneezes, gave what account he could of the +events which happened immediately before the robbery. +</p> +<p> +"His master, Mr. Ferdinand Knopf, he said, was a diamond merchant, and a +bachelor. He himself had been in Mr. Knopf's employ over fifteen years, +and was his only indoor servant. A charwoman came every day to do the +housework. +</p> +<p> +"Last night Mr. Knopf dined at the house of Mr. Shipman, at No. 26, +lower down. Mr. Shipman is the great jeweller who has his place of +business in South Audley Street. By the last post there came a letter +with the Brighton postmark, and marked 'urgent,' for Mr. Knopf, and he +(Robertson) was just wondering if he should run over to No. 26 with it, +when his master returned. He gave one glance at the contents of the +letter, asked for his A.B.C. Railway Guide, and ordered him (Robertson) +to pack his bag at once and fetch him a cab. +</p> +<p> +"'I guessed what it was,' continued Robertson after another violent fit +of sneezing. 'Mr. Knopf has a brother, Mr. Emile Knopf, to whom he is +very much attached, and who is a great invalid. He generally goes about +from one seaside place to another. He is now at Brighton, and has +recently been very ill. +</p> +<p> +"'If you will take the trouble to go downstairs I think you will still +find the letter lying on the hall table. +</p> +<p> +"'I read it after Mr. Knopf left; it was not from his brother, but from +a gentleman who signed himself J. Collins, M.D. I don't remember the +exact words, but, of course, you'll be able to read the letter—Mr. J. +Collins said he had been called in very suddenly to see Mr. Emile Knopf, +who, he added, had not many hours to live, and had begged of the doctor +to communicate at once with his brother in London. +</p> +<p> +"'Before leaving, Mr. Knopf warned me that there were some valuables in +his desk—diamonds mostly, and told me to be particularly careful about +locking up the house. He often has left me like this in charge of his +premises, and usually there have been diamonds in his desk, for Mr. +Knopf has no regular City office as he is a commercial traveller.' +</p> +<p> +"This, briefly, was the gist of the matter which Robertson related to +the inspector with many repetitions and persistent volubility. +</p> +<p> +"The detective and inspector, before returning to the station with their +report, thought they would call at No. 26, on Mr. Shipman, the great +jeweller. +</p> +<p> +"You remember, of course," added the man in the corner, dreamily +contemplating his bit of string, "the exciting developments of this +extraordinary case. Mr. Arthur Shipman is the head of the firm of +Shipman and Co., the wealthy jewellers. He is a widower, and lives very +quietly by himself in his own old-fashioned way in the small Kensington +house, leaving it to his two married sons to keep up the style and +swagger befitting the representatives of so wealthy a firm. +</p> +<p> +"'I have only known Mr. Knopf a very little while,' he explained to the +detectives. 'He sold me two or three stones once or twice, I think; but +we are both single men, and we have often dined together. Last night he +dined with me. He had that afternoon received a very fine consignment of +Brazilian diamonds, as he told me, and knowing how beset I am with +callers at my business place, he had brought the stones with him, +hoping, perhaps, to do a bit of trade over the nuts and wine. +</p> +<p> +"'I bought £25,000 worth of him,' added the jeweller, as if he were +speaking of so many farthings, 'and gave him a cheque across the dinner +table for that amount. I think we were both pleased with our bargain, +and we had a final bottle of '48 port over it together. Mr. Knopf left +me at about 9.30, for he knows I go very early to bed, and I took my new +stock upstairs with me, and locked it up in the safe. I certainly heard +nothing of the noise in the mews last night. I sleep on the second +floor, in the front of the house, and this is the first I have heard of +poor Mr. Knopf's loss—' +</p> +<p> +"At this point of his narrative Mr. Shipman very suddenly paused, and +his face became very pale. With a hasty word of excuse he +unceremoniously left the room, and the detective heard him running +quickly upstairs. +</p> +<p> +"Less than two minutes later Mr. Shipman returned. There was no need for +him to speak; both the detective and the inspector guessed the truth in +a moment by the look upon his face. +</p> +<p> +"'The diamonds!' he gasped. 'I have been robbed.'" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH5"><!-- CH5 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER V +</h2> + +<h3> +A NIGHT'S ADVENTURE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Now I must tell you," continued the man in the corner, "that after I +had read the account of the double robbery, which appeared in the early +afternoon papers, I set to work and had a good think—yes!" he added +with a smile, noting Polly's look at the bit of string, on which he was +still at work, "yes! aided by this small adjunct to continued thought—I +made notes as to how I should proceed to discover the clever thief, who +had carried off a small fortune in a single night. Of course, my methods +are not those of a London detective; he has his own way of going to +work. The one who was conducting this case questioned the unfortunate +jeweller very closely about his servants and his household generally. +</p> +<p> +"'I have three servants,' explained Mr. Shipman, two of whom have been +with me for many years; one, the housemaid, is a fairly new comer—she +has been here about six months. She came recommended by a friend, and +bore an excellent character. She and the parlourmaid room together. The +cook, who knew me when I was a schoolboy, sleeps alone; all three +servants sleep on the floor above. I locked the jewels up in the safe +which stands in the dressing-room. My keys and watch I placed, as usual, +beside my bed. As a rule, I am a fairly light sleeper. +</p> +<p> +"'I cannot understand how it could have happened—but—you had better +come up and have a look at the safe. The key must have been abstracted +from my bedside, the safe opened, and the keys replaced—all while I was +fast asleep. Though I had no occasion to look into the safe until just +now, I should have discovered my loss before going to business, for I +intended to take the diamonds away with me—' +</p> +<p> +"The detective and the inspector went up to have a look at the safe. The +lock had in no way been tampered with—it had been opened with its own +key. The detective spoke of chloroform, but Mr. Shipman declared that +when he woke in the morning at about half-past seven there was no smell +of chloroform in the room. However, the proceedings of the daring thief +certainly pointed to the use of an anaesthetic. An examination of the +premises brought to light the fact that the burglar had, as in Mr. +Knopf's house, used the glass-panelled door from the garden as a means +of entrance, but in this instance he had carefully cut out the pane of +glass with a diamond, slipped the bolts, turned the key, and walked in. +</p> +<p> +"'Which among your servants knew that you had the diamonds in your house +last night, Mr. Shipman?' asked the detective. +</p> +<p> +"'Not one, I should say,' replied the jeweller, 'though, perhaps, the +parlourmaid, whilst waiting at table, may have heard me and Mr. Knopf +discussing our bargain.' +</p> +<p> +"'Would you object to my searching all your servants' boxes?' +</p> +<p> +"'Certainly not. They would not object, either, I am sure. They are +perfectly honest.' +</p> +<p> +"The searching of servants' belongings is invariably a useless +proceeding," added the man in the corner, with a shrug of the shoulders. +"No one, not even a latter-day domestic, would be fool enough to keep +stolen property in the house. However, the usual farce was gone through, +with more or less protest on the part of Mr. Shipman's servants, and +with the usual result. +</p> +<p> +"The jeweller could give no further information; the detective and +inspector, to do them justice, did their work of investigation minutely +and, what is more, intelligently. It seemed evident, from their +deductions, that the burglar had commenced proceedings on No. 26, +Phillimore Terrace, and had then gone on, probably climbing over the +garden walls between the houses to No. 22, where he was almost caught in +the act by Robertson. The facts were simple enough, but the mystery +remained as to the individual who had managed to glean the information +of the presence of the diamonds in both the houses, and the means which +he had adopted to get that information. It was obvious that the thief or +thieves knew more about Mr. Knopf's affairs than Mr. Shipman's, since +they had known how to use Mr. Emile Knopf's name in order to get his +brother out of the way. +</p> +<p> +"It was now nearly ten o'clock, and the detectives, having taken leave +of Mr. Shipman, went back to No. 22, in order to ascertain whether Mr. +Knopf had come back; the door was opened by the old charwoman, who said +that her master had returned, and was having some breakfast in the +dining-room. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Ferdinand Knopf was a middle-aged man, with sallow complexion, +black hair and beard, of obviously Hebrew extraction. He spoke with a +marked foreign accent, but very courteously, to the two officials, who, +he begged, would excuse him if he went on with his breakfast. +</p> +<p> +"'I was fully prepared to hear the bad news,' he explained, 'which my +man Robertson told me when I arrived. The letter I got last night was a +bogus one; there is no such person as J. Collins, M.D. My brother had +never felt better in his life. You will, I am sure, very soon trace the +cunning writer of that epistle—ah! but I was in a rage, I can tell +you, when I got to the Metropole at Brighton, and found that Emile, my +brother, had never heard of any Doctor Collins. +</p> +<p> +"'The last train to town had gone, although I raced back to the station +as hard as I could. Poor old Robertson, he has a terrible cold. Ah yes! +my loss! it is for me a very serious one; if I had not made that lucky +bargain with Mr. Shipman last night I should, perhaps, at this moment be +a ruined man. +</p> +<p> +"'The stones I had yesterday were, firstly, some magnificent Brazilians; +these I sold to Mr. Shipman mostly. Then I had some very good Cape +diamonds—all gone; and some quite special Parisians, of wonderful work +and finish, entrusted to me for sale by a great French house. I tell +you, sir, my loss will be nearly £10,000 altogether. I sell on +commission, and, of course, have to make good the loss.' +</p> +<p> +"He was evidently trying to bear up manfully, and as a business man +should, under his sad fate. He refused in any way to attach the +slightest blame to his old and faithful servant Robertson, who had +caught, perhaps, his death of cold in his zeal for his absent master. As +for any hint of suspicion falling even remotely upon the man, the very +idea appeared to Mr. Knopf absolutely preposterous. +</p> +<p> +"With regard to the old charwoman, Mr. Knopf certainly knew nothing +about her, beyond the fact that she had been recommended to him by one +of the tradespeople in the neighbourhood, and seemed perfectly honest, +respectable, and sober. +</p> +<p> +"About the tramp Mr. Knopf knew still less, nor could he imagine how he, +or in fact anybody else, could possibly know that he happened to have +diamonds in his house that night. +</p> +<p> +"This certainly seemed the great hitch in the case. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Ferdinand Knopf, at the instance of the police, later on went to +the station and had a look at the suspected tramp. He declared that he +had never set eyes on him before. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Shipman, on his way home from business in the afternoon, had done +likewise, and made a similar statement. +</p> +<p> +"Brought before the magistrate, the tramp gave but a poor account of +himself. He gave a name and address, which latter, of course, proved to +be false. After that he absolutely refused to speak. He seemed not to +care whether he was kept in custody or not. Very soon even the police +realized that, for the present, at any rate, nothing could be got out of +the suspected tramp. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Francis Howard, the detective, who had charge of the case, though +he would not admit it even to himself, was at his wits' ends. You must +remember that the burglary, through its very simplicity, was an +exceedingly mysterious affair. The constable, D 21, who had stood in +Adam and Eve Mews, presumably while Mr. Knopf's house was being robbed, +had seen no one turn out from the <i>cul-de-sac</i> into the main passage of +the mews. +</p> +<p> +"The stables, which immediately faced the back entrance of the +Phillimore Terrace houses, were all private ones belonging to residents +in the neighbourhood. The coachmen, their families, and all the grooms +who slept in the stablings were rigidly watched and questioned. One and +all had seen nothing, heard nothing, until Robertson's shrieks had +roused them from their sleep. +</p> +<p> +"As for the letter from Brighton, it was absolutely commonplace, and +written upon note-paper which the detective, with Machiavellian cunning, +traced to a stationer's shop in West Street. But the trade at that +particular shop was a very brisk one; scores of people had bought +note-paper there, similar to that on which the supposed doctor had +written his tricky letter. The handwriting was cramped, perhaps a +disguised one; in any case, except under very exceptional circumstances, +it could afford no clue to the identity of the thief. Needless to say, +the tramp, when told to write his name, wrote a totally different and +absolutely uneducated hand. +</p> +<p> +"Matters stood, however, in the same persistently mysterious state when +a small discovery was made, which suggested to Mr. Francis Howard an +idea, which, if properly carried out, would, he hoped, inevitably bring +the cunning burglar safely within the grasp of the police. +</p> +<p> +"That was the discovery of a few of Mr. Knopf's diamonds," continued the +man in the corner after a slight pause, "evidently trampled into the +ground by the thief whilst making his hurried exit through the garden of +No. 22, Phillimore Terrace. +</p> +<p> +"At the end of this garden there is a small studio which had been built +by a former owner of the house, and behind it a small piece of waste +ground about seven feet square which had once been a rockery, and is +still filled with large loose stones, in the shadow of which earwigs and +woodlice innumerable have made a happy hunting ground. +</p> +<p> +"It was Robertson who, two days after the robbery, having need of a +large stone, for some household purpose or other, dislodged one from +that piece of waste ground, and found a few shining pebbles beneath it. +Mr. Knopf took them round to the police-station himself immediately, and +identified the stones as some of his Parisian ones. +</p> +<p> +"Later on the detective went to view the place where the find had been +made, and there conceived the plan upon which he built big cherished +hopes. +</p> +<p> +"Acting upon the advice of Mr. Francis Howard, the police decided to let +the anonymous tramp out of his safe retreat within the station, and to +allow him to wander whithersoever he chose. A good idea, perhaps—the +presumption being that, sooner or later, if the man was in any way mixed +up with the cunning thieves, he would either rejoin his comrades or even +lead the police to where the remnant of his hoard lay hidden; needless +to say, his footsteps were to be literally dogged. +</p> +<p> +"The wretched tramp, on his discharge, wandered out of the yard, +wrapping his thin coat round his shoulders, for it was a bitterly cold +afternoon. He began operations by turning into the Town Hall Tavern for +a good feed and a copious drink. Mr. Francis Howard noted that he seemed +to eye every passer-by with suspicion, but he seemed to enjoy his +dinner, and sat some time over his bottle of wine. +</p> +<p> +"It was close upon four o'clock when he left the tavern, and then began +for the indefatigable Mr. Howard one of the most wearisome and +uninteresting chases, through the mazes of the London streets, he ever +remembers to have made. Up Notting Hill, down the slums of Notting +Dale, along the High Street, beyond Hammersmith, and through Shepherd's +Bush did that anonymous tramp lead the unfortunate detective, never +hurrying himself, stopping every now and then at a public-house to get a +drink, whither Mr. Howard did not always care to follow him. +</p> +<p> +"In spite of his fatigue, Mr. Francis Howard's hopes rose with every +half-hour of this weary tramp. The man was obviously striving to kill +time; he seemed to feel no weariness, but walked on and on, perhaps +suspecting that he was being followed. +</p> +<p> +"At last, with a beating heart, though half perished with cold, and with +terribly sore feet, the detective began to realize that the tramp was +gradually working his way back towards Kensington. It was then close +upon eleven o'clock at night; once or twice the man had walked up and +down the High Street, from St. Paul's School to Derry and Toms' shops +and back again, he had looked down one or two of the side streets +and—at last—he turned into Phillimore Terrace. He seemed in no hurry, +he oven stopped once in the middle of the road, trying to light a pipe, +which, as there was a high east wind, took him some considerable time. +Then he leisurely sauntered down the street, and turned into Adam and +Eve Mews, with Mr. Francis Howard now close at his heels. +</p> +<p> +"Acting upon the detective's instructions, there were several men in +plain clothes ready to his call in the immediate neighbourhood. Two +stood within the shadow of the steps of the Congregational Church at the +corner of the mews, others were stationed well within a soft call. +</p> +<p> +"Hardly, therefore, had the hare turned into the <i>cul-de-sac</i> at the +back of Phillimore Terrace than, at a slight sound from Mr. Francis +Howard, every egress was barred to him, and he was caught like a rat in +a trap. +</p> +<p> +"As soon as the tramp had advanced some thirty yards or so (the whole +length of this part of the mews is about one hundred yards) and was lost +in the shadow, Mr. Francis Howard directed four or five of his men to +proceed cautiously up the mews, whilst the same number were to form a +line all along the front of Phillimore Terrace between the mews and the +High Street. +</p> +<p> +"Remember, the back-garden walls threw long and dense shadows, but the +silhouette of the man would be clearly outlined if he made any attempt +at climbing over them. Mr. Howard felt quite sure that the thief was +bent on recovering the stolen goods, which, no doubt, he had hidden in +the rear of one of the houses. He would be caught <i>in flagrante delicto</i>, +and, with a heavy sentence hovering over him, he would probably be +induced to name his accomplice. Mr. Francis Howard was thoroughly +enjoying himself. +</p> +<p> +"The minutes sped on; absolute silence, in spite of the presence of so +many men, reigned in the dark and deserted mews. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, this night's adventure was never allowed to get into the +papers," added the man in the corner with his mild smile. "Had the plan +been successful, we should have heard all about it, with a long +eulogistic article as to the astuteness of our police; but as it +was—well, the tramp sauntered up the mews—and—there he remained for +aught Mr. Francis Howard or the other constables could ever explain. The +earth or the shadows swallowed him up. No one saw him climb one of the +garden walls, no one heard him break open a door; he had retreated +within the shadow of the garden walls, and was seen or heard of no +more." +</p> +<p> +"One of the servants in the Phillimore Terrace houses must have belonged +to the gang," said Polly with quick decision. +</p> +<p> +"Ah, yes! but which?" said the man in the corner, making a beautiful +knot in his bit of string. "I can assure you that the police left not a +stone unturned once more to catch sight of that tramp whom they had had +in custody for two days, but not a trace of him could they find, nor of +the diamonds, from that day to this." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH6"><!-- CH6 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VI +</h2> + +<h3> +ALL HE KNEW +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"The tramp was missing," continued the man in the corner, "and Mr. +Francis Howard tried to find the missing tramp. Going round to the +front, and seeing the lights at No. 26 still in, he called upon Mr. +Shipman. The jeweller had had a few friends to dinner, and was giving +them whiskies-and-sodas before saying good night. The servants had just +finished washing up, and were waiting to go to bed; neither they nor Mr. +Shipman nor his guests had seen or heard anything of the suspicious +individual. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Francis Howard went on to see Mr. Ferdinand Knopf. This gentleman +was having his warm bath, preparatory to going to bed. So Robertson told +the detective. However, Mr. Knopf insisted on talking to Mr. Howard +through his bath-room door. Mr. Knopf thanked him for all the trouble he +was taking, and felt sure that he and Mr. Shipman would soon recover +possession of their diamonds, thanks to the persevering detective. +</p> +<p> +"He! he! he!" laughed the man in the corner. "Poor Mr. Howard. He +persevered—but got no farther; no, nor anyone else, for that matter. +Even I might not be able to convict the thieves if I told all I knew to +the police. +</p> +<p> +"Now, follow my reasoning, point by point," he added eagerly. +</p> +<p> +"Who knew of the presence of the diamonds in the house of Mr. Shipman +and Mr. Knopf? Firstly," he said, putting up an ugly claw-like finger, +"Mr. Shipman, then Mr. Knopf, then, presumably, the man Robertson." +</p> +<p> +"And the tramp?" said Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Leave the tramp alone for the present since he has vanished, and take +point number two. Mr. Shipman was drugged. That was pretty obvious; no +man under ordinary circumstances would, without waking, have his keys +abstracted and then replaced at his own bedside. Mr. Howard suggested +that the thief was armed with some anaesthetic; but how did the thief +get into Mr. Shipman's room without waking him from his natural sleep? +Is it not simpler to suppose that the thief had taken the precaution to +drug the jeweller <i>before</i> the latter went to bed?" +</p> +<p> +"But—" +</p> +<p> +"Wait a moment, and take point number three. Though there was every +proof that Mr. Shipman had been in possession of £25,000 worth of goods +since Mr. Knopf had a cheque from him for that amount, there was no +proof that in Mr. Knopf's house there was even an odd stone worth a +sovereign. +</p> +<p> +"And then again," went on the scarecrow, getting more and more excited, +"did it ever strike you, or anybody else, that at <i>no</i> time, while the +tramp was in custody, while all that searching examination was being +gone on with, no one ever saw Mr. Knopf and his man Robertson together +at the same time? +</p> +<p> +"Ah!" he continued, whilst suddenly the young girl seemed to see the +whole thing as in a vision, "they did not forget a single detail—follow +them with me, point by point. Two cunning scoundrels—geniuses they +should be called—well provided with some ill-gotten funds—but +determined on a grand <i>coup</i>. They play at respectability, for six +months, say. One is the master, the other the servant; they take a house +in the same street as their intended victim, make friends with him, +accomplish one or two creditable but very small business transactions, +always drawing on the reserve funds, which might even have amounted to a +few hundreds—and a bit of credit. +</p> +<p> +"Then the Brazilian diamonds, and the Parisians—which, remember, were +so perfect that they required chemical testing to be detected. The +Parisian stones are sold—not in business, of course—in the evening, +after dinner and a good deal of wine. Mr. Knopf's Brazilians were +beautiful; perfect! Mr. Knopf was a well-known diamond merchant. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Shipman bought—but with the morning would have come sober sense, +the cheque stopped before it could have been presented, the swindler +caught. No! those exquisite Parisians were never intended to rest in Mr. +Shipman's safe until the morning. That last bottle of '48 port, with the +aid of a powerful soporific, ensured that Mr. Shipman would sleep +undisturbed during the night. +</p> +<p> +"Ah! remember all the details, they were so admirable! the letter posted +in Brighton by the cunning rogue to himself, the smashed desk, the +broken pane of glass in his own house. The man Robertson on the watch, +while Knopf himself in ragged clothing found his way into No. 26. If +Constable D 21 had not appeared upon the scene that exciting comedy in +the early morning would not have been enacted. As it was, in the +supposed fight, Mr. Shipman's diamonds passed from the hands of the +tramp into those of his accomplice. +</p> +<p> +"Then, later on, Robertson, ill in bed, while his master was supposed to +have returned—by the way, it never struck anybody that no one saw Mr. +Knopf come home, though he surely would have driven up in a cab. Then +the double part played by one man for the next two days. It certainly +never struck either the police or the inspector. Remember they only saw +Robertson when in bed with a streaming cold. But Knopf had to be got out +of gaol as soon as possible; the dual <i>rôle</i> could not have been kept up +for long. Hence the story of the diamonds found in the garden of No. 22. +The cunning rogues guessed that the usual plan would be acted upon, and +the suspected thief allowed to visit the scene where his hoard lay +hidden. +</p> +<p> +"It had all been foreseen, and Robertson must have been constantly on +the watch. The tramp stopped, mind you, in Phillimore Terrace for some +moments, lighting a pipe. The accomplice, then, was fully on the alert; +he slipped the bolts of the back garden gate. Five minutes later Knopf +was in the house, in a hot bath, getting rid of the disguise of our +friend the tramp. Remember that again here the detective did not +actually see him. +</p> +<p> +"The next morning Mr. Knopf, black hair and beard and all, was himself +again. The whole trick lay in one simple art, which those two cunning +rascals knew to absolute perfection, the art of impersonating one +another. +</p> +<p> +"They are brothers, presumably—twin brothers, I should say." +</p> +<p> +"But Mr. Knopf—" suggested Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Well, look in the Trades' Directory; you will see F. Knopf & Co., +diamond merchants, of some City address. Ask about the firm among the +trade; you will hear that it is firmly established on a sound financial +basis. He! he! he! and it deserves to be," added the man in the corner, +as, calling for the waitress, he received his ticket, and taking up his +shabby hat, took himself and his bit of string rapidly out of the room. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH7"><!-- CH7 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE YORK MYSTERY +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The man in the corner looked quite cheerful that morning; he had had two +glasses of milk and had even gone to the extravagance of an extra +cheese-cake. Polly knew that he was itching to talk police and murders, +for he cast furtive glances at her from time to time, produced a bit of +string, tied and untied it into scores of complicated knots, and +finally, bringing out his pocket-book, he placed two or three +photographs before her. +</p> +<p> +"Do you know who that is?" he asked, pointing to one of these. +</p> +<p> +The girl looked at the face on the picture. It was that of a woman, not +exactly pretty, but very gentle and childlike, with a strange pathetic +look in the large eyes which was wonderfully appealing. +</p> +<p> +"That was Lady Arthur Skelmerton," he said, and in a flash there flitted +before Polly's mind the weird and tragic history which had broken this +loving woman's heart. Lady Arthur Skelmerton! That name recalled one of +the most bewildering, most mysterious passages in the annals of +undiscovered crimes. +</p> +<p> +"Yes. It was sad, wasn't it?" he commented, in answer to Polly's +thoughts. "Another case which but for idiotic blunders on the part of +the police must have stood clear as daylight before the public and +satisfied general anxiety. Would you object to my recapitulating its +preliminary details?" +</p> +<p> +She said nothing, so he continued without waiting further for a reply. +</p> +<p> +"It all occurred during the York racing week, a time which brings to the +quiet cathedral city its quota of shady characters, who congregate +wherever money and wits happen to fly away from their owners. Lord +Arthur Skelmerton, a very well-known figure in London society and in +racing circles, had rented one of the fine houses which overlook the +racecourse. He had entered Peppercorn, by St. Armand—Notre Dame, for +the Great Ebor Handicap. Peppercorn was the winner of the Newmarket, and +his chances for the Ebor were considered a practical certainty. +</p> +<p> +"If you have ever been to York you will have noticed the fine houses +which have their drive and front entrances in the road called 'The +Mount.' and the gardens of which extend as far as the racecourse, +commanding a lovely view over the entire track. It was one of these +houses, called 'The Elms,' which Lord Arthur Skelmerton had rented for +the summer. +</p> +<p> +"Lady Arthur came down some little time before the racing week with her +servants—she had no children; but she had many relatives and friends in +York, since she was the daughter of old Sir John Etty, the cocoa +manufacturer, a rigid Quaker, who, it was generally said, kept the +tightest possible hold on his own purse-strings and looked with marked +disfavour upon his aristocratic son-in-law's fondness for gaming tables +and betting books. +</p> +<p> +"As a matter of fact, Maud Etty had married the handsome young +lieutenant in the Hussars, quite against her father's wishes. But she +was an only child, and after a good deal of demur and grumbling, Sir +John, who idolized his daughter, gave way to her whim, and a reluctant +consent to the marriage was wrung from him. +</p> +<p> +"But, as a Yorkshireman, he was far too shrewd a man of the world not to +know that love played but a very small part in persuading a Duke's son +to marry the daughter of a cocoa manufacturer, and as long as he lived +he determined that since his daughter was being wed because of her +wealth, that wealth should at least secure her own happiness. He refused +to give Lady Arthur any capital, which, in spite of the most carefully +worded settlements, would inevitably, sooner or later, have found its +way into the pockets of Lord Arthur's racing friends. But he made his +daughter a very handsome allowance, amounting to over £3000 a year, +which enabled her to keep up an establishment befitting her new rank. +</p> +<p> +"A great many of these facts, intimate enough as they are, leaked out, +you see, during that period of intense excitement which followed the +murder of Charles Lavender, and when the public eye was fixed +searchingly upon Lord Arthur Skelmerton, probing all the inner details +of his idle, useless life. +</p> +<p> +"It soon became a matter of common gossip that poor little Lady Arthur +continued to worship her handsome husband in spite of his obvious +neglect, and not having as yet presented him with an heir, she settled +herself down into a life of humble apology for her plebeian existence, +atoning for it by condoning all his faults and forgiving all his vices, +even to the extent of cloaking them before the prying eyes of Sir John, +who was persuaded to look upon his son-in-law as a paragon of all the +domestic virtues and a perfect model of a husband. +</p> +<p> +"Among Lord Arthur Skelmerton's many expensive tastes there was +certainly that for horseflesh and cards. After some successful betting +at the beginning of his married life, he had started a racing-stable +which it was generally believed—as he was very lucky—was a regular +source of income to him. +</p> +<p> +"Peppercorn, however, after his brilliant performances at Newmarket did +not continue to fulfil his master's expectations. His collapse at York +was attributed to the hardness of the course and to various other +causes, but its immediate effect was to put Lord Arthur Skelmerton in +what is popularly called a tight place, for he had backed his horse for +all he was worth, and must have stood to lose considerably over £5000 on +that one day. +</p> +<p> +"The collapse of the favourite and the grand victory of King Cole, a +rank outsider, on the other hand, had proved a golden harvest for the +bookmakers, and all the York hotels were busy with dinners and suppers +given by the confraternity of the Turf to celebrate the happy occasion. +The next day was Friday, one of few important racing events, after which +the brilliant and the shady throng which had flocked into the venerable +city for the week would fly to more congenial climes, and leave it, with +its fine old Minster and its ancient walls, as sleepy, as quiet as +before. +</p> +<p> +"Lord Arthur Skelmerton also intended to leave York on the Saturday, and +on the Friday night he gave a farewell bachelor dinner party at 'The +Elms,' at which Lady Arthur did not appear. After dinner the gentlemen +settled down to bridge, with pretty stiff points, you may be sure. It +had just struck eleven at the Minster Tower, when constables McNaught +and Murphy, who were patrolling the racecourse, were startled by loud +cries of 'murder' and 'police.' +</p> +<p> +"Quickly ascertaining whence these cries proceeded, they hurried on at a +gallop, and came up—quite close to the boundary of Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's grounds—upon a group of three men, two of whom seemed to +be wrestling vigorously with one another, whilst the third was lying +face downwards on the ground. As soon as the constables drew near, one +of the wrestlers shouted more vigorously, and with a certain tone of +authority: +</p> +<p> +"'Here, you fellows, hurry up, sharp; the brute is giving me the slip!' +</p> +<p> +"But the brute did not seem inclined to do anything of the sort; he +certainly extricated himself with a violent jerk from his assailant's +grasp, but made no attempt to run away. The constables had quickly +dismounted, whilst he who had shouted for help originally added more +quietly: +</p> +<p> +"'My name is Skelmerton. This is the boundary of my property. I was +smoking a cigar at the pavilion over there with a friend when I heard +loud voices, followed by a cry and a groan. I hurried down the steps, +and saw this poor fellow lying on the ground, with a knife sticking +between his shoulder-blades, and his murderer,' he added, pointing to +the man who stood quietly by with Constable McNaught's firm grip upon +his shoulder, 'still stooping over the body of his victim. I was too +late, I fear, to save the latter, but just in time to grapple with the +assassin—" +</p> +<p> +"'It's a lie!' here interrupted the man hoarsely. 'I didn't do it, +constable; I swear I didn't do it. I saw him fall—I was coming along a +couple of hundred yards away, and I tried to see if the poor fellow was +dead. I swear I didn't do it.' +</p> +<p> +"'You'll have to explain that to the inspector presently, my man,' was +Constable McNaught's quiet comment, and, still vigorously protesting his +innocence, the accused allowed himself to be led away, and the body was +conveyed to the station, pending fuller identification. +</p> +<p> +"The next morning the papers were full of the tragedy; a column and a +half of the <i>York Herald</i> was devoted to an account of Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's plucky capture of the assassin. The latter had continued to +declare his innocence, but had remarked, it appears, with grim humour, +that he quite saw he was in a tight place, out of which, however, he +would find it easy to extricate himself. He had stated to the police +that the deceased's name was Charles Lavender, a well-known bookmaker, +which fact was soon verified, for many of the murdered man's 'pals' +were still in the city. +</p> +<p> +"So far the most pushing of newspaper reporters had been unable to glean +further information from the police; no one doubted, however, but that +the man in charge, who gave his name as George Higgins, had killed the +bookmaker for purposes of robbery. The inquest had been fixed for the +Tuesday after the murder. +</p> +<p> +"Lord Arthur had been obliged to stay in York a few days, as his +evidence would be needed. That fact gave the case, perhaps, a certain +amount of interest as far as York and London 'society' were concerned. +Charles Lavender, moreover, was well known on the turf; but no bombshell +exploding beneath the walls of the ancient cathedral city could more +have astonished its inhabitants than the news which, at about five in +the afternoon on the day of the inquest, spread like wildfire throughout +the town. That news was that the inquest had concluded at three o'clock +with a verdict of 'Wilful murder against some person or persons +unknown,' and that two hours later the police had arrested Lord Arthur +Skelmerton at his private residence, 'The Elms,' and charged him on a +warrant with the murder of Charles Lavender, the bookmaker." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH8"><!-- CH8 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VIII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE CAPITAL CHARGE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"The police, it appears, instinctively feeling that some mystery lurked +round the death of the bookmaker and his supposed murderer's quiet +protestations of innocence, had taken a very considerable amount of +trouble in collecting all the evidence they could for the inquest which +might throw some light upon Charles Lavender's life, previous to his +tragic end. Thus it was that a very large array of witnesses was brought +before the coroner, chief among whom was, of course, Lord Arthur +Skelmerton. +</p> +<p> +"The first witnesses called were the two constables, who deposed that, +just as the church clocks in the neighbourhood were striking eleven, +they had heard the cries for help, had ridden to the spot whence the +sounds proceeded, and had found the prisoner in the tight grasp of Lord +Arthur Skelmerton, who at once accused the man of murder, and gave him +in charge. Both constables gave the same version of the incident, and +both were positive as to the time when it occurred. +</p> +<p> +"Medical evidence went to prove that the deceased had been stabbed from +behind between the shoulder-blades whilst he was walking, that the wound +was inflicted by a large hunting knife, which was produced, and which +had been left sticking in the wound. +</p> +<p> +"Lord Arthur Skelmerton was then called and substantially repeated what +he had already told the constables. He stated, namely, that on the night +in question he had some gentlemen friends to dinner, and afterwards +bridge was played. He himself was not playing much, and at a few minutes +before eleven he strolled out with a cigar as far as the pavilion at the +end of his garden; he then heard the voices, the cry and the groan +previously described by him, and managed to hold the murderer down until +the arrival of the constables. +</p> +<p> +"At this point the police proposed to call a witness, James Terry by +name and a bookmaker by profession, who had been chiefly instrumental in +identifying the deceased, a 'pal' of his. It was his evidence which +first introduced that element of sensation into the case which +culminated in the wildly exciting arrest of a Duke's son upon a capital +charge. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that on the evening after the Ebor, Terry and Lavender were +in the bar of the Black Swan Hotel having drinks. +</p> +<p> +"'I had done pretty well over Peppercorn's fiasco,' he explained, 'but +poor old Lavender was very much down in the dumps; he had held only a +few very small bets against the favourite, and the rest of the day had +been a poor one with him. I asked him if he had any bets with the owner +of Peppercorn, and he told me that he only held one for less than £500. +</p> +<p> +"'I laughed and said that if he held one for £5000 it would make no +difference, as from what I had heard from the other fellows, Lord Arthur +Skelmerton must be about stumped. Lavender seemed terribly put out at +this, and swore he would get that £500 out of Lord Arthur, if no one +else got another penny from him. +</p> +<p> +"'It's the only money I've made to-day,' he says to me. 'I mean to get +it.' +</p> +<p> +"'You won't,' I says. +</p> +<p> +"'I will,' he says. +</p> +<p> +"'You will have to look pretty sharp about it then,' I says, 'for every +one will be wanting to get something, and first come first served.' +</p> +<p> +"'Oh! He'll serve me right enough, never you mind!' says Lavender to me +with a laugh. 'If he don't pay up willingly, I've got that in my pocket +which will make him sit up and open my lady's eyes and Sir John Etty's +too about their precious noble lord.' +</p> +<p> +"'Then he seemed to think he had gone too far, and wouldn't say anything +more to me about that affair. I saw him on the course the next day. I +asked him if he had got his £500. He said: "No, but I shall get it +to-day."' +</p> +<p> +"Lord Arthur Skelmerton, after having given his own evidence, had left +the court; it was therefore impossible to know how he would take this +account, which threw so serious a light upon an association with the +dead man, of which he himself had said nothing. +</p> +<p> +"Nothing could shake James Terry's account of the facts he had placed +before the jury, and when the police informed the coroner that they +proposed to place George Higgins himself in the witness-box, as his +evidence would prove, as it were, a complement and corollary of that of +Terry, the jury very eagerly assented. +</p> +<p> +"If James Terry, the bookmaker, loud, florid, vulgar, was an +unprepossessing individual, certainly George Higgins, who was still +under the accusation of murder, was ten thousand times more so. +</p> +<p> +"None too clean, slouchy, obsequious yet insolent, he was the very +personification of the cad who haunts the racecourse and who lives not +so much by his own wits as by the lack of them in others. He described +himself as a turf commission agent, whatever that may be. +</p> +<p> +"He stated that at about six o'clock on the Friday afternoon, when the +racecourse was still full of people, all hurrying after the day's +excitements, he himself happened to be standing close to the hedge which +marks the boundary of Lord Arthur Skelmerton's grounds. There is a +pavilion there at the end of the garden, he explained, on slightly +elevated ground, and he could hear and see a group of ladies and +gentlemen having tea. Some steps lead down a little to the left of the +garden on to the course, and presently he noticed at the bottom of these +steps Lord Arthur Skelmerton and Charles Lavender standing talking +together. He knew both gentlemen by sight, but he could not see them +very well as they were both partly hidden by the hedge. He was quite +sure that the gentlemen had not seen him, and he could not help +overhearing some of their conversation. +</p> +<p> +"'That's my last word, Lavender,' Lord Arthur was saying very quietly. +'I haven't got the money and I can't pay you now. You'll have to wait.' +</p> +<p> +"'Wait? I can't wait,' said old Lavender in reply. 'I've got my +engagements to meet, same as you. I'm not going to risk being posted up +as a defaulter while you hold £500 of my money. You'd better give it me +now or—' +</p> +<p> +"But Lord Arthur interrupted him very quietly, and said: +</p> +<p> +"'Yes, my good man.... or?' +</p> +<p> +"'Or I'll let Sir John have a good look at that little bill I had of +yours a couple of years ago. If you'll remember, my lord, it has got at +the bottom of it Sir John's signature in <i>your</i> handwriting. Perhaps +Sir John, or perhaps my lady, would pay me something for that little +bill. If not, the police can have a squint at it. I've held my tongue +long enough, and—' +</p> +<p> +"'Look here, Lavender,' said Lord Arthur, 'do you know what this little +game of yours is called in law?' +</p> +<p> +"'Yes, and I don't care,' says Lavender. 'If I don't have that £500 I am +a ruined man. If you ruin me I'll do for you, and we shall be quits. +That's my last word.' +</p> +<p> +"He was talking very loudly, and I thought some of Lord Arthur's friends +up in the pavilion must have heard. He thought so, too, I think, for he +said quickly: +</p> +<p> +"'If you don't hold your confounded tongue, I'll give you in charge for +blackmail this instant.' +</p> +<p> +"'You wouldn't dare,' says Lavender, and he began to laugh. But just +then a lady from the top of the steps said: 'Your tea is getting cold,' +and Lord Arthur turned to go; but just before he went Lavender says to +him: 'I'll come back to-night. You'll have the money then.' +</p> +<p> +"George Higgins, it appears, after he had heard this interesting +conversation, pondered as to whether he could not turn what he knew into +some sort of profit. Being a gentleman who lives entirely by his wits, +this type of knowledge forms his chief source of income. As a +preliminary to future moves, he decided not to lose sight of Lavender +for the rest of the day. +</p> +<p> +"'Lavender went and had dinner at The Black Swan,' explained Mr. George +Higgins, 'and I, after I had had a bite myself, waited outside till I +saw him come out. At about ten o'clock I was rewarded for my trouble. He +told the hall porter to get him a fly and he jumped into it. I could not +hear what direction he gave the driver, but the fly certainly drove off +towards the racecourse. +</p> +<p> +"'Now, I was interested in this little affair,' continued the witness, +'and I couldn't afford a fly. I started to run. Of course, I couldn't +keep up with it, but I thought I knew which way my gentleman had gone. I +made straight for the racecourse, and for the hedge at the bottom of +Lord Arthur Skelmerton's grounds. +</p> +<p> +"'It was rather a dark night and there was a slight drizzle. I couldn't +see more than about a hundred yards before me. All at once it seemed to +me as if I heard Lavender's voice talking loudly in the distance. I +hurried forward, and suddenly saw a group of two figures—mere blurs in +the darkness—for one instant, at a distance of about fifty yards from +where I was. +</p> +<p> +"'The next moment one figure had fallen forward and the other had +disappeared. I ran to the spot, only to find the body of the murdered +man lying on the ground. I stooped to see if I could be of any use to +him, and immediately I was collared from behind by Lord Arthur +himself.' +</p> +<p> +"You may imagine," said the man in the corner, "how keen was the +excitement of that moment in court. Coroner and jury alike literally +hung breathless on every word that shabby, vulgar individual uttered. +You see, by itself his evidence would have been worth very little, but +coming on the top of that given by James Terry, its significance—more, +its truth—had become glaringly apparent. Closely cross-examined, he +adhered strictly to his statement; and having finished his evidence, +George Higgins remained in charge of the constables, and the next +witness of importance was called up. +</p> +<p> +"This was Mr. Chipps, the senior footman in the employment of Lord +Arthur Skelmerton. He deposed that at about 10.30 on the Friday evening +a 'party' drove up to 'The Elms' in a fly, and asked to see Lord Arthur. +On being told that his lordship had company he seemed terribly put out. +</p> +<p> +"'I hasked the party to give me 'is card,' continued Mr. Chipps, 'as I +didn't know, perhaps, that 'is lordship might wish to see 'im, but I +kept 'im standing at the 'all door, as I didn't altogether like his +looks. I took the card in. His lordship and the gentlemen was playin' +cards in the smoking-room, and as soon as I could do so without +disturbing 'is lordship, I give him the party's card.' +</p> +<p> +"'What name was there on the card?' here interrupted the coroner. +</p> +<p> +"'I couldn't say now, sir,' replied Mr. Chipps; 'I don't really +remember. It was a name I had never seen before. But I see so many +visiting cards one way and the other in 'is lordship's 'all that I can't +remember all the names.' +</p> +<p> +"'Then, after a few minutes' waiting, you gave his lordship the card? +What happened then?' +</p> +<p> +"''Is lordship didn't seem at all pleased,' said Mr. Chipps with much +guarded dignity; 'but finally he said: "Show him into the library, +Chipps, I'll see him," and he got up from the card table, saying to the +gentlemen: "Go on without me; I'll be back in a minute or two." +</p> +<p> +"'I was about to open the door for 'is lordship when my lady came into +the room, and then his lordship suddenly changed his mind like, and said +to me: "Tell that man I'm busy and can't see him," and 'e sat down again +at the card table. I went back to the 'all, and told the party 'is +lordship wouldn't see 'im. 'E said: "Oh! it doesn't matter," and went +away quite quiet like.' +</p> +<p> +"'Do you recollect at all at what time that was?' asked one of the jury. +</p> +<p> +"'Yes, sir, while I was waiting to speak to 'is lordship I looked at +the clock, sir; it was twenty past ten, sir.' +</p> +<p> +"There was one more significant fact in connection with the case, which +tended still more to excite the curiosity of the public at the time, and +still further to bewilder the police later on, and that fact was +mentioned by Chipps in his evidence. The knife, namely, with which +Charles Lavender had been stabbed, and which, remember, had been left in +the wound, was now produced in court. After a little hesitation Chipps +identified it as the property of his master, Lord Arthur Skelmerton. +</p> +<p> +"Can you wonder, then, that the jury absolutely refused to bring in a +verdict against George Higgins? There was really, beyond Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's testimony, not one particle of evidence against him, +whilst, as the day wore on and witness after witness was called up, +suspicion ripened in the minds of all those present that the murderer +could be no other than Lord Arthur Skelmerton himself. +</p> +<p> +"The knife was, of course, the strongest piece of circumstantial +evidence, and no doubt the police hoped to collect a great deal more now +that they held a clue in their hands. Directly after the verdict, +therefore, which was guardedly directed against some person unknown, the +police obtained a warrant and later on arrested Lord Arthur in his own +house." +</p> +<p> +"The sensation, of course, was tremendous. Hours before he was brought +up before the magistrate the approach to the court was thronged. His +friends, mostly ladies, were all eager, you see, to watch the dashing +society man in so terrible a position. There was universal sympathy for +Lady Arthur, who was in a very precarious state of health. Her worship +of her worthless husband was well known; small wonder that his final and +awful misdeed had practically broken her heart. The latest bulletin +issued just after his arrest stated that her ladyship was not expected +to live. She was then in a comatose condition, and all hope had perforce +to be abandoned. +</p> +<p> +"At last the prisoner was brought in. He looked very pale, perhaps, but +otherwise kept up the bearing of a high-bred gentleman. He was +accompanied by his solicitor, Sir Marmaduke Ingersoll, who was evidently +talking to him in quiet, reassuring tones. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Buchanan prosecuted for the Treasury, and certainly his indictment +was terrific. According to him but one decision could be arrived at, +namely, that the accused in the dock had, in a moment of passion, and +perhaps of fear, killed the blackmailer who threatened him with +disclosures which might for ever have ruined him socially, and, having +committed the deed and fearing its consequences, probably realizing that +the patrolling constables might catch sight of his retreating figure, +he had availed himself of George Higgins's presence on the spot to +loudly accuse him of the murder. +</p> +<p> +"Having concluded his able speech, Mr. Buchanan called his witnesses, +and the evidence, which on second hearing seemed more damning than ever, +was all gone through again. +</p> +<p> +"Sir Marmaduke had no question to ask of the witnesses for the +prosecution; he stared at them placidly through his gold-rimmed +spectacles. Then he was ready to call his own for the defence. Colonel +McIntosh, R.A., was the first. He was present at the bachelors' party +given by Lord Arthur the night of the murder. His evidence tended at +first to corroborate that of Chipps the footman with regard to Lord +Arthur's orders to show the visitor into the library, and his +counter-order as soon as his wife came into the room. +</p> +<p> +"'Did you not think it strange, Colonel?' asked Mr. Buchanan, 'that Lord +Arthur should so suddenly have changed his mind about seeing his +visitor?' +</p> +<p> +"'Well, not exactly strange,' said the Colonel, a fine, manly, soldierly +figure who looked curiously out of his element in the witness-box. 'I +don't think that it is a very rare occurrence for racing men to have +certain acquaintances whom they would not wish their wives to know +anything about.' +</p> +<p> +"'Then it did not strike you that Lord Arthur Skelmerton had some +reason for not wishing his wife to know of that particular visitor's +presence in his house?' +</p> +<p> +"'I don't think that I gave the matter the slightest serious +consideration,' was the Colonel's guarded reply. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Buchanan did not press the point, and allowed the witness to +conclude his statements. +</p> +<p> +"'I had finished my turn at bridge,' he said, 'and went out into the +garden to smoke a cigar. Lord Arthur Skelmerton joined me a few minutes +later, and we were sitting in the pavilion when I heard a loud and, as I +thought, threatening voice from the other side of the hedge. +</p> +<p> +"'I did not catch the words, but Lord Arthur said to me: "There seems to +be a row down there. I'll go and have a look and see what it is." I +tried to dissuade him, and certainly made no attempt to follow him, but +not more than half a minute could have elapsed before I heard a cry and +a groan, then Lord Arthur's footsteps hurrying down the wooden stairs +which lead on to the racecourse.' +</p> +<p> +"You may imagine," said the man in the corner, "what severe +cross-examination the gallant Colonel had to undergo in order that his +assertions might in some way be shaken by the prosecution, but with +military precision and frigid calm he repeated his important statements +amidst a general silence, through which you could have heard the +proverbial pin. +</p> +<p> +"He had heard the threatening voice <i>while</i> sitting with Lord Arthur +Skelmerton; then came the cry and groan, and, <i>after that</i>, Lord +Arthur's steps down the stairs. He himself thought of following to see +what had happened, but it was a very dark night and he did not know the +grounds very well. While trying to find his way to the garden steps he +heard Lord Arthur's cry for help, the tramp of the patrolling +constables' horses, and subsequently the whole scene between Lord +Arthur, the man Higgins, and the constables. When he finally found his +way to the stairs, Lord Arthur was returning in order to send a groom +for police assistance. +</p> +<p> +"The witness stuck to his points as he had to his guns at Beckfontein a +year ago; nothing could shake him, and Sir Marmaduke looked triumphantly +across at his opposing colleague. +</p> +<p> +"With the gallant Colonel's statements the edifice of the prosecution +certainly began to collapse. You see, there was not a particle of +evidence to show that the accused had met and spoken to the deceased +after the latter's visit at the front door of 'The Elms.' He told Chipps +that he wouldn't see the visitor, and Chipps went into the hall directly +and showed Lavender out the way he came. No assignation could have been +made, no hint could have been given by the murdered man to Lord Arthur +that he would go round to the back entrance and wished to see him there. +</p> +<p> +"Two other guests of Lord Arthur's swore positively that after Chipps +had announced the visitor, their host stayed at the card-table until a +quarter to eleven, when evidently he went out to join Colonel McIntosh +in the garden. Sir Marmaduke's speech was clever in the extreme. Bit by +bit he demolished that tower of strength, the case against the accused, +basing his defence entirely upon the evidence of Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's guests that night. +</p> +<p> +"Until 10.45 Lord Arthur was playing cards; a quarter of an hour later +the police were on the scene, and the murder had been committed. In the +meanwhile Colonel McIntosh's evidence proved conclusively that the +accused had been sitting with him, smoking a cigar. It was obvious, +therefore, clear as daylight, concluded the great lawyer, that his +client was entitled to a full discharge; nay, more, he thought that the +police should have been more careful before they harrowed up public +feeling by arresting a high-born gentleman on such insufficient evidence +as they had brought forward. +</p> +<p> +"The question of the knife remained certainly, but Sir Marmaduke passed +over it with guarded eloquence, placing that strange question in the +category of those inexplicable coincidences which tend to puzzle the +ablest detectives, and cause them to commit such unpardonable blunders +as the present one had been. After all, the footman may have been +mistaken. The pattern of that knife was not an exclusive one, and he, on +behalf of his client, flatly denied that it had ever belonged to him. +</p> +<p> +"Well," continued the man in the corner, with the chuckle peculiar to +him in moments of excitement, "the noble prisoner was discharged. +Perhaps it would be invidious to say that he left the court without a +stain on his character, for I daresay you know from experience that the +crime known as the York Mystery has never been satisfactorily cleared +up. +</p> +<p> +"Many people shook their heads dubiously when they remembered that, +after all, Charles Lavender was killed with a knife which one witness +had sworn belonged to Lord Arthur; others, again, reverted to the +original theory that George Higgins was the murderer, that he and James +Terry had concocted the story of Lavender's attempt at blackmail on Lord +Arthur, and that the murder had been committed for the sole purpose of +robbery. +</p> +<p> +"Be that as it may, the police have not so far been able to collect +sufficient evidence against Higgins or Terry, and the crime has been +classed by press and public alike in the category of so-called +impenetrable mysteries." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH9"><!-- CH9 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER IX +</h2> + +<h3> +A BROKEN-HEARTED WOMAN +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The man in the corner called for another glass of milk, and drank it +down slowly before he resumed: +</p> +<p> +"Now Lord Arthur lives mostly abroad," he said. "His poor, suffering +wife died the day after he was liberated by the magistrate. She never +recovered consciousness even sufficiently to hear the joyful news that +the man she loved so well was innocent after all. +</p> +<p> +"Mystery!" he added as if in answer to Polly's own thoughts. "The murder +of that man was never a mystery to me. I cannot understand how the +police could have been so blind when every one of the witnesses, both +for the prosecution and defence, practically pointed all the time to the +one guilty person. What do you think of it all yourself?" +</p> +<p> +"I think the whole case so bewildering," she replied, "that I do not see +one single clear point in it." +</p> +<p> +"You don't?" he said excitedly, while the bony fingers fidgeted again +with that inevitable bit of string. "You don't see that there is one +point clear which to me was the key of the whole thing? +</p> +<p> +"Lavender was murdered, wasn't he? Lord Arthur did not kill him. He had, +at least, in Colonel McIntosh an unimpeachable witness to prove that he +could not have committed that murder—and yet," he added with slow, +excited emphasis, marking each sentence with a knot, "and yet he +deliberately tries to throw the guilt upon a man who obviously was also +innocent. Now why?" +</p> +<p> +"He may have thought him guilty." +</p> +<p> +"Or wished to shield or cover the retreat of <i>one he knew to be +guilty</i>." +</p> +<p> +"I don't understand." +</p> +<p> +"Think of someone," he said excitedly, "someone whose desire would be as +great as that of Lord Arthur to silence a scandal round that gentleman's +name. Someone who, unknown perhaps to Lord Arthur, had overheard the +same conversation which George Higgins related to the police and the +magistrate, someone who, whilst Chipps was taking Lavender's card in to +his master, had a few minutes' time wherein to make an assignation with +Lavender, promising him money, no doubt, in exchange for the +compromising bills." +</p> +<p> +"Surely you don't mean—" gasped Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Point number one," he interrupted quietly, "utterly missed by the +police. George Higgins in his deposition stated that at the most +animated stage of Lavender's conversation with Lord Arthur, and when the +bookmaker's tone of voice became loud and threatening, a voice from the +top of the steps interrupted that conversation, saying: 'Your tea is +getting cold.'" +</p> +<p> +"Yes—but—" she argued. +</p> +<p> +"Wait a moment, for there is point number two. That voice was a lady's +voice. Now, I did exactly what the police should have done, but did not +do. I went to have a look from the racecourse side at those garden steps +which to my mind are such important factors in the discovery of this +crime. I found only about a dozen rather low steps; anyone standing on +the top must have heard every word Charles Lavender uttered the moment +he raised his voice." +</p> +<p> +"Even then—" +</p> +<p> +"Very well, you grant that," he said excitedly. "Then there was the +great, the all-important point which, oddly enough, the prosecution +never for a moment took into consideration. When Chipps, the footman, +first told Lavender that Lord Arthur could not see him the bookmaker was +terribly put out; Chipps then goes to speak to his master; a few minutes +elapse, and when the footman once again tells Lavender that his lordship +won't see him, the latter says 'Very well,' and seems to treat the +matter with complete indifference. +</p> +<p> +"Obviously, therefore, something must have happened in between to alter +the bookmaker's frame of mind. Well! What had happened? Think over all +the evidence, and you will see that one thing only had occurred in the +interval, namely, Lady Arthur's advent into the room. +</p> +<p> +"In order to go into the smoking-room she must have crossed the hall; +she must have seen Lavender. In that brief interval she must have +realized that the man was persistent, and therefore a living danger to +her husband. Remember, women have done strange things; they are a far +greater puzzle to the student of human nature than the sterner, less +complex sex has ever been. As I argued before—as the police should have +argued all along—why did Lord Arthur deliberately accuse an innocent +man of murder if not to shield the guilty one? +</p> +<p> +"Remember, Lady Arthur may have been discovered; the man, George +Higgins, may have caught sight of her before she had time to make good +her retreat. His attention, as well us that of the constables, had to be +diverted. Lord Arthur acted on the blind impulse of saving his wife at +any cost." +</p> +<p> +"She may have been met by Colonel McIntosh," argued Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps she was," he said. "Who knows? The gallant colonel had to +swear to his friend's innocence. He could do that in all +conscience—after that his duty was accomplished. No innocent man was +suffering for the guilty. The knife which had belonged to Lord Arthur +would always save George Higgins. For a time it had pointed to the +husband; fortunately never to the wife. Poor thing, she died probably of +a broken heart, but women when they love, think only of one object on +earth—the one who is beloved. +</p> +<p> +"To me the whole thing was clear from the very first. When I read the +account of the murder—the knife! stabbing!—bah! Don't I know enough of +<i>English</i> crime not to be certain at once that no English<i>man</i>, be he +ruffian from the gutter or be he Duke's son, ever stabs his victim in +the back. Italians, French, Spaniards do it, if you will, and women of +most nations. An Englishman's instinct is to strike and not to stab. +George Higgins or Lord Arthur Skelmerton would have knocked their victim +down; the woman only would lie in wait till the enemy's back was turned. +She knows her weakness, and she does not mean to miss. +</p> +<p> +"Think it over. There is not one flaw in my argument, but the police +never thought the matter out—perhaps in this case it was as well." +</p> +<p> +He had gone and left Miss Polly Burton still staring at the photograph +of a pretty, gentle-looking woman, with a decided, wilful curve round +the mouth, and a strange, unaccountable look in the large pathetic eyes; +and the little journalist felt quite thankful that in this case the +murder of Charles Lavender the bookmaker—cowardly, wicked as it +was—had remained a mystery to the police and the public. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH10"><!-- CH10 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER X +</h2> + +<h3> +THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +It was all very well for Mr. Richard Frobisher (of the <i>London Mail</i>) to +cut up rough about it. Polly did not altogether blame him. +</p> +<p> +She liked him all the better for that frank outburst of manlike +ill-temper which, after all said and done, was only a very flattering +form of masculine jealousy. +</p> +<p> +Moreover, Polly distinctly felt guilty about the whole thing. She had +promised to meet Dickie—that is Mr. Richard Frobisher—at two o'clock +sharp outside the Palace Theatre, because she wanted to go to a Maud +Allan <i>matinée</i>, and because he naturally wished to go with her. +</p> +<p> +But at two o'clock sharp she was still in Norfolk Street, Strand, inside +an A.B.C. shop, sipping cold coffee opposite a grotesque old man who was +fiddling with a bit of string. +</p> +<p> +How could she be expected to remember Maud Allan or the Palace Theatre, +or Dickie himself for a matter of that? The man in the corner had begun +to talk of that mysterious death on the underground railway, and Polly +had lost count of time, of place, and circumstance. +</p> +<p> +She had gone to lunch quite early, for she was looking forward to the +<i>matinée</i> at the Palace. +</p> +<p> +The old scarecrow was sitting in his accustomed place when she came into +the A.B.C. shop, but he had made no remark all the time that the young +girl was munching her scone and butter. She was just busy thinking how +rude he was not even to have said "Good morning," when an abrupt remark +from him caused her to look up. +</p> +<p> +"Will you be good enough," he said suddenly, "to give me a description +of the man who sat next to you just now, while you were having your cup +of coffee and scone." +</p> +<p> +Involuntarily Polly turned her head towards the distant door, through +which a man in a light overcoat was even now quickly passing. That man +had certainly sat at the next table to hers, when she first sat down to +her coffee and scone: he had finished his luncheon—whatever it +was—moment ago, had paid at the desk and gone out. The incident did not +appear to Polly as being of the slightest consequence. +</p> +<p> +Therefore she did not reply to the rude old man, but shrugged her +shoulders, and called to the waitress to bring her bill. +</p> +<p> +"Do you know if he was tall or short, dark or fair?" continued the man +in the corner, seemingly not the least disconcerted by the young girl's +indifference. "Can you tell me at all what he was like?" +</p> +<p> +"Of course I can," rejoined Polly impatiently, "but I don't see that my +description of one of the customers of an A.B.C. shop can have the +slightest importance." +</p> +<p> +He was silent for a minute, while his nervous fingers fumbled about in +his capacious pockets in search of the inevitable piece of string. When +he had found this necessary "adjunct to thought," he viewed the young +girl again through his half-closed lids, and added maliciously: +</p> +<p> +"But supposing it were of paramount importance that you should give an +accurate description of a man who sat next to you for half an hour +to-day, how would you proceed?" +</p> +<p> +"I should say that he was of medium height—" +</p> +<p> +"Five foot eight, nine, or ten?" he interrupted quietly. +</p> +<p> +"How can one tell to an inch or two?" rejoined Polly crossly. "He was +between colours." +</p> +<p> +"What's that?" he inquired blandly. +</p> +<p> +"Neither fair nor dark—his nose—" +</p> +<p> +"Well, what was his nose like? Will you sketch it?" +</p> +<p> +"I am not an artist. His nose was fairly straight—his eyes—" +</p> +<p> +"Were neither dark nor light—his hair had the same striking +peculiarity—he was neither short nor tall—his nose was neither +aquiline nor snub—" he recapitulated sarcastically. +</p> +<p> +"No," she retorted; "he was just ordinary looking." +</p> +<p> +"Would you know him again—say to-morrow, and among a number of other +men who were 'neither tall nor short, dark nor fair, aquiline nor +snub-nosed,' etc.?" +</p> +<p> +"I don't know—I might—he was certainly not striking enough to be +specially remembered." +</p> +<p> +"Exactly," he said, while he leant forward excitedly, for all the world +like a Jack-in-the-box let loose. "Precisely; and you are a +journalist—call yourself one, at least—and it should be part of your +business to notice and describe people. I don't mean only the wonderful +personage with the clear Saxon features, the fine blue eyes, the noble +brow and classic face, but the ordinary person—the person who +represents ninety out of every hundred of his own kind—the average +Englishman, say, of the middle classes, who is neither very tall nor +very short, who wears a moustache which is neither fair nor dark, but +which masks his mouth, and a top hat which hides the shape of his head +and brow, a man, in fact, who dresses like hundreds of his +fellow-creatures, moves like them, speaks like them, has no peculiarity. +</p> +<p> +"Try to describe <i>him</i>, to recognize him, say a week hence, among his +other eighty-nine doubles; worse still, to swear his life away, if he +happened to be implicated in some crime, wherein <i>your</i> recognition of +him would place the halter round his neck. +</p> +<p> +"Try that, I say, and having utterly failed you will more readily +understand how one of the greatest scoundrels unhung is still at large, +and why the mystery on the Underground Railway was never cleared up. +</p> +<p> +"I think it was the only time in my life that I was seriously tempted to +give the police the benefit of my own views upon the matter. You see, +though I admire the brute for his cleverness, I did not see that his +being unpunished could possibly benefit any one. +</p> +<p> +"In these days of tubes and motor traction of all kinds, the +old-fashioned 'best, cheapest, and quickest route to City and West End' +is often deserted, and the good old Metropolitan Railway carriages +cannot at any time be said to be overcrowded. Anyway, when that +particular train steamed into Aldgate at about 4 p.m. on March 18th +last, the first-class carriages were all but empty. +</p> +<p> +"The guard marched up and down the platform looking into all the +carriages to see if anyone had left a halfpenny evening paper behind for +him, and opening the door of one of the first-class compartments, he +noticed a lady sitting in the further corner, with her head turned away +towards the window, evidently oblivious of the fact that on this line +Aldgate is the terminal station. +</p> +<p> +"'Where are you for, lady?' he said. +</p> +<p> +"The lady did not move, and the guard stepped into the carriage, +thinking that perhaps the lady was asleep. He touched her arm lightly +and looked into her face. In his own poetic language, he was 'struck all +of a 'eap.' In the glassy eyes, the ashen colour of the cheeks, the +rigidity of the head, there was the unmistakable look of death. +</p> +<p> +"Hastily the guard, having carefully locked the carriage door, summoned +a couple of porters, and sent one of them off to the police-station, and +the other in search of the station-master. +</p> +<p> +"Fortunately at this time of day the up platform is not very crowded, +all the traffic tending westward in the afternoon. It was only when an +inspector and two police constables, accompanied by a detective in plain +clothes and a medical officer, appeared upon the scene, and stood round +a first-class railway compartment, that a few idlers realized that +something unusual had occurred, and crowded round, eager and curious. +</p> +<p> +"Thus it was that the later editions of the evening papers, under the +sensational heading, 'Mysterious Suicide on the Underground Railway,' +had already an account of the extraordinary event. The medical officer +had very soon come to the decision that the guard had not been mistaken, +and that life was indeed extinct. +</p> +<p> +"The lady was young, and must have been very pretty before the look of +fright and horror had so terribly distorted her features. She was very +elegantly dressed, and the more frivolous papers were able to give their +feminine readers a detailed account of the unfortunate woman's gown, her +shoes, hat, and gloves. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that one of the latter, the one on the right hand, was +partly off, leaving the thumb and wrist bare. That hand held a small +satchel, which the police opened, with a view to the possible +identification of the deceased, but which was found to contain only a +little loose silver, some smelling-salts, and a small empty bottle, +which was handed over to the medical officer for purposes of analysis. +</p> +<p> +"It was the presence of that small bottle which had caused the report to +circulate freely that the mysterious case on the Underground Railway was +one of suicide. Certain it was that neither about the lady's person, nor +in the appearance of the railway carriage, was there the slightest sign +of struggle or even of resistance. Only the look in the poor woman's +eyes spoke of sudden terror, of the rapid vision of an unexpected and +violent death, which probably only lasted an infinitesimal fraction of a +second, but which had left its indelible mark upon the face, otherwise +so placid and so still." +</p> +<p> +"The body of the deceased was conveyed to the mortuary. So far, of +course, not a soul had been able to identify her, or to throw the +slightest light upon the mystery which hung around her death. +</p> +<p> +"Against that, quite a crowd of idlers—genuinely interested or +not—obtained admission to view the body, on the pretext of having lost +or mislaid a relative or a friend. At about 8.30 p.m. a young man, very +well dressed, drove up to the station in a hansom, and sent in his card +to the superintendent. It was Mr. Hazeldene, shipping agent, of 11, +Crown Lane, E.C., and No. 19, Addison Row, Kensington. +</p> +<p> +"The young man looked in a pitiable state of mental distress; his hand +clutched nervously a copy of the <i>St. James's Gazette</i>, which contained +the fatal news. He said very little to the superintendent except that a +person who was very dear to him had not returned home that evening. +</p> +<p> +"He had not felt really anxious until half an hour ago, when suddenly he +thought of looking at his paper. The description of the deceased lady, +though vague, had terribly alarmed him. He had jumped into a hansom, and +now begged permission to view the body, in order that his worst fears +might be allayed. +</p> +<p> +"You know what followed, of course," continued the man in the corner, +"the grief of the young man was truly pitiable. In the woman lying there +in a public mortuary before him, Mr. Hazeldene had recognized his wife. +</p> +<p> +"I am waxing melodramatic," said the man in the corner, who looked up at +Polly with a mild and gentle smile, while his nervous fingers vainly +endeavoured to add another knot on the scrappy bit of string with which +he was continually playing, "and I fear that the whole story savours of +the penny novelette, but you must admit, and no doubt you remember, that +it was an intensely pathetic and truly dramatic moment. +</p> +<p> +"The unfortunate young husband of the deceased lady was not much worried +with questions that night. As a matter of fact, he was not in a fit +condition to make any coherent statement. It was at the coroner's +inquest on the following day that certain facts came to light, which for +the time being seemed to clear up the mystery surrounding Mrs. +Hazeldene's death, only to plunge that same mystery, later on, into +denser gloom than before. +</p> +<p> +"The first witness at the inquest was, of course, Mr. Hazeldene himself. +I think every one's sympathy went out to the young man as he stood +before the coroner and tried to throw what light he could upon the +mystery. He was well dressed, as he had been the day before, but he +looked terribly ill and worried, and no doubt the fact that he had not +shaved gave his face a careworn and neglected air. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that he and the deceased had been married some six years or +so, and that they had always been happy in their married life. They had +no children. Mrs. Hazeldene seemed to enjoy the best of health till +lately, when she had had a slight attack of influenza, in which Dr. +Arthur Jones had attended her. The doctor was present at this moment, +and would no doubt explain to the coroner and the jury whether he +thought that Mrs. Hazeldene had the slightest tendency to heart disease, +which might have had a sudden and fatal ending. +</p> +<p> +"The coroner was, of course, very considerate to the bereaved husband. +He tried by circumlocution to get at the point he wanted, namely, Mrs. +Hazeldene's mental condition lately. Mr. Hazeldene seemed loath to talk +about this. No doubt he had been warned as to the existence of the small +bottle found in his wife's satchel. +</p> +<p> +"'It certainly did seem to me at times,' he at last reluctantly +admitted, 'that my wife did not seem quite herself. She used to be very +gay and bright, and lately I often saw her in the evening sitting, as if +brooding over some matters, which evidently she did not care to +communicate to me.' +</p> +<p> +"Still the coroner insisted, and suggested the small bottle. +</p> +<p> +"'I know, I know,' replied the young man, with a short, heavy sigh. 'You +mean—the question of suicide—I cannot understand it at all—it seems +so sudden and so terrible—she certainly had seemed listless and +troubled lately—but only at times—and yesterday morning, when I went +to business, she appeared quite herself again, and I suggested that we +should go to the opera in the evening. She was delighted, I know, and +told me she would do some shopping, and pay a few calls in the +afternoon.' +</p> +<p> +"'Do you know at all where she intended to go when she got into the +Underground Railway?' +</p> +<p> +"'Well, not with certainty. You see, she may have meant to get out at +Baker Street, and go down to Bond Street to do her shopping. Then, +again, she sometimes goes to a shop in St. Paul's Churchyard, in which +case she would take a ticket to Aldersgate Street; but I cannot say.' +</p> +<p> +"'Now, Mr. Hazeldene,' said the coroner at last very kindly, 'will you +try to tell me if there was anything in Mrs. Hazeldene's life which you +know of, and which might in some measure explain the cause of the +distressed state of mind, which you yourself had noticed? Did there +exist any financial difficulty which might have preyed upon Mrs. +Hazeldene's mind; was there any friend—to whose intercourse with Mrs. +Hazeldene—you—er—at any time took exception? In fact,' added the +coroner, as if thankful that he had got over an unpleasant moment, 'can +you give me the slightest indication which would tend to confirm the +suspicion that the unfortunate lady, in a moment of mental anxiety or +derangement, may have wished to take her own life?' +</p> +<p> +"There was silence in the court for a few moments. Mr. Hazeldene seemed +to every one there present to be labouring under some terrible moral +doubt. He looked very pale and wretched, and twice attempted to speak +before he at last said in scarcely audible tones: +</p> +<p> +"'No; there were no financial difficulties of any sort. My wife had an +independent fortune of her own—she had no extravagant tastes—' +</p> +<p> +"'Nor any friend you at any time objected to?' insisted the coroner. +</p> +<p> +"'Nor any friend, I—at any time objected to,' stammered the unfortunate +young man, evidently speaking with an effort. +</p> +<p> +"I was present at the inquest," resumed the man in the corner, after he +had drunk a glass of milk and ordered another, "and I can assure you +that the most obtuse person there plainly realized that Mr. Hazeldene +was telling a lie. It was pretty plain to the meanest intelligence that +the unfortunate lady had not fallen into a state of morbid dejection for +nothing, and that perhaps there existed a third person who could throw +more light on her strange and sudden death than the unhappy, bereaved +young widower. +</p> +<p> +"That the death was more mysterious even than it had at first appeared +became very soon apparent. You read the case at the time, no doubt, and +must remember the excitement in the public mind caused by the evidence +of the two doctors. Dr. Arthur Jones, the lady's usual medical man, who +had attended her in a last very slight illness, and who had seen her in +a professional capacity fairly recently, declared most emphatically that +Mrs. Hazeldene suffered from no organic complaint which could possibly +have been the cause of sudden death. Moreover, he had assisted Mr. +Andrew Thornton, the district medical officer, in making a postmortem +examination, and together they had come to the conclusion that death was +due to the action of prussic acid, which had caused instantaneous +failure of the heart, but how the drug had been administered neither he +nor his colleague were at present able to state. +</p> +<p> +"'Do I understand, then, Dr. Jones, that the deceased died, poisoned +with prussic acid?' +</p> +<p> +"'Such is my opinion,' replied the doctor. +</p> +<p> +"'Did the bottle found in her satchel contain prussic acid?' +</p> +<p> +"'It had contained some at one time, certainly.' +</p> +<p> +"'In your opinion, then, the lady caused her own death by taking a dose +of that drug?' +</p> +<p> +"'Pardon me, I never suggested such a thing; the lady died poisoned by +the drug, but how the drug was administered we cannot say. By injection +of some sort, certainly. The drug certainly was not swallowed; there was +not a vestige of it in the stomach.' +</p> +<p> +"'Yes,' added the doctor in reply to another question from the coroner, +'death had probably followed the injection in this case almost +immediately; say within a couple of minutes, or perhaps three. It was +quite possible that the body would not have more than one quick and +sudden convulsion, perhaps not that; death in such cases is absolutely +sudden and crushing.' +</p> +<p> +"I don't think that at the time any one in the room realized how +important the doctor's statement was, a statement which, by the way, was +confirmed in all its details by the district medical officer, who had +conducted the postmortem. Mrs. Hazeldene had died suddenly from an +injection of prussic acid, administered no one knew how or when. She +had been travelling in a first-class railway carriage in a busy time of +the day. That young and elegant woman must have had singular nerve and +coolness to go through the process of a self-inflicted injection of a +deadly poison in the presence of perhaps two or three other persons. +</p> +<p> +"Mind you, when I say that no one there realized the importance of the +doctor's statement at that moment, I am wrong; there were three persons, +who fully understood at once the gravity of the situation, and the +astounding development which the case was beginning to assume. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, I should have put myself out of the question," added the +weird old man, with that inimitable self-conceit peculiar to himself. "I +guessed then and there in a moment where the police were going wrong, +and where they would go on going wrong until the mysterious death on the +Underground Railway had sunk into oblivion, together with the other +cases which they mismanage from time to time. +</p> +<p> +"I said there were three persons who understood the gravity of the two +doctors' statements—the other two were, firstly, the detective who had +originally examined the railway carriage, a young man of energy and +plenty of misguided intelligence, the other was Mr. Hazeldene. +</p> +<p> +"At this point the interesting element of the whole story was first +introduced into the proceedings, and this was done through the humble +channel of Emma Funnel, Mrs. Hazeldene's maid, who, as far as was known +then, was the last person who had seen the unfortunate lady alive and +had spoken to her. +</p> +<p> +"'Mrs. Hazeldene lunched at home,' explained Emma, who was shy, and +spoke almost in a whisper; 'she seemed well and cheerful. She went out +at about half-past three, and told me she was going to Spence's, in St. +Paul's Churchyard, to try on her new tailor-made gown. Mrs. Hazeldene +had meant to go there in the morning, but was prevented as Mr. Errington +called.' +</p> +<p> +"'Mr. Errington?' asked the coroner casually. 'Who is Mr. Errington?' +</p> +<p> +"But this Emma found difficult to explain. Mr. Errington was—Mr. +Errington, that's all. +</p> +<p> +"'Mr. Errington was a friend of the family. He lived in a flat in the +Albert Mansions. He very often came to Addison Row, and generally stayed +late.' +</p> +<p> +"Pressed still further with questions, Emma at last stated that latterly +Mrs. Hazeldene had been to the theatre several times with Mr. Errington, +and that on those nights the master looked very gloomy, and was very +cross. +</p> +<p> +"Recalled, the young widower was strangely reticent. He gave forth his +answers very grudgingly, and the coroner was evidently absolutely +satisfied with himself at the marvellous way in which, after a quarter +of an hour of firm yet very kind questionings, he had elicited from the +witness what information he wanted. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Errington was a friend of his wife. He was a gentleman of means, +and seemed to have a great deal of time at his command. He himself did +not particularly care about Mr. Errington, but he certainly had never +made any observations to his wife on the subject. +</p> +<p> +"'But who is Mr. Errington?' repeated the coroner once more. 'What does +he do? What is his business or profession?' +</p> +<p> +"'He has no business or profession. +</p> +<p> +"'What is his occupation, then? +</p> +<p> +"He has no special occupation. He has ample private means. But he has a +great and very absorbing hobby.' +</p> +<p> +"'What is that?' +</p> +<p> +"'He spends all his time in chemical experiments, and is, I believe, as +an amateur, a very distinguished toxicologist.'" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH11"><!-- CH11 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XI +</h2> + +<h3> +MR. ERRINGTON +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Did you ever see Mr. Errington, the gentleman so closely connected with +the mysterious death on the Underground Railway?" asked the man in the +corner as he placed one or two of his little snap-shot photos before +Miss Polly Burton. +</p> +<p> +"There he is, to the very life. Fairly good-looking, a pleasant face +enough, but ordinary, absolutely ordinary. +</p> +<p> +"It was this absence of any peculiarity which very nearly, but not +quite, placed the halter round Mr. Errington's neck. +</p> +<p> +"But I am going too fast, and you will lose the thread. +</p> +<p> +"The public, of course, never heard how it actually came about that Mr. +Errington, the wealthy bachelor of Albert Mansions, of the Grosvenor, +and other young dandies' clubs, one fine day found himself before the +magistrates at Bow Street, charged with being concerned in the death of +Mary Beatrice Hazeldene, late of No. 19, Addison Row. +</p> +<p> +"I can assure you both press and public were literally flabbergasted. +You see, Mr. Errington was a well-known and very popular member of a +certain smart section of London society. He was a constant visitor at +the opera, the racecourse, the Park, and the Carlton, he had a great +many friends, and there was consequently quite a large attendance at the +police court that morning. +</p> +<p> +"What had transpired was this: +</p> +<p> +"After the very scrappy bits of evidence which came to light at the +inquest, two gentlemen bethought themselves that perhaps they had some +duty to perform towards the State and the public generally. Accordingly +they had come forward, offering to throw what light they could upon the +mysterious affair on the Underground Railway. +</p> +<p> +"The police naturally felt that their information, such as it was, came +rather late in the day, but as it proved of paramount importance, and +the two gentlemen, moreover, were of undoubtedly good position in the +world, they were thankful for what they could get, and acted +accordingly; they accordingly brought Mr. Errington up before the +magistrate on a charge of murder. +</p> +<p> +"The accused looked pale and worried when I first caught sight of him in +the court that day, which was not to be wondered at, considering the +terrible position in which he found himself. +</p> +<p> +"He had been arrested at Marseilles, where he was preparing to start for +Colombo. +</p> +<p> +"I don't think he realized how terrible his position really was until +later in the proceedings, when all the evidence relating to the arrest +had been heard, and Emma Funnel had repeated her statement as to Mr. +Errington's call at 19, Addison Row, in the morning, and Mrs. Hazeldene +starting off for St. Paul's Churchyard at 3.30 in the afternoon. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Hazeldene had nothing to add to the statements he had made at the +coroner's inquest. He had last seen his wife alive on the morning of the +fatal day. She had seemed very well and cheerful. +</p> +<p> +"I think every one present understood that he was trying to say as +little as possible that could in any way couple his deceased wife's name +with that of the accused. +</p> +<p> +"And yet, from the servant's evidence, it undoubtedly leaked out that +Mrs. Hazeldene, who was young, pretty, and evidently fond of admiration, +had once or twice annoyed her husband by her somewhat open, yet +perfectly innocent, flirtation with Mr. Errington. +</p> +<p> +"I think every one was most agreeably impressed by the widower's +moderate and dignified attitude. You will see his photo there, among +this bundle. That is just how he appeared in court. In deep black, of +course, but without any sign of ostentation in his mourning. He had +allowed his beard to grow lately, and wore it closely cut in a point. +</p> +<p> +"After his evidence, the sensation of the day occurred. A tall, +dark-haired man, with the word 'City' written metaphorically all over +him, had kissed the book, and was waiting to tell the truth, and nothing +but the truth. +</p> +<p> +"He gave his name as Andrew Campbell, head of the firm of Campbell & +Co., brokers, of Throgmorton Street. +</p> +<p> +"In the afternoon of March 18th Mr. Campbell, travelling on the +Underground Railway, had noticed a very pretty woman in the same +carriage as himself. She had asked him if she was in the right train for +Aldersgate. Mr. Campbell replied in the affirmative, and then buried +himself in the Stock Exchange quotations of his evening paper. +</p> +<p> +"At Gower Street, a gentleman in a tweed suit and bowler hat got into +the carriage, and took a seat opposite the lady. +</p> +<p> +"She seemed very much astonished at seeing him, but Mr. Andrew Campbell +did not recollect the exact words she said. +</p> +<p> +"The two talked to one another a good deal, and certainly the lady +appeared animated and cheerful. Witness took no notice of them; he was +very much engrossed in some calculations, and finally got out at +Farringdon Street. He noticed that the man in the tweed suit also got +out close behind him, having shaken hands with the lady, and said in a +pleasant way: '<i>Au revoir</i>! Don't be late to-night.' Mr. Campbell did +not hear the lady's reply, and soon lost sight of the man in the crowd. +</p> +<p> +"Every one was on tenter-hooks, and eagerly waiting for the palpitating +moment when witness would describe and identify the man who last had +seen and spoken to the unfortunate woman, within five minutes probably +of her strange and unaccountable death. +</p> +<p> +"Personally I knew what was coming before the Scotch stockbroker spoke. +</p> +<p> +"I could have jotted down the graphic and lifelike description he would +give of a probable murderer. It would have fitted equally well the man +who sat and had luncheon at this table just now; it would certainly have +described five out of every ten young Englishmen you know. +</p> +<p> +"The individual was of medium height, he wore a moustache which was not +very fair nor yet very dark, his hair was between colours. He wore a +bowler hat, and a tweed suit—and—and—that was all—Mr. Campbell might +perhaps know him again, but then again, he might not—he was not paying +much attention—the gentleman was sitting on the same side of the +carriage as himself—and he had his hat on all the time. He himself was +busy with his newspaper—yes—he might know him again—but he really +could not say. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Andrew Campbell's evidence was not worth very much, you will say. +No, it was not in itself, and would not have justified any arrest were +it not for the additional statements made by Mr. James Verner, manager +of Messrs. Rodney & Co., colour printers. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Verner is a personal friend of Mr. Andrew Campbell, and it appears +that at Farringdon Street, where he was waiting for his train, he saw +Mr. Campbell get out of a first-class railway carriage. Mr. Verner spoke +to him for a second, and then, just as the train was moving off, he +stepped into the same compartment which had just been vacated by the +stockbroker and the man in the tweed suit. He vaguely recollects a lady +sitting in the opposite corner to his own, with her face turned away +from him, apparently asleep, but he paid no special attention to her. He +was like nearly all business men when they are travelling—engrossed in +his paper. Presently a special quotation interested him; he wished to +make a note of it, took out a pencil from his waistcoat pocket, and +seeing a clean piece of paste-board on the floor, he picked it up, and +scribbled on it the memorandum, which he wished to keep. He then +slipped the card into his pocket-book. +</p> +<p> +"'It was only two or three days later,' added Mr. Verner in the midst of +breathless silence, 'that I had occasion to refer to these same notes +again. +</p> +<p> +"'In the meanwhile the papers had been full of the mysterious death on +the Underground Railway, and the names of those connected with it were +pretty familiar to me. It was, therefore, with much astonishment that on +looking at the paste-board which I had casually picked up in the railway +carriage I saw the name on it, "Frank Errington."' +</p> +<p> +"There was no doubt that the sensation in court was almost +unprecedented. Never since the days of the Fenchurch Street mystery, and +the trial of Smethurst, had I seen so much excitement. Mind you, I was +not excited—I knew by now every detail of that crime as if I had +committed it myself. In fact, I could not have done it better, although +I have been a student of crime for many years now. Many people +there—his friends, mostly—believed that Errington was doomed. I think +he thought so, too, for I could see that his face was terribly white, +and he now and then passed his tongue over his lips, as if they were +parched. +</p> +<p> +"You see he was in the awful dilemma—a perfectly natural one, by the +way—of being absolutely incapable of <i>proving</i> an <i>alibi</i>. The +crime—if crime there was—had been committed three weeks ago. A man +about town like Mr. Frank Errington might remember that he spent certain +hours of a special afternoon at his club, or in the Park, but it is very +doubtful in nine cases out of ten if he can find a friend who could +positively swear as to having seen him there. No! no! Mr. Errington was +in a tight corner, and he knew it. You see, there were—besides the +evidence—two or three circumstances which did not improve matters for +him. His hobby in the direction of toxicology, to begin with. The police +had found in his room every description of poisonous substances, +including prussic acid. +</p> +<p> +"Then, again, that journey to Marseilles, the start for Colombo, was, +though perfectly innocent, a very unfortunate one. Mr. Errington had +gone on an aimless voyage, but the public thought that he had fled, +terrified at his own crime. Sir Arthur Inglewood, however, here again +displayed his marvellous skill on behalf of his client by the masterly +way in which he literally turned all the witnesses for the Crown inside +out. +</p> +<p> +"Having first got Mr. Andrew Campbell to state positively that in the +accused he certainly did <i>not</i> recognize the man in the tweed suit, the +eminent lawyer, after twenty minutes' cross-examination, had so +completely upset the stockbroker's equanimity that it is very likely he +would not have recognized his own office-boy. +</p> +<p> +"But through all his flurry and all his annoyance Mr. Andrew Campbell +remained very sure of one thing; namely, that the lady was alive and +cheerful, and talking pleasantly with the man in the tweed suit up to +the moment when the latter, having shaken hands with her, left her with +a pleasant '<i>Au revoir</i>! Don't be late to-night.' He had heard neither +scream nor struggle, and in his opinion, if the individual in the tweed +suit had administered a dose of poison to his companion, it must have +been with her own knowledge and free will; and the lady in the train +most emphatically neither looked nor spoke like a woman prepared for a +sudden and violent death. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. James Verner, against that, swore equally positively that he had +stood in full view of the carriage door from the moment that Mr. +Campbell got out until he himself stepped into the compartment, that +there was no one else in that carriage between Farringdon Street and +Aldgate, and that the lady, to the best of his belief, had made no +movement during the whole of that journey. +</p> +<p> +"No; Frank Errington was <i>not</i> committed for trial on the capital +charge," said the man in the corner with one of his sardonic smiles, +"thanks to the cleverness of Sir Arthur Inglewood, his lawyer. He +absolutely denied his identity with the man in the tweed suit, and swore +he had not seen Mrs. Hazeldene since eleven o'clock in the morning of +that fatal day. There was no <i>proof</i> that he had; moreover, according to +Mr. Campbell's opinion, the man in the tweed suit was in all probability +not the murderer. Common sense would not admit that a woman could have a +deadly poison injected into her without her knowledge, while chatting +pleasantly to her murderer. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Errington lives abroad now. He is about to marry. I don't think any +of his real friends for a moment believed that he committed the +dastardly crime. The police think they know better. They do know this +much, that it could not have been a case of suicide, that if the man who +undoubtedly travelled with Mrs. Hazeldene on that fatal afternoon had no +crime upon his conscience he would long ago have come forward and thrown +what light he could upon the mystery. +</p> +<p> +"As to who that man was, the police in their blindness have not the +faintest doubt. Under the unshakable belief that Errington is guilty +they have spent the last few months in unceasing labour to try and find +further and stronger proofs of his guilt. But they won't find them, +because there are none. There are no positive proofs against the actual +murderer, for he was one of those clever blackguards who think of +everything, foresee every eventuality, who know human nature well, and +can foretell exactly what evidence will be brought against them, and act +accordingly. +</p> +<p> +"This blackguard from the first kept the figure, the personality, of +Frank Errington before his mind. Frank Errington was the dust which the +scoundrel threw metaphorically in the eyes of the police, and you must +admit that he succeeded in blinding them—to the extent even of making +them entirely forget the one simple little sentence, overheard by Mr. +Andrew Campbell, and which was, of course, the clue to the whole +thing—the only slip the cunning rogue made—'<i>Au revoir</i>! Don't be late +to-night.' Mrs. Hazeldene was going that night to the opera with her +husband— +</p> +<p> +"You are astonished?" he added with a shrug of the shoulders, "you do +not see the tragedy yet, as I have seen it before me all along. The +frivolous young wife, the flirtation with the friend?—all a blind, all +pretence. I took the trouble which the police should have taken +immediately, of finding out something about the finances of the +Hazeldene <i>ménage</i>. Money is in nine cases out of ten the keynote to a +crime. +</p> +<p> +"I found that the will of Mary Beatrice Hazeldene had been proved by +the husband, her sole executor, the estate being sworn at £15,000. I +found out, moreover, that Mr. Edward Sholto Hazeldene was a poor +shipper's clerk when he married the daughter of a wealthy builder in +Kensington—and then I made note of the fact that the disconsolate +widower had allowed his beard to grow since the death of his wife. +</p> +<p> +"There's no doubt that he was a clever rogue," added the strange +creature, leaning excitedly over the table, and peering into Polly's +face. "Do you know how that deadly poison was injected into the poor +woman's system? By the simplest of all means, one known to every +scoundrel in Southern Europe. A ring—yes! a ring, which has a tiny +hollow needle capable of holding a sufficient quantity of prussic acid +to have killed two persons instead of one. The man in the tweed suit +shook hands with his fair companion—probably she hardly felt the prick, +not sufficiently in any case to make her utter a scream. And, mind you, +the scoundrel had every facility, through his friendship with Mr. +Errington, of procuring what poison he required, not to mention his +friend's visiting card. We cannot gauge how many months ago he began to +try and copy Frank Errington in his style of dress, the cut of his +moustache, his general appearance, making the change probably so +gradual, that no one in his own <i>entourage</i> would notice it. He +selected for his model a man his own height and build, with the same +coloured hair." +</p> +<p> +"But there was the terrible risk of being identified by his +fellow-traveller in the Underground," suggested Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, there certainly was that risk; he chose to take it, and he was +wise. He reckoned that several days would in any case elapse before that +person, who, by the way, was a business man absorbed in his newspaper, +would actually see him again. The great secret of successful crime is to +study human nature," added the man in the corner, as he began looking +for his hat and coat. "Edward Hazeldene knew it well." +</p> +<p> +"But the ring?" +</p> +<p> +"He may have bought that when he was on his honeymoon," he suggested +with a grim chuckle; "the tragedy was not planned in a week, it may have +taken years to mature. But you will own that there goes a frightful +scoundrel unhung. I have left you his photograph as he was a year ago, +and as he is now. You will see he has shaved his beard again, but also +his moustache. I fancy he is a friend now of Mr. Andrew Campbell." +</p> +<p> +He left Miss Polly Burton wondering, not knowing what to believe. +</p> +<p> +And that is why she missed her appointment with Mr. Richard Frobisher +(of the <i>London Mail</i>) to go and see Maud Allan dance at the Palace +Theatre that afternoon. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH12"><!-- CH12 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE LIVERPOOL MYSTERY +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"A title—a foreign title, I mean—is always very useful for purposes of +swindles and frauds," remarked the man in the corner to Polly one day. +"The cleverest robberies of modern times were perpetrated lately in +Vienna by a man who dubbed himself Lord Seymour; whilst over here the +same class of thief calls himself Count Something ending in 'o,' or +Prince the other, ending in 'off.'" +</p> +<p> +"Fortunately for our hotel and lodging-house keepers over here," she +replied, "they are beginning to be more alive to the ways of foreign +swindlers, and look upon all titled gentry who speak broken English as +possible swindlers or thieves." +</p> +<p> +"The result sometimes being exceedingly unpleasant to the real <i>grands +seigneurs</i> who honour this country at times with their visits," replied +the man in the corner. "Now, take the case of Prince Semionicz, a man +whose sixteen quarterings are duly recorded in Gotha, who carried enough +luggage with him to pay for the use of every room in an hotel for at +least a week, whose gold cigarette case with diamond and turquoise +ornament was actually stolen without his taking the slightest trouble to +try and recover it; that same man was undoubtedly looked upon with +suspicion by the manager of the Liverpool North-Western Hotel from the +moment that his secretary—a dapper, somewhat vulgar little +Frenchman—bespoke on behalf of his employer, with himself and a valet, +the best suite of rooms the hotel contained. +</p> +<p> +"Obviously those suspicions were unfounded, for the little secretary, as +soon as Prince Semionicz had arrived, deposited with the manager a pile +of bank notes, also papers and bonds, the value of which would exceed +tenfold the most outrageous bill that could possibly be placed before +the noble visitor. Moreover, M. Albert Lambert explained that the +Prince, who only meant to stay in Liverpool a few days, was on his way +to Chicago, where he wished to visit Princess Anna Semionicz, his +sister, who was married to Mr. Girwan, the great copper king and +multi-millionaire. +</p> +<p> +"Yet, as I told you before, in spite of all these undoubted securities, +suspicion of the wealthy Russian Prince lurked in the minds of most +Liverpudlians who came in business contact with him. He had been at the +North-Western two days when he sent his secretary to Window and +Vassall, the jewellers of Bold Street, with a request that they would +kindly send a representative round to the hotel with some nice pieces of +jewellery, diamonds and pearls chiefly, which he was desirous of taking +as a present to his sister in Chicago. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Winslow took the order from M. Albert with a pleasant bow. Then he +went to his inner office and consulted with his partner, Mr. Vassall, as +to the best course to adopt. Both the gentlemen were desirous of doing +business, for business had been very slack lately: neither wished to +refuse a possible customer, or to offend Mr. Pettitt, the manager of the +North-Western, who had recommended them to the Prince. But that foreign +title and the vulgar little French secretary stuck in the throats of the +two pompous and worthy Liverpool jewellers, and together they agreed, +firstly, that no credit should be given; and, secondly, that if a cheque +or even a banker's draft were tendered, the jewels were not to be given +up until that cheque or draft was cashed. +</p> +<p> +"Then came the question as to who should take the jewels to the hotel. +It was altogether against business etiquette for the senior partners to +do such errands themselves; moreover, it was thought that it would be +easier for a clerk to explain, without giving undue offence, that he +could not take the responsibility of a cheque or draft, without having +cashed it previously to giving up the jewels. +</p> +<p> +"Then there was the question of the probable necessity of conferring in +a foreign tongue. The head assistant, Charles Needham, who had been in +the employ of Winslow and Vassall for over twelve years, was, in true +British fashion, ignorant of any language save his own; it was therefore +decided to dispatch Mr. Schwarz, a young German clerk lately arrived, on +the delicate errand. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Schwarz was Mr. Winslow's nephew and godson, a sister of that +gentleman having married the head of the great German firm of Schwarz & +Co., silversmiths, of Hamburg and Berlin. +</p> +<p> +"The young man had soon become a great favourite with his uncle, whose +heir he would presumably be, as Mr. Winslow had no children. +</p> +<p> +"At first Mr. Vassall made some demur about sending Mr. Schwarz with so +many valuable jewels alone in a city which he had not yet had the time +to study thoroughly; but finally he allowed himself to be persuaded by +his senior partner, and a fine selection of necklaces, pendants, +bracelets, and rings, amounting in value to over £16,000, having been +made, it was decided that Mr. Schwarz should go to the North-Western in +a cab the next day at about three o'clock in the afternoon. This he +accordingly did, the following day being a Thursday. +</p> +<p> +"Business went on in the shop as usual under the direction of the head +assistant, until about seven o'clock, when Mr. Winslow returned from his +club, where he usually spent an hour over the papers every afternoon, +and at once asked for his nephew. To his astonishment Mr. Needham +informed him that Mr. Schwarz had not yet returned. This seemed a little +strange, and Mr. Winslow, with a slightly anxious look in his face, went +into the inner office in order to consult his junior partner. Mr. +Vassall offered to go round to the hotel and interview Mr. Pettitt. +</p> +<p> +"'I was beginning to get anxious myself,' he said, 'but did not quite +like to say so. I have been in over half an hour, hoping every moment +that you would come in, and that perhaps you could give me some +reassuring news. I thought that perhaps you had met Mr. Schwarz, and +were coming back together.' +</p> +<p> +"However, Mr. Vassall walked round to the hotel and interviewed the hall +porter. The latter perfectly well remembered Mr. Schwarz sending in his +card to Prince Semionicz. +</p> +<p> +"'At what time was that?' asked Mr. Vassall. +</p> +<p> +"'About ten minutes past three, sir, when he came; it was about an hour +later when he left.' +</p> +<p> +"'When he left?' gasped, more than said, Mr. Vassall. +</p> +<p> +"'Yes, sir. Mr. Schwarz left here about a quarter before four, sir.' +</p> +<p> +"'Are you quite sure?' +</p> +<p> +"'Quite sure. Mr. Pettitt was in the hall when he left, and he asked him +something about business. Mr. Schwarz laughed and said, "not bad." I +hope there's nothing wrong, sir,' added the man. +</p> +<p> +"'Oh—er—nothing—thank you. Can I see Mr. Pettitt?' +</p> +<p> +"'Certainly, sir.' +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Pettitt, the manager of the hotel, shared Mr. Vassall's anxiety, +immediately he heard that the young German had not yet returned home. +</p> +<p> +"'I spoke to him a little before four o'clock. We had just switched on +the electric light, which we always do these winter months at that hour. +But I shouldn't worry myself, Mr. Vassall; the young man may have seen +to some business on his way home. You'll probably find him in when you +go back.' +</p> +<p> +"Apparently somewhat reassured, Mr. Vassall thanked Mr. Pettitt and +hurried back to the shop, only to find that Mr. Schwarz had not +returned, though it was now close on eight o'clock. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Winslow looked so haggard and upset that it would have been cruel +to heap reproaches upon his other troubles or to utter so much as the +faintest suspicion that young Schwarz's permanent disappearance with +£16,000 in jewels and money was within the bounds of probability. +</p> +<p> +"There was one chance left, but under the circumstances a very slight +one indeed. The Winslows' private house was up the Birkenhead end of the +town. Young Schwarz had been living with them ever since his arrival in +Liverpool, and he may have—either not feeling well or for some other +reason—gone straight home without calling at the shop. It was unlikely, +as valuable jewellery was never kept at the private house, but—it just +might have happened. +</p> +<p> +"It would be useless," continued the man in the corner, "and decidedly +uninteresting, were I to relate to you Messrs. Winslow's and Vassall's +further anxieties with regard to the missing young man. Suffice it to +say that on reaching his private house Mr. Winslow found that his godson +had neither returned nor sent any telegraphic message of any kind. +</p> +<p> +"Not wishing to needlessly alarm his wife, Mr. Winslow made an attempt +at eating his dinner, but directly after that he hurried back to the +North-Western Hotel, and asked to see Prince Semionicz. The Prince was +at the theatre with his secretary, and probably would not be home until +nearly midnight. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Winslow, then, not knowing what to think, nor yet what to fear, and +in spite of the horror he felt of giving publicity to his nephew's +disappearance, thought it his duty to go round to the police-station and +interview the inspector. It is wonderful how quickly news of that type +travels in a large city like Liverpool. Already the morning papers of +the following day were full of the latest sensation: 'Mysterious +disappearance of a well-known tradesman.' +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Winslow found a copy of the paper containing the sensational +announcement on his breakfast-table. It lay side by side with a letter +addressed to him in his nephew's handwriting, which had been posted in +Liverpool. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Winslow placed that letter, written to him by his nephew, into the +hands of the police. Its contents, therefore, quickly became public +property. The astounding statements made therein by Mr. Schwarz created, +in quiet, businesslike Liverpool, a sensation which has seldom been +equalled. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that the young fellow did call on Prince Semionicz at a +quarter past three on Wednesday, December 10th, with a bag full of +jewels, amounting in value to some £16,000. The Prince duly admired, and +finally selected from among the ornaments a necklace, pendant, and +bracelet, the whole being priced by Mr. Schwarz, according to his +instructions, at £10,500. Prince Semionicz was most prompt and +businesslike in his dealings. +</p> +<p> +"'You will require immediate payment for these, of course,' he said in +perfect English, 'and I know you business men prefer solid cash to +cheques, especially when dealing with foreigners. I always provide +myself with plenty of Bank of England notes in consequence,' he added +with a pleasant smile, 'as £10,500 in gold would perhaps be a little +inconvenient to carry. If you will kindly make out the receipt, my +secretary, M. Lambert, will settle all business matters with you.' +</p> +<p> +"He thereupon took the jewels he had selected and locked them up in his +dressing-case, the beautiful silver fillings of which Mr. Schwarz just +caught a short glimpse of. Then, having been accommodated with paper and +ink, the young jeweller made out the account and receipt, whilst M. +Lambert, the secretary, counted out before him 105 crisp Bank of England +notes of £100 each. Then, with a final bow to his exceedingly urbane and +eminently satisfactory customer, Mr. Schwarz took his leave. In the hall +he saw and spoke to Mr. Pettitt, and then he went out into the street. +</p> +<p> +"He had just left the hotel and was about to cross towards St. George's +Hall when a gentleman, in a magnificent fur coat, stepped quickly out of +a cab which had been stationed near the kerb, and, touching him lightly +upon the shoulder, said with an unmistakable air of authority, at the +same time handing him a card: +</p> +<p> +"'That is my name. I must speak with you immediately." +</p> +<p> +"Schwarz glanced at the card, and by the light of the arc lamps above +his head read on it the name of 'Dimitri Slaviansky Burgreneff, de la +IIIe Section de la Police Imperial de S.M. le Czar.' +</p> +<p> +"Quickly the owner of the unpronounceable name and the significant title +pointed to the cab from which he had just alighted, and Schwarz, whose +every suspicion with regard to his princely customer bristled up in one +moment, clutched his bag and followed his imposing interlocutor; as soon +as they were both comfortably seated in the cab the latter began, with +courteous apology in broken but fluent English: +</p> +<p> +"'I must ask your pardon, sir, for thus trespassing upon your valuable +time, and I certainly should not have done so but for the certainty that +our interests in a certain matter which I have in hand are practically +identical, in so far that we both should wish to outwit a clever rogue.' +</p> +<p> +"Instinctively, and his mind full of terrible apprehension, Mr. +Schwarz's hand wandered to his pocket-book, filled to overflowing with +the bank-notes which he had so lately received from the Prince. +</p> +<p> +"'Ah, I see,' interposed the courteous Russian with a smile, 'he has +played the confidence trick on you, with the usual addition of so many +so-called bank-notes.' +</p> +<p> +"'So-called,' gasped the unfortunate young man. +</p> +<p> +"'I don't think I often err in my estimate of my own countrymen,' +continued M. Burgreneff; 'I have vast experience, you must remember. +Therefore, I doubt if I am doing M.—er—what does he call +himself?—Prince something—an injustice if I assert, even without +handling those crisp bits of paper you have in your pocket-book, that no +bank would exchange them for gold.' +</p> +<p> +"Remembering his uncle's suspicions and his own, Mr. Schwarz cursed +himself for his blindness and folly in accepting notes so easily without +for a moment imagining that they might be false. Now, with every one of +those suspicions fully on the alert, he felt the bits of paper with +nervous, anxious fingers, while the imperturbable Russian calmly struck +a match. +</p> +<p> +"'See here,' he said, pointing to one of the notes, 'the shape of that +"w" in the signature of the chief cashier. I am not an English police +officer, but I could pick out that spurious "w" among a thousand genuine +ones. You see, I have seen a good many.' +</p> +<p> +"Now, of course, poor young Schwarz had not seen very many Bank of +England notes. He could not have told whether one 'w' in Mr. Bowen's +signature is better than another, but, though he did not speak English +nearly as fluently as his pompous interlocutor, he understood every word +of the appalling statement the latter had just made. +</p> +<p> +"'Then that Prince,' he said, 'at the hotel—' +</p> +<p> +"'Is no more Prince than you and I, my dear sir,' concluded the +gentleman of His Imperial Majesty's police calmly. +</p> +<p> +"'And the jewels? Mr. Winslow's jewels?' +</p> +<p> +"'With the jewels there may be a chance—oh! a mere chance. These forged +bank-notes, which you accepted so trustingly, may prove the means of +recovering your property.' +</p> +<p> +"'How?' +</p> +<p> +"'The penalty of forging and circulating spurious bank-notes is very +heavy. You know that. The fear of seven years' penal servitude will act +as a wonderful sedative upon the—er—Prince's joyful mood. He will give +up the jewels to me all right enough, never you fear. He knows,' added +the Russian officer grimly, 'that there are plenty of old scores to +settle up, without the additional one of forged bank-notes. Our +interests, you see, are identical. May I rely on your co-operation?' +</p> +<p> +"'Oh, I will do as you wish,' said the delighted young German. 'Mr. +Winslow and Mr. Vassall, they trusted me, and I have been such a fool. I +hope it is not too late.' +</p> +<p> +"'I think not,' said M. Burgreneff, his hand already on the door of the +cab. 'Though I have been talking to you I have kept an eye on the hotel, +and our friend the Prince has not yet gone out. We are accustomed, you +know, to have eyes everywhere, we of the Russian secret police. I don't +think that I will ask you to be present at the confrontation. Perhaps +you will wait for me in the cab. There is a nasty fog outside, and you +will be more private. Will you give me those beautiful bank-notes? Thank +you! Don't be anxious. I won't be long.' +</p> +<p> +"He lifted his hat, and slipped the notes into the inner pocket of his +magnificent fur coat. As he did so, Mr. Schwarz caught sight of a rich +uniform and a wide sash, which no doubt was destined to carry additional +moral weight with the clever rogue upstairs. +</p> +<p> +"Then His Imperial Majesty's police officer stepped quickly out of the +cab, and Mr. Schwarz was left alone." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH13"><!-- CH13 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XIII +</h2> + +<h3> +A CUNNING RASCAL +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Yes, left severely alone," continued the man in the corner with a +sarcastic chuckle. "So severely alone, in fact, that one quarter of an +hour after another passed by and still the magnificent police officer in +the gorgeous uniform did not return. Then, when it was too late, Schwarz +cursed himself once again for the double-dyed idiot that he was. He had +been only too ready to believe that Prince Semionicz was a liar and a +rogue, and under these unjust suspicions he had fallen an all too easy +prey to one of the most cunning rascals he had ever come across. +</p> +<p> +"An inquiry from the hall porter at the North-Western elicited the fact +that no such personage as Mr. Schwarz described had entered the hotel. +The young man asked to see Prince Semionicz, hoping against hope that +all was not yet lost. The Prince received him most courteously; he was +dictating some letters to his secretary, while the valet was in the next +room preparing his master's evening clothes. Mr. Schwarz found it very +difficult to explain what he actually did want. +</p> +<p> +"There stood the dressing-case in which the Prince had locked up the +jewels, and there the bag from which the secretary had taken the +bank-notes. After much hesitation on Schwarz's part and much impatience +on that of the Prince, the young man blurted out the whole story of the +so-called Russian police officer whose card he still held in his hand. +</p> +<p> +"The Prince, it appears, took the whole thing wonderfully +good-naturedly; no doubt he thought the jeweller a hopeless fool. He +showed him the jewels, the receipt he held, and also a large bundle of +bank-notes similar to those Schwarz had with such culpable folly given +up to the clever rascal in the cab. +</p> +<p> +"'I pay all my bills with Bank of England notes, Mr. Schwarz. It would +have been wiser, perhaps, if you had spoken to the manager of the hotel +about me before you were so ready to believe any cock-and-bull story +about my supposed rogueries.' +</p> +<p> +"Finally he placed a small 16mo volume before the young jeweller, and +said with a pleasant smile: +</p> +<p> +"'If people in this country who are in a large way of business, and are +therefore likely to come in contact with people of foreign nationality, +were to study these little volumes before doing business with any +foreigner who claims a title, much disappointment and a great loss would +often be saved. Now in this case had you looked up page 797 of this +little volume of Gotha's Almanach you would have seen my name in it and +known from the first that the so-called Russian detective was a liar.' +</p> +<p> +"There was nothing more to be said, and Mr. Schwarz left the hotel. No +doubt, now that he had been hopelessly duped he dared not go home, and +half hoped by communicating with the police that they might succeed in +arresting the thief before he had time to leave Liverpool. He +interviewed Detective-Inspector Watson, and was at once confronted with +the awful difficulty which would make the recovery of the bank-notes +practically hopeless. He had never had the time or opportunity of +jotting down the numbers of the notes. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Winslow, though terribly wrathful against his nephew, did not wish +to keep him out of his home. As soon as he had received Schwarz's +letter, he traced him, with Inspector Watson's help, to his lodgings in +North Street, where the unfortunate young man meant to remain hidden +until the terrible storm had blown over, or perhaps until the thief had +been caught red-handed with the booty still in his hands. +</p> +<p> +"This happy event, needless to say, never did occur, though the police +made every effort to trace the man who had decoyed Schwarz into the cab. +His appearance was such an uncommon one; it seemed most unlikely that no +one in Liverpool should have noticed him after he left that cab. The +wonderful fur coat, the long beard, all must have been noticeable, even +though it was past four o'clock on a somewhat foggy December afternoon. +</p> +<p> +"But every investigation proved futile; no one answering Schwarz's +description of the man had been seen anywhere. The papers continued to +refer to the case as 'the Liverpool Mystery.' Scotland Yard sent Mr. +Fairburn down—the celebrated detective—at the request of the Liverpool +police, to help in the investigations, but nothing availed. +</p> +<p> +"Prince Semionicz, with his suite, left Liverpool, and he who had +attempted to blacken his character, and had succeeded in robbing Messrs. +Winslow and Vassall of £10,500, had completely disappeared." +</p> +<p> +The man in the corner readjusted his collar and necktie, which, during +the narrative of this interesting mystery, had worked its way up his +long, crane-like neck under his large flappy ears. His costume of +checked tweed of a peculiarly loud pattern had tickled the fancy of some +of the waitresses, who were standing gazing at him and giggling in one +corner. This evidently made him nervous. He gazed up very meekly at +Polly, looking for all the world like a bald-headed adjutant dressed for +a holiday. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, all sorts of theories of the theft got about at first. One +of the most popular, and at the same time most quickly exploded, being +that young Schwarz had told a cock-and-bull story, and was the actual +thief himself. +</p> +<p> +"However, as I said before, that was very quickly exploded, as Mr. +Schwarz senior, a very wealthy merchant, never allowed his son's +carelessness to be a serious loss to his kind employers. As soon as he +thoroughly grasped all the circumstances of the extraordinary case, he +drew a cheque for £10,500 and remitted it to Messrs. Winslow and +Vassall. It was just, but it was also high-minded. +</p> +<p> +"All Liverpool knew of the generous action, as Mr. Winslow took care +that it should; and any evil suspicion regarding young Mr. Schwarz +vanished as quickly as it had come. +</p> +<p> +"Then, of course, there was the theory about the Prince and his suite, +and to this day I fancy there are plenty of people in Liverpool, and +also in London, who declare that the so-called Russian police officer +was a confederate. No doubt that theory was very plausible, and Messrs. +Winslow and Vassall spent a good deal of money in trying to prove a case +against the Russian Prince. +</p> +<p> +"Very soon, however, that theory was also bound to collapse. Mr. +Fairburn, whose reputation as an investigator of crime waxes in direct +inverted ratio to his capacities, did hit upon the obvious course of +interviewing the managers of the larger London and Liverpool <i>agents de +change</i>. He soon found that Prince Semionicz had converted a great deal +of Russian and French money into English bank-notes since his arrival in +this country. More than £30,000 in good solid, honest money was traced +to the pockets of the gentleman with the sixteen quarterings. It seemed, +therefore, more than improbable that a man who was obviously fairly +wealthy would risk imprisonment and hard labour, if not worse, for the +sake of increasing his fortune by £10,000. +</p> +<p> +"However, the theory of the Prince's guilt has taken firm root in the +dull minds of our police authorities. They have had every information +with regard to Prince Semionicz's antecedents from Russia; his position, +his wealth, have been placed above suspicion, and yet they suspect and +go on suspecting him or his secretary. They have communicated with the +police of every European capital; and while they still hope to obtain +sufficient evidence against those they suspect, they calmly allow the +guilty to enjoy the fruit of his clever roguery." +</p> +<p> +"The guilty?" said Polly. "Who do you think—" +</p> +<p> +"Who do I think knew at that moment that young Schwarz had money in his +possession?" he said excitedly, wriggling in his chair like a +Jack-in-the-box. "Obviously some one was guilty of that theft who knew +that Schwarz had gone to interview a rich Russian, and would in all +probability return with a large sum of money in his possession?" +</p> +<p> +"Who, indeed, but the Prince and his secretary?" she argued. "But just +now you said—" +</p> +<p> +"Just now I said that the police were determined to find the Prince and +his secretary guilty; they did not look further than their own stumpy +noses. Messrs. Winslow and Vassall spent money with a free hand in those +investigations. Mr. Winslow, as the senior partner, stood to lose over +£9000 by that robbery. Now, with Mr. Vassall it was different. +</p> +<p> +"When I saw how the police went on blundering in this case I took the +trouble to make certain inquiries, the whole thing interested me so +much, and I learnt all that I wished to know. I found out, namely, that +Mr. Vassall was very much a junior partner in the firm, that he only +drew ten per cent of the profits, having been promoted lately to a +partnership from having been senior assistant. +</p> +<p> +"Now, the police did not take the trouble to find that out." +</p> +<p> +"But you don't mean that—" +</p> +<p> +"I mean that in all cases where robbery affects more than one person the +first thing to find out is whether it affects the second party equally +with the first. I proved that to you, didn't I, over that robbery in +Phillimore Terrace? There, as here, one of the two parties stood to +lose very little in comparison with the other—" +</p> +<p> +"Even then—" she began. +</p> +<p> +"Wait a moment, for I found out something more. The moment I had +ascertained that Mr. Vassall was not drawing more than about £500 a year +from the business profits I tried to ascertain at what rate he lived and +what were his chief vices. I found that he kept a fine house in Albert +Terrace. Now, the rents of those houses are £250 a year. Therefore +speculation, horse-racing or some sort of gambling, must help to keep up +that establishment. Speculation and most forms of gambling are +synonymous with debt and ruin. It is only a question of time. Whether +Mr. Vassall was in debt or not at the time, that I cannot say, but this +I do know, that ever since that unfortunate loss to him of about £1000 +he has kept his house in nicer style than before, and he now has a good +banking account at the Lancashire and Liverpool bank, which he opened a +year after his 'heavy loss.'" +</p> +<p> +"But it must have been very difficult—" argued Polly. +</p> +<p> +"What?" he said. "To have planned out the whole thing? For carrying it +out was mere child's play. He had twenty-four hours in which to put his +plan into execution. Why, what was there to do? Firstly, to go to a +local printer in some out-of-the-way part of the town and get him to +print a few cards with the high-sounding name. That, of course, is done +'while you wait.' Beyond that there was the purchase of a good +second-hand uniform, fur coat, and a beard and a wig from a costumier's. +</p> +<p> +"No, no, the execution was not difficult; it was the planning of it all, +the daring that was so fine. Schwarz, of course, was a foreigner; he had +only been in England a little over a fortnight. Vassall's broken English +misled him; probably he did not know the junior partner very intimately. +I have no doubt that but for his uncle's absurd British prejudice and +suspicions against the Russian Prince, Schwarz would not have been so +ready to believe in the latter's roguery. As I said, it would be a great +boon if English tradesmen studied Gotha more; but it was clever, wasn't +it? I couldn't have done it much better myself." +</p> +<p> +That last sentence was so characteristic. Before Polly could think of +some plausible argument against his theory he was gone, and she was +trying vainly to find another solution to the Liverpool mystery. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH14"><!-- CH14 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XIV +</h2> + +<h3> +THE EDINBURGH MYSTERY +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The man in the corner had not enjoyed his lunch. Miss Polly Burton could +see that he had something on his mind, for, even before he began to talk +that morning, he was fidgeting with his bit of string, and setting all +her nerves on the jar. +</p> +<p> +"Have you ever felt real sympathy with a criminal or a thief?" he asked +her after a while. +</p> +<p> +"Only once, I think," she replied, "and then I am not quite sure that +the unfortunate woman who did enlist my sympathies was the criminal you +make her out to be." +</p> +<p> +"You mean the heroine of the York mystery?" he replied blandly. "I know +that you tried very hard that time to discredit the only possible +version of that mysterious murder, the version which is my own. Now, I +am equally sure that you have at the present moment no more notion as to +who killed and robbed poor Lady Donaldson in Charlotte Square, +Edinburgh, than the police have themselves, and yet you are fully +prepared to pooh-pooh my arguments, and to disbelieve my version of the +mystery. Such is the lady journalist's mind." +</p> +<p> +"If you have some cock-and-bull story to explain that extraordinary +case," she retorted, "of course I shall disbelieve it. Certainly, if you +are going to try and enlist my sympathies on behalf of Edith Crawford, I +can assure you you won't succeed." +</p> +<p> +"Well, I don't know that that is altogether my intention. I see you are +interested in the case, but I dare say you don't remember all the +circumstances. You must forgive me if I repeat that which you know +already. If you have ever been to Edinburgh at all, you will have heard +of Graham's bank, and Mr. Andrew Graham, the present head of the firm, +is undoubtedly one of the most prominent notabilities of 'modern +Athens.'" +</p> +<p> +The man in the corner took two or three photos from his pocket-book and +placed them before the young girl; then, pointing at them with his long +bony finger— +</p> +<p> +"That," he said, "is Mr. Elphinstone Graham, the eldest son, a typical +young Scotchman, as you see, and this is David Graham, the second son." +</p> +<p> +Polly looked more closely at this last photo, and saw before her a young +face, upon which some lasting sorrow seemed already to have left its +mark. The face was delicate and thin, the features pinched, and the +eyes seemed almost unnaturally large and prominent. +</p> +<p> +"He was deformed," commented the man in the corner in answer to the +girl's thoughts, "and, as such, an object of pity and even of repugnance +to most of his friends. There was also a good deal of talk in Edinburgh +society as to his mental condition, his mind, according to many intimate +friends of the Grahams, being at times decidedly unhinged. Be that as it +may, I fancy that his life must have been a very sad one; he had lost +his mother when quite a baby, and his father seemed, strangely enough, +to have an almost unconquerable dislike towards him. +</p> +<p> +"Every one got to know presently of David Graham's sad position in his +father's own house, and also of the great affection lavished upon him by +his godmother, Lady Donaldson, who was a sister of Mr. Graham's. +</p> +<p> +"She was a lady of considerable wealth, being the widow of Sir George +Donaldson, the great distiller; but she seems to have been decidedly +eccentric. Latterly she had astonished all her family—who were rigid +Presbyterians—by announcing her intention of embracing the Roman +Catholic faith, and then retiring to the convent of St. Augustine's at +Newton Abbot in Devonshire. +</p> +<p> +"She had sole and absolute control of the vast fortune which a doting +husband had bequeathed to her. Clearly, therefore, she was at liberty +to bestow it upon a Devonshire convent if she chose. But this evidently +was not altogether her intention. +</p> +<p> +"I told you how fond she was of her deformed godson, did I not? Being a +bundle of eccentricities, she had many hobbies, none more pronounced +than the fixed determination to see—before retiring from the world +altogether—David Graham happily married. +</p> +<p> +"Now, it appears that David Graham, ugly, deformed, half-demented as he +was, had fallen desperately in love with Miss Edith Crawford, daughter +of the late Dr. Crawford, of Prince's Gardens. The young lady, +however—very naturally, perhaps—fought shy of David Graham, who, about +this time, certainly seemed very queer and morose, but Lady Donaldson, +with characteristic determination, seems to have made up her mind to +melt Miss Crawford's heart towards her unfortunate nephew. +</p> +<p> +"On October the 2nd last, at a family party given by Mr. Graham in his +fine mansion in Charlotte Square, Lady Donaldson openly announced her +intention of making over, by deed of gift, to her nephew, David Graham, +certain property, money, and shares, amounting in total value to the sum +of £100,000, and also her magnificent diamonds, which were worth +£50,000, for the use of the said David's wife. Keith Macfinlay, a lawyer +of Prince's Street, received the next day instructions for drawing up +the necessary deed of gift, which she pledged herself to sign the day of +her godson's wedding. +</p> +<p> +"A week later <i>The Scotsman</i> contained the following paragraph:— +</p> +<p> +"'A marriage is arranged and will shortly take place between David, +younger son of Andrew Graham, Esq., of Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, and +Dochnakirk, Perthshire, and Edith Lillian, only surviving daughter of +the late Dr. Kenneth Crawford, of Prince's Gardens.' +</p> +<p> +"In Edinburgh society comments were loud and various upon the +forthcoming marriage, and, on the whole, these comments were far from +complimentary to the families concerned. I do not think that the Scotch +are a particularly sentimental race, but there was such obvious buying, +selling, and bargaining about this marriage that Scottish chivalry rose +in revolt at the thought. +</p> +<p> +"Against that the three people most concerned seemed perfectly +satisfied. David Graham was positively transformed; his moroseness was +gone from him, he lost his queer ways and wild manners, and became +gentle and affectionate in the midst of this great and unexpected +happiness. Miss Edith Crawford ordered her trousseau, and talked of the +diamonds to her friends, and Lady Donaldson was only waiting for the +consummation of this marriage—her heart's desire—before she finally +retired from the world, at peace with it and with herself. +</p> +<p> +"The deed of gift was ready for signature on the wedding day, which was +fixed for November 7th, and Lady Donaldson took up her abode temporarily +in her brother's house in Charlotte Square. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Graham gave a large ball on October 23rd. Special interest is +attached to this ball, from the fact that for this occasion Lady +Donaldson insisted that David's future wife should wear the magnificent +diamonds which were soon to become hers. +</p> +<p> +"They were, it seems, superb, and became Miss Crawford's stately beauty +to perfection. The ball was a brilliant success, the last guest leaving +at four a.m. The next day it was the universal topic of conversation, +and the day after that, when Edinburgh unfolded the late editions of its +morning papers, it learned with horror and dismay that Lady Donaldson +had been found murdered in her room, and that the celebrated diamonds +had been stolen. +</p> +<p> +"Hardly had the beautiful little city, however, recovered from this +awful shock, than its newspapers had another thrilling sensation ready +for their readers. +</p> +<p> +"Already all Scotch and English papers had mysteriously hinted at +'startling information' obtained by the Procurator Fiscal, and at an +'impending sensational arrest.' +</p> +<p> +"Then the announcement came, and every one in Edinburgh read, +horror-struck and aghast, that the 'sensational arrest' was none other +than that of Miss Edith Crawford, for murder and robbery, both so daring +and horrible that reason refused to believe that a young lady, born and +bred in the best social circle, could have conceived, much less +executed, so heinous a crime. She had been arrested in London at the +Midland Hotel, and brought to Edinburgh, where she was judicially +examined, bail being refused." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH15"><!-- CH15 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XV +</h2> + +<h3> +A TERRIBLE PLIGHT +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Little more than a fortnight after that, Edith Crawford was duly +committed to stand her trial before the High Court of Justiciary. She +had pleaded 'Not Guilty' at the pleading diet, and her defence was +entrusted to Sir James Fenwick, one of the most eminent advocates at the +Criminal Bar. +</p> +<p> +"Strange to say," continued the man in the corner after a while, "public +opinion from the first went dead against the accused. The public is +absolutely like a child, perfectly irresponsible and wholly illogical; +it argued that since Miss Crawford had been ready to contract a marriage +with a half-demented, deformed creature for the sake of his £100,000 she +must have been equally ready to murder and rob an old lady for the sake +of £50,000 worth of jewellery, without the encumbrance of so undesirable +a husband. +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps the great sympathy aroused in the popular mind for David Graham +had much to do with this ill-feeling against the accused. David Graham +had, by this cruel and dastardly murder, lost the best—if not the +only—friend he possessed. He had also lost at one fell swoop the large +fortune which Lady Donaldson had been about to assign to him. +</p> +<p> +"The deed of gift had never been signed, and the old lady's vast wealth, +instead of enriching her favourite nephew, was distributed—since she +had made no will—amongst her heirs-at-law. And now to crown this long +chapter of sorrow David Graham saw the girl he loved accused of the +awful crime which had robbed him of friend and fortune. +</p> +<p> +"It was, therefore, with an unmistakable thrill of righteous +satisfaction that Edinburgh society saw this 'mercenary girl' in so +terrible a plight. +</p> +<p> +"I was immensely interested in the case, and journeyed down to Edinburgh +in order to get a good view of the chief actors in the thrilling drama +which was about to be unfolded there. +</p> +<p> +"I succeeded—I generally do—in securing one of the front seats among +the audience, and was already comfortably installed in my place in court +when through the trap door I saw the head of the prisoner emerge. She +was very becomingly dressed in deep black, and, led by two policemen, +she took her place in the dock. Sir James Fenwick shook hands with her +very warmly, and I could almost hear him instilling words of comfort +into her. +</p> +<p> +"The trial lasted six clear days, during which time more than forty +persons were examined for the prosecution, and as many for the defence. +But the most interesting witnesses were certainly the two doctors, the +maid Tremlett, Campbell, the High Street jeweller, and David Graham. +</p> +<p> +"There was, of course, a great deal of medical evidence to go through. +Poor Lady Donaldson had been found with a silk scarf tied tightly round +her neck, her face showing even to the inexperienced eye every symptom +of strangulation. +</p> +<p> +"Then Tremlett, Lady Donaldson's confidential maid, was called. Closely +examined by Crown Counsel, she gave an account of the ball at Charlotte +Square on the 23rd, and the wearing of the jewels by Miss Crawford on +that occasion. +</p> +<p> +"'I helped Miss Crawford on with the tiara over her hair,' she said; +'and my lady put the two necklaces round Miss Crawford's neck herself. +There were also some beautiful brooches, bracelets, and earrings. At +four o'clock in the morning when the ball was over, Miss Crawford +brought the jewels back to my lady's room. My lady had already gone to +bed, and I had put out the electric light, as I was going, too. There +was only one candle left in the room, close to the bed. +</p> +<p> +"'Miss Crawford took all the jewels off, and asked Lady Donaldson for +the key of the safe, so that she might put them away. My lady gave her +the key and said to me, "You can go to bed, Tremlett, you must be dead +tired." I was glad to go, for I could hardly stand up—I was so tired. I +said "Good night!" to my lady and also to Miss Crawford, who was busy +putting the jewels away. As I was going out of the room I heard Lady +Donaldson saying: "Have you managed it, my dear?" Miss Crawford said: "I +have put everything away very nicely."' +</p> +<p> +"In answer to Sir James Fenwick, Tremlett said that Lady Donaldson +always carried the key of her jewel safe on a ribbon round her neck, and +had done so the whole day preceding her death. +</p> +<p> +"'On the night of the 24th,' she continued, 'Lady Donaldson still seemed +rather tired, and went up to her room directly after dinner, and while +the family were still sitting in the dining-room. She made me dress her +hair, then she slipped on her dressing-gown and sat in the arm-chair +with a book. She told me that she then felt strangely uncomfortable and +nervous, and could not account for it. +</p> +<p> +"'However, she did not want me to sit with her, so I thought that the +best thing I could do was to tell Mr. David Graham that her ladyship did +not seem very cheerful. Her ladyship was so fond of Mr. David; it always +made her happy to have him with her. I then went to my room, and at +half-past eight Mr. David called me. He said: "Your mistress does seem a +little restless to-night. If I were you I would just go and listen at +her door in about an hour's time, and if she has not gone to bed I would +go in and stay with her until she has." At about ten o'clock I did as +Mr. David suggested, and listened at her ladyship's door. However, all +was quiet in the room, and, thinking her ladyship had gone to sleep, I +went back to bed. +</p> +<p> +"'The next morning at eight o'clock, when I took in my mistress's cup of +tea, I saw her lying on the floor, her poor dear face all purple and +distorted. I screamed, and the other servants came rushing along. Then +Mr. Graham had the door locked and sent for the doctor and the police.' +</p> +<p> +"The poor woman seemed to find it very difficult not to break down. She +was closely questioned by Sir James Fenwick, but had nothing further to +say. She had last seen her mistress alive at eight o'clock on the +evening of the 24th. +</p> +<p> +"'And when you listened at her door at ten o'clock,' asked Sir James, +'did you try to open it?' +</p> +<p> +"'I did, but it was locked,' she replied. +</p> +<p> +"'Did Lady Donaldson usually lock her bedroom at night?' +</p> +<p> +"'Nearly always.' +</p> +<p> +"'And in the morning when you took in the tea?' +</p> +<p> +"'The door was open. I walked straight in.' +</p> +<p> +"'You are quite sure?' insisted Sir James. +</p> +<p> +"'I swear it,' solemnly asserted the woman. +</p> +<p> +"After that we were informed by several members of Mr. Graham's +establishment that Miss Crawford had been in to tea at Charlotte Square +in the afternoon of the 24th, that she told every one she was going to +London by the night mail, as she had some special shopping she wished to +do there. It appears that Mr. Graham and David both tried to persuade +her to stay to dinner, and then to go by the 9.10 p.m. from the +Caledonian Station. Miss Crawford however had refused, saying she always +preferred to go from the Waverley Station. It was nearer to her own +rooms, and she still had a good deal of writing to do. +</p> +<p> +"In spite of this, two witnesses saw the accused in Charlotte Square +later on in the evening. She was carrying a bag which seemed heavy, and +was walking towards the Caledonian Railway Station. +</p> +<p> +"But the most thrilling moment in that sensational trial was reached on +the second day, when David Graham, looking wretchedly ill, unkempt, and +haggard, stepped into the witness-box. A murmur of sympathy went round +the audience at sight of him, who was the second, perhaps, most deeply +stricken victim of the Charlotte Square tragedy. +</p> +<p> +"David Graham, in answer to Crown Counsel, gave an account of his last +interview with Lady Donaldson. +</p> +<p> +"'Tremlett had told me that she seemed anxious and upset, and I went to +have a chat with her; she soon cheered up and....' +</p> +<p> +"There the unfortunate young man hesitated visibly, but after a while +resumed with an obvious effort. +</p> +<p> +"'She spoke of my marriage, and of the gift she was about to bestow upon +me. She said the diamonds would be for my wife, and after that for my +daughter, if I had one. She also complained that Mr. Macfinlay had been +so punctilious about preparing the deed of gift, and that it was a great +pity the £100,000 could not just pass from her hands to mine without so +much fuss. +</p> +<p> +"'I stayed talking with her for about half an hour; then I left her, as +she seemed ready to go to bed; but I told her maid to listen at the door +in about an hour's time.' +</p> +<p> +"There was deep silence in the court for a few moments, a silence which +to me seemed almost electrical. It was as if, some time before it was +uttered, the next question put by Crown Counsel to the witness had +hovered in the air. +</p> +<p> +"'You were engaged to Miss Edith Crawford at one time, were you not?' +</p> +<p> +"One felt, rather than heard, the almost inaudible 'Yes' which escaped +from David Graham's compressed lips. +</p> +<p> +"'Under what circumstances was that engagement broken off?' +</p> +<p> +"Sir James Fenwick had already risen in protest, but David Graham had +been the first to speak. +</p> +<p> +"'I do not think that I need answer that question.' +</p> +<p> +"'I will put it in a different form, then,' said Crown Counsel +urbanely—'one to which my learned friend cannot possibly take +exception. Did you or did you not on October 27th receive a letter from +the accused, in which she desired to be released from her promise of +marriage to you?' +</p> +<p> +"Again David Graham would have refused to answer, and he certainly gave +no audible reply to the learned counsel's question; but every one in the +audience there present—aye, every member of the jury and of the +bar—read upon David Graham's pale countenance and large, sorrowful eyes +that ominous 'Yes!' which had failed to reach his trembling lips." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH16"><!-- CH16 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XVI +</h2> + +<h3> +"NON PROVEN" +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"There is no doubt," continued the man in the corner, "that what little +sympathy the young girl's terrible position had aroused in the public +mind had died out the moment that David Graham left the witness-box on +the second day of the trial. Whether Edith Crawford was guilty of murder +or not, the callous way in which she had accepted a deformed lover, and +then thrown him over, had set every one's mind against her. +</p> +<p> +"It was Mr. Graham himself who had been the first to put the Procurator +Fiscal in possession of the fact that the accused had written to David +from London, breaking off her engagement. This information had, no +doubt, directed the attention of the Fiscal to Miss Crawford, and the +police soon brought forward the evidence which had led to her arrest. +</p> +<p> +"We had a final sensation on the third day, when Mr. Campbell, jeweller, +of High Street, gave his evidence. He said that on October 25th a lady +came to his shop and offered to sell him a pair of diamond earrings. +Trade had been very bad, and he had refused the bargain, although the +lady seemed ready to part with the earrings for an extraordinarily low +sum, considering the beauty of the stones. +</p> +<p> +"In fact it was because of this evident desire on the lady's part to +sell at <i>any</i> cost that he had looked at her more keenly than he +otherwise would have done. He was now ready to swear that the lady that +offered him the diamond earrings was the prisoner in the dock. +</p> +<p> +"I can assure you that as we all listened to this apparently damnatory +evidence, you might have heard a pin drop amongst the audience in that +crowded court. The girl alone, there in the dock, remained calm and +unmoved. Remember that for two days we had heard evidence to prove that +old Dr. Crawford had died leaving his daughter penniless, that having no +mother she had been brought up by a maiden aunt, who had trained her to +be a governess, which occupation she had followed for years, and that +certainly she had never been known by any of her friends to be in +possession of solitaire diamond earrings. +</p> +<p> +"The prosecution had certainly secured an ace of trumps, but Sir James +Fenwick, who during the whole of that day had seemed to take little +interest in the proceedings, here rose from his seat, and I knew at once +that he had got a tit-bit in the way of a 'point' up his sleeve. Gaunt, +and unusually tall, and with his beak-like nose, he always looks +strangely impressive when he seriously tackles a witness. He did it this +time with a vengeance, I can tell you. He was all over the pompous +little jeweller in a moment. +</p> +<p> +"'Had Mr. Campbell made a special entry in his book, as to the visit of +the lady in question?' +</p> +<p> +"'No.' +</p> +<p> +"'Had he any special means of ascertaining when that visit did actually +take place?' +</p> +<p> +"'No—but—' +</p> +<p> +"'What record had he of the visit?' +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Campbell had none. In fact, after about twenty minutes of +cross-examination, he had to admit that he had given but little thought +to the interview with the lady at the time, and certainly not in +connection with the murder of Lady Donaldson, until he had read in the +papers that a young lady had been arrested. +</p> +<p> +"Then he and his clerk talked the matter over, it appears, and together +they had certainly recollected that a lady had brought some beautiful +earrings for sale on a day which <i>must have been</i> the very morning after +the murder. If Sir James Fenwick's object was to discredit this special +witness, he certainly gained his point. +</p> +<p> +"All the pomposity went out of Mr. Campbell, he became flurried, then +excited, then he lost his temper. After that he was allowed to leave the +court, and Sir James Fenwick resumed his seat, and waited like a +vulture for its prey. +</p> +<p> +"It presented itself in the person of Mr. Campbell's clerk, who, before +the Procurator Fiscal, had corroborated his employer's evidence in every +respect. In Scotland no witness in any one case is present in court +during the examination of another, and Mr. Macfarlane, the clerk, was, +therefore, quite unprepared for the pitfalls which Sir James Fenwick had +prepared for him. He tumbled into them, head foremost, and the eminent +advocate turned him inside out like a glove. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Macfarlane did not lose his temper; he was of too humble a frame of +mind to do that, but he got into a hopeless quagmire of mixed +recollections, and he too left the witness-box quite unprepared to swear +as to the day of the interview with the lady with the diamond earrings. +</p> +<p> +"I dare say, mind you," continued the man in the corner with a chuckle, +"that to most people present, Sir James Fenwick's cross-questioning +seemed completely irrelevant. Both Mr. Campbell and his clerk were quite +ready to swear that they had had an interview concerning some diamond +earrings with a lady, of whose identity with the accused they were +perfectly convinced, and to the casual observer the question as to the +time or even the day when that interview took place could make but +little difference in the ultimate issue. +</p> +<p> +"Now I took in, in a moment, the entire drift of Sir James Fenwick's +defence of Edith Crawford. When Mr. Macfarlane left the witness-box, the +second victim of the eminent advocate's caustic tongue, I could read as +in a book the whole history of that crime, its investigation, and the +mistakes made by the police first and the Public Prosecutor afterwards. +</p> +<p> +"Sir James Fenwick knew them, too, of course, and he placed a finger +upon each one, demolishing—like a child who blows upon a house of +cards—the entire scaffolding erected by the prosecution. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Campbell's and Mr. Macfarlane's identification of the accused with +the lady who, on some date—admitted to be uncertain—had tried to sell +a pair of diamond earrings, was the first point. Sir James had plenty of +witnesses to prove that on the 25th, the day after the murder, the +accused was in London, whilst, the day before, Mr. Campbell's shop had +been closed long before the family circle had seen the last of Lady +Donaldson. Clearly the jeweller and his clerk must have seen some other +lady, whom their vivid imagination had pictured as being identical with +the accused. +</p> +<p> +"Then came the great question of time. Mr. David Graham had been +evidently the last to see Lady Donaldson alive. He had spoken to her as +late as 8.30 p.m. Sir James Fenwick had called two porters at the +Caledonian Railway Station who testified to Miss Crawford having taken +her seat in a first-class carriage of the 9.10 train, some minutes +before it started. +</p> +<p> +"'Was it conceivable, therefore,' argued Sir James, 'that in the space +of half an hour the accused—a young girl—could have found her way +surreptitiously into the house, at a time when the entire household was +still astir, that she should have strangled Lady Donaldson, forced open +the safe, and made away with the jewels? A man—an experienced burglar +might have done it, but I contend that the accused is physically +incapable of accomplishing such a feat. +</p> +<p> +"'With regard to the broken engagement,' continued the eminent counsel +with a smile, 'it may have seemed a little heartless, certainly, but +heartlessness is no crime in the eyes of the law. The accused has stated +in her declaration that at the time she wrote to Mr. David Graham, +breaking off her engagement, she had heard nothing of the Edinburgh +tragedy. +</p> +<p> +"'The London papers had reported the crime very briefly. The accused was +busy shopping; she knew nothing of Mr. David Graham's altered position. +In no case was the breaking off of the engagement a proof that the +accused had obtained possession of the jewels by so foul a deed.' +</p> +<p> +"It is, of course, impossible for me," continued the man in the corner +apologetically, "to give you any idea of the eminent advocate's +eloquence and masterful logic. It struck every one, I think, just as it +did me, that he chiefly directed his attention to the fact that there +was absolutely no <i>proof</i> against the accused. +</p> +<p> +"Be that as it may, the result of that remarkable trial was a verdict of +'Non Proven.' The jury was absent forty minutes, and it appears that in +the mind of every one of them there remained, in spite of Sir James' +arguments, a firmly rooted conviction—call it instinct, if you +like—that Edith Crawford had done away with Lady Donaldson in order to +become possessed of those jewels, and that in spite of the pompous +jeweller's many contradictions, she had offered him some of those +diamonds for sale. But there was not enough proof to convict, and she +was given the benefit of the doubt. +</p> +<p> +"I have heard English people argue that in England she would have been +hanged. Personally I doubt that. I think that an English jury, not +having the judicial loophole of 'Non Proven,' would have been bound to +acquit her. What do you think?" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH17"><!-- CH17 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XVII +</h2> + +<h3> +UNDENIABLE FACTS +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +There was a moment's silence, for Polly did not reply immediately, and +he went on making impossible knots in his bit of string. Then she said +quietly— +</p> +<p> +"I think that I agree with those English people who say that an English +jury would have condemned her.... I have no doubt that she was guilty. +She may not have committed that awful deed herself. Some one in the +Charlotte Square house may have been her accomplice and killed and +robbed Lady Donaldson while Edith Crawford waited outside for the +jewels. David Graham left his godmother at 8.30 p.m. If the accomplice +was one of the servants in the house, he or she would have had plenty of +time for any amount of villainy, and Edith Crawford could have yet +caught the 9.10 p.m. train from the Caledonian Station." +</p> +<p> +"Then who, in your opinion," he asked sarcastically, and cocking his +funny birdlike head on one side, "tried to sell diamond earrings to Mr. +Campbell, the jeweller?" +</p> +<p> +"Edith Crawford, of course," she retorted triumphantly; "he and his +clerk both recognized her." +</p> +<p> +"When did she try to sell them the earrings?" +</p> +<p> +"Ah, that is what I cannot quite make out, and there to my mind lies the +only mystery in this case. On the 25th she was certainly in London, and +it is not very likely that she would go back to Edinburgh in order to +dispose of the jewels there, where they could most easily be traced." +</p> +<p> +"Not very likely, certainly," he assented drily. +</p> +<p> +"And," added the young girl, "on the day before she left for London, +Lady Donaldson was alive." +</p> +<p> +"And pray," he said suddenly, as with comic complacency he surveyed a +beautiful knot he had just twisted up between his long fingers, "what +has that fact got to do with it?" +</p> +<p> +"But it has everything to do with it!" she retorted. +</p> +<p> +"Ah, there you go," he sighed with comic emphasis. "My teachings don't +seem to have improved your powers of reasoning. You are as bad as the +police. Lady Donaldson has been robbed and murdered, and you immediately +argue that she was robbed and murdered by the same person." +</p> +<p> +"But—" argued Polly. +</p> +<p> +"There is no but," he said, getting more and more excited. "See how +simple it is. Edith Crawford wears the diamonds one night, then she +brings them back to Lady Donaldson's room. Remember the maid's +statement: 'My lady said: "Have you put them back, my dear?"—a simple +statement, utterly ignored by the prosecution. But what did it mean? +That Lady Donaldson could not see for herself whether Edith Crawford had +put back the jewels or not, <i>since she asked the question</i>." +</p> +<p> +"Then you argue—" +</p> +<p> +"I never argue," he interrupted excitedly; "I state undeniable facts. +Edith Crawford, who wanted to steal the jewels, took them then and +there, when she had the opportunity. Why in the world should she have +waited? Lady Donaldson was in bed, and Tremlett, the maid, had gone. +</p> +<p> +"The next day—namely, the 25th—she tries to dispose of a pair of +earrings to Mr. Campbell; she fails, and decides to go to London, where +she has a better chance. Sir James Fenwick did not think it desirable to +bring forward witnesses to prove what I have since ascertained is a +fact, namely, that on the 27th of October, three days before her arrest, +Miss Crawford crossed over to Belgium, and came back to London the next +day. In Belgium, no doubt, Lady Donaldson's diamonds, taken out of their +settings, calmly repose at this moment, while the money derived from +their sale is safely deposited in a Belgian bank." +</p> +<p> +"But then, who murdered Lady Donaldson, and why?" gasped Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Cannot you guess?" he queried blandly. "Have I not placed the case +clearly enough before you? To me it seems so simple. It was a daring, +brutal murder, remember. Think of one who, not being the thief himself, +would, nevertheless, have the strongest of all motives to shield the +thief from the consequences of her own misdeed: aye! and the power +too—since it would be absolutely illogical, nay, impossible, that he +should be an accomplice." +</p> +<p> +"Surely——" +</p> +<p> +"Think of a curious nature, warped morally, as well as physically—do +you know how those natures feel? A thousand times more strongly than the +even, straight natures in everyday life. Then think of such a nature +brought face to face with this awful problem. +</p> +<p> +"Do you think that such a nature would hesitate a moment before +committing a crime to save the loved one from the consequences of that +deed? Mind you, I don't assert for a moment that David Graham had any +<i>intention</i> of murdering Lady Donaldson. Tremlett tells him that she +seems strangely upset; he goes to her room and finds that she has +discovered that she has been robbed. She naturally suspects Edith +Crawford, recollects the incidents of the other night, and probably +expresses her feelings to David Graham, and threatens immediate +prosecution, scandal, what you will. +</p> +<p> +"I repeat it again, I dare say he had no wish to kill her. Probably he +merely threatened to. A medical gentleman who spoke of sudden heart +failure was no doubt right. Then imagine David Graham's remorse, his +horror and his fears. The empty safe probably is the first object that +suggested to him the grim tableau of robbery and murder, which he +arranges in order to ensure his own safety. +</p> +<p> +"But remember one thing: no miscreant was seen to enter or leave the +house surreptitiously; the murderer left no signs of entrance, and none +of exit. An armed burglar would have left some trace—<i>some one</i> would +have heard <i>something</i>. Then who locked and unlocked Lady Donaldson's +door that night while she herself lay dead? +</p> +<p> +"Some one in the house, I tell you—some one who left no trace—some one +against whom there could be no suspicion—some one who killed without +apparently the slightest premeditation, and without the slightest +motive. Think of it—I know I am right—and then tell me if I have at +all enlisted your sympathies in the author of the Edinburgh Mystery." +</p> +<p> +He was gone. Polly looked again at the photo of David Graham. Did a +crooked mind really dwell in that crooked body, and were there in the +world such crimes that were great enough to be deemed sublime? +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH18"><!-- CH18 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XVIII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE THEFT AT THE ENGLISH PROVIDENT BANK +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"That question of motive is a very difficult and complicated one at +times," said the man in the corner, leisurely pulling off a huge pair of +flaming dog-skin gloves from his meagre fingers. "I have known +experienced criminal investigators declare, as an infallible axiom, that +to find the person interested in the committal of the crime is to find +the criminal. +</p> +<p> +"Well, that may be so in most cases, but my experience has proved to me +that there is one factor in this world of ours which is the mainspring +of human actions, and that factor is human passions. For good or evil +passions rule this poor humanity of ours. Remember, there are the women! +French detectives, who are acknowledged masters in their craft, never +proceed till after they have discovered the feminine element in a crime; +whether in theft, murder, or fraud, according to their theory, there is +always a woman. +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps the reason why the Phillimore Terrace robbery was never +brought home to its perpetrators is because there was no woman in any +way connected with it, and I am quite sure, on the other hand, that the +reason why the thief at the English Provident Bank is still unpunished +is because a clever woman has escaped the eyes of our police force." +</p> +<p> +He had spoken at great length and very dictatorially. Miss Polly Burton +did not venture to contradict him, knowing by now that whenever he was +irritable he was invariably rude, and she then had the worst of it. +</p> +<p> +"When I am old," he resumed, "and have nothing more to do, I think I +shall take professionally to the police force; they have much to learn." +</p> +<p> +Could anything be more ludicrous than the self-satisfaction, the +abnormal conceit of this remark, made by that shrivelled piece of +mankind, in a nervous, hesitating tone of voice? Polly made no comment, +but drew from her pocket a beautiful piece of string, and knowing his +custom of knotting such an article while unravelling his mysteries, she +handed it across the table to him. She positively thought that he +blushed. +</p> +<p> +"As an adjunct to thought," she said, moved by a conciliatory spirit. +</p> +<p> +He looked at the invaluable toy which the young girl had tantalisingly +placed close to his hand: then he forced himself to look all round the +coffee-room: at Polly, at the waitresses, at the piles of pallid buns +upon the counter. But, involuntarily, his mild blue eyes wandered back +lovingly to the long piece of string, on which his playful imagination +no doubt already saw a series of knots which would be equally +tantalising to tie and to untie. +</p> +<p> +"Tell me about the theft at the English Provident Bank," suggested Polly +condescendingly. +</p> +<p> +He looked at her, as if she had proposed some mysterious complicity in +an unheard-of crime. Finally his lean fingers sought the end of the +piece of string, and drew it towards him. His face brightened up in a +moment. +</p> +<p> +"There was an element of tragedy in that particular robbery," he began, +after a few moments of beatified knotting, "altogether different to that +connected with most crimes; a tragedy which, as far as I am concerned, +would seal my lips for ever, and forbid them to utter a word, which +might lead the police on the right track." +</p> +<p> +"Your lips," suggested Polly sarcastically, "are, as far as I can see, +usually sealed before our long-suffering, incompetent police and—" +</p> +<p> +"And you should be the last to grumble at this," he quietly interrupted, +"for you have spent some very pleasant half-hours already, listening to +what you have termed my 'cock-and-bull' stories. You know the English +Provident Bank, of course, in Oxford Street; there were plenty of +sketches of it at the time in the illustrated papers. Here is a photo of +the outside. I took it myself some time ago, and only wish I had been +cheeky or lucky enough to get a snap-shot of the interior. But you see +that the office has a separate entrance from the rest of the house, +which was, and still is, as is usual in such cases, inhabited by the +manager and his family. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Ireland was the manager then; it was less than six months ago. He +lived over the bank, with his wife and family, consisting of a son, who +was clerk in the business, and two or three younger children. The house +is really smaller than it looks on this photo, for it has no depth, and +only one set of rooms on each floor looking out into the street, the +back of the house being nothing but the staircase. Mr. Ireland and his +family, therefore, occupied the whole of it. +</p> +<p> +"As for the business premises, they were, and, in fact, are, of the +usual pattern; an office with its rows of desks, clerks, and cashiers, +and beyond, through a glass door, the manager's private room, with the +ponderous safe, and desk, and so on. +</p> +<p> +"The private room has a door into the hall of the house, so that the +manager is not obliged to go out into the street in order to go to +business. There are no living-rooms on the ground floor, and the house +has no basement. +</p> +<p> +"I am obliged to put all these architectural details before you, though +they may sound rather dry and uninteresting, but they are really +necessary in order to make my argument clear. +</p> +<p> +"At night, of course, the bank premises are barred and bolted against +the street, and as an additional precaution there is always a night +watchman in the office. As I mentioned before, there is only a glass +door between the office and the manager's private room. This, of course, +accounted for the fact that the night watchman heard all that he did +hear, on that memorable night, and so helped further to entangle the +thread of that impenetrable mystery. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Ireland as a rule went into his office every morning a little +before ten o'clock, but on that particular morning, for some reason +which he never could or would explain, he went down before having his +breakfast at about nine o'clock. Mrs. Ireland stated subsequently that, +not hearing him return, she sent the servant down to tell the master +that breakfast was getting cold. The girl's shrieks were the first +intimation that something alarming had occurred. +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Ireland hastened downstairs. On reaching the hall she found the +door of her husband's room open, and it was from there that the girl's +shrieks proceeded. +</p> +<p> +"'The master, mum—the poor master—he is dead, mum—I am sure he is +dead!'—accompanied by vigorous thumps against the glass partition, and +not very measured language on the part of the watchman from the outer +office, such as—'Why don't you open the door instead of making that +row?' +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Ireland is not the sort of woman who, under any circumstances, +would lose her presence of mind. I think she proved that throughout the +many trying circumstances connected with the investigation of the case. +She gave only one glance at the room and realized the situation. On the +arm-chair, with head thrown back and eyes closed, lay Mr. Ireland, +apparently in a dead faint; some terrible shock must have very suddenly +shattered his nervous system, and rendered him prostrate for the moment. +What that shock had been it was pretty easy to guess. +</p> +<p> +"The door of the safe was wide open, and Mr. Ireland had evidently +tottered and fainted before some awful fact which the open safe had +revealed to him; he had caught himself against a chair which lay on the +floor, and then finally sunk, unconscious, into the arm-chair. +</p> +<p> +"All this, which takes some time to describe," continued the man in the +corner, "took, remember, only a second to pass like a flash through +Mrs. Ireland's mind; she quickly turned the key of the glass door, +which was on the inside, and with the help of James Fairbairn, the +watchman, she carried her husband upstairs to his room, and immediately +sent both for the police and for a doctor. +</p> +<p> +"As Mrs. Ireland had anticipated, her husband had received a severe +mental shock which had completely prostrated him. The doctor prescribed +absolute quiet, and forbade all worrying questions for the present. The +patient was not a young man; the shock had been very severe—it was a +case, a very slight one, of cerebral congestion—and Mr. Ireland's +reason, if not his life, might be gravely jeopardised by any attempt to +recall before his enfeebled mind the circumstances which had preceded +his collapse. +</p> +<p> +"The police therefore could proceed but slowly in their investigations. +The detective who had charge of the case was necessarily handicapped, +whilst one of the chief actors concerned in the drama was unable to help +him in his work. +</p> +<p> +"To begin with, the robber or robbers had obviously not found their way +into the manager's inner room through the bank premises. James Fairbairn +had been on the watch all night, with the electric light full on, and +obviously no one could have crossed the outer office or forced the +heavily barred doors without his knowledge. +</p> +<p> +"There remained the other access to the room, that is, the one through +the hall of the house. The hall door, it appears, was always barred and +bolted by Mr. Ireland himself when he came home, whether from the +theatre or his club. It was a duty he never allowed any one to perform +but himself. During his annual holiday, with his wife and family, his +son, who usually had the sub-manager to stay with him on those +occasions, did the bolting and barring—but with the distinct +understanding that this should be done by ten o'clock at night. +</p> +<p> +"As I have already explained to you, there is only a glass partition +between the general office and the manager's private room, and, +according to James Fairbairn's account, this was naturally always left +wide open so that he, during his night watch, would of necessity hear +the faintest sound. As a rule there was no light left in the manager's +room, and the other door—that leading into the hall—was bolted from +the inside by James Fairbairn the moment he had satisfied himself that +the premises were safe, and he had begun his night-watch. An electric +bell in both the offices communicated with Mr. Ireland's bedroom and +that of his son, Mr. Robert Ireland, and there was a telephone installed +to the nearest district messengers' office, with an understood signal +which meant 'Police.' +</p> +<p> +"At nine o'clock in the morning it was the night watchman's duty, as +soon as the first cashier had arrived, to dust and tidy the manager's +room, and to undo the bolts; after that he was free to go home to his +breakfast and rest. +</p> +<p> +"You will see, of course, that James Fairbairn's position in the English +Provident Bank is one of great responsibility and trust; but then in +every bank and business house there are men who hold similar positions. +They are always men of well-known and tried characters, often old +soldiers with good-conduct records behind them. James Fairbairn is a +fine, powerful Scotchman; he had been night watchman to the English +Provident Bank for fifteen years, and was then not more than forty-three +or forty-four years old. He is an ex-guardsman, and stands six feet +three inches in his socks. +</p> +<p> +"It was his evidence, of course, which was of such paramount importance, +and which somehow or other managed, in spite of the utmost care +exercised by the police, to become public property, and to cause the +wildest excitement in banking and business circles. +</p> +<p> +"James Fairbairn stated that at eight o'clock in the evening of March +25th, having bolted and barred all the shutters and the door of the back +premises, he was about to lock the manager's door as usual, when Mr. +Ireland called to him from the floor above, telling him to leave that +door open, as he might want to go into the office again for a minute +when he came home at eleven o'clock. James Fairbairn asked if he should +leave the light on, but Mr. Ireland said: 'No, turn it out. I can switch +it on if I want it.' +</p> +<p> +"The night watchman at the English Provident Bank has permission to +smoke, he also is allowed a nice fire, and a tray consisting of a plate +of substantial sandwiches and one glass of ale, which he can take when +he likes. James Fairbairn settled himself in front of the fire, lit his +pipe, took out his newspaper, and began to read. He thought he had heard +the street door open and shut at about a quarter to ten; he supposed +that it was Mr. Ireland going out to his club, but at ten minutes to ten +o'clock the watchman heard the door of the manager's room open, and some +one enter, immediately closing the glass partition door and turning the +key. +</p> +<p> +"He naturally concluded it was Mr. Ireland himself. +</p> +<p> +"From where he sat he could not see into the room, but he noticed that +the electric light had not been switched on, and that the manager +seemingly had no light but an occasional match. +</p> +<p> +"'For the minute,' continued James Fairbairn, 'a thought did just cross +my mind that something might perhaps be wrong, and I put my newspaper +aside and went to the other end of the room towards the glass partition. +The manager's room was still quite dark, and I could not clearly see +into it, but the door into the hall was open, and there was, of course, +a light through there. I had got quite close to the partition, when I +saw Mrs. Ireland standing in the doorway, and heard her saying in a very +astonished tone of voice: 'Why, Lewis, I thought you had gone to your +club ages ago. What in the world are you doing here in the dark?' +</p> +<p> +"'Lewis is Mr. Ireland's Christian name,' was James Fairbairn's further +statement. 'I did not hear the manager's reply, but quite satisfied now +that nothing was wrong, I went back to my pipe and my newspaper. Almost +directly afterwards I heard the manager leave his room, cross the hall +and go out by the street door. It was only after he had gone that I +recollected that he must have forgotten to unlock the glass partition +and that I could not therefore bolt the door into the hall the same as +usual, and I suppose that is how those confounded thieves got the better +of me.'" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH19"><!-- CH19 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XIX +</h2> + +<h3> +CONFLICTING EVIDENCE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"By the time the public had been able to think over James Fairbairn's +evidence, a certain disquietude and unrest had begun to make itself felt +both in the bank itself and among those of our detective force who had +charge of the case. The newspapers spoke of the matter with very obvious +caution, and warned all their readers to await the further development +of this sad case. +</p> +<p> +"While the manager of the English Provident Bank lay in such a +precarious condition of health, it was impossible to arrive at any +definite knowledge as to what the thief had actually made away with. The +chief cashier, however, estimated the loss at about £5000 in gold and +notes of the bank money—that was, of course, on the assumption that Mr. +Ireland had no private money or valuables of his own in the safe. +</p> +<p> +"Mind you, at this point public sympathy was much stirred in favour of +the poor man who lay ill, perhaps dying, and yet whom, strangely +enough, suspicion had already slightly touched with its poisoned wing. +</p> +<p> +"Suspicion is a strong word, perhaps, to use at this point in the story. +No one suspected anybody at present. James Fairbairn had told his story, +and had vowed that some thief with false keys must have sneaked through +the house into the inner office. +</p> +<p> +"Public excitement, you will remember, lost nothing by waiting. Hardly +had we all had time to wonder over the night watchman's singular +evidence, and, pending further and fuller detail, to check our growing +sympathy for the man who was ill, than the sensational side of this +mysterious case culminated in one extraordinary, absolutely unexpected +fact. Mrs. Ireland, after a twenty-four hours' untiring watch beside her +husband's sick bed, had at last been approached by the detective, and +been asked to reply to a few simple questions, and thus help to throw +some light on the mystery which had caused Mr. Ireland's illness and her +own consequent anxiety. +</p> +<p> +"She professed herself quite ready to reply to any questions put to her, +and she literally astounded both inspector and detective when she firmly +and emphatically declared that James Fairbairn must have been dreaming +or asleep when he thought he saw her in the doorway at ten o'clock that +night, and fancied he heard her voice. +</p> +<p> +"She may or may not have been down in the hall at that particular hour, +for she usually ran down herself to see if the last post had brought any +letters, but most certainly she had neither seen nor spoken to Mr. +Ireland at that hour, for Mr. Ireland had gone out an hour before, she +herself having seen him to the front door. Never for a moment did she +swerve from this extraordinary statement. She spoke to James Fairbairn +in the presence of the detective, and told him he <i>must</i> absolutely have +been mistaken, that she had <i>not</i> seen Mr. Ireland, and that she had +<i>not</i> spoken to him. +</p> +<p> +"One other person was questioned by the police, and that was Mr. Robert +Ireland, the manager's eldest son. It was presumed that he would know +something of his father's affairs; the idea having now taken firm hold +of the detective's mind that perhaps grave financial difficulties had +tempted the unfortunate manager to appropriate some of the firm's money. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Robert Ireland, however, could not say very much. His father did +not confide in him to the extent of telling him all his private affairs, +but money never seemed scarce at home certainly, and Mr. Ireland had, to +his son's knowledge, not a single extravagant habit. He himself had been +dining out with a friend on that memorable evening, and had gone on with +him to the Oxford Music Hall. He met his father on the doorstep of the +bank at about 11.30 p.m. and they went in together. There certainly was +nothing remarkable about Mr. Ireland then, his son averred; he appeared +in no way excited, and bade his son good night quite cheerfully. +</p> +<p> +"There was the extraordinary, the remarkable hitch," continued the man +in the corner, waxing more and more excited every moment. "The +public—who is at times very dense—saw it clearly nevertheless: of +course, every one at once jumped to the natural conclusion that Mrs. +Ireland was telling a lie—a noble lie, a self-sacrificing lie, a lie +endowed with all the virtues if you like, but still a lie. +</p> +<p> +"She was trying to save her husband, and was going the wrong way to +work. James Fairbairn, after all, could not have dreamt quite all that +he declared he had seen and heard. No one suspected James Fairbairn; +there was no occasion to do that; to begin with he was a great heavy +Scotchman with obviously no powers of invention, such as Mrs. Ireland's +strange assertion credited him with; moreover, the theft of the +bank-notes could not have been of the slightest use to him. +</p> +<p> +"But, remember, there was the hitch; without it the public mind would +already have condemned the sick man upstairs, without hope of +rehabilitation. This fact struck every one. +</p> +<p> +"Granting that Mr. Ireland had gone into his office at ten minutes to +ten o'clock at night for the purpose of extracting £5000 worth of notes +and gold from the bank safe, whilst giving the theft the appearance of a +night burglary; granting that he was disturbed in his nefarious project +by his wife, who, failing to persuade him to make restitution, took his +side boldly, and very clumsily attempted to rescue him out of his +difficult position—why should he, at nine o'clock the following +morning, fall in a dead faint and get cerebral congestion at sight of a +defalcation he knew had occurred? One might simulate a fainting fit, but +no one can assume a high temperature and a congestion, which the most +ordinary practitioner who happened to be called in would soon see were +non-existent. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Ireland, according to James Fairbairn's evidence, must have gone +out soon after the theft, come in again with his son an hour and a half +later, talked to him, gone quietly to bed, and waited for nine hours +before he fell ill at sight of his own crime. It was not logical, you +will admit. Unfortunately, the poor man himself was unable to give any +explanation of the night's tragic adventures. +</p> +<p> +"He was still very weak, and though under strong suspicion, he was left, +by the doctor's orders, in absolute ignorance of the heavy charges which +were gradually accumulating against him. He had made many anxious +inquiries from all those who had access to his bedside as to the result +of the investigation, and the probable speedy capture of the burglars, +but every one had strict orders to inform him merely that the police so +far had no clue of any kind. +</p> +<p> +"You will admit, as every one did, that there was something very +pathetic about the unfortunate man's position, so helpless to defend +himself, if defence there was, against so much overwhelming evidence. +That is why I think public sympathy remained with him. Still, it was +terrible to think of his wife presumably knowing him to be guilty, and +anxiously waiting whilst dreading the moment when, restored to health, +he would have to face the doubts, the suspicions, probably the open +accusations, which were fast rising up around him." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH20"><!-- CH20 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XX +</h2> + +<p> +AN <i>ALIBI</i> +</p> +<p> +"It was close on six weeks before the doctor at last allowed his patient +to attend to the grave business which had prostrated him for so long. +</p> +<p> +"In the meantime, among the many people who directly or indirectly were +made to suffer in this mysterious affair, no one, I think, was more +pitied, and more genuinely sympathised with, than Robert Ireland, the +manager's eldest son. +</p> +<p> +"You remember that he had been clerk in the bank? Well, naturally, the +moment suspicion began to fasten on his father his position in the +business became untenable. I think every one was very kind to him. Mr. +Sutherland French, who was made acting manager 'during Mr. Lewis +Ireland's regrettable absence,' did everything in his power to show his +goodwill and sympathy to the young man, but I don't think that he or any +one else was much astonished when, after Mrs. Ireland's extraordinary +attitude in the case had become public property, he quietly intimated +to the acting manager that he had determined to sever his connection +with the bank. +</p> +<p> +"The best of recommendations was, of course, placed at his disposal, and +it was finally understood that, as soon as his father was completely +restored to health and would no longer require his presence in London, +he would try to obtain employment somewhere abroad. He spoke of the new +volunteer corps organized for the military policing of the new colonies, +and, truth to tell, no one could blame him that he should wish to leave +far behind him all London banking connections. The son's attitude +certainly did not tend to ameliorate the father's position. It was +pretty evident that his own family had ceased to hope in the poor +manager's innocence. +</p> +<p> +"And yet he was absolutely innocent. You must remember how that fact was +clearly demonstrated as soon as the poor man was able to say a word for +himself. And he said it to some purpose, too. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Ireland was, and is, very fond of music. On the evening in +question, while sitting in his club, he saw in one of the daily papers +the announcement of a peculiarly attractive programme at the Queen's +Hall concert. He was not dressed, but nevertheless felt an irresistible +desire to hear one or two of these attractive musical items, and he +strolled down to the Hall. Now, this sort of alibi is usually very +difficult to prove, but Dame Fortune, oddly enough, favoured Mr. Ireland +on this occasion, probably to compensate him for the hard knocks she had +been dealing him pretty freely of late. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that there was some difficulty about his seat, which was +sold to him at the box office, and which he, nevertheless, found +wrongfully occupied by a determined lady, who refused to move. The +management had to be appealed to; the attendants also remembered not +only the incident, but also the face and appearance of the gentleman who +was the innocent cause of the altercation. +</p> +<p> +"As soon as Mr. Ireland could speak for himself he mentioned the +incident and the persons who had been witness to it. He was identified +by them, to the amazement, it must be confessed, of police and public +alike, who had comfortably decided that no one <i>could</i> be guilty save +the manager of the Provident Bank himself. Moreover, Mr. Ireland was a +fairly wealthy man, with a good balance at the Union Bank, and plenty of +private means, the result of years of provident living. +</p> +<p> +"He had but to prove that if he really had been in need of an immediate +£5000—which was all the amount extracted from the bank safe that +night—he had plenty of securities on which he could, at an hour's +notice, have raised twice that sum. His life insurances had been fully +paid up; he had not a debt which a £5 note could not easily have +covered. +</p> +<p> +"On the fatal night he certainly did remember asking the watchman not to +bolt the door to his office, as he thought he might have one or two +letters to write when he came home, but later on he had forgotten all +about this. After the concert he met his son in Oxford Street, just +outside the house, and thought no more about the office, the door of +which was shut, and presented no unusual appearance. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Ireland absolutely denied having been in his office at the hour +when James Fairbairn positively asserted he heard Mrs. Ireland say in an +astonished tone of voice: 'Why, Lewis, what in the world are you doing +here?' It became pretty clear therefore that James Fairbairn's view of +the manager's wife had been a mere vision. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Ireland gave up his position as manager of the English Provident: +both he and his wife felt no doubt that on the whole, perhaps, there had +been too much talk, too much scandal connected with their name, to be +altogether advantageous to the bank. Moreover, Mr. Ireland's health was +not so good as it had been. He has a pretty house now at Sittingbourne, +and amuses himself during his leisure hours with amateur horticulture, +and I, who alone in London besides the persons directly connected with +this mysterious affair, know the true solution of the enigma, often +wonder how much of it is known to the ex-manager of the English +Provident Bank." +</p> +<p> +The man in the corner had been silent for some time. Miss Polly Burton, +in her presumption, had made up her mind, at the commencement of his +tale, to listen attentively to every point of the evidence in connection +with the case which he recapitulated before her, and to follow the +point, in order to try and arrive at a conclusion of her own, and +overwhelm the antediluvian scarecrow with her sagacity. +</p> +<p> +She said nothing, for she had arrived at no conclusion; the case puzzled +every one, and had amazed the public in its various stages, from the +moment when opinion began to cast doubt on Mr. Ireland's honesty to that +when his integrity was proved beyond a doubt. One or two people had +suspected Mrs. Ireland to have been the actual thief, but that idea had +soon to be abandoned. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Ireland had all the money she wanted; the theft occurred six months +ago, and not a single bank-note was ever traced to her pocket; moreover, +she must have had an accomplice, since some one else was in the +manager's room that night; and if that some one else was her accomplice, +why did she risk betraying him by speaking loudly in the presence of +James Fairbairn, when it would have been so much simpler to turn out +the light and plunge the hall into darkness? +</p> +<p> +"You are altogether on the wrong track," sounded a sharp voice in direct +answer to Polly's thoughts—"altogether wrong. If you want to acquire my +method of induction, and improve your reasoning power, you must follow +my system. First think of the one absolutely undisputed, positive fact. +You must have a starting-point, and not go wandering about in the realms +of suppositions." +</p> +<p> +"But there are no positive facts," she said irritably. +</p> +<p> +"You don't say so?" he said quietly. "Do you not call it a positive fact +that the bank safe was robbed of £5000 on the evening of March 25th +before 11.30 p.m." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, that is all which is positive and—" +</p> +<p> +"Do you not call it a positive fact," he interrupted quietly, "that the +lock of the safe not being picked, it must have been opened by its own +key?" +</p> +<p> +"I know that," she rejoined crossly, "and that is why every one agreed +that James Fairbairn could not possibly—" +</p> +<p> +"And do you not call it a positive fact, then, that James Fairbairn +could not possibly, etc., etc., seeing that the glass partition door was +locked from the inside; Mrs. Ireland herself let James Fairbairn into +her husband's office when she saw him lying fainting before the open +safe. Of course that was a positive fact, and so was the one that proved +to any thinking mind that if that safe was opened with a key, it could +only have been done by a person having access to that key." +</p> +<p> +"But the man in the private office—" +</p> +<p> +"Exactly! the man in the private office. Enumerate his points, if you +please," said the funny creature, marking each point with one of his +favourite knots. "He was a man who might that night have had access to +the key of the safe, unsuspected by the manager or even his wife, and a +man for whom Mrs. Ireland was willing to tell a downright lie. Are there +many men for whom a woman of the better middle class, and an +Englishwoman, would be ready to perjure herself? Surely not! She might +do it for her husband. The public thought she had. It never struck them +that she might have done it for her son!" +</p> +<p> +"Her son!" exclaimed Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Ah! she was a clever woman," he ejaculated enthusiastically, "one with +courage and presence of mind, which I don't think I have ever seen +equalled. She runs downstairs before going to bed in order to see +whether the last post has brought any letters. She sees the door of her +husband's office ajar, she pushes it open, and there, by the sudden +flash of a hastily struck match she realizes in a moment that a thief +stands before the open safe, and in that thief she has already +recognized her son. At that very moment she hears the watchman's step +approaching the partition. There is no time to warn her son; she does +not know the glass door is locked; James Fairbairn may switch on the +electric light and see the young man in the very act of robbing his +employers' safe. +</p> +<p> +"One thing alone can reassure the watchman. One person alone had the +right to be there at that hour of the night, and without hesitation she +pronounces her husband's name. +</p> +<p> +"Mind you, I firmly believe that at the time the poor woman only wished +to gain time, that she had every hope that her son had not yet had the +opportunity to lay so heavy a guilt upon his conscience. +</p> +<p> +"What passed between mother and son we shall never know, but this much +we do know, that the young villain made off with his booty, and trusted +that his mother would never betray him. Poor woman! what a night of it +she must have spent; but she was clever and far-seeing. She knew that +her husband's character could not suffer through her action. +Accordingly, she took the only course open to her to save her son even +from his father's wrath, and boldly denied James Fairbairn's statement. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, she was fully aware that her husband could easily clear +himself, and the worst that could be said of her was that she had +thought him guilty and had tried to save him. She trusted to the future +to clear her of any charge of complicity in the theft. +</p> +<p> +"By now every one has forgotten most of the circumstances; the police +are still watching the career of James Fairbairn and Mrs. Ireland's +expenditure. As you know, not a single note, so far, has been traced to +her. Against that, one or two of the notes have found their way back to +England. No one realizes how easy it is to cash English bank-notes at +the smaller <i>agents de change</i> abroad. The <i>changeurs</i> are only too glad +to get them; what do they care where they come from as long as they are +genuine? And a week or two later <i>M. le Changeur</i> could not swear who +tendered him any one particular note. +</p> +<p> +"You see, young Robert Ireland went abroad, he will come back some day +having made a fortune. There's his photo. And this is his mother—a +clever woman, wasn't she?" +</p> +<p> +And before Polly had time to reply he was gone. She really had never +seen any one move across a room so quickly. But he always left an +interesting trail behind: a piece of string knotted from end to end and +a few photos. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH21"><!-- CH21 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXI +</h2> + +<h3> +THE DUBLIN MYSTERY +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"I always thought that the history of that forged will was about as +interesting as any I had read," said the man in the corner that day. He +had been silent for some time, and was meditatively sorting and looking +through a packet of small photographs in his pocket-book. Polly guessed +that some of these would presently be placed before her for +inspection—and she had not long to wait. +</p> +<p> +"That is old Brooks," he said, pointing to one of the photographs, +"Millionaire Brooks, as he was called, and these are his two sons, +Percival and Murray. It was a curious case, wasn't it? Personally I +don't wonder that the police were completely at sea. If a member of that +highly estimable force happened to be as clever as the clever author of +that forged will, we should have very few undetected crimes in this +country." +</p> +<p> +"That is why I always try to persuade you to give our poor ignorant +police the benefit of your great insight and wisdom," said Polly, with +a smile. +</p> +<p> +"I know," he said blandly, "you have been most kind in that way, but I +am only an amateur. Crime interests me only when it resembles a clever +game of chess, with many intricate moves which all tend to one solution, +the checkmating of the antagonist—the detective force of the country. +Now, confess that, in the Dublin mystery, the clever police there were +absolutely checkmated." +</p> +<p> +"Absolutely." +</p> +<p> +"Just as the public was. There were actually two crimes committed in one +city which have completely baffled detection: the murder of Patrick +Wethered the lawyer, and the forged will of Millionaire Brooks. There +are not many millionaires in Ireland; no wonder old Brooks was a +notability in his way, since his business—bacon curing, I believe it +is—is said to be worth over £2,000,000 of solid money. +</p> +<p> +"His younger son Murray was a refined, highly educated man, and was, +moreover, the apple of his father's eye, as he was the spoilt darling of +Dublin society; good-looking, a splendid dancer, and a perfect rider, he +was the acknowledged 'catch' of the matrimonial market of Ireland, and +many a very aristocratic house was opened hospitably to the favourite +son of the millionaire. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, Percival Brooks, the eldest son, would inherit the bulk of +the old man's property and also probably the larger share in the +business; he, too, was good-looking, more so than his brother; he, too, +rode, danced, and talked well, but it was many years ago that mammas +with marriageable daughters had given up all hopes of Percival Brooks as +a probable son-in-law. That young man's infatuation for Maisie +Fortescue, a lady of undoubted charm but very doubtful antecedents, who +had astonished the London and Dublin music-halls with her extravagant +dances, was too well known and too old-established to encourage any +hopes in other quarters. +</p> +<p> +"Whether Percival Brooks would ever marry Maisie Fortescue was thought +to be very doubtful. Old Brooks had the full disposal of all his wealth, +and it would have fared ill with Percival if he introduced an +undesirable wife into the magnificent Fitzwilliam Place establishment. +</p> +<p> +"That is how matters stood," continued the man in the corner, "when +Dublin society one morning learnt, with deep regret and dismay, that old +Brooks had died very suddenly at his residence after only a few hours' +illness. At first it was generally understood that he had had an +apoplectic stroke; anyway, he had been at business hale and hearty as +ever the day before his death, which occurred late on the evening of +February 1st. +</p> +<p> +"It was the morning papers of February 2nd which told the sad news to +their readers, and it was those selfsame papers which on that eventful +morning contained another even more startling piece of news, that proved +the prelude to a series of sensations such as tranquil, placid Dublin +had not experienced for many years. This was, that on that very +afternoon which saw the death of Dublin's greatest millionaire, Mr. +Patrick Wethered, his solicitor, was murdered in Phoenix Park at five +o'clock in the afternoon while actually walking to his own house from +his visit to his client in Fitzwilliam Place. +</p> +<p> +"Patrick Wethered was as well known as the proverbial town pump; his +mysterious and tragic death filled all Dublin with dismay. The lawyer, +who was a man sixty years of age, had been struck on the back of the +head by a heavy stick, garrotted, and subsequently robbed, for neither +money, watch, or pocket-book were found upon his person, whilst the +police soon gathered from Patrick Wethered's household that he had left +home at two o'clock that afternoon, carrying both watch and pocket-book, +and undoubtedly money as well. +</p> +<p> +"An inquest was held, and a verdict of wilful murder was found against +some person or persons unknown. +</p> +<p> +"But Dublin had not exhausted its stock of sensations yet. Millionaire +Brooks had been buried with due pomp and magnificence, and his will had +been proved (his business and personalty being estimated at £2,500,000) +by Percival Gordon Brooks, his eldest son and sole executor. The younger +son, Murray, who had devoted the best years of his life to being a +friend and companion to his father, while Percival ran after +ballet-dancers and music-hall stars—Murray, who had avowedly been the +apple of his father's eye in consequence—was left with a miserly +pittance of £300 a year, and no share whatever in the gigantic business +of Brooks & Sons, bacon curers, of Dublin. +</p> +<p> +"Something had evidently happened within the precincts of the Brooks' +town mansion, which the public and Dublin society tried in vain to +fathom. Elderly mammas and blushing <i>débutantes</i> were already thinking +of the best means whereby next season they might more easily show the +cold shoulder to young Murray Brooks, who had so suddenly become a +hopeless 'detrimental' in the marriage market, when all these sensations +terminated in one gigantic, overwhelming bit of scandal, which for the +next three months furnished food for gossip in every drawing-room in +Dublin. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Murray Brooks, namely, had entered a claim for probate of a will, +made by his father in 1891, declaring that the later will made the very +day of his father's death and proved by his brother as sole executor, +was null and void, that will being a forgery." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH22"><!-- CH22 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXII +</h2> + +<h3> +FORGERY +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"The facts that transpired in connection with this extraordinary case +were sufficiently mysterious to puzzle everybody. As I told you before, +all Mr. Brooks' friends never quite grasped the idea that the old man +should so completely have cut off his favourite son with the proverbial +shilling. +</p> +<p> +"You see, Percival had always been a thorn in the old man's flesh. +Horse-racing, gambling, theatres, and music-halls were, in the old +pork-butcher's eyes, so many deadly sins which his son committed every +day of his life, and all the Fitzwilliam Place household could testify +to the many and bitter quarrels which had arisen between father and son +over the latter's gambling or racing debts. Many people asserted that +Brooks would sooner have left his money to charitable institutions than +seen it squandered upon the brightest stars that adorned the music-hall +stage. +</p> +<p> +"The case came up for hearing early in the autumn. In the meanwhile +Percival Brooks had given up his racecourse associates, settled down in +the Fitzwilliam Place mansion, and conducted his father's business, +without a manager, but with all the energy and forethought which he had +previously devoted to more unworthy causes. +</p> +<p> +"Murray had elected not to stay on in the old house; no doubt +associations were of too painful and recent a nature; he was boarding +with the family of a Mr. Wilson Hibbert, who was the late Patrick +Wethered's, the murdered lawyer's, partner. They were quiet, homely +people, who lived in a very pokey little house in Kilkenny Street, and +poor Murray must, in spite of his grief, have felt very bitterly the +change from his luxurious quarters in his father's mansion to his +present tiny room and homely meals. +</p> +<p> +"Percival Brooks, who was now drawing an income of over a hundred +thousand a year, was very severely criticised for adhering so strictly +to the letter of his father's will, and only paying his brother that +paltry £300 a year, which was very literally but the crumbs off his own +magnificent dinner table. +</p> +<p> +"The issue of that contested will case was therefore awaited with eager +interest. In the meanwhile the police, who had at first seemed fairly +loquacious on the subject of the murder of Mr. Patrick Wethered, +suddenly became strangely reticent, and by their very reticence aroused +a certain amount of uneasiness in the public mind, until one day the +<i>Irish Times</i> published the following extraordinary, enigmatic +paragraph: +</p> +<p> +"'We hear on authority which cannot be questioned, that certain +extraordinary developments are expected in connection with the brutal +murder of our distinguished townsman Mr. Wethered; the police, in fact, +are vainly trying to keep it secret that they hold a clue which is as +important as it is sensational, and that they only await the impending +issue of a well-known litigation in the probate court to effect an +arrest.' +</p> +<p> +"The Dublin public flocked to the court to hear the arguments in the +great will case. I myself journeyed down to Dublin. As soon as I +succeeded in fighting my way to the densely crowded court, I took stock +of the various actors in the drama, which I as a spectator was prepared +to enjoy. There were Percival Brooks and Murray his brother, the two +litigants, both good-looking and well dressed, and both striving, by +keeping up a running conversation with their lawyer, to appear +unconcerned and confident of the issue. With Percival Brooks was Henry +Oranmore, the eminent Irish K.C., whilst Walter Hibbert, a rising young +barrister, the son of Wilson Hibbert, appeared for Murray. +</p> +<p> +"The will of which the latter claimed probate was one dated 1891, and +had been made by Mr. Brooks during a severe illness which threatened to +end his days. This will had been deposited in the hands of Messrs. +Wethered and Hibbert, solicitors to the deceased, and by it Mr. Brooks +left his personalty equally divided between his two sons, but had left +his business entirely to his youngest son, with a charge of £2000 a year +upon it, payable to Percival. You see that Murray Brooks therefore had a +very deep interest in that second will being found null and void. +</p> +<p> +"Old Mr. Hibbert had very ably instructed his son, and Walter Hibbert's +opening speech was exceedingly clever. He would show, he said, on behalf +of his client, that the will dated February 1st, 1908, could never have +been made by the late Mr. Brooks, as it was absolutely contrary to his +avowed intentions, and that if the late Mr. Brooks did on the day in +question make any fresh will at all, it certainly was <i>not</i> the one +proved by Mr. Percival Brooks, for that was absolutely a forgery from +beginning to end. Mr. Walter Hibbert proposed to call several witnesses +in support of both these points. +</p> +<p> +"On the other hand, Mr. Henry Oranmore, K.C., very ably and courteously +replied that he too had several witnesses to prove that Mr. Brooks +certainly did make a will on the day in question, and that, whatever his +intentions may have been in the past, he must have modified them on the +day of his death, for the will proved by Mr. Percival Brooks was found +after his death under his pillow, duly signed and witnessed and in every +way legal. +</p> +<p> +"Then the battle began in sober earnest. There were a great many +witnesses to be called on both sides, their evidence being of more or +less importance—chiefly less. But the interest centred round the +prosaic figure of John O'Neill, the butler at Fitzwilliam Place, who had +been in Mr. Brooks' family for thirty years. +</p> +<p> +"'I was clearing away my breakfast things,' said John, 'when I heard the +master's voice in the study close by. Oh my, he was that angry! I could +hear the words "disgrace," and "villain," and "liar," and +"ballet-dancer," and one or two other ugly words as applied to some +female lady, which I would not like to repeat. At first I did not take +much notice, as I was quite used to hearing my poor dear master having +words with Mr. Percival. So I went downstairs carrying my breakfast +things; but I had just started cleaning my silver when the study bell +goes ringing violently, and I hear Mr. Percival's voice shouting in the +hall: "John! quick! Send for Dr. Mulligan at once. Your master is not +well! Send one of the men, and you come up and help me to get Mr. Brooks +to bed." +</p> +<p> +"'I sent one of the grooms for the doctor,' continued John, who seemed +still affected at the recollection of his poor master, to whom he had +evidently been very much attached, 'and I went up to see Mr. Brooks. I +found him lying on the study floor, his head supported in Mr. Percival's +arms. "My father has fallen in a faint," said the young master; "help me +to get him up to his room before Dr. Mulligan comes." +</p> +<p> +"'Mr. Percival looked very white and upset, which was only natural; and +when we had got my poor master to bed, I asked if I should not go and +break the news to Mr. Murray, who had gone to business an hour ago. +However, before Mr. Percival had time to give me an order the doctor +came. I thought I had seen death plainly writ in my master's face, and +when I showed the doctor out an hour later, and he told me that he would +be back directly, I knew that the end was near. +</p> +<p> +"'Mr. Brooks rang for me a minute or two later. He told me to send at +once for Mr. Wethered, or else for Mr. Hibbert, if Mr. Wethered could +not come. "I haven't many hours to live, John," he says to me—"my heart +is broke, the doctor says my heart is broke. A man shouldn't marry and +have children, John, for they will sooner or later break his heart." I +was so upset I couldn't speak; but I sent round at once for Mr. +Wethered, who came himself just about three o'clock that afternoon. +</p> +<p> +"'After he had been with my master about an hour I was called in, and +Mr. Wethered said to me that Mr. Brooks wished me and one other of us +servants to witness that he had signed a paper which was on a table by +his bedside. I called Pat Mooney, the head footman, and before us both +Mr. Brooks put his name at the bottom of that paper. Then Mr. Wethered +give me the pen and told me to write my name as a witness, and that Pat +Mooney was to do the same. After that we were both told that we could +go.' +</p> +<p> +"The old butler went on to explain that he was present in his late +master's room on the following day when the undertakers, who had come to +lay the dead man out, found a paper underneath his pillow. John O'Neill, +who recognized the paper as the one to which he had appended his +signature the day before, took it to Mr. Percival, and gave it into his +hands. +</p> +<p> +"In answer to Mr. Walter Hibbert, John asserted positively that he took +the paper from the undertaker's hand and went straight with it to Mr. +Percival's room. +</p> +<p> +"'He was alone,' said John; 'I gave him the paper. He just glanced at +it, and I thought he looked rather astonished, but he said nothing, and +I at once left the room.' +</p> +<p> +"'When you say that you recognized the paper as the one which you had +seen your master sign the day before, how did you actually recognize +that it was the same paper?' asked Mr. Hibbert amidst breathless +interest on the part of the spectators. I narrowly observed the +witness's face. +</p> +<p> +"'It looked exactly the same paper to me, sir,' replied John, somewhat +vaguely. +</p> +<p> +"'Did you look at the contents, then?' +</p> +<p> +"'No, sir; certainly not.' +</p> +<p> +"'Had you done so the day before?' +</p> +<p> +"'No, sir, only at my master's signature.' +</p> +<p> +"'Then you only thought by the <i>outside</i> look of the paper that it was +the same?' +</p> +<p> +"'It looked the same thing, sir,' persisted John obstinately. +</p> +<p> +"You see," continued the man in the corner, leaning eagerly forward +across the narrow marble table, "the contention of Murray Brooks' +adviser was that Mr. Brooks, having made a will and hidden it—for some +reason or other under his pillow—that will had fallen, through the +means related by John O'Neill, into the hands of Mr. Percival Brooks, +who had destroyed it and substituted a forged one in its place, which +adjudged the whole of Mr. Brooks' millions to himself. It was a terrible +and very daring accusation directed against a gentleman who, in spite of +his many wild oats sowed in early youth, was a prominent and important +figure in Irish high life. +</p> +<p> +"All those present were aghast at what they heard, and the whispered +comments I could hear around me showed me that public opinion, at +least, did not uphold Mr. Murray Brooks' daring accusation against his +brother. +</p> +<p> +"But John O'Neill had not finished his evidence, and Mr. Walter Hibbert +had a bit of sensation still up his sleeve. He had, namely, produced a +paper, the will proved by Mr. Percival Brooks, and had asked John +O'Neill if once again he recognized the paper. +</p> +<p> +"'Certainly, sir,' said John unhesitatingly, 'that is the one the +undertaker found under my poor dead master's pillow, and which I took to +Mr. Percival's room immediately.' +</p> +<p> +"Then the paper was unfolded and placed before the witness. +</p> +<p> +"'Now, Mr. O'Neill, will you tell me if that is your signature?' +</p> +<p> +"John looked at it for a moment; then he said: 'Excuse me, sir,' and +produced a pair of spectacles which he carefully adjusted before he +again examined the paper. Then he thoughtfully shook his head. +</p> +<p> +"'It don't look much like my writing, sir,' he said at last. 'That is to +say,' he added, by way of elucidating the matter, 'it does look like my +writing, but then I don't think it is.' +</p> +<p> +"There was at that moment a look in Mr. Percival Brooks' face," +continued the man in the corner quietly, "which then and there gave me +the whole history of that quarrel, that illness of Mr. Brooks, of the +will, aye! and of the murder of Patrick Wethered too. +</p> +<p> +"All I wondered at was how every one of those learned counsel on both +sides did not get the clue just the same as I did, but went on arguing, +speechifying, cross-examining for nearly a week, until they arrived at +the one conclusion which was inevitable from the very first, namely, +that the will <i>was</i> a forgery—a gross, clumsy, idiotic forgery, since +both John O'Neill and Pat Mooney, the two witnesses, absolutely +repudiated the signatures as their own. The only successful bit of +caligraphy the forger had done was the signature of old Mr. Brooks. +</p> +<p> +"It was a very curious fact, and one which had undoubtedly aided the +forger in accomplishing his work quickly, that Mr. Wethered the lawyer +having, no doubt, realized that Mr. Brooks had not many moments in life +to spare, had not drawn up the usual engrossed, magnificent document +dear to the lawyer heart, but had used for his client's will one of +those regular printed forms which can be purchased at any stationer's. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Percival Brooks, of course, flatly denied the serious allegation +brought against him. He admitted that the butler had brought him the +document the morning after his father's death, and that he certainly, on +glancing at it, had been very much astonished to see that that document +was his father's will. Against that he declared that its contents did +not astonish him in the slightest degree, that he himself knew of the +testator's intentions, but that he certainly thought his father had +entrusted the will to the care of Mr. Wethered, who did all his business +for him. +</p> +<p> +"'I only very cursorily glanced at the signature,' he concluded, +speaking in a perfectly calm, clear voice; 'you must understand that the +thought of forgery was very far from my mind, and that my father's +signature is exceedingly well imitated, if, indeed, it is not his own, +which I am not at all prepared to believe. As for the two witnesses' +signatures, I don't think I had ever seen them before. I took the +document to Messrs. Barkston and Maud, who had often done business for +me before, and they assured me that the will was in perfect form and +order.' +</p> +<p> +"Asked why he had not entrusted the will to his father's solicitors, he +replied: +</p> +<p> +"'For the very simple reason that exactly half an hour before the will +was placed in my hands, I had read that Mr. Patrick Wethered had been +murdered the night before. Mr. Hibbert, the junior partner, was not +personally known to me.' +</p> +<p> +"After that, for form's sake, a good deal of expert evidence was heard +on the subject of the dead man's signature. But that was quite +unanimous, and merely went to corroborate what had already been +established beyond a doubt, namely, that the will dated February 1st, +1908, was a forgery, and probate of the will dated 1891 was therefore +granted to Mr. Murray Brooks, the sole executor mentioned therein." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH23"><!-- CH23 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXIII +</h2> + +<h3> +A MEMORABLE DAY +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Two days later the police applied for a warrant for the arrest of Mr. +Percival Brooks on a charge of forgery. +</p> +<p> +"The Crown prosecuted, and Mr. Brooks had again the support of Mr. +Oranmore, the eminent K.C. Perfectly calm, like a man conscious of his +own innocence and unable to grasp the idea that justice does sometimes +miscarry, Mr. Brooks, the son of the millionaire, himself still the +possessor of a very large fortune under the former will, stood up in the +dock on that memorable day in October, 1908, which still no doubt lives +in the memory of his many friends. +</p> +<p> +"All the evidence with regard to Mr. Brooks' last moments and the forged +will was gone through over again. That will, it was the contention of +the Crown, had been forged so entirely in favour of the accused, cutting +out every one else, that obviously no one but the beneficiary under that +false will would have had any motive in forging it. +</p> +<p> +"Very pale, and with a frown between his deep-set, handsome Irish eyes, +Percival Brooks listened to this large volume of evidence piled up +against him by the Crown. +</p> +<p> +"At times he held brief consultations with Mr. Oranmore, who seemed as +cool as a cucumber. Have you ever seen Oranmore in court? He is a +character worthy of Dickens. His pronounced brogue, his fat, podgy, +clean-shaven face, his not always immaculately clean large hands, have +often delighted the caricaturist. As it very soon transpired during that +memorable magisterial inquiry, he relied for a verdict in favour of his +client upon two main points, and he had concentrated all his skill upon +making these two points as telling as he possibly could. +</p> +<p> +"The first point was the question of time, John O'Neill, cross-examined +by Oranmore, stated without hesitation that he had given the will to Mr. +Percival at eleven o'clock in the morning. And now the eminent K.C. +brought forward and placed in the witness-box the very lawyers into +whose hands the accused had then immediately placed the will. Now, Mr. +Barkston, a very well-known solicitor of King Street, declared +positively that Mr. Percival Brooks was in his office at a quarter +before twelve; two of his clerks testified to the same time exactly, and +it was <i>impossible</i>, contended Mr. Oranmore, that within three-quarters +of an hour Mr. Brooks could have gone to a stationer's, bought a will +form, copied Mr. Wethered's writing, his father's signature, and that +of John O'Neill and Pat Mooney. +</p> +<p> +"Such a thing might have been planned, arranged, practised, and +ultimately, after a great deal of trouble, successfully carried out, but +human intelligence could not grasp the other as a possibility. +</p> +<p> +"Still the judge wavered. The eminent K.C. had shaken but not shattered +his belief in the prisoner's guilt. But there was one point more, and +this Oranmore, with the skill of a dramatist, had reserved for the fall +of the curtain. +</p> +<p> +"He noted every sign in the judge's face, he guessed that his client was +not yet absolutely safe, then only did he produce his last two +witnesses. +</p> +<p> +"One of them was Mary Sullivan, one of the housemaids in the Fitzwilliam +mansion. She had been sent up by the cook at a quarter past four o'clock +on the afternoon of February 1st with some hot water, which the nurse +had ordered, for the master's room. Just as she was about to knock at +the door Mr. Wethered was coming out of the room. Mary stopped with the +tray in her hand, and at the door Mr. Wethered turned and said quite +loudly: 'Now, don't fret, don't be anxious; do try and be calm. Your +will is safe in my pocket, nothing can change it or alter one word of it +but yourself.' +</p> +<p> +"It was, of course, a very ticklish point in law whether the +housemaid's evidence could be accepted. You see, she was quoting the +words of a man since dead, spoken to another man also dead. There is no +doubt that had there been very strong evidence on the other side against +Percival Brooks, Mary Sullivan's would have counted for nothing; but, as +I told you before, the judge's belief in the prisoner's guilt was +already very seriously shaken, and now the final blow aimed at it by Mr. +Oranmore shattered his last lingering doubts. +</p> +<p> +"Dr. Mulligan, namely, had been placed by Mr. Oranmore into the +witness-box. He was a medical man of unimpeachable authority, in fact, +absolutely at the head of his profession in Dublin. What he said +practically corroborated Mary Sullivan's testimony. He had gone in to +see Mr. Brooks at half-past four, and understood from him that his +lawyer had just left him. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Brooks certainly, though terribly weak, was calm and more composed. +He was dying from a sudden heart attack, and Dr. Mulligan foresaw the +almost immediate end. But he was still conscious and managed to murmur +feebly: 'I feel much easier in my mind now, doctor—have made my +will—Wethered has been—he's got it in his pocket—it is safe +there—safe from that—' But the words died on his lips, and after that +he spoke but little. He saw his two sons before he died, but hardly +knew them or even looked at them. +</p> +<p> +"You see," concluded the man in the corner, "you see that the +prosecution was bound to collapse. Oranmore did not give it a leg to +stand on. The will was forged, it is true, forged in the favour of +Percival Brooks and of no one else, forged for him and for his benefit. +Whether he knew and connived at the forgery was never proved or, as far +as I know, even hinted, but it was impossible to go against all the +evidence, which pointed that, as far as the act itself was concerned, he +at least was innocent. You see, Dr. Mulligan's evidence was not to be +shaken. Mary Sullivan's was equally strong. +</p> +<p> +"There were two witnesses swearing positively that old Brooks' will was +in Mr. Wethered's keeping when that gentleman left the Fitzwilliam +mansion at a quarter past four. At five o'clock in the afternoon the +lawyer was found dead in Phoenix Park. Between a quarter past four and +eight o'clock in the evening Percival Brooks never left the house—that +was subsequently proved by Oranmore up to the hilt and beyond a doubt. +Since the will found under old Brooks' pillow was a forged will, where +then was the will he did make, and which Wethered carried away with him +in his pocket?" +</p> +<p> +"Stolen, of course," said Polly, "by those who murdered and robbed him; +it may have been of no value to them, but they naturally would destroy +it, lest it might prove a clue against them." +</p> +<p> +"Then you think it was mere coincidence?" he asked excitedly. +</p> +<p> +"What?" +</p> +<p> +"That Wethered was murdered and robbed at the very moment that he +carried the will in his pocket, whilst another was being forged in its +place?" +</p> +<p> +"It certainly would be very curious, if it <i>were</i> a coincidence," she +said musingly. +</p> +<p> +"Very," he repeated with biting sarcasm, whilst nervously his bony +fingers played with the inevitable bit of string. "Very curious indeed. +Just think of the whole thing. There was the old man with all his +wealth, and two sons, one to whom he is devoted, and the other with whom +he does nothing but quarrel. One day there is another of these quarrels, +but more violent, more terrible than any that have previously occurred, +with the result that the father, heartbroken by it all, has an attack of +apoplexy and practically dies of a broken heart. After that he alters +his will, and subsequently a will is proved which turns out to be a +forgery. +</p> +<p> +"Now everybody—police, press, and public alike—at once jump to the +conclusion that, as Percival Brooks benefits by that forged will, +Percival Brooks must be the forger." +</p> +<p> +"Seek for him whom the crime benefits, is your own axiom," argued the +girl. +</p> +<p> +"I beg your pardon?" +</p> +<p> +"Percival Brooks benefited to the tune of £2,000,000." +</p> +<p> +"I beg your pardon. He did nothing of the sort. He was left with less +than half the share that his younger brother inherited." +</p> +<p> +"Now, yes; but that was a former will and—" +</p> +<p> +"And that forged will was so clumsily executed, the signature so +carelessly imitated, that the forgery was bound to come to light. Did +<i>that</i> never strike you?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, but—" +</p> +<p> +"There is no but," he interrupted. "It was all as clear as daylight to +me from the very first. The quarrel with the old man, which broke his +heart, was not with his eldest son, with whom he was used to +quarrelling, but with the second son whom he idolised, in whom he +believed. Don't you remember how John O'Neill heard the words 'liar' and +'deceit'? Percival Brooks had never deceived his father. His sins were +all on the surface. Murray had led a quiet life, had pandered to his +father, and fawned upon him, until, like most hypocrites, he at last got +found out. Who knows what ugly gambling debt or debt of honour, suddenly +revealed to old Brooks, was the cause of that last and deadly quarrel? +</p> +<p> +"You remember that it was Percival who remained beside his father and +carried him up to his room. Where was Murray throughout that long and +painful day, when his father lay dying—he, the idolised son, the apple +of the old man's eye? You never hear his name mentioned as being present +there all that day. But he knew that he had offended his father +mortally, and that his father meant to cut him off with a shilling. He +knew that Mr. Wethered had been sent for, that Wethered left the house +soon after four o'clock. +</p> +<p> +"And here the cleverness of the man comes in. Having lain in wait for +Wethered and knocked him on the back of the head with a stick, he could +not very well make that will disappear altogether. There remained the +faint chance of some other witnesses knowing that Mr. Brooks had made a +fresh will, Mr. Wethered's partner, his clerk, or one of the +confidential servants in the house. Therefore <i>a</i> will must be +discovered after the old man's death. +</p> +<p> +"Now, Murray Brooks was not an expert forger, it takes years of training +to become that. A forged will executed by himself would be sure to be +found out—yes, that's it, sure to be found out. The forgery will be +palpable—let it be palpable, and then it will be found out, branded as +such, and the original will of 1891, so favourable to the young +blackguard's interests, would be held as valid. Was it devilry or +merely additional caution which prompted Murray to pen that forged will +so glaringly in Percival's favour? It is impossible to say. +</p> +<p> +"Anyhow, it was the cleverest touch in that marvellously devised crime. +To plan that evil deed was great, to execute it was easy enough. He had +several hours' leisure in which to do it. Then at night it was +simplicity itself to slip the document under the dead man's pillow. +Sacrilege causes no shudder to such natures as Murray Brooks. The rest +of the drama you know already—" +</p> +<p> +"But Percival Brooks?" +</p> +<p> +"The jury returned a verdict of 'Not guilty.' There was no evidence +against him." +</p> +<p> +"But the money? Surely the scoundrel does not have the enjoyment of it +still?" +</p> +<p> +"No; he enjoyed it for a time, but he died, about three months ago, and +forgot to take the precaution of making a will, so his brother Percival +has got the business after all. If you ever go to Dublin, I should order +some of Brooks' bacon if I were you. It is very good." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH24"><!-- CH24 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXIV +</h2> + +<h3> +AN UNPARALLELED OUTRAGE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Do you care for the seaside?" asked the man in the corner when he had +finished his lunch. "I don't mean the seaside at Ostend or Trouville, +but honest English seaside with nigger minstrels, three-shilling +excursionists, and dirty, expensive furnished apartments, where they +charge you a shilling for lighting the hall gas on Sundays and sixpence +on other evenings. Do you care for that?" +</p> +<p> +"I prefer the country." +</p> +<p> +"Ah! perhaps it is preferable. Personally I only liked one of our +English seaside resorts once, and that was for a week, when Edward +Skinner was up before the magistrate, charged with what was known as the +'Brighton Outrage.' I don't know if you remember the memorable day in +Brighton, memorable for that elegant town, which deals more in +amusements than mysteries, when Mr. Francis Morton, one of its most +noted residents, disappeared. Yes! disappeared as completely as any +vanishing lady in a music-hall. He was wealthy, had a fine house, +servants, a wife and children, and he disappeared. There was no getting +away from that. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Francis Morton lived with his wife in one of the large houses in +Sussex Square at the Kemp Town end of Brighton. Mrs. Morton was well +known for her Americanisms, her swagger dinner parties, and beautiful +Paris gowns. She was the daughter of one of the many American +millionaires (I think her father was a Chicago pork-butcher), who +conveniently provide wealthy wives for English gentlemen; and she had +married Mr. Francis Morton a few years ago and brought him her quarter +of a million, for no other reason but that she fell in love with him. He +was neither good-looking nor distinguished, in fact, he was one of those +men who seem to have CITY stamped all over their person. +</p> +<p> +"He was a gentleman of very regular habits, going up to London every +morning on business and returning every afternoon by the 'husband's +train.' So regular was he in these habits that all the servants at the +Sussex Square house were betrayed into actual gossip over the fact that +on Wednesday, March 17th, the master was not home for dinner. Hales, the +butler, remarked that the mistress seemed a bit anxious and didn't eat +much food. The evening wore on and Mr. Morton did not appear. At nine +o'clock the young footman was dispatched to the station to make +inquiries whether his master had been seen there in the afternoon, or +whether—which Heaven forbid—there had been an accident on the line. +The young man interviewed two or three porters, the bookstall boy, and +ticket clerk; all were agreed that Mr. Morton did not go up to London +during the day; no one had seen him within the precincts of the station. +There certainly had been no accident reported either on the up or down +line. +</p> +<p> +"But the morning of the 18th came, with its initial postman's knock, but +neither Mr. Morton nor any sign or news from him. Mrs. Morton, who +evidently had spent a sleepless night, for she looked sadly changed and +haggard, sent a wire to the hall porter at the large building in Cannon +Street, where her husband had his office. An hour later she had the +reply: 'Not seen Mr. Morton all day yesterday, not here to-day.' By the +afternoon every one in Brighton knew that a fellow-resident had +mysteriously disappeared from or in the city. +</p> +<p> +"A couple of days, then another, elapsed, and still no sign of Mr. +Morton. The police were doing their best. The gentleman was so well +known in Brighton—as he had been a resident two years—that it was not +difficult to firmly establish the one fact that he had not left the +city, since no one saw him in the station on the morning of the 17th, +nor at any time since then. Mild excitement prevailed throughout the +town. At first the newspapers took the matter somewhat jocosely. 'Where +is Mr. Morton?' was the usual placard on the evening's contents bills, +but after three days had gone by and the worthy Brighton resident was +still missing, while Mrs. Morton was seen to look more haggard and +careworn every day, mild excitement gave place to anxiety. +</p> +<p> +"There were vague hints now as to foul play. The news had leaked out +that the missing gentleman was carrying a large sum of money on the day +of his disappearance. There were also vague rumours of a scandal not +unconnected with Mrs. Morton herself and her own past history, which in +her anxiety for her husband she had been forced to reveal to the +detective-inspector in charge of the case. +</p> +<p> +"Then on Saturday the news which the late evening papers contained was +this: +</p> +<p> +"'Acting on certain information received, the police to-day forced an +entrance into one of the rooms of Russell House, a high-class furnished +apartment on the King's Parade, and there they discovered our missing +distinguished townsman, Mr. Francis Morton, who had been robbed and +subsequently locked up in that room since Wednesday, the 17th. When +discovered he was in the last stages of inanition; he was tied into an +arm-chair with ropes, a thick wool shawl had been wound round his mouth, +and it is a positive marvel that, left thus without food and very +little air, the unfortunate gentleman survived the horrors of these four +days of incarceration. +</p> +<p> +"'He has been conveyed to his residence in Sussex Square, and we are +pleased to say that Doctor Mellish, who is in attendance, has declared +his patient to be out of serious danger, and that with care and rest he +will be soon quite himself again. +</p> +<p> +"'At the same time our readers will learn with unmixed satisfaction that +the police of our city, with their usual acuteness and activity, have +already discovered the identity and whereabouts of the cowardly ruffian +who committed this unparalleled outrage.'" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH25"><!-- CH25 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXV +</h2> + +<h3> +THE PRISONER +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"I really don't know," continued the man in the corner blandly, "what it +was that interested me in the case from the very first. Certainly it had +nothing very out of the way or mysterious about it, but I journeyed down +to Brighton nevertheless, as I felt that something deeper and more +subtle lay behind that extraordinary assault, following a robbery, no +doubt. +</p> +<p> +"I must tell you that the police had allowed it to be freely circulated +abroad that they held a clue. It had been easy enough to ascertain who +the lodger was who had rented the furnished room in Russell House. His +name was supposed to be Edward Skinner, and he had taken the room about +a fortnight ago, but had gone away ostensibly for two or three days on +the very day of Mr. Morton's mysterious disappearance. It was on the +20th that Mr. Morton was found, and thirty-six hours later the public +were gratified to hear that Mr. Edward Skinner had been traced to London +and arrested on the charge of assault upon the person of Mr. Francis +Morton and of robbing him of the sum of £10,000. +</p> +<p> +"Then a further sensation was added to the already bewildering case by +the startling announcement that Mr. Francis Morton refused to prosecute. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, the Treasury took up the case and subpoenaed Mr. Morton as a +witness, so that gentleman—if he wished to hush the matter up, or had +been in any way terrorised into a promise of doing so—gained nothing by +his refusal, except an additional amount of curiosity in the public mind +and further sensation around the mysterious case. +</p> +<p> +"It was all this, you see, which had interested me and brought me down +to Brighton on March 23rd to see the prisoner Edward Skinner arraigned +before the beak. I must say that he was a very ordinary-looking +individual. Fair, of ruddy complexion, with snub nose and the beginning +of a bald place on the top of his head, he, too, looked the embodiment +of a prosperous, stodgy 'City gent.' +</p> +<p> +"I took a quick survey of the witnesses present, and guessed that the +handsome, stylish woman sitting next to Mr. Reginald Pepys, the noted +lawyer for the Crown, was Mrs. Morton. +</p> +<p> +"There was a large crowd in court, and I heard whispered comments among +the feminine portion thereof as to the beauty of Mrs. Morton's gown, +the value of her large picture hat, and the magnificence of her diamond +rings. +</p> +<p> +"The police gave all the evidence required with regard to the finding of +Mr. Morton in the room at Russell House and also to the arrest of +Skinner at the Langham Hotel in London. It appears that the prisoner +seemed completely taken aback at the charge preferred against him, and +declared that though he knew Mr. Francis Morton slightly in business he +knew nothing as to his private life. +</p> +<p> +"'Prisoner stated,' continued Inspector Buckle, 'that he was not even +aware Mr. Morton lived in Brighton, but I have evidence here, which I +will place before your Honour, to prove that the prisoner was seen in +the company of Mr. Morton at 9.30 o'clock on the morning of the +assault.' +</p> +<p> +"Cross-examined by Mr. Matthew Quiller, the detective-inspector admitted +that prisoner merely said that he did not know that Mr. Morton was a +<i>resident</i> of Brighton—he never denied having met him there. +</p> +<p> +"The witness, or rather witnesses, referred to by the police were two +Brighton tradesmen who knew Mr. Morton by sight and had seen him on the +morning of the 17th walking with the accused. +</p> +<p> +"In this instance Mr. Quiller had no question to ask of the witnesses, +and it was generally understood that the prisoner did not wish to +contradict their statement. +</p> +<p> +"Constable Hartrick told the story of the finding of the unfortunate +Mr. Morton after his four days' incarceration. The constable had been +sent round by the chief inspector, after certain information given by +Mrs. Chapman, the landlady of Russell House. He had found the door +locked and forced it open. Mr. Morton was in an arm-chair, with several +yards of rope wound loosely round him; he was almost unconscious, and +there was a thick wool shawl tied round his mouth which must have +deadened any cry or groan the poor gentleman might have uttered. But, as +a matter of fact, the constable was under the impression that Mr. Morton +had been either drugged or stunned in some way at first, which had left +him weak and faint and prevented him from making himself heard or +extricating himself from his bonds, which were very clumsily, evidently +very hastily, wound round his body. +</p> +<p> +"The medical officer who was called in, and also Dr. Mellish who +attended Mr. Morton, both said that he seemed dazed by some stupefying +drug, and also, of course, terribly weak and faint with the want of +food. +</p> +<p> +"The first witness of real importance was Mrs. Chapman, the proprietress +of Russell House, whose original information to the police led to the +discovery of Mr. Morton. In answer to Mr. Pepys, she said that on March +1st the accused called at her house and gave his name as Mr. Edward +Skinner. +</p> +<p> +"'He required, he said, a furnished room at a moderate rental for a +permanency, with full attendance when he was in, but he added that he +would often be away for two or three days, or even longer, at a time. +</p> +<p> +"'He told me that he was a traveller for a tea-house,' continued Mrs. +Chapman, 'and I showed him the front room on the third floor, as he did +not want to pay more than twelve shillings a week. I asked him for a +reference, but he put three sovereigns in my hand, and said with a laugh +that he supposed paying for his room a month in advance was sufficient +reference; if I didn't like him after that, I could give him a week's +notice to quit.' +</p> +<p> +"'You did not think of asking him the name of the firm for which he +travelled?' asked Mr. Pepys. +</p> +<p> +"'No, I was quite satisfied as he paid me for the room. The next day he +sent in his luggage and took possession of the room. He went out most +mornings on business, but was always in Brighton for Saturday and +Sunday. On the 16th he told me that he was going to Liverpool for a +couple of days; he slept in the house that night, and went off early on +the 17th, taking his portmanteau with him.' +</p> +<p> +"'At what time did he leave?' asked Mr. Pepys. +</p> +<p> +"'I couldn't say exactly,' replied Mrs. Chapman with some hesitation. +'You see this is the off season here. None of my rooms are let, except +the one to Mr. Skinner, and I only have one servant. I keep four during +the summer, autumn, and winter season,' she added with conscious pride, +fearing that her former statement might prejudice the reputation of +Russell House. 'I thought I had heard Mr. Skinner go out about nine +o'clock, but about an hour later the girl and I were both in the +basement, and we heard the front door open and shut with a bang, and +then a step in the hall. +</p> +<p> +"'"That's Mr. Skinner," said Mary. "So it is," I said, "why, I thought +he had gone an hour ago." "He did go out then," said Mary, "for he left +his bedroom door open and I went in to do his bed and tidy his room." +"Just go and see if that's him, Mary," I said, and Mary ran up to the +hall and up the stairs, and came back to tell me that that was Mr. +Skinner all right enough; he had gone straight up to his room. Mary +didn't see him, but he had another gentleman with him, as she could hear +them talking in Mr. Skinner's room.' +</p> +<p> +"'Then you can't tell us at what time the prisoner left the house +finally?' +</p> +<p> +"'No, that I can't. I went out shopping soon after that. When I came in +it was twelve o'clock. I went up to the third floor and found that Mr. +Skinner had locked his door and taken the key with him. As I knew Mary +had already done, the room I did not trouble more about it, though I did +think it strange for a gentleman to look up his room and not leave the +key with me.' +</p> +<p> +"'And, of course, you heard no noise of any kind in the room then?' +</p> +<p> +"'No. Not that day or the next, but on the third day Mary and I both +thought we heard a funny sound. I said that Mr. Skinner had left his +window open, and it was the blind flapping against the window-pane; but +when we heard that funny noise again I put my ear to the keyhole and I +thought I could hear a groan. I was very frightened, and sent Mary for +the police.' +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Chapman had nothing more of interest to say. The prisoner +certainly was her lodger. She had last seen him on the evening of the +16th going up to his room with his candle. Mary the servant had much the +same story to relate as her mistress. +</p> +<p> +"'I think it was 'im, right enough,' said Mary guardedly. 'I didn't see +'im, but I went up to 'is landing and stopped a moment outside 'is door. +I could 'ear loud voices in the room—gentlemen talking.' +</p> +<p> +"'I suppose you would not do such a thing as to listen, Mary?' queried +Mr. Pepys with a smile. +</p> +<p> +"'No, sir,' said Mary with a bland smile, 'I didn't catch what the +gentlemen said, but one of them spoke so loud I thought they must be +quarrelling.' +</p> +<p> +"'Mr. Skinner was the only person in possession of a latch-key, I +presume. No one else could have come in without ringing at the door?' +</p> +<p> +"'Oh no, sir.' +</p> +<p> +"That was all. So far, you see, the case was progressing splendidly for +the Crown against the prisoner. The contention, of course, was that +Skinner had met Mr. Morton, brought him home with him, assaulted, +drugged, then gagged and bound him, and finally robbed him of whatever +money he had in his possession, which, according to certain affidavits +which presently would be placed before the magistrate, amounted to +£10,000 in notes. +</p> +<p> +"But in all this there still remained the great element of mystery for +which the public and the magistrate would demand an explanation: namely, +what were the relationships between Mr. Morton and Skinner, which had +induced the former to refuse the prosecution of the man who had not only +robbed him, but had so nearly succeeded in leaving him to die a terrible +and lingering death? +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Morton was too ill as yet to appear in person. Dr. Mellish had +absolutely forbidden his patient to undergo the fatigue and excitement +of giving evidence himself in court that day. But his depositions had +been taken at his bedside, were sworn to by him, and were now placed +before the magistrate by the prosecuting counsel, and the facts they +revealed were certainly as remarkable as they were brief and +enigmatical. +</p> +<p> +"As they were read by Mr. Pepys, an awed and expectant hush seemed to +descend over the large crowd gathered there, and all necks were strained +eagerly forward to catch a glimpse of a tall, elegant woman, faultlessly +dressed and wearing exquisite jewellery, but whose handsome face wore, +as the prosecuting counsel read her husband's deposition, a more and +more ashen hue. +</p> +<p> +"'This, your Honour, is the statement made upon oath by Mr. Francis +Morton,' commenced Mr. Pepys in that loud, sonorous voice of his which +sounds so impressive in a crowded and hushed court. '"I was obliged, for +certain reasons which I refuse to disclose, to make a payment of a large +sum of money to a man whom I did not know and have never seen. It was in +a matter of which my wife was cognisant and which had entirely to do +with her own affairs. I was merely the go-between, as I thought it was +not fit that she should see to this matter herself. The individual in +question had made certain demands, of which she kept me in ignorance as +long as she could, not wishing to unnecessarily worry me. At last she +decided to place the whole matter before me, and I agreed with her that +it would be best to satisfy the man's demands. +</p> +<p> +"'"I then wrote to that individual whose name I do not wish to disclose, +addressing the letter, as my wife directed me to do, to the Brighton +post office, saying that I was ready to pay the £10,000 to him, at any +place or time and in what manner he might appoint. I received a reply +which bore the Brighton postmark, and which desired me to be outside +Furnival's, the drapers, in West Street, at 9.30 on the morning of March +17th, and to bring the money (£10,000) in Bank of England notes. +</p> +<p> +"'"On the 16th my wife gave me a cheque for the amount and I cashed it +at her bank—Bird's in Fleet Street. At half-past nine the following +morning I was at the appointed place. An individual wearing a grey +overcoat, bowler hat, and red tie accosted me by name and requested me +to walk as far as his lodgings in the King's Parade. I followed him. +Neither of us spoke. He stopped at a house which bore the name 'Russell +House,' and which I shall be able to swear to as soon as I am able to go +out. He let himself in with a latch-key, and asked me to follow him up +to his room on the third floor. I thought I noticed when we were in the +room that he locked the door; however, I had nothing of any value about +me except the £10,000, which I was ready to give him. We had not +exchanged the slightest word. +</p> +<p> +"'"I gave him the notes, and he folded them and put them in his +pocket-book. Then I turned towards the door, and, without the slightest +warning, I felt myself suddenly gripped by the shoulder, while a +handkerchief was pressed to my nose and mouth. I struggled as best I +could, but the handkerchief was saturated with chloroform, and I soon +lost consciousness. I hazily remember the man saying to me in short, +jerky sentences, spoken at intervals while I was still weakly +struggling: +</p> +<p> +"'"What a fool you must think me, my dear sir! Did you really think +that I was going to let you quietly walk out of here, straight to the +police-station, eh? Such dodges have been done before, I know, when a +man's silence has to be bought for money. Find out who he is, see where +he lives, give him the money, then inform against him. No you don't! not +this time. I am off to the continent with this £10,000, and I can get to +Newhaven in time for the midday boat, so you'll have to keep quiet until +I am the other side of the Channel, my friend. You won't be much +inconvenienced; my landlady will hear your groans presently and release +you, so you'll be all right. There, now, drink this—that's better.' He +forced something bitter down my throat, then I remember nothing more. +</p> +<p> +"'"When I regained consciousness I was sitting in an arm-chair with some +rope tied round me and a wool shawl round my mouth. I hadn't the +strength to make the slightest effort to disentangle myself or to utter +a scream. I felt terribly sick and faint."' +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Reginald Pepys had finished reading, and no one in that crowded +court had thought of uttering a sound; the magistrate's eyes were fixed +upon the handsome lady in the magnificent gown, who was mopping her eyes +with a dainty lace handkerchief. +</p> +<p> +"The extraordinary narrative of the victim of so daring an outrage had +kept every one in suspense; one thing was still expected to make the +measure of sensation as full as it had ever been over any criminal case, +and that was Mrs. Morton's evidence. She was called by the prosecuting +counsel, and slowly, gracefully, she entered the witness-box. There was +no doubt that she had felt keenly the tortures which her husband had +undergone, and also the humiliation of seeing her name dragged forcibly +into this ugly, blackmailing scandal. +</p> +<p> +"Closely questioned by Mr. Reginald Pepys, she was forced to admit that +the man who blackmailed her was connected with her early life in a way +which would have brought terrible disgrace upon her and upon her +children. The story she told, amidst many tears and sobs, and much use +of her beautiful lace handkerchief and beringed hands, was exceedingly +pathetic. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that when she was barely seventeen she was inveigled into a +secret marriage with one of those foreign adventurers who swarm in every +country, and who styled himself Comte Armand de la Tremouille. He seems +to have been a blackguard of unusually low pattern, for, after he had +extracted from her some £200 of her pin money and a few diamond +brooches, he left her one fine day with a laconic word to say that he +was sailing for Europe by the <i>Argentina</i>, and would not be back for +some time. She was in love with the brute, poor young soul, for when, a +week later, she read that the <i>Argentina</i> was wrecked, and presumably +every soul on board had perished, she wept very many bitter tears over +her early widowhood. +</p> +<p> +"Fortunately her father, a very wealthy pork-butcher of Chicago, had +known nothing of his daughter's culpable foolishness. Four years later +he took her to London, where she met Mr. Francis Morton and married him. +She led six or seven years of very happy married life when one day, like +a thunderbolt from a clear, blue sky, she received a typewritten letter, +signed 'Armand de la Tremouille,' full of protestations of undying love, +telling a long and pathetic tale of years of suffering in a foreign +land, whither he had drifted after having been rescued almost +miraculously from the wreck of the <i>Argentina</i>, and where he never had +been able to scrape a sufficient amount of money to pay for his passage +home. At last fate had favoured him. He had, after many vicissitudes, +found the whereabouts of his dear wife, and was now ready to forgive all +that was past and take her to his loving arms once again. +</p> +<p> +"What followed was the usual course of events when there is a blackguard +and a fool of a woman. She was terrorised and did not dare to tell her +husband for some time; she corresponded with the Comte de la Tremouille, +begging him for her sake and in memory of the past not to attempt to see +her. She found him amenable to reason in the shape of several hundred +pounds which passed through the Brighton post office into his hands. At +last one day, by accident, Mr. Morton came across one of the Comte de la +Tremouille's interesting letters. She confessed everything, throwing +herself upon her husband's mercy. +</p> +<p> +"Now, Mr. Francis Morton was a business man, who viewed life practically +and soberly. He liked his wife, who kept him in luxury, and wished to +keep her, whereas the Comte de la Tremouille seemed willing enough to +give her up for a consideration. Mrs. Morton, who had the sole and +absolute control of her fortune, on the other hand, was willing enough +to pay the price and hush up the scandal, which she believed—since she +was a bit of a fool—would land her in prison for bigamy. Mr. Francis +Morton wrote to the Comte de la Tremouille that his wife was ready to +pay him the sum of £10,000 which he demanded in payment for her absolute +liberty and his own complete disappearance out of her life now and for +ever. The appointment was made, and Mr. Morton left his house at 9 a.m. +on March 17th with the £10,000 in his pocket. +</p> +<p> +"The public and the magistrate had hung breathless upon her words. There +was nothing but sympathy felt for this handsome woman, who throughout +had been more sinned against than sinning, and whose gravest fault seems +to have been a total lack of intelligence in dealing with her own life. +But I can assure you of one thing, that in no case within my +recollection was there ever such a sensation in a court as when the +magistrate, after a few minutes' silence, said gently to Mrs. Morton: +</p> +<p> +"'And now, Mrs. Morton, will you kindly look at the prisoner, and tell +me if in him you recognize your former husband?' +</p> +<p> +"And she, without even turning to look at the accused, said quietly: +</p> +<p> +"'Oh no! your Honour! of course that man is <i>not</i> the Comte de la +Tremouille.'" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH26"><!-- CH26 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXVI +</h2> + +<h3> +A SENSATION +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"I can assure you that the situation was quite dramatic," continued the +man in the corner, whilst his funny, claw-like hands took up a bit of +string with renewed feverishness. +</p> +<p> +"In answer to further questions from the magistrate, she declared that +she had never seen the accused; he might have been the go-between, +however, that she could not say. The letters she received were all +typewritten, but signed 'Armand de la Tremouille,' and certainly the +signature was identical with that on the letters she used to receive +from him years ago, all of which she had kept. +</p> +<p> +"'And did it <i>never</i> strike you,' asked the magistrate with a smile, +'that the letters you received might be forgeries?' +</p> +<p> +"'How could they be?' she replied decisively; no one knew of my marriage +to the Comte de la Tremouille, no one in England certainly. And, +besides, if some one did know the Comte intimately enough to forge his +handwriting and to blackmail me, why should that some one have waited +all these years? I have been married seven years, your Honour.' +</p> +<p> +"That was true enough, and there the matter rested as far as she was +concerned. But the identity of Mr. Francis Morton's assailant had to be +finally established, of course, before the prisoner was committed for +trial. Dr. Mellish promised that Mr. Morton would be allowed to come to +court for half an hour and identify the accused on the following day, +and the case was adjourned until then. The accused was led away between +two constables, bail being refused, and Brighton had perforce to +moderate its impatience until the Wednesday. +</p> +<p> +"On that day the court was crowded to overflowing; actors, playwrights, +literary men of all sorts had fought for admission to study for +themselves the various phases and faces in connection with the case. +Mrs. Morton was not present when the prisoner, quiet and self-possessed, +was brought in and placed in the dock. His solicitor was with him, and a +sensational defence was expected. +</p> +<p> +"Presently there was a stir in the court, and that certain sound, half +rustle, half sigh, which preludes an expected palpitating event. Mr. +Morton, pale, thin, wearing yet in his hollow eyes the stamp of those +five days of suffering, walked into court leaning on the arm of his +doctor—Mrs. Morton was not with him. +</p> +<p> +"He was at once accommodated with a chair in the witness-box, and the +magistrate, after a few words of kindly sympathy, asked him if he had +anything to add to his written statement. On Mr. Morton replying in the +negative, the magistrate added: +</p> +<p> +"'And now, Mr. Morton, will you kindly look at the accused in the dock +and tell me whether you recognize the person who took you to the room in +Russell House and then assaulted you?' +</p> +<p> +"Slowly the sick man turned towards the prisoner and looked at him; then +he shook his head and replied quietly: +</p> +<p> +"'No, sir, that certainly was not the man.' +</p> +<p> +"'You are quite sure?' asked the magistrate in amazement, while the +crowd literally gasped with wonder. +</p> +<p> +"'I swear it,' asserted Mr. Morton. +</p> +<p> +"'Can you describe the man who assaulted you?' +</p> +<p> +"'Certainly. He was dark, of swarthy complexion, tall, thin, with bushy +eyebrows and thick black hair and short beard. He spoke English with +just the faintest suspicion of a foreign accent.' +</p> +<p> +"The prisoner, as I told you before, was English in every feature. +English in his ruddy complexion, and absolutely English in his speech. +</p> +<p> +"After that the case for the prosecution began to collapse. Every one +had expected a sensational defence, and Mr. Matthew Quiller, counsel +for Skinner, fully justified all these expectations. He had no fewer +than four witnesses present who swore positively that at 9.45 a.m. on +the morning of Wednesday, March 17th, the prisoner was in the express +train leaving Brighton for Victoria. +</p> +<p> +"Not being endowed with the gift of being in two places at once, and Mr. +Morton having added the whole weight of his own evidence in Mr. Edward +Skinner's favour, that gentleman was once more remanded by the +magistrate, pending further investigation by the police, bail being +allowed this time in two sureties of £50 each." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH27"><!-- CH27 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXVII +</h2> + +<h3> +TWO BLACKGUARDS +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Tell me what you think of it," said the man in the corner, seeing that +Polly remained silent and puzzled. +</p> +<p> +"Well," she replied dubiously, "I suppose that the so-called Armand de +la Tremouille's story was true in substance. That he did not perish on +the <i>Argentina</i>, but drifted home, and blackmailed his former wife." +</p> +<p> +"Doesn't it strike you that there are at least two very strong points +against that theory?" he asked, making two gigantic knots in his piece +of string. +</p> +<p> +"Two?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes. In the first place, if the blackmailer was the 'Comte de la +Tremouille' returned to life, why should he have been content to take +£10,000 from a lady who was his lawful wife, and who could keep him in +luxury for the rest of his natural life upon her large fortune, which +was close upon a quarter of a million? The real Comte de la Tremouille, +remember, had never found it difficult to get money out of his wife +during their brief married life, whatever Mr. Morton's subsequent +experience in the same direction might have been. And, secondly, why +should he have typewritten his letters to his wife?" +</p> +<p> +"Because—" +</p> +<p> +"That was a point which, to my mind, the police never made the most of. +Now, my experience in criminal cases has invariably been that when a +typewritten letter figures in one, that letter is a forgery. It is not +very difficult to imitate a signature, but it is a jolly sight more +difficult to imitate a handwriting throughout an entire letter." +</p> +<p> +"Then, do you think—" +</p> +<p> +"I think, if you will allow me," he interrupted excitedly, "that we will +go through the points—the sensible, tangible points of the case. +Firstly: Mr. Morton disappears with £10,000 in his pocket for four +entire days; at the end of that time he is discovered loosely tied to an +arm-chair, and a wool shawl round his mouth. Secondly: A man named +Skinner is accused of the outrage. Mr. Morton, although he himself is +able, mind you, to furnish the best defence possible for Skinner, by +denying his identity with the man who assaulted him, refuses to +prosecute. Why?" +</p> +<p> +"He did not wish to drag his wife's name into the case." +</p> +<p> +"He must have known that the Crown would take up the case. Then, again, +how is it no one saw him in the company of the swarthy foreigner he +described?" +</p> +<p> +"Two witnesses did see Mr. Morton in company with Skinner," argued +Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, at 9.20 in West Street; that would give Edward Skinner time to +catch the 9.45 at the station, and to entrust Mr. Morton with the +latch-key of Russell House," remarked the man in the corner dryly. +</p> +<p> +"What nonsense!" Polly ejaculated. +</p> +<p> +"Nonsense, is it?" he said, tugging wildly at his bit of string; "is it +nonsense to affirm that if a man wants to make sure that his victim +shall not escape, he does not usually wind rope 'loosely' round his +figure, nor does he throw a wool shawl lightly round his mouth. The +police were idiotic beyond words; they themselves discovered that Morton +was so 'loosely' fastened to his chair that very little movement would +have disentangled him, and yet it never struck them that nothing was +easier for that particular type of scoundrel to sit down in an arm-chair +and wind a few yards of rope round himself, then, having wrapped a wool +shawl round his throat, to slip his two arms inside the ropes." +</p> +<p> +"But what object would a man in Mr. Morton's position have for playing +such extraordinary pranks?" +</p> +<p> +"Ah, the motive! There you are! What do I always tell you? Seek the +motive! Now, what was Mr. Morton's position? He was the husband of a +lady who owned a quarter of a million of money, not one penny of which +he could touch without her consent, as it was settled on herself, and +who, after the terrible way in which she had been plundered and then +abandoned in her early youth, no doubt kept a very tight hold upon the +purse-strings. Mr. Morton's subsequent life has proved that he had +certain expensive, not altogether avowable, tastes. One day he discovers +the old love letters of the 'Comte Armand de la Tremouille.' +</p> +<p> +"Then he lays his plans. He typewrites a letter, forges the signature of +the erstwhile Count, and awaits events. The fish does rise to the bait. +He gets sundry bits of money, and his success makes him daring. He looks +round him for an accomplice—clever, unscrupulous, greedy—and selects +Mr. Edward Skinner, probably some former pal of his wild oats days. +</p> +<p> +"The plan was very neat, you must confess. Mr. Skinner takes the room in +Russell House, and studies all the manners and customs of his landlady +and her servant. He then draws the full attention of the police upon +himself. He meets Morton in West Street, then disappears ostensibly +after the 'assault.' In the meanwhile Morton goes to Russell House. He +walks upstairs, talks loudly in the room, then makes elaborate +preparations for his comedy." +</p> +<p> +"Why! he nearly died of starvation!" +</p> +<p> +"That, I dare say, was not a part of his reckoning. He thought, no +doubt, that Mrs. Chapman or the servant would discover and rescue him +pretty soon. He meant to appear just a little faint, and endured quietly +the first twenty-four hours of inanition. But the excitement and want of +food told on him more than he expected. After twenty-four hours he +turned very giddy and sick, and, falling from one fainting fit into +another, was unable to give the alarm. +</p> +<p> +"However, he is all right again now, and concludes his part of a +downright blackguard to perfection. Under the plea that his conscience +does not allow him to live with a lady whose first husband is still +alive, he has taken a bachelor flat in London, and only pays afternoon +calls on his wife in Brighton. But presently he will tire of his +bachelor life, and will return to his wife. And I'll guarantee that the +Comte de la Tremouille will never be heard of again." +</p> +<p> +And that afternoon the man in the corner left Miss Polly Burton alone +with a couple of photos of two uninteresting, stodgy, quiet-looking +men—Morton and Skinner—who, if the old scarecrow was right in his +theories, were a pair of the finest blackguards unhung. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH28"><!-- CH28 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXVIII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE REGENT'S PARK MURDER +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +By this time Miss Polly Burton had become quite accustomed to her +extraordinary <i>vis-á-vis</i> in the corner. +</p> +<p> +He was always there, when she arrived, in the selfsame corner, dressed +in one of his remarkable check tweed suits; he seldom said good morning, +and invariably when she appeared he began to fidget with increased +nervousness, with some tattered and knotty piece of string. +</p> +<p> +"Were you ever interested in the Regent's Park murder?" he asked her one +day. +</p> +<p> +Polly replied that she had forgotten most of the particulars connected +with that curious murder, but that she fully remembered the stir and +flutter it had caused in a certain section of London Society. +</p> +<p> +"The racing and gambling set, particularly, you mean," he said. "All the +persons implicated in the murder, directly or indirectly, were of the +type commonly called 'Society men,' or 'men about town,' whilst the +Harewood Club in Hanover Square, round which centred all the scandal in +connection with the murder, was one of the smartest clubs in London. +</p> +<p> +"Probably the doings of the Harewood Club, which was essentially a +gambling club, would for ever have remained 'officially' absent from the +knowledge of the police authorities but for the murder in the Regent's +Park and the revelations which came to light in connection with it. +</p> +<p> +"I dare say you know the quiet square which lies between Portland Place +and the Regent's Park and is called Park Crescent at its south end, and +subsequently Park Square East and West. The Marylebone Road, with all +its heavy traffic, cuts straight across the large square and its pretty +gardens, but the latter are connected together by a tunnel under the +road; and of course you must remember that the new tube station in the +south portion of the Square had not yet been planned. +</p> +<p> +"February 6th, 1907, was a very foggy night, nevertheless Mr. Aaron +Cohen, of 30, Park Square West, at two o'clock in the morning, having +finally pocketed the heavy winnings which he had just swept off the +green table of the Harewood Club, started to walk home alone. An hour +later most of the inhabitants of Park Square West were aroused from +their peaceful slumbers by the sounds of a violent altercation in the +road. A man's angry voice was heard shouting violently for a minute or +two, and was followed immediately by frantic screams of 'Police' and +'Murder.' Then there was the double sharp report of firearms, and +nothing more. +</p> +<p> +"The fog was very dense, and, as you no doubt have experienced yourself, +it is very difficult to locate sound in a fog. Nevertheless, not more +than a minute or two had elapsed before Constable F 18, the point +policeman at the corner of Marylebone Road, arrived on the scene, and, +having first of all whistled for any of his comrades on the beat, began +to grope his way about in the fog, more confused than effectually +assisted by contradictory directions from the inhabitants of the houses +close by, who were nearly falling out of the upper windows as they +shouted out to the constable. +</p> +<p> +"'By the railings, policeman.' +</p> +<p> +"'Higher up the road.' +</p> +<p> +"'No, lower down.' +</p> +<p> +"'It was on this side of the pavement I am sure.' +</p> +<p> +"No, the other.' +</p> +<p> +"At last it was another policeman, F 22, who, turning into Park Square +West from the north side, almost stumbled upon the body of a man lying +on the pavement with his head against the railings of the Square. By +this time quite a little crowd of people from the different houses in +the road had come down, curious to know what had actually happened. +</p> +<p> +"The policeman turned the strong light of his bull's-eye lantern on the +unfortunate man's face. +</p> +<p> +"'It looks as if he had been strangled, don't it?' he murmured to his +comrade. +</p> +<p> +"And he pointed to the swollen tongue, the eyes half out of their +sockets, bloodshot and congested, the purple, almost black, hue of the +face. +</p> +<p> +"At this point one of the spectators, more callous to horrors, peered +curiously into the dead man's face. He uttered an exclamation of +astonishment. +</p> +<p> +"'Why, surely, it's Mr. Cohen from No. 30!' +</p> +<p> +"The mention of a name familiar down the length of the street had caused +two or three other men to come forward and to look more closely into the +horribly distorted mask of the murdered man. +</p> +<p> +"'Our next-door neighbour, undoubtedly,' asserted Mr. Ellison, a young +barrister, residing at No. 31. +</p> +<p> +"'What in the world was he doing this foggy night all alone, and on +foot?' asked somebody else. +</p> +<p> +"'He usually came home very late. I fancy he belonged to some gambling +club in town. I dare say he couldn't get a cab to bring him out here. +Mind you, I don't know much about him. We only knew him to nod to.' +</p> +<p> +"'Poor beggar! it looks almost like an old-fashioned case of +garroting.' +</p> +<p> +"'Anyway, the blackguardly murderer, whoever he was, wanted to make sure +he had killed his man!' added Constable F 18, as he picked up an object +from the pavement. 'Here's the revolver, with two cartridges missing. +You gentlemen heard the report just now?' +</p> +<p> +"'He don't seem to have hit him though. The poor bloke was strangled, no +doubt.' +</p> +<p> +"'And tried to shoot at his assailant, obviously,' asserted the young +barrister with authority. +</p> +<p> +"'If he succeeded in hitting the brute, there might be a chance of +tracing the way he went.' +</p> +<p> +"'But not in the fog.' +</p> +<p> +"Soon, however, the appearance of the inspector, detective, and medical +officer, who had quickly been informed of the tragedy, put an end to +further discussion. +</p> +<p> +"The bell at No. 30 was rung, and the servants—all four of them +women—were asked to look at the body. +</p> +<p> +"Amidst tears of horror and screams of fright, they all recognized in +the murdered man their master, Mr. Aaron Cohen. He was therefore +conveyed to his own room pending the coroner's inquest. +</p> +<p> +"The police had a pretty difficult task, you will admit; there were so +very few indications to go by, and at first literally no clue. +</p> +<p> +"The inquest revealed practically nothing. Very little was known in the +neighbourhood about Mr. Aaron Cohen and his affairs. His female servants +did not even know the name or whereabouts of the various clubs he +frequented. +</p> +<p> +"He had an office in Throgmorton Street and went to business every day. +He dined at home, and sometimes had friends to dinner. When he was alone +he invariably went to the club, where he stayed until the small hours of +the morning. +</p> +<p> +"The night of the murder he had gone out at about nine o'clock. That was +the last his servants had seen of him. With regard to the revolver, all +four servants swore positively that they had never seen it before, and +that, unless Mr. Cohen had bought it that very day, it did not belong to +their master. +</p> +<p> +"Beyond that, no trace whatever of the murderer had been found, but on +the morning after the crime a couple of keys linked together by a short +metal chain were found close to a gate at the opposite end of the +Square, that which immediately faced Portland Place. These were proved +to be, firstly, Mr. Cohen's latch-key, and, secondly, his gate-key of +the Square. +</p> +<p> +"It was therefore presumed that the murderer, having accomplished his +fell design and ransacked his victim's pockets, had found the keys and +made good his escape by slipping into the Square, cutting under the +tunnel, and out again by the further gate. He then took the precaution +not to carry the keys with him any further, but threw them away and +disappeared in the fog. +</p> +<p> +"The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against some person or +persons unknown, and the police were put on their mettle to discover the +unknown and daring murderer. The result of their investigations, +conducted with marvellous skill by Mr. William Fisher, led, about a week +after the crime, to the sensational arrest of one of London's smartest +young bucks. +</p> +<p> +"The case Mr. Fisher had got up against the accused briefly amounted to +this: +</p> +<p> +"On the night of February 6th, soon after midnight, play began to run +very high at the Harewood Club, in Hanover Square. Mr. Aaron Cohen held +the bank at roulette against some twenty or thirty of his friends, +mostly young fellows with no wits and plenty of money. 'The Bank' was +winning heavily, and it appears that this was the third consecutive +night on which Mr. Aaron Cohen had gone home richer by several hundreds +than he had been at the start of play. +</p> +<p> +"Young John Ashley, who is the son of a very worthy county gentleman who +is M.F.H. somewhere in the Midlands, was losing heavily, and in his case +also it appears that it was the third consecutive night that Fortune +had turned her face against him. +</p> +<p> +"Remember," continued the man in the corner, "that when I tell you all +these details and facts, I am giving you the combined evidence of +several witnesses, which it took many days to collect and to classify. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that young Mr. Ashley, though very popular in society, was +generally believed to be in what is vulgarly termed 'low water'; up to +his eyes in debt, and mortally afraid of his dad, whose younger son he +was, and who had on one occasion threatened to ship him off to Australia +with a £5 note in his pocket if he made any further extravagant calls +upon his paternal indulgence. +</p> +<p> +"It was also evident to all John Ashley's many companions that the +worthy M.F.H. held the purse-strings in a very tight grip. The young +man, bitten with the desire to cut a smart figure in the circles in +which he moved, had often recourse to the varying fortunes which now and +again smiled upon him across the green tables in the Harewood Club. +</p> +<p> +"Be that as it may, the general consensus of opinion at the Club was +that young Ashley had changed his last 'pony' before he sat down to a +turn of roulette with Aaron Cohen on that particular night of February +6th. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that all his friends, conspicuous among whom was Mr. Walter +Hatherell, tried their very best to dissuade him from pitting his luck +against that of Cohen, who had been having a most unprecedented run of +good fortune. But young Ashley, heated with wine, exasperated at his own +bad luck, would listen to no one; he tossed one £5 note after another on +the board, he borrowed from those who would lend, then played on parole +for a while. Finally, at half-past one in the morning, after a run of +nineteen on the red, the young man found himself without a penny in his +pockets, and owing a debt—gambling debt—a debt of honour of £1500 to +Mr. Aaron Cohen. +</p> +<p> +"Now we must render this much maligned gentleman that justice which was +persistently denied to him by press and public alike; it was positively +asserted by all those present that Mr. Cohen himself repeatedly tried to +induce young Mr. Ashley to give up playing. He himself was in a delicate +position in the matter, as he was the winner, and once or twice the +taunt had risen to the young man's lips, accusing the holder of the bank +of the wish to retire on a competence before the break in his luck. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Aaron Cohen, smoking the best of Havanas, had finally shrugged his +shoulders and said: 'As you please!' +</p> +<p> +"But at half-past one he had had enough of the player, who always lost +and never paid—never could pay, so Mr. Cohen probably believed. He +therefore at that hour refused to accept Mr. John Ashley's 'promissory' +stakes any longer. A very few heated words ensued, quickly checked by +the management, who are ever on the alert to avoid the least suspicion +of scandal. +</p> +<p> +"In the meanwhile Mr. Hatherell, with great good sense, persuaded young +Ashley to leave the Club and all its temptations and go home; if +possible to bed. +</p> +<p> +"The friendship of the two young men, which was very well known in +society, consisted chiefly, it appears, in Walter Hatherell being the +willing companion and helpmeet of John Ashley in his mad and extravagant +pranks. But to-night the latter, apparently tardily sobered by his +terrible and heavy losses, allowed himself to be led away by his friend +from the scene of his disasters. It was then about twenty minutes to +two. +</p> +<p> +"Here the situation becomes interesting," continued the man in the +corner in his nervous way. "No wonder that the police interrogated at +least a dozen witnesses before they were quite satisfied that every +statement was conclusively proved. +</p> +<p> +"Walter Hatherell, after about ten minutes' absence, that is to say at +ten minutes to two, returned to the club room. In reply to several +inquiries, he said that he had parted with his friend at the corner of +New Bond Street, since he seemed anxious to be alone, and that Ashley +said he would take a turn down Piccadilly before going home—he thought +a walk would do him good. +</p> +<p> +"At two o'clock or thereabouts Mr. Aaron Cohen, satisfied with his +evening's work, gave up his position at the bank and, pocketing his +heavy winnings, started on his homeward walk, while Mr. Walter Hatherell +left the club half an hour later. +</p> +<p> +"At three o'clock precisely the cries of 'Murder' and the report of +fire-arms were heard in Park Square West, and Mr. Aaron Cohen was found +strangled outside the garden railings." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH29"><!-- CH29 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXIX +</h2> + +<h3> +THE MOTIVE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Now at first sight the murder in the Regent's Park appeared both to +police and public as one of those silly, clumsy crimes, obviously the +work of a novice, and absolutely purposeless, seeing that it could but +inevitably lead its perpetrators, without any difficulty, to the +gallows. +</p> +<p> +"You see, a motive had been established. 'Seek him whom the crime +benefits,' say our French <i>confrères</i>. But there was something more than +that. +</p> +<p> +"Constable James Funnell, on his beat, turned from Portland Place into +Park Crescent a few minutes after he had heard the clock at Holy Trinity +Church, Marylebone, strike half-past two. The fog at that moment was +perhaps not quite so dense as it was later on in the morning, and the +policeman saw two gentlemen in overcoats and top-hats leaning arm in arm +against the railings of the Square, close to the gate. He could not, of +course, distinguish their faces because of the fog, but he heard one of +them saying to the other: +</p> +<p> +"'It is but a question of time, Mr. Cohen. I know my father will pay +the money for me, and you will lose nothing by waiting.' +</p> +<p> +"To this the other apparently made no reply, and the constable passed +on; when he returned to the same spot, after having walked over his +beat, the two gentlemen had gone, but later on it was near this very +gate that the two keys referred to at the inquest had been found. +</p> +<p> +"Another interesting fact," added the man in the corner, with one of +those sarcastic smiles of his which Polly could not quite explain, "was +the finding of the revolver upon the scene of the crime. That revolver, +shown to Mr. Ashley's valet, was sworn to by him as being the property +of his master. +</p> +<p> +"All these facts made, of course, a very remarkable, so far quite +unbroken, chain of circumstantial evidence against Mr. John Ashley. No +wonder, therefore, that the police, thoroughly satisfied with Mr. +Fisher's work and their own, applied for a warrant against the young +man, and arrested him in his rooms in Clarges Street exactly a week +after the committal of the crime. +</p> +<p> +"As a matter of fact, you know, experience has invariably taught me that +when a murderer seems particularly foolish and clumsy, and proofs +against him seem particularly damning, that is the time when the police +should be most guarded against pitfalls. +</p> +<p> +"Now in this case, if John Ashley had indeed committed the murder in +Regent's Park in the manner suggested by the police, he would have been +a criminal in more senses than one, for idiocy of that kind is to my +mind worse than many crimes. +</p> +<p> +"The prosecution brought its witnesses up in triumphal array one after +another. There were the members of the Harewood Club—who had seen the +prisoner's excited condition after his heavy gambling losses to Mr. +Aaron Cohen; there was Mr. Hatherell, who, in spite of his friendship +for Ashley, was bound to admit that he had parted from him at the corner +of Bond Street at twenty minutes to two, and had not seen him again till +his return home at five a.m. +</p> +<p> +"Then came the evidence of Arthur Chipps, John Ashley's valet. It proved +of a very sensational character. +</p> +<p> +"He deposed that on the night in question his master came home at about +ten minutes to two. Chipps had then not yet gone to bed. Five minutes +later Mr. Ashley went out again, telling the valet not to sit up for +him. Chipps could not say at what time either of the young gentlemen had +come home. +</p> +<p> +"That short visit home—presumably to fetch the revolver—was thought to +be very important, and Mr. John Ashley's friends felt that his case was +practically hopeless. +</p> +<p> +"The valet's evidence and that of James Funnell, the constable, who had +overheard the conversation near the park railings, were certainly the +two most damning proofs against the accused. I assure you I was having a +rare old time that day. There were two faces in court to watch which was +the greatest treat I had had for many a day. One of these was Mr. John +Ashley's. +</p> +<p> +"Here's his photo—short, dark, dapper, a little 'racy' in style, but +otherwise he looks a son of a well-to-do farmer. He was very quiet and +placid in court, and addressed a few words now and again to his +solicitor. He listened gravely, and with an occasional shrug of the +shoulders, to the recital of the crime, such as the police had +reconstructed it, before an excited and horrified audience. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. John Ashley, driven to madness and frenzy by terrible financial +difficulties, had first of all gone home in search of a weapon, then +waylaid Mr. Aaron Cohen somewhere on that gentleman's way home. The +young man had begged for delay. Mr. Cohen perhaps was obdurate; but +Ashley followed him with his importunities almost to his door. +</p> +<p> +"There, seeing his creditor determined at last to cut short the painful +interview, he had seized the unfortunate man at an unguarded moment from +behind, and strangled him; then, fearing that his dastardly work was not +fully accomplished, he had shot twice at the already dead body, missing +it both times from sheer nervous excitement. The murderer then must have +emptied his victim's pockets, and, finding the key of the garden, +thought that it would be a safe way of evading capture by cutting across +the squares, under the tunnel, and so through the more distant gate +which faced Portland Place. +</p> +<p> +"The loss of the revolver was one of those unforeseen accidents which a +retributive Providence places in the path of the miscreant, delivering +him by his own act of folly into the hands of human justice. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. John Ashley, however, did not appear the least bit impressed by the +recital of his crime. He had not engaged the services of one of the most +eminent lawyers, expert at extracting contradictions from witnesses by +skilful cross-examinations—oh, dear me, no! he had been contented with +those of a dull, prosy, very second-rate limb of the law, who, as he +called his witnesses, was completely innocent of any desire to create a +sensation. +</p> +<p> +"He rose quietly from his seat, and, amidst breathless silence, called +the first of three witnesses on behalf of his client. He called +three—but he could have produced twelve—gentlemen, members of the +Ashton Club in Great Portland Street, all of whom swore that at three +o'clock on the morning of February 6th, that is to say, at the very +moment when the cries of 'Murder' roused the inhabitants of Park Square +West, and the crime was being committed, Mr. John Ashley was sitting +quietly in the club-rooms of the Ashton playing bridge with the three +witnesses. He had come in a few minutes before three—as the hall porter +of the Club testified—and stayed for about an hour and a half. +</p> +<p> +"I need not tell you that this undoubted, this fully proved, <i>alibi</i> was +a positive bombshell in the stronghold of the prosecution. The most +accomplished criminal could not possibly be in two places at once, and +though the Ashton Club transgresses in many ways against the gambling +laws of our very moral country, yet its members belong to the best, most +unimpeachable classes of society. Mr. Ashley had been seen and spoken to +at the very moment of the crime by at least a dozen gentlemen whose +testimony was absolutely above suspicion. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. John Ashley's conduct throughout this astonishing phase of the +inquiry remained perfectly calm and correct. It was no doubt the +consciousness of being able to prove his innocence with such absolute +conclusion that had steadied his nerves throughout the proceedings. +</p> +<p> +"His answers to the magistrate were clear and simple, even on the +ticklish subject of the revolver. +</p> +<p> +"'I left the club, sir,' he explained, 'fully determined to speak with +Mr. Cohen alone in order to ask him for a delay in the settlement of my +debt to him. You will understand that I should not care to do this in +the presence of other gentlemen. I went home for a minute or two—not in +order to fetch a revolver, as the police assert, for I always carry a +revolver about with me in foggy weather—but in order to see if a very +important business letter had come for me in my absence. +</p> +<p> +"'Then I went out again, and met Mr. Aaron Cohen not far from the +Harewood Club. I walked the greater part of the way with him, and our +conversation was of the most amicable character. We parted at the top of +Portland Place, near the gate of the Square, where the policeman saw us. +Mr. Cohen then had the intention of cutting across the Square, as being +a shorter way to his own house. I thought the Square looked dark and +dangerous in the fog, especially as Mr. Cohen was carrying a large sum +of money. +</p> +<p> +"'We had a short discussion on the subject, and finally I persuaded him +to take my revolver, as I was going home only through very frequented +streets, and moreover carried nothing that was worth stealing. After a +little demur Mr. Cohen accepted the loan of my revolver, and that is +how it came to be found on the actual scene of the crime; finally I +parted from Mr. Cohen a very few minutes after I had heard the church +clock striking a quarter before three. I was at the Oxford Street end of +Great Portland Street at five minutes to three, and it takes at least +ten minutes to walk from where I was to the Ashton Club.' +</p> +<p> +"This explanation was all the more credible, mind you, because the +question of the revolver had never been very satisfactorily explained by +the prosecution. A man who has effectually strangled his victim would +not discharge two shots of his revolver for, apparently, no other +purpose than that of rousing the attention of the nearest passer-by. It +was far more likely that it was Mr. Cohen who shot—perhaps wildly into +the air, when suddenly attacked from behind. Mr. Ashley's explanation +therefore was not only plausible, it was the only possible one. +</p> +<p> +"You will understand therefore how it was that, after nearly half an +hour's examination, the magistrate, the police, and the public were +alike pleased to proclaim that the accused left the court without a +stain upon his character." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH30"><!-- CH30 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXX +</h2> + +<h3> +FRIENDS +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Yes," interrupted Polly eagerly, since, for once, her acumen had been +at least as sharp as his, "but suspicion of that horrible crime only +shifted its taint from one friend to another, and, of course, I know—" +</p> +<p> +"But that's just it," he quietly interrupted, "you don't know—Mr. +Walter Hatherell, of course, you mean. So did every one else at once. +The friend, weak and willing, committing a crime on behalf of his +cowardly, yet more assertive friend who had tempted him to evil. It was +a good theory; and was held pretty generally, I fancy, even by the +police. +</p> +<p> +"I say 'even' because they worked really hard in order to build up a +case against young Hatherell, but the great difficulty was that of time. +At the hour when the policeman had seen the two men outside Park Square +together, Walter Hatherell was still sitting in the Harewood Club, which +he never left until twenty minutes to two. Had he wished to waylay and +rob Aaron Cohen he would not have waited surely till the time when +presumably the latter would already have reached home. +</p> +<p> +"Moreover, twenty minutes was an incredibly short time in which to walk +from Hanover Square to Regent's Park without the chance of cutting +across the squares, to look for a man, whose whereabouts you could not +determine to within twenty yards or so, to have an argument with him, +murder him, and ransack his pockets. And then there was the total +absence of motive." +</p> +<p> +"But—" said Polly meditatively, for she remembered now that the +Regent's Park murder, as it had been popularly called, was one of those +which had remained as impenetrable a mystery as any other crime had ever +been in the annals of the police. +</p> +<p> +The man in the corner cocked his funny birdlike head well on one side +and looked at her, highly amused evidently at her perplexity. +</p> +<p> +"You do not see how that murder was committed?" he asked with a grin. +</p> +<p> +Polly was bound to admit that she did not. +</p> +<p> +"If you had happened to have been in Mr. John Ashley's predicament," he +persisted, "you do not see how you could conveniently have done away +with Mr. Aaron Cohen, pocketed his winnings, and then led the police of +your country entirely by the nose, by proving an indisputable <i>alibi</i>?" +</p> +<p> +"I could not arrange conveniently," she retorted, "to be in two +different places half a mile apart at one and the same time." +</p> +<p> +"No! I quite admit that you could not do this unless you also had a +friend—" +</p> +<p> +"A friend? But you say—" +</p> +<p> +"I say that I admired Mr. John Ashley, for his was the head which +planned the whole thing, but he could not have accomplished the +fascinating and terrible drama without the help of willing and able +hands." +</p> +<p> +"Even then—" she protested. +</p> +<p> +"Point number one," he began excitedly, fidgeting with his inevitable +piece of string. "John Ashley and his friend Walter Hatherell leave the +club together, and together decide on the plan of campaign. Hatherell +returns to the club, and Ashley goes to fetch the revolver—the revolver +which played such an important part in the drama, but not the part +assigned to it by the police. Now try to follow Ashley closely, as he +dogs Aaron Cohen's footsteps. Do you believe that he entered into +conversation with him? That he walked by his side? That he asked for +delay? No! He sneaked behind him and caught him by the throat, as the +garroters used to do in the fog. Cohen was apoplectic, and Ashley is +young and powerful. Moreover, he meant to kill—" +</p> +<p> +"But the two men talked together outside the Square gates," protested +Polly, "one of whom was Cohen, and the other Ashley." +</p> +<p> +"Pardon me," he said, jumping up in his seat like a monkey on a stick, +"there were not two men talking outside the Square gates. According to +the testimony of James Funnell, the constable, two men were leaning arm +in arm against the railings and <i>one</i> man was talking." +</p> +<p> +"Then you think that—" +</p> +<p> +"At the hour when James Funnell heard Holy Trinity clock striking +half-past two Aaron Cohen was already dead. Look how simple the whole +thing is," he added eagerly, "and how easy after that—easy, but oh, +dear me! how wonderfully, how stupendously clever. As soon as James +Funnell has passed on, John Ashley, having opened the gate, lifts the +body of Aaron Cohen in his arms and carries him across the Square. The +Square is deserted, of course, but the way is easy enough, and we must +presume that Ashley had been in it before. Anyway, there was no fear of +meeting any one. +</p> +<p> +"In the meantime Hatherell has left the club: as fast as his athletic +legs can carry him he rushes along Oxford Street and Portland Place. It +had been arranged between the two miscreants that the Square gate should +be left on the latch. +</p> +<p> +"Close on Ashley's heels now, Hatherell too cuts across the Square, and +reaches the further gate in good time to give his confederate a hand in +disposing the body against the railings. Then, without another instant's +delay, Ashley runs back across the gardens, straight to the Ashton Club, +throwing away the keys of the dead man, on the very spot where he had +made it a point of being seen and heard by a passer-by. +</p> +<p> +"Hatherell gives his friend six or seven minutes' start, then he begins +the altercation which lasts two or three minutes, and finally rouses the +neighbourhood with cries of 'Murder' and report of pistol in order to +establish that the crime was committed at the hour when its perpetrator +has already made out an indisputable <i>alibi</i>." +</p> +<p> +"I don't know what you think of it all, of course," added the funny +creature as he fumbled for his coat and his gloves, "but I call the +planning of that murder—on the part of novices, mind you—one of the +cleverest pieces of strategy I have ever come across. It is one of those +cases where there is no possibility whatever now of bringing the crime +home to its perpetrator or his abettor. They have not left a single +proof behind them; they foresaw everything, and each acted his part with +a coolness and courage which, applied to a great and good cause, would +have made fine statesmen of them both. +</p> +<p> +"As it is, I fear, they are just a pair of young blackguards, who have +escaped human justice, and have only deserved the full and ungrudging +admiration of yours very sincerely." +</p> +<p> +He had gone. Polly wanted to call him back, but his meagre person was no +longer visible through the glass door. There were many things she would +have wished to ask of him—what were his proofs, his facts? His were +theories, after all, and yet, somehow, she felt that he had solved once +again one of the darkest mysteries of great criminal London. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH31"><!-- CH31 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXI +</h2> + +<h3> +THE DE GENNEVILLE PEERAGE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The man in the corner rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and looked out upon +the busy street below. +</p> +<p> +"I suppose," he said, "there is some truth in the saying that Providence +watches over bankrupts, kittens, and lawyers." +</p> +<p> +"I didn't know there was such a saying," replied Polly, with guarded +dignity. +</p> +<p> +"Isn't there? Perhaps I am misquoting; anyway, there should be. Kittens, +it seems, live and thrive through social and domestic upheavals which +would annihilate a self-supporting tom-cat, and to-day I read in the +morning papers the account of a noble lord's bankruptcy, and in the +society ones that of his visit at the house of a Cabinet minister, where +he is the most honoured guest. As for lawyers, when Providence had +exhausted all other means of securing their welfare, it brought forth +the peerage cases." +</p> +<p> +"I believe, as a matter of fact, that this special dispensation of +Providence, as you call it, requires more technical knowledge than any +other legal complication that comes before the law courts," she said. +</p> +<p> +"And also a great deal more money in the client's pocket than any other +complication. Now, take the Brockelsby peerage case. Have you any idea +how much money was spent over that soap bubble, which only burst after +many hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds went in lawyers' and +counsels' fees?" +</p> +<p> +"I suppose a great deal of money was spent on both sides," she replied, +"until that sudden, awful issue—" +</p> +<p> +"Which settled the dispute effectually," he interrupted with a dry +chuckle. "Of course, it is very doubtful if any reputable solicitor +would have taken up the case. Timothy Beddingfield, the Birmingham +lawyer, is a gentleman who—well—has had some misfortunes, shall we +say? He is still on the rolls, mind you, but I doubt if any case would +have its chances improved by his conducting it. Against that there is +just this to be said, that some of these old peerages have such peculiar +histories, and own such wonderful archives, that a claim is always worth +investigating—you never know what may be the rights of it. +</p> +<p> +"I believe that, at first, every one laughed over the pretensions of the +Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville to the joint title and part revenues of +the old barony of Genneville, but, obviously, he <i>might</i> have got his +case. It certainly sounded almost like a fairy-tale, this claim based +upon the supposed validity of an ancient document over 400 years old. It +was <i>then</i> that a mediaeval Lord de Genneville, more endowed with muscle +than common sense, became during his turbulent existence much +embarrassed and hopelessly puzzled through the presentation made to him +by his lady of twin-born sons. +</p> +<p> +"His embarrassment chiefly arose from the fact that my lady's +attendants, while ministering to the comfort of the mother, had, in a +moment of absent-mindedness, so placed the two infants in their cot that +subsequently no one, not even—perhaps least of all—the mother, could +tell which was the one who had been the first to make his appearance +into this troublesome and puzzling world. +</p> +<p> +"After many years of cogitation, during which the Lord de Genneville +approached nearer to the grave and his sons to man's estate, he gave up +trying to solve the riddle as to which of the twins should succeed to +his title and revenues; he appealed to his Liege Lord and King—Edward, +fourth of that name—and with the latter's august sanction he drew up a +certain document, wherein he enacted that both his sons should, after +his death, share his titles and goodly revenues, and that the first son +born in wedlock of <i>either</i> father should subsequently be the sole heir. +</p> +<p> +"In this document was also added that if in future times should any +Lords de Genneville be similarly afflicted with twin sons, who had equal +rights to be considered the eldest born, the same rule should apply as +to the succession. +</p> +<p> +"Subsequently a Lord de Genneville was created Earl of Brockelsby by one +of the Stuart kings, but for four hundred years after its enactment the +extraordinary deed of succession remained a mere tradition, the +Countesses of Brockelsby having, seemingly, no predilection for twins. +But in 1878 the mistress of Brockelsby Castle presented her lord with +twin-born sons. +</p> +<p> +"Fortunately, in modern times, science is more wide-awake, and +attendants more careful. The twin brothers did not get mixed up, and one +of them was styled Viscount Tirlemont, and was heir to the earldom, +whilst the other, born two hours later, was that fascinating, dashing +young Guardsman, well known at Hurlingham, Goodwood, London, and in his +own county—the Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville. +</p> +<p> +"It certainly was an evil day for this brilliant young scion of the +ancient race when he lent an ear to Timothy Beddingfield. This man, and +his family before him, had been solicitors to the Earls of Brockelsby +for many generations, but Timothy, owing to certain 'irregularities,' +had forfeited the confidence of his client, the late earl. +</p> +<p> +"He was still in practice in Birmingham, however, and, of course, knew +the ancient family tradition anent the twin succession. Whether he was +prompted by revenge or merely self-advertisement no one knows. +</p> +<p> +"Certain it is that he did advise the Hon. Robert de Genneville—who +apparently had more debts than he conveniently could pay, and more +extravagant tastes than he could gratify on a younger son's portion—to +lay a claim, on his father's death, to the joint title and a moiety of +the revenues of the ancient barony of Genneville, that claim being based +upon the validity of the fifteenth-century document. +</p> +<p> +"You may gather how extensive were the pretensions of the Hon. Robert +from the fact that the greater part of Edgbaston is now built upon land +belonging to the old barony. Anyway, it was the last straw in an ocean +of debt and difficulties, and I have no doubt that Beddingfield had not +much trouble in persuading the Hon. Robert to commence litigation at +once. +</p> +<p> +"The young Earl of Brockelsby's attitude, however, remained one of +absolute quietude in his nine points of the law. He was in possession +both of the title and of the document. It was for the other side to +force him to produce the one or to share the other. +</p> +<p> +"It was at this stage of the proceedings that the Hon. Robert was +advised to marry, in order to secure, if possible, the first male heir +of the next generation, since the young earl himself was still a +bachelor. A suitable <i>fiancée</i> was found for him by his friends in the +person of Miss Mabel Brandon, the daughter of a rich Birmingham +manufacturer, and the marriage was fixed to take place at Birmingham on +Thursday, September 15th, 1907. +</p> +<p> +"On the 13th the Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville arrived at the Castle +Hotel in New Street for his wedding, and on the 14th, at eight o'clock +in the morning, he was discovered lying on the floor of his +bedroom—murdered. +</p> +<p> +"The sensation which the awful and unexpected sequel to the De +Genneville peerage case caused in the minds of the friends of both +litigants was quite unparalleled. I don't think any crime of modern +times created quite so much stir in all classes of society. Birmingham +was wild with excitement, and the employés of the Castle Hotel had real +difficulty in keeping off the eager and inquisitive crowd who thronged +daily to the hall, vainly hoping to gather details of news relating to +the terrible tragedy. +</p> +<p> +"At present there was but little to tell. The shrieks of the +chambermaid, who had gone into the Hon. Robert's room with his shaving +water at eight o'clock, had attracted some of the waiters. Soon the +manager and his secretary came up, and immediately sent for the police. +</p> +<p> +"It seemed at first sight as if the young man had been the victim of a +homicidal maniac, so brutal had been the way in which he had been +assassinated. The head and body were battered and bruised by some heavy +stick or poker, almost past human shape, as if the murderer had wished +to wreak some awful vengeance upon the body of his victim. In fact, it +would be impossible to recount the gruesome aspect of that room and of +the murdered man's body such as the police and the medical officer took +note of that day. +</p> +<p> +"It was supposed that the murder had been committed the evening before, +as the victim was dressed in his evening clothes, and all the lights in +the room had been left fully turned on. Robbery, also, must have had a +large share in the miscreant's motives, for the drawers and cupboards, +the portmanteau and dressing-bag had been ransacked as if in search of +valuables. On the floor there lay a pocket-book torn in half and only +containing a few letters addressed to the Hon. Robert de Genneville. +</p> +<p> +"The Earl of Brockelsby, next-of-kin to the deceased, was also +telegraphed for. He drove over from Brockelsby Castle, which is about +seven miles from Birmingham. He was terribly affected by the awfulness +of the tragedy, and offered a liberal reward to stimulate the activity +of the police in search of the miscreant. +</p> +<p> +"The inquest was fixed for the 17th, three days later, and the public +was left wondering where the solution lay of the terrible and gruesome +murder at the Castle Hotel." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH32"><!-- CH32 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXII +</h2> + +<h3> +A HIGH-BRED GENTLEMAN +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"The central figure in the coroner's court that day was undoubtedly the +Earl of Brockelsby in deep black, which contrasted strongly with his +florid complexion and fair hair. Sir Marmaduke Ingersoll, his solicitor, +was with him, and he had already performed the painful duty of +identifying the deceased as his brother. This had been an exceedingly +painful duty owing to the terribly mutilated state of the body and face; +but the clothes and various trinkets he wore, including a signet ring, +had fortunately not tempted the brutal assassin, and it was through them +chiefly that Lord Brockelsby was able to swear to the identity of his +brother. +</p> +<p> +"The various employés at the hotel gave evidence as to the discovery of +the body, and the medical officer gave his opinion as to the immediate +cause of death. Deceased had evidently been struck at the back of the +head with a poker or heavy stick, the murderer then venting his blind +fury upon the body by battering in the face and bruising it in a way +that certainly suggested the work of a maniac. +</p> +<p> +"Then the Earl of Brockelsby was called, and was requested by the +coroner to state when he had last seen his brother alive. +</p> +<p> +"'The morning before his death,' replied his lordship, 'he came up to +Birmingham by an early train, and I drove up from Brockelsby to see him. +I got to the hotel at eleven o'clock and stayed with him for about an +hour.' +</p> +<p> +"'And that is the last you saw of the deceased?' +</p> +<p> +"'That is the last I saw of him,' replied Lord Brockelsby. +</p> +<p> +"He seemed to hesitate for a moment or two as if in thought whether he +should speak or not, and then to suddenly make up his mind to speak, for +he added: 'I stayed in town the whole of that day, and only drove back +to Brockelsby late in the evening. I had some business to transact, and +put up at the Grand, as I usually do, and dined with some friends.' +</p> +<p> +"'Would you tell us at what time you returned to Brockelsby Castle?' +</p> +<p> +"'I think it must have been about eleven o'clock. It is a seven-mile +drive from here.' +</p> +<p> +"'I believe,' said the coroner after a slight pause, during which the +attention of all the spectators was riveted upon the handsome figure of +the young man as he stood in the witness-box, the very personification +of a high-bred gentleman, 'I believe that I am right in stating that +there was an unfortunate legal dispute between your lordship and your +brother?' +</p> +<p> +"'That is so.' +</p> +<p> +"The coroner stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment or two, then he +added: +</p> +<p> +"'In the event of the deceased's claim to the joint title and revenues +of De Genneville being held good in the courts of law, there would be a +great importance, would there not, attached to his marriage, which was +to have taken place on the 15th?' +</p> +<p> +"'In that event, there certainly would be.' +</p> +<p> +"'Is the jury to understand, then, that you and the deceased parted on +amicable terms after your interview with him in the morning?' +</p> +<p> +"The Earl of Brockelsby hesitated again for a minute or two, while the +crowd and the jury hung breathless on his lips. +</p> +<p> +"'There was no enmity between us,' he replied at last. +</p> +<p> +"'From which we may gather that there may have been—shall I say—a +slight disagreement at that interview?' +</p> +<p> +"'My brother had unfortunately been misled by the misrepresentations or +perhaps the too optimistic views of his lawyer. He had been dragged into +litigation on the strength of an old family document which he had never +seen, which, moreover, is antiquated, and, owing to certain wording in +it, invalid. I thought that it would be kinder and more considerate if +I were to let my brother judge of the document for himself. I knew that +when he had seen it he would be convinced of the absolutely futile basis +of his claim, and that it would be a terrible disappointment to him. +That is the reason why I wished to see him myself about it, rather than +to do it through the more formal—perhaps more correct—medium of our +respective lawyers. I placed the facts before him with, on my part, a +perfectly amicable spirit.' +</p> +<p> +"The young Earl of Brockelsby had made this somewhat lengthy, perfectly +voluntary explanation of the state of affairs in a calm, quiet voice, +with much dignity and perfect simplicity, but the coroner did not seem +impressed by it, for he asked very drily: +</p> +<p> +"'Did you part good friends?' +</p> +<p> +"'On my side absolutely so.' +</p> +<p> +"'But not on his?' insisted the coroner. +</p> +<p> +"'I think he felt naturally annoyed that he had been so ill-advised by +his solicitors.' +</p> +<p> +"'And you made no attempt later on in the day to adjust any ill-feeling +that may have existed between you and him?' asked the coroner, marking +with strange, earnest emphasis every word he uttered. +</p> +<p> +"'If you mean did I go and see my brother again that day—no, I did +not.' +</p> +<p> +"'And your lordship can give us no further information which might +throw some light upon the mystery which surrounds the Hon. Robert de +Genneville's death?' still persisted the coroner. +</p> +<p> +"'I am sorry to say I cannot,' replied the Earl of Brockelsby with firm +decision. +</p> +<p> +"The coroner still looked puzzled and thoughtful. It seemed at first as +if he wished to press his point further; every one felt that some deep +import had lain behind his examination of the witness, and all were on +tenter-hooks as to what the next evidence might bring forth. The Earl of +Brockelsby had waited a minute or two, then, at a sign from the coroner, +had left the witness-box in order to have a talk with his solicitor. +</p> +<p> +"At first he paid no attention to the depositions of the cashier and +hall porter of the Castle Hotel, but gradually it seemed to strike him +that curious statements were being made by these witnesses, and a frown +of anxious wonder settled between his brows, whilst his young face lost +some of its florid hue. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Tremlett, the cashier at the hotel, had been holding the attention +of the court. He stated that the Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville had +arrived at the hotel at eight o'clock on the morning of the 13th; he had +the room which he usually occupied when he came to the 'Castle,' namely, +No. 21, and he went up to it immediately on his arrival, ordering some +breakfast to be brought up to him. +</p> +<p> +"At eleven o'clock the Earl of Brockelsby called to see his brother and +remained with him until about twelve. In the afternoon the deceased went +out, and returned for his dinner at seven o'clock in company with a +gentleman whom the cashier knew well by sight, Mr. Timothy Beddingfield, +the lawyer, of Paradise Street. The gentlemen had their dinner +downstairs, and after that they went up to the Hon. Mr. de Genneville's +room for coffee and cigars. +</p> +<p> +"'I could not say at what time Mr. Beddingfield left,' continued the +cashier, 'but I rather fancy I saw him in the hall at about 9.15 p.m. He +was wearing an Inverness cape over his dress clothes and a Glengarry +cap. It was just at the hour when the visitors who had come down for the +night from London were arriving thick and fast; the hall was very full, +and there was a large party of Americans monopolising most of our +<i>personnel</i>, so I could not swear positively whether I did see Mr. +Beddingfield or not then, though I am quite sure that it was Mr. Timothy +Beddingfield who dined and spent the evening with the Hon. Mr. de +Genneville, as I know him quite well by sight. At ten o'clock I am off +duty, and the night porter remains alone in the hall.' +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Tremlett's evidence was corroborated in most respects by a waiter +and by the hall porter. They had both seen the deceased come in at seven +o'clock in company with a gentleman, and their description of the +latter coincided with that of the appearance of Mr. Timothy +Beddingfield, whom, however, they did not actually know. +</p> +<p> +"At this point of the proceedings the foreman of the jury wished to know +why Mr. Timothy Beddingfield's evidence had not been obtained, and was +informed by the detective-inspector in charge of the case that that +gentleman had seemingly left Birmingham, but was expected home shortly. +The coroner suggested an adjournment pending Mr. Beddingfield's +appearance, but at the earnest request of the detective he consented to +hear the evidence of Peter Tyrrell, the night porter at the Castle +Hotel, who, if you remember the case at all, succeeded in creating the +biggest sensation of any which had been made through this extraordinary +and weirdly gruesome case. +</p> +<p> +"'It was the first time I had been on duty at "The Castle," he said, +'for I used to be night porter at "Bright's," in Wolverhampton, but just +after I had come on duty at ten o'clock a gentleman came and asked if he +could see the Hon. Robert de Genneville. I said that I thought he was +in, but would send up and see. The gentleman said: "It doesn't matter. +Don't trouble; I know his room. Twenty-one, isn't it?" And up he went +before I could say another word.' +</p> +<p> +"'Did he give you any name?' asked the coroner. +</p> +<p> +"'No, sir.' +</p> +<p> +"'What was he like?' +</p> +<p> +"'A young gentleman, sir, as far as I can remember, in an Inverness +cape and Glengarry cap, but I could not see his face very well as he +stood with his back to the light, and the cap shaded his eyes, and he +only spoke to me for a minute.' +</p> +<p> +"'Look all round you,' said the coroner quietly. 'Is there any one in +this court at all like the gentleman you speak of?' +</p> +<p> +"An awed hush fell over the many spectators there present as Peter +Tyrrell, the night porter of the Castle Hotel, turned his head towards +the body of the court and slowly scanned the many faces there present; +for a moment he seemed to hesitate—only for a moment though, then, as +if vaguely conscious of the terrible importance his next words might +have, he shook his head gravely and said: +</p> +<p> +"'I wouldn't like to swear.' +</p> +<p> +"The coroner tried to press him, but with true British stolidity he +repeated: 'I wouldn't like to say.' +</p> +<p> +"'Well, then, what happened?' asked the coroner, who had perforce to +abandon his point. +</p> +<p> +"'The gentleman went upstairs, sir, and about a quarter of an hour later +he come down again, and I let him out. He was in a great hurry then, he +threw me a half-crown and said: "Good night."' +</p> +<p> +"'And though you saw him again then, you cannot tell us if you would +know him again?' +</p> +<p> +"Once more the hall porter's eyes wandered as if instinctively to a +certain face in the court; once more he hesitated for many seconds which +seemed like so many hours, during which a man's honour, a man's life, +hung perhaps in the balance. +</p> +<p> +"Then Peter Tyrrell repeated slowly: 'I wouldn't swear.' +</p> +<p> +"But coroner and jury alike, aye, and every spectator in that crowded +court, had seen that the man's eyes had rested during that one moment of +hesitation upon the face of the Earl of Brockelsby." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH33"><!-- CH33 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXIII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE LIVING AND THE DEAD +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The man in the corner blinked across at Polly with his funny mild blue +eyes. +</p> +<p> +"No wonder you are puzzled," he continued, "so was everybody in the +court that day, every one save myself. I alone could see in my mind's +eye that gruesome murder such as it had been committed, with all its +details, and, above all, its motive, and such as you will see it +presently, when I place it all clearly before you. +</p> +<p> +"But before you see daylight in this strange case, I must plunge you +into further darkness, in the same manner as the coroner and jury were +plunged on the following day, the second day of that remarkable inquest. +It had to be adjourned, since the appearance of Mr. Timothy Beddingfield +had now become of vital importance. The public had come to regard his +absence from Birmingham at this critical moment as decidedly remarkable, +to say the least of it, and all those who did not know the lawyer by +sight wished to see him in his Inverness cape and Glengarry cap such as +he had appeared before the several witnesses on the night of the awful +murder. +</p> +<p> +"When the coroner and jury were seated, the first piece of information +which the police placed before them was the astounding statement that +Mr. Timothy Beddingfield's whereabouts had not been ascertained, though +it was confidently expected that he had not gone far and could easily be +traced. There was a witness present who, the police thought, might throw +some light as to the lawyer's probable destination, for obviously he had +left Birmingham directly after his interview with the deceased. +</p> +<p> +"This witness was Mrs. Higgins, who was Mr. Beddingfield's housekeeper. +She stated that her master was in the constant habit—especially +latterly—of going up to London on business. He usually left by a late +evening train on those occasions, and mostly was only absent thirty-six +hours. He kept a portmanteau always ready packed for the purpose, for he +often left at a few moments' notice. Mrs. Higgins added that her master +stayed at the Great Western Hotel in London, for it was there that she +was instructed to wire if anything urgent required his presence back in +Birmingham. +</p> +<p> +"'On the night of the 14th,' she continued, 'at nine o'clock or +thereabouts, a messenger came to the door with the master's card, and +said that he was instructed to fetch Mr. Beddingfield's portmanteau, and +then to meet him at the station in time to catch the 9.35 p.m. up train. +I gave him the portmanteau, of course, as he had brought the card, and +I had no idea there could be anything wrong; but since then I have heard +nothing of my master, and I don't know when he will return.' +</p> +<p> +"Questioned by the coroner, she added that Mr. Beddingfield had never +stayed away quite so long without having his letters forwarded to him. +There was a large pile waiting for him now; she had written to the Great +Western Hotel, London, asking what she should do about the letters, but +had received no reply. She did not know the messenger by sight who had +called for the portmanteau. Once or twice before Mr. Beddingfield had +sent for his things in that manner when he had been dining out. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Beddingfield certainly wore his Inverness cape over his dress +clothes when he went out at about six o'clock in the afternoon. He also +wore a Glengarry cap. +</p> +<p> +"The messenger had so far not yet been found, and from this +point—namely, the sending for the portmanteau—all traces of Mr. +Timothy Beddingfield seem to have been lost. Whether he went up to +London by that 9.35 train or not could not be definitely ascertained. +The police had questioned at least a dozen porters at the railway, as +well as ticket collectors; but no one had any special recollection of a +gentleman in an Inverness cape and Glengarry cap, a costume worn by +more than one first-class passenger on a cold night in September. +</p> +<p> +"There was the hitch, you see; it all lay in this. Mr. Timothy +Beddingfield, the lawyer, had undoubtedly made himself scarce. He was +last seen in company with the deceased, and wearing an Inverness cape +and Glengarry cap; two or three witnesses saw him leaving the hotel at +about 9.15. Then the messenger calls at the lawyer's house for the +portmanteau, after which Mr. Timothy Beddingfield seems to vanish into +thin air; but—and that is a great 'but'—the night porter at the +'Castle' seems to have seen some one wearing the momentous Inverness and +Glengarry half an hour or so later on, and going up to deceased's room, +where he stayed about a quarter of an hour. +</p> +<p> +"Undoubtedly you will say, as every one said to themselves that day +after the night porter and Mrs. Higgins had been heard, that there was a +very ugly and very black finger which pointed unpleasantly at Mr. +Timothy Beddingfield, especially as that gentleman, for some reason +which still required an explanation, was not there to put matters right +for himself. But there was just one little thing—a mere trifle, +perhaps—which neither the coroner nor the jury dared to overlook, +though, strictly speaking, it was not evidence. +</p> +<p> +"You will remember that when the night porter was asked if he could, +among the persons present in court, recognize the Hon. Robert de +Genneville's belated visitor, every one had noticed his hesitation, and +marked that the man's eyes had rested doubtingly upon the face and +figure of the young Earl of Brockelsby. +</p> +<p> +"Now, if that belated visitor had been Mr. Timothy Beddingfield—tall, +lean, dry as dust, with a bird-like beak and clean-shaven chin—no one +could for a moment have mistaken his face—even if they only saw it very +casually and recollected it but very dimly—with that of young Lord +Brockelsby, who was florid and rather short—the only point in common +between them was their Saxon hair. +</p> +<p> +"You see that it was a curious point, don't you?" added the man in the +corner, who now had become so excited that his fingers worked like long +thin tentacles round and round his bit of string. "It weighed very +heavily in favour of Timothy Beddingfield. Added to which you must also +remember that, as far as he was concerned, the Hon. Robert de Genneville +was to him the goose with the golden eggs. +</p> +<p> +"The 'De Genneville peerage case' had brought Beddingfield's name in +great prominence. With the death of the claimant all hopes of prolonging +the litigation came to an end. There was a total lack of motive as far +as Beddingfield was concerned." +</p> +<p> +"Not so with the Earl of Brockelsby," said Polly, "and I've often +maintained—" +</p> +<p> +"What?" he interrupted. "That the Earl of Brockelsby changed clothes +with Beddingfield in order more conveniently to murder his own brother? +Where and when could the exchange of costume have been effected, +considering that the Inverness cape and Glengarry cap were in the hall +of the Castle Hotel at 9.15, and at that hour and until ten o'clock Lord +Brockelsby was at the Grand Hotel finishing dinner with some friends? +That was subsequently proved, remember, and also that he was back at +Brockelsby Castle, which is seven miles from Birmingham, at eleven +o'clock sharp. Now, the visit of the individual in the Glengarry +occurred some time after 10 p.m." +</p> +<p> +"Then there was the disappearance of Beddingfield," said the girl +musingly. "That certainly points very strongly to him. He was a man in +good practice, I believe, and fairly well known." +</p> +<p> +"And has never been heard of from that day to this," concluded the old +scarecrow with a chuckle. "No wonder you are puzzled. The police were +quite baffled, and still are, for a matter of that. And yet see how +simple it is! Only the police would not look further than these two +men—Lord Brockelsby with a strong motive and the night porter's +hesitation against him, and Beddingfield without a motive, but with +strong circumstantial evidence and his own disappearance as condemnatory +signs. +</p> +<p> +"If only they would look at the case as I did, and think a little about +the dead as well as about the living. If they had remembered that +peerage case, the Hon. Robert's debts, his last straw which proved a +futile claim. +</p> +<p> +"Only that very day the Earl of Brockelsby had, by quietly showing the +original ancient document to his brother, persuaded him how futile were +all his hopes. Who knows how many were the debts contracted, the +promises made, the money borrowed and obtained on the strength of that +claim which was mere romance? Ahead nothing but ruin, enmity with his +brother, his marriage probably broken off, a wasted life, in fact. +</p> +<p> +"Is it small wonder that, though ill-feeling against the Earl of +Brockelsby may have been deep, there was hatred, bitter, deadly hatred +against the man who with false promises had led him into so hopeless a +quagmire? Probably the Hon. Robert owed a great deal of money to +Beddingfield, which the latter hoped to recoup at usurious interest, +with threats of scandal and what not. +</p> +<p> +"Think of all that," he added, "and then tell me if you believe that a +stronger motive for the murder of such an enemy could well be found." +</p> +<p> +"But what you suggest is impossible," said Polly, aghast. +</p> +<p> +"Allow me," he said, "it is more than possible—it is very easy and +simple. The two men were alone together in the Hon. Robert de +Genneville's room after dinner. You, as representing the public, and the +police say that Beddingfield went away and returned half an hour later +in order to kill his client. I say that it was the lawyer who was +murdered at nine o'clock that evening, and that Robert de Genneville, +the ruined man, the hopeless bankrupt, was the assassin." +</p> +<p> +"Then—" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, of course, now you remember, for I have put you on the track. The +face and the body were so battered and bruised that they were past +recognition. Both men were of equal height. The hair, which alone could +not be disfigured or obliterated, was in both men similar in colour. +</p> +<p> +"Then the murderer proceeds to dress his victim in his own clothes. With +the utmost care he places his own rings on the fingers of the dead man, +his own watch in the pocket; a gruesome task, but an important one, and +it is thoroughly well done. Then he himself puts on the clothes of his +victim, with finally the Inverness cape and Glengarry, and when the hall +is full of visitors he slips out unperceived. He sends the messenger for +Beddingfield's portmanteau and starts off by the night express." +</p> +<p> +"But then his visit at the Castle Hotel at ten o'clock—" she urged. +"How dangerous!" +</p> +<p> +"Dangerous? Yes! but oh, how clever. You see, he was the Earl of +Brockelsby's twin brother, and twin brothers are always somewhat alike. +He wished to appear dead, murdered by some one, he cared not whom, but +what he did care about was to throw clouds of dust in the eyes of the +police, and he succeeded with a vengeance. Perhaps—who knows?—he +wished to assure himself that he had forgotten nothing in the <i>mise en +scène,</i> that the body, battered and bruised past all semblance of any +human shape save for its clothes, really would appear to every one as +that of the Hon. Robert de Genneville, while the latter disappeared for +ever from the old world and started life again in the new. +</p> +<p> +"Then you must always reckon with the practically invariable rule that a +murderer always revisits, if only once, the scene of his crime. +</p> +<p> +"Two years have elapsed since the crime; no trace of Timothy +Beddingfield, the lawyer, has ever been found, and I can assure you that +it will never be, for his plebeian body lies buried in the aristocratic +family vault of the Earl of Brockelsby." +</p> +<p> +He was gone before Polly could say another word. The faces of Timothy +Beddingfield, of the Earl of Brockelsby, of the Hon. Robert de +Genneville seemed to dance before her eyes and to mock her for the +hopeless bewilderment in which she found herself plunged because of +them; then all the faces vanished, or, rather, were merged in one long, +thin, bird-like one, with bone-rimmed spectacles on the top of its +beak, and a wide, rude grin beneath it, and, still puzzled, still +doubtful, the young girl too paid for her scanty luncheon and went her +way. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH34"><!-- CH34 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXIV +</h2> + +<h3> +THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH IN PERCY STREET +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Miss Polly Burton had had many an argument with Mr. Richard Frobisher +about that old man in the corner, who seemed far more interesting and +deucedly more mysterious than any of the crimes over which he +philosophised. +</p> +<p> +Dick thought, moreover, that Miss Polly spent more of her leisure time +now in that A.B.C. shop than she had done in his own company before, and +told her so, with that delightful air of sheepish sulkiness which the +male creature invariably wears when he feels jealous and won't admit it. +</p> +<p> +Polly liked Dick to be jealous, but she liked that old scarecrow in the +A.B.C. shop very much too, and though she made sundry vague promises +from time to time to Mr. Richard Frobisher, she nevertheless drifted +back instinctively day after day to the tea-shop in Norfolk Street, +Strand, and stayed there sipping coffee for as long as the man in the +corner chose to talk. +</p> +<p> +On this particular afternoon she went to the A.B.C. shop with a fixed +purpose, that of making him give her his views of Mrs. Owen's mysterious +death in Percy Street. +</p> +<p> +The facts had interested and puzzled her. She had had countless +arguments with Mr. Richard Frobisher as to the three great possible +solutions of the puzzle—"Accident, Suicide, Murder?" +</p> +<p> +"Undoubtedly neither accident nor suicide," he said dryly. +</p> +<p> +Polly was not aware that she had spoken. What an uncanny habit that +creature had of reading her thoughts! +</p> +<p> +"You incline to the idea, then, that Mrs. Owen was murdered. Do you know +by whom?" +</p> +<p> +He laughed, and drew forth the piece of string he always fidgeted with +when unravelling some mystery. +</p> +<p> +"You would like to know who murdered that old woman?" he asked at last. +</p> +<p> +"I would like to hear your views on the subject," Polly replied. +</p> +<p> +"I have no views," he said dryly. "No one can know who murdered the +woman, since no one ever saw the person who did it. No one can give the +faintest description of the mysterious man who alone could have +committed that clever deed, and the police are playing a game of blind +man's buff." +</p> +<p> +"But you must have formed some theory of your own," she persisted. +</p> +<p> +It annoyed her that the funny creature was obstinate about this point, +and she tried to nettle his vanity. +</p> +<p> +"I suppose that as a matter of fact your original remark that 'there are +no such things as mysteries' does not apply universally. There is a +mystery—that of the death in Percy Street, and you, like the police, +are unable to fathom it." +</p> +<p> +He pulled up his eyebrows and looked at her for a minute or two. +</p> +<p> +"Confess that that murder was one of the cleverest bits of work +accomplished outside Russian diplomacy," he said with a nervous laugh. +"I must say that were I the judge, called upon to pronounce sentence of +death on the man who conceived that murder, I could not bring myself to +do it. I would politely request the gentleman to enter our Foreign +Office—we have need of such men. The whole <i>mise en scène</i> was truly +artistic, worthy of its <i>milieu</i>—the Rubens Studios in Percy Street, +Tottenham Court Road. +</p> +<p> +"Have you ever noticed them? They are only studios by name, and are +merely a set of rooms in a corner house, with the windows slightly +enlarged, and the rents charged accordingly in consideration of that +additional five inches of smoky daylight, filtering through dusty +windows. On the ground floor there is the order office of some stained +glass works, with a workshop in the rear, and on the first floor landing +a small room allotted to the caretaker, with gas, coal, and fifteen +shillings a week, for which princely income she is deputed to keep tidy +and clean the general aspect of the house. +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Owen, who was the caretaker there, was a quiet, respectable woman, +who eked out her scanty wages by sundry—mostly very meagre—tips doled +out to her by impecunious artists in exchange for promiscuous domestic +services in and about the respective studios. +</p> +<p> +"But if Mrs. Owen's earnings were not large, they were very regular, and +she had no fastidious tastes. She and her cockatoo lived on her wages; +and all the tips added up, and never spent, year after year, went to +swell a very comfortable little account at interest in the Birkbeck +Bank. This little account had mounted up to a very tidy sum, and the +thrifty widow—or old maid—no one ever knew which she was—was +generally referred to by the young artists of the Rubens Studios as a +'lady of means.' But this is a digression. +</p> +<p> +"No one slept on the premises except Mrs. Owen and her cockatoo. The +rule was that one by one as the tenants left their rooms in the evening +they took their respective keys to the caretaker's room. She would then, +in the early morning, tidy and dust the studios and the office +downstairs, lay the fire and carry up coals. +</p> +<p> +"The foreman of the glass works was the first to arrive in the morning. +He had a latch-key, and let himself in, after which it was the custom of +the house that he should leave the street door open for the benefit of +the other tenants and their visitors. +</p> +<p> +"Usually, when he came at about nine o'clock, he found Mrs. Owen busy +about the house doing her work, and he had often a brief chat with her +about the weather, but on this particular morning of February 2nd he +neither saw nor heard her. However, as the shop had been tidied and the +fire laid, he surmised that Mrs. Owen had finished her work earlier than +usual, and thought no more about it. One by one the tenants of the +studios turned up, and the day sped on without any one's attention being +drawn noticeably to the fact that the caretaker had not appeared upon +the scene. +</p> +<p> +"It had been a bitterly cold night, and the day was even worse; a +cutting north-easterly gale was blowing, there had been a great deal of +snow during the night which lay quite thick on the ground, and at five +o'clock in the afternoon, when the last glimmer of the pale winter +daylight had disappeared, the confraternity of the brush put palette and +easel aside and prepared to go home. The first to leave was Mr. Charles +Pitt; he locked up his studio and, as usual, took his key into the +caretaker's room. +</p> +<p> +"He had just opened the door when an icy blast literally struck him in +the face; both the windows were wide open, and the snow and sleet were +beating thickly into the room, forming already a white carpet upon the +floor. +</p> +<p> +"The room was in semi-obscurity, and at first Mr. Pitt saw nothing, but +instinctively realizing that something was wrong, he lit a match, and +saw before him the spectacle of that awful and mysterious tragedy which +has ever since puzzled both police and public. On the floor, already +half covered by the drifting snow, lay the body of Mrs. Owen face +downwards, in a nightgown, with feet and ankles bare, and these and her +hands were of a deep purple colour; whilst in a corner of the room, +huddled up with the cold, the body of the cockatoo lay stark and stiff." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH35"><!-- CH35 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXV +</h2> + +<h3> +SUICIDE OR MURDER? +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"At first there was only talk of a terrible accident, the result of some +inexplicable carelessness which perhaps the evidence at the inquest +would help to elucidate. +</p> +<p> +"Medical assistance came too late; the unfortunate woman was indeed +dead, frozen to death, inside her own room. Further examination showed +that she had received a severe blow at the back of the head, which must +have stunned her and caused her to fall, helpless, beside the open +window. Temperature at five degrees below zero had done the rest. +Detective Inspector Howell discovered close to the window a wrought-iron +gas bracket, the height of which corresponded exactly with the bruise at +the back of Mrs. Owen's head. +</p> +<p> +"Hardly however had a couple of days elapsed when public curiosity was +whetted by a few startling headlines, such as the halfpenny evening +papers alone know how to concoct. +</p> +<p> +"'The mysterious death in Percy Street.' 'Is it Suicide or Murder?' +'Thrilling details—Strange developments.' 'Sensational Arrest.' +</p> +<p> +"What had happened was simply this: +</p> +<p> +"At the inquest a few certainly very curious facts connected with Mrs. +Owen's life had come to light, and this had led to the apprehension of a +young man of very respectable parentage on a charge of being concerned +in the tragic death of the unfortunate caretaker. +</p> +<p> +"To begin with, it happened that her life, which in an ordinary way +should have been very monotonous and regular, seemed, at any rate +latterly, to have been more than usually chequered and excited. Every +witness who had known her in the past concurred in the statement that +since October last a great change had come over the worthy and honest +woman. +</p> +<p> +"I happen to have a photo of Mrs. Owen as she was before this great +change occurred in her quiet and uneventful life, and which led, as far +as the poor soul was concerned, to such disastrous results. +</p> +<p> +"Here she is to the life," added the funny creature, placing the photo +before Polly—"as respectable, as stodgy, as uninteresting as it is well +possible for a member of your charming sex to be; not a face, you will +admit, to lead any youngster to temptation or to induce him to commit a +crime. +</p> +<p> +"Nevertheless one day all the tenants of the Rubens Studios were +surprised and shocked to see Mrs. Owen, quiet, respectable Mrs. Owen, +sallying forth at six o'clock in the afternoon, attired in an +extravagant bonnet and a cloak trimmed with imitation astrakhan +which—slightly open in front—displayed a gold locket and chain of +astonishing proportions. +</p> +<p> +"Many were the comments, the hints, the bits of sarcasm levelled at the +worthy woman by the frivolous confraternity of the brush. +</p> +<p> +"The plot thickened when from that day forth a complete change came over +the worthy caretaker of the Rubens Studios. While she appeared day after +day before the astonished gaze of the tenants and the scandalized looks +of the neighbours, attired in new and extravagant dresses, her work was +hopelessly neglected, and she was always 'out' when wanted. +</p> +<p> +"There was, of course, much talk and comment in various parts of the +Rubens Studios on the subject of Mrs. Owen's 'dissipations.' The tenants +began to put two and two together, and after a very little while the +general consensus of opinion became firmly established that the honest +caretaker's demoralisation coincided week for week, almost day for day, +with young Greenhill's establishment in No. 8 Studio. +</p> +<p> +"Every one had remarked that he stayed much later in the evening than +any one else, and yet no one presumed that he stayed for purposes of +work. Suspicions soon rose to certainty when Mrs. Owen and Arthur +Greenhill were seen by one of the glass workmen dining together at +Gambia's Restaurant in Tottenham Court Road. +</p> +<p> +"The workman, who was having a cup of tea at the counter, noticed +particularly that when the bill was paid the money came out of Mrs. +Owen's purse. The dinner had been sumptuous—veal cutlets, a cut from +the joint, dessert, coffee and liqueurs. Finally the pair left the +restaurant apparently very gay, young Greenhill smoking a choice cigar. +</p> +<p> +"Irregularities such as these were bound sooner or later to come to the +ears and eyes of Mr. Allman, the landlord of the Rubens Studios; and a +month after the New Year, without further warning, he gave her a week's +notice to quit his house. +</p> +<p> +"'Mrs. Owen did not seem the least bit upset when I gave her notice,' +Mr. Allman declared in his evidence at the inquest; 'on the contrary, +she told me that she had ample means, and had only worked latterly for +the sake of something to do. She added that she had plenty of friends +who would look after her, for she had a nice little pile to leave to any +one who would know how "to get the right side of her."' +</p> +<p> +"Nevertheless, in spite of this cheerful interview, Miss Bedford, the +tenant of No. 6 Studio, had stated that when she took her key to the +caretaker's room at 6.30 that afternoon she found Mrs. Owen in tears. +The caretaker refused to be comforted, nor would she speak of her +trouble to Miss Bedford. +</p> +<p> +"Twenty-four hours later she was found dead. +</p> +<p> +"The coroner's jury returned an open verdict, and Detective-Inspector +Jones was charged by the police to make some inquiries about young Mr. +Greenhill, whose intimacy with the unfortunate woman had been +universally commented upon. +</p> +<p> +"The detective, however, pushed his investigations as far as the +Birkbeck Bank. There he discovered that after her interview with Mr. +Allman, Mrs. Owen had withdrawn what money she had on deposit, some +£800, the result of twenty-five years' saving and thrift. +</p> +<p> +"But the immediate result of Detective-Inspector Jones's labours was +that Mr. Arthur Greenhill, lithographer, was brought before the +magistrate at Bow Street on the charge of being concerned in the death +of Mrs. Owen, caretaker of the Rubens Studios, Percy Street. +</p> +<p> +"Now that magisterial inquiry is one of the few interesting ones which I +had the misfortune to miss," continued the man in the corner, with a +nervous shake of the shoulders. "But you know as well as I do how the +attitude of the young prisoner impressed the magistrate and police so +unfavourably that, with every new witness brought forward, his position +became more and more unfortunate. +</p> +<p> +"Yet he was a good-looking, rather coarsely built young fellow, with +one of those awful Cockney accents which literally make one jump. But he +looked painfully nervous, stammered at every word spoken, and repeatedly +gave answers entirely at random. +</p> +<p> +"His father acted as lawyer for him, a rough-looking elderly man, who +had the appearance of a common country attorney rather than of a London +solicitor. +</p> +<p> +"The police had built up a fairly strong case against the lithographer. +Medical evidence revealed nothing new: Mrs. Owen had died from exposure, +the blow at the back of the head not being sufficiently serious to cause +anything but temporary disablement. When the medical officer had been +called in, death had intervened for some time; it was quite impossible +to say how long, whether one hour or five or twelve. +</p> +<p> +"The appearance and state of the room, when the unfortunate woman was +found by Mr. Charles Pitt, were again gone over in minute detail. Mrs. +Owen's clothes, which she had worn during the day, were folded neatly on +a chair. The key of her cupboard was in the pocket of her dress. The +door had been slightly ajar, but both the windows were wide open; one of +them, which had the sash-line broken, had been fastened up most +scientifically with a piece of rope. +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Owen had obviously undressed preparatory to going to bed, and the +magistrate very naturally soon made the remark how untenable the theory +of an accident must be. No one in their five senses would undress with a +temperature at below zero, and the windows wide open. +</p> +<p> +"After these preliminary statements the cashier of the Birkbeck was +called and he related the caretaker's visit at the bank. +</p> +<p> +"'It was then about one o'clock,' he stated. 'Mrs. Owen called and +presented a cheque to self for £827, the amount of her balance. She +seemed exceedingly happy and cheerful, and talked about needing plenty +of cash, as she was going abroad to join her nephew, for whom she would +in future keep house. I warned her about being sufficiently careful with +so large a sum, and parting from it injudiciously, as women of her class +are very apt to do. She laughingly declared that not only was she +careful of it in the present, but meant to be so for the far-off future, +for she intended to go that very day to a lawyer's office and to make a +will.' +</p> +<p> +"The cashier's evidence was certainly startling in the extreme, since in +the widow's room no trace of any kind was found of any money; against +that, two of the notes handed over by the bank to Mrs. Owen on that day +were cashed by young Greenhill on the very morning of her mysterious +death. One was handed in by him to the West End Clothiers Company, in +payment for a suit of clothes, and the other he changed at the Post +Office in Oxford Street. +</p> +<p> +"After that all the evidence had of necessity to be gone through again +on the subject of young Greenhill's intimacy with Mrs. Owen. He listened +to it all with an air of the most painful nervousness, his cheeks were +positively green, his lips seemed dry and parched, for he repeatedly +passed his tongue over them, and when Constable E 18 deposed that at 2 +a.m. on the morning of February 2nd he had seen the accused and spoken +to him at the corner of Percy Street and Tottenham Court Road, young +Greenhill all but fainted. +</p> +<p> +"The contention of the police was that the caretaker had been murdered +and robbed during that night before she went to bed, that young +Greenhill had done the murder, seeing that he was the only person known +to have been intimate with the woman, and that it was, moreover, proved +unquestionably that he was in the immediate neighbourhood of the Rubens +Studios at an extraordinarily late hour of the night. +</p> +<p> +"His own account of himself, and of that same night, could certainly not +be called very satisfactory. Mrs. Owen was a relative of his late +mother's, he declared. He himself was a lithographer by trade, with a +good deal of time and leisure on his hands. He certainly had employed +some of that time in taking the old woman to various places of +amusement. He had on more than one occasion suggested that she should +give up menial work, and come and live with him, but, unfortunately, she +was a great deal imposed upon by her nephew, a man of the name of Owen, +who exploited the good-natured woman in every possible way, and who had +on more than one occasion made severe attacks upon her savings at the +Birkbeck Bank. +</p> +<p> +"Severely cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel about this supposed +relative of Mrs. Owen, Greenhill admitted that he did not know him—had, +in fact, never seen him. He knew that his name was Owen and that was +all. His chief occupation consisted in sponging on the kind-hearted old +woman, but he only went to see her in the evenings, when he presumably +knew that she would be alone, and invariably after all the tenants of +the Rubens Studios had left for the day. +</p> +<p> +"I don't know whether at this point it strikes you at all, as it did +both magistrate and counsel, that there was a direct contradiction in +this statement and the one made by the cashier of the Birkbeck on the +subject of his last conversation with Mrs. Owen. 'I am going abroad to +join my nephew, for whom I am going to keep house,' was what the +unfortunate woman had said. +</p> +<p> +"Now Greenhill, in spite of his nervousness and at times contradictory +answers, strictly adhered to his point, that there was a nephew in +London, who came frequently to see his aunt. +</p> +<p> +"Anyway, the sayings of the murdered woman could not be taken as +evidence in law. Mr. Greenhill senior put the objection, adding: 'There +may have been two nephews,' which the magistrate and the prosecution +were bound to admit. +</p> +<p> +"With regard to the night immediately preceding Mrs. Owen's death, +Greenhill stated that he had been with her to the theatre, had seen her +home, and had had some supper with her in her room. Before he left her, +at 2 a.m., she had of her own accord made him a present of £10, saying: +'I am a sort of aunt to you, Arthur, and if you don't have it, Bill is +sure to get it.' +</p> +<p> +"She had seemed rather worried in the early part of the evening, but +later on she cheered up. +</p> +<p> +"'Did she speak at all about this nephew of hers or about her money +affairs? asked the magistrate. +</p> +<p> +"Again the young man hesitated, but said, 'No! she did not mention +either Owen or her money affairs.' +</p> +<p> +"If I remember rightly," added the man in the corner, "for recollect I +was not present, the case was here adjourned. But the magistrate would +not grant bail. Greenhill was removed looking more dead than +alive—though every one remarked that Mr. Greenhill senior looked +determined and not the least worried. In the course of his examination +on behalf of his son, of the medical officer and one or two other +witnesses, he had very ably tried to confuse them on the subject of the +hour at which Mrs. Owen was last known to be alive. +</p> +<p> +"He made a very great point of the fact that the usual morning's work +was done throughout the house when the inmates arrived. Was it +conceivable, he argued, that a woman would do that kind of work +overnight, especially as she was going to the theatre, and therefore +would wish to dress in her smarter clothes? It certainly was a very nice +point levelled against the prosecution, who promptly retorted: Just as +conceivable as that a woman in those circumstances of life should, +having done her work, undress beside an open window at nine o'clock in +the morning with the snow beating into the room. +</p> +<p> +"Now it seems that Mr. Greenhill senior could produce any amount of +witnesses who could help to prove a conclusive <i>alibi</i> on behalf of his +son, if only some time subsequent to that fatal 2 a.m. the murdered +woman had been seen alive by some chance passer-by. +</p> +<p> +"However, he was an able man and an earnest one, and I fancy the +magistrate felt some sympathy for his strenuous endeavours on his son's +behalf. He granted a week's adjournment, which seemed to satisfy Mr. +Greenhill completely. +</p> +<p> +"In the meanwhile the papers had talked of and almost exhausted the +subject of the mystery in Percy Street. There had been, as you no doubt +know from personal experience, innumerable arguments on the puzzling +alternatives:— +</p> +<p> +"Accident? +</p> +<p> +"Suicide? +</p> +<p> +"Murder? +</p> +<p> +"A week went by, and then the case against young Greenhill was resumed. +Of course the court was crowded. It needed no great penetration to +remark at once that the prisoner looked more hopeful, and his father +quite elated. +</p> +<p> +"Again a great deal of minor evidence was taken, and then came the turn +of the defence. Mr. Greenhill called Mrs. Hall, confectioner, of Percy +Street, opposite the Rubens Studios. She deposed that at 8 o'clock in +the morning of February 2nd, while she was tidying her shop window, she +saw the caretaker of the Studios opposite, as usual, on her knees, her +head and body wrapped in a shawl, cleaning her front steps. Her husband +also saw Mrs. Owen, and Mrs. Hall remarked to her husband how thankful +she was that her own shop had tiled steps, which did not need scrubbing +on so cold a morning. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Hall, confectioner, of the same address, corroborated this +statement, and Mr. Greenhill, with absolute triumph, produced a third +witness, Mrs. Martin, of Percy Street, who from her window on the second +floor had, at 7.30 a.m., seen the caretaker shaking mats outside her +front door. The description this witness gave of Mrs. Owen's get-up, +with the shawl round her head, coincided point by point with that given +by Mr. and Mrs. Hall. +</p> +<p> +"After that Mr. Greenhill's task became an easy one; his son was at home +having his breakfast at 8 o'clock that morning—not only himself, but +his servants would testify to that. +</p> +<p> +"The weather had been so bitter that the whole of that day Arthur had +not stirred from his own fireside. Mrs. Owen was murdered after 8 a.m. +on that day, since she was seen alive by three people at that hour, +therefore his son could not have murdered Mrs. Owen. The police must +find the criminal elsewhere, or else bow to the opinion originally +expressed by the public that Mrs. Owen had met with a terrible untoward +accident, or that perhaps she may have wilfully sought her own death in +that extraordinary and tragic fashion. +</p> +<p> +"Before young Greenhill was finally discharged one or two witnesses were +again examined, chief among these being the foreman of the glassworks. +He had turned up at the Rubens Studios at 9 o'clock, and been in +business all day. He averred positively that he did not specially notice +any suspicious-looking individual crossing the hall that day. 'But,' he +remarked with a smile, 'I don't sit and watch every one who goes up and +downstairs. I am too busy for that. The street door is always left open; +any one can walk in, up or down, who knows the way.' +</p> +<p> +"That there was a mystery in connection with Mrs. Owen's death—of that +the police have remained perfectly convinced; whether young Greenhill +held the key of that mystery or not they have never found out to this +day. +</p> +<p> +"I could enlighten them as to the cause of the young lithographer's +anxiety at the magisterial inquiry, but, I assure you, I do not care to +do the work of the police for them. Why should I? Greenhill will never +suffer from unjust suspicions. He and his father alone—besides +myself—know in what a terribly tight corner he all but found himself. +</p> +<p> +"The young man did not reach home till nearly <i>five</i> o'clock that +morning. His last train had gone; he had to walk, lost his way, and +wandered about Hampstead for hours. Think what his position would have +been if the worthy confectioners of Percy Street had not seen Mrs. Owen +'wrapped up in a shawl, on her knees, doing the front steps.' +</p> +<p> +"Moreover, Mr. Greenhill senior is a solicitor, who has a small office +in John Street, Bedford Row. The afternoon before her death Mrs. Owen +had been to that office and had there made a will by which she left all +her savings to young Arthur Greenhill, lithographer. Had that will been +in other than paternal hands, it would have been proved, in the natural +course of such things, and one other link would have been added to the +chain which nearly dragged Arthur Greenhill to the gallows—'the link of +a very strong motive.' +</p> +<p> +"Can you wonder that the young man turned livid, until such time as it +was proved beyond a doubt that the murdered woman was alive hours after +he had reached the safe shelter of his home? +</p> +<p> +"I saw you smile when I used the word 'murdered,'" continued the man in +the corner, growing quite excited now that he was approaching the +<i>dénouement</i> of his story. "I know that the public, after the magistrate +had discharged Arthur Greenhill, were quite satisfied to think that the +mystery in Percy Street was a case of accident—or suicide." +</p> +<p> +"No," replied Polly, "there could be no question of suicide, for two +very distinct reasons." +</p> +<p> +He looked at her with some degree of astonishment. She supposed that he +was amazed at her venturing to form an opinion of her own. +</p> +<p> +"And may I ask what, in your opinion, these reasons are?" he asked very +sarcastically. +</p> +<p> +"To begin with, the question of money," she said—"has any more of it +been traced so far?" +</p> +<p> +"Not another £5 note," he said with a chuckle; "they were all cashed in +Paris during the Exhibition, and you have no conception how easy a thing +that is to do, at any of the hotels or smaller <i>agents de change</i>." +</p> +<p> +"That nephew was a clever blackguard," she commented. +</p> +<p> +"You believe, then, in the existence of that nephew?" +</p> +<p> +"Why should I doubt it? Some one must have existed who was sufficiently +familiar with the house to go about in it in the middle of the day +without attracting any one's attention." +</p> +<p> +"In the middle of the day?" he said with a chuckle. +</p> +<p> +"Any time after 8.30 in the morning." +</p> +<p> +"So you, too, believe in the 'caretaker, wrapped up in a shawl,' +cleaning her front steps?" he queried. +</p> +<p> +"But—" +</p> +<p> +"It never struck you, in spite of the training your intercourse with me +must have given you, that the person who carefully did all the work in +the Rubens Studios, laid the fires and carried up the coals, merely did +it in order to gain time; in order that the bitter frost might really +and effectually do its work, and Mrs. Owen be not missed until she was +truly dead." +</p> +<p> +"But—" suggested Polly again. +</p> +<p> +"It never struck you that one of the greatest secrets of successful +crime is to lead the police astray with regard to the time when the +crime was committed. That was, if you remember, the great point in the +Regent's Park murder. +</p> +<p> +"In this case the 'nephew,' since we admit his existence, would—even if +he were ever found, which is doubtful—be able to prove as good an +<i>alibi</i> as young Greenhill." +</p> +<p> +"But I don't understand—" +</p> +<p> +"How the murder was committed?" he said eagerly. "Surely you can see it +all for yourself, since you admit the 'nephew'—a scamp, perhaps—who +sponges on the good-natured woman. He terrorises and threatens her, so +much so that she fancies her money is no longer safe even in the +Birkbeck Bank. Women of that class are apt at times to mistrust the Bank +of England. Anyway, she withdraws her money. Who knows what she meant to +do with it in the immediate future? +</p> +<p> +"In any case, she wishes to secure it after her death to a young man +whom she likes, and who has known how to win her good graces. That +afternoon the nephew begs, entreats for more money; they have a row; the +poor woman is in tears, and is only temporarily consoled by a pleasant +visit at the theatre. +</p> +<p> +"At 2 o'clock in the morning young Greenhill parts from her. Two minutes +later the nephew knocks at the door. He comes with a plausible tale of +having missed his last train, and asks for a 'shake down' somewhere in +the house. The good-natured woman suggests a sofa in one of the studios, +and then quietly prepares to go to bed. The rest is very simple and +elementary. The nephew sneaks into his aunt's room, finds her standing +in her nightgown; he demands money with threats of violence; terrified, +she staggers, knocks her head against the gas bracket, and falls on the +floor stunned, while the nephew seeks for her keys and takes possession +of the £800. You will admit that the subsequent <i>mise en scène</i>—is +worthy of a genius. +</p> +<p> +"No struggle, not the usual hideous accessories round a crime. Only the +open windows, the bitter north-easterly gale, and the heavily falling +snow—two silent accomplices, as silent as the dead. +</p> +<p> +"After that the murderer, with perfect presence of mind, busies himself +in the house, doing the work which will ensure that Mrs. Owen shall not +be missed, at any rate, for some time. He dusts and tidies; some few +hours later he even slips on his aunt's skirt and bodice, wraps his +head in a shawl, and boldly allows those neighbours who are astir to see +what they believe to be Mrs. Owen. Then he goes back to her room, +resumes his normal appearance and quietly leaves the house." +</p> +<p> +"He may have been seen." +</p> +<p> +"He undoubtedly <i>was</i> seen by two or three people, but no one thought +anything of seeing a man leave the house at that hour. It was very cold, +the snow was falling thickly, and as he wore a muffler round the lower +part of his face, those who saw him would not undertake to know him +again." +</p> +<p> +"That man was never seen nor heard of again?" Polly asked. +</p> +<p> +"He has disappeared off the face of the earth. The police are searching +for him, and perhaps some day they will find him—then society will be +rid of one of the most ingenious men of the age." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH36"><!-- CH36 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXVI +</h2> + +<h3> +THE END +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +He had paused, absorbed in meditation. The young girl also was silent. +Some memory too vague as yet to take a definite form was persistently +haunting her—one thought was hammering away in her brain, and playing +havoc with her nerves. That thought was the inexplicable feeling within +her that there was something in connection with that hideous crime which +she ought to recollect, something which—if she could only remember what +it was—would give her the clue to the tragic mystery, and for once +ensure her triumph over this self-conceited and sarcastic scarecrow in +the corner. +</p> +<p> +He was watching her through his great bone-rimmed spectacles, and she +could see the knuckles of his bony hands, just above the top of the +table, fidgeting, fidgeting, fidgeting, till she wondered if there +existed another set of fingers in the world which could undo the knots +his lean ones made in that tiresome piece of string. +</p> +<p> +Then suddenly—<i>á propos</i> of nothing, Polly <i>remembered</i>—the whole +thing stood before her, short and clear like a vivid flash of +lightning:—Mrs. Owen lying dead in the snow beside her open window; one +of them with a broken sash-line, tied up most scientifically with a +piece of string. She remembered the talk there had been at the time +about this improvised sash-line. +</p> +<p> +That was after young Greenhill had been discharged, and the question of +suicide had been voted an impossibility. +</p> +<p> +Polly remembered that in the illustrated papers photographs appeared of +this wonderfully knotted piece of string, so contrived that the weight +of the frame could but tighten the knots, and thus keep the window open. +She remembered that people deduced many things from that improvised +sash-line, chief among these deductions being that the murderer was a +sailor—so wonderful, so complicated, so numerous were the knots which +secured that window-frame. +</p> +<p> +But Polly knew better. In her mind's eye she saw those fingers, rendered +doubly nervous by the fearful cerebral excitement, grasping at first +mechanically, even thoughtlessly, a bit of twine with which to secure +the window; then the ruling habit strongest through all, the girl could +see it; the lean and ingenious fingers fidgeting, fidgeting with that +piece of string, tying knot after knot, more wonderful, more +complicated, than any she had yet witnessed. +</p> +<p> +"If I were you," she said, without daring to look into that corner +where he sat, "I would break myself of the habit of perpetually making +knots in a piece of string." +</p> +<p> +He did not reply, and at last Polly ventured to look up—the corner was +empty, and through the glass door beyond the desk, where he had just +deposited his few coppers, she saw the tails of his tweed coat, his +extraordinary hat, his meagre, shrivelled-up personality, fast +disappearing down the street. +</p> +<p> +Miss Polly Burton (of the <i>Evening Observer</i>) was married the other day +to Mr. Richard Frobisher (of the <i>London Mail</i>). She has never set eyes +on the man in the corner from that day to this. +</p> +<center> +FINIS +</center> + +<p> </p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10556 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/10556-h/images/card.png b/10556-h/images/card.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..075d94b --- /dev/null +++ b/10556-h/images/card.png diff --git a/10556-h/images/oldman.png b/10556-h/images/oldman.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3832443 --- /dev/null +++ b/10556-h/images/oldman.png diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..99510bf --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10556 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10556) diff --git a/old/10556-8.txt b/old/10556-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d5cb7d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10556-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8365 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old Man in the Corner, by Baroness Orczy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Old Man in the Corner + +Author: Baroness Orczy + +Release Date: January 1, 2004 [EBook #10556] +[Last updated: January 18, 2014] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +[Illustration: "The old man in the corner."] + + + + +THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER + +BY + +BARONESS ORCZY + + + + +TO MY DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT + +COUNT AND COUNTESS WASS OF CZEGE + +IN REMEMBRANCE +OF MANY HAPPY DAYS SPENT +IN TRANSYLVANIA + +_October, 1908_ + + + + +CONTENTS + +Chapter + + I. THE FENCHURCH STREET MYSTERY + II. A MILLIONAIRE IN THE DOCK + III. HIS DEDUCTION + IV. THE ROBBERY IN PHILLIMORE TERRACE + V. A NIGHT'S ADVENTURE + VI. ALL HE KNEW + VII. THE YORK MYSTERY + VIII. THE CAPITAL CHARGE + IX. A BROKEN-HEARTED WOMAN + X. THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY + XI. MR. ERRINGTON + XII. THE LIVERPOOL MYSTERY + XIII. A CUNNING RASCAL + XIV. THE EDINBURGH MYSTERY + XV. A TERRIBLE PLIGHT + XVI. NON PROVEN + XVII. UNDENIABLE FACTS + XVIII. THE THEFT AT THE ENGLISH PROVIDENT BANK + XIX. CONFLICTING EVIDENCE + XX. AN ALIBI + XXI. THE DUBLIN MYSTERY + XXII. FORGERY + XXIII. A MEMORABLE DAY + XXIV. AN UNPARALLELED OUTRAGE + XXV. THE PRISONER + XXVI. A SENSATION + XXVII. TWO BLACKGUARDS +XXVIII. THE REGENT'S PARK MURDER + XXIX. THE MOTIVE + XXX. FRIENDS + XXXI. THE DE GENNEVILLE PEERAGE + XXXII. A HIGH-BRED GENTLEMAN +XXXIII. THE LIVING AND THE DEAD + XXXIV. THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH IN PERCY STREET + XXXV. SUICIDE OR MURDER? + XXXVI. THE END + + + + +THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FENCHURCH STREET MYSTERY + + +The man in the corner pushed aside his glass, and leant across the +table. + +"Mysteries!" he commented. "There is no such thing as a mystery in +connection with any crime, provided intelligence is brought to bear upon +its investigation." + +Very much astonished Polly Burton looked over the top of her newspaper, +and fixed a pair of very severe, coldly inquiring brown eyes upon him. + +She had disapproved of the man from the instant when he shuffled across +the shop and sat down opposite to her, at the same marble-topped table +which already held her large coffee (3d.), her roll and butter (2d.), +and plate of tongue (6d.). + +Now this particular corner, this very same table, that special view of +the magnificent marble hall--known as the Norfolk Street branch of the +Aërated Bread Company's depôts--were Polly's own corner, table, and +view. Here she had partaken of eleven pennyworth of luncheon and one +pennyworth of daily information ever since that glorious +never-to-be-forgotten day when she was enrolled on the staff of the +_Evening Observer_ (we'll call it that, if you please), and became a +member of that illustrious and world-famed organization known as the +British Press. + +She was a personality, was Miss Burton of the _Evening Observer_. Her +cards were printed thus: + +[Illustration: Miss MARY J. BURTON. _Evening Observer_.] + +She had interviewed Miss Ellen Terry and the Bishop of Madagascar, Mr. +Seymour Hicks and the Chief Commissioner of Police. She had been present +at the last Marlborough House garden party--in the cloak-room, that is +to say, where she caught sight of Lady Thingummy's hat, Miss +What-you-may-call's sunshade, and of various other things modistical or +fashionable, all of which were duly described under the heading "Royalty +and Dress" in the early afternoon edition of the _Evening Observer_. + +(The article itself is signed M.J.B., and is to be found in the files of +that leading halfpennyworth.) + +For these reasons--and for various others, too--Polly felt irate with +the man in the corner, and told him so with her eyes, as plainly as any +pair of brown eyes can speak. + +She had been reading an article in the _Daily Telegraph_. The article +was palpitatingly interesting. Had Polly been commenting audibly upon +it? Certain it is that the man over there had spoken in direct answer to +her thoughts. + +She looked at him and frowned; the next moment she smiled. Miss Burton +(of the _Evening Observer)_ had a keen sense of humour, which two years' +association with the British Press had not succeeded in destroying, and +the appearance of the man was sufficient to tickle the most ultra-morose +fancy. Polly thought to herself that she had never seen any one so pale, +so thin, with such funny light-coloured hair, brushed very smoothly +across the top of a very obviously bald crown. He looked so timid and +nervous as he fidgeted incessantly with a piece of string; his long, +lean, and trembling fingers tying and untying it into knots of wonderful +and complicated proportions. + +Having carefully studied every detail of the quaint personality Polly +felt more amiable. + +"And yet," she remarked kindly but authoritatively, "this article, in an +otherwise well-informed journal, will tell you that, even within the +last year, no fewer than six crimes have completely baffled the police, +and the perpetrators of them are still at large." + +"Pardon me," he said gently, "I never for a moment ventured to suggest +that there were no mysteries to the _police_; I merely remarked that +there were none where intelligence was brought to bear upon the +investigation of crime." + +"Not even in the Fenchurch Street _mystery_. I suppose," she asked +sarcastically. + +"Least of all in the so-called Fenchurch Street _mystery_," he replied +quietly. + +Now the Fenchurch Street mystery, as that extraordinary crime had +popularly been called, had puzzled--as Polly well knew--the brains of +every thinking man and woman for the last twelve months. It had puzzled +her not inconsiderably; she had been interested, fascinated; she had +studied the case, formed her own theories, thought about it all often +and often, had even written one or two letters to the Press on the +subject--suggesting, arguing, hinting at possibilities and +probabilities, adducing proofs which other amateur detectives were +equally ready to refute. The attitude of that timid man in the corner, +therefore, was peculiarly exasperating, and she retorted with sarcasm +destined to completely annihilate her self-complacent interlocutor. + +"What a pity it is, in that case, that you do not offer your priceless +services to our misguided though well-meaning police." + +"Isn't it?" he replied with perfect good-humour. "Well, you know, for +one thing I doubt if they would accept them; and in the second place my +inclinations and my duty would--were I to become an active member of the +detective force--nearly always be in direct conflict. As often as not my +sympathies go to the criminal who is clever and astute enough to lead +our entire police force by the nose. + +"I don't know how much of the case you remember," he went on quietly. +"It certainly, at first, began even to puzzle me. On the 12th of last +December a woman, poorly dressed, but with an unmistakable air of having +seen better days, gave information at Scotland Yard of the disappearance +of her husband, William Kershaw, of no occupation, and apparently of no +fixed abode. She was accompanied by a friend--a fat, oily-looking +German--and between them they told a tale which set the police +immediately on the move. + +"It appears that on the 10th of December, at about three o'clock in the +afternoon, Karl Müller, the German, called on his friend, William +Kershaw, for the purpose of collecting a small debt--some ten pounds or +so--which the latter owed him. On arriving at the squalid lodging in +Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, he found William Kershaw in a wild +state of excitement, and his wife in tears. Müller attempted to state +the object of his visit, but Kershaw, with wild gestures, waved him +aside, and--in his own words--flabbergasted him by asking him +point-blank for another loan of two pounds, which sum, he declared, +would be the means of a speedy fortune for himself and the friend who +would help him in his need. + +"After a quarter of an hour spent in obscure hints, Kershaw, finding the +cautious German obdurate, decided to let him into the secret plan, +which, he averred, would place thousands into their hands." + +Instinctively Polly had put down her paper; the mild stranger, with his +nervous air and timid, watery eyes, had a peculiar way of telling his +tale, which somehow fascinated her. + +"I don't know," he resumed, "if you remember the story which the German +told to the police, and which was corroborated in every detail by the +wife or widow. Briefly it was this: Some thirty years previously, +Kershaw, then twenty years of age, and a medical student at one of the +London hospitals, had a chum named Barker, with whom he roomed, +together with another. + +"The latter, so it appears, brought home one evening a very considerable +sum of money, which he had won on the turf, and the following morning he +was found murdered in his bed. Kershaw, fortunately for himself, was +able to prove a conclusive _alibi_; he had spent the night on duty at +the hospital; as for Barker, he had disappeared, that is to say, as far +as the police were concerned, but not as far as the watchful eyes of his +friend Kershaw were able to spy--at least, so the latter said. Barker +very cleverly contrived to get away out of the country, and, after +sundry vicissitudes, finally settled down at Vladivostok, in Eastern +Siberia, where, under the assumed name of Smethurst, he built up an +enormous fortune by trading in furs. + +"Now, mind you, every one knows Smethurst, the Siberian millionaire. +Kershaw's story that he had once been called Barker, and had committed a +murder thirty years ago, was never proved, was it? I am merely telling +you what Kershaw said to his friend the German and to his wife on that +memorable afternoon of December the 10th. + +"According to him Smethurst had made one gigantic mistake in his clever +career--he had on four occasions written to his late friend, William +Kershaw. Two of these letters had no bearing on the case, since they +were written more than twenty-five years ago, and Kershaw, moreover, had +lost them--so he said--long ago. According to him, however, the first of +these letters was written when Smethurst, alias Barker, had spent all +the money he had obtained from the crime, and found himself destitute in +New York. + +"Kershaw, then in fairly prosperous circumstances, sent him a £10 note +for the sake of old times. The second, when the tables had turned, and +Kershaw had begun to go downhill, Smethurst, as he then already called +himself, sent his whilom friend £50. After that, as Müller gathered, +Kershaw had made sundry demands on Smethurst's ever-increasing purse, +and had accompanied these demands by various threats, which, considering +the distant country in which the millionaire lived, were worse than +futile. + +"But now the climax had come, and Kershaw, after a final moment of +hesitation, handed over to his German friend the two last letters +purporting to have been written by Smethurst, and which, if you +remember, played such an important part in the mysterious story of this +extraordinary crime. I have a copy of both these letters here," added +the man in the corner, as he took out a piece of paper from a very +worn-out pocket-book, and, unfolding it very deliberately, he began to +read:-- + +"'Sir,--Your preposterous demands for money are wholly unwarrantable. I +have already helped you quite as much as you deserve. However, for the +sake of old times, and because you once helped me when I was in a +terrible difficulty, I am willing to once more let you impose upon my +good nature. A friend of mine here, a Russian merchant, to whom I have +sold my business, starts in a few days for an extended tour to many +European and Asiatic ports in his yacht, and has invited me to accompany +him as far as England. Being tired of foreign parts, and desirous of +seeing the old country once again after thirty years' absence, I have +decided to accept his invitation. I don't know when we may actually be +in Europe, but I promise you that as soon as we touch a suitable port I +will write to you again, making an appointment for you to see me in +London. But remember that if your demands are too preposterous I will +not for a moment listen to them, and that I am the last man in the world +to submit to persistent and unwarrantable blackmail. + + 'I am, sir, + 'Yours truly, + 'Francis Smethurst.' + +"The second letter was dated from Southampton," continued the old man in +the corner calmly, "and, curiously enough, was the only letter which +Kershaw professed to have received from Smethurst of which he had kept +the envelope, and which was dated. It was quite brief," he added, +referring once more to his piece of paper. + +"'Dear Sir,--Referring to my letter of a few weeks ago, I wish to inform +you that the _Tsarskoe Selo_ will touch at Tilbury on Tuesday next, the +10th. I shall land there, and immediately go up to London by the first +train I can get. If you like, you may meet me at Fenchurch Street +Station, in the first-class waiting-room, in the late afternoon. Since I +surmise that after thirty years' absence my face may not be familiar to +you, I may as well tell you that you will recognize me by a heavy +Astrakhan fur coat, which I shall wear, together with a cap of the same. +You may then introduce yourself to me, and I will personally listen to +what you may have to say. + + 'Yours faithfully, + 'Francis Smethurst.' + +"It was this last letter which had caused William Kershaw's excitement +and his wife's tears. In the German's own words, he was walking up and +down the room like a wild beast, gesticulating wildly, and muttering +sundry exclamations. Mrs. Kershaw, however, was full of apprehension. +She mistrusted the man from foreign parts--who, according to her +husband's story, had already one crime upon his conscience--who might, +she feared, risk another, in order to be rid of a dangerous enemy. +Woman-like, she thought the scheme a dishonourable one, for the law, she +knew, is severe on the blackmailer. + +"The assignation might be a cunning trap, in any case it was a curious +one; why, she argued, did not Smethurst elect to see Kershaw at his +hotel the following day? A thousand whys and wherefores made her +anxious, but the fat German had been won over by Kershaw's visions of +untold gold, held tantalisingly before his eyes. He had lent the +necessary £2, with which his friend intended to tidy himself up a bit +before he went to meet his friend the millionaire. Half an hour +afterwards Kershaw had left his lodgings, and that was the last the +unfortunate woman saw of her husband, or Müller, the German, of his +friend. + +"Anxiously his wife waited that night, but he did not return; the next +day she seems to have spent in making purposeless and futile inquiries +about the neighbourhood of Fenchurch Street; and on the 12th she went to +Scotland Yard, gave what particulars she knew, and placed in the hands +of the police the two letters written by Smethurst." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A MILLIONAIRE IN THE DOCK + + +The man in the corner had finished his glass of milk. His watery blue +eyes looked across at Miss Polly Burton's eager little face, from which +all traces of severity had now been chased away by an obvious and +intense excitement. + +"It was only on the 31st," he resumed after a while, "that a body, +decomposed past all recognition, was found by two lightermen in the +bottom of a disused barge. She had been moored at one time at the foot +of one of those dark flights of steps which lead down between tall +warehouses to the river in the East End of London. I have a photograph +of the place here," he added, selecting one out of his pocket, and +placing it before Polly. + +"The actual barge, you see, had already been removed when I took this +snapshot, but you will realize what a perfect place this alley is for +the purpose of one man cutting another's throat in comfort, and without +fear of detection. The body, as I said, was decomposed beyond all +recognition; it had probably been there eleven days, but sundry +articles, such as a silver ring and a tie pin, were recognizable, and +were identified by Mrs. Kershaw as belonging to her husband. + +"She, of course, was loud in denouncing Smethurst, and the police had no +doubt a very strong case against him, for two days after the discovery +of the body in the barge, the Siberian millionaire, as he was already +popularly called by enterprising interviewers, was arrested in his +luxurious suite of rooms at the Hotel Cecil. + +"To confess the truth, at this point I was not a little puzzled. Mrs. +Kershaw's story and Smethurst's letters had both found their way into +the papers, and following my usual method--mind you, I am only an +amateur, I try to reason out a case for the love of the thing--I sought +about for a motive for the crime, which the police declared Smethurst +had committed. To effectually get rid of a dangerous blackmailer was the +generally accepted theory. Well! did it ever strike you how paltry that +motive really was?" + +Miss Polly had to confess, however, that it had never struck her in that +light. + +"Surely a man who had succeeded in building up an immense fortune by his +own individual efforts, was not the sort of fool to believe that he had +anything to fear from a man like Kershaw. He must have _known_ that +Kershaw held no damning proofs against him--not enough to hang him, +anyway. Have you ever seen Smethurst?" he added, as he once more fumbled +in his pocket-book. + +Polly replied that she had seen Smethurst's picture in the illustrated +papers at the time. Then he added, placing a small photograph before +her: + +"What strikes you most about the face?" + +"Well, I think its strange, astonished expression, due to the total +absence of eyebrows, and the funny foreign cut of the hair." + +"So close that it almost looks as if it had been shaved. Exactly. That +is what struck me most when I elbowed my way into the court that morning +and first caught sight of the millionaire in the dock. He was a tall, +soldierly-looking man, upright in stature, his face very bronzed and +tanned. He wore neither moustache nor beard, his hair was cropped quite +close to his head, like a Frenchman's; but, of course, what was so very +remarkable about him was that total absence of eyebrows and even +eyelashes, which gave the face such a peculiar appearance--as you say, a +perpetually astonished look. + +"He seemed, however, wonderfully calm; he had been accommodated with a +chair in the dock--being a millionaire--and chatted pleasantly with his +lawyer, Sir Arthur Inglewood, in the intervals between the calling of +the several witnesses for the prosecution; whilst during the examination +of these witnesses he sat quite placidly, with his head shaded by his +hand. + +"Müller and Mrs. Kershaw repeated the story which they had already told +to the police. I think you said that you were not able, owing to +pressure of work, to go to the court that day, and hear the case, so +perhaps you have no recollection of Mrs. Kershaw. No? Ah, well! Here is +a snapshot I managed to get of her once. That is her. Exactly as she +stood in the box--over-dressed--in elaborate crape, with a bonnet which +once had contained pink roses, and to which a remnant of pink petals +still clung obtrusively amidst the deep black. + +"She would not look at the prisoner, and turned her head resolutely +towards the magistrate. I fancy she had been fond of that vagabond +husband of hers: an enormous wedding-ring encircled her finger, and +that, too, was swathed in black. She firmly believed that Kershaw's +murderer sat there in the dock, and she literally flaunted her grief +before him. + +"I was indescribably sorry for her. As for Müller, he was just fat, +oily, pompous, conscious of his own importance as a witness; his fat +fingers, covered with brass rings, gripped the two incriminating +letters, which he had identified. They were his passports, as it were, +to a delightful land of importance and notoriety. Sir Arthur Inglewood, +I think, disappointed him by stating that he had no questions to ask of +him. Müller had been brimful of answers, ready with the most perfect +indictment, the most elaborate accusations against the bloated +millionaire who had decoyed his dear friend Kershaw, and murdered him in +Heaven knows what an out-of-the-way corner of the East End. + +"After this, however, the excitement grew apace. Müller had been +dismissed, and had retired from the court altogether, leading away Mrs. +Kershaw, who had completely broken down. + +"Constable D 21 was giving evidence as to the arrest in the meanwhile. +The prisoner, he said, had seemed completely taken by surprise, not +understanding the cause or history of the accusation against him; +however, when put in full possession of the facts, and realizing, no +doubt, the absolute futility of any resistance, he had quietly enough +followed the constable into the cab. No one at the fashionable and +crowded Hotel Cecil had even suspected that anything unusual had +occurred. + +"Then a gigantic sigh of expectancy came from every one of the +spectators. The 'fun' was about to begin. James Buckland, a porter at +Fenchurch Street railway station, had just sworn to tell all the truth, +etc. After all, it did not amount to much. He said that at six o'clock +in the afternoon of December the 10th, in the midst of one of the +densest fogs he ever remembers, the 5.5 from Tilbury steamed into the +station, being just about an hour late. He was on the arrival platform, +and was hailed by a passenger in a first-class carriage. He could see +very little of him beyond an enormous black fur coat and a travelling +cap of fur also. + +"The passenger had a quantity of luggage, all marked F.S., and he +directed James Buckland to place it all upon a four-wheel cab, with the +exception of a small hand-bag, which he carried himself. Having seen +that all his luggage was safely bestowed, the stranger in the fur coat +paid the porter, and, telling the cabman to wait until he returned, he +walked away in the direction of the waiting-rooms, still carrying his +small hand-bag. + +"'I stayed for a bit,' added James Buckland, 'talking to the driver +about the fog and that; then I went about my business, seein' that the +local from Southend 'ad been signalled.' + +"The prosecution insisted most strongly upon the hour when the stranger +in the fur coat, having seen to his luggage, walked away towards the +waiting-rooms. The porter was emphatic. 'It was not a minute later than +6.15,' he averred. + +"Sir Arthur Inglewood still had no questions to ask, and the driver of +the cab was called. + +"He corroborated the evidence of James Buckland as to the hour when the +gentleman in the fur coat had engaged him, and having filled his cab in +and out with luggage, had told him to wait. And cabby did wait. He +waited in the dense fog--until he was tired, until he seriously thought +of depositing all the luggage in the lost property office, and of +looking out for another fare--waited until at last, at a quarter before +nine, whom should he see walking hurriedly towards his cab but the +gentleman in the fur coat and cap, who got in quickly and told the +driver to take him at once to the Hotel Cecil. This, cabby declared, had +occurred at a quarter before nine. Still Sir Arthur Inglewood made no +comment, and Mr. Francis Smethurst, in the crowded, stuffy court, had +calmly dropped to sleep. + +"The next witness, Constable Thomas Taylor, had noticed a shabbily +dressed individual, with shaggy hair and beard, loafing about the +station and waiting-rooms in the afternoon of December the 10th. He +seemed to be watching the arrival platform of the Tilbury and Southend +trains. + +"Two separate and independent witnesses, cleverly unearthed by the +police, had seen this same shabbily dressed individual stroll into the +first-class waiting-room at about 6.15 on Wednesday, December the 10th, +and go straight up to a gentleman in a heavy fur coat and cap, who had +also just come into the room. The two talked together for a while; no +one heard what they said, but presently they walked off together. No one +seemed to know in which direction. + +"Francis Smethurst was rousing himself from his apathy; he whispered to +his lawyer, who nodded with a bland smile of encouragement. The employés +of the Hotel Cecil gave evidence as to the arrival of Mr. Smethurst at +about 9.30 p.m. on Wednesday, December the 10th, in a cab, with a +quantity of luggage; and this closed the case for the prosecution. + +"Everybody in that court already _saw_ Smethurst mounting the gallows. +It was uninterested curiosity which caused the elegant audience to wait +and hear what Sir Arthur Inglewood had to say. He, of course, is the +most fashionable man in the law at the present moment. His lolling +attitudes, his drawling speech, are quite the rage, and imitated by the +gilded youth of society. + +"Even at this moment, when the Siberian millionaire's neck literally and +metaphorically hung in the balance, an expectant titter went round the +fair spectators as Sir Arthur stretched out his long loose limbs and +lounged across the table. He waited to make his effect--Sir Arthur is a +born actor--and there is no doubt that he made it, when in his slowest, +most drawly tones he said quietly; + +"'With regard to this alleged murder of one William Kershaw, on +Wednesday, December the 10th, between 6.15 and 8.45 p.m., your Honour, I +now propose to call two witnesses, who saw this same William Kershaw +alive on Tuesday afternoon, December the 16th, that is to say, six days +after the supposed murder.' + +"It was as if a bombshell had exploded in the court. Even his Honour was +aghast, and I am sure the lady next to me only recovered from the shock +of the surprise in order to wonder whether she need put off her dinner +party after all. + +"As for me," added the man in the corner, with that strange mixture of +nervousness and self-complacency which had set Miss Polly Burton +wondering, "well, you see, _I_ had made up my mind long ago where the +hitch lay in this particular case, and I was not so surprised as some of +the others. + +"Perhaps you remember the wonderful development of the case, which so +completely mystified the police--and in fact everybody except myself. +Torriani and a waiter at his hotel in the Commercial Road both deposed +that at about 3.30 p.m. on December the 10th a shabbily dressed +individual lolled into the coffee-room and ordered some tea. He was +pleasant enough and talkative, told the waiter that his name was William +Kershaw, that very soon all London would be talking about him, as he was +about, through an unexpected stroke of good fortune, to become a very +rich man, and so on, and so on, nonsense without end. + +"When he had finished his tea he lolled out again, but no sooner had he +disappeared down a turning of the road than the waiter discovered an old +umbrella, left behind accidentally by the shabby, talkative individual. +As is the custom in his highly respectable restaurant, Signor Torriani +put the umbrella carefully away in his office, on the chance of his +customer calling to claim it when he had discovered his loss. And sure +enough nearly a week later, on Tuesday, the 16th, at about 1 p.m., the +same shabbily dressed individual called and asked for his umbrella. He +had some lunch, and chatted once again to the waiter. Signor Torriani +and the waiter gave a description of William Kershaw, which coincided +exactly with that given by Mrs. Kershaw of her husband. + +"Oddly enough he seemed to be a very absent-minded sort of person, for +on this second occasion, no sooner had he left than the waiter found a +pocket-book in the coffee-room, underneath the table. It contained +sundry letters and bills, all addressed to William Kershaw. This +pocket-book was produced, and Karl Müller, who had returned to the +court, easily identified it as having belonged to his dear and lamented +friend 'Villiam.' + +"This was the first blow to the case against the accused. It was a +pretty stiff one, you will admit. Already it had begun to collapse like +a house of cards. Still, there was the assignation, and the undisputed +meeting between Smethurst and Kershaw, and those two and a half hours of +a foggy evening to satisfactorily account for." + +The man in the corner made a long pause, keeping the girl on +tenterhooks. He had fidgeted with his bit of string till there was not +an inch of it free from the most complicated and elaborate knots. + +"I assure you," he resumed at last, "that at that very moment the whole +mystery was, to me, as clear as daylight. I only marvelled how his +Honour could waste his time and mine by putting what he thought were +searching questions to the accused relating to his past. Francis +Smethurst, who had quite shaken off his somnolence, spoke with a curious +nasal twang, and with an almost imperceptible soupçon of foreign accent, +He calmly denied Kershaw's version of his past; declared that he had +never been called Barker, and had certainly never been mixed up in any +murder case thirty years ago. + +"'But you knew this man Kershaw,' persisted his Honour, 'since you wrote +to him?' + +"'Pardon me, your Honour,' said the accused quietly, 'I have never, to +my knowledge, seen this man Kershaw, and I can swear that I never wrote +to him.' + +"'Never wrote to him?' retorted his Honour warningly. 'That is a strange +assertion to make when I have two of your letters to him in my hands at +the present moment.' + +"'I never wrote those letters, your Honour,' persisted the accused +quietly, 'they are not in my handwriting.' + +"'Which we can easily prove,' came in Sir Arthur Inglewood's drawly +tones, as he handed up a packet to his Honour; 'here are a number of +letters written by my client since he has landed in this country, and +some of which were written under my very eyes.' + +"As Sir Arthur Inglewood had said, this could be easily proved, and the +prisoner, at his Honour's request, scribbled a few lines, together with +his signature, several times upon a sheet of note-paper. It was easy to +read upon the magistrate's astounded countenance, that there was not the +slightest similarity in the two handwritings. + +"A fresh mystery had cropped up. Who, then, had made the assignation +with William Kershaw at Fenchurch Street railway station? The prisoner +gave a fairly satisfactory account of the employment of his time since +his landing in England. + +"'I came over on the _Tsarskoe Selo_,' he said, 'a yacht belonging to a +friend of mine. When we arrived at the mouth of the Thames there was +such a dense fog that it was twenty-four hours before it was thought +safe for me to land. My friend, who is a Russian, would not land at all; +he was regularly frightened at this land of fogs. He was going on to +Madeira immediately. + +"'I actually landed on Tuesday, the 10th, and took a train at once for +town. I did see to my luggage and a cab, as the porter and driver told +your Honour; then I tried to find my way to a refreshment-room, where I +could get a glass of wine. I drifted into the waiting-room, and there I +was accosted by a shabbily dressed individual, who began telling me a +piteous tale. Who he was I do not know. He _said_ he was an old soldier +who had served his country faithfully, and then been left to starve. He +begged of me to accompany him to his lodgings, where I could see his +wife and starving children, and verify the truth and piteousness of his +tale. + +"'Well, your Honour,' added the prisoner with noble frankness, 'it was +my first day in the old country. I had come back after thirty years with +my pockets full of gold, and this was the first sad tale I had heard; +but I am a business man, and did not want to be exactly "done" in the +eye. I followed my man through the fog, out into the streets. He walked +silently by my side for a time. I had not a notion where I was. + +"'Suddenly I turned to him with some question, and realized in a moment +that my gentleman had given me the slip. Finding, probably, that I would +not part with my money till I _had_ seen the starving wife and children, +he left me to my fate, and went in search of more willing bait. + +"'The place where I found myself was dismal and deserted. I could see no +trace of cab or omnibus. I retraced my steps and tried to find my way +back to the station, only to find myself in worse and more deserted +neighbourhoods. I became hopelessly lost and fogged. I don't wonder that +two and a half hours elapsed while I thus wandered on in the dark and +deserted streets; my sole astonishment is that I ever found the station +at all that night, or rather close to it a policeman, who showed me the +way.' + +"'But how do you account for Kershaw knowing all your movements?' still +persisted his Honour, 'and his knowing the exact date of your arrival +in England? How do you account for these two letters, in fact?' + +"'I cannot account for it or them, your Honour,' replied the prisoner +quietly. 'I have proved to you, have I not, that I never wrote those +letters, and that the man--er--Kershaw is his name?--was not murdered by +me?' + +"'Can you tell me of anyone here or abroad who might have heard of your +movements, and of the date of your arrival?' + +"'My late employés at Vladivostok, of course, knew of my departure, but +none of them could have written these letters, since none of them know a +word of English.' + +"'Then you can throw no light upon these mysterious letters? You cannot +help the police in any way towards the clearing up of this strange +affair?' + +"'The affair is as mysterious to me as to your Honour, and to the police +of this country.' + +"Francis Smethurst was discharged, of course; there was no semblance of +evidence against him sufficient to commit him for trial. The two +overwhelming points of his defence which had completely routed the +prosecution were, firstly, the proof that he had never written the +letters making the assignation, and secondly, the fact that the man +supposed to have been murdered on the 10th was seen to be alive and +well on the 16th. But then, who in the world was the mysterious +individual who had apprised Kershaw of the movements of Smethurst, the +millionaire?" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HIS DEDUCTION + + +The man in the corner cocked his funny thin head on one side and looked +at Polly; then he took up his beloved bit of string and deliberately +untied every knot he had made in it. When it was quite smooth he laid it +out upon the table. + +"I will take you, if you like, point by point along the line of +reasoning which I followed myself, and which will inevitably lead you, +as it led me, to the only possible solution of the mystery. + +"First take this point," he said with nervous restlessness, once more +taking up his bit of string, and forming with each point raised a series +of knots which would have shamed a navigating instructor, "obviously it +was _impossible_ for Kershaw not to have been acquainted with Smethurst, +since he was fully apprised of the latter's arrival in England by two +letters. Now it was clear to me from the first that _no one_ could have +written those two letters except Smethurst. You will argue that those +letters were proved not to have been written by the man in the dock. +Exactly. Remember, Kershaw was a careless man--he had lost both +envelopes. To him they were insignificant. Now it was never _disproved_ +that those letters were written by Smethurst." + +"But--" suggested Polly. + +"Wait a minute," he interrupted, while knot number two appeared upon the +scene, "it was proved that six days after the murder, William Kershaw +was alive, and visited the Torriani Hotel, where already he was known, +and where he conveniently left a pocket-book behind, so that there +should be no mistake as to his identity; but it was never questioned +where Mr. Francis Smethurst, the millionaire, happened to spend that +very same afternoon." + +"Surely, you don't mean?" gasped the girl. + +"One moment, please," he added triumphantly. "How did it come about that +the landlord of the Torriani Hotel was brought into court at all? How +did Sir Arthur Inglewood, or rather his client, know that William +Kershaw had on those two memorable occasions visited the hotel, and that +its landlord could bring such convincing evidence forward that would for +ever exonerate the millionaire from the imputation of murder?" + +"Surely," I argued, "the usual means, the police--" + +"The police had kept the whole affair very dark until the arrest at the +Hotel Cecil. They did not put into the papers the usual: 'If anyone +happens to know of the whereabouts, etc. etc'. Had the landlord of that +hotel heard of the disappearance of Kershaw through the usual channels, +he would have put himself in communication with the police. Sir Arthur +Inglewood produced him. How did Sir Arthur Inglewood come on his track?" + +"Surely, you don't mean?" + +"Point number four," he resumed imperturbably, "Mrs. Kershaw was never +requested to produce a specimen of her husband's handwriting. Why? +Because the police, clever as you say they are, never started on the +right tack. They believed William Kershaw to have been murdered; they +looked for William Kershaw. + +"On December the 31st, what was presumed to be the body of William +Kershaw was found by two lightermen: I have shown you a photograph of +the place where it was found. Dark and deserted it is in all conscience, +is it not? Just the place where a bully and a coward would decoy an +unsuspecting stranger, murder him first, then rob him of his valuables, +his papers, his very identity, and leave him there to rot. The body was +found in a disused barge which had been moored some time against the +wall, at the foot of these steps. It was in the last stages of +decomposition, and, of course, could not be identified; but the police +would have it that it was the body of William Kershaw. + +"It never entered their heads that it was the body of _Francis +Smethurst, and that William Kershaw was his murderer_. + +"Ah! it was cleverly, artistically conceived! Kershaw is a genius. Think +of it all! His disguise! Kershaw had a shaggy beard, hair, and +moustache. He shaved up to his very eyebrows! No wonder that even his +wife did not recognize him across the court; and remember she never saw +much of his face while he stood in the dock. Kershaw was shabby, +slouchy, he stooped. Smethurst, the millionaire, might have served in +the Prussian army. + +"Then that lovely trait about going to revisit the Torriani Hotel. Just +a few days' grace, in order to purchase moustache and beard and wig, +exactly similar to what he had himself shaved off. Making up to look +like himself! Splendid! Then leaving the pocket-book behind! He! he! he! +Kershaw was not murdered! Of course not. He called at the Torriani Hotel +six days after the murder, whilst Mr. Smethurst, the millionaire, +hobnobbed in the park with duchesses! Hang such a man! Fie!" + +He fumbled for his hat. With nervous, trembling fingers he held it +deferentially in his hand whilst he rose from the table. Polly watched +him as he strode up to the desk, and paid twopence for his glass of milk +and his bun. Soon he disappeared through the shop, whilst she still +found herself hopelessly bewildered, with a number of snap-shot +photographs before her, still staring at a long piece of string, +smothered from end to end in a series of knots, as bewildering, as +irritating, as puzzling as the man who had lately sat in the corner. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ROBBERY IN PHILLIMORE TERRACE + + +Whether Miss Polly Burton really did expect to see the man in the corner +that Saturday afternoon, 'twere difficult to say; certain it is that +when she found her way to the table close by the window and realized +that he was not there, she felt conscious of an overwhelming sense of +disappointment. And yet during the whole of the week she had, with more +pride than wisdom, avoided this particular A.B.C. shop. + +"I thought you would not keep away very long," said a quiet voice close +to her ear. + +She nearly lost her balance--where in the world had he come from? She +certainly had not heard the slightest sound, and yet there he sat, in +the corner, like a veritable Jack-in-the-box, his mild blue eyes staring +apologetically at her, his nervous fingers toying with the inevitable +bit of string. + +The waitress brought him his glass of milk and a cheese-cake. He ate it +in silence, while his piece of string lay idly beside him on the table. +When he had finished he fumbled in his capacious pockets, and drew out +the inevitable pocket-book. + +Placing a small photograph before the girl, he said quietly: + +"That is the back of the houses in Phillimore Terrace, which overlook +Adam and Eve Mews." + +She looked at the photograph, then at him, with a kindly look of +indulgent expectancy. + +"You will notice that the row of back gardens have each an exit into the +mews. These mews are built in the shape of a capital F. The photograph +is taken looking straight down the short horizontal line, which ends, as +you see, in a _cul-de-sac_. The bottom of the vertical line turns into +Phillimore Terrace, and the end of the upper long horizontal line into +High Street, Kensington. Now, on that particular night, or rather early +morning, of January 15th, Constable D 21, having turned into the mews +from Phillimore Terrace, stood for a moment at the angle formed by the +long vertical artery of the mews and the short horizontal one which, as +I observed before, looks on to the back gardens of the Terrace houses, +and ends in a _cul-de-sac_. + +"How long D 21 stood at that particular corner he could not exactly say, +but he thinks it must have been three or four minutes before he noticed +a suspicious-looking individual shambling along under the shadow of the +garden walls. He was working his way cautiously in the direction of the +_cul-de-sac_, and D 21, also keeping well within the shadow, went +noiselessly after him. + +"He had almost overtaken him--was, in fact, not more than thirty yards +from him--when from out of one of the two end houses--No. 22, Phillimore +Terrace, in fact--a man, in nothing but his night-shirt, rushed out +excitedly, and, before D 21 had time to intervene, literally threw +himself upon the suspected individual, rolling over and over with him on +the hard cobble-stones, and frantically shrieking, 'Thief! Thief! +Police!' + +"It was some time before the constable succeeded in rescuing the tramp +from the excited grip of his assailant, and several minutes before he +could make himself heard. + +"'There! there! that'll do!' he managed to say at last, as he gave the +man in the shirt a vigorous shove, which silenced him for the moment. +'Leave the man alone now, you mustn't make that noise this time o' +night, wakin' up all the folks.' The unfortunate tramp, who in the +meanwhile had managed to get onto his feet again, made no attempt to +get away; probably he thought he would stand but a poor chance. But the +man in the shirt had partly recovered his power of speech, and was now +blurting out jerky, half--intelligible sentences: + +"'I have been robbed--robbed--I--that is--my master--Mr. Knopf. The desk +is open--the diamonds gone--all in my charge--and--now they are stolen! +That's the thief--I'll swear--I heard him--not three minutes ago--rushed +downstairs--the door into the garden was smashed--I ran across the +garden--he was sneaking about here still--Thief! Thief! Police! +Diamonds! Constable, don't let him go--I'll make you responsible if you +let him go--' + +"'Now then--that'll do!' admonished D 21 as soon as he could get a word +in, 'stop that row, will you?' + +"The man in the shirt was gradually recovering from his excitement. + +"'Can I give this man in charge?' he asked. + +"'What for?' + +"'Burglary and housebreaking. I heard him, I tell you. He must have Mr. +Knopf's diamonds about him at this moment.' + +"'Where is Mr. Knopf?' + +"'Out of town,' groaned the man in the shirt. 'He went to Brighton last +night, and left me in charge, and now this thief has been and--' + +"The tramp shrugged his shoulders and suddenly, without a word, he +quietly began taking off his coat and waistcoat. These he handed across +to the constable. Eagerly the man in the shirt fell on them, and turned +the ragged pockets inside out. From one of the windows a hilarious voice +made some facetious remark, as the tramp with equal solemnity began +divesting himself of his nether garments. + +"'Now then, stop that nonsense,' pronounced D 21 severely, 'what were +you doing here this time o' night, anyway?' + +"'The streets o' London is free to the public, ain't they?' queried the +tramp. + +"'This don't lead nowhere, my man.' + +"'Then I've lost my way, that's all,' growled the man surlily, 'and +p'raps you'll let me get along now.' + +"By this time a couple of constables had appeared upon the scene. D 21 +had no intention of losing sight of his friend the tramp, and the man in +the shirt had again made a dash for the latter's collar at the bare idea +that he should be allowed to 'get along.' + +"I think D 21 was alive to the humour of the situation. He suggested +that Robertson (the man in the night-shirt) should go in and get some +clothes on, whilst he himself would wait for the inspector and the +detective, whom D 15 would send round from the station immediately. + +"Poor Robertson's teeth were chattering with cold. He had a violent fit +of sneezing as D 21 hurried him into the house. The latter, with another +constable, remained to watch the burglared premises both back and +front, and D 15 took the wretched tramp to the station with a view to +sending an inspector and a detective round immediately. + +"When the two latter gentlemen arrived at No. 22, Phillimore Terrace, +they found poor old Robertson in bed, shivering, and still quite blue. +He had got himself a hot drink, but his eyes were streaming and his +voice was terribly husky. D 21 had stationed himself in the dining-room, +where Robertson had pointed the desk out to him, with its broken lock +and scattered contents. + +"Robertson, between his sneezes, gave what account he could of the +events which happened immediately before the robbery. + +"His master, Mr. Ferdinand Knopf, he said, was a diamond merchant, and a +bachelor. He himself had been in Mr. Knopf's employ over fifteen years, +and was his only indoor servant. A charwoman came every day to do the +housework. + +"Last night Mr. Knopf dined at the house of Mr. Shipman, at No. 26, +lower down. Mr. Shipman is the great jeweller who has his place of +business in South Audley Street. By the last post there came a letter +with the Brighton postmark, and marked 'urgent,' for Mr. Knopf, and he +(Robertson) was just wondering if he should run over to No. 26 with it, +when his master returned. He gave one glance at the contents of the +letter, asked for his A.B.C. Railway Guide, and ordered him (Robertson) +to pack his bag at once and fetch him a cab. + +"'I guessed what it was,' continued Robertson after another violent fit +of sneezing. 'Mr. Knopf has a brother, Mr. Emile Knopf, to whom he is +very much attached, and who is a great invalid. He generally goes about +from one seaside place to another. He is now at Brighton, and has +recently been very ill. + +"'If you will take the trouble to go downstairs I think you will still +find the letter lying on the hall table. + +"'I read it after Mr. Knopf left; it was not from his brother, but from +a gentleman who signed himself J. Collins, M.D. I don't remember the +exact words, but, of course, you'll be able to read the letter--Mr. J. +Collins said he had been called in very suddenly to see Mr. Emile Knopf, +who, he added, had not many hours to live, and had begged of the doctor +to communicate at once with his brother in London. + +"'Before leaving, Mr. Knopf warned me that there were some valuables in +his desk--diamonds mostly, and told me to be particularly careful about +locking up the house. He often has left me like this in charge of his +premises, and usually there have been diamonds in his desk, for Mr. +Knopf has no regular City office as he is a commercial traveller.' + +"This, briefly, was the gist of the matter which Robertson related to +the inspector with many repetitions and persistent volubility. + +"The detective and inspector, before returning to the station with their +report, thought they would call at No. 26, on Mr. Shipman, the great +jeweller. + +"You remember, of course," added the man in the corner, dreamily +contemplating his bit of string, "the exciting developments of this +extraordinary case. Mr. Arthur Shipman is the head of the firm of +Shipman and Co., the wealthy jewellers. He is a widower, and lives very +quietly by himself in his own old-fashioned way in the small Kensington +house, leaving it to his two married sons to keep up the style and +swagger befitting the representatives of so wealthy a firm. + +"'I have only known Mr. Knopf a very little while,' he explained to the +detectives. 'He sold me two or three stones once or twice, I think; but +we are both single men, and we have often dined together. Last night he +dined with me. He had that afternoon received a very fine consignment of +Brazilian diamonds, as he told me, and knowing how beset I am with +callers at my business place, he had brought the stones with him, +hoping, perhaps, to do a bit of trade over the nuts and wine. + +"'I bought £25,000 worth of him,' added the jeweller, as if he were +speaking of so many farthings, 'and gave him a cheque across the dinner +table for that amount. I think we were both pleased with our bargain, +and we had a final bottle of '48 port over it together. Mr. Knopf left +me at about 9.30, for he knows I go very early to bed, and I took my new +stock upstairs with me, and locked it up in the safe. I certainly heard +nothing of the noise in the mews last night. I sleep on the second +floor, in the front of the house, and this is the first I have heard of +poor Mr. Knopf's loss--' + +"At this point of his narrative Mr. Shipman very suddenly paused, and +his face became very pale. With a hasty word of excuse he +unceremoniously left the room, and the detective heard him running +quickly upstairs. + +"Less than two minutes later Mr. Shipman returned. There was no need for +him to speak; both the detective and the inspector guessed the truth in +a moment by the look upon his face. + +"'The diamonds!' he gasped. 'I have been robbed.'" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A NIGHT'S ADVENTURE + + +"Now I must tell you," continued the man in the corner, "that after I +had read the account of the double robbery, which appeared in the early +afternoon papers, I set to work and had a good think--yes!" he added +with a smile, noting Polly's look at the bit of string, on which he was +still at work, "yes! aided by this small adjunct to continued thought--I +made notes as to how I should proceed to discover the clever thief, who +had carried off a small fortune in a single night. Of course, my methods +are not those of a London detective; he has his own way of going to +work. The one who was conducting this case questioned the unfortunate +jeweller very closely about his servants and his household generally. + +"'I have three servants,' explained Mr. Shipman, two of whom have been +with me for many years; one, the housemaid, is a fairly new comer--she +has been here about six months. She came recommended by a friend, and +bore an excellent character. She and the parlourmaid room together. The +cook, who knew me when I was a schoolboy, sleeps alone; all three +servants sleep on the floor above. I locked the jewels up in the safe +which stands in the dressing-room. My keys and watch I placed, as usual, +beside my bed. As a rule, I am a fairly light sleeper. + +"'I cannot understand how it could have happened--but--you had better +come up and have a look at the safe. The key must have been abstracted +from my bedside, the safe opened, and the keys replaced--all while I was +fast asleep. Though I had no occasion to look into the safe until just +now, I should have discovered my loss before going to business, for I +intended to take the diamonds away with me--' + +"The detective and the inspector went up to have a look at the safe. The +lock had in no way been tampered with--it had been opened with its own +key. The detective spoke of chloroform, but Mr. Shipman declared that +when he woke in the morning at about half-past seven there was no smell +of chloroform in the room. However, the proceedings of the daring thief +certainly pointed to the use of an anaesthetic. An examination of the +premises brought to light the fact that the burglar had, as in Mr. +Knopf's house, used the glass-panelled door from the garden as a means +of entrance, but in this instance he had carefully cut out the pane of +glass with a diamond, slipped the bolts, turned the key, and walked in. + +"'Which among your servants knew that you had the diamonds in your house +last night, Mr. Shipman?' asked the detective. + +"'Not one, I should say,' replied the jeweller, 'though, perhaps, the +parlourmaid, whilst waiting at table, may have heard me and Mr. Knopf +discussing our bargain.' + +"'Would you object to my searching all your servants' boxes?' + +"'Certainly not. They would not object, either, I am sure. They are +perfectly honest.' + +"The searching of servants' belongings is invariably a useless +proceeding," added the man in the corner, with a shrug of the shoulders. +"No one, not even a latter-day domestic, would be fool enough to keep +stolen property in the house. However, the usual farce was gone through, +with more or less protest on the part of Mr. Shipman's servants, and +with the usual result. + +"The jeweller could give no further information; the detective and +inspector, to do them justice, did their work of investigation minutely +and, what is more, intelligently. It seemed evident, from their +deductions, that the burglar had commenced proceedings on No. 26, +Phillimore Terrace, and had then gone on, probably climbing over the +garden walls between the houses to No. 22, where he was almost caught in +the act by Robertson. The facts were simple enough, but the mystery +remained as to the individual who had managed to glean the information +of the presence of the diamonds in both the houses, and the means which +he had adopted to get that information. It was obvious that the thief or +thieves knew more about Mr. Knopf's affairs than Mr. Shipman's, since +they had known how to use Mr. Emile Knopf's name in order to get his +brother out of the way. + +"It was now nearly ten o'clock, and the detectives, having taken leave +of Mr. Shipman, went back to No. 22, in order to ascertain whether Mr. +Knopf had come back; the door was opened by the old charwoman, who said +that her master had returned, and was having some breakfast in the +dining-room. + +"Mr. Ferdinand Knopf was a middle-aged man, with sallow complexion, +black hair and beard, of obviously Hebrew extraction. He spoke with a +marked foreign accent, but very courteously, to the two officials, who, +he begged, would excuse him if he went on with his breakfast. + +"'I was fully prepared to hear the bad news,' he explained, 'which my +man Robertson told me when I arrived. The letter I got last night was a +bogus one; there is no such person as J. Collins, M.D. My brother had +never felt better in his life. You will, I am sure, very soon trace the +cunning writer of that epistle--ah! but I was in a rage, I can tell +you, when I got to the Metropole at Brighton, and found that Emile, my +brother, had never heard of any Doctor Collins. + +"'The last train to town had gone, although I raced back to the station +as hard as I could. Poor old Robertson, he has a terrible cold. Ah yes! +my loss! it is for me a very serious one; if I had not made that lucky +bargain with Mr. Shipman last night I should, perhaps, at this moment be +a ruined man. + +"'The stones I had yesterday were, firstly, some magnificent Brazilians; +these I sold to Mr. Shipman mostly. Then I had some very good Cape +diamonds--all gone; and some quite special Parisians, of wonderful work +and finish, entrusted to me for sale by a great French house. I tell +you, sir, my loss will be nearly £10,000 altogether. I sell on +commission, and, of course, have to make good the loss.' + +"He was evidently trying to bear up manfully, and as a business man +should, under his sad fate. He refused in any way to attach the +slightest blame to his old and faithful servant Robertson, who had +caught, perhaps, his death of cold in his zeal for his absent master. As +for any hint of suspicion falling even remotely upon the man, the very +idea appeared to Mr. Knopf absolutely preposterous. + +"With regard to the old charwoman, Mr. Knopf certainly knew nothing +about her, beyond the fact that she had been recommended to him by one +of the tradespeople in the neighbourhood, and seemed perfectly honest, +respectable, and sober. + +"About the tramp Mr. Knopf knew still less, nor could he imagine how he, +or in fact anybody else, could possibly know that he happened to have +diamonds in his house that night. + +"This certainly seemed the great hitch in the case. + +"Mr. Ferdinand Knopf, at the instance of the police, later on went to +the station and had a look at the suspected tramp. He declared that he +had never set eyes on him before. + +"Mr. Shipman, on his way home from business in the afternoon, had done +likewise, and made a similar statement. + +"Brought before the magistrate, the tramp gave but a poor account of +himself. He gave a name and address, which latter, of course, proved to +be false. After that he absolutely refused to speak. He seemed not to +care whether he was kept in custody or not. Very soon even the police +realized that, for the present, at any rate, nothing could be got out of +the suspected tramp. + +"Mr. Francis Howard, the detective, who had charge of the case, though +he would not admit it even to himself, was at his wits' ends. You must +remember that the burglary, through its very simplicity, was an +exceedingly mysterious affair. The constable, D 21, who had stood in +Adam and Eve Mews, presumably while Mr. Knopf's house was being robbed, +had seen no one turn out from the _cul-de-sac_ into the main passage of +the mews. + +"The stables, which immediately faced the back entrance of the +Phillimore Terrace houses, were all private ones belonging to residents +in the neighbourhood. The coachmen, their families, and all the grooms +who slept in the stablings were rigidly watched and questioned. One and +all had seen nothing, heard nothing, until Robertson's shrieks had +roused them from their sleep. + +"As for the letter from Brighton, it was absolutely commonplace, and +written upon note-paper which the detective, with Machiavellian cunning, +traced to a stationer's shop in West Street. But the trade at that +particular shop was a very brisk one; scores of people had bought +note-paper there, similar to that on which the supposed doctor had +written his tricky letter. The handwriting was cramped, perhaps a +disguised one; in any case, except under very exceptional circumstances, +it could afford no clue to the identity of the thief. Needless to say, +the tramp, when told to write his name, wrote a totally different and +absolutely uneducated hand. + +"Matters stood, however, in the same persistently mysterious state when +a small discovery was made, which suggested to Mr. Francis Howard an +idea, which, if properly carried out, would, he hoped, inevitably bring +the cunning burglar safely within the grasp of the police. + +"That was the discovery of a few of Mr. Knopf's diamonds," continued the +man in the corner after a slight pause, "evidently trampled into the +ground by the thief whilst making his hurried exit through the garden of +No. 22, Phillimore Terrace. + +"At the end of this garden there is a small studio which had been built +by a former owner of the house, and behind it a small piece of waste +ground about seven feet square which had once been a rockery, and is +still filled with large loose stones, in the shadow of which earwigs and +woodlice innumerable have made a happy hunting ground. + +"It was Robertson who, two days after the robbery, having need of a +large stone, for some household purpose or other, dislodged one from +that piece of waste ground, and found a few shining pebbles beneath it. +Mr. Knopf took them round to the police-station himself immediately, and +identified the stones as some of his Parisian ones. + +"Later on the detective went to view the place where the find had been +made, and there conceived the plan upon which he built big cherished +hopes. + +"Acting upon the advice of Mr. Francis Howard, the police decided to let +the anonymous tramp out of his safe retreat within the station, and to +allow him to wander whithersoever he chose. A good idea, perhaps--the +presumption being that, sooner or later, if the man was in any way mixed +up with the cunning thieves, he would either rejoin his comrades or even +lead the police to where the remnant of his hoard lay hidden; needless +to say, his footsteps were to be literally dogged. + +"The wretched tramp, on his discharge, wandered out of the yard, +wrapping his thin coat round his shoulders, for it was a bitterly cold +afternoon. He began operations by turning into the Town Hall Tavern for +a good feed and a copious drink. Mr. Francis Howard noted that he seemed +to eye every passer-by with suspicion, but he seemed to enjoy his +dinner, and sat some time over his bottle of wine. + +"It was close upon four o'clock when he left the tavern, and then began +for the indefatigable Mr. Howard one of the most wearisome and +uninteresting chases, through the mazes of the London streets, he ever +remembers to have made. Up Notting Hill, down the slums of Notting +Dale, along the High Street, beyond Hammersmith, and through Shepherd's +Bush did that anonymous tramp lead the unfortunate detective, never +hurrying himself, stopping every now and then at a public-house to get a +drink, whither Mr. Howard did not always care to follow him. + +"In spite of his fatigue, Mr. Francis Howard's hopes rose with every +half-hour of this weary tramp. The man was obviously striving to kill +time; he seemed to feel no weariness, but walked on and on, perhaps +suspecting that he was being followed. + +"At last, with a beating heart, though half perished with cold, and with +terribly sore feet, the detective began to realize that the tramp was +gradually working his way back towards Kensington. It was then close +upon eleven o'clock at night; once or twice the man had walked up and +down the High Street, from St. Paul's School to Derry and Toms' shops +and back again, he had looked down one or two of the side streets +and--at last--he turned into Phillimore Terrace. He seemed in no hurry, +he oven stopped once in the middle of the road, trying to light a pipe, +which, as there was a high east wind, took him some considerable time. +Then he leisurely sauntered down the street, and turned into Adam and +Eve Mews, with Mr. Francis Howard now close at his heels. + +"Acting upon the detective's instructions, there were several men in +plain clothes ready to his call in the immediate neighbourhood. Two +stood within the shadow of the steps of the Congregational Church at the +corner of the mews, others were stationed well within a soft call. + +"Hardly, therefore, had the hare turned into the _cul-de-sac_ at the +back of Phillimore Terrace than, at a slight sound from Mr. Francis +Howard, every egress was barred to him, and he was caught like a rat in +a trap. + +"As soon as the tramp had advanced some thirty yards or so (the whole +length of this part of the mews is about one hundred yards) and was lost +in the shadow, Mr. Francis Howard directed four or five of his men to +proceed cautiously up the mews, whilst the same number were to form a +line all along the front of Phillimore Terrace between the mews and the +High Street. + +"Remember, the back-garden walls threw long and dense shadows, but the +silhouette of the man would be clearly outlined if he made any attempt +at climbing over them. Mr. Howard felt quite sure that the thief was +bent on recovering the stolen goods, which, no doubt, he had hidden in +the rear of one of the houses. He would be caught _in flagrante +delicto_, and, with a heavy sentence hovering over him, he would +probably be induced to name his accomplice. Mr. Francis Howard was +thoroughly enjoying himself. + +"The minutes sped on; absolute silence, in spite of the presence of so +many men, reigned in the dark and deserted mews. + +"Of course, this night's adventure was never allowed to get into the +papers," added the man in the corner with his mild smile. "Had the plan +been successful, we should have heard all about it, with a long +eulogistic article as to the astuteness of our police; but as it +was--well, the tramp sauntered up the mews--and--there he remained for +aught Mr. Francis Howard or the other constables could ever explain. The +earth or the shadows swallowed him up. No one saw him climb one of the +garden walls, no one heard him break open a door; he had retreated +within the shadow of the garden walls, and was seen or heard of no +more." + +"One of the servants in the Phillimore Terrace houses must have belonged +to the gang," said Polly with quick decision. + +"Ah, yes! but which?" said the man in the corner, making a beautiful +knot in his bit of string. "I can assure you that the police left not a +stone unturned once more to catch sight of that tramp whom they had had +in custody for two days, but not a trace of him could they find, nor of +the diamonds, from that day to this." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ALL HE KNEW + + +"The tramp was missing," continued the man in the corner, "and Mr. +Francis Howard tried to find the missing tramp. Going round to the +front, and seeing the lights at No. 26 still in, he called upon Mr. +Shipman. The jeweller had had a few friends to dinner, and was giving +them whiskies-and-sodas before saying good night. The servants had just +finished washing up, and were waiting to go to bed; neither they nor Mr. +Shipman nor his guests had seen or heard anything of the suspicious +individual. + +"Mr. Francis Howard went on to see Mr. Ferdinand Knopf. This gentleman +was having his warm bath, preparatory to going to bed. So Robertson told +the detective. However, Mr. Knopf insisted on talking to Mr. Howard +through his bath-room door. Mr. Knopf thanked him for all the trouble he +was taking, and felt sure that he and Mr. Shipman would soon recover +possession of their diamonds, thanks to the persevering detective. + +"He! he! he!" laughed the man in the corner. "Poor Mr. Howard. He +persevered--but got no farther; no, nor anyone else, for that matter. +Even I might not be able to convict the thieves if I told all I knew to +the police. + +"Now, follow my reasoning, point by point," he added eagerly. + +"Who knew of the presence of the diamonds in the house of Mr. Shipman +and Mr. Knopf? Firstly," he said, putting up an ugly claw-like finger, +"Mr. Shipman, then Mr. Knopf, then, presumably, the man Robertson." + +"And the tramp?" said Polly. + +"Leave the tramp alone for the present since he has vanished, and take +point number two. Mr. Shipman was drugged. That was pretty obvious; no +man under ordinary circumstances would, without waking, have his keys +abstracted and then replaced at his own bedside. Mr. Howard suggested +that the thief was armed with some anaesthetic; but how did the thief +get into Mr. Shipman's room without waking him from his natural sleep? +Is it not simpler to suppose that the thief had taken the precaution to +drug the jeweller _before_ the latter went to bed?" + +"But--" + +"Wait a moment, and take point number three. Though there was every +proof that Mr. Shipman had been in possession of £25,000 worth of goods +since Mr. Knopf had a cheque from him for that amount, there was no +proof that in Mr. Knopf's house there was even an odd stone worth a +sovereign. + +"And then again," went on the scarecrow, getting more and more excited, +"did it ever strike you, or anybody else, that at _no_ time, while the +tramp was in custody, while all that searching examination was being +gone on with, no one ever saw Mr. Knopf and his man Robertson together +at the same time? + +"Ah!" he continued, whilst suddenly the young girl seemed to see the +whole thing as in a vision, "they did not forget a single detail--follow +them with me, point by point. Two cunning scoundrels--geniuses they +should be called--well provided with some ill-gotten funds--but +determined on a grand _coup_. They play at respectability, for six +months, say. One is the master, the other the servant; they take a house +in the same street as their intended victim, make friends with him, +accomplish one or two creditable but very small business transactions, +always drawing on the reserve funds, which might even have amounted to a +few hundreds--and a bit of credit. + +"Then the Brazilian diamonds, and the Parisians--which, remember, were +so perfect that they required chemical testing to be detected. The +Parisian stones are sold--not in business, of course--in the evening, +after dinner and a good deal of wine. Mr. Knopf's Brazilians were +beautiful; perfect! Mr. Knopf was a well-known diamond merchant. + +"Mr. Shipman bought--but with the morning would have come sober sense, +the cheque stopped before it could have been presented, the swindler +caught. No! those exquisite Parisians were never intended to rest in Mr. +Shipman's safe until the morning. That last bottle of '48 port, with the +aid of a powerful soporific, ensured that Mr. Shipman would sleep +undisturbed during the night. + +"Ah! remember all the details, they were so admirable! the letter posted +in Brighton by the cunning rogue to himself, the smashed desk, the +broken pane of glass in his own house. The man Robertson on the watch, +while Knopf himself in ragged clothing found his way into No. 26. If +Constable D 21 had not appeared upon the scene that exciting comedy in +the early morning would not have been enacted. As it was, in the +supposed fight, Mr. Shipman's diamonds passed from the hands of the +tramp into those of his accomplice. + +"Then, later on, Robertson, ill in bed, while his master was supposed to +have returned--by the way, it never struck anybody that no one saw Mr. +Knopf come home, though he surely would have driven up in a cab. Then +the double part played by one man for the next two days. It certainly +never struck either the police or the inspector. Remember they only saw +Robertson when in bed with a streaming cold. But Knopf had to be got out +of gaol as soon as possible; the dual _rôle_ could not have been kept up +for long. Hence the story of the diamonds found in the garden of No. 22. +The cunning rogues guessed that the usual plan would be acted upon, and +the suspected thief allowed to visit the scene where his hoard lay +hidden. + +"It had all been foreseen, and Robertson must have been constantly on +the watch. The tramp stopped, mind you, in Phillimore Terrace for some +moments, lighting a pipe. The accomplice, then, was fully on the alert; +he slipped the bolts of the back garden gate. Five minutes later Knopf +was in the house, in a hot bath, getting rid of the disguise of our +friend the tramp. Remember that again here the detective did not +actually see him. + +"The next morning Mr. Knopf, black hair and beard and all, was himself +again. The whole trick lay in one simple art, which those two cunning +rascals knew to absolute perfection, the art of impersonating one +another. + +"They are brothers, presumably--twin brothers, I should say." + +"But Mr. Knopf--" suggested Polly. + +"Well, look in the Trades' Directory; you will see F. Knopf & Co., +diamond merchants, of some City address. Ask about the firm among the +trade; you will hear that it is firmly established on a sound financial +basis. He! he! he! and it deserves to be," added the man in the corner, +as, calling for the waitress, he received his ticket, and taking up his +shabby hat, took himself and his bit of string rapidly out of the room. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE YORK MYSTERY + + +The man in the corner looked quite cheerful that morning; he had had two +glasses of milk and had even gone to the extravagance of an extra +cheese-cake. Polly knew that he was itching to talk police and murders, +for he cast furtive glances at her from time to time, produced a bit of +string, tied and untied it into scores of complicated knots, and +finally, bringing out his pocket-book, he placed two or three +photographs before her. + +"Do you know who that is?" he asked, pointing to one of these. + +The girl looked at the face on the picture. It was that of a woman, not +exactly pretty, but very gentle and childlike, with a strange pathetic +look in the large eyes which was wonderfully appealing. + +"That was Lady Arthur Skelmerton," he said, and in a flash there flitted +before Polly's mind the weird and tragic history which had broken this +loving woman's heart. Lady Arthur Skelmerton! That name recalled one of +the most bewildering, most mysterious passages in the annals of +undiscovered crimes. + +"Yes. It was sad, wasn't it?" he commented, in answer to Polly's +thoughts. "Another case which but for idiotic blunders on the part of +the police must have stood clear as daylight before the public and +satisfied general anxiety. Would you object to my recapitulating its +preliminary details?" + +She said nothing, so he continued without waiting further for a reply. + +"It all occurred during the York racing week, a time which brings to the +quiet cathedral city its quota of shady characters, who congregate +wherever money and wits happen to fly away from their owners. Lord +Arthur Skelmerton, a very well-known figure in London society and in +racing circles, had rented one of the fine houses which overlook the +racecourse. He had entered Peppercorn, by St. Armand--Notre Dame, for +the Great Ebor Handicap. Peppercorn was the winner of the Newmarket, and +his chances for the Ebor were considered a practical certainty. + +"If you have ever been to York you will have noticed the fine houses +which have their drive and front entrances in the road called 'The +Mount.' and the gardens of which extend as far as the racecourse, +commanding a lovely view over the entire track. It was one of these +houses, called 'The Elms,' which Lord Arthur Skelmerton had rented for +the summer. + +"Lady Arthur came down some little time before the racing week with her +servants--she had no children; but she had many relatives and friends in +York, since she was the daughter of old Sir John Etty, the cocoa +manufacturer, a rigid Quaker, who, it was generally said, kept the +tightest possible hold on his own purse-strings and looked with marked +disfavour upon his aristocratic son-in-law's fondness for gaming tables +and betting books. + +"As a matter of fact, Maud Etty had married the handsome young +lieutenant in the Hussars, quite against her father's wishes. But she +was an only child, and after a good deal of demur and grumbling, Sir +John, who idolized his daughter, gave way to her whim, and a reluctant +consent to the marriage was wrung from him. + +"But, as a Yorkshireman, he was far too shrewd a man of the world not to +know that love played but a very small part in persuading a Duke's son +to marry the daughter of a cocoa manufacturer, and as long as he lived +he determined that since his daughter was being wed because of her +wealth, that wealth should at least secure her own happiness. He refused +to give Lady Arthur any capital, which, in spite of the most carefully +worded settlements, would inevitably, sooner or later, have found its +way into the pockets of Lord Arthur's racing friends. But he made his +daughter a very handsome allowance, amounting to over £3000 a year, +which enabled her to keep up an establishment befitting her new rank. + +"A great many of these facts, intimate enough as they are, leaked out, +you see, during that period of intense excitement which followed the +murder of Charles Lavender, and when the public eye was fixed +searchingly upon Lord Arthur Skelmerton, probing all the inner details +of his idle, useless life. + +"It soon became a matter of common gossip that poor little Lady Arthur +continued to worship her handsome husband in spite of his obvious +neglect, and not having as yet presented him with an heir, she settled +herself down into a life of humble apology for her plebeian existence, +atoning for it by condoning all his faults and forgiving all his vices, +even to the extent of cloaking them before the prying eyes of Sir John, +who was persuaded to look upon his son-in-law as a paragon of all the +domestic virtues and a perfect model of a husband. + +"Among Lord Arthur Skelmerton's many expensive tastes there was +certainly that for horseflesh and cards. After some successful betting +at the beginning of his married life, he had started a racing-stable +which it was generally believed--as he was very lucky--was a regular +source of income to him. + +"Peppercorn, however, after his brilliant performances at Newmarket did +not continue to fulfil his master's expectations. His collapse at York +was attributed to the hardness of the course and to various other +causes, but its immediate effect was to put Lord Arthur Skelmerton in +what is popularly called a tight place, for he had backed his horse for +all he was worth, and must have stood to lose considerably over £5000 on +that one day. + +"The collapse of the favourite and the grand victory of King Cole, a +rank outsider, on the other hand, had proved a golden harvest for the +bookmakers, and all the York hotels were busy with dinners and suppers +given by the confraternity of the Turf to celebrate the happy occasion. +The next day was Friday, one of few important racing events, after which +the brilliant and the shady throng which had flocked into the venerable +city for the week would fly to more congenial climes, and leave it, with +its fine old Minster and its ancient walls, as sleepy, as quiet as +before. + +"Lord Arthur Skelmerton also intended to leave York on the Saturday, and +on the Friday night he gave a farewell bachelor dinner party at 'The +Elms,' at which Lady Arthur did not appear. After dinner the gentlemen +settled down to bridge, with pretty stiff points, you may be sure. It +had just struck eleven at the Minster Tower, when constables McNaught +and Murphy, who were patrolling the racecourse, were startled by loud +cries of 'murder' and 'police.' + +"Quickly ascertaining whence these cries proceeded, they hurried on at a +gallop, and came up--quite close to the boundary of Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's grounds--upon a group of three men, two of whom seemed to +be wrestling vigorously with one another, whilst the third was lying +face downwards on the ground. As soon as the constables drew near, one +of the wrestlers shouted more vigorously, and with a certain tone of +authority: + +"'Here, you fellows, hurry up, sharp; the brute is giving me the slip!' + +"But the brute did not seem inclined to do anything of the sort; he +certainly extricated himself with a violent jerk from his assailant's +grasp, but made no attempt to run away. The constables had quickly +dismounted, whilst he who had shouted for help originally added more +quietly: + +"'My name is Skelmerton. This is the boundary of my property. I was +smoking a cigar at the pavilion over there with a friend when I heard +loud voices, followed by a cry and a groan. I hurried down the steps, +and saw this poor fellow lying on the ground, with a knife sticking +between his shoulder-blades, and his murderer,' he added, pointing to +the man who stood quietly by with Constable McNaught's firm grip upon +his shoulder, 'still stooping over the body of his victim. I was too +late, I fear, to save the latter, but just in time to grapple with the +assassin--" + +"'It's a lie!' here interrupted the man hoarsely. 'I didn't do it, +constable; I swear I didn't do it. I saw him fall--I was coming along a +couple of hundred yards away, and I tried to see if the poor fellow was +dead. I swear I didn't do it.' + +"'You'll have to explain that to the inspector presently, my man,' was +Constable McNaught's quiet comment, and, still vigorously protesting his +innocence, the accused allowed himself to be led away, and the body was +conveyed to the station, pending fuller identification. + +"The next morning the papers were full of the tragedy; a column and a +half of the _York Herald_ was devoted to an account of Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's plucky capture of the assassin. The latter had continued to +declare his innocence, but had remarked, it appears, with grim humour, +that he quite saw he was in a tight place, out of which, however, he +would find it easy to extricate himself. He had stated to the police +that the deceased's name was Charles Lavender, a well-known bookmaker, +which fact was soon verified, for many of the murdered man's 'pals' +were still in the city. + +"So far the most pushing of newspaper reporters had been unable to glean +further information from the police; no one doubted, however, but that +the man in charge, who gave his name as George Higgins, had killed the +bookmaker for purposes of robbery. The inquest had been fixed for the +Tuesday after the murder. + +"Lord Arthur had been obliged to stay in York a few days, as his +evidence would be needed. That fact gave the case, perhaps, a certain +amount of interest as far as York and London 'society' were concerned. +Charles Lavender, moreover, was well known on the turf; but no bombshell +exploding beneath the walls of the ancient cathedral city could more +have astonished its inhabitants than the news which, at about five in +the afternoon on the day of the inquest, spread like wildfire throughout +the town. That news was that the inquest had concluded at three o'clock +with a verdict of 'Wilful murder against some person or persons +unknown,' and that two hours later the police had arrested Lord Arthur +Skelmerton at his private residence, 'The Elms,' and charged him on a +warrant with the murder of Charles Lavender, the bookmaker." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE CAPITAL CHARGE + + +"The police, it appears, instinctively feeling that some mystery lurked +round the death of the bookmaker and his supposed murderer's quiet +protestations of innocence, had taken a very considerable amount of +trouble in collecting all the evidence they could for the inquest which +might throw some light upon Charles Lavender's life, previous to his +tragic end. Thus it was that a very large array of witnesses was brought +before the coroner, chief among whom was, of course, Lord Arthur +Skelmerton. + +"The first witnesses called were the two constables, who deposed that, +just as the church clocks in the neighbourhood were striking eleven, +they had heard the cries for help, had ridden to the spot whence the +sounds proceeded, and had found the prisoner in the tight grasp of Lord +Arthur Skelmerton, who at once accused the man of murder, and gave him +in charge. Both constables gave the same version of the incident, and +both were positive as to the time when it occurred. + +"Medical evidence went to prove that the deceased had been stabbed from +behind between the shoulder-blades whilst he was walking, that the wound +was inflicted by a large hunting knife, which was produced, and which +had been left sticking in the wound. + +"Lord Arthur Skelmerton was then called and substantially repeated what +he had already told the constables. He stated, namely, that on the night +in question he had some gentlemen friends to dinner, and afterwards +bridge was played. He himself was not playing much, and at a few minutes +before eleven he strolled out with a cigar as far as the pavilion at the +end of his garden; he then heard the voices, the cry and the groan +previously described by him, and managed to hold the murderer down until +the arrival of the constables. + +"At this point the police proposed to call a witness, James Terry by +name and a bookmaker by profession, who had been chiefly instrumental in +identifying the deceased, a 'pal' of his. It was his evidence which +first introduced that element of sensation into the case which +culminated in the wildly exciting arrest of a Duke's son upon a capital +charge. + +"It appears that on the evening after the Ebor, Terry and Lavender were +in the bar of the Black Swan Hotel having drinks. + +"'I had done pretty well over Peppercorn's fiasco,' he explained, 'but +poor old Lavender was very much down in the dumps; he had held only a +few very small bets against the favourite, and the rest of the day had +been a poor one with him. I asked him if he had any bets with the owner +of Peppercorn, and he told me that he only held one for less than £500. + +"'I laughed and said that if he held one for £5000 it would make no +difference, as from what I had heard from the other fellows, Lord Arthur +Skelmerton must be about stumped. Lavender seemed terribly put out at +this, and swore he would get that £500 out of Lord Arthur, if no one +else got another penny from him. + +"'It's the only money I've made to-day,' he says to me. 'I mean to get +it.' + +"'You won't,' I says. + +"'I will,' he says. + +"'You will have to look pretty sharp about it then,' I says, 'for every +one will be wanting to get something, and first come first served.' + +"'Oh! He'll serve me right enough, never you mind!' says Lavender to me +with a laugh. 'If he don't pay up willingly, I've got that in my pocket +which will make him sit up and open my lady's eyes and Sir John Etty's +too about their precious noble lord.' + +"'Then he seemed to think he had gone too far, and wouldn't say anything +more to me about that affair. I saw him on the course the next day. I +asked him if he had got his £500. He said: "No, but I shall get it +to-day."' + +"Lord Arthur Skelmerton, after having given his own evidence, had left +the court; it was therefore impossible to know how he would take this +account, which threw so serious a light upon an association with the +dead man, of which he himself had said nothing. + +"Nothing could shake James Terry's account of the facts he had placed +before the jury, and when the police informed the coroner that they +proposed to place George Higgins himself in the witness-box, as his +evidence would prove, as it were, a complement and corollary of that of +Terry, the jury very eagerly assented. + +"If James Terry, the bookmaker, loud, florid, vulgar, was an +unprepossessing individual, certainly George Higgins, who was still +under the accusation of murder, was ten thousand times more so. + +"None too clean, slouchy, obsequious yet insolent, he was the very +personification of the cad who haunts the racecourse and who lives not +so much by his own wits as by the lack of them in others. He described +himself as a turf commission agent, whatever that may be. + +"He stated that at about six o'clock on the Friday afternoon, when the +racecourse was still full of people, all hurrying after the day's +excitements, he himself happened to be standing close to the hedge which +marks the boundary of Lord Arthur Skelmerton's grounds. There is a +pavilion there at the end of the garden, he explained, on slightly +elevated ground, and he could hear and see a group of ladies and +gentlemen having tea. Some steps lead down a little to the left of the +garden on to the course, and presently he noticed at the bottom of these +steps Lord Arthur Skelmerton and Charles Lavender standing talking +together. He knew both gentlemen by sight, but he could not see them +very well as they were both partly hidden by the hedge. He was quite +sure that the gentlemen had not seen him, and he could not help +overhearing some of their conversation. + +"'That's my last word, Lavender,' Lord Arthur was saying very quietly. +'I haven't got the money and I can't pay you now. You'll have to wait.' + +"'Wait? I can't wait,' said old Lavender in reply. 'I've got my +engagements to meet, same as you. I'm not going to risk being posted up +as a defaulter while you hold £500 of my money. You'd better give it me +now or--' + +"But Lord Arthur interrupted him very quietly, and said: + +"'Yes, my good man.... or?' + +"'Or I'll let Sir John have a good look at that little bill I had of +yours a couple of years ago. If you'll remember, my lord, it has got at +the bottom of it Sir John's signature in _your_ handwriting. Perhaps +Sir John, or perhaps my lady, would pay me something for that little +bill. If not, the police can have a squint at it. I've held my tongue +long enough, and--' + +"'Look here, Lavender,' said Lord Arthur, 'do you know what this little +game of yours is called in law?' + +"'Yes, and I don't care,' says Lavender. 'If I don't have that £500 I am +a ruined man. If you ruin me I'll do for you, and we shall be quits. +That's my last word.' + +"He was talking very loudly, and I thought some of Lord Arthur's friends +up in the pavilion must have heard. He thought so, too, I think, for he +said quickly: + +"'If you don't hold your confounded tongue, I'll give you in charge for +blackmail this instant.' + +"'You wouldn't dare,' says Lavender, and he began to laugh. But just +then a lady from the top of the steps said: 'Your tea is getting cold,' +and Lord Arthur turned to go; but just before he went Lavender says to +him: 'I'll come back to-night. You'll have the money then.' + +"George Higgins, it appears, after he had heard this interesting +conversation, pondered as to whether he could not turn what he knew into +some sort of profit. Being a gentleman who lives entirely by his wits, +this type of knowledge forms his chief source of income. As a +preliminary to future moves, he decided not to lose sight of Lavender +for the rest of the day. + +"'Lavender went and had dinner at The Black Swan,' explained Mr. George +Higgins, 'and I, after I had had a bite myself, waited outside till I +saw him come out. At about ten o'clock I was rewarded for my trouble. He +told the hall porter to get him a fly and he jumped into it. I could not +hear what direction he gave the driver, but the fly certainly drove off +towards the racecourse. + +"'Now, I was interested in this little affair,' continued the witness, +'and I couldn't afford a fly. I started to run. Of course, I couldn't +keep up with it, but I thought I knew which way my gentleman had gone. I +made straight for the racecourse, and for the hedge at the bottom of +Lord Arthur Skelmerton's grounds. + +"'It was rather a dark night and there was a slight drizzle. I couldn't +see more than about a hundred yards before me. All at once it seemed to +me as if I heard Lavender's voice talking loudly in the distance. I +hurried forward, and suddenly saw a group of two figures--mere blurs in +the darkness--for one instant, at a distance of about fifty yards from +where I was. + +"'The next moment one figure had fallen forward and the other had +disappeared. I ran to the spot, only to find the body of the murdered +man lying on the ground. I stooped to see if I could be of any use to +him, and immediately I was collared from behind by Lord Arthur +himself.' + +"You may imagine," said the man in the corner, "how keen was the +excitement of that moment in court. Coroner and jury alike literally +hung breathless on every word that shabby, vulgar individual uttered. +You see, by itself his evidence would have been worth very little, but +coming on the top of that given by James Terry, its significance--more, +its truth--had become glaringly apparent. Closely cross-examined, he +adhered strictly to his statement; and having finished his evidence, +George Higgins remained in charge of the constables, and the next +witness of importance was called up. + +"This was Mr. Chipps, the senior footman in the employment of Lord +Arthur Skelmerton. He deposed that at about 10.30 on the Friday evening +a 'party' drove up to 'The Elms' in a fly, and asked to see Lord Arthur. +On being told that his lordship had company he seemed terribly put out. + +"'I hasked the party to give me 'is card,' continued Mr. Chipps, 'as I +didn't know, perhaps, that 'is lordship might wish to see 'im, but I +kept 'im standing at the 'all door, as I didn't altogether like his +looks. I took the card in. His lordship and the gentlemen was playin' +cards in the smoking-room, and as soon as I could do so without +disturbing 'is lordship, I give him the party's card.' + +"'What name was there on the card?' here interrupted the coroner. + +"'I couldn't say now, sir,' replied Mr. Chipps; 'I don't really +remember. It was a name I had never seen before. But I see so many +visiting cards one way and the other in 'is lordship's 'all that I can't +remember all the names.' + +"'Then, after a few minutes' waiting, you gave his lordship the card? +What happened then?' + +"''Is lordship didn't seem at all pleased,' said Mr. Chipps with much +guarded dignity; 'but finally he said: "Show him into the library, +Chipps, I'll see him," and he got up from the card table, saying to the +gentlemen: "Go on without me; I'll be back in a minute or two." + +"'I was about to open the door for 'is lordship when my lady came into +the room, and then his lordship suddenly changed his mind like, and said +to me: "Tell that man I'm busy and can't see him," and 'e sat down again +at the card table. I went back to the 'all, and told the party 'is +lordship wouldn't see 'im. 'E said: "Oh! it doesn't matter," and went +away quite quiet like.' + +"'Do you recollect at all at what time that was?' asked one of the jury. + +"'Yes, sir, while I was waiting to speak to 'is lordship I looked at +the clock, sir; it was twenty past ten, sir.' + +"There was one more significant fact in connection with the case, which +tended still more to excite the curiosity of the public at the time, and +still further to bewilder the police later on, and that fact was +mentioned by Chipps in his evidence. The knife, namely, with which +Charles Lavender had been stabbed, and which, remember, had been left in +the wound, was now produced in court. After a little hesitation Chipps +identified it as the property of his master, Lord Arthur Skelmerton. + +"Can you wonder, then, that the jury absolutely refused to bring in a +verdict against George Higgins? There was really, beyond Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's testimony, not one particle of evidence against him, +whilst, as the day wore on and witness after witness was called up, +suspicion ripened in the minds of all those present that the murderer +could be no other than Lord Arthur Skelmerton himself. + +"The knife was, of course, the strongest piece of circumstantial +evidence, and no doubt the police hoped to collect a great deal more now +that they held a clue in their hands. Directly after the verdict, +therefore, which was guardedly directed against some person unknown, the +police obtained a warrant and later on arrested Lord Arthur in his own +house." + +"The sensation, of course, was tremendous. Hours before he was brought +up before the magistrate the approach to the court was thronged. His +friends, mostly ladies, were all eager, you see, to watch the dashing +society man in so terrible a position. There was universal sympathy for +Lady Arthur, who was in a very precarious state of health. Her worship +of her worthless husband was well known; small wonder that his final and +awful misdeed had practically broken her heart. The latest bulletin +issued just after his arrest stated that her ladyship was not expected +to live. She was then in a comatose condition, and all hope had perforce +to be abandoned. + +"At last the prisoner was brought in. He looked very pale, perhaps, but +otherwise kept up the bearing of a high-bred gentleman. He was +accompanied by his solicitor, Sir Marmaduke Ingersoll, who was evidently +talking to him in quiet, reassuring tones. + +"Mr. Buchanan prosecuted for the Treasury, and certainly his indictment +was terrific. According to him but one decision could be arrived at, +namely, that the accused in the dock had, in a moment of passion, and +perhaps of fear, killed the blackmailer who threatened him with +disclosures which might for ever have ruined him socially, and, having +committed the deed and fearing its consequences, probably realizing that +the patrolling constables might catch sight of his retreating figure, +he had availed himself of George Higgins's presence on the spot to +loudly accuse him of the murder. + +"Having concluded his able speech, Mr. Buchanan called his witnesses, +and the evidence, which on second hearing seemed more damning than ever, +was all gone through again. + +"Sir Marmaduke had no question to ask of the witnesses for the +prosecution; he stared at them placidly through his gold-rimmed +spectacles. Then he was ready to call his own for the defence. Colonel +McIntosh, R.A., was the first. He was present at the bachelors' party +given by Lord Arthur the night of the murder. His evidence tended at +first to corroborate that of Chipps the footman with regard to Lord +Arthur's orders to show the visitor into the library, and his +counter-order as soon as his wife came into the room. + +"'Did you not think it strange, Colonel?' asked Mr. Buchanan, 'that Lord +Arthur should so suddenly have changed his mind about seeing his +visitor?' + +"'Well, not exactly strange,' said the Colonel, a fine, manly, soldierly +figure who looked curiously out of his element in the witness-box. 'I +don't think that it is a very rare occurrence for racing men to have +certain acquaintances whom they would not wish their wives to know +anything about.' + +"'Then it did not strike you that Lord Arthur Skelmerton had some +reason for not wishing his wife to know of that particular visitor's +presence in his house?' + +"'I don't think that I gave the matter the slightest serious +consideration,' was the Colonel's guarded reply. + +"Mr. Buchanan did not press the point, and allowed the witness to +conclude his statements. + +"'I had finished my turn at bridge,' he said, 'and went out into the +garden to smoke a cigar. Lord Arthur Skelmerton joined me a few minutes +later, and we were sitting in the pavilion when I heard a loud and, as I +thought, threatening voice from the other side of the hedge. + +"'I did not catch the words, but Lord Arthur said to me: "There seems to +be a row down there. I'll go and have a look and see what it is." I +tried to dissuade him, and certainly made no attempt to follow him, but +not more than half a minute could have elapsed before I heard a cry and +a groan, then Lord Arthur's footsteps hurrying down the wooden stairs +which lead on to the racecourse.' + +"You may imagine," said the man in the corner, "what severe +cross-examination the gallant Colonel had to undergo in order that his +assertions might in some way be shaken by the prosecution, but with +military precision and frigid calm he repeated his important statements +amidst a general silence, through which you could have heard the +proverbial pin. + +"He had heard the threatening voice _while_ sitting with Lord Arthur +Skelmerton; then came the cry and groan, and, _after that_, Lord +Arthur's steps down the stairs. He himself thought of following to see +what had happened, but it was a very dark night and he did not know the +grounds very well. While trying to find his way to the garden steps he +heard Lord Arthur's cry for help, the tramp of the patrolling +constables' horses, and subsequently the whole scene between Lord +Arthur, the man Higgins, and the constables. When he finally found his +way to the stairs, Lord Arthur was returning in order to send a groom +for police assistance. + +"The witness stuck to his points as he had to his guns at Beckfontein a +year ago; nothing could shake him, and Sir Marmaduke looked triumphantly +across at his opposing colleague. + +"With the gallant Colonel's statements the edifice of the prosecution +certainly began to collapse. You see, there was not a particle of +evidence to show that the accused had met and spoken to the deceased +after the latter's visit at the front door of 'The Elms.' He told Chipps +that he wouldn't see the visitor, and Chipps went into the hall directly +and showed Lavender out the way he came. No assignation could have been +made, no hint could have been given by the murdered man to Lord Arthur +that he would go round to the back entrance and wished to see him there. + +"Two other guests of Lord Arthur's swore positively that after Chipps +had announced the visitor, their host stayed at the card-table until a +quarter to eleven, when evidently he went out to join Colonel McIntosh +in the garden. Sir Marmaduke's speech was clever in the extreme. Bit by +bit he demolished that tower of strength, the case against the accused, +basing his defence entirely upon the evidence of Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's guests that night. + +"Until 10.45 Lord Arthur was playing cards; a quarter of an hour later +the police were on the scene, and the murder had been committed. In the +meanwhile Colonel McIntosh's evidence proved conclusively that the +accused had been sitting with him, smoking a cigar. It was obvious, +therefore, clear as daylight, concluded the great lawyer, that his +client was entitled to a full discharge; nay, more, he thought that the +police should have been more careful before they harrowed up public +feeling by arresting a high-born gentleman on such insufficient evidence +as they had brought forward. + +"The question of the knife remained certainly, but Sir Marmaduke passed +over it with guarded eloquence, placing that strange question in the +category of those inexplicable coincidences which tend to puzzle the +ablest detectives, and cause them to commit such unpardonable blunders +as the present one had been. After all, the footman may have been +mistaken. The pattern of that knife was not an exclusive one, and he, on +behalf of his client, flatly denied that it had ever belonged to him. + +"Well," continued the man in the corner, with the chuckle peculiar to +him in moments of excitement, "the noble prisoner was discharged. +Perhaps it would be invidious to say that he left the court without a +stain on his character, for I daresay you know from experience that the +crime known as the York Mystery has never been satisfactorily cleared +up. + +"Many people shook their heads dubiously when they remembered that, +after all, Charles Lavender was killed with a knife which one witness +had sworn belonged to Lord Arthur; others, again, reverted to the +original theory that George Higgins was the murderer, that he and James +Terry had concocted the story of Lavender's attempt at blackmail on Lord +Arthur, and that the murder had been committed for the sole purpose of +robbery. + +"Be that as it may, the police have not so far been able to collect +sufficient evidence against Higgins or Terry, and the crime has been +classed by press and public alike in the category of so-called +impenetrable mysteries." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A BROKEN-HEARTED WOMAN + + +The man in the corner called for another glass of milk, and drank it +down slowly before he resumed: + +"Now Lord Arthur lives mostly abroad," he said. "His poor, suffering +wife died the day after he was liberated by the magistrate. She never +recovered consciousness even sufficiently to hear the joyful news that +the man she loved so well was innocent after all. + +"Mystery!" he added as if in answer to Polly's own thoughts. "The murder +of that man was never a mystery to me. I cannot understand how the +police could have been so blind when every one of the witnesses, both +for the prosecution and defence, practically pointed all the time to the +one guilty person. What do you think of it all yourself?" + +"I think the whole case so bewildering," she replied, "that I do not see +one single clear point in it." + +"You don't?" he said excitedly, while the bony fingers fidgeted again +with that inevitable bit of string. "You don't see that there is one +point clear which to me was the key of the whole thing? + +"Lavender was murdered, wasn't he? Lord Arthur did not kill him. He had, +at least, in Colonel McIntosh an unimpeachable witness to prove that he +could not have committed that murder--and yet," he added with slow, +excited emphasis, marking each sentence with a knot, "and yet he +deliberately tries to throw the guilt upon a man who obviously was also +innocent. Now why?" + +"He may have thought him guilty." + +"Or wished to shield or cover the retreat of _one he knew to be +guilty_." + +"I don't understand." + +"Think of someone," he said excitedly, "someone whose desire would be as +great as that of Lord Arthur to silence a scandal round that gentleman's +name. Someone who, unknown perhaps to Lord Arthur, had overheard the +same conversation which George Higgins related to the police and the +magistrate, someone who, whilst Chipps was taking Lavender's card in to +his master, had a few minutes' time wherein to make an assignation with +Lavender, promising him money, no doubt, in exchange for the +compromising bills." + +"Surely you don't mean--" gasped Polly. + +"Point number one," he interrupted quietly, "utterly missed by the +police. George Higgins in his deposition stated that at the most +animated stage of Lavender's conversation with Lord Arthur, and when the +bookmaker's tone of voice became loud and threatening, a voice from the +top of the steps interrupted that conversation, saying: 'Your tea is +getting cold.'" + +"Yes--but--" she argued. + +"Wait a moment, for there is point number two. That voice was a lady's +voice. Now, I did exactly what the police should have done, but did not +do. I went to have a look from the racecourse side at those garden steps +which to my mind are such important factors in the discovery of this +crime. I found only about a dozen rather low steps; anyone standing on +the top must have heard every word Charles Lavender uttered the moment +he raised his voice." + +"Even then--" + +"Very well, you grant that," he said excitedly. "Then there was the +great, the all-important point which, oddly enough, the prosecution +never for a moment took into consideration. When Chipps, the footman, +first told Lavender that Lord Arthur could not see him the bookmaker was +terribly put out; Chipps then goes to speak to his master; a few minutes +elapse, and when the footman once again tells Lavender that his lordship +won't see him, the latter says 'Very well,' and seems to treat the +matter with complete indifference. + +"Obviously, therefore, something must have happened in between to alter +the bookmaker's frame of mind. Well! What had happened? Think over all +the evidence, and you will see that one thing only had occurred in the +interval, namely, Lady Arthur's advent into the room. + +"In order to go into the smoking-room she must have crossed the hall; +she must have seen Lavender. In that brief interval she must have +realized that the man was persistent, and therefore a living danger to +her husband. Remember, women have done strange things; they are a far +greater puzzle to the student of human nature than the sterner, less +complex sex has ever been. As I argued before--as the police should have +argued all along--why did Lord Arthur deliberately accuse an innocent +man of murder if not to shield the guilty one? + +"Remember, Lady Arthur may have been discovered; the man, George +Higgins, may have caught sight of her before she had time to make good +her retreat. His attention, as well us that of the constables, had to be +diverted. Lord Arthur acted on the blind impulse of saving his wife at +any cost." + +"She may have been met by Colonel McIntosh," argued Polly. + +"Perhaps she was," he said. "Who knows? The gallant colonel had to +swear to his friend's innocence. He could do that in all +conscience--after that his duty was accomplished. No innocent man was +suffering for the guilty. The knife which had belonged to Lord Arthur +would always save George Higgins. For a time it had pointed to the +husband; fortunately never to the wife. Poor thing, she died probably of +a broken heart, but women when they love, think only of one object on +earth--the one who is beloved. + +"To me the whole thing was clear from the very first. When I read the +account of the murder--the knife! stabbing!--bah! Don't I know enough of +_English_ crime not to be certain at once that no English_man_, be he +ruffian from the gutter or be he Duke's son, ever stabs his victim in +the back. Italians, French, Spaniards do it, if you will, and women of +most nations. An Englishman's instinct is to strike and not to stab. +George Higgins or Lord Arthur Skelmerton would have knocked their victim +down; the woman only would lie in wait till the enemy's back was turned. +She knows her weakness, and she does not mean to miss. + +"Think it over. There is not one flaw in my argument, but the police +never thought the matter out--perhaps in this case it was as well." + +He had gone and left Miss Polly Burton still staring at the photograph +of a pretty, gentle-looking woman, with a decided, wilful curve round +the mouth, and a strange, unaccountable look in the large pathetic eyes; +and the little journalist felt quite thankful that in this case the +murder of Charles Lavender the bookmaker--cowardly, wicked as it +was--had remained a mystery to the police and the public. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY + + +It was all very well for Mr. Richard Frobisher (of the _London Mail_) to +cut up rough about it. Polly did not altogether blame him. + +She liked him all the better for that frank outburst of manlike +ill-temper which, after all said and done, was only a very flattering +form of masculine jealousy. + +Moreover, Polly distinctly felt guilty about the whole thing. She had +promised to meet Dickie--that is Mr. Richard Frobisher--at two o'clock +sharp outside the Palace Theatre, because she wanted to go to a Maud +Allan _matinée_, and because he naturally wished to go with her. + +But at two o'clock sharp she was still in Norfolk Street, Strand, inside +an A.B.C. shop, sipping cold coffee opposite a grotesque old man who was +fiddling with a bit of string. + +How could she be expected to remember Maud Allan or the Palace Theatre, +or Dickie himself for a matter of that? The man in the corner had begun +to talk of that mysterious death on the underground railway, and Polly +had lost count of time, of place, and circumstance. + +She had gone to lunch quite early, for she was looking forward to the +_matinée_ at the Palace. + +The old scarecrow was sitting in his accustomed place when she came into +the A.B.C. shop, but he had made no remark all the time that the young +girl was munching her scone and butter. She was just busy thinking how +rude he was not even to have said "Good morning," when an abrupt remark +from him caused her to look up. + +"Will you be good enough," he said suddenly, "to give me a description +of the man who sat next to you just now, while you were having your cup +of coffee and scone." + +Involuntarily Polly turned her head towards the distant door, through +which a man in a light overcoat was even now quickly passing. That man +had certainly sat at the next table to hers, when she first sat down to +her coffee and scone: he had finished his luncheon--whatever it +was--moment ago, had paid at the desk and gone out. The incident did not +appear to Polly as being of the slightest consequence. + +Therefore she did not reply to the rude old man, but shrugged her +shoulders, and called to the waitress to bring her bill. + +"Do you know if he was tall or short, dark or fair?" continued the man +in the corner, seemingly not the least disconcerted by the young girl's +indifference. "Can you tell me at all what he was like?" + +"Of course I can," rejoined Polly impatiently, "but I don't see that my +description of one of the customers of an A.B.C. shop can have the +slightest importance." + +He was silent for a minute, while his nervous fingers fumbled about in +his capacious pockets in search of the inevitable piece of string. When +he had found this necessary "adjunct to thought," he viewed the young +girl again through his half-closed lids, and added maliciously: + +"But supposing it were of paramount importance that you should give an +accurate description of a man who sat next to you for half an hour +to-day, how would you proceed?" + +"I should say that he was of medium height--" + +"Five foot eight, nine, or ten?" he interrupted quietly. + +"How can one tell to an inch or two?" rejoined Polly crossly. "He was +between colours." + +"What's that?" he inquired blandly. + +"Neither fair nor dark--his nose--" + +"Well, what was his nose like? Will you sketch it?" + +"I am not an artist. His nose was fairly straight--his eyes--" + +"Were neither dark nor light--his hair had the same striking +peculiarity--he was neither short nor tall--his nose was neither +aquiline nor snub--" he recapitulated sarcastically. + +"No," she retorted; "he was just ordinary looking." + +"Would you know him again--say to-morrow, and among a number of other +men who were 'neither tall nor short, dark nor fair, aquiline nor +snub-nosed,' etc.?" + +"I don't know--I might--he was certainly not striking enough to be +specially remembered." + +"Exactly," he said, while he leant forward excitedly, for all the world +like a Jack-in-the-box let loose. "Precisely; and you are a +journalist--call yourself one, at least--and it should be part of your +business to notice and describe people. I don't mean only the wonderful +personage with the clear Saxon features, the fine blue eyes, the noble +brow and classic face, but the ordinary person--the person who +represents ninety out of every hundred of his own kind--the average +Englishman, say, of the middle classes, who is neither very tall nor +very short, who wears a moustache which is neither fair nor dark, but +which masks his mouth, and a top hat which hides the shape of his head +and brow, a man, in fact, who dresses like hundreds of his +fellow-creatures, moves like them, speaks like them, has no peculiarity. + +"Try to describe _him_, to recognize him, say a week hence, among his +other eighty-nine doubles; worse still, to swear his life away, if he +happened to be implicated in some crime, wherein _your_ recognition of +him would place the halter round his neck. + +"Try that, I say, and having utterly failed you will more readily +understand how one of the greatest scoundrels unhung is still at large, +and why the mystery on the Underground Railway was never cleared up. + +"I think it was the only time in my life that I was seriously tempted to +give the police the benefit of my own views upon the matter. You see, +though I admire the brute for his cleverness, I did not see that his +being unpunished could possibly benefit any one. + +"In these days of tubes and motor traction of all kinds, the +old-fashioned 'best, cheapest, and quickest route to City and West End' +is often deserted, and the good old Metropolitan Railway carriages +cannot at any time be said to be overcrowded. Anyway, when that +particular train steamed into Aldgate at about 4 p.m. on March 18th +last, the first-class carriages were all but empty. + +"The guard marched up and down the platform looking into all the +carriages to see if anyone had left a halfpenny evening paper behind for +him, and opening the door of one of the first-class compartments, he +noticed a lady sitting in the further corner, with her head turned away +towards the window, evidently oblivious of the fact that on this line +Aldgate is the terminal station. + +"'Where are you for, lady?' he said. + +"The lady did not move, and the guard stepped into the carriage, +thinking that perhaps the lady was asleep. He touched her arm lightly +and looked into her face. In his own poetic language, he was 'struck all +of a 'eap.' In the glassy eyes, the ashen colour of the cheeks, the +rigidity of the head, there was the unmistakable look of death. + +"Hastily the guard, having carefully locked the carriage door, summoned +a couple of porters, and sent one of them off to the police-station, and +the other in search of the station-master. + +"Fortunately at this time of day the up platform is not very crowded, +all the traffic tending westward in the afternoon. It was only when an +inspector and two police constables, accompanied by a detective in plain +clothes and a medical officer, appeared upon the scene, and stood round +a first-class railway compartment, that a few idlers realized that +something unusual had occurred, and crowded round, eager and curious. + +"Thus it was that the later editions of the evening papers, under the +sensational heading, 'Mysterious Suicide on the Underground Railway,' +had already an account of the extraordinary event. The medical officer +had very soon come to the decision that the guard had not been mistaken, +and that life was indeed extinct. + +"The lady was young, and must have been very pretty before the look of +fright and horror had so terribly distorted her features. She was very +elegantly dressed, and the more frivolous papers were able to give their +feminine readers a detailed account of the unfortunate woman's gown, her +shoes, hat, and gloves. + +"It appears that one of the latter, the one on the right hand, was +partly off, leaving the thumb and wrist bare. That hand held a small +satchel, which the police opened, with a view to the possible +identification of the deceased, but which was found to contain only a +little loose silver, some smelling-salts, and a small empty bottle, +which was handed over to the medical officer for purposes of analysis. + +"It was the presence of that small bottle which had caused the report to +circulate freely that the mysterious case on the Underground Railway was +one of suicide. Certain it was that neither about the lady's person, nor +in the appearance of the railway carriage, was there the slightest sign +of struggle or even of resistance. Only the look in the poor woman's +eyes spoke of sudden terror, of the rapid vision of an unexpected and +violent death, which probably only lasted an infinitesimal fraction of a +second, but which had left its indelible mark upon the face, otherwise +so placid and so still." + +"The body of the deceased was conveyed to the mortuary. So far, of +course, not a soul had been able to identify her, or to throw the +slightest light upon the mystery which hung around her death. + +"Against that, quite a crowd of idlers--genuinely interested or +not--obtained admission to view the body, on the pretext of having lost +or mislaid a relative or a friend. At about 8.30 p.m. a young man, very +well dressed, drove up to the station in a hansom, and sent in his card +to the superintendent. It was Mr. Hazeldene, shipping agent, of 11, +Crown Lane, E.C., and No. 19, Addison Row, Kensington. + +"The young man looked in a pitiable state of mental distress; his hand +clutched nervously a copy of the _St. James's Gazette_, which contained +the fatal news. He said very little to the superintendent except that a +person who was very dear to him had not returned home that evening. + +"He had not felt really anxious until half an hour ago, when suddenly he +thought of looking at his paper. The description of the deceased lady, +though vague, had terribly alarmed him. He had jumped into a hansom, and +now begged permission to view the body, in order that his worst fears +might be allayed. + +"You know what followed, of course," continued the man in the corner, +"the grief of the young man was truly pitiable. In the woman lying there +in a public mortuary before him, Mr. Hazeldene had recognized his wife. + +"I am waxing melodramatic," said the man in the corner, who looked up at +Polly with a mild and gentle smile, while his nervous fingers vainly +endeavoured to add another knot on the scrappy bit of string with which +he was continually playing, "and I fear that the whole story savours of +the penny novelette, but you must admit, and no doubt you remember, that +it was an intensely pathetic and truly dramatic moment. + +"The unfortunate young husband of the deceased lady was not much worried +with questions that night. As a matter of fact, he was not in a fit +condition to make any coherent statement. It was at the coroner's +inquest on the following day that certain facts came to light, which for +the time being seemed to clear up the mystery surrounding Mrs. +Hazeldene's death, only to plunge that same mystery, later on, into +denser gloom than before. + +"The first witness at the inquest was, of course, Mr. Hazeldene himself. +I think every one's sympathy went out to the young man as he stood +before the coroner and tried to throw what light he could upon the +mystery. He was well dressed, as he had been the day before, but he +looked terribly ill and worried, and no doubt the fact that he had not +shaved gave his face a careworn and neglected air. + +"It appears that he and the deceased had been married some six years or +so, and that they had always been happy in their married life. They had +no children. Mrs. Hazeldene seemed to enjoy the best of health till +lately, when she had had a slight attack of influenza, in which Dr. +Arthur Jones had attended her. The doctor was present at this moment, +and would no doubt explain to the coroner and the jury whether he +thought that Mrs. Hazeldene had the slightest tendency to heart disease, +which might have had a sudden and fatal ending. + +"The coroner was, of course, very considerate to the bereaved husband. +He tried by circumlocution to get at the point he wanted, namely, Mrs. +Hazeldene's mental condition lately. Mr. Hazeldene seemed loath to talk +about this. No doubt he had been warned as to the existence of the small +bottle found in his wife's satchel. + +"'It certainly did seem to me at times,' he at last reluctantly +admitted, 'that my wife did not seem quite herself. She used to be very +gay and bright, and lately I often saw her in the evening sitting, as if +brooding over some matters, which evidently she did not care to +communicate to me.' + +"Still the coroner insisted, and suggested the small bottle. + +"'I know, I know,' replied the young man, with a short, heavy sigh. 'You +mean--the question of suicide--I cannot understand it at all--it seems +so sudden and so terrible--she certainly had seemed listless and +troubled lately--but only at times--and yesterday morning, when I went +to business, she appeared quite herself again, and I suggested that we +should go to the opera in the evening. She was delighted, I know, and +told me she would do some shopping, and pay a few calls in the +afternoon.' + +"'Do you know at all where she intended to go when she got into the +Underground Railway?' + +"'Well, not with certainty. You see, she may have meant to get out at +Baker Street, and go down to Bond Street to do her shopping. Then, +again, she sometimes goes to a shop in St. Paul's Churchyard, in which +case she would take a ticket to Aldersgate Street; but I cannot say.' + +"'Now, Mr. Hazeldene,' said the coroner at last very kindly, 'will you +try to tell me if there was anything in Mrs. Hazeldene's life which you +know of, and which might in some measure explain the cause of the +distressed state of mind, which you yourself had noticed? Did there +exist any financial difficulty which might have preyed upon Mrs. +Hazeldene's mind; was there any friend--to whose intercourse with Mrs. +Hazeldene--you--er--at any time took exception? In fact,' added the +coroner, as if thankful that he had got over an unpleasant moment, 'can +you give me the slightest indication which would tend to confirm the +suspicion that the unfortunate lady, in a moment of mental anxiety or +derangement, may have wished to take her own life?' + +"There was silence in the court for a few moments. Mr. Hazeldene seemed +to every one there present to be labouring under some terrible moral +doubt. He looked very pale and wretched, and twice attempted to speak +before he at last said in scarcely audible tones: + +"'No; there were no financial difficulties of any sort. My wife had an +independent fortune of her own--she had no extravagant tastes--' + +"'Nor any friend you at any time objected to?' insisted the coroner. + +"'Nor any friend, I--at any time objected to,' stammered the unfortunate +young man, evidently speaking with an effort. + +"I was present at the inquest," resumed the man in the corner, after he +had drunk a glass of milk and ordered another, "and I can assure you +that the most obtuse person there plainly realized that Mr. Hazeldene +was telling a lie. It was pretty plain to the meanest intelligence that +the unfortunate lady had not fallen into a state of morbid dejection for +nothing, and that perhaps there existed a third person who could throw +more light on her strange and sudden death than the unhappy, bereaved +young widower. + +"That the death was more mysterious even than it had at first appeared +became very soon apparent. You read the case at the time, no doubt, and +must remember the excitement in the public mind caused by the evidence +of the two doctors. Dr. Arthur Jones, the lady's usual medical man, who +had attended her in a last very slight illness, and who had seen her in +a professional capacity fairly recently, declared most emphatically that +Mrs. Hazeldene suffered from no organic complaint which could possibly +have been the cause of sudden death. Moreover, he had assisted Mr. +Andrew Thornton, the district medical officer, in making a postmortem +examination, and together they had come to the conclusion that death was +due to the action of prussic acid, which had caused instantaneous +failure of the heart, but how the drug had been administered neither he +nor his colleague were at present able to state. + +"'Do I understand, then, Dr. Jones, that the deceased died, poisoned +with prussic acid?' + +"'Such is my opinion,' replied the doctor. + +"'Did the bottle found in her satchel contain prussic acid?' + +"'It had contained some at one time, certainly.' + +"'In your opinion, then, the lady caused her own death by taking a dose +of that drug?' + +"'Pardon me, I never suggested such a thing; the lady died poisoned by +the drug, but how the drug was administered we cannot say. By injection +of some sort, certainly. The drug certainly was not swallowed; there was +not a vestige of it in the stomach.' + +"'Yes,' added the doctor in reply to another question from the coroner, +'death had probably followed the injection in this case almost +immediately; say within a couple of minutes, or perhaps three. It was +quite possible that the body would not have more than one quick and +sudden convulsion, perhaps not that; death in such cases is absolutely +sudden and crushing.' + +"I don't think that at the time any one in the room realized how +important the doctor's statement was, a statement which, by the way, was +confirmed in all its details by the district medical officer, who had +conducted the postmortem. Mrs. Hazeldene had died suddenly from an +injection of prussic acid, administered no one knew how or when. She +had been travelling in a first-class railway carriage in a busy time of +the day. That young and elegant woman must have had singular nerve and +coolness to go through the process of a self-inflicted injection of a +deadly poison in the presence of perhaps two or three other persons. + +"Mind you, when I say that no one there realized the importance of the +doctor's statement at that moment, I am wrong; there were three persons, +who fully understood at once the gravity of the situation, and the +astounding development which the case was beginning to assume. + +"Of course, I should have put myself out of the question," added the +weird old man, with that inimitable self-conceit peculiar to himself. "I +guessed then and there in a moment where the police were going wrong, +and where they would go on going wrong until the mysterious death on the +Underground Railway had sunk into oblivion, together with the other +cases which they mismanage from time to time. + +"I said there were three persons who understood the gravity of the two +doctors' statements--the other two were, firstly, the detective who had +originally examined the railway carriage, a young man of energy and +plenty of misguided intelligence, the other was Mr. Hazeldene. + +"At this point the interesting element of the whole story was first +introduced into the proceedings, and this was done through the humble +channel of Emma Funnel, Mrs. Hazeldene's maid, who, as far as was known +then, was the last person who had seen the unfortunate lady alive and +had spoken to her. + +"'Mrs. Hazeldene lunched at home,' explained Emma, who was shy, and +spoke almost in a whisper; 'she seemed well and cheerful. She went out +at about half-past three, and told me she was going to Spence's, in St. +Paul's Churchyard, to try on her new tailor-made gown. Mrs. Hazeldene +had meant to go there in the morning, but was prevented as Mr. Errington +called.' + +"'Mr. Errington?' asked the coroner casually. 'Who is Mr. Errington?' + +"But this Emma found difficult to explain. Mr. Errington was--Mr. +Errington, that's all. + +"'Mr. Errington was a friend of the family. He lived in a flat in the +Albert Mansions. He very often came to Addison Row, and generally stayed +late.' + +"Pressed still further with questions, Emma at last stated that latterly +Mrs. Hazeldene had been to the theatre several times with Mr. Errington, +and that on those nights the master looked very gloomy, and was very +cross. + +"Recalled, the young widower was strangely reticent. He gave forth his +answers very grudgingly, and the coroner was evidently absolutely +satisfied with himself at the marvellous way in which, after a quarter +of an hour of firm yet very kind questionings, he had elicited from the +witness what information he wanted. + +"Mr. Errington was a friend of his wife. He was a gentleman of means, +and seemed to have a great deal of time at his command. He himself did +not particularly care about Mr. Errington, but he certainly had never +made any observations to his wife on the subject. + +"'But who is Mr. Errington?' repeated the coroner once more. 'What does +he do? What is his business or profession?' + +"'He has no business or profession. + +"'What is his occupation, then? + +"He has no special occupation. He has ample private means. But he has a +great and very absorbing hobby.' + +"'What is that?' + +"'He spends all his time in chemical experiments, and is, I believe, as +an amateur, a very distinguished toxicologist.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MR. ERRINGTON + + +"Did you ever see Mr. Errington, the gentleman so closely connected with +the mysterious death on the Underground Railway?" asked the man in the +corner as he placed one or two of his little snap-shot photos before +Miss Polly Burton. + +"There he is, to the very life. Fairly good-looking, a pleasant face +enough, but ordinary, absolutely ordinary. + +"It was this absence of any peculiarity which very nearly, but not +quite, placed the halter round Mr. Errington's neck. + +"But I am going too fast, and you will lose the thread. + +"The public, of course, never heard how it actually came about that Mr. +Errington, the wealthy bachelor of Albert Mansions, of the Grosvenor, +and other young dandies' clubs, one fine day found himself before the +magistrates at Bow Street, charged with being concerned in the death of +Mary Beatrice Hazeldene, late of No. 19, Addison Row. + +"I can assure you both press and public were literally flabbergasted. +You see, Mr. Errington was a well-known and very popular member of a +certain smart section of London society. He was a constant visitor at +the opera, the racecourse, the Park, and the Carlton, he had a great +many friends, and there was consequently quite a large attendance at the +police court that morning. + +"What had transpired was this: + +"After the very scrappy bits of evidence which came to light at the +inquest, two gentlemen bethought themselves that perhaps they had some +duty to perform towards the State and the public generally. Accordingly +they had come forward, offering to throw what light they could upon the +mysterious affair on the Underground Railway. + +"The police naturally felt that their information, such as it was, came +rather late in the day, but as it proved of paramount importance, and +the two gentlemen, moreover, were of undoubtedly good position in the +world, they were thankful for what they could get, and acted +accordingly; they accordingly brought Mr. Errington up before the +magistrate on a charge of murder. + +"The accused looked pale and worried when I first caught sight of him in +the court that day, which was not to be wondered at, considering the +terrible position in which he found himself. + +"He had been arrested at Marseilles, where he was preparing to start for +Colombo. + +"I don't think he realized how terrible his position really was until +later in the proceedings, when all the evidence relating to the arrest +had been heard, and Emma Funnel had repeated her statement as to Mr. +Errington's call at 19, Addison Row, in the morning, and Mrs. Hazeldene +starting off for St. Paul's Churchyard at 3.30 in the afternoon. + +"Mr. Hazeldene had nothing to add to the statements he had made at the +coroner's inquest. He had last seen his wife alive on the morning of the +fatal day. She had seemed very well and cheerful. + +"I think every one present understood that he was trying to say as +little as possible that could in any way couple his deceased wife's name +with that of the accused. + +"And yet, from the servant's evidence, it undoubtedly leaked out that +Mrs. Hazeldene, who was young, pretty, and evidently fond of admiration, +had once or twice annoyed her husband by her somewhat open, yet +perfectly innocent, flirtation with Mr. Errington. + +"I think every one was most agreeably impressed by the widower's +moderate and dignified attitude. You will see his photo there, among +this bundle. That is just how he appeared in court. In deep black, of +course, but without any sign of ostentation in his mourning. He had +allowed his beard to grow lately, and wore it closely cut in a point. + +"After his evidence, the sensation of the day occurred. A tall, +dark-haired man, with the word 'City' written metaphorically all over +him, had kissed the book, and was waiting to tell the truth, and nothing +but the truth. + +"He gave his name as Andrew Campbell, head of the firm of Campbell & +Co., brokers, of Throgmorton Street. + +"In the afternoon of March 18th Mr. Campbell, travelling on the +Underground Railway, had noticed a very pretty woman in the same +carriage as himself. She had asked him if she was in the right train for +Aldersgate. Mr. Campbell replied in the affirmative, and then buried +himself in the Stock Exchange quotations of his evening paper. + +"At Gower Street, a gentleman in a tweed suit and bowler hat got into +the carriage, and took a seat opposite the lady. + +"She seemed very much astonished at seeing him, but Mr. Andrew Campbell +did not recollect the exact words she said. + +"The two talked to one another a good deal, and certainly the lady +appeared animated and cheerful. Witness took no notice of them; he was +very much engrossed in some calculations, and finally got out at +Farringdon Street. He noticed that the man in the tweed suit also got +out close behind him, having shaken hands with the lady, and said in a +pleasant way: '_Au revoir_! Don't be late to-night.' Mr. Campbell did +not hear the lady's reply, and soon lost sight of the man in the crowd. + +"Every one was on tenter-hooks, and eagerly waiting for the palpitating +moment when witness would describe and identify the man who last had +seen and spoken to the unfortunate woman, within five minutes probably +of her strange and unaccountable death. + +"Personally I knew what was coming before the Scotch stockbroker spoke. + +"I could have jotted down the graphic and lifelike description he would +give of a probable murderer. It would have fitted equally well the man +who sat and had luncheon at this table just now; it would certainly have +described five out of every ten young Englishmen you know. + +"The individual was of medium height, he wore a moustache which was not +very fair nor yet very dark, his hair was between colours. He wore a +bowler hat, and a tweed suit--and--and--that was all--Mr. Campbell might +perhaps know him again, but then again, he might not--he was not paying +much attention--the gentleman was sitting on the same side of the +carriage as himself--and he had his hat on all the time. He himself was +busy with his newspaper--yes--he might know him again--but he really +could not say. + +"Mr. Andrew Campbell's evidence was not worth very much, you will say. +No, it was not in itself, and would not have justified any arrest were +it not for the additional statements made by Mr. James Verner, manager +of Messrs. Rodney & Co., colour printers. + +"Mr. Verner is a personal friend of Mr. Andrew Campbell, and it appears +that at Farringdon Street, where he was waiting for his train, he saw +Mr. Campbell get out of a first-class railway carriage. Mr. Verner spoke +to him for a second, and then, just as the train was moving off, he +stepped into the same compartment which had just been vacated by the +stockbroker and the man in the tweed suit. He vaguely recollects a lady +sitting in the opposite corner to his own, with her face turned away +from him, apparently asleep, but he paid no special attention to her. He +was like nearly all business men when they are travelling--engrossed in +his paper. Presently a special quotation interested him; he wished to +make a note of it, took out a pencil from his waistcoat pocket, and +seeing a clean piece of paste-board on the floor, he picked it up, and +scribbled on it the memorandum, which he wished to keep. He then +slipped the card into his pocket-book. + +"'It was only two or three days later,' added Mr. Verner in the midst of +breathless silence, 'that I had occasion to refer to these same notes +again. + +"'In the meanwhile the papers had been full of the mysterious death on +the Underground Railway, and the names of those connected with it were +pretty familiar to me. It was, therefore, with much astonishment that on +looking at the paste-board which I had casually picked up in the railway +carriage I saw the name on it, "Frank Errington."' + +"There was no doubt that the sensation in court was almost +unprecedented. Never since the days of the Fenchurch Street mystery, and +the trial of Smethurst, had I seen so much excitement. Mind you, I was +not excited--I knew by now every detail of that crime as if I had +committed it myself. In fact, I could not have done it better, although +I have been a student of crime for many years now. Many people +there--his friends, mostly--believed that Errington was doomed. I think +he thought so, too, for I could see that his face was terribly white, +and he now and then passed his tongue over his lips, as if they were +parched. + +"You see he was in the awful dilemma--a perfectly natural one, by the +way--of being absolutely incapable of _proving_ an _alibi_. The +crime--if crime there was--had been committed three weeks ago. A man +about town like Mr. Frank Errington might remember that he spent certain +hours of a special afternoon at his club, or in the Park, but it is very +doubtful in nine cases out of ten if he can find a friend who could +positively swear as to having seen him there. No! no! Mr. Errington was +in a tight corner, and he knew it. You see, there were--besides the +evidence--two or three circumstances which did not improve matters for +him. His hobby in the direction of toxicology, to begin with. The police +had found in his room every description of poisonous substances, +including prussic acid. + +"Then, again, that journey to Marseilles, the start for Colombo, was, +though perfectly innocent, a very unfortunate one. Mr. Errington had +gone on an aimless voyage, but the public thought that he had fled, +terrified at his own crime. Sir Arthur Inglewood, however, here again +displayed his marvellous skill on behalf of his client by the masterly +way in which he literally turned all the witnesses for the Crown inside +out. + +"Having first got Mr. Andrew Campbell to state positively that in the +accused he certainly did _not_ recognize the man in the tweed suit, the +eminent lawyer, after twenty minutes' cross-examination, had so +completely upset the stockbroker's equanimity that it is very likely he +would not have recognized his own office-boy. + +"But through all his flurry and all his annoyance Mr. Andrew Campbell +remained very sure of one thing; namely, that the lady was alive and +cheerful, and talking pleasantly with the man in the tweed suit up to +the moment when the latter, having shaken hands with her, left her with +a pleasant '_Au revoir_! Don't be late to-night.' He had heard neither +scream nor struggle, and in his opinion, if the individual in the tweed +suit had administered a dose of poison to his companion, it must have +been with her own knowledge and free will; and the lady in the train +most emphatically neither looked nor spoke like a woman prepared for a +sudden and violent death. + +"Mr. James Verner, against that, swore equally positively that he had +stood in full view of the carriage door from the moment that Mr. +Campbell got out until he himself stepped into the compartment, that +there was no one else in that carriage between Farringdon Street and +Aldgate, and that the lady, to the best of his belief, had made no +movement during the whole of that journey. + +"No; Frank Errington was _not_ committed for trial on the capital +charge," said the man in the corner with one of his sardonic smiles, +"thanks to the cleverness of Sir Arthur Inglewood, his lawyer. He +absolutely denied his identity with the man in the tweed suit, and swore +he had not seen Mrs. Hazeldene since eleven o'clock in the morning of +that fatal day. There was no _proof_ that he had; moreover, according to +Mr. Campbell's opinion, the man in the tweed suit was in all probability +not the murderer. Common sense would not admit that a woman could have a +deadly poison injected into her without her knowledge, while chatting +pleasantly to her murderer. + +"Mr. Errington lives abroad now. He is about to marry. I don't think any +of his real friends for a moment believed that he committed the +dastardly crime. The police think they know better. They do know this +much, that it could not have been a case of suicide, that if the man who +undoubtedly travelled with Mrs. Hazeldene on that fatal afternoon had no +crime upon his conscience he would long ago have come forward and thrown +what light he could upon the mystery. + +"As to who that man was, the police in their blindness have not the +faintest doubt. Under the unshakable belief that Errington is guilty +they have spent the last few months in unceasing labour to try and find +further and stronger proofs of his guilt. But they won't find them, +because there are none. There are no positive proofs against the actual +murderer, for he was one of those clever blackguards who think of +everything, foresee every eventuality, who know human nature well, and +can foretell exactly what evidence will be brought against them, and act +accordingly. + +"This blackguard from the first kept the figure, the personality, of +Frank Errington before his mind. Frank Errington was the dust which the +scoundrel threw metaphorically in the eyes of the police, and you must +admit that he succeeded in blinding them--to the extent even of making +them entirely forget the one simple little sentence, overheard by Mr. +Andrew Campbell, and which was, of course, the clue to the whole +thing--the only slip the cunning rogue made--'_Au revoir_! Don't be late +to-night.' Mrs. Hazeldene was going that night to the opera with her +husband-- + +"You are astonished?" he added with a shrug of the shoulders, "you do +not see the tragedy yet, as I have seen it before me all along. The +frivolous young wife, the flirtation with the friend?--all a blind, all +pretence. I took the trouble which the police should have taken +immediately, of finding out something about the finances of the +Hazeldene _ménage_. Money is in nine cases out of ten the keynote to a +crime. + +"I found that the will of Mary Beatrice Hazeldene had been proved by +the husband, her sole executor, the estate being sworn at £15,000. I +found out, moreover, that Mr. Edward Sholto Hazeldene was a poor +shipper's clerk when he married the daughter of a wealthy builder in +Kensington--and then I made note of the fact that the disconsolate +widower had allowed his beard to grow since the death of his wife. + +"There's no doubt that he was a clever rogue," added the strange +creature, leaning excitedly over the table, and peering into Polly's +face. "Do you know how that deadly poison was injected into the poor +woman's system? By the simplest of all means, one known to every +scoundrel in Southern Europe. A ring--yes! a ring, which has a tiny +hollow needle capable of holding a sufficient quantity of prussic acid +to have killed two persons instead of one. The man in the tweed suit +shook hands with his fair companion--probably she hardly felt the prick, +not sufficiently in any case to make her utter a scream. And, mind you, +the scoundrel had every facility, through his friendship with Mr. +Errington, of procuring what poison he required, not to mention his +friend's visiting card. We cannot gauge how many months ago he began to +try and copy Frank Errington in his style of dress, the cut of his +moustache, his general appearance, making the change probably so +gradual, that no one in his own _entourage_ would notice it. He +selected for his model a man his own height and build, with the same +coloured hair." + +"But there was the terrible risk of being identified by his +fellow-traveller in the Underground," suggested Polly. + +"Yes, there certainly was that risk; he chose to take it, and he was +wise. He reckoned that several days would in any case elapse before that +person, who, by the way, was a business man absorbed in his newspaper, +would actually see him again. The great secret of successful crime is to +study human nature," added the man in the corner, as he began looking +for his hat and coat. "Edward Hazeldene knew it well." + +"But the ring?" + +"He may have bought that when he was on his honeymoon," he suggested +with a grim chuckle; "the tragedy was not planned in a week, it may have +taken years to mature. But you will own that there goes a frightful +scoundrel unhung. I have left you his photograph as he was a year ago, +and as he is now. You will see he has shaved his beard again, but also +his moustache. I fancy he is a friend now of Mr. Andrew Campbell." + +He left Miss Polly Burton wondering, not knowing what to believe. + +And that is why she missed her appointment with Mr. Richard Frobisher +(of the _London Mail_) to go and see Maud Allan dance at the Palace +Theatre that afternoon. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE LIVERPOOL MYSTERY + + +"A title--a foreign title, I mean--is always very useful for purposes of +swindles and frauds," remarked the man in the corner to Polly one day. +"The cleverest robberies of modern times were perpetrated lately in +Vienna by a man who dubbed himself Lord Seymour; whilst over here the +same class of thief calls himself Count Something ending in 'o,' or +Prince the other, ending in 'off.'" + +"Fortunately for our hotel and lodging-house keepers over here," she +replied, "they are beginning to be more alive to the ways of foreign +swindlers, and look upon all titled gentry who speak broken English as +possible swindlers or thieves." + +"The result sometimes being exceedingly unpleasant to the real _grands +seigneurs_ who honour this country at times with their visits," replied +the man in the corner. "Now, take the case of Prince Semionicz, a man +whose sixteen quarterings are duly recorded in Gotha, who carried enough +luggage with him to pay for the use of every room in an hotel for at +least a week, whose gold cigarette case with diamond and turquoise +ornament was actually stolen without his taking the slightest trouble to +try and recover it; that same man was undoubtedly looked upon with +suspicion by the manager of the Liverpool North-Western Hotel from the +moment that his secretary--a dapper, somewhat vulgar little +Frenchman--bespoke on behalf of his employer, with himself and a valet, +the best suite of rooms the hotel contained. + +"Obviously those suspicions were unfounded, for the little secretary, as +soon as Prince Semionicz had arrived, deposited with the manager a pile +of bank notes, also papers and bonds, the value of which would exceed +tenfold the most outrageous bill that could possibly be placed before +the noble visitor. Moreover, M. Albert Lambert explained that the +Prince, who only meant to stay in Liverpool a few days, was on his way +to Chicago, where he wished to visit Princess Anna Semionicz, his +sister, who was married to Mr. Girwan, the great copper king and +multi-millionaire. + +"Yet, as I told you before, in spite of all these undoubted securities, +suspicion of the wealthy Russian Prince lurked in the minds of most +Liverpudlians who came in business contact with him. He had been at the +North-Western two days when he sent his secretary to Window and +Vassall, the jewellers of Bold Street, with a request that they would +kindly send a representative round to the hotel with some nice pieces of +jewellery, diamonds and pearls chiefly, which he was desirous of taking +as a present to his sister in Chicago. + +"Mr. Winslow took the order from M. Albert with a pleasant bow. Then he +went to his inner office and consulted with his partner, Mr. Vassall, as +to the best course to adopt. Both the gentlemen were desirous of doing +business, for business had been very slack lately: neither wished to +refuse a possible customer, or to offend Mr. Pettitt, the manager of the +North-Western, who had recommended them to the Prince. But that foreign +title and the vulgar little French secretary stuck in the throats of the +two pompous and worthy Liverpool jewellers, and together they agreed, +firstly, that no credit should be given; and, secondly, that if a cheque +or even a banker's draft were tendered, the jewels were not to be given +up until that cheque or draft was cashed. + +"Then came the question as to who should take the jewels to the hotel. +It was altogether against business etiquette for the senior partners to +do such errands themselves; moreover, it was thought that it would be +easier for a clerk to explain, without giving undue offence, that he +could not take the responsibility of a cheque or draft, without having +cashed it previously to giving up the jewels. + +"Then there was the question of the probable necessity of conferring in +a foreign tongue. The head assistant, Charles Needham, who had been in +the employ of Winslow and Vassall for over twelve years, was, in true +British fashion, ignorant of any language save his own; it was therefore +decided to dispatch Mr. Schwarz, a young German clerk lately arrived, on +the delicate errand. + +"Mr. Schwarz was Mr. Winslow's nephew and godson, a sister of that +gentleman having married the head of the great German firm of Schwarz & +Co., silversmiths, of Hamburg and Berlin. + +"The young man had soon become a great favourite with his uncle, whose +heir he would presumably be, as Mr. Winslow had no children. + +"At first Mr. Vassall made some demur about sending Mr. Schwarz with so +many valuable jewels alone in a city which he had not yet had the time +to study thoroughly; but finally he allowed himself to be persuaded by +his senior partner, and a fine selection of necklaces, pendants, +bracelets, and rings, amounting in value to over £16,000, having been +made, it was decided that Mr. Schwarz should go to the North-Western in +a cab the next day at about three o'clock in the afternoon. This he +accordingly did, the following day being a Thursday. + +"Business went on in the shop as usual under the direction of the head +assistant, until about seven o'clock, when Mr. Winslow returned from his +club, where he usually spent an hour over the papers every afternoon, +and at once asked for his nephew. To his astonishment Mr. Needham +informed him that Mr. Schwarz had not yet returned. This seemed a little +strange, and Mr. Winslow, with a slightly anxious look in his face, went +into the inner office in order to consult his junior partner. Mr. +Vassall offered to go round to the hotel and interview Mr. Pettitt. + +"'I was beginning to get anxious myself,' he said, 'but did not quite +like to say so. I have been in over half an hour, hoping every moment +that you would come in, and that perhaps you could give me some +reassuring news. I thought that perhaps you had met Mr. Schwarz, and +were coming back together.' + +"However, Mr. Vassall walked round to the hotel and interviewed the hall +porter. The latter perfectly well remembered Mr. Schwarz sending in his +card to Prince Semionicz. + +"'At what time was that?' asked Mr. Vassall. + +"'About ten minutes past three, sir, when he came; it was about an hour +later when he left.' + +"'When he left?' gasped, more than said, Mr. Vassall. + +"'Yes, sir. Mr. Schwarz left here about a quarter before four, sir.' + +"'Are you quite sure?' + +"'Quite sure. Mr. Pettitt was in the hall when he left, and he asked him +something about business. Mr. Schwarz laughed and said, "not bad." I +hope there's nothing wrong, sir,' added the man. + +"'Oh--er--nothing--thank you. Can I see Mr. Pettitt?' + +"'Certainly, sir.' + +"Mr. Pettitt, the manager of the hotel, shared Mr. Vassall's anxiety, +immediately he heard that the young German had not yet returned home. + +"'I spoke to him a little before four o'clock. We had just switched on +the electric light, which we always do these winter months at that hour. +But I shouldn't worry myself, Mr. Vassall; the young man may have seen +to some business on his way home. You'll probably find him in when you +go back.' + +"Apparently somewhat reassured, Mr. Vassall thanked Mr. Pettitt and +hurried back to the shop, only to find that Mr. Schwarz had not +returned, though it was now close on eight o'clock. + +"Mr. Winslow looked so haggard and upset that it would have been cruel +to heap reproaches upon his other troubles or to utter so much as the +faintest suspicion that young Schwarz's permanent disappearance with +£16,000 in jewels and money was within the bounds of probability. + +"There was one chance left, but under the circumstances a very slight +one indeed. The Winslows' private house was up the Birkenhead end of the +town. Young Schwarz had been living with them ever since his arrival in +Liverpool, and he may have--either not feeling well or for some other +reason--gone straight home without calling at the shop. It was unlikely, +as valuable jewellery was never kept at the private house, but--it just +might have happened. + +"It would be useless," continued the man in the corner, "and decidedly +uninteresting, were I to relate to you Messrs. Winslow's and Vassall's +further anxieties with regard to the missing young man. Suffice it to +say that on reaching his private house Mr. Winslow found that his godson +had neither returned nor sent any telegraphic message of any kind. + +"Not wishing to needlessly alarm his wife, Mr. Winslow made an attempt +at eating his dinner, but directly after that he hurried back to the +North-Western Hotel, and asked to see Prince Semionicz. The Prince was +at the theatre with his secretary, and probably would not be home until +nearly midnight. + +"Mr. Winslow, then, not knowing what to think, nor yet what to fear, and +in spite of the horror he felt of giving publicity to his nephew's +disappearance, thought it his duty to go round to the police-station and +interview the inspector. It is wonderful how quickly news of that type +travels in a large city like Liverpool. Already the morning papers of +the following day were full of the latest sensation: 'Mysterious +disappearance of a well-known tradesman.' + +"Mr. Winslow found a copy of the paper containing the sensational +announcement on his breakfast-table. It lay side by side with a letter +addressed to him in his nephew's handwriting, which had been posted in +Liverpool. + +"Mr. Winslow placed that letter, written to him by his nephew, into the +hands of the police. Its contents, therefore, quickly became public +property. The astounding statements made therein by Mr. Schwarz created, +in quiet, businesslike Liverpool, a sensation which has seldom been +equalled. + +"It appears that the young fellow did call on Prince Semionicz at a +quarter past three on Wednesday, December 10th, with a bag full of +jewels, amounting in value to some £16,000. The Prince duly admired, and +finally selected from among the ornaments a necklace, pendant, and +bracelet, the whole being priced by Mr. Schwarz, according to his +instructions, at £10,500. Prince Semionicz was most prompt and +businesslike in his dealings. + +"'You will require immediate payment for these, of course,' he said in +perfect English, 'and I know you business men prefer solid cash to +cheques, especially when dealing with foreigners. I always provide +myself with plenty of Bank of England notes in consequence,' he added +with a pleasant smile, 'as £10,500 in gold would perhaps be a little +inconvenient to carry. If you will kindly make out the receipt, my +secretary, M. Lambert, will settle all business matters with you.' + +"He thereupon took the jewels he had selected and locked them up in his +dressing-case, the beautiful silver fillings of which Mr. Schwarz just +caught a short glimpse of. Then, having been accommodated with paper and +ink, the young jeweller made out the account and receipt, whilst M. +Lambert, the secretary, counted out before him 105 crisp Bank of England +notes of £100 each. Then, with a final bow to his exceedingly urbane and +eminently satisfactory customer, Mr. Schwarz took his leave. In the hall +he saw and spoke to Mr. Pettitt, and then he went out into the street. + +"He had just left the hotel and was about to cross towards St. George's +Hall when a gentleman, in a magnificent fur coat, stepped quickly out of +a cab which had been stationed near the kerb, and, touching him lightly +upon the shoulder, said with an unmistakable air of authority, at the +same time handing him a card: + +"'That is my name. I must speak with you immediately." + +"Schwarz glanced at the card, and by the light of the arc lamps above +his head read on it the name of 'Dimitri Slaviansky Burgreneff, de la +IIIe Section de la Police Imperial de S.M. le Czar.' + +"Quickly the owner of the unpronounceable name and the significant title +pointed to the cab from which he had just alighted, and Schwarz, whose +every suspicion with regard to his princely customer bristled up in one +moment, clutched his bag and followed his imposing interlocutor; as soon +as they were both comfortably seated in the cab the latter began, with +courteous apology in broken but fluent English: + +"'I must ask your pardon, sir, for thus trespassing upon your valuable +time, and I certainly should not have done so but for the certainty that +our interests in a certain matter which I have in hand are practically +identical, in so far that we both should wish to outwit a clever rogue.' + +"Instinctively, and his mind full of terrible apprehension, Mr. +Schwarz's hand wandered to his pocket-book, filled to overflowing with +the bank-notes which he had so lately received from the Prince. + +"'Ah, I see,' interposed the courteous Russian with a smile, 'he has +played the confidence trick on you, with the usual addition of so many +so-called bank-notes.' + +"'So-called,' gasped the unfortunate young man. + +"'I don't think I often err in my estimate of my own countrymen,' +continued M. Burgreneff; 'I have vast experience, you must remember. +Therefore, I doubt if I am doing M.--er--what does he call +himself?--Prince something--an injustice if I assert, even without +handling those crisp bits of paper you have in your pocket-book, that no +bank would exchange them for gold.' + +"Remembering his uncle's suspicions and his own, Mr. Schwarz cursed +himself for his blindness and folly in accepting notes so easily without +for a moment imagining that they might be false. Now, with every one of +those suspicions fully on the alert, he felt the bits of paper with +nervous, anxious fingers, while the imperturbable Russian calmly struck +a match. + +"'See here,' he said, pointing to one of the notes, 'the shape of that +"w" in the signature of the chief cashier. I am not an English police +officer, but I could pick out that spurious "w" among a thousand genuine +ones. You see, I have seen a good many.' + +"Now, of course, poor young Schwarz had not seen very many Bank of +England notes. He could not have told whether one 'w' in Mr. Bowen's +signature is better than another, but, though he did not speak English +nearly as fluently as his pompous interlocutor, he understood every word +of the appalling statement the latter had just made. + +"'Then that Prince,' he said, 'at the hotel--' + +"'Is no more Prince than you and I, my dear sir,' concluded the +gentleman of His Imperial Majesty's police calmly. + +"'And the jewels? Mr. Winslow's jewels?' + +"'With the jewels there may be a chance--oh! a mere chance. These forged +bank-notes, which you accepted so trustingly, may prove the means of +recovering your property.' + +"'How?' + +"'The penalty of forging and circulating spurious bank-notes is very +heavy. You know that. The fear of seven years' penal servitude will act +as a wonderful sedative upon the--er--Prince's joyful mood. He will give +up the jewels to me all right enough, never you fear. He knows,' added +the Russian officer grimly, 'that there are plenty of old scores to +settle up, without the additional one of forged bank-notes. Our +interests, you see, are identical. May I rely on your co-operation?' + +"'Oh, I will do as you wish,' said the delighted young German. 'Mr. +Winslow and Mr. Vassall, they trusted me, and I have been such a fool. I +hope it is not too late.' + +"'I think not,' said M. Burgreneff, his hand already on the door of the +cab. 'Though I have been talking to you I have kept an eye on the hotel, +and our friend the Prince has not yet gone out. We are accustomed, you +know, to have eyes everywhere, we of the Russian secret police. I don't +think that I will ask you to be present at the confrontation. Perhaps +you will wait for me in the cab. There is a nasty fog outside, and you +will be more private. Will you give me those beautiful bank-notes? Thank +you! Don't be anxious. I won't be long.' + +"He lifted his hat, and slipped the notes into the inner pocket of his +magnificent fur coat. As he did so, Mr. Schwarz caught sight of a rich +uniform and a wide sash, which no doubt was destined to carry additional +moral weight with the clever rogue upstairs. + +"Then His Imperial Majesty's police officer stepped quickly out of the +cab, and Mr. Schwarz was left alone." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A CUNNING RASCAL + + +"Yes, left severely alone," continued the man in the corner with a +sarcastic chuckle. "So severely alone, in fact, that one quarter of an +hour after another passed by and still the magnificent police officer in +the gorgeous uniform did not return. Then, when it was too late, Schwarz +cursed himself once again for the double-dyed idiot that he was. He had +been only too ready to believe that Prince Semionicz was a liar and a +rogue, and under these unjust suspicions he had fallen an all too easy +prey to one of the most cunning rascals he had ever come across. + +"An inquiry from the hall porter at the North-Western elicited the fact +that no such personage as Mr. Schwarz described had entered the hotel. +The young man asked to see Prince Semionicz, hoping against hope that +all was not yet lost. The Prince received him most courteously; he was +dictating some letters to his secretary, while the valet was in the next +room preparing his master's evening clothes. Mr. Schwarz found it very +difficult to explain what he actually did want. + +"There stood the dressing-case in which the Prince had locked up the +jewels, and there the bag from which the secretary had taken the +bank-notes. After much hesitation on Schwarz's part and much impatience +on that of the Prince, the young man blurted out the whole story of the +so-called Russian police officer whose card he still held in his hand. + +"The Prince, it appears, took the whole thing wonderfully +good-naturedly; no doubt he thought the jeweller a hopeless fool. He +showed him the jewels, the receipt he held, and also a large bundle of +bank-notes similar to those Schwarz had with such culpable folly given +up to the clever rascal in the cab. + +"'I pay all my bills with Bank of England notes, Mr. Schwarz. It would +have been wiser, perhaps, if you had spoken to the manager of the hotel +about me before you were so ready to believe any cock-and-bull story +about my supposed rogueries.' + +"Finally he placed a small 16mo volume before the young jeweller, and +said with a pleasant smile: + +"'If people in this country who are in a large way of business, and are +therefore likely to come in contact with people of foreign nationality, +were to study these little volumes before doing business with any +foreigner who claims a title, much disappointment and a great loss would +often be saved. Now in this case had you looked up page 797 of this +little volume of Gotha's Almanach you would have seen my name in it and +known from the first that the so-called Russian detective was a liar.' + +"There was nothing more to be said, and Mr. Schwarz left the hotel. No +doubt, now that he had been hopelessly duped he dared not go home, and +half hoped by communicating with the police that they might succeed in +arresting the thief before he had time to leave Liverpool. He +interviewed Detective-Inspector Watson, and was at once confronted with +the awful difficulty which would make the recovery of the bank-notes +practically hopeless. He had never had the time or opportunity of +jotting down the numbers of the notes. + +"Mr. Winslow, though terribly wrathful against his nephew, did not wish +to keep him out of his home. As soon as he had received Schwarz's +letter, he traced him, with Inspector Watson's help, to his lodgings in +North Street, where the unfortunate young man meant to remain hidden +until the terrible storm had blown over, or perhaps until the thief had +been caught red-handed with the booty still in his hands. + +"This happy event, needless to say, never did occur, though the police +made every effort to trace the man who had decoyed Schwarz into the cab. +His appearance was such an uncommon one; it seemed most unlikely that no +one in Liverpool should have noticed him after he left that cab. The +wonderful fur coat, the long beard, all must have been noticeable, even +though it was past four o'clock on a somewhat foggy December afternoon. + +"But every investigation proved futile; no one answering Schwarz's +description of the man had been seen anywhere. The papers continued to +refer to the case as 'the Liverpool Mystery.' Scotland Yard sent Mr. +Fairburn down--the celebrated detective--at the request of the Liverpool +police, to help in the investigations, but nothing availed. + +"Prince Semionicz, with his suite, left Liverpool, and he who had +attempted to blacken his character, and had succeeded in robbing Messrs. +Winslow and Vassall of £10,500, had completely disappeared." + +The man in the corner readjusted his collar and necktie, which, during +the narrative of this interesting mystery, had worked its way up his +long, crane-like neck under his large flappy ears. His costume of +checked tweed of a peculiarly loud pattern had tickled the fancy of some +of the waitresses, who were standing gazing at him and giggling in one +corner. This evidently made him nervous. He gazed up very meekly at +Polly, looking for all the world like a bald-headed adjutant dressed for +a holiday. + +"Of course, all sorts of theories of the theft got about at first. One +of the most popular, and at the same time most quickly exploded, being +that young Schwarz had told a cock-and-bull story, and was the actual +thief himself. + +"However, as I said before, that was very quickly exploded, as Mr. +Schwarz senior, a very wealthy merchant, never allowed his son's +carelessness to be a serious loss to his kind employers. As soon as he +thoroughly grasped all the circumstances of the extraordinary case, he +drew a cheque for £10,500 and remitted it to Messrs. Winslow and +Vassall. It was just, but it was also high-minded. + +"All Liverpool knew of the generous action, as Mr. Winslow took care +that it should; and any evil suspicion regarding young Mr. Schwarz +vanished as quickly as it had come. + +"Then, of course, there was the theory about the Prince and his suite, +and to this day I fancy there are plenty of people in Liverpool, and +also in London, who declare that the so-called Russian police officer +was a confederate. No doubt that theory was very plausible, and Messrs. +Winslow and Vassall spent a good deal of money in trying to prove a case +against the Russian Prince. + +"Very soon, however, that theory was also bound to collapse. Mr. +Fairburn, whose reputation as an investigator of crime waxes in direct +inverted ratio to his capacities, did hit upon the obvious course of +interviewing the managers of the larger London and Liverpool _agents de +change_. He soon found that Prince Semionicz had converted a great deal +of Russian and French money into English bank-notes since his arrival in +this country. More than £30,000 in good solid, honest money was traced +to the pockets of the gentleman with the sixteen quarterings. It seemed, +therefore, more than improbable that a man who was obviously fairly +wealthy would risk imprisonment and hard labour, if not worse, for the +sake of increasing his fortune by £10,000. + +"However, the theory of the Prince's guilt has taken firm root in the +dull minds of our police authorities. They have had every information +with regard to Prince Semionicz's antecedents from Russia; his position, +his wealth, have been placed above suspicion, and yet they suspect and +go on suspecting him or his secretary. They have communicated with the +police of every European capital; and while they still hope to obtain +sufficient evidence against those they suspect, they calmly allow the +guilty to enjoy the fruit of his clever roguery." + +"The guilty?" said Polly. "Who do you think--" + +"Who do I think knew at that moment that young Schwarz had money in his +possession?" he said excitedly, wriggling in his chair like a +Jack-in-the-box. "Obviously some one was guilty of that theft who knew +that Schwarz had gone to interview a rich Russian, and would in all +probability return with a large sum of money in his possession?" + +"Who, indeed, but the Prince and his secretary?" she argued. "But just +now you said--" + +"Just now I said that the police were determined to find the Prince and +his secretary guilty; they did not look further than their own stumpy +noses. Messrs. Winslow and Vassall spent money with a free hand in those +investigations. Mr. Winslow, as the senior partner, stood to lose over +£9000 by that robbery. Now, with Mr. Vassall it was different. + +"When I saw how the police went on blundering in this case I took the +trouble to make certain inquiries, the whole thing interested me so +much, and I learnt all that I wished to know. I found out, namely, that +Mr. Vassall was very much a junior partner in the firm, that he only +drew ten per cent of the profits, having been promoted lately to a +partnership from having been senior assistant. + +"Now, the police did not take the trouble to find that out." + +"But you don't mean that--" + +"I mean that in all cases where robbery affects more than one person the +first thing to find out is whether it affects the second party equally +with the first. I proved that to you, didn't I, over that robbery in +Phillimore Terrace? There, as here, one of the two parties stood to +lose very little in comparison with the other--" + +"Even then--" she began. + +"Wait a moment, for I found out something more. The moment I had +ascertained that Mr. Vassall was not drawing more than about £500 a year +from the business profits I tried to ascertain at what rate he lived and +what were his chief vices. I found that he kept a fine house in Albert +Terrace. Now, the rents of those houses are £250 a year. Therefore +speculation, horse-racing or some sort of gambling, must help to keep up +that establishment. Speculation and most forms of gambling are +synonymous with debt and ruin. It is only a question of time. Whether +Mr. Vassall was in debt or not at the time, that I cannot say, but this +I do know, that ever since that unfortunate loss to him of about £1000 +he has kept his house in nicer style than before, and he now has a good +banking account at the Lancashire and Liverpool bank, which he opened a +year after his 'heavy loss.'" + +"But it must have been very difficult--" argued Polly. + +"What?" he said. "To have planned out the whole thing? For carrying it +out was mere child's play. He had twenty-four hours in which to put his +plan into execution. Why, what was there to do? Firstly, to go to a +local printer in some out-of-the-way part of the town and get him to +print a few cards with the high-sounding name. That, of course, is done +'while you wait.' Beyond that there was the purchase of a good +second-hand uniform, fur coat, and a beard and a wig from a costumier's. + +"No, no, the execution was not difficult; it was the planning of it all, +the daring that was so fine. Schwarz, of course, was a foreigner; he had +only been in England a little over a fortnight. Vassall's broken English +misled him; probably he did not know the junior partner very intimately. +I have no doubt that but for his uncle's absurd British prejudice and +suspicions against the Russian Prince, Schwarz would not have been so +ready to believe in the latter's roguery. As I said, it would be a great +boon if English tradesmen studied Gotha more; but it was clever, wasn't +it? I couldn't have done it much better myself." + +That last sentence was so characteristic. Before Polly could think of +some plausible argument against his theory he was gone, and she was +trying vainly to find another solution to the Liverpool mystery. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE EDINBURGH MYSTERY + + +The man in the corner had not enjoyed his lunch. Miss Polly Burton could +see that he had something on his mind, for, even before he began to talk +that morning, he was fidgeting with his bit of string, and setting all +her nerves on the jar. + +"Have you ever felt real sympathy with a criminal or a thief?" he asked +her after a while. + +"Only once, I think," she replied, "and then I am not quite sure that +the unfortunate woman who did enlist my sympathies was the criminal you +make her out to be." + +"You mean the heroine of the York mystery?" he replied blandly. "I know +that you tried very hard that time to discredit the only possible +version of that mysterious murder, the version which is my own. Now, I +am equally sure that you have at the present moment no more notion as to +who killed and robbed poor Lady Donaldson in Charlotte Square, +Edinburgh, than the police have themselves, and yet you are fully +prepared to pooh-pooh my arguments, and to disbelieve my version of the +mystery. Such is the lady journalist's mind." + +"If you have some cock-and-bull story to explain that extraordinary +case," she retorted, "of course I shall disbelieve it. Certainly, if you +are going to try and enlist my sympathies on behalf of Edith Crawford, I +can assure you you won't succeed." + +"Well, I don't know that that is altogether my intention. I see you are +interested in the case, but I dare say you don't remember all the +circumstances. You must forgive me if I repeat that which you know +already. If you have ever been to Edinburgh at all, you will have heard +of Graham's bank, and Mr. Andrew Graham, the present head of the firm, +is undoubtedly one of the most prominent notabilities of 'modern +Athens.'" + +The man in the corner took two or three photos from his pocket-book and +placed them before the young girl; then, pointing at them with his long +bony finger-- + +"That," he said, "is Mr. Elphinstone Graham, the eldest son, a typical +young Scotchman, as you see, and this is David Graham, the second son." + +Polly looked more closely at this last photo, and saw before her a young +face, upon which some lasting sorrow seemed already to have left its +mark. The face was delicate and thin, the features pinched, and the +eyes seemed almost unnaturally large and prominent. + +"He was deformed," commented the man in the corner in answer to the +girl's thoughts, "and, as such, an object of pity and even of repugnance +to most of his friends. There was also a good deal of talk in Edinburgh +society as to his mental condition, his mind, according to many intimate +friends of the Grahams, being at times decidedly unhinged. Be that as it +may, I fancy that his life must have been a very sad one; he had lost +his mother when quite a baby, and his father seemed, strangely enough, +to have an almost unconquerable dislike towards him. + +"Every one got to know presently of David Graham's sad position in his +father's own house, and also of the great affection lavished upon him by +his godmother, Lady Donaldson, who was a sister of Mr. Graham's. + +"She was a lady of considerable wealth, being the widow of Sir George +Donaldson, the great distiller; but she seems to have been decidedly +eccentric. Latterly she had astonished all her family--who were rigid +Presbyterians--by announcing her intention of embracing the Roman +Catholic faith, and then retiring to the convent of St. Augustine's at +Newton Abbot in Devonshire. + +"She had sole and absolute control of the vast fortune which a doting +husband had bequeathed to her. Clearly, therefore, she was at liberty +to bestow it upon a Devonshire convent if she chose. But this evidently +was not altogether her intention. + +"I told you how fond she was of her deformed godson, did I not? Being a +bundle of eccentricities, she had many hobbies, none more pronounced +than the fixed determination to see--before retiring from the world +altogether--David Graham happily married. + +"Now, it appears that David Graham, ugly, deformed, half-demented as he +was, had fallen desperately in love with Miss Edith Crawford, daughter +of the late Dr. Crawford, of Prince's Gardens. The young lady, +however--very naturally, perhaps--fought shy of David Graham, who, about +this time, certainly seemed very queer and morose, but Lady Donaldson, +with characteristic determination, seems to have made up her mind to +melt Miss Crawford's heart towards her unfortunate nephew. + +"On October the 2nd last, at a family party given by Mr. Graham in his +fine mansion in Charlotte Square, Lady Donaldson openly announced her +intention of making over, by deed of gift, to her nephew, David Graham, +certain property, money, and shares, amounting in total value to the sum +of £100,000, and also her magnificent diamonds, which were worth +£50,000, for the use of the said David's wife. Keith Macfinlay, a lawyer +of Prince's Street, received the next day instructions for drawing up +the necessary deed of gift, which she pledged herself to sign the day of +her godson's wedding. + +"A week later _The Scotsman_ contained the following paragraph:-- + +"'A marriage is arranged and will shortly take place between David, +younger son of Andrew Graham, Esq., of Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, and +Dochnakirk, Perthshire, and Edith Lillian, only surviving daughter of +the late Dr. Kenneth Crawford, of Prince's Gardens.' + +"In Edinburgh society comments were loud and various upon the +forthcoming marriage, and, on the whole, these comments were far from +complimentary to the families concerned. I do not think that the Scotch +are a particularly sentimental race, but there was such obvious buying, +selling, and bargaining about this marriage that Scottish chivalry rose +in revolt at the thought. + +"Against that the three people most concerned seemed perfectly +satisfied. David Graham was positively transformed; his moroseness was +gone from him, he lost his queer ways and wild manners, and became +gentle and affectionate in the midst of this great and unexpected +happiness. Miss Edith Crawford ordered her trousseau, and talked of the +diamonds to her friends, and Lady Donaldson was only waiting for the +consummation of this marriage--her heart's desire--before she finally +retired from the world, at peace with it and with herself. + +"The deed of gift was ready for signature on the wedding day, which was +fixed for November 7th, and Lady Donaldson took up her abode temporarily +in her brother's house in Charlotte Square. + +"Mr. Graham gave a large ball on October 23rd. Special interest is +attached to this ball, from the fact that for this occasion Lady +Donaldson insisted that David's future wife should wear the magnificent +diamonds which were soon to become hers. + +"They were, it seems, superb, and became Miss Crawford's stately beauty +to perfection. The ball was a brilliant success, the last guest leaving +at four a.m. The next day it was the universal topic of conversation, +and the day after that, when Edinburgh unfolded the late editions of its +morning papers, it learned with horror and dismay that Lady Donaldson +had been found murdered in her room, and that the celebrated diamonds +had been stolen. + +"Hardly had the beautiful little city, however, recovered from this +awful shock, than its newspapers had another thrilling sensation ready +for their readers. + +"Already all Scotch and English papers had mysteriously hinted at +'startling information' obtained by the Procurator Fiscal, and at an +'impending sensational arrest.' + +"Then the announcement came, and every one in Edinburgh read, +horror-struck and aghast, that the 'sensational arrest' was none other +than that of Miss Edith Crawford, for murder and robbery, both so daring +and horrible that reason refused to believe that a young lady, born and +bred in the best social circle, could have conceived, much less +executed, so heinous a crime. She had been arrested in London at the +Midland Hotel, and brought to Edinburgh, where she was judicially +examined, bail being refused." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A TERRIBLE PLIGHT + + +"Little more than a fortnight after that, Edith Crawford was duly +committed to stand her trial before the High Court of Justiciary. She +had pleaded 'Not Guilty' at the pleading diet, and her defence was +entrusted to Sir James Fenwick, one of the most eminent advocates at the +Criminal Bar. + +"Strange to say," continued the man in the corner after a while, "public +opinion from the first went dead against the accused. The public is +absolutely like a child, perfectly irresponsible and wholly illogical; +it argued that since Miss Crawford had been ready to contract a marriage +with a half-demented, deformed creature for the sake of his £100,000 she +must have been equally ready to murder and rob an old lady for the sake +of £50,000 worth of jewellery, without the encumbrance of so undesirable +a husband. + +"Perhaps the great sympathy aroused in the popular mind for David Graham +had much to do with this ill-feeling against the accused. David Graham +had, by this cruel and dastardly murder, lost the best--if not the +only--friend he possessed. He had also lost at one fell swoop the large +fortune which Lady Donaldson had been about to assign to him. + +"The deed of gift had never been signed, and the old lady's vast wealth, +instead of enriching her favourite nephew, was distributed--since she +had made no will--amongst her heirs-at-law. And now to crown this long +chapter of sorrow David Graham saw the girl he loved accused of the +awful crime which had robbed him of friend and fortune. + +"It was, therefore, with an unmistakable thrill of righteous +satisfaction that Edinburgh society saw this 'mercenary girl' in so +terrible a plight. + +"I was immensely interested in the case, and journeyed down to Edinburgh +in order to get a good view of the chief actors in the thrilling drama +which was about to be unfolded there. + +"I succeeded--I generally do--in securing one of the front seats among +the audience, and was already comfortably installed in my place in court +when through the trap door I saw the head of the prisoner emerge. She +was very becomingly dressed in deep black, and, led by two policemen, +she took her place in the dock. Sir James Fenwick shook hands with her +very warmly, and I could almost hear him instilling words of comfort +into her. + +"The trial lasted six clear days, during which time more than forty +persons were examined for the prosecution, and as many for the defence. +But the most interesting witnesses were certainly the two doctors, the +maid Tremlett, Campbell, the High Street jeweller, and David Graham. + +"There was, of course, a great deal of medical evidence to go through. +Poor Lady Donaldson had been found with a silk scarf tied tightly round +her neck, her face showing even to the inexperienced eye every symptom +of strangulation. + +"Then Tremlett, Lady Donaldson's confidential maid, was called. Closely +examined by Crown Counsel, she gave an account of the ball at Charlotte +Square on the 23rd, and the wearing of the jewels by Miss Crawford on +that occasion. + +"'I helped Miss Crawford on with the tiara over her hair,' she said; +'and my lady put the two necklaces round Miss Crawford's neck herself. +There were also some beautiful brooches, bracelets, and earrings. At +four o'clock in the morning when the ball was over, Miss Crawford +brought the jewels back to my lady's room. My lady had already gone to +bed, and I had put out the electric light, as I was going, too. There +was only one candle left in the room, close to the bed. + +"'Miss Crawford took all the jewels off, and asked Lady Donaldson for +the key of the safe, so that she might put them away. My lady gave her +the key and said to me, "You can go to bed, Tremlett, you must be dead +tired." I was glad to go, for I could hardly stand up--I was so tired. I +said "Good night!" to my lady and also to Miss Crawford, who was busy +putting the jewels away. As I was going out of the room I heard Lady +Donaldson saying: "Have you managed it, my dear?" Miss Crawford said: "I +have put everything away very nicely."' + +"In answer to Sir James Fenwick, Tremlett said that Lady Donaldson +always carried the key of her jewel safe on a ribbon round her neck, and +had done so the whole day preceding her death. + +"'On the night of the 24th,' she continued, 'Lady Donaldson still seemed +rather tired, and went up to her room directly after dinner, and while +the family were still sitting in the dining-room. She made me dress her +hair, then she slipped on her dressing-gown and sat in the arm-chair +with a book. She told me that she then felt strangely uncomfortable and +nervous, and could not account for it. + +"'However, she did not want me to sit with her, so I thought that the +best thing I could do was to tell Mr. David Graham that her ladyship did +not seem very cheerful. Her ladyship was so fond of Mr. David; it always +made her happy to have him with her. I then went to my room, and at +half-past eight Mr. David called me. He said: "Your mistress does seem a +little restless to-night. If I were you I would just go and listen at +her door in about an hour's time, and if she has not gone to bed I would +go in and stay with her until she has." At about ten o'clock I did as +Mr. David suggested, and listened at her ladyship's door. However, all +was quiet in the room, and, thinking her ladyship had gone to sleep, I +went back to bed. + +"'The next morning at eight o'clock, when I took in my mistress's cup of +tea, I saw her lying on the floor, her poor dear face all purple and +distorted. I screamed, and the other servants came rushing along. Then +Mr. Graham had the door locked and sent for the doctor and the police.' + +"The poor woman seemed to find it very difficult not to break down. She +was closely questioned by Sir James Fenwick, but had nothing further to +say. She had last seen her mistress alive at eight o'clock on the +evening of the 24th. + +"'And when you listened at her door at ten o'clock,' asked Sir James, +'did you try to open it?' + +"'I did, but it was locked,' she replied. + +"'Did Lady Donaldson usually lock her bedroom at night?' + +"'Nearly always.' + +"'And in the morning when you took in the tea?' + +"'The door was open. I walked straight in.' + +"'You are quite sure?' insisted Sir James. + +"'I swear it,' solemnly asserted the woman. + +"After that we were informed by several members of Mr. Graham's +establishment that Miss Crawford had been in to tea at Charlotte Square +in the afternoon of the 24th, that she told every one she was going to +London by the night mail, as she had some special shopping she wished to +do there. It appears that Mr. Graham and David both tried to persuade +her to stay to dinner, and then to go by the 9.10 p.m. from the +Caledonian Station. Miss Crawford however had refused, saying she always +preferred to go from the Waverley Station. It was nearer to her own +rooms, and she still had a good deal of writing to do. + +"In spite of this, two witnesses saw the accused in Charlotte Square +later on in the evening. She was carrying a bag which seemed heavy, and +was walking towards the Caledonian Railway Station. + +"But the most thrilling moment in that sensational trial was reached on +the second day, when David Graham, looking wretchedly ill, unkempt, and +haggard, stepped into the witness-box. A murmur of sympathy went round +the audience at sight of him, who was the second, perhaps, most deeply +stricken victim of the Charlotte Square tragedy. + +"David Graham, in answer to Crown Counsel, gave an account of his last +interview with Lady Donaldson. + +"'Tremlett had told me that she seemed anxious and upset, and I went to +have a chat with her; she soon cheered up and....' + +"There the unfortunate young man hesitated visibly, but after a while +resumed with an obvious effort. + +"'She spoke of my marriage, and of the gift she was about to bestow upon +me. She said the diamonds would be for my wife, and after that for my +daughter, if I had one. She also complained that Mr. Macfinlay had been +so punctilious about preparing the deed of gift, and that it was a great +pity the £100,000 could not just pass from her hands to mine without so +much fuss. + +"'I stayed talking with her for about half an hour; then I left her, as +she seemed ready to go to bed; but I told her maid to listen at the door +in about an hour's time.' + +"There was deep silence in the court for a few moments, a silence which +to me seemed almost electrical. It was as if, some time before it was +uttered, the next question put by Crown Counsel to the witness had +hovered in the air. + +"'You were engaged to Miss Edith Crawford at one time, were you not?' + +"One felt, rather than heard, the almost inaudible 'Yes' which escaped +from David Graham's compressed lips. + +"'Under what circumstances was that engagement broken off?' + +"Sir James Fenwick had already risen in protest, but David Graham had +been the first to speak. + +"'I do not think that I need answer that question.' + +"'I will put it in a different form, then,' said Crown Counsel +urbanely--'one to which my learned friend cannot possibly take +exception. Did you or did you not on October 27th receive a letter from +the accused, in which she desired to be released from her promise of +marriage to you?' + +"Again David Graham would have refused to answer, and he certainly gave +no audible reply to the learned counsel's question; but every one in the +audience there present--aye, every member of the jury and of the +bar--read upon David Graham's pale countenance and large, sorrowful eyes +that ominous 'Yes!' which had failed to reach his trembling lips." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +"NON PROVEN" + + +"There is no doubt," continued the man in the corner, "that what little +sympathy the young girl's terrible position had aroused in the public +mind had died out the moment that David Graham left the witness-box on +the second day of the trial. Whether Edith Crawford was guilty of murder +or not, the callous way in which she had accepted a deformed lover, and +then thrown him over, had set every one's mind against her. + +"It was Mr. Graham himself who had been the first to put the Procurator +Fiscal in possession of the fact that the accused had written to David +from London, breaking off her engagement. This information had, no +doubt, directed the attention of the Fiscal to Miss Crawford, and the +police soon brought forward the evidence which had led to her arrest. + +"We had a final sensation on the third day, when Mr. Campbell, jeweller, +of High Street, gave his evidence. He said that on October 25th a lady +came to his shop and offered to sell him a pair of diamond earrings. +Trade had been very bad, and he had refused the bargain, although the +lady seemed ready to part with the earrings for an extraordinarily low +sum, considering the beauty of the stones. + +"In fact it was because of this evident desire on the lady's part to +sell at _any_ cost that he had looked at her more keenly than he +otherwise would have done. He was now ready to swear that the lady that +offered him the diamond earrings was the prisoner in the dock. + +"I can assure you that as we all listened to this apparently damnatory +evidence, you might have heard a pin drop amongst the audience in that +crowded court. The girl alone, there in the dock, remained calm and +unmoved. Remember that for two days we had heard evidence to prove that +old Dr. Crawford had died leaving his daughter penniless, that having no +mother she had been brought up by a maiden aunt, who had trained her to +be a governess, which occupation she had followed for years, and that +certainly she had never been known by any of her friends to be in +possession of solitaire diamond earrings. + +"The prosecution had certainly secured an ace of trumps, but Sir James +Fenwick, who during the whole of that day had seemed to take little +interest in the proceedings, here rose from his seat, and I knew at once +that he had got a tit-bit in the way of a 'point' up his sleeve. Gaunt, +and unusually tall, and with his beak-like nose, he always looks +strangely impressive when he seriously tackles a witness. He did it this +time with a vengeance, I can tell you. He was all over the pompous +little jeweller in a moment. + +"'Had Mr. Campbell made a special entry in his book, as to the visit of +the lady in question?' + +"'No.' + +"'Had he any special means of ascertaining when that visit did actually +take place?' + +"'No--but--' + +"'What record had he of the visit?' + +"Mr. Campbell had none. In fact, after about twenty minutes of +cross-examination, he had to admit that he had given but little thought +to the interview with the lady at the time, and certainly not in +connection with the murder of Lady Donaldson, until he had read in the +papers that a young lady had been arrested. + +"Then he and his clerk talked the matter over, it appears, and together +they had certainly recollected that a lady had brought some beautiful +earrings for sale on a day which _must have been_ the very morning after +the murder. If Sir James Fenwick's object was to discredit this special +witness, he certainly gained his point. + +"All the pomposity went out of Mr. Campbell, he became flurried, then +excited, then he lost his temper. After that he was allowed to leave the +court, and Sir James Fenwick resumed his seat, and waited like a +vulture for its prey. + +"It presented itself in the person of Mr. Campbell's clerk, who, before +the Procurator Fiscal, had corroborated his employer's evidence in every +respect. In Scotland no witness in any one case is present in court +during the examination of another, and Mr. Macfarlane, the clerk, was, +therefore, quite unprepared for the pitfalls which Sir James Fenwick had +prepared for him. He tumbled into them, head foremost, and the eminent +advocate turned him inside out like a glove. + +"Mr. Macfarlane did not lose his temper; he was of too humble a frame of +mind to do that, but he got into a hopeless quagmire of mixed +recollections, and he too left the witness-box quite unprepared to swear +as to the day of the interview with the lady with the diamond earrings. + +"I dare say, mind you," continued the man in the corner with a chuckle, +"that to most people present, Sir James Fenwick's cross-questioning +seemed completely irrelevant. Both Mr. Campbell and his clerk were quite +ready to swear that they had had an interview concerning some diamond +earrings with a lady, of whose identity with the accused they were +perfectly convinced, and to the casual observer the question as to the +time or even the day when that interview took place could make but +little difference in the ultimate issue. + +"Now I took in, in a moment, the entire drift of Sir James Fenwick's +defence of Edith Crawford. When Mr. Macfarlane left the witness-box, the +second victim of the eminent advocate's caustic tongue, I could read as +in a book the whole history of that crime, its investigation, and the +mistakes made by the police first and the Public Prosecutor afterwards. + +"Sir James Fenwick knew them, too, of course, and he placed a finger +upon each one, demolishing--like a child who blows upon a house of +cards--the entire scaffolding erected by the prosecution. + +"Mr. Campbell's and Mr. Macfarlane's identification of the accused with +the lady who, on some date--admitted to be uncertain--had tried to sell +a pair of diamond earrings, was the first point. Sir James had plenty of +witnesses to prove that on the 25th, the day after the murder, the +accused was in London, whilst, the day before, Mr. Campbell's shop had +been closed long before the family circle had seen the last of Lady +Donaldson. Clearly the jeweller and his clerk must have seen some other +lady, whom their vivid imagination had pictured as being identical with +the accused. + +"Then came the great question of time. Mr. David Graham had been +evidently the last to see Lady Donaldson alive. He had spoken to her as +late as 8.30 p.m. Sir James Fenwick had called two porters at the +Caledonian Railway Station who testified to Miss Crawford having taken +her seat in a first-class carriage of the 9.10 train, some minutes +before it started. + +"'Was it conceivable, therefore,' argued Sir James, 'that in the space +of half an hour the accused--a young girl--could have found her way +surreptitiously into the house, at a time when the entire household was +still astir, that she should have strangled Lady Donaldson, forced open +the safe, and made away with the jewels? A man--an experienced burglar +might have done it, but I contend that the accused is physically +incapable of accomplishing such a feat. + +"'With regard to the broken engagement,' continued the eminent counsel +with a smile, 'it may have seemed a little heartless, certainly, but +heartlessness is no crime in the eyes of the law. The accused has stated +in her declaration that at the time she wrote to Mr. David Graham, +breaking off her engagement, she had heard nothing of the Edinburgh +tragedy. + +"'The London papers had reported the crime very briefly. The accused was +busy shopping; she knew nothing of Mr. David Graham's altered position. +In no case was the breaking off of the engagement a proof that the +accused had obtained possession of the jewels by so foul a deed.' + +"It is, of course, impossible for me," continued the man in the corner +apologetically, "to give you any idea of the eminent advocate's +eloquence and masterful logic. It struck every one, I think, just as it +did me, that he chiefly directed his attention to the fact that there +was absolutely no _proof_ against the accused. + +"Be that as it may, the result of that remarkable trial was a verdict of +'Non Proven.' The jury was absent forty minutes, and it appears that in +the mind of every one of them there remained, in spite of Sir James' +arguments, a firmly rooted conviction--call it instinct, if you +like--that Edith Crawford had done away with Lady Donaldson in order to +become possessed of those jewels, and that in spite of the pompous +jeweller's many contradictions, she had offered him some of those +diamonds for sale. But there was not enough proof to convict, and she +was given the benefit of the doubt. + +"I have heard English people argue that in England she would have been +hanged. Personally I doubt that. I think that an English jury, not +having the judicial loophole of 'Non Proven,' would have been bound to +acquit her. What do you think?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +UNDENIABLE FACTS + + +There was a moment's silence, for Polly did not reply immediately, and +he went on making impossible knots in his bit of string. Then she said +quietly-- + +"I think that I agree with those English people who say that an English +jury would have condemned her.... I have no doubt that she was guilty. +She may not have committed that awful deed herself. Some one in the +Charlotte Square house may have been her accomplice and killed and +robbed Lady Donaldson while Edith Crawford waited outside for the +jewels. David Graham left his godmother at 8.30 p.m. If the accomplice +was one of the servants in the house, he or she would have had plenty of +time for any amount of villainy, and Edith Crawford could have yet +caught the 9.10 p.m. train from the Caledonian Station." + +"Then who, in your opinion," he asked sarcastically, and cocking his +funny birdlike head on one side, "tried to sell diamond earrings to Mr. +Campbell, the jeweller?" + +"Edith Crawford, of course," she retorted triumphantly; "he and his +clerk both recognized her." + +"When did she try to sell them the earrings?" + +"Ah, that is what I cannot quite make out, and there to my mind lies the +only mystery in this case. On the 25th she was certainly in London, and +it is not very likely that she would go back to Edinburgh in order to +dispose of the jewels there, where they could most easily be traced." + +"Not very likely, certainly," he assented drily. + +"And," added the young girl, "on the day before she left for London, +Lady Donaldson was alive." + +"And pray," he said suddenly, as with comic complacency he surveyed a +beautiful knot he had just twisted up between his long fingers, "what +has that fact got to do with it?" + +"But it has everything to do with it!" she retorted. + +"Ah, there you go," he sighed with comic emphasis. "My teachings don't +seem to have improved your powers of reasoning. You are as bad as the +police. Lady Donaldson has been robbed and murdered, and you immediately +argue that she was robbed and murdered by the same person." + +"But--" argued Polly. + +"There is no but," he said, getting more and more excited. "See how +simple it is. Edith Crawford wears the diamonds one night, then she +brings them back to Lady Donaldson's room. Remember the maid's +statement: 'My lady said: "Have you put them back, my dear?"--a simple +statement, utterly ignored by the prosecution. But what did it mean? +That Lady Donaldson could not see for herself whether Edith Crawford had +put back the jewels or not, _since she asked the question_." + +"Then you argue--" + +"I never argue," he interrupted excitedly; "I state undeniable facts. +Edith Crawford, who wanted to steal the jewels, took them then and +there, when she had the opportunity. Why in the world should she have +waited? Lady Donaldson was in bed, and Tremlett, the maid, had gone. + +"The next day--namely, the 25th--she tries to dispose of a pair of +earrings to Mr. Campbell; she fails, and decides to go to London, where +she has a better chance. Sir James Fenwick did not think it desirable to +bring forward witnesses to prove what I have since ascertained is a +fact, namely, that on the 27th of October, three days before her arrest, +Miss Crawford crossed over to Belgium, and came back to London the next +day. In Belgium, no doubt, Lady Donaldson's diamonds, taken out of their +settings, calmly repose at this moment, while the money derived from +their sale is safely deposited in a Belgian bank." + +"But then, who murdered Lady Donaldson, and why?" gasped Polly. + +"Cannot you guess?" he queried blandly. "Have I not placed the case +clearly enough before you? To me it seems so simple. It was a daring, +brutal murder, remember. Think of one who, not being the thief himself, +would, nevertheless, have the strongest of all motives to shield the +thief from the consequences of her own misdeed: aye! and the power +too--since it would be absolutely illogical, nay, impossible, that he +should be an accomplice." + +"Surely----" + +"Think of a curious nature, warped morally, as well as physically--do +you know how those natures feel? A thousand times more strongly than the +even, straight natures in everyday life. Then think of such a nature +brought face to face with this awful problem. + +"Do you think that such a nature would hesitate a moment before +committing a crime to save the loved one from the consequences of that +deed? Mind you, I don't assert for a moment that David Graham had any +_intention_ of murdering Lady Donaldson. Tremlett tells him that she +seems strangely upset; he goes to her room and finds that she has +discovered that she has been robbed. She naturally suspects Edith +Crawford, recollects the incidents of the other night, and probably +expresses her feelings to David Graham, and threatens immediate +prosecution, scandal, what you will. + +"I repeat it again, I dare say he had no wish to kill her. Probably he +merely threatened to. A medical gentleman who spoke of sudden heart +failure was no doubt right. Then imagine David Graham's remorse, his +horror and his fears. The empty safe probably is the first object that +suggested to him the grim tableau of robbery and murder, which he +arranges in order to ensure his own safety. + +"But remember one thing: no miscreant was seen to enter or leave the +house surreptitiously; the murderer left no signs of entrance, and none +of exit. An armed burglar would have left some trace--_some one_ would +have heard _something_. Then who locked and unlocked Lady Donaldson's +door that night while she herself lay dead? + +"Some one in the house, I tell you--some one who left no trace--some one +against whom there could be no suspicion--some one who killed without +apparently the slightest premeditation, and without the slightest +motive. Think of it--I know I am right--and then tell me if I have at +all enlisted your sympathies in the author of the Edinburgh Mystery." + +He was gone. Polly looked again at the photo of David Graham. Did a +crooked mind really dwell in that crooked body, and were there in the +world such crimes that were great enough to be deemed sublime? + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE THEFT AT THE ENGLISH PROVIDENT BANK + + +"That question of motive is a very difficult and complicated one at +times," said the man in the corner, leisurely pulling off a huge pair of +flaming dog-skin gloves from his meagre fingers. "I have known +experienced criminal investigators declare, as an infallible axiom, that +to find the person interested in the committal of the crime is to find +the criminal. + +"Well, that may be so in most cases, but my experience has proved to me +that there is one factor in this world of ours which is the mainspring +of human actions, and that factor is human passions. For good or evil +passions rule this poor humanity of ours. Remember, there are the women! +French detectives, who are acknowledged masters in their craft, never +proceed till after they have discovered the feminine element in a crime; +whether in theft, murder, or fraud, according to their theory, there is +always a woman. + +"Perhaps the reason why the Phillimore Terrace robbery was never +brought home to its perpetrators is because there was no woman in any +way connected with it, and I am quite sure, on the other hand, that the +reason why the thief at the English Provident Bank is still unpunished +is because a clever woman has escaped the eyes of our police force." + +He had spoken at great length and very dictatorially. Miss Polly Burton +did not venture to contradict him, knowing by now that whenever he was +irritable he was invariably rude, and she then had the worst of it. + +"When I am old," he resumed, "and have nothing more to do, I think I +shall take professionally to the police force; they have much to learn." + +Could anything be more ludicrous than the self-satisfaction, the +abnormal conceit of this remark, made by that shrivelled piece of +mankind, in a nervous, hesitating tone of voice? Polly made no comment, +but drew from her pocket a beautiful piece of string, and knowing his +custom of knotting such an article while unravelling his mysteries, she +handed it across the table to him. She positively thought that he +blushed. + +"As an adjunct to thought," she said, moved by a conciliatory spirit. + +He looked at the invaluable toy which the young girl had tantalisingly +placed close to his hand: then he forced himself to look all round the +coffee-room: at Polly, at the waitresses, at the piles of pallid buns +upon the counter. But, involuntarily, his mild blue eyes wandered back +lovingly to the long piece of string, on which his playful imagination +no doubt already saw a series of knots which would be equally +tantalising to tie and to untie. + +"Tell me about the theft at the English Provident Bank," suggested Polly +condescendingly. + +He looked at her, as if she had proposed some mysterious complicity in +an unheard-of crime. Finally his lean fingers sought the end of the +piece of string, and drew it towards him. His face brightened up in a +moment. + +"There was an element of tragedy in that particular robbery," he began, +after a few moments of beatified knotting, "altogether different to that +connected with most crimes; a tragedy which, as far as I am concerned, +would seal my lips for ever, and forbid them to utter a word, which +might lead the police on the right track." + +"Your lips," suggested Polly sarcastically, "are, as far as I can see, +usually sealed before our long-suffering, incompetent police and--" + +"And you should be the last to grumble at this," he quietly interrupted, +"for you have spent some very pleasant half-hours already, listening to +what you have termed my 'cock-and-bull' stories. You know the English +Provident Bank, of course, in Oxford Street; there were plenty of +sketches of it at the time in the illustrated papers. Here is a photo of +the outside. I took it myself some time ago, and only wish I had been +cheeky or lucky enough to get a snap-shot of the interior. But you see +that the office has a separate entrance from the rest of the house, +which was, and still is, as is usual in such cases, inhabited by the +manager and his family. + +"Mr. Ireland was the manager then; it was less than six months ago. He +lived over the bank, with his wife and family, consisting of a son, who +was clerk in the business, and two or three younger children. The house +is really smaller than it looks on this photo, for it has no depth, and +only one set of rooms on each floor looking out into the street, the +back of the house being nothing but the staircase. Mr. Ireland and his +family, therefore, occupied the whole of it. + +"As for the business premises, they were, and, in fact, are, of the +usual pattern; an office with its rows of desks, clerks, and cashiers, +and beyond, through a glass door, the manager's private room, with the +ponderous safe, and desk, and so on. + +"The private room has a door into the hall of the house, so that the +manager is not obliged to go out into the street in order to go to +business. There are no living-rooms on the ground floor, and the house +has no basement. + +"I am obliged to put all these architectural details before you, though +they may sound rather dry and uninteresting, but they are really +necessary in order to make my argument clear. + +"At night, of course, the bank premises are barred and bolted against +the street, and as an additional precaution there is always a night +watchman in the office. As I mentioned before, there is only a glass +door between the office and the manager's private room. This, of course, +accounted for the fact that the night watchman heard all that he did +hear, on that memorable night, and so helped further to entangle the +thread of that impenetrable mystery. + +"Mr. Ireland as a rule went into his office every morning a little +before ten o'clock, but on that particular morning, for some reason +which he never could or would explain, he went down before having his +breakfast at about nine o'clock. Mrs. Ireland stated subsequently that, +not hearing him return, she sent the servant down to tell the master +that breakfast was getting cold. The girl's shrieks were the first +intimation that something alarming had occurred. + +"Mrs. Ireland hastened downstairs. On reaching the hall she found the +door of her husband's room open, and it was from there that the girl's +shrieks proceeded. + +"'The master, mum--the poor master--he is dead, mum--I am sure he is +dead!'--accompanied by vigorous thumps against the glass partition, and +not very measured language on the part of the watchman from the outer +office, such as--'Why don't you open the door instead of making that +row?' + +"Mrs. Ireland is not the sort of woman who, under any circumstances, +would lose her presence of mind. I think she proved that throughout the +many trying circumstances connected with the investigation of the case. +She gave only one glance at the room and realized the situation. On the +arm-chair, with head thrown back and eyes closed, lay Mr. Ireland, +apparently in a dead faint; some terrible shock must have very suddenly +shattered his nervous system, and rendered him prostrate for the moment. +What that shock had been it was pretty easy to guess. + +"The door of the safe was wide open, and Mr. Ireland had evidently +tottered and fainted before some awful fact which the open safe had +revealed to him; he had caught himself against a chair which lay on the +floor, and then finally sunk, unconscious, into the arm-chair. + +"All this, which takes some time to describe," continued the man in the +corner, "took, remember, only a second to pass like a flash through +Mrs. Ireland's mind; she quickly turned the key of the glass door, +which was on the inside, and with the help of James Fairbairn, the +watchman, she carried her husband upstairs to his room, and immediately +sent both for the police and for a doctor. + +"As Mrs. Ireland had anticipated, her husband had received a severe +mental shock which had completely prostrated him. The doctor prescribed +absolute quiet, and forbade all worrying questions for the present. The +patient was not a young man; the shock had been very severe--it was a +case, a very slight one, of cerebral congestion--and Mr. Ireland's +reason, if not his life, might be gravely jeopardised by any attempt to +recall before his enfeebled mind the circumstances which had preceded +his collapse. + +"The police therefore could proceed but slowly in their investigations. +The detective who had charge of the case was necessarily handicapped, +whilst one of the chief actors concerned in the drama was unable to help +him in his work. + +"To begin with, the robber or robbers had obviously not found their way +into the manager's inner room through the bank premises. James Fairbairn +had been on the watch all night, with the electric light full on, and +obviously no one could have crossed the outer office or forced the +heavily barred doors without his knowledge. + +"There remained the other access to the room, that is, the one through +the hall of the house. The hall door, it appears, was always barred and +bolted by Mr. Ireland himself when he came home, whether from the +theatre or his club. It was a duty he never allowed any one to perform +but himself. During his annual holiday, with his wife and family, his +son, who usually had the sub-manager to stay with him on those +occasions, did the bolting and barring--but with the distinct +understanding that this should be done by ten o'clock at night. + +"As I have already explained to you, there is only a glass partition +between the general office and the manager's private room, and, +according to James Fairbairn's account, this was naturally always left +wide open so that he, during his night watch, would of necessity hear +the faintest sound. As a rule there was no light left in the manager's +room, and the other door--that leading into the hall--was bolted from +the inside by James Fairbairn the moment he had satisfied himself that +the premises were safe, and he had begun his night-watch. An electric +bell in both the offices communicated with Mr. Ireland's bedroom and +that of his son, Mr. Robert Ireland, and there was a telephone installed +to the nearest district messengers' office, with an understood signal +which meant 'Police.' + +"At nine o'clock in the morning it was the night watchman's duty, as +soon as the first cashier had arrived, to dust and tidy the manager's +room, and to undo the bolts; after that he was free to go home to his +breakfast and rest. + +"You will see, of course, that James Fairbairn's position in the English +Provident Bank is one of great responsibility and trust; but then in +every bank and business house there are men who hold similar positions. +They are always men of well-known and tried characters, often old +soldiers with good-conduct records behind them. James Fairbairn is a +fine, powerful Scotchman; he had been night watchman to the English +Provident Bank for fifteen years, and was then not more than forty-three +or forty-four years old. He is an ex-guardsman, and stands six feet +three inches in his socks. + +"It was his evidence, of course, which was of such paramount importance, +and which somehow or other managed, in spite of the utmost care +exercised by the police, to become public property, and to cause the +wildest excitement in banking and business circles. + +"James Fairbairn stated that at eight o'clock in the evening of March +25th, having bolted and barred all the shutters and the door of the back +premises, he was about to lock the manager's door as usual, when Mr. +Ireland called to him from the floor above, telling him to leave that +door open, as he might want to go into the office again for a minute +when he came home at eleven o'clock. James Fairbairn asked if he should +leave the light on, but Mr. Ireland said: 'No, turn it out. I can switch +it on if I want it.' + +"The night watchman at the English Provident Bank has permission to +smoke, he also is allowed a nice fire, and a tray consisting of a plate +of substantial sandwiches and one glass of ale, which he can take when +he likes. James Fairbairn settled himself in front of the fire, lit his +pipe, took out his newspaper, and began to read. He thought he had heard +the street door open and shut at about a quarter to ten; he supposed +that it was Mr. Ireland going out to his club, but at ten minutes to ten +o'clock the watchman heard the door of the manager's room open, and some +one enter, immediately closing the glass partition door and turning the +key. + +"He naturally concluded it was Mr. Ireland himself. + +"From where he sat he could not see into the room, but he noticed that +the electric light had not been switched on, and that the manager +seemingly had no light but an occasional match. + +"'For the minute,' continued James Fairbairn, 'a thought did just cross +my mind that something might perhaps be wrong, and I put my newspaper +aside and went to the other end of the room towards the glass partition. +The manager's room was still quite dark, and I could not clearly see +into it, but the door into the hall was open, and there was, of course, +a light through there. I had got quite close to the partition, when I +saw Mrs. Ireland standing in the doorway, and heard her saying in a very +astonished tone of voice: 'Why, Lewis, I thought you had gone to your +club ages ago. What in the world are you doing here in the dark?' + +"'Lewis is Mr. Ireland's Christian name,' was James Fairbairn's further +statement. 'I did not hear the manager's reply, but quite satisfied now +that nothing was wrong, I went back to my pipe and my newspaper. Almost +directly afterwards I heard the manager leave his room, cross the hall +and go out by the street door. It was only after he had gone that I +recollected that he must have forgotten to unlock the glass partition +and that I could not therefore bolt the door into the hall the same as +usual, and I suppose that is how those confounded thieves got the better +of me.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +CONFLICTING EVIDENCE + + +"By the time the public had been able to think over James Fairbairn's +evidence, a certain disquietude and unrest had begun to make itself felt +both in the bank itself and among those of our detective force who had +charge of the case. The newspapers spoke of the matter with very obvious +caution, and warned all their readers to await the further development +of this sad case. + +"While the manager of the English Provident Bank lay in such a +precarious condition of health, it was impossible to arrive at any +definite knowledge as to what the thief had actually made away with. The +chief cashier, however, estimated the loss at about £5000 in gold and +notes of the bank money--that was, of course, on the assumption that Mr. +Ireland had no private money or valuables of his own in the safe. + +"Mind you, at this point public sympathy was much stirred in favour of +the poor man who lay ill, perhaps dying, and yet whom, strangely +enough, suspicion had already slightly touched with its poisoned wing. + +"Suspicion is a strong word, perhaps, to use at this point in the story. +No one suspected anybody at present. James Fairbairn had told his story, +and had vowed that some thief with false keys must have sneaked through +the house into the inner office. + +"Public excitement, you will remember, lost nothing by waiting. Hardly +had we all had time to wonder over the night watchman's singular +evidence, and, pending further and fuller detail, to check our growing +sympathy for the man who was ill, than the sensational side of this +mysterious case culminated in one extraordinary, absolutely unexpected +fact. Mrs. Ireland, after a twenty-four hours' untiring watch beside her +husband's sick bed, had at last been approached by the detective, and +been asked to reply to a few simple questions, and thus help to throw +some light on the mystery which had caused Mr. Ireland's illness and her +own consequent anxiety. + +"She professed herself quite ready to reply to any questions put to her, +and she literally astounded both inspector and detective when she firmly +and emphatically declared that James Fairbairn must have been dreaming +or asleep when he thought he saw her in the doorway at ten o'clock that +night, and fancied he heard her voice. + +"She may or may not have been down in the hall at that particular hour, +for she usually ran down herself to see if the last post had brought any +letters, but most certainly she had neither seen nor spoken to Mr. +Ireland at that hour, for Mr. Ireland had gone out an hour before, she +herself having seen him to the front door. Never for a moment did she +swerve from this extraordinary statement. She spoke to James Fairbairn +in the presence of the detective, and told him he _must_ absolutely have +been mistaken, that she had _not_ seen Mr. Ireland, and that she had +_not_ spoken to him. + +"One other person was questioned by the police, and that was Mr. Robert +Ireland, the manager's eldest son. It was presumed that he would know +something of his father's affairs; the idea having now taken firm hold +of the detective's mind that perhaps grave financial difficulties had +tempted the unfortunate manager to appropriate some of the firm's money. + +"Mr. Robert Ireland, however, could not say very much. His father did +not confide in him to the extent of telling him all his private affairs, +but money never seemed scarce at home certainly, and Mr. Ireland had, to +his son's knowledge, not a single extravagant habit. He himself had been +dining out with a friend on that memorable evening, and had gone on with +him to the Oxford Music Hall. He met his father on the doorstep of the +bank at about 11.30 p.m. and they went in together. There certainly was +nothing remarkable about Mr. Ireland then, his son averred; he appeared +in no way excited, and bade his son good night quite cheerfully. + +"There was the extraordinary, the remarkable hitch," continued the man +in the corner, waxing more and more excited every moment. "The +public--who is at times very dense--saw it clearly nevertheless: of +course, every one at once jumped to the natural conclusion that Mrs. +Ireland was telling a lie--a noble lie, a self-sacrificing lie, a lie +endowed with all the virtues if you like, but still a lie. + +"She was trying to save her husband, and was going the wrong way to +work. James Fairbairn, after all, could not have dreamt quite all that +he declared he had seen and heard. No one suspected James Fairbairn; +there was no occasion to do that; to begin with he was a great heavy +Scotchman with obviously no powers of invention, such as Mrs. Ireland's +strange assertion credited him with; moreover, the theft of the +bank-notes could not have been of the slightest use to him. + +"But, remember, there was the hitch; without it the public mind would +already have condemned the sick man upstairs, without hope of +rehabilitation. This fact struck every one. + +"Granting that Mr. Ireland had gone into his office at ten minutes to +ten o'clock at night for the purpose of extracting £5000 worth of notes +and gold from the bank safe, whilst giving the theft the appearance of a +night burglary; granting that he was disturbed in his nefarious project +by his wife, who, failing to persuade him to make restitution, took his +side boldly, and very clumsily attempted to rescue him out of his +difficult position--why should he, at nine o'clock the following +morning, fall in a dead faint and get cerebral congestion at sight of a +defalcation he knew had occurred? One might simulate a fainting fit, but +no one can assume a high temperature and a congestion, which the most +ordinary practitioner who happened to be called in would soon see were +non-existent. + +"Mr. Ireland, according to James Fairbairn's evidence, must have gone +out soon after the theft, come in again with his son an hour and a half +later, talked to him, gone quietly to bed, and waited for nine hours +before he fell ill at sight of his own crime. It was not logical, you +will admit. Unfortunately, the poor man himself was unable to give any +explanation of the night's tragic adventures. + +"He was still very weak, and though under strong suspicion, he was left, +by the doctor's orders, in absolute ignorance of the heavy charges which +were gradually accumulating against him. He had made many anxious +inquiries from all those who had access to his bedside as to the result +of the investigation, and the probable speedy capture of the burglars, +but every one had strict orders to inform him merely that the police so +far had no clue of any kind. + +"You will admit, as every one did, that there was something very +pathetic about the unfortunate man's position, so helpless to defend +himself, if defence there was, against so much overwhelming evidence. +That is why I think public sympathy remained with him. Still, it was +terrible to think of his wife presumably knowing him to be guilty, and +anxiously waiting whilst dreading the moment when, restored to health, +he would have to face the doubts, the suspicions, probably the open +accusations, which were fast rising up around him." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +AN _ALIBI_ + + +"It was close on six weeks before the doctor at last allowed his patient +to attend to the grave business which had prostrated him for so long. + +"In the meantime, among the many people who directly or indirectly were +made to suffer in this mysterious affair, no one, I think, was more +pitied, and more genuinely sympathised with, than Robert Ireland, the +manager's eldest son. + +"You remember that he had been clerk in the bank? Well, naturally, the +moment suspicion began to fasten on his father his position in the +business became untenable. I think every one was very kind to him. Mr. +Sutherland French, who was made acting manager 'during Mr. Lewis +Ireland's regrettable absence,' did everything in his power to show his +goodwill and sympathy to the young man, but I don't think that he or any +one else was much astonished when, after Mrs. Ireland's extraordinary +attitude in the case had become public property, he quietly intimated +to the acting manager that he had determined to sever his connection +with the bank. + +"The best of recommendations was, of course, placed at his disposal, and +it was finally understood that, as soon as his father was completely +restored to health and would no longer require his presence in London, +he would try to obtain employment somewhere abroad. He spoke of the new +volunteer corps organized for the military policing of the new colonies, +and, truth to tell, no one could blame him that he should wish to leave +far behind him all London banking connections. The son's attitude +certainly did not tend to ameliorate the father's position. It was +pretty evident that his own family had ceased to hope in the poor +manager's innocence. + +"And yet he was absolutely innocent. You must remember how that fact was +clearly demonstrated as soon as the poor man was able to say a word for +himself. And he said it to some purpose, too. + +"Mr. Ireland was, and is, very fond of music. On the evening in +question, while sitting in his club, he saw in one of the daily papers +the announcement of a peculiarly attractive programme at the Queen's +Hall concert. He was not dressed, but nevertheless felt an irresistible +desire to hear one or two of these attractive musical items, and he +strolled down to the Hall. Now, this sort of alibi is usually very +difficult to prove, but Dame Fortune, oddly enough, favoured Mr. Ireland +on this occasion, probably to compensate him for the hard knocks she had +been dealing him pretty freely of late. + +"It appears that there was some difficulty about his seat, which was +sold to him at the box office, and which he, nevertheless, found +wrongfully occupied by a determined lady, who refused to move. The +management had to be appealed to; the attendants also remembered not +only the incident, but also the face and appearance of the gentleman who +was the innocent cause of the altercation. + +"As soon as Mr. Ireland could speak for himself he mentioned the +incident and the persons who had been witness to it. He was identified +by them, to the amazement, it must be confessed, of police and public +alike, who had comfortably decided that no one _could_ be guilty save +the manager of the Provident Bank himself. Moreover, Mr. Ireland was a +fairly wealthy man, with a good balance at the Union Bank, and plenty of +private means, the result of years of provident living. + +"He had but to prove that if he really had been in need of an immediate +£5000--which was all the amount extracted from the bank safe that +night--he had plenty of securities on which he could, at an hour's +notice, have raised twice that sum. His life insurances had been fully +paid up; he had not a debt which a £5 note could not easily have +covered. + +"On the fatal night he certainly did remember asking the watchman not to +bolt the door to his office, as he thought he might have one or two +letters to write when he came home, but later on he had forgotten all +about this. After the concert he met his son in Oxford Street, just +outside the house, and thought no more about the office, the door of +which was shut, and presented no unusual appearance. + +"Mr. Ireland absolutely denied having been in his office at the hour +when James Fairbairn positively asserted he heard Mrs. Ireland say in an +astonished tone of voice: 'Why, Lewis, what in the world are you doing +here?' It became pretty clear therefore that James Fairbairn's view of +the manager's wife had been a mere vision. + +"Mr. Ireland gave up his position as manager of the English Provident: +both he and his wife felt no doubt that on the whole, perhaps, there had +been too much talk, too much scandal connected with their name, to be +altogether advantageous to the bank. Moreover, Mr. Ireland's health was +not so good as it had been. He has a pretty house now at Sittingbourne, +and amuses himself during his leisure hours with amateur horticulture, +and I, who alone in London besides the persons directly connected with +this mysterious affair, know the true solution of the enigma, often +wonder how much of it is known to the ex-manager of the English +Provident Bank." + +The man in the corner had been silent for some time. Miss Polly Burton, +in her presumption, had made up her mind, at the commencement of his +tale, to listen attentively to every point of the evidence in connection +with the case which he recapitulated before her, and to follow the +point, in order to try and arrive at a conclusion of her own, and +overwhelm the antediluvian scarecrow with her sagacity. + +She said nothing, for she had arrived at no conclusion; the case puzzled +every one, and had amazed the public in its various stages, from the +moment when opinion began to cast doubt on Mr. Ireland's honesty to that +when his integrity was proved beyond a doubt. One or two people had +suspected Mrs. Ireland to have been the actual thief, but that idea had +soon to be abandoned. + +Mrs. Ireland had all the money she wanted; the theft occurred six months +ago, and not a single bank-note was ever traced to her pocket; moreover, +she must have had an accomplice, since some one else was in the +manager's room that night; and if that some one else was her accomplice, +why did she risk betraying him by speaking loudly in the presence of +James Fairbairn, when it would have been so much simpler to turn out +the light and plunge the hall into darkness? + +"You are altogether on the wrong track," sounded a sharp voice in direct +answer to Polly's thoughts--"altogether wrong. If you want to acquire my +method of induction, and improve your reasoning power, you must follow +my system. First think of the one absolutely undisputed, positive fact. +You must have a starting-point, and not go wandering about in the realms +of suppositions." + +"But there are no positive facts," she said irritably. + +"You don't say so?" he said quietly. "Do you not call it a positive fact +that the bank safe was robbed of £5000 on the evening of March 25th +before 11.30 p.m." + +"Yes, that is all which is positive and--" + +"Do you not call it a positive fact," he interrupted quietly, "that the +lock of the safe not being picked, it must have been opened by its own +key?" + +"I know that," she rejoined crossly, "and that is why every one agreed +that James Fairbairn could not possibly--" + +"And do you not call it a positive fact, then, that James Fairbairn +could not possibly, etc., etc., seeing that the glass partition door was +locked from the inside; Mrs. Ireland herself let James Fairbairn into +her husband's office when she saw him lying fainting before the open +safe. Of course that was a positive fact, and so was the one that proved +to any thinking mind that if that safe was opened with a key, it could +only have been done by a person having access to that key." + +"But the man in the private office--" + +"Exactly! the man in the private office. Enumerate his points, if you +please," said the funny creature, marking each point with one of his +favourite knots. "He was a man who might that night have had access to +the key of the safe, unsuspected by the manager or even his wife, and a +man for whom Mrs. Ireland was willing to tell a downright lie. Are there +many men for whom a woman of the better middle class, and an +Englishwoman, would be ready to perjure herself? Surely not! She might +do it for her husband. The public thought she had. It never struck them +that she might have done it for her son!" + +"Her son!" exclaimed Polly. + +"Ah! she was a clever woman," he ejaculated enthusiastically, "one with +courage and presence of mind, which I don't think I have ever seen +equalled. She runs downstairs before going to bed in order to see +whether the last post has brought any letters. She sees the door of her +husband's office ajar, she pushes it open, and there, by the sudden +flash of a hastily struck match she realizes in a moment that a thief +stands before the open safe, and in that thief she has already +recognized her son. At that very moment she hears the watchman's step +approaching the partition. There is no time to warn her son; she does +not know the glass door is locked; James Fairbairn may switch on the +electric light and see the young man in the very act of robbing his +employers' safe. + +"One thing alone can reassure the watchman. One person alone had the +right to be there at that hour of the night, and without hesitation she +pronounces her husband's name. + +"Mind you, I firmly believe that at the time the poor woman only wished +to gain time, that she had every hope that her son had not yet had the +opportunity to lay so heavy a guilt upon his conscience. + +"What passed between mother and son we shall never know, but this much +we do know, that the young villain made off with his booty, and trusted +that his mother would never betray him. Poor woman! what a night of it +she must have spent; but she was clever and far-seeing. She knew that +her husband's character could not suffer through her action. +Accordingly, she took the only course open to her to save her son even +from his father's wrath, and boldly denied James Fairbairn's statement. + +"Of course, she was fully aware that her husband could easily clear +himself, and the worst that could be said of her was that she had +thought him guilty and had tried to save him. She trusted to the future +to clear her of any charge of complicity in the theft. + +"By now every one has forgotten most of the circumstances; the police +are still watching the career of James Fairbairn and Mrs. Ireland's +expenditure. As you know, not a single note, so far, has been traced to +her. Against that, one or two of the notes have found their way back to +England. No one realizes how easy it is to cash English bank-notes at +the smaller _agents de change_ abroad. The _changeurs_ are only too glad +to get them; what do they care where they come from as long as they are +genuine? And a week or two later _M. le Changeur_ could not swear who +tendered him any one particular note. + +"You see, young Robert Ireland went abroad, he will come back some day +having made a fortune. There's his photo. And this is his mother--a +clever woman, wasn't she?" + +And before Polly had time to reply he was gone. She really had never +seen any one move across a room so quickly. But he always left an +interesting trail behind: a piece of string knotted from end to end and +a few photos. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE DUBLIN MYSTERY + + +"I always thought that the history of that forged will was about as +interesting as any I had read," said the man in the corner that day. He +had been silent for some time, and was meditatively sorting and looking +through a packet of small photographs in his pocket-book. Polly guessed +that some of these would presently be placed before her for +inspection--and she had not long to wait. + +"That is old Brooks," he said, pointing to one of the photographs, +"Millionaire Brooks, as he was called, and these are his two sons, +Percival and Murray. It was a curious case, wasn't it? Personally I +don't wonder that the police were completely at sea. If a member of that +highly estimable force happened to be as clever as the clever author of +that forged will, we should have very few undetected crimes in this +country." + +"That is why I always try to persuade you to give our poor ignorant +police the benefit of your great insight and wisdom," said Polly, with +a smile. + +"I know," he said blandly, "you have been most kind in that way, but I +am only an amateur. Crime interests me only when it resembles a clever +game of chess, with many intricate moves which all tend to one solution, +the checkmating of the antagonist--the detective force of the country. +Now, confess that, in the Dublin mystery, the clever police there were +absolutely checkmated." + +"Absolutely." + +"Just as the public was. There were actually two crimes committed in one +city which have completely baffled detection: the murder of Patrick +Wethered the lawyer, and the forged will of Millionaire Brooks. There +are not many millionaires in Ireland; no wonder old Brooks was a +notability in his way, since his business--bacon curing, I believe it +is--is said to be worth over £2,000,000 of solid money. + +"His younger son Murray was a refined, highly educated man, and was, +moreover, the apple of his father's eye, as he was the spoilt darling of +Dublin society; good-looking, a splendid dancer, and a perfect rider, he +was the acknowledged 'catch' of the matrimonial market of Ireland, and +many a very aristocratic house was opened hospitably to the favourite +son of the millionaire. + +"Of course, Percival Brooks, the eldest son, would inherit the bulk of +the old man's property and also probably the larger share in the +business; he, too, was good-looking, more so than his brother; he, too, +rode, danced, and talked well, but it was many years ago that mammas +with marriageable daughters had given up all hopes of Percival Brooks as +a probable son-in-law. That young man's infatuation for Maisie +Fortescue, a lady of undoubted charm but very doubtful antecedents, who +had astonished the London and Dublin music-halls with her extravagant +dances, was too well known and too old-established to encourage any +hopes in other quarters. + +"Whether Percival Brooks would ever marry Maisie Fortescue was thought +to be very doubtful. Old Brooks had the full disposal of all his wealth, +and it would have fared ill with Percival if he introduced an +undesirable wife into the magnificent Fitzwilliam Place establishment. + +"That is how matters stood," continued the man in the corner, "when +Dublin society one morning learnt, with deep regret and dismay, that old +Brooks had died very suddenly at his residence after only a few hours' +illness. At first it was generally understood that he had had an +apoplectic stroke; anyway, he had been at business hale and hearty as +ever the day before his death, which occurred late on the evening of +February 1st. + +"It was the morning papers of February 2nd which told the sad news to +their readers, and it was those selfsame papers which on that eventful +morning contained another even more startling piece of news, that proved +the prelude to a series of sensations such as tranquil, placid Dublin +had not experienced for many years. This was, that on that very +afternoon which saw the death of Dublin's greatest millionaire, Mr. +Patrick Wethered, his solicitor, was murdered in Phoenix Park at five +o'clock in the afternoon while actually walking to his own house from +his visit to his client in Fitzwilliam Place. + +"Patrick Wethered was as well known as the proverbial town pump; his +mysterious and tragic death filled all Dublin with dismay. The lawyer, +who was a man sixty years of age, had been struck on the back of the +head by a heavy stick, garrotted, and subsequently robbed, for neither +money, watch, or pocket-book were found upon his person, whilst the +police soon gathered from Patrick Wethered's household that he had left +home at two o'clock that afternoon, carrying both watch and pocket-book, +and undoubtedly money as well. + +"An inquest was held, and a verdict of wilful murder was found against +some person or persons unknown. + +"But Dublin had not exhausted its stock of sensations yet. Millionaire +Brooks had been buried with due pomp and magnificence, and his will had +been proved (his business and personalty being estimated at £2,500,000) +by Percival Gordon Brooks, his eldest son and sole executor. The younger +son, Murray, who had devoted the best years of his life to being a +friend and companion to his father, while Percival ran after +ballet-dancers and music-hall stars--Murray, who had avowedly been the +apple of his father's eye in consequence--was left with a miserly +pittance of £300 a year, and no share whatever in the gigantic business +of Brooks & Sons, bacon curers, of Dublin. + +"Something had evidently happened within the precincts of the Brooks' +town mansion, which the public and Dublin society tried in vain to +fathom. Elderly mammas and blushing _débutantes_ were already thinking +of the best means whereby next season they might more easily show the +cold shoulder to young Murray Brooks, who had so suddenly become a +hopeless 'detrimental' in the marriage market, when all these sensations +terminated in one gigantic, overwhelming bit of scandal, which for the +next three months furnished food for gossip in every drawing-room in +Dublin. + +"Mr. Murray Brooks, namely, had entered a claim for probate of a will, +made by his father in 1891, declaring that the later will made the very +day of his father's death and proved by his brother as sole executor, +was null and void, that will being a forgery." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +FORGERY + + +"The facts that transpired in connection with this extraordinary case +were sufficiently mysterious to puzzle everybody. As I told you before, +all Mr. Brooks' friends never quite grasped the idea that the old man +should so completely have cut off his favourite son with the proverbial +shilling. + +"You see, Percival had always been a thorn in the old man's flesh. +Horse-racing, gambling, theatres, and music-halls were, in the old +pork-butcher's eyes, so many deadly sins which his son committed every +day of his life, and all the Fitzwilliam Place household could testify +to the many and bitter quarrels which had arisen between father and son +over the latter's gambling or racing debts. Many people asserted that +Brooks would sooner have left his money to charitable institutions than +seen it squandered upon the brightest stars that adorned the music-hall +stage. + +"The case came up for hearing early in the autumn. In the meanwhile +Percival Brooks had given up his racecourse associates, settled down in +the Fitzwilliam Place mansion, and conducted his father's business, +without a manager, but with all the energy and forethought which he had +previously devoted to more unworthy causes. + +"Murray had elected not to stay on in the old house; no doubt +associations were of too painful and recent a nature; he was boarding +with the family of a Mr. Wilson Hibbert, who was the late Patrick +Wethered's, the murdered lawyer's, partner. They were quiet, homely +people, who lived in a very pokey little house in Kilkenny Street, and +poor Murray must, in spite of his grief, have felt very bitterly the +change from his luxurious quarters in his father's mansion to his +present tiny room and homely meals. + +"Percival Brooks, who was now drawing an income of over a hundred +thousand a year, was very severely criticised for adhering so strictly +to the letter of his father's will, and only paying his brother that +paltry £300 a year, which was very literally but the crumbs off his own +magnificent dinner table. + +"The issue of that contested will case was therefore awaited with eager +interest. In the meanwhile the police, who had at first seemed fairly +loquacious on the subject of the murder of Mr. Patrick Wethered, +suddenly became strangely reticent, and by their very reticence aroused +a certain amount of uneasiness in the public mind, until one day the +_Irish Times_ published the following extraordinary, enigmatic +paragraph: + +"'We hear on authority which cannot be questioned, that certain +extraordinary developments are expected in connection with the brutal +murder of our distinguished townsman Mr. Wethered; the police, in fact, +are vainly trying to keep it secret that they hold a clue which is as +important as it is sensational, and that they only await the impending +issue of a well-known litigation in the probate court to effect an +arrest.' + +"The Dublin public flocked to the court to hear the arguments in the +great will case. I myself journeyed down to Dublin. As soon as I +succeeded in fighting my way to the densely crowded court, I took stock +of the various actors in the drama, which I as a spectator was prepared +to enjoy. There were Percival Brooks and Murray his brother, the two +litigants, both good-looking and well dressed, and both striving, by +keeping up a running conversation with their lawyer, to appear +unconcerned and confident of the issue. With Percival Brooks was Henry +Oranmore, the eminent Irish K.C., whilst Walter Hibbert, a rising young +barrister, the son of Wilson Hibbert, appeared for Murray. + +"The will of which the latter claimed probate was one dated 1891, and +had been made by Mr. Brooks during a severe illness which threatened to +end his days. This will had been deposited in the hands of Messrs. +Wethered and Hibbert, solicitors to the deceased, and by it Mr. Brooks +left his personalty equally divided between his two sons, but had left +his business entirely to his youngest son, with a charge of £2000 a year +upon it, payable to Percival. You see that Murray Brooks therefore had a +very deep interest in that second will being found null and void. + +"Old Mr. Hibbert had very ably instructed his son, and Walter Hibbert's +opening speech was exceedingly clever. He would show, he said, on behalf +of his client, that the will dated February 1st, 1908, could never have +been made by the late Mr. Brooks, as it was absolutely contrary to his +avowed intentions, and that if the late Mr. Brooks did on the day in +question make any fresh will at all, it certainly was _not_ the one +proved by Mr. Percival Brooks, for that was absolutely a forgery from +beginning to end. Mr. Walter Hibbert proposed to call several witnesses +in support of both these points. + +"On the other hand, Mr. Henry Oranmore, K.C., very ably and courteously +replied that he too had several witnesses to prove that Mr. Brooks +certainly did make a will on the day in question, and that, whatever his +intentions may have been in the past, he must have modified them on the +day of his death, for the will proved by Mr. Percival Brooks was found +after his death under his pillow, duly signed and witnessed and in every +way legal. + +"Then the battle began in sober earnest. There were a great many +witnesses to be called on both sides, their evidence being of more or +less importance--chiefly less. But the interest centred round the +prosaic figure of John O'Neill, the butler at Fitzwilliam Place, who had +been in Mr. Brooks' family for thirty years. + +"'I was clearing away my breakfast things,' said John, 'when I heard the +master's voice in the study close by. Oh my, he was that angry! I could +hear the words "disgrace," and "villain," and "liar," and +"ballet-dancer," and one or two other ugly words as applied to some +female lady, which I would not like to repeat. At first I did not take +much notice, as I was quite used to hearing my poor dear master having +words with Mr. Percival. So I went downstairs carrying my breakfast +things; but I had just started cleaning my silver when the study bell +goes ringing violently, and I hear Mr. Percival's voice shouting in the +hall: "John! quick! Send for Dr. Mulligan at once. Your master is not +well! Send one of the men, and you come up and help me to get Mr. Brooks +to bed." + +"'I sent one of the grooms for the doctor,' continued John, who seemed +still affected at the recollection of his poor master, to whom he had +evidently been very much attached, 'and I went up to see Mr. Brooks. I +found him lying on the study floor, his head supported in Mr. Percival's +arms. "My father has fallen in a faint," said the young master; "help me +to get him up to his room before Dr. Mulligan comes." + +"'Mr. Percival looked very white and upset, which was only natural; and +when we had got my poor master to bed, I asked if I should not go and +break the news to Mr. Murray, who had gone to business an hour ago. +However, before Mr. Percival had time to give me an order the doctor +came. I thought I had seen death plainly writ in my master's face, and +when I showed the doctor out an hour later, and he told me that he would +be back directly, I knew that the end was near. + +"'Mr. Brooks rang for me a minute or two later. He told me to send at +once for Mr. Wethered, or else for Mr. Hibbert, if Mr. Wethered could +not come. "I haven't many hours to live, John," he says to me--"my heart +is broke, the doctor says my heart is broke. A man shouldn't marry and +have children, John, for they will sooner or later break his heart." I +was so upset I couldn't speak; but I sent round at once for Mr. +Wethered, who came himself just about three o'clock that afternoon. + +"'After he had been with my master about an hour I was called in, and +Mr. Wethered said to me that Mr. Brooks wished me and one other of us +servants to witness that he had signed a paper which was on a table by +his bedside. I called Pat Mooney, the head footman, and before us both +Mr. Brooks put his name at the bottom of that paper. Then Mr. Wethered +give me the pen and told me to write my name as a witness, and that Pat +Mooney was to do the same. After that we were both told that we could +go.' + +"The old butler went on to explain that he was present in his late +master's room on the following day when the undertakers, who had come to +lay the dead man out, found a paper underneath his pillow. John O'Neill, +who recognized the paper as the one to which he had appended his +signature the day before, took it to Mr. Percival, and gave it into his +hands. + +"In answer to Mr. Walter Hibbert, John asserted positively that he took +the paper from the undertaker's hand and went straight with it to Mr. +Percival's room. + +"'He was alone,' said John; 'I gave him the paper. He just glanced at +it, and I thought he looked rather astonished, but he said nothing, and +I at once left the room.' + +"'When you say that you recognized the paper as the one which you had +seen your master sign the day before, how did you actually recognize +that it was the same paper?' asked Mr. Hibbert amidst breathless +interest on the part of the spectators. I narrowly observed the +witness's face. + +"'It looked exactly the same paper to me, sir,' replied John, somewhat +vaguely. + +"'Did you look at the contents, then?' + +"'No, sir; certainly not.' + +"'Had you done so the day before?' + +"'No, sir, only at my master's signature.' + +"'Then you only thought by the _outside_ look of the paper that it was +the same?' + +"'It looked the same thing, sir,' persisted John obstinately. + +"You see," continued the man in the corner, leaning eagerly forward +across the narrow marble table, "the contention of Murray Brooks' +adviser was that Mr. Brooks, having made a will and hidden it--for some +reason or other under his pillow--that will had fallen, through the +means related by John O'Neill, into the hands of Mr. Percival Brooks, +who had destroyed it and substituted a forged one in its place, which +adjudged the whole of Mr. Brooks' millions to himself. It was a terrible +and very daring accusation directed against a gentleman who, in spite of +his many wild oats sowed in early youth, was a prominent and important +figure in Irish high life. + +"All those present were aghast at what they heard, and the whispered +comments I could hear around me showed me that public opinion, at +least, did not uphold Mr. Murray Brooks' daring accusation against his +brother. + +"But John O'Neill had not finished his evidence, and Mr. Walter Hibbert +had a bit of sensation still up his sleeve. He had, namely, produced a +paper, the will proved by Mr. Percival Brooks, and had asked John +O'Neill if once again he recognized the paper. + +"'Certainly, sir,' said John unhesitatingly, 'that is the one the +undertaker found under my poor dead master's pillow, and which I took to +Mr. Percival's room immediately.' + +"Then the paper was unfolded and placed before the witness. + +"'Now, Mr. O'Neill, will you tell me if that is your signature?' + +"John looked at it for a moment; then he said: 'Excuse me, sir,' and +produced a pair of spectacles which he carefully adjusted before he +again examined the paper. Then he thoughtfully shook his head. + +"'It don't look much like my writing, sir,' he said at last. 'That is to +say,' he added, by way of elucidating the matter, 'it does look like my +writing, but then I don't think it is.' + +"There was at that moment a look in Mr. Percival Brooks' face," +continued the man in the corner quietly, "which then and there gave me +the whole history of that quarrel, that illness of Mr. Brooks, of the +will, aye! and of the murder of Patrick Wethered too. + +"All I wondered at was how every one of those learned counsel on both +sides did not get the clue just the same as I did, but went on arguing, +speechifying, cross-examining for nearly a week, until they arrived at +the one conclusion which was inevitable from the very first, namely, +that the will _was_ a forgery--a gross, clumsy, idiotic forgery, since +both John O'Neill and Pat Mooney, the two witnesses, absolutely +repudiated the signatures as their own. The only successful bit of +caligraphy the forger had done was the signature of old Mr. Brooks. + +"It was a very curious fact, and one which had undoubtedly aided the +forger in accomplishing his work quickly, that Mr. Wethered the lawyer +having, no doubt, realized that Mr. Brooks had not many moments in life +to spare, had not drawn up the usual engrossed, magnificent document +dear to the lawyer heart, but had used for his client's will one of +those regular printed forms which can be purchased at any stationer's. + +"Mr. Percival Brooks, of course, flatly denied the serious allegation +brought against him. He admitted that the butler had brought him the +document the morning after his father's death, and that he certainly, on +glancing at it, had been very much astonished to see that that document +was his father's will. Against that he declared that its contents did +not astonish him in the slightest degree, that he himself knew of the +testator's intentions, but that he certainly thought his father had +entrusted the will to the care of Mr. Wethered, who did all his business +for him. + +"'I only very cursorily glanced at the signature,' he concluded, +speaking in a perfectly calm, clear voice; 'you must understand that the +thought of forgery was very far from my mind, and that my father's +signature is exceedingly well imitated, if, indeed, it is not his own, +which I am not at all prepared to believe. As for the two witnesses' +signatures, I don't think I had ever seen them before. I took the +document to Messrs. Barkston and Maud, who had often done business for +me before, and they assured me that the will was in perfect form and +order.' + +"Asked why he had not entrusted the will to his father's solicitors, he +replied: + +"'For the very simple reason that exactly half an hour before the will +was placed in my hands, I had read that Mr. Patrick Wethered had been +murdered the night before. Mr. Hibbert, the junior partner, was not +personally known to me.' + +"After that, for form's sake, a good deal of expert evidence was heard +on the subject of the dead man's signature. But that was quite +unanimous, and merely went to corroborate what had already been +established beyond a doubt, namely, that the will dated February 1st, +1908, was a forgery, and probate of the will dated 1891 was therefore +granted to Mr. Murray Brooks, the sole executor mentioned therein." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +A MEMORABLE DAY + + +"Two days later the police applied for a warrant for the arrest of Mr. +Percival Brooks on a charge of forgery. + +"The Crown prosecuted, and Mr. Brooks had again the support of Mr. +Oranmore, the eminent K.C. Perfectly calm, like a man conscious of his +own innocence and unable to grasp the idea that justice does sometimes +miscarry, Mr. Brooks, the son of the millionaire, himself still the +possessor of a very large fortune under the former will, stood up in the +dock on that memorable day in October, 1908, which still no doubt lives +in the memory of his many friends. + +"All the evidence with regard to Mr. Brooks' last moments and the forged +will was gone through over again. That will, it was the contention of +the Crown, had been forged so entirely in favour of the accused, cutting +out every one else, that obviously no one but the beneficiary under that +false will would have had any motive in forging it. + +"Very pale, and with a frown between his deep-set, handsome Irish eyes, +Percival Brooks listened to this large volume of evidence piled up +against him by the Crown. + +"At times he held brief consultations with Mr. Oranmore, who seemed as +cool as a cucumber. Have you ever seen Oranmore in court? He is a +character worthy of Dickens. His pronounced brogue, his fat, podgy, +clean-shaven face, his not always immaculately clean large hands, have +often delighted the caricaturist. As it very soon transpired during that +memorable magisterial inquiry, he relied for a verdict in favour of his +client upon two main points, and he had concentrated all his skill upon +making these two points as telling as he possibly could. + +"The first point was the question of time, John O'Neill, cross-examined +by Oranmore, stated without hesitation that he had given the will to Mr. +Percival at eleven o'clock in the morning. And now the eminent K.C. +brought forward and placed in the witness-box the very lawyers into +whose hands the accused had then immediately placed the will. Now, Mr. +Barkston, a very well-known solicitor of King Street, declared +positively that Mr. Percival Brooks was in his office at a quarter +before twelve; two of his clerks testified to the same time exactly, and +it was _impossible_, contended Mr. Oranmore, that within three-quarters +of an hour Mr. Brooks could have gone to a stationer's, bought a will +form, copied Mr. Wethered's writing, his father's signature, and that +of John O'Neill and Pat Mooney. + +"Such a thing might have been planned, arranged, practised, and +ultimately, after a great deal of trouble, successfully carried out, but +human intelligence could not grasp the other as a possibility. + +"Still the judge wavered. The eminent K.C. had shaken but not shattered +his belief in the prisoner's guilt. But there was one point more, and +this Oranmore, with the skill of a dramatist, had reserved for the fall +of the curtain. + +"He noted every sign in the judge's face, he guessed that his client was +not yet absolutely safe, then only did he produce his last two +witnesses. + +"One of them was Mary Sullivan, one of the housemaids in the Fitzwilliam +mansion. She had been sent up by the cook at a quarter past four o'clock +on the afternoon of February 1st with some hot water, which the nurse +had ordered, for the master's room. Just as she was about to knock at +the door Mr. Wethered was coming out of the room. Mary stopped with the +tray in her hand, and at the door Mr. Wethered turned and said quite +loudly: 'Now, don't fret, don't be anxious; do try and be calm. Your +will is safe in my pocket, nothing can change it or alter one word of it +but yourself.' + +"It was, of course, a very ticklish point in law whether the +housemaid's evidence could be accepted. You see, she was quoting the +words of a man since dead, spoken to another man also dead. There is no +doubt that had there been very strong evidence on the other side against +Percival Brooks, Mary Sullivan's would have counted for nothing; but, as +I told you before, the judge's belief in the prisoner's guilt was +already very seriously shaken, and now the final blow aimed at it by Mr. +Oranmore shattered his last lingering doubts. + +"Dr. Mulligan, namely, had been placed by Mr. Oranmore into the +witness-box. He was a medical man of unimpeachable authority, in fact, +absolutely at the head of his profession in Dublin. What he said +practically corroborated Mary Sullivan's testimony. He had gone in to +see Mr. Brooks at half-past four, and understood from him that his +lawyer had just left him. + +"Mr. Brooks certainly, though terribly weak, was calm and more composed. +He was dying from a sudden heart attack, and Dr. Mulligan foresaw the +almost immediate end. But he was still conscious and managed to murmur +feebly: 'I feel much easier in my mind now, doctor--have made my +will--Wethered has been--he's got it in his pocket--it is safe +there--safe from that--' But the words died on his lips, and after that +he spoke but little. He saw his two sons before he died, but hardly +knew them or even looked at them. + +"You see," concluded the man in the corner, "you see that the +prosecution was bound to collapse. Oranmore did not give it a leg to +stand on. The will was forged, it is true, forged in the favour of +Percival Brooks and of no one else, forged for him and for his benefit. +Whether he knew and connived at the forgery was never proved or, as far +as I know, even hinted, but it was impossible to go against all the +evidence, which pointed that, as far as the act itself was concerned, he +at least was innocent. You see, Dr. Mulligan's evidence was not to be +shaken. Mary Sullivan's was equally strong. + +"There were two witnesses swearing positively that old Brooks' will was +in Mr. Wethered's keeping when that gentleman left the Fitzwilliam +mansion at a quarter past four. At five o'clock in the afternoon the +lawyer was found dead in Phoenix Park. Between a quarter past four and +eight o'clock in the evening Percival Brooks never left the house--that +was subsequently proved by Oranmore up to the hilt and beyond a doubt. +Since the will found under old Brooks' pillow was a forged will, where +then was the will he did make, and which Wethered carried away with him +in his pocket?" + +"Stolen, of course," said Polly, "by those who murdered and robbed him; +it may have been of no value to them, but they naturally would destroy +it, lest it might prove a clue against them." + +"Then you think it was mere coincidence?" he asked excitedly. + +"What?" + +"That Wethered was murdered and robbed at the very moment that he +carried the will in his pocket, whilst another was being forged in its +place?" + +"It certainly would be very curious, if it _were_ a coincidence," she +said musingly. + +"Very," he repeated with biting sarcasm, whilst nervously his bony +fingers played with the inevitable bit of string. "Very curious indeed. +Just think of the whole thing. There was the old man with all his +wealth, and two sons, one to whom he is devoted, and the other with whom +he does nothing but quarrel. One day there is another of these quarrels, +but more violent, more terrible than any that have previously occurred, +with the result that the father, heartbroken by it all, has an attack of +apoplexy and practically dies of a broken heart. After that he alters +his will, and subsequently a will is proved which turns out to be a +forgery. + +"Now everybody--police, press, and public alike--at once jump to the +conclusion that, as Percival Brooks benefits by that forged will, +Percival Brooks must be the forger." + +"Seek for him whom the crime benefits, is your own axiom," argued the +girl. + +"I beg your pardon?" + +"Percival Brooks benefited to the tune of £2,000,000." + +"I beg your pardon. He did nothing of the sort. He was left with less +than half the share that his younger brother inherited." + +"Now, yes; but that was a former will and--" + +"And that forged will was so clumsily executed, the signature so +carelessly imitated, that the forgery was bound to come to light. Did +_that_ never strike you?" + +"Yes, but--" + +"There is no but," he interrupted. "It was all as clear as daylight to +me from the very first. The quarrel with the old man, which broke his +heart, was not with his eldest son, with whom he was used to +quarrelling, but with the second son whom he idolised, in whom he +believed. Don't you remember how John O'Neill heard the words 'liar' and +'deceit'? Percival Brooks had never deceived his father. His sins were +all on the surface. Murray had led a quiet life, had pandered to his +father, and fawned upon him, until, like most hypocrites, he at last got +found out. Who knows what ugly gambling debt or debt of honour, suddenly +revealed to old Brooks, was the cause of that last and deadly quarrel? + +"You remember that it was Percival who remained beside his father and +carried him up to his room. Where was Murray throughout that long and +painful day, when his father lay dying--he, the idolised son, the apple +of the old man's eye? You never hear his name mentioned as being present +there all that day. But he knew that he had offended his father +mortally, and that his father meant to cut him off with a shilling. He +knew that Mr. Wethered had been sent for, that Wethered left the house +soon after four o'clock. + +"And here the cleverness of the man comes in. Having lain in wait for +Wethered and knocked him on the back of the head with a stick, he could +not very well make that will disappear altogether. There remained the +faint chance of some other witnesses knowing that Mr. Brooks had made a +fresh will, Mr. Wethered's partner, his clerk, or one of the +confidential servants in the house. Therefore _a_ will must be +discovered after the old man's death. + +"Now, Murray Brooks was not an expert forger, it takes years of training +to become that. A forged will executed by himself would be sure to be +found out--yes, that's it, sure to be found out. The forgery will be +palpable--let it be palpable, and then it will be found out, branded as +such, and the original will of 1891, so favourable to the young +blackguard's interests, would be held as valid. Was it devilry or +merely additional caution which prompted Murray to pen that forged will +so glaringly in Percival's favour? It is impossible to say. + +"Anyhow, it was the cleverest touch in that marvellously devised crime. +To plan that evil deed was great, to execute it was easy enough. He had +several hours' leisure in which to do it. Then at night it was +simplicity itself to slip the document under the dead man's pillow. +Sacrilege causes no shudder to such natures as Murray Brooks. The rest +of the drama you know already--" + +"But Percival Brooks?" + +"The jury returned a verdict of 'Not guilty.' There was no evidence +against him." + +"But the money? Surely the scoundrel does not have the enjoyment of it +still?" + +"No; he enjoyed it for a time, but he died, about three months ago, and +forgot to take the precaution of making a will, so his brother Percival +has got the business after all. If you ever go to Dublin, I should order +some of Brooks' bacon if I were you. It is very good." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +AN UNPARALLELED OUTRAGE + + +"Do you care for the seaside?" asked the man in the corner when he had +finished his lunch. "I don't mean the seaside at Ostend or Trouville, +but honest English seaside with nigger minstrels, three-shilling +excursionists, and dirty, expensive furnished apartments, where they +charge you a shilling for lighting the hall gas on Sundays and sixpence +on other evenings. Do you care for that?" + +"I prefer the country." + +"Ah! perhaps it is preferable. Personally I only liked one of our +English seaside resorts once, and that was for a week, when Edward +Skinner was up before the magistrate, charged with what was known as the +'Brighton Outrage.' I don't know if you remember the memorable day in +Brighton, memorable for that elegant town, which deals more in +amusements than mysteries, when Mr. Francis Morton, one of its most +noted residents, disappeared. Yes! disappeared as completely as any +vanishing lady in a music-hall. He was wealthy, had a fine house, +servants, a wife and children, and he disappeared. There was no getting +away from that. + +"Mr. Francis Morton lived with his wife in one of the large houses in +Sussex Square at the Kemp Town end of Brighton. Mrs. Morton was well +known for her Americanisms, her swagger dinner parties, and beautiful +Paris gowns. She was the daughter of one of the many American +millionaires (I think her father was a Chicago pork-butcher), who +conveniently provide wealthy wives for English gentlemen; and she had +married Mr. Francis Morton a few years ago and brought him her quarter +of a million, for no other reason but that she fell in love with him. He +was neither good-looking nor distinguished, in fact, he was one of those +men who seem to have CITY stamped all over their person. + +"He was a gentleman of very regular habits, going up to London every +morning on business and returning every afternoon by the 'husband's +train.' So regular was he in these habits that all the servants at the +Sussex Square house were betrayed into actual gossip over the fact that +on Wednesday, March 17th, the master was not home for dinner. Hales, the +butler, remarked that the mistress seemed a bit anxious and didn't eat +much food. The evening wore on and Mr. Morton did not appear. At nine +o'clock the young footman was dispatched to the station to make +inquiries whether his master had been seen there in the afternoon, or +whether--which Heaven forbid--there had been an accident on the line. +The young man interviewed two or three porters, the bookstall boy, and +ticket clerk; all were agreed that Mr. Morton did not go up to London +during the day; no one had seen him within the precincts of the station. +There certainly had been no accident reported either on the up or down +line. + +"But the morning of the 18th came, with its initial postman's knock, but +neither Mr. Morton nor any sign or news from him. Mrs. Morton, who +evidently had spent a sleepless night, for she looked sadly changed and +haggard, sent a wire to the hall porter at the large building in Cannon +Street, where her husband had his office. An hour later she had the +reply: 'Not seen Mr. Morton all day yesterday, not here to-day.' By the +afternoon every one in Brighton knew that a fellow-resident had +mysteriously disappeared from or in the city. + +"A couple of days, then another, elapsed, and still no sign of Mr. +Morton. The police were doing their best. The gentleman was so well +known in Brighton--as he had been a resident two years--that it was not +difficult to firmly establish the one fact that he had not left the +city, since no one saw him in the station on the morning of the 17th, +nor at any time since then. Mild excitement prevailed throughout the +town. At first the newspapers took the matter somewhat jocosely. 'Where +is Mr. Morton?' was the usual placard on the evening's contents bills, +but after three days had gone by and the worthy Brighton resident was +still missing, while Mrs. Morton was seen to look more haggard and +careworn every day, mild excitement gave place to anxiety. + +"There were vague hints now as to foul play. The news had leaked out +that the missing gentleman was carrying a large sum of money on the day +of his disappearance. There were also vague rumours of a scandal not +unconnected with Mrs. Morton herself and her own past history, which in +her anxiety for her husband she had been forced to reveal to the +detective-inspector in charge of the case. + +"Then on Saturday the news which the late evening papers contained was +this: + +"'Acting on certain information received, the police to-day forced an +entrance into one of the rooms of Russell House, a high-class furnished +apartment on the King's Parade, and there they discovered our missing +distinguished townsman, Mr. Francis Morton, who had been robbed and +subsequently locked up in that room since Wednesday, the 17th. When +discovered he was in the last stages of inanition; he was tied into an +arm-chair with ropes, a thick wool shawl had been wound round his mouth, +and it is a positive marvel that, left thus without food and very +little air, the unfortunate gentleman survived the horrors of these four +days of incarceration. + +"'He has been conveyed to his residence in Sussex Square, and we are +pleased to say that Doctor Mellish, who is in attendance, has declared +his patient to be out of serious danger, and that with care and rest he +will be soon quite himself again. + +"'At the same time our readers will learn with unmixed satisfaction that +the police of our city, with their usual acuteness and activity, have +already discovered the identity and whereabouts of the cowardly ruffian +who committed this unparalleled outrage.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE PRISONER + + +"I really don't know," continued the man in the corner blandly, "what it +was that interested me in the case from the very first. Certainly it had +nothing very out of the way or mysterious about it, but I journeyed down +to Brighton nevertheless, as I felt that something deeper and more +subtle lay behind that extraordinary assault, following a robbery, no +doubt. + +"I must tell you that the police had allowed it to be freely circulated +abroad that they held a clue. It had been easy enough to ascertain who +the lodger was who had rented the furnished room in Russell House. His +name was supposed to be Edward Skinner, and he had taken the room about +a fortnight ago, but had gone away ostensibly for two or three days on +the very day of Mr. Morton's mysterious disappearance. It was on the +20th that Mr. Morton was found, and thirty-six hours later the public +were gratified to hear that Mr. Edward Skinner had been traced to London +and arrested on the charge of assault upon the person of Mr. Francis +Morton and of robbing him of the sum of £10,000. + +"Then a further sensation was added to the already bewildering case by +the startling announcement that Mr. Francis Morton refused to prosecute. + +"Of course, the Treasury took up the case and subpoenaed Mr. Morton as a +witness, so that gentleman--if he wished to hush the matter up, or had +been in any way terrorised into a promise of doing so--gained nothing by +his refusal, except an additional amount of curiosity in the public mind +and further sensation around the mysterious case. + +"It was all this, you see, which had interested me and brought me down +to Brighton on March 23rd to see the prisoner Edward Skinner arraigned +before the beak. I must say that he was a very ordinary-looking +individual. Fair, of ruddy complexion, with snub nose and the beginning +of a bald place on the top of his head, he, too, looked the embodiment +of a prosperous, stodgy 'City gent.' + +"I took a quick survey of the witnesses present, and guessed that the +handsome, stylish woman sitting next to Mr. Reginald Pepys, the noted +lawyer for the Crown, was Mrs. Morton. + +"There was a large crowd in court, and I heard whispered comments among +the feminine portion thereof as to the beauty of Mrs. Morton's gown, +the value of her large picture hat, and the magnificence of her diamond +rings. + +"The police gave all the evidence required with regard to the finding of +Mr. Morton in the room at Russell House and also to the arrest of +Skinner at the Langham Hotel in London. It appears that the prisoner +seemed completely taken aback at the charge preferred against him, and +declared that though he knew Mr. Francis Morton slightly in business he +knew nothing as to his private life. + +"'Prisoner stated,' continued Inspector Buckle, 'that he was not even +aware Mr. Morton lived in Brighton, but I have evidence here, which I +will place before your Honour, to prove that the prisoner was seen in +the company of Mr. Morton at 9.30 o'clock on the morning of the +assault.' + +"Cross-examined by Mr. Matthew Quiller, the detective-inspector admitted +that prisoner merely said that he did not know that Mr. Morton was a +_resident_ of Brighton--he never denied having met him there. + +"The witness, or rather witnesses, referred to by the police were two +Brighton tradesmen who knew Mr. Morton by sight and had seen him on the +morning of the 17th walking with the accused. + +"In this instance Mr. Quiller had no question to ask of the witnesses, +and it was generally understood that the prisoner did not wish to +contradict their statement. + +"Constable Hartrick told the story of the finding of the unfortunate +Mr. Morton after his four days' incarceration. The constable had been +sent round by the chief inspector, after certain information given by +Mrs. Chapman, the landlady of Russell House. He had found the door +locked and forced it open. Mr. Morton was in an arm-chair, with several +yards of rope wound loosely round him; he was almost unconscious, and +there was a thick wool shawl tied round his mouth which must have +deadened any cry or groan the poor gentleman might have uttered. But, as +a matter of fact, the constable was under the impression that Mr. Morton +had been either drugged or stunned in some way at first, which had left +him weak and faint and prevented him from making himself heard or +extricating himself from his bonds, which were very clumsily, evidently +very hastily, wound round his body. + +"The medical officer who was called in, and also Dr. Mellish who +attended Mr. Morton, both said that he seemed dazed by some stupefying +drug, and also, of course, terribly weak and faint with the want of +food. + +"The first witness of real importance was Mrs. Chapman, the proprietress +of Russell House, whose original information to the police led to the +discovery of Mr. Morton. In answer to Mr. Pepys, she said that on March +1st the accused called at her house and gave his name as Mr. Edward +Skinner. + +"'He required, he said, a furnished room at a moderate rental for a +permanency, with full attendance when he was in, but he added that he +would often be away for two or three days, or even longer, at a time. + +"'He told me that he was a traveller for a tea-house,' continued Mrs. +Chapman, 'and I showed him the front room on the third floor, as he did +not want to pay more than twelve shillings a week. I asked him for a +reference, but he put three sovereigns in my hand, and said with a laugh +that he supposed paying for his room a month in advance was sufficient +reference; if I didn't like him after that, I could give him a week's +notice to quit.' + +"'You did not think of asking him the name of the firm for which he +travelled?' asked Mr. Pepys. + +"'No, I was quite satisfied as he paid me for the room. The next day he +sent in his luggage and took possession of the room. He went out most +mornings on business, but was always in Brighton for Saturday and +Sunday. On the 16th he told me that he was going to Liverpool for a +couple of days; he slept in the house that night, and went off early on +the 17th, taking his portmanteau with him.' + +"'At what time did he leave?' asked Mr. Pepys. + +"'I couldn't say exactly,' replied Mrs. Chapman with some hesitation. +'You see this is the off season here. None of my rooms are let, except +the one to Mr. Skinner, and I only have one servant. I keep four during +the summer, autumn, and winter season,' she added with conscious pride, +fearing that her former statement might prejudice the reputation of +Russell House. 'I thought I had heard Mr. Skinner go out about nine +o'clock, but about an hour later the girl and I were both in the +basement, and we heard the front door open and shut with a bang, and +then a step in the hall. + +"'"That's Mr. Skinner," said Mary. "So it is," I said, "why, I thought +he had gone an hour ago." "He did go out then," said Mary, "for he left +his bedroom door open and I went in to do his bed and tidy his room." +"Just go and see if that's him, Mary," I said, and Mary ran up to the +hall and up the stairs, and came back to tell me that that was Mr. +Skinner all right enough; he had gone straight up to his room. Mary +didn't see him, but he had another gentleman with him, as she could hear +them talking in Mr. Skinner's room.' + +"'Then you can't tell us at what time the prisoner left the house +finally?' + +"'No, that I can't. I went out shopping soon after that. When I came in +it was twelve o'clock. I went up to the third floor and found that Mr. +Skinner had locked his door and taken the key with him. As I knew Mary +had already done, the room I did not trouble more about it, though I did +think it strange for a gentleman to look up his room and not leave the +key with me.' + +"'And, of course, you heard no noise of any kind in the room then?' + +"'No. Not that day or the next, but on the third day Mary and I both +thought we heard a funny sound. I said that Mr. Skinner had left his +window open, and it was the blind flapping against the window-pane; but +when we heard that funny noise again I put my ear to the keyhole and I +thought I could hear a groan. I was very frightened, and sent Mary for +the police.' + +"Mrs. Chapman had nothing more of interest to say. The prisoner +certainly was her lodger. She had last seen him on the evening of the +16th going up to his room with his candle. Mary the servant had much the +same story to relate as her mistress. + +"'I think it was 'im, right enough,' said Mary guardedly. 'I didn't see +'im, but I went up to 'is landing and stopped a moment outside 'is door. +I could 'ear loud voices in the room--gentlemen talking.' + +"'I suppose you would not do such a thing as to listen, Mary?' queried +Mr. Pepys with a smile. + +"'No, sir,' said Mary with a bland smile, 'I didn't catch what the +gentlemen said, but one of them spoke so loud I thought they must be +quarrelling.' + +"'Mr. Skinner was the only person in possession of a latch-key, I +presume. No one else could have come in without ringing at the door?' + +"'Oh no, sir.' + +"That was all. So far, you see, the case was progressing splendidly for +the Crown against the prisoner. The contention, of course, was that +Skinner had met Mr. Morton, brought him home with him, assaulted, +drugged, then gagged and bound him, and finally robbed him of whatever +money he had in his possession, which, according to certain affidavits +which presently would be placed before the magistrate, amounted to +£10,000 in notes. + +"But in all this there still remained the great element of mystery for +which the public and the magistrate would demand an explanation: namely, +what were the relationships between Mr. Morton and Skinner, which had +induced the former to refuse the prosecution of the man who had not only +robbed him, but had so nearly succeeded in leaving him to die a terrible +and lingering death? + +"Mr. Morton was too ill as yet to appear in person. Dr. Mellish had +absolutely forbidden his patient to undergo the fatigue and excitement +of giving evidence himself in court that day. But his depositions had +been taken at his bedside, were sworn to by him, and were now placed +before the magistrate by the prosecuting counsel, and the facts they +revealed were certainly as remarkable as they were brief and +enigmatical. + +"As they were read by Mr. Pepys, an awed and expectant hush seemed to +descend over the large crowd gathered there, and all necks were strained +eagerly forward to catch a glimpse of a tall, elegant woman, faultlessly +dressed and wearing exquisite jewellery, but whose handsome face wore, +as the prosecuting counsel read her husband's deposition, a more and +more ashen hue. + +"'This, your Honour, is the statement made upon oath by Mr. Francis +Morton,' commenced Mr. Pepys in that loud, sonorous voice of his which +sounds so impressive in a crowded and hushed court. '"I was obliged, for +certain reasons which I refuse to disclose, to make a payment of a large +sum of money to a man whom I did not know and have never seen. It was in +a matter of which my wife was cognisant and which had entirely to do +with her own affairs. I was merely the go-between, as I thought it was +not fit that she should see to this matter herself. The individual in +question had made certain demands, of which she kept me in ignorance as +long as she could, not wishing to unnecessarily worry me. At last she +decided to place the whole matter before me, and I agreed with her that +it would be best to satisfy the man's demands. + +"'"I then wrote to that individual whose name I do not wish to disclose, +addressing the letter, as my wife directed me to do, to the Brighton +post office, saying that I was ready to pay the £10,000 to him, at any +place or time and in what manner he might appoint. I received a reply +which bore the Brighton postmark, and which desired me to be outside +Furnival's, the drapers, in West Street, at 9.30 on the morning of March +17th, and to bring the money (£10,000) in Bank of England notes. + +"'"On the 16th my wife gave me a cheque for the amount and I cashed it +at her bank--Bird's in Fleet Street. At half-past nine the following +morning I was at the appointed place. An individual wearing a grey +overcoat, bowler hat, and red tie accosted me by name and requested me +to walk as far as his lodgings in the King's Parade. I followed him. +Neither of us spoke. He stopped at a house which bore the name 'Russell +House,' and which I shall be able to swear to as soon as I am able to go +out. He let himself in with a latch-key, and asked me to follow him up +to his room on the third floor. I thought I noticed when we were in the +room that he locked the door; however, I had nothing of any value about +me except the £10,000, which I was ready to give him. We had not +exchanged the slightest word. + +"'"I gave him the notes, and he folded them and put them in his +pocket-book. Then I turned towards the door, and, without the slightest +warning, I felt myself suddenly gripped by the shoulder, while a +handkerchief was pressed to my nose and mouth. I struggled as best I +could, but the handkerchief was saturated with chloroform, and I soon +lost consciousness. I hazily remember the man saying to me in short, +jerky sentences, spoken at intervals while I was still weakly +struggling: + +"'"What a fool you must think me, my dear sir! Did you really think +that I was going to let you quietly walk out of here, straight to the +police-station, eh? Such dodges have been done before, I know, when a +man's silence has to be bought for money. Find out who he is, see where +he lives, give him the money, then inform against him. No you don't! not +this time. I am off to the continent with this £10,000, and I can get +to Newhaven in time for the midday boat, so you'll have to keep quiet +until I am the other side of the Channel, my friend. You won't be much +inconvenienced; my landlady will hear your groans presently and release +you, so you'll be all right. There, now, drink this--that's better.' He +forced something bitter down my throat, then I remember nothing more. + +"'"When I regained consciousness I was sitting in an arm-chair with some +rope tied round me and a wool shawl round my mouth. I hadn't the +strength to make the slightest effort to disentangle myself or to utter +a scream. I felt terribly sick and faint."' + +"Mr. Reginald Pepys had finished reading, and no one in that crowded +court had thought of uttering a sound; the magistrate's eyes were fixed +upon the handsome lady in the magnificent gown, who was mopping her eyes +with a dainty lace handkerchief. + +"The extraordinary narrative of the victim of so daring an outrage had +kept every one in suspense; one thing was still expected to make the +measure of sensation as full as it had ever been over any criminal case, +and that was Mrs. Morton's evidence. She was called by the prosecuting +counsel, and slowly, gracefully, she entered the witness-box. There was +no doubt that she had felt keenly the tortures which her husband had +undergone, and also the humiliation of seeing her name dragged forcibly +into this ugly, blackmailing scandal. + +"Closely questioned by Mr. Reginald Pepys, she was forced to admit that +the man who blackmailed her was connected with her early life in a way +which would have brought terrible disgrace upon her and upon her +children. The story she told, amidst many tears and sobs, and much use +of her beautiful lace handkerchief and beringed hands, was exceedingly +pathetic. + +"It appears that when she was barely seventeen she was inveigled into a +secret marriage with one of those foreign adventurers who swarm in every +country, and who styled himself Comte Armand de la Tremouille. He seems +to have been a blackguard of unusually low pattern, for, after he had +extracted from her some £200 of her pin money and a few diamond +brooches, he left her one fine day with a laconic word to say that he +was sailing for Europe by the _Argentina_, and would not be back for +some time. She was in love with the brute, poor young soul, for when, a +week later, she read that the _Argentina_ was wrecked, and presumably +every soul on board had perished, she wept very many bitter tears over +her early widowhood. + +"Fortunately her father, a very wealthy pork-butcher of Chicago, had +known nothing of his daughter's culpable foolishness. Four years later +he took her to London, where she met Mr. Francis Morton and married him. +She led six or seven years of very happy married life when one day, like +a thunderbolt from a clear, blue sky, she received a typewritten letter, +signed 'Armand de la Tremouille,' full of protestations of undying love, +telling a long and pathetic tale of years of suffering in a foreign +land, whither he had drifted after having been rescued almost +miraculously from the wreck of the _Argentina_, and where he never had +been able to scrape a sufficient amount of money to pay for his passage +home. At last fate had favoured him. He had, after many vicissitudes, +found the whereabouts of his dear wife, and was now ready to forgive all +that was past and take her to his loving arms once again. + +"What followed was the usual course of events when there is a blackguard +and a fool of a woman. She was terrorised and did not dare to tell her +husband for some time; she corresponded with the Comte de la Tremouille, +begging him for her sake and in memory of the past not to attempt to see +her. She found him amenable to reason in the shape of several hundred +pounds which passed through the Brighton post office into his hands. At +last one day, by accident, Mr. Morton came across one of the Comte de la +Tremouille's interesting letters. She confessed everything, throwing +herself upon her husband's mercy. + +"Now, Mr. Francis Morton was a business man, who viewed life practically +and soberly. He liked his wife, who kept him in luxury, and wished to +keep her, whereas the Comte de la Tremouille seemed willing enough to +give her up for a consideration. Mrs. Morton, who had the sole and +absolute control of her fortune, on the other hand, was willing enough +to pay the price and hush up the scandal, which she believed--since she +was a bit of a fool--would land her in prison for bigamy. Mr. Francis +Morton wrote to the Comte de la Tremouille that his wife was ready to +pay him the sum of £10,000 which he demanded in payment for her absolute +liberty and his own complete disappearance out of her life now and for +ever. The appointment was made, and Mr. Morton left his house at 9 a.m. +on March 17th with the £10,000 in his pocket. + +"The public and the magistrate had hung breathless upon her words. There +was nothing but sympathy felt for this handsome woman, who throughout +had been more sinned against than sinning, and whose gravest fault seems +to have been a total lack of intelligence in dealing with her own life. +But I can assure you of one thing, that in no case within my +recollection was there ever such a sensation in a court as when the +magistrate, after a few minutes' silence, said gently to Mrs. Morton: + +"'And now, Mrs. Morton, will you kindly look at the prisoner, and tell +me if in him you recognize your former husband?' + +"And she, without even turning to look at the accused, said quietly: + +"'Oh no! your Honour! of course that man is _not_ the Comte de la +Tremouille.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +A SENSATION + + +"I can assure you that the situation was quite dramatic," continued the +man in the corner, whilst his funny, claw-like hands took up a bit of +string with renewed feverishness. + +"In answer to further questions from the magistrate, she declared that +she had never seen the accused; he might have been the go-between, +however, that she could not say. The letters she received were all +typewritten, but signed 'Armand de la Tremouille,' and certainly the +signature was identical with that on the letters she used to receive +from him years ago, all of which she had kept. + +"'And did it _never_ strike you,' asked the magistrate with a smile, +'that the letters you received might be forgeries?' + +"'How could they be?' she replied decisively; no one knew of my marriage +to the Comte de la Tremouille, no one in England certainly. And, +besides, if some one did know the Comte intimately enough to forge his +handwriting and to blackmail me, why should that some one have waited +all these years? I have been married seven years, your Honour.' + +"That was true enough, and there the matter rested as far as she was +concerned. But the identity of Mr. Francis Morton's assailant had to be +finally established, of course, before the prisoner was committed for +trial. Dr. Mellish promised that Mr. Morton would be allowed to come to +court for half an hour and identify the accused on the following day, +and the case was adjourned until then. The accused was led away between +two constables, bail being refused, and Brighton had perforce to +moderate its impatience until the Wednesday. + +"On that day the court was crowded to overflowing; actors, playwrights, +literary men of all sorts had fought for admission to study for +themselves the various phases and faces in connection with the case. +Mrs. Morton was not present when the prisoner, quiet and self-possessed, +was brought in and placed in the dock. His solicitor was with him, and a +sensational defence was expected. + +"Presently there was a stir in the court, and that certain sound, half +rustle, half sigh, which preludes an expected palpitating event. Mr. +Morton, pale, thin, wearing yet in his hollow eyes the stamp of those +five days of suffering, walked into court leaning on the arm of his +doctor--Mrs. Morton was not with him. + +"He was at once accommodated with a chair in the witness-box, and the +magistrate, after a few words of kindly sympathy, asked him if he had +anything to add to his written statement. On Mr. Morton replying in the +negative, the magistrate added: + +"'And now, Mr. Morton, will you kindly look at the accused in the dock +and tell me whether you recognize the person who took you to the room in +Russell House and then assaulted you?' + +"Slowly the sick man turned towards the prisoner and looked at him; then +he shook his head and replied quietly: + +"'No, sir, that certainly was not the man.' + +"'You are quite sure?' asked the magistrate in amazement, while the +crowd literally gasped with wonder. + +"'I swear it,' asserted Mr. Morton. + +"'Can you describe the man who assaulted you?' + +"'Certainly. He was dark, of swarthy complexion, tall, thin, with bushy +eyebrows and thick black hair and short beard. He spoke English with +just the faintest suspicion of a foreign accent.' + +"The prisoner, as I told you before, was English in every feature. +English in his ruddy complexion, and absolutely English in his speech. + +"After that the case for the prosecution began to collapse. Every one +had expected a sensational defence, and Mr. Matthew Quiller, counsel +for Skinner, fully justified all these expectations. He had no fewer +than four witnesses present who swore positively that at 9.45 a.m. on +the morning of Wednesday, March 17th, the prisoner was in the express +train leaving Brighton for Victoria. + +"Not being endowed with the gift of being in two places at once, and Mr. +Morton having added the whole weight of his own evidence in Mr. Edward +Skinner's favour, that gentleman was once more remanded by the +magistrate, pending further investigation by the police, bail being +allowed this time in two sureties of £50 each." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +TWO BLACKGUARDS + + +"Tell me what you think of it," said the man in the corner, seeing that +Polly remained silent and puzzled. + +"Well," she replied dubiously, "I suppose that the so-called Armand de +la Tremouille's story was true in substance. That he did not perish on +the _Argentina_, but drifted home, and blackmailed his former wife." + +"Doesn't it strike you that there are at least two very strong points +against that theory?" he asked, making two gigantic knots in his piece +of string. + +"Two?" + +"Yes. In the first place, if the blackmailer was the 'Comte de la +Tremouille' returned to life, why should he have been content to take +£10,000 from a lady who was his lawful wife, and who could keep him in +luxury for the rest of his natural life upon her large fortune, which +was close upon a quarter of a million? The real Comte de la Tremouille, +remember, had never found it difficult to get money out of his wife +during their brief married life, whatever Mr. Morton's subsequent +experience in the same direction might have been. And, secondly, why +should he have typewritten his letters to his wife?" + +"Because--" + +"That was a point which, to my mind, the police never made the most of. +Now, my experience in criminal cases has invariably been that when a +typewritten letter figures in one, that letter is a forgery. It is not +very difficult to imitate a signature, but it is a jolly sight more +difficult to imitate a handwriting throughout an entire letter." + +"Then, do you think--" + +"I think, if you will allow me," he interrupted excitedly, "that we will +go through the points--the sensible, tangible points of the case. +Firstly: Mr. Morton disappears with £10,000 in his pocket for four +entire days; at the end of that time he is discovered loosely tied to an +arm-chair, and a wool shawl round his mouth. Secondly: A man named +Skinner is accused of the outrage. Mr. Morton, although he himself is +able, mind you, to furnish the best defence possible for Skinner, by +denying his identity with the man who assaulted him, refuses to +prosecute. Why?" + +"He did not wish to drag his wife's name into the case." + +"He must have known that the Crown would take up the case. Then, again, +how is it no one saw him in the company of the swarthy foreigner he +described?" + +"Two witnesses did see Mr. Morton in company with Skinner," argued +Polly. + +"Yes, at 9.20 in West Street; that would give Edward Skinner time to +catch the 9.45 at the station, and to entrust Mr. Morton with the +latch-key of Russell House," remarked the man in the corner dryly. + +"What nonsense!" Polly ejaculated. + +"Nonsense, is it?" he said, tugging wildly at his bit of string; "is it +nonsense to affirm that if a man wants to make sure that his victim +shall not escape, he does not usually wind rope 'loosely' round his +figure, nor does he throw a wool shawl lightly round his mouth. The +police were idiotic beyond words; they themselves discovered that Morton +was so 'loosely' fastened to his chair that very little movement would +have disentangled him, and yet it never struck them that nothing was +easier for that particular type of scoundrel to sit down in an arm-chair +and wind a few yards of rope round himself, then, having wrapped a wool +shawl round his throat, to slip his two arms inside the ropes." + +"But what object would a man in Mr. Morton's position have for playing +such extraordinary pranks?" + +"Ah, the motive! There you are! What do I always tell you? Seek the +motive! Now, what was Mr. Morton's position? He was the husband of a +lady who owned a quarter of a million of money, not one penny of which +he could touch without her consent, as it was settled on herself, and +who, after the terrible way in which she had been plundered and then +abandoned in her early youth, no doubt kept a very tight hold upon the +purse-strings. Mr. Morton's subsequent life has proved that he had +certain expensive, not altogether avowable, tastes. One day he discovers +the old love letters of the 'Comte Armand de la Tremouille.' + +"Then he lays his plans. He typewrites a letter, forges the signature of +the erstwhile Count, and awaits events. The fish does rise to the bait. +He gets sundry bits of money, and his success makes him daring. He looks +round him for an accomplice--clever, unscrupulous, greedy--and selects +Mr. Edward Skinner, probably some former pal of his wild oats days. + +"The plan was very neat, you must confess. Mr. Skinner takes the room in +Russell House, and studies all the manners and customs of his landlady +and her servant. He then draws the full attention of the police upon +himself. He meets Morton in West Street, then disappears ostensibly +after the 'assault.' In the meanwhile Morton goes to Russell House. He +walks upstairs, talks loudly in the room, then makes elaborate +preparations for his comedy." + +"Why! he nearly died of starvation!" + +"That, I dare say, was not a part of his reckoning. He thought, no +doubt, that Mrs. Chapman or the servant would discover and rescue him +pretty soon. He meant to appear just a little faint, and endured quietly +the first twenty-four hours of inanition. But the excitement and want of +food told on him more than he expected. After twenty-four hours he +turned very giddy and sick, and, falling from one fainting fit into +another, was unable to give the alarm. + +"However, he is all right again now, and concludes his part of a +downright blackguard to perfection. Under the plea that his conscience +does not allow him to live with a lady whose first husband is still +alive, he has taken a bachelor flat in London, and only pays afternoon +calls on his wife in Brighton. But presently he will tire of his +bachelor life, and will return to his wife. And I'll guarantee that the +Comte de la Tremouille will never be heard of again." + +And that afternoon the man in the corner left Miss Polly Burton alone +with a couple of photos of two uninteresting, stodgy, quiet-looking +men--Morton and Skinner--who, if the old scarecrow was right in his +theories, were a pair of the finest blackguards unhung. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE REGENT'S PARK MURDER + + +By this time Miss Polly Burton had become quite accustomed to her +extraordinary _vis-à-vis_ in the corner. + +He was always there, when she arrived, in the selfsame corner, dressed +in one of his remarkable check tweed suits; he seldom said good morning, +and invariably when she appeared he began to fidget with increased +nervousness, with some tattered and knotty piece of string. + +"Were you ever interested in the Regent's Park murder?" he asked her one +day. + +Polly replied that she had forgotten most of the particulars connected +with that curious murder, but that she fully remembered the stir and +flutter it had caused in a certain section of London Society. + +"The racing and gambling set, particularly, you mean," he said. "All the +persons implicated in the murder, directly or indirectly, were of the +type commonly called 'Society men,' or 'men about town,' whilst the +Harewood Club in Hanover Square, round which centred all the scandal in +connection with the murder, was one of the smartest clubs in London. + +"Probably the doings of the Harewood Club, which was essentially a +gambling club, would for ever have remained 'officially' absent from the +knowledge of the police authorities but for the murder in the Regent's +Park and the revelations which came to light in connection with it. + +"I dare say you know the quiet square which lies between Portland Place +and the Regent's Park and is called Park Crescent at its south end, and +subsequently Park Square East and West. The Marylebone Road, with all +its heavy traffic, cuts straight across the large square and its pretty +gardens, but the latter are connected together by a tunnel under the +road; and of course you must remember that the new tube station in the +south portion of the Square had not yet been planned. + +"February 6th, 1907, was a very foggy night, nevertheless Mr. Aaron +Cohen, of 30, Park Square West, at two o'clock in the morning, having +finally pocketed the heavy winnings which he had just swept off the +green table of the Harewood Club, started to walk home alone. An hour +later most of the inhabitants of Park Square West were aroused from +their peaceful slumbers by the sounds of a violent altercation in the +road. A man's angry voice was heard shouting violently for a minute or +two, and was followed immediately by frantic screams of 'Police' and +'Murder.' Then there was the double sharp report of firearms, and +nothing more. + +"The fog was very dense, and, as you no doubt have experienced yourself, +it is very difficult to locate sound in a fog. Nevertheless, not more +than a minute or two had elapsed before Constable F 18, the point +policeman at the corner of Marylebone Road, arrived on the scene, and, +having first of all whistled for any of his comrades on the beat, began +to grope his way about in the fog, more confused than effectually +assisted by contradictory directions from the inhabitants of the houses +close by, who were nearly falling out of the upper windows as they +shouted out to the constable. + +"'By the railings, policeman.' + +"'Higher up the road.' + +"'No, lower down.' + +"'It was on this side of the pavement I am sure.' + +"No, the other.' + +"At last it was another policeman, F 22, who, turning into Park Square +West from the north side, almost stumbled upon the body of a man lying +on the pavement with his head against the railings of the Square. By +this time quite a little crowd of people from the different houses in +the road had come down, curious to know what had actually happened. + +"The policeman turned the strong light of his bull's-eye lantern on the +unfortunate man's face. + +"'It looks as if he had been strangled, don't it?' he murmured to his +comrade. + +"And he pointed to the swollen tongue, the eyes half out of their +sockets, bloodshot and congested, the purple, almost black, hue of the +face. + +"At this point one of the spectators, more callous to horrors, peered +curiously into the dead man's face. He uttered an exclamation of +astonishment. + +"'Why, surely, it's Mr. Cohen from No. 30!' + +"The mention of a name familiar down the length of the street had caused +two or three other men to come forward and to look more closely into the +horribly distorted mask of the murdered man. + +"'Our next-door neighbour, undoubtedly,' asserted Mr. Ellison, a young +barrister, residing at No. 31. + +"'What in the world was he doing this foggy night all alone, and on +foot?' asked somebody else. + +"'He usually came home very late. I fancy he belonged to some gambling +club in town. I dare say he couldn't get a cab to bring him out here. +Mind you, I don't know much about him. We only knew him to nod to.' + +"'Poor beggar! it looks almost like an old-fashioned case of +garroting.' + +"'Anyway, the blackguardly murderer, whoever he was, wanted to make sure +he had killed his man!' added Constable F 18, as he picked up an object +from the pavement. 'Here's the revolver, with two cartridges missing. +You gentlemen heard the report just now?' + +"'He don't seem to have hit him though. The poor bloke was strangled, no +doubt.' + +"'And tried to shoot at his assailant, obviously,' asserted the young +barrister with authority. + +"'If he succeeded in hitting the brute, there might be a chance of +tracing the way he went.' + +"'But not in the fog.' + +"Soon, however, the appearance of the inspector, detective, and medical +officer, who had quickly been informed of the tragedy, put an end to +further discussion. + +"The bell at No. 30 was rung, and the servants--all four of them +women--were asked to look at the body. + +"Amidst tears of horror and screams of fright, they all recognized in +the murdered man their master, Mr. Aaron Cohen. He was therefore +conveyed to his own room pending the coroner's inquest. + +"The police had a pretty difficult task, you will admit; there were so +very few indications to go by, and at first literally no clue. + +"The inquest revealed practically nothing. Very little was known in the +neighbourhood about Mr. Aaron Cohen and his affairs. His female servants +did not even know the name or whereabouts of the various clubs he +frequented. + +"He had an office in Throgmorton Street and went to business every day. +He dined at home, and sometimes had friends to dinner. When he was alone +he invariably went to the club, where he stayed until the small hours of +the morning. + +"The night of the murder he had gone out at about nine o'clock. That was +the last his servants had seen of him. With regard to the revolver, all +four servants swore positively that they had never seen it before, and +that, unless Mr. Cohen had bought it that very day, it did not belong to +their master. + +"Beyond that, no trace whatever of the murderer had been found, but on +the morning after the crime a couple of keys linked together by a short +metal chain were found close to a gate at the opposite end of the +Square, that which immediately faced Portland Place. These were proved +to be, firstly, Mr. Cohen's latch-key, and, secondly, his gate-key of +the Square. + +"It was therefore presumed that the murderer, having accomplished his +fell design and ransacked his victim's pockets, had found the keys and +made good his escape by slipping into the Square, cutting under the +tunnel, and out again by the further gate. He then took the precaution +not to carry the keys with him any further, but threw them away and +disappeared in the fog. + +"The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against some person or +persons unknown, and the police were put on their mettle to discover the +unknown and daring murderer. The result of their investigations, +conducted with marvellous skill by Mr. William Fisher, led, about a week +after the crime, to the sensational arrest of one of London's smartest +young bucks. + +"The case Mr. Fisher had got up against the accused briefly amounted to +this: + +"On the night of February 6th, soon after midnight, play began to run +very high at the Harewood Club, in Hanover Square. Mr. Aaron Cohen held +the bank at roulette against some twenty or thirty of his friends, +mostly young fellows with no wits and plenty of money. 'The Bank' was +winning heavily, and it appears that this was the third consecutive +night on which Mr. Aaron Cohen had gone home richer by several hundreds +than he had been at the start of play. + +"Young John Ashley, who is the son of a very worthy county gentleman who +is M.F.H. somewhere in the Midlands, was losing heavily, and in his case +also it appears that it was the third consecutive night that Fortune +had turned her face against him. + +"Remember," continued the man in the corner, "that when I tell you all +these details and facts, I am giving you the combined evidence of +several witnesses, which it took many days to collect and to classify. + +"It appears that young Mr. Ashley, though very popular in society, was +generally believed to be in what is vulgarly termed 'low water'; up to +his eyes in debt, and mortally afraid of his dad, whose younger son he +was, and who had on one occasion threatened to ship him off to Australia +with a £5 note in his pocket if he made any further extravagant calls +upon his paternal indulgence. + +"It was also evident to all John Ashley's many companions that the +worthy M.F.H. held the purse-strings in a very tight grip. The young +man, bitten with the desire to cut a smart figure in the circles in +which he moved, had often recourse to the varying fortunes which now and +again smiled upon him across the green tables in the Harewood Club. + +"Be that as it may, the general consensus of opinion at the Club was +that young Ashley had changed his last 'pony' before he sat down to a +turn of roulette with Aaron Cohen on that particular night of February +6th. + +"It appears that all his friends, conspicuous among whom was Mr. Walter +Hatherell, tried their very best to dissuade him from pitting his luck +against that of Cohen, who had been having a most unprecedented run of +good fortune. But young Ashley, heated with wine, exasperated at his own +bad luck, would listen to no one; he tossed one £5 note after another on +the board, he borrowed from those who would lend, then played on parole +for a while. Finally, at half-past one in the morning, after a run of +nineteen on the red, the young man found himself without a penny in his +pockets, and owing a debt--gambling debt--a debt of honour of £1500 to +Mr. Aaron Cohen. + +"Now we must render this much maligned gentleman that justice which was +persistently denied to him by press and public alike; it was positively +asserted by all those present that Mr. Cohen himself repeatedly tried to +induce young Mr. Ashley to give up playing. He himself was in a delicate +position in the matter, as he was the winner, and once or twice the +taunt had risen to the young man's lips, accusing the holder of the bank +of the wish to retire on a competence before the break in his luck. + +"Mr. Aaron Cohen, smoking the best of Havanas, had finally shrugged his +shoulders and said: 'As you please!' + +"But at half-past one he had had enough of the player, who always lost +and never paid--never could pay, so Mr. Cohen probably believed. He +therefore at that hour refused to accept Mr. John Ashley's 'promissory' +stakes any longer. A very few heated words ensued, quickly checked by +the management, who are ever on the alert to avoid the least suspicion +of scandal. + +"In the meanwhile Mr. Hatherell, with great good sense, persuaded young +Ashley to leave the Club and all its temptations and go home; if +possible to bed. + +"The friendship of the two young men, which was very well known in +society, consisted chiefly, it appears, in Walter Hatherell being the +willing companion and helpmeet of John Ashley in his mad and extravagant +pranks. But to-night the latter, apparently tardily sobered by his +terrible and heavy losses, allowed himself to be led away by his friend +from the scene of his disasters. It was then about twenty minutes to +two. + +"Here the situation becomes interesting," continued the man in the +corner in his nervous way. "No wonder that the police interrogated at +least a dozen witnesses before they were quite satisfied that every +statement was conclusively proved. + +"Walter Hatherell, after about ten minutes' absence, that is to say at +ten minutes to two, returned to the club room. In reply to several +inquiries, he said that he had parted with his friend at the corner of +New Bond Street, since he seemed anxious to be alone, and that Ashley +said he would take a turn down Piccadilly before going home--he thought +a walk would do him good. + +"At two o'clock or thereabouts Mr. Aaron Cohen, satisfied with his +evening's work, gave up his position at the bank and, pocketing his +heavy winnings, started on his homeward walk, while Mr. Walter Hatherell +left the club half an hour later. + +"At three o'clock precisely the cries of 'Murder' and the report of +fire-arms were heard in Park Square West, and Mr. Aaron Cohen was found +strangled outside the garden railings." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE MOTIVE + + +"Now at first sight the murder in the Regent's Park appeared both to +police and public as one of those silly, clumsy crimes, obviously the +work of a novice, and absolutely purposeless, seeing that it could but +inevitably lead its perpetrators, without any difficulty, to the +gallows. + +"You see, a motive had been established. 'Seek him whom the crime +benefits,' say our French _confrères_. But there was something more than +that. + +"Constable James Funnell, on his beat, turned from Portland Place into +Park Crescent a few minutes after he had heard the clock at Holy Trinity +Church, Marylebone, strike half-past two. The fog at that moment was +perhaps not quite so dense as it was later on in the morning, and the +policeman saw two gentlemen in overcoats and top-hats leaning arm in arm +against the railings of the Square, close to the gate. He could not, of +course, distinguish their faces because of the fog, but he heard one of +them saying to the other: + +"'It is but a question of time, Mr. Cohen. I know my father will pay +the money for me, and you will lose nothing by waiting.' + +"To this the other apparently made no reply, and the constable passed +on; when he returned to the same spot, after having walked over his +beat, the two gentlemen had gone, but later on it was near this very +gate that the two keys referred to at the inquest had been found. + +"Another interesting fact," added the man in the corner, with one of +those sarcastic smiles of his which Polly could not quite explain, "was +the finding of the revolver upon the scene of the crime. That revolver, +shown to Mr. Ashley's valet, was sworn to by him as being the property +of his master. + +"All these facts made, of course, a very remarkable, so far quite +unbroken, chain of circumstantial evidence against Mr. John Ashley. No +wonder, therefore, that the police, thoroughly satisfied with Mr. +Fisher's work and their own, applied for a warrant against the young +man, and arrested him in his rooms in Clarges Street exactly a week +after the committal of the crime. + +"As a matter of fact, you know, experience has invariably taught me that +when a murderer seems particularly foolish and clumsy, and proofs +against him seem particularly damning, that is the time when the police +should be most guarded against pitfalls. + +"Now in this case, if John Ashley had indeed committed the murder in +Regent's Park in the manner suggested by the police, he would have been +a criminal in more senses than one, for idiocy of that kind is to my +mind worse than many crimes. + +"The prosecution brought its witnesses up in triumphal array one after +another. There were the members of the Harewood Club--who had seen the +prisoner's excited condition after his heavy gambling losses to Mr. +Aaron Cohen; there was Mr. Hatherell, who, in spite of his friendship +for Ashley, was bound to admit that he had parted from him at the corner +of Bond Street at twenty minutes to two, and had not seen him again till +his return home at five a.m. + +"Then came the evidence of Arthur Chipps, John Ashley's valet. It proved +of a very sensational character. + +"He deposed that on the night in question his master came home at about +ten minutes to two. Chipps had then not yet gone to bed. Five minutes +later Mr. Ashley went out again, telling the valet not to sit up for +him. Chipps could not say at what time either of the young gentlemen had +come home. + +"That short visit home--presumably to fetch the revolver--was thought to +be very important, and Mr. John Ashley's friends felt that his case was +practically hopeless. + +"The valet's evidence and that of James Funnell, the constable, who had +overheard the conversation near the park railings, were certainly the +two most damning proofs against the accused. I assure you I was having a +rare old time that day. There were two faces in court to watch which was +the greatest treat I had had for many a day. One of these was Mr. John +Ashley's. + +"Here's his photo--short, dark, dapper, a little 'racy' in style, but +otherwise he looks a son of a well-to-do farmer. He was very quiet and +placid in court, and addressed a few words now and again to his +solicitor. He listened gravely, and with an occasional shrug of the +shoulders, to the recital of the crime, such as the police had +reconstructed it, before an excited and horrified audience. + +"Mr. John Ashley, driven to madness and frenzy by terrible financial +difficulties, had first of all gone home in search of a weapon, then +waylaid Mr. Aaron Cohen somewhere on that gentleman's way home. The +young man had begged for delay. Mr. Cohen perhaps was obdurate; but +Ashley followed him with his importunities almost to his door. + +"There, seeing his creditor determined at last to cut short the painful +interview, he had seized the unfortunate man at an unguarded moment from +behind, and strangled him; then, fearing that his dastardly work was not +fully accomplished, he had shot twice at the already dead body, missing +it both times from sheer nervous excitement. The murderer then must have +emptied his victim's pockets, and, finding the key of the garden, +thought that it would be a safe way of evading capture by cutting across +the squares, under the tunnel, and so through the more distant gate +which faced Portland Place. + +"The loss of the revolver was one of those unforeseen accidents which a +retributive Providence places in the path of the miscreant, delivering +him by his own act of folly into the hands of human justice. + +"Mr. John Ashley, however, did not appear the least bit impressed by the +recital of his crime. He had not engaged the services of one of the most +eminent lawyers, expert at extracting contradictions from witnesses by +skilful cross-examinations--oh, dear me, no! he had been contented with +those of a dull, prosy, very second-rate limb of the law, who, as he +called his witnesses, was completely innocent of any desire to create a +sensation. + +"He rose quietly from his seat, and, amidst breathless silence, called +the first of three witnesses on behalf of his client. He called +three--but he could have produced twelve--gentlemen, members of the +Ashton Club in Great Portland Street, all of whom swore that at three +o'clock on the morning of February 6th, that is to say, at the very +moment when the cries of 'Murder' roused the inhabitants of Park Square +West, and the crime was being committed, Mr. John Ashley was sitting +quietly in the club-rooms of the Ashton playing bridge with the three +witnesses. He had come in a few minutes before three--as the hall porter +of the Club testified--and stayed for about an hour and a half. + +"I need not tell you that this undoubted, this fully proved, _alibi_ was +a positive bombshell in the stronghold of the prosecution. The most +accomplished criminal could not possibly be in two places at once, and +though the Ashton Club transgresses in many ways against the gambling +laws of our very moral country, yet its members belong to the best, most +unimpeachable classes of society. Mr. Ashley had been seen and spoken to +at the very moment of the crime by at least a dozen gentlemen whose +testimony was absolutely above suspicion. + +"Mr. John Ashley's conduct throughout this astonishing phase of the +inquiry remained perfectly calm and correct. It was no doubt the +consciousness of being able to prove his innocence with such absolute +conclusion that had steadied his nerves throughout the proceedings. + +"His answers to the magistrate were clear and simple, even on the +ticklish subject of the revolver. + +"'I left the club, sir,' he explained, 'fully determined to speak with +Mr. Cohen alone in order to ask him for a delay in the settlement of my +debt to him. You will understand that I should not care to do this in +the presence of other gentlemen. I went home for a minute or two--not in +order to fetch a revolver, as the police assert, for I always carry a +revolver about with me in foggy weather--but in order to see if a very +important business letter had come for me in my absence. + +"'Then I went out again, and met Mr. Aaron Cohen not far from the +Harewood Club. I walked the greater part of the way with him, and our +conversation was of the most amicable character. We parted at the top of +Portland Place, near the gate of the Square, where the policeman saw us. +Mr. Cohen then had the intention of cutting across the Square, as being +a shorter way to his own house. I thought the Square looked dark and +dangerous in the fog, especially as Mr. Cohen was carrying a large sum +of money. + +"'We had a short discussion on the subject, and finally I persuaded him +to take my revolver, as I was going home only through very frequented +streets, and moreover carried nothing that was worth stealing. After a +little demur Mr. Cohen accepted the loan of my revolver, and that is +how it came to be found on the actual scene of the crime; finally I +parted from Mr. Cohen a very few minutes after I had heard the church +clock striking a quarter before three. I was at the Oxford Street end of +Great Portland Street at five minutes to three, and it takes at least +ten minutes to walk from where I was to the Ashton Club.' + +"This explanation was all the more credible, mind you, because the +question of the revolver had never been very satisfactorily explained by +the prosecution. A man who has effectually strangled his victim would +not discharge two shots of his revolver for, apparently, no other +purpose than that of rousing the attention of the nearest passer-by. It +was far more likely that it was Mr. Cohen who shot--perhaps wildly into +the air, when suddenly attacked from behind. Mr. Ashley's explanation +therefore was not only plausible, it was the only possible one. + +"You will understand therefore how it was that, after nearly half an +hour's examination, the magistrate, the police, and the public were +alike pleased to proclaim that the accused left the court without a +stain upon his character." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +FRIENDS + + +"Yes," interrupted Polly eagerly, since, for once, her acumen had been +at least as sharp as his, "but suspicion of that horrible crime only +shifted its taint from one friend to another, and, of course, I know--" + +"But that's just it," he quietly interrupted, "you don't know--Mr. +Walter Hatherell, of course, you mean. So did every one else at once. +The friend, weak and willing, committing a crime on behalf of his +cowardly, yet more assertive friend who had tempted him to evil. It was +a good theory; and was held pretty generally, I fancy, even by the +police. + +"I say 'even' because they worked really hard in order to build up a +case against young Hatherell, but the great difficulty was that of time. +At the hour when the policeman had seen the two men outside Park Square +together, Walter Hatherell was still sitting in the Harewood Club, which +he never left until twenty minutes to two. Had he wished to waylay and +rob Aaron Cohen he would not have waited surely till the time when +presumably the latter would already have reached home. + +"Moreover, twenty minutes was an incredibly short time in which to walk +from Hanover Square to Regent's Park without the chance of cutting +across the squares, to look for a man, whose whereabouts you could not +determine to within twenty yards or so, to have an argument with him, +murder him, and ransack his pockets. And then there was the total +absence of motive." + +"But--" said Polly meditatively, for she remembered now that the +Regent's Park murder, as it had been popularly called, was one of those +which had remained as impenetrable a mystery as any other crime had ever +been in the annals of the police. + +The man in the corner cocked his funny birdlike head well on one side +and looked at her, highly amused evidently at her perplexity. + +"You do not see how that murder was committed?" he asked with a grin. + +Polly was bound to admit that she did not. + +"If you had happened to have been in Mr. John Ashley's predicament," he +persisted, "you do not see how you could conveniently have done away +with Mr. Aaron Cohen, pocketed his winnings, and then led the police of +your country entirely by the nose, by proving an indisputable _alibi_?" + +"I could not arrange conveniently," she retorted, "to be in two +different places half a mile apart at one and the same time." + +"No! I quite admit that you could not do this unless you also had a +friend--" + +"A friend? But you say--" + +"I say that I admired Mr. John Ashley, for his was the head which +planned the whole thing, but he could not have accomplished the +fascinating and terrible drama without the help of willing and able +hands." + +"Even then--" she protested. + +"Point number one," he began excitedly, fidgeting with his inevitable +piece of string. "John Ashley and his friend Walter Hatherell leave the +club together, and together decide on the plan of campaign. Hatherell +returns to the club, and Ashley goes to fetch the revolver--the revolver +which played such an important part in the drama, but not the part +assigned to it by the police. Now try to follow Ashley closely, as he +dogs Aaron Cohen's footsteps. Do you believe that he entered into +conversation with him? That he walked by his side? That he asked for +delay? No! He sneaked behind him and caught him by the throat, as the +garroters used to do in the fog. Cohen was apoplectic, and Ashley is +young and powerful. Moreover, he meant to kill--" + +"But the two men talked together outside the Square gates," protested +Polly, "one of whom was Cohen, and the other Ashley." + +"Pardon me," he said, jumping up in his seat like a monkey on a stick, +"there were not two men talking outside the Square gates. According to +the testimony of James Funnell, the constable, two men were leaning arm +in arm against the railings and _one_ man was talking." + +"Then you think that--" + +"At the hour when James Funnell heard Holy Trinity clock striking +half-past two Aaron Cohen was already dead. Look how simple the whole +thing is," he added eagerly, "and how easy after that--easy, but oh, +dear me! how wonderfully, how stupendously clever. As soon as James +Funnell has passed on, John Ashley, having opened the gate, lifts the +body of Aaron Cohen in his arms and carries him across the Square. The +Square is deserted, of course, but the way is easy enough, and we must +presume that Ashley had been in it before. Anyway, there was no fear of +meeting any one. + +"In the meantime Hatherell has left the club: as fast as his athletic +legs can carry him he rushes along Oxford Street and Portland Place. It +had been arranged between the two miscreants that the Square gate should +be left on the latch. + +"Close on Ashley's heels now, Hatherell too cuts across the Square, and +reaches the further gate in good time to give his confederate a hand in +disposing the body against the railings. Then, without another instant's +delay, Ashley runs back across the gardens, straight to the Ashton Club, +throwing away the keys of the dead man, on the very spot where he had +made it a point of being seen and heard by a passer-by. + +"Hatherell gives his friend six or seven minutes' start, then he begins +the altercation which lasts two or three minutes, and finally rouses the +neighbourhood with cries of 'Murder' and report of pistol in order to +establish that the crime was committed at the hour when its perpetrator +has already made out an indisputable _alibi_." + +"I don't know what you think of it all, of course," added the funny +creature as he fumbled for his coat and his gloves, "but I call the +planning of that murder--on the part of novices, mind you--one of the +cleverest pieces of strategy I have ever come across. It is one of those +cases where there is no possibility whatever now of bringing the crime +home to its perpetrator or his abettor. They have not left a single +proof behind them; they foresaw everything, and each acted his part with +a coolness and courage which, applied to a great and good cause, would +have made fine statesmen of them both. + +"As it is, I fear, they are just a pair of young blackguards, who have +escaped human justice, and have only deserved the full and ungrudging +admiration of yours very sincerely." + +He had gone. Polly wanted to call him back, but his meagre person was no +longer visible through the glass door. There were many things she would +have wished to ask of him--what were his proofs, his facts? His were +theories, after all, and yet, somehow, she felt that he had solved once +again one of the darkest mysteries of great criminal London. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE DE GENNEVILLE PEERAGE + + +The man in the corner rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and looked out upon +the busy street below. + +"I suppose," he said, "there is some truth in the saying that Providence +watches over bankrupts, kittens, and lawyers." + +"I didn't know there was such a saying," replied Polly, with guarded +dignity. + +"Isn't there? Perhaps I am misquoting; anyway, there should be. Kittens, +it seems, live and thrive through social and domestic upheavals which +would annihilate a self-supporting tom-cat, and to-day I read in the +morning papers the account of a noble lord's bankruptcy, and in the +society ones that of his visit at the house of a Cabinet minister, where +he is the most honoured guest. As for lawyers, when Providence had +exhausted all other means of securing their welfare, it brought forth +the peerage cases." + +"I believe, as a matter of fact, that this special dispensation of +Providence, as you call it, requires more technical knowledge than any +other legal complication that comes before the law courts," she said. + +"And also a great deal more money in the client's pocket than any other +complication. Now, take the Brockelsby peerage case. Have you any idea +how much money was spent over that soap bubble, which only burst after +many hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds went in lawyers' and +counsels' fees?" + +"I suppose a great deal of money was spent on both sides," she replied, +"until that sudden, awful issue--" + +"Which settled the dispute effectually," he interrupted with a dry +chuckle. "Of course, it is very doubtful if any reputable solicitor +would have taken up the case. Timothy Beddingfield, the Birmingham +lawyer, is a gentleman who--well--has had some misfortunes, shall we +say? He is still on the rolls, mind you, but I doubt if any case would +have its chances improved by his conducting it. Against that there is +just this to be said, that some of these old peerages have such peculiar +histories, and own such wonderful archives, that a claim is always worth +investigating--you never know what may be the rights of it. + +"I believe that, at first, every one laughed over the pretensions of the +Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville to the joint title and part revenues of +the old barony of Genneville, but, obviously, he _might_ have got his +case. It certainly sounded almost like a fairy-tale, this claim based +upon the supposed validity of an ancient document over 400 years old. It +was _then_ that a mediaeval Lord de Genneville, more endowed with muscle +than common sense, became during his turbulent existence much +embarrassed and hopelessly puzzled through the presentation made to him +by his lady of twin-born sons. + +"His embarrassment chiefly arose from the fact that my lady's +attendants, while ministering to the comfort of the mother, had, in a +moment of absent-mindedness, so placed the two infants in their cot that +subsequently no one, not even--perhaps least of all--the mother, could +tell which was the one who had been the first to make his appearance +into this troublesome and puzzling world. + +"After many years of cogitation, during which the Lord de Genneville +approached nearer to the grave and his sons to man's estate, he gave up +trying to solve the riddle as to which of the twins should succeed to +his title and revenues; he appealed to his Liege Lord and King--Edward, +fourth of that name--and with the latter's august sanction he drew up a +certain document, wherein he enacted that both his sons should, after +his death, share his titles and goodly revenues, and that the first son +born in wedlock of _either_ father should subsequently be the sole heir. + +"In this document was also added that if in future times should any +Lords de Genneville be similarly afflicted with twin sons, who had equal +rights to be considered the eldest born, the same rule should apply as +to the succession. + +"Subsequently a Lord de Genneville was created Earl of Brockelsby by one +of the Stuart kings, but for four hundred years after its enactment the +extraordinary deed of succession remained a mere tradition, the +Countesses of Brockelsby having, seemingly, no predilection for twins. +But in 1878 the mistress of Brockelsby Castle presented her lord with +twin-born sons. + +"Fortunately, in modern times, science is more wide-awake, and +attendants more careful. The twin brothers did not get mixed up, and one +of them was styled Viscount Tirlemont, and was heir to the earldom, +whilst the other, born two hours later, was that fascinating, dashing +young Guardsman, well known at Hurlingham, Goodwood, London, and in his +own county--the Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville. + +"It certainly was an evil day for this brilliant young scion of the +ancient race when he lent an ear to Timothy Beddingfield. This man, and +his family before him, had been solicitors to the Earls of Brockelsby +for many generations, but Timothy, owing to certain 'irregularities,' +had forfeited the confidence of his client, the late earl. + +"He was still in practice in Birmingham, however, and, of course, knew +the ancient family tradition anent the twin succession. Whether he was +prompted by revenge or merely self-advertisement no one knows. + +"Certain it is that he did advise the Hon. Robert de Genneville--who +apparently had more debts than he conveniently could pay, and more +extravagant tastes than he could gratify on a younger son's portion--to +lay a claim, on his father's death, to the joint title and a moiety of +the revenues of the ancient barony of Genneville, that claim being based +upon the validity of the fifteenth-century document. + +"You may gather how extensive were the pretensions of the Hon. Robert +from the fact that the greater part of Edgbaston is now built upon land +belonging to the old barony. Anyway, it was the last straw in an ocean +of debt and difficulties, and I have no doubt that Beddingfield had not +much trouble in persuading the Hon. Robert to commence litigation at +once. + +"The young Earl of Brockelsby's attitude, however, remained one of +absolute quietude in his nine points of the law. He was in possession +both of the title and of the document. It was for the other side to +force him to produce the one or to share the other. + +"It was at this stage of the proceedings that the Hon. Robert was +advised to marry, in order to secure, if possible, the first male heir +of the next generation, since the young earl himself was still a +bachelor. A suitable _fiancée_ was found for him by his friends in the +person of Miss Mabel Brandon, the daughter of a rich Birmingham +manufacturer, and the marriage was fixed to take place at Birmingham on +Thursday, September 15th, 1907. + +"On the 13th the Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville arrived at the Castle +Hotel in New Street for his wedding, and on the 14th, at eight o'clock +in the morning, he was discovered lying on the floor of his +bedroom--murdered. + +"The sensation which the awful and unexpected sequel to the De +Genneville peerage case caused in the minds of the friends of both +litigants was quite unparalleled. I don't think any crime of modern +times created quite so much stir in all classes of society. Birmingham +was wild with excitement, and the employés of the Castle Hotel had real +difficulty in keeping off the eager and inquisitive crowd who thronged +daily to the hall, vainly hoping to gather details of news relating to +the terrible tragedy. + +"At present there was but little to tell. The shrieks of the +chambermaid, who had gone into the Hon. Robert's room with his shaving +water at eight o'clock, had attracted some of the waiters. Soon the +manager and his secretary came up, and immediately sent for the police. + +"It seemed at first sight as if the young man had been the victim of a +homicidal maniac, so brutal had been the way in which he had been +assassinated. The head and body were battered and bruised by some heavy +stick or poker, almost past human shape, as if the murderer had wished +to wreak some awful vengeance upon the body of his victim. In fact, it +would be impossible to recount the gruesome aspect of that room and of +the murdered man's body such as the police and the medical officer took +note of that day. + +"It was supposed that the murder had been committed the evening before, +as the victim was dressed in his evening clothes, and all the lights in +the room had been left fully turned on. Robbery, also, must have had a +large share in the miscreant's motives, for the drawers and cupboards, +the portmanteau and dressing-bag had been ransacked as if in search of +valuables. On the floor there lay a pocket-book torn in half and only +containing a few letters addressed to the Hon. Robert de Genneville. + +"The Earl of Brockelsby, next-of-kin to the deceased, was also +telegraphed for. He drove over from Brockelsby Castle, which is about +seven miles from Birmingham. He was terribly affected by the awfulness +of the tragedy, and offered a liberal reward to stimulate the activity +of the police in search of the miscreant. + +"The inquest was fixed for the 17th, three days later, and the public +was left wondering where the solution lay of the terrible and gruesome +murder at the Castle Hotel." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +A HIGH-BRED GENTLEMAN + + +"The central figure in the coroner's court that day was undoubtedly the +Earl of Brockelsby in deep black, which contrasted strongly with his +florid complexion and fair hair. Sir Marmaduke Ingersoll, his solicitor, +was with him, and he had already performed the painful duty of +identifying the deceased as his brother. This had been an exceedingly +painful duty owing to the terribly mutilated state of the body and face; +but the clothes and various trinkets he wore, including a signet ring, +had fortunately not tempted the brutal assassin, and it was through them +chiefly that Lord Brockelsby was able to swear to the identity of his +brother. + +"The various employés at the hotel gave evidence as to the discovery of +the body, and the medical officer gave his opinion as to the immediate +cause of death. Deceased had evidently been struck at the back of the +head with a poker or heavy stick, the murderer then venting his blind +fury upon the body by battering in the face and bruising it in a way +that certainly suggested the work of a maniac. + +"Then the Earl of Brockelsby was called, and was requested by the +coroner to state when he had last seen his brother alive. + +"'The morning before his death,' replied his lordship, 'he came up to +Birmingham by an early train, and I drove up from Brockelsby to see him. +I got to the hotel at eleven o'clock and stayed with him for about an +hour.' + +"'And that is the last you saw of the deceased?' + +"'That is the last I saw of him,' replied Lord Brockelsby. + +"He seemed to hesitate for a moment or two as if in thought whether he +should speak or not, and then to suddenly make up his mind to speak, for +he added: 'I stayed in town the whole of that day, and only drove back +to Brockelsby late in the evening. I had some business to transact, and +put up at the Grand, as I usually do, and dined with some friends.' + +"'Would you tell us at what time you returned to Brockelsby Castle?' + +"'I think it must have been about eleven o'clock. It is a seven-mile +drive from here.' + +"'I believe,' said the coroner after a slight pause, during which the +attention of all the spectators was riveted upon the handsome figure of +the young man as he stood in the witness-box, the very personification +of a high-bred gentleman, 'I believe that I am right in stating that +there was an unfortunate legal dispute between your lordship and your +brother?' + +"'That is so.' + +"The coroner stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment or two, then he +added: + +"'In the event of the deceased's claim to the joint title and revenues +of De Genneville being held good in the courts of law, there would be a +great importance, would there not, attached to his marriage, which was +to have taken place on the 15th?' + +"'In that event, there certainly would be.' + +"'Is the jury to understand, then, that you and the deceased parted on +amicable terms after your interview with him in the morning?' + +"The Earl of Brockelsby hesitated again for a minute or two, while the +crowd and the jury hung breathless on his lips. + +"'There was no enmity between us,' he replied at last. + +"'From which we may gather that there may have been--shall I say--a +slight disagreement at that interview?' + +"'My brother had unfortunately been misled by the misrepresentations or +perhaps the too optimistic views of his lawyer. He had been dragged into +litigation on the strength of an old family document which he had never +seen, which, moreover, is antiquated, and, owing to certain wording in +it, invalid. I thought that it would be kinder and more considerate if +I were to let my brother judge of the document for himself. I knew that +when he had seen it he would be convinced of the absolutely futile basis +of his claim, and that it would be a terrible disappointment to him. +That is the reason why I wished to see him myself about it, rather than +to do it through the more formal--perhaps more correct--medium of our +respective lawyers. I placed the facts before him with, on my part, a +perfectly amicable spirit.' + +"The young Earl of Brockelsby had made this somewhat lengthy, perfectly +voluntary explanation of the state of affairs in a calm, quiet voice, +with much dignity and perfect simplicity, but the coroner did not seem +impressed by it, for he asked very drily: + +"'Did you part good friends?' + +"'On my side absolutely so.' + +"'But not on his?' insisted the coroner. + +"'I think he felt naturally annoyed that he had been so ill-advised by +his solicitors.' + +"'And you made no attempt later on in the day to adjust any ill-feeling +that may have existed between you and him?' asked the coroner, marking +with strange, earnest emphasis every word he uttered. + +"'If you mean did I go and see my brother again that day--no, I did +not.' + +"'And your lordship can give us no further information which might +throw some light upon the mystery which surrounds the Hon. Robert de +Genneville's death?' still persisted the coroner. + +"'I am sorry to say I cannot,' replied the Earl of Brockelsby with firm +decision. + +"The coroner still looked puzzled and thoughtful. It seemed at first as +if he wished to press his point further; every one felt that some deep +import had lain behind his examination of the witness, and all were on +tenter-hooks as to what the next evidence might bring forth. The Earl of +Brockelsby had waited a minute or two, then, at a sign from the coroner, +had left the witness-box in order to have a talk with his solicitor. + +"At first he paid no attention to the depositions of the cashier and +hall porter of the Castle Hotel, but gradually it seemed to strike him +that curious statements were being made by these witnesses, and a frown +of anxious wonder settled between his brows, whilst his young face lost +some of its florid hue. + +"Mr. Tremlett, the cashier at the hotel, had been holding the attention +of the court. He stated that the Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville had +arrived at the hotel at eight o'clock on the morning of the 13th; he had +the room which he usually occupied when he came to the 'Castle,' namely, +No. 21, and he went up to it immediately on his arrival, ordering some +breakfast to be brought up to him. + +"At eleven o'clock the Earl of Brockelsby called to see his brother and +remained with him until about twelve. In the afternoon the deceased went +out, and returned for his dinner at seven o'clock in company with a +gentleman whom the cashier knew well by sight, Mr. Timothy Beddingfield, +the lawyer, of Paradise Street. The gentlemen had their dinner +downstairs, and after that they went up to the Hon. Mr. de Genneville's +room for coffee and cigars. + +"'I could not say at what time Mr. Beddingfield left,' continued the +cashier, 'but I rather fancy I saw him in the hall at about 9.15 p.m. He +was wearing an Inverness cape over his dress clothes and a Glengarry +cap. It was just at the hour when the visitors who had come down for the +night from London were arriving thick and fast; the hall was very full, +and there was a large party of Americans monopolising most of our +_personnel_, so I could not swear positively whether I did see Mr. +Beddingfield or not then, though I am quite sure that it was Mr. Timothy +Beddingfield who dined and spent the evening with the Hon. Mr. de +Genneville, as I know him quite well by sight. At ten o'clock I am off +duty, and the night porter remains alone in the hall.' + +"Mr. Tremlett's evidence was corroborated in most respects by a waiter +and by the hall porter. They had both seen the deceased come in at seven +o'clock in company with a gentleman, and their description of the +latter coincided with that of the appearance of Mr. Timothy +Beddingfield, whom, however, they did not actually know. + +"At this point of the proceedings the foreman of the jury wished to know +why Mr. Timothy Beddingfield's evidence had not been obtained, and was +informed by the detective-inspector in charge of the case that that +gentleman had seemingly left Birmingham, but was expected home shortly. +The coroner suggested an adjournment pending Mr. Beddingfield's +appearance, but at the earnest request of the detective he consented to +hear the evidence of Peter Tyrrell, the night porter at the Castle +Hotel, who, if you remember the case at all, succeeded in creating the +biggest sensation of any which had been made through this extraordinary +and weirdly gruesome case. + +"'It was the first time I had been on duty at "The Castle," he said, +'for I used to be night porter at "Bright's," in Wolverhampton, but just +after I had come on duty at ten o'clock a gentleman came and asked if he +could see the Hon. Robert de Genneville. I said that I thought he was +in, but would send up and see. The gentleman said: "It doesn't matter. +Don't trouble; I know his room. Twenty-one, isn't it?" And up he went +before I could say another word.' + +"'Did he give you any name?' asked the coroner. + +"'No, sir.' + +"'What was he like?' + +"'A young gentleman, sir, as far as I can remember, in an Inverness cape +and Glengarry cap, but I could not see his face very well as he stood +with his back to the light, and the cap shaded his eyes, and he only +spoke to me for a minute.' + +"'Look all round you,' said the coroner quietly. 'Is there any one in +this court at all like the gentleman you speak of?' + +"An awed hush fell over the many spectators there present as Peter +Tyrrell, the night porter of the Castle Hotel, turned his head towards +the body of the court and slowly scanned the many faces there present; +for a moment he seemed to hesitate--only for a moment though, then, as +if vaguely conscious of the terrible importance his next words might +have, he shook his head gravely and said: + +"'I wouldn't like to swear.' + +"The coroner tried to press him, but with true British stolidity he +repeated: 'I wouldn't like to say.' + +"'Well, then, what happened?' asked the coroner, who had perforce to +abandon his point. + +"'The gentleman went upstairs, sir, and about a quarter of an hour later +he come down again, and I let him out. He was in a great hurry then, he +threw me a half-crown and said: "Good night."' + +"'And though you saw him again then, you cannot tell us if you would +know him again?' + +"Once more the hall porter's eyes wandered as if instinctively to a +certain face in the court; once more he hesitated for many seconds which +seemed like so many hours, during which a man's honour, a man's life, +hung perhaps in the balance. + +"Then Peter Tyrrell repeated slowly: 'I wouldn't swear.' + +"But coroner and jury alike, aye, and every spectator in that crowded +court, had seen that the man's eyes had rested during that one moment of +hesitation upon the face of the Earl of Brockelsby." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE LIVING AND THE DEAD + + +The man in the corner blinked across at Polly with his funny mild blue +eyes. + +"No wonder you are puzzled," he continued, "so was everybody in the +court that day, every one save myself. I alone could see in my mind's +eye that gruesome murder such as it had been committed, with all its +details, and, above all, its motive, and such as you will see it +presently, when I place it all clearly before you. + +"But before you see daylight in this strange case, I must plunge you +into further darkness, in the same manner as the coroner and jury were +plunged on the following day, the second day of that remarkable inquest. +It had to be adjourned, since the appearance of Mr. Timothy Beddingfield +had now become of vital importance. The public had come to regard his +absence from Birmingham at this critical moment as decidedly remarkable, +to say the least of it, and all those who did not know the lawyer by +sight wished to see him in his Inverness cape and Glengarry cap such as +he had appeared before the several witnesses on the night of the awful +murder. + +"When the coroner and jury were seated, the first piece of information +which the police placed before them was the astounding statement that +Mr. Timothy Beddingfield's whereabouts had not been ascertained, though +it was confidently expected that he had not gone far and could easily be +traced. There was a witness present who, the police thought, might throw +some light as to the lawyer's probable destination, for obviously he had +left Birmingham directly after his interview with the deceased. + +"This witness was Mrs. Higgins, who was Mr. Beddingfield's housekeeper. +She stated that her master was in the constant habit--especially +latterly--of going up to London on business. He usually left by a late +evening train on those occasions, and mostly was only absent thirty-six +hours. He kept a portmanteau always ready packed for the purpose, for he +often left at a few moments' notice. Mrs. Higgins added that her master +stayed at the Great Western Hotel in London, for it was there that she +was instructed to wire if anything urgent required his presence back in +Birmingham. + +"'On the night of the 14th,' she continued, 'at nine o'clock or +thereabouts, a messenger came to the door with the master's card, and +said that he was instructed to fetch Mr. Beddingfield's portmanteau, and +then to meet him at the station in time to catch the 9.35 p.m. up train. +I gave him the portmanteau, of course, as he had brought the card, and +I had no idea there could be anything wrong; but since then I have heard +nothing of my master, and I don't know when he will return.' + +"Questioned by the coroner, she added that Mr. Beddingfield had never +stayed away quite so long without having his letters forwarded to him. +There was a large pile waiting for him now; she had written to the Great +Western Hotel, London, asking what she should do about the letters, but +had received no reply. She did not know the messenger by sight who had +called for the portmanteau. Once or twice before Mr. Beddingfield had +sent for his things in that manner when he had been dining out. + +"Mr. Beddingfield certainly wore his Inverness cape over his dress +clothes when he went out at about six o'clock in the afternoon. He also +wore a Glengarry cap. + +"The messenger had so far not yet been found, and from this +point--namely, the sending for the portmanteau--all traces of Mr. +Timothy Beddingfield seem to have been lost. Whether he went up to +London by that 9.35 train or not could not be definitely ascertained. +The police had questioned at least a dozen porters at the railway, as +well as ticket collectors; but no one had any special recollection of a +gentleman in an Inverness cape and Glengarry cap, a costume worn by +more than one first-class passenger on a cold night in September. + +"There was the hitch, you see; it all lay in this. Mr. Timothy +Beddingfield, the lawyer, had undoubtedly made himself scarce. He was +last seen in company with the deceased, and wearing an Inverness cape +and Glengarry cap; two or three witnesses saw him leaving the hotel at +about 9.15. Then the messenger calls at the lawyer's house for the +portmanteau, after which Mr. Timothy Beddingfield seems to vanish into +thin air; but--and that is a great 'but'--the night porter at the +'Castle' seems to have seen some one wearing the momentous Inverness and +Glengarry half an hour or so later on, and going up to deceased's room, +where he stayed about a quarter of an hour. + +"Undoubtedly you will say, as every one said to themselves that day +after the night porter and Mrs. Higgins had been heard, that there was a +very ugly and very black finger which pointed unpleasantly at Mr. +Timothy Beddingfield, especially as that gentleman, for some reason +which still required an explanation, was not there to put matters right +for himself. But there was just one little thing--a mere trifle, +perhaps--which neither the coroner nor the jury dared to overlook, +though, strictly speaking, it was not evidence. + +"You will remember that when the night porter was asked if he could, +among the persons present in court, recognize the Hon. Robert de +Genneville's belated visitor, every one had noticed his hesitation, and +marked that the man's eyes had rested doubtingly upon the face and +figure of the young Earl of Brockelsby. + +"Now, if that belated visitor had been Mr. Timothy Beddingfield--tall, +lean, dry as dust, with a bird-like beak and clean-shaven chin--no one +could for a moment have mistaken his face--even if they only saw it very +casually and recollected it but very dimly--with that of young Lord +Brockelsby, who was florid and rather short--the only point in common +between them was their Saxon hair. + +"You see that it was a curious point, don't you?" added the man in the +corner, who now had become so excited that his fingers worked like long +thin tentacles round and round his bit of string. "It weighed very +heavily in favour of Timothy Beddingfield. Added to which you must also +remember that, as far as he was concerned, the Hon. Robert de Genneville +was to him the goose with the golden eggs. + +"The 'De Genneville peerage case' had brought Beddingfield's name in +great prominence. With the death of the claimant all hopes of prolonging +the litigation came to an end. There was a total lack of motive as far +as Beddingfield was concerned." + +"Not so with the Earl of Brockelsby," said Polly, "and I've often +maintained--" + +"What?" he interrupted. "That the Earl of Brockelsby changed clothes +with Beddingfield in order more conveniently to murder his own brother? +Where and when could the exchange of costume have been effected, +considering that the Inverness cape and Glengarry cap were in the hall +of the Castle Hotel at 9.15, and at that hour and until ten o'clock Lord +Brockelsby was at the Grand Hotel finishing dinner with some friends? +That was subsequently proved, remember, and also that he was back at +Brockelsby Castle, which is seven miles from Birmingham, at eleven +o'clock sharp. Now, the visit of the individual in the Glengarry +occurred some time after 10 p.m." + +"Then there was the disappearance of Beddingfield," said the girl +musingly. "That certainly points very strongly to him. He was a man in +good practice, I believe, and fairly well known." + +"And has never been heard of from that day to this," concluded the old +scarecrow with a chuckle. "No wonder you are puzzled. The police were +quite baffled, and still are, for a matter of that. And yet see how +simple it is! Only the police would not look further than these two +men--Lord Brockelsby with a strong motive and the night porter's +hesitation against him, and Beddingfield without a motive, but with +strong circumstantial evidence and his own disappearance as condemnatory +signs. + +"If only they would look at the case as I did, and think a little about +the dead as well as about the living. If they had remembered that +peerage case, the Hon. Robert's debts, his last straw which proved a +futile claim. + +"Only that very day the Earl of Brockelsby had, by quietly showing the +original ancient document to his brother, persuaded him how futile were +all his hopes. Who knows how many were the debts contracted, the +promises made, the money borrowed and obtained on the strength of that +claim which was mere romance? Ahead nothing but ruin, enmity with his +brother, his marriage probably broken off, a wasted life, in fact. + +"Is it small wonder that, though ill-feeling against the Earl of +Brockelsby may have been deep, there was hatred, bitter, deadly hatred +against the man who with false promises had led him into so hopeless a +quagmire? Probably the Hon. Robert owed a great deal of money to +Beddingfield, which the latter hoped to recoup at usurious interest, +with threats of scandal and what not. + +"Think of all that," he added, "and then tell me if you believe that a +stronger motive for the murder of such an enemy could well be found." + +"But what you suggest is impossible," said Polly, aghast. + +"Allow me," he said, "it is more than possible--it is very easy and +simple. The two men were alone together in the Hon. Robert de +Genneville's room after dinner. You, as representing the public, and the +police say that Beddingfield went away and returned half an hour later +in order to kill his client. I say that it was the lawyer who was +murdered at nine o'clock that evening, and that Robert de Genneville, +the ruined man, the hopeless bankrupt, was the assassin." + +"Then--" + +"Yes, of course, now you remember, for I have put you on the track. The +face and the body were so battered and bruised that they were past +recognition. Both men were of equal height. The hair, which alone could +not be disfigured or obliterated, was in both men similar in colour. + +"Then the murderer proceeds to dress his victim in his own clothes. With +the utmost care he places his own rings on the fingers of the dead man, +his own watch in the pocket; a gruesome task, but an important one, and +it is thoroughly well done. Then he himself puts on the clothes of his +victim, with finally the Inverness cape and Glengarry, and when the hall +is full of visitors he slips out unperceived. He sends the messenger for +Beddingfield's portmanteau and starts off by the night express." + +"But then his visit at the Castle Hotel at ten o'clock--" she urged. +"How dangerous!" + +"Dangerous? Yes! but oh, how clever. You see, he was the Earl of +Brockelsby's twin brother, and twin brothers are always somewhat alike. +He wished to appear dead, murdered by some one, he cared not whom, but +what he did care about was to throw clouds of dust in the eyes of the +police, and he succeeded with a vengeance. Perhaps--who knows?--he +wished to assure himself that he had forgotten nothing in the _mise en +scène_, that the body, battered and bruised past all semblance of any +human shape save for its clothes, really would appear to every one as +that of the Hon. Robert de Genneville, while the latter disappeared for +ever from the old world and started life again in the new. + +"Then you must always reckon with the practically invariable rule that a +murderer always revisits, if only once, the scene of his crime. + +"Two years have elapsed since the crime; no trace of Timothy +Beddingfield, the lawyer, has ever been found, and I can assure you that +it will never be, for his plebeian body lies buried in the aristocratic +family vault of the Earl of Brockelsby." + +He was gone before Polly could say another word. The faces of Timothy +Beddingfield, of the Earl of Brockelsby, of the Hon. Robert de +Genneville seemed to dance before her eyes and to mock her for the +hopeless bewilderment in which she found herself plunged because of +them; then all the faces vanished, or, rather, were merged in one long, +thin, bird-like one, with bone-rimmed spectacles on the top of its +beak, and a wide, rude grin beneath it, and, still puzzled, still +doubtful, the young girl too paid for her scanty luncheon and went her +way. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH IN PERCY STREET + + +Miss Polly Burton had had many an argument with Mr. Richard Frobisher +about that old man in the corner, who seemed far more interesting and +deucedly more mysterious than any of the crimes over which he +philosophised. + +Dick thought, moreover, that Miss Polly spent more of her leisure time +now in that A.B.C. shop than she had done in his own company before, and +told her so, with that delightful air of sheepish sulkiness which the +male creature invariably wears when he feels jealous and won't admit it. + +Polly liked Dick to be jealous, but she liked that old scarecrow in the +A.B.C. shop very much too, and though she made sundry vague promises +from time to time to Mr. Richard Frobisher, she nevertheless drifted +back instinctively day after day to the tea-shop in Norfolk Street, +Strand, and stayed there sipping coffee for as long as the man in the +corner chose to talk. + +On this particular afternoon she went to the A.B.C. shop with a fixed +purpose, that of making him give her his views of Mrs. Owen's mysterious +death in Percy Street. + +The facts had interested and puzzled her. She had had countless +arguments with Mr. Richard Frobisher as to the three great possible +solutions of the puzzle--"Accident, Suicide, Murder?" + +"Undoubtedly neither accident nor suicide," he said dryly. + +Polly was not aware that she had spoken. What an uncanny habit that +creature had of reading her thoughts! + +"You incline to the idea, then, that Mrs. Owen was murdered. Do you know +by whom?" + +He laughed, and drew forth the piece of string he always fidgeted with +when unravelling some mystery. + +"You would like to know who murdered that old woman?" he asked at last. + +"I would like to hear your views on the subject," Polly replied. + +"I have no views," he said dryly. "No one can know who murdered the +woman, since no one ever saw the person who did it. No one can give the +faintest description of the mysterious man who alone could have +committed that clever deed, and the police are playing a game of blind +man's buff." + +"But you must have formed some theory of your own," she persisted. + +It annoyed her that the funny creature was obstinate about this point, +and she tried to nettle his vanity. + +"I suppose that as a matter of fact your original remark that 'there are +no such things as mysteries' does not apply universally. There is a +mystery--that of the death in Percy Street, and you, like the police, +are unable to fathom it." + +He pulled up his eyebrows and looked at her for a minute or two. + +"Confess that that murder was one of the cleverest bits of work +accomplished outside Russian diplomacy," he said with a nervous laugh. +"I must say that were I the judge, called upon to pronounce sentence of +death on the man who conceived that murder, I could not bring myself to +do it. I would politely request the gentleman to enter our Foreign +Office--we have need of such men. The whole _mise en scène_ was truly +artistic, worthy of its _milieu_--the Rubens Studios in Percy Street, +Tottenham Court Road. + +"Have you ever noticed them? They are only studios by name, and are +merely a set of rooms in a corner house, with the windows slightly +enlarged, and the rents charged accordingly in consideration of that +additional five inches of smoky daylight, filtering through dusty +windows. On the ground floor there is the order office of some stained +glass works, with a workshop in the rear, and on the first floor landing +a small room allotted to the caretaker, with gas, coal, and fifteen +shillings a week, for which princely income she is deputed to keep tidy +and clean the general aspect of the house. + +"Mrs. Owen, who was the caretaker there, was a quiet, respectable woman, +who eked out her scanty wages by sundry--mostly very meagre--tips doled +out to her by impecunious artists in exchange for promiscuous domestic +services in and about the respective studios. + +"But if Mrs. Owen's earnings were not large, they were very regular, and +she had no fastidious tastes. She and her cockatoo lived on her wages; +and all the tips added up, and never spent, year after year, went to +swell a very comfortable little account at interest in the Birkbeck +Bank. This little account had mounted up to a very tidy sum, and the +thrifty widow--or old maid--no one ever knew which she was--was +generally referred to by the young artists of the Rubens Studios as a +'lady of means.' But this is a digression. + +"No one slept on the premises except Mrs. Owen and her cockatoo. The +rule was that one by one as the tenants left their rooms in the evening +they took their respective keys to the caretaker's room. She would then, +in the early morning, tidy and dust the studios and the office +downstairs, lay the fire and carry up coals. + +"The foreman of the glass works was the first to arrive in the morning. +He had a latch-key, and let himself in, after which it was the custom of +the house that he should leave the street door open for the benefit of +the other tenants and their visitors. + +"Usually, when he came at about nine o'clock, he found Mrs. Owen busy +about the house doing her work, and he had often a brief chat with her +about the weather, but on this particular morning of February 2nd he +neither saw nor heard her. However, as the shop had been tidied and the +fire laid, he surmised that Mrs. Owen had finished her work earlier than +usual, and thought no more about it. One by one the tenants of the +studios turned up, and the day sped on without any one's attention being +drawn noticeably to the fact that the caretaker had not appeared upon +the scene. + +"It had been a bitterly cold night, and the day was even worse; a +cutting north-easterly gale was blowing, there had been a great deal of +snow during the night which lay quite thick on the ground, and at five +o'clock in the afternoon, when the last glimmer of the pale winter +daylight had disappeared, the confraternity of the brush put palette and +easel aside and prepared to go home. The first to leave was Mr. Charles +Pitt; he locked up his studio and, as usual, took his key into the +caretaker's room. + +"He had just opened the door when an icy blast literally struck him in +the face; both the windows were wide open, and the snow and sleet were +beating thickly into the room, forming already a white carpet upon the +floor. + +"The room was in semi-obscurity, and at first Mr. Pitt saw nothing, but +instinctively realizing that something was wrong, he lit a match, and +saw before him the spectacle of that awful and mysterious tragedy which +has ever since puzzled both police and public. On the floor, already +half covered by the drifting snow, lay the body of Mrs. Owen face +downwards, in a nightgown, with feet and ankles bare, and these and her +hands were of a deep purple colour; whilst in a corner of the room, +huddled up with the cold, the body of the cockatoo lay stark and stiff." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +SUICIDE OR MURDER? + + +"At first there was only talk of a terrible accident, the result of some +inexplicable carelessness which perhaps the evidence at the inquest +would help to elucidate. + +"Medical assistance came too late; the unfortunate woman was indeed +dead, frozen to death, inside her own room. Further examination showed +that she had received a severe blow at the back of the head, which must +have stunned her and caused her to fall, helpless, beside the open +window. Temperature at five degrees below zero had done the rest. +Detective Inspector Howell discovered close to the window a wrought-iron +gas bracket, the height of which corresponded exactly with the bruise at +the back of Mrs. Owen's head. + +"Hardly however had a couple of days elapsed when public curiosity was +whetted by a few startling headlines, such as the halfpenny evening +papers alone know how to concoct. + +"'The mysterious death in Percy Street.' 'Is it Suicide or Murder?' +'Thrilling details--Strange developments.' 'Sensational Arrest.' + +"What had happened was simply this: + +"At the inquest a few certainly very curious facts connected with Mrs. +Owen's life had come to light, and this had led to the apprehension of a +young man of very respectable parentage on a charge of being concerned +in the tragic death of the unfortunate caretaker. + +"To begin with, it happened that her life, which in an ordinary way +should have been very monotonous and regular, seemed, at any rate +latterly, to have been more than usually chequered and excited. Every +witness who had known her in the past concurred in the statement that +since October last a great change had come over the worthy and honest +woman. + +"I happen to have a photo of Mrs. Owen as she was before this great +change occurred in her quiet and uneventful life, and which led, as far +as the poor soul was concerned, to such disastrous results. + +"Here she is to the life," added the funny creature, placing the photo +before Polly--"as respectable, as stodgy, as uninteresting as it is well +possible for a member of your charming sex to be; not a face, you will +admit, to lead any youngster to temptation or to induce him to commit a +crime. + +"Nevertheless one day all the tenants of the Rubens Studios were +surprised and shocked to see Mrs. Owen, quiet, respectable Mrs. Owen, +sallying forth at six o'clock in the afternoon, attired in an +extravagant bonnet and a cloak trimmed with imitation astrakhan +which--slightly open in front--displayed a gold locket and chain of +astonishing proportions. + +"Many were the comments, the hints, the bits of sarcasm levelled at the +worthy woman by the frivolous confraternity of the brush. + +"The plot thickened when from that day forth a complete change came over +the worthy caretaker of the Rubens Studios. While she appeared day after +day before the astonished gaze of the tenants and the scandalized looks +of the neighbours, attired in new and extravagant dresses, her work was +hopelessly neglected, and she was always 'out' when wanted. + +"There was, of course, much talk and comment in various parts of the +Rubens Studios on the subject of Mrs. Owen's 'dissipations.' The tenants +began to put two and two together, and after a very little while the +general consensus of opinion became firmly established that the honest +caretaker's demoralisation coincided week for week, almost day for day, +with young Greenhill's establishment in No. 8 Studio. + +"Every one had remarked that he stayed much later in the evening than +any one else, and yet no one presumed that he stayed for purposes of +work. Suspicions soon rose to certainty when Mrs. Owen and Arthur +Greenhill were seen by one of the glass workmen dining together at +Gambia's Restaurant in Tottenham Court Road. + +"The workman, who was having a cup of tea at the counter, noticed +particularly that when the bill was paid the money came out of Mrs. +Owen's purse. The dinner had been sumptuous--veal cutlets, a cut from +the joint, dessert, coffee and liqueurs. Finally the pair left the +restaurant apparently very gay, young Greenhill smoking a choice cigar. + +"Irregularities such as these were bound sooner or later to come to the +ears and eyes of Mr. Allman, the landlord of the Rubens Studios; and a +month after the New Year, without further warning, he gave her a week's +notice to quit his house. + +"'Mrs. Owen did not seem the least bit upset when I gave her notice,' +Mr. Allman declared in his evidence at the inquest; 'on the contrary, +she told me that she had ample means, and had only worked latterly for +the sake of something to do. She added that she had plenty of friends +who would look after her, for she had a nice little pile to leave to any +one who would know how "to get the right side of her."' + +"Nevertheless, in spite of this cheerful interview, Miss Bedford, the +tenant of No. 6 Studio, had stated that when she took her key to the +caretaker's room at 6.30 that afternoon she found Mrs. Owen in tears. +The caretaker refused to be comforted, nor would she speak of her +trouble to Miss Bedford. + +"Twenty-four hours later she was found dead. + +"The coroner's jury returned an open verdict, and Detective-Inspector +Jones was charged by the police to make some inquiries about young Mr. +Greenhill, whose intimacy with the unfortunate woman had been +universally commented upon. + +"The detective, however, pushed his investigations as far as the +Birkbeck Bank. There he discovered that after her interview with Mr. +Allman, Mrs. Owen had withdrawn what money she had on deposit, some +£800, the result of twenty-five years' saving and thrift. + +"But the immediate result of Detective-Inspector Jones's labours was +that Mr. Arthur Greenhill, lithographer, was brought before the +magistrate at Bow Street on the charge of being concerned in the death +of Mrs. Owen, caretaker of the Rubens Studios, Percy Street. + +"Now that magisterial inquiry is one of the few interesting ones which I +had the misfortune to miss," continued the man in the corner, with a +nervous shake of the shoulders. "But you know as well as I do how the +attitude of the young prisoner impressed the magistrate and police so +unfavourably that, with every new witness brought forward, his position +became more and more unfortunate. + +"Yet he was a good-looking, rather coarsely built young fellow, with +one of those awful Cockney accents which literally make one jump. But he +looked painfully nervous, stammered at every word spoken, and repeatedly +gave answers entirely at random. + +"His father acted as lawyer for him, a rough-looking elderly man, who +had the appearance of a common country attorney rather than of a London +solicitor. + +"The police had built up a fairly strong case against the lithographer. +Medical evidence revealed nothing new: Mrs. Owen had died from exposure, +the blow at the back of the head not being sufficiently serious to cause +anything but temporary disablement. When the medical officer had been +called in, death had intervened for some time; it was quite impossible +to say how long, whether one hour or five or twelve. + +"The appearance and state of the room, when the unfortunate woman was +found by Mr. Charles Pitt, were again gone over in minute detail. Mrs. +Owen's clothes, which she had worn during the day, were folded neatly on +a chair. The key of her cupboard was in the pocket of her dress. The +door had been slightly ajar, but both the windows were wide open; one of +them, which had the sash-line broken, had been fastened up most +scientifically with a piece of rope. + +"Mrs. Owen had obviously undressed preparatory to going to bed, and the +magistrate very naturally soon made the remark how untenable the theory +of an accident must be. No one in their five senses would undress with a +temperature at below zero, and the windows wide open. + +"After these preliminary statements the cashier of the Birkbeck was +called and he related the caretaker's visit at the bank. + +"'It was then about one o'clock,' he stated. 'Mrs. Owen called and +presented a cheque to self for £827, the amount of her balance. She +seemed exceedingly happy and cheerful, and talked about needing plenty +of cash, as she was going abroad to join her nephew, for whom she would +in future keep house. I warned her about being sufficiently careful with +so large a sum, and parting from it injudiciously, as women of her class +are very apt to do. She laughingly declared that not only was she +careful of it in the present, but meant to be so for the far-off future, +for she intended to go that very day to a lawyer's office and to make a +will.' + +"The cashier's evidence was certainly startling in the extreme, since in +the widow's room no trace of any kind was found of any money; against +that, two of the notes handed over by the bank to Mrs. Owen on that day +were cashed by young Greenhill on the very morning of her mysterious +death. One was handed in by him to the West End Clothiers Company, in +payment for a suit of clothes, and the other he changed at the Post +Office in Oxford Street. + +"After that all the evidence had of necessity to be gone through again +on the subject of young Greenhill's intimacy with Mrs. Owen. He listened +to it all with an air of the most painful nervousness, his cheeks were +positively green, his lips seemed dry and parched, for he repeatedly +passed his tongue over them, and when Constable E 18 deposed that at 2 +a.m. on the morning of February 2nd he had seen the accused and spoken +to him at the corner of Percy Street and Tottenham Court Road, young +Greenhill all but fainted. + +"The contention of the police was that the caretaker had been murdered +and robbed during that night before she went to bed, that young +Greenhill had done the murder, seeing that he was the only person known +to have been intimate with the woman, and that it was, moreover, proved +unquestionably that he was in the immediate neighbourhood of the Rubens +Studios at an extraordinarily late hour of the night. + +"His own account of himself, and of that same night, could certainly not +be called very satisfactory. Mrs. Owen was a relative of his late +mother's, he declared. He himself was a lithographer by trade, with a +good deal of time and leisure on his hands. He certainly had employed +some of that time in taking the old woman to various places of +amusement. He had on more than one occasion suggested that she should +give up menial work, and come and live with him, but, unfortunately, she +was a great deal imposed upon by her nephew, a man of the name of Owen, +who exploited the good-natured woman in every possible way, and who had +on more than one occasion made severe attacks upon her savings at the +Birkbeck Bank. + +"Severely cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel about this supposed +relative of Mrs. Owen, Greenhill admitted that he did not know him--had, +in fact, never seen him. He knew that his name was Owen and that was +all. His chief occupation consisted in sponging on the kind-hearted old +woman, but he only went to see her in the evenings, when he presumably +knew that she would be alone, and invariably after all the tenants of +the Rubens Studios had left for the day. + +"I don't know whether at this point it strikes you at all, as it did +both magistrate and counsel, that there was a direct contradiction in +this statement and the one made by the cashier of the Birkbeck on the +subject of his last conversation with Mrs. Owen. 'I am going abroad to +join my nephew, for whom I am going to keep house,' was what the +unfortunate woman had said. + +"Now Greenhill, in spite of his nervousness and at times contradictory +answers, strictly adhered to his point, that there was a nephew in +London, who came frequently to see his aunt. + +"Anyway, the sayings of the murdered woman could not be taken as +evidence in law. Mr. Greenhill senior put the objection, adding: 'There +may have been two nephews,' which the magistrate and the prosecution +were bound to admit. + +"With regard to the night immediately preceding Mrs. Owen's death, +Greenhill stated that he had been with her to the theatre, had seen her +home, and had had some supper with her in her room. Before he left her, +at 2 a.m., she had of her own accord made him a present of £10, saying: +'I am a sort of aunt to you, Arthur, and if you don't have it, Bill is +sure to get it.' + +"She had seemed rather worried in the early part of the evening, but +later on she cheered up. + +"'Did she speak at all about this nephew of hers or about her money +affairs? asked the magistrate. + +"Again the young man hesitated, but said, 'No! she did not mention +either Owen or her money affairs.' + +"If I remember rightly," added the man in the corner, "for recollect I +was not present, the case was here adjourned. But the magistrate would +not grant bail. Greenhill was removed looking more dead than +alive--though every one remarked that Mr. Greenhill senior looked +determined and not the least worried. In the course of his examination +on behalf of his son, of the medical officer and one or two other +witnesses, he had very ably tried to confuse them on the subject of the +hour at which Mrs. Owen was last known to be alive. + +"He made a very great point of the fact that the usual morning's work +was done throughout the house when the inmates arrived. Was it +conceivable, he argued, that a woman would do that kind of work +overnight, especially as she was going to the theatre, and therefore +would wish to dress in her smarter clothes? It certainly was a very nice +point levelled against the prosecution, who promptly retorted: Just as +conceivable as that a woman in those circumstances of life should, +having done her work, undress beside an open window at nine o'clock in +the morning with the snow beating into the room. + +"Now it seems that Mr. Greenhill senior could produce any amount of +witnesses who could help to prove a conclusive _alibi_ on behalf of his +son, if only some time subsequent to that fatal 2 a.m. the murdered +woman had been seen alive by some chance passer-by. + +"However, he was an able man and an earnest one, and I fancy the +magistrate felt some sympathy for his strenuous endeavours on his son's +behalf. He granted a week's adjournment, which seemed to satisfy Mr. +Greenhill completely. + +"In the meanwhile the papers had talked of and almost exhausted the +subject of the mystery in Percy Street. There had been, as you no doubt +know from personal experience, innumerable arguments on the puzzling +alternatives:-- + +"Accident? + +"Suicide? + +"Murder? + +"A week went by, and then the case against young Greenhill was resumed. +Of course the court was crowded. It needed no great penetration to +remark at once that the prisoner looked more hopeful, and his father +quite elated. + +"Again a great deal of minor evidence was taken, and then came the turn +of the defence. Mr. Greenhill called Mrs. Hall, confectioner, of Percy +Street, opposite the Rubens Studios. She deposed that at 8 o'clock in +the morning of February 2nd, while she was tidying her shop window, she +saw the caretaker of the Studios opposite, as usual, on her knees, her +head and body wrapped in a shawl, cleaning her front steps. Her husband +also saw Mrs. Owen, and Mrs. Hall remarked to her husband how thankful +she was that her own shop had tiled steps, which did not need scrubbing +on so cold a morning. + +"Mr. Hall, confectioner, of the same address, corroborated this +statement, and Mr. Greenhill, with absolute triumph, produced a third +witness, Mrs. Martin, of Percy Street, who from her window on the second +floor had, at 7.30 a.m., seen the caretaker shaking mats outside her +front door. The description this witness gave of Mrs. Owen's get-up, +with the shawl round her head, coincided point by point with that given +by Mr. and Mrs. Hall. + +"After that Mr. Greenhill's task became an easy one; his son was at home +having his breakfast at 8 o'clock that morning--not only himself, but +his servants would testify to that. + +"The weather had been so bitter that the whole of that day Arthur had +not stirred from his own fireside. Mrs. Owen was murdered after 8 a.m. +on that day, since she was seen alive by three people at that hour, +therefore his son could not have murdered Mrs. Owen. The police must +find the criminal elsewhere, or else bow to the opinion originally +expressed by the public that Mrs. Owen had met with a terrible untoward +accident, or that perhaps she may have wilfully sought her own death in +that extraordinary and tragic fashion. + +"Before young Greenhill was finally discharged one or two witnesses were +again examined, chief among these being the foreman of the glassworks. +He had turned up at the Rubens Studios at 9 o'clock, and been in +business all day. He averred positively that he did not specially notice +any suspicious-looking individual crossing the hall that day. 'But,' he +remarked with a smile, 'I don't sit and watch every one who goes up and +downstairs. I am too busy for that. The street door is always left open; +any one can walk in, up or down, who knows the way.' + +"That there was a mystery in connection with Mrs. Owen's death--of that +the police have remained perfectly convinced; whether young Greenhill +held the key of that mystery or not they have never found out to this +day. + +"I could enlighten them as to the cause of the young lithographer's +anxiety at the magisterial inquiry, but, I assure you, I do not care to +do the work of the police for them. Why should I? Greenhill will never +suffer from unjust suspicions. He and his father alone--besides +myself--know in what a terribly tight corner he all but found himself. + +"The young man did not reach home till nearly _five_ o'clock that +morning. His last train had gone; he had to walk, lost his way, and +wandered about Hampstead for hours. Think what his position would have +been if the worthy confectioners of Percy Street had not seen Mrs. Owen +'wrapped up in a shawl, on her knees, doing the front steps.' + +"Moreover, Mr. Greenhill senior is a solicitor, who has a small office +in John Street, Bedford Row. The afternoon before her death Mrs. Owen +had been to that office and had there made a will by which she left all +her savings to young Arthur Greenhill, lithographer. Had that will been +in other than paternal hands, it would have been proved, in the natural +course of such things, and one other link would have been added to the +chain which nearly dragged Arthur Greenhill to the gallows--'the link of +a very strong motive.' + +"Can you wonder that the young man turned livid, until such time as it +was proved beyond a doubt that the murdered woman was alive hours after +he had reached the safe shelter of his home? + +"I saw you smile when I used the word 'murdered,'" continued the man in +the corner, growing quite excited now that he was approaching the +_dénouement_ of his story. "I know that the public, after the magistrate +had discharged Arthur Greenhill, were quite satisfied to think that the +mystery in Percy Street was a case of accident--or suicide." + +"No," replied Polly, "there could be no question of suicide, for two +very distinct reasons." + +He looked at her with some degree of astonishment. She supposed that he +was amazed at her venturing to form an opinion of her own. + +"And may I ask what, in your opinion, these reasons are?" he asked very +sarcastically. + +"To begin with, the question of money," she said--"has any more of it +been traced so far?" + +"Not another £5 note," he said with a chuckle; "they were all cashed in +Paris during the Exhibition, and you have no conception how easy a thing +that is to do, at any of the hotels or smaller _agents de change_." + +"That nephew was a clever blackguard," she commented. + +"You believe, then, in the existence of that nephew?" + +"Why should I doubt it? Some one must have existed who was sufficiently +familiar with the house to go about in it in the middle of the day +without attracting any one's attention." + +"In the middle of the day?" he said with a chuckle. + +"Any time after 8.30 in the morning." + +"So you, too, believe in the 'caretaker, wrapped up in a shawl,' +cleaning her front steps?" he queried. + +"But--" + +"It never struck you, in spite of the training your intercourse with me +must have given you, that the person who carefully did all the work in +the Rubens Studios, laid the fires and carried up the coals, merely did +it in order to gain time; in order that the bitter frost might really +and effectually do its work, and Mrs. Owen be not missed until she was +truly dead." + +"But--" suggested Polly again. + +"It never struck you that one of the greatest secrets of successful +crime is to lead the police astray with regard to the time when the +crime was committed. That was, if you remember, the great point in the +Regent's Park murder. + +"In this case the 'nephew,' since we admit his existence, would--even if +he were ever found, which is doubtful--be able to prove as good an +_alibi_ as young Greenhill." + +"But I don't understand--" + +"How the murder was committed?" he said eagerly. "Surely you can see it +all for yourself, since you admit the 'nephew'--a scamp, perhaps--who +sponges on the good-natured woman. He terrorises and threatens her, so +much so that she fancies her money is no longer safe even in the +Birkbeck Bank. Women of that class are apt at times to mistrust the Bank +of England. Anyway, she withdraws her money. Who knows what she meant to +do with it in the immediate future? + +"In any case, she wishes to secure it after her death to a young man +whom she likes, and who has known how to win her good graces. That +afternoon the nephew begs, entreats for more money; they have a row; the +poor woman is in tears, and is only temporarily consoled by a pleasant +visit at the theatre. + +"At 2 o'clock in the morning young Greenhill parts from her. Two minutes +later the nephew knocks at the door. He comes with a plausible tale of +having missed his last train, and asks for a 'shake down' somewhere in +the house. The good-natured woman suggests a sofa in one of the studios, +and then quietly prepares to go to bed. The rest is very simple and +elementary. The nephew sneaks into his aunt's room, finds her standing +in her nightgown; he demands money with threats of violence; terrified, +she staggers, knocks her head against the gas bracket, and falls on the +floor stunned, while the nephew seeks for her keys and takes possession +of the £800. You will admit that the subsequent _mise en scène_--is +worthy of a genius. + +"No struggle, not the usual hideous accessories round a crime. Only the +open windows, the bitter north-easterly gale, and the heavily falling +snow--two silent accomplices, as silent as the dead. + +"After that the murderer, with perfect presence of mind, busies himself +in the house, doing the work which will ensure that Mrs. Owen shall not +be missed, at any rate, for some time. He dusts and tidies; some few +hours later he even slips on his aunt's skirt and bodice, wraps his +head in a shawl, and boldly allows those neighbours who are astir to see +what they believe to be Mrs. Owen. Then he goes back to her room, +resumes his normal appearance and quietly leaves the house." + +"He may have been seen." + +"He undoubtedly _was_ seen by two or three people, but no one thought +anything of seeing a man leave the house at that hour. It was very cold, +the snow was falling thickly, and as he wore a muffler round the lower +part of his face, those who saw him would not undertake to know him +again." + +"That man was never seen nor heard of again?" Polly asked. + +"He has disappeared off the face of the earth. The police are searching +for him, and perhaps some day they will find him--then society will be +rid of one of the most ingenious men of the age." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE END + + +He had paused, absorbed in meditation. The young girl also was silent. +Some memory too vague as yet to take a definite form was persistently +haunting her--one thought was hammering away in her brain, and playing +havoc with her nerves. That thought was the inexplicable feeling within +her that there was something in connection with that hideous crime which +she ought to recollect, something which--if she could only remember what +it was--would give her the clue to the tragic mystery, and for once +ensure her triumph over this self-conceited and sarcastic scarecrow in +the corner. + +He was watching her through his great bone-rimmed spectacles, and she +could see the knuckles of his bony hands, just above the top of the +table, fidgeting, fidgeting, fidgeting, till she wondered if there +existed another set of fingers in the world which could undo the knots +his lean ones made in that tiresome piece of string. + +Then suddenly--_à propos_ of nothing, Polly _remembered_--the whole +thing stood before her, short and clear like a vivid flash of +lightning:--Mrs. Owen lying dead in the snow beside her open window; one +of them with a broken sash-line, tied up most scientifically with a +piece of string. She remembered the talk there had been at the time +about this improvised sash-line. + +That was after young Greenhill had been discharged, and the question of +suicide had been voted an impossibility. + +Polly remembered that in the illustrated papers photographs appeared of +this wonderfully knotted piece of string, so contrived that the weight +of the frame could but tighten the knots, and thus keep the window open. +She remembered that people deduced many things from that improvised +sash-line, chief among these deductions being that the murderer was a +sailor--so wonderful, so complicated, so numerous were the knots which +secured that window-frame. + +But Polly knew better. In her mind's eye she saw those fingers, rendered +doubly nervous by the fearful cerebral excitement, grasping at first +mechanically, even thoughtlessly, a bit of twine with which to secure +the window; then the ruling habit strongest through all, the girl could +see it; the lean and ingenious fingers fidgeting, fidgeting with that +piece of string, tying knot after knot, more wonderful, more +complicated, than any she had yet witnessed. + +"If I were you," she said, without daring to look into that corner +where he sat, "I would break myself of the habit of perpetually making +knots in a piece of string." + +He did not reply, and at last Polly ventured to look up--the corner was +empty, and through the glass door beyond the desk, where he had just +deposited his few coppers, she saw the tails of his tweed coat, his +extraordinary hat, his meagre, shrivelled-up personality, fast +disappearing down the street. + +Miss Polly Burton (of the _Evening Observer_) was married the other day +to Mr. Richard Frobisher (of the _London Mail_). She has never set eyes +on the man in the corner from that day to this. + + +FINIS + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Old Man in the Corner, by Baroness Orczy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER *** + +***** This file should be named 10556-8.txt or 10556-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/5/10556/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Old Man in the Corner + +Author: Baroness Orczy + +Release Date: January 1, 2004 [EBook #10556] +[Last updated: January 18, 2014] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +</pre> + +<p> </p> + +<a name="image-1"><!-- Image 1 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/oldman.png" width="40%" +alt="'the Old Man in the Corner.'"> +</center> + +<h1>THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER</h1> +<h2> +BY BARONESS ORCZY +</h2> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_1"><!-- RULE4 1 --></a> +<center> + TO +</center> +<center> +MY DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT +</center> +<center> +COUNT AND COUNTESS WASS OF CZEGE +</center> +<center> +IN REMEMBRANCE +OF MANY HAPPY DAYS SPENT +IN TRANSYLVANIA +</center> +<center><i>October, 1908</i></center> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<hr> +<hr> + +<a name="TOC"><!-- TOC --></a> +<h2> + CONTENTS +</h2> + +<pre> +Chapter +</pre> +<pre> +<a href="#CH1">I.</a> — THE FENCHURCH STREET MYSTERY +<a href="#CH2">II.</a> — A MILLIONAIRE IN THE DOCK +<a href="#CH3">III.</a> — HIS DEDUCTION +<a href="#CH4">IV.</a> — THE ROBBERY IN PHILLIMORE TERRACE +<a href="#CH5">V.</a> — A NIGHT'S ADVENTURE +<a href="#CH6">VI.</a> — ALL HE KNEW +<a href="#CH7">VII.</a> — THE YORK MYSTERY +<a href="#CH8">VIII.</a> — THE CAPITAL CHARGE +<a href="#CH9">IX.</a> — A BROKEN-HEARTED WOMAN +<a href="#CH10">X.</a> — THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY +<a href="#CH11">XI.</a> — MR. ERRINGTON +<a href="#CH12">XII.</a> — THE LIVERPOOL MYSTERY +<a href="#CH13">XIII.</a> — A CUNNING RASCAL +<a href="#CH14">XIV.</a> — THE EDINBURGH MYSTERY +<a href="#CH15">XV.</a> — A TERRIBLE PLIGHT +<a href="#CH16">XVI.</a> — NON PROVEN +<a href="#CH17">XVII.</a> — UNDENIABLE FACTS +<a href="#CH18">XVIII.</a> — THE THEFT AT THE ENGLISH PROVIDENT BANK +<a href="#CH19">XIX.</a> — CONFLICTING EVIDENCE +<a href="#CH20">XX.</a> — AN ALIBI +<a href="#CH21">XXI.</a> — THE DUBLIN MYSTERY +<a href="#CH22">XXII.</a> — FORGERY +<a href="#CH23">XXIII.</a> — A MEMORABLE DAY +<a href="#CH24">XXIV.</a> — AN UNPARALLELED OUTRAGE +<a href="#CH25">XXV.</a> — THE PRISONER +<a href="#CH26">XXVI.</a> — A SENSATION +<a href="#CH27">XXVII.</a> — TWO BLACKGUARDS +<a href="#CH28">XXVIII.</a> — THE REGENT'S PARK MURDER +<a href="#CH29">XXIX.</a> — THE MOTIVE +<a href="#CH30">XXX.</a> — FRIENDS +<a href="#CH31">XXXI.</a> — THE DE GENNEVILLE PEERAGE +<a href="#CH32">XXXII.</a> — A HIGH-BRED GENTLEMAN +<a href="#CH33">XXXIII.</a> — THE LIVING AND THE DEAD +<a href="#CH34">XXXIV.</a> — THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH IN PERCY STREET +<a href="#CH35">XXXV.</a> — SUICIDE OR MURDER? +<a href="#CH36">XXXVI.</a> — THE END +</pre> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_2"><!-- RULE4 2 --></a> +<h2> + THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER +</h2> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH1"><!-- CH1 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER I +</h3> + +<h3> +THE FENCHURCH STREET MYSTERY +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +The man in the corner pushed aside his glass, and leant across the +table. +</p> +<p> +"Mysteries!" he commented. "There is no such thing as a mystery in +connection with any crime, provided intelligence is brought to bear upon +its investigation." +</p> +<p> +Very much astonished Polly Burton looked over the top of her newspaper, +and fixed a pair of very severe, coldly inquiring brown eyes upon him. +</p> +<p> +She had disapproved of the man from the instant when he shuffled across +the shop and sat down opposite to her, at the same marble-topped table +which already held her large coffee (3d.), her roll and butter (2d.), +and plate of tongue (6d.). +</p> +<p> +Now this particular corner, this very same table, that special view of +the magnificent marble hall—known as the Norfolk Street branch of the +Aërated Bread Company's depôts—were Polly's own corner, table, and +view. Here she had partaken of eleven pennyworth of luncheon and one +pennyworth of daily information ever since that glorious +never-to-be-forgotten day when she was enrolled on the staff of the +<i>Evening Observer</i> (we'll call it that, if you please), and became a +member of that illustrious and world-famed organization known as the +British Press. +</p> +<p> +She was a personality, was Miss Burton of the <i>Evening Observer</i>. Her +cards were printed thus: +</p> + +<a name="image-2"><!-- Image 2 --></a> +<center> +<img src="images/card.png" width="33%" +alt="Miss Mary J. Burton. <I>Evening Observer</I>."> +</center> + +<p> +She had interviewed Miss Ellen Terry and the Bishop of Madagascar, Mr. +Seymour Hicks and the Chief Commissioner of Police. She had been present +at the last Marlborough House garden party—in the cloak-room, that is +to say, where she caught sight of Lady Thingummy's hat, Miss +What-you-may-call's sunshade, and of various other things modistical or +fashionable, all of which were duly described under the heading "Royalty +and Dress" in the early afternoon edition of the <i>Evening Observer</i>. +</p> +<p> +(The article itself is signed M.J.B., and is to be found in the files of +that leading halfpennyworth.) +</p> +<p> +For these reasons—and for various others, too—Polly felt irate with +the man in the corner, and told him so with her eyes, as plainly as any +pair of brown eyes can speak. +</p> +<p> +She had been reading an article in the <i>Daily Telegraph.</i> The article +was palpitatingly interesting. Had Polly been commenting audibly upon +it? Certain it is that the man over there had spoken in direct answer to +her thoughts. +</p> +<p> +She looked at him and frowned; the next moment she smiled. Miss Burton +(of the <i>Evening Observer)</i> had a keen sense of humour, which two years' +association with the British Press had not succeeded in destroying, and +the appearance of the man was sufficient to tickle the most ultra-morose +fancy. Polly thought to herself that she had never seen any one so pale, +so thin, with such funny light-coloured hair, brushed very smoothly +across the top of a very obviously bald crown. He looked so timid and +nervous as he fidgeted incessantly with a piece of string; his long, +lean, and trembling fingers tying and untying it into knots of wonderful +and complicated proportions. +</p> +<p> +Having carefully studied every detail of the quaint personality Polly +felt more amiable. +</p> +<p> +"And yet," she remarked kindly but authoritatively, "this article, in an +otherwise well-informed journal, will tell you that, even within the +last year, no fewer than six crimes have completely baffled the police, +and the perpetrators of them are still at large." +</p> +<p> +"Pardon me," he said gently, "I never for a moment ventured to suggest +that there were no mysteries to the <i>police</i>; I merely remarked that +there were none where intelligence was brought to bear upon the +investigation of crime." +</p> +<p> +"Not even in the Fenchurch Street <i>mystery</i>. I suppose," she asked +sarcastically. +</p> +<p> +"Least of all in the so-called Fenchurch Street <i>mystery</i>," he replied +quietly. +</p> +<p> +Now the Fenchurch Street mystery, as that extraordinary crime had +popularly been called, had puzzled—as Polly well knew—the brains of +every thinking man and woman for the last twelve months. It had puzzled +her not inconsiderably; she had been interested, fascinated; she had +studied the case, formed her own theories, thought about it all often +and often, had even written one or two letters to the Press on the +subject—suggesting, arguing, hinting at possibilities and +probabilities, adducing proofs which other amateur detectives were +equally ready to refute. The attitude of that timid man in the corner, +therefore, was peculiarly exasperating, and she retorted with sarcasm +destined to completely annihilate her self-complacent interlocutor. +</p> +<p> +"What a pity it is, in that case, that you do not offer your priceless +services to our misguided though well-meaning police." +</p> +<p> +"Isn't it?" he replied with perfect good-humour. "Well, you know, for +one thing I doubt if they would accept them; and in the second place my +inclinations and my duty would—were I to become an active member of the +detective force—nearly always be in direct conflict. As often as not my +sympathies go to the criminal who is clever and astute enough to lead +our entire police force by the nose. +</p> +<p> +"I don't know how much of the case you remember," he went on quietly. +"It certainly, at first, began even to puzzle me. On the 12th of last +December a woman, poorly dressed, but with an unmistakable air of having +seen better days, gave information at Scotland Yard of the disappearance +of her husband, William Kershaw, of no occupation, and apparently of no +fixed abode. She was accompanied by a friend—a fat, oily-looking +German—and between them they told a tale which set the police +immediately on the move. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that on the 10th of December, at about three o'clock in the +afternoon, Karl Müller, the German, called on his friend, William +Kershaw, for the purpose of collecting a small debt—some ten pounds or +so—which the latter owed him. On arriving at the squalid lodging in +Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, he found William Kershaw in a wild +state of excitement, and his wife in tears. Müller attempted to state +the object of his visit, but Kershaw, with wild gestures, waved him +aside, and—in his own words—flabbergasted him by asking him +point-blank for another loan of two pounds, which sum, he declared, +would be the means of a speedy fortune for himself and the friend who +would help him in his need. +</p> +<p> +"After a quarter of an hour spent in obscure hints, Kershaw, finding the +cautious German obdurate, decided to let him into the secret plan, +which, he averred, would place thousands into their hands." +</p> +<p> +Instinctively Polly had put down her paper; the mild stranger, with his +nervous air and timid, watery eyes, had a peculiar way of telling his +tale, which somehow fascinated her. +</p> +<p> +"I don't know," he resumed, "if you remember the story which the German +told to the police, and which was corroborated in every detail by the +wife or widow. Briefly it was this: Some thirty years previously, +Kershaw, then twenty years of age, and a medical student at one of the +London hospitals, had a chum named Barker, with whom he roomed, +together with another. +</p> +<p> +"The latter, so it appears, brought home one evening a very considerable +sum of money, which he had won on the turf, and the following morning he +was found murdered in his bed. Kershaw, fortunately for himself, was +able to prove a conclusive <i>alibi</i>; he had spent the night on duty at +the hospital; as for Barker, he had disappeared, that is to say, as far +as the police were concerned, but not as far as the watchful eyes of his +friend Kershaw were able to spy—at least, so the latter said. Barker +very cleverly contrived to get away out of the country, and, after +sundry vicissitudes, finally settled down at Vladivostok, in Eastern +Siberia, where, under the assumed name of Smethurst, he built up an +enormous fortune by trading in furs. +</p> +<p> +"Now, mind you, every one knows Smethurst, the Siberian millionaire. +Kershaw's story that he had once been called Barker, and had committed a +murder thirty years ago, was never proved, was it? I am merely telling +you what Kershaw said to his friend the German and to his wife on that +memorable afternoon of December the 10th. +</p> +<p> +"According to him Smethurst had made one gigantic mistake in his clever +career—he had on four occasions written to his late friend, William +Kershaw. Two of these letters had no bearing on the case, since they +were written more than twenty-five years ago, and Kershaw, moreover, had +lost them—so he said—long ago. According to him, however, the first of +these letters was written when Smethurst, alias Barker, had spent all +the money he had obtained from the crime, and found himself destitute in +New York. +</p> +<p> +"Kershaw, then in fairly prosperous circumstances, sent him a £10 note +for the sake of old times. The second, when the tables had turned, and +Kershaw had begun to go downhill, Smethurst, as he then already called +himself, sent his whilom friend £50. After that, as Müller gathered, +Kershaw had made sundry demands on Smethurst's ever-increasing purse, +and had accompanied these demands by various threats, which, considering +the distant country in which the millionaire lived, were worse than +futile. +</p> +<p> +"But now the climax had come, and Kershaw, after a final moment of +hesitation, handed over to his German friend the two last letters +purporting to have been written by Smethurst, and which, if you +remember, played such an important part in the mysterious story of this +extraordinary crime. I have a copy of both these letters here," added +the man in the corner, as he took out a piece of paper from a very +worn-out pocket-book, and, unfolding it very deliberately, he began to +read:— +</p> +<p> +"'Sir,—Your preposterous demands for money are wholly unwarrantable. I +have already helped you quite as much as you deserve. However, for the +sake of old times, and because you once helped me when I was in a +terrible difficulty, I am willing to once more let you impose upon my +good nature. A friend of mine here, a Russian merchant, to whom I have +sold my business, starts in a few days for an extended tour to many +European and Asiatic ports in his yacht, and has invited me to accompany +him as far as England. Being tired of foreign parts, and desirous of +seeing the old country once again after thirty years' absence, I have +decided to accept his invitation. I don't know when we may actually be +in Europe, but I promise you that as soon as we touch a suitable port I +will write to you again, making an appointment for you to see me in +London. But remember that if your demands are too preposterous I will +not for a moment listen to them, and that I am the last man in the world +to submit to persistent and unwarrantable blackmail. +</p> +<pre> + 'I am, sir, + 'Yours truly, + 'Francis Smethurst.' +</pre> +<p> +"The second letter was dated from Southampton," continued the old man in +the corner calmly, "and, curiously enough, was the only letter which +Kershaw professed to have received from Smethurst of which he had kept +the envelope, and which was dated. It was quite brief," he added, +referring once more to his piece of paper. +</p> +<p> +"'Dear Sir,—Referring to my letter of a few weeks ago, I wish to inform +you that the <i>Tsarskoe Selo</i> will touch at Tilbury on Tuesday next, the +10th. I shall land there, and immediately go up to London by the first +train I can get. If you like, you may meet me at Fenchurch Street +Station, in the first-class waiting-room, in the late afternoon. Since I +surmise that after thirty years' absence my face may not be familiar to +you, I may as well tell you that you will recognize me by a heavy +Astrakhan fur coat, which I shall wear, together with a cap of the same. +You may then introduce yourself to me, and I will personally listen to +what you may have to say. +</p> +<pre> + 'Yours faithfully, + 'Francis Smethurst.' +</pre> +<p> +"It was this last letter which had caused William Kershaw's excitement +and his wife's tears. In the German's own words, he was walking up and +down the room like a wild beast, gesticulating wildly, and muttering +sundry exclamations. Mrs. Kershaw, however, was full of apprehension. +She mistrusted the man from foreign parts—who, according to her +husband's story, had already one crime upon his conscience—who might, +she feared, risk another, in order to be rid of a dangerous enemy. +Woman-like, she thought the scheme a dishonourable one, for the law, she +knew, is severe on the blackmailer. +</p> +<p> +"The assignation might be a cunning trap, in any case it was a curious +one; why, she argued, did not Smethurst elect to see Kershaw at his +hotel the following day? A thousand whys and wherefores made her +anxious, but the fat German had been won over by Kershaw's visions of +untold gold, held tantalisingly before his eyes. He had lent the +necessary £2, with which his friend intended to tidy himself up a bit +before he went to meet his friend the millionaire. Half an hour +afterwards Kershaw had left his lodgings, and that was the last the +unfortunate woman saw of her husband, or Müller, the German, of his +friend. +</p> +<p> +"Anxiously his wife waited that night, but he did not return; the next +day she seems to have spent in making purposeless and futile inquiries +about the neighbourhood of Fenchurch Street; and on the 12th she went to +Scotland Yard, gave what particulars she knew, and placed in the hands +of the police the two letters written by Smethurst." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH2"><!-- CH2 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER II +</h3> + +<h3> +A MILLIONAIRE IN THE DOCK +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +The man in the corner had finished his glass of milk. His watery blue +eyes looked across at Miss Polly Burton's eager little face, from which +all traces of severity had now been chased away by an obvious and +intense excitement. +</p> +<p> +"It was only on the 31st," he resumed after a while, "that a body, +decomposed past all recognition, was found by two lightermen in the +bottom of a disused barge. She had been moored at one time at the foot +of one of those dark flights of steps which lead down between tall +warehouses to the river in the East End of London. I have a photograph +of the place here," he added, selecting one out of his pocket, and +placing it before Polly. +</p> +<p> +"The actual barge, you see, had already been removed when I took this +snapshot, but you will realize what a perfect place this alley is for +the purpose of one man cutting another's throat in comfort, and without +fear of detection. The body, as I said, was decomposed beyond all +recognition; it had probably been there eleven days, but sundry +articles, such as a silver ring and a tie pin, were recognizable, and +were identified by Mrs. Kershaw as belonging to her husband. +</p> +<p> +"She, of course, was loud in denouncing Smethurst, and the police had no +doubt a very strong case against him, for two days after the discovery +of the body in the barge, the Siberian millionaire, as he was already +popularly called by enterprising interviewers, was arrested in his +luxurious suite of rooms at the Hotel Cecil. +</p> +<p> +"To confess the truth, at this point I was not a little puzzled. Mrs. +Kershaw's story and Smethurst's letters had both found their way into +the papers, and following my usual method—mind you, I am only an +amateur, I try to reason out a case for the love of the thing—I sought +about for a motive for the crime, which the police declared Smethurst +had committed. To effectually get rid of a dangerous blackmailer was the +generally accepted theory. Well! did it ever strike you how paltry that +motive really was?" +</p> +<p> +Miss Polly had to confess, however, that it had never struck her in that +light. +</p> +<p> +"Surely a man who had succeeded in building up an immense fortune by his +own individual efforts, was not the sort of fool to believe that he had +anything to fear from a man like Kershaw. He must have <i>known</i> that +Kershaw held no damning proofs against him—not enough to hang him, +anyway. Have you ever seen Smethurst?" he added, as he once more fumbled +in his pocket-book. +</p> +<p> +Polly replied that she had seen Smethurst's picture in the illustrated +papers at the time. Then he added, placing a small photograph before +her: +</p> +<p> +"What strikes you most about the face?" +</p> +<p> +"Well, I think its strange, astonished expression, due to the total +absence of eyebrows, and the funny foreign cut of the hair." +</p> +<p> +"So close that it almost looks as if it had been shaved. Exactly. That +is what struck me most when I elbowed my way into the court that morning +and first caught sight of the millionaire in the dock. He was a tall, +soldierly-looking man, upright in stature, his face very bronzed and +tanned. He wore neither moustache nor beard, his hair was cropped quite +close to his head, like a Frenchman's; but, of course, what was so very +remarkable about him was that total absence of eyebrows and even +eyelashes, which gave the face such a peculiar appearance—as you say, a +perpetually astonished look. +</p> +<p> +"He seemed, however, wonderfully calm; he had been accommodated with a +chair in the dock—being a millionaire—and chatted pleasantly with his +lawyer, Sir Arthur Inglewood, in the intervals between the calling of +the several witnesses for the prosecution; whilst during the examination +of these witnesses he sat quite placidly, with his head shaded by his +hand. +</p> +<p> +"Müller and Mrs. Kershaw repeated the story which they had already told +to the police. I think you said that you were not able, owing to +pressure of work, to go to the court that day, and hear the case, so +perhaps you have no recollection of Mrs. Kershaw. No? Ah, well! Here is +a snapshot I managed to get of her once. That is her. Exactly as she +stood in the box—over-dressed—in elaborate crape, with a bonnet which +once had contained pink roses, and to which a remnant of pink petals +still clung obtrusively amidst the deep black. +</p> +<p> +"She would not look at the prisoner, and turned her head resolutely +towards the magistrate. I fancy she had been fond of that vagabond +husband of hers: an enormous wedding-ring encircled her finger, and +that, too, was swathed in black. She firmly believed that Kershaw's +murderer sat there in the dock, and she literally flaunted her grief +before him. +</p> +<p> +"I was indescribably sorry for her. As for Müller, he was just fat, +oily, pompous, conscious of his own importance as a witness; his fat +fingers, covered with brass rings, gripped the two incriminating +letters, which he had identified. They were his passports, as it were, +to a delightful land of importance and notoriety. Sir Arthur Inglewood, +I think, disappointed him by stating that he had no questions to ask of +him. Müller had been brimful of answers, ready with the most perfect +indictment, the most elaborate accusations against the bloated +millionaire who had decoyed his dear friend Kershaw, and murdered him in +Heaven knows what an out-of-the-way corner of the East End. +</p> +<p> +"After this, however, the excitement grew apace. Müller had been +dismissed, and had retired from the court altogether, leading away Mrs. +Kershaw, who had completely broken down. +</p> +<p> +"Constable D 21 was giving evidence as to the arrest in the meanwhile. +The prisoner, he said, had seemed completely taken by surprise, not +understanding the cause or history of the accusation against him; +however, when put in full possession of the facts, and realizing, no +doubt, the absolute futility of any resistance, he had quietly enough +followed the constable into the cab. No one at the fashionable and +crowded Hotel Cecil had even suspected that anything unusual had +occurred. +</p> +<p> +"Then a gigantic sigh of expectancy came from every one of the +spectators. The 'fun' was about to begin. James Buckland, a porter at +Fenchurch Street railway station, had just sworn to tell all the truth, +etc. After all, it did not amount to much. He said that at six o'clock +in the afternoon of December the 10th, in the midst of one of the +densest fogs he ever remembers, the 5.5 from Tilbury steamed into the +station, being just about an hour late. He was on the arrival platform, +and was hailed by a passenger in a first-class carriage. He could see +very little of him beyond an enormous black fur coat and a travelling +cap of fur also. +</p> +<p> +"The passenger had a quantity of luggage, all marked F.S., and he +directed James Buckland to place it all upon a four-wheel cab, with the +exception of a small hand-bag, which he carried himself. Having seen +that all his luggage was safely bestowed, the stranger in the fur coat +paid the porter, and, telling the cabman to wait until he returned, he +walked away in the direction of the waiting-rooms, still carrying his +small hand-bag. +</p> +<p> +"'I stayed for a bit,' added James Buckland, 'talking to the driver +about the fog and that; then I went about my business, seein' that the +local from Southend 'ad been signalled.' +</p> +<p> +"The prosecution insisted most strongly upon the hour when the stranger +in the fur coat, having seen to his luggage, walked away towards the +waiting-rooms. The porter was emphatic. 'It was not a minute later than +6.15,' he averred. +</p> +<p> +"Sir Arthur Inglewood still had no questions to ask, and the driver of +the cab was called. +</p> +<p> +"He corroborated the evidence of James Buckland as to the hour when the +gentleman in the fur coat had engaged him, and having filled his cab in +and out with luggage, had told him to wait. And cabby did wait. He +waited in the dense fog—until he was tired, until he seriously thought +of depositing all the luggage in the lost property office, and of +looking out for another fare—waited until at last, at a quarter before +nine, whom should he see walking hurriedly towards his cab but the +gentleman in the fur coat and cap, who got in quickly and told the +driver to take him at once to the Hotel Cecil. This, cabby declared, had +occurred at a quarter before nine. Still Sir Arthur Inglewood made no +comment, and Mr. Francis Smethurst, in the crowded, stuffy court, had +calmly dropped to sleep. +</p> +<p> +"The next witness, Constable Thomas Taylor, had noticed a shabbily +dressed individual, with shaggy hair and beard, loafing about the +station and waiting-rooms in the afternoon of December the 10th. He +seemed to be watching the arrival platform of the Tilbury and Southend +trains. +</p> +<p> +"Two separate and independent witnesses, cleverly unearthed by the +police, had seen this same shabbily dressed individual stroll into the +first-class waiting-room at about 6.15 on Wednesday, December the 10th, +and go straight up to a gentleman in a heavy fur coat and cap, who had +also just come into the room. The two talked together for a while; no +one heard what they said, but presently they walked off together. No one +seemed to know in which direction. +</p> +<p> +"Francis Smethurst was rousing himself from his apathy; he whispered to +his lawyer, who nodded with a bland smile of encouragement. The employés +of the Hotel Cecil gave evidence as to the arrival of Mr. Smethurst at +about 9.30 p.m. on Wednesday, December the 10th, in a cab, with a +quantity of luggage; and this closed the case for the prosecution. +</p> +<p> +"Everybody in that court already <i>saw</i> Smethurst mounting the gallows. +It was uninterested curiosity which caused the elegant audience to wait +and hear what Sir Arthur Inglewood had to say. He, of course, is the +most fashionable man in the law at the present moment. His lolling +attitudes, his drawling speech, are quite the rage, and imitated by the +gilded youth of society. +</p> +<p> +"Even at this moment, when the Siberian millionaire's neck literally and +metaphorically hung in the balance, an expectant titter went round the +fair spectators as Sir Arthur stretched out his long loose limbs and +lounged across the table. He waited to make his effect—Sir Arthur is a +born actor—and there is no doubt that he made it, when in his slowest, +most drawly tones he said quietly; +</p> +<p> +"'With regard to this alleged murder of one William Kershaw, on +Wednesday, December the 10th, between 6.15 and 8.45 p.m., your Honour, I +now propose to call two witnesses, who saw this same William Kershaw +alive on Tuesday afternoon, December the 16th, that is to say, six days +after the supposed murder.' +</p> +<p> +"It was as if a bombshell had exploded in the court. Even his Honour was +aghast, and I am sure the lady next to me only recovered from the shock +of the surprise in order to wonder whether she need put off her dinner +party after all. +</p> +<p> +"As for me," added the man in the corner, with that strange mixture of +nervousness and self-complacency which had set Miss Polly Burton +wondering, "well, you see, <i>I</i> had made up my mind long ago where the +hitch lay in this particular case, and I was not so surprised as some of +the others. +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps you remember the wonderful development of the case, which so +completely mystified the police—and in fact everybody except myself. +Torriani and a waiter at his hotel in the Commercial Road both deposed +that at about 3.30 p.m. on December the 10th a shabbily dressed +individual lolled into the coffee-room and ordered some tea. He was +pleasant enough and talkative, told the waiter that his name was William +Kershaw, that very soon all London would be talking about him, as he was +about, through an unexpected stroke of good fortune, to become a very +rich man, and so on, and so on, nonsense without end. +</p> +<p> +"When he had finished his tea he lolled out again, but no sooner had he +disappeared down a turning of the road than the waiter discovered an old +umbrella, left behind accidentally by the shabby, talkative individual. +As is the custom in his highly respectable restaurant, Signor Torriani +put the umbrella carefully away in his office, on the chance of his +customer calling to claim it when he had discovered his loss. And sure +enough nearly a week later, on Tuesday, the 16th, at about 1 p.m., the +same shabbily dressed individual called and asked for his umbrella. He +had some lunch, and chatted once again to the waiter. Signor Torriani +and the waiter gave a description of William Kershaw, which coincided +exactly with that given by Mrs. Kershaw of her husband. +</p> +<p> +"Oddly enough he seemed to be a very absent-minded sort of person, for +on this second occasion, no sooner had he left than the waiter found a +pocket-book in the coffee-room, underneath the table. It contained +sundry letters and bills, all addressed to William Kershaw. This +pocket-book was produced, and Karl Müller, who had returned to the +court, easily identified it as having belonged to his dear and lamented +friend 'Villiam.' +</p> +<p> +"This was the first blow to the case against the accused. It was a +pretty stiff one, you will admit. Already it had begun to collapse like +a house of cards. Still, there was the assignation, and the undisputed +meeting between Smethurst and Kershaw, and those two and a half hours of +a foggy evening to satisfactorily account for." +</p> +<p> +The man in the corner made a long pause, keeping the girl on +tenterhooks. He had fidgeted with his bit of string till there was not +an inch of it free from the most complicated and elaborate knots. +</p> +<p> +"I assure you," he resumed at last, "that at that very moment the whole +mystery was, to me, as clear as daylight. I only marvelled how his +Honour could waste his time and mine by putting what he thought were +searching questions to the accused relating to his past. Francis +Smethurst, who had quite shaken off his somnolence, spoke with a curious +nasal twang, and with an almost imperceptible soupçon of foreign accent, +He calmly denied Kershaw's version of his past; declared that he had +never been called Barker, and had certainly never been mixed up in any +murder case thirty years ago. +</p> +<p> +"'But you knew this man Kershaw,' persisted his Honour, 'since you wrote +to him?' +</p> +<p> +"'Pardon me, your Honour,' said the accused quietly, 'I have never, to +my knowledge, seen this man Kershaw, and I can swear that I never wrote +to him.' +</p> +<p> +"'Never wrote to him?' retorted his Honour warningly. 'That is a strange +assertion to make when I have two of your letters to him in my hands at +the present moment.' +</p> +<p> +"'I never wrote those letters, your Honour,' persisted the accused +quietly, 'they are not in my handwriting.' +</p> +<p> +"'Which we can easily prove,' came in Sir Arthur Inglewood's drawly +tones, as he handed up a packet to his Honour; 'here are a number of +letters written by my client since he has landed in this country, and +some of which were written under my very eyes.' +</p> +<p> +"As Sir Arthur Inglewood had said, this could be easily proved, and the +prisoner, at his Honour's request, scribbled a few lines, together with +his signature, several times upon a sheet of note-paper. It was easy to +read upon the magistrate's astounded countenance, that there was not the +slightest similarity in the two handwritings. +</p> +<p> +"A fresh mystery had cropped up. Who, then, had made the assignation +with William Kershaw at Fenchurch Street railway station? The prisoner +gave a fairly satisfactory account of the employment of his time since +his landing in England. +</p> +<p> +"'I came over on the <i>Tsarskoe Selo</i>,' he said, 'a yacht belonging to a +friend of mine. When we arrived at the mouth of the Thames there was +such a dense fog that it was twenty-four hours before it was thought +safe for me to land. My friend, who is a Russian, would not land at all; +he was regularly frightened at this land of fogs. He was going on to +Madeira immediately. +</p> +<p> +"'I actually landed on Tuesday, the 10th, and took a train at once for +town. I did see to my luggage and a cab, as the porter and driver told +your Honour; then I tried to find my way to a refreshment-room, where I +could get a glass of wine. I drifted into the waiting-room, and there I +was accosted by a shabbily dressed individual, who began telling me a +piteous tale. Who he was I do not know. He <i>said</i> he was an old soldier +who had served his country faithfully, and then been left to starve. He +begged of me to accompany him to his lodgings, where I could see his +wife and starving children, and verify the truth and piteousness of his +tale. +</p> +<p> +"'Well, your Honour,' added the prisoner with noble frankness, 'it was +my first day in the old country. I had come back after thirty years with +my pockets full of gold, and this was the first sad tale I had heard; +but I am a business man, and did not want to be exactly "done" in the +eye. I followed my man through the fog, out into the streets. He walked +silently by my side for a time. I had not a notion where I was. +</p> +<p> +"'Suddenly I turned to him with some question, and realized in a moment +that my gentleman had given me the slip. Finding, probably, that I would +not part with my money till I <i>had</i> seen the starving wife and children, +he left me to my fate, and went in search of more willing bait. +</p> +<p> +"'The place where I found myself was dismal and deserted. I could see no +trace of cab or omnibus. I retraced my steps and tried to find my way +back to the station, only to find myself in worse and more deserted +neighbourhoods. I became hopelessly lost and fogged. I don't wonder that +two and a half hours elapsed while I thus wandered on in the dark and +deserted streets; my sole astonishment is that I ever found the station +at all that night, or rather close to it a policeman, who showed me the +way.' +</p> +<p> +"'But how do you account for Kershaw knowing all your movements?' still +persisted his Honour, 'and his knowing the exact date of your arrival +in England? How do you account for these two letters, in fact?' +</p> +<p> +"'I cannot account for it or them, your Honour,' replied the prisoner +quietly. 'I have proved to you, have I not, that I never wrote those +letters, and that the man—er—Kershaw is his name?—was not murdered by +me?' +</p> +<p> +"'Can you tell me of anyone here or abroad who might have heard of your +movements, and of the date of your arrival?' +</p> +<p> +"'My late employés at Vladivostok, of course, knew of my departure, but +none of them could have written these letters, since none of them know a +word of English.' +</p> +<p> +"'Then you can throw no light upon these mysterious letters? You cannot +help the police in any way towards the clearing up of this strange +affair?' +</p> +<p> +"'The affair is as mysterious to me as to your Honour, and to the police +of this country.' +</p> +<p> +"Francis Smethurst was discharged, of course; there was no semblance of +evidence against him sufficient to commit him for trial. The two +overwhelming points of his defence which had completely routed the +prosecution were, firstly, the proof that he had never written the +letters making the assignation, and secondly, the fact that the man +supposed to have been murdered on the 10th was seen to be alive and +well on the 16th. But then, who in the world was the mysterious +individual who had apprised Kershaw of the movements of Smethurst, the +millionaire?" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH3"><!-- CH3 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER III +</h2> + +<h3> +HIS DEDUCTION +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The man in the corner cocked his funny thin head on one side and looked +at Polly; then he took up his beloved bit of string and deliberately +untied every knot he had made in it. When it was quite smooth he laid it +out upon the table. +</p> +<p> +"I will take you, if you like, point by point along the line of +reasoning which I followed myself, and which will inevitably lead you, +as it led me, to the only possible solution of the mystery. +</p> +<p> +"First take this point," he said with nervous restlessness, once more +taking up his bit of string, and forming with each point raised a series +of knots which would have shamed a navigating instructor, "obviously it +was <i>impossible</i> for Kershaw not to have been acquainted with Smethurst, +since he was fully apprised of the latter's arrival in England by two +letters. Now it was clear to me from the first that <i>no one</i> could have +written those two letters except Smethurst. You will argue that those +letters were proved not to have been written by the man in the dock. +Exactly. Remember, Kershaw was a careless man—he had lost both +envelopes. To him they were insignificant. Now it was never <i>disproved</i> +that those letters were written by Smethurst." +</p> +<p> +"But—" suggested Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Wait a minute," he interrupted, while knot number two appeared upon the +scene, "it was proved that six days after the murder, William Kershaw +was alive, and visited the Torriani Hotel, where already he was known, +and where he conveniently left a pocket-book behind, so that there +should be no mistake as to his identity; but it was never questioned +where Mr. Francis Smethurst, the millionaire, happened to spend that +very same afternoon." +</p> +<p> +"Surely, you don't mean?" gasped the girl. +</p> +<p> +"One moment, please," he added triumphantly. "How did it come about that +the landlord of the Torriani Hotel was brought into court at all? How +did Sir Arthur Inglewood, or rather his client, know that William +Kershaw had on those two memorable occasions visited the hotel, and that +its landlord could bring such convincing evidence forward that would for +ever exonerate the millionaire from the imputation of murder?" +</p> +<p> +"Surely," I argued, "the usual means, the police—" +</p> +<p> +"The police had kept the whole affair very dark until the arrest at the +Hotel Cecil. They did not put into the papers the usual: 'If anyone +happens to know of the whereabouts, etc. etc'. Had the landlord of that +hotel heard of the disappearance of Kershaw through the usual channels, +he would have put himself in communication with the police. Sir Arthur +Inglewood produced him. How did Sir Arthur Inglewood come on his track?" +</p> +<p> +"Surely, you don't mean?" +</p> +<p> +"Point number four," he resumed imperturbably, "Mrs. Kershaw was never +requested to produce a specimen of her husband's handwriting. Why? +Because the police, clever as you say they are, never started on the +right tack. They believed William Kershaw to have been murdered; they +looked for William Kershaw. +</p> +<p> +"On December the 31st, what was presumed to be the body of William +Kershaw was found by two lightermen: I have shown you a photograph of +the place where it was found. Dark and deserted it is in all conscience, +is it not? Just the place where a bully and a coward would decoy an +unsuspecting stranger, murder him first, then rob him of his valuables, +his papers, his very identity, and leave him there to rot. The body was +found in a disused barge which had been moored some time against the +wall, at the foot of these steps. It was in the last stages of +decomposition, and, of course, could not be identified; but the police +would have it that it was the body of William Kershaw. +</p> +<p> +"It never entered their heads that it was the body of <i>Francis +Smethurst, and that William Kershaw was his murderer</i>. +</p> +<p> +"Ah! it was cleverly, artistically conceived! Kershaw is a genius. Think +of it all! His disguise! Kershaw had a shaggy beard, hair, and +moustache. He shaved up to his very eyebrows! No wonder that even his +wife did not recognize him across the court; and remember she never saw +much of his face while he stood in the dock. Kershaw was shabby, +slouchy, he stooped. Smethurst, the millionaire, might have served in +the Prussian army. +</p> +<p> +"Then that lovely trait about going to revisit the Torriani Hotel. Just +a few days' grace, in order to purchase moustache and beard and wig, +exactly similar to what he had himself shaved off. Making up to look +like himself! Splendid! Then leaving the pocket-book behind! He! he! he! +Kershaw was not murdered! Of course not. He called at the Torriani Hotel +six days after the murder, whilst Mr. Smethurst, the millionaire, +hobnobbed in the park with duchesses! Hang such a man! Fie!" +</p> +<p> +He fumbled for his hat. With nervous, trembling fingers he held it +deferentially in his hand whilst he rose from the table. Polly watched +him as he strode up to the desk, and paid twopence for his glass of milk +and his bun. Soon he disappeared through the shop, whilst she still +found herself hopelessly bewildered, with a number of snap-shot +photographs before her, still staring at a long piece of string, +smothered from end to end in a series of knots, as bewildering, as +irritating, as puzzling as the man who had lately sat in the corner. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH4"><!-- CH4 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER IV +</h2> + +<h3> +THE ROBBERY IN PHILLIMORE TERRACE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Whether Miss Polly Burton really did expect to see the man in the corner +that Saturday afternoon, 'twere difficult to say; certain it is that +when she found her way to the table close by the window and realized +that he was not there, she felt conscious of an overwhelming sense of +disappointment. And yet during the whole of the week she had, with more +pride than wisdom, avoided this particular A.B.C. shop. +</p> +<p> +"I thought you would not keep away very long," said a quiet voice close +to her ear. +</p> +<p> +She nearly lost her balance—where in the world had he come from? She +certainly had not heard the slightest sound, and yet there he sat, in +the corner, like a veritable Jack-in-the-box, his mild blue eyes staring +apologetically at her, his nervous fingers toying with the inevitable +bit of string. +</p> +<p> +The waitress brought him his glass of milk and a cheese-cake. He ate it +in silence, while his piece of string lay idly beside him on the table. +When he had finished he fumbled in his capacious pockets, and drew out +the inevitable pocket-book. +</p> +<p> +Placing a small photograph before the girl, he said quietly: +</p> +<p> +"That is the back of the houses in Phillimore Terrace, which overlook +Adam and Eve Mews." +</p> +<p> +She looked at the photograph, then at him, with a kindly look of +indulgent expectancy. +</p> +<p> +"You will notice that the row of back gardens have each an exit into the +mews. These mews are built in the shape of a capital F. The photograph +is taken looking straight down the short horizontal line, which ends, as +you see, in a <i>cul-de-sac</i>. The bottom of the vertical line turns into +Phillimore Terrace, and the end of the upper long horizontal line into +High Street, Kensington. Now, on that particular night, or rather early +morning, of January 15th, Constable D 21, having turned into the mews +from Phillimore Terrace, stood for a moment at the angle formed by the +long vertical artery of the mews and the short horizontal one which, as +I observed before, looks on to the back gardens of the Terrace houses, +and ends in a <i>cul-de-sac</i>. +</p> +<p> +"How long D 21 stood at that particular corner he could not exactly say, +but he thinks it must have been three or four minutes before he noticed +a suspicious-looking individual shambling along under the shadow of the +garden walls. He was working his way cautiously in the direction of the +<i>cul-de-sac</i>, and D 21, also keeping well within the shadow, went +noiselessly after him. +</p> +<p> +"He had almost overtaken him—was, in fact, not more than thirty yards +from him—when from out of one of the two end houses—No. 22, Phillimore +Terrace, in fact—a man, in nothing but his night-shirt, rushed out +excitedly, and, before D 21 had time to intervene, literally threw +himself upon the suspected individual, rolling over and over with him on +the hard cobble-stones, and frantically shrieking, 'Thief! Thief! +Police!' +</p> +<p> +"It was some time before the constable succeeded in rescuing the tramp +from the excited grip of his assailant, and several minutes before he +could make himself heard. +</p> +<p> +"'There! there! that'll do!' he managed to say at last, as he gave the +man in the shirt a vigorous shove, which silenced him for the moment. +'Leave the man alone now, you mustn't make that noise this time o' +night, wakin' up all the folks.' The unfortunate tramp, who in the +meanwhile had managed to get onto his feet again, made no attempt to +get away; probably he thought he would stand but a poor chance. But the +man in the shirt had partly recovered his power of speech, and was now +blurting out jerky, half—intelligible sentences: +</p> +<p> +"'I have been robbed—robbed—I—that is—my master—Mr. Knopf. The desk +is open—the diamonds gone—all in my charge—and—now they are stolen! +That's the thief—I'll swear—I heard him—not three minutes ago—rushed +downstairs—the door into the garden was smashed—I ran across the +garden—he was sneaking about here still—Thief! Thief! Police! +Diamonds! Constable, don't let him go—I'll make you responsible if you +let him go—' +</p> +<p> +"'Now then—that'll do!' admonished D 21 as soon as he could get a word +in, 'stop that row, will you?' +</p> +<p> +"The man in the shirt was gradually recovering from his excitement. +</p> +<p> +"'Can I give this man in charge?' he asked. +</p> +<p> +"'What for?' +</p> +<p> +"'Burglary and housebreaking. I heard him, I tell you. He must have Mr. +Knopf's diamonds about him at this moment.' +</p> +<p> +"'Where is Mr. Knopf?' +</p> +<p> +"'Out of town,' groaned the man in the shirt. 'He went to Brighton last +night, and left me in charge, and now this thief has been and—' +</p> +<p> +"The tramp shrugged his shoulders and suddenly, without a word, he +quietly began taking off his coat and waistcoat. These he handed across +to the constable. Eagerly the man in the shirt fell on them, and turned +the ragged pockets inside out. From one of the windows a hilarious voice +made some facetious remark, as the tramp with equal solemnity began +divesting himself of his nether garments. +</p> +<p> +"'Now then, stop that nonsense,' pronounced D 21 severely, 'what were +you doing here this time o' night, anyway?' +</p> +<p> +"'The streets o' London is free to the public, ain't they?' queried the +tramp. +</p> +<p> +"'This don't lead nowhere, my man.' +</p> +<p> +"'Then I've lost my way, that's all,' growled the man surlily, 'and +p'raps you'll let me get along now.' +</p> +<p> +"By this time a couple of constables had appeared upon the scene. D 21 +had no intention of losing sight of his friend the tramp, and the man in +the shirt had again made a dash for the latter's collar at the bare idea +that he should be allowed to 'get along.' +</p> +<p> +"I think D 21 was alive to the humour of the situation. He suggested +that Robertson (the man in the night-shirt) should go in and get some +clothes on, whilst he himself would wait for the inspector and the +detective, whom D 15 would send round from the station immediately. +</p> +<p> +"Poor Robertson's teeth were chattering with cold. He had a violent fit +of sneezing as D 21 hurried him into the house. The latter, with another +constable, remained to watch the burglared premises both back and +front, and D 15 took the wretched tramp to the station with a view to +sending an inspector and a detective round immediately. +</p> +<p> +"When the two latter gentlemen arrived at No. 22, Phillimore Terrace, +they found poor old Robertson in bed, shivering, and still quite blue. +He had got himself a hot drink, but his eyes were streaming and his +voice was terribly husky. D 21 had stationed himself in the dining-room, +where Robertson had pointed the desk out to him, with its broken lock +and scattered contents. +</p> +<p> +"Robertson, between his sneezes, gave what account he could of the +events which happened immediately before the robbery. +</p> +<p> +"His master, Mr. Ferdinand Knopf, he said, was a diamond merchant, and a +bachelor. He himself had been in Mr. Knopf's employ over fifteen years, +and was his only indoor servant. A charwoman came every day to do the +housework. +</p> +<p> +"Last night Mr. Knopf dined at the house of Mr. Shipman, at No. 26, +lower down. Mr. Shipman is the great jeweller who has his place of +business in South Audley Street. By the last post there came a letter +with the Brighton postmark, and marked 'urgent,' for Mr. Knopf, and he +(Robertson) was just wondering if he should run over to No. 26 with it, +when his master returned. He gave one glance at the contents of the +letter, asked for his A.B.C. Railway Guide, and ordered him (Robertson) +to pack his bag at once and fetch him a cab. +</p> +<p> +"'I guessed what it was,' continued Robertson after another violent fit +of sneezing. 'Mr. Knopf has a brother, Mr. Emile Knopf, to whom he is +very much attached, and who is a great invalid. He generally goes about +from one seaside place to another. He is now at Brighton, and has +recently been very ill. +</p> +<p> +"'If you will take the trouble to go downstairs I think you will still +find the letter lying on the hall table. +</p> +<p> +"'I read it after Mr. Knopf left; it was not from his brother, but from +a gentleman who signed himself J. Collins, M.D. I don't remember the +exact words, but, of course, you'll be able to read the letter—Mr. J. +Collins said he had been called in very suddenly to see Mr. Emile Knopf, +who, he added, had not many hours to live, and had begged of the doctor +to communicate at once with his brother in London. +</p> +<p> +"'Before leaving, Mr. Knopf warned me that there were some valuables in +his desk—diamonds mostly, and told me to be particularly careful about +locking up the house. He often has left me like this in charge of his +premises, and usually there have been diamonds in his desk, for Mr. +Knopf has no regular City office as he is a commercial traveller.' +</p> +<p> +"This, briefly, was the gist of the matter which Robertson related to +the inspector with many repetitions and persistent volubility. +</p> +<p> +"The detective and inspector, before returning to the station with their +report, thought they would call at No. 26, on Mr. Shipman, the great +jeweller. +</p> +<p> +"You remember, of course," added the man in the corner, dreamily +contemplating his bit of string, "the exciting developments of this +extraordinary case. Mr. Arthur Shipman is the head of the firm of +Shipman and Co., the wealthy jewellers. He is a widower, and lives very +quietly by himself in his own old-fashioned way in the small Kensington +house, leaving it to his two married sons to keep up the style and +swagger befitting the representatives of so wealthy a firm. +</p> +<p> +"'I have only known Mr. Knopf a very little while,' he explained to the +detectives. 'He sold me two or three stones once or twice, I think; but +we are both single men, and we have often dined together. Last night he +dined with me. He had that afternoon received a very fine consignment of +Brazilian diamonds, as he told me, and knowing how beset I am with +callers at my business place, he had brought the stones with him, +hoping, perhaps, to do a bit of trade over the nuts and wine. +</p> +<p> +"'I bought £25,000 worth of him,' added the jeweller, as if he were +speaking of so many farthings, 'and gave him a cheque across the dinner +table for that amount. I think we were both pleased with our bargain, +and we had a final bottle of '48 port over it together. Mr. Knopf left +me at about 9.30, for he knows I go very early to bed, and I took my new +stock upstairs with me, and locked it up in the safe. I certainly heard +nothing of the noise in the mews last night. I sleep on the second +floor, in the front of the house, and this is the first I have heard of +poor Mr. Knopf's loss—' +</p> +<p> +"At this point of his narrative Mr. Shipman very suddenly paused, and +his face became very pale. With a hasty word of excuse he +unceremoniously left the room, and the detective heard him running +quickly upstairs. +</p> +<p> +"Less than two minutes later Mr. Shipman returned. There was no need for +him to speak; both the detective and the inspector guessed the truth in +a moment by the look upon his face. +</p> +<p> +"'The diamonds!' he gasped. 'I have been robbed.'" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH5"><!-- CH5 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER V +</h2> + +<h3> +A NIGHT'S ADVENTURE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Now I must tell you," continued the man in the corner, "that after I +had read the account of the double robbery, which appeared in the early +afternoon papers, I set to work and had a good think—yes!" he added +with a smile, noting Polly's look at the bit of string, on which he was +still at work, "yes! aided by this small adjunct to continued thought—I +made notes as to how I should proceed to discover the clever thief, who +had carried off a small fortune in a single night. Of course, my methods +are not those of a London detective; he has his own way of going to +work. The one who was conducting this case questioned the unfortunate +jeweller very closely about his servants and his household generally. +</p> +<p> +"'I have three servants,' explained Mr. Shipman, two of whom have been +with me for many years; one, the housemaid, is a fairly new comer—she +has been here about six months. She came recommended by a friend, and +bore an excellent character. She and the parlourmaid room together. The +cook, who knew me when I was a schoolboy, sleeps alone; all three +servants sleep on the floor above. I locked the jewels up in the safe +which stands in the dressing-room. My keys and watch I placed, as usual, +beside my bed. As a rule, I am a fairly light sleeper. +</p> +<p> +"'I cannot understand how it could have happened—but—you had better +come up and have a look at the safe. The key must have been abstracted +from my bedside, the safe opened, and the keys replaced—all while I was +fast asleep. Though I had no occasion to look into the safe until just +now, I should have discovered my loss before going to business, for I +intended to take the diamonds away with me—' +</p> +<p> +"The detective and the inspector went up to have a look at the safe. The +lock had in no way been tampered with—it had been opened with its own +key. The detective spoke of chloroform, but Mr. Shipman declared that +when he woke in the morning at about half-past seven there was no smell +of chloroform in the room. However, the proceedings of the daring thief +certainly pointed to the use of an anaesthetic. An examination of the +premises brought to light the fact that the burglar had, as in Mr. +Knopf's house, used the glass-panelled door from the garden as a means +of entrance, but in this instance he had carefully cut out the pane of +glass with a diamond, slipped the bolts, turned the key, and walked in. +</p> +<p> +"'Which among your servants knew that you had the diamonds in your house +last night, Mr. Shipman?' asked the detective. +</p> +<p> +"'Not one, I should say,' replied the jeweller, 'though, perhaps, the +parlourmaid, whilst waiting at table, may have heard me and Mr. Knopf +discussing our bargain.' +</p> +<p> +"'Would you object to my searching all your servants' boxes?' +</p> +<p> +"'Certainly not. They would not object, either, I am sure. They are +perfectly honest.' +</p> +<p> +"The searching of servants' belongings is invariably a useless +proceeding," added the man in the corner, with a shrug of the shoulders. +"No one, not even a latter-day domestic, would be fool enough to keep +stolen property in the house. However, the usual farce was gone through, +with more or less protest on the part of Mr. Shipman's servants, and +with the usual result. +</p> +<p> +"The jeweller could give no further information; the detective and +inspector, to do them justice, did their work of investigation minutely +and, what is more, intelligently. It seemed evident, from their +deductions, that the burglar had commenced proceedings on No. 26, +Phillimore Terrace, and had then gone on, probably climbing over the +garden walls between the houses to No. 22, where he was almost caught in +the act by Robertson. The facts were simple enough, but the mystery +remained as to the individual who had managed to glean the information +of the presence of the diamonds in both the houses, and the means which +he had adopted to get that information. It was obvious that the thief or +thieves knew more about Mr. Knopf's affairs than Mr. Shipman's, since +they had known how to use Mr. Emile Knopf's name in order to get his +brother out of the way. +</p> +<p> +"It was now nearly ten o'clock, and the detectives, having taken leave +of Mr. Shipman, went back to No. 22, in order to ascertain whether Mr. +Knopf had come back; the door was opened by the old charwoman, who said +that her master had returned, and was having some breakfast in the +dining-room. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Ferdinand Knopf was a middle-aged man, with sallow complexion, +black hair and beard, of obviously Hebrew extraction. He spoke with a +marked foreign accent, but very courteously, to the two officials, who, +he begged, would excuse him if he went on with his breakfast. +</p> +<p> +"'I was fully prepared to hear the bad news,' he explained, 'which my +man Robertson told me when I arrived. The letter I got last night was a +bogus one; there is no such person as J. Collins, M.D. My brother had +never felt better in his life. You will, I am sure, very soon trace the +cunning writer of that epistle—ah! but I was in a rage, I can tell +you, when I got to the Metropole at Brighton, and found that Emile, my +brother, had never heard of any Doctor Collins. +</p> +<p> +"'The last train to town had gone, although I raced back to the station +as hard as I could. Poor old Robertson, he has a terrible cold. Ah yes! +my loss! it is for me a very serious one; if I had not made that lucky +bargain with Mr. Shipman last night I should, perhaps, at this moment be +a ruined man. +</p> +<p> +"'The stones I had yesterday were, firstly, some magnificent Brazilians; +these I sold to Mr. Shipman mostly. Then I had some very good Cape +diamonds—all gone; and some quite special Parisians, of wonderful work +and finish, entrusted to me for sale by a great French house. I tell +you, sir, my loss will be nearly £10,000 altogether. I sell on +commission, and, of course, have to make good the loss.' +</p> +<p> +"He was evidently trying to bear up manfully, and as a business man +should, under his sad fate. He refused in any way to attach the +slightest blame to his old and faithful servant Robertson, who had +caught, perhaps, his death of cold in his zeal for his absent master. As +for any hint of suspicion falling even remotely upon the man, the very +idea appeared to Mr. Knopf absolutely preposterous. +</p> +<p> +"With regard to the old charwoman, Mr. Knopf certainly knew nothing +about her, beyond the fact that she had been recommended to him by one +of the tradespeople in the neighbourhood, and seemed perfectly honest, +respectable, and sober. +</p> +<p> +"About the tramp Mr. Knopf knew still less, nor could he imagine how he, +or in fact anybody else, could possibly know that he happened to have +diamonds in his house that night. +</p> +<p> +"This certainly seemed the great hitch in the case. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Ferdinand Knopf, at the instance of the police, later on went to +the station and had a look at the suspected tramp. He declared that he +had never set eyes on him before. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Shipman, on his way home from business in the afternoon, had done +likewise, and made a similar statement. +</p> +<p> +"Brought before the magistrate, the tramp gave but a poor account of +himself. He gave a name and address, which latter, of course, proved to +be false. After that he absolutely refused to speak. He seemed not to +care whether he was kept in custody or not. Very soon even the police +realized that, for the present, at any rate, nothing could be got out of +the suspected tramp. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Francis Howard, the detective, who had charge of the case, though +he would not admit it even to himself, was at his wits' ends. You must +remember that the burglary, through its very simplicity, was an +exceedingly mysterious affair. The constable, D 21, who had stood in +Adam and Eve Mews, presumably while Mr. Knopf's house was being robbed, +had seen no one turn out from the <i>cul-de-sac</i> into the main passage of +the mews. +</p> +<p> +"The stables, which immediately faced the back entrance of the +Phillimore Terrace houses, were all private ones belonging to residents +in the neighbourhood. The coachmen, their families, and all the grooms +who slept in the stablings were rigidly watched and questioned. One and +all had seen nothing, heard nothing, until Robertson's shrieks had +roused them from their sleep. +</p> +<p> +"As for the letter from Brighton, it was absolutely commonplace, and +written upon note-paper which the detective, with Machiavellian cunning, +traced to a stationer's shop in West Street. But the trade at that +particular shop was a very brisk one; scores of people had bought +note-paper there, similar to that on which the supposed doctor had +written his tricky letter. The handwriting was cramped, perhaps a +disguised one; in any case, except under very exceptional circumstances, +it could afford no clue to the identity of the thief. Needless to say, +the tramp, when told to write his name, wrote a totally different and +absolutely uneducated hand. +</p> +<p> +"Matters stood, however, in the same persistently mysterious state when +a small discovery was made, which suggested to Mr. Francis Howard an +idea, which, if properly carried out, would, he hoped, inevitably bring +the cunning burglar safely within the grasp of the police. +</p> +<p> +"That was the discovery of a few of Mr. Knopf's diamonds," continued the +man in the corner after a slight pause, "evidently trampled into the +ground by the thief whilst making his hurried exit through the garden of +No. 22, Phillimore Terrace. +</p> +<p> +"At the end of this garden there is a small studio which had been built +by a former owner of the house, and behind it a small piece of waste +ground about seven feet square which had once been a rockery, and is +still filled with large loose stones, in the shadow of which earwigs and +woodlice innumerable have made a happy hunting ground. +</p> +<p> +"It was Robertson who, two days after the robbery, having need of a +large stone, for some household purpose or other, dislodged one from +that piece of waste ground, and found a few shining pebbles beneath it. +Mr. Knopf took them round to the police-station himself immediately, and +identified the stones as some of his Parisian ones. +</p> +<p> +"Later on the detective went to view the place where the find had been +made, and there conceived the plan upon which he built big cherished +hopes. +</p> +<p> +"Acting upon the advice of Mr. Francis Howard, the police decided to let +the anonymous tramp out of his safe retreat within the station, and to +allow him to wander whithersoever he chose. A good idea, perhaps—the +presumption being that, sooner or later, if the man was in any way mixed +up with the cunning thieves, he would either rejoin his comrades or even +lead the police to where the remnant of his hoard lay hidden; needless +to say, his footsteps were to be literally dogged. +</p> +<p> +"The wretched tramp, on his discharge, wandered out of the yard, +wrapping his thin coat round his shoulders, for it was a bitterly cold +afternoon. He began operations by turning into the Town Hall Tavern for +a good feed and a copious drink. Mr. Francis Howard noted that he seemed +to eye every passer-by with suspicion, but he seemed to enjoy his +dinner, and sat some time over his bottle of wine. +</p> +<p> +"It was close upon four o'clock when he left the tavern, and then began +for the indefatigable Mr. Howard one of the most wearisome and +uninteresting chases, through the mazes of the London streets, he ever +remembers to have made. Up Notting Hill, down the slums of Notting +Dale, along the High Street, beyond Hammersmith, and through Shepherd's +Bush did that anonymous tramp lead the unfortunate detective, never +hurrying himself, stopping every now and then at a public-house to get a +drink, whither Mr. Howard did not always care to follow him. +</p> +<p> +"In spite of his fatigue, Mr. Francis Howard's hopes rose with every +half-hour of this weary tramp. The man was obviously striving to kill +time; he seemed to feel no weariness, but walked on and on, perhaps +suspecting that he was being followed. +</p> +<p> +"At last, with a beating heart, though half perished with cold, and with +terribly sore feet, the detective began to realize that the tramp was +gradually working his way back towards Kensington. It was then close +upon eleven o'clock at night; once or twice the man had walked up and +down the High Street, from St. Paul's School to Derry and Toms' shops +and back again, he had looked down one or two of the side streets +and—at last—he turned into Phillimore Terrace. He seemed in no hurry, +he oven stopped once in the middle of the road, trying to light a pipe, +which, as there was a high east wind, took him some considerable time. +Then he leisurely sauntered down the street, and turned into Adam and +Eve Mews, with Mr. Francis Howard now close at his heels. +</p> +<p> +"Acting upon the detective's instructions, there were several men in +plain clothes ready to his call in the immediate neighbourhood. Two +stood within the shadow of the steps of the Congregational Church at the +corner of the mews, others were stationed well within a soft call. +</p> +<p> +"Hardly, therefore, had the hare turned into the <i>cul-de-sac</i> at the +back of Phillimore Terrace than, at a slight sound from Mr. Francis +Howard, every egress was barred to him, and he was caught like a rat in +a trap. +</p> +<p> +"As soon as the tramp had advanced some thirty yards or so (the whole +length of this part of the mews is about one hundred yards) and was lost +in the shadow, Mr. Francis Howard directed four or five of his men to +proceed cautiously up the mews, whilst the same number were to form a +line all along the front of Phillimore Terrace between the mews and the +High Street. +</p> +<p> +"Remember, the back-garden walls threw long and dense shadows, but the +silhouette of the man would be clearly outlined if he made any attempt +at climbing over them. Mr. Howard felt quite sure that the thief was +bent on recovering the stolen goods, which, no doubt, he had hidden in +the rear of one of the houses. He would be caught <i>in flagrante delicto</i>, +and, with a heavy sentence hovering over him, he would probably be +induced to name his accomplice. Mr. Francis Howard was thoroughly +enjoying himself. +</p> +<p> +"The minutes sped on; absolute silence, in spite of the presence of so +many men, reigned in the dark and deserted mews. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, this night's adventure was never allowed to get into the +papers," added the man in the corner with his mild smile. "Had the plan +been successful, we should have heard all about it, with a long +eulogistic article as to the astuteness of our police; but as it +was—well, the tramp sauntered up the mews—and—there he remained for +aught Mr. Francis Howard or the other constables could ever explain. The +earth or the shadows swallowed him up. No one saw him climb one of the +garden walls, no one heard him break open a door; he had retreated +within the shadow of the garden walls, and was seen or heard of no +more." +</p> +<p> +"One of the servants in the Phillimore Terrace houses must have belonged +to the gang," said Polly with quick decision. +</p> +<p> +"Ah, yes! but which?" said the man in the corner, making a beautiful +knot in his bit of string. "I can assure you that the police left not a +stone unturned once more to catch sight of that tramp whom they had had +in custody for two days, but not a trace of him could they find, nor of +the diamonds, from that day to this." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH6"><!-- CH6 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VI +</h2> + +<h3> +ALL HE KNEW +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"The tramp was missing," continued the man in the corner, "and Mr. +Francis Howard tried to find the missing tramp. Going round to the +front, and seeing the lights at No. 26 still in, he called upon Mr. +Shipman. The jeweller had had a few friends to dinner, and was giving +them whiskies-and-sodas before saying good night. The servants had just +finished washing up, and were waiting to go to bed; neither they nor Mr. +Shipman nor his guests had seen or heard anything of the suspicious +individual. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Francis Howard went on to see Mr. Ferdinand Knopf. This gentleman +was having his warm bath, preparatory to going to bed. So Robertson told +the detective. However, Mr. Knopf insisted on talking to Mr. Howard +through his bath-room door. Mr. Knopf thanked him for all the trouble he +was taking, and felt sure that he and Mr. Shipman would soon recover +possession of their diamonds, thanks to the persevering detective. +</p> +<p> +"He! he! he!" laughed the man in the corner. "Poor Mr. Howard. He +persevered—but got no farther; no, nor anyone else, for that matter. +Even I might not be able to convict the thieves if I told all I knew to +the police. +</p> +<p> +"Now, follow my reasoning, point by point," he added eagerly. +</p> +<p> +"Who knew of the presence of the diamonds in the house of Mr. Shipman +and Mr. Knopf? Firstly," he said, putting up an ugly claw-like finger, +"Mr. Shipman, then Mr. Knopf, then, presumably, the man Robertson." +</p> +<p> +"And the tramp?" said Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Leave the tramp alone for the present since he has vanished, and take +point number two. Mr. Shipman was drugged. That was pretty obvious; no +man under ordinary circumstances would, without waking, have his keys +abstracted and then replaced at his own bedside. Mr. Howard suggested +that the thief was armed with some anaesthetic; but how did the thief +get into Mr. Shipman's room without waking him from his natural sleep? +Is it not simpler to suppose that the thief had taken the precaution to +drug the jeweller <i>before</i> the latter went to bed?" +</p> +<p> +"But—" +</p> +<p> +"Wait a moment, and take point number three. Though there was every +proof that Mr. Shipman had been in possession of £25,000 worth of goods +since Mr. Knopf had a cheque from him for that amount, there was no +proof that in Mr. Knopf's house there was even an odd stone worth a +sovereign. +</p> +<p> +"And then again," went on the scarecrow, getting more and more excited, +"did it ever strike you, or anybody else, that at <i>no</i> time, while the +tramp was in custody, while all that searching examination was being +gone on with, no one ever saw Mr. Knopf and his man Robertson together +at the same time? +</p> +<p> +"Ah!" he continued, whilst suddenly the young girl seemed to see the +whole thing as in a vision, "they did not forget a single detail—follow +them with me, point by point. Two cunning scoundrels—geniuses they +should be called—well provided with some ill-gotten funds—but +determined on a grand <i>coup</i>. They play at respectability, for six +months, say. One is the master, the other the servant; they take a house +in the same street as their intended victim, make friends with him, +accomplish one or two creditable but very small business transactions, +always drawing on the reserve funds, which might even have amounted to a +few hundreds—and a bit of credit. +</p> +<p> +"Then the Brazilian diamonds, and the Parisians—which, remember, were +so perfect that they required chemical testing to be detected. The +Parisian stones are sold—not in business, of course—in the evening, +after dinner and a good deal of wine. Mr. Knopf's Brazilians were +beautiful; perfect! Mr. Knopf was a well-known diamond merchant. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Shipman bought—but with the morning would have come sober sense, +the cheque stopped before it could have been presented, the swindler +caught. No! those exquisite Parisians were never intended to rest in Mr. +Shipman's safe until the morning. That last bottle of '48 port, with the +aid of a powerful soporific, ensured that Mr. Shipman would sleep +undisturbed during the night. +</p> +<p> +"Ah! remember all the details, they were so admirable! the letter posted +in Brighton by the cunning rogue to himself, the smashed desk, the +broken pane of glass in his own house. The man Robertson on the watch, +while Knopf himself in ragged clothing found his way into No. 26. If +Constable D 21 had not appeared upon the scene that exciting comedy in +the early morning would not have been enacted. As it was, in the +supposed fight, Mr. Shipman's diamonds passed from the hands of the +tramp into those of his accomplice. +</p> +<p> +"Then, later on, Robertson, ill in bed, while his master was supposed to +have returned—by the way, it never struck anybody that no one saw Mr. +Knopf come home, though he surely would have driven up in a cab. Then +the double part played by one man for the next two days. It certainly +never struck either the police or the inspector. Remember they only saw +Robertson when in bed with a streaming cold. But Knopf had to be got out +of gaol as soon as possible; the dual <i>rôle</i> could not have been kept up +for long. Hence the story of the diamonds found in the garden of No. 22. +The cunning rogues guessed that the usual plan would be acted upon, and +the suspected thief allowed to visit the scene where his hoard lay +hidden. +</p> +<p> +"It had all been foreseen, and Robertson must have been constantly on +the watch. The tramp stopped, mind you, in Phillimore Terrace for some +moments, lighting a pipe. The accomplice, then, was fully on the alert; +he slipped the bolts of the back garden gate. Five minutes later Knopf +was in the house, in a hot bath, getting rid of the disguise of our +friend the tramp. Remember that again here the detective did not +actually see him. +</p> +<p> +"The next morning Mr. Knopf, black hair and beard and all, was himself +again. The whole trick lay in one simple art, which those two cunning +rascals knew to absolute perfection, the art of impersonating one +another. +</p> +<p> +"They are brothers, presumably—twin brothers, I should say." +</p> +<p> +"But Mr. Knopf—" suggested Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Well, look in the Trades' Directory; you will see F. Knopf & Co., +diamond merchants, of some City address. Ask about the firm among the +trade; you will hear that it is firmly established on a sound financial +basis. He! he! he! and it deserves to be," added the man in the corner, +as, calling for the waitress, he received his ticket, and taking up his +shabby hat, took himself and his bit of string rapidly out of the room. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH7"><!-- CH7 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE YORK MYSTERY +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The man in the corner looked quite cheerful that morning; he had had two +glasses of milk and had even gone to the extravagance of an extra +cheese-cake. Polly knew that he was itching to talk police and murders, +for he cast furtive glances at her from time to time, produced a bit of +string, tied and untied it into scores of complicated knots, and +finally, bringing out his pocket-book, he placed two or three +photographs before her. +</p> +<p> +"Do you know who that is?" he asked, pointing to one of these. +</p> +<p> +The girl looked at the face on the picture. It was that of a woman, not +exactly pretty, but very gentle and childlike, with a strange pathetic +look in the large eyes which was wonderfully appealing. +</p> +<p> +"That was Lady Arthur Skelmerton," he said, and in a flash there flitted +before Polly's mind the weird and tragic history which had broken this +loving woman's heart. Lady Arthur Skelmerton! That name recalled one of +the most bewildering, most mysterious passages in the annals of +undiscovered crimes. +</p> +<p> +"Yes. It was sad, wasn't it?" he commented, in answer to Polly's +thoughts. "Another case which but for idiotic blunders on the part of +the police must have stood clear as daylight before the public and +satisfied general anxiety. Would you object to my recapitulating its +preliminary details?" +</p> +<p> +She said nothing, so he continued without waiting further for a reply. +</p> +<p> +"It all occurred during the York racing week, a time which brings to the +quiet cathedral city its quota of shady characters, who congregate +wherever money and wits happen to fly away from their owners. Lord +Arthur Skelmerton, a very well-known figure in London society and in +racing circles, had rented one of the fine houses which overlook the +racecourse. He had entered Peppercorn, by St. Armand—Notre Dame, for +the Great Ebor Handicap. Peppercorn was the winner of the Newmarket, and +his chances for the Ebor were considered a practical certainty. +</p> +<p> +"If you have ever been to York you will have noticed the fine houses +which have their drive and front entrances in the road called 'The +Mount.' and the gardens of which extend as far as the racecourse, +commanding a lovely view over the entire track. It was one of these +houses, called 'The Elms,' which Lord Arthur Skelmerton had rented for +the summer. +</p> +<p> +"Lady Arthur came down some little time before the racing week with her +servants—she had no children; but she had many relatives and friends in +York, since she was the daughter of old Sir John Etty, the cocoa +manufacturer, a rigid Quaker, who, it was generally said, kept the +tightest possible hold on his own purse-strings and looked with marked +disfavour upon his aristocratic son-in-law's fondness for gaming tables +and betting books. +</p> +<p> +"As a matter of fact, Maud Etty had married the handsome young +lieutenant in the Hussars, quite against her father's wishes. But she +was an only child, and after a good deal of demur and grumbling, Sir +John, who idolized his daughter, gave way to her whim, and a reluctant +consent to the marriage was wrung from him. +</p> +<p> +"But, as a Yorkshireman, he was far too shrewd a man of the world not to +know that love played but a very small part in persuading a Duke's son +to marry the daughter of a cocoa manufacturer, and as long as he lived +he determined that since his daughter was being wed because of her +wealth, that wealth should at least secure her own happiness. He refused +to give Lady Arthur any capital, which, in spite of the most carefully +worded settlements, would inevitably, sooner or later, have found its +way into the pockets of Lord Arthur's racing friends. But he made his +daughter a very handsome allowance, amounting to over £3000 a year, +which enabled her to keep up an establishment befitting her new rank. +</p> +<p> +"A great many of these facts, intimate enough as they are, leaked out, +you see, during that period of intense excitement which followed the +murder of Charles Lavender, and when the public eye was fixed +searchingly upon Lord Arthur Skelmerton, probing all the inner details +of his idle, useless life. +</p> +<p> +"It soon became a matter of common gossip that poor little Lady Arthur +continued to worship her handsome husband in spite of his obvious +neglect, and not having as yet presented him with an heir, she settled +herself down into a life of humble apology for her plebeian existence, +atoning for it by condoning all his faults and forgiving all his vices, +even to the extent of cloaking them before the prying eyes of Sir John, +who was persuaded to look upon his son-in-law as a paragon of all the +domestic virtues and a perfect model of a husband. +</p> +<p> +"Among Lord Arthur Skelmerton's many expensive tastes there was +certainly that for horseflesh and cards. After some successful betting +at the beginning of his married life, he had started a racing-stable +which it was generally believed—as he was very lucky—was a regular +source of income to him. +</p> +<p> +"Peppercorn, however, after his brilliant performances at Newmarket did +not continue to fulfil his master's expectations. His collapse at York +was attributed to the hardness of the course and to various other +causes, but its immediate effect was to put Lord Arthur Skelmerton in +what is popularly called a tight place, for he had backed his horse for +all he was worth, and must have stood to lose considerably over £5000 on +that one day. +</p> +<p> +"The collapse of the favourite and the grand victory of King Cole, a +rank outsider, on the other hand, had proved a golden harvest for the +bookmakers, and all the York hotels were busy with dinners and suppers +given by the confraternity of the Turf to celebrate the happy occasion. +The next day was Friday, one of few important racing events, after which +the brilliant and the shady throng which had flocked into the venerable +city for the week would fly to more congenial climes, and leave it, with +its fine old Minster and its ancient walls, as sleepy, as quiet as +before. +</p> +<p> +"Lord Arthur Skelmerton also intended to leave York on the Saturday, and +on the Friday night he gave a farewell bachelor dinner party at 'The +Elms,' at which Lady Arthur did not appear. After dinner the gentlemen +settled down to bridge, with pretty stiff points, you may be sure. It +had just struck eleven at the Minster Tower, when constables McNaught +and Murphy, who were patrolling the racecourse, were startled by loud +cries of 'murder' and 'police.' +</p> +<p> +"Quickly ascertaining whence these cries proceeded, they hurried on at a +gallop, and came up—quite close to the boundary of Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's grounds—upon a group of three men, two of whom seemed to +be wrestling vigorously with one another, whilst the third was lying +face downwards on the ground. As soon as the constables drew near, one +of the wrestlers shouted more vigorously, and with a certain tone of +authority: +</p> +<p> +"'Here, you fellows, hurry up, sharp; the brute is giving me the slip!' +</p> +<p> +"But the brute did not seem inclined to do anything of the sort; he +certainly extricated himself with a violent jerk from his assailant's +grasp, but made no attempt to run away. The constables had quickly +dismounted, whilst he who had shouted for help originally added more +quietly: +</p> +<p> +"'My name is Skelmerton. This is the boundary of my property. I was +smoking a cigar at the pavilion over there with a friend when I heard +loud voices, followed by a cry and a groan. I hurried down the steps, +and saw this poor fellow lying on the ground, with a knife sticking +between his shoulder-blades, and his murderer,' he added, pointing to +the man who stood quietly by with Constable McNaught's firm grip upon +his shoulder, 'still stooping over the body of his victim. I was too +late, I fear, to save the latter, but just in time to grapple with the +assassin—" +</p> +<p> +"'It's a lie!' here interrupted the man hoarsely. 'I didn't do it, +constable; I swear I didn't do it. I saw him fall—I was coming along a +couple of hundred yards away, and I tried to see if the poor fellow was +dead. I swear I didn't do it.' +</p> +<p> +"'You'll have to explain that to the inspector presently, my man,' was +Constable McNaught's quiet comment, and, still vigorously protesting his +innocence, the accused allowed himself to be led away, and the body was +conveyed to the station, pending fuller identification. +</p> +<p> +"The next morning the papers were full of the tragedy; a column and a +half of the <i>York Herald</i> was devoted to an account of Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's plucky capture of the assassin. The latter had continued to +declare his innocence, but had remarked, it appears, with grim humour, +that he quite saw he was in a tight place, out of which, however, he +would find it easy to extricate himself. He had stated to the police +that the deceased's name was Charles Lavender, a well-known bookmaker, +which fact was soon verified, for many of the murdered man's 'pals' +were still in the city. +</p> +<p> +"So far the most pushing of newspaper reporters had been unable to glean +further information from the police; no one doubted, however, but that +the man in charge, who gave his name as George Higgins, had killed the +bookmaker for purposes of robbery. The inquest had been fixed for the +Tuesday after the murder. +</p> +<p> +"Lord Arthur had been obliged to stay in York a few days, as his +evidence would be needed. That fact gave the case, perhaps, a certain +amount of interest as far as York and London 'society' were concerned. +Charles Lavender, moreover, was well known on the turf; but no bombshell +exploding beneath the walls of the ancient cathedral city could more +have astonished its inhabitants than the news which, at about five in +the afternoon on the day of the inquest, spread like wildfire throughout +the town. That news was that the inquest had concluded at three o'clock +with a verdict of 'Wilful murder against some person or persons +unknown,' and that two hours later the police had arrested Lord Arthur +Skelmerton at his private residence, 'The Elms,' and charged him on a +warrant with the murder of Charles Lavender, the bookmaker." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH8"><!-- CH8 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VIII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE CAPITAL CHARGE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"The police, it appears, instinctively feeling that some mystery lurked +round the death of the bookmaker and his supposed murderer's quiet +protestations of innocence, had taken a very considerable amount of +trouble in collecting all the evidence they could for the inquest which +might throw some light upon Charles Lavender's life, previous to his +tragic end. Thus it was that a very large array of witnesses was brought +before the coroner, chief among whom was, of course, Lord Arthur +Skelmerton. +</p> +<p> +"The first witnesses called were the two constables, who deposed that, +just as the church clocks in the neighbourhood were striking eleven, +they had heard the cries for help, had ridden to the spot whence the +sounds proceeded, and had found the prisoner in the tight grasp of Lord +Arthur Skelmerton, who at once accused the man of murder, and gave him +in charge. Both constables gave the same version of the incident, and +both were positive as to the time when it occurred. +</p> +<p> +"Medical evidence went to prove that the deceased had been stabbed from +behind between the shoulder-blades whilst he was walking, that the wound +was inflicted by a large hunting knife, which was produced, and which +had been left sticking in the wound. +</p> +<p> +"Lord Arthur Skelmerton was then called and substantially repeated what +he had already told the constables. He stated, namely, that on the night +in question he had some gentlemen friends to dinner, and afterwards +bridge was played. He himself was not playing much, and at a few minutes +before eleven he strolled out with a cigar as far as the pavilion at the +end of his garden; he then heard the voices, the cry and the groan +previously described by him, and managed to hold the murderer down until +the arrival of the constables. +</p> +<p> +"At this point the police proposed to call a witness, James Terry by +name and a bookmaker by profession, who had been chiefly instrumental in +identifying the deceased, a 'pal' of his. It was his evidence which +first introduced that element of sensation into the case which +culminated in the wildly exciting arrest of a Duke's son upon a capital +charge. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that on the evening after the Ebor, Terry and Lavender were +in the bar of the Black Swan Hotel having drinks. +</p> +<p> +"'I had done pretty well over Peppercorn's fiasco,' he explained, 'but +poor old Lavender was very much down in the dumps; he had held only a +few very small bets against the favourite, and the rest of the day had +been a poor one with him. I asked him if he had any bets with the owner +of Peppercorn, and he told me that he only held one for less than £500. +</p> +<p> +"'I laughed and said that if he held one for £5000 it would make no +difference, as from what I had heard from the other fellows, Lord Arthur +Skelmerton must be about stumped. Lavender seemed terribly put out at +this, and swore he would get that £500 out of Lord Arthur, if no one +else got another penny from him. +</p> +<p> +"'It's the only money I've made to-day,' he says to me. 'I mean to get +it.' +</p> +<p> +"'You won't,' I says. +</p> +<p> +"'I will,' he says. +</p> +<p> +"'You will have to look pretty sharp about it then,' I says, 'for every +one will be wanting to get something, and first come first served.' +</p> +<p> +"'Oh! He'll serve me right enough, never you mind!' says Lavender to me +with a laugh. 'If he don't pay up willingly, I've got that in my pocket +which will make him sit up and open my lady's eyes and Sir John Etty's +too about their precious noble lord.' +</p> +<p> +"'Then he seemed to think he had gone too far, and wouldn't say anything +more to me about that affair. I saw him on the course the next day. I +asked him if he had got his £500. He said: "No, but I shall get it +to-day."' +</p> +<p> +"Lord Arthur Skelmerton, after having given his own evidence, had left +the court; it was therefore impossible to know how he would take this +account, which threw so serious a light upon an association with the +dead man, of which he himself had said nothing. +</p> +<p> +"Nothing could shake James Terry's account of the facts he had placed +before the jury, and when the police informed the coroner that they +proposed to place George Higgins himself in the witness-box, as his +evidence would prove, as it were, a complement and corollary of that of +Terry, the jury very eagerly assented. +</p> +<p> +"If James Terry, the bookmaker, loud, florid, vulgar, was an +unprepossessing individual, certainly George Higgins, who was still +under the accusation of murder, was ten thousand times more so. +</p> +<p> +"None too clean, slouchy, obsequious yet insolent, he was the very +personification of the cad who haunts the racecourse and who lives not +so much by his own wits as by the lack of them in others. He described +himself as a turf commission agent, whatever that may be. +</p> +<p> +"He stated that at about six o'clock on the Friday afternoon, when the +racecourse was still full of people, all hurrying after the day's +excitements, he himself happened to be standing close to the hedge which +marks the boundary of Lord Arthur Skelmerton's grounds. There is a +pavilion there at the end of the garden, he explained, on slightly +elevated ground, and he could hear and see a group of ladies and +gentlemen having tea. Some steps lead down a little to the left of the +garden on to the course, and presently he noticed at the bottom of these +steps Lord Arthur Skelmerton and Charles Lavender standing talking +together. He knew both gentlemen by sight, but he could not see them +very well as they were both partly hidden by the hedge. He was quite +sure that the gentlemen had not seen him, and he could not help +overhearing some of their conversation. +</p> +<p> +"'That's my last word, Lavender,' Lord Arthur was saying very quietly. +'I haven't got the money and I can't pay you now. You'll have to wait.' +</p> +<p> +"'Wait? I can't wait,' said old Lavender in reply. 'I've got my +engagements to meet, same as you. I'm not going to risk being posted up +as a defaulter while you hold £500 of my money. You'd better give it me +now or—' +</p> +<p> +"But Lord Arthur interrupted him very quietly, and said: +</p> +<p> +"'Yes, my good man.... or?' +</p> +<p> +"'Or I'll let Sir John have a good look at that little bill I had of +yours a couple of years ago. If you'll remember, my lord, it has got at +the bottom of it Sir John's signature in <i>your</i> handwriting. Perhaps +Sir John, or perhaps my lady, would pay me something for that little +bill. If not, the police can have a squint at it. I've held my tongue +long enough, and—' +</p> +<p> +"'Look here, Lavender,' said Lord Arthur, 'do you know what this little +game of yours is called in law?' +</p> +<p> +"'Yes, and I don't care,' says Lavender. 'If I don't have that £500 I am +a ruined man. If you ruin me I'll do for you, and we shall be quits. +That's my last word.' +</p> +<p> +"He was talking very loudly, and I thought some of Lord Arthur's friends +up in the pavilion must have heard. He thought so, too, I think, for he +said quickly: +</p> +<p> +"'If you don't hold your confounded tongue, I'll give you in charge for +blackmail this instant.' +</p> +<p> +"'You wouldn't dare,' says Lavender, and he began to laugh. But just +then a lady from the top of the steps said: 'Your tea is getting cold,' +and Lord Arthur turned to go; but just before he went Lavender says to +him: 'I'll come back to-night. You'll have the money then.' +</p> +<p> +"George Higgins, it appears, after he had heard this interesting +conversation, pondered as to whether he could not turn what he knew into +some sort of profit. Being a gentleman who lives entirely by his wits, +this type of knowledge forms his chief source of income. As a +preliminary to future moves, he decided not to lose sight of Lavender +for the rest of the day. +</p> +<p> +"'Lavender went and had dinner at The Black Swan,' explained Mr. George +Higgins, 'and I, after I had had a bite myself, waited outside till I +saw him come out. At about ten o'clock I was rewarded for my trouble. He +told the hall porter to get him a fly and he jumped into it. I could not +hear what direction he gave the driver, but the fly certainly drove off +towards the racecourse. +</p> +<p> +"'Now, I was interested in this little affair,' continued the witness, +'and I couldn't afford a fly. I started to run. Of course, I couldn't +keep up with it, but I thought I knew which way my gentleman had gone. I +made straight for the racecourse, and for the hedge at the bottom of +Lord Arthur Skelmerton's grounds. +</p> +<p> +"'It was rather a dark night and there was a slight drizzle. I couldn't +see more than about a hundred yards before me. All at once it seemed to +me as if I heard Lavender's voice talking loudly in the distance. I +hurried forward, and suddenly saw a group of two figures—mere blurs in +the darkness—for one instant, at a distance of about fifty yards from +where I was. +</p> +<p> +"'The next moment one figure had fallen forward and the other had +disappeared. I ran to the spot, only to find the body of the murdered +man lying on the ground. I stooped to see if I could be of any use to +him, and immediately I was collared from behind by Lord Arthur +himself.' +</p> +<p> +"You may imagine," said the man in the corner, "how keen was the +excitement of that moment in court. Coroner and jury alike literally +hung breathless on every word that shabby, vulgar individual uttered. +You see, by itself his evidence would have been worth very little, but +coming on the top of that given by James Terry, its significance—more, +its truth—had become glaringly apparent. Closely cross-examined, he +adhered strictly to his statement; and having finished his evidence, +George Higgins remained in charge of the constables, and the next +witness of importance was called up. +</p> +<p> +"This was Mr. Chipps, the senior footman in the employment of Lord +Arthur Skelmerton. He deposed that at about 10.30 on the Friday evening +a 'party' drove up to 'The Elms' in a fly, and asked to see Lord Arthur. +On being told that his lordship had company he seemed terribly put out. +</p> +<p> +"'I hasked the party to give me 'is card,' continued Mr. Chipps, 'as I +didn't know, perhaps, that 'is lordship might wish to see 'im, but I +kept 'im standing at the 'all door, as I didn't altogether like his +looks. I took the card in. His lordship and the gentlemen was playin' +cards in the smoking-room, and as soon as I could do so without +disturbing 'is lordship, I give him the party's card.' +</p> +<p> +"'What name was there on the card?' here interrupted the coroner. +</p> +<p> +"'I couldn't say now, sir,' replied Mr. Chipps; 'I don't really +remember. It was a name I had never seen before. But I see so many +visiting cards one way and the other in 'is lordship's 'all that I can't +remember all the names.' +</p> +<p> +"'Then, after a few minutes' waiting, you gave his lordship the card? +What happened then?' +</p> +<p> +"''Is lordship didn't seem at all pleased,' said Mr. Chipps with much +guarded dignity; 'but finally he said: "Show him into the library, +Chipps, I'll see him," and he got up from the card table, saying to the +gentlemen: "Go on without me; I'll be back in a minute or two." +</p> +<p> +"'I was about to open the door for 'is lordship when my lady came into +the room, and then his lordship suddenly changed his mind like, and said +to me: "Tell that man I'm busy and can't see him," and 'e sat down again +at the card table. I went back to the 'all, and told the party 'is +lordship wouldn't see 'im. 'E said: "Oh! it doesn't matter," and went +away quite quiet like.' +</p> +<p> +"'Do you recollect at all at what time that was?' asked one of the jury. +</p> +<p> +"'Yes, sir, while I was waiting to speak to 'is lordship I looked at +the clock, sir; it was twenty past ten, sir.' +</p> +<p> +"There was one more significant fact in connection with the case, which +tended still more to excite the curiosity of the public at the time, and +still further to bewilder the police later on, and that fact was +mentioned by Chipps in his evidence. The knife, namely, with which +Charles Lavender had been stabbed, and which, remember, had been left in +the wound, was now produced in court. After a little hesitation Chipps +identified it as the property of his master, Lord Arthur Skelmerton. +</p> +<p> +"Can you wonder, then, that the jury absolutely refused to bring in a +verdict against George Higgins? There was really, beyond Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's testimony, not one particle of evidence against him, +whilst, as the day wore on and witness after witness was called up, +suspicion ripened in the minds of all those present that the murderer +could be no other than Lord Arthur Skelmerton himself. +</p> +<p> +"The knife was, of course, the strongest piece of circumstantial +evidence, and no doubt the police hoped to collect a great deal more now +that they held a clue in their hands. Directly after the verdict, +therefore, which was guardedly directed against some person unknown, the +police obtained a warrant and later on arrested Lord Arthur in his own +house." +</p> +<p> +"The sensation, of course, was tremendous. Hours before he was brought +up before the magistrate the approach to the court was thronged. His +friends, mostly ladies, were all eager, you see, to watch the dashing +society man in so terrible a position. There was universal sympathy for +Lady Arthur, who was in a very precarious state of health. Her worship +of her worthless husband was well known; small wonder that his final and +awful misdeed had practically broken her heart. The latest bulletin +issued just after his arrest stated that her ladyship was not expected +to live. She was then in a comatose condition, and all hope had perforce +to be abandoned. +</p> +<p> +"At last the prisoner was brought in. He looked very pale, perhaps, but +otherwise kept up the bearing of a high-bred gentleman. He was +accompanied by his solicitor, Sir Marmaduke Ingersoll, who was evidently +talking to him in quiet, reassuring tones. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Buchanan prosecuted for the Treasury, and certainly his indictment +was terrific. According to him but one decision could be arrived at, +namely, that the accused in the dock had, in a moment of passion, and +perhaps of fear, killed the blackmailer who threatened him with +disclosures which might for ever have ruined him socially, and, having +committed the deed and fearing its consequences, probably realizing that +the patrolling constables might catch sight of his retreating figure, +he had availed himself of George Higgins's presence on the spot to +loudly accuse him of the murder. +</p> +<p> +"Having concluded his able speech, Mr. Buchanan called his witnesses, +and the evidence, which on second hearing seemed more damning than ever, +was all gone through again. +</p> +<p> +"Sir Marmaduke had no question to ask of the witnesses for the +prosecution; he stared at them placidly through his gold-rimmed +spectacles. Then he was ready to call his own for the defence. Colonel +McIntosh, R.A., was the first. He was present at the bachelors' party +given by Lord Arthur the night of the murder. His evidence tended at +first to corroborate that of Chipps the footman with regard to Lord +Arthur's orders to show the visitor into the library, and his +counter-order as soon as his wife came into the room. +</p> +<p> +"'Did you not think it strange, Colonel?' asked Mr. Buchanan, 'that Lord +Arthur should so suddenly have changed his mind about seeing his +visitor?' +</p> +<p> +"'Well, not exactly strange,' said the Colonel, a fine, manly, soldierly +figure who looked curiously out of his element in the witness-box. 'I +don't think that it is a very rare occurrence for racing men to have +certain acquaintances whom they would not wish their wives to know +anything about.' +</p> +<p> +"'Then it did not strike you that Lord Arthur Skelmerton had some +reason for not wishing his wife to know of that particular visitor's +presence in his house?' +</p> +<p> +"'I don't think that I gave the matter the slightest serious +consideration,' was the Colonel's guarded reply. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Buchanan did not press the point, and allowed the witness to +conclude his statements. +</p> +<p> +"'I had finished my turn at bridge,' he said, 'and went out into the +garden to smoke a cigar. Lord Arthur Skelmerton joined me a few minutes +later, and we were sitting in the pavilion when I heard a loud and, as I +thought, threatening voice from the other side of the hedge. +</p> +<p> +"'I did not catch the words, but Lord Arthur said to me: "There seems to +be a row down there. I'll go and have a look and see what it is." I +tried to dissuade him, and certainly made no attempt to follow him, but +not more than half a minute could have elapsed before I heard a cry and +a groan, then Lord Arthur's footsteps hurrying down the wooden stairs +which lead on to the racecourse.' +</p> +<p> +"You may imagine," said the man in the corner, "what severe +cross-examination the gallant Colonel had to undergo in order that his +assertions might in some way be shaken by the prosecution, but with +military precision and frigid calm he repeated his important statements +amidst a general silence, through which you could have heard the +proverbial pin. +</p> +<p> +"He had heard the threatening voice <i>while</i> sitting with Lord Arthur +Skelmerton; then came the cry and groan, and, <i>after that</i>, Lord +Arthur's steps down the stairs. He himself thought of following to see +what had happened, but it was a very dark night and he did not know the +grounds very well. While trying to find his way to the garden steps he +heard Lord Arthur's cry for help, the tramp of the patrolling +constables' horses, and subsequently the whole scene between Lord +Arthur, the man Higgins, and the constables. When he finally found his +way to the stairs, Lord Arthur was returning in order to send a groom +for police assistance. +</p> +<p> +"The witness stuck to his points as he had to his guns at Beckfontein a +year ago; nothing could shake him, and Sir Marmaduke looked triumphantly +across at his opposing colleague. +</p> +<p> +"With the gallant Colonel's statements the edifice of the prosecution +certainly began to collapse. You see, there was not a particle of +evidence to show that the accused had met and spoken to the deceased +after the latter's visit at the front door of 'The Elms.' He told Chipps +that he wouldn't see the visitor, and Chipps went into the hall directly +and showed Lavender out the way he came. No assignation could have been +made, no hint could have been given by the murdered man to Lord Arthur +that he would go round to the back entrance and wished to see him there. +</p> +<p> +"Two other guests of Lord Arthur's swore positively that after Chipps +had announced the visitor, their host stayed at the card-table until a +quarter to eleven, when evidently he went out to join Colonel McIntosh +in the garden. Sir Marmaduke's speech was clever in the extreme. Bit by +bit he demolished that tower of strength, the case against the accused, +basing his defence entirely upon the evidence of Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's guests that night. +</p> +<p> +"Until 10.45 Lord Arthur was playing cards; a quarter of an hour later +the police were on the scene, and the murder had been committed. In the +meanwhile Colonel McIntosh's evidence proved conclusively that the +accused had been sitting with him, smoking a cigar. It was obvious, +therefore, clear as daylight, concluded the great lawyer, that his +client was entitled to a full discharge; nay, more, he thought that the +police should have been more careful before they harrowed up public +feeling by arresting a high-born gentleman on such insufficient evidence +as they had brought forward. +</p> +<p> +"The question of the knife remained certainly, but Sir Marmaduke passed +over it with guarded eloquence, placing that strange question in the +category of those inexplicable coincidences which tend to puzzle the +ablest detectives, and cause them to commit such unpardonable blunders +as the present one had been. After all, the footman may have been +mistaken. The pattern of that knife was not an exclusive one, and he, on +behalf of his client, flatly denied that it had ever belonged to him. +</p> +<p> +"Well," continued the man in the corner, with the chuckle peculiar to +him in moments of excitement, "the noble prisoner was discharged. +Perhaps it would be invidious to say that he left the court without a +stain on his character, for I daresay you know from experience that the +crime known as the York Mystery has never been satisfactorily cleared +up. +</p> +<p> +"Many people shook their heads dubiously when they remembered that, +after all, Charles Lavender was killed with a knife which one witness +had sworn belonged to Lord Arthur; others, again, reverted to the +original theory that George Higgins was the murderer, that he and James +Terry had concocted the story of Lavender's attempt at blackmail on Lord +Arthur, and that the murder had been committed for the sole purpose of +robbery. +</p> +<p> +"Be that as it may, the police have not so far been able to collect +sufficient evidence against Higgins or Terry, and the crime has been +classed by press and public alike in the category of so-called +impenetrable mysteries." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH9"><!-- CH9 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER IX +</h2> + +<h3> +A BROKEN-HEARTED WOMAN +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The man in the corner called for another glass of milk, and drank it +down slowly before he resumed: +</p> +<p> +"Now Lord Arthur lives mostly abroad," he said. "His poor, suffering +wife died the day after he was liberated by the magistrate. She never +recovered consciousness even sufficiently to hear the joyful news that +the man she loved so well was innocent after all. +</p> +<p> +"Mystery!" he added as if in answer to Polly's own thoughts. "The murder +of that man was never a mystery to me. I cannot understand how the +police could have been so blind when every one of the witnesses, both +for the prosecution and defence, practically pointed all the time to the +one guilty person. What do you think of it all yourself?" +</p> +<p> +"I think the whole case so bewildering," she replied, "that I do not see +one single clear point in it." +</p> +<p> +"You don't?" he said excitedly, while the bony fingers fidgeted again +with that inevitable bit of string. "You don't see that there is one +point clear which to me was the key of the whole thing? +</p> +<p> +"Lavender was murdered, wasn't he? Lord Arthur did not kill him. He had, +at least, in Colonel McIntosh an unimpeachable witness to prove that he +could not have committed that murder—and yet," he added with slow, +excited emphasis, marking each sentence with a knot, "and yet he +deliberately tries to throw the guilt upon a man who obviously was also +innocent. Now why?" +</p> +<p> +"He may have thought him guilty." +</p> +<p> +"Or wished to shield or cover the retreat of <i>one he knew to be +guilty</i>." +</p> +<p> +"I don't understand." +</p> +<p> +"Think of someone," he said excitedly, "someone whose desire would be as +great as that of Lord Arthur to silence a scandal round that gentleman's +name. Someone who, unknown perhaps to Lord Arthur, had overheard the +same conversation which George Higgins related to the police and the +magistrate, someone who, whilst Chipps was taking Lavender's card in to +his master, had a few minutes' time wherein to make an assignation with +Lavender, promising him money, no doubt, in exchange for the +compromising bills." +</p> +<p> +"Surely you don't mean—" gasped Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Point number one," he interrupted quietly, "utterly missed by the +police. George Higgins in his deposition stated that at the most +animated stage of Lavender's conversation with Lord Arthur, and when the +bookmaker's tone of voice became loud and threatening, a voice from the +top of the steps interrupted that conversation, saying: 'Your tea is +getting cold.'" +</p> +<p> +"Yes—but—" she argued. +</p> +<p> +"Wait a moment, for there is point number two. That voice was a lady's +voice. Now, I did exactly what the police should have done, but did not +do. I went to have a look from the racecourse side at those garden steps +which to my mind are such important factors in the discovery of this +crime. I found only about a dozen rather low steps; anyone standing on +the top must have heard every word Charles Lavender uttered the moment +he raised his voice." +</p> +<p> +"Even then—" +</p> +<p> +"Very well, you grant that," he said excitedly. "Then there was the +great, the all-important point which, oddly enough, the prosecution +never for a moment took into consideration. When Chipps, the footman, +first told Lavender that Lord Arthur could not see him the bookmaker was +terribly put out; Chipps then goes to speak to his master; a few minutes +elapse, and when the footman once again tells Lavender that his lordship +won't see him, the latter says 'Very well,' and seems to treat the +matter with complete indifference. +</p> +<p> +"Obviously, therefore, something must have happened in between to alter +the bookmaker's frame of mind. Well! What had happened? Think over all +the evidence, and you will see that one thing only had occurred in the +interval, namely, Lady Arthur's advent into the room. +</p> +<p> +"In order to go into the smoking-room she must have crossed the hall; +she must have seen Lavender. In that brief interval she must have +realized that the man was persistent, and therefore a living danger to +her husband. Remember, women have done strange things; they are a far +greater puzzle to the student of human nature than the sterner, less +complex sex has ever been. As I argued before—as the police should have +argued all along—why did Lord Arthur deliberately accuse an innocent +man of murder if not to shield the guilty one? +</p> +<p> +"Remember, Lady Arthur may have been discovered; the man, George +Higgins, may have caught sight of her before she had time to make good +her retreat. His attention, as well us that of the constables, had to be +diverted. Lord Arthur acted on the blind impulse of saving his wife at +any cost." +</p> +<p> +"She may have been met by Colonel McIntosh," argued Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps she was," he said. "Who knows? The gallant colonel had to +swear to his friend's innocence. He could do that in all +conscience—after that his duty was accomplished. No innocent man was +suffering for the guilty. The knife which had belonged to Lord Arthur +would always save George Higgins. For a time it had pointed to the +husband; fortunately never to the wife. Poor thing, she died probably of +a broken heart, but women when they love, think only of one object on +earth—the one who is beloved. +</p> +<p> +"To me the whole thing was clear from the very first. When I read the +account of the murder—the knife! stabbing!—bah! Don't I know enough of +<i>English</i> crime not to be certain at once that no English<i>man</i>, be he +ruffian from the gutter or be he Duke's son, ever stabs his victim in +the back. Italians, French, Spaniards do it, if you will, and women of +most nations. An Englishman's instinct is to strike and not to stab. +George Higgins or Lord Arthur Skelmerton would have knocked their victim +down; the woman only would lie in wait till the enemy's back was turned. +She knows her weakness, and she does not mean to miss. +</p> +<p> +"Think it over. There is not one flaw in my argument, but the police +never thought the matter out—perhaps in this case it was as well." +</p> +<p> +He had gone and left Miss Polly Burton still staring at the photograph +of a pretty, gentle-looking woman, with a decided, wilful curve round +the mouth, and a strange, unaccountable look in the large pathetic eyes; +and the little journalist felt quite thankful that in this case the +murder of Charles Lavender the bookmaker—cowardly, wicked as it +was—had remained a mystery to the police and the public. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH10"><!-- CH10 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER X +</h2> + +<h3> +THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +It was all very well for Mr. Richard Frobisher (of the <i>London Mail</i>) to +cut up rough about it. Polly did not altogether blame him. +</p> +<p> +She liked him all the better for that frank outburst of manlike +ill-temper which, after all said and done, was only a very flattering +form of masculine jealousy. +</p> +<p> +Moreover, Polly distinctly felt guilty about the whole thing. She had +promised to meet Dickie—that is Mr. Richard Frobisher—at two o'clock +sharp outside the Palace Theatre, because she wanted to go to a Maud +Allan <i>matinée</i>, and because he naturally wished to go with her. +</p> +<p> +But at two o'clock sharp she was still in Norfolk Street, Strand, inside +an A.B.C. shop, sipping cold coffee opposite a grotesque old man who was +fiddling with a bit of string. +</p> +<p> +How could she be expected to remember Maud Allan or the Palace Theatre, +or Dickie himself for a matter of that? The man in the corner had begun +to talk of that mysterious death on the underground railway, and Polly +had lost count of time, of place, and circumstance. +</p> +<p> +She had gone to lunch quite early, for she was looking forward to the +<i>matinée</i> at the Palace. +</p> +<p> +The old scarecrow was sitting in his accustomed place when she came into +the A.B.C. shop, but he had made no remark all the time that the young +girl was munching her scone and butter. She was just busy thinking how +rude he was not even to have said "Good morning," when an abrupt remark +from him caused her to look up. +</p> +<p> +"Will you be good enough," he said suddenly, "to give me a description +of the man who sat next to you just now, while you were having your cup +of coffee and scone." +</p> +<p> +Involuntarily Polly turned her head towards the distant door, through +which a man in a light overcoat was even now quickly passing. That man +had certainly sat at the next table to hers, when she first sat down to +her coffee and scone: he had finished his luncheon—whatever it +was—moment ago, had paid at the desk and gone out. The incident did not +appear to Polly as being of the slightest consequence. +</p> +<p> +Therefore she did not reply to the rude old man, but shrugged her +shoulders, and called to the waitress to bring her bill. +</p> +<p> +"Do you know if he was tall or short, dark or fair?" continued the man +in the corner, seemingly not the least disconcerted by the young girl's +indifference. "Can you tell me at all what he was like?" +</p> +<p> +"Of course I can," rejoined Polly impatiently, "but I don't see that my +description of one of the customers of an A.B.C. shop can have the +slightest importance." +</p> +<p> +He was silent for a minute, while his nervous fingers fumbled about in +his capacious pockets in search of the inevitable piece of string. When +he had found this necessary "adjunct to thought," he viewed the young +girl again through his half-closed lids, and added maliciously: +</p> +<p> +"But supposing it were of paramount importance that you should give an +accurate description of a man who sat next to you for half an hour +to-day, how would you proceed?" +</p> +<p> +"I should say that he was of medium height—" +</p> +<p> +"Five foot eight, nine, or ten?" he interrupted quietly. +</p> +<p> +"How can one tell to an inch or two?" rejoined Polly crossly. "He was +between colours." +</p> +<p> +"What's that?" he inquired blandly. +</p> +<p> +"Neither fair nor dark—his nose—" +</p> +<p> +"Well, what was his nose like? Will you sketch it?" +</p> +<p> +"I am not an artist. His nose was fairly straight—his eyes—" +</p> +<p> +"Were neither dark nor light—his hair had the same striking +peculiarity—he was neither short nor tall—his nose was neither +aquiline nor snub—" he recapitulated sarcastically. +</p> +<p> +"No," she retorted; "he was just ordinary looking." +</p> +<p> +"Would you know him again—say to-morrow, and among a number of other +men who were 'neither tall nor short, dark nor fair, aquiline nor +snub-nosed,' etc.?" +</p> +<p> +"I don't know—I might—he was certainly not striking enough to be +specially remembered." +</p> +<p> +"Exactly," he said, while he leant forward excitedly, for all the world +like a Jack-in-the-box let loose. "Precisely; and you are a +journalist—call yourself one, at least—and it should be part of your +business to notice and describe people. I don't mean only the wonderful +personage with the clear Saxon features, the fine blue eyes, the noble +brow and classic face, but the ordinary person—the person who +represents ninety out of every hundred of his own kind—the average +Englishman, say, of the middle classes, who is neither very tall nor +very short, who wears a moustache which is neither fair nor dark, but +which masks his mouth, and a top hat which hides the shape of his head +and brow, a man, in fact, who dresses like hundreds of his +fellow-creatures, moves like them, speaks like them, has no peculiarity. +</p> +<p> +"Try to describe <i>him</i>, to recognize him, say a week hence, among his +other eighty-nine doubles; worse still, to swear his life away, if he +happened to be implicated in some crime, wherein <i>your</i> recognition of +him would place the halter round his neck. +</p> +<p> +"Try that, I say, and having utterly failed you will more readily +understand how one of the greatest scoundrels unhung is still at large, +and why the mystery on the Underground Railway was never cleared up. +</p> +<p> +"I think it was the only time in my life that I was seriously tempted to +give the police the benefit of my own views upon the matter. You see, +though I admire the brute for his cleverness, I did not see that his +being unpunished could possibly benefit any one. +</p> +<p> +"In these days of tubes and motor traction of all kinds, the +old-fashioned 'best, cheapest, and quickest route to City and West End' +is often deserted, and the good old Metropolitan Railway carriages +cannot at any time be said to be overcrowded. Anyway, when that +particular train steamed into Aldgate at about 4 p.m. on March 18th +last, the first-class carriages were all but empty. +</p> +<p> +"The guard marched up and down the platform looking into all the +carriages to see if anyone had left a halfpenny evening paper behind for +him, and opening the door of one of the first-class compartments, he +noticed a lady sitting in the further corner, with her head turned away +towards the window, evidently oblivious of the fact that on this line +Aldgate is the terminal station. +</p> +<p> +"'Where are you for, lady?' he said. +</p> +<p> +"The lady did not move, and the guard stepped into the carriage, +thinking that perhaps the lady was asleep. He touched her arm lightly +and looked into her face. In his own poetic language, he was 'struck all +of a 'eap.' In the glassy eyes, the ashen colour of the cheeks, the +rigidity of the head, there was the unmistakable look of death. +</p> +<p> +"Hastily the guard, having carefully locked the carriage door, summoned +a couple of porters, and sent one of them off to the police-station, and +the other in search of the station-master. +</p> +<p> +"Fortunately at this time of day the up platform is not very crowded, +all the traffic tending westward in the afternoon. It was only when an +inspector and two police constables, accompanied by a detective in plain +clothes and a medical officer, appeared upon the scene, and stood round +a first-class railway compartment, that a few idlers realized that +something unusual had occurred, and crowded round, eager and curious. +</p> +<p> +"Thus it was that the later editions of the evening papers, under the +sensational heading, 'Mysterious Suicide on the Underground Railway,' +had already an account of the extraordinary event. The medical officer +had very soon come to the decision that the guard had not been mistaken, +and that life was indeed extinct. +</p> +<p> +"The lady was young, and must have been very pretty before the look of +fright and horror had so terribly distorted her features. She was very +elegantly dressed, and the more frivolous papers were able to give their +feminine readers a detailed account of the unfortunate woman's gown, her +shoes, hat, and gloves. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that one of the latter, the one on the right hand, was +partly off, leaving the thumb and wrist bare. That hand held a small +satchel, which the police opened, with a view to the possible +identification of the deceased, but which was found to contain only a +little loose silver, some smelling-salts, and a small empty bottle, +which was handed over to the medical officer for purposes of analysis. +</p> +<p> +"It was the presence of that small bottle which had caused the report to +circulate freely that the mysterious case on the Underground Railway was +one of suicide. Certain it was that neither about the lady's person, nor +in the appearance of the railway carriage, was there the slightest sign +of struggle or even of resistance. Only the look in the poor woman's +eyes spoke of sudden terror, of the rapid vision of an unexpected and +violent death, which probably only lasted an infinitesimal fraction of a +second, but which had left its indelible mark upon the face, otherwise +so placid and so still." +</p> +<p> +"The body of the deceased was conveyed to the mortuary. So far, of +course, not a soul had been able to identify her, or to throw the +slightest light upon the mystery which hung around her death. +</p> +<p> +"Against that, quite a crowd of idlers—genuinely interested or +not—obtained admission to view the body, on the pretext of having lost +or mislaid a relative or a friend. At about 8.30 p.m. a young man, very +well dressed, drove up to the station in a hansom, and sent in his card +to the superintendent. It was Mr. Hazeldene, shipping agent, of 11, +Crown Lane, E.C., and No. 19, Addison Row, Kensington. +</p> +<p> +"The young man looked in a pitiable state of mental distress; his hand +clutched nervously a copy of the <i>St. James's Gazette</i>, which contained +the fatal news. He said very little to the superintendent except that a +person who was very dear to him had not returned home that evening. +</p> +<p> +"He had not felt really anxious until half an hour ago, when suddenly he +thought of looking at his paper. The description of the deceased lady, +though vague, had terribly alarmed him. He had jumped into a hansom, and +now begged permission to view the body, in order that his worst fears +might be allayed. +</p> +<p> +"You know what followed, of course," continued the man in the corner, +"the grief of the young man was truly pitiable. In the woman lying there +in a public mortuary before him, Mr. Hazeldene had recognized his wife. +</p> +<p> +"I am waxing melodramatic," said the man in the corner, who looked up at +Polly with a mild and gentle smile, while his nervous fingers vainly +endeavoured to add another knot on the scrappy bit of string with which +he was continually playing, "and I fear that the whole story savours of +the penny novelette, but you must admit, and no doubt you remember, that +it was an intensely pathetic and truly dramatic moment. +</p> +<p> +"The unfortunate young husband of the deceased lady was not much worried +with questions that night. As a matter of fact, he was not in a fit +condition to make any coherent statement. It was at the coroner's +inquest on the following day that certain facts came to light, which for +the time being seemed to clear up the mystery surrounding Mrs. +Hazeldene's death, only to plunge that same mystery, later on, into +denser gloom than before. +</p> +<p> +"The first witness at the inquest was, of course, Mr. Hazeldene himself. +I think every one's sympathy went out to the young man as he stood +before the coroner and tried to throw what light he could upon the +mystery. He was well dressed, as he had been the day before, but he +looked terribly ill and worried, and no doubt the fact that he had not +shaved gave his face a careworn and neglected air. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that he and the deceased had been married some six years or +so, and that they had always been happy in their married life. They had +no children. Mrs. Hazeldene seemed to enjoy the best of health till +lately, when she had had a slight attack of influenza, in which Dr. +Arthur Jones had attended her. The doctor was present at this moment, +and would no doubt explain to the coroner and the jury whether he +thought that Mrs. Hazeldene had the slightest tendency to heart disease, +which might have had a sudden and fatal ending. +</p> +<p> +"The coroner was, of course, very considerate to the bereaved husband. +He tried by circumlocution to get at the point he wanted, namely, Mrs. +Hazeldene's mental condition lately. Mr. Hazeldene seemed loath to talk +about this. No doubt he had been warned as to the existence of the small +bottle found in his wife's satchel. +</p> +<p> +"'It certainly did seem to me at times,' he at last reluctantly +admitted, 'that my wife did not seem quite herself. She used to be very +gay and bright, and lately I often saw her in the evening sitting, as if +brooding over some matters, which evidently she did not care to +communicate to me.' +</p> +<p> +"Still the coroner insisted, and suggested the small bottle. +</p> +<p> +"'I know, I know,' replied the young man, with a short, heavy sigh. 'You +mean—the question of suicide—I cannot understand it at all—it seems +so sudden and so terrible—she certainly had seemed listless and +troubled lately—but only at times—and yesterday morning, when I went +to business, she appeared quite herself again, and I suggested that we +should go to the opera in the evening. She was delighted, I know, and +told me she would do some shopping, and pay a few calls in the +afternoon.' +</p> +<p> +"'Do you know at all where she intended to go when she got into the +Underground Railway?' +</p> +<p> +"'Well, not with certainty. You see, she may have meant to get out at +Baker Street, and go down to Bond Street to do her shopping. Then, +again, she sometimes goes to a shop in St. Paul's Churchyard, in which +case she would take a ticket to Aldersgate Street; but I cannot say.' +</p> +<p> +"'Now, Mr. Hazeldene,' said the coroner at last very kindly, 'will you +try to tell me if there was anything in Mrs. Hazeldene's life which you +know of, and which might in some measure explain the cause of the +distressed state of mind, which you yourself had noticed? Did there +exist any financial difficulty which might have preyed upon Mrs. +Hazeldene's mind; was there any friend—to whose intercourse with Mrs. +Hazeldene—you—er—at any time took exception? In fact,' added the +coroner, as if thankful that he had got over an unpleasant moment, 'can +you give me the slightest indication which would tend to confirm the +suspicion that the unfortunate lady, in a moment of mental anxiety or +derangement, may have wished to take her own life?' +</p> +<p> +"There was silence in the court for a few moments. Mr. Hazeldene seemed +to every one there present to be labouring under some terrible moral +doubt. He looked very pale and wretched, and twice attempted to speak +before he at last said in scarcely audible tones: +</p> +<p> +"'No; there were no financial difficulties of any sort. My wife had an +independent fortune of her own—she had no extravagant tastes—' +</p> +<p> +"'Nor any friend you at any time objected to?' insisted the coroner. +</p> +<p> +"'Nor any friend, I—at any time objected to,' stammered the unfortunate +young man, evidently speaking with an effort. +</p> +<p> +"I was present at the inquest," resumed the man in the corner, after he +had drunk a glass of milk and ordered another, "and I can assure you +that the most obtuse person there plainly realized that Mr. Hazeldene +was telling a lie. It was pretty plain to the meanest intelligence that +the unfortunate lady had not fallen into a state of morbid dejection for +nothing, and that perhaps there existed a third person who could throw +more light on her strange and sudden death than the unhappy, bereaved +young widower. +</p> +<p> +"That the death was more mysterious even than it had at first appeared +became very soon apparent. You read the case at the time, no doubt, and +must remember the excitement in the public mind caused by the evidence +of the two doctors. Dr. Arthur Jones, the lady's usual medical man, who +had attended her in a last very slight illness, and who had seen her in +a professional capacity fairly recently, declared most emphatically that +Mrs. Hazeldene suffered from no organic complaint which could possibly +have been the cause of sudden death. Moreover, he had assisted Mr. +Andrew Thornton, the district medical officer, in making a postmortem +examination, and together they had come to the conclusion that death was +due to the action of prussic acid, which had caused instantaneous +failure of the heart, but how the drug had been administered neither he +nor his colleague were at present able to state. +</p> +<p> +"'Do I understand, then, Dr. Jones, that the deceased died, poisoned +with prussic acid?' +</p> +<p> +"'Such is my opinion,' replied the doctor. +</p> +<p> +"'Did the bottle found in her satchel contain prussic acid?' +</p> +<p> +"'It had contained some at one time, certainly.' +</p> +<p> +"'In your opinion, then, the lady caused her own death by taking a dose +of that drug?' +</p> +<p> +"'Pardon me, I never suggested such a thing; the lady died poisoned by +the drug, but how the drug was administered we cannot say. By injection +of some sort, certainly. The drug certainly was not swallowed; there was +not a vestige of it in the stomach.' +</p> +<p> +"'Yes,' added the doctor in reply to another question from the coroner, +'death had probably followed the injection in this case almost +immediately; say within a couple of minutes, or perhaps three. It was +quite possible that the body would not have more than one quick and +sudden convulsion, perhaps not that; death in such cases is absolutely +sudden and crushing.' +</p> +<p> +"I don't think that at the time any one in the room realized how +important the doctor's statement was, a statement which, by the way, was +confirmed in all its details by the district medical officer, who had +conducted the postmortem. Mrs. Hazeldene had died suddenly from an +injection of prussic acid, administered no one knew how or when. She +had been travelling in a first-class railway carriage in a busy time of +the day. That young and elegant woman must have had singular nerve and +coolness to go through the process of a self-inflicted injection of a +deadly poison in the presence of perhaps two or three other persons. +</p> +<p> +"Mind you, when I say that no one there realized the importance of the +doctor's statement at that moment, I am wrong; there were three persons, +who fully understood at once the gravity of the situation, and the +astounding development which the case was beginning to assume. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, I should have put myself out of the question," added the +weird old man, with that inimitable self-conceit peculiar to himself. "I +guessed then and there in a moment where the police were going wrong, +and where they would go on going wrong until the mysterious death on the +Underground Railway had sunk into oblivion, together with the other +cases which they mismanage from time to time. +</p> +<p> +"I said there were three persons who understood the gravity of the two +doctors' statements—the other two were, firstly, the detective who had +originally examined the railway carriage, a young man of energy and +plenty of misguided intelligence, the other was Mr. Hazeldene. +</p> +<p> +"At this point the interesting element of the whole story was first +introduced into the proceedings, and this was done through the humble +channel of Emma Funnel, Mrs. Hazeldene's maid, who, as far as was known +then, was the last person who had seen the unfortunate lady alive and +had spoken to her. +</p> +<p> +"'Mrs. Hazeldene lunched at home,' explained Emma, who was shy, and +spoke almost in a whisper; 'she seemed well and cheerful. She went out +at about half-past three, and told me she was going to Spence's, in St. +Paul's Churchyard, to try on her new tailor-made gown. Mrs. Hazeldene +had meant to go there in the morning, but was prevented as Mr. Errington +called.' +</p> +<p> +"'Mr. Errington?' asked the coroner casually. 'Who is Mr. Errington?' +</p> +<p> +"But this Emma found difficult to explain. Mr. Errington was—Mr. +Errington, that's all. +</p> +<p> +"'Mr. Errington was a friend of the family. He lived in a flat in the +Albert Mansions. He very often came to Addison Row, and generally stayed +late.' +</p> +<p> +"Pressed still further with questions, Emma at last stated that latterly +Mrs. Hazeldene had been to the theatre several times with Mr. Errington, +and that on those nights the master looked very gloomy, and was very +cross. +</p> +<p> +"Recalled, the young widower was strangely reticent. He gave forth his +answers very grudgingly, and the coroner was evidently absolutely +satisfied with himself at the marvellous way in which, after a quarter +of an hour of firm yet very kind questionings, he had elicited from the +witness what information he wanted. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Errington was a friend of his wife. He was a gentleman of means, +and seemed to have a great deal of time at his command. He himself did +not particularly care about Mr. Errington, but he certainly had never +made any observations to his wife on the subject. +</p> +<p> +"'But who is Mr. Errington?' repeated the coroner once more. 'What does +he do? What is his business or profession?' +</p> +<p> +"'He has no business or profession. +</p> +<p> +"'What is his occupation, then? +</p> +<p> +"He has no special occupation. He has ample private means. But he has a +great and very absorbing hobby.' +</p> +<p> +"'What is that?' +</p> +<p> +"'He spends all his time in chemical experiments, and is, I believe, as +an amateur, a very distinguished toxicologist.'" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH11"><!-- CH11 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XI +</h2> + +<h3> +MR. ERRINGTON +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Did you ever see Mr. Errington, the gentleman so closely connected with +the mysterious death on the Underground Railway?" asked the man in the +corner as he placed one or two of his little snap-shot photos before +Miss Polly Burton. +</p> +<p> +"There he is, to the very life. Fairly good-looking, a pleasant face +enough, but ordinary, absolutely ordinary. +</p> +<p> +"It was this absence of any peculiarity which very nearly, but not +quite, placed the halter round Mr. Errington's neck. +</p> +<p> +"But I am going too fast, and you will lose the thread. +</p> +<p> +"The public, of course, never heard how it actually came about that Mr. +Errington, the wealthy bachelor of Albert Mansions, of the Grosvenor, +and other young dandies' clubs, one fine day found himself before the +magistrates at Bow Street, charged with being concerned in the death of +Mary Beatrice Hazeldene, late of No. 19, Addison Row. +</p> +<p> +"I can assure you both press and public were literally flabbergasted. +You see, Mr. Errington was a well-known and very popular member of a +certain smart section of London society. He was a constant visitor at +the opera, the racecourse, the Park, and the Carlton, he had a great +many friends, and there was consequently quite a large attendance at the +police court that morning. +</p> +<p> +"What had transpired was this: +</p> +<p> +"After the very scrappy bits of evidence which came to light at the +inquest, two gentlemen bethought themselves that perhaps they had some +duty to perform towards the State and the public generally. Accordingly +they had come forward, offering to throw what light they could upon the +mysterious affair on the Underground Railway. +</p> +<p> +"The police naturally felt that their information, such as it was, came +rather late in the day, but as it proved of paramount importance, and +the two gentlemen, moreover, were of undoubtedly good position in the +world, they were thankful for what they could get, and acted +accordingly; they accordingly brought Mr. Errington up before the +magistrate on a charge of murder. +</p> +<p> +"The accused looked pale and worried when I first caught sight of him in +the court that day, which was not to be wondered at, considering the +terrible position in which he found himself. +</p> +<p> +"He had been arrested at Marseilles, where he was preparing to start for +Colombo. +</p> +<p> +"I don't think he realized how terrible his position really was until +later in the proceedings, when all the evidence relating to the arrest +had been heard, and Emma Funnel had repeated her statement as to Mr. +Errington's call at 19, Addison Row, in the morning, and Mrs. Hazeldene +starting off for St. Paul's Churchyard at 3.30 in the afternoon. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Hazeldene had nothing to add to the statements he had made at the +coroner's inquest. He had last seen his wife alive on the morning of the +fatal day. She had seemed very well and cheerful. +</p> +<p> +"I think every one present understood that he was trying to say as +little as possible that could in any way couple his deceased wife's name +with that of the accused. +</p> +<p> +"And yet, from the servant's evidence, it undoubtedly leaked out that +Mrs. Hazeldene, who was young, pretty, and evidently fond of admiration, +had once or twice annoyed her husband by her somewhat open, yet +perfectly innocent, flirtation with Mr. Errington. +</p> +<p> +"I think every one was most agreeably impressed by the widower's +moderate and dignified attitude. You will see his photo there, among +this bundle. That is just how he appeared in court. In deep black, of +course, but without any sign of ostentation in his mourning. He had +allowed his beard to grow lately, and wore it closely cut in a point. +</p> +<p> +"After his evidence, the sensation of the day occurred. A tall, +dark-haired man, with the word 'City' written metaphorically all over +him, had kissed the book, and was waiting to tell the truth, and nothing +but the truth. +</p> +<p> +"He gave his name as Andrew Campbell, head of the firm of Campbell & +Co., brokers, of Throgmorton Street. +</p> +<p> +"In the afternoon of March 18th Mr. Campbell, travelling on the +Underground Railway, had noticed a very pretty woman in the same +carriage as himself. She had asked him if she was in the right train for +Aldersgate. Mr. Campbell replied in the affirmative, and then buried +himself in the Stock Exchange quotations of his evening paper. +</p> +<p> +"At Gower Street, a gentleman in a tweed suit and bowler hat got into +the carriage, and took a seat opposite the lady. +</p> +<p> +"She seemed very much astonished at seeing him, but Mr. Andrew Campbell +did not recollect the exact words she said. +</p> +<p> +"The two talked to one another a good deal, and certainly the lady +appeared animated and cheerful. Witness took no notice of them; he was +very much engrossed in some calculations, and finally got out at +Farringdon Street. He noticed that the man in the tweed suit also got +out close behind him, having shaken hands with the lady, and said in a +pleasant way: '<i>Au revoir</i>! Don't be late to-night.' Mr. Campbell did +not hear the lady's reply, and soon lost sight of the man in the crowd. +</p> +<p> +"Every one was on tenter-hooks, and eagerly waiting for the palpitating +moment when witness would describe and identify the man who last had +seen and spoken to the unfortunate woman, within five minutes probably +of her strange and unaccountable death. +</p> +<p> +"Personally I knew what was coming before the Scotch stockbroker spoke. +</p> +<p> +"I could have jotted down the graphic and lifelike description he would +give of a probable murderer. It would have fitted equally well the man +who sat and had luncheon at this table just now; it would certainly have +described five out of every ten young Englishmen you know. +</p> +<p> +"The individual was of medium height, he wore a moustache which was not +very fair nor yet very dark, his hair was between colours. He wore a +bowler hat, and a tweed suit—and—and—that was all—Mr. Campbell might +perhaps know him again, but then again, he might not—he was not paying +much attention—the gentleman was sitting on the same side of the +carriage as himself—and he had his hat on all the time. He himself was +busy with his newspaper—yes—he might know him again—but he really +could not say. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Andrew Campbell's evidence was not worth very much, you will say. +No, it was not in itself, and would not have justified any arrest were +it not for the additional statements made by Mr. James Verner, manager +of Messrs. Rodney & Co., colour printers. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Verner is a personal friend of Mr. Andrew Campbell, and it appears +that at Farringdon Street, where he was waiting for his train, he saw +Mr. Campbell get out of a first-class railway carriage. Mr. Verner spoke +to him for a second, and then, just as the train was moving off, he +stepped into the same compartment which had just been vacated by the +stockbroker and the man in the tweed suit. He vaguely recollects a lady +sitting in the opposite corner to his own, with her face turned away +from him, apparently asleep, but he paid no special attention to her. He +was like nearly all business men when they are travelling—engrossed in +his paper. Presently a special quotation interested him; he wished to +make a note of it, took out a pencil from his waistcoat pocket, and +seeing a clean piece of paste-board on the floor, he picked it up, and +scribbled on it the memorandum, which he wished to keep. He then +slipped the card into his pocket-book. +</p> +<p> +"'It was only two or three days later,' added Mr. Verner in the midst of +breathless silence, 'that I had occasion to refer to these same notes +again. +</p> +<p> +"'In the meanwhile the papers had been full of the mysterious death on +the Underground Railway, and the names of those connected with it were +pretty familiar to me. It was, therefore, with much astonishment that on +looking at the paste-board which I had casually picked up in the railway +carriage I saw the name on it, "Frank Errington."' +</p> +<p> +"There was no doubt that the sensation in court was almost +unprecedented. Never since the days of the Fenchurch Street mystery, and +the trial of Smethurst, had I seen so much excitement. Mind you, I was +not excited—I knew by now every detail of that crime as if I had +committed it myself. In fact, I could not have done it better, although +I have been a student of crime for many years now. Many people +there—his friends, mostly—believed that Errington was doomed. I think +he thought so, too, for I could see that his face was terribly white, +and he now and then passed his tongue over his lips, as if they were +parched. +</p> +<p> +"You see he was in the awful dilemma—a perfectly natural one, by the +way—of being absolutely incapable of <i>proving</i> an <i>alibi</i>. The +crime—if crime there was—had been committed three weeks ago. A man +about town like Mr. Frank Errington might remember that he spent certain +hours of a special afternoon at his club, or in the Park, but it is very +doubtful in nine cases out of ten if he can find a friend who could +positively swear as to having seen him there. No! no! Mr. Errington was +in a tight corner, and he knew it. You see, there were—besides the +evidence—two or three circumstances which did not improve matters for +him. His hobby in the direction of toxicology, to begin with. The police +had found in his room every description of poisonous substances, +including prussic acid. +</p> +<p> +"Then, again, that journey to Marseilles, the start for Colombo, was, +though perfectly innocent, a very unfortunate one. Mr. Errington had +gone on an aimless voyage, but the public thought that he had fled, +terrified at his own crime. Sir Arthur Inglewood, however, here again +displayed his marvellous skill on behalf of his client by the masterly +way in which he literally turned all the witnesses for the Crown inside +out. +</p> +<p> +"Having first got Mr. Andrew Campbell to state positively that in the +accused he certainly did <i>not</i> recognize the man in the tweed suit, the +eminent lawyer, after twenty minutes' cross-examination, had so +completely upset the stockbroker's equanimity that it is very likely he +would not have recognized his own office-boy. +</p> +<p> +"But through all his flurry and all his annoyance Mr. Andrew Campbell +remained very sure of one thing; namely, that the lady was alive and +cheerful, and talking pleasantly with the man in the tweed suit up to +the moment when the latter, having shaken hands with her, left her with +a pleasant '<i>Au revoir</i>! Don't be late to-night.' He had heard neither +scream nor struggle, and in his opinion, if the individual in the tweed +suit had administered a dose of poison to his companion, it must have +been with her own knowledge and free will; and the lady in the train +most emphatically neither looked nor spoke like a woman prepared for a +sudden and violent death. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. James Verner, against that, swore equally positively that he had +stood in full view of the carriage door from the moment that Mr. +Campbell got out until he himself stepped into the compartment, that +there was no one else in that carriage between Farringdon Street and +Aldgate, and that the lady, to the best of his belief, had made no +movement during the whole of that journey. +</p> +<p> +"No; Frank Errington was <i>not</i> committed for trial on the capital +charge," said the man in the corner with one of his sardonic smiles, +"thanks to the cleverness of Sir Arthur Inglewood, his lawyer. He +absolutely denied his identity with the man in the tweed suit, and swore +he had not seen Mrs. Hazeldene since eleven o'clock in the morning of +that fatal day. There was no <i>proof</i> that he had; moreover, according to +Mr. Campbell's opinion, the man in the tweed suit was in all probability +not the murderer. Common sense would not admit that a woman could have a +deadly poison injected into her without her knowledge, while chatting +pleasantly to her murderer. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Errington lives abroad now. He is about to marry. I don't think any +of his real friends for a moment believed that he committed the +dastardly crime. The police think they know better. They do know this +much, that it could not have been a case of suicide, that if the man who +undoubtedly travelled with Mrs. Hazeldene on that fatal afternoon had no +crime upon his conscience he would long ago have come forward and thrown +what light he could upon the mystery. +</p> +<p> +"As to who that man was, the police in their blindness have not the +faintest doubt. Under the unshakable belief that Errington is guilty +they have spent the last few months in unceasing labour to try and find +further and stronger proofs of his guilt. But they won't find them, +because there are none. There are no positive proofs against the actual +murderer, for he was one of those clever blackguards who think of +everything, foresee every eventuality, who know human nature well, and +can foretell exactly what evidence will be brought against them, and act +accordingly. +</p> +<p> +"This blackguard from the first kept the figure, the personality, of +Frank Errington before his mind. Frank Errington was the dust which the +scoundrel threw metaphorically in the eyes of the police, and you must +admit that he succeeded in blinding them—to the extent even of making +them entirely forget the one simple little sentence, overheard by Mr. +Andrew Campbell, and which was, of course, the clue to the whole +thing—the only slip the cunning rogue made—'<i>Au revoir</i>! Don't be late +to-night.' Mrs. Hazeldene was going that night to the opera with her +husband— +</p> +<p> +"You are astonished?" he added with a shrug of the shoulders, "you do +not see the tragedy yet, as I have seen it before me all along. The +frivolous young wife, the flirtation with the friend?—all a blind, all +pretence. I took the trouble which the police should have taken +immediately, of finding out something about the finances of the +Hazeldene <i>ménage</i>. Money is in nine cases out of ten the keynote to a +crime. +</p> +<p> +"I found that the will of Mary Beatrice Hazeldene had been proved by +the husband, her sole executor, the estate being sworn at £15,000. I +found out, moreover, that Mr. Edward Sholto Hazeldene was a poor +shipper's clerk when he married the daughter of a wealthy builder in +Kensington—and then I made note of the fact that the disconsolate +widower had allowed his beard to grow since the death of his wife. +</p> +<p> +"There's no doubt that he was a clever rogue," added the strange +creature, leaning excitedly over the table, and peering into Polly's +face. "Do you know how that deadly poison was injected into the poor +woman's system? By the simplest of all means, one known to every +scoundrel in Southern Europe. A ring—yes! a ring, which has a tiny +hollow needle capable of holding a sufficient quantity of prussic acid +to have killed two persons instead of one. The man in the tweed suit +shook hands with his fair companion—probably she hardly felt the prick, +not sufficiently in any case to make her utter a scream. And, mind you, +the scoundrel had every facility, through his friendship with Mr. +Errington, of procuring what poison he required, not to mention his +friend's visiting card. We cannot gauge how many months ago he began to +try and copy Frank Errington in his style of dress, the cut of his +moustache, his general appearance, making the change probably so +gradual, that no one in his own <i>entourage</i> would notice it. He +selected for his model a man his own height and build, with the same +coloured hair." +</p> +<p> +"But there was the terrible risk of being identified by his +fellow-traveller in the Underground," suggested Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, there certainly was that risk; he chose to take it, and he was +wise. He reckoned that several days would in any case elapse before that +person, who, by the way, was a business man absorbed in his newspaper, +would actually see him again. The great secret of successful crime is to +study human nature," added the man in the corner, as he began looking +for his hat and coat. "Edward Hazeldene knew it well." +</p> +<p> +"But the ring?" +</p> +<p> +"He may have bought that when he was on his honeymoon," he suggested +with a grim chuckle; "the tragedy was not planned in a week, it may have +taken years to mature. But you will own that there goes a frightful +scoundrel unhung. I have left you his photograph as he was a year ago, +and as he is now. You will see he has shaved his beard again, but also +his moustache. I fancy he is a friend now of Mr. Andrew Campbell." +</p> +<p> +He left Miss Polly Burton wondering, not knowing what to believe. +</p> +<p> +And that is why she missed her appointment with Mr. Richard Frobisher +(of the <i>London Mail</i>) to go and see Maud Allan dance at the Palace +Theatre that afternoon. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH12"><!-- CH12 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE LIVERPOOL MYSTERY +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"A title—a foreign title, I mean—is always very useful for purposes of +swindles and frauds," remarked the man in the corner to Polly one day. +"The cleverest robberies of modern times were perpetrated lately in +Vienna by a man who dubbed himself Lord Seymour; whilst over here the +same class of thief calls himself Count Something ending in 'o,' or +Prince the other, ending in 'off.'" +</p> +<p> +"Fortunately for our hotel and lodging-house keepers over here," she +replied, "they are beginning to be more alive to the ways of foreign +swindlers, and look upon all titled gentry who speak broken English as +possible swindlers or thieves." +</p> +<p> +"The result sometimes being exceedingly unpleasant to the real <i>grands +seigneurs</i> who honour this country at times with their visits," replied +the man in the corner. "Now, take the case of Prince Semionicz, a man +whose sixteen quarterings are duly recorded in Gotha, who carried enough +luggage with him to pay for the use of every room in an hotel for at +least a week, whose gold cigarette case with diamond and turquoise +ornament was actually stolen without his taking the slightest trouble to +try and recover it; that same man was undoubtedly looked upon with +suspicion by the manager of the Liverpool North-Western Hotel from the +moment that his secretary—a dapper, somewhat vulgar little +Frenchman—bespoke on behalf of his employer, with himself and a valet, +the best suite of rooms the hotel contained. +</p> +<p> +"Obviously those suspicions were unfounded, for the little secretary, as +soon as Prince Semionicz had arrived, deposited with the manager a pile +of bank notes, also papers and bonds, the value of which would exceed +tenfold the most outrageous bill that could possibly be placed before +the noble visitor. Moreover, M. Albert Lambert explained that the +Prince, who only meant to stay in Liverpool a few days, was on his way +to Chicago, where he wished to visit Princess Anna Semionicz, his +sister, who was married to Mr. Girwan, the great copper king and +multi-millionaire. +</p> +<p> +"Yet, as I told you before, in spite of all these undoubted securities, +suspicion of the wealthy Russian Prince lurked in the minds of most +Liverpudlians who came in business contact with him. He had been at the +North-Western two days when he sent his secretary to Window and +Vassall, the jewellers of Bold Street, with a request that they would +kindly send a representative round to the hotel with some nice pieces of +jewellery, diamonds and pearls chiefly, which he was desirous of taking +as a present to his sister in Chicago. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Winslow took the order from M. Albert with a pleasant bow. Then he +went to his inner office and consulted with his partner, Mr. Vassall, as +to the best course to adopt. Both the gentlemen were desirous of doing +business, for business had been very slack lately: neither wished to +refuse a possible customer, or to offend Mr. Pettitt, the manager of the +North-Western, who had recommended them to the Prince. But that foreign +title and the vulgar little French secretary stuck in the throats of the +two pompous and worthy Liverpool jewellers, and together they agreed, +firstly, that no credit should be given; and, secondly, that if a cheque +or even a banker's draft were tendered, the jewels were not to be given +up until that cheque or draft was cashed. +</p> +<p> +"Then came the question as to who should take the jewels to the hotel. +It was altogether against business etiquette for the senior partners to +do such errands themselves; moreover, it was thought that it would be +easier for a clerk to explain, without giving undue offence, that he +could not take the responsibility of a cheque or draft, without having +cashed it previously to giving up the jewels. +</p> +<p> +"Then there was the question of the probable necessity of conferring in +a foreign tongue. The head assistant, Charles Needham, who had been in +the employ of Winslow and Vassall for over twelve years, was, in true +British fashion, ignorant of any language save his own; it was therefore +decided to dispatch Mr. Schwarz, a young German clerk lately arrived, on +the delicate errand. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Schwarz was Mr. Winslow's nephew and godson, a sister of that +gentleman having married the head of the great German firm of Schwarz & +Co., silversmiths, of Hamburg and Berlin. +</p> +<p> +"The young man had soon become a great favourite with his uncle, whose +heir he would presumably be, as Mr. Winslow had no children. +</p> +<p> +"At first Mr. Vassall made some demur about sending Mr. Schwarz with so +many valuable jewels alone in a city which he had not yet had the time +to study thoroughly; but finally he allowed himself to be persuaded by +his senior partner, and a fine selection of necklaces, pendants, +bracelets, and rings, amounting in value to over £16,000, having been +made, it was decided that Mr. Schwarz should go to the North-Western in +a cab the next day at about three o'clock in the afternoon. This he +accordingly did, the following day being a Thursday. +</p> +<p> +"Business went on in the shop as usual under the direction of the head +assistant, until about seven o'clock, when Mr. Winslow returned from his +club, where he usually spent an hour over the papers every afternoon, +and at once asked for his nephew. To his astonishment Mr. Needham +informed him that Mr. Schwarz had not yet returned. This seemed a little +strange, and Mr. Winslow, with a slightly anxious look in his face, went +into the inner office in order to consult his junior partner. Mr. +Vassall offered to go round to the hotel and interview Mr. Pettitt. +</p> +<p> +"'I was beginning to get anxious myself,' he said, 'but did not quite +like to say so. I have been in over half an hour, hoping every moment +that you would come in, and that perhaps you could give me some +reassuring news. I thought that perhaps you had met Mr. Schwarz, and +were coming back together.' +</p> +<p> +"However, Mr. Vassall walked round to the hotel and interviewed the hall +porter. The latter perfectly well remembered Mr. Schwarz sending in his +card to Prince Semionicz. +</p> +<p> +"'At what time was that?' asked Mr. Vassall. +</p> +<p> +"'About ten minutes past three, sir, when he came; it was about an hour +later when he left.' +</p> +<p> +"'When he left?' gasped, more than said, Mr. Vassall. +</p> +<p> +"'Yes, sir. Mr. Schwarz left here about a quarter before four, sir.' +</p> +<p> +"'Are you quite sure?' +</p> +<p> +"'Quite sure. Mr. Pettitt was in the hall when he left, and he asked him +something about business. Mr. Schwarz laughed and said, "not bad." I +hope there's nothing wrong, sir,' added the man. +</p> +<p> +"'Oh—er—nothing—thank you. Can I see Mr. Pettitt?' +</p> +<p> +"'Certainly, sir.' +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Pettitt, the manager of the hotel, shared Mr. Vassall's anxiety, +immediately he heard that the young German had not yet returned home. +</p> +<p> +"'I spoke to him a little before four o'clock. We had just switched on +the electric light, which we always do these winter months at that hour. +But I shouldn't worry myself, Mr. Vassall; the young man may have seen +to some business on his way home. You'll probably find him in when you +go back.' +</p> +<p> +"Apparently somewhat reassured, Mr. Vassall thanked Mr. Pettitt and +hurried back to the shop, only to find that Mr. Schwarz had not +returned, though it was now close on eight o'clock. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Winslow looked so haggard and upset that it would have been cruel +to heap reproaches upon his other troubles or to utter so much as the +faintest suspicion that young Schwarz's permanent disappearance with +£16,000 in jewels and money was within the bounds of probability. +</p> +<p> +"There was one chance left, but under the circumstances a very slight +one indeed. The Winslows' private house was up the Birkenhead end of the +town. Young Schwarz had been living with them ever since his arrival in +Liverpool, and he may have—either not feeling well or for some other +reason—gone straight home without calling at the shop. It was unlikely, +as valuable jewellery was never kept at the private house, but—it just +might have happened. +</p> +<p> +"It would be useless," continued the man in the corner, "and decidedly +uninteresting, were I to relate to you Messrs. Winslow's and Vassall's +further anxieties with regard to the missing young man. Suffice it to +say that on reaching his private house Mr. Winslow found that his godson +had neither returned nor sent any telegraphic message of any kind. +</p> +<p> +"Not wishing to needlessly alarm his wife, Mr. Winslow made an attempt +at eating his dinner, but directly after that he hurried back to the +North-Western Hotel, and asked to see Prince Semionicz. The Prince was +at the theatre with his secretary, and probably would not be home until +nearly midnight. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Winslow, then, not knowing what to think, nor yet what to fear, and +in spite of the horror he felt of giving publicity to his nephew's +disappearance, thought it his duty to go round to the police-station and +interview the inspector. It is wonderful how quickly news of that type +travels in a large city like Liverpool. Already the morning papers of +the following day were full of the latest sensation: 'Mysterious +disappearance of a well-known tradesman.' +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Winslow found a copy of the paper containing the sensational +announcement on his breakfast-table. It lay side by side with a letter +addressed to him in his nephew's handwriting, which had been posted in +Liverpool. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Winslow placed that letter, written to him by his nephew, into the +hands of the police. Its contents, therefore, quickly became public +property. The astounding statements made therein by Mr. Schwarz created, +in quiet, businesslike Liverpool, a sensation which has seldom been +equalled. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that the young fellow did call on Prince Semionicz at a +quarter past three on Wednesday, December 10th, with a bag full of +jewels, amounting in value to some £16,000. The Prince duly admired, and +finally selected from among the ornaments a necklace, pendant, and +bracelet, the whole being priced by Mr. Schwarz, according to his +instructions, at £10,500. Prince Semionicz was most prompt and +businesslike in his dealings. +</p> +<p> +"'You will require immediate payment for these, of course,' he said in +perfect English, 'and I know you business men prefer solid cash to +cheques, especially when dealing with foreigners. I always provide +myself with plenty of Bank of England notes in consequence,' he added +with a pleasant smile, 'as £10,500 in gold would perhaps be a little +inconvenient to carry. If you will kindly make out the receipt, my +secretary, M. Lambert, will settle all business matters with you.' +</p> +<p> +"He thereupon took the jewels he had selected and locked them up in his +dressing-case, the beautiful silver fillings of which Mr. Schwarz just +caught a short glimpse of. Then, having been accommodated with paper and +ink, the young jeweller made out the account and receipt, whilst M. +Lambert, the secretary, counted out before him 105 crisp Bank of England +notes of £100 each. Then, with a final bow to his exceedingly urbane and +eminently satisfactory customer, Mr. Schwarz took his leave. In the hall +he saw and spoke to Mr. Pettitt, and then he went out into the street. +</p> +<p> +"He had just left the hotel and was about to cross towards St. George's +Hall when a gentleman, in a magnificent fur coat, stepped quickly out of +a cab which had been stationed near the kerb, and, touching him lightly +upon the shoulder, said with an unmistakable air of authority, at the +same time handing him a card: +</p> +<p> +"'That is my name. I must speak with you immediately." +</p> +<p> +"Schwarz glanced at the card, and by the light of the arc lamps above +his head read on it the name of 'Dimitri Slaviansky Burgreneff, de la +IIIe Section de la Police Imperial de S.M. le Czar.' +</p> +<p> +"Quickly the owner of the unpronounceable name and the significant title +pointed to the cab from which he had just alighted, and Schwarz, whose +every suspicion with regard to his princely customer bristled up in one +moment, clutched his bag and followed his imposing interlocutor; as soon +as they were both comfortably seated in the cab the latter began, with +courteous apology in broken but fluent English: +</p> +<p> +"'I must ask your pardon, sir, for thus trespassing upon your valuable +time, and I certainly should not have done so but for the certainty that +our interests in a certain matter which I have in hand are practically +identical, in so far that we both should wish to outwit a clever rogue.' +</p> +<p> +"Instinctively, and his mind full of terrible apprehension, Mr. +Schwarz's hand wandered to his pocket-book, filled to overflowing with +the bank-notes which he had so lately received from the Prince. +</p> +<p> +"'Ah, I see,' interposed the courteous Russian with a smile, 'he has +played the confidence trick on you, with the usual addition of so many +so-called bank-notes.' +</p> +<p> +"'So-called,' gasped the unfortunate young man. +</p> +<p> +"'I don't think I often err in my estimate of my own countrymen,' +continued M. Burgreneff; 'I have vast experience, you must remember. +Therefore, I doubt if I am doing M.—er—what does he call +himself?—Prince something—an injustice if I assert, even without +handling those crisp bits of paper you have in your pocket-book, that no +bank would exchange them for gold.' +</p> +<p> +"Remembering his uncle's suspicions and his own, Mr. Schwarz cursed +himself for his blindness and folly in accepting notes so easily without +for a moment imagining that they might be false. Now, with every one of +those suspicions fully on the alert, he felt the bits of paper with +nervous, anxious fingers, while the imperturbable Russian calmly struck +a match. +</p> +<p> +"'See here,' he said, pointing to one of the notes, 'the shape of that +"w" in the signature of the chief cashier. I am not an English police +officer, but I could pick out that spurious "w" among a thousand genuine +ones. You see, I have seen a good many.' +</p> +<p> +"Now, of course, poor young Schwarz had not seen very many Bank of +England notes. He could not have told whether one 'w' in Mr. Bowen's +signature is better than another, but, though he did not speak English +nearly as fluently as his pompous interlocutor, he understood every word +of the appalling statement the latter had just made. +</p> +<p> +"'Then that Prince,' he said, 'at the hotel—' +</p> +<p> +"'Is no more Prince than you and I, my dear sir,' concluded the +gentleman of His Imperial Majesty's police calmly. +</p> +<p> +"'And the jewels? Mr. Winslow's jewels?' +</p> +<p> +"'With the jewels there may be a chance—oh! a mere chance. These forged +bank-notes, which you accepted so trustingly, may prove the means of +recovering your property.' +</p> +<p> +"'How?' +</p> +<p> +"'The penalty of forging and circulating spurious bank-notes is very +heavy. You know that. The fear of seven years' penal servitude will act +as a wonderful sedative upon the—er—Prince's joyful mood. He will give +up the jewels to me all right enough, never you fear. He knows,' added +the Russian officer grimly, 'that there are plenty of old scores to +settle up, without the additional one of forged bank-notes. Our +interests, you see, are identical. May I rely on your co-operation?' +</p> +<p> +"'Oh, I will do as you wish,' said the delighted young German. 'Mr. +Winslow and Mr. Vassall, they trusted me, and I have been such a fool. I +hope it is not too late.' +</p> +<p> +"'I think not,' said M. Burgreneff, his hand already on the door of the +cab. 'Though I have been talking to you I have kept an eye on the hotel, +and our friend the Prince has not yet gone out. We are accustomed, you +know, to have eyes everywhere, we of the Russian secret police. I don't +think that I will ask you to be present at the confrontation. Perhaps +you will wait for me in the cab. There is a nasty fog outside, and you +will be more private. Will you give me those beautiful bank-notes? Thank +you! Don't be anxious. I won't be long.' +</p> +<p> +"He lifted his hat, and slipped the notes into the inner pocket of his +magnificent fur coat. As he did so, Mr. Schwarz caught sight of a rich +uniform and a wide sash, which no doubt was destined to carry additional +moral weight with the clever rogue upstairs. +</p> +<p> +"Then His Imperial Majesty's police officer stepped quickly out of the +cab, and Mr. Schwarz was left alone." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH13"><!-- CH13 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XIII +</h2> + +<h3> +A CUNNING RASCAL +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Yes, left severely alone," continued the man in the corner with a +sarcastic chuckle. "So severely alone, in fact, that one quarter of an +hour after another passed by and still the magnificent police officer in +the gorgeous uniform did not return. Then, when it was too late, Schwarz +cursed himself once again for the double-dyed idiot that he was. He had +been only too ready to believe that Prince Semionicz was a liar and a +rogue, and under these unjust suspicions he had fallen an all too easy +prey to one of the most cunning rascals he had ever come across. +</p> +<p> +"An inquiry from the hall porter at the North-Western elicited the fact +that no such personage as Mr. Schwarz described had entered the hotel. +The young man asked to see Prince Semionicz, hoping against hope that +all was not yet lost. The Prince received him most courteously; he was +dictating some letters to his secretary, while the valet was in the next +room preparing his master's evening clothes. Mr. Schwarz found it very +difficult to explain what he actually did want. +</p> +<p> +"There stood the dressing-case in which the Prince had locked up the +jewels, and there the bag from which the secretary had taken the +bank-notes. After much hesitation on Schwarz's part and much impatience +on that of the Prince, the young man blurted out the whole story of the +so-called Russian police officer whose card he still held in his hand. +</p> +<p> +"The Prince, it appears, took the whole thing wonderfully +good-naturedly; no doubt he thought the jeweller a hopeless fool. He +showed him the jewels, the receipt he held, and also a large bundle of +bank-notes similar to those Schwarz had with such culpable folly given +up to the clever rascal in the cab. +</p> +<p> +"'I pay all my bills with Bank of England notes, Mr. Schwarz. It would +have been wiser, perhaps, if you had spoken to the manager of the hotel +about me before you were so ready to believe any cock-and-bull story +about my supposed rogueries.' +</p> +<p> +"Finally he placed a small 16mo volume before the young jeweller, and +said with a pleasant smile: +</p> +<p> +"'If people in this country who are in a large way of business, and are +therefore likely to come in contact with people of foreign nationality, +were to study these little volumes before doing business with any +foreigner who claims a title, much disappointment and a great loss would +often be saved. Now in this case had you looked up page 797 of this +little volume of Gotha's Almanach you would have seen my name in it and +known from the first that the so-called Russian detective was a liar.' +</p> +<p> +"There was nothing more to be said, and Mr. Schwarz left the hotel. No +doubt, now that he had been hopelessly duped he dared not go home, and +half hoped by communicating with the police that they might succeed in +arresting the thief before he had time to leave Liverpool. He +interviewed Detective-Inspector Watson, and was at once confronted with +the awful difficulty which would make the recovery of the bank-notes +practically hopeless. He had never had the time or opportunity of +jotting down the numbers of the notes. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Winslow, though terribly wrathful against his nephew, did not wish +to keep him out of his home. As soon as he had received Schwarz's +letter, he traced him, with Inspector Watson's help, to his lodgings in +North Street, where the unfortunate young man meant to remain hidden +until the terrible storm had blown over, or perhaps until the thief had +been caught red-handed with the booty still in his hands. +</p> +<p> +"This happy event, needless to say, never did occur, though the police +made every effort to trace the man who had decoyed Schwarz into the cab. +His appearance was such an uncommon one; it seemed most unlikely that no +one in Liverpool should have noticed him after he left that cab. The +wonderful fur coat, the long beard, all must have been noticeable, even +though it was past four o'clock on a somewhat foggy December afternoon. +</p> +<p> +"But every investigation proved futile; no one answering Schwarz's +description of the man had been seen anywhere. The papers continued to +refer to the case as 'the Liverpool Mystery.' Scotland Yard sent Mr. +Fairburn down—the celebrated detective—at the request of the Liverpool +police, to help in the investigations, but nothing availed. +</p> +<p> +"Prince Semionicz, with his suite, left Liverpool, and he who had +attempted to blacken his character, and had succeeded in robbing Messrs. +Winslow and Vassall of £10,500, had completely disappeared." +</p> +<p> +The man in the corner readjusted his collar and necktie, which, during +the narrative of this interesting mystery, had worked its way up his +long, crane-like neck under his large flappy ears. His costume of +checked tweed of a peculiarly loud pattern had tickled the fancy of some +of the waitresses, who were standing gazing at him and giggling in one +corner. This evidently made him nervous. He gazed up very meekly at +Polly, looking for all the world like a bald-headed adjutant dressed for +a holiday. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, all sorts of theories of the theft got about at first. One +of the most popular, and at the same time most quickly exploded, being +that young Schwarz had told a cock-and-bull story, and was the actual +thief himself. +</p> +<p> +"However, as I said before, that was very quickly exploded, as Mr. +Schwarz senior, a very wealthy merchant, never allowed his son's +carelessness to be a serious loss to his kind employers. As soon as he +thoroughly grasped all the circumstances of the extraordinary case, he +drew a cheque for £10,500 and remitted it to Messrs. Winslow and +Vassall. It was just, but it was also high-minded. +</p> +<p> +"All Liverpool knew of the generous action, as Mr. Winslow took care +that it should; and any evil suspicion regarding young Mr. Schwarz +vanished as quickly as it had come. +</p> +<p> +"Then, of course, there was the theory about the Prince and his suite, +and to this day I fancy there are plenty of people in Liverpool, and +also in London, who declare that the so-called Russian police officer +was a confederate. No doubt that theory was very plausible, and Messrs. +Winslow and Vassall spent a good deal of money in trying to prove a case +against the Russian Prince. +</p> +<p> +"Very soon, however, that theory was also bound to collapse. Mr. +Fairburn, whose reputation as an investigator of crime waxes in direct +inverted ratio to his capacities, did hit upon the obvious course of +interviewing the managers of the larger London and Liverpool <i>agents de +change</i>. He soon found that Prince Semionicz had converted a great deal +of Russian and French money into English bank-notes since his arrival in +this country. More than £30,000 in good solid, honest money was traced +to the pockets of the gentleman with the sixteen quarterings. It seemed, +therefore, more than improbable that a man who was obviously fairly +wealthy would risk imprisonment and hard labour, if not worse, for the +sake of increasing his fortune by £10,000. +</p> +<p> +"However, the theory of the Prince's guilt has taken firm root in the +dull minds of our police authorities. They have had every information +with regard to Prince Semionicz's antecedents from Russia; his position, +his wealth, have been placed above suspicion, and yet they suspect and +go on suspecting him or his secretary. They have communicated with the +police of every European capital; and while they still hope to obtain +sufficient evidence against those they suspect, they calmly allow the +guilty to enjoy the fruit of his clever roguery." +</p> +<p> +"The guilty?" said Polly. "Who do you think—" +</p> +<p> +"Who do I think knew at that moment that young Schwarz had money in his +possession?" he said excitedly, wriggling in his chair like a +Jack-in-the-box. "Obviously some one was guilty of that theft who knew +that Schwarz had gone to interview a rich Russian, and would in all +probability return with a large sum of money in his possession?" +</p> +<p> +"Who, indeed, but the Prince and his secretary?" she argued. "But just +now you said—" +</p> +<p> +"Just now I said that the police were determined to find the Prince and +his secretary guilty; they did not look further than their own stumpy +noses. Messrs. Winslow and Vassall spent money with a free hand in those +investigations. Mr. Winslow, as the senior partner, stood to lose over +£9000 by that robbery. Now, with Mr. Vassall it was different. +</p> +<p> +"When I saw how the police went on blundering in this case I took the +trouble to make certain inquiries, the whole thing interested me so +much, and I learnt all that I wished to know. I found out, namely, that +Mr. Vassall was very much a junior partner in the firm, that he only +drew ten per cent of the profits, having been promoted lately to a +partnership from having been senior assistant. +</p> +<p> +"Now, the police did not take the trouble to find that out." +</p> +<p> +"But you don't mean that—" +</p> +<p> +"I mean that in all cases where robbery affects more than one person the +first thing to find out is whether it affects the second party equally +with the first. I proved that to you, didn't I, over that robbery in +Phillimore Terrace? There, as here, one of the two parties stood to +lose very little in comparison with the other—" +</p> +<p> +"Even then—" she began. +</p> +<p> +"Wait a moment, for I found out something more. The moment I had +ascertained that Mr. Vassall was not drawing more than about £500 a year +from the business profits I tried to ascertain at what rate he lived and +what were his chief vices. I found that he kept a fine house in Albert +Terrace. Now, the rents of those houses are £250 a year. Therefore +speculation, horse-racing or some sort of gambling, must help to keep up +that establishment. Speculation and most forms of gambling are +synonymous with debt and ruin. It is only a question of time. Whether +Mr. Vassall was in debt or not at the time, that I cannot say, but this +I do know, that ever since that unfortunate loss to him of about £1000 +he has kept his house in nicer style than before, and he now has a good +banking account at the Lancashire and Liverpool bank, which he opened a +year after his 'heavy loss.'" +</p> +<p> +"But it must have been very difficult—" argued Polly. +</p> +<p> +"What?" he said. "To have planned out the whole thing? For carrying it +out was mere child's play. He had twenty-four hours in which to put his +plan into execution. Why, what was there to do? Firstly, to go to a +local printer in some out-of-the-way part of the town and get him to +print a few cards with the high-sounding name. That, of course, is done +'while you wait.' Beyond that there was the purchase of a good +second-hand uniform, fur coat, and a beard and a wig from a costumier's. +</p> +<p> +"No, no, the execution was not difficult; it was the planning of it all, +the daring that was so fine. Schwarz, of course, was a foreigner; he had +only been in England a little over a fortnight. Vassall's broken English +misled him; probably he did not know the junior partner very intimately. +I have no doubt that but for his uncle's absurd British prejudice and +suspicions against the Russian Prince, Schwarz would not have been so +ready to believe in the latter's roguery. As I said, it would be a great +boon if English tradesmen studied Gotha more; but it was clever, wasn't +it? I couldn't have done it much better myself." +</p> +<p> +That last sentence was so characteristic. Before Polly could think of +some plausible argument against his theory he was gone, and she was +trying vainly to find another solution to the Liverpool mystery. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH14"><!-- CH14 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XIV +</h2> + +<h3> +THE EDINBURGH MYSTERY +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The man in the corner had not enjoyed his lunch. Miss Polly Burton could +see that he had something on his mind, for, even before he began to talk +that morning, he was fidgeting with his bit of string, and setting all +her nerves on the jar. +</p> +<p> +"Have you ever felt real sympathy with a criminal or a thief?" he asked +her after a while. +</p> +<p> +"Only once, I think," she replied, "and then I am not quite sure that +the unfortunate woman who did enlist my sympathies was the criminal you +make her out to be." +</p> +<p> +"You mean the heroine of the York mystery?" he replied blandly. "I know +that you tried very hard that time to discredit the only possible +version of that mysterious murder, the version which is my own. Now, I +am equally sure that you have at the present moment no more notion as to +who killed and robbed poor Lady Donaldson in Charlotte Square, +Edinburgh, than the police have themselves, and yet you are fully +prepared to pooh-pooh my arguments, and to disbelieve my version of the +mystery. Such is the lady journalist's mind." +</p> +<p> +"If you have some cock-and-bull story to explain that extraordinary +case," she retorted, "of course I shall disbelieve it. Certainly, if you +are going to try and enlist my sympathies on behalf of Edith Crawford, I +can assure you you won't succeed." +</p> +<p> +"Well, I don't know that that is altogether my intention. I see you are +interested in the case, but I dare say you don't remember all the +circumstances. You must forgive me if I repeat that which you know +already. If you have ever been to Edinburgh at all, you will have heard +of Graham's bank, and Mr. Andrew Graham, the present head of the firm, +is undoubtedly one of the most prominent notabilities of 'modern +Athens.'" +</p> +<p> +The man in the corner took two or three photos from his pocket-book and +placed them before the young girl; then, pointing at them with his long +bony finger— +</p> +<p> +"That," he said, "is Mr. Elphinstone Graham, the eldest son, a typical +young Scotchman, as you see, and this is David Graham, the second son." +</p> +<p> +Polly looked more closely at this last photo, and saw before her a young +face, upon which some lasting sorrow seemed already to have left its +mark. The face was delicate and thin, the features pinched, and the +eyes seemed almost unnaturally large and prominent. +</p> +<p> +"He was deformed," commented the man in the corner in answer to the +girl's thoughts, "and, as such, an object of pity and even of repugnance +to most of his friends. There was also a good deal of talk in Edinburgh +society as to his mental condition, his mind, according to many intimate +friends of the Grahams, being at times decidedly unhinged. Be that as it +may, I fancy that his life must have been a very sad one; he had lost +his mother when quite a baby, and his father seemed, strangely enough, +to have an almost unconquerable dislike towards him. +</p> +<p> +"Every one got to know presently of David Graham's sad position in his +father's own house, and also of the great affection lavished upon him by +his godmother, Lady Donaldson, who was a sister of Mr. Graham's. +</p> +<p> +"She was a lady of considerable wealth, being the widow of Sir George +Donaldson, the great distiller; but she seems to have been decidedly +eccentric. Latterly she had astonished all her family—who were rigid +Presbyterians—by announcing her intention of embracing the Roman +Catholic faith, and then retiring to the convent of St. Augustine's at +Newton Abbot in Devonshire. +</p> +<p> +"She had sole and absolute control of the vast fortune which a doting +husband had bequeathed to her. Clearly, therefore, she was at liberty +to bestow it upon a Devonshire convent if she chose. But this evidently +was not altogether her intention. +</p> +<p> +"I told you how fond she was of her deformed godson, did I not? Being a +bundle of eccentricities, she had many hobbies, none more pronounced +than the fixed determination to see—before retiring from the world +altogether—David Graham happily married. +</p> +<p> +"Now, it appears that David Graham, ugly, deformed, half-demented as he +was, had fallen desperately in love with Miss Edith Crawford, daughter +of the late Dr. Crawford, of Prince's Gardens. The young lady, +however—very naturally, perhaps—fought shy of David Graham, who, about +this time, certainly seemed very queer and morose, but Lady Donaldson, +with characteristic determination, seems to have made up her mind to +melt Miss Crawford's heart towards her unfortunate nephew. +</p> +<p> +"On October the 2nd last, at a family party given by Mr. Graham in his +fine mansion in Charlotte Square, Lady Donaldson openly announced her +intention of making over, by deed of gift, to her nephew, David Graham, +certain property, money, and shares, amounting in total value to the sum +of £100,000, and also her magnificent diamonds, which were worth +£50,000, for the use of the said David's wife. Keith Macfinlay, a lawyer +of Prince's Street, received the next day instructions for drawing up +the necessary deed of gift, which she pledged herself to sign the day of +her godson's wedding. +</p> +<p> +"A week later <i>The Scotsman</i> contained the following paragraph:— +</p> +<p> +"'A marriage is arranged and will shortly take place between David, +younger son of Andrew Graham, Esq., of Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, and +Dochnakirk, Perthshire, and Edith Lillian, only surviving daughter of +the late Dr. Kenneth Crawford, of Prince's Gardens.' +</p> +<p> +"In Edinburgh society comments were loud and various upon the +forthcoming marriage, and, on the whole, these comments were far from +complimentary to the families concerned. I do not think that the Scotch +are a particularly sentimental race, but there was such obvious buying, +selling, and bargaining about this marriage that Scottish chivalry rose +in revolt at the thought. +</p> +<p> +"Against that the three people most concerned seemed perfectly +satisfied. David Graham was positively transformed; his moroseness was +gone from him, he lost his queer ways and wild manners, and became +gentle and affectionate in the midst of this great and unexpected +happiness. Miss Edith Crawford ordered her trousseau, and talked of the +diamonds to her friends, and Lady Donaldson was only waiting for the +consummation of this marriage—her heart's desire—before she finally +retired from the world, at peace with it and with herself. +</p> +<p> +"The deed of gift was ready for signature on the wedding day, which was +fixed for November 7th, and Lady Donaldson took up her abode temporarily +in her brother's house in Charlotte Square. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Graham gave a large ball on October 23rd. Special interest is +attached to this ball, from the fact that for this occasion Lady +Donaldson insisted that David's future wife should wear the magnificent +diamonds which were soon to become hers. +</p> +<p> +"They were, it seems, superb, and became Miss Crawford's stately beauty +to perfection. The ball was a brilliant success, the last guest leaving +at four a.m. The next day it was the universal topic of conversation, +and the day after that, when Edinburgh unfolded the late editions of its +morning papers, it learned with horror and dismay that Lady Donaldson +had been found murdered in her room, and that the celebrated diamonds +had been stolen. +</p> +<p> +"Hardly had the beautiful little city, however, recovered from this +awful shock, than its newspapers had another thrilling sensation ready +for their readers. +</p> +<p> +"Already all Scotch and English papers had mysteriously hinted at +'startling information' obtained by the Procurator Fiscal, and at an +'impending sensational arrest.' +</p> +<p> +"Then the announcement came, and every one in Edinburgh read, +horror-struck and aghast, that the 'sensational arrest' was none other +than that of Miss Edith Crawford, for murder and robbery, both so daring +and horrible that reason refused to believe that a young lady, born and +bred in the best social circle, could have conceived, much less +executed, so heinous a crime. She had been arrested in London at the +Midland Hotel, and brought to Edinburgh, where she was judicially +examined, bail being refused." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH15"><!-- CH15 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XV +</h2> + +<h3> +A TERRIBLE PLIGHT +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Little more than a fortnight after that, Edith Crawford was duly +committed to stand her trial before the High Court of Justiciary. She +had pleaded 'Not Guilty' at the pleading diet, and her defence was +entrusted to Sir James Fenwick, one of the most eminent advocates at the +Criminal Bar. +</p> +<p> +"Strange to say," continued the man in the corner after a while, "public +opinion from the first went dead against the accused. The public is +absolutely like a child, perfectly irresponsible and wholly illogical; +it argued that since Miss Crawford had been ready to contract a marriage +with a half-demented, deformed creature for the sake of his £100,000 she +must have been equally ready to murder and rob an old lady for the sake +of £50,000 worth of jewellery, without the encumbrance of so undesirable +a husband. +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps the great sympathy aroused in the popular mind for David Graham +had much to do with this ill-feeling against the accused. David Graham +had, by this cruel and dastardly murder, lost the best—if not the +only—friend he possessed. He had also lost at one fell swoop the large +fortune which Lady Donaldson had been about to assign to him. +</p> +<p> +"The deed of gift had never been signed, and the old lady's vast wealth, +instead of enriching her favourite nephew, was distributed—since she +had made no will—amongst her heirs-at-law. And now to crown this long +chapter of sorrow David Graham saw the girl he loved accused of the +awful crime which had robbed him of friend and fortune. +</p> +<p> +"It was, therefore, with an unmistakable thrill of righteous +satisfaction that Edinburgh society saw this 'mercenary girl' in so +terrible a plight. +</p> +<p> +"I was immensely interested in the case, and journeyed down to Edinburgh +in order to get a good view of the chief actors in the thrilling drama +which was about to be unfolded there. +</p> +<p> +"I succeeded—I generally do—in securing one of the front seats among +the audience, and was already comfortably installed in my place in court +when through the trap door I saw the head of the prisoner emerge. She +was very becomingly dressed in deep black, and, led by two policemen, +she took her place in the dock. Sir James Fenwick shook hands with her +very warmly, and I could almost hear him instilling words of comfort +into her. +</p> +<p> +"The trial lasted six clear days, during which time more than forty +persons were examined for the prosecution, and as many for the defence. +But the most interesting witnesses were certainly the two doctors, the +maid Tremlett, Campbell, the High Street jeweller, and David Graham. +</p> +<p> +"There was, of course, a great deal of medical evidence to go through. +Poor Lady Donaldson had been found with a silk scarf tied tightly round +her neck, her face showing even to the inexperienced eye every symptom +of strangulation. +</p> +<p> +"Then Tremlett, Lady Donaldson's confidential maid, was called. Closely +examined by Crown Counsel, she gave an account of the ball at Charlotte +Square on the 23rd, and the wearing of the jewels by Miss Crawford on +that occasion. +</p> +<p> +"'I helped Miss Crawford on with the tiara over her hair,' she said; +'and my lady put the two necklaces round Miss Crawford's neck herself. +There were also some beautiful brooches, bracelets, and earrings. At +four o'clock in the morning when the ball was over, Miss Crawford +brought the jewels back to my lady's room. My lady had already gone to +bed, and I had put out the electric light, as I was going, too. There +was only one candle left in the room, close to the bed. +</p> +<p> +"'Miss Crawford took all the jewels off, and asked Lady Donaldson for +the key of the safe, so that she might put them away. My lady gave her +the key and said to me, "You can go to bed, Tremlett, you must be dead +tired." I was glad to go, for I could hardly stand up—I was so tired. I +said "Good night!" to my lady and also to Miss Crawford, who was busy +putting the jewels away. As I was going out of the room I heard Lady +Donaldson saying: "Have you managed it, my dear?" Miss Crawford said: "I +have put everything away very nicely."' +</p> +<p> +"In answer to Sir James Fenwick, Tremlett said that Lady Donaldson +always carried the key of her jewel safe on a ribbon round her neck, and +had done so the whole day preceding her death. +</p> +<p> +"'On the night of the 24th,' she continued, 'Lady Donaldson still seemed +rather tired, and went up to her room directly after dinner, and while +the family were still sitting in the dining-room. She made me dress her +hair, then she slipped on her dressing-gown and sat in the arm-chair +with a book. She told me that she then felt strangely uncomfortable and +nervous, and could not account for it. +</p> +<p> +"'However, she did not want me to sit with her, so I thought that the +best thing I could do was to tell Mr. David Graham that her ladyship did +not seem very cheerful. Her ladyship was so fond of Mr. David; it always +made her happy to have him with her. I then went to my room, and at +half-past eight Mr. David called me. He said: "Your mistress does seem a +little restless to-night. If I were you I would just go and listen at +her door in about an hour's time, and if she has not gone to bed I would +go in and stay with her until she has." At about ten o'clock I did as +Mr. David suggested, and listened at her ladyship's door. However, all +was quiet in the room, and, thinking her ladyship had gone to sleep, I +went back to bed. +</p> +<p> +"'The next morning at eight o'clock, when I took in my mistress's cup of +tea, I saw her lying on the floor, her poor dear face all purple and +distorted. I screamed, and the other servants came rushing along. Then +Mr. Graham had the door locked and sent for the doctor and the police.' +</p> +<p> +"The poor woman seemed to find it very difficult not to break down. She +was closely questioned by Sir James Fenwick, but had nothing further to +say. She had last seen her mistress alive at eight o'clock on the +evening of the 24th. +</p> +<p> +"'And when you listened at her door at ten o'clock,' asked Sir James, +'did you try to open it?' +</p> +<p> +"'I did, but it was locked,' she replied. +</p> +<p> +"'Did Lady Donaldson usually lock her bedroom at night?' +</p> +<p> +"'Nearly always.' +</p> +<p> +"'And in the morning when you took in the tea?' +</p> +<p> +"'The door was open. I walked straight in.' +</p> +<p> +"'You are quite sure?' insisted Sir James. +</p> +<p> +"'I swear it,' solemnly asserted the woman. +</p> +<p> +"After that we were informed by several members of Mr. Graham's +establishment that Miss Crawford had been in to tea at Charlotte Square +in the afternoon of the 24th, that she told every one she was going to +London by the night mail, as she had some special shopping she wished to +do there. It appears that Mr. Graham and David both tried to persuade +her to stay to dinner, and then to go by the 9.10 p.m. from the +Caledonian Station. Miss Crawford however had refused, saying she always +preferred to go from the Waverley Station. It was nearer to her own +rooms, and she still had a good deal of writing to do. +</p> +<p> +"In spite of this, two witnesses saw the accused in Charlotte Square +later on in the evening. She was carrying a bag which seemed heavy, and +was walking towards the Caledonian Railway Station. +</p> +<p> +"But the most thrilling moment in that sensational trial was reached on +the second day, when David Graham, looking wretchedly ill, unkempt, and +haggard, stepped into the witness-box. A murmur of sympathy went round +the audience at sight of him, who was the second, perhaps, most deeply +stricken victim of the Charlotte Square tragedy. +</p> +<p> +"David Graham, in answer to Crown Counsel, gave an account of his last +interview with Lady Donaldson. +</p> +<p> +"'Tremlett had told me that she seemed anxious and upset, and I went to +have a chat with her; she soon cheered up and....' +</p> +<p> +"There the unfortunate young man hesitated visibly, but after a while +resumed with an obvious effort. +</p> +<p> +"'She spoke of my marriage, and of the gift she was about to bestow upon +me. She said the diamonds would be for my wife, and after that for my +daughter, if I had one. She also complained that Mr. Macfinlay had been +so punctilious about preparing the deed of gift, and that it was a great +pity the £100,000 could not just pass from her hands to mine without so +much fuss. +</p> +<p> +"'I stayed talking with her for about half an hour; then I left her, as +she seemed ready to go to bed; but I told her maid to listen at the door +in about an hour's time.' +</p> +<p> +"There was deep silence in the court for a few moments, a silence which +to me seemed almost electrical. It was as if, some time before it was +uttered, the next question put by Crown Counsel to the witness had +hovered in the air. +</p> +<p> +"'You were engaged to Miss Edith Crawford at one time, were you not?' +</p> +<p> +"One felt, rather than heard, the almost inaudible 'Yes' which escaped +from David Graham's compressed lips. +</p> +<p> +"'Under what circumstances was that engagement broken off?' +</p> +<p> +"Sir James Fenwick had already risen in protest, but David Graham had +been the first to speak. +</p> +<p> +"'I do not think that I need answer that question.' +</p> +<p> +"'I will put it in a different form, then,' said Crown Counsel +urbanely—'one to which my learned friend cannot possibly take +exception. Did you or did you not on October 27th receive a letter from +the accused, in which she desired to be released from her promise of +marriage to you?' +</p> +<p> +"Again David Graham would have refused to answer, and he certainly gave +no audible reply to the learned counsel's question; but every one in the +audience there present—aye, every member of the jury and of the +bar—read upon David Graham's pale countenance and large, sorrowful eyes +that ominous 'Yes!' which had failed to reach his trembling lips." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH16"><!-- CH16 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XVI +</h2> + +<h3> +"NON PROVEN" +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"There is no doubt," continued the man in the corner, "that what little +sympathy the young girl's terrible position had aroused in the public +mind had died out the moment that David Graham left the witness-box on +the second day of the trial. Whether Edith Crawford was guilty of murder +or not, the callous way in which she had accepted a deformed lover, and +then thrown him over, had set every one's mind against her. +</p> +<p> +"It was Mr. Graham himself who had been the first to put the Procurator +Fiscal in possession of the fact that the accused had written to David +from London, breaking off her engagement. This information had, no +doubt, directed the attention of the Fiscal to Miss Crawford, and the +police soon brought forward the evidence which had led to her arrest. +</p> +<p> +"We had a final sensation on the third day, when Mr. Campbell, jeweller, +of High Street, gave his evidence. He said that on October 25th a lady +came to his shop and offered to sell him a pair of diamond earrings. +Trade had been very bad, and he had refused the bargain, although the +lady seemed ready to part with the earrings for an extraordinarily low +sum, considering the beauty of the stones. +</p> +<p> +"In fact it was because of this evident desire on the lady's part to +sell at <i>any</i> cost that he had looked at her more keenly than he +otherwise would have done. He was now ready to swear that the lady that +offered him the diamond earrings was the prisoner in the dock. +</p> +<p> +"I can assure you that as we all listened to this apparently damnatory +evidence, you might have heard a pin drop amongst the audience in that +crowded court. The girl alone, there in the dock, remained calm and +unmoved. Remember that for two days we had heard evidence to prove that +old Dr. Crawford had died leaving his daughter penniless, that having no +mother she had been brought up by a maiden aunt, who had trained her to +be a governess, which occupation she had followed for years, and that +certainly she had never been known by any of her friends to be in +possession of solitaire diamond earrings. +</p> +<p> +"The prosecution had certainly secured an ace of trumps, but Sir James +Fenwick, who during the whole of that day had seemed to take little +interest in the proceedings, here rose from his seat, and I knew at once +that he had got a tit-bit in the way of a 'point' up his sleeve. Gaunt, +and unusually tall, and with his beak-like nose, he always looks +strangely impressive when he seriously tackles a witness. He did it this +time with a vengeance, I can tell you. He was all over the pompous +little jeweller in a moment. +</p> +<p> +"'Had Mr. Campbell made a special entry in his book, as to the visit of +the lady in question?' +</p> +<p> +"'No.' +</p> +<p> +"'Had he any special means of ascertaining when that visit did actually +take place?' +</p> +<p> +"'No—but—' +</p> +<p> +"'What record had he of the visit?' +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Campbell had none. In fact, after about twenty minutes of +cross-examination, he had to admit that he had given but little thought +to the interview with the lady at the time, and certainly not in +connection with the murder of Lady Donaldson, until he had read in the +papers that a young lady had been arrested. +</p> +<p> +"Then he and his clerk talked the matter over, it appears, and together +they had certainly recollected that a lady had brought some beautiful +earrings for sale on a day which <i>must have been</i> the very morning after +the murder. If Sir James Fenwick's object was to discredit this special +witness, he certainly gained his point. +</p> +<p> +"All the pomposity went out of Mr. Campbell, he became flurried, then +excited, then he lost his temper. After that he was allowed to leave the +court, and Sir James Fenwick resumed his seat, and waited like a +vulture for its prey. +</p> +<p> +"It presented itself in the person of Mr. Campbell's clerk, who, before +the Procurator Fiscal, had corroborated his employer's evidence in every +respect. In Scotland no witness in any one case is present in court +during the examination of another, and Mr. Macfarlane, the clerk, was, +therefore, quite unprepared for the pitfalls which Sir James Fenwick had +prepared for him. He tumbled into them, head foremost, and the eminent +advocate turned him inside out like a glove. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Macfarlane did not lose his temper; he was of too humble a frame of +mind to do that, but he got into a hopeless quagmire of mixed +recollections, and he too left the witness-box quite unprepared to swear +as to the day of the interview with the lady with the diamond earrings. +</p> +<p> +"I dare say, mind you," continued the man in the corner with a chuckle, +"that to most people present, Sir James Fenwick's cross-questioning +seemed completely irrelevant. Both Mr. Campbell and his clerk were quite +ready to swear that they had had an interview concerning some diamond +earrings with a lady, of whose identity with the accused they were +perfectly convinced, and to the casual observer the question as to the +time or even the day when that interview took place could make but +little difference in the ultimate issue. +</p> +<p> +"Now I took in, in a moment, the entire drift of Sir James Fenwick's +defence of Edith Crawford. When Mr. Macfarlane left the witness-box, the +second victim of the eminent advocate's caustic tongue, I could read as +in a book the whole history of that crime, its investigation, and the +mistakes made by the police first and the Public Prosecutor afterwards. +</p> +<p> +"Sir James Fenwick knew them, too, of course, and he placed a finger +upon each one, demolishing—like a child who blows upon a house of +cards—the entire scaffolding erected by the prosecution. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Campbell's and Mr. Macfarlane's identification of the accused with +the lady who, on some date—admitted to be uncertain—had tried to sell +a pair of diamond earrings, was the first point. Sir James had plenty of +witnesses to prove that on the 25th, the day after the murder, the +accused was in London, whilst, the day before, Mr. Campbell's shop had +been closed long before the family circle had seen the last of Lady +Donaldson. Clearly the jeweller and his clerk must have seen some other +lady, whom their vivid imagination had pictured as being identical with +the accused. +</p> +<p> +"Then came the great question of time. Mr. David Graham had been +evidently the last to see Lady Donaldson alive. He had spoken to her as +late as 8.30 p.m. Sir James Fenwick had called two porters at the +Caledonian Railway Station who testified to Miss Crawford having taken +her seat in a first-class carriage of the 9.10 train, some minutes +before it started. +</p> +<p> +"'Was it conceivable, therefore,' argued Sir James, 'that in the space +of half an hour the accused—a young girl—could have found her way +surreptitiously into the house, at a time when the entire household was +still astir, that she should have strangled Lady Donaldson, forced open +the safe, and made away with the jewels? A man—an experienced burglar +might have done it, but I contend that the accused is physically +incapable of accomplishing such a feat. +</p> +<p> +"'With regard to the broken engagement,' continued the eminent counsel +with a smile, 'it may have seemed a little heartless, certainly, but +heartlessness is no crime in the eyes of the law. The accused has stated +in her declaration that at the time she wrote to Mr. David Graham, +breaking off her engagement, she had heard nothing of the Edinburgh +tragedy. +</p> +<p> +"'The London papers had reported the crime very briefly. The accused was +busy shopping; she knew nothing of Mr. David Graham's altered position. +In no case was the breaking off of the engagement a proof that the +accused had obtained possession of the jewels by so foul a deed.' +</p> +<p> +"It is, of course, impossible for me," continued the man in the corner +apologetically, "to give you any idea of the eminent advocate's +eloquence and masterful logic. It struck every one, I think, just as it +did me, that he chiefly directed his attention to the fact that there +was absolutely no <i>proof</i> against the accused. +</p> +<p> +"Be that as it may, the result of that remarkable trial was a verdict of +'Non Proven.' The jury was absent forty minutes, and it appears that in +the mind of every one of them there remained, in spite of Sir James' +arguments, a firmly rooted conviction—call it instinct, if you +like—that Edith Crawford had done away with Lady Donaldson in order to +become possessed of those jewels, and that in spite of the pompous +jeweller's many contradictions, she had offered him some of those +diamonds for sale. But there was not enough proof to convict, and she +was given the benefit of the doubt. +</p> +<p> +"I have heard English people argue that in England she would have been +hanged. Personally I doubt that. I think that an English jury, not +having the judicial loophole of 'Non Proven,' would have been bound to +acquit her. What do you think?" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH17"><!-- CH17 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XVII +</h2> + +<h3> +UNDENIABLE FACTS +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +There was a moment's silence, for Polly did not reply immediately, and +he went on making impossible knots in his bit of string. Then she said +quietly— +</p> +<p> +"I think that I agree with those English people who say that an English +jury would have condemned her.... I have no doubt that she was guilty. +She may not have committed that awful deed herself. Some one in the +Charlotte Square house may have been her accomplice and killed and +robbed Lady Donaldson while Edith Crawford waited outside for the +jewels. David Graham left his godmother at 8.30 p.m. If the accomplice +was one of the servants in the house, he or she would have had plenty of +time for any amount of villainy, and Edith Crawford could have yet +caught the 9.10 p.m. train from the Caledonian Station." +</p> +<p> +"Then who, in your opinion," he asked sarcastically, and cocking his +funny birdlike head on one side, "tried to sell diamond earrings to Mr. +Campbell, the jeweller?" +</p> +<p> +"Edith Crawford, of course," she retorted triumphantly; "he and his +clerk both recognized her." +</p> +<p> +"When did she try to sell them the earrings?" +</p> +<p> +"Ah, that is what I cannot quite make out, and there to my mind lies the +only mystery in this case. On the 25th she was certainly in London, and +it is not very likely that she would go back to Edinburgh in order to +dispose of the jewels there, where they could most easily be traced." +</p> +<p> +"Not very likely, certainly," he assented drily. +</p> +<p> +"And," added the young girl, "on the day before she left for London, +Lady Donaldson was alive." +</p> +<p> +"And pray," he said suddenly, as with comic complacency he surveyed a +beautiful knot he had just twisted up between his long fingers, "what +has that fact got to do with it?" +</p> +<p> +"But it has everything to do with it!" she retorted. +</p> +<p> +"Ah, there you go," he sighed with comic emphasis. "My teachings don't +seem to have improved your powers of reasoning. You are as bad as the +police. Lady Donaldson has been robbed and murdered, and you immediately +argue that she was robbed and murdered by the same person." +</p> +<p> +"But—" argued Polly. +</p> +<p> +"There is no but," he said, getting more and more excited. "See how +simple it is. Edith Crawford wears the diamonds one night, then she +brings them back to Lady Donaldson's room. Remember the maid's +statement: 'My lady said: "Have you put them back, my dear?"—a simple +statement, utterly ignored by the prosecution. But what did it mean? +That Lady Donaldson could not see for herself whether Edith Crawford had +put back the jewels or not, <i>since she asked the question</i>." +</p> +<p> +"Then you argue—" +</p> +<p> +"I never argue," he interrupted excitedly; "I state undeniable facts. +Edith Crawford, who wanted to steal the jewels, took them then and +there, when she had the opportunity. Why in the world should she have +waited? Lady Donaldson was in bed, and Tremlett, the maid, had gone. +</p> +<p> +"The next day—namely, the 25th—she tries to dispose of a pair of +earrings to Mr. Campbell; she fails, and decides to go to London, where +she has a better chance. Sir James Fenwick did not think it desirable to +bring forward witnesses to prove what I have since ascertained is a +fact, namely, that on the 27th of October, three days before her arrest, +Miss Crawford crossed over to Belgium, and came back to London the next +day. In Belgium, no doubt, Lady Donaldson's diamonds, taken out of their +settings, calmly repose at this moment, while the money derived from +their sale is safely deposited in a Belgian bank." +</p> +<p> +"But then, who murdered Lady Donaldson, and why?" gasped Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Cannot you guess?" he queried blandly. "Have I not placed the case +clearly enough before you? To me it seems so simple. It was a daring, +brutal murder, remember. Think of one who, not being the thief himself, +would, nevertheless, have the strongest of all motives to shield the +thief from the consequences of her own misdeed: aye! and the power +too—since it would be absolutely illogical, nay, impossible, that he +should be an accomplice." +</p> +<p> +"Surely——" +</p> +<p> +"Think of a curious nature, warped morally, as well as physically—do +you know how those natures feel? A thousand times more strongly than the +even, straight natures in everyday life. Then think of such a nature +brought face to face with this awful problem. +</p> +<p> +"Do you think that such a nature would hesitate a moment before +committing a crime to save the loved one from the consequences of that +deed? Mind you, I don't assert for a moment that David Graham had any +<i>intention</i> of murdering Lady Donaldson. Tremlett tells him that she +seems strangely upset; he goes to her room and finds that she has +discovered that she has been robbed. She naturally suspects Edith +Crawford, recollects the incidents of the other night, and probably +expresses her feelings to David Graham, and threatens immediate +prosecution, scandal, what you will. +</p> +<p> +"I repeat it again, I dare say he had no wish to kill her. Probably he +merely threatened to. A medical gentleman who spoke of sudden heart +failure was no doubt right. Then imagine David Graham's remorse, his +horror and his fears. The empty safe probably is the first object that +suggested to him the grim tableau of robbery and murder, which he +arranges in order to ensure his own safety. +</p> +<p> +"But remember one thing: no miscreant was seen to enter or leave the +house surreptitiously; the murderer left no signs of entrance, and none +of exit. An armed burglar would have left some trace—<i>some one</i> would +have heard <i>something</i>. Then who locked and unlocked Lady Donaldson's +door that night while she herself lay dead? +</p> +<p> +"Some one in the house, I tell you—some one who left no trace—some one +against whom there could be no suspicion—some one who killed without +apparently the slightest premeditation, and without the slightest +motive. Think of it—I know I am right—and then tell me if I have at +all enlisted your sympathies in the author of the Edinburgh Mystery." +</p> +<p> +He was gone. Polly looked again at the photo of David Graham. Did a +crooked mind really dwell in that crooked body, and were there in the +world such crimes that were great enough to be deemed sublime? +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH18"><!-- CH18 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XVIII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE THEFT AT THE ENGLISH PROVIDENT BANK +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"That question of motive is a very difficult and complicated one at +times," said the man in the corner, leisurely pulling off a huge pair of +flaming dog-skin gloves from his meagre fingers. "I have known +experienced criminal investigators declare, as an infallible axiom, that +to find the person interested in the committal of the crime is to find +the criminal. +</p> +<p> +"Well, that may be so in most cases, but my experience has proved to me +that there is one factor in this world of ours which is the mainspring +of human actions, and that factor is human passions. For good or evil +passions rule this poor humanity of ours. Remember, there are the women! +French detectives, who are acknowledged masters in their craft, never +proceed till after they have discovered the feminine element in a crime; +whether in theft, murder, or fraud, according to their theory, there is +always a woman. +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps the reason why the Phillimore Terrace robbery was never +brought home to its perpetrators is because there was no woman in any +way connected with it, and I am quite sure, on the other hand, that the +reason why the thief at the English Provident Bank is still unpunished +is because a clever woman has escaped the eyes of our police force." +</p> +<p> +He had spoken at great length and very dictatorially. Miss Polly Burton +did not venture to contradict him, knowing by now that whenever he was +irritable he was invariably rude, and she then had the worst of it. +</p> +<p> +"When I am old," he resumed, "and have nothing more to do, I think I +shall take professionally to the police force; they have much to learn." +</p> +<p> +Could anything be more ludicrous than the self-satisfaction, the +abnormal conceit of this remark, made by that shrivelled piece of +mankind, in a nervous, hesitating tone of voice? Polly made no comment, +but drew from her pocket a beautiful piece of string, and knowing his +custom of knotting such an article while unravelling his mysteries, she +handed it across the table to him. She positively thought that he +blushed. +</p> +<p> +"As an adjunct to thought," she said, moved by a conciliatory spirit. +</p> +<p> +He looked at the invaluable toy which the young girl had tantalisingly +placed close to his hand: then he forced himself to look all round the +coffee-room: at Polly, at the waitresses, at the piles of pallid buns +upon the counter. But, involuntarily, his mild blue eyes wandered back +lovingly to the long piece of string, on which his playful imagination +no doubt already saw a series of knots which would be equally +tantalising to tie and to untie. +</p> +<p> +"Tell me about the theft at the English Provident Bank," suggested Polly +condescendingly. +</p> +<p> +He looked at her, as if she had proposed some mysterious complicity in +an unheard-of crime. Finally his lean fingers sought the end of the +piece of string, and drew it towards him. His face brightened up in a +moment. +</p> +<p> +"There was an element of tragedy in that particular robbery," he began, +after a few moments of beatified knotting, "altogether different to that +connected with most crimes; a tragedy which, as far as I am concerned, +would seal my lips for ever, and forbid them to utter a word, which +might lead the police on the right track." +</p> +<p> +"Your lips," suggested Polly sarcastically, "are, as far as I can see, +usually sealed before our long-suffering, incompetent police and—" +</p> +<p> +"And you should be the last to grumble at this," he quietly interrupted, +"for you have spent some very pleasant half-hours already, listening to +what you have termed my 'cock-and-bull' stories. You know the English +Provident Bank, of course, in Oxford Street; there were plenty of +sketches of it at the time in the illustrated papers. Here is a photo of +the outside. I took it myself some time ago, and only wish I had been +cheeky or lucky enough to get a snap-shot of the interior. But you see +that the office has a separate entrance from the rest of the house, +which was, and still is, as is usual in such cases, inhabited by the +manager and his family. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Ireland was the manager then; it was less than six months ago. He +lived over the bank, with his wife and family, consisting of a son, who +was clerk in the business, and two or three younger children. The house +is really smaller than it looks on this photo, for it has no depth, and +only one set of rooms on each floor looking out into the street, the +back of the house being nothing but the staircase. Mr. Ireland and his +family, therefore, occupied the whole of it. +</p> +<p> +"As for the business premises, they were, and, in fact, are, of the +usual pattern; an office with its rows of desks, clerks, and cashiers, +and beyond, through a glass door, the manager's private room, with the +ponderous safe, and desk, and so on. +</p> +<p> +"The private room has a door into the hall of the house, so that the +manager is not obliged to go out into the street in order to go to +business. There are no living-rooms on the ground floor, and the house +has no basement. +</p> +<p> +"I am obliged to put all these architectural details before you, though +they may sound rather dry and uninteresting, but they are really +necessary in order to make my argument clear. +</p> +<p> +"At night, of course, the bank premises are barred and bolted against +the street, and as an additional precaution there is always a night +watchman in the office. As I mentioned before, there is only a glass +door between the office and the manager's private room. This, of course, +accounted for the fact that the night watchman heard all that he did +hear, on that memorable night, and so helped further to entangle the +thread of that impenetrable mystery. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Ireland as a rule went into his office every morning a little +before ten o'clock, but on that particular morning, for some reason +which he never could or would explain, he went down before having his +breakfast at about nine o'clock. Mrs. Ireland stated subsequently that, +not hearing him return, she sent the servant down to tell the master +that breakfast was getting cold. The girl's shrieks were the first +intimation that something alarming had occurred. +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Ireland hastened downstairs. On reaching the hall she found the +door of her husband's room open, and it was from there that the girl's +shrieks proceeded. +</p> +<p> +"'The master, mum—the poor master—he is dead, mum—I am sure he is +dead!'—accompanied by vigorous thumps against the glass partition, and +not very measured language on the part of the watchman from the outer +office, such as—'Why don't you open the door instead of making that +row?' +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Ireland is not the sort of woman who, under any circumstances, +would lose her presence of mind. I think she proved that throughout the +many trying circumstances connected with the investigation of the case. +She gave only one glance at the room and realized the situation. On the +arm-chair, with head thrown back and eyes closed, lay Mr. Ireland, +apparently in a dead faint; some terrible shock must have very suddenly +shattered his nervous system, and rendered him prostrate for the moment. +What that shock had been it was pretty easy to guess. +</p> +<p> +"The door of the safe was wide open, and Mr. Ireland had evidently +tottered and fainted before some awful fact which the open safe had +revealed to him; he had caught himself against a chair which lay on the +floor, and then finally sunk, unconscious, into the arm-chair. +</p> +<p> +"All this, which takes some time to describe," continued the man in the +corner, "took, remember, only a second to pass like a flash through +Mrs. Ireland's mind; she quickly turned the key of the glass door, +which was on the inside, and with the help of James Fairbairn, the +watchman, she carried her husband upstairs to his room, and immediately +sent both for the police and for a doctor. +</p> +<p> +"As Mrs. Ireland had anticipated, her husband had received a severe +mental shock which had completely prostrated him. The doctor prescribed +absolute quiet, and forbade all worrying questions for the present. The +patient was not a young man; the shock had been very severe—it was a +case, a very slight one, of cerebral congestion—and Mr. Ireland's +reason, if not his life, might be gravely jeopardised by any attempt to +recall before his enfeebled mind the circumstances which had preceded +his collapse. +</p> +<p> +"The police therefore could proceed but slowly in their investigations. +The detective who had charge of the case was necessarily handicapped, +whilst one of the chief actors concerned in the drama was unable to help +him in his work. +</p> +<p> +"To begin with, the robber or robbers had obviously not found their way +into the manager's inner room through the bank premises. James Fairbairn +had been on the watch all night, with the electric light full on, and +obviously no one could have crossed the outer office or forced the +heavily barred doors without his knowledge. +</p> +<p> +"There remained the other access to the room, that is, the one through +the hall of the house. The hall door, it appears, was always barred and +bolted by Mr. Ireland himself when he came home, whether from the +theatre or his club. It was a duty he never allowed any one to perform +but himself. During his annual holiday, with his wife and family, his +son, who usually had the sub-manager to stay with him on those +occasions, did the bolting and barring—but with the distinct +understanding that this should be done by ten o'clock at night. +</p> +<p> +"As I have already explained to you, there is only a glass partition +between the general office and the manager's private room, and, +according to James Fairbairn's account, this was naturally always left +wide open so that he, during his night watch, would of necessity hear +the faintest sound. As a rule there was no light left in the manager's +room, and the other door—that leading into the hall—was bolted from +the inside by James Fairbairn the moment he had satisfied himself that +the premises were safe, and he had begun his night-watch. An electric +bell in both the offices communicated with Mr. Ireland's bedroom and +that of his son, Mr. Robert Ireland, and there was a telephone installed +to the nearest district messengers' office, with an understood signal +which meant 'Police.' +</p> +<p> +"At nine o'clock in the morning it was the night watchman's duty, as +soon as the first cashier had arrived, to dust and tidy the manager's +room, and to undo the bolts; after that he was free to go home to his +breakfast and rest. +</p> +<p> +"You will see, of course, that James Fairbairn's position in the English +Provident Bank is one of great responsibility and trust; but then in +every bank and business house there are men who hold similar positions. +They are always men of well-known and tried characters, often old +soldiers with good-conduct records behind them. James Fairbairn is a +fine, powerful Scotchman; he had been night watchman to the English +Provident Bank for fifteen years, and was then not more than forty-three +or forty-four years old. He is an ex-guardsman, and stands six feet +three inches in his socks. +</p> +<p> +"It was his evidence, of course, which was of such paramount importance, +and which somehow or other managed, in spite of the utmost care +exercised by the police, to become public property, and to cause the +wildest excitement in banking and business circles. +</p> +<p> +"James Fairbairn stated that at eight o'clock in the evening of March +25th, having bolted and barred all the shutters and the door of the back +premises, he was about to lock the manager's door as usual, when Mr. +Ireland called to him from the floor above, telling him to leave that +door open, as he might want to go into the office again for a minute +when he came home at eleven o'clock. James Fairbairn asked if he should +leave the light on, but Mr. Ireland said: 'No, turn it out. I can switch +it on if I want it.' +</p> +<p> +"The night watchman at the English Provident Bank has permission to +smoke, he also is allowed a nice fire, and a tray consisting of a plate +of substantial sandwiches and one glass of ale, which he can take when +he likes. James Fairbairn settled himself in front of the fire, lit his +pipe, took out his newspaper, and began to read. He thought he had heard +the street door open and shut at about a quarter to ten; he supposed +that it was Mr. Ireland going out to his club, but at ten minutes to ten +o'clock the watchman heard the door of the manager's room open, and some +one enter, immediately closing the glass partition door and turning the +key. +</p> +<p> +"He naturally concluded it was Mr. Ireland himself. +</p> +<p> +"From where he sat he could not see into the room, but he noticed that +the electric light had not been switched on, and that the manager +seemingly had no light but an occasional match. +</p> +<p> +"'For the minute,' continued James Fairbairn, 'a thought did just cross +my mind that something might perhaps be wrong, and I put my newspaper +aside and went to the other end of the room towards the glass partition. +The manager's room was still quite dark, and I could not clearly see +into it, but the door into the hall was open, and there was, of course, +a light through there. I had got quite close to the partition, when I +saw Mrs. Ireland standing in the doorway, and heard her saying in a very +astonished tone of voice: 'Why, Lewis, I thought you had gone to your +club ages ago. What in the world are you doing here in the dark?' +</p> +<p> +"'Lewis is Mr. Ireland's Christian name,' was James Fairbairn's further +statement. 'I did not hear the manager's reply, but quite satisfied now +that nothing was wrong, I went back to my pipe and my newspaper. Almost +directly afterwards I heard the manager leave his room, cross the hall +and go out by the street door. It was only after he had gone that I +recollected that he must have forgotten to unlock the glass partition +and that I could not therefore bolt the door into the hall the same as +usual, and I suppose that is how those confounded thieves got the better +of me.'" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH19"><!-- CH19 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XIX +</h2> + +<h3> +CONFLICTING EVIDENCE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"By the time the public had been able to think over James Fairbairn's +evidence, a certain disquietude and unrest had begun to make itself felt +both in the bank itself and among those of our detective force who had +charge of the case. The newspapers spoke of the matter with very obvious +caution, and warned all their readers to await the further development +of this sad case. +</p> +<p> +"While the manager of the English Provident Bank lay in such a +precarious condition of health, it was impossible to arrive at any +definite knowledge as to what the thief had actually made away with. The +chief cashier, however, estimated the loss at about £5000 in gold and +notes of the bank money—that was, of course, on the assumption that Mr. +Ireland had no private money or valuables of his own in the safe. +</p> +<p> +"Mind you, at this point public sympathy was much stirred in favour of +the poor man who lay ill, perhaps dying, and yet whom, strangely +enough, suspicion had already slightly touched with its poisoned wing. +</p> +<p> +"Suspicion is a strong word, perhaps, to use at this point in the story. +No one suspected anybody at present. James Fairbairn had told his story, +and had vowed that some thief with false keys must have sneaked through +the house into the inner office. +</p> +<p> +"Public excitement, you will remember, lost nothing by waiting. Hardly +had we all had time to wonder over the night watchman's singular +evidence, and, pending further and fuller detail, to check our growing +sympathy for the man who was ill, than the sensational side of this +mysterious case culminated in one extraordinary, absolutely unexpected +fact. Mrs. Ireland, after a twenty-four hours' untiring watch beside her +husband's sick bed, had at last been approached by the detective, and +been asked to reply to a few simple questions, and thus help to throw +some light on the mystery which had caused Mr. Ireland's illness and her +own consequent anxiety. +</p> +<p> +"She professed herself quite ready to reply to any questions put to her, +and she literally astounded both inspector and detective when she firmly +and emphatically declared that James Fairbairn must have been dreaming +or asleep when he thought he saw her in the doorway at ten o'clock that +night, and fancied he heard her voice. +</p> +<p> +"She may or may not have been down in the hall at that particular hour, +for she usually ran down herself to see if the last post had brought any +letters, but most certainly she had neither seen nor spoken to Mr. +Ireland at that hour, for Mr. Ireland had gone out an hour before, she +herself having seen him to the front door. Never for a moment did she +swerve from this extraordinary statement. She spoke to James Fairbairn +in the presence of the detective, and told him he <i>must</i> absolutely have +been mistaken, that she had <i>not</i> seen Mr. Ireland, and that she had +<i>not</i> spoken to him. +</p> +<p> +"One other person was questioned by the police, and that was Mr. Robert +Ireland, the manager's eldest son. It was presumed that he would know +something of his father's affairs; the idea having now taken firm hold +of the detective's mind that perhaps grave financial difficulties had +tempted the unfortunate manager to appropriate some of the firm's money. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Robert Ireland, however, could not say very much. His father did +not confide in him to the extent of telling him all his private affairs, +but money never seemed scarce at home certainly, and Mr. Ireland had, to +his son's knowledge, not a single extravagant habit. He himself had been +dining out with a friend on that memorable evening, and had gone on with +him to the Oxford Music Hall. He met his father on the doorstep of the +bank at about 11.30 p.m. and they went in together. There certainly was +nothing remarkable about Mr. Ireland then, his son averred; he appeared +in no way excited, and bade his son good night quite cheerfully. +</p> +<p> +"There was the extraordinary, the remarkable hitch," continued the man +in the corner, waxing more and more excited every moment. "The +public—who is at times very dense—saw it clearly nevertheless: of +course, every one at once jumped to the natural conclusion that Mrs. +Ireland was telling a lie—a noble lie, a self-sacrificing lie, a lie +endowed with all the virtues if you like, but still a lie. +</p> +<p> +"She was trying to save her husband, and was going the wrong way to +work. James Fairbairn, after all, could not have dreamt quite all that +he declared he had seen and heard. No one suspected James Fairbairn; +there was no occasion to do that; to begin with he was a great heavy +Scotchman with obviously no powers of invention, such as Mrs. Ireland's +strange assertion credited him with; moreover, the theft of the +bank-notes could not have been of the slightest use to him. +</p> +<p> +"But, remember, there was the hitch; without it the public mind would +already have condemned the sick man upstairs, without hope of +rehabilitation. This fact struck every one. +</p> +<p> +"Granting that Mr. Ireland had gone into his office at ten minutes to +ten o'clock at night for the purpose of extracting £5000 worth of notes +and gold from the bank safe, whilst giving the theft the appearance of a +night burglary; granting that he was disturbed in his nefarious project +by his wife, who, failing to persuade him to make restitution, took his +side boldly, and very clumsily attempted to rescue him out of his +difficult position—why should he, at nine o'clock the following +morning, fall in a dead faint and get cerebral congestion at sight of a +defalcation he knew had occurred? One might simulate a fainting fit, but +no one can assume a high temperature and a congestion, which the most +ordinary practitioner who happened to be called in would soon see were +non-existent. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Ireland, according to James Fairbairn's evidence, must have gone +out soon after the theft, come in again with his son an hour and a half +later, talked to him, gone quietly to bed, and waited for nine hours +before he fell ill at sight of his own crime. It was not logical, you +will admit. Unfortunately, the poor man himself was unable to give any +explanation of the night's tragic adventures. +</p> +<p> +"He was still very weak, and though under strong suspicion, he was left, +by the doctor's orders, in absolute ignorance of the heavy charges which +were gradually accumulating against him. He had made many anxious +inquiries from all those who had access to his bedside as to the result +of the investigation, and the probable speedy capture of the burglars, +but every one had strict orders to inform him merely that the police so +far had no clue of any kind. +</p> +<p> +"You will admit, as every one did, that there was something very +pathetic about the unfortunate man's position, so helpless to defend +himself, if defence there was, against so much overwhelming evidence. +That is why I think public sympathy remained with him. Still, it was +terrible to think of his wife presumably knowing him to be guilty, and +anxiously waiting whilst dreading the moment when, restored to health, +he would have to face the doubts, the suspicions, probably the open +accusations, which were fast rising up around him." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH20"><!-- CH20 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XX +</h2> + +<p> +AN <i>ALIBI</i> +</p> +<p> +"It was close on six weeks before the doctor at last allowed his patient +to attend to the grave business which had prostrated him for so long. +</p> +<p> +"In the meantime, among the many people who directly or indirectly were +made to suffer in this mysterious affair, no one, I think, was more +pitied, and more genuinely sympathised with, than Robert Ireland, the +manager's eldest son. +</p> +<p> +"You remember that he had been clerk in the bank? Well, naturally, the +moment suspicion began to fasten on his father his position in the +business became untenable. I think every one was very kind to him. Mr. +Sutherland French, who was made acting manager 'during Mr. Lewis +Ireland's regrettable absence,' did everything in his power to show his +goodwill and sympathy to the young man, but I don't think that he or any +one else was much astonished when, after Mrs. Ireland's extraordinary +attitude in the case had become public property, he quietly intimated +to the acting manager that he had determined to sever his connection +with the bank. +</p> +<p> +"The best of recommendations was, of course, placed at his disposal, and +it was finally understood that, as soon as his father was completely +restored to health and would no longer require his presence in London, +he would try to obtain employment somewhere abroad. He spoke of the new +volunteer corps organized for the military policing of the new colonies, +and, truth to tell, no one could blame him that he should wish to leave +far behind him all London banking connections. The son's attitude +certainly did not tend to ameliorate the father's position. It was +pretty evident that his own family had ceased to hope in the poor +manager's innocence. +</p> +<p> +"And yet he was absolutely innocent. You must remember how that fact was +clearly demonstrated as soon as the poor man was able to say a word for +himself. And he said it to some purpose, too. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Ireland was, and is, very fond of music. On the evening in +question, while sitting in his club, he saw in one of the daily papers +the announcement of a peculiarly attractive programme at the Queen's +Hall concert. He was not dressed, but nevertheless felt an irresistible +desire to hear one or two of these attractive musical items, and he +strolled down to the Hall. Now, this sort of alibi is usually very +difficult to prove, but Dame Fortune, oddly enough, favoured Mr. Ireland +on this occasion, probably to compensate him for the hard knocks she had +been dealing him pretty freely of late. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that there was some difficulty about his seat, which was +sold to him at the box office, and which he, nevertheless, found +wrongfully occupied by a determined lady, who refused to move. The +management had to be appealed to; the attendants also remembered not +only the incident, but also the face and appearance of the gentleman who +was the innocent cause of the altercation. +</p> +<p> +"As soon as Mr. Ireland could speak for himself he mentioned the +incident and the persons who had been witness to it. He was identified +by them, to the amazement, it must be confessed, of police and public +alike, who had comfortably decided that no one <i>could</i> be guilty save +the manager of the Provident Bank himself. Moreover, Mr. Ireland was a +fairly wealthy man, with a good balance at the Union Bank, and plenty of +private means, the result of years of provident living. +</p> +<p> +"He had but to prove that if he really had been in need of an immediate +£5000—which was all the amount extracted from the bank safe that +night—he had plenty of securities on which he could, at an hour's +notice, have raised twice that sum. His life insurances had been fully +paid up; he had not a debt which a £5 note could not easily have +covered. +</p> +<p> +"On the fatal night he certainly did remember asking the watchman not to +bolt the door to his office, as he thought he might have one or two +letters to write when he came home, but later on he had forgotten all +about this. After the concert he met his son in Oxford Street, just +outside the house, and thought no more about the office, the door of +which was shut, and presented no unusual appearance. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Ireland absolutely denied having been in his office at the hour +when James Fairbairn positively asserted he heard Mrs. Ireland say in an +astonished tone of voice: 'Why, Lewis, what in the world are you doing +here?' It became pretty clear therefore that James Fairbairn's view of +the manager's wife had been a mere vision. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Ireland gave up his position as manager of the English Provident: +both he and his wife felt no doubt that on the whole, perhaps, there had +been too much talk, too much scandal connected with their name, to be +altogether advantageous to the bank. Moreover, Mr. Ireland's health was +not so good as it had been. He has a pretty house now at Sittingbourne, +and amuses himself during his leisure hours with amateur horticulture, +and I, who alone in London besides the persons directly connected with +this mysterious affair, know the true solution of the enigma, often +wonder how much of it is known to the ex-manager of the English +Provident Bank." +</p> +<p> +The man in the corner had been silent for some time. Miss Polly Burton, +in her presumption, had made up her mind, at the commencement of his +tale, to listen attentively to every point of the evidence in connection +with the case which he recapitulated before her, and to follow the +point, in order to try and arrive at a conclusion of her own, and +overwhelm the antediluvian scarecrow with her sagacity. +</p> +<p> +She said nothing, for she had arrived at no conclusion; the case puzzled +every one, and had amazed the public in its various stages, from the +moment when opinion began to cast doubt on Mr. Ireland's honesty to that +when his integrity was proved beyond a doubt. One or two people had +suspected Mrs. Ireland to have been the actual thief, but that idea had +soon to be abandoned. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Ireland had all the money she wanted; the theft occurred six months +ago, and not a single bank-note was ever traced to her pocket; moreover, +she must have had an accomplice, since some one else was in the +manager's room that night; and if that some one else was her accomplice, +why did she risk betraying him by speaking loudly in the presence of +James Fairbairn, when it would have been so much simpler to turn out +the light and plunge the hall into darkness? +</p> +<p> +"You are altogether on the wrong track," sounded a sharp voice in direct +answer to Polly's thoughts—"altogether wrong. If you want to acquire my +method of induction, and improve your reasoning power, you must follow +my system. First think of the one absolutely undisputed, positive fact. +You must have a starting-point, and not go wandering about in the realms +of suppositions." +</p> +<p> +"But there are no positive facts," she said irritably. +</p> +<p> +"You don't say so?" he said quietly. "Do you not call it a positive fact +that the bank safe was robbed of £5000 on the evening of March 25th +before 11.30 p.m." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, that is all which is positive and—" +</p> +<p> +"Do you not call it a positive fact," he interrupted quietly, "that the +lock of the safe not being picked, it must have been opened by its own +key?" +</p> +<p> +"I know that," she rejoined crossly, "and that is why every one agreed +that James Fairbairn could not possibly—" +</p> +<p> +"And do you not call it a positive fact, then, that James Fairbairn +could not possibly, etc., etc., seeing that the glass partition door was +locked from the inside; Mrs. Ireland herself let James Fairbairn into +her husband's office when she saw him lying fainting before the open +safe. Of course that was a positive fact, and so was the one that proved +to any thinking mind that if that safe was opened with a key, it could +only have been done by a person having access to that key." +</p> +<p> +"But the man in the private office—" +</p> +<p> +"Exactly! the man in the private office. Enumerate his points, if you +please," said the funny creature, marking each point with one of his +favourite knots. "He was a man who might that night have had access to +the key of the safe, unsuspected by the manager or even his wife, and a +man for whom Mrs. Ireland was willing to tell a downright lie. Are there +many men for whom a woman of the better middle class, and an +Englishwoman, would be ready to perjure herself? Surely not! She might +do it for her husband. The public thought she had. It never struck them +that she might have done it for her son!" +</p> +<p> +"Her son!" exclaimed Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Ah! she was a clever woman," he ejaculated enthusiastically, "one with +courage and presence of mind, which I don't think I have ever seen +equalled. She runs downstairs before going to bed in order to see +whether the last post has brought any letters. She sees the door of her +husband's office ajar, she pushes it open, and there, by the sudden +flash of a hastily struck match she realizes in a moment that a thief +stands before the open safe, and in that thief she has already +recognized her son. At that very moment she hears the watchman's step +approaching the partition. There is no time to warn her son; she does +not know the glass door is locked; James Fairbairn may switch on the +electric light and see the young man in the very act of robbing his +employers' safe. +</p> +<p> +"One thing alone can reassure the watchman. One person alone had the +right to be there at that hour of the night, and without hesitation she +pronounces her husband's name. +</p> +<p> +"Mind you, I firmly believe that at the time the poor woman only wished +to gain time, that she had every hope that her son had not yet had the +opportunity to lay so heavy a guilt upon his conscience. +</p> +<p> +"What passed between mother and son we shall never know, but this much +we do know, that the young villain made off with his booty, and trusted +that his mother would never betray him. Poor woman! what a night of it +she must have spent; but she was clever and far-seeing. She knew that +her husband's character could not suffer through her action. +Accordingly, she took the only course open to her to save her son even +from his father's wrath, and boldly denied James Fairbairn's statement. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, she was fully aware that her husband could easily clear +himself, and the worst that could be said of her was that she had +thought him guilty and had tried to save him. She trusted to the future +to clear her of any charge of complicity in the theft. +</p> +<p> +"By now every one has forgotten most of the circumstances; the police +are still watching the career of James Fairbairn and Mrs. Ireland's +expenditure. As you know, not a single note, so far, has been traced to +her. Against that, one or two of the notes have found their way back to +England. No one realizes how easy it is to cash English bank-notes at +the smaller <i>agents de change</i> abroad. The <i>changeurs</i> are only too glad +to get them; what do they care where they come from as long as they are +genuine? And a week or two later <i>M. le Changeur</i> could not swear who +tendered him any one particular note. +</p> +<p> +"You see, young Robert Ireland went abroad, he will come back some day +having made a fortune. There's his photo. And this is his mother—a +clever woman, wasn't she?" +</p> +<p> +And before Polly had time to reply he was gone. She really had never +seen any one move across a room so quickly. But he always left an +interesting trail behind: a piece of string knotted from end to end and +a few photos. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH21"><!-- CH21 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXI +</h2> + +<h3> +THE DUBLIN MYSTERY +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"I always thought that the history of that forged will was about as +interesting as any I had read," said the man in the corner that day. He +had been silent for some time, and was meditatively sorting and looking +through a packet of small photographs in his pocket-book. Polly guessed +that some of these would presently be placed before her for +inspection—and she had not long to wait. +</p> +<p> +"That is old Brooks," he said, pointing to one of the photographs, +"Millionaire Brooks, as he was called, and these are his two sons, +Percival and Murray. It was a curious case, wasn't it? Personally I +don't wonder that the police were completely at sea. If a member of that +highly estimable force happened to be as clever as the clever author of +that forged will, we should have very few undetected crimes in this +country." +</p> +<p> +"That is why I always try to persuade you to give our poor ignorant +police the benefit of your great insight and wisdom," said Polly, with +a smile. +</p> +<p> +"I know," he said blandly, "you have been most kind in that way, but I +am only an amateur. Crime interests me only when it resembles a clever +game of chess, with many intricate moves which all tend to one solution, +the checkmating of the antagonist—the detective force of the country. +Now, confess that, in the Dublin mystery, the clever police there were +absolutely checkmated." +</p> +<p> +"Absolutely." +</p> +<p> +"Just as the public was. There were actually two crimes committed in one +city which have completely baffled detection: the murder of Patrick +Wethered the lawyer, and the forged will of Millionaire Brooks. There +are not many millionaires in Ireland; no wonder old Brooks was a +notability in his way, since his business—bacon curing, I believe it +is—is said to be worth over £2,000,000 of solid money. +</p> +<p> +"His younger son Murray was a refined, highly educated man, and was, +moreover, the apple of his father's eye, as he was the spoilt darling of +Dublin society; good-looking, a splendid dancer, and a perfect rider, he +was the acknowledged 'catch' of the matrimonial market of Ireland, and +many a very aristocratic house was opened hospitably to the favourite +son of the millionaire. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, Percival Brooks, the eldest son, would inherit the bulk of +the old man's property and also probably the larger share in the +business; he, too, was good-looking, more so than his brother; he, too, +rode, danced, and talked well, but it was many years ago that mammas +with marriageable daughters had given up all hopes of Percival Brooks as +a probable son-in-law. That young man's infatuation for Maisie +Fortescue, a lady of undoubted charm but very doubtful antecedents, who +had astonished the London and Dublin music-halls with her extravagant +dances, was too well known and too old-established to encourage any +hopes in other quarters. +</p> +<p> +"Whether Percival Brooks would ever marry Maisie Fortescue was thought +to be very doubtful. Old Brooks had the full disposal of all his wealth, +and it would have fared ill with Percival if he introduced an +undesirable wife into the magnificent Fitzwilliam Place establishment. +</p> +<p> +"That is how matters stood," continued the man in the corner, "when +Dublin society one morning learnt, with deep regret and dismay, that old +Brooks had died very suddenly at his residence after only a few hours' +illness. At first it was generally understood that he had had an +apoplectic stroke; anyway, he had been at business hale and hearty as +ever the day before his death, which occurred late on the evening of +February 1st. +</p> +<p> +"It was the morning papers of February 2nd which told the sad news to +their readers, and it was those selfsame papers which on that eventful +morning contained another even more startling piece of news, that proved +the prelude to a series of sensations such as tranquil, placid Dublin +had not experienced for many years. This was, that on that very +afternoon which saw the death of Dublin's greatest millionaire, Mr. +Patrick Wethered, his solicitor, was murdered in Phoenix Park at five +o'clock in the afternoon while actually walking to his own house from +his visit to his client in Fitzwilliam Place. +</p> +<p> +"Patrick Wethered was as well known as the proverbial town pump; his +mysterious and tragic death filled all Dublin with dismay. The lawyer, +who was a man sixty years of age, had been struck on the back of the +head by a heavy stick, garrotted, and subsequently robbed, for neither +money, watch, or pocket-book were found upon his person, whilst the +police soon gathered from Patrick Wethered's household that he had left +home at two o'clock that afternoon, carrying both watch and pocket-book, +and undoubtedly money as well. +</p> +<p> +"An inquest was held, and a verdict of wilful murder was found against +some person or persons unknown. +</p> +<p> +"But Dublin had not exhausted its stock of sensations yet. Millionaire +Brooks had been buried with due pomp and magnificence, and his will had +been proved (his business and personalty being estimated at £2,500,000) +by Percival Gordon Brooks, his eldest son and sole executor. The younger +son, Murray, who had devoted the best years of his life to being a +friend and companion to his father, while Percival ran after +ballet-dancers and music-hall stars—Murray, who had avowedly been the +apple of his father's eye in consequence—was left with a miserly +pittance of £300 a year, and no share whatever in the gigantic business +of Brooks & Sons, bacon curers, of Dublin. +</p> +<p> +"Something had evidently happened within the precincts of the Brooks' +town mansion, which the public and Dublin society tried in vain to +fathom. Elderly mammas and blushing <i>débutantes</i> were already thinking +of the best means whereby next season they might more easily show the +cold shoulder to young Murray Brooks, who had so suddenly become a +hopeless 'detrimental' in the marriage market, when all these sensations +terminated in one gigantic, overwhelming bit of scandal, which for the +next three months furnished food for gossip in every drawing-room in +Dublin. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Murray Brooks, namely, had entered a claim for probate of a will, +made by his father in 1891, declaring that the later will made the very +day of his father's death and proved by his brother as sole executor, +was null and void, that will being a forgery." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH22"><!-- CH22 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXII +</h2> + +<h3> +FORGERY +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"The facts that transpired in connection with this extraordinary case +were sufficiently mysterious to puzzle everybody. As I told you before, +all Mr. Brooks' friends never quite grasped the idea that the old man +should so completely have cut off his favourite son with the proverbial +shilling. +</p> +<p> +"You see, Percival had always been a thorn in the old man's flesh. +Horse-racing, gambling, theatres, and music-halls were, in the old +pork-butcher's eyes, so many deadly sins which his son committed every +day of his life, and all the Fitzwilliam Place household could testify +to the many and bitter quarrels which had arisen between father and son +over the latter's gambling or racing debts. Many people asserted that +Brooks would sooner have left his money to charitable institutions than +seen it squandered upon the brightest stars that adorned the music-hall +stage. +</p> +<p> +"The case came up for hearing early in the autumn. In the meanwhile +Percival Brooks had given up his racecourse associates, settled down in +the Fitzwilliam Place mansion, and conducted his father's business, +without a manager, but with all the energy and forethought which he had +previously devoted to more unworthy causes. +</p> +<p> +"Murray had elected not to stay on in the old house; no doubt +associations were of too painful and recent a nature; he was boarding +with the family of a Mr. Wilson Hibbert, who was the late Patrick +Wethered's, the murdered lawyer's, partner. They were quiet, homely +people, who lived in a very pokey little house in Kilkenny Street, and +poor Murray must, in spite of his grief, have felt very bitterly the +change from his luxurious quarters in his father's mansion to his +present tiny room and homely meals. +</p> +<p> +"Percival Brooks, who was now drawing an income of over a hundred +thousand a year, was very severely criticised for adhering so strictly +to the letter of his father's will, and only paying his brother that +paltry £300 a year, which was very literally but the crumbs off his own +magnificent dinner table. +</p> +<p> +"The issue of that contested will case was therefore awaited with eager +interest. In the meanwhile the police, who had at first seemed fairly +loquacious on the subject of the murder of Mr. Patrick Wethered, +suddenly became strangely reticent, and by their very reticence aroused +a certain amount of uneasiness in the public mind, until one day the +<i>Irish Times</i> published the following extraordinary, enigmatic +paragraph: +</p> +<p> +"'We hear on authority which cannot be questioned, that certain +extraordinary developments are expected in connection with the brutal +murder of our distinguished townsman Mr. Wethered; the police, in fact, +are vainly trying to keep it secret that they hold a clue which is as +important as it is sensational, and that they only await the impending +issue of a well-known litigation in the probate court to effect an +arrest.' +</p> +<p> +"The Dublin public flocked to the court to hear the arguments in the +great will case. I myself journeyed down to Dublin. As soon as I +succeeded in fighting my way to the densely crowded court, I took stock +of the various actors in the drama, which I as a spectator was prepared +to enjoy. There were Percival Brooks and Murray his brother, the two +litigants, both good-looking and well dressed, and both striving, by +keeping up a running conversation with their lawyer, to appear +unconcerned and confident of the issue. With Percival Brooks was Henry +Oranmore, the eminent Irish K.C., whilst Walter Hibbert, a rising young +barrister, the son of Wilson Hibbert, appeared for Murray. +</p> +<p> +"The will of which the latter claimed probate was one dated 1891, and +had been made by Mr. Brooks during a severe illness which threatened to +end his days. This will had been deposited in the hands of Messrs. +Wethered and Hibbert, solicitors to the deceased, and by it Mr. Brooks +left his personalty equally divided between his two sons, but had left +his business entirely to his youngest son, with a charge of £2000 a year +upon it, payable to Percival. You see that Murray Brooks therefore had a +very deep interest in that second will being found null and void. +</p> +<p> +"Old Mr. Hibbert had very ably instructed his son, and Walter Hibbert's +opening speech was exceedingly clever. He would show, he said, on behalf +of his client, that the will dated February 1st, 1908, could never have +been made by the late Mr. Brooks, as it was absolutely contrary to his +avowed intentions, and that if the late Mr. Brooks did on the day in +question make any fresh will at all, it certainly was <i>not</i> the one +proved by Mr. Percival Brooks, for that was absolutely a forgery from +beginning to end. Mr. Walter Hibbert proposed to call several witnesses +in support of both these points. +</p> +<p> +"On the other hand, Mr. Henry Oranmore, K.C., very ably and courteously +replied that he too had several witnesses to prove that Mr. Brooks +certainly did make a will on the day in question, and that, whatever his +intentions may have been in the past, he must have modified them on the +day of his death, for the will proved by Mr. Percival Brooks was found +after his death under his pillow, duly signed and witnessed and in every +way legal. +</p> +<p> +"Then the battle began in sober earnest. There were a great many +witnesses to be called on both sides, their evidence being of more or +less importance—chiefly less. But the interest centred round the +prosaic figure of John O'Neill, the butler at Fitzwilliam Place, who had +been in Mr. Brooks' family for thirty years. +</p> +<p> +"'I was clearing away my breakfast things,' said John, 'when I heard the +master's voice in the study close by. Oh my, he was that angry! I could +hear the words "disgrace," and "villain," and "liar," and +"ballet-dancer," and one or two other ugly words as applied to some +female lady, which I would not like to repeat. At first I did not take +much notice, as I was quite used to hearing my poor dear master having +words with Mr. Percival. So I went downstairs carrying my breakfast +things; but I had just started cleaning my silver when the study bell +goes ringing violently, and I hear Mr. Percival's voice shouting in the +hall: "John! quick! Send for Dr. Mulligan at once. Your master is not +well! Send one of the men, and you come up and help me to get Mr. Brooks +to bed." +</p> +<p> +"'I sent one of the grooms for the doctor,' continued John, who seemed +still affected at the recollection of his poor master, to whom he had +evidently been very much attached, 'and I went up to see Mr. Brooks. I +found him lying on the study floor, his head supported in Mr. Percival's +arms. "My father has fallen in a faint," said the young master; "help me +to get him up to his room before Dr. Mulligan comes." +</p> +<p> +"'Mr. Percival looked very white and upset, which was only natural; and +when we had got my poor master to bed, I asked if I should not go and +break the news to Mr. Murray, who had gone to business an hour ago. +However, before Mr. Percival had time to give me an order the doctor +came. I thought I had seen death plainly writ in my master's face, and +when I showed the doctor out an hour later, and he told me that he would +be back directly, I knew that the end was near. +</p> +<p> +"'Mr. Brooks rang for me a minute or two later. He told me to send at +once for Mr. Wethered, or else for Mr. Hibbert, if Mr. Wethered could +not come. "I haven't many hours to live, John," he says to me—"my heart +is broke, the doctor says my heart is broke. A man shouldn't marry and +have children, John, for they will sooner or later break his heart." I +was so upset I couldn't speak; but I sent round at once for Mr. +Wethered, who came himself just about three o'clock that afternoon. +</p> +<p> +"'After he had been with my master about an hour I was called in, and +Mr. Wethered said to me that Mr. Brooks wished me and one other of us +servants to witness that he had signed a paper which was on a table by +his bedside. I called Pat Mooney, the head footman, and before us both +Mr. Brooks put his name at the bottom of that paper. Then Mr. Wethered +give me the pen and told me to write my name as a witness, and that Pat +Mooney was to do the same. After that we were both told that we could +go.' +</p> +<p> +"The old butler went on to explain that he was present in his late +master's room on the following day when the undertakers, who had come to +lay the dead man out, found a paper underneath his pillow. John O'Neill, +who recognized the paper as the one to which he had appended his +signature the day before, took it to Mr. Percival, and gave it into his +hands. +</p> +<p> +"In answer to Mr. Walter Hibbert, John asserted positively that he took +the paper from the undertaker's hand and went straight with it to Mr. +Percival's room. +</p> +<p> +"'He was alone,' said John; 'I gave him the paper. He just glanced at +it, and I thought he looked rather astonished, but he said nothing, and +I at once left the room.' +</p> +<p> +"'When you say that you recognized the paper as the one which you had +seen your master sign the day before, how did you actually recognize +that it was the same paper?' asked Mr. Hibbert amidst breathless +interest on the part of the spectators. I narrowly observed the +witness's face. +</p> +<p> +"'It looked exactly the same paper to me, sir,' replied John, somewhat +vaguely. +</p> +<p> +"'Did you look at the contents, then?' +</p> +<p> +"'No, sir; certainly not.' +</p> +<p> +"'Had you done so the day before?' +</p> +<p> +"'No, sir, only at my master's signature.' +</p> +<p> +"'Then you only thought by the <i>outside</i> look of the paper that it was +the same?' +</p> +<p> +"'It looked the same thing, sir,' persisted John obstinately. +</p> +<p> +"You see," continued the man in the corner, leaning eagerly forward +across the narrow marble table, "the contention of Murray Brooks' +adviser was that Mr. Brooks, having made a will and hidden it—for some +reason or other under his pillow—that will had fallen, through the +means related by John O'Neill, into the hands of Mr. Percival Brooks, +who had destroyed it and substituted a forged one in its place, which +adjudged the whole of Mr. Brooks' millions to himself. It was a terrible +and very daring accusation directed against a gentleman who, in spite of +his many wild oats sowed in early youth, was a prominent and important +figure in Irish high life. +</p> +<p> +"All those present were aghast at what they heard, and the whispered +comments I could hear around me showed me that public opinion, at +least, did not uphold Mr. Murray Brooks' daring accusation against his +brother. +</p> +<p> +"But John O'Neill had not finished his evidence, and Mr. Walter Hibbert +had a bit of sensation still up his sleeve. He had, namely, produced a +paper, the will proved by Mr. Percival Brooks, and had asked John +O'Neill if once again he recognized the paper. +</p> +<p> +"'Certainly, sir,' said John unhesitatingly, 'that is the one the +undertaker found under my poor dead master's pillow, and which I took to +Mr. Percival's room immediately.' +</p> +<p> +"Then the paper was unfolded and placed before the witness. +</p> +<p> +"'Now, Mr. O'Neill, will you tell me if that is your signature?' +</p> +<p> +"John looked at it for a moment; then he said: 'Excuse me, sir,' and +produced a pair of spectacles which he carefully adjusted before he +again examined the paper. Then he thoughtfully shook his head. +</p> +<p> +"'It don't look much like my writing, sir,' he said at last. 'That is to +say,' he added, by way of elucidating the matter, 'it does look like my +writing, but then I don't think it is.' +</p> +<p> +"There was at that moment a look in Mr. Percival Brooks' face," +continued the man in the corner quietly, "which then and there gave me +the whole history of that quarrel, that illness of Mr. Brooks, of the +will, aye! and of the murder of Patrick Wethered too. +</p> +<p> +"All I wondered at was how every one of those learned counsel on both +sides did not get the clue just the same as I did, but went on arguing, +speechifying, cross-examining for nearly a week, until they arrived at +the one conclusion which was inevitable from the very first, namely, +that the will <i>was</i> a forgery—a gross, clumsy, idiotic forgery, since +both John O'Neill and Pat Mooney, the two witnesses, absolutely +repudiated the signatures as their own. The only successful bit of +caligraphy the forger had done was the signature of old Mr. Brooks. +</p> +<p> +"It was a very curious fact, and one which had undoubtedly aided the +forger in accomplishing his work quickly, that Mr. Wethered the lawyer +having, no doubt, realized that Mr. Brooks had not many moments in life +to spare, had not drawn up the usual engrossed, magnificent document +dear to the lawyer heart, but had used for his client's will one of +those regular printed forms which can be purchased at any stationer's. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Percival Brooks, of course, flatly denied the serious allegation +brought against him. He admitted that the butler had brought him the +document the morning after his father's death, and that he certainly, on +glancing at it, had been very much astonished to see that that document +was his father's will. Against that he declared that its contents did +not astonish him in the slightest degree, that he himself knew of the +testator's intentions, but that he certainly thought his father had +entrusted the will to the care of Mr. Wethered, who did all his business +for him. +</p> +<p> +"'I only very cursorily glanced at the signature,' he concluded, +speaking in a perfectly calm, clear voice; 'you must understand that the +thought of forgery was very far from my mind, and that my father's +signature is exceedingly well imitated, if, indeed, it is not his own, +which I am not at all prepared to believe. As for the two witnesses' +signatures, I don't think I had ever seen them before. I took the +document to Messrs. Barkston and Maud, who had often done business for +me before, and they assured me that the will was in perfect form and +order.' +</p> +<p> +"Asked why he had not entrusted the will to his father's solicitors, he +replied: +</p> +<p> +"'For the very simple reason that exactly half an hour before the will +was placed in my hands, I had read that Mr. Patrick Wethered had been +murdered the night before. Mr. Hibbert, the junior partner, was not +personally known to me.' +</p> +<p> +"After that, for form's sake, a good deal of expert evidence was heard +on the subject of the dead man's signature. But that was quite +unanimous, and merely went to corroborate what had already been +established beyond a doubt, namely, that the will dated February 1st, +1908, was a forgery, and probate of the will dated 1891 was therefore +granted to Mr. Murray Brooks, the sole executor mentioned therein." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH23"><!-- CH23 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXIII +</h2> + +<h3> +A MEMORABLE DAY +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Two days later the police applied for a warrant for the arrest of Mr. +Percival Brooks on a charge of forgery. +</p> +<p> +"The Crown prosecuted, and Mr. Brooks had again the support of Mr. +Oranmore, the eminent K.C. Perfectly calm, like a man conscious of his +own innocence and unable to grasp the idea that justice does sometimes +miscarry, Mr. Brooks, the son of the millionaire, himself still the +possessor of a very large fortune under the former will, stood up in the +dock on that memorable day in October, 1908, which still no doubt lives +in the memory of his many friends. +</p> +<p> +"All the evidence with regard to Mr. Brooks' last moments and the forged +will was gone through over again. That will, it was the contention of +the Crown, had been forged so entirely in favour of the accused, cutting +out every one else, that obviously no one but the beneficiary under that +false will would have had any motive in forging it. +</p> +<p> +"Very pale, and with a frown between his deep-set, handsome Irish eyes, +Percival Brooks listened to this large volume of evidence piled up +against him by the Crown. +</p> +<p> +"At times he held brief consultations with Mr. Oranmore, who seemed as +cool as a cucumber. Have you ever seen Oranmore in court? He is a +character worthy of Dickens. His pronounced brogue, his fat, podgy, +clean-shaven face, his not always immaculately clean large hands, have +often delighted the caricaturist. As it very soon transpired during that +memorable magisterial inquiry, he relied for a verdict in favour of his +client upon two main points, and he had concentrated all his skill upon +making these two points as telling as he possibly could. +</p> +<p> +"The first point was the question of time, John O'Neill, cross-examined +by Oranmore, stated without hesitation that he had given the will to Mr. +Percival at eleven o'clock in the morning. And now the eminent K.C. +brought forward and placed in the witness-box the very lawyers into +whose hands the accused had then immediately placed the will. Now, Mr. +Barkston, a very well-known solicitor of King Street, declared +positively that Mr. Percival Brooks was in his office at a quarter +before twelve; two of his clerks testified to the same time exactly, and +it was <i>impossible</i>, contended Mr. Oranmore, that within three-quarters +of an hour Mr. Brooks could have gone to a stationer's, bought a will +form, copied Mr. Wethered's writing, his father's signature, and that +of John O'Neill and Pat Mooney. +</p> +<p> +"Such a thing might have been planned, arranged, practised, and +ultimately, after a great deal of trouble, successfully carried out, but +human intelligence could not grasp the other as a possibility. +</p> +<p> +"Still the judge wavered. The eminent K.C. had shaken but not shattered +his belief in the prisoner's guilt. But there was one point more, and +this Oranmore, with the skill of a dramatist, had reserved for the fall +of the curtain. +</p> +<p> +"He noted every sign in the judge's face, he guessed that his client was +not yet absolutely safe, then only did he produce his last two +witnesses. +</p> +<p> +"One of them was Mary Sullivan, one of the housemaids in the Fitzwilliam +mansion. She had been sent up by the cook at a quarter past four o'clock +on the afternoon of February 1st with some hot water, which the nurse +had ordered, for the master's room. Just as she was about to knock at +the door Mr. Wethered was coming out of the room. Mary stopped with the +tray in her hand, and at the door Mr. Wethered turned and said quite +loudly: 'Now, don't fret, don't be anxious; do try and be calm. Your +will is safe in my pocket, nothing can change it or alter one word of it +but yourself.' +</p> +<p> +"It was, of course, a very ticklish point in law whether the +housemaid's evidence could be accepted. You see, she was quoting the +words of a man since dead, spoken to another man also dead. There is no +doubt that had there been very strong evidence on the other side against +Percival Brooks, Mary Sullivan's would have counted for nothing; but, as +I told you before, the judge's belief in the prisoner's guilt was +already very seriously shaken, and now the final blow aimed at it by Mr. +Oranmore shattered his last lingering doubts. +</p> +<p> +"Dr. Mulligan, namely, had been placed by Mr. Oranmore into the +witness-box. He was a medical man of unimpeachable authority, in fact, +absolutely at the head of his profession in Dublin. What he said +practically corroborated Mary Sullivan's testimony. He had gone in to +see Mr. Brooks at half-past four, and understood from him that his +lawyer had just left him. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Brooks certainly, though terribly weak, was calm and more composed. +He was dying from a sudden heart attack, and Dr. Mulligan foresaw the +almost immediate end. But he was still conscious and managed to murmur +feebly: 'I feel much easier in my mind now, doctor—have made my +will—Wethered has been—he's got it in his pocket—it is safe +there—safe from that—' But the words died on his lips, and after that +he spoke but little. He saw his two sons before he died, but hardly +knew them or even looked at them. +</p> +<p> +"You see," concluded the man in the corner, "you see that the +prosecution was bound to collapse. Oranmore did not give it a leg to +stand on. The will was forged, it is true, forged in the favour of +Percival Brooks and of no one else, forged for him and for his benefit. +Whether he knew and connived at the forgery was never proved or, as far +as I know, even hinted, but it was impossible to go against all the +evidence, which pointed that, as far as the act itself was concerned, he +at least was innocent. You see, Dr. Mulligan's evidence was not to be +shaken. Mary Sullivan's was equally strong. +</p> +<p> +"There were two witnesses swearing positively that old Brooks' will was +in Mr. Wethered's keeping when that gentleman left the Fitzwilliam +mansion at a quarter past four. At five o'clock in the afternoon the +lawyer was found dead in Phoenix Park. Between a quarter past four and +eight o'clock in the evening Percival Brooks never left the house—that +was subsequently proved by Oranmore up to the hilt and beyond a doubt. +Since the will found under old Brooks' pillow was a forged will, where +then was the will he did make, and which Wethered carried away with him +in his pocket?" +</p> +<p> +"Stolen, of course," said Polly, "by those who murdered and robbed him; +it may have been of no value to them, but they naturally would destroy +it, lest it might prove a clue against them." +</p> +<p> +"Then you think it was mere coincidence?" he asked excitedly. +</p> +<p> +"What?" +</p> +<p> +"That Wethered was murdered and robbed at the very moment that he +carried the will in his pocket, whilst another was being forged in its +place?" +</p> +<p> +"It certainly would be very curious, if it <i>were</i> a coincidence," she +said musingly. +</p> +<p> +"Very," he repeated with biting sarcasm, whilst nervously his bony +fingers played with the inevitable bit of string. "Very curious indeed. +Just think of the whole thing. There was the old man with all his +wealth, and two sons, one to whom he is devoted, and the other with whom +he does nothing but quarrel. One day there is another of these quarrels, +but more violent, more terrible than any that have previously occurred, +with the result that the father, heartbroken by it all, has an attack of +apoplexy and practically dies of a broken heart. After that he alters +his will, and subsequently a will is proved which turns out to be a +forgery. +</p> +<p> +"Now everybody—police, press, and public alike—at once jump to the +conclusion that, as Percival Brooks benefits by that forged will, +Percival Brooks must be the forger." +</p> +<p> +"Seek for him whom the crime benefits, is your own axiom," argued the +girl. +</p> +<p> +"I beg your pardon?" +</p> +<p> +"Percival Brooks benefited to the tune of £2,000,000." +</p> +<p> +"I beg your pardon. He did nothing of the sort. He was left with less +than half the share that his younger brother inherited." +</p> +<p> +"Now, yes; but that was a former will and—" +</p> +<p> +"And that forged will was so clumsily executed, the signature so +carelessly imitated, that the forgery was bound to come to light. Did +<i>that</i> never strike you?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, but—" +</p> +<p> +"There is no but," he interrupted. "It was all as clear as daylight to +me from the very first. The quarrel with the old man, which broke his +heart, was not with his eldest son, with whom he was used to +quarrelling, but with the second son whom he idolised, in whom he +believed. Don't you remember how John O'Neill heard the words 'liar' and +'deceit'? Percival Brooks had never deceived his father. His sins were +all on the surface. Murray had led a quiet life, had pandered to his +father, and fawned upon him, until, like most hypocrites, he at last got +found out. Who knows what ugly gambling debt or debt of honour, suddenly +revealed to old Brooks, was the cause of that last and deadly quarrel? +</p> +<p> +"You remember that it was Percival who remained beside his father and +carried him up to his room. Where was Murray throughout that long and +painful day, when his father lay dying—he, the idolised son, the apple +of the old man's eye? You never hear his name mentioned as being present +there all that day. But he knew that he had offended his father +mortally, and that his father meant to cut him off with a shilling. He +knew that Mr. Wethered had been sent for, that Wethered left the house +soon after four o'clock. +</p> +<p> +"And here the cleverness of the man comes in. Having lain in wait for +Wethered and knocked him on the back of the head with a stick, he could +not very well make that will disappear altogether. There remained the +faint chance of some other witnesses knowing that Mr. Brooks had made a +fresh will, Mr. Wethered's partner, his clerk, or one of the +confidential servants in the house. Therefore <i>a</i> will must be +discovered after the old man's death. +</p> +<p> +"Now, Murray Brooks was not an expert forger, it takes years of training +to become that. A forged will executed by himself would be sure to be +found out—yes, that's it, sure to be found out. The forgery will be +palpable—let it be palpable, and then it will be found out, branded as +such, and the original will of 1891, so favourable to the young +blackguard's interests, would be held as valid. Was it devilry or +merely additional caution which prompted Murray to pen that forged will +so glaringly in Percival's favour? It is impossible to say. +</p> +<p> +"Anyhow, it was the cleverest touch in that marvellously devised crime. +To plan that evil deed was great, to execute it was easy enough. He had +several hours' leisure in which to do it. Then at night it was +simplicity itself to slip the document under the dead man's pillow. +Sacrilege causes no shudder to such natures as Murray Brooks. The rest +of the drama you know already—" +</p> +<p> +"But Percival Brooks?" +</p> +<p> +"The jury returned a verdict of 'Not guilty.' There was no evidence +against him." +</p> +<p> +"But the money? Surely the scoundrel does not have the enjoyment of it +still?" +</p> +<p> +"No; he enjoyed it for a time, but he died, about three months ago, and +forgot to take the precaution of making a will, so his brother Percival +has got the business after all. If you ever go to Dublin, I should order +some of Brooks' bacon if I were you. It is very good." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH24"><!-- CH24 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXIV +</h2> + +<h3> +AN UNPARALLELED OUTRAGE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Do you care for the seaside?" asked the man in the corner when he had +finished his lunch. "I don't mean the seaside at Ostend or Trouville, +but honest English seaside with nigger minstrels, three-shilling +excursionists, and dirty, expensive furnished apartments, where they +charge you a shilling for lighting the hall gas on Sundays and sixpence +on other evenings. Do you care for that?" +</p> +<p> +"I prefer the country." +</p> +<p> +"Ah! perhaps it is preferable. Personally I only liked one of our +English seaside resorts once, and that was for a week, when Edward +Skinner was up before the magistrate, charged with what was known as the +'Brighton Outrage.' I don't know if you remember the memorable day in +Brighton, memorable for that elegant town, which deals more in +amusements than mysteries, when Mr. Francis Morton, one of its most +noted residents, disappeared. Yes! disappeared as completely as any +vanishing lady in a music-hall. He was wealthy, had a fine house, +servants, a wife and children, and he disappeared. There was no getting +away from that. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Francis Morton lived with his wife in one of the large houses in +Sussex Square at the Kemp Town end of Brighton. Mrs. Morton was well +known for her Americanisms, her swagger dinner parties, and beautiful +Paris gowns. She was the daughter of one of the many American +millionaires (I think her father was a Chicago pork-butcher), who +conveniently provide wealthy wives for English gentlemen; and she had +married Mr. Francis Morton a few years ago and brought him her quarter +of a million, for no other reason but that she fell in love with him. He +was neither good-looking nor distinguished, in fact, he was one of those +men who seem to have CITY stamped all over their person. +</p> +<p> +"He was a gentleman of very regular habits, going up to London every +morning on business and returning every afternoon by the 'husband's +train.' So regular was he in these habits that all the servants at the +Sussex Square house were betrayed into actual gossip over the fact that +on Wednesday, March 17th, the master was not home for dinner. Hales, the +butler, remarked that the mistress seemed a bit anxious and didn't eat +much food. The evening wore on and Mr. Morton did not appear. At nine +o'clock the young footman was dispatched to the station to make +inquiries whether his master had been seen there in the afternoon, or +whether—which Heaven forbid—there had been an accident on the line. +The young man interviewed two or three porters, the bookstall boy, and +ticket clerk; all were agreed that Mr. Morton did not go up to London +during the day; no one had seen him within the precincts of the station. +There certainly had been no accident reported either on the up or down +line. +</p> +<p> +"But the morning of the 18th came, with its initial postman's knock, but +neither Mr. Morton nor any sign or news from him. Mrs. Morton, who +evidently had spent a sleepless night, for she looked sadly changed and +haggard, sent a wire to the hall porter at the large building in Cannon +Street, where her husband had his office. An hour later she had the +reply: 'Not seen Mr. Morton all day yesterday, not here to-day.' By the +afternoon every one in Brighton knew that a fellow-resident had +mysteriously disappeared from or in the city. +</p> +<p> +"A couple of days, then another, elapsed, and still no sign of Mr. +Morton. The police were doing their best. The gentleman was so well +known in Brighton—as he had been a resident two years—that it was not +difficult to firmly establish the one fact that he had not left the +city, since no one saw him in the station on the morning of the 17th, +nor at any time since then. Mild excitement prevailed throughout the +town. At first the newspapers took the matter somewhat jocosely. 'Where +is Mr. Morton?' was the usual placard on the evening's contents bills, +but after three days had gone by and the worthy Brighton resident was +still missing, while Mrs. Morton was seen to look more haggard and +careworn every day, mild excitement gave place to anxiety. +</p> +<p> +"There were vague hints now as to foul play. The news had leaked out +that the missing gentleman was carrying a large sum of money on the day +of his disappearance. There were also vague rumours of a scandal not +unconnected with Mrs. Morton herself and her own past history, which in +her anxiety for her husband she had been forced to reveal to the +detective-inspector in charge of the case. +</p> +<p> +"Then on Saturday the news which the late evening papers contained was +this: +</p> +<p> +"'Acting on certain information received, the police to-day forced an +entrance into one of the rooms of Russell House, a high-class furnished +apartment on the King's Parade, and there they discovered our missing +distinguished townsman, Mr. Francis Morton, who had been robbed and +subsequently locked up in that room since Wednesday, the 17th. When +discovered he was in the last stages of inanition; he was tied into an +arm-chair with ropes, a thick wool shawl had been wound round his mouth, +and it is a positive marvel that, left thus without food and very +little air, the unfortunate gentleman survived the horrors of these four +days of incarceration. +</p> +<p> +"'He has been conveyed to his residence in Sussex Square, and we are +pleased to say that Doctor Mellish, who is in attendance, has declared +his patient to be out of serious danger, and that with care and rest he +will be soon quite himself again. +</p> +<p> +"'At the same time our readers will learn with unmixed satisfaction that +the police of our city, with their usual acuteness and activity, have +already discovered the identity and whereabouts of the cowardly ruffian +who committed this unparalleled outrage.'" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH25"><!-- CH25 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXV +</h2> + +<h3> +THE PRISONER +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"I really don't know," continued the man in the corner blandly, "what it +was that interested me in the case from the very first. Certainly it had +nothing very out of the way or mysterious about it, but I journeyed down +to Brighton nevertheless, as I felt that something deeper and more +subtle lay behind that extraordinary assault, following a robbery, no +doubt. +</p> +<p> +"I must tell you that the police had allowed it to be freely circulated +abroad that they held a clue. It had been easy enough to ascertain who +the lodger was who had rented the furnished room in Russell House. His +name was supposed to be Edward Skinner, and he had taken the room about +a fortnight ago, but had gone away ostensibly for two or three days on +the very day of Mr. Morton's mysterious disappearance. It was on the +20th that Mr. Morton was found, and thirty-six hours later the public +were gratified to hear that Mr. Edward Skinner had been traced to London +and arrested on the charge of assault upon the person of Mr. Francis +Morton and of robbing him of the sum of £10,000. +</p> +<p> +"Then a further sensation was added to the already bewildering case by +the startling announcement that Mr. Francis Morton refused to prosecute. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, the Treasury took up the case and subpoenaed Mr. Morton as a +witness, so that gentleman—if he wished to hush the matter up, or had +been in any way terrorised into a promise of doing so—gained nothing by +his refusal, except an additional amount of curiosity in the public mind +and further sensation around the mysterious case. +</p> +<p> +"It was all this, you see, which had interested me and brought me down +to Brighton on March 23rd to see the prisoner Edward Skinner arraigned +before the beak. I must say that he was a very ordinary-looking +individual. Fair, of ruddy complexion, with snub nose and the beginning +of a bald place on the top of his head, he, too, looked the embodiment +of a prosperous, stodgy 'City gent.' +</p> +<p> +"I took a quick survey of the witnesses present, and guessed that the +handsome, stylish woman sitting next to Mr. Reginald Pepys, the noted +lawyer for the Crown, was Mrs. Morton. +</p> +<p> +"There was a large crowd in court, and I heard whispered comments among +the feminine portion thereof as to the beauty of Mrs. Morton's gown, +the value of her large picture hat, and the magnificence of her diamond +rings. +</p> +<p> +"The police gave all the evidence required with regard to the finding of +Mr. Morton in the room at Russell House and also to the arrest of +Skinner at the Langham Hotel in London. It appears that the prisoner +seemed completely taken aback at the charge preferred against him, and +declared that though he knew Mr. Francis Morton slightly in business he +knew nothing as to his private life. +</p> +<p> +"'Prisoner stated,' continued Inspector Buckle, 'that he was not even +aware Mr. Morton lived in Brighton, but I have evidence here, which I +will place before your Honour, to prove that the prisoner was seen in +the company of Mr. Morton at 9.30 o'clock on the morning of the +assault.' +</p> +<p> +"Cross-examined by Mr. Matthew Quiller, the detective-inspector admitted +that prisoner merely said that he did not know that Mr. Morton was a +<i>resident</i> of Brighton—he never denied having met him there. +</p> +<p> +"The witness, or rather witnesses, referred to by the police were two +Brighton tradesmen who knew Mr. Morton by sight and had seen him on the +morning of the 17th walking with the accused. +</p> +<p> +"In this instance Mr. Quiller had no question to ask of the witnesses, +and it was generally understood that the prisoner did not wish to +contradict their statement. +</p> +<p> +"Constable Hartrick told the story of the finding of the unfortunate +Mr. Morton after his four days' incarceration. The constable had been +sent round by the chief inspector, after certain information given by +Mrs. Chapman, the landlady of Russell House. He had found the door +locked and forced it open. Mr. Morton was in an arm-chair, with several +yards of rope wound loosely round him; he was almost unconscious, and +there was a thick wool shawl tied round his mouth which must have +deadened any cry or groan the poor gentleman might have uttered. But, as +a matter of fact, the constable was under the impression that Mr. Morton +had been either drugged or stunned in some way at first, which had left +him weak and faint and prevented him from making himself heard or +extricating himself from his bonds, which were very clumsily, evidently +very hastily, wound round his body. +</p> +<p> +"The medical officer who was called in, and also Dr. Mellish who +attended Mr. Morton, both said that he seemed dazed by some stupefying +drug, and also, of course, terribly weak and faint with the want of +food. +</p> +<p> +"The first witness of real importance was Mrs. Chapman, the proprietress +of Russell House, whose original information to the police led to the +discovery of Mr. Morton. In answer to Mr. Pepys, she said that on March +1st the accused called at her house and gave his name as Mr. Edward +Skinner. +</p> +<p> +"'He required, he said, a furnished room at a moderate rental for a +permanency, with full attendance when he was in, but he added that he +would often be away for two or three days, or even longer, at a time. +</p> +<p> +"'He told me that he was a traveller for a tea-house,' continued Mrs. +Chapman, 'and I showed him the front room on the third floor, as he did +not want to pay more than twelve shillings a week. I asked him for a +reference, but he put three sovereigns in my hand, and said with a laugh +that he supposed paying for his room a month in advance was sufficient +reference; if I didn't like him after that, I could give him a week's +notice to quit.' +</p> +<p> +"'You did not think of asking him the name of the firm for which he +travelled?' asked Mr. Pepys. +</p> +<p> +"'No, I was quite satisfied as he paid me for the room. The next day he +sent in his luggage and took possession of the room. He went out most +mornings on business, but was always in Brighton for Saturday and +Sunday. On the 16th he told me that he was going to Liverpool for a +couple of days; he slept in the house that night, and went off early on +the 17th, taking his portmanteau with him.' +</p> +<p> +"'At what time did he leave?' asked Mr. Pepys. +</p> +<p> +"'I couldn't say exactly,' replied Mrs. Chapman with some hesitation. +'You see this is the off season here. None of my rooms are let, except +the one to Mr. Skinner, and I only have one servant. I keep four during +the summer, autumn, and winter season,' she added with conscious pride, +fearing that her former statement might prejudice the reputation of +Russell House. 'I thought I had heard Mr. Skinner go out about nine +o'clock, but about an hour later the girl and I were both in the +basement, and we heard the front door open and shut with a bang, and +then a step in the hall. +</p> +<p> +"'"That's Mr. Skinner," said Mary. "So it is," I said, "why, I thought +he had gone an hour ago." "He did go out then," said Mary, "for he left +his bedroom door open and I went in to do his bed and tidy his room." +"Just go and see if that's him, Mary," I said, and Mary ran up to the +hall and up the stairs, and came back to tell me that that was Mr. +Skinner all right enough; he had gone straight up to his room. Mary +didn't see him, but he had another gentleman with him, as she could hear +them talking in Mr. Skinner's room.' +</p> +<p> +"'Then you can't tell us at what time the prisoner left the house +finally?' +</p> +<p> +"'No, that I can't. I went out shopping soon after that. When I came in +it was twelve o'clock. I went up to the third floor and found that Mr. +Skinner had locked his door and taken the key with him. As I knew Mary +had already done, the room I did not trouble more about it, though I did +think it strange for a gentleman to look up his room and not leave the +key with me.' +</p> +<p> +"'And, of course, you heard no noise of any kind in the room then?' +</p> +<p> +"'No. Not that day or the next, but on the third day Mary and I both +thought we heard a funny sound. I said that Mr. Skinner had left his +window open, and it was the blind flapping against the window-pane; but +when we heard that funny noise again I put my ear to the keyhole and I +thought I could hear a groan. I was very frightened, and sent Mary for +the police.' +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Chapman had nothing more of interest to say. The prisoner +certainly was her lodger. She had last seen him on the evening of the +16th going up to his room with his candle. Mary the servant had much the +same story to relate as her mistress. +</p> +<p> +"'I think it was 'im, right enough,' said Mary guardedly. 'I didn't see +'im, but I went up to 'is landing and stopped a moment outside 'is door. +I could 'ear loud voices in the room—gentlemen talking.' +</p> +<p> +"'I suppose you would not do such a thing as to listen, Mary?' queried +Mr. Pepys with a smile. +</p> +<p> +"'No, sir,' said Mary with a bland smile, 'I didn't catch what the +gentlemen said, but one of them spoke so loud I thought they must be +quarrelling.' +</p> +<p> +"'Mr. Skinner was the only person in possession of a latch-key, I +presume. No one else could have come in without ringing at the door?' +</p> +<p> +"'Oh no, sir.' +</p> +<p> +"That was all. So far, you see, the case was progressing splendidly for +the Crown against the prisoner. The contention, of course, was that +Skinner had met Mr. Morton, brought him home with him, assaulted, +drugged, then gagged and bound him, and finally robbed him of whatever +money he had in his possession, which, according to certain affidavits +which presently would be placed before the magistrate, amounted to +£10,000 in notes. +</p> +<p> +"But in all this there still remained the great element of mystery for +which the public and the magistrate would demand an explanation: namely, +what were the relationships between Mr. Morton and Skinner, which had +induced the former to refuse the prosecution of the man who had not only +robbed him, but had so nearly succeeded in leaving him to die a terrible +and lingering death? +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Morton was too ill as yet to appear in person. Dr. Mellish had +absolutely forbidden his patient to undergo the fatigue and excitement +of giving evidence himself in court that day. But his depositions had +been taken at his bedside, were sworn to by him, and were now placed +before the magistrate by the prosecuting counsel, and the facts they +revealed were certainly as remarkable as they were brief and +enigmatical. +</p> +<p> +"As they were read by Mr. Pepys, an awed and expectant hush seemed to +descend over the large crowd gathered there, and all necks were strained +eagerly forward to catch a glimpse of a tall, elegant woman, faultlessly +dressed and wearing exquisite jewellery, but whose handsome face wore, +as the prosecuting counsel read her husband's deposition, a more and +more ashen hue. +</p> +<p> +"'This, your Honour, is the statement made upon oath by Mr. Francis +Morton,' commenced Mr. Pepys in that loud, sonorous voice of his which +sounds so impressive in a crowded and hushed court. '"I was obliged, for +certain reasons which I refuse to disclose, to make a payment of a large +sum of money to a man whom I did not know and have never seen. It was in +a matter of which my wife was cognisant and which had entirely to do +with her own affairs. I was merely the go-between, as I thought it was +not fit that she should see to this matter herself. The individual in +question had made certain demands, of which she kept me in ignorance as +long as she could, not wishing to unnecessarily worry me. At last she +decided to place the whole matter before me, and I agreed with her that +it would be best to satisfy the man's demands. +</p> +<p> +"'"I then wrote to that individual whose name I do not wish to disclose, +addressing the letter, as my wife directed me to do, to the Brighton +post office, saying that I was ready to pay the £10,000 to him, at any +place or time and in what manner he might appoint. I received a reply +which bore the Brighton postmark, and which desired me to be outside +Furnival's, the drapers, in West Street, at 9.30 on the morning of March +17th, and to bring the money (£10,000) in Bank of England notes. +</p> +<p> +"'"On the 16th my wife gave me a cheque for the amount and I cashed it +at her bank—Bird's in Fleet Street. At half-past nine the following +morning I was at the appointed place. An individual wearing a grey +overcoat, bowler hat, and red tie accosted me by name and requested me +to walk as far as his lodgings in the King's Parade. I followed him. +Neither of us spoke. He stopped at a house which bore the name 'Russell +House,' and which I shall be able to swear to as soon as I am able to go +out. He let himself in with a latch-key, and asked me to follow him up +to his room on the third floor. I thought I noticed when we were in the +room that he locked the door; however, I had nothing of any value about +me except the £10,000, which I was ready to give him. We had not +exchanged the slightest word. +</p> +<p> +"'"I gave him the notes, and he folded them and put them in his +pocket-book. Then I turned towards the door, and, without the slightest +warning, I felt myself suddenly gripped by the shoulder, while a +handkerchief was pressed to my nose and mouth. I struggled as best I +could, but the handkerchief was saturated with chloroform, and I soon +lost consciousness. I hazily remember the man saying to me in short, +jerky sentences, spoken at intervals while I was still weakly +struggling: +</p> +<p> +"'"What a fool you must think me, my dear sir! Did you really think +that I was going to let you quietly walk out of here, straight to the +police-station, eh? Such dodges have been done before, I know, when a +man's silence has to be bought for money. Find out who he is, see where +he lives, give him the money, then inform against him. No you don't! not +this time. I am off to the continent with this £10,000, and I can get to +Newhaven in time for the midday boat, so you'll have to keep quiet until +I am the other side of the Channel, my friend. You won't be much +inconvenienced; my landlady will hear your groans presently and release +you, so you'll be all right. There, now, drink this—that's better.' He +forced something bitter down my throat, then I remember nothing more. +</p> +<p> +"'"When I regained consciousness I was sitting in an arm-chair with some +rope tied round me and a wool shawl round my mouth. I hadn't the +strength to make the slightest effort to disentangle myself or to utter +a scream. I felt terribly sick and faint."' +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Reginald Pepys had finished reading, and no one in that crowded +court had thought of uttering a sound; the magistrate's eyes were fixed +upon the handsome lady in the magnificent gown, who was mopping her eyes +with a dainty lace handkerchief. +</p> +<p> +"The extraordinary narrative of the victim of so daring an outrage had +kept every one in suspense; one thing was still expected to make the +measure of sensation as full as it had ever been over any criminal case, +and that was Mrs. Morton's evidence. She was called by the prosecuting +counsel, and slowly, gracefully, she entered the witness-box. There was +no doubt that she had felt keenly the tortures which her husband had +undergone, and also the humiliation of seeing her name dragged forcibly +into this ugly, blackmailing scandal. +</p> +<p> +"Closely questioned by Mr. Reginald Pepys, she was forced to admit that +the man who blackmailed her was connected with her early life in a way +which would have brought terrible disgrace upon her and upon her +children. The story she told, amidst many tears and sobs, and much use +of her beautiful lace handkerchief and beringed hands, was exceedingly +pathetic. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that when she was barely seventeen she was inveigled into a +secret marriage with one of those foreign adventurers who swarm in every +country, and who styled himself Comte Armand de la Tremouille. He seems +to have been a blackguard of unusually low pattern, for, after he had +extracted from her some £200 of her pin money and a few diamond +brooches, he left her one fine day with a laconic word to say that he +was sailing for Europe by the <i>Argentina</i>, and would not be back for +some time. She was in love with the brute, poor young soul, for when, a +week later, she read that the <i>Argentina</i> was wrecked, and presumably +every soul on board had perished, she wept very many bitter tears over +her early widowhood. +</p> +<p> +"Fortunately her father, a very wealthy pork-butcher of Chicago, had +known nothing of his daughter's culpable foolishness. Four years later +he took her to London, where she met Mr. Francis Morton and married him. +She led six or seven years of very happy married life when one day, like +a thunderbolt from a clear, blue sky, she received a typewritten letter, +signed 'Armand de la Tremouille,' full of protestations of undying love, +telling a long and pathetic tale of years of suffering in a foreign +land, whither he had drifted after having been rescued almost +miraculously from the wreck of the <i>Argentina</i>, and where he never had +been able to scrape a sufficient amount of money to pay for his passage +home. At last fate had favoured him. He had, after many vicissitudes, +found the whereabouts of his dear wife, and was now ready to forgive all +that was past and take her to his loving arms once again. +</p> +<p> +"What followed was the usual course of events when there is a blackguard +and a fool of a woman. She was terrorised and did not dare to tell her +husband for some time; she corresponded with the Comte de la Tremouille, +begging him for her sake and in memory of the past not to attempt to see +her. She found him amenable to reason in the shape of several hundred +pounds which passed through the Brighton post office into his hands. At +last one day, by accident, Mr. Morton came across one of the Comte de la +Tremouille's interesting letters. She confessed everything, throwing +herself upon her husband's mercy. +</p> +<p> +"Now, Mr. Francis Morton was a business man, who viewed life practically +and soberly. He liked his wife, who kept him in luxury, and wished to +keep her, whereas the Comte de la Tremouille seemed willing enough to +give her up for a consideration. Mrs. Morton, who had the sole and +absolute control of her fortune, on the other hand, was willing enough +to pay the price and hush up the scandal, which she believed—since she +was a bit of a fool—would land her in prison for bigamy. Mr. Francis +Morton wrote to the Comte de la Tremouille that his wife was ready to +pay him the sum of £10,000 which he demanded in payment for her absolute +liberty and his own complete disappearance out of her life now and for +ever. The appointment was made, and Mr. Morton left his house at 9 a.m. +on March 17th with the £10,000 in his pocket. +</p> +<p> +"The public and the magistrate had hung breathless upon her words. There +was nothing but sympathy felt for this handsome woman, who throughout +had been more sinned against than sinning, and whose gravest fault seems +to have been a total lack of intelligence in dealing with her own life. +But I can assure you of one thing, that in no case within my +recollection was there ever such a sensation in a court as when the +magistrate, after a few minutes' silence, said gently to Mrs. Morton: +</p> +<p> +"'And now, Mrs. Morton, will you kindly look at the prisoner, and tell +me if in him you recognize your former husband?' +</p> +<p> +"And she, without even turning to look at the accused, said quietly: +</p> +<p> +"'Oh no! your Honour! of course that man is <i>not</i> the Comte de la +Tremouille.'" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH26"><!-- CH26 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXVI +</h2> + +<h3> +A SENSATION +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"I can assure you that the situation was quite dramatic," continued the +man in the corner, whilst his funny, claw-like hands took up a bit of +string with renewed feverishness. +</p> +<p> +"In answer to further questions from the magistrate, she declared that +she had never seen the accused; he might have been the go-between, +however, that she could not say. The letters she received were all +typewritten, but signed 'Armand de la Tremouille,' and certainly the +signature was identical with that on the letters she used to receive +from him years ago, all of which she had kept. +</p> +<p> +"'And did it <i>never</i> strike you,' asked the magistrate with a smile, +'that the letters you received might be forgeries?' +</p> +<p> +"'How could they be?' she replied decisively; no one knew of my marriage +to the Comte de la Tremouille, no one in England certainly. And, +besides, if some one did know the Comte intimately enough to forge his +handwriting and to blackmail me, why should that some one have waited +all these years? I have been married seven years, your Honour.' +</p> +<p> +"That was true enough, and there the matter rested as far as she was +concerned. But the identity of Mr. Francis Morton's assailant had to be +finally established, of course, before the prisoner was committed for +trial. Dr. Mellish promised that Mr. Morton would be allowed to come to +court for half an hour and identify the accused on the following day, +and the case was adjourned until then. The accused was led away between +two constables, bail being refused, and Brighton had perforce to +moderate its impatience until the Wednesday. +</p> +<p> +"On that day the court was crowded to overflowing; actors, playwrights, +literary men of all sorts had fought for admission to study for +themselves the various phases and faces in connection with the case. +Mrs. Morton was not present when the prisoner, quiet and self-possessed, +was brought in and placed in the dock. His solicitor was with him, and a +sensational defence was expected. +</p> +<p> +"Presently there was a stir in the court, and that certain sound, half +rustle, half sigh, which preludes an expected palpitating event. Mr. +Morton, pale, thin, wearing yet in his hollow eyes the stamp of those +five days of suffering, walked into court leaning on the arm of his +doctor—Mrs. Morton was not with him. +</p> +<p> +"He was at once accommodated with a chair in the witness-box, and the +magistrate, after a few words of kindly sympathy, asked him if he had +anything to add to his written statement. On Mr. Morton replying in the +negative, the magistrate added: +</p> +<p> +"'And now, Mr. Morton, will you kindly look at the accused in the dock +and tell me whether you recognize the person who took you to the room in +Russell House and then assaulted you?' +</p> +<p> +"Slowly the sick man turned towards the prisoner and looked at him; then +he shook his head and replied quietly: +</p> +<p> +"'No, sir, that certainly was not the man.' +</p> +<p> +"'You are quite sure?' asked the magistrate in amazement, while the +crowd literally gasped with wonder. +</p> +<p> +"'I swear it,' asserted Mr. Morton. +</p> +<p> +"'Can you describe the man who assaulted you?' +</p> +<p> +"'Certainly. He was dark, of swarthy complexion, tall, thin, with bushy +eyebrows and thick black hair and short beard. He spoke English with +just the faintest suspicion of a foreign accent.' +</p> +<p> +"The prisoner, as I told you before, was English in every feature. +English in his ruddy complexion, and absolutely English in his speech. +</p> +<p> +"After that the case for the prosecution began to collapse. Every one +had expected a sensational defence, and Mr. Matthew Quiller, counsel +for Skinner, fully justified all these expectations. He had no fewer +than four witnesses present who swore positively that at 9.45 a.m. on +the morning of Wednesday, March 17th, the prisoner was in the express +train leaving Brighton for Victoria. +</p> +<p> +"Not being endowed with the gift of being in two places at once, and Mr. +Morton having added the whole weight of his own evidence in Mr. Edward +Skinner's favour, that gentleman was once more remanded by the +magistrate, pending further investigation by the police, bail being +allowed this time in two sureties of £50 each." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH27"><!-- CH27 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXVII +</h2> + +<h3> +TWO BLACKGUARDS +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Tell me what you think of it," said the man in the corner, seeing that +Polly remained silent and puzzled. +</p> +<p> +"Well," she replied dubiously, "I suppose that the so-called Armand de +la Tremouille's story was true in substance. That he did not perish on +the <i>Argentina</i>, but drifted home, and blackmailed his former wife." +</p> +<p> +"Doesn't it strike you that there are at least two very strong points +against that theory?" he asked, making two gigantic knots in his piece +of string. +</p> +<p> +"Two?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes. In the first place, if the blackmailer was the 'Comte de la +Tremouille' returned to life, why should he have been content to take +£10,000 from a lady who was his lawful wife, and who could keep him in +luxury for the rest of his natural life upon her large fortune, which +was close upon a quarter of a million? The real Comte de la Tremouille, +remember, had never found it difficult to get money out of his wife +during their brief married life, whatever Mr. Morton's subsequent +experience in the same direction might have been. And, secondly, why +should he have typewritten his letters to his wife?" +</p> +<p> +"Because—" +</p> +<p> +"That was a point which, to my mind, the police never made the most of. +Now, my experience in criminal cases has invariably been that when a +typewritten letter figures in one, that letter is a forgery. It is not +very difficult to imitate a signature, but it is a jolly sight more +difficult to imitate a handwriting throughout an entire letter." +</p> +<p> +"Then, do you think—" +</p> +<p> +"I think, if you will allow me," he interrupted excitedly, "that we will +go through the points—the sensible, tangible points of the case. +Firstly: Mr. Morton disappears with £10,000 in his pocket for four +entire days; at the end of that time he is discovered loosely tied to an +arm-chair, and a wool shawl round his mouth. Secondly: A man named +Skinner is accused of the outrage. Mr. Morton, although he himself is +able, mind you, to furnish the best defence possible for Skinner, by +denying his identity with the man who assaulted him, refuses to +prosecute. Why?" +</p> +<p> +"He did not wish to drag his wife's name into the case." +</p> +<p> +"He must have known that the Crown would take up the case. Then, again, +how is it no one saw him in the company of the swarthy foreigner he +described?" +</p> +<p> +"Two witnesses did see Mr. Morton in company with Skinner," argued +Polly. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, at 9.20 in West Street; that would give Edward Skinner time to +catch the 9.45 at the station, and to entrust Mr. Morton with the +latch-key of Russell House," remarked the man in the corner dryly. +</p> +<p> +"What nonsense!" Polly ejaculated. +</p> +<p> +"Nonsense, is it?" he said, tugging wildly at his bit of string; "is it +nonsense to affirm that if a man wants to make sure that his victim +shall not escape, he does not usually wind rope 'loosely' round his +figure, nor does he throw a wool shawl lightly round his mouth. The +police were idiotic beyond words; they themselves discovered that Morton +was so 'loosely' fastened to his chair that very little movement would +have disentangled him, and yet it never struck them that nothing was +easier for that particular type of scoundrel to sit down in an arm-chair +and wind a few yards of rope round himself, then, having wrapped a wool +shawl round his throat, to slip his two arms inside the ropes." +</p> +<p> +"But what object would a man in Mr. Morton's position have for playing +such extraordinary pranks?" +</p> +<p> +"Ah, the motive! There you are! What do I always tell you? Seek the +motive! Now, what was Mr. Morton's position? He was the husband of a +lady who owned a quarter of a million of money, not one penny of which +he could touch without her consent, as it was settled on herself, and +who, after the terrible way in which she had been plundered and then +abandoned in her early youth, no doubt kept a very tight hold upon the +purse-strings. Mr. Morton's subsequent life has proved that he had +certain expensive, not altogether avowable, tastes. One day he discovers +the old love letters of the 'Comte Armand de la Tremouille.' +</p> +<p> +"Then he lays his plans. He typewrites a letter, forges the signature of +the erstwhile Count, and awaits events. The fish does rise to the bait. +He gets sundry bits of money, and his success makes him daring. He looks +round him for an accomplice—clever, unscrupulous, greedy—and selects +Mr. Edward Skinner, probably some former pal of his wild oats days. +</p> +<p> +"The plan was very neat, you must confess. Mr. Skinner takes the room in +Russell House, and studies all the manners and customs of his landlady +and her servant. He then draws the full attention of the police upon +himself. He meets Morton in West Street, then disappears ostensibly +after the 'assault.' In the meanwhile Morton goes to Russell House. He +walks upstairs, talks loudly in the room, then makes elaborate +preparations for his comedy." +</p> +<p> +"Why! he nearly died of starvation!" +</p> +<p> +"That, I dare say, was not a part of his reckoning. He thought, no +doubt, that Mrs. Chapman or the servant would discover and rescue him +pretty soon. He meant to appear just a little faint, and endured quietly +the first twenty-four hours of inanition. But the excitement and want of +food told on him more than he expected. After twenty-four hours he +turned very giddy and sick, and, falling from one fainting fit into +another, was unable to give the alarm. +</p> +<p> +"However, he is all right again now, and concludes his part of a +downright blackguard to perfection. Under the plea that his conscience +does not allow him to live with a lady whose first husband is still +alive, he has taken a bachelor flat in London, and only pays afternoon +calls on his wife in Brighton. But presently he will tire of his +bachelor life, and will return to his wife. And I'll guarantee that the +Comte de la Tremouille will never be heard of again." +</p> +<p> +And that afternoon the man in the corner left Miss Polly Burton alone +with a couple of photos of two uninteresting, stodgy, quiet-looking +men—Morton and Skinner—who, if the old scarecrow was right in his +theories, were a pair of the finest blackguards unhung. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH28"><!-- CH28 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXVIII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE REGENT'S PARK MURDER +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +By this time Miss Polly Burton had become quite accustomed to her +extraordinary <i>vis-á-vis</i> in the corner. +</p> +<p> +He was always there, when she arrived, in the selfsame corner, dressed +in one of his remarkable check tweed suits; he seldom said good morning, +and invariably when she appeared he began to fidget with increased +nervousness, with some tattered and knotty piece of string. +</p> +<p> +"Were you ever interested in the Regent's Park murder?" he asked her one +day. +</p> +<p> +Polly replied that she had forgotten most of the particulars connected +with that curious murder, but that she fully remembered the stir and +flutter it had caused in a certain section of London Society. +</p> +<p> +"The racing and gambling set, particularly, you mean," he said. "All the +persons implicated in the murder, directly or indirectly, were of the +type commonly called 'Society men,' or 'men about town,' whilst the +Harewood Club in Hanover Square, round which centred all the scandal in +connection with the murder, was one of the smartest clubs in London. +</p> +<p> +"Probably the doings of the Harewood Club, which was essentially a +gambling club, would for ever have remained 'officially' absent from the +knowledge of the police authorities but for the murder in the Regent's +Park and the revelations which came to light in connection with it. +</p> +<p> +"I dare say you know the quiet square which lies between Portland Place +and the Regent's Park and is called Park Crescent at its south end, and +subsequently Park Square East and West. The Marylebone Road, with all +its heavy traffic, cuts straight across the large square and its pretty +gardens, but the latter are connected together by a tunnel under the +road; and of course you must remember that the new tube station in the +south portion of the Square had not yet been planned. +</p> +<p> +"February 6th, 1907, was a very foggy night, nevertheless Mr. Aaron +Cohen, of 30, Park Square West, at two o'clock in the morning, having +finally pocketed the heavy winnings which he had just swept off the +green table of the Harewood Club, started to walk home alone. An hour +later most of the inhabitants of Park Square West were aroused from +their peaceful slumbers by the sounds of a violent altercation in the +road. A man's angry voice was heard shouting violently for a minute or +two, and was followed immediately by frantic screams of 'Police' and +'Murder.' Then there was the double sharp report of firearms, and +nothing more. +</p> +<p> +"The fog was very dense, and, as you no doubt have experienced yourself, +it is very difficult to locate sound in a fog. Nevertheless, not more +than a minute or two had elapsed before Constable F 18, the point +policeman at the corner of Marylebone Road, arrived on the scene, and, +having first of all whistled for any of his comrades on the beat, began +to grope his way about in the fog, more confused than effectually +assisted by contradictory directions from the inhabitants of the houses +close by, who were nearly falling out of the upper windows as they +shouted out to the constable. +</p> +<p> +"'By the railings, policeman.' +</p> +<p> +"'Higher up the road.' +</p> +<p> +"'No, lower down.' +</p> +<p> +"'It was on this side of the pavement I am sure.' +</p> +<p> +"No, the other.' +</p> +<p> +"At last it was another policeman, F 22, who, turning into Park Square +West from the north side, almost stumbled upon the body of a man lying +on the pavement with his head against the railings of the Square. By +this time quite a little crowd of people from the different houses in +the road had come down, curious to know what had actually happened. +</p> +<p> +"The policeman turned the strong light of his bull's-eye lantern on the +unfortunate man's face. +</p> +<p> +"'It looks as if he had been strangled, don't it?' he murmured to his +comrade. +</p> +<p> +"And he pointed to the swollen tongue, the eyes half out of their +sockets, bloodshot and congested, the purple, almost black, hue of the +face. +</p> +<p> +"At this point one of the spectators, more callous to horrors, peered +curiously into the dead man's face. He uttered an exclamation of +astonishment. +</p> +<p> +"'Why, surely, it's Mr. Cohen from No. 30!' +</p> +<p> +"The mention of a name familiar down the length of the street had caused +two or three other men to come forward and to look more closely into the +horribly distorted mask of the murdered man. +</p> +<p> +"'Our next-door neighbour, undoubtedly,' asserted Mr. Ellison, a young +barrister, residing at No. 31. +</p> +<p> +"'What in the world was he doing this foggy night all alone, and on +foot?' asked somebody else. +</p> +<p> +"'He usually came home very late. I fancy he belonged to some gambling +club in town. I dare say he couldn't get a cab to bring him out here. +Mind you, I don't know much about him. We only knew him to nod to.' +</p> +<p> +"'Poor beggar! it looks almost like an old-fashioned case of +garroting.' +</p> +<p> +"'Anyway, the blackguardly murderer, whoever he was, wanted to make sure +he had killed his man!' added Constable F 18, as he picked up an object +from the pavement. 'Here's the revolver, with two cartridges missing. +You gentlemen heard the report just now?' +</p> +<p> +"'He don't seem to have hit him though. The poor bloke was strangled, no +doubt.' +</p> +<p> +"'And tried to shoot at his assailant, obviously,' asserted the young +barrister with authority. +</p> +<p> +"'If he succeeded in hitting the brute, there might be a chance of +tracing the way he went.' +</p> +<p> +"'But not in the fog.' +</p> +<p> +"Soon, however, the appearance of the inspector, detective, and medical +officer, who had quickly been informed of the tragedy, put an end to +further discussion. +</p> +<p> +"The bell at No. 30 was rung, and the servants—all four of them +women—were asked to look at the body. +</p> +<p> +"Amidst tears of horror and screams of fright, they all recognized in +the murdered man their master, Mr. Aaron Cohen. He was therefore +conveyed to his own room pending the coroner's inquest. +</p> +<p> +"The police had a pretty difficult task, you will admit; there were so +very few indications to go by, and at first literally no clue. +</p> +<p> +"The inquest revealed practically nothing. Very little was known in the +neighbourhood about Mr. Aaron Cohen and his affairs. His female servants +did not even know the name or whereabouts of the various clubs he +frequented. +</p> +<p> +"He had an office in Throgmorton Street and went to business every day. +He dined at home, and sometimes had friends to dinner. When he was alone +he invariably went to the club, where he stayed until the small hours of +the morning. +</p> +<p> +"The night of the murder he had gone out at about nine o'clock. That was +the last his servants had seen of him. With regard to the revolver, all +four servants swore positively that they had never seen it before, and +that, unless Mr. Cohen had bought it that very day, it did not belong to +their master. +</p> +<p> +"Beyond that, no trace whatever of the murderer had been found, but on +the morning after the crime a couple of keys linked together by a short +metal chain were found close to a gate at the opposite end of the +Square, that which immediately faced Portland Place. These were proved +to be, firstly, Mr. Cohen's latch-key, and, secondly, his gate-key of +the Square. +</p> +<p> +"It was therefore presumed that the murderer, having accomplished his +fell design and ransacked his victim's pockets, had found the keys and +made good his escape by slipping into the Square, cutting under the +tunnel, and out again by the further gate. He then took the precaution +not to carry the keys with him any further, but threw them away and +disappeared in the fog. +</p> +<p> +"The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against some person or +persons unknown, and the police were put on their mettle to discover the +unknown and daring murderer. The result of their investigations, +conducted with marvellous skill by Mr. William Fisher, led, about a week +after the crime, to the sensational arrest of one of London's smartest +young bucks. +</p> +<p> +"The case Mr. Fisher had got up against the accused briefly amounted to +this: +</p> +<p> +"On the night of February 6th, soon after midnight, play began to run +very high at the Harewood Club, in Hanover Square. Mr. Aaron Cohen held +the bank at roulette against some twenty or thirty of his friends, +mostly young fellows with no wits and plenty of money. 'The Bank' was +winning heavily, and it appears that this was the third consecutive +night on which Mr. Aaron Cohen had gone home richer by several hundreds +than he had been at the start of play. +</p> +<p> +"Young John Ashley, who is the son of a very worthy county gentleman who +is M.F.H. somewhere in the Midlands, was losing heavily, and in his case +also it appears that it was the third consecutive night that Fortune +had turned her face against him. +</p> +<p> +"Remember," continued the man in the corner, "that when I tell you all +these details and facts, I am giving you the combined evidence of +several witnesses, which it took many days to collect and to classify. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that young Mr. Ashley, though very popular in society, was +generally believed to be in what is vulgarly termed 'low water'; up to +his eyes in debt, and mortally afraid of his dad, whose younger son he +was, and who had on one occasion threatened to ship him off to Australia +with a £5 note in his pocket if he made any further extravagant calls +upon his paternal indulgence. +</p> +<p> +"It was also evident to all John Ashley's many companions that the +worthy M.F.H. held the purse-strings in a very tight grip. The young +man, bitten with the desire to cut a smart figure in the circles in +which he moved, had often recourse to the varying fortunes which now and +again smiled upon him across the green tables in the Harewood Club. +</p> +<p> +"Be that as it may, the general consensus of opinion at the Club was +that young Ashley had changed his last 'pony' before he sat down to a +turn of roulette with Aaron Cohen on that particular night of February +6th. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that all his friends, conspicuous among whom was Mr. Walter +Hatherell, tried their very best to dissuade him from pitting his luck +against that of Cohen, who had been having a most unprecedented run of +good fortune. But young Ashley, heated with wine, exasperated at his own +bad luck, would listen to no one; he tossed one £5 note after another on +the board, he borrowed from those who would lend, then played on parole +for a while. Finally, at half-past one in the morning, after a run of +nineteen on the red, the young man found himself without a penny in his +pockets, and owing a debt—gambling debt—a debt of honour of £1500 to +Mr. Aaron Cohen. +</p> +<p> +"Now we must render this much maligned gentleman that justice which was +persistently denied to him by press and public alike; it was positively +asserted by all those present that Mr. Cohen himself repeatedly tried to +induce young Mr. Ashley to give up playing. He himself was in a delicate +position in the matter, as he was the winner, and once or twice the +taunt had risen to the young man's lips, accusing the holder of the bank +of the wish to retire on a competence before the break in his luck. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Aaron Cohen, smoking the best of Havanas, had finally shrugged his +shoulders and said: 'As you please!' +</p> +<p> +"But at half-past one he had had enough of the player, who always lost +and never paid—never could pay, so Mr. Cohen probably believed. He +therefore at that hour refused to accept Mr. John Ashley's 'promissory' +stakes any longer. A very few heated words ensued, quickly checked by +the management, who are ever on the alert to avoid the least suspicion +of scandal. +</p> +<p> +"In the meanwhile Mr. Hatherell, with great good sense, persuaded young +Ashley to leave the Club and all its temptations and go home; if +possible to bed. +</p> +<p> +"The friendship of the two young men, which was very well known in +society, consisted chiefly, it appears, in Walter Hatherell being the +willing companion and helpmeet of John Ashley in his mad and extravagant +pranks. But to-night the latter, apparently tardily sobered by his +terrible and heavy losses, allowed himself to be led away by his friend +from the scene of his disasters. It was then about twenty minutes to +two. +</p> +<p> +"Here the situation becomes interesting," continued the man in the +corner in his nervous way. "No wonder that the police interrogated at +least a dozen witnesses before they were quite satisfied that every +statement was conclusively proved. +</p> +<p> +"Walter Hatherell, after about ten minutes' absence, that is to say at +ten minutes to two, returned to the club room. In reply to several +inquiries, he said that he had parted with his friend at the corner of +New Bond Street, since he seemed anxious to be alone, and that Ashley +said he would take a turn down Piccadilly before going home—he thought +a walk would do him good. +</p> +<p> +"At two o'clock or thereabouts Mr. Aaron Cohen, satisfied with his +evening's work, gave up his position at the bank and, pocketing his +heavy winnings, started on his homeward walk, while Mr. Walter Hatherell +left the club half an hour later. +</p> +<p> +"At three o'clock precisely the cries of 'Murder' and the report of +fire-arms were heard in Park Square West, and Mr. Aaron Cohen was found +strangled outside the garden railings." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH29"><!-- CH29 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXIX +</h2> + +<h3> +THE MOTIVE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Now at first sight the murder in the Regent's Park appeared both to +police and public as one of those silly, clumsy crimes, obviously the +work of a novice, and absolutely purposeless, seeing that it could but +inevitably lead its perpetrators, without any difficulty, to the +gallows. +</p> +<p> +"You see, a motive had been established. 'Seek him whom the crime +benefits,' say our French <i>confrères</i>. But there was something more than +that. +</p> +<p> +"Constable James Funnell, on his beat, turned from Portland Place into +Park Crescent a few minutes after he had heard the clock at Holy Trinity +Church, Marylebone, strike half-past two. The fog at that moment was +perhaps not quite so dense as it was later on in the morning, and the +policeman saw two gentlemen in overcoats and top-hats leaning arm in arm +against the railings of the Square, close to the gate. He could not, of +course, distinguish their faces because of the fog, but he heard one of +them saying to the other: +</p> +<p> +"'It is but a question of time, Mr. Cohen. I know my father will pay +the money for me, and you will lose nothing by waiting.' +</p> +<p> +"To this the other apparently made no reply, and the constable passed +on; when he returned to the same spot, after having walked over his +beat, the two gentlemen had gone, but later on it was near this very +gate that the two keys referred to at the inquest had been found. +</p> +<p> +"Another interesting fact," added the man in the corner, with one of +those sarcastic smiles of his which Polly could not quite explain, "was +the finding of the revolver upon the scene of the crime. That revolver, +shown to Mr. Ashley's valet, was sworn to by him as being the property +of his master. +</p> +<p> +"All these facts made, of course, a very remarkable, so far quite +unbroken, chain of circumstantial evidence against Mr. John Ashley. No +wonder, therefore, that the police, thoroughly satisfied with Mr. +Fisher's work and their own, applied for a warrant against the young +man, and arrested him in his rooms in Clarges Street exactly a week +after the committal of the crime. +</p> +<p> +"As a matter of fact, you know, experience has invariably taught me that +when a murderer seems particularly foolish and clumsy, and proofs +against him seem particularly damning, that is the time when the police +should be most guarded against pitfalls. +</p> +<p> +"Now in this case, if John Ashley had indeed committed the murder in +Regent's Park in the manner suggested by the police, he would have been +a criminal in more senses than one, for idiocy of that kind is to my +mind worse than many crimes. +</p> +<p> +"The prosecution brought its witnesses up in triumphal array one after +another. There were the members of the Harewood Club—who had seen the +prisoner's excited condition after his heavy gambling losses to Mr. +Aaron Cohen; there was Mr. Hatherell, who, in spite of his friendship +for Ashley, was bound to admit that he had parted from him at the corner +of Bond Street at twenty minutes to two, and had not seen him again till +his return home at five a.m. +</p> +<p> +"Then came the evidence of Arthur Chipps, John Ashley's valet. It proved +of a very sensational character. +</p> +<p> +"He deposed that on the night in question his master came home at about +ten minutes to two. Chipps had then not yet gone to bed. Five minutes +later Mr. Ashley went out again, telling the valet not to sit up for +him. Chipps could not say at what time either of the young gentlemen had +come home. +</p> +<p> +"That short visit home—presumably to fetch the revolver—was thought to +be very important, and Mr. John Ashley's friends felt that his case was +practically hopeless. +</p> +<p> +"The valet's evidence and that of James Funnell, the constable, who had +overheard the conversation near the park railings, were certainly the +two most damning proofs against the accused. I assure you I was having a +rare old time that day. There were two faces in court to watch which was +the greatest treat I had had for many a day. One of these was Mr. John +Ashley's. +</p> +<p> +"Here's his photo—short, dark, dapper, a little 'racy' in style, but +otherwise he looks a son of a well-to-do farmer. He was very quiet and +placid in court, and addressed a few words now and again to his +solicitor. He listened gravely, and with an occasional shrug of the +shoulders, to the recital of the crime, such as the police had +reconstructed it, before an excited and horrified audience. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. John Ashley, driven to madness and frenzy by terrible financial +difficulties, had first of all gone home in search of a weapon, then +waylaid Mr. Aaron Cohen somewhere on that gentleman's way home. The +young man had begged for delay. Mr. Cohen perhaps was obdurate; but +Ashley followed him with his importunities almost to his door. +</p> +<p> +"There, seeing his creditor determined at last to cut short the painful +interview, he had seized the unfortunate man at an unguarded moment from +behind, and strangled him; then, fearing that his dastardly work was not +fully accomplished, he had shot twice at the already dead body, missing +it both times from sheer nervous excitement. The murderer then must have +emptied his victim's pockets, and, finding the key of the garden, +thought that it would be a safe way of evading capture by cutting across +the squares, under the tunnel, and so through the more distant gate +which faced Portland Place. +</p> +<p> +"The loss of the revolver was one of those unforeseen accidents which a +retributive Providence places in the path of the miscreant, delivering +him by his own act of folly into the hands of human justice. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. John Ashley, however, did not appear the least bit impressed by the +recital of his crime. He had not engaged the services of one of the most +eminent lawyers, expert at extracting contradictions from witnesses by +skilful cross-examinations—oh, dear me, no! he had been contented with +those of a dull, prosy, very second-rate limb of the law, who, as he +called his witnesses, was completely innocent of any desire to create a +sensation. +</p> +<p> +"He rose quietly from his seat, and, amidst breathless silence, called +the first of three witnesses on behalf of his client. He called +three—but he could have produced twelve—gentlemen, members of the +Ashton Club in Great Portland Street, all of whom swore that at three +o'clock on the morning of February 6th, that is to say, at the very +moment when the cries of 'Murder' roused the inhabitants of Park Square +West, and the crime was being committed, Mr. John Ashley was sitting +quietly in the club-rooms of the Ashton playing bridge with the three +witnesses. He had come in a few minutes before three—as the hall porter +of the Club testified—and stayed for about an hour and a half. +</p> +<p> +"I need not tell you that this undoubted, this fully proved, <i>alibi</i> was +a positive bombshell in the stronghold of the prosecution. The most +accomplished criminal could not possibly be in two places at once, and +though the Ashton Club transgresses in many ways against the gambling +laws of our very moral country, yet its members belong to the best, most +unimpeachable classes of society. Mr. Ashley had been seen and spoken to +at the very moment of the crime by at least a dozen gentlemen whose +testimony was absolutely above suspicion. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. John Ashley's conduct throughout this astonishing phase of the +inquiry remained perfectly calm and correct. It was no doubt the +consciousness of being able to prove his innocence with such absolute +conclusion that had steadied his nerves throughout the proceedings. +</p> +<p> +"His answers to the magistrate were clear and simple, even on the +ticklish subject of the revolver. +</p> +<p> +"'I left the club, sir,' he explained, 'fully determined to speak with +Mr. Cohen alone in order to ask him for a delay in the settlement of my +debt to him. You will understand that I should not care to do this in +the presence of other gentlemen. I went home for a minute or two—not in +order to fetch a revolver, as the police assert, for I always carry a +revolver about with me in foggy weather—but in order to see if a very +important business letter had come for me in my absence. +</p> +<p> +"'Then I went out again, and met Mr. Aaron Cohen not far from the +Harewood Club. I walked the greater part of the way with him, and our +conversation was of the most amicable character. We parted at the top of +Portland Place, near the gate of the Square, where the policeman saw us. +Mr. Cohen then had the intention of cutting across the Square, as being +a shorter way to his own house. I thought the Square looked dark and +dangerous in the fog, especially as Mr. Cohen was carrying a large sum +of money. +</p> +<p> +"'We had a short discussion on the subject, and finally I persuaded him +to take my revolver, as I was going home only through very frequented +streets, and moreover carried nothing that was worth stealing. After a +little demur Mr. Cohen accepted the loan of my revolver, and that is +how it came to be found on the actual scene of the crime; finally I +parted from Mr. Cohen a very few minutes after I had heard the church +clock striking a quarter before three. I was at the Oxford Street end of +Great Portland Street at five minutes to three, and it takes at least +ten minutes to walk from where I was to the Ashton Club.' +</p> +<p> +"This explanation was all the more credible, mind you, because the +question of the revolver had never been very satisfactorily explained by +the prosecution. A man who has effectually strangled his victim would +not discharge two shots of his revolver for, apparently, no other +purpose than that of rousing the attention of the nearest passer-by. It +was far more likely that it was Mr. Cohen who shot—perhaps wildly into +the air, when suddenly attacked from behind. Mr. Ashley's explanation +therefore was not only plausible, it was the only possible one. +</p> +<p> +"You will understand therefore how it was that, after nearly half an +hour's examination, the magistrate, the police, and the public were +alike pleased to proclaim that the accused left the court without a +stain upon his character." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH30"><!-- CH30 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXX +</h2> + +<h3> +FRIENDS +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"Yes," interrupted Polly eagerly, since, for once, her acumen had been +at least as sharp as his, "but suspicion of that horrible crime only +shifted its taint from one friend to another, and, of course, I know—" +</p> +<p> +"But that's just it," he quietly interrupted, "you don't know—Mr. +Walter Hatherell, of course, you mean. So did every one else at once. +The friend, weak and willing, committing a crime on behalf of his +cowardly, yet more assertive friend who had tempted him to evil. It was +a good theory; and was held pretty generally, I fancy, even by the +police. +</p> +<p> +"I say 'even' because they worked really hard in order to build up a +case against young Hatherell, but the great difficulty was that of time. +At the hour when the policeman had seen the two men outside Park Square +together, Walter Hatherell was still sitting in the Harewood Club, which +he never left until twenty minutes to two. Had he wished to waylay and +rob Aaron Cohen he would not have waited surely till the time when +presumably the latter would already have reached home. +</p> +<p> +"Moreover, twenty minutes was an incredibly short time in which to walk +from Hanover Square to Regent's Park without the chance of cutting +across the squares, to look for a man, whose whereabouts you could not +determine to within twenty yards or so, to have an argument with him, +murder him, and ransack his pockets. And then there was the total +absence of motive." +</p> +<p> +"But—" said Polly meditatively, for she remembered now that the +Regent's Park murder, as it had been popularly called, was one of those +which had remained as impenetrable a mystery as any other crime had ever +been in the annals of the police. +</p> +<p> +The man in the corner cocked his funny birdlike head well on one side +and looked at her, highly amused evidently at her perplexity. +</p> +<p> +"You do not see how that murder was committed?" he asked with a grin. +</p> +<p> +Polly was bound to admit that she did not. +</p> +<p> +"If you had happened to have been in Mr. John Ashley's predicament," he +persisted, "you do not see how you could conveniently have done away +with Mr. Aaron Cohen, pocketed his winnings, and then led the police of +your country entirely by the nose, by proving an indisputable <i>alibi</i>?" +</p> +<p> +"I could not arrange conveniently," she retorted, "to be in two +different places half a mile apart at one and the same time." +</p> +<p> +"No! I quite admit that you could not do this unless you also had a +friend—" +</p> +<p> +"A friend? But you say—" +</p> +<p> +"I say that I admired Mr. John Ashley, for his was the head which +planned the whole thing, but he could not have accomplished the +fascinating and terrible drama without the help of willing and able +hands." +</p> +<p> +"Even then—" she protested. +</p> +<p> +"Point number one," he began excitedly, fidgeting with his inevitable +piece of string. "John Ashley and his friend Walter Hatherell leave the +club together, and together decide on the plan of campaign. Hatherell +returns to the club, and Ashley goes to fetch the revolver—the revolver +which played such an important part in the drama, but not the part +assigned to it by the police. Now try to follow Ashley closely, as he +dogs Aaron Cohen's footsteps. Do you believe that he entered into +conversation with him? That he walked by his side? That he asked for +delay? No! He sneaked behind him and caught him by the throat, as the +garroters used to do in the fog. Cohen was apoplectic, and Ashley is +young and powerful. Moreover, he meant to kill—" +</p> +<p> +"But the two men talked together outside the Square gates," protested +Polly, "one of whom was Cohen, and the other Ashley." +</p> +<p> +"Pardon me," he said, jumping up in his seat like a monkey on a stick, +"there were not two men talking outside the Square gates. According to +the testimony of James Funnell, the constable, two men were leaning arm +in arm against the railings and <i>one</i> man was talking." +</p> +<p> +"Then you think that—" +</p> +<p> +"At the hour when James Funnell heard Holy Trinity clock striking +half-past two Aaron Cohen was already dead. Look how simple the whole +thing is," he added eagerly, "and how easy after that—easy, but oh, +dear me! how wonderfully, how stupendously clever. As soon as James +Funnell has passed on, John Ashley, having opened the gate, lifts the +body of Aaron Cohen in his arms and carries him across the Square. The +Square is deserted, of course, but the way is easy enough, and we must +presume that Ashley had been in it before. Anyway, there was no fear of +meeting any one. +</p> +<p> +"In the meantime Hatherell has left the club: as fast as his athletic +legs can carry him he rushes along Oxford Street and Portland Place. It +had been arranged between the two miscreants that the Square gate should +be left on the latch. +</p> +<p> +"Close on Ashley's heels now, Hatherell too cuts across the Square, and +reaches the further gate in good time to give his confederate a hand in +disposing the body against the railings. Then, without another instant's +delay, Ashley runs back across the gardens, straight to the Ashton Club, +throwing away the keys of the dead man, on the very spot where he had +made it a point of being seen and heard by a passer-by. +</p> +<p> +"Hatherell gives his friend six or seven minutes' start, then he begins +the altercation which lasts two or three minutes, and finally rouses the +neighbourhood with cries of 'Murder' and report of pistol in order to +establish that the crime was committed at the hour when its perpetrator +has already made out an indisputable <i>alibi</i>." +</p> +<p> +"I don't know what you think of it all, of course," added the funny +creature as he fumbled for his coat and his gloves, "but I call the +planning of that murder—on the part of novices, mind you—one of the +cleverest pieces of strategy I have ever come across. It is one of those +cases where there is no possibility whatever now of bringing the crime +home to its perpetrator or his abettor. They have not left a single +proof behind them; they foresaw everything, and each acted his part with +a coolness and courage which, applied to a great and good cause, would +have made fine statesmen of them both. +</p> +<p> +"As it is, I fear, they are just a pair of young blackguards, who have +escaped human justice, and have only deserved the full and ungrudging +admiration of yours very sincerely." +</p> +<p> +He had gone. Polly wanted to call him back, but his meagre person was no +longer visible through the glass door. There were many things she would +have wished to ask of him—what were his proofs, his facts? His were +theories, after all, and yet, somehow, she felt that he had solved once +again one of the darkest mysteries of great criminal London. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH31"><!-- CH31 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXI +</h2> + +<h3> +THE DE GENNEVILLE PEERAGE +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The man in the corner rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and looked out upon +the busy street below. +</p> +<p> +"I suppose," he said, "there is some truth in the saying that Providence +watches over bankrupts, kittens, and lawyers." +</p> +<p> +"I didn't know there was such a saying," replied Polly, with guarded +dignity. +</p> +<p> +"Isn't there? Perhaps I am misquoting; anyway, there should be. Kittens, +it seems, live and thrive through social and domestic upheavals which +would annihilate a self-supporting tom-cat, and to-day I read in the +morning papers the account of a noble lord's bankruptcy, and in the +society ones that of his visit at the house of a Cabinet minister, where +he is the most honoured guest. As for lawyers, when Providence had +exhausted all other means of securing their welfare, it brought forth +the peerage cases." +</p> +<p> +"I believe, as a matter of fact, that this special dispensation of +Providence, as you call it, requires more technical knowledge than any +other legal complication that comes before the law courts," she said. +</p> +<p> +"And also a great deal more money in the client's pocket than any other +complication. Now, take the Brockelsby peerage case. Have you any idea +how much money was spent over that soap bubble, which only burst after +many hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds went in lawyers' and +counsels' fees?" +</p> +<p> +"I suppose a great deal of money was spent on both sides," she replied, +"until that sudden, awful issue—" +</p> +<p> +"Which settled the dispute effectually," he interrupted with a dry +chuckle. "Of course, it is very doubtful if any reputable solicitor +would have taken up the case. Timothy Beddingfield, the Birmingham +lawyer, is a gentleman who—well—has had some misfortunes, shall we +say? He is still on the rolls, mind you, but I doubt if any case would +have its chances improved by his conducting it. Against that there is +just this to be said, that some of these old peerages have such peculiar +histories, and own such wonderful archives, that a claim is always worth +investigating—you never know what may be the rights of it. +</p> +<p> +"I believe that, at first, every one laughed over the pretensions of the +Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville to the joint title and part revenues of +the old barony of Genneville, but, obviously, he <i>might</i> have got his +case. It certainly sounded almost like a fairy-tale, this claim based +upon the supposed validity of an ancient document over 400 years old. It +was <i>then</i> that a mediaeval Lord de Genneville, more endowed with muscle +than common sense, became during his turbulent existence much +embarrassed and hopelessly puzzled through the presentation made to him +by his lady of twin-born sons. +</p> +<p> +"His embarrassment chiefly arose from the fact that my lady's +attendants, while ministering to the comfort of the mother, had, in a +moment of absent-mindedness, so placed the two infants in their cot that +subsequently no one, not even—perhaps least of all—the mother, could +tell which was the one who had been the first to make his appearance +into this troublesome and puzzling world. +</p> +<p> +"After many years of cogitation, during which the Lord de Genneville +approached nearer to the grave and his sons to man's estate, he gave up +trying to solve the riddle as to which of the twins should succeed to +his title and revenues; he appealed to his Liege Lord and King—Edward, +fourth of that name—and with the latter's august sanction he drew up a +certain document, wherein he enacted that both his sons should, after +his death, share his titles and goodly revenues, and that the first son +born in wedlock of <i>either</i> father should subsequently be the sole heir. +</p> +<p> +"In this document was also added that if in future times should any +Lords de Genneville be similarly afflicted with twin sons, who had equal +rights to be considered the eldest born, the same rule should apply as +to the succession. +</p> +<p> +"Subsequently a Lord de Genneville was created Earl of Brockelsby by one +of the Stuart kings, but for four hundred years after its enactment the +extraordinary deed of succession remained a mere tradition, the +Countesses of Brockelsby having, seemingly, no predilection for twins. +But in 1878 the mistress of Brockelsby Castle presented her lord with +twin-born sons. +</p> +<p> +"Fortunately, in modern times, science is more wide-awake, and +attendants more careful. The twin brothers did not get mixed up, and one +of them was styled Viscount Tirlemont, and was heir to the earldom, +whilst the other, born two hours later, was that fascinating, dashing +young Guardsman, well known at Hurlingham, Goodwood, London, and in his +own county—the Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville. +</p> +<p> +"It certainly was an evil day for this brilliant young scion of the +ancient race when he lent an ear to Timothy Beddingfield. This man, and +his family before him, had been solicitors to the Earls of Brockelsby +for many generations, but Timothy, owing to certain 'irregularities,' +had forfeited the confidence of his client, the late earl. +</p> +<p> +"He was still in practice in Birmingham, however, and, of course, knew +the ancient family tradition anent the twin succession. Whether he was +prompted by revenge or merely self-advertisement no one knows. +</p> +<p> +"Certain it is that he did advise the Hon. Robert de Genneville—who +apparently had more debts than he conveniently could pay, and more +extravagant tastes than he could gratify on a younger son's portion—to +lay a claim, on his father's death, to the joint title and a moiety of +the revenues of the ancient barony of Genneville, that claim being based +upon the validity of the fifteenth-century document. +</p> +<p> +"You may gather how extensive were the pretensions of the Hon. Robert +from the fact that the greater part of Edgbaston is now built upon land +belonging to the old barony. Anyway, it was the last straw in an ocean +of debt and difficulties, and I have no doubt that Beddingfield had not +much trouble in persuading the Hon. Robert to commence litigation at +once. +</p> +<p> +"The young Earl of Brockelsby's attitude, however, remained one of +absolute quietude in his nine points of the law. He was in possession +both of the title and of the document. It was for the other side to +force him to produce the one or to share the other. +</p> +<p> +"It was at this stage of the proceedings that the Hon. Robert was +advised to marry, in order to secure, if possible, the first male heir +of the next generation, since the young earl himself was still a +bachelor. A suitable <i>fiancée</i> was found for him by his friends in the +person of Miss Mabel Brandon, the daughter of a rich Birmingham +manufacturer, and the marriage was fixed to take place at Birmingham on +Thursday, September 15th, 1907. +</p> +<p> +"On the 13th the Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville arrived at the Castle +Hotel in New Street for his wedding, and on the 14th, at eight o'clock +in the morning, he was discovered lying on the floor of his +bedroom—murdered. +</p> +<p> +"The sensation which the awful and unexpected sequel to the De +Genneville peerage case caused in the minds of the friends of both +litigants was quite unparalleled. I don't think any crime of modern +times created quite so much stir in all classes of society. Birmingham +was wild with excitement, and the employés of the Castle Hotel had real +difficulty in keeping off the eager and inquisitive crowd who thronged +daily to the hall, vainly hoping to gather details of news relating to +the terrible tragedy. +</p> +<p> +"At present there was but little to tell. The shrieks of the +chambermaid, who had gone into the Hon. Robert's room with his shaving +water at eight o'clock, had attracted some of the waiters. Soon the +manager and his secretary came up, and immediately sent for the police. +</p> +<p> +"It seemed at first sight as if the young man had been the victim of a +homicidal maniac, so brutal had been the way in which he had been +assassinated. The head and body were battered and bruised by some heavy +stick or poker, almost past human shape, as if the murderer had wished +to wreak some awful vengeance upon the body of his victim. In fact, it +would be impossible to recount the gruesome aspect of that room and of +the murdered man's body such as the police and the medical officer took +note of that day. +</p> +<p> +"It was supposed that the murder had been committed the evening before, +as the victim was dressed in his evening clothes, and all the lights in +the room had been left fully turned on. Robbery, also, must have had a +large share in the miscreant's motives, for the drawers and cupboards, +the portmanteau and dressing-bag had been ransacked as if in search of +valuables. On the floor there lay a pocket-book torn in half and only +containing a few letters addressed to the Hon. Robert de Genneville. +</p> +<p> +"The Earl of Brockelsby, next-of-kin to the deceased, was also +telegraphed for. He drove over from Brockelsby Castle, which is about +seven miles from Birmingham. He was terribly affected by the awfulness +of the tragedy, and offered a liberal reward to stimulate the activity +of the police in search of the miscreant. +</p> +<p> +"The inquest was fixed for the 17th, three days later, and the public +was left wondering where the solution lay of the terrible and gruesome +murder at the Castle Hotel." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH32"><!-- CH32 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXII +</h2> + +<h3> +A HIGH-BRED GENTLEMAN +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"The central figure in the coroner's court that day was undoubtedly the +Earl of Brockelsby in deep black, which contrasted strongly with his +florid complexion and fair hair. Sir Marmaduke Ingersoll, his solicitor, +was with him, and he had already performed the painful duty of +identifying the deceased as his brother. This had been an exceedingly +painful duty owing to the terribly mutilated state of the body and face; +but the clothes and various trinkets he wore, including a signet ring, +had fortunately not tempted the brutal assassin, and it was through them +chiefly that Lord Brockelsby was able to swear to the identity of his +brother. +</p> +<p> +"The various employés at the hotel gave evidence as to the discovery of +the body, and the medical officer gave his opinion as to the immediate +cause of death. Deceased had evidently been struck at the back of the +head with a poker or heavy stick, the murderer then venting his blind +fury upon the body by battering in the face and bruising it in a way +that certainly suggested the work of a maniac. +</p> +<p> +"Then the Earl of Brockelsby was called, and was requested by the +coroner to state when he had last seen his brother alive. +</p> +<p> +"'The morning before his death,' replied his lordship, 'he came up to +Birmingham by an early train, and I drove up from Brockelsby to see him. +I got to the hotel at eleven o'clock and stayed with him for about an +hour.' +</p> +<p> +"'And that is the last you saw of the deceased?' +</p> +<p> +"'That is the last I saw of him,' replied Lord Brockelsby. +</p> +<p> +"He seemed to hesitate for a moment or two as if in thought whether he +should speak or not, and then to suddenly make up his mind to speak, for +he added: 'I stayed in town the whole of that day, and only drove back +to Brockelsby late in the evening. I had some business to transact, and +put up at the Grand, as I usually do, and dined with some friends.' +</p> +<p> +"'Would you tell us at what time you returned to Brockelsby Castle?' +</p> +<p> +"'I think it must have been about eleven o'clock. It is a seven-mile +drive from here.' +</p> +<p> +"'I believe,' said the coroner after a slight pause, during which the +attention of all the spectators was riveted upon the handsome figure of +the young man as he stood in the witness-box, the very personification +of a high-bred gentleman, 'I believe that I am right in stating that +there was an unfortunate legal dispute between your lordship and your +brother?' +</p> +<p> +"'That is so.' +</p> +<p> +"The coroner stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment or two, then he +added: +</p> +<p> +"'In the event of the deceased's claim to the joint title and revenues +of De Genneville being held good in the courts of law, there would be a +great importance, would there not, attached to his marriage, which was +to have taken place on the 15th?' +</p> +<p> +"'In that event, there certainly would be.' +</p> +<p> +"'Is the jury to understand, then, that you and the deceased parted on +amicable terms after your interview with him in the morning?' +</p> +<p> +"The Earl of Brockelsby hesitated again for a minute or two, while the +crowd and the jury hung breathless on his lips. +</p> +<p> +"'There was no enmity between us,' he replied at last. +</p> +<p> +"'From which we may gather that there may have been—shall I say—a +slight disagreement at that interview?' +</p> +<p> +"'My brother had unfortunately been misled by the misrepresentations or +perhaps the too optimistic views of his lawyer. He had been dragged into +litigation on the strength of an old family document which he had never +seen, which, moreover, is antiquated, and, owing to certain wording in +it, invalid. I thought that it would be kinder and more considerate if +I were to let my brother judge of the document for himself. I knew that +when he had seen it he would be convinced of the absolutely futile basis +of his claim, and that it would be a terrible disappointment to him. +That is the reason why I wished to see him myself about it, rather than +to do it through the more formal—perhaps more correct—medium of our +respective lawyers. I placed the facts before him with, on my part, a +perfectly amicable spirit.' +</p> +<p> +"The young Earl of Brockelsby had made this somewhat lengthy, perfectly +voluntary explanation of the state of affairs in a calm, quiet voice, +with much dignity and perfect simplicity, but the coroner did not seem +impressed by it, for he asked very drily: +</p> +<p> +"'Did you part good friends?' +</p> +<p> +"'On my side absolutely so.' +</p> +<p> +"'But not on his?' insisted the coroner. +</p> +<p> +"'I think he felt naturally annoyed that he had been so ill-advised by +his solicitors.' +</p> +<p> +"'And you made no attempt later on in the day to adjust any ill-feeling +that may have existed between you and him?' asked the coroner, marking +with strange, earnest emphasis every word he uttered. +</p> +<p> +"'If you mean did I go and see my brother again that day—no, I did +not.' +</p> +<p> +"'And your lordship can give us no further information which might +throw some light upon the mystery which surrounds the Hon. Robert de +Genneville's death?' still persisted the coroner. +</p> +<p> +"'I am sorry to say I cannot,' replied the Earl of Brockelsby with firm +decision. +</p> +<p> +"The coroner still looked puzzled and thoughtful. It seemed at first as +if he wished to press his point further; every one felt that some deep +import had lain behind his examination of the witness, and all were on +tenter-hooks as to what the next evidence might bring forth. The Earl of +Brockelsby had waited a minute or two, then, at a sign from the coroner, +had left the witness-box in order to have a talk with his solicitor. +</p> +<p> +"At first he paid no attention to the depositions of the cashier and +hall porter of the Castle Hotel, but gradually it seemed to strike him +that curious statements were being made by these witnesses, and a frown +of anxious wonder settled between his brows, whilst his young face lost +some of its florid hue. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Tremlett, the cashier at the hotel, had been holding the attention +of the court. He stated that the Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville had +arrived at the hotel at eight o'clock on the morning of the 13th; he had +the room which he usually occupied when he came to the 'Castle,' namely, +No. 21, and he went up to it immediately on his arrival, ordering some +breakfast to be brought up to him. +</p> +<p> +"At eleven o'clock the Earl of Brockelsby called to see his brother and +remained with him until about twelve. In the afternoon the deceased went +out, and returned for his dinner at seven o'clock in company with a +gentleman whom the cashier knew well by sight, Mr. Timothy Beddingfield, +the lawyer, of Paradise Street. The gentlemen had their dinner +downstairs, and after that they went up to the Hon. Mr. de Genneville's +room for coffee and cigars. +</p> +<p> +"'I could not say at what time Mr. Beddingfield left,' continued the +cashier, 'but I rather fancy I saw him in the hall at about 9.15 p.m. He +was wearing an Inverness cape over his dress clothes and a Glengarry +cap. It was just at the hour when the visitors who had come down for the +night from London were arriving thick and fast; the hall was very full, +and there was a large party of Americans monopolising most of our +<i>personnel</i>, so I could not swear positively whether I did see Mr. +Beddingfield or not then, though I am quite sure that it was Mr. Timothy +Beddingfield who dined and spent the evening with the Hon. Mr. de +Genneville, as I know him quite well by sight. At ten o'clock I am off +duty, and the night porter remains alone in the hall.' +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Tremlett's evidence was corroborated in most respects by a waiter +and by the hall porter. They had both seen the deceased come in at seven +o'clock in company with a gentleman, and their description of the +latter coincided with that of the appearance of Mr. Timothy +Beddingfield, whom, however, they did not actually know. +</p> +<p> +"At this point of the proceedings the foreman of the jury wished to know +why Mr. Timothy Beddingfield's evidence had not been obtained, and was +informed by the detective-inspector in charge of the case that that +gentleman had seemingly left Birmingham, but was expected home shortly. +The coroner suggested an adjournment pending Mr. Beddingfield's +appearance, but at the earnest request of the detective he consented to +hear the evidence of Peter Tyrrell, the night porter at the Castle +Hotel, who, if you remember the case at all, succeeded in creating the +biggest sensation of any which had been made through this extraordinary +and weirdly gruesome case. +</p> +<p> +"'It was the first time I had been on duty at "The Castle," he said, +'for I used to be night porter at "Bright's," in Wolverhampton, but just +after I had come on duty at ten o'clock a gentleman came and asked if he +could see the Hon. Robert de Genneville. I said that I thought he was +in, but would send up and see. The gentleman said: "It doesn't matter. +Don't trouble; I know his room. Twenty-one, isn't it?" And up he went +before I could say another word.' +</p> +<p> +"'Did he give you any name?' asked the coroner. +</p> +<p> +"'No, sir.' +</p> +<p> +"'What was he like?' +</p> +<p> +"'A young gentleman, sir, as far as I can remember, in an Inverness +cape and Glengarry cap, but I could not see his face very well as he +stood with his back to the light, and the cap shaded his eyes, and he +only spoke to me for a minute.' +</p> +<p> +"'Look all round you,' said the coroner quietly. 'Is there any one in +this court at all like the gentleman you speak of?' +</p> +<p> +"An awed hush fell over the many spectators there present as Peter +Tyrrell, the night porter of the Castle Hotel, turned his head towards +the body of the court and slowly scanned the many faces there present; +for a moment he seemed to hesitate—only for a moment though, then, as +if vaguely conscious of the terrible importance his next words might +have, he shook his head gravely and said: +</p> +<p> +"'I wouldn't like to swear.' +</p> +<p> +"The coroner tried to press him, but with true British stolidity he +repeated: 'I wouldn't like to say.' +</p> +<p> +"'Well, then, what happened?' asked the coroner, who had perforce to +abandon his point. +</p> +<p> +"'The gentleman went upstairs, sir, and about a quarter of an hour later +he come down again, and I let him out. He was in a great hurry then, he +threw me a half-crown and said: "Good night."' +</p> +<p> +"'And though you saw him again then, you cannot tell us if you would +know him again?' +</p> +<p> +"Once more the hall porter's eyes wandered as if instinctively to a +certain face in the court; once more he hesitated for many seconds which +seemed like so many hours, during which a man's honour, a man's life, +hung perhaps in the balance. +</p> +<p> +"Then Peter Tyrrell repeated slowly: 'I wouldn't swear.' +</p> +<p> +"But coroner and jury alike, aye, and every spectator in that crowded +court, had seen that the man's eyes had rested during that one moment of +hesitation upon the face of the Earl of Brockelsby." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH33"><!-- CH33 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXIII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE LIVING AND THE DEAD +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +The man in the corner blinked across at Polly with his funny mild blue +eyes. +</p> +<p> +"No wonder you are puzzled," he continued, "so was everybody in the +court that day, every one save myself. I alone could see in my mind's +eye that gruesome murder such as it had been committed, with all its +details, and, above all, its motive, and such as you will see it +presently, when I place it all clearly before you. +</p> +<p> +"But before you see daylight in this strange case, I must plunge you +into further darkness, in the same manner as the coroner and jury were +plunged on the following day, the second day of that remarkable inquest. +It had to be adjourned, since the appearance of Mr. Timothy Beddingfield +had now become of vital importance. The public had come to regard his +absence from Birmingham at this critical moment as decidedly remarkable, +to say the least of it, and all those who did not know the lawyer by +sight wished to see him in his Inverness cape and Glengarry cap such as +he had appeared before the several witnesses on the night of the awful +murder. +</p> +<p> +"When the coroner and jury were seated, the first piece of information +which the police placed before them was the astounding statement that +Mr. Timothy Beddingfield's whereabouts had not been ascertained, though +it was confidently expected that he had not gone far and could easily be +traced. There was a witness present who, the police thought, might throw +some light as to the lawyer's probable destination, for obviously he had +left Birmingham directly after his interview with the deceased. +</p> +<p> +"This witness was Mrs. Higgins, who was Mr. Beddingfield's housekeeper. +She stated that her master was in the constant habit—especially +latterly—of going up to London on business. He usually left by a late +evening train on those occasions, and mostly was only absent thirty-six +hours. He kept a portmanteau always ready packed for the purpose, for he +often left at a few moments' notice. Mrs. Higgins added that her master +stayed at the Great Western Hotel in London, for it was there that she +was instructed to wire if anything urgent required his presence back in +Birmingham. +</p> +<p> +"'On the night of the 14th,' she continued, 'at nine o'clock or +thereabouts, a messenger came to the door with the master's card, and +said that he was instructed to fetch Mr. Beddingfield's portmanteau, and +then to meet him at the station in time to catch the 9.35 p.m. up train. +I gave him the portmanteau, of course, as he had brought the card, and +I had no idea there could be anything wrong; but since then I have heard +nothing of my master, and I don't know when he will return.' +</p> +<p> +"Questioned by the coroner, she added that Mr. Beddingfield had never +stayed away quite so long without having his letters forwarded to him. +There was a large pile waiting for him now; she had written to the Great +Western Hotel, London, asking what she should do about the letters, but +had received no reply. She did not know the messenger by sight who had +called for the portmanteau. Once or twice before Mr. Beddingfield had +sent for his things in that manner when he had been dining out. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Beddingfield certainly wore his Inverness cape over his dress +clothes when he went out at about six o'clock in the afternoon. He also +wore a Glengarry cap. +</p> +<p> +"The messenger had so far not yet been found, and from this +point—namely, the sending for the portmanteau—all traces of Mr. +Timothy Beddingfield seem to have been lost. Whether he went up to +London by that 9.35 train or not could not be definitely ascertained. +The police had questioned at least a dozen porters at the railway, as +well as ticket collectors; but no one had any special recollection of a +gentleman in an Inverness cape and Glengarry cap, a costume worn by +more than one first-class passenger on a cold night in September. +</p> +<p> +"There was the hitch, you see; it all lay in this. Mr. Timothy +Beddingfield, the lawyer, had undoubtedly made himself scarce. He was +last seen in company with the deceased, and wearing an Inverness cape +and Glengarry cap; two or three witnesses saw him leaving the hotel at +about 9.15. Then the messenger calls at the lawyer's house for the +portmanteau, after which Mr. Timothy Beddingfield seems to vanish into +thin air; but—and that is a great 'but'—the night porter at the +'Castle' seems to have seen some one wearing the momentous Inverness and +Glengarry half an hour or so later on, and going up to deceased's room, +where he stayed about a quarter of an hour. +</p> +<p> +"Undoubtedly you will say, as every one said to themselves that day +after the night porter and Mrs. Higgins had been heard, that there was a +very ugly and very black finger which pointed unpleasantly at Mr. +Timothy Beddingfield, especially as that gentleman, for some reason +which still required an explanation, was not there to put matters right +for himself. But there was just one little thing—a mere trifle, +perhaps—which neither the coroner nor the jury dared to overlook, +though, strictly speaking, it was not evidence. +</p> +<p> +"You will remember that when the night porter was asked if he could, +among the persons present in court, recognize the Hon. Robert de +Genneville's belated visitor, every one had noticed his hesitation, and +marked that the man's eyes had rested doubtingly upon the face and +figure of the young Earl of Brockelsby. +</p> +<p> +"Now, if that belated visitor had been Mr. Timothy Beddingfield—tall, +lean, dry as dust, with a bird-like beak and clean-shaven chin—no one +could for a moment have mistaken his face—even if they only saw it very +casually and recollected it but very dimly—with that of young Lord +Brockelsby, who was florid and rather short—the only point in common +between them was their Saxon hair. +</p> +<p> +"You see that it was a curious point, don't you?" added the man in the +corner, who now had become so excited that his fingers worked like long +thin tentacles round and round his bit of string. "It weighed very +heavily in favour of Timothy Beddingfield. Added to which you must also +remember that, as far as he was concerned, the Hon. Robert de Genneville +was to him the goose with the golden eggs. +</p> +<p> +"The 'De Genneville peerage case' had brought Beddingfield's name in +great prominence. With the death of the claimant all hopes of prolonging +the litigation came to an end. There was a total lack of motive as far +as Beddingfield was concerned." +</p> +<p> +"Not so with the Earl of Brockelsby," said Polly, "and I've often +maintained—" +</p> +<p> +"What?" he interrupted. "That the Earl of Brockelsby changed clothes +with Beddingfield in order more conveniently to murder his own brother? +Where and when could the exchange of costume have been effected, +considering that the Inverness cape and Glengarry cap were in the hall +of the Castle Hotel at 9.15, and at that hour and until ten o'clock Lord +Brockelsby was at the Grand Hotel finishing dinner with some friends? +That was subsequently proved, remember, and also that he was back at +Brockelsby Castle, which is seven miles from Birmingham, at eleven +o'clock sharp. Now, the visit of the individual in the Glengarry +occurred some time after 10 p.m." +</p> +<p> +"Then there was the disappearance of Beddingfield," said the girl +musingly. "That certainly points very strongly to him. He was a man in +good practice, I believe, and fairly well known." +</p> +<p> +"And has never been heard of from that day to this," concluded the old +scarecrow with a chuckle. "No wonder you are puzzled. The police were +quite baffled, and still are, for a matter of that. And yet see how +simple it is! Only the police would not look further than these two +men—Lord Brockelsby with a strong motive and the night porter's +hesitation against him, and Beddingfield without a motive, but with +strong circumstantial evidence and his own disappearance as condemnatory +signs. +</p> +<p> +"If only they would look at the case as I did, and think a little about +the dead as well as about the living. If they had remembered that +peerage case, the Hon. Robert's debts, his last straw which proved a +futile claim. +</p> +<p> +"Only that very day the Earl of Brockelsby had, by quietly showing the +original ancient document to his brother, persuaded him how futile were +all his hopes. Who knows how many were the debts contracted, the +promises made, the money borrowed and obtained on the strength of that +claim which was mere romance? Ahead nothing but ruin, enmity with his +brother, his marriage probably broken off, a wasted life, in fact. +</p> +<p> +"Is it small wonder that, though ill-feeling against the Earl of +Brockelsby may have been deep, there was hatred, bitter, deadly hatred +against the man who with false promises had led him into so hopeless a +quagmire? Probably the Hon. Robert owed a great deal of money to +Beddingfield, which the latter hoped to recoup at usurious interest, +with threats of scandal and what not. +</p> +<p> +"Think of all that," he added, "and then tell me if you believe that a +stronger motive for the murder of such an enemy could well be found." +</p> +<p> +"But what you suggest is impossible," said Polly, aghast. +</p> +<p> +"Allow me," he said, "it is more than possible—it is very easy and +simple. The two men were alone together in the Hon. Robert de +Genneville's room after dinner. You, as representing the public, and the +police say that Beddingfield went away and returned half an hour later +in order to kill his client. I say that it was the lawyer who was +murdered at nine o'clock that evening, and that Robert de Genneville, +the ruined man, the hopeless bankrupt, was the assassin." +</p> +<p> +"Then—" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, of course, now you remember, for I have put you on the track. The +face and the body were so battered and bruised that they were past +recognition. Both men were of equal height. The hair, which alone could +not be disfigured or obliterated, was in both men similar in colour. +</p> +<p> +"Then the murderer proceeds to dress his victim in his own clothes. With +the utmost care he places his own rings on the fingers of the dead man, +his own watch in the pocket; a gruesome task, but an important one, and +it is thoroughly well done. Then he himself puts on the clothes of his +victim, with finally the Inverness cape and Glengarry, and when the hall +is full of visitors he slips out unperceived. He sends the messenger for +Beddingfield's portmanteau and starts off by the night express." +</p> +<p> +"But then his visit at the Castle Hotel at ten o'clock—" she urged. +"How dangerous!" +</p> +<p> +"Dangerous? Yes! but oh, how clever. You see, he was the Earl of +Brockelsby's twin brother, and twin brothers are always somewhat alike. +He wished to appear dead, murdered by some one, he cared not whom, but +what he did care about was to throw clouds of dust in the eyes of the +police, and he succeeded with a vengeance. Perhaps—who knows?—he +wished to assure himself that he had forgotten nothing in the <i>mise en +scène,</i> that the body, battered and bruised past all semblance of any +human shape save for its clothes, really would appear to every one as +that of the Hon. Robert de Genneville, while the latter disappeared for +ever from the old world and started life again in the new. +</p> +<p> +"Then you must always reckon with the practically invariable rule that a +murderer always revisits, if only once, the scene of his crime. +</p> +<p> +"Two years have elapsed since the crime; no trace of Timothy +Beddingfield, the lawyer, has ever been found, and I can assure you that +it will never be, for his plebeian body lies buried in the aristocratic +family vault of the Earl of Brockelsby." +</p> +<p> +He was gone before Polly could say another word. The faces of Timothy +Beddingfield, of the Earl of Brockelsby, of the Hon. Robert de +Genneville seemed to dance before her eyes and to mock her for the +hopeless bewilderment in which she found herself plunged because of +them; then all the faces vanished, or, rather, were merged in one long, +thin, bird-like one, with bone-rimmed spectacles on the top of its +beak, and a wide, rude grin beneath it, and, still puzzled, still +doubtful, the young girl too paid for her scanty luncheon and went her +way. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH34"><!-- CH34 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXIV +</h2> + +<h3> +THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH IN PERCY STREET +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +Miss Polly Burton had had many an argument with Mr. Richard Frobisher +about that old man in the corner, who seemed far more interesting and +deucedly more mysterious than any of the crimes over which he +philosophised. +</p> +<p> +Dick thought, moreover, that Miss Polly spent more of her leisure time +now in that A.B.C. shop than she had done in his own company before, and +told her so, with that delightful air of sheepish sulkiness which the +male creature invariably wears when he feels jealous and won't admit it. +</p> +<p> +Polly liked Dick to be jealous, but she liked that old scarecrow in the +A.B.C. shop very much too, and though she made sundry vague promises +from time to time to Mr. Richard Frobisher, she nevertheless drifted +back instinctively day after day to the tea-shop in Norfolk Street, +Strand, and stayed there sipping coffee for as long as the man in the +corner chose to talk. +</p> +<p> +On this particular afternoon she went to the A.B.C. shop with a fixed +purpose, that of making him give her his views of Mrs. Owen's mysterious +death in Percy Street. +</p> +<p> +The facts had interested and puzzled her. She had had countless +arguments with Mr. Richard Frobisher as to the three great possible +solutions of the puzzle—"Accident, Suicide, Murder?" +</p> +<p> +"Undoubtedly neither accident nor suicide," he said dryly. +</p> +<p> +Polly was not aware that she had spoken. What an uncanny habit that +creature had of reading her thoughts! +</p> +<p> +"You incline to the idea, then, that Mrs. Owen was murdered. Do you know +by whom?" +</p> +<p> +He laughed, and drew forth the piece of string he always fidgeted with +when unravelling some mystery. +</p> +<p> +"You would like to know who murdered that old woman?" he asked at last. +</p> +<p> +"I would like to hear your views on the subject," Polly replied. +</p> +<p> +"I have no views," he said dryly. "No one can know who murdered the +woman, since no one ever saw the person who did it. No one can give the +faintest description of the mysterious man who alone could have +committed that clever deed, and the police are playing a game of blind +man's buff." +</p> +<p> +"But you must have formed some theory of your own," she persisted. +</p> +<p> +It annoyed her that the funny creature was obstinate about this point, +and she tried to nettle his vanity. +</p> +<p> +"I suppose that as a matter of fact your original remark that 'there are +no such things as mysteries' does not apply universally. There is a +mystery—that of the death in Percy Street, and you, like the police, +are unable to fathom it." +</p> +<p> +He pulled up his eyebrows and looked at her for a minute or two. +</p> +<p> +"Confess that that murder was one of the cleverest bits of work +accomplished outside Russian diplomacy," he said with a nervous laugh. +"I must say that were I the judge, called upon to pronounce sentence of +death on the man who conceived that murder, I could not bring myself to +do it. I would politely request the gentleman to enter our Foreign +Office—we have need of such men. The whole <i>mise en scène</i> was truly +artistic, worthy of its <i>milieu</i>—the Rubens Studios in Percy Street, +Tottenham Court Road. +</p> +<p> +"Have you ever noticed them? They are only studios by name, and are +merely a set of rooms in a corner house, with the windows slightly +enlarged, and the rents charged accordingly in consideration of that +additional five inches of smoky daylight, filtering through dusty +windows. On the ground floor there is the order office of some stained +glass works, with a workshop in the rear, and on the first floor landing +a small room allotted to the caretaker, with gas, coal, and fifteen +shillings a week, for which princely income she is deputed to keep tidy +and clean the general aspect of the house. +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Owen, who was the caretaker there, was a quiet, respectable woman, +who eked out her scanty wages by sundry—mostly very meagre—tips doled +out to her by impecunious artists in exchange for promiscuous domestic +services in and about the respective studios. +</p> +<p> +"But if Mrs. Owen's earnings were not large, they were very regular, and +she had no fastidious tastes. She and her cockatoo lived on her wages; +and all the tips added up, and never spent, year after year, went to +swell a very comfortable little account at interest in the Birkbeck +Bank. This little account had mounted up to a very tidy sum, and the +thrifty widow—or old maid—no one ever knew which she was—was +generally referred to by the young artists of the Rubens Studios as a +'lady of means.' But this is a digression. +</p> +<p> +"No one slept on the premises except Mrs. Owen and her cockatoo. The +rule was that one by one as the tenants left their rooms in the evening +they took their respective keys to the caretaker's room. She would then, +in the early morning, tidy and dust the studios and the office +downstairs, lay the fire and carry up coals. +</p> +<p> +"The foreman of the glass works was the first to arrive in the morning. +He had a latch-key, and let himself in, after which it was the custom of +the house that he should leave the street door open for the benefit of +the other tenants and their visitors. +</p> +<p> +"Usually, when he came at about nine o'clock, he found Mrs. Owen busy +about the house doing her work, and he had often a brief chat with her +about the weather, but on this particular morning of February 2nd he +neither saw nor heard her. However, as the shop had been tidied and the +fire laid, he surmised that Mrs. Owen had finished her work earlier than +usual, and thought no more about it. One by one the tenants of the +studios turned up, and the day sped on without any one's attention being +drawn noticeably to the fact that the caretaker had not appeared upon +the scene. +</p> +<p> +"It had been a bitterly cold night, and the day was even worse; a +cutting north-easterly gale was blowing, there had been a great deal of +snow during the night which lay quite thick on the ground, and at five +o'clock in the afternoon, when the last glimmer of the pale winter +daylight had disappeared, the confraternity of the brush put palette and +easel aside and prepared to go home. The first to leave was Mr. Charles +Pitt; he locked up his studio and, as usual, took his key into the +caretaker's room. +</p> +<p> +"He had just opened the door when an icy blast literally struck him in +the face; both the windows were wide open, and the snow and sleet were +beating thickly into the room, forming already a white carpet upon the +floor. +</p> +<p> +"The room was in semi-obscurity, and at first Mr. Pitt saw nothing, but +instinctively realizing that something was wrong, he lit a match, and +saw before him the spectacle of that awful and mysterious tragedy which +has ever since puzzled both police and public. On the floor, already +half covered by the drifting snow, lay the body of Mrs. Owen face +downwards, in a nightgown, with feet and ankles bare, and these and her +hands were of a deep purple colour; whilst in a corner of the room, +huddled up with the cold, the body of the cockatoo lay stark and stiff." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH35"><!-- CH35 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXV +</h2> + +<h3> +SUICIDE OR MURDER? +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +"At first there was only talk of a terrible accident, the result of some +inexplicable carelessness which perhaps the evidence at the inquest +would help to elucidate. +</p> +<p> +"Medical assistance came too late; the unfortunate woman was indeed +dead, frozen to death, inside her own room. Further examination showed +that she had received a severe blow at the back of the head, which must +have stunned her and caused her to fall, helpless, beside the open +window. Temperature at five degrees below zero had done the rest. +Detective Inspector Howell discovered close to the window a wrought-iron +gas bracket, the height of which corresponded exactly with the bruise at +the back of Mrs. Owen's head. +</p> +<p> +"Hardly however had a couple of days elapsed when public curiosity was +whetted by a few startling headlines, such as the halfpenny evening +papers alone know how to concoct. +</p> +<p> +"'The mysterious death in Percy Street.' 'Is it Suicide or Murder?' +'Thrilling details—Strange developments.' 'Sensational Arrest.' +</p> +<p> +"What had happened was simply this: +</p> +<p> +"At the inquest a few certainly very curious facts connected with Mrs. +Owen's life had come to light, and this had led to the apprehension of a +young man of very respectable parentage on a charge of being concerned +in the tragic death of the unfortunate caretaker. +</p> +<p> +"To begin with, it happened that her life, which in an ordinary way +should have been very monotonous and regular, seemed, at any rate +latterly, to have been more than usually chequered and excited. Every +witness who had known her in the past concurred in the statement that +since October last a great change had come over the worthy and honest +woman. +</p> +<p> +"I happen to have a photo of Mrs. Owen as she was before this great +change occurred in her quiet and uneventful life, and which led, as far +as the poor soul was concerned, to such disastrous results. +</p> +<p> +"Here she is to the life," added the funny creature, placing the photo +before Polly—"as respectable, as stodgy, as uninteresting as it is well +possible for a member of your charming sex to be; not a face, you will +admit, to lead any youngster to temptation or to induce him to commit a +crime. +</p> +<p> +"Nevertheless one day all the tenants of the Rubens Studios were +surprised and shocked to see Mrs. Owen, quiet, respectable Mrs. Owen, +sallying forth at six o'clock in the afternoon, attired in an +extravagant bonnet and a cloak trimmed with imitation astrakhan +which—slightly open in front—displayed a gold locket and chain of +astonishing proportions. +</p> +<p> +"Many were the comments, the hints, the bits of sarcasm levelled at the +worthy woman by the frivolous confraternity of the brush. +</p> +<p> +"The plot thickened when from that day forth a complete change came over +the worthy caretaker of the Rubens Studios. While she appeared day after +day before the astonished gaze of the tenants and the scandalized looks +of the neighbours, attired in new and extravagant dresses, her work was +hopelessly neglected, and she was always 'out' when wanted. +</p> +<p> +"There was, of course, much talk and comment in various parts of the +Rubens Studios on the subject of Mrs. Owen's 'dissipations.' The tenants +began to put two and two together, and after a very little while the +general consensus of opinion became firmly established that the honest +caretaker's demoralisation coincided week for week, almost day for day, +with young Greenhill's establishment in No. 8 Studio. +</p> +<p> +"Every one had remarked that he stayed much later in the evening than +any one else, and yet no one presumed that he stayed for purposes of +work. Suspicions soon rose to certainty when Mrs. Owen and Arthur +Greenhill were seen by one of the glass workmen dining together at +Gambia's Restaurant in Tottenham Court Road. +</p> +<p> +"The workman, who was having a cup of tea at the counter, noticed +particularly that when the bill was paid the money came out of Mrs. +Owen's purse. The dinner had been sumptuous—veal cutlets, a cut from +the joint, dessert, coffee and liqueurs. Finally the pair left the +restaurant apparently very gay, young Greenhill smoking a choice cigar. +</p> +<p> +"Irregularities such as these were bound sooner or later to come to the +ears and eyes of Mr. Allman, the landlord of the Rubens Studios; and a +month after the New Year, without further warning, he gave her a week's +notice to quit his house. +</p> +<p> +"'Mrs. Owen did not seem the least bit upset when I gave her notice,' +Mr. Allman declared in his evidence at the inquest; 'on the contrary, +she told me that she had ample means, and had only worked latterly for +the sake of something to do. She added that she had plenty of friends +who would look after her, for she had a nice little pile to leave to any +one who would know how "to get the right side of her."' +</p> +<p> +"Nevertheless, in spite of this cheerful interview, Miss Bedford, the +tenant of No. 6 Studio, had stated that when she took her key to the +caretaker's room at 6.30 that afternoon she found Mrs. Owen in tears. +The caretaker refused to be comforted, nor would she speak of her +trouble to Miss Bedford. +</p> +<p> +"Twenty-four hours later she was found dead. +</p> +<p> +"The coroner's jury returned an open verdict, and Detective-Inspector +Jones was charged by the police to make some inquiries about young Mr. +Greenhill, whose intimacy with the unfortunate woman had been +universally commented upon. +</p> +<p> +"The detective, however, pushed his investigations as far as the +Birkbeck Bank. There he discovered that after her interview with Mr. +Allman, Mrs. Owen had withdrawn what money she had on deposit, some +£800, the result of twenty-five years' saving and thrift. +</p> +<p> +"But the immediate result of Detective-Inspector Jones's labours was +that Mr. Arthur Greenhill, lithographer, was brought before the +magistrate at Bow Street on the charge of being concerned in the death +of Mrs. Owen, caretaker of the Rubens Studios, Percy Street. +</p> +<p> +"Now that magisterial inquiry is one of the few interesting ones which I +had the misfortune to miss," continued the man in the corner, with a +nervous shake of the shoulders. "But you know as well as I do how the +attitude of the young prisoner impressed the magistrate and police so +unfavourably that, with every new witness brought forward, his position +became more and more unfortunate. +</p> +<p> +"Yet he was a good-looking, rather coarsely built young fellow, with +one of those awful Cockney accents which literally make one jump. But he +looked painfully nervous, stammered at every word spoken, and repeatedly +gave answers entirely at random. +</p> +<p> +"His father acted as lawyer for him, a rough-looking elderly man, who +had the appearance of a common country attorney rather than of a London +solicitor. +</p> +<p> +"The police had built up a fairly strong case against the lithographer. +Medical evidence revealed nothing new: Mrs. Owen had died from exposure, +the blow at the back of the head not being sufficiently serious to cause +anything but temporary disablement. When the medical officer had been +called in, death had intervened for some time; it was quite impossible +to say how long, whether one hour or five or twelve. +</p> +<p> +"The appearance and state of the room, when the unfortunate woman was +found by Mr. Charles Pitt, were again gone over in minute detail. Mrs. +Owen's clothes, which she had worn during the day, were folded neatly on +a chair. The key of her cupboard was in the pocket of her dress. The +door had been slightly ajar, but both the windows were wide open; one of +them, which had the sash-line broken, had been fastened up most +scientifically with a piece of rope. +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Owen had obviously undressed preparatory to going to bed, and the +magistrate very naturally soon made the remark how untenable the theory +of an accident must be. No one in their five senses would undress with a +temperature at below zero, and the windows wide open. +</p> +<p> +"After these preliminary statements the cashier of the Birkbeck was +called and he related the caretaker's visit at the bank. +</p> +<p> +"'It was then about one o'clock,' he stated. 'Mrs. Owen called and +presented a cheque to self for £827, the amount of her balance. She +seemed exceedingly happy and cheerful, and talked about needing plenty +of cash, as she was going abroad to join her nephew, for whom she would +in future keep house. I warned her about being sufficiently careful with +so large a sum, and parting from it injudiciously, as women of her class +are very apt to do. She laughingly declared that not only was she +careful of it in the present, but meant to be so for the far-off future, +for she intended to go that very day to a lawyer's office and to make a +will.' +</p> +<p> +"The cashier's evidence was certainly startling in the extreme, since in +the widow's room no trace of any kind was found of any money; against +that, two of the notes handed over by the bank to Mrs. Owen on that day +were cashed by young Greenhill on the very morning of her mysterious +death. One was handed in by him to the West End Clothiers Company, in +payment for a suit of clothes, and the other he changed at the Post +Office in Oxford Street. +</p> +<p> +"After that all the evidence had of necessity to be gone through again +on the subject of young Greenhill's intimacy with Mrs. Owen. He listened +to it all with an air of the most painful nervousness, his cheeks were +positively green, his lips seemed dry and parched, for he repeatedly +passed his tongue over them, and when Constable E 18 deposed that at 2 +a.m. on the morning of February 2nd he had seen the accused and spoken +to him at the corner of Percy Street and Tottenham Court Road, young +Greenhill all but fainted. +</p> +<p> +"The contention of the police was that the caretaker had been murdered +and robbed during that night before she went to bed, that young +Greenhill had done the murder, seeing that he was the only person known +to have been intimate with the woman, and that it was, moreover, proved +unquestionably that he was in the immediate neighbourhood of the Rubens +Studios at an extraordinarily late hour of the night. +</p> +<p> +"His own account of himself, and of that same night, could certainly not +be called very satisfactory. Mrs. Owen was a relative of his late +mother's, he declared. He himself was a lithographer by trade, with a +good deal of time and leisure on his hands. He certainly had employed +some of that time in taking the old woman to various places of +amusement. He had on more than one occasion suggested that she should +give up menial work, and come and live with him, but, unfortunately, she +was a great deal imposed upon by her nephew, a man of the name of Owen, +who exploited the good-natured woman in every possible way, and who had +on more than one occasion made severe attacks upon her savings at the +Birkbeck Bank. +</p> +<p> +"Severely cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel about this supposed +relative of Mrs. Owen, Greenhill admitted that he did not know him—had, +in fact, never seen him. He knew that his name was Owen and that was +all. His chief occupation consisted in sponging on the kind-hearted old +woman, but he only went to see her in the evenings, when he presumably +knew that she would be alone, and invariably after all the tenants of +the Rubens Studios had left for the day. +</p> +<p> +"I don't know whether at this point it strikes you at all, as it did +both magistrate and counsel, that there was a direct contradiction in +this statement and the one made by the cashier of the Birkbeck on the +subject of his last conversation with Mrs. Owen. 'I am going abroad to +join my nephew, for whom I am going to keep house,' was what the +unfortunate woman had said. +</p> +<p> +"Now Greenhill, in spite of his nervousness and at times contradictory +answers, strictly adhered to his point, that there was a nephew in +London, who came frequently to see his aunt. +</p> +<p> +"Anyway, the sayings of the murdered woman could not be taken as +evidence in law. Mr. Greenhill senior put the objection, adding: 'There +may have been two nephews,' which the magistrate and the prosecution +were bound to admit. +</p> +<p> +"With regard to the night immediately preceding Mrs. Owen's death, +Greenhill stated that he had been with her to the theatre, had seen her +home, and had had some supper with her in her room. Before he left her, +at 2 a.m., she had of her own accord made him a present of £10, saying: +'I am a sort of aunt to you, Arthur, and if you don't have it, Bill is +sure to get it.' +</p> +<p> +"She had seemed rather worried in the early part of the evening, but +later on she cheered up. +</p> +<p> +"'Did she speak at all about this nephew of hers or about her money +affairs? asked the magistrate. +</p> +<p> +"Again the young man hesitated, but said, 'No! she did not mention +either Owen or her money affairs.' +</p> +<p> +"If I remember rightly," added the man in the corner, "for recollect I +was not present, the case was here adjourned. But the magistrate would +not grant bail. Greenhill was removed looking more dead than +alive—though every one remarked that Mr. Greenhill senior looked +determined and not the least worried. In the course of his examination +on behalf of his son, of the medical officer and one or two other +witnesses, he had very ably tried to confuse them on the subject of the +hour at which Mrs. Owen was last known to be alive. +</p> +<p> +"He made a very great point of the fact that the usual morning's work +was done throughout the house when the inmates arrived. Was it +conceivable, he argued, that a woman would do that kind of work +overnight, especially as she was going to the theatre, and therefore +would wish to dress in her smarter clothes? It certainly was a very nice +point levelled against the prosecution, who promptly retorted: Just as +conceivable as that a woman in those circumstances of life should, +having done her work, undress beside an open window at nine o'clock in +the morning with the snow beating into the room. +</p> +<p> +"Now it seems that Mr. Greenhill senior could produce any amount of +witnesses who could help to prove a conclusive <i>alibi</i> on behalf of his +son, if only some time subsequent to that fatal 2 a.m. the murdered +woman had been seen alive by some chance passer-by. +</p> +<p> +"However, he was an able man and an earnest one, and I fancy the +magistrate felt some sympathy for his strenuous endeavours on his son's +behalf. He granted a week's adjournment, which seemed to satisfy Mr. +Greenhill completely. +</p> +<p> +"In the meanwhile the papers had talked of and almost exhausted the +subject of the mystery in Percy Street. There had been, as you no doubt +know from personal experience, innumerable arguments on the puzzling +alternatives:— +</p> +<p> +"Accident? +</p> +<p> +"Suicide? +</p> +<p> +"Murder? +</p> +<p> +"A week went by, and then the case against young Greenhill was resumed. +Of course the court was crowded. It needed no great penetration to +remark at once that the prisoner looked more hopeful, and his father +quite elated. +</p> +<p> +"Again a great deal of minor evidence was taken, and then came the turn +of the defence. Mr. Greenhill called Mrs. Hall, confectioner, of Percy +Street, opposite the Rubens Studios. She deposed that at 8 o'clock in +the morning of February 2nd, while she was tidying her shop window, she +saw the caretaker of the Studios opposite, as usual, on her knees, her +head and body wrapped in a shawl, cleaning her front steps. Her husband +also saw Mrs. Owen, and Mrs. Hall remarked to her husband how thankful +she was that her own shop had tiled steps, which did not need scrubbing +on so cold a morning. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Hall, confectioner, of the same address, corroborated this +statement, and Mr. Greenhill, with absolute triumph, produced a third +witness, Mrs. Martin, of Percy Street, who from her window on the second +floor had, at 7.30 a.m., seen the caretaker shaking mats outside her +front door. The description this witness gave of Mrs. Owen's get-up, +with the shawl round her head, coincided point by point with that given +by Mr. and Mrs. Hall. +</p> +<p> +"After that Mr. Greenhill's task became an easy one; his son was at home +having his breakfast at 8 o'clock that morning—not only himself, but +his servants would testify to that. +</p> +<p> +"The weather had been so bitter that the whole of that day Arthur had +not stirred from his own fireside. Mrs. Owen was murdered after 8 a.m. +on that day, since she was seen alive by three people at that hour, +therefore his son could not have murdered Mrs. Owen. The police must +find the criminal elsewhere, or else bow to the opinion originally +expressed by the public that Mrs. Owen had met with a terrible untoward +accident, or that perhaps she may have wilfully sought her own death in +that extraordinary and tragic fashion. +</p> +<p> +"Before young Greenhill was finally discharged one or two witnesses were +again examined, chief among these being the foreman of the glassworks. +He had turned up at the Rubens Studios at 9 o'clock, and been in +business all day. He averred positively that he did not specially notice +any suspicious-looking individual crossing the hall that day. 'But,' he +remarked with a smile, 'I don't sit and watch every one who goes up and +downstairs. I am too busy for that. The street door is always left open; +any one can walk in, up or down, who knows the way.' +</p> +<p> +"That there was a mystery in connection with Mrs. Owen's death—of that +the police have remained perfectly convinced; whether young Greenhill +held the key of that mystery or not they have never found out to this +day. +</p> +<p> +"I could enlighten them as to the cause of the young lithographer's +anxiety at the magisterial inquiry, but, I assure you, I do not care to +do the work of the police for them. Why should I? Greenhill will never +suffer from unjust suspicions. He and his father alone—besides +myself—know in what a terribly tight corner he all but found himself. +</p> +<p> +"The young man did not reach home till nearly <i>five</i> o'clock that +morning. His last train had gone; he had to walk, lost his way, and +wandered about Hampstead for hours. Think what his position would have +been if the worthy confectioners of Percy Street had not seen Mrs. Owen +'wrapped up in a shawl, on her knees, doing the front steps.' +</p> +<p> +"Moreover, Mr. Greenhill senior is a solicitor, who has a small office +in John Street, Bedford Row. The afternoon before her death Mrs. Owen +had been to that office and had there made a will by which she left all +her savings to young Arthur Greenhill, lithographer. Had that will been +in other than paternal hands, it would have been proved, in the natural +course of such things, and one other link would have been added to the +chain which nearly dragged Arthur Greenhill to the gallows—'the link of +a very strong motive.' +</p> +<p> +"Can you wonder that the young man turned livid, until such time as it +was proved beyond a doubt that the murdered woman was alive hours after +he had reached the safe shelter of his home? +</p> +<p> +"I saw you smile when I used the word 'murdered,'" continued the man in +the corner, growing quite excited now that he was approaching the +<i>dénouement</i> of his story. "I know that the public, after the magistrate +had discharged Arthur Greenhill, were quite satisfied to think that the +mystery in Percy Street was a case of accident—or suicide." +</p> +<p> +"No," replied Polly, "there could be no question of suicide, for two +very distinct reasons." +</p> +<p> +He looked at her with some degree of astonishment. She supposed that he +was amazed at her venturing to form an opinion of her own. +</p> +<p> +"And may I ask what, in your opinion, these reasons are?" he asked very +sarcastically. +</p> +<p> +"To begin with, the question of money," she said—"has any more of it +been traced so far?" +</p> +<p> +"Not another £5 note," he said with a chuckle; "they were all cashed in +Paris during the Exhibition, and you have no conception how easy a thing +that is to do, at any of the hotels or smaller <i>agents de change</i>." +</p> +<p> +"That nephew was a clever blackguard," she commented. +</p> +<p> +"You believe, then, in the existence of that nephew?" +</p> +<p> +"Why should I doubt it? Some one must have existed who was sufficiently +familiar with the house to go about in it in the middle of the day +without attracting any one's attention." +</p> +<p> +"In the middle of the day?" he said with a chuckle. +</p> +<p> +"Any time after 8.30 in the morning." +</p> +<p> +"So you, too, believe in the 'caretaker, wrapped up in a shawl,' +cleaning her front steps?" he queried. +</p> +<p> +"But—" +</p> +<p> +"It never struck you, in spite of the training your intercourse with me +must have given you, that the person who carefully did all the work in +the Rubens Studios, laid the fires and carried up the coals, merely did +it in order to gain time; in order that the bitter frost might really +and effectually do its work, and Mrs. Owen be not missed until she was +truly dead." +</p> +<p> +"But—" suggested Polly again. +</p> +<p> +"It never struck you that one of the greatest secrets of successful +crime is to lead the police astray with regard to the time when the +crime was committed. That was, if you remember, the great point in the +Regent's Park murder. +</p> +<p> +"In this case the 'nephew,' since we admit his existence, would—even if +he were ever found, which is doubtful—be able to prove as good an +<i>alibi</i> as young Greenhill." +</p> +<p> +"But I don't understand—" +</p> +<p> +"How the murder was committed?" he said eagerly. "Surely you can see it +all for yourself, since you admit the 'nephew'—a scamp, perhaps—who +sponges on the good-natured woman. He terrorises and threatens her, so +much so that she fancies her money is no longer safe even in the +Birkbeck Bank. Women of that class are apt at times to mistrust the Bank +of England. Anyway, she withdraws her money. Who knows what she meant to +do with it in the immediate future? +</p> +<p> +"In any case, she wishes to secure it after her death to a young man +whom she likes, and who has known how to win her good graces. That +afternoon the nephew begs, entreats for more money; they have a row; the +poor woman is in tears, and is only temporarily consoled by a pleasant +visit at the theatre. +</p> +<p> +"At 2 o'clock in the morning young Greenhill parts from her. Two minutes +later the nephew knocks at the door. He comes with a plausible tale of +having missed his last train, and asks for a 'shake down' somewhere in +the house. The good-natured woman suggests a sofa in one of the studios, +and then quietly prepares to go to bed. The rest is very simple and +elementary. The nephew sneaks into his aunt's room, finds her standing +in her nightgown; he demands money with threats of violence; terrified, +she staggers, knocks her head against the gas bracket, and falls on the +floor stunned, while the nephew seeks for her keys and takes possession +of the £800. You will admit that the subsequent <i>mise en scène</i>—is +worthy of a genius. +</p> +<p> +"No struggle, not the usual hideous accessories round a crime. Only the +open windows, the bitter north-easterly gale, and the heavily falling +snow—two silent accomplices, as silent as the dead. +</p> +<p> +"After that the murderer, with perfect presence of mind, busies himself +in the house, doing the work which will ensure that Mrs. Owen shall not +be missed, at any rate, for some time. He dusts and tidies; some few +hours later he even slips on his aunt's skirt and bodice, wraps his +head in a shawl, and boldly allows those neighbours who are astir to see +what they believe to be Mrs. Owen. Then he goes back to her room, +resumes his normal appearance and quietly leaves the house." +</p> +<p> +"He may have been seen." +</p> +<p> +"He undoubtedly <i>was</i> seen by two or three people, but no one thought +anything of seeing a man leave the house at that hour. It was very cold, +the snow was falling thickly, and as he wore a muffler round the lower +part of his face, those who saw him would not undertake to know him +again." +</p> +<p> +"That man was never seen nor heard of again?" Polly asked. +</p> +<p> +"He has disappeared off the face of the earth. The police are searching +for him, and perhaps some day they will find him—then society will be +rid of one of the most ingenious men of the age." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH36"><!-- CH36 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXVI +</h2> + +<h3> +THE END +</h3><p> </p> +<p> +He had paused, absorbed in meditation. The young girl also was silent. +Some memory too vague as yet to take a definite form was persistently +haunting her—one thought was hammering away in her brain, and playing +havoc with her nerves. That thought was the inexplicable feeling within +her that there was something in connection with that hideous crime which +she ought to recollect, something which—if she could only remember what +it was—would give her the clue to the tragic mystery, and for once +ensure her triumph over this self-conceited and sarcastic scarecrow in +the corner. +</p> +<p> +He was watching her through his great bone-rimmed spectacles, and she +could see the knuckles of his bony hands, just above the top of the +table, fidgeting, fidgeting, fidgeting, till she wondered if there +existed another set of fingers in the world which could undo the knots +his lean ones made in that tiresome piece of string. +</p> +<p> +Then suddenly—<i>á propos</i> of nothing, Polly <i>remembered</i>—the whole +thing stood before her, short and clear like a vivid flash of +lightning:—Mrs. Owen lying dead in the snow beside her open window; one +of them with a broken sash-line, tied up most scientifically with a +piece of string. She remembered the talk there had been at the time +about this improvised sash-line. +</p> +<p> +That was after young Greenhill had been discharged, and the question of +suicide had been voted an impossibility. +</p> +<p> +Polly remembered that in the illustrated papers photographs appeared of +this wonderfully knotted piece of string, so contrived that the weight +of the frame could but tighten the knots, and thus keep the window open. +She remembered that people deduced many things from that improvised +sash-line, chief among these deductions being that the murderer was a +sailor—so wonderful, so complicated, so numerous were the knots which +secured that window-frame. +</p> +<p> +But Polly knew better. In her mind's eye she saw those fingers, rendered +doubly nervous by the fearful cerebral excitement, grasping at first +mechanically, even thoughtlessly, a bit of twine with which to secure +the window; then the ruling habit strongest through all, the girl could +see it; the lean and ingenious fingers fidgeting, fidgeting with that +piece of string, tying knot after knot, more wonderful, more +complicated, than any she had yet witnessed. +</p> +<p> +"If I were you," she said, without daring to look into that corner +where he sat, "I would break myself of the habit of perpetually making +knots in a piece of string." +</p> +<p> +He did not reply, and at last Polly ventured to look up—the corner was +empty, and through the glass door beyond the desk, where he had just +deposited his few coppers, she saw the tails of his tweed coat, his +extraordinary hat, his meagre, shrivelled-up personality, fast +disappearing down the street. +</p> +<p> +Miss Polly Burton (of the <i>Evening Observer</i>) was married the other day +to Mr. Richard Frobisher (of the <i>London Mail</i>). She has never set eyes +on the man in the corner from that day to this. +</p> +<center> +FINIS +</center> + +<p> </p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Old Man in the Corner, by Baroness Orczy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER *** + +***** This file should be named 10556-h.htm or 10556-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/5/10556/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Old Man in the Corner + +Author: Baroness Orczy + +Release Date: January 1, 2004 [EBook #10556] +[Last updated: January 18, 2014] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +[Illustration: "The old man in the corner."] + + + + +THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER + +BY + +BARONESS ORCZY + + + + +TO MY DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT + +COUNT AND COUNTESS WASS OF CZEGE + +IN REMEMBRANCE +OF MANY HAPPY DAYS SPENT +IN TRANSYLVANIA + +_October, 1908_ + + + + +CONTENTS + +Chapter + + I. THE FENCHURCH STREET MYSTERY + II. A MILLIONAIRE IN THE DOCK + III. HIS DEDUCTION + IV. THE ROBBERY IN PHILLIMORE TERRACE + V. A NIGHT'S ADVENTURE + VI. ALL HE KNEW + VII. THE YORK MYSTERY + VIII. THE CAPITAL CHARGE + IX. A BROKEN-HEARTED WOMAN + X. THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY + XI. MR. ERRINGTON + XII. THE LIVERPOOL MYSTERY + XIII. A CUNNING RASCAL + XIV. THE EDINBURGH MYSTERY + XV. A TERRIBLE PLIGHT + XVI. NON PROVEN + XVII. UNDENIABLE FACTS + XVIII. THE THEFT AT THE ENGLISH PROVIDENT BANK + XIX. CONFLICTING EVIDENCE + XX. AN ALIBI + XXI. THE DUBLIN MYSTERY + XXII. FORGERY + XXIII. A MEMORABLE DAY + XXIV. AN UNPARALLELED OUTRAGE + XXV. THE PRISONER + XXVI. A SENSATION + XXVII. TWO BLACKGUARDS +XXVIII. THE REGENT'S PARK MURDER + XXIX. THE MOTIVE + XXX. FRIENDS + XXXI. THE DE GENNEVILLE PEERAGE + XXXII. A HIGH-BRED GENTLEMAN +XXXIII. THE LIVING AND THE DEAD + XXXIV. THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH IN PERCY STREET + XXXV. SUICIDE OR MURDER? + XXXVI. THE END + + + + +THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FENCHURCH STREET MYSTERY + + +The man in the corner pushed aside his glass, and leant across the +table. + +"Mysteries!" he commented. "There is no such thing as a mystery in +connection with any crime, provided intelligence is brought to bear upon +its investigation." + +Very much astonished Polly Burton looked over the top of her newspaper, +and fixed a pair of very severe, coldly inquiring brown eyes upon him. + +She had disapproved of the man from the instant when he shuffled across +the shop and sat down opposite to her, at the same marble-topped table +which already held her large coffee (3d.), her roll and butter (2d.), +and plate of tongue (6d.). + +Now this particular corner, this very same table, that special view of +the magnificent marble hall--known as the Norfolk Street branch of the +Aerated Bread Company's depots--were Polly's own corner, table, and +view. Here she had partaken of eleven pennyworth of luncheon and one +pennyworth of daily information ever since that glorious +never-to-be-forgotten day when she was enrolled on the staff of the +_Evening Observer_ (we'll call it that, if you please), and became a +member of that illustrious and world-famed organization known as the +British Press. + +She was a personality, was Miss Burton of the _Evening Observer_. Her +cards were printed thus: + +[Illustration: Miss MARY J. BURTON. _Evening Observer_.] + +She had interviewed Miss Ellen Terry and the Bishop of Madagascar, Mr. +Seymour Hicks and the Chief Commissioner of Police. She had been present +at the last Marlborough House garden party--in the cloak-room, that is +to say, where she caught sight of Lady Thingummy's hat, Miss +What-you-may-call's sunshade, and of various other things modistical or +fashionable, all of which were duly described under the heading "Royalty +and Dress" in the early afternoon edition of the _Evening Observer_. + +(The article itself is signed M.J.B., and is to be found in the files of +that leading halfpennyworth.) + +For these reasons--and for various others, too--Polly felt irate with +the man in the corner, and told him so with her eyes, as plainly as any +pair of brown eyes can speak. + +She had been reading an article in the _Daily Telegraph_. The article +was palpitatingly interesting. Had Polly been commenting audibly upon +it? Certain it is that the man over there had spoken in direct answer to +her thoughts. + +She looked at him and frowned; the next moment she smiled. Miss Burton +(of the _Evening Observer)_ had a keen sense of humour, which two years' +association with the British Press had not succeeded in destroying, and +the appearance of the man was sufficient to tickle the most ultra-morose +fancy. Polly thought to herself that she had never seen any one so pale, +so thin, with such funny light-coloured hair, brushed very smoothly +across the top of a very obviously bald crown. He looked so timid and +nervous as he fidgeted incessantly with a piece of string; his long, +lean, and trembling fingers tying and untying it into knots of wonderful +and complicated proportions. + +Having carefully studied every detail of the quaint personality Polly +felt more amiable. + +"And yet," she remarked kindly but authoritatively, "this article, in an +otherwise well-informed journal, will tell you that, even within the +last year, no fewer than six crimes have completely baffled the police, +and the perpetrators of them are still at large." + +"Pardon me," he said gently, "I never for a moment ventured to suggest +that there were no mysteries to the _police_; I merely remarked that +there were none where intelligence was brought to bear upon the +investigation of crime." + +"Not even in the Fenchurch Street _mystery_. I suppose," she asked +sarcastically. + +"Least of all in the so-called Fenchurch Street _mystery_," he replied +quietly. + +Now the Fenchurch Street mystery, as that extraordinary crime had +popularly been called, had puzzled--as Polly well knew--the brains of +every thinking man and woman for the last twelve months. It had puzzled +her not inconsiderably; she had been interested, fascinated; she had +studied the case, formed her own theories, thought about it all often +and often, had even written one or two letters to the Press on the +subject--suggesting, arguing, hinting at possibilities and +probabilities, adducing proofs which other amateur detectives were +equally ready to refute. The attitude of that timid man in the corner, +therefore, was peculiarly exasperating, and she retorted with sarcasm +destined to completely annihilate her self-complacent interlocutor. + +"What a pity it is, in that case, that you do not offer your priceless +services to our misguided though well-meaning police." + +"Isn't it?" he replied with perfect good-humour. "Well, you know, for +one thing I doubt if they would accept them; and in the second place my +inclinations and my duty would--were I to become an active member of the +detective force--nearly always be in direct conflict. As often as not my +sympathies go to the criminal who is clever and astute enough to lead +our entire police force by the nose. + +"I don't know how much of the case you remember," he went on quietly. +"It certainly, at first, began even to puzzle me. On the 12th of last +December a woman, poorly dressed, but with an unmistakable air of having +seen better days, gave information at Scotland Yard of the disappearance +of her husband, William Kershaw, of no occupation, and apparently of no +fixed abode. She was accompanied by a friend--a fat, oily-looking +German--and between them they told a tale which set the police +immediately on the move. + +"It appears that on the 10th of December, at about three o'clock in the +afternoon, Karl Mueller, the German, called on his friend, William +Kershaw, for the purpose of collecting a small debt--some ten pounds or +so--which the latter owed him. On arriving at the squalid lodging in +Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, he found William Kershaw in a wild +state of excitement, and his wife in tears. Mueller attempted to state +the object of his visit, but Kershaw, with wild gestures, waved him +aside, and--in his own words--flabbergasted him by asking him +point-blank for another loan of two pounds, which sum, he declared, +would be the means of a speedy fortune for himself and the friend who +would help him in his need. + +"After a quarter of an hour spent in obscure hints, Kershaw, finding the +cautious German obdurate, decided to let him into the secret plan, +which, he averred, would place thousands into their hands." + +Instinctively Polly had put down her paper; the mild stranger, with his +nervous air and timid, watery eyes, had a peculiar way of telling his +tale, which somehow fascinated her. + +"I don't know," he resumed, "if you remember the story which the German +told to the police, and which was corroborated in every detail by the +wife or widow. Briefly it was this: Some thirty years previously, +Kershaw, then twenty years of age, and a medical student at one of the +London hospitals, had a chum named Barker, with whom he roomed, +together with another. + +"The latter, so it appears, brought home one evening a very considerable +sum of money, which he had won on the turf, and the following morning he +was found murdered in his bed. Kershaw, fortunately for himself, was +able to prove a conclusive _alibi_; he had spent the night on duty at +the hospital; as for Barker, he had disappeared, that is to say, as far +as the police were concerned, but not as far as the watchful eyes of his +friend Kershaw were able to spy--at least, so the latter said. Barker +very cleverly contrived to get away out of the country, and, after +sundry vicissitudes, finally settled down at Vladivostok, in Eastern +Siberia, where, under the assumed name of Smethurst, he built up an +enormous fortune by trading in furs. + +"Now, mind you, every one knows Smethurst, the Siberian millionaire. +Kershaw's story that he had once been called Barker, and had committed a +murder thirty years ago, was never proved, was it? I am merely telling +you what Kershaw said to his friend the German and to his wife on that +memorable afternoon of December the 10th. + +"According to him Smethurst had made one gigantic mistake in his clever +career--he had on four occasions written to his late friend, William +Kershaw. Two of these letters had no bearing on the case, since they +were written more than twenty-five years ago, and Kershaw, moreover, had +lost them--so he said--long ago. According to him, however, the first of +these letters was written when Smethurst, alias Barker, had spent all +the money he had obtained from the crime, and found himself destitute in +New York. + +"Kershaw, then in fairly prosperous circumstances, sent him a L10 note +for the sake of old times. The second, when the tables had turned, and +Kershaw had begun to go downhill, Smethurst, as he then already called +himself, sent his whilom friend L50. After that, as Mueller gathered, +Kershaw had made sundry demands on Smethurst's ever-increasing purse, +and had accompanied these demands by various threats, which, considering +the distant country in which the millionaire lived, were worse than +futile. + +"But now the climax had come, and Kershaw, after a final moment of +hesitation, handed over to his German friend the two last letters +purporting to have been written by Smethurst, and which, if you +remember, played such an important part in the mysterious story of this +extraordinary crime. I have a copy of both these letters here," added +the man in the corner, as he took out a piece of paper from a very +worn-out pocket-book, and, unfolding it very deliberately, he began to +read:-- + +"'Sir,--Your preposterous demands for money are wholly unwarrantable. I +have already helped you quite as much as you deserve. However, for the +sake of old times, and because you once helped me when I was in a +terrible difficulty, I am willing to once more let you impose upon my +good nature. A friend of mine here, a Russian merchant, to whom I have +sold my business, starts in a few days for an extended tour to many +European and Asiatic ports in his yacht, and has invited me to accompany +him as far as England. Being tired of foreign parts, and desirous of +seeing the old country once again after thirty years' absence, I have +decided to accept his invitation. I don't know when we may actually be +in Europe, but I promise you that as soon as we touch a suitable port I +will write to you again, making an appointment for you to see me in +London. But remember that if your demands are too preposterous I will +not for a moment listen to them, and that I am the last man in the world +to submit to persistent and unwarrantable blackmail. + + 'I am, sir, + 'Yours truly, + 'Francis Smethurst.' + +"The second letter was dated from Southampton," continued the old man in +the corner calmly, "and, curiously enough, was the only letter which +Kershaw professed to have received from Smethurst of which he had kept +the envelope, and which was dated. It was quite brief," he added, +referring once more to his piece of paper. + +"'Dear Sir,--Referring to my letter of a few weeks ago, I wish to inform +you that the _Tsarskoe Selo_ will touch at Tilbury on Tuesday next, the +10th. I shall land there, and immediately go up to London by the first +train I can get. If you like, you may meet me at Fenchurch Street +Station, in the first-class waiting-room, in the late afternoon. Since I +surmise that after thirty years' absence my face may not be familiar to +you, I may as well tell you that you will recognize me by a heavy +Astrakhan fur coat, which I shall wear, together with a cap of the same. +You may then introduce yourself to me, and I will personally listen to +what you may have to say. + + 'Yours faithfully, + 'Francis Smethurst.' + +"It was this last letter which had caused William Kershaw's excitement +and his wife's tears. In the German's own words, he was walking up and +down the room like a wild beast, gesticulating wildly, and muttering +sundry exclamations. Mrs. Kershaw, however, was full of apprehension. +She mistrusted the man from foreign parts--who, according to her +husband's story, had already one crime upon his conscience--who might, +she feared, risk another, in order to be rid of a dangerous enemy. +Woman-like, she thought the scheme a dishonourable one, for the law, she +knew, is severe on the blackmailer. + +"The assignation might be a cunning trap, in any case it was a curious +one; why, she argued, did not Smethurst elect to see Kershaw at his +hotel the following day? A thousand whys and wherefores made her +anxious, but the fat German had been won over by Kershaw's visions of +untold gold, held tantalisingly before his eyes. He had lent the +necessary L2, with which his friend intended to tidy himself up a bit +before he went to meet his friend the millionaire. Half an hour +afterwards Kershaw had left his lodgings, and that was the last the +unfortunate woman saw of her husband, or Mueller, the German, of his +friend. + +"Anxiously his wife waited that night, but he did not return; the next +day she seems to have spent in making purposeless and futile inquiries +about the neighbourhood of Fenchurch Street; and on the 12th she went to +Scotland Yard, gave what particulars she knew, and placed in the hands +of the police the two letters written by Smethurst." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A MILLIONAIRE IN THE DOCK + + +The man in the corner had finished his glass of milk. His watery blue +eyes looked across at Miss Polly Burton's eager little face, from which +all traces of severity had now been chased away by an obvious and +intense excitement. + +"It was only on the 31st," he resumed after a while, "that a body, +decomposed past all recognition, was found by two lightermen in the +bottom of a disused barge. She had been moored at one time at the foot +of one of those dark flights of steps which lead down between tall +warehouses to the river in the East End of London. I have a photograph +of the place here," he added, selecting one out of his pocket, and +placing it before Polly. + +"The actual barge, you see, had already been removed when I took this +snapshot, but you will realize what a perfect place this alley is for +the purpose of one man cutting another's throat in comfort, and without +fear of detection. The body, as I said, was decomposed beyond all +recognition; it had probably been there eleven days, but sundry +articles, such as a silver ring and a tie pin, were recognizable, and +were identified by Mrs. Kershaw as belonging to her husband. + +"She, of course, was loud in denouncing Smethurst, and the police had no +doubt a very strong case against him, for two days after the discovery +of the body in the barge, the Siberian millionaire, as he was already +popularly called by enterprising interviewers, was arrested in his +luxurious suite of rooms at the Hotel Cecil. + +"To confess the truth, at this point I was not a little puzzled. Mrs. +Kershaw's story and Smethurst's letters had both found their way into +the papers, and following my usual method--mind you, I am only an +amateur, I try to reason out a case for the love of the thing--I sought +about for a motive for the crime, which the police declared Smethurst +had committed. To effectually get rid of a dangerous blackmailer was the +generally accepted theory. Well! did it ever strike you how paltry that +motive really was?" + +Miss Polly had to confess, however, that it had never struck her in that +light. + +"Surely a man who had succeeded in building up an immense fortune by his +own individual efforts, was not the sort of fool to believe that he had +anything to fear from a man like Kershaw. He must have _known_ that +Kershaw held no damning proofs against him--not enough to hang him, +anyway. Have you ever seen Smethurst?" he added, as he once more fumbled +in his pocket-book. + +Polly replied that she had seen Smethurst's picture in the illustrated +papers at the time. Then he added, placing a small photograph before +her: + +"What strikes you most about the face?" + +"Well, I think its strange, astonished expression, due to the total +absence of eyebrows, and the funny foreign cut of the hair." + +"So close that it almost looks as if it had been shaved. Exactly. That +is what struck me most when I elbowed my way into the court that morning +and first caught sight of the millionaire in the dock. He was a tall, +soldierly-looking man, upright in stature, his face very bronzed and +tanned. He wore neither moustache nor beard, his hair was cropped quite +close to his head, like a Frenchman's; but, of course, what was so very +remarkable about him was that total absence of eyebrows and even +eyelashes, which gave the face such a peculiar appearance--as you say, a +perpetually astonished look. + +"He seemed, however, wonderfully calm; he had been accommodated with a +chair in the dock--being a millionaire--and chatted pleasantly with his +lawyer, Sir Arthur Inglewood, in the intervals between the calling of +the several witnesses for the prosecution; whilst during the examination +of these witnesses he sat quite placidly, with his head shaded by his +hand. + +"Mueller and Mrs. Kershaw repeated the story which they had already told +to the police. I think you said that you were not able, owing to +pressure of work, to go to the court that day, and hear the case, so +perhaps you have no recollection of Mrs. Kershaw. No? Ah, well! Here is +a snapshot I managed to get of her once. That is her. Exactly as she +stood in the box--over-dressed--in elaborate crape, with a bonnet which +once had contained pink roses, and to which a remnant of pink petals +still clung obtrusively amidst the deep black. + +"She would not look at the prisoner, and turned her head resolutely +towards the magistrate. I fancy she had been fond of that vagabond +husband of hers: an enormous wedding-ring encircled her finger, and +that, too, was swathed in black. She firmly believed that Kershaw's +murderer sat there in the dock, and she literally flaunted her grief +before him. + +"I was indescribably sorry for her. As for Mueller, he was just fat, +oily, pompous, conscious of his own importance as a witness; his fat +fingers, covered with brass rings, gripped the two incriminating +letters, which he had identified. They were his passports, as it were, +to a delightful land of importance and notoriety. Sir Arthur Inglewood, +I think, disappointed him by stating that he had no questions to ask of +him. Mueller had been brimful of answers, ready with the most perfect +indictment, the most elaborate accusations against the bloated +millionaire who had decoyed his dear friend Kershaw, and murdered him in +Heaven knows what an out-of-the-way corner of the East End. + +"After this, however, the excitement grew apace. Mueller had been +dismissed, and had retired from the court altogether, leading away Mrs. +Kershaw, who had completely broken down. + +"Constable D 21 was giving evidence as to the arrest in the meanwhile. +The prisoner, he said, had seemed completely taken by surprise, not +understanding the cause or history of the accusation against him; +however, when put in full possession of the facts, and realizing, no +doubt, the absolute futility of any resistance, he had quietly enough +followed the constable into the cab. No one at the fashionable and +crowded Hotel Cecil had even suspected that anything unusual had +occurred. + +"Then a gigantic sigh of expectancy came from every one of the +spectators. The 'fun' was about to begin. James Buckland, a porter at +Fenchurch Street railway station, had just sworn to tell all the truth, +etc. After all, it did not amount to much. He said that at six o'clock +in the afternoon of December the 10th, in the midst of one of the +densest fogs he ever remembers, the 5.5 from Tilbury steamed into the +station, being just about an hour late. He was on the arrival platform, +and was hailed by a passenger in a first-class carriage. He could see +very little of him beyond an enormous black fur coat and a travelling +cap of fur also. + +"The passenger had a quantity of luggage, all marked F.S., and he +directed James Buckland to place it all upon a four-wheel cab, with the +exception of a small hand-bag, which he carried himself. Having seen +that all his luggage was safely bestowed, the stranger in the fur coat +paid the porter, and, telling the cabman to wait until he returned, he +walked away in the direction of the waiting-rooms, still carrying his +small hand-bag. + +"'I stayed for a bit,' added James Buckland, 'talking to the driver +about the fog and that; then I went about my business, seein' that the +local from Southend 'ad been signalled.' + +"The prosecution insisted most strongly upon the hour when the stranger +in the fur coat, having seen to his luggage, walked away towards the +waiting-rooms. The porter was emphatic. 'It was not a minute later than +6.15,' he averred. + +"Sir Arthur Inglewood still had no questions to ask, and the driver of +the cab was called. + +"He corroborated the evidence of James Buckland as to the hour when the +gentleman in the fur coat had engaged him, and having filled his cab in +and out with luggage, had told him to wait. And cabby did wait. He +waited in the dense fog--until he was tired, until he seriously thought +of depositing all the luggage in the lost property office, and of +looking out for another fare--waited until at last, at a quarter before +nine, whom should he see walking hurriedly towards his cab but the +gentleman in the fur coat and cap, who got in quickly and told the +driver to take him at once to the Hotel Cecil. This, cabby declared, had +occurred at a quarter before nine. Still Sir Arthur Inglewood made no +comment, and Mr. Francis Smethurst, in the crowded, stuffy court, had +calmly dropped to sleep. + +"The next witness, Constable Thomas Taylor, had noticed a shabbily +dressed individual, with shaggy hair and beard, loafing about the +station and waiting-rooms in the afternoon of December the 10th. He +seemed to be watching the arrival platform of the Tilbury and Southend +trains. + +"Two separate and independent witnesses, cleverly unearthed by the +police, had seen this same shabbily dressed individual stroll into the +first-class waiting-room at about 6.15 on Wednesday, December the 10th, +and go straight up to a gentleman in a heavy fur coat and cap, who had +also just come into the room. The two talked together for a while; no +one heard what they said, but presently they walked off together. No one +seemed to know in which direction. + +"Francis Smethurst was rousing himself from his apathy; he whispered to +his lawyer, who nodded with a bland smile of encouragement. The employes +of the Hotel Cecil gave evidence as to the arrival of Mr. Smethurst at +about 9.30 p.m. on Wednesday, December the 10th, in a cab, with a +quantity of luggage; and this closed the case for the prosecution. + +"Everybody in that court already _saw_ Smethurst mounting the gallows. +It was uninterested curiosity which caused the elegant audience to wait +and hear what Sir Arthur Inglewood had to say. He, of course, is the +most fashionable man in the law at the present moment. His lolling +attitudes, his drawling speech, are quite the rage, and imitated by the +gilded youth of society. + +"Even at this moment, when the Siberian millionaire's neck literally and +metaphorically hung in the balance, an expectant titter went round the +fair spectators as Sir Arthur stretched out his long loose limbs and +lounged across the table. He waited to make his effect--Sir Arthur is a +born actor--and there is no doubt that he made it, when in his slowest, +most drawly tones he said quietly; + +"'With regard to this alleged murder of one William Kershaw, on +Wednesday, December the 10th, between 6.15 and 8.45 p.m., your Honour, I +now propose to call two witnesses, who saw this same William Kershaw +alive on Tuesday afternoon, December the 16th, that is to say, six days +after the supposed murder.' + +"It was as if a bombshell had exploded in the court. Even his Honour was +aghast, and I am sure the lady next to me only recovered from the shock +of the surprise in order to wonder whether she need put off her dinner +party after all. + +"As for me," added the man in the corner, with that strange mixture of +nervousness and self-complacency which had set Miss Polly Burton +wondering, "well, you see, _I_ had made up my mind long ago where the +hitch lay in this particular case, and I was not so surprised as some of +the others. + +"Perhaps you remember the wonderful development of the case, which so +completely mystified the police--and in fact everybody except myself. +Torriani and a waiter at his hotel in the Commercial Road both deposed +that at about 3.30 p.m. on December the 10th a shabbily dressed +individual lolled into the coffee-room and ordered some tea. He was +pleasant enough and talkative, told the waiter that his name was William +Kershaw, that very soon all London would be talking about him, as he was +about, through an unexpected stroke of good fortune, to become a very +rich man, and so on, and so on, nonsense without end. + +"When he had finished his tea he lolled out again, but no sooner had he +disappeared down a turning of the road than the waiter discovered an old +umbrella, left behind accidentally by the shabby, talkative individual. +As is the custom in his highly respectable restaurant, Signor Torriani +put the umbrella carefully away in his office, on the chance of his +customer calling to claim it when he had discovered his loss. And sure +enough nearly a week later, on Tuesday, the 16th, at about 1 p.m., the +same shabbily dressed individual called and asked for his umbrella. He +had some lunch, and chatted once again to the waiter. Signor Torriani +and the waiter gave a description of William Kershaw, which coincided +exactly with that given by Mrs. Kershaw of her husband. + +"Oddly enough he seemed to be a very absent-minded sort of person, for +on this second occasion, no sooner had he left than the waiter found a +pocket-book in the coffee-room, underneath the table. It contained +sundry letters and bills, all addressed to William Kershaw. This +pocket-book was produced, and Karl Mueller, who had returned to the +court, easily identified it as having belonged to his dear and lamented +friend 'Villiam.' + +"This was the first blow to the case against the accused. It was a +pretty stiff one, you will admit. Already it had begun to collapse like +a house of cards. Still, there was the assignation, and the undisputed +meeting between Smethurst and Kershaw, and those two and a half hours of +a foggy evening to satisfactorily account for." + +The man in the corner made a long pause, keeping the girl on +tenterhooks. He had fidgeted with his bit of string till there was not +an inch of it free from the most complicated and elaborate knots. + +"I assure you," he resumed at last, "that at that very moment the whole +mystery was, to me, as clear as daylight. I only marvelled how his +Honour could waste his time and mine by putting what he thought were +searching questions to the accused relating to his past. Francis +Smethurst, who had quite shaken off his somnolence, spoke with a curious +nasal twang, and with an almost imperceptible soupcon of foreign accent, +He calmly denied Kershaw's version of his past; declared that he had +never been called Barker, and had certainly never been mixed up in any +murder case thirty years ago. + +"'But you knew this man Kershaw,' persisted his Honour, 'since you wrote +to him?' + +"'Pardon me, your Honour,' said the accused quietly, 'I have never, to +my knowledge, seen this man Kershaw, and I can swear that I never wrote +to him.' + +"'Never wrote to him?' retorted his Honour warningly. 'That is a strange +assertion to make when I have two of your letters to him in my hands at +the present moment.' + +"'I never wrote those letters, your Honour,' persisted the accused +quietly, 'they are not in my handwriting.' + +"'Which we can easily prove,' came in Sir Arthur Inglewood's drawly +tones, as he handed up a packet to his Honour; 'here are a number of +letters written by my client since he has landed in this country, and +some of which were written under my very eyes.' + +"As Sir Arthur Inglewood had said, this could be easily proved, and the +prisoner, at his Honour's request, scribbled a few lines, together with +his signature, several times upon a sheet of note-paper. It was easy to +read upon the magistrate's astounded countenance, that there was not the +slightest similarity in the two handwritings. + +"A fresh mystery had cropped up. Who, then, had made the assignation +with William Kershaw at Fenchurch Street railway station? The prisoner +gave a fairly satisfactory account of the employment of his time since +his landing in England. + +"'I came over on the _Tsarskoe Selo_,' he said, 'a yacht belonging to a +friend of mine. When we arrived at the mouth of the Thames there was +such a dense fog that it was twenty-four hours before it was thought +safe for me to land. My friend, who is a Russian, would not land at all; +he was regularly frightened at this land of fogs. He was going on to +Madeira immediately. + +"'I actually landed on Tuesday, the 10th, and took a train at once for +town. I did see to my luggage and a cab, as the porter and driver told +your Honour; then I tried to find my way to a refreshment-room, where I +could get a glass of wine. I drifted into the waiting-room, and there I +was accosted by a shabbily dressed individual, who began telling me a +piteous tale. Who he was I do not know. He _said_ he was an old soldier +who had served his country faithfully, and then been left to starve. He +begged of me to accompany him to his lodgings, where I could see his +wife and starving children, and verify the truth and piteousness of his +tale. + +"'Well, your Honour,' added the prisoner with noble frankness, 'it was +my first day in the old country. I had come back after thirty years with +my pockets full of gold, and this was the first sad tale I had heard; +but I am a business man, and did not want to be exactly "done" in the +eye. I followed my man through the fog, out into the streets. He walked +silently by my side for a time. I had not a notion where I was. + +"'Suddenly I turned to him with some question, and realized in a moment +that my gentleman had given me the slip. Finding, probably, that I would +not part with my money till I _had_ seen the starving wife and children, +he left me to my fate, and went in search of more willing bait. + +"'The place where I found myself was dismal and deserted. I could see no +trace of cab or omnibus. I retraced my steps and tried to find my way +back to the station, only to find myself in worse and more deserted +neighbourhoods. I became hopelessly lost and fogged. I don't wonder that +two and a half hours elapsed while I thus wandered on in the dark and +deserted streets; my sole astonishment is that I ever found the station +at all that night, or rather close to it a policeman, who showed me the +way.' + +"'But how do you account for Kershaw knowing all your movements?' still +persisted his Honour, 'and his knowing the exact date of your arrival +in England? How do you account for these two letters, in fact?' + +"'I cannot account for it or them, your Honour,' replied the prisoner +quietly. 'I have proved to you, have I not, that I never wrote those +letters, and that the man--er--Kershaw is his name?--was not murdered by +me?' + +"'Can you tell me of anyone here or abroad who might have heard of your +movements, and of the date of your arrival?' + +"'My late employes at Vladivostok, of course, knew of my departure, but +none of them could have written these letters, since none of them know a +word of English.' + +"'Then you can throw no light upon these mysterious letters? You cannot +help the police in any way towards the clearing up of this strange +affair?' + +"'The affair is as mysterious to me as to your Honour, and to the police +of this country.' + +"Francis Smethurst was discharged, of course; there was no semblance of +evidence against him sufficient to commit him for trial. The two +overwhelming points of his defence which had completely routed the +prosecution were, firstly, the proof that he had never written the +letters making the assignation, and secondly, the fact that the man +supposed to have been murdered on the 10th was seen to be alive and +well on the 16th. But then, who in the world was the mysterious +individual who had apprised Kershaw of the movements of Smethurst, the +millionaire?" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HIS DEDUCTION + + +The man in the corner cocked his funny thin head on one side and looked +at Polly; then he took up his beloved bit of string and deliberately +untied every knot he had made in it. When it was quite smooth he laid it +out upon the table. + +"I will take you, if you like, point by point along the line of +reasoning which I followed myself, and which will inevitably lead you, +as it led me, to the only possible solution of the mystery. + +"First take this point," he said with nervous restlessness, once more +taking up his bit of string, and forming with each point raised a series +of knots which would have shamed a navigating instructor, "obviously it +was _impossible_ for Kershaw not to have been acquainted with Smethurst, +since he was fully apprised of the latter's arrival in England by two +letters. Now it was clear to me from the first that _no one_ could have +written those two letters except Smethurst. You will argue that those +letters were proved not to have been written by the man in the dock. +Exactly. Remember, Kershaw was a careless man--he had lost both +envelopes. To him they were insignificant. Now it was never _disproved_ +that those letters were written by Smethurst." + +"But--" suggested Polly. + +"Wait a minute," he interrupted, while knot number two appeared upon the +scene, "it was proved that six days after the murder, William Kershaw +was alive, and visited the Torriani Hotel, where already he was known, +and where he conveniently left a pocket-book behind, so that there +should be no mistake as to his identity; but it was never questioned +where Mr. Francis Smethurst, the millionaire, happened to spend that +very same afternoon." + +"Surely, you don't mean?" gasped the girl. + +"One moment, please," he added triumphantly. "How did it come about that +the landlord of the Torriani Hotel was brought into court at all? How +did Sir Arthur Inglewood, or rather his client, know that William +Kershaw had on those two memorable occasions visited the hotel, and that +its landlord could bring such convincing evidence forward that would for +ever exonerate the millionaire from the imputation of murder?" + +"Surely," I argued, "the usual means, the police--" + +"The police had kept the whole affair very dark until the arrest at the +Hotel Cecil. They did not put into the papers the usual: 'If anyone +happens to know of the whereabouts, etc. etc'. Had the landlord of that +hotel heard of the disappearance of Kershaw through the usual channels, +he would have put himself in communication with the police. Sir Arthur +Inglewood produced him. How did Sir Arthur Inglewood come on his track?" + +"Surely, you don't mean?" + +"Point number four," he resumed imperturbably, "Mrs. Kershaw was never +requested to produce a specimen of her husband's handwriting. Why? +Because the police, clever as you say they are, never started on the +right tack. They believed William Kershaw to have been murdered; they +looked for William Kershaw. + +"On December the 31st, what was presumed to be the body of William +Kershaw was found by two lightermen: I have shown you a photograph of +the place where it was found. Dark and deserted it is in all conscience, +is it not? Just the place where a bully and a coward would decoy an +unsuspecting stranger, murder him first, then rob him of his valuables, +his papers, his very identity, and leave him there to rot. The body was +found in a disused barge which had been moored some time against the +wall, at the foot of these steps. It was in the last stages of +decomposition, and, of course, could not be identified; but the police +would have it that it was the body of William Kershaw. + +"It never entered their heads that it was the body of _Francis +Smethurst, and that William Kershaw was his murderer_. + +"Ah! it was cleverly, artistically conceived! Kershaw is a genius. Think +of it all! His disguise! Kershaw had a shaggy beard, hair, and +moustache. He shaved up to his very eyebrows! No wonder that even his +wife did not recognize him across the court; and remember she never saw +much of his face while he stood in the dock. Kershaw was shabby, +slouchy, he stooped. Smethurst, the millionaire, might have served in +the Prussian army. + +"Then that lovely trait about going to revisit the Torriani Hotel. Just +a few days' grace, in order to purchase moustache and beard and wig, +exactly similar to what he had himself shaved off. Making up to look +like himself! Splendid! Then leaving the pocket-book behind! He! he! he! +Kershaw was not murdered! Of course not. He called at the Torriani Hotel +six days after the murder, whilst Mr. Smethurst, the millionaire, +hobnobbed in the park with duchesses! Hang such a man! Fie!" + +He fumbled for his hat. With nervous, trembling fingers he held it +deferentially in his hand whilst he rose from the table. Polly watched +him as he strode up to the desk, and paid twopence for his glass of milk +and his bun. Soon he disappeared through the shop, whilst she still +found herself hopelessly bewildered, with a number of snap-shot +photographs before her, still staring at a long piece of string, +smothered from end to end in a series of knots, as bewildering, as +irritating, as puzzling as the man who had lately sat in the corner. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ROBBERY IN PHILLIMORE TERRACE + + +Whether Miss Polly Burton really did expect to see the man in the corner +that Saturday afternoon, 'twere difficult to say; certain it is that +when she found her way to the table close by the window and realized +that he was not there, she felt conscious of an overwhelming sense of +disappointment. And yet during the whole of the week she had, with more +pride than wisdom, avoided this particular A.B.C. shop. + +"I thought you would not keep away very long," said a quiet voice close +to her ear. + +She nearly lost her balance--where in the world had he come from? She +certainly had not heard the slightest sound, and yet there he sat, in +the corner, like a veritable Jack-in-the-box, his mild blue eyes staring +apologetically at her, his nervous fingers toying with the inevitable +bit of string. + +The waitress brought him his glass of milk and a cheese-cake. He ate it +in silence, while his piece of string lay idly beside him on the table. +When he had finished he fumbled in his capacious pockets, and drew out +the inevitable pocket-book. + +Placing a small photograph before the girl, he said quietly: + +"That is the back of the houses in Phillimore Terrace, which overlook +Adam and Eve Mews." + +She looked at the photograph, then at him, with a kindly look of +indulgent expectancy. + +"You will notice that the row of back gardens have each an exit into the +mews. These mews are built in the shape of a capital F. The photograph +is taken looking straight down the short horizontal line, which ends, as +you see, in a _cul-de-sac_. The bottom of the vertical line turns into +Phillimore Terrace, and the end of the upper long horizontal line into +High Street, Kensington. Now, on that particular night, or rather early +morning, of January 15th, Constable D 21, having turned into the mews +from Phillimore Terrace, stood for a moment at the angle formed by the +long vertical artery of the mews and the short horizontal one which, as +I observed before, looks on to the back gardens of the Terrace houses, +and ends in a _cul-de-sac_. + +"How long D 21 stood at that particular corner he could not exactly say, +but he thinks it must have been three or four minutes before he noticed +a suspicious-looking individual shambling along under the shadow of the +garden walls. He was working his way cautiously in the direction of the +_cul-de-sac_, and D 21, also keeping well within the shadow, went +noiselessly after him. + +"He had almost overtaken him--was, in fact, not more than thirty yards +from him--when from out of one of the two end houses--No. 22, Phillimore +Terrace, in fact--a man, in nothing but his night-shirt, rushed out +excitedly, and, before D 21 had time to intervene, literally threw +himself upon the suspected individual, rolling over and over with him on +the hard cobble-stones, and frantically shrieking, 'Thief! Thief! +Police!' + +"It was some time before the constable succeeded in rescuing the tramp +from the excited grip of his assailant, and several minutes before he +could make himself heard. + +"'There! there! that'll do!' he managed to say at last, as he gave the +man in the shirt a vigorous shove, which silenced him for the moment. +'Leave the man alone now, you mustn't make that noise this time o' +night, wakin' up all the folks.' The unfortunate tramp, who in the +meanwhile had managed to get onto his feet again, made no attempt to +get away; probably he thought he would stand but a poor chance. But the +man in the shirt had partly recovered his power of speech, and was now +blurting out jerky, half--intelligible sentences: + +"'I have been robbed--robbed--I--that is--my master--Mr. Knopf. The desk +is open--the diamonds gone--all in my charge--and--now they are stolen! +That's the thief--I'll swear--I heard him--not three minutes ago--rushed +downstairs--the door into the garden was smashed--I ran across the +garden--he was sneaking about here still--Thief! Thief! Police! +Diamonds! Constable, don't let him go--I'll make you responsible if you +let him go--' + +"'Now then--that'll do!' admonished D 21 as soon as he could get a word +in, 'stop that row, will you?' + +"The man in the shirt was gradually recovering from his excitement. + +"'Can I give this man in charge?' he asked. + +"'What for?' + +"'Burglary and housebreaking. I heard him, I tell you. He must have Mr. +Knopf's diamonds about him at this moment.' + +"'Where is Mr. Knopf?' + +"'Out of town,' groaned the man in the shirt. 'He went to Brighton last +night, and left me in charge, and now this thief has been and--' + +"The tramp shrugged his shoulders and suddenly, without a word, he +quietly began taking off his coat and waistcoat. These he handed across +to the constable. Eagerly the man in the shirt fell on them, and turned +the ragged pockets inside out. From one of the windows a hilarious voice +made some facetious remark, as the tramp with equal solemnity began +divesting himself of his nether garments. + +"'Now then, stop that nonsense,' pronounced D 21 severely, 'what were +you doing here this time o' night, anyway?' + +"'The streets o' London is free to the public, ain't they?' queried the +tramp. + +"'This don't lead nowhere, my man.' + +"'Then I've lost my way, that's all,' growled the man surlily, 'and +p'raps you'll let me get along now.' + +"By this time a couple of constables had appeared upon the scene. D 21 +had no intention of losing sight of his friend the tramp, and the man in +the shirt had again made a dash for the latter's collar at the bare idea +that he should be allowed to 'get along.' + +"I think D 21 was alive to the humour of the situation. He suggested +that Robertson (the man in the night-shirt) should go in and get some +clothes on, whilst he himself would wait for the inspector and the +detective, whom D 15 would send round from the station immediately. + +"Poor Robertson's teeth were chattering with cold. He had a violent fit +of sneezing as D 21 hurried him into the house. The latter, with another +constable, remained to watch the burglared premises both back and +front, and D 15 took the wretched tramp to the station with a view to +sending an inspector and a detective round immediately. + +"When the two latter gentlemen arrived at No. 22, Phillimore Terrace, +they found poor old Robertson in bed, shivering, and still quite blue. +He had got himself a hot drink, but his eyes were streaming and his +voice was terribly husky. D 21 had stationed himself in the dining-room, +where Robertson had pointed the desk out to him, with its broken lock +and scattered contents. + +"Robertson, between his sneezes, gave what account he could of the +events which happened immediately before the robbery. + +"His master, Mr. Ferdinand Knopf, he said, was a diamond merchant, and a +bachelor. He himself had been in Mr. Knopf's employ over fifteen years, +and was his only indoor servant. A charwoman came every day to do the +housework. + +"Last night Mr. Knopf dined at the house of Mr. Shipman, at No. 26, +lower down. Mr. Shipman is the great jeweller who has his place of +business in South Audley Street. By the last post there came a letter +with the Brighton postmark, and marked 'urgent,' for Mr. Knopf, and he +(Robertson) was just wondering if he should run over to No. 26 with it, +when his master returned. He gave one glance at the contents of the +letter, asked for his A.B.C. Railway Guide, and ordered him (Robertson) +to pack his bag at once and fetch him a cab. + +"'I guessed what it was,' continued Robertson after another violent fit +of sneezing. 'Mr. Knopf has a brother, Mr. Emile Knopf, to whom he is +very much attached, and who is a great invalid. He generally goes about +from one seaside place to another. He is now at Brighton, and has +recently been very ill. + +"'If you will take the trouble to go downstairs I think you will still +find the letter lying on the hall table. + +"'I read it after Mr. Knopf left; it was not from his brother, but from +a gentleman who signed himself J. Collins, M.D. I don't remember the +exact words, but, of course, you'll be able to read the letter--Mr. J. +Collins said he had been called in very suddenly to see Mr. Emile Knopf, +who, he added, had not many hours to live, and had begged of the doctor +to communicate at once with his brother in London. + +"'Before leaving, Mr. Knopf warned me that there were some valuables in +his desk--diamonds mostly, and told me to be particularly careful about +locking up the house. He often has left me like this in charge of his +premises, and usually there have been diamonds in his desk, for Mr. +Knopf has no regular City office as he is a commercial traveller.' + +"This, briefly, was the gist of the matter which Robertson related to +the inspector with many repetitions and persistent volubility. + +"The detective and inspector, before returning to the station with their +report, thought they would call at No. 26, on Mr. Shipman, the great +jeweller. + +"You remember, of course," added the man in the corner, dreamily +contemplating his bit of string, "the exciting developments of this +extraordinary case. Mr. Arthur Shipman is the head of the firm of +Shipman and Co., the wealthy jewellers. He is a widower, and lives very +quietly by himself in his own old-fashioned way in the small Kensington +house, leaving it to his two married sons to keep up the style and +swagger befitting the representatives of so wealthy a firm. + +"'I have only known Mr. Knopf a very little while,' he explained to the +detectives. 'He sold me two or three stones once or twice, I think; but +we are both single men, and we have often dined together. Last night he +dined with me. He had that afternoon received a very fine consignment of +Brazilian diamonds, as he told me, and knowing how beset I am with +callers at my business place, he had brought the stones with him, +hoping, perhaps, to do a bit of trade over the nuts and wine. + +"'I bought L25,000 worth of him,' added the jeweller, as if he were +speaking of so many farthings, 'and gave him a cheque across the dinner +table for that amount. I think we were both pleased with our bargain, +and we had a final bottle of '48 port over it together. Mr. Knopf left +me at about 9.30, for he knows I go very early to bed, and I took my new +stock upstairs with me, and locked it up in the safe. I certainly heard +nothing of the noise in the mews last night. I sleep on the second +floor, in the front of the house, and this is the first I have heard of +poor Mr. Knopf's loss--' + +"At this point of his narrative Mr. Shipman very suddenly paused, and +his face became very pale. With a hasty word of excuse he +unceremoniously left the room, and the detective heard him running +quickly upstairs. + +"Less than two minutes later Mr. Shipman returned. There was no need for +him to speak; both the detective and the inspector guessed the truth in +a moment by the look upon his face. + +"'The diamonds!' he gasped. 'I have been robbed.'" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A NIGHT'S ADVENTURE + + +"Now I must tell you," continued the man in the corner, "that after I +had read the account of the double robbery, which appeared in the early +afternoon papers, I set to work and had a good think--yes!" he added +with a smile, noting Polly's look at the bit of string, on which he was +still at work, "yes! aided by this small adjunct to continued thought--I +made notes as to how I should proceed to discover the clever thief, who +had carried off a small fortune in a single night. Of course, my methods +are not those of a London detective; he has his own way of going to +work. The one who was conducting this case questioned the unfortunate +jeweller very closely about his servants and his household generally. + +"'I have three servants,' explained Mr. Shipman, two of whom have been +with me for many years; one, the housemaid, is a fairly new comer--she +has been here about six months. She came recommended by a friend, and +bore an excellent character. She and the parlourmaid room together. The +cook, who knew me when I was a schoolboy, sleeps alone; all three +servants sleep on the floor above. I locked the jewels up in the safe +which stands in the dressing-room. My keys and watch I placed, as usual, +beside my bed. As a rule, I am a fairly light sleeper. + +"'I cannot understand how it could have happened--but--you had better +come up and have a look at the safe. The key must have been abstracted +from my bedside, the safe opened, and the keys replaced--all while I was +fast asleep. Though I had no occasion to look into the safe until just +now, I should have discovered my loss before going to business, for I +intended to take the diamonds away with me--' + +"The detective and the inspector went up to have a look at the safe. The +lock had in no way been tampered with--it had been opened with its own +key. The detective spoke of chloroform, but Mr. Shipman declared that +when he woke in the morning at about half-past seven there was no smell +of chloroform in the room. However, the proceedings of the daring thief +certainly pointed to the use of an anaesthetic. An examination of the +premises brought to light the fact that the burglar had, as in Mr. +Knopf's house, used the glass-panelled door from the garden as a means +of entrance, but in this instance he had carefully cut out the pane of +glass with a diamond, slipped the bolts, turned the key, and walked in. + +"'Which among your servants knew that you had the diamonds in your house +last night, Mr. Shipman?' asked the detective. + +"'Not one, I should say,' replied the jeweller, 'though, perhaps, the +parlourmaid, whilst waiting at table, may have heard me and Mr. Knopf +discussing our bargain.' + +"'Would you object to my searching all your servants' boxes?' + +"'Certainly not. They would not object, either, I am sure. They are +perfectly honest.' + +"The searching of servants' belongings is invariably a useless +proceeding," added the man in the corner, with a shrug of the shoulders. +"No one, not even a latter-day domestic, would be fool enough to keep +stolen property in the house. However, the usual farce was gone through, +with more or less protest on the part of Mr. Shipman's servants, and +with the usual result. + +"The jeweller could give no further information; the detective and +inspector, to do them justice, did their work of investigation minutely +and, what is more, intelligently. It seemed evident, from their +deductions, that the burglar had commenced proceedings on No. 26, +Phillimore Terrace, and had then gone on, probably climbing over the +garden walls between the houses to No. 22, where he was almost caught in +the act by Robertson. The facts were simple enough, but the mystery +remained as to the individual who had managed to glean the information +of the presence of the diamonds in both the houses, and the means which +he had adopted to get that information. It was obvious that the thief or +thieves knew more about Mr. Knopf's affairs than Mr. Shipman's, since +they had known how to use Mr. Emile Knopf's name in order to get his +brother out of the way. + +"It was now nearly ten o'clock, and the detectives, having taken leave +of Mr. Shipman, went back to No. 22, in order to ascertain whether Mr. +Knopf had come back; the door was opened by the old charwoman, who said +that her master had returned, and was having some breakfast in the +dining-room. + +"Mr. Ferdinand Knopf was a middle-aged man, with sallow complexion, +black hair and beard, of obviously Hebrew extraction. He spoke with a +marked foreign accent, but very courteously, to the two officials, who, +he begged, would excuse him if he went on with his breakfast. + +"'I was fully prepared to hear the bad news,' he explained, 'which my +man Robertson told me when I arrived. The letter I got last night was a +bogus one; there is no such person as J. Collins, M.D. My brother had +never felt better in his life. You will, I am sure, very soon trace the +cunning writer of that epistle--ah! but I was in a rage, I can tell +you, when I got to the Metropole at Brighton, and found that Emile, my +brother, had never heard of any Doctor Collins. + +"'The last train to town had gone, although I raced back to the station +as hard as I could. Poor old Robertson, he has a terrible cold. Ah yes! +my loss! it is for me a very serious one; if I had not made that lucky +bargain with Mr. Shipman last night I should, perhaps, at this moment be +a ruined man. + +"'The stones I had yesterday were, firstly, some magnificent Brazilians; +these I sold to Mr. Shipman mostly. Then I had some very good Cape +diamonds--all gone; and some quite special Parisians, of wonderful work +and finish, entrusted to me for sale by a great French house. I tell +you, sir, my loss will be nearly L10,000 altogether. I sell on +commission, and, of course, have to make good the loss.' + +"He was evidently trying to bear up manfully, and as a business man +should, under his sad fate. He refused in any way to attach the +slightest blame to his old and faithful servant Robertson, who had +caught, perhaps, his death of cold in his zeal for his absent master. As +for any hint of suspicion falling even remotely upon the man, the very +idea appeared to Mr. Knopf absolutely preposterous. + +"With regard to the old charwoman, Mr. Knopf certainly knew nothing +about her, beyond the fact that she had been recommended to him by one +of the tradespeople in the neighbourhood, and seemed perfectly honest, +respectable, and sober. + +"About the tramp Mr. Knopf knew still less, nor could he imagine how he, +or in fact anybody else, could possibly know that he happened to have +diamonds in his house that night. + +"This certainly seemed the great hitch in the case. + +"Mr. Ferdinand Knopf, at the instance of the police, later on went to +the station and had a look at the suspected tramp. He declared that he +had never set eyes on him before. + +"Mr. Shipman, on his way home from business in the afternoon, had done +likewise, and made a similar statement. + +"Brought before the magistrate, the tramp gave but a poor account of +himself. He gave a name and address, which latter, of course, proved to +be false. After that he absolutely refused to speak. He seemed not to +care whether he was kept in custody or not. Very soon even the police +realized that, for the present, at any rate, nothing could be got out of +the suspected tramp. + +"Mr. Francis Howard, the detective, who had charge of the case, though +he would not admit it even to himself, was at his wits' ends. You must +remember that the burglary, through its very simplicity, was an +exceedingly mysterious affair. The constable, D 21, who had stood in +Adam and Eve Mews, presumably while Mr. Knopf's house was being robbed, +had seen no one turn out from the _cul-de-sac_ into the main passage of +the mews. + +"The stables, which immediately faced the back entrance of the +Phillimore Terrace houses, were all private ones belonging to residents +in the neighbourhood. The coachmen, their families, and all the grooms +who slept in the stablings were rigidly watched and questioned. One and +all had seen nothing, heard nothing, until Robertson's shrieks had +roused them from their sleep. + +"As for the letter from Brighton, it was absolutely commonplace, and +written upon note-paper which the detective, with Machiavellian cunning, +traced to a stationer's shop in West Street. But the trade at that +particular shop was a very brisk one; scores of people had bought +note-paper there, similar to that on which the supposed doctor had +written his tricky letter. The handwriting was cramped, perhaps a +disguised one; in any case, except under very exceptional circumstances, +it could afford no clue to the identity of the thief. Needless to say, +the tramp, when told to write his name, wrote a totally different and +absolutely uneducated hand. + +"Matters stood, however, in the same persistently mysterious state when +a small discovery was made, which suggested to Mr. Francis Howard an +idea, which, if properly carried out, would, he hoped, inevitably bring +the cunning burglar safely within the grasp of the police. + +"That was the discovery of a few of Mr. Knopf's diamonds," continued the +man in the corner after a slight pause, "evidently trampled into the +ground by the thief whilst making his hurried exit through the garden of +No. 22, Phillimore Terrace. + +"At the end of this garden there is a small studio which had been built +by a former owner of the house, and behind it a small piece of waste +ground about seven feet square which had once been a rockery, and is +still filled with large loose stones, in the shadow of which earwigs and +woodlice innumerable have made a happy hunting ground. + +"It was Robertson who, two days after the robbery, having need of a +large stone, for some household purpose or other, dislodged one from +that piece of waste ground, and found a few shining pebbles beneath it. +Mr. Knopf took them round to the police-station himself immediately, and +identified the stones as some of his Parisian ones. + +"Later on the detective went to view the place where the find had been +made, and there conceived the plan upon which he built big cherished +hopes. + +"Acting upon the advice of Mr. Francis Howard, the police decided to let +the anonymous tramp out of his safe retreat within the station, and to +allow him to wander whithersoever he chose. A good idea, perhaps--the +presumption being that, sooner or later, if the man was in any way mixed +up with the cunning thieves, he would either rejoin his comrades or even +lead the police to where the remnant of his hoard lay hidden; needless +to say, his footsteps were to be literally dogged. + +"The wretched tramp, on his discharge, wandered out of the yard, +wrapping his thin coat round his shoulders, for it was a bitterly cold +afternoon. He began operations by turning into the Town Hall Tavern for +a good feed and a copious drink. Mr. Francis Howard noted that he seemed +to eye every passer-by with suspicion, but he seemed to enjoy his +dinner, and sat some time over his bottle of wine. + +"It was close upon four o'clock when he left the tavern, and then began +for the indefatigable Mr. Howard one of the most wearisome and +uninteresting chases, through the mazes of the London streets, he ever +remembers to have made. Up Notting Hill, down the slums of Notting +Dale, along the High Street, beyond Hammersmith, and through Shepherd's +Bush did that anonymous tramp lead the unfortunate detective, never +hurrying himself, stopping every now and then at a public-house to get a +drink, whither Mr. Howard did not always care to follow him. + +"In spite of his fatigue, Mr. Francis Howard's hopes rose with every +half-hour of this weary tramp. The man was obviously striving to kill +time; he seemed to feel no weariness, but walked on and on, perhaps +suspecting that he was being followed. + +"At last, with a beating heart, though half perished with cold, and with +terribly sore feet, the detective began to realize that the tramp was +gradually working his way back towards Kensington. It was then close +upon eleven o'clock at night; once or twice the man had walked up and +down the High Street, from St. Paul's School to Derry and Toms' shops +and back again, he had looked down one or two of the side streets +and--at last--he turned into Phillimore Terrace. He seemed in no hurry, +he oven stopped once in the middle of the road, trying to light a pipe, +which, as there was a high east wind, took him some considerable time. +Then he leisurely sauntered down the street, and turned into Adam and +Eve Mews, with Mr. Francis Howard now close at his heels. + +"Acting upon the detective's instructions, there were several men in +plain clothes ready to his call in the immediate neighbourhood. Two +stood within the shadow of the steps of the Congregational Church at the +corner of the mews, others were stationed well within a soft call. + +"Hardly, therefore, had the hare turned into the _cul-de-sac_ at the +back of Phillimore Terrace than, at a slight sound from Mr. Francis +Howard, every egress was barred to him, and he was caught like a rat in +a trap. + +"As soon as the tramp had advanced some thirty yards or so (the whole +length of this part of the mews is about one hundred yards) and was lost +in the shadow, Mr. Francis Howard directed four or five of his men to +proceed cautiously up the mews, whilst the same number were to form a +line all along the front of Phillimore Terrace between the mews and the +High Street. + +"Remember, the back-garden walls threw long and dense shadows, but the +silhouette of the man would be clearly outlined if he made any attempt +at climbing over them. Mr. Howard felt quite sure that the thief was +bent on recovering the stolen goods, which, no doubt, he had hidden in +the rear of one of the houses. He would be caught _in flagrante +delicto_, and, with a heavy sentence hovering over him, he would +probably be induced to name his accomplice. Mr. Francis Howard was +thoroughly enjoying himself. + +"The minutes sped on; absolute silence, in spite of the presence of so +many men, reigned in the dark and deserted mews. + +"Of course, this night's adventure was never allowed to get into the +papers," added the man in the corner with his mild smile. "Had the plan +been successful, we should have heard all about it, with a long +eulogistic article as to the astuteness of our police; but as it +was--well, the tramp sauntered up the mews--and--there he remained for +aught Mr. Francis Howard or the other constables could ever explain. The +earth or the shadows swallowed him up. No one saw him climb one of the +garden walls, no one heard him break open a door; he had retreated +within the shadow of the garden walls, and was seen or heard of no +more." + +"One of the servants in the Phillimore Terrace houses must have belonged +to the gang," said Polly with quick decision. + +"Ah, yes! but which?" said the man in the corner, making a beautiful +knot in his bit of string. "I can assure you that the police left not a +stone unturned once more to catch sight of that tramp whom they had had +in custody for two days, but not a trace of him could they find, nor of +the diamonds, from that day to this." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ALL HE KNEW + + +"The tramp was missing," continued the man in the corner, "and Mr. +Francis Howard tried to find the missing tramp. Going round to the +front, and seeing the lights at No. 26 still in, he called upon Mr. +Shipman. The jeweller had had a few friends to dinner, and was giving +them whiskies-and-sodas before saying good night. The servants had just +finished washing up, and were waiting to go to bed; neither they nor Mr. +Shipman nor his guests had seen or heard anything of the suspicious +individual. + +"Mr. Francis Howard went on to see Mr. Ferdinand Knopf. This gentleman +was having his warm bath, preparatory to going to bed. So Robertson told +the detective. However, Mr. Knopf insisted on talking to Mr. Howard +through his bath-room door. Mr. Knopf thanked him for all the trouble he +was taking, and felt sure that he and Mr. Shipman would soon recover +possession of their diamonds, thanks to the persevering detective. + +"He! he! he!" laughed the man in the corner. "Poor Mr. Howard. He +persevered--but got no farther; no, nor anyone else, for that matter. +Even I might not be able to convict the thieves if I told all I knew to +the police. + +"Now, follow my reasoning, point by point," he added eagerly. + +"Who knew of the presence of the diamonds in the house of Mr. Shipman +and Mr. Knopf? Firstly," he said, putting up an ugly claw-like finger, +"Mr. Shipman, then Mr. Knopf, then, presumably, the man Robertson." + +"And the tramp?" said Polly. + +"Leave the tramp alone for the present since he has vanished, and take +point number two. Mr. Shipman was drugged. That was pretty obvious; no +man under ordinary circumstances would, without waking, have his keys +abstracted and then replaced at his own bedside. Mr. Howard suggested +that the thief was armed with some anaesthetic; but how did the thief +get into Mr. Shipman's room without waking him from his natural sleep? +Is it not simpler to suppose that the thief had taken the precaution to +drug the jeweller _before_ the latter went to bed?" + +"But--" + +"Wait a moment, and take point number three. Though there was every +proof that Mr. Shipman had been in possession of L25,000 worth of goods +since Mr. Knopf had a cheque from him for that amount, there was no +proof that in Mr. Knopf's house there was even an odd stone worth a +sovereign. + +"And then again," went on the scarecrow, getting more and more excited, +"did it ever strike you, or anybody else, that at _no_ time, while the +tramp was in custody, while all that searching examination was being +gone on with, no one ever saw Mr. Knopf and his man Robertson together +at the same time? + +"Ah!" he continued, whilst suddenly the young girl seemed to see the +whole thing as in a vision, "they did not forget a single detail--follow +them with me, point by point. Two cunning scoundrels--geniuses they +should be called--well provided with some ill-gotten funds--but +determined on a grand _coup_. They play at respectability, for six +months, say. One is the master, the other the servant; they take a house +in the same street as their intended victim, make friends with him, +accomplish one or two creditable but very small business transactions, +always drawing on the reserve funds, which might even have amounted to a +few hundreds--and a bit of credit. + +"Then the Brazilian diamonds, and the Parisians--which, remember, were +so perfect that they required chemical testing to be detected. The +Parisian stones are sold--not in business, of course--in the evening, +after dinner and a good deal of wine. Mr. Knopf's Brazilians were +beautiful; perfect! Mr. Knopf was a well-known diamond merchant. + +"Mr. Shipman bought--but with the morning would have come sober sense, +the cheque stopped before it could have been presented, the swindler +caught. No! those exquisite Parisians were never intended to rest in Mr. +Shipman's safe until the morning. That last bottle of '48 port, with the +aid of a powerful soporific, ensured that Mr. Shipman would sleep +undisturbed during the night. + +"Ah! remember all the details, they were so admirable! the letter posted +in Brighton by the cunning rogue to himself, the smashed desk, the +broken pane of glass in his own house. The man Robertson on the watch, +while Knopf himself in ragged clothing found his way into No. 26. If +Constable D 21 had not appeared upon the scene that exciting comedy in +the early morning would not have been enacted. As it was, in the +supposed fight, Mr. Shipman's diamonds passed from the hands of the +tramp into those of his accomplice. + +"Then, later on, Robertson, ill in bed, while his master was supposed to +have returned--by the way, it never struck anybody that no one saw Mr. +Knopf come home, though he surely would have driven up in a cab. Then +the double part played by one man for the next two days. It certainly +never struck either the police or the inspector. Remember they only saw +Robertson when in bed with a streaming cold. But Knopf had to be got out +of gaol as soon as possible; the dual _role_ could not have been kept up +for long. Hence the story of the diamonds found in the garden of No. 22. +The cunning rogues guessed that the usual plan would be acted upon, and +the suspected thief allowed to visit the scene where his hoard lay +hidden. + +"It had all been foreseen, and Robertson must have been constantly on +the watch. The tramp stopped, mind you, in Phillimore Terrace for some +moments, lighting a pipe. The accomplice, then, was fully on the alert; +he slipped the bolts of the back garden gate. Five minutes later Knopf +was in the house, in a hot bath, getting rid of the disguise of our +friend the tramp. Remember that again here the detective did not +actually see him. + +"The next morning Mr. Knopf, black hair and beard and all, was himself +again. The whole trick lay in one simple art, which those two cunning +rascals knew to absolute perfection, the art of impersonating one +another. + +"They are brothers, presumably--twin brothers, I should say." + +"But Mr. Knopf--" suggested Polly. + +"Well, look in the Trades' Directory; you will see F. Knopf & Co., +diamond merchants, of some City address. Ask about the firm among the +trade; you will hear that it is firmly established on a sound financial +basis. He! he! he! and it deserves to be," added the man in the corner, +as, calling for the waitress, he received his ticket, and taking up his +shabby hat, took himself and his bit of string rapidly out of the room. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE YORK MYSTERY + + +The man in the corner looked quite cheerful that morning; he had had two +glasses of milk and had even gone to the extravagance of an extra +cheese-cake. Polly knew that he was itching to talk police and murders, +for he cast furtive glances at her from time to time, produced a bit of +string, tied and untied it into scores of complicated knots, and +finally, bringing out his pocket-book, he placed two or three +photographs before her. + +"Do you know who that is?" he asked, pointing to one of these. + +The girl looked at the face on the picture. It was that of a woman, not +exactly pretty, but very gentle and childlike, with a strange pathetic +look in the large eyes which was wonderfully appealing. + +"That was Lady Arthur Skelmerton," he said, and in a flash there flitted +before Polly's mind the weird and tragic history which had broken this +loving woman's heart. Lady Arthur Skelmerton! That name recalled one of +the most bewildering, most mysterious passages in the annals of +undiscovered crimes. + +"Yes. It was sad, wasn't it?" he commented, in answer to Polly's +thoughts. "Another case which but for idiotic blunders on the part of +the police must have stood clear as daylight before the public and +satisfied general anxiety. Would you object to my recapitulating its +preliminary details?" + +She said nothing, so he continued without waiting further for a reply. + +"It all occurred during the York racing week, a time which brings to the +quiet cathedral city its quota of shady characters, who congregate +wherever money and wits happen to fly away from their owners. Lord +Arthur Skelmerton, a very well-known figure in London society and in +racing circles, had rented one of the fine houses which overlook the +racecourse. He had entered Peppercorn, by St. Armand--Notre Dame, for +the Great Ebor Handicap. Peppercorn was the winner of the Newmarket, and +his chances for the Ebor were considered a practical certainty. + +"If you have ever been to York you will have noticed the fine houses +which have their drive and front entrances in the road called 'The +Mount.' and the gardens of which extend as far as the racecourse, +commanding a lovely view over the entire track. It was one of these +houses, called 'The Elms,' which Lord Arthur Skelmerton had rented for +the summer. + +"Lady Arthur came down some little time before the racing week with her +servants--she had no children; but she had many relatives and friends in +York, since she was the daughter of old Sir John Etty, the cocoa +manufacturer, a rigid Quaker, who, it was generally said, kept the +tightest possible hold on his own purse-strings and looked with marked +disfavour upon his aristocratic son-in-law's fondness for gaming tables +and betting books. + +"As a matter of fact, Maud Etty had married the handsome young +lieutenant in the Hussars, quite against her father's wishes. But she +was an only child, and after a good deal of demur and grumbling, Sir +John, who idolized his daughter, gave way to her whim, and a reluctant +consent to the marriage was wrung from him. + +"But, as a Yorkshireman, he was far too shrewd a man of the world not to +know that love played but a very small part in persuading a Duke's son +to marry the daughter of a cocoa manufacturer, and as long as he lived +he determined that since his daughter was being wed because of her +wealth, that wealth should at least secure her own happiness. He refused +to give Lady Arthur any capital, which, in spite of the most carefully +worded settlements, would inevitably, sooner or later, have found its +way into the pockets of Lord Arthur's racing friends. But he made his +daughter a very handsome allowance, amounting to over L3000 a year, +which enabled her to keep up an establishment befitting her new rank. + +"A great many of these facts, intimate enough as they are, leaked out, +you see, during that period of intense excitement which followed the +murder of Charles Lavender, and when the public eye was fixed +searchingly upon Lord Arthur Skelmerton, probing all the inner details +of his idle, useless life. + +"It soon became a matter of common gossip that poor little Lady Arthur +continued to worship her handsome husband in spite of his obvious +neglect, and not having as yet presented him with an heir, she settled +herself down into a life of humble apology for her plebeian existence, +atoning for it by condoning all his faults and forgiving all his vices, +even to the extent of cloaking them before the prying eyes of Sir John, +who was persuaded to look upon his son-in-law as a paragon of all the +domestic virtues and a perfect model of a husband. + +"Among Lord Arthur Skelmerton's many expensive tastes there was +certainly that for horseflesh and cards. After some successful betting +at the beginning of his married life, he had started a racing-stable +which it was generally believed--as he was very lucky--was a regular +source of income to him. + +"Peppercorn, however, after his brilliant performances at Newmarket did +not continue to fulfil his master's expectations. His collapse at York +was attributed to the hardness of the course and to various other +causes, but its immediate effect was to put Lord Arthur Skelmerton in +what is popularly called a tight place, for he had backed his horse for +all he was worth, and must have stood to lose considerably over L5000 on +that one day. + +"The collapse of the favourite and the grand victory of King Cole, a +rank outsider, on the other hand, had proved a golden harvest for the +bookmakers, and all the York hotels were busy with dinners and suppers +given by the confraternity of the Turf to celebrate the happy occasion. +The next day was Friday, one of few important racing events, after which +the brilliant and the shady throng which had flocked into the venerable +city for the week would fly to more congenial climes, and leave it, with +its fine old Minster and its ancient walls, as sleepy, as quiet as +before. + +"Lord Arthur Skelmerton also intended to leave York on the Saturday, and +on the Friday night he gave a farewell bachelor dinner party at 'The +Elms,' at which Lady Arthur did not appear. After dinner the gentlemen +settled down to bridge, with pretty stiff points, you may be sure. It +had just struck eleven at the Minster Tower, when constables McNaught +and Murphy, who were patrolling the racecourse, were startled by loud +cries of 'murder' and 'police.' + +"Quickly ascertaining whence these cries proceeded, they hurried on at a +gallop, and came up--quite close to the boundary of Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's grounds--upon a group of three men, two of whom seemed to +be wrestling vigorously with one another, whilst the third was lying +face downwards on the ground. As soon as the constables drew near, one +of the wrestlers shouted more vigorously, and with a certain tone of +authority: + +"'Here, you fellows, hurry up, sharp; the brute is giving me the slip!' + +"But the brute did not seem inclined to do anything of the sort; he +certainly extricated himself with a violent jerk from his assailant's +grasp, but made no attempt to run away. The constables had quickly +dismounted, whilst he who had shouted for help originally added more +quietly: + +"'My name is Skelmerton. This is the boundary of my property. I was +smoking a cigar at the pavilion over there with a friend when I heard +loud voices, followed by a cry and a groan. I hurried down the steps, +and saw this poor fellow lying on the ground, with a knife sticking +between his shoulder-blades, and his murderer,' he added, pointing to +the man who stood quietly by with Constable McNaught's firm grip upon +his shoulder, 'still stooping over the body of his victim. I was too +late, I fear, to save the latter, but just in time to grapple with the +assassin--" + +"'It's a lie!' here interrupted the man hoarsely. 'I didn't do it, +constable; I swear I didn't do it. I saw him fall--I was coming along a +couple of hundred yards away, and I tried to see if the poor fellow was +dead. I swear I didn't do it.' + +"'You'll have to explain that to the inspector presently, my man,' was +Constable McNaught's quiet comment, and, still vigorously protesting his +innocence, the accused allowed himself to be led away, and the body was +conveyed to the station, pending fuller identification. + +"The next morning the papers were full of the tragedy; a column and a +half of the _York Herald_ was devoted to an account of Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's plucky capture of the assassin. The latter had continued to +declare his innocence, but had remarked, it appears, with grim humour, +that he quite saw he was in a tight place, out of which, however, he +would find it easy to extricate himself. He had stated to the police +that the deceased's name was Charles Lavender, a well-known bookmaker, +which fact was soon verified, for many of the murdered man's 'pals' +were still in the city. + +"So far the most pushing of newspaper reporters had been unable to glean +further information from the police; no one doubted, however, but that +the man in charge, who gave his name as George Higgins, had killed the +bookmaker for purposes of robbery. The inquest had been fixed for the +Tuesday after the murder. + +"Lord Arthur had been obliged to stay in York a few days, as his +evidence would be needed. That fact gave the case, perhaps, a certain +amount of interest as far as York and London 'society' were concerned. +Charles Lavender, moreover, was well known on the turf; but no bombshell +exploding beneath the walls of the ancient cathedral city could more +have astonished its inhabitants than the news which, at about five in +the afternoon on the day of the inquest, spread like wildfire throughout +the town. That news was that the inquest had concluded at three o'clock +with a verdict of 'Wilful murder against some person or persons +unknown,' and that two hours later the police had arrested Lord Arthur +Skelmerton at his private residence, 'The Elms,' and charged him on a +warrant with the murder of Charles Lavender, the bookmaker." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE CAPITAL CHARGE + + +"The police, it appears, instinctively feeling that some mystery lurked +round the death of the bookmaker and his supposed murderer's quiet +protestations of innocence, had taken a very considerable amount of +trouble in collecting all the evidence they could for the inquest which +might throw some light upon Charles Lavender's life, previous to his +tragic end. Thus it was that a very large array of witnesses was brought +before the coroner, chief among whom was, of course, Lord Arthur +Skelmerton. + +"The first witnesses called were the two constables, who deposed that, +just as the church clocks in the neighbourhood were striking eleven, +they had heard the cries for help, had ridden to the spot whence the +sounds proceeded, and had found the prisoner in the tight grasp of Lord +Arthur Skelmerton, who at once accused the man of murder, and gave him +in charge. Both constables gave the same version of the incident, and +both were positive as to the time when it occurred. + +"Medical evidence went to prove that the deceased had been stabbed from +behind between the shoulder-blades whilst he was walking, that the wound +was inflicted by a large hunting knife, which was produced, and which +had been left sticking in the wound. + +"Lord Arthur Skelmerton was then called and substantially repeated what +he had already told the constables. He stated, namely, that on the night +in question he had some gentlemen friends to dinner, and afterwards +bridge was played. He himself was not playing much, and at a few minutes +before eleven he strolled out with a cigar as far as the pavilion at the +end of his garden; he then heard the voices, the cry and the groan +previously described by him, and managed to hold the murderer down until +the arrival of the constables. + +"At this point the police proposed to call a witness, James Terry by +name and a bookmaker by profession, who had been chiefly instrumental in +identifying the deceased, a 'pal' of his. It was his evidence which +first introduced that element of sensation into the case which +culminated in the wildly exciting arrest of a Duke's son upon a capital +charge. + +"It appears that on the evening after the Ebor, Terry and Lavender were +in the bar of the Black Swan Hotel having drinks. + +"'I had done pretty well over Peppercorn's fiasco,' he explained, 'but +poor old Lavender was very much down in the dumps; he had held only a +few very small bets against the favourite, and the rest of the day had +been a poor one with him. I asked him if he had any bets with the owner +of Peppercorn, and he told me that he only held one for less than L500. + +"'I laughed and said that if he held one for L5000 it would make no +difference, as from what I had heard from the other fellows, Lord Arthur +Skelmerton must be about stumped. Lavender seemed terribly put out at +this, and swore he would get that L500 out of Lord Arthur, if no one +else got another penny from him. + +"'It's the only money I've made to-day,' he says to me. 'I mean to get +it.' + +"'You won't,' I says. + +"'I will,' he says. + +"'You will have to look pretty sharp about it then,' I says, 'for every +one will be wanting to get something, and first come first served.' + +"'Oh! He'll serve me right enough, never you mind!' says Lavender to me +with a laugh. 'If he don't pay up willingly, I've got that in my pocket +which will make him sit up and open my lady's eyes and Sir John Etty's +too about their precious noble lord.' + +"'Then he seemed to think he had gone too far, and wouldn't say anything +more to me about that affair. I saw him on the course the next day. I +asked him if he had got his L500. He said: "No, but I shall get it +to-day."' + +"Lord Arthur Skelmerton, after having given his own evidence, had left +the court; it was therefore impossible to know how he would take this +account, which threw so serious a light upon an association with the +dead man, of which he himself had said nothing. + +"Nothing could shake James Terry's account of the facts he had placed +before the jury, and when the police informed the coroner that they +proposed to place George Higgins himself in the witness-box, as his +evidence would prove, as it were, a complement and corollary of that of +Terry, the jury very eagerly assented. + +"If James Terry, the bookmaker, loud, florid, vulgar, was an +unprepossessing individual, certainly George Higgins, who was still +under the accusation of murder, was ten thousand times more so. + +"None too clean, slouchy, obsequious yet insolent, he was the very +personification of the cad who haunts the racecourse and who lives not +so much by his own wits as by the lack of them in others. He described +himself as a turf commission agent, whatever that may be. + +"He stated that at about six o'clock on the Friday afternoon, when the +racecourse was still full of people, all hurrying after the day's +excitements, he himself happened to be standing close to the hedge which +marks the boundary of Lord Arthur Skelmerton's grounds. There is a +pavilion there at the end of the garden, he explained, on slightly +elevated ground, and he could hear and see a group of ladies and +gentlemen having tea. Some steps lead down a little to the left of the +garden on to the course, and presently he noticed at the bottom of these +steps Lord Arthur Skelmerton and Charles Lavender standing talking +together. He knew both gentlemen by sight, but he could not see them +very well as they were both partly hidden by the hedge. He was quite +sure that the gentlemen had not seen him, and he could not help +overhearing some of their conversation. + +"'That's my last word, Lavender,' Lord Arthur was saying very quietly. +'I haven't got the money and I can't pay you now. You'll have to wait.' + +"'Wait? I can't wait,' said old Lavender in reply. 'I've got my +engagements to meet, same as you. I'm not going to risk being posted up +as a defaulter while you hold L500 of my money. You'd better give it me +now or--' + +"But Lord Arthur interrupted him very quietly, and said: + +"'Yes, my good man.... or?' + +"'Or I'll let Sir John have a good look at that little bill I had of +yours a couple of years ago. If you'll remember, my lord, it has got at +the bottom of it Sir John's signature in _your_ handwriting. Perhaps +Sir John, or perhaps my lady, would pay me something for that little +bill. If not, the police can have a squint at it. I've held my tongue +long enough, and--' + +"'Look here, Lavender,' said Lord Arthur, 'do you know what this little +game of yours is called in law?' + +"'Yes, and I don't care,' says Lavender. 'If I don't have that L500 I am +a ruined man. If you ruin me I'll do for you, and we shall be quits. +That's my last word.' + +"He was talking very loudly, and I thought some of Lord Arthur's friends +up in the pavilion must have heard. He thought so, too, I think, for he +said quickly: + +"'If you don't hold your confounded tongue, I'll give you in charge for +blackmail this instant.' + +"'You wouldn't dare,' says Lavender, and he began to laugh. But just +then a lady from the top of the steps said: 'Your tea is getting cold,' +and Lord Arthur turned to go; but just before he went Lavender says to +him: 'I'll come back to-night. You'll have the money then.' + +"George Higgins, it appears, after he had heard this interesting +conversation, pondered as to whether he could not turn what he knew into +some sort of profit. Being a gentleman who lives entirely by his wits, +this type of knowledge forms his chief source of income. As a +preliminary to future moves, he decided not to lose sight of Lavender +for the rest of the day. + +"'Lavender went and had dinner at The Black Swan,' explained Mr. George +Higgins, 'and I, after I had had a bite myself, waited outside till I +saw him come out. At about ten o'clock I was rewarded for my trouble. He +told the hall porter to get him a fly and he jumped into it. I could not +hear what direction he gave the driver, but the fly certainly drove off +towards the racecourse. + +"'Now, I was interested in this little affair,' continued the witness, +'and I couldn't afford a fly. I started to run. Of course, I couldn't +keep up with it, but I thought I knew which way my gentleman had gone. I +made straight for the racecourse, and for the hedge at the bottom of +Lord Arthur Skelmerton's grounds. + +"'It was rather a dark night and there was a slight drizzle. I couldn't +see more than about a hundred yards before me. All at once it seemed to +me as if I heard Lavender's voice talking loudly in the distance. I +hurried forward, and suddenly saw a group of two figures--mere blurs in +the darkness--for one instant, at a distance of about fifty yards from +where I was. + +"'The next moment one figure had fallen forward and the other had +disappeared. I ran to the spot, only to find the body of the murdered +man lying on the ground. I stooped to see if I could be of any use to +him, and immediately I was collared from behind by Lord Arthur +himself.' + +"You may imagine," said the man in the corner, "how keen was the +excitement of that moment in court. Coroner and jury alike literally +hung breathless on every word that shabby, vulgar individual uttered. +You see, by itself his evidence would have been worth very little, but +coming on the top of that given by James Terry, its significance--more, +its truth--had become glaringly apparent. Closely cross-examined, he +adhered strictly to his statement; and having finished his evidence, +George Higgins remained in charge of the constables, and the next +witness of importance was called up. + +"This was Mr. Chipps, the senior footman in the employment of Lord +Arthur Skelmerton. He deposed that at about 10.30 on the Friday evening +a 'party' drove up to 'The Elms' in a fly, and asked to see Lord Arthur. +On being told that his lordship had company he seemed terribly put out. + +"'I hasked the party to give me 'is card,' continued Mr. Chipps, 'as I +didn't know, perhaps, that 'is lordship might wish to see 'im, but I +kept 'im standing at the 'all door, as I didn't altogether like his +looks. I took the card in. His lordship and the gentlemen was playin' +cards in the smoking-room, and as soon as I could do so without +disturbing 'is lordship, I give him the party's card.' + +"'What name was there on the card?' here interrupted the coroner. + +"'I couldn't say now, sir,' replied Mr. Chipps; 'I don't really +remember. It was a name I had never seen before. But I see so many +visiting cards one way and the other in 'is lordship's 'all that I can't +remember all the names.' + +"'Then, after a few minutes' waiting, you gave his lordship the card? +What happened then?' + +"''Is lordship didn't seem at all pleased,' said Mr. Chipps with much +guarded dignity; 'but finally he said: "Show him into the library, +Chipps, I'll see him," and he got up from the card table, saying to the +gentlemen: "Go on without me; I'll be back in a minute or two." + +"'I was about to open the door for 'is lordship when my lady came into +the room, and then his lordship suddenly changed his mind like, and said +to me: "Tell that man I'm busy and can't see him," and 'e sat down again +at the card table. I went back to the 'all, and told the party 'is +lordship wouldn't see 'im. 'E said: "Oh! it doesn't matter," and went +away quite quiet like.' + +"'Do you recollect at all at what time that was?' asked one of the jury. + +"'Yes, sir, while I was waiting to speak to 'is lordship I looked at +the clock, sir; it was twenty past ten, sir.' + +"There was one more significant fact in connection with the case, which +tended still more to excite the curiosity of the public at the time, and +still further to bewilder the police later on, and that fact was +mentioned by Chipps in his evidence. The knife, namely, with which +Charles Lavender had been stabbed, and which, remember, had been left in +the wound, was now produced in court. After a little hesitation Chipps +identified it as the property of his master, Lord Arthur Skelmerton. + +"Can you wonder, then, that the jury absolutely refused to bring in a +verdict against George Higgins? There was really, beyond Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's testimony, not one particle of evidence against him, +whilst, as the day wore on and witness after witness was called up, +suspicion ripened in the minds of all those present that the murderer +could be no other than Lord Arthur Skelmerton himself. + +"The knife was, of course, the strongest piece of circumstantial +evidence, and no doubt the police hoped to collect a great deal more now +that they held a clue in their hands. Directly after the verdict, +therefore, which was guardedly directed against some person unknown, the +police obtained a warrant and later on arrested Lord Arthur in his own +house." + +"The sensation, of course, was tremendous. Hours before he was brought +up before the magistrate the approach to the court was thronged. His +friends, mostly ladies, were all eager, you see, to watch the dashing +society man in so terrible a position. There was universal sympathy for +Lady Arthur, who was in a very precarious state of health. Her worship +of her worthless husband was well known; small wonder that his final and +awful misdeed had practically broken her heart. The latest bulletin +issued just after his arrest stated that her ladyship was not expected +to live. She was then in a comatose condition, and all hope had perforce +to be abandoned. + +"At last the prisoner was brought in. He looked very pale, perhaps, but +otherwise kept up the bearing of a high-bred gentleman. He was +accompanied by his solicitor, Sir Marmaduke Ingersoll, who was evidently +talking to him in quiet, reassuring tones. + +"Mr. Buchanan prosecuted for the Treasury, and certainly his indictment +was terrific. According to him but one decision could be arrived at, +namely, that the accused in the dock had, in a moment of passion, and +perhaps of fear, killed the blackmailer who threatened him with +disclosures which might for ever have ruined him socially, and, having +committed the deed and fearing its consequences, probably realizing that +the patrolling constables might catch sight of his retreating figure, +he had availed himself of George Higgins's presence on the spot to +loudly accuse him of the murder. + +"Having concluded his able speech, Mr. Buchanan called his witnesses, +and the evidence, which on second hearing seemed more damning than ever, +was all gone through again. + +"Sir Marmaduke had no question to ask of the witnesses for the +prosecution; he stared at them placidly through his gold-rimmed +spectacles. Then he was ready to call his own for the defence. Colonel +McIntosh, R.A., was the first. He was present at the bachelors' party +given by Lord Arthur the night of the murder. His evidence tended at +first to corroborate that of Chipps the footman with regard to Lord +Arthur's orders to show the visitor into the library, and his +counter-order as soon as his wife came into the room. + +"'Did you not think it strange, Colonel?' asked Mr. Buchanan, 'that Lord +Arthur should so suddenly have changed his mind about seeing his +visitor?' + +"'Well, not exactly strange,' said the Colonel, a fine, manly, soldierly +figure who looked curiously out of his element in the witness-box. 'I +don't think that it is a very rare occurrence for racing men to have +certain acquaintances whom they would not wish their wives to know +anything about.' + +"'Then it did not strike you that Lord Arthur Skelmerton had some +reason for not wishing his wife to know of that particular visitor's +presence in his house?' + +"'I don't think that I gave the matter the slightest serious +consideration,' was the Colonel's guarded reply. + +"Mr. Buchanan did not press the point, and allowed the witness to +conclude his statements. + +"'I had finished my turn at bridge,' he said, 'and went out into the +garden to smoke a cigar. Lord Arthur Skelmerton joined me a few minutes +later, and we were sitting in the pavilion when I heard a loud and, as I +thought, threatening voice from the other side of the hedge. + +"'I did not catch the words, but Lord Arthur said to me: "There seems to +be a row down there. I'll go and have a look and see what it is." I +tried to dissuade him, and certainly made no attempt to follow him, but +not more than half a minute could have elapsed before I heard a cry and +a groan, then Lord Arthur's footsteps hurrying down the wooden stairs +which lead on to the racecourse.' + +"You may imagine," said the man in the corner, "what severe +cross-examination the gallant Colonel had to undergo in order that his +assertions might in some way be shaken by the prosecution, but with +military precision and frigid calm he repeated his important statements +amidst a general silence, through which you could have heard the +proverbial pin. + +"He had heard the threatening voice _while_ sitting with Lord Arthur +Skelmerton; then came the cry and groan, and, _after that_, Lord +Arthur's steps down the stairs. He himself thought of following to see +what had happened, but it was a very dark night and he did not know the +grounds very well. While trying to find his way to the garden steps he +heard Lord Arthur's cry for help, the tramp of the patrolling +constables' horses, and subsequently the whole scene between Lord +Arthur, the man Higgins, and the constables. When he finally found his +way to the stairs, Lord Arthur was returning in order to send a groom +for police assistance. + +"The witness stuck to his points as he had to his guns at Beckfontein a +year ago; nothing could shake him, and Sir Marmaduke looked triumphantly +across at his opposing colleague. + +"With the gallant Colonel's statements the edifice of the prosecution +certainly began to collapse. You see, there was not a particle of +evidence to show that the accused had met and spoken to the deceased +after the latter's visit at the front door of 'The Elms.' He told Chipps +that he wouldn't see the visitor, and Chipps went into the hall directly +and showed Lavender out the way he came. No assignation could have been +made, no hint could have been given by the murdered man to Lord Arthur +that he would go round to the back entrance and wished to see him there. + +"Two other guests of Lord Arthur's swore positively that after Chipps +had announced the visitor, their host stayed at the card-table until a +quarter to eleven, when evidently he went out to join Colonel McIntosh +in the garden. Sir Marmaduke's speech was clever in the extreme. Bit by +bit he demolished that tower of strength, the case against the accused, +basing his defence entirely upon the evidence of Lord Arthur +Skelmerton's guests that night. + +"Until 10.45 Lord Arthur was playing cards; a quarter of an hour later +the police were on the scene, and the murder had been committed. In the +meanwhile Colonel McIntosh's evidence proved conclusively that the +accused had been sitting with him, smoking a cigar. It was obvious, +therefore, clear as daylight, concluded the great lawyer, that his +client was entitled to a full discharge; nay, more, he thought that the +police should have been more careful before they harrowed up public +feeling by arresting a high-born gentleman on such insufficient evidence +as they had brought forward. + +"The question of the knife remained certainly, but Sir Marmaduke passed +over it with guarded eloquence, placing that strange question in the +category of those inexplicable coincidences which tend to puzzle the +ablest detectives, and cause them to commit such unpardonable blunders +as the present one had been. After all, the footman may have been +mistaken. The pattern of that knife was not an exclusive one, and he, on +behalf of his client, flatly denied that it had ever belonged to him. + +"Well," continued the man in the corner, with the chuckle peculiar to +him in moments of excitement, "the noble prisoner was discharged. +Perhaps it would be invidious to say that he left the court without a +stain on his character, for I daresay you know from experience that the +crime known as the York Mystery has never been satisfactorily cleared +up. + +"Many people shook their heads dubiously when they remembered that, +after all, Charles Lavender was killed with a knife which one witness +had sworn belonged to Lord Arthur; others, again, reverted to the +original theory that George Higgins was the murderer, that he and James +Terry had concocted the story of Lavender's attempt at blackmail on Lord +Arthur, and that the murder had been committed for the sole purpose of +robbery. + +"Be that as it may, the police have not so far been able to collect +sufficient evidence against Higgins or Terry, and the crime has been +classed by press and public alike in the category of so-called +impenetrable mysteries." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A BROKEN-HEARTED WOMAN + + +The man in the corner called for another glass of milk, and drank it +down slowly before he resumed: + +"Now Lord Arthur lives mostly abroad," he said. "His poor, suffering +wife died the day after he was liberated by the magistrate. She never +recovered consciousness even sufficiently to hear the joyful news that +the man she loved so well was innocent after all. + +"Mystery!" he added as if in answer to Polly's own thoughts. "The murder +of that man was never a mystery to me. I cannot understand how the +police could have been so blind when every one of the witnesses, both +for the prosecution and defence, practically pointed all the time to the +one guilty person. What do you think of it all yourself?" + +"I think the whole case so bewildering," she replied, "that I do not see +one single clear point in it." + +"You don't?" he said excitedly, while the bony fingers fidgeted again +with that inevitable bit of string. "You don't see that there is one +point clear which to me was the key of the whole thing? + +"Lavender was murdered, wasn't he? Lord Arthur did not kill him. He had, +at least, in Colonel McIntosh an unimpeachable witness to prove that he +could not have committed that murder--and yet," he added with slow, +excited emphasis, marking each sentence with a knot, "and yet he +deliberately tries to throw the guilt upon a man who obviously was also +innocent. Now why?" + +"He may have thought him guilty." + +"Or wished to shield or cover the retreat of _one he knew to be +guilty_." + +"I don't understand." + +"Think of someone," he said excitedly, "someone whose desire would be as +great as that of Lord Arthur to silence a scandal round that gentleman's +name. Someone who, unknown perhaps to Lord Arthur, had overheard the +same conversation which George Higgins related to the police and the +magistrate, someone who, whilst Chipps was taking Lavender's card in to +his master, had a few minutes' time wherein to make an assignation with +Lavender, promising him money, no doubt, in exchange for the +compromising bills." + +"Surely you don't mean--" gasped Polly. + +"Point number one," he interrupted quietly, "utterly missed by the +police. George Higgins in his deposition stated that at the most +animated stage of Lavender's conversation with Lord Arthur, and when the +bookmaker's tone of voice became loud and threatening, a voice from the +top of the steps interrupted that conversation, saying: 'Your tea is +getting cold.'" + +"Yes--but--" she argued. + +"Wait a moment, for there is point number two. That voice was a lady's +voice. Now, I did exactly what the police should have done, but did not +do. I went to have a look from the racecourse side at those garden steps +which to my mind are such important factors in the discovery of this +crime. I found only about a dozen rather low steps; anyone standing on +the top must have heard every word Charles Lavender uttered the moment +he raised his voice." + +"Even then--" + +"Very well, you grant that," he said excitedly. "Then there was the +great, the all-important point which, oddly enough, the prosecution +never for a moment took into consideration. When Chipps, the footman, +first told Lavender that Lord Arthur could not see him the bookmaker was +terribly put out; Chipps then goes to speak to his master; a few minutes +elapse, and when the footman once again tells Lavender that his lordship +won't see him, the latter says 'Very well,' and seems to treat the +matter with complete indifference. + +"Obviously, therefore, something must have happened in between to alter +the bookmaker's frame of mind. Well! What had happened? Think over all +the evidence, and you will see that one thing only had occurred in the +interval, namely, Lady Arthur's advent into the room. + +"In order to go into the smoking-room she must have crossed the hall; +she must have seen Lavender. In that brief interval she must have +realized that the man was persistent, and therefore a living danger to +her husband. Remember, women have done strange things; they are a far +greater puzzle to the student of human nature than the sterner, less +complex sex has ever been. As I argued before--as the police should have +argued all along--why did Lord Arthur deliberately accuse an innocent +man of murder if not to shield the guilty one? + +"Remember, Lady Arthur may have been discovered; the man, George +Higgins, may have caught sight of her before she had time to make good +her retreat. His attention, as well us that of the constables, had to be +diverted. Lord Arthur acted on the blind impulse of saving his wife at +any cost." + +"She may have been met by Colonel McIntosh," argued Polly. + +"Perhaps she was," he said. "Who knows? The gallant colonel had to +swear to his friend's innocence. He could do that in all +conscience--after that his duty was accomplished. No innocent man was +suffering for the guilty. The knife which had belonged to Lord Arthur +would always save George Higgins. For a time it had pointed to the +husband; fortunately never to the wife. Poor thing, she died probably of +a broken heart, but women when they love, think only of one object on +earth--the one who is beloved. + +"To me the whole thing was clear from the very first. When I read the +account of the murder--the knife! stabbing!--bah! Don't I know enough of +_English_ crime not to be certain at once that no English_man_, be he +ruffian from the gutter or be he Duke's son, ever stabs his victim in +the back. Italians, French, Spaniards do it, if you will, and women of +most nations. An Englishman's instinct is to strike and not to stab. +George Higgins or Lord Arthur Skelmerton would have knocked their victim +down; the woman only would lie in wait till the enemy's back was turned. +She knows her weakness, and she does not mean to miss. + +"Think it over. There is not one flaw in my argument, but the police +never thought the matter out--perhaps in this case it was as well." + +He had gone and left Miss Polly Burton still staring at the photograph +of a pretty, gentle-looking woman, with a decided, wilful curve round +the mouth, and a strange, unaccountable look in the large pathetic eyes; +and the little journalist felt quite thankful that in this case the +murder of Charles Lavender the bookmaker--cowardly, wicked as it +was--had remained a mystery to the police and the public. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY + + +It was all very well for Mr. Richard Frobisher (of the _London Mail_) to +cut up rough about it. Polly did not altogether blame him. + +She liked him all the better for that frank outburst of manlike +ill-temper which, after all said and done, was only a very flattering +form of masculine jealousy. + +Moreover, Polly distinctly felt guilty about the whole thing. She had +promised to meet Dickie--that is Mr. Richard Frobisher--at two o'clock +sharp outside the Palace Theatre, because she wanted to go to a Maud +Allan _matinee_, and because he naturally wished to go with her. + +But at two o'clock sharp she was still in Norfolk Street, Strand, inside +an A.B.C. shop, sipping cold coffee opposite a grotesque old man who was +fiddling with a bit of string. + +How could she be expected to remember Maud Allan or the Palace Theatre, +or Dickie himself for a matter of that? The man in the corner had begun +to talk of that mysterious death on the underground railway, and Polly +had lost count of time, of place, and circumstance. + +She had gone to lunch quite early, for she was looking forward to the +_matinee_ at the Palace. + +The old scarecrow was sitting in his accustomed place when she came into +the A.B.C. shop, but he had made no remark all the time that the young +girl was munching her scone and butter. She was just busy thinking how +rude he was not even to have said "Good morning," when an abrupt remark +from him caused her to look up. + +"Will you be good enough," he said suddenly, "to give me a description +of the man who sat next to you just now, while you were having your cup +of coffee and scone." + +Involuntarily Polly turned her head towards the distant door, through +which a man in a light overcoat was even now quickly passing. That man +had certainly sat at the next table to hers, when she first sat down to +her coffee and scone: he had finished his luncheon--whatever it +was--moment ago, had paid at the desk and gone out. The incident did not +appear to Polly as being of the slightest consequence. + +Therefore she did not reply to the rude old man, but shrugged her +shoulders, and called to the waitress to bring her bill. + +"Do you know if he was tall or short, dark or fair?" continued the man +in the corner, seemingly not the least disconcerted by the young girl's +indifference. "Can you tell me at all what he was like?" + +"Of course I can," rejoined Polly impatiently, "but I don't see that my +description of one of the customers of an A.B.C. shop can have the +slightest importance." + +He was silent for a minute, while his nervous fingers fumbled about in +his capacious pockets in search of the inevitable piece of string. When +he had found this necessary "adjunct to thought," he viewed the young +girl again through his half-closed lids, and added maliciously: + +"But supposing it were of paramount importance that you should give an +accurate description of a man who sat next to you for half an hour +to-day, how would you proceed?" + +"I should say that he was of medium height--" + +"Five foot eight, nine, or ten?" he interrupted quietly. + +"How can one tell to an inch or two?" rejoined Polly crossly. "He was +between colours." + +"What's that?" he inquired blandly. + +"Neither fair nor dark--his nose--" + +"Well, what was his nose like? Will you sketch it?" + +"I am not an artist. His nose was fairly straight--his eyes--" + +"Were neither dark nor light--his hair had the same striking +peculiarity--he was neither short nor tall--his nose was neither +aquiline nor snub--" he recapitulated sarcastically. + +"No," she retorted; "he was just ordinary looking." + +"Would you know him again--say to-morrow, and among a number of other +men who were 'neither tall nor short, dark nor fair, aquiline nor +snub-nosed,' etc.?" + +"I don't know--I might--he was certainly not striking enough to be +specially remembered." + +"Exactly," he said, while he leant forward excitedly, for all the world +like a Jack-in-the-box let loose. "Precisely; and you are a +journalist--call yourself one, at least--and it should be part of your +business to notice and describe people. I don't mean only the wonderful +personage with the clear Saxon features, the fine blue eyes, the noble +brow and classic face, but the ordinary person--the person who +represents ninety out of every hundred of his own kind--the average +Englishman, say, of the middle classes, who is neither very tall nor +very short, who wears a moustache which is neither fair nor dark, but +which masks his mouth, and a top hat which hides the shape of his head +and brow, a man, in fact, who dresses like hundreds of his +fellow-creatures, moves like them, speaks like them, has no peculiarity. + +"Try to describe _him_, to recognize him, say a week hence, among his +other eighty-nine doubles; worse still, to swear his life away, if he +happened to be implicated in some crime, wherein _your_ recognition of +him would place the halter round his neck. + +"Try that, I say, and having utterly failed you will more readily +understand how one of the greatest scoundrels unhung is still at large, +and why the mystery on the Underground Railway was never cleared up. + +"I think it was the only time in my life that I was seriously tempted to +give the police the benefit of my own views upon the matter. You see, +though I admire the brute for his cleverness, I did not see that his +being unpunished could possibly benefit any one. + +"In these days of tubes and motor traction of all kinds, the +old-fashioned 'best, cheapest, and quickest route to City and West End' +is often deserted, and the good old Metropolitan Railway carriages +cannot at any time be said to be overcrowded. Anyway, when that +particular train steamed into Aldgate at about 4 p.m. on March 18th +last, the first-class carriages were all but empty. + +"The guard marched up and down the platform looking into all the +carriages to see if anyone had left a halfpenny evening paper behind for +him, and opening the door of one of the first-class compartments, he +noticed a lady sitting in the further corner, with her head turned away +towards the window, evidently oblivious of the fact that on this line +Aldgate is the terminal station. + +"'Where are you for, lady?' he said. + +"The lady did not move, and the guard stepped into the carriage, +thinking that perhaps the lady was asleep. He touched her arm lightly +and looked into her face. In his own poetic language, he was 'struck all +of a 'eap.' In the glassy eyes, the ashen colour of the cheeks, the +rigidity of the head, there was the unmistakable look of death. + +"Hastily the guard, having carefully locked the carriage door, summoned +a couple of porters, and sent one of them off to the police-station, and +the other in search of the station-master. + +"Fortunately at this time of day the up platform is not very crowded, +all the traffic tending westward in the afternoon. It was only when an +inspector and two police constables, accompanied by a detective in plain +clothes and a medical officer, appeared upon the scene, and stood round +a first-class railway compartment, that a few idlers realized that +something unusual had occurred, and crowded round, eager and curious. + +"Thus it was that the later editions of the evening papers, under the +sensational heading, 'Mysterious Suicide on the Underground Railway,' +had already an account of the extraordinary event. The medical officer +had very soon come to the decision that the guard had not been mistaken, +and that life was indeed extinct. + +"The lady was young, and must have been very pretty before the look of +fright and horror had so terribly distorted her features. She was very +elegantly dressed, and the more frivolous papers were able to give their +feminine readers a detailed account of the unfortunate woman's gown, her +shoes, hat, and gloves. + +"It appears that one of the latter, the one on the right hand, was +partly off, leaving the thumb and wrist bare. That hand held a small +satchel, which the police opened, with a view to the possible +identification of the deceased, but which was found to contain only a +little loose silver, some smelling-salts, and a small empty bottle, +which was handed over to the medical officer for purposes of analysis. + +"It was the presence of that small bottle which had caused the report to +circulate freely that the mysterious case on the Underground Railway was +one of suicide. Certain it was that neither about the lady's person, nor +in the appearance of the railway carriage, was there the slightest sign +of struggle or even of resistance. Only the look in the poor woman's +eyes spoke of sudden terror, of the rapid vision of an unexpected and +violent death, which probably only lasted an infinitesimal fraction of a +second, but which had left its indelible mark upon the face, otherwise +so placid and so still." + +"The body of the deceased was conveyed to the mortuary. So far, of +course, not a soul had been able to identify her, or to throw the +slightest light upon the mystery which hung around her death. + +"Against that, quite a crowd of idlers--genuinely interested or +not--obtained admission to view the body, on the pretext of having lost +or mislaid a relative or a friend. At about 8.30 p.m. a young man, very +well dressed, drove up to the station in a hansom, and sent in his card +to the superintendent. It was Mr. Hazeldene, shipping agent, of 11, +Crown Lane, E.C., and No. 19, Addison Row, Kensington. + +"The young man looked in a pitiable state of mental distress; his hand +clutched nervously a copy of the _St. James's Gazette_, which contained +the fatal news. He said very little to the superintendent except that a +person who was very dear to him had not returned home that evening. + +"He had not felt really anxious until half an hour ago, when suddenly he +thought of looking at his paper. The description of the deceased lady, +though vague, had terribly alarmed him. He had jumped into a hansom, and +now begged permission to view the body, in order that his worst fears +might be allayed. + +"You know what followed, of course," continued the man in the corner, +"the grief of the young man was truly pitiable. In the woman lying there +in a public mortuary before him, Mr. Hazeldene had recognized his wife. + +"I am waxing melodramatic," said the man in the corner, who looked up at +Polly with a mild and gentle smile, while his nervous fingers vainly +endeavoured to add another knot on the scrappy bit of string with which +he was continually playing, "and I fear that the whole story savours of +the penny novelette, but you must admit, and no doubt you remember, that +it was an intensely pathetic and truly dramatic moment. + +"The unfortunate young husband of the deceased lady was not much worried +with questions that night. As a matter of fact, he was not in a fit +condition to make any coherent statement. It was at the coroner's +inquest on the following day that certain facts came to light, which for +the time being seemed to clear up the mystery surrounding Mrs. +Hazeldene's death, only to plunge that same mystery, later on, into +denser gloom than before. + +"The first witness at the inquest was, of course, Mr. Hazeldene himself. +I think every one's sympathy went out to the young man as he stood +before the coroner and tried to throw what light he could upon the +mystery. He was well dressed, as he had been the day before, but he +looked terribly ill and worried, and no doubt the fact that he had not +shaved gave his face a careworn and neglected air. + +"It appears that he and the deceased had been married some six years or +so, and that they had always been happy in their married life. They had +no children. Mrs. Hazeldene seemed to enjoy the best of health till +lately, when she had had a slight attack of influenza, in which Dr. +Arthur Jones had attended her. The doctor was present at this moment, +and would no doubt explain to the coroner and the jury whether he +thought that Mrs. Hazeldene had the slightest tendency to heart disease, +which might have had a sudden and fatal ending. + +"The coroner was, of course, very considerate to the bereaved husband. +He tried by circumlocution to get at the point he wanted, namely, Mrs. +Hazeldene's mental condition lately. Mr. Hazeldene seemed loath to talk +about this. No doubt he had been warned as to the existence of the small +bottle found in his wife's satchel. + +"'It certainly did seem to me at times,' he at last reluctantly +admitted, 'that my wife did not seem quite herself. She used to be very +gay and bright, and lately I often saw her in the evening sitting, as if +brooding over some matters, which evidently she did not care to +communicate to me.' + +"Still the coroner insisted, and suggested the small bottle. + +"'I know, I know,' replied the young man, with a short, heavy sigh. 'You +mean--the question of suicide--I cannot understand it at all--it seems +so sudden and so terrible--she certainly had seemed listless and +troubled lately--but only at times--and yesterday morning, when I went +to business, she appeared quite herself again, and I suggested that we +should go to the opera in the evening. She was delighted, I know, and +told me she would do some shopping, and pay a few calls in the +afternoon.' + +"'Do you know at all where she intended to go when she got into the +Underground Railway?' + +"'Well, not with certainty. You see, she may have meant to get out at +Baker Street, and go down to Bond Street to do her shopping. Then, +again, she sometimes goes to a shop in St. Paul's Churchyard, in which +case she would take a ticket to Aldersgate Street; but I cannot say.' + +"'Now, Mr. Hazeldene,' said the coroner at last very kindly, 'will you +try to tell me if there was anything in Mrs. Hazeldene's life which you +know of, and which might in some measure explain the cause of the +distressed state of mind, which you yourself had noticed? Did there +exist any financial difficulty which might have preyed upon Mrs. +Hazeldene's mind; was there any friend--to whose intercourse with Mrs. +Hazeldene--you--er--at any time took exception? In fact,' added the +coroner, as if thankful that he had got over an unpleasant moment, 'can +you give me the slightest indication which would tend to confirm the +suspicion that the unfortunate lady, in a moment of mental anxiety or +derangement, may have wished to take her own life?' + +"There was silence in the court for a few moments. Mr. Hazeldene seemed +to every one there present to be labouring under some terrible moral +doubt. He looked very pale and wretched, and twice attempted to speak +before he at last said in scarcely audible tones: + +"'No; there were no financial difficulties of any sort. My wife had an +independent fortune of her own--she had no extravagant tastes--' + +"'Nor any friend you at any time objected to?' insisted the coroner. + +"'Nor any friend, I--at any time objected to,' stammered the unfortunate +young man, evidently speaking with an effort. + +"I was present at the inquest," resumed the man in the corner, after he +had drunk a glass of milk and ordered another, "and I can assure you +that the most obtuse person there plainly realized that Mr. Hazeldene +was telling a lie. It was pretty plain to the meanest intelligence that +the unfortunate lady had not fallen into a state of morbid dejection for +nothing, and that perhaps there existed a third person who could throw +more light on her strange and sudden death than the unhappy, bereaved +young widower. + +"That the death was more mysterious even than it had at first appeared +became very soon apparent. You read the case at the time, no doubt, and +must remember the excitement in the public mind caused by the evidence +of the two doctors. Dr. Arthur Jones, the lady's usual medical man, who +had attended her in a last very slight illness, and who had seen her in +a professional capacity fairly recently, declared most emphatically that +Mrs. Hazeldene suffered from no organic complaint which could possibly +have been the cause of sudden death. Moreover, he had assisted Mr. +Andrew Thornton, the district medical officer, in making a postmortem +examination, and together they had come to the conclusion that death was +due to the action of prussic acid, which had caused instantaneous +failure of the heart, but how the drug had been administered neither he +nor his colleague were at present able to state. + +"'Do I understand, then, Dr. Jones, that the deceased died, poisoned +with prussic acid?' + +"'Such is my opinion,' replied the doctor. + +"'Did the bottle found in her satchel contain prussic acid?' + +"'It had contained some at one time, certainly.' + +"'In your opinion, then, the lady caused her own death by taking a dose +of that drug?' + +"'Pardon me, I never suggested such a thing; the lady died poisoned by +the drug, but how the drug was administered we cannot say. By injection +of some sort, certainly. The drug certainly was not swallowed; there was +not a vestige of it in the stomach.' + +"'Yes,' added the doctor in reply to another question from the coroner, +'death had probably followed the injection in this case almost +immediately; say within a couple of minutes, or perhaps three. It was +quite possible that the body would not have more than one quick and +sudden convulsion, perhaps not that; death in such cases is absolutely +sudden and crushing.' + +"I don't think that at the time any one in the room realized how +important the doctor's statement was, a statement which, by the way, was +confirmed in all its details by the district medical officer, who had +conducted the postmortem. Mrs. Hazeldene had died suddenly from an +injection of prussic acid, administered no one knew how or when. She +had been travelling in a first-class railway carriage in a busy time of +the day. That young and elegant woman must have had singular nerve and +coolness to go through the process of a self-inflicted injection of a +deadly poison in the presence of perhaps two or three other persons. + +"Mind you, when I say that no one there realized the importance of the +doctor's statement at that moment, I am wrong; there were three persons, +who fully understood at once the gravity of the situation, and the +astounding development which the case was beginning to assume. + +"Of course, I should have put myself out of the question," added the +weird old man, with that inimitable self-conceit peculiar to himself. "I +guessed then and there in a moment where the police were going wrong, +and where they would go on going wrong until the mysterious death on the +Underground Railway had sunk into oblivion, together with the other +cases which they mismanage from time to time. + +"I said there were three persons who understood the gravity of the two +doctors' statements--the other two were, firstly, the detective who had +originally examined the railway carriage, a young man of energy and +plenty of misguided intelligence, the other was Mr. Hazeldene. + +"At this point the interesting element of the whole story was first +introduced into the proceedings, and this was done through the humble +channel of Emma Funnel, Mrs. Hazeldene's maid, who, as far as was known +then, was the last person who had seen the unfortunate lady alive and +had spoken to her. + +"'Mrs. Hazeldene lunched at home,' explained Emma, who was shy, and +spoke almost in a whisper; 'she seemed well and cheerful. She went out +at about half-past three, and told me she was going to Spence's, in St. +Paul's Churchyard, to try on her new tailor-made gown. Mrs. Hazeldene +had meant to go there in the morning, but was prevented as Mr. Errington +called.' + +"'Mr. Errington?' asked the coroner casually. 'Who is Mr. Errington?' + +"But this Emma found difficult to explain. Mr. Errington was--Mr. +Errington, that's all. + +"'Mr. Errington was a friend of the family. He lived in a flat in the +Albert Mansions. He very often came to Addison Row, and generally stayed +late.' + +"Pressed still further with questions, Emma at last stated that latterly +Mrs. Hazeldene had been to the theatre several times with Mr. Errington, +and that on those nights the master looked very gloomy, and was very +cross. + +"Recalled, the young widower was strangely reticent. He gave forth his +answers very grudgingly, and the coroner was evidently absolutely +satisfied with himself at the marvellous way in which, after a quarter +of an hour of firm yet very kind questionings, he had elicited from the +witness what information he wanted. + +"Mr. Errington was a friend of his wife. He was a gentleman of means, +and seemed to have a great deal of time at his command. He himself did +not particularly care about Mr. Errington, but he certainly had never +made any observations to his wife on the subject. + +"'But who is Mr. Errington?' repeated the coroner once more. 'What does +he do? What is his business or profession?' + +"'He has no business or profession. + +"'What is his occupation, then? + +"He has no special occupation. He has ample private means. But he has a +great and very absorbing hobby.' + +"'What is that?' + +"'He spends all his time in chemical experiments, and is, I believe, as +an amateur, a very distinguished toxicologist.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MR. ERRINGTON + + +"Did you ever see Mr. Errington, the gentleman so closely connected with +the mysterious death on the Underground Railway?" asked the man in the +corner as he placed one or two of his little snap-shot photos before +Miss Polly Burton. + +"There he is, to the very life. Fairly good-looking, a pleasant face +enough, but ordinary, absolutely ordinary. + +"It was this absence of any peculiarity which very nearly, but not +quite, placed the halter round Mr. Errington's neck. + +"But I am going too fast, and you will lose the thread. + +"The public, of course, never heard how it actually came about that Mr. +Errington, the wealthy bachelor of Albert Mansions, of the Grosvenor, +and other young dandies' clubs, one fine day found himself before the +magistrates at Bow Street, charged with being concerned in the death of +Mary Beatrice Hazeldene, late of No. 19, Addison Row. + +"I can assure you both press and public were literally flabbergasted. +You see, Mr. Errington was a well-known and very popular member of a +certain smart section of London society. He was a constant visitor at +the opera, the racecourse, the Park, and the Carlton, he had a great +many friends, and there was consequently quite a large attendance at the +police court that morning. + +"What had transpired was this: + +"After the very scrappy bits of evidence which came to light at the +inquest, two gentlemen bethought themselves that perhaps they had some +duty to perform towards the State and the public generally. Accordingly +they had come forward, offering to throw what light they could upon the +mysterious affair on the Underground Railway. + +"The police naturally felt that their information, such as it was, came +rather late in the day, but as it proved of paramount importance, and +the two gentlemen, moreover, were of undoubtedly good position in the +world, they were thankful for what they could get, and acted +accordingly; they accordingly brought Mr. Errington up before the +magistrate on a charge of murder. + +"The accused looked pale and worried when I first caught sight of him in +the court that day, which was not to be wondered at, considering the +terrible position in which he found himself. + +"He had been arrested at Marseilles, where he was preparing to start for +Colombo. + +"I don't think he realized how terrible his position really was until +later in the proceedings, when all the evidence relating to the arrest +had been heard, and Emma Funnel had repeated her statement as to Mr. +Errington's call at 19, Addison Row, in the morning, and Mrs. Hazeldene +starting off for St. Paul's Churchyard at 3.30 in the afternoon. + +"Mr. Hazeldene had nothing to add to the statements he had made at the +coroner's inquest. He had last seen his wife alive on the morning of the +fatal day. She had seemed very well and cheerful. + +"I think every one present understood that he was trying to say as +little as possible that could in any way couple his deceased wife's name +with that of the accused. + +"And yet, from the servant's evidence, it undoubtedly leaked out that +Mrs. Hazeldene, who was young, pretty, and evidently fond of admiration, +had once or twice annoyed her husband by her somewhat open, yet +perfectly innocent, flirtation with Mr. Errington. + +"I think every one was most agreeably impressed by the widower's +moderate and dignified attitude. You will see his photo there, among +this bundle. That is just how he appeared in court. In deep black, of +course, but without any sign of ostentation in his mourning. He had +allowed his beard to grow lately, and wore it closely cut in a point. + +"After his evidence, the sensation of the day occurred. A tall, +dark-haired man, with the word 'City' written metaphorically all over +him, had kissed the book, and was waiting to tell the truth, and nothing +but the truth. + +"He gave his name as Andrew Campbell, head of the firm of Campbell & +Co., brokers, of Throgmorton Street. + +"In the afternoon of March 18th Mr. Campbell, travelling on the +Underground Railway, had noticed a very pretty woman in the same +carriage as himself. She had asked him if she was in the right train for +Aldersgate. Mr. Campbell replied in the affirmative, and then buried +himself in the Stock Exchange quotations of his evening paper. + +"At Gower Street, a gentleman in a tweed suit and bowler hat got into +the carriage, and took a seat opposite the lady. + +"She seemed very much astonished at seeing him, but Mr. Andrew Campbell +did not recollect the exact words she said. + +"The two talked to one another a good deal, and certainly the lady +appeared animated and cheerful. Witness took no notice of them; he was +very much engrossed in some calculations, and finally got out at +Farringdon Street. He noticed that the man in the tweed suit also got +out close behind him, having shaken hands with the lady, and said in a +pleasant way: '_Au revoir_! Don't be late to-night.' Mr. Campbell did +not hear the lady's reply, and soon lost sight of the man in the crowd. + +"Every one was on tenter-hooks, and eagerly waiting for the palpitating +moment when witness would describe and identify the man who last had +seen and spoken to the unfortunate woman, within five minutes probably +of her strange and unaccountable death. + +"Personally I knew what was coming before the Scotch stockbroker spoke. + +"I could have jotted down the graphic and lifelike description he would +give of a probable murderer. It would have fitted equally well the man +who sat and had luncheon at this table just now; it would certainly have +described five out of every ten young Englishmen you know. + +"The individual was of medium height, he wore a moustache which was not +very fair nor yet very dark, his hair was between colours. He wore a +bowler hat, and a tweed suit--and--and--that was all--Mr. Campbell might +perhaps know him again, but then again, he might not--he was not paying +much attention--the gentleman was sitting on the same side of the +carriage as himself--and he had his hat on all the time. He himself was +busy with his newspaper--yes--he might know him again--but he really +could not say. + +"Mr. Andrew Campbell's evidence was not worth very much, you will say. +No, it was not in itself, and would not have justified any arrest were +it not for the additional statements made by Mr. James Verner, manager +of Messrs. Rodney & Co., colour printers. + +"Mr. Verner is a personal friend of Mr. Andrew Campbell, and it appears +that at Farringdon Street, where he was waiting for his train, he saw +Mr. Campbell get out of a first-class railway carriage. Mr. Verner spoke +to him for a second, and then, just as the train was moving off, he +stepped into the same compartment which had just been vacated by the +stockbroker and the man in the tweed suit. He vaguely recollects a lady +sitting in the opposite corner to his own, with her face turned away +from him, apparently asleep, but he paid no special attention to her. He +was like nearly all business men when they are travelling--engrossed in +his paper. Presently a special quotation interested him; he wished to +make a note of it, took out a pencil from his waistcoat pocket, and +seeing a clean piece of paste-board on the floor, he picked it up, and +scribbled on it the memorandum, which he wished to keep. He then +slipped the card into his pocket-book. + +"'It was only two or three days later,' added Mr. Verner in the midst of +breathless silence, 'that I had occasion to refer to these same notes +again. + +"'In the meanwhile the papers had been full of the mysterious death on +the Underground Railway, and the names of those connected with it were +pretty familiar to me. It was, therefore, with much astonishment that on +looking at the paste-board which I had casually picked up in the railway +carriage I saw the name on it, "Frank Errington."' + +"There was no doubt that the sensation in court was almost +unprecedented. Never since the days of the Fenchurch Street mystery, and +the trial of Smethurst, had I seen so much excitement. Mind you, I was +not excited--I knew by now every detail of that crime as if I had +committed it myself. In fact, I could not have done it better, although +I have been a student of crime for many years now. Many people +there--his friends, mostly--believed that Errington was doomed. I think +he thought so, too, for I could see that his face was terribly white, +and he now and then passed his tongue over his lips, as if they were +parched. + +"You see he was in the awful dilemma--a perfectly natural one, by the +way--of being absolutely incapable of _proving_ an _alibi_. The +crime--if crime there was--had been committed three weeks ago. A man +about town like Mr. Frank Errington might remember that he spent certain +hours of a special afternoon at his club, or in the Park, but it is very +doubtful in nine cases out of ten if he can find a friend who could +positively swear as to having seen him there. No! no! Mr. Errington was +in a tight corner, and he knew it. You see, there were--besides the +evidence--two or three circumstances which did not improve matters for +him. His hobby in the direction of toxicology, to begin with. The police +had found in his room every description of poisonous substances, +including prussic acid. + +"Then, again, that journey to Marseilles, the start for Colombo, was, +though perfectly innocent, a very unfortunate one. Mr. Errington had +gone on an aimless voyage, but the public thought that he had fled, +terrified at his own crime. Sir Arthur Inglewood, however, here again +displayed his marvellous skill on behalf of his client by the masterly +way in which he literally turned all the witnesses for the Crown inside +out. + +"Having first got Mr. Andrew Campbell to state positively that in the +accused he certainly did _not_ recognize the man in the tweed suit, the +eminent lawyer, after twenty minutes' cross-examination, had so +completely upset the stockbroker's equanimity that it is very likely he +would not have recognized his own office-boy. + +"But through all his flurry and all his annoyance Mr. Andrew Campbell +remained very sure of one thing; namely, that the lady was alive and +cheerful, and talking pleasantly with the man in the tweed suit up to +the moment when the latter, having shaken hands with her, left her with +a pleasant '_Au revoir_! Don't be late to-night.' He had heard neither +scream nor struggle, and in his opinion, if the individual in the tweed +suit had administered a dose of poison to his companion, it must have +been with her own knowledge and free will; and the lady in the train +most emphatically neither looked nor spoke like a woman prepared for a +sudden and violent death. + +"Mr. James Verner, against that, swore equally positively that he had +stood in full view of the carriage door from the moment that Mr. +Campbell got out until he himself stepped into the compartment, that +there was no one else in that carriage between Farringdon Street and +Aldgate, and that the lady, to the best of his belief, had made no +movement during the whole of that journey. + +"No; Frank Errington was _not_ committed for trial on the capital +charge," said the man in the corner with one of his sardonic smiles, +"thanks to the cleverness of Sir Arthur Inglewood, his lawyer. He +absolutely denied his identity with the man in the tweed suit, and swore +he had not seen Mrs. Hazeldene since eleven o'clock in the morning of +that fatal day. There was no _proof_ that he had; moreover, according to +Mr. Campbell's opinion, the man in the tweed suit was in all probability +not the murderer. Common sense would not admit that a woman could have a +deadly poison injected into her without her knowledge, while chatting +pleasantly to her murderer. + +"Mr. Errington lives abroad now. He is about to marry. I don't think any +of his real friends for a moment believed that he committed the +dastardly crime. The police think they know better. They do know this +much, that it could not have been a case of suicide, that if the man who +undoubtedly travelled with Mrs. Hazeldene on that fatal afternoon had no +crime upon his conscience he would long ago have come forward and thrown +what light he could upon the mystery. + +"As to who that man was, the police in their blindness have not the +faintest doubt. Under the unshakable belief that Errington is guilty +they have spent the last few months in unceasing labour to try and find +further and stronger proofs of his guilt. But they won't find them, +because there are none. There are no positive proofs against the actual +murderer, for he was one of those clever blackguards who think of +everything, foresee every eventuality, who know human nature well, and +can foretell exactly what evidence will be brought against them, and act +accordingly. + +"This blackguard from the first kept the figure, the personality, of +Frank Errington before his mind. Frank Errington was the dust which the +scoundrel threw metaphorically in the eyes of the police, and you must +admit that he succeeded in blinding them--to the extent even of making +them entirely forget the one simple little sentence, overheard by Mr. +Andrew Campbell, and which was, of course, the clue to the whole +thing--the only slip the cunning rogue made--'_Au revoir_! Don't be late +to-night.' Mrs. Hazeldene was going that night to the opera with her +husband-- + +"You are astonished?" he added with a shrug of the shoulders, "you do +not see the tragedy yet, as I have seen it before me all along. The +frivolous young wife, the flirtation with the friend?--all a blind, all +pretence. I took the trouble which the police should have taken +immediately, of finding out something about the finances of the +Hazeldene _menage_. Money is in nine cases out of ten the keynote to a +crime. + +"I found that the will of Mary Beatrice Hazeldene had been proved by +the husband, her sole executor, the estate being sworn at L15,000. I +found out, moreover, that Mr. Edward Sholto Hazeldene was a poor +shipper's clerk when he married the daughter of a wealthy builder in +Kensington--and then I made note of the fact that the disconsolate +widower had allowed his beard to grow since the death of his wife. + +"There's no doubt that he was a clever rogue," added the strange +creature, leaning excitedly over the table, and peering into Polly's +face. "Do you know how that deadly poison was injected into the poor +woman's system? By the simplest of all means, one known to every +scoundrel in Southern Europe. A ring--yes! a ring, which has a tiny +hollow needle capable of holding a sufficient quantity of prussic acid +to have killed two persons instead of one. The man in the tweed suit +shook hands with his fair companion--probably she hardly felt the prick, +not sufficiently in any case to make her utter a scream. And, mind you, +the scoundrel had every facility, through his friendship with Mr. +Errington, of procuring what poison he required, not to mention his +friend's visiting card. We cannot gauge how many months ago he began to +try and copy Frank Errington in his style of dress, the cut of his +moustache, his general appearance, making the change probably so +gradual, that no one in his own _entourage_ would notice it. He +selected for his model a man his own height and build, with the same +coloured hair." + +"But there was the terrible risk of being identified by his +fellow-traveller in the Underground," suggested Polly. + +"Yes, there certainly was that risk; he chose to take it, and he was +wise. He reckoned that several days would in any case elapse before that +person, who, by the way, was a business man absorbed in his newspaper, +would actually see him again. The great secret of successful crime is to +study human nature," added the man in the corner, as he began looking +for his hat and coat. "Edward Hazeldene knew it well." + +"But the ring?" + +"He may have bought that when he was on his honeymoon," he suggested +with a grim chuckle; "the tragedy was not planned in a week, it may have +taken years to mature. But you will own that there goes a frightful +scoundrel unhung. I have left you his photograph as he was a year ago, +and as he is now. You will see he has shaved his beard again, but also +his moustache. I fancy he is a friend now of Mr. Andrew Campbell." + +He left Miss Polly Burton wondering, not knowing what to believe. + +And that is why she missed her appointment with Mr. Richard Frobisher +(of the _London Mail_) to go and see Maud Allan dance at the Palace +Theatre that afternoon. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE LIVERPOOL MYSTERY + + +"A title--a foreign title, I mean--is always very useful for purposes of +swindles and frauds," remarked the man in the corner to Polly one day. +"The cleverest robberies of modern times were perpetrated lately in +Vienna by a man who dubbed himself Lord Seymour; whilst over here the +same class of thief calls himself Count Something ending in 'o,' or +Prince the other, ending in 'off.'" + +"Fortunately for our hotel and lodging-house keepers over here," she +replied, "they are beginning to be more alive to the ways of foreign +swindlers, and look upon all titled gentry who speak broken English as +possible swindlers or thieves." + +"The result sometimes being exceedingly unpleasant to the real _grands +seigneurs_ who honour this country at times with their visits," replied +the man in the corner. "Now, take the case of Prince Semionicz, a man +whose sixteen quarterings are duly recorded in Gotha, who carried enough +luggage with him to pay for the use of every room in an hotel for at +least a week, whose gold cigarette case with diamond and turquoise +ornament was actually stolen without his taking the slightest trouble to +try and recover it; that same man was undoubtedly looked upon with +suspicion by the manager of the Liverpool North-Western Hotel from the +moment that his secretary--a dapper, somewhat vulgar little +Frenchman--bespoke on behalf of his employer, with himself and a valet, +the best suite of rooms the hotel contained. + +"Obviously those suspicions were unfounded, for the little secretary, as +soon as Prince Semionicz had arrived, deposited with the manager a pile +of bank notes, also papers and bonds, the value of which would exceed +tenfold the most outrageous bill that could possibly be placed before +the noble visitor. Moreover, M. Albert Lambert explained that the +Prince, who only meant to stay in Liverpool a few days, was on his way +to Chicago, where he wished to visit Princess Anna Semionicz, his +sister, who was married to Mr. Girwan, the great copper king and +multi-millionaire. + +"Yet, as I told you before, in spite of all these undoubted securities, +suspicion of the wealthy Russian Prince lurked in the minds of most +Liverpudlians who came in business contact with him. He had been at the +North-Western two days when he sent his secretary to Window and +Vassall, the jewellers of Bold Street, with a request that they would +kindly send a representative round to the hotel with some nice pieces of +jewellery, diamonds and pearls chiefly, which he was desirous of taking +as a present to his sister in Chicago. + +"Mr. Winslow took the order from M. Albert with a pleasant bow. Then he +went to his inner office and consulted with his partner, Mr. Vassall, as +to the best course to adopt. Both the gentlemen were desirous of doing +business, for business had been very slack lately: neither wished to +refuse a possible customer, or to offend Mr. Pettitt, the manager of the +North-Western, who had recommended them to the Prince. But that foreign +title and the vulgar little French secretary stuck in the throats of the +two pompous and worthy Liverpool jewellers, and together they agreed, +firstly, that no credit should be given; and, secondly, that if a cheque +or even a banker's draft were tendered, the jewels were not to be given +up until that cheque or draft was cashed. + +"Then came the question as to who should take the jewels to the hotel. +It was altogether against business etiquette for the senior partners to +do such errands themselves; moreover, it was thought that it would be +easier for a clerk to explain, without giving undue offence, that he +could not take the responsibility of a cheque or draft, without having +cashed it previously to giving up the jewels. + +"Then there was the question of the probable necessity of conferring in +a foreign tongue. The head assistant, Charles Needham, who had been in +the employ of Winslow and Vassall for over twelve years, was, in true +British fashion, ignorant of any language save his own; it was therefore +decided to dispatch Mr. Schwarz, a young German clerk lately arrived, on +the delicate errand. + +"Mr. Schwarz was Mr. Winslow's nephew and godson, a sister of that +gentleman having married the head of the great German firm of Schwarz & +Co., silversmiths, of Hamburg and Berlin. + +"The young man had soon become a great favourite with his uncle, whose +heir he would presumably be, as Mr. Winslow had no children. + +"At first Mr. Vassall made some demur about sending Mr. Schwarz with so +many valuable jewels alone in a city which he had not yet had the time +to study thoroughly; but finally he allowed himself to be persuaded by +his senior partner, and a fine selection of necklaces, pendants, +bracelets, and rings, amounting in value to over L16,000, having been +made, it was decided that Mr. Schwarz should go to the North-Western in +a cab the next day at about three o'clock in the afternoon. This he +accordingly did, the following day being a Thursday. + +"Business went on in the shop as usual under the direction of the head +assistant, until about seven o'clock, when Mr. Winslow returned from his +club, where he usually spent an hour over the papers every afternoon, +and at once asked for his nephew. To his astonishment Mr. Needham +informed him that Mr. Schwarz had not yet returned. This seemed a little +strange, and Mr. Winslow, with a slightly anxious look in his face, went +into the inner office in order to consult his junior partner. Mr. +Vassall offered to go round to the hotel and interview Mr. Pettitt. + +"'I was beginning to get anxious myself,' he said, 'but did not quite +like to say so. I have been in over half an hour, hoping every moment +that you would come in, and that perhaps you could give me some +reassuring news. I thought that perhaps you had met Mr. Schwarz, and +were coming back together.' + +"However, Mr. Vassall walked round to the hotel and interviewed the hall +porter. The latter perfectly well remembered Mr. Schwarz sending in his +card to Prince Semionicz. + +"'At what time was that?' asked Mr. Vassall. + +"'About ten minutes past three, sir, when he came; it was about an hour +later when he left.' + +"'When he left?' gasped, more than said, Mr. Vassall. + +"'Yes, sir. Mr. Schwarz left here about a quarter before four, sir.' + +"'Are you quite sure?' + +"'Quite sure. Mr. Pettitt was in the hall when he left, and he asked him +something about business. Mr. Schwarz laughed and said, "not bad." I +hope there's nothing wrong, sir,' added the man. + +"'Oh--er--nothing--thank you. Can I see Mr. Pettitt?' + +"'Certainly, sir.' + +"Mr. Pettitt, the manager of the hotel, shared Mr. Vassall's anxiety, +immediately he heard that the young German had not yet returned home. + +"'I spoke to him a little before four o'clock. We had just switched on +the electric light, which we always do these winter months at that hour. +But I shouldn't worry myself, Mr. Vassall; the young man may have seen +to some business on his way home. You'll probably find him in when you +go back.' + +"Apparently somewhat reassured, Mr. Vassall thanked Mr. Pettitt and +hurried back to the shop, only to find that Mr. Schwarz had not +returned, though it was now close on eight o'clock. + +"Mr. Winslow looked so haggard and upset that it would have been cruel +to heap reproaches upon his other troubles or to utter so much as the +faintest suspicion that young Schwarz's permanent disappearance with +L16,000 in jewels and money was within the bounds of probability. + +"There was one chance left, but under the circumstances a very slight +one indeed. The Winslows' private house was up the Birkenhead end of the +town. Young Schwarz had been living with them ever since his arrival in +Liverpool, and he may have--either not feeling well or for some other +reason--gone straight home without calling at the shop. It was unlikely, +as valuable jewellery was never kept at the private house, but--it just +might have happened. + +"It would be useless," continued the man in the corner, "and decidedly +uninteresting, were I to relate to you Messrs. Winslow's and Vassall's +further anxieties with regard to the missing young man. Suffice it to +say that on reaching his private house Mr. Winslow found that his godson +had neither returned nor sent any telegraphic message of any kind. + +"Not wishing to needlessly alarm his wife, Mr. Winslow made an attempt +at eating his dinner, but directly after that he hurried back to the +North-Western Hotel, and asked to see Prince Semionicz. The Prince was +at the theatre with his secretary, and probably would not be home until +nearly midnight. + +"Mr. Winslow, then, not knowing what to think, nor yet what to fear, and +in spite of the horror he felt of giving publicity to his nephew's +disappearance, thought it his duty to go round to the police-station and +interview the inspector. It is wonderful how quickly news of that type +travels in a large city like Liverpool. Already the morning papers of +the following day were full of the latest sensation: 'Mysterious +disappearance of a well-known tradesman.' + +"Mr. Winslow found a copy of the paper containing the sensational +announcement on his breakfast-table. It lay side by side with a letter +addressed to him in his nephew's handwriting, which had been posted in +Liverpool. + +"Mr. Winslow placed that letter, written to him by his nephew, into the +hands of the police. Its contents, therefore, quickly became public +property. The astounding statements made therein by Mr. Schwarz created, +in quiet, businesslike Liverpool, a sensation which has seldom been +equalled. + +"It appears that the young fellow did call on Prince Semionicz at a +quarter past three on Wednesday, December 10th, with a bag full of +jewels, amounting in value to some L16,000. The Prince duly admired, and +finally selected from among the ornaments a necklace, pendant, and +bracelet, the whole being priced by Mr. Schwarz, according to his +instructions, at L10,500. Prince Semionicz was most prompt and +businesslike in his dealings. + +"'You will require immediate payment for these, of course,' he said in +perfect English, 'and I know you business men prefer solid cash to +cheques, especially when dealing with foreigners. I always provide +myself with plenty of Bank of England notes in consequence,' he added +with a pleasant smile, 'as L10,500 in gold would perhaps be a little +inconvenient to carry. If you will kindly make out the receipt, my +secretary, M. Lambert, will settle all business matters with you.' + +"He thereupon took the jewels he had selected and locked them up in his +dressing-case, the beautiful silver fillings of which Mr. Schwarz just +caught a short glimpse of. Then, having been accommodated with paper and +ink, the young jeweller made out the account and receipt, whilst M. +Lambert, the secretary, counted out before him 105 crisp Bank of England +notes of L100 each. Then, with a final bow to his exceedingly urbane and +eminently satisfactory customer, Mr. Schwarz took his leave. In the hall +he saw and spoke to Mr. Pettitt, and then he went out into the street. + +"He had just left the hotel and was about to cross towards St. George's +Hall when a gentleman, in a magnificent fur coat, stepped quickly out of +a cab which had been stationed near the kerb, and, touching him lightly +upon the shoulder, said with an unmistakable air of authority, at the +same time handing him a card: + +"'That is my name. I must speak with you immediately." + +"Schwarz glanced at the card, and by the light of the arc lamps above +his head read on it the name of 'Dimitri Slaviansky Burgreneff, de la +IIIe Section de la Police Imperial de S.M. le Czar.' + +"Quickly the owner of the unpronounceable name and the significant title +pointed to the cab from which he had just alighted, and Schwarz, whose +every suspicion with regard to his princely customer bristled up in one +moment, clutched his bag and followed his imposing interlocutor; as soon +as they were both comfortably seated in the cab the latter began, with +courteous apology in broken but fluent English: + +"'I must ask your pardon, sir, for thus trespassing upon your valuable +time, and I certainly should not have done so but for the certainty that +our interests in a certain matter which I have in hand are practically +identical, in so far that we both should wish to outwit a clever rogue.' + +"Instinctively, and his mind full of terrible apprehension, Mr. +Schwarz's hand wandered to his pocket-book, filled to overflowing with +the bank-notes which he had so lately received from the Prince. + +"'Ah, I see,' interposed the courteous Russian with a smile, 'he has +played the confidence trick on you, with the usual addition of so many +so-called bank-notes.' + +"'So-called,' gasped the unfortunate young man. + +"'I don't think I often err in my estimate of my own countrymen,' +continued M. Burgreneff; 'I have vast experience, you must remember. +Therefore, I doubt if I am doing M.--er--what does he call +himself?--Prince something--an injustice if I assert, even without +handling those crisp bits of paper you have in your pocket-book, that no +bank would exchange them for gold.' + +"Remembering his uncle's suspicions and his own, Mr. Schwarz cursed +himself for his blindness and folly in accepting notes so easily without +for a moment imagining that they might be false. Now, with every one of +those suspicions fully on the alert, he felt the bits of paper with +nervous, anxious fingers, while the imperturbable Russian calmly struck +a match. + +"'See here,' he said, pointing to one of the notes, 'the shape of that +"w" in the signature of the chief cashier. I am not an English police +officer, but I could pick out that spurious "w" among a thousand genuine +ones. You see, I have seen a good many.' + +"Now, of course, poor young Schwarz had not seen very many Bank of +England notes. He could not have told whether one 'w' in Mr. Bowen's +signature is better than another, but, though he did not speak English +nearly as fluently as his pompous interlocutor, he understood every word +of the appalling statement the latter had just made. + +"'Then that Prince,' he said, 'at the hotel--' + +"'Is no more Prince than you and I, my dear sir,' concluded the +gentleman of His Imperial Majesty's police calmly. + +"'And the jewels? Mr. Winslow's jewels?' + +"'With the jewels there may be a chance--oh! a mere chance. These forged +bank-notes, which you accepted so trustingly, may prove the means of +recovering your property.' + +"'How?' + +"'The penalty of forging and circulating spurious bank-notes is very +heavy. You know that. The fear of seven years' penal servitude will act +as a wonderful sedative upon the--er--Prince's joyful mood. He will give +up the jewels to me all right enough, never you fear. He knows,' added +the Russian officer grimly, 'that there are plenty of old scores to +settle up, without the additional one of forged bank-notes. Our +interests, you see, are identical. May I rely on your co-operation?' + +"'Oh, I will do as you wish,' said the delighted young German. 'Mr. +Winslow and Mr. Vassall, they trusted me, and I have been such a fool. I +hope it is not too late.' + +"'I think not,' said M. Burgreneff, his hand already on the door of the +cab. 'Though I have been talking to you I have kept an eye on the hotel, +and our friend the Prince has not yet gone out. We are accustomed, you +know, to have eyes everywhere, we of the Russian secret police. I don't +think that I will ask you to be present at the confrontation. Perhaps +you will wait for me in the cab. There is a nasty fog outside, and you +will be more private. Will you give me those beautiful bank-notes? Thank +you! Don't be anxious. I won't be long.' + +"He lifted his hat, and slipped the notes into the inner pocket of his +magnificent fur coat. As he did so, Mr. Schwarz caught sight of a rich +uniform and a wide sash, which no doubt was destined to carry additional +moral weight with the clever rogue upstairs. + +"Then His Imperial Majesty's police officer stepped quickly out of the +cab, and Mr. Schwarz was left alone." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A CUNNING RASCAL + + +"Yes, left severely alone," continued the man in the corner with a +sarcastic chuckle. "So severely alone, in fact, that one quarter of an +hour after another passed by and still the magnificent police officer in +the gorgeous uniform did not return. Then, when it was too late, Schwarz +cursed himself once again for the double-dyed idiot that he was. He had +been only too ready to believe that Prince Semionicz was a liar and a +rogue, and under these unjust suspicions he had fallen an all too easy +prey to one of the most cunning rascals he had ever come across. + +"An inquiry from the hall porter at the North-Western elicited the fact +that no such personage as Mr. Schwarz described had entered the hotel. +The young man asked to see Prince Semionicz, hoping against hope that +all was not yet lost. The Prince received him most courteously; he was +dictating some letters to his secretary, while the valet was in the next +room preparing his master's evening clothes. Mr. Schwarz found it very +difficult to explain what he actually did want. + +"There stood the dressing-case in which the Prince had locked up the +jewels, and there the bag from which the secretary had taken the +bank-notes. After much hesitation on Schwarz's part and much impatience +on that of the Prince, the young man blurted out the whole story of the +so-called Russian police officer whose card he still held in his hand. + +"The Prince, it appears, took the whole thing wonderfully +good-naturedly; no doubt he thought the jeweller a hopeless fool. He +showed him the jewels, the receipt he held, and also a large bundle of +bank-notes similar to those Schwarz had with such culpable folly given +up to the clever rascal in the cab. + +"'I pay all my bills with Bank of England notes, Mr. Schwarz. It would +have been wiser, perhaps, if you had spoken to the manager of the hotel +about me before you were so ready to believe any cock-and-bull story +about my supposed rogueries.' + +"Finally he placed a small 16mo volume before the young jeweller, and +said with a pleasant smile: + +"'If people in this country who are in a large way of business, and are +therefore likely to come in contact with people of foreign nationality, +were to study these little volumes before doing business with any +foreigner who claims a title, much disappointment and a great loss would +often be saved. Now in this case had you looked up page 797 of this +little volume of Gotha's Almanach you would have seen my name in it and +known from the first that the so-called Russian detective was a liar.' + +"There was nothing more to be said, and Mr. Schwarz left the hotel. No +doubt, now that he had been hopelessly duped he dared not go home, and +half hoped by communicating with the police that they might succeed in +arresting the thief before he had time to leave Liverpool. He +interviewed Detective-Inspector Watson, and was at once confronted with +the awful difficulty which would make the recovery of the bank-notes +practically hopeless. He had never had the time or opportunity of +jotting down the numbers of the notes. + +"Mr. Winslow, though terribly wrathful against his nephew, did not wish +to keep him out of his home. As soon as he had received Schwarz's +letter, he traced him, with Inspector Watson's help, to his lodgings in +North Street, where the unfortunate young man meant to remain hidden +until the terrible storm had blown over, or perhaps until the thief had +been caught red-handed with the booty still in his hands. + +"This happy event, needless to say, never did occur, though the police +made every effort to trace the man who had decoyed Schwarz into the cab. +His appearance was such an uncommon one; it seemed most unlikely that no +one in Liverpool should have noticed him after he left that cab. The +wonderful fur coat, the long beard, all must have been noticeable, even +though it was past four o'clock on a somewhat foggy December afternoon. + +"But every investigation proved futile; no one answering Schwarz's +description of the man had been seen anywhere. The papers continued to +refer to the case as 'the Liverpool Mystery.' Scotland Yard sent Mr. +Fairburn down--the celebrated detective--at the request of the Liverpool +police, to help in the investigations, but nothing availed. + +"Prince Semionicz, with his suite, left Liverpool, and he who had +attempted to blacken his character, and had succeeded in robbing Messrs. +Winslow and Vassall of L10,500, had completely disappeared." + +The man in the corner readjusted his collar and necktie, which, during +the narrative of this interesting mystery, had worked its way up his +long, crane-like neck under his large flappy ears. His costume of +checked tweed of a peculiarly loud pattern had tickled the fancy of some +of the waitresses, who were standing gazing at him and giggling in one +corner. This evidently made him nervous. He gazed up very meekly at +Polly, looking for all the world like a bald-headed adjutant dressed for +a holiday. + +"Of course, all sorts of theories of the theft got about at first. One +of the most popular, and at the same time most quickly exploded, being +that young Schwarz had told a cock-and-bull story, and was the actual +thief himself. + +"However, as I said before, that was very quickly exploded, as Mr. +Schwarz senior, a very wealthy merchant, never allowed his son's +carelessness to be a serious loss to his kind employers. As soon as he +thoroughly grasped all the circumstances of the extraordinary case, he +drew a cheque for L10,500 and remitted it to Messrs. Winslow and +Vassall. It was just, but it was also high-minded. + +"All Liverpool knew of the generous action, as Mr. Winslow took care +that it should; and any evil suspicion regarding young Mr. Schwarz +vanished as quickly as it had come. + +"Then, of course, there was the theory about the Prince and his suite, +and to this day I fancy there are plenty of people in Liverpool, and +also in London, who declare that the so-called Russian police officer +was a confederate. No doubt that theory was very plausible, and Messrs. +Winslow and Vassall spent a good deal of money in trying to prove a case +against the Russian Prince. + +"Very soon, however, that theory was also bound to collapse. Mr. +Fairburn, whose reputation as an investigator of crime waxes in direct +inverted ratio to his capacities, did hit upon the obvious course of +interviewing the managers of the larger London and Liverpool _agents de +change_. He soon found that Prince Semionicz had converted a great deal +of Russian and French money into English bank-notes since his arrival in +this country. More than L30,000 in good solid, honest money was traced +to the pockets of the gentleman with the sixteen quarterings. It seemed, +therefore, more than improbable that a man who was obviously fairly +wealthy would risk imprisonment and hard labour, if not worse, for the +sake of increasing his fortune by L10,000. + +"However, the theory of the Prince's guilt has taken firm root in the +dull minds of our police authorities. They have had every information +with regard to Prince Semionicz's antecedents from Russia; his position, +his wealth, have been placed above suspicion, and yet they suspect and +go on suspecting him or his secretary. They have communicated with the +police of every European capital; and while they still hope to obtain +sufficient evidence against those they suspect, they calmly allow the +guilty to enjoy the fruit of his clever roguery." + +"The guilty?" said Polly. "Who do you think--" + +"Who do I think knew at that moment that young Schwarz had money in his +possession?" he said excitedly, wriggling in his chair like a +Jack-in-the-box. "Obviously some one was guilty of that theft who knew +that Schwarz had gone to interview a rich Russian, and would in all +probability return with a large sum of money in his possession?" + +"Who, indeed, but the Prince and his secretary?" she argued. "But just +now you said--" + +"Just now I said that the police were determined to find the Prince and +his secretary guilty; they did not look further than their own stumpy +noses. Messrs. Winslow and Vassall spent money with a free hand in those +investigations. Mr. Winslow, as the senior partner, stood to lose over +L9000 by that robbery. Now, with Mr. Vassall it was different. + +"When I saw how the police went on blundering in this case I took the +trouble to make certain inquiries, the whole thing interested me so +much, and I learnt all that I wished to know. I found out, namely, that +Mr. Vassall was very much a junior partner in the firm, that he only +drew ten per cent of the profits, having been promoted lately to a +partnership from having been senior assistant. + +"Now, the police did not take the trouble to find that out." + +"But you don't mean that--" + +"I mean that in all cases where robbery affects more than one person the +first thing to find out is whether it affects the second party equally +with the first. I proved that to you, didn't I, over that robbery in +Phillimore Terrace? There, as here, one of the two parties stood to +lose very little in comparison with the other--" + +"Even then--" she began. + +"Wait a moment, for I found out something more. The moment I had +ascertained that Mr. Vassall was not drawing more than about L500 a year +from the business profits I tried to ascertain at what rate he lived and +what were his chief vices. I found that he kept a fine house in Albert +Terrace. Now, the rents of those houses are L250 a year. Therefore +speculation, horse-racing or some sort of gambling, must help to keep up +that establishment. Speculation and most forms of gambling are +synonymous with debt and ruin. It is only a question of time. Whether +Mr. Vassall was in debt or not at the time, that I cannot say, but this +I do know, that ever since that unfortunate loss to him of about L1000 +he has kept his house in nicer style than before, and he now has a good +banking account at the Lancashire and Liverpool bank, which he opened a +year after his 'heavy loss.'" + +"But it must have been very difficult--" argued Polly. + +"What?" he said. "To have planned out the whole thing? For carrying it +out was mere child's play. He had twenty-four hours in which to put his +plan into execution. Why, what was there to do? Firstly, to go to a +local printer in some out-of-the-way part of the town and get him to +print a few cards with the high-sounding name. That, of course, is done +'while you wait.' Beyond that there was the purchase of a good +second-hand uniform, fur coat, and a beard and a wig from a costumier's. + +"No, no, the execution was not difficult; it was the planning of it all, +the daring that was so fine. Schwarz, of course, was a foreigner; he had +only been in England a little over a fortnight. Vassall's broken English +misled him; probably he did not know the junior partner very intimately. +I have no doubt that but for his uncle's absurd British prejudice and +suspicions against the Russian Prince, Schwarz would not have been so +ready to believe in the latter's roguery. As I said, it would be a great +boon if English tradesmen studied Gotha more; but it was clever, wasn't +it? I couldn't have done it much better myself." + +That last sentence was so characteristic. Before Polly could think of +some plausible argument against his theory he was gone, and she was +trying vainly to find another solution to the Liverpool mystery. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE EDINBURGH MYSTERY + + +The man in the corner had not enjoyed his lunch. Miss Polly Burton could +see that he had something on his mind, for, even before he began to talk +that morning, he was fidgeting with his bit of string, and setting all +her nerves on the jar. + +"Have you ever felt real sympathy with a criminal or a thief?" he asked +her after a while. + +"Only once, I think," she replied, "and then I am not quite sure that +the unfortunate woman who did enlist my sympathies was the criminal you +make her out to be." + +"You mean the heroine of the York mystery?" he replied blandly. "I know +that you tried very hard that time to discredit the only possible +version of that mysterious murder, the version which is my own. Now, I +am equally sure that you have at the present moment no more notion as to +who killed and robbed poor Lady Donaldson in Charlotte Square, +Edinburgh, than the police have themselves, and yet you are fully +prepared to pooh-pooh my arguments, and to disbelieve my version of the +mystery. Such is the lady journalist's mind." + +"If you have some cock-and-bull story to explain that extraordinary +case," she retorted, "of course I shall disbelieve it. Certainly, if you +are going to try and enlist my sympathies on behalf of Edith Crawford, I +can assure you you won't succeed." + +"Well, I don't know that that is altogether my intention. I see you are +interested in the case, but I dare say you don't remember all the +circumstances. You must forgive me if I repeat that which you know +already. If you have ever been to Edinburgh at all, you will have heard +of Graham's bank, and Mr. Andrew Graham, the present head of the firm, +is undoubtedly one of the most prominent notabilities of 'modern +Athens.'" + +The man in the corner took two or three photos from his pocket-book and +placed them before the young girl; then, pointing at them with his long +bony finger-- + +"That," he said, "is Mr. Elphinstone Graham, the eldest son, a typical +young Scotchman, as you see, and this is David Graham, the second son." + +Polly looked more closely at this last photo, and saw before her a young +face, upon which some lasting sorrow seemed already to have left its +mark. The face was delicate and thin, the features pinched, and the +eyes seemed almost unnaturally large and prominent. + +"He was deformed," commented the man in the corner in answer to the +girl's thoughts, "and, as such, an object of pity and even of repugnance +to most of his friends. There was also a good deal of talk in Edinburgh +society as to his mental condition, his mind, according to many intimate +friends of the Grahams, being at times decidedly unhinged. Be that as it +may, I fancy that his life must have been a very sad one; he had lost +his mother when quite a baby, and his father seemed, strangely enough, +to have an almost unconquerable dislike towards him. + +"Every one got to know presently of David Graham's sad position in his +father's own house, and also of the great affection lavished upon him by +his godmother, Lady Donaldson, who was a sister of Mr. Graham's. + +"She was a lady of considerable wealth, being the widow of Sir George +Donaldson, the great distiller; but she seems to have been decidedly +eccentric. Latterly she had astonished all her family--who were rigid +Presbyterians--by announcing her intention of embracing the Roman +Catholic faith, and then retiring to the convent of St. Augustine's at +Newton Abbot in Devonshire. + +"She had sole and absolute control of the vast fortune which a doting +husband had bequeathed to her. Clearly, therefore, she was at liberty +to bestow it upon a Devonshire convent if she chose. But this evidently +was not altogether her intention. + +"I told you how fond she was of her deformed godson, did I not? Being a +bundle of eccentricities, she had many hobbies, none more pronounced +than the fixed determination to see--before retiring from the world +altogether--David Graham happily married. + +"Now, it appears that David Graham, ugly, deformed, half-demented as he +was, had fallen desperately in love with Miss Edith Crawford, daughter +of the late Dr. Crawford, of Prince's Gardens. The young lady, +however--very naturally, perhaps--fought shy of David Graham, who, about +this time, certainly seemed very queer and morose, but Lady Donaldson, +with characteristic determination, seems to have made up her mind to +melt Miss Crawford's heart towards her unfortunate nephew. + +"On October the 2nd last, at a family party given by Mr. Graham in his +fine mansion in Charlotte Square, Lady Donaldson openly announced her +intention of making over, by deed of gift, to her nephew, David Graham, +certain property, money, and shares, amounting in total value to the sum +of L100,000, and also her magnificent diamonds, which were worth +L50,000, for the use of the said David's wife. Keith Macfinlay, a lawyer +of Prince's Street, received the next day instructions for drawing up +the necessary deed of gift, which she pledged herself to sign the day of +her godson's wedding. + +"A week later _The Scotsman_ contained the following paragraph:-- + +"'A marriage is arranged and will shortly take place between David, +younger son of Andrew Graham, Esq., of Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, and +Dochnakirk, Perthshire, and Edith Lillian, only surviving daughter of +the late Dr. Kenneth Crawford, of Prince's Gardens.' + +"In Edinburgh society comments were loud and various upon the +forthcoming marriage, and, on the whole, these comments were far from +complimentary to the families concerned. I do not think that the Scotch +are a particularly sentimental race, but there was such obvious buying, +selling, and bargaining about this marriage that Scottish chivalry rose +in revolt at the thought. + +"Against that the three people most concerned seemed perfectly +satisfied. David Graham was positively transformed; his moroseness was +gone from him, he lost his queer ways and wild manners, and became +gentle and affectionate in the midst of this great and unexpected +happiness. Miss Edith Crawford ordered her trousseau, and talked of the +diamonds to her friends, and Lady Donaldson was only waiting for the +consummation of this marriage--her heart's desire--before she finally +retired from the world, at peace with it and with herself. + +"The deed of gift was ready for signature on the wedding day, which was +fixed for November 7th, and Lady Donaldson took up her abode temporarily +in her brother's house in Charlotte Square. + +"Mr. Graham gave a large ball on October 23rd. Special interest is +attached to this ball, from the fact that for this occasion Lady +Donaldson insisted that David's future wife should wear the magnificent +diamonds which were soon to become hers. + +"They were, it seems, superb, and became Miss Crawford's stately beauty +to perfection. The ball was a brilliant success, the last guest leaving +at four a.m. The next day it was the universal topic of conversation, +and the day after that, when Edinburgh unfolded the late editions of its +morning papers, it learned with horror and dismay that Lady Donaldson +had been found murdered in her room, and that the celebrated diamonds +had been stolen. + +"Hardly had the beautiful little city, however, recovered from this +awful shock, than its newspapers had another thrilling sensation ready +for their readers. + +"Already all Scotch and English papers had mysteriously hinted at +'startling information' obtained by the Procurator Fiscal, and at an +'impending sensational arrest.' + +"Then the announcement came, and every one in Edinburgh read, +horror-struck and aghast, that the 'sensational arrest' was none other +than that of Miss Edith Crawford, for murder and robbery, both so daring +and horrible that reason refused to believe that a young lady, born and +bred in the best social circle, could have conceived, much less +executed, so heinous a crime. She had been arrested in London at the +Midland Hotel, and brought to Edinburgh, where she was judicially +examined, bail being refused." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A TERRIBLE PLIGHT + + +"Little more than a fortnight after that, Edith Crawford was duly +committed to stand her trial before the High Court of Justiciary. She +had pleaded 'Not Guilty' at the pleading diet, and her defence was +entrusted to Sir James Fenwick, one of the most eminent advocates at the +Criminal Bar. + +"Strange to say," continued the man in the corner after a while, "public +opinion from the first went dead against the accused. The public is +absolutely like a child, perfectly irresponsible and wholly illogical; +it argued that since Miss Crawford had been ready to contract a marriage +with a half-demented, deformed creature for the sake of his L100,000 she +must have been equally ready to murder and rob an old lady for the sake +of L50,000 worth of jewellery, without the encumbrance of so undesirable +a husband. + +"Perhaps the great sympathy aroused in the popular mind for David Graham +had much to do with this ill-feeling against the accused. David Graham +had, by this cruel and dastardly murder, lost the best--if not the +only--friend he possessed. He had also lost at one fell swoop the large +fortune which Lady Donaldson had been about to assign to him. + +"The deed of gift had never been signed, and the old lady's vast wealth, +instead of enriching her favourite nephew, was distributed--since she +had made no will--amongst her heirs-at-law. And now to crown this long +chapter of sorrow David Graham saw the girl he loved accused of the +awful crime which had robbed him of friend and fortune. + +"It was, therefore, with an unmistakable thrill of righteous +satisfaction that Edinburgh society saw this 'mercenary girl' in so +terrible a plight. + +"I was immensely interested in the case, and journeyed down to Edinburgh +in order to get a good view of the chief actors in the thrilling drama +which was about to be unfolded there. + +"I succeeded--I generally do--in securing one of the front seats among +the audience, and was already comfortably installed in my place in court +when through the trap door I saw the head of the prisoner emerge. She +was very becomingly dressed in deep black, and, led by two policemen, +she took her place in the dock. Sir James Fenwick shook hands with her +very warmly, and I could almost hear him instilling words of comfort +into her. + +"The trial lasted six clear days, during which time more than forty +persons were examined for the prosecution, and as many for the defence. +But the most interesting witnesses were certainly the two doctors, the +maid Tremlett, Campbell, the High Street jeweller, and David Graham. + +"There was, of course, a great deal of medical evidence to go through. +Poor Lady Donaldson had been found with a silk scarf tied tightly round +her neck, her face showing even to the inexperienced eye every symptom +of strangulation. + +"Then Tremlett, Lady Donaldson's confidential maid, was called. Closely +examined by Crown Counsel, she gave an account of the ball at Charlotte +Square on the 23rd, and the wearing of the jewels by Miss Crawford on +that occasion. + +"'I helped Miss Crawford on with the tiara over her hair,' she said; +'and my lady put the two necklaces round Miss Crawford's neck herself. +There were also some beautiful brooches, bracelets, and earrings. At +four o'clock in the morning when the ball was over, Miss Crawford +brought the jewels back to my lady's room. My lady had already gone to +bed, and I had put out the electric light, as I was going, too. There +was only one candle left in the room, close to the bed. + +"'Miss Crawford took all the jewels off, and asked Lady Donaldson for +the key of the safe, so that she might put them away. My lady gave her +the key and said to me, "You can go to bed, Tremlett, you must be dead +tired." I was glad to go, for I could hardly stand up--I was so tired. I +said "Good night!" to my lady and also to Miss Crawford, who was busy +putting the jewels away. As I was going out of the room I heard Lady +Donaldson saying: "Have you managed it, my dear?" Miss Crawford said: "I +have put everything away very nicely."' + +"In answer to Sir James Fenwick, Tremlett said that Lady Donaldson +always carried the key of her jewel safe on a ribbon round her neck, and +had done so the whole day preceding her death. + +"'On the night of the 24th,' she continued, 'Lady Donaldson still seemed +rather tired, and went up to her room directly after dinner, and while +the family were still sitting in the dining-room. She made me dress her +hair, then she slipped on her dressing-gown and sat in the arm-chair +with a book. She told me that she then felt strangely uncomfortable and +nervous, and could not account for it. + +"'However, she did not want me to sit with her, so I thought that the +best thing I could do was to tell Mr. David Graham that her ladyship did +not seem very cheerful. Her ladyship was so fond of Mr. David; it always +made her happy to have him with her. I then went to my room, and at +half-past eight Mr. David called me. He said: "Your mistress does seem a +little restless to-night. If I were you I would just go and listen at +her door in about an hour's time, and if she has not gone to bed I would +go in and stay with her until she has." At about ten o'clock I did as +Mr. David suggested, and listened at her ladyship's door. However, all +was quiet in the room, and, thinking her ladyship had gone to sleep, I +went back to bed. + +"'The next morning at eight o'clock, when I took in my mistress's cup of +tea, I saw her lying on the floor, her poor dear face all purple and +distorted. I screamed, and the other servants came rushing along. Then +Mr. Graham had the door locked and sent for the doctor and the police.' + +"The poor woman seemed to find it very difficult not to break down. She +was closely questioned by Sir James Fenwick, but had nothing further to +say. She had last seen her mistress alive at eight o'clock on the +evening of the 24th. + +"'And when you listened at her door at ten o'clock,' asked Sir James, +'did you try to open it?' + +"'I did, but it was locked,' she replied. + +"'Did Lady Donaldson usually lock her bedroom at night?' + +"'Nearly always.' + +"'And in the morning when you took in the tea?' + +"'The door was open. I walked straight in.' + +"'You are quite sure?' insisted Sir James. + +"'I swear it,' solemnly asserted the woman. + +"After that we were informed by several members of Mr. Graham's +establishment that Miss Crawford had been in to tea at Charlotte Square +in the afternoon of the 24th, that she told every one she was going to +London by the night mail, as she had some special shopping she wished to +do there. It appears that Mr. Graham and David both tried to persuade +her to stay to dinner, and then to go by the 9.10 p.m. from the +Caledonian Station. Miss Crawford however had refused, saying she always +preferred to go from the Waverley Station. It was nearer to her own +rooms, and she still had a good deal of writing to do. + +"In spite of this, two witnesses saw the accused in Charlotte Square +later on in the evening. She was carrying a bag which seemed heavy, and +was walking towards the Caledonian Railway Station. + +"But the most thrilling moment in that sensational trial was reached on +the second day, when David Graham, looking wretchedly ill, unkempt, and +haggard, stepped into the witness-box. A murmur of sympathy went round +the audience at sight of him, who was the second, perhaps, most deeply +stricken victim of the Charlotte Square tragedy. + +"David Graham, in answer to Crown Counsel, gave an account of his last +interview with Lady Donaldson. + +"'Tremlett had told me that she seemed anxious and upset, and I went to +have a chat with her; she soon cheered up and....' + +"There the unfortunate young man hesitated visibly, but after a while +resumed with an obvious effort. + +"'She spoke of my marriage, and of the gift she was about to bestow upon +me. She said the diamonds would be for my wife, and after that for my +daughter, if I had one. She also complained that Mr. Macfinlay had been +so punctilious about preparing the deed of gift, and that it was a great +pity the L100,000 could not just pass from her hands to mine without so +much fuss. + +"'I stayed talking with her for about half an hour; then I left her, as +she seemed ready to go to bed; but I told her maid to listen at the door +in about an hour's time.' + +"There was deep silence in the court for a few moments, a silence which +to me seemed almost electrical. It was as if, some time before it was +uttered, the next question put by Crown Counsel to the witness had +hovered in the air. + +"'You were engaged to Miss Edith Crawford at one time, were you not?' + +"One felt, rather than heard, the almost inaudible 'Yes' which escaped +from David Graham's compressed lips. + +"'Under what circumstances was that engagement broken off?' + +"Sir James Fenwick had already risen in protest, but David Graham had +been the first to speak. + +"'I do not think that I need answer that question.' + +"'I will put it in a different form, then,' said Crown Counsel +urbanely--'one to which my learned friend cannot possibly take +exception. Did you or did you not on October 27th receive a letter from +the accused, in which she desired to be released from her promise of +marriage to you?' + +"Again David Graham would have refused to answer, and he certainly gave +no audible reply to the learned counsel's question; but every one in the +audience there present--aye, every member of the jury and of the +bar--read upon David Graham's pale countenance and large, sorrowful eyes +that ominous 'Yes!' which had failed to reach his trembling lips." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +"NON PROVEN" + + +"There is no doubt," continued the man in the corner, "that what little +sympathy the young girl's terrible position had aroused in the public +mind had died out the moment that David Graham left the witness-box on +the second day of the trial. Whether Edith Crawford was guilty of murder +or not, the callous way in which she had accepted a deformed lover, and +then thrown him over, had set every one's mind against her. + +"It was Mr. Graham himself who had been the first to put the Procurator +Fiscal in possession of the fact that the accused had written to David +from London, breaking off her engagement. This information had, no +doubt, directed the attention of the Fiscal to Miss Crawford, and the +police soon brought forward the evidence which had led to her arrest. + +"We had a final sensation on the third day, when Mr. Campbell, jeweller, +of High Street, gave his evidence. He said that on October 25th a lady +came to his shop and offered to sell him a pair of diamond earrings. +Trade had been very bad, and he had refused the bargain, although the +lady seemed ready to part with the earrings for an extraordinarily low +sum, considering the beauty of the stones. + +"In fact it was because of this evident desire on the lady's part to +sell at _any_ cost that he had looked at her more keenly than he +otherwise would have done. He was now ready to swear that the lady that +offered him the diamond earrings was the prisoner in the dock. + +"I can assure you that as we all listened to this apparently damnatory +evidence, you might have heard a pin drop amongst the audience in that +crowded court. The girl alone, there in the dock, remained calm and +unmoved. Remember that for two days we had heard evidence to prove that +old Dr. Crawford had died leaving his daughter penniless, that having no +mother she had been brought up by a maiden aunt, who had trained her to +be a governess, which occupation she had followed for years, and that +certainly she had never been known by any of her friends to be in +possession of solitaire diamond earrings. + +"The prosecution had certainly secured an ace of trumps, but Sir James +Fenwick, who during the whole of that day had seemed to take little +interest in the proceedings, here rose from his seat, and I knew at once +that he had got a tit-bit in the way of a 'point' up his sleeve. Gaunt, +and unusually tall, and with his beak-like nose, he always looks +strangely impressive when he seriously tackles a witness. He did it this +time with a vengeance, I can tell you. He was all over the pompous +little jeweller in a moment. + +"'Had Mr. Campbell made a special entry in his book, as to the visit of +the lady in question?' + +"'No.' + +"'Had he any special means of ascertaining when that visit did actually +take place?' + +"'No--but--' + +"'What record had he of the visit?' + +"Mr. Campbell had none. In fact, after about twenty minutes of +cross-examination, he had to admit that he had given but little thought +to the interview with the lady at the time, and certainly not in +connection with the murder of Lady Donaldson, until he had read in the +papers that a young lady had been arrested. + +"Then he and his clerk talked the matter over, it appears, and together +they had certainly recollected that a lady had brought some beautiful +earrings for sale on a day which _must have been_ the very morning after +the murder. If Sir James Fenwick's object was to discredit this special +witness, he certainly gained his point. + +"All the pomposity went out of Mr. Campbell, he became flurried, then +excited, then he lost his temper. After that he was allowed to leave the +court, and Sir James Fenwick resumed his seat, and waited like a +vulture for its prey. + +"It presented itself in the person of Mr. Campbell's clerk, who, before +the Procurator Fiscal, had corroborated his employer's evidence in every +respect. In Scotland no witness in any one case is present in court +during the examination of another, and Mr. Macfarlane, the clerk, was, +therefore, quite unprepared for the pitfalls which Sir James Fenwick had +prepared for him. He tumbled into them, head foremost, and the eminent +advocate turned him inside out like a glove. + +"Mr. Macfarlane did not lose his temper; he was of too humble a frame of +mind to do that, but he got into a hopeless quagmire of mixed +recollections, and he too left the witness-box quite unprepared to swear +as to the day of the interview with the lady with the diamond earrings. + +"I dare say, mind you," continued the man in the corner with a chuckle, +"that to most people present, Sir James Fenwick's cross-questioning +seemed completely irrelevant. Both Mr. Campbell and his clerk were quite +ready to swear that they had had an interview concerning some diamond +earrings with a lady, of whose identity with the accused they were +perfectly convinced, and to the casual observer the question as to the +time or even the day when that interview took place could make but +little difference in the ultimate issue. + +"Now I took in, in a moment, the entire drift of Sir James Fenwick's +defence of Edith Crawford. When Mr. Macfarlane left the witness-box, the +second victim of the eminent advocate's caustic tongue, I could read as +in a book the whole history of that crime, its investigation, and the +mistakes made by the police first and the Public Prosecutor afterwards. + +"Sir James Fenwick knew them, too, of course, and he placed a finger +upon each one, demolishing--like a child who blows upon a house of +cards--the entire scaffolding erected by the prosecution. + +"Mr. Campbell's and Mr. Macfarlane's identification of the accused with +the lady who, on some date--admitted to be uncertain--had tried to sell +a pair of diamond earrings, was the first point. Sir James had plenty of +witnesses to prove that on the 25th, the day after the murder, the +accused was in London, whilst, the day before, Mr. Campbell's shop had +been closed long before the family circle had seen the last of Lady +Donaldson. Clearly the jeweller and his clerk must have seen some other +lady, whom their vivid imagination had pictured as being identical with +the accused. + +"Then came the great question of time. Mr. David Graham had been +evidently the last to see Lady Donaldson alive. He had spoken to her as +late as 8.30 p.m. Sir James Fenwick had called two porters at the +Caledonian Railway Station who testified to Miss Crawford having taken +her seat in a first-class carriage of the 9.10 train, some minutes +before it started. + +"'Was it conceivable, therefore,' argued Sir James, 'that in the space +of half an hour the accused--a young girl--could have found her way +surreptitiously into the house, at a time when the entire household was +still astir, that she should have strangled Lady Donaldson, forced open +the safe, and made away with the jewels? A man--an experienced burglar +might have done it, but I contend that the accused is physically +incapable of accomplishing such a feat. + +"'With regard to the broken engagement,' continued the eminent counsel +with a smile, 'it may have seemed a little heartless, certainly, but +heartlessness is no crime in the eyes of the law. The accused has stated +in her declaration that at the time she wrote to Mr. David Graham, +breaking off her engagement, she had heard nothing of the Edinburgh +tragedy. + +"'The London papers had reported the crime very briefly. The accused was +busy shopping; she knew nothing of Mr. David Graham's altered position. +In no case was the breaking off of the engagement a proof that the +accused had obtained possession of the jewels by so foul a deed.' + +"It is, of course, impossible for me," continued the man in the corner +apologetically, "to give you any idea of the eminent advocate's +eloquence and masterful logic. It struck every one, I think, just as it +did me, that he chiefly directed his attention to the fact that there +was absolutely no _proof_ against the accused. + +"Be that as it may, the result of that remarkable trial was a verdict of +'Non Proven.' The jury was absent forty minutes, and it appears that in +the mind of every one of them there remained, in spite of Sir James' +arguments, a firmly rooted conviction--call it instinct, if you +like--that Edith Crawford had done away with Lady Donaldson in order to +become possessed of those jewels, and that in spite of the pompous +jeweller's many contradictions, she had offered him some of those +diamonds for sale. But there was not enough proof to convict, and she +was given the benefit of the doubt. + +"I have heard English people argue that in England she would have been +hanged. Personally I doubt that. I think that an English jury, not +having the judicial loophole of 'Non Proven,' would have been bound to +acquit her. What do you think?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +UNDENIABLE FACTS + + +There was a moment's silence, for Polly did not reply immediately, and +he went on making impossible knots in his bit of string. Then she said +quietly-- + +"I think that I agree with those English people who say that an English +jury would have condemned her.... I have no doubt that she was guilty. +She may not have committed that awful deed herself. Some one in the +Charlotte Square house may have been her accomplice and killed and +robbed Lady Donaldson while Edith Crawford waited outside for the +jewels. David Graham left his godmother at 8.30 p.m. If the accomplice +was one of the servants in the house, he or she would have had plenty of +time for any amount of villainy, and Edith Crawford could have yet +caught the 9.10 p.m. train from the Caledonian Station." + +"Then who, in your opinion," he asked sarcastically, and cocking his +funny birdlike head on one side, "tried to sell diamond earrings to Mr. +Campbell, the jeweller?" + +"Edith Crawford, of course," she retorted triumphantly; "he and his +clerk both recognized her." + +"When did she try to sell them the earrings?" + +"Ah, that is what I cannot quite make out, and there to my mind lies the +only mystery in this case. On the 25th she was certainly in London, and +it is not very likely that she would go back to Edinburgh in order to +dispose of the jewels there, where they could most easily be traced." + +"Not very likely, certainly," he assented drily. + +"And," added the young girl, "on the day before she left for London, +Lady Donaldson was alive." + +"And pray," he said suddenly, as with comic complacency he surveyed a +beautiful knot he had just twisted up between his long fingers, "what +has that fact got to do with it?" + +"But it has everything to do with it!" she retorted. + +"Ah, there you go," he sighed with comic emphasis. "My teachings don't +seem to have improved your powers of reasoning. You are as bad as the +police. Lady Donaldson has been robbed and murdered, and you immediately +argue that she was robbed and murdered by the same person." + +"But--" argued Polly. + +"There is no but," he said, getting more and more excited. "See how +simple it is. Edith Crawford wears the diamonds one night, then she +brings them back to Lady Donaldson's room. Remember the maid's +statement: 'My lady said: "Have you put them back, my dear?"--a simple +statement, utterly ignored by the prosecution. But what did it mean? +That Lady Donaldson could not see for herself whether Edith Crawford had +put back the jewels or not, _since she asked the question_." + +"Then you argue--" + +"I never argue," he interrupted excitedly; "I state undeniable facts. +Edith Crawford, who wanted to steal the jewels, took them then and +there, when she had the opportunity. Why in the world should she have +waited? Lady Donaldson was in bed, and Tremlett, the maid, had gone. + +"The next day--namely, the 25th--she tries to dispose of a pair of +earrings to Mr. Campbell; she fails, and decides to go to London, where +she has a better chance. Sir James Fenwick did not think it desirable to +bring forward witnesses to prove what I have since ascertained is a +fact, namely, that on the 27th of October, three days before her arrest, +Miss Crawford crossed over to Belgium, and came back to London the next +day. In Belgium, no doubt, Lady Donaldson's diamonds, taken out of their +settings, calmly repose at this moment, while the money derived from +their sale is safely deposited in a Belgian bank." + +"But then, who murdered Lady Donaldson, and why?" gasped Polly. + +"Cannot you guess?" he queried blandly. "Have I not placed the case +clearly enough before you? To me it seems so simple. It was a daring, +brutal murder, remember. Think of one who, not being the thief himself, +would, nevertheless, have the strongest of all motives to shield the +thief from the consequences of her own misdeed: aye! and the power +too--since it would be absolutely illogical, nay, impossible, that he +should be an accomplice." + +"Surely----" + +"Think of a curious nature, warped morally, as well as physically--do +you know how those natures feel? A thousand times more strongly than the +even, straight natures in everyday life. Then think of such a nature +brought face to face with this awful problem. + +"Do you think that such a nature would hesitate a moment before +committing a crime to save the loved one from the consequences of that +deed? Mind you, I don't assert for a moment that David Graham had any +_intention_ of murdering Lady Donaldson. Tremlett tells him that she +seems strangely upset; he goes to her room and finds that she has +discovered that she has been robbed. She naturally suspects Edith +Crawford, recollects the incidents of the other night, and probably +expresses her feelings to David Graham, and threatens immediate +prosecution, scandal, what you will. + +"I repeat it again, I dare say he had no wish to kill her. Probably he +merely threatened to. A medical gentleman who spoke of sudden heart +failure was no doubt right. Then imagine David Graham's remorse, his +horror and his fears. The empty safe probably is the first object that +suggested to him the grim tableau of robbery and murder, which he +arranges in order to ensure his own safety. + +"But remember one thing: no miscreant was seen to enter or leave the +house surreptitiously; the murderer left no signs of entrance, and none +of exit. An armed burglar would have left some trace--_some one_ would +have heard _something_. Then who locked and unlocked Lady Donaldson's +door that night while she herself lay dead? + +"Some one in the house, I tell you--some one who left no trace--some one +against whom there could be no suspicion--some one who killed without +apparently the slightest premeditation, and without the slightest +motive. Think of it--I know I am right--and then tell me if I have at +all enlisted your sympathies in the author of the Edinburgh Mystery." + +He was gone. Polly looked again at the photo of David Graham. Did a +crooked mind really dwell in that crooked body, and were there in the +world such crimes that were great enough to be deemed sublime? + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE THEFT AT THE ENGLISH PROVIDENT BANK + + +"That question of motive is a very difficult and complicated one at +times," said the man in the corner, leisurely pulling off a huge pair of +flaming dog-skin gloves from his meagre fingers. "I have known +experienced criminal investigators declare, as an infallible axiom, that +to find the person interested in the committal of the crime is to find +the criminal. + +"Well, that may be so in most cases, but my experience has proved to me +that there is one factor in this world of ours which is the mainspring +of human actions, and that factor is human passions. For good or evil +passions rule this poor humanity of ours. Remember, there are the women! +French detectives, who are acknowledged masters in their craft, never +proceed till after they have discovered the feminine element in a crime; +whether in theft, murder, or fraud, according to their theory, there is +always a woman. + +"Perhaps the reason why the Phillimore Terrace robbery was never +brought home to its perpetrators is because there was no woman in any +way connected with it, and I am quite sure, on the other hand, that the +reason why the thief at the English Provident Bank is still unpunished +is because a clever woman has escaped the eyes of our police force." + +He had spoken at great length and very dictatorially. Miss Polly Burton +did not venture to contradict him, knowing by now that whenever he was +irritable he was invariably rude, and she then had the worst of it. + +"When I am old," he resumed, "and have nothing more to do, I think I +shall take professionally to the police force; they have much to learn." + +Could anything be more ludicrous than the self-satisfaction, the +abnormal conceit of this remark, made by that shrivelled piece of +mankind, in a nervous, hesitating tone of voice? Polly made no comment, +but drew from her pocket a beautiful piece of string, and knowing his +custom of knotting such an article while unravelling his mysteries, she +handed it across the table to him. She positively thought that he +blushed. + +"As an adjunct to thought," she said, moved by a conciliatory spirit. + +He looked at the invaluable toy which the young girl had tantalisingly +placed close to his hand: then he forced himself to look all round the +coffee-room: at Polly, at the waitresses, at the piles of pallid buns +upon the counter. But, involuntarily, his mild blue eyes wandered back +lovingly to the long piece of string, on which his playful imagination +no doubt already saw a series of knots which would be equally +tantalising to tie and to untie. + +"Tell me about the theft at the English Provident Bank," suggested Polly +condescendingly. + +He looked at her, as if she had proposed some mysterious complicity in +an unheard-of crime. Finally his lean fingers sought the end of the +piece of string, and drew it towards him. His face brightened up in a +moment. + +"There was an element of tragedy in that particular robbery," he began, +after a few moments of beatified knotting, "altogether different to that +connected with most crimes; a tragedy which, as far as I am concerned, +would seal my lips for ever, and forbid them to utter a word, which +might lead the police on the right track." + +"Your lips," suggested Polly sarcastically, "are, as far as I can see, +usually sealed before our long-suffering, incompetent police and--" + +"And you should be the last to grumble at this," he quietly interrupted, +"for you have spent some very pleasant half-hours already, listening to +what you have termed my 'cock-and-bull' stories. You know the English +Provident Bank, of course, in Oxford Street; there were plenty of +sketches of it at the time in the illustrated papers. Here is a photo of +the outside. I took it myself some time ago, and only wish I had been +cheeky or lucky enough to get a snap-shot of the interior. But you see +that the office has a separate entrance from the rest of the house, +which was, and still is, as is usual in such cases, inhabited by the +manager and his family. + +"Mr. Ireland was the manager then; it was less than six months ago. He +lived over the bank, with his wife and family, consisting of a son, who +was clerk in the business, and two or three younger children. The house +is really smaller than it looks on this photo, for it has no depth, and +only one set of rooms on each floor looking out into the street, the +back of the house being nothing but the staircase. Mr. Ireland and his +family, therefore, occupied the whole of it. + +"As for the business premises, they were, and, in fact, are, of the +usual pattern; an office with its rows of desks, clerks, and cashiers, +and beyond, through a glass door, the manager's private room, with the +ponderous safe, and desk, and so on. + +"The private room has a door into the hall of the house, so that the +manager is not obliged to go out into the street in order to go to +business. There are no living-rooms on the ground floor, and the house +has no basement. + +"I am obliged to put all these architectural details before you, though +they may sound rather dry and uninteresting, but they are really +necessary in order to make my argument clear. + +"At night, of course, the bank premises are barred and bolted against +the street, and as an additional precaution there is always a night +watchman in the office. As I mentioned before, there is only a glass +door between the office and the manager's private room. This, of course, +accounted for the fact that the night watchman heard all that he did +hear, on that memorable night, and so helped further to entangle the +thread of that impenetrable mystery. + +"Mr. Ireland as a rule went into his office every morning a little +before ten o'clock, but on that particular morning, for some reason +which he never could or would explain, he went down before having his +breakfast at about nine o'clock. Mrs. Ireland stated subsequently that, +not hearing him return, she sent the servant down to tell the master +that breakfast was getting cold. The girl's shrieks were the first +intimation that something alarming had occurred. + +"Mrs. Ireland hastened downstairs. On reaching the hall she found the +door of her husband's room open, and it was from there that the girl's +shrieks proceeded. + +"'The master, mum--the poor master--he is dead, mum--I am sure he is +dead!'--accompanied by vigorous thumps against the glass partition, and +not very measured language on the part of the watchman from the outer +office, such as--'Why don't you open the door instead of making that +row?' + +"Mrs. Ireland is not the sort of woman who, under any circumstances, +would lose her presence of mind. I think she proved that throughout the +many trying circumstances connected with the investigation of the case. +She gave only one glance at the room and realized the situation. On the +arm-chair, with head thrown back and eyes closed, lay Mr. Ireland, +apparently in a dead faint; some terrible shock must have very suddenly +shattered his nervous system, and rendered him prostrate for the moment. +What that shock had been it was pretty easy to guess. + +"The door of the safe was wide open, and Mr. Ireland had evidently +tottered and fainted before some awful fact which the open safe had +revealed to him; he had caught himself against a chair which lay on the +floor, and then finally sunk, unconscious, into the arm-chair. + +"All this, which takes some time to describe," continued the man in the +corner, "took, remember, only a second to pass like a flash through +Mrs. Ireland's mind; she quickly turned the key of the glass door, +which was on the inside, and with the help of James Fairbairn, the +watchman, she carried her husband upstairs to his room, and immediately +sent both for the police and for a doctor. + +"As Mrs. Ireland had anticipated, her husband had received a severe +mental shock which had completely prostrated him. The doctor prescribed +absolute quiet, and forbade all worrying questions for the present. The +patient was not a young man; the shock had been very severe--it was a +case, a very slight one, of cerebral congestion--and Mr. Ireland's +reason, if not his life, might be gravely jeopardised by any attempt to +recall before his enfeebled mind the circumstances which had preceded +his collapse. + +"The police therefore could proceed but slowly in their investigations. +The detective who had charge of the case was necessarily handicapped, +whilst one of the chief actors concerned in the drama was unable to help +him in his work. + +"To begin with, the robber or robbers had obviously not found their way +into the manager's inner room through the bank premises. James Fairbairn +had been on the watch all night, with the electric light full on, and +obviously no one could have crossed the outer office or forced the +heavily barred doors without his knowledge. + +"There remained the other access to the room, that is, the one through +the hall of the house. The hall door, it appears, was always barred and +bolted by Mr. Ireland himself when he came home, whether from the +theatre or his club. It was a duty he never allowed any one to perform +but himself. During his annual holiday, with his wife and family, his +son, who usually had the sub-manager to stay with him on those +occasions, did the bolting and barring--but with the distinct +understanding that this should be done by ten o'clock at night. + +"As I have already explained to you, there is only a glass partition +between the general office and the manager's private room, and, +according to James Fairbairn's account, this was naturally always left +wide open so that he, during his night watch, would of necessity hear +the faintest sound. As a rule there was no light left in the manager's +room, and the other door--that leading into the hall--was bolted from +the inside by James Fairbairn the moment he had satisfied himself that +the premises were safe, and he had begun his night-watch. An electric +bell in both the offices communicated with Mr. Ireland's bedroom and +that of his son, Mr. Robert Ireland, and there was a telephone installed +to the nearest district messengers' office, with an understood signal +which meant 'Police.' + +"At nine o'clock in the morning it was the night watchman's duty, as +soon as the first cashier had arrived, to dust and tidy the manager's +room, and to undo the bolts; after that he was free to go home to his +breakfast and rest. + +"You will see, of course, that James Fairbairn's position in the English +Provident Bank is one of great responsibility and trust; but then in +every bank and business house there are men who hold similar positions. +They are always men of well-known and tried characters, often old +soldiers with good-conduct records behind them. James Fairbairn is a +fine, powerful Scotchman; he had been night watchman to the English +Provident Bank for fifteen years, and was then not more than forty-three +or forty-four years old. He is an ex-guardsman, and stands six feet +three inches in his socks. + +"It was his evidence, of course, which was of such paramount importance, +and which somehow or other managed, in spite of the utmost care +exercised by the police, to become public property, and to cause the +wildest excitement in banking and business circles. + +"James Fairbairn stated that at eight o'clock in the evening of March +25th, having bolted and barred all the shutters and the door of the back +premises, he was about to lock the manager's door as usual, when Mr. +Ireland called to him from the floor above, telling him to leave that +door open, as he might want to go into the office again for a minute +when he came home at eleven o'clock. James Fairbairn asked if he should +leave the light on, but Mr. Ireland said: 'No, turn it out. I can switch +it on if I want it.' + +"The night watchman at the English Provident Bank has permission to +smoke, he also is allowed a nice fire, and a tray consisting of a plate +of substantial sandwiches and one glass of ale, which he can take when +he likes. James Fairbairn settled himself in front of the fire, lit his +pipe, took out his newspaper, and began to read. He thought he had heard +the street door open and shut at about a quarter to ten; he supposed +that it was Mr. Ireland going out to his club, but at ten minutes to ten +o'clock the watchman heard the door of the manager's room open, and some +one enter, immediately closing the glass partition door and turning the +key. + +"He naturally concluded it was Mr. Ireland himself. + +"From where he sat he could not see into the room, but he noticed that +the electric light had not been switched on, and that the manager +seemingly had no light but an occasional match. + +"'For the minute,' continued James Fairbairn, 'a thought did just cross +my mind that something might perhaps be wrong, and I put my newspaper +aside and went to the other end of the room towards the glass partition. +The manager's room was still quite dark, and I could not clearly see +into it, but the door into the hall was open, and there was, of course, +a light through there. I had got quite close to the partition, when I +saw Mrs. Ireland standing in the doorway, and heard her saying in a very +astonished tone of voice: 'Why, Lewis, I thought you had gone to your +club ages ago. What in the world are you doing here in the dark?' + +"'Lewis is Mr. Ireland's Christian name,' was James Fairbairn's further +statement. 'I did not hear the manager's reply, but quite satisfied now +that nothing was wrong, I went back to my pipe and my newspaper. Almost +directly afterwards I heard the manager leave his room, cross the hall +and go out by the street door. It was only after he had gone that I +recollected that he must have forgotten to unlock the glass partition +and that I could not therefore bolt the door into the hall the same as +usual, and I suppose that is how those confounded thieves got the better +of me.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +CONFLICTING EVIDENCE + + +"By the time the public had been able to think over James Fairbairn's +evidence, a certain disquietude and unrest had begun to make itself felt +both in the bank itself and among those of our detective force who had +charge of the case. The newspapers spoke of the matter with very obvious +caution, and warned all their readers to await the further development +of this sad case. + +"While the manager of the English Provident Bank lay in such a +precarious condition of health, it was impossible to arrive at any +definite knowledge as to what the thief had actually made away with. The +chief cashier, however, estimated the loss at about L5000 in gold and +notes of the bank money--that was, of course, on the assumption that Mr. +Ireland had no private money or valuables of his own in the safe. + +"Mind you, at this point public sympathy was much stirred in favour of +the poor man who lay ill, perhaps dying, and yet whom, strangely +enough, suspicion had already slightly touched with its poisoned wing. + +"Suspicion is a strong word, perhaps, to use at this point in the story. +No one suspected anybody at present. James Fairbairn had told his story, +and had vowed that some thief with false keys must have sneaked through +the house into the inner office. + +"Public excitement, you will remember, lost nothing by waiting. Hardly +had we all had time to wonder over the night watchman's singular +evidence, and, pending further and fuller detail, to check our growing +sympathy for the man who was ill, than the sensational side of this +mysterious case culminated in one extraordinary, absolutely unexpected +fact. Mrs. Ireland, after a twenty-four hours' untiring watch beside her +husband's sick bed, had at last been approached by the detective, and +been asked to reply to a few simple questions, and thus help to throw +some light on the mystery which had caused Mr. Ireland's illness and her +own consequent anxiety. + +"She professed herself quite ready to reply to any questions put to her, +and she literally astounded both inspector and detective when she firmly +and emphatically declared that James Fairbairn must have been dreaming +or asleep when he thought he saw her in the doorway at ten o'clock that +night, and fancied he heard her voice. + +"She may or may not have been down in the hall at that particular hour, +for she usually ran down herself to see if the last post had brought any +letters, but most certainly she had neither seen nor spoken to Mr. +Ireland at that hour, for Mr. Ireland had gone out an hour before, she +herself having seen him to the front door. Never for a moment did she +swerve from this extraordinary statement. She spoke to James Fairbairn +in the presence of the detective, and told him he _must_ absolutely have +been mistaken, that she had _not_ seen Mr. Ireland, and that she had +_not_ spoken to him. + +"One other person was questioned by the police, and that was Mr. Robert +Ireland, the manager's eldest son. It was presumed that he would know +something of his father's affairs; the idea having now taken firm hold +of the detective's mind that perhaps grave financial difficulties had +tempted the unfortunate manager to appropriate some of the firm's money. + +"Mr. Robert Ireland, however, could not say very much. His father did +not confide in him to the extent of telling him all his private affairs, +but money never seemed scarce at home certainly, and Mr. Ireland had, to +his son's knowledge, not a single extravagant habit. He himself had been +dining out with a friend on that memorable evening, and had gone on with +him to the Oxford Music Hall. He met his father on the doorstep of the +bank at about 11.30 p.m. and they went in together. There certainly was +nothing remarkable about Mr. Ireland then, his son averred; he appeared +in no way excited, and bade his son good night quite cheerfully. + +"There was the extraordinary, the remarkable hitch," continued the man +in the corner, waxing more and more excited every moment. "The +public--who is at times very dense--saw it clearly nevertheless: of +course, every one at once jumped to the natural conclusion that Mrs. +Ireland was telling a lie--a noble lie, a self-sacrificing lie, a lie +endowed with all the virtues if you like, but still a lie. + +"She was trying to save her husband, and was going the wrong way to +work. James Fairbairn, after all, could not have dreamt quite all that +he declared he had seen and heard. No one suspected James Fairbairn; +there was no occasion to do that; to begin with he was a great heavy +Scotchman with obviously no powers of invention, such as Mrs. Ireland's +strange assertion credited him with; moreover, the theft of the +bank-notes could not have been of the slightest use to him. + +"But, remember, there was the hitch; without it the public mind would +already have condemned the sick man upstairs, without hope of +rehabilitation. This fact struck every one. + +"Granting that Mr. Ireland had gone into his office at ten minutes to +ten o'clock at night for the purpose of extracting L5000 worth of notes +and gold from the bank safe, whilst giving the theft the appearance of a +night burglary; granting that he was disturbed in his nefarious project +by his wife, who, failing to persuade him to make restitution, took his +side boldly, and very clumsily attempted to rescue him out of his +difficult position--why should he, at nine o'clock the following +morning, fall in a dead faint and get cerebral congestion at sight of a +defalcation he knew had occurred? One might simulate a fainting fit, but +no one can assume a high temperature and a congestion, which the most +ordinary practitioner who happened to be called in would soon see were +non-existent. + +"Mr. Ireland, according to James Fairbairn's evidence, must have gone +out soon after the theft, come in again with his son an hour and a half +later, talked to him, gone quietly to bed, and waited for nine hours +before he fell ill at sight of his own crime. It was not logical, you +will admit. Unfortunately, the poor man himself was unable to give any +explanation of the night's tragic adventures. + +"He was still very weak, and though under strong suspicion, he was left, +by the doctor's orders, in absolute ignorance of the heavy charges which +were gradually accumulating against him. He had made many anxious +inquiries from all those who had access to his bedside as to the result +of the investigation, and the probable speedy capture of the burglars, +but every one had strict orders to inform him merely that the police so +far had no clue of any kind. + +"You will admit, as every one did, that there was something very +pathetic about the unfortunate man's position, so helpless to defend +himself, if defence there was, against so much overwhelming evidence. +That is why I think public sympathy remained with him. Still, it was +terrible to think of his wife presumably knowing him to be guilty, and +anxiously waiting whilst dreading the moment when, restored to health, +he would have to face the doubts, the suspicions, probably the open +accusations, which were fast rising up around him." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +AN _ALIBI_ + + +"It was close on six weeks before the doctor at last allowed his patient +to attend to the grave business which had prostrated him for so long. + +"In the meantime, among the many people who directly or indirectly were +made to suffer in this mysterious affair, no one, I think, was more +pitied, and more genuinely sympathised with, than Robert Ireland, the +manager's eldest son. + +"You remember that he had been clerk in the bank? Well, naturally, the +moment suspicion began to fasten on his father his position in the +business became untenable. I think every one was very kind to him. Mr. +Sutherland French, who was made acting manager 'during Mr. Lewis +Ireland's regrettable absence,' did everything in his power to show his +goodwill and sympathy to the young man, but I don't think that he or any +one else was much astonished when, after Mrs. Ireland's extraordinary +attitude in the case had become public property, he quietly intimated +to the acting manager that he had determined to sever his connection +with the bank. + +"The best of recommendations was, of course, placed at his disposal, and +it was finally understood that, as soon as his father was completely +restored to health and would no longer require his presence in London, +he would try to obtain employment somewhere abroad. He spoke of the new +volunteer corps organized for the military policing of the new colonies, +and, truth to tell, no one could blame him that he should wish to leave +far behind him all London banking connections. The son's attitude +certainly did not tend to ameliorate the father's position. It was +pretty evident that his own family had ceased to hope in the poor +manager's innocence. + +"And yet he was absolutely innocent. You must remember how that fact was +clearly demonstrated as soon as the poor man was able to say a word for +himself. And he said it to some purpose, too. + +"Mr. Ireland was, and is, very fond of music. On the evening in +question, while sitting in his club, he saw in one of the daily papers +the announcement of a peculiarly attractive programme at the Queen's +Hall concert. He was not dressed, but nevertheless felt an irresistible +desire to hear one or two of these attractive musical items, and he +strolled down to the Hall. Now, this sort of alibi is usually very +difficult to prove, but Dame Fortune, oddly enough, favoured Mr. Ireland +on this occasion, probably to compensate him for the hard knocks she had +been dealing him pretty freely of late. + +"It appears that there was some difficulty about his seat, which was +sold to him at the box office, and which he, nevertheless, found +wrongfully occupied by a determined lady, who refused to move. The +management had to be appealed to; the attendants also remembered not +only the incident, but also the face and appearance of the gentleman who +was the innocent cause of the altercation. + +"As soon as Mr. Ireland could speak for himself he mentioned the +incident and the persons who had been witness to it. He was identified +by them, to the amazement, it must be confessed, of police and public +alike, who had comfortably decided that no one _could_ be guilty save +the manager of the Provident Bank himself. Moreover, Mr. Ireland was a +fairly wealthy man, with a good balance at the Union Bank, and plenty of +private means, the result of years of provident living. + +"He had but to prove that if he really had been in need of an immediate +L5000--which was all the amount extracted from the bank safe that +night--he had plenty of securities on which he could, at an hour's +notice, have raised twice that sum. His life insurances had been fully +paid up; he had not a debt which a L5 note could not easily have +covered. + +"On the fatal night he certainly did remember asking the watchman not to +bolt the door to his office, as he thought he might have one or two +letters to write when he came home, but later on he had forgotten all +about this. After the concert he met his son in Oxford Street, just +outside the house, and thought no more about the office, the door of +which was shut, and presented no unusual appearance. + +"Mr. Ireland absolutely denied having been in his office at the hour +when James Fairbairn positively asserted he heard Mrs. Ireland say in an +astonished tone of voice: 'Why, Lewis, what in the world are you doing +here?' It became pretty clear therefore that James Fairbairn's view of +the manager's wife had been a mere vision. + +"Mr. Ireland gave up his position as manager of the English Provident: +both he and his wife felt no doubt that on the whole, perhaps, there had +been too much talk, too much scandal connected with their name, to be +altogether advantageous to the bank. Moreover, Mr. Ireland's health was +not so good as it had been. He has a pretty house now at Sittingbourne, +and amuses himself during his leisure hours with amateur horticulture, +and I, who alone in London besides the persons directly connected with +this mysterious affair, know the true solution of the enigma, often +wonder how much of it is known to the ex-manager of the English +Provident Bank." + +The man in the corner had been silent for some time. Miss Polly Burton, +in her presumption, had made up her mind, at the commencement of his +tale, to listen attentively to every point of the evidence in connection +with the case which he recapitulated before her, and to follow the +point, in order to try and arrive at a conclusion of her own, and +overwhelm the antediluvian scarecrow with her sagacity. + +She said nothing, for she had arrived at no conclusion; the case puzzled +every one, and had amazed the public in its various stages, from the +moment when opinion began to cast doubt on Mr. Ireland's honesty to that +when his integrity was proved beyond a doubt. One or two people had +suspected Mrs. Ireland to have been the actual thief, but that idea had +soon to be abandoned. + +Mrs. Ireland had all the money she wanted; the theft occurred six months +ago, and not a single bank-note was ever traced to her pocket; moreover, +she must have had an accomplice, since some one else was in the +manager's room that night; and if that some one else was her accomplice, +why did she risk betraying him by speaking loudly in the presence of +James Fairbairn, when it would have been so much simpler to turn out +the light and plunge the hall into darkness? + +"You are altogether on the wrong track," sounded a sharp voice in direct +answer to Polly's thoughts--"altogether wrong. If you want to acquire my +method of induction, and improve your reasoning power, you must follow +my system. First think of the one absolutely undisputed, positive fact. +You must have a starting-point, and not go wandering about in the realms +of suppositions." + +"But there are no positive facts," she said irritably. + +"You don't say so?" he said quietly. "Do you not call it a positive fact +that the bank safe was robbed of L5000 on the evening of March 25th +before 11.30 p.m." + +"Yes, that is all which is positive and--" + +"Do you not call it a positive fact," he interrupted quietly, "that the +lock of the safe not being picked, it must have been opened by its own +key?" + +"I know that," she rejoined crossly, "and that is why every one agreed +that James Fairbairn could not possibly--" + +"And do you not call it a positive fact, then, that James Fairbairn +could not possibly, etc., etc., seeing that the glass partition door was +locked from the inside; Mrs. Ireland herself let James Fairbairn into +her husband's office when she saw him lying fainting before the open +safe. Of course that was a positive fact, and so was the one that proved +to any thinking mind that if that safe was opened with a key, it could +only have been done by a person having access to that key." + +"But the man in the private office--" + +"Exactly! the man in the private office. Enumerate his points, if you +please," said the funny creature, marking each point with one of his +favourite knots. "He was a man who might that night have had access to +the key of the safe, unsuspected by the manager or even his wife, and a +man for whom Mrs. Ireland was willing to tell a downright lie. Are there +many men for whom a woman of the better middle class, and an +Englishwoman, would be ready to perjure herself? Surely not! She might +do it for her husband. The public thought she had. It never struck them +that she might have done it for her son!" + +"Her son!" exclaimed Polly. + +"Ah! she was a clever woman," he ejaculated enthusiastically, "one with +courage and presence of mind, which I don't think I have ever seen +equalled. She runs downstairs before going to bed in order to see +whether the last post has brought any letters. She sees the door of her +husband's office ajar, she pushes it open, and there, by the sudden +flash of a hastily struck match she realizes in a moment that a thief +stands before the open safe, and in that thief she has already +recognized her son. At that very moment she hears the watchman's step +approaching the partition. There is no time to warn her son; she does +not know the glass door is locked; James Fairbairn may switch on the +electric light and see the young man in the very act of robbing his +employers' safe. + +"One thing alone can reassure the watchman. One person alone had the +right to be there at that hour of the night, and without hesitation she +pronounces her husband's name. + +"Mind you, I firmly believe that at the time the poor woman only wished +to gain time, that she had every hope that her son had not yet had the +opportunity to lay so heavy a guilt upon his conscience. + +"What passed between mother and son we shall never know, but this much +we do know, that the young villain made off with his booty, and trusted +that his mother would never betray him. Poor woman! what a night of it +she must have spent; but she was clever and far-seeing. She knew that +her husband's character could not suffer through her action. +Accordingly, she took the only course open to her to save her son even +from his father's wrath, and boldly denied James Fairbairn's statement. + +"Of course, she was fully aware that her husband could easily clear +himself, and the worst that could be said of her was that she had +thought him guilty and had tried to save him. She trusted to the future +to clear her of any charge of complicity in the theft. + +"By now every one has forgotten most of the circumstances; the police +are still watching the career of James Fairbairn and Mrs. Ireland's +expenditure. As you know, not a single note, so far, has been traced to +her. Against that, one or two of the notes have found their way back to +England. No one realizes how easy it is to cash English bank-notes at +the smaller _agents de change_ abroad. The _changeurs_ are only too glad +to get them; what do they care where they come from as long as they are +genuine? And a week or two later _M. le Changeur_ could not swear who +tendered him any one particular note. + +"You see, young Robert Ireland went abroad, he will come back some day +having made a fortune. There's his photo. And this is his mother--a +clever woman, wasn't she?" + +And before Polly had time to reply he was gone. She really had never +seen any one move across a room so quickly. But he always left an +interesting trail behind: a piece of string knotted from end to end and +a few photos. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE DUBLIN MYSTERY + + +"I always thought that the history of that forged will was about as +interesting as any I had read," said the man in the corner that day. He +had been silent for some time, and was meditatively sorting and looking +through a packet of small photographs in his pocket-book. Polly guessed +that some of these would presently be placed before her for +inspection--and she had not long to wait. + +"That is old Brooks," he said, pointing to one of the photographs, +"Millionaire Brooks, as he was called, and these are his two sons, +Percival and Murray. It was a curious case, wasn't it? Personally I +don't wonder that the police were completely at sea. If a member of that +highly estimable force happened to be as clever as the clever author of +that forged will, we should have very few undetected crimes in this +country." + +"That is why I always try to persuade you to give our poor ignorant +police the benefit of your great insight and wisdom," said Polly, with +a smile. + +"I know," he said blandly, "you have been most kind in that way, but I +am only an amateur. Crime interests me only when it resembles a clever +game of chess, with many intricate moves which all tend to one solution, +the checkmating of the antagonist--the detective force of the country. +Now, confess that, in the Dublin mystery, the clever police there were +absolutely checkmated." + +"Absolutely." + +"Just as the public was. There were actually two crimes committed in one +city which have completely baffled detection: the murder of Patrick +Wethered the lawyer, and the forged will of Millionaire Brooks. There +are not many millionaires in Ireland; no wonder old Brooks was a +notability in his way, since his business--bacon curing, I believe it +is--is said to be worth over L2,000,000 of solid money. + +"His younger son Murray was a refined, highly educated man, and was, +moreover, the apple of his father's eye, as he was the spoilt darling of +Dublin society; good-looking, a splendid dancer, and a perfect rider, he +was the acknowledged 'catch' of the matrimonial market of Ireland, and +many a very aristocratic house was opened hospitably to the favourite +son of the millionaire. + +"Of course, Percival Brooks, the eldest son, would inherit the bulk of +the old man's property and also probably the larger share in the +business; he, too, was good-looking, more so than his brother; he, too, +rode, danced, and talked well, but it was many years ago that mammas +with marriageable daughters had given up all hopes of Percival Brooks as +a probable son-in-law. That young man's infatuation for Maisie +Fortescue, a lady of undoubted charm but very doubtful antecedents, who +had astonished the London and Dublin music-halls with her extravagant +dances, was too well known and too old-established to encourage any +hopes in other quarters. + +"Whether Percival Brooks would ever marry Maisie Fortescue was thought +to be very doubtful. Old Brooks had the full disposal of all his wealth, +and it would have fared ill with Percival if he introduced an +undesirable wife into the magnificent Fitzwilliam Place establishment. + +"That is how matters stood," continued the man in the corner, "when +Dublin society one morning learnt, with deep regret and dismay, that old +Brooks had died very suddenly at his residence after only a few hours' +illness. At first it was generally understood that he had had an +apoplectic stroke; anyway, he had been at business hale and hearty as +ever the day before his death, which occurred late on the evening of +February 1st. + +"It was the morning papers of February 2nd which told the sad news to +their readers, and it was those selfsame papers which on that eventful +morning contained another even more startling piece of news, that proved +the prelude to a series of sensations such as tranquil, placid Dublin +had not experienced for many years. This was, that on that very +afternoon which saw the death of Dublin's greatest millionaire, Mr. +Patrick Wethered, his solicitor, was murdered in Phoenix Park at five +o'clock in the afternoon while actually walking to his own house from +his visit to his client in Fitzwilliam Place. + +"Patrick Wethered was as well known as the proverbial town pump; his +mysterious and tragic death filled all Dublin with dismay. The lawyer, +who was a man sixty years of age, had been struck on the back of the +head by a heavy stick, garrotted, and subsequently robbed, for neither +money, watch, or pocket-book were found upon his person, whilst the +police soon gathered from Patrick Wethered's household that he had left +home at two o'clock that afternoon, carrying both watch and pocket-book, +and undoubtedly money as well. + +"An inquest was held, and a verdict of wilful murder was found against +some person or persons unknown. + +"But Dublin had not exhausted its stock of sensations yet. Millionaire +Brooks had been buried with due pomp and magnificence, and his will had +been proved (his business and personalty being estimated at L2,500,000) +by Percival Gordon Brooks, his eldest son and sole executor. The younger +son, Murray, who had devoted the best years of his life to being a +friend and companion to his father, while Percival ran after +ballet-dancers and music-hall stars--Murray, who had avowedly been the +apple of his father's eye in consequence--was left with a miserly +pittance of L300 a year, and no share whatever in the gigantic business +of Brooks & Sons, bacon curers, of Dublin. + +"Something had evidently happened within the precincts of the Brooks' +town mansion, which the public and Dublin society tried in vain to +fathom. Elderly mammas and blushing _debutantes_ were already thinking +of the best means whereby next season they might more easily show the +cold shoulder to young Murray Brooks, who had so suddenly become a +hopeless 'detrimental' in the marriage market, when all these sensations +terminated in one gigantic, overwhelming bit of scandal, which for the +next three months furnished food for gossip in every drawing-room in +Dublin. + +"Mr. Murray Brooks, namely, had entered a claim for probate of a will, +made by his father in 1891, declaring that the later will made the very +day of his father's death and proved by his brother as sole executor, +was null and void, that will being a forgery." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +FORGERY + + +"The facts that transpired in connection with this extraordinary case +were sufficiently mysterious to puzzle everybody. As I told you before, +all Mr. Brooks' friends never quite grasped the idea that the old man +should so completely have cut off his favourite son with the proverbial +shilling. + +"You see, Percival had always been a thorn in the old man's flesh. +Horse-racing, gambling, theatres, and music-halls were, in the old +pork-butcher's eyes, so many deadly sins which his son committed every +day of his life, and all the Fitzwilliam Place household could testify +to the many and bitter quarrels which had arisen between father and son +over the latter's gambling or racing debts. Many people asserted that +Brooks would sooner have left his money to charitable institutions than +seen it squandered upon the brightest stars that adorned the music-hall +stage. + +"The case came up for hearing early in the autumn. In the meanwhile +Percival Brooks had given up his racecourse associates, settled down in +the Fitzwilliam Place mansion, and conducted his father's business, +without a manager, but with all the energy and forethought which he had +previously devoted to more unworthy causes. + +"Murray had elected not to stay on in the old house; no doubt +associations were of too painful and recent a nature; he was boarding +with the family of a Mr. Wilson Hibbert, who was the late Patrick +Wethered's, the murdered lawyer's, partner. They were quiet, homely +people, who lived in a very pokey little house in Kilkenny Street, and +poor Murray must, in spite of his grief, have felt very bitterly the +change from his luxurious quarters in his father's mansion to his +present tiny room and homely meals. + +"Percival Brooks, who was now drawing an income of over a hundred +thousand a year, was very severely criticised for adhering so strictly +to the letter of his father's will, and only paying his brother that +paltry L300 a year, which was very literally but the crumbs off his own +magnificent dinner table. + +"The issue of that contested will case was therefore awaited with eager +interest. In the meanwhile the police, who had at first seemed fairly +loquacious on the subject of the murder of Mr. Patrick Wethered, +suddenly became strangely reticent, and by their very reticence aroused +a certain amount of uneasiness in the public mind, until one day the +_Irish Times_ published the following extraordinary, enigmatic +paragraph: + +"'We hear on authority which cannot be questioned, that certain +extraordinary developments are expected in connection with the brutal +murder of our distinguished townsman Mr. Wethered; the police, in fact, +are vainly trying to keep it secret that they hold a clue which is as +important as it is sensational, and that they only await the impending +issue of a well-known litigation in the probate court to effect an +arrest.' + +"The Dublin public flocked to the court to hear the arguments in the +great will case. I myself journeyed down to Dublin. As soon as I +succeeded in fighting my way to the densely crowded court, I took stock +of the various actors in the drama, which I as a spectator was prepared +to enjoy. There were Percival Brooks and Murray his brother, the two +litigants, both good-looking and well dressed, and both striving, by +keeping up a running conversation with their lawyer, to appear +unconcerned and confident of the issue. With Percival Brooks was Henry +Oranmore, the eminent Irish K.C., whilst Walter Hibbert, a rising young +barrister, the son of Wilson Hibbert, appeared for Murray. + +"The will of which the latter claimed probate was one dated 1891, and +had been made by Mr. Brooks during a severe illness which threatened to +end his days. This will had been deposited in the hands of Messrs. +Wethered and Hibbert, solicitors to the deceased, and by it Mr. Brooks +left his personalty equally divided between his two sons, but had left +his business entirely to his youngest son, with a charge of L2000 a year +upon it, payable to Percival. You see that Murray Brooks therefore had a +very deep interest in that second will being found null and void. + +"Old Mr. Hibbert had very ably instructed his son, and Walter Hibbert's +opening speech was exceedingly clever. He would show, he said, on behalf +of his client, that the will dated February 1st, 1908, could never have +been made by the late Mr. Brooks, as it was absolutely contrary to his +avowed intentions, and that if the late Mr. Brooks did on the day in +question make any fresh will at all, it certainly was _not_ the one +proved by Mr. Percival Brooks, for that was absolutely a forgery from +beginning to end. Mr. Walter Hibbert proposed to call several witnesses +in support of both these points. + +"On the other hand, Mr. Henry Oranmore, K.C., very ably and courteously +replied that he too had several witnesses to prove that Mr. Brooks +certainly did make a will on the day in question, and that, whatever his +intentions may have been in the past, he must have modified them on the +day of his death, for the will proved by Mr. Percival Brooks was found +after his death under his pillow, duly signed and witnessed and in every +way legal. + +"Then the battle began in sober earnest. There were a great many +witnesses to be called on both sides, their evidence being of more or +less importance--chiefly less. But the interest centred round the +prosaic figure of John O'Neill, the butler at Fitzwilliam Place, who had +been in Mr. Brooks' family for thirty years. + +"'I was clearing away my breakfast things,' said John, 'when I heard the +master's voice in the study close by. Oh my, he was that angry! I could +hear the words "disgrace," and "villain," and "liar," and +"ballet-dancer," and one or two other ugly words as applied to some +female lady, which I would not like to repeat. At first I did not take +much notice, as I was quite used to hearing my poor dear master having +words with Mr. Percival. So I went downstairs carrying my breakfast +things; but I had just started cleaning my silver when the study bell +goes ringing violently, and I hear Mr. Percival's voice shouting in the +hall: "John! quick! Send for Dr. Mulligan at once. Your master is not +well! Send one of the men, and you come up and help me to get Mr. Brooks +to bed." + +"'I sent one of the grooms for the doctor,' continued John, who seemed +still affected at the recollection of his poor master, to whom he had +evidently been very much attached, 'and I went up to see Mr. Brooks. I +found him lying on the study floor, his head supported in Mr. Percival's +arms. "My father has fallen in a faint," said the young master; "help me +to get him up to his room before Dr. Mulligan comes." + +"'Mr. Percival looked very white and upset, which was only natural; and +when we had got my poor master to bed, I asked if I should not go and +break the news to Mr. Murray, who had gone to business an hour ago. +However, before Mr. Percival had time to give me an order the doctor +came. I thought I had seen death plainly writ in my master's face, and +when I showed the doctor out an hour later, and he told me that he would +be back directly, I knew that the end was near. + +"'Mr. Brooks rang for me a minute or two later. He told me to send at +once for Mr. Wethered, or else for Mr. Hibbert, if Mr. Wethered could +not come. "I haven't many hours to live, John," he says to me--"my heart +is broke, the doctor says my heart is broke. A man shouldn't marry and +have children, John, for they will sooner or later break his heart." I +was so upset I couldn't speak; but I sent round at once for Mr. +Wethered, who came himself just about three o'clock that afternoon. + +"'After he had been with my master about an hour I was called in, and +Mr. Wethered said to me that Mr. Brooks wished me and one other of us +servants to witness that he had signed a paper which was on a table by +his bedside. I called Pat Mooney, the head footman, and before us both +Mr. Brooks put his name at the bottom of that paper. Then Mr. Wethered +give me the pen and told me to write my name as a witness, and that Pat +Mooney was to do the same. After that we were both told that we could +go.' + +"The old butler went on to explain that he was present in his late +master's room on the following day when the undertakers, who had come to +lay the dead man out, found a paper underneath his pillow. John O'Neill, +who recognized the paper as the one to which he had appended his +signature the day before, took it to Mr. Percival, and gave it into his +hands. + +"In answer to Mr. Walter Hibbert, John asserted positively that he took +the paper from the undertaker's hand and went straight with it to Mr. +Percival's room. + +"'He was alone,' said John; 'I gave him the paper. He just glanced at +it, and I thought he looked rather astonished, but he said nothing, and +I at once left the room.' + +"'When you say that you recognized the paper as the one which you had +seen your master sign the day before, how did you actually recognize +that it was the same paper?' asked Mr. Hibbert amidst breathless +interest on the part of the spectators. I narrowly observed the +witness's face. + +"'It looked exactly the same paper to me, sir,' replied John, somewhat +vaguely. + +"'Did you look at the contents, then?' + +"'No, sir; certainly not.' + +"'Had you done so the day before?' + +"'No, sir, only at my master's signature.' + +"'Then you only thought by the _outside_ look of the paper that it was +the same?' + +"'It looked the same thing, sir,' persisted John obstinately. + +"You see," continued the man in the corner, leaning eagerly forward +across the narrow marble table, "the contention of Murray Brooks' +adviser was that Mr. Brooks, having made a will and hidden it--for some +reason or other under his pillow--that will had fallen, through the +means related by John O'Neill, into the hands of Mr. Percival Brooks, +who had destroyed it and substituted a forged one in its place, which +adjudged the whole of Mr. Brooks' millions to himself. It was a terrible +and very daring accusation directed against a gentleman who, in spite of +his many wild oats sowed in early youth, was a prominent and important +figure in Irish high life. + +"All those present were aghast at what they heard, and the whispered +comments I could hear around me showed me that public opinion, at +least, did not uphold Mr. Murray Brooks' daring accusation against his +brother. + +"But John O'Neill had not finished his evidence, and Mr. Walter Hibbert +had a bit of sensation still up his sleeve. He had, namely, produced a +paper, the will proved by Mr. Percival Brooks, and had asked John +O'Neill if once again he recognized the paper. + +"'Certainly, sir,' said John unhesitatingly, 'that is the one the +undertaker found under my poor dead master's pillow, and which I took to +Mr. Percival's room immediately.' + +"Then the paper was unfolded and placed before the witness. + +"'Now, Mr. O'Neill, will you tell me if that is your signature?' + +"John looked at it for a moment; then he said: 'Excuse me, sir,' and +produced a pair of spectacles which he carefully adjusted before he +again examined the paper. Then he thoughtfully shook his head. + +"'It don't look much like my writing, sir,' he said at last. 'That is to +say,' he added, by way of elucidating the matter, 'it does look like my +writing, but then I don't think it is.' + +"There was at that moment a look in Mr. Percival Brooks' face," +continued the man in the corner quietly, "which then and there gave me +the whole history of that quarrel, that illness of Mr. Brooks, of the +will, aye! and of the murder of Patrick Wethered too. + +"All I wondered at was how every one of those learned counsel on both +sides did not get the clue just the same as I did, but went on arguing, +speechifying, cross-examining for nearly a week, until they arrived at +the one conclusion which was inevitable from the very first, namely, +that the will _was_ a forgery--a gross, clumsy, idiotic forgery, since +both John O'Neill and Pat Mooney, the two witnesses, absolutely +repudiated the signatures as their own. The only successful bit of +caligraphy the forger had done was the signature of old Mr. Brooks. + +"It was a very curious fact, and one which had undoubtedly aided the +forger in accomplishing his work quickly, that Mr. Wethered the lawyer +having, no doubt, realized that Mr. Brooks had not many moments in life +to spare, had not drawn up the usual engrossed, magnificent document +dear to the lawyer heart, but had used for his client's will one of +those regular printed forms which can be purchased at any stationer's. + +"Mr. Percival Brooks, of course, flatly denied the serious allegation +brought against him. He admitted that the butler had brought him the +document the morning after his father's death, and that he certainly, on +glancing at it, had been very much astonished to see that that document +was his father's will. Against that he declared that its contents did +not astonish him in the slightest degree, that he himself knew of the +testator's intentions, but that he certainly thought his father had +entrusted the will to the care of Mr. Wethered, who did all his business +for him. + +"'I only very cursorily glanced at the signature,' he concluded, +speaking in a perfectly calm, clear voice; 'you must understand that the +thought of forgery was very far from my mind, and that my father's +signature is exceedingly well imitated, if, indeed, it is not his own, +which I am not at all prepared to believe. As for the two witnesses' +signatures, I don't think I had ever seen them before. I took the +document to Messrs. Barkston and Maud, who had often done business for +me before, and they assured me that the will was in perfect form and +order.' + +"Asked why he had not entrusted the will to his father's solicitors, he +replied: + +"'For the very simple reason that exactly half an hour before the will +was placed in my hands, I had read that Mr. Patrick Wethered had been +murdered the night before. Mr. Hibbert, the junior partner, was not +personally known to me.' + +"After that, for form's sake, a good deal of expert evidence was heard +on the subject of the dead man's signature. But that was quite +unanimous, and merely went to corroborate what had already been +established beyond a doubt, namely, that the will dated February 1st, +1908, was a forgery, and probate of the will dated 1891 was therefore +granted to Mr. Murray Brooks, the sole executor mentioned therein." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +A MEMORABLE DAY + + +"Two days later the police applied for a warrant for the arrest of Mr. +Percival Brooks on a charge of forgery. + +"The Crown prosecuted, and Mr. Brooks had again the support of Mr. +Oranmore, the eminent K.C. Perfectly calm, like a man conscious of his +own innocence and unable to grasp the idea that justice does sometimes +miscarry, Mr. Brooks, the son of the millionaire, himself still the +possessor of a very large fortune under the former will, stood up in the +dock on that memorable day in October, 1908, which still no doubt lives +in the memory of his many friends. + +"All the evidence with regard to Mr. Brooks' last moments and the forged +will was gone through over again. That will, it was the contention of +the Crown, had been forged so entirely in favour of the accused, cutting +out every one else, that obviously no one but the beneficiary under that +false will would have had any motive in forging it. + +"Very pale, and with a frown between his deep-set, handsome Irish eyes, +Percival Brooks listened to this large volume of evidence piled up +against him by the Crown. + +"At times he held brief consultations with Mr. Oranmore, who seemed as +cool as a cucumber. Have you ever seen Oranmore in court? He is a +character worthy of Dickens. His pronounced brogue, his fat, podgy, +clean-shaven face, his not always immaculately clean large hands, have +often delighted the caricaturist. As it very soon transpired during that +memorable magisterial inquiry, he relied for a verdict in favour of his +client upon two main points, and he had concentrated all his skill upon +making these two points as telling as he possibly could. + +"The first point was the question of time, John O'Neill, cross-examined +by Oranmore, stated without hesitation that he had given the will to Mr. +Percival at eleven o'clock in the morning. And now the eminent K.C. +brought forward and placed in the witness-box the very lawyers into +whose hands the accused had then immediately placed the will. Now, Mr. +Barkston, a very well-known solicitor of King Street, declared +positively that Mr. Percival Brooks was in his office at a quarter +before twelve; two of his clerks testified to the same time exactly, and +it was _impossible_, contended Mr. Oranmore, that within three-quarters +of an hour Mr. Brooks could have gone to a stationer's, bought a will +form, copied Mr. Wethered's writing, his father's signature, and that +of John O'Neill and Pat Mooney. + +"Such a thing might have been planned, arranged, practised, and +ultimately, after a great deal of trouble, successfully carried out, but +human intelligence could not grasp the other as a possibility. + +"Still the judge wavered. The eminent K.C. had shaken but not shattered +his belief in the prisoner's guilt. But there was one point more, and +this Oranmore, with the skill of a dramatist, had reserved for the fall +of the curtain. + +"He noted every sign in the judge's face, he guessed that his client was +not yet absolutely safe, then only did he produce his last two +witnesses. + +"One of them was Mary Sullivan, one of the housemaids in the Fitzwilliam +mansion. She had been sent up by the cook at a quarter past four o'clock +on the afternoon of February 1st with some hot water, which the nurse +had ordered, for the master's room. Just as she was about to knock at +the door Mr. Wethered was coming out of the room. Mary stopped with the +tray in her hand, and at the door Mr. Wethered turned and said quite +loudly: 'Now, don't fret, don't be anxious; do try and be calm. Your +will is safe in my pocket, nothing can change it or alter one word of it +but yourself.' + +"It was, of course, a very ticklish point in law whether the +housemaid's evidence could be accepted. You see, she was quoting the +words of a man since dead, spoken to another man also dead. There is no +doubt that had there been very strong evidence on the other side against +Percival Brooks, Mary Sullivan's would have counted for nothing; but, as +I told you before, the judge's belief in the prisoner's guilt was +already very seriously shaken, and now the final blow aimed at it by Mr. +Oranmore shattered his last lingering doubts. + +"Dr. Mulligan, namely, had been placed by Mr. Oranmore into the +witness-box. He was a medical man of unimpeachable authority, in fact, +absolutely at the head of his profession in Dublin. What he said +practically corroborated Mary Sullivan's testimony. He had gone in to +see Mr. Brooks at half-past four, and understood from him that his +lawyer had just left him. + +"Mr. Brooks certainly, though terribly weak, was calm and more composed. +He was dying from a sudden heart attack, and Dr. Mulligan foresaw the +almost immediate end. But he was still conscious and managed to murmur +feebly: 'I feel much easier in my mind now, doctor--have made my +will--Wethered has been--he's got it in his pocket--it is safe +there--safe from that--' But the words died on his lips, and after that +he spoke but little. He saw his two sons before he died, but hardly +knew them or even looked at them. + +"You see," concluded the man in the corner, "you see that the +prosecution was bound to collapse. Oranmore did not give it a leg to +stand on. The will was forged, it is true, forged in the favour of +Percival Brooks and of no one else, forged for him and for his benefit. +Whether he knew and connived at the forgery was never proved or, as far +as I know, even hinted, but it was impossible to go against all the +evidence, which pointed that, as far as the act itself was concerned, he +at least was innocent. You see, Dr. Mulligan's evidence was not to be +shaken. Mary Sullivan's was equally strong. + +"There were two witnesses swearing positively that old Brooks' will was +in Mr. Wethered's keeping when that gentleman left the Fitzwilliam +mansion at a quarter past four. At five o'clock in the afternoon the +lawyer was found dead in Phoenix Park. Between a quarter past four and +eight o'clock in the evening Percival Brooks never left the house--that +was subsequently proved by Oranmore up to the hilt and beyond a doubt. +Since the will found under old Brooks' pillow was a forged will, where +then was the will he did make, and which Wethered carried away with him +in his pocket?" + +"Stolen, of course," said Polly, "by those who murdered and robbed him; +it may have been of no value to them, but they naturally would destroy +it, lest it might prove a clue against them." + +"Then you think it was mere coincidence?" he asked excitedly. + +"What?" + +"That Wethered was murdered and robbed at the very moment that he +carried the will in his pocket, whilst another was being forged in its +place?" + +"It certainly would be very curious, if it _were_ a coincidence," she +said musingly. + +"Very," he repeated with biting sarcasm, whilst nervously his bony +fingers played with the inevitable bit of string. "Very curious indeed. +Just think of the whole thing. There was the old man with all his +wealth, and two sons, one to whom he is devoted, and the other with whom +he does nothing but quarrel. One day there is another of these quarrels, +but more violent, more terrible than any that have previously occurred, +with the result that the father, heartbroken by it all, has an attack of +apoplexy and practically dies of a broken heart. After that he alters +his will, and subsequently a will is proved which turns out to be a +forgery. + +"Now everybody--police, press, and public alike--at once jump to the +conclusion that, as Percival Brooks benefits by that forged will, +Percival Brooks must be the forger." + +"Seek for him whom the crime benefits, is your own axiom," argued the +girl. + +"I beg your pardon?" + +"Percival Brooks benefited to the tune of L2,000,000." + +"I beg your pardon. He did nothing of the sort. He was left with less +than half the share that his younger brother inherited." + +"Now, yes; but that was a former will and--" + +"And that forged will was so clumsily executed, the signature so +carelessly imitated, that the forgery was bound to come to light. Did +_that_ never strike you?" + +"Yes, but--" + +"There is no but," he interrupted. "It was all as clear as daylight to +me from the very first. The quarrel with the old man, which broke his +heart, was not with his eldest son, with whom he was used to +quarrelling, but with the second son whom he idolised, in whom he +believed. Don't you remember how John O'Neill heard the words 'liar' and +'deceit'? Percival Brooks had never deceived his father. His sins were +all on the surface. Murray had led a quiet life, had pandered to his +father, and fawned upon him, until, like most hypocrites, he at last got +found out. Who knows what ugly gambling debt or debt of honour, suddenly +revealed to old Brooks, was the cause of that last and deadly quarrel? + +"You remember that it was Percival who remained beside his father and +carried him up to his room. Where was Murray throughout that long and +painful day, when his father lay dying--he, the idolised son, the apple +of the old man's eye? You never hear his name mentioned as being present +there all that day. But he knew that he had offended his father +mortally, and that his father meant to cut him off with a shilling. He +knew that Mr. Wethered had been sent for, that Wethered left the house +soon after four o'clock. + +"And here the cleverness of the man comes in. Having lain in wait for +Wethered and knocked him on the back of the head with a stick, he could +not very well make that will disappear altogether. There remained the +faint chance of some other witnesses knowing that Mr. Brooks had made a +fresh will, Mr. Wethered's partner, his clerk, or one of the +confidential servants in the house. Therefore _a_ will must be +discovered after the old man's death. + +"Now, Murray Brooks was not an expert forger, it takes years of training +to become that. A forged will executed by himself would be sure to be +found out--yes, that's it, sure to be found out. The forgery will be +palpable--let it be palpable, and then it will be found out, branded as +such, and the original will of 1891, so favourable to the young +blackguard's interests, would be held as valid. Was it devilry or +merely additional caution which prompted Murray to pen that forged will +so glaringly in Percival's favour? It is impossible to say. + +"Anyhow, it was the cleverest touch in that marvellously devised crime. +To plan that evil deed was great, to execute it was easy enough. He had +several hours' leisure in which to do it. Then at night it was +simplicity itself to slip the document under the dead man's pillow. +Sacrilege causes no shudder to such natures as Murray Brooks. The rest +of the drama you know already--" + +"But Percival Brooks?" + +"The jury returned a verdict of 'Not guilty.' There was no evidence +against him." + +"But the money? Surely the scoundrel does not have the enjoyment of it +still?" + +"No; he enjoyed it for a time, but he died, about three months ago, and +forgot to take the precaution of making a will, so his brother Percival +has got the business after all. If you ever go to Dublin, I should order +some of Brooks' bacon if I were you. It is very good." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +AN UNPARALLELED OUTRAGE + + +"Do you care for the seaside?" asked the man in the corner when he had +finished his lunch. "I don't mean the seaside at Ostend or Trouville, +but honest English seaside with nigger minstrels, three-shilling +excursionists, and dirty, expensive furnished apartments, where they +charge you a shilling for lighting the hall gas on Sundays and sixpence +on other evenings. Do you care for that?" + +"I prefer the country." + +"Ah! perhaps it is preferable. Personally I only liked one of our +English seaside resorts once, and that was for a week, when Edward +Skinner was up before the magistrate, charged with what was known as the +'Brighton Outrage.' I don't know if you remember the memorable day in +Brighton, memorable for that elegant town, which deals more in +amusements than mysteries, when Mr. Francis Morton, one of its most +noted residents, disappeared. Yes! disappeared as completely as any +vanishing lady in a music-hall. He was wealthy, had a fine house, +servants, a wife and children, and he disappeared. There was no getting +away from that. + +"Mr. Francis Morton lived with his wife in one of the large houses in +Sussex Square at the Kemp Town end of Brighton. Mrs. Morton was well +known for her Americanisms, her swagger dinner parties, and beautiful +Paris gowns. She was the daughter of one of the many American +millionaires (I think her father was a Chicago pork-butcher), who +conveniently provide wealthy wives for English gentlemen; and she had +married Mr. Francis Morton a few years ago and brought him her quarter +of a million, for no other reason but that she fell in love with him. He +was neither good-looking nor distinguished, in fact, he was one of those +men who seem to have CITY stamped all over their person. + +"He was a gentleman of very regular habits, going up to London every +morning on business and returning every afternoon by the 'husband's +train.' So regular was he in these habits that all the servants at the +Sussex Square house were betrayed into actual gossip over the fact that +on Wednesday, March 17th, the master was not home for dinner. Hales, the +butler, remarked that the mistress seemed a bit anxious and didn't eat +much food. The evening wore on and Mr. Morton did not appear. At nine +o'clock the young footman was dispatched to the station to make +inquiries whether his master had been seen there in the afternoon, or +whether--which Heaven forbid--there had been an accident on the line. +The young man interviewed two or three porters, the bookstall boy, and +ticket clerk; all were agreed that Mr. Morton did not go up to London +during the day; no one had seen him within the precincts of the station. +There certainly had been no accident reported either on the up or down +line. + +"But the morning of the 18th came, with its initial postman's knock, but +neither Mr. Morton nor any sign or news from him. Mrs. Morton, who +evidently had spent a sleepless night, for she looked sadly changed and +haggard, sent a wire to the hall porter at the large building in Cannon +Street, where her husband had his office. An hour later she had the +reply: 'Not seen Mr. Morton all day yesterday, not here to-day.' By the +afternoon every one in Brighton knew that a fellow-resident had +mysteriously disappeared from or in the city. + +"A couple of days, then another, elapsed, and still no sign of Mr. +Morton. The police were doing their best. The gentleman was so well +known in Brighton--as he had been a resident two years--that it was not +difficult to firmly establish the one fact that he had not left the +city, since no one saw him in the station on the morning of the 17th, +nor at any time since then. Mild excitement prevailed throughout the +town. At first the newspapers took the matter somewhat jocosely. 'Where +is Mr. Morton?' was the usual placard on the evening's contents bills, +but after three days had gone by and the worthy Brighton resident was +still missing, while Mrs. Morton was seen to look more haggard and +careworn every day, mild excitement gave place to anxiety. + +"There were vague hints now as to foul play. The news had leaked out +that the missing gentleman was carrying a large sum of money on the day +of his disappearance. There were also vague rumours of a scandal not +unconnected with Mrs. Morton herself and her own past history, which in +her anxiety for her husband she had been forced to reveal to the +detective-inspector in charge of the case. + +"Then on Saturday the news which the late evening papers contained was +this: + +"'Acting on certain information received, the police to-day forced an +entrance into one of the rooms of Russell House, a high-class furnished +apartment on the King's Parade, and there they discovered our missing +distinguished townsman, Mr. Francis Morton, who had been robbed and +subsequently locked up in that room since Wednesday, the 17th. When +discovered he was in the last stages of inanition; he was tied into an +arm-chair with ropes, a thick wool shawl had been wound round his mouth, +and it is a positive marvel that, left thus without food and very +little air, the unfortunate gentleman survived the horrors of these four +days of incarceration. + +"'He has been conveyed to his residence in Sussex Square, and we are +pleased to say that Doctor Mellish, who is in attendance, has declared +his patient to be out of serious danger, and that with care and rest he +will be soon quite himself again. + +"'At the same time our readers will learn with unmixed satisfaction that +the police of our city, with their usual acuteness and activity, have +already discovered the identity and whereabouts of the cowardly ruffian +who committed this unparalleled outrage.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE PRISONER + + +"I really don't know," continued the man in the corner blandly, "what it +was that interested me in the case from the very first. Certainly it had +nothing very out of the way or mysterious about it, but I journeyed down +to Brighton nevertheless, as I felt that something deeper and more +subtle lay behind that extraordinary assault, following a robbery, no +doubt. + +"I must tell you that the police had allowed it to be freely circulated +abroad that they held a clue. It had been easy enough to ascertain who +the lodger was who had rented the furnished room in Russell House. His +name was supposed to be Edward Skinner, and he had taken the room about +a fortnight ago, but had gone away ostensibly for two or three days on +the very day of Mr. Morton's mysterious disappearance. It was on the +20th that Mr. Morton was found, and thirty-six hours later the public +were gratified to hear that Mr. Edward Skinner had been traced to London +and arrested on the charge of assault upon the person of Mr. Francis +Morton and of robbing him of the sum of L10,000. + +"Then a further sensation was added to the already bewildering case by +the startling announcement that Mr. Francis Morton refused to prosecute. + +"Of course, the Treasury took up the case and subpoenaed Mr. Morton as a +witness, so that gentleman--if he wished to hush the matter up, or had +been in any way terrorised into a promise of doing so--gained nothing by +his refusal, except an additional amount of curiosity in the public mind +and further sensation around the mysterious case. + +"It was all this, you see, which had interested me and brought me down +to Brighton on March 23rd to see the prisoner Edward Skinner arraigned +before the beak. I must say that he was a very ordinary-looking +individual. Fair, of ruddy complexion, with snub nose and the beginning +of a bald place on the top of his head, he, too, looked the embodiment +of a prosperous, stodgy 'City gent.' + +"I took a quick survey of the witnesses present, and guessed that the +handsome, stylish woman sitting next to Mr. Reginald Pepys, the noted +lawyer for the Crown, was Mrs. Morton. + +"There was a large crowd in court, and I heard whispered comments among +the feminine portion thereof as to the beauty of Mrs. Morton's gown, +the value of her large picture hat, and the magnificence of her diamond +rings. + +"The police gave all the evidence required with regard to the finding of +Mr. Morton in the room at Russell House and also to the arrest of +Skinner at the Langham Hotel in London. It appears that the prisoner +seemed completely taken aback at the charge preferred against him, and +declared that though he knew Mr. Francis Morton slightly in business he +knew nothing as to his private life. + +"'Prisoner stated,' continued Inspector Buckle, 'that he was not even +aware Mr. Morton lived in Brighton, but I have evidence here, which I +will place before your Honour, to prove that the prisoner was seen in +the company of Mr. Morton at 9.30 o'clock on the morning of the +assault.' + +"Cross-examined by Mr. Matthew Quiller, the detective-inspector admitted +that prisoner merely said that he did not know that Mr. Morton was a +_resident_ of Brighton--he never denied having met him there. + +"The witness, or rather witnesses, referred to by the police were two +Brighton tradesmen who knew Mr. Morton by sight and had seen him on the +morning of the 17th walking with the accused. + +"In this instance Mr. Quiller had no question to ask of the witnesses, +and it was generally understood that the prisoner did not wish to +contradict their statement. + +"Constable Hartrick told the story of the finding of the unfortunate +Mr. Morton after his four days' incarceration. The constable had been +sent round by the chief inspector, after certain information given by +Mrs. Chapman, the landlady of Russell House. He had found the door +locked and forced it open. Mr. Morton was in an arm-chair, with several +yards of rope wound loosely round him; he was almost unconscious, and +there was a thick wool shawl tied round his mouth which must have +deadened any cry or groan the poor gentleman might have uttered. But, as +a matter of fact, the constable was under the impression that Mr. Morton +had been either drugged or stunned in some way at first, which had left +him weak and faint and prevented him from making himself heard or +extricating himself from his bonds, which were very clumsily, evidently +very hastily, wound round his body. + +"The medical officer who was called in, and also Dr. Mellish who +attended Mr. Morton, both said that he seemed dazed by some stupefying +drug, and also, of course, terribly weak and faint with the want of +food. + +"The first witness of real importance was Mrs. Chapman, the proprietress +of Russell House, whose original information to the police led to the +discovery of Mr. Morton. In answer to Mr. Pepys, she said that on March +1st the accused called at her house and gave his name as Mr. Edward +Skinner. + +"'He required, he said, a furnished room at a moderate rental for a +permanency, with full attendance when he was in, but he added that he +would often be away for two or three days, or even longer, at a time. + +"'He told me that he was a traveller for a tea-house,' continued Mrs. +Chapman, 'and I showed him the front room on the third floor, as he did +not want to pay more than twelve shillings a week. I asked him for a +reference, but he put three sovereigns in my hand, and said with a laugh +that he supposed paying for his room a month in advance was sufficient +reference; if I didn't like him after that, I could give him a week's +notice to quit.' + +"'You did not think of asking him the name of the firm for which he +travelled?' asked Mr. Pepys. + +"'No, I was quite satisfied as he paid me for the room. The next day he +sent in his luggage and took possession of the room. He went out most +mornings on business, but was always in Brighton for Saturday and +Sunday. On the 16th he told me that he was going to Liverpool for a +couple of days; he slept in the house that night, and went off early on +the 17th, taking his portmanteau with him.' + +"'At what time did he leave?' asked Mr. Pepys. + +"'I couldn't say exactly,' replied Mrs. Chapman with some hesitation. +'You see this is the off season here. None of my rooms are let, except +the one to Mr. Skinner, and I only have one servant. I keep four during +the summer, autumn, and winter season,' she added with conscious pride, +fearing that her former statement might prejudice the reputation of +Russell House. 'I thought I had heard Mr. Skinner go out about nine +o'clock, but about an hour later the girl and I were both in the +basement, and we heard the front door open and shut with a bang, and +then a step in the hall. + +"'"That's Mr. Skinner," said Mary. "So it is," I said, "why, I thought +he had gone an hour ago." "He did go out then," said Mary, "for he left +his bedroom door open and I went in to do his bed and tidy his room." +"Just go and see if that's him, Mary," I said, and Mary ran up to the +hall and up the stairs, and came back to tell me that that was Mr. +Skinner all right enough; he had gone straight up to his room. Mary +didn't see him, but he had another gentleman with him, as she could hear +them talking in Mr. Skinner's room.' + +"'Then you can't tell us at what time the prisoner left the house +finally?' + +"'No, that I can't. I went out shopping soon after that. When I came in +it was twelve o'clock. I went up to the third floor and found that Mr. +Skinner had locked his door and taken the key with him. As I knew Mary +had already done, the room I did not trouble more about it, though I did +think it strange for a gentleman to look up his room and not leave the +key with me.' + +"'And, of course, you heard no noise of any kind in the room then?' + +"'No. Not that day or the next, but on the third day Mary and I both +thought we heard a funny sound. I said that Mr. Skinner had left his +window open, and it was the blind flapping against the window-pane; but +when we heard that funny noise again I put my ear to the keyhole and I +thought I could hear a groan. I was very frightened, and sent Mary for +the police.' + +"Mrs. Chapman had nothing more of interest to say. The prisoner +certainly was her lodger. She had last seen him on the evening of the +16th going up to his room with his candle. Mary the servant had much the +same story to relate as her mistress. + +"'I think it was 'im, right enough,' said Mary guardedly. 'I didn't see +'im, but I went up to 'is landing and stopped a moment outside 'is door. +I could 'ear loud voices in the room--gentlemen talking.' + +"'I suppose you would not do such a thing as to listen, Mary?' queried +Mr. Pepys with a smile. + +"'No, sir,' said Mary with a bland smile, 'I didn't catch what the +gentlemen said, but one of them spoke so loud I thought they must be +quarrelling.' + +"'Mr. Skinner was the only person in possession of a latch-key, I +presume. No one else could have come in without ringing at the door?' + +"'Oh no, sir.' + +"That was all. So far, you see, the case was progressing splendidly for +the Crown against the prisoner. The contention, of course, was that +Skinner had met Mr. Morton, brought him home with him, assaulted, +drugged, then gagged and bound him, and finally robbed him of whatever +money he had in his possession, which, according to certain affidavits +which presently would be placed before the magistrate, amounted to +L10,000 in notes. + +"But in all this there still remained the great element of mystery for +which the public and the magistrate would demand an explanation: namely, +what were the relationships between Mr. Morton and Skinner, which had +induced the former to refuse the prosecution of the man who had not only +robbed him, but had so nearly succeeded in leaving him to die a terrible +and lingering death? + +"Mr. Morton was too ill as yet to appear in person. Dr. Mellish had +absolutely forbidden his patient to undergo the fatigue and excitement +of giving evidence himself in court that day. But his depositions had +been taken at his bedside, were sworn to by him, and were now placed +before the magistrate by the prosecuting counsel, and the facts they +revealed were certainly as remarkable as they were brief and +enigmatical. + +"As they were read by Mr. Pepys, an awed and expectant hush seemed to +descend over the large crowd gathered there, and all necks were strained +eagerly forward to catch a glimpse of a tall, elegant woman, faultlessly +dressed and wearing exquisite jewellery, but whose handsome face wore, +as the prosecuting counsel read her husband's deposition, a more and +more ashen hue. + +"'This, your Honour, is the statement made upon oath by Mr. Francis +Morton,' commenced Mr. Pepys in that loud, sonorous voice of his which +sounds so impressive in a crowded and hushed court. '"I was obliged, for +certain reasons which I refuse to disclose, to make a payment of a large +sum of money to a man whom I did not know and have never seen. It was in +a matter of which my wife was cognisant and which had entirely to do +with her own affairs. I was merely the go-between, as I thought it was +not fit that she should see to this matter herself. The individual in +question had made certain demands, of which she kept me in ignorance as +long as she could, not wishing to unnecessarily worry me. At last she +decided to place the whole matter before me, and I agreed with her that +it would be best to satisfy the man's demands. + +"'"I then wrote to that individual whose name I do not wish to disclose, +addressing the letter, as my wife directed me to do, to the Brighton +post office, saying that I was ready to pay the L10,000 to him, at any +place or time and in what manner he might appoint. I received a reply +which bore the Brighton postmark, and which desired me to be outside +Furnival's, the drapers, in West Street, at 9.30 on the morning of March +17th, and to bring the money (L10,000) in Bank of England notes. + +"'"On the 16th my wife gave me a cheque for the amount and I cashed it +at her bank--Bird's in Fleet Street. At half-past nine the following +morning I was at the appointed place. An individual wearing a grey +overcoat, bowler hat, and red tie accosted me by name and requested me +to walk as far as his lodgings in the King's Parade. I followed him. +Neither of us spoke. He stopped at a house which bore the name 'Russell +House,' and which I shall be able to swear to as soon as I am able to go +out. He let himself in with a latch-key, and asked me to follow him up +to his room on the third floor. I thought I noticed when we were in the +room that he locked the door; however, I had nothing of any value about +me except the L10,000, which I was ready to give him. We had not +exchanged the slightest word. + +"'"I gave him the notes, and he folded them and put them in his +pocket-book. Then I turned towards the door, and, without the slightest +warning, I felt myself suddenly gripped by the shoulder, while a +handkerchief was pressed to my nose and mouth. I struggled as best I +could, but the handkerchief was saturated with chloroform, and I soon +lost consciousness. I hazily remember the man saying to me in short, +jerky sentences, spoken at intervals while I was still weakly +struggling: + +"'"What a fool you must think me, my dear sir! Did you really think +that I was going to let you quietly walk out of here, straight to the +police-station, eh? Such dodges have been done before, I know, when a +man's silence has to be bought for money. Find out who he is, see where +he lives, give him the money, then inform against him. No you don't! not +this time. I am off to the continent with this L10,000, and I can get +to Newhaven in time for the midday boat, so you'll have to keep quiet +until I am the other side of the Channel, my friend. You won't be much +inconvenienced; my landlady will hear your groans presently and release +you, so you'll be all right. There, now, drink this--that's better.' He +forced something bitter down my throat, then I remember nothing more. + +"'"When I regained consciousness I was sitting in an arm-chair with some +rope tied round me and a wool shawl round my mouth. I hadn't the +strength to make the slightest effort to disentangle myself or to utter +a scream. I felt terribly sick and faint."' + +"Mr. Reginald Pepys had finished reading, and no one in that crowded +court had thought of uttering a sound; the magistrate's eyes were fixed +upon the handsome lady in the magnificent gown, who was mopping her eyes +with a dainty lace handkerchief. + +"The extraordinary narrative of the victim of so daring an outrage had +kept every one in suspense; one thing was still expected to make the +measure of sensation as full as it had ever been over any criminal case, +and that was Mrs. Morton's evidence. She was called by the prosecuting +counsel, and slowly, gracefully, she entered the witness-box. There was +no doubt that she had felt keenly the tortures which her husband had +undergone, and also the humiliation of seeing her name dragged forcibly +into this ugly, blackmailing scandal. + +"Closely questioned by Mr. Reginald Pepys, she was forced to admit that +the man who blackmailed her was connected with her early life in a way +which would have brought terrible disgrace upon her and upon her +children. The story she told, amidst many tears and sobs, and much use +of her beautiful lace handkerchief and beringed hands, was exceedingly +pathetic. + +"It appears that when she was barely seventeen she was inveigled into a +secret marriage with one of those foreign adventurers who swarm in every +country, and who styled himself Comte Armand de la Tremouille. He seems +to have been a blackguard of unusually low pattern, for, after he had +extracted from her some L200 of her pin money and a few diamond +brooches, he left her one fine day with a laconic word to say that he +was sailing for Europe by the _Argentina_, and would not be back for +some time. She was in love with the brute, poor young soul, for when, a +week later, she read that the _Argentina_ was wrecked, and presumably +every soul on board had perished, she wept very many bitter tears over +her early widowhood. + +"Fortunately her father, a very wealthy pork-butcher of Chicago, had +known nothing of his daughter's culpable foolishness. Four years later +he took her to London, where she met Mr. Francis Morton and married him. +She led six or seven years of very happy married life when one day, like +a thunderbolt from a clear, blue sky, she received a typewritten letter, +signed 'Armand de la Tremouille,' full of protestations of undying love, +telling a long and pathetic tale of years of suffering in a foreign +land, whither he had drifted after having been rescued almost +miraculously from the wreck of the _Argentina_, and where he never had +been able to scrape a sufficient amount of money to pay for his passage +home. At last fate had favoured him. He had, after many vicissitudes, +found the whereabouts of his dear wife, and was now ready to forgive all +that was past and take her to his loving arms once again. + +"What followed was the usual course of events when there is a blackguard +and a fool of a woman. She was terrorised and did not dare to tell her +husband for some time; she corresponded with the Comte de la Tremouille, +begging him for her sake and in memory of the past not to attempt to see +her. She found him amenable to reason in the shape of several hundred +pounds which passed through the Brighton post office into his hands. At +last one day, by accident, Mr. Morton came across one of the Comte de la +Tremouille's interesting letters. She confessed everything, throwing +herself upon her husband's mercy. + +"Now, Mr. Francis Morton was a business man, who viewed life practically +and soberly. He liked his wife, who kept him in luxury, and wished to +keep her, whereas the Comte de la Tremouille seemed willing enough to +give her up for a consideration. Mrs. Morton, who had the sole and +absolute control of her fortune, on the other hand, was willing enough +to pay the price and hush up the scandal, which she believed--since she +was a bit of a fool--would land her in prison for bigamy. Mr. Francis +Morton wrote to the Comte de la Tremouille that his wife was ready to +pay him the sum of L10,000 which he demanded in payment for her absolute +liberty and his own complete disappearance out of her life now and for +ever. The appointment was made, and Mr. Morton left his house at 9 a.m. +on March 17th with the L10,000 in his pocket. + +"The public and the magistrate had hung breathless upon her words. There +was nothing but sympathy felt for this handsome woman, who throughout +had been more sinned against than sinning, and whose gravest fault seems +to have been a total lack of intelligence in dealing with her own life. +But I can assure you of one thing, that in no case within my +recollection was there ever such a sensation in a court as when the +magistrate, after a few minutes' silence, said gently to Mrs. Morton: + +"'And now, Mrs. Morton, will you kindly look at the prisoner, and tell +me if in him you recognize your former husband?' + +"And she, without even turning to look at the accused, said quietly: + +"'Oh no! your Honour! of course that man is _not_ the Comte de la +Tremouille.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +A SENSATION + + +"I can assure you that the situation was quite dramatic," continued the +man in the corner, whilst his funny, claw-like hands took up a bit of +string with renewed feverishness. + +"In answer to further questions from the magistrate, she declared that +she had never seen the accused; he might have been the go-between, +however, that she could not say. The letters she received were all +typewritten, but signed 'Armand de la Tremouille,' and certainly the +signature was identical with that on the letters she used to receive +from him years ago, all of which she had kept. + +"'And did it _never_ strike you,' asked the magistrate with a smile, +'that the letters you received might be forgeries?' + +"'How could they be?' she replied decisively; no one knew of my marriage +to the Comte de la Tremouille, no one in England certainly. And, +besides, if some one did know the Comte intimately enough to forge his +handwriting and to blackmail me, why should that some one have waited +all these years? I have been married seven years, your Honour.' + +"That was true enough, and there the matter rested as far as she was +concerned. But the identity of Mr. Francis Morton's assailant had to be +finally established, of course, before the prisoner was committed for +trial. Dr. Mellish promised that Mr. Morton would be allowed to come to +court for half an hour and identify the accused on the following day, +and the case was adjourned until then. The accused was led away between +two constables, bail being refused, and Brighton had perforce to +moderate its impatience until the Wednesday. + +"On that day the court was crowded to overflowing; actors, playwrights, +literary men of all sorts had fought for admission to study for +themselves the various phases and faces in connection with the case. +Mrs. Morton was not present when the prisoner, quiet and self-possessed, +was brought in and placed in the dock. His solicitor was with him, and a +sensational defence was expected. + +"Presently there was a stir in the court, and that certain sound, half +rustle, half sigh, which preludes an expected palpitating event. Mr. +Morton, pale, thin, wearing yet in his hollow eyes the stamp of those +five days of suffering, walked into court leaning on the arm of his +doctor--Mrs. Morton was not with him. + +"He was at once accommodated with a chair in the witness-box, and the +magistrate, after a few words of kindly sympathy, asked him if he had +anything to add to his written statement. On Mr. Morton replying in the +negative, the magistrate added: + +"'And now, Mr. Morton, will you kindly look at the accused in the dock +and tell me whether you recognize the person who took you to the room in +Russell House and then assaulted you?' + +"Slowly the sick man turned towards the prisoner and looked at him; then +he shook his head and replied quietly: + +"'No, sir, that certainly was not the man.' + +"'You are quite sure?' asked the magistrate in amazement, while the +crowd literally gasped with wonder. + +"'I swear it,' asserted Mr. Morton. + +"'Can you describe the man who assaulted you?' + +"'Certainly. He was dark, of swarthy complexion, tall, thin, with bushy +eyebrows and thick black hair and short beard. He spoke English with +just the faintest suspicion of a foreign accent.' + +"The prisoner, as I told you before, was English in every feature. +English in his ruddy complexion, and absolutely English in his speech. + +"After that the case for the prosecution began to collapse. Every one +had expected a sensational defence, and Mr. Matthew Quiller, counsel +for Skinner, fully justified all these expectations. He had no fewer +than four witnesses present who swore positively that at 9.45 a.m. on +the morning of Wednesday, March 17th, the prisoner was in the express +train leaving Brighton for Victoria. + +"Not being endowed with the gift of being in two places at once, and Mr. +Morton having added the whole weight of his own evidence in Mr. Edward +Skinner's favour, that gentleman was once more remanded by the +magistrate, pending further investigation by the police, bail being +allowed this time in two sureties of L50 each." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +TWO BLACKGUARDS + + +"Tell me what you think of it," said the man in the corner, seeing that +Polly remained silent and puzzled. + +"Well," she replied dubiously, "I suppose that the so-called Armand de +la Tremouille's story was true in substance. That he did not perish on +the _Argentina_, but drifted home, and blackmailed his former wife." + +"Doesn't it strike you that there are at least two very strong points +against that theory?" he asked, making two gigantic knots in his piece +of string. + +"Two?" + +"Yes. In the first place, if the blackmailer was the 'Comte de la +Tremouille' returned to life, why should he have been content to take +L10,000 from a lady who was his lawful wife, and who could keep him in +luxury for the rest of his natural life upon her large fortune, which +was close upon a quarter of a million? The real Comte de la Tremouille, +remember, had never found it difficult to get money out of his wife +during their brief married life, whatever Mr. Morton's subsequent +experience in the same direction might have been. And, secondly, why +should he have typewritten his letters to his wife?" + +"Because--" + +"That was a point which, to my mind, the police never made the most of. +Now, my experience in criminal cases has invariably been that when a +typewritten letter figures in one, that letter is a forgery. It is not +very difficult to imitate a signature, but it is a jolly sight more +difficult to imitate a handwriting throughout an entire letter." + +"Then, do you think--" + +"I think, if you will allow me," he interrupted excitedly, "that we will +go through the points--the sensible, tangible points of the case. +Firstly: Mr. Morton disappears with L10,000 in his pocket for four +entire days; at the end of that time he is discovered loosely tied to an +arm-chair, and a wool shawl round his mouth. Secondly: A man named +Skinner is accused of the outrage. Mr. Morton, although he himself is +able, mind you, to furnish the best defence possible for Skinner, by +denying his identity with the man who assaulted him, refuses to +prosecute. Why?" + +"He did not wish to drag his wife's name into the case." + +"He must have known that the Crown would take up the case. Then, again, +how is it no one saw him in the company of the swarthy foreigner he +described?" + +"Two witnesses did see Mr. Morton in company with Skinner," argued +Polly. + +"Yes, at 9.20 in West Street; that would give Edward Skinner time to +catch the 9.45 at the station, and to entrust Mr. Morton with the +latch-key of Russell House," remarked the man in the corner dryly. + +"What nonsense!" Polly ejaculated. + +"Nonsense, is it?" he said, tugging wildly at his bit of string; "is it +nonsense to affirm that if a man wants to make sure that his victim +shall not escape, he does not usually wind rope 'loosely' round his +figure, nor does he throw a wool shawl lightly round his mouth. The +police were idiotic beyond words; they themselves discovered that Morton +was so 'loosely' fastened to his chair that very little movement would +have disentangled him, and yet it never struck them that nothing was +easier for that particular type of scoundrel to sit down in an arm-chair +and wind a few yards of rope round himself, then, having wrapped a wool +shawl round his throat, to slip his two arms inside the ropes." + +"But what object would a man in Mr. Morton's position have for playing +such extraordinary pranks?" + +"Ah, the motive! There you are! What do I always tell you? Seek the +motive! Now, what was Mr. Morton's position? He was the husband of a +lady who owned a quarter of a million of money, not one penny of which +he could touch without her consent, as it was settled on herself, and +who, after the terrible way in which she had been plundered and then +abandoned in her early youth, no doubt kept a very tight hold upon the +purse-strings. Mr. Morton's subsequent life has proved that he had +certain expensive, not altogether avowable, tastes. One day he discovers +the old love letters of the 'Comte Armand de la Tremouille.' + +"Then he lays his plans. He typewrites a letter, forges the signature of +the erstwhile Count, and awaits events. The fish does rise to the bait. +He gets sundry bits of money, and his success makes him daring. He looks +round him for an accomplice--clever, unscrupulous, greedy--and selects +Mr. Edward Skinner, probably some former pal of his wild oats days. + +"The plan was very neat, you must confess. Mr. Skinner takes the room in +Russell House, and studies all the manners and customs of his landlady +and her servant. He then draws the full attention of the police upon +himself. He meets Morton in West Street, then disappears ostensibly +after the 'assault.' In the meanwhile Morton goes to Russell House. He +walks upstairs, talks loudly in the room, then makes elaborate +preparations for his comedy." + +"Why! he nearly died of starvation!" + +"That, I dare say, was not a part of his reckoning. He thought, no +doubt, that Mrs. Chapman or the servant would discover and rescue him +pretty soon. He meant to appear just a little faint, and endured quietly +the first twenty-four hours of inanition. But the excitement and want of +food told on him more than he expected. After twenty-four hours he +turned very giddy and sick, and, falling from one fainting fit into +another, was unable to give the alarm. + +"However, he is all right again now, and concludes his part of a +downright blackguard to perfection. Under the plea that his conscience +does not allow him to live with a lady whose first husband is still +alive, he has taken a bachelor flat in London, and only pays afternoon +calls on his wife in Brighton. But presently he will tire of his +bachelor life, and will return to his wife. And I'll guarantee that the +Comte de la Tremouille will never be heard of again." + +And that afternoon the man in the corner left Miss Polly Burton alone +with a couple of photos of two uninteresting, stodgy, quiet-looking +men--Morton and Skinner--who, if the old scarecrow was right in his +theories, were a pair of the finest blackguards unhung. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE REGENT'S PARK MURDER + + +By this time Miss Polly Burton had become quite accustomed to her +extraordinary _vis-a-vis_ in the corner. + +He was always there, when she arrived, in the selfsame corner, dressed +in one of his remarkable check tweed suits; he seldom said good morning, +and invariably when she appeared he began to fidget with increased +nervousness, with some tattered and knotty piece of string. + +"Were you ever interested in the Regent's Park murder?" he asked her one +day. + +Polly replied that she had forgotten most of the particulars connected +with that curious murder, but that she fully remembered the stir and +flutter it had caused in a certain section of London Society. + +"The racing and gambling set, particularly, you mean," he said. "All the +persons implicated in the murder, directly or indirectly, were of the +type commonly called 'Society men,' or 'men about town,' whilst the +Harewood Club in Hanover Square, round which centred all the scandal in +connection with the murder, was one of the smartest clubs in London. + +"Probably the doings of the Harewood Club, which was essentially a +gambling club, would for ever have remained 'officially' absent from the +knowledge of the police authorities but for the murder in the Regent's +Park and the revelations which came to light in connection with it. + +"I dare say you know the quiet square which lies between Portland Place +and the Regent's Park and is called Park Crescent at its south end, and +subsequently Park Square East and West. The Marylebone Road, with all +its heavy traffic, cuts straight across the large square and its pretty +gardens, but the latter are connected together by a tunnel under the +road; and of course you must remember that the new tube station in the +south portion of the Square had not yet been planned. + +"February 6th, 1907, was a very foggy night, nevertheless Mr. Aaron +Cohen, of 30, Park Square West, at two o'clock in the morning, having +finally pocketed the heavy winnings which he had just swept off the +green table of the Harewood Club, started to walk home alone. An hour +later most of the inhabitants of Park Square West were aroused from +their peaceful slumbers by the sounds of a violent altercation in the +road. A man's angry voice was heard shouting violently for a minute or +two, and was followed immediately by frantic screams of 'Police' and +'Murder.' Then there was the double sharp report of firearms, and +nothing more. + +"The fog was very dense, and, as you no doubt have experienced yourself, +it is very difficult to locate sound in a fog. Nevertheless, not more +than a minute or two had elapsed before Constable F 18, the point +policeman at the corner of Marylebone Road, arrived on the scene, and, +having first of all whistled for any of his comrades on the beat, began +to grope his way about in the fog, more confused than effectually +assisted by contradictory directions from the inhabitants of the houses +close by, who were nearly falling out of the upper windows as they +shouted out to the constable. + +"'By the railings, policeman.' + +"'Higher up the road.' + +"'No, lower down.' + +"'It was on this side of the pavement I am sure.' + +"No, the other.' + +"At last it was another policeman, F 22, who, turning into Park Square +West from the north side, almost stumbled upon the body of a man lying +on the pavement with his head against the railings of the Square. By +this time quite a little crowd of people from the different houses in +the road had come down, curious to know what had actually happened. + +"The policeman turned the strong light of his bull's-eye lantern on the +unfortunate man's face. + +"'It looks as if he had been strangled, don't it?' he murmured to his +comrade. + +"And he pointed to the swollen tongue, the eyes half out of their +sockets, bloodshot and congested, the purple, almost black, hue of the +face. + +"At this point one of the spectators, more callous to horrors, peered +curiously into the dead man's face. He uttered an exclamation of +astonishment. + +"'Why, surely, it's Mr. Cohen from No. 30!' + +"The mention of a name familiar down the length of the street had caused +two or three other men to come forward and to look more closely into the +horribly distorted mask of the murdered man. + +"'Our next-door neighbour, undoubtedly,' asserted Mr. Ellison, a young +barrister, residing at No. 31. + +"'What in the world was he doing this foggy night all alone, and on +foot?' asked somebody else. + +"'He usually came home very late. I fancy he belonged to some gambling +club in town. I dare say he couldn't get a cab to bring him out here. +Mind you, I don't know much about him. We only knew him to nod to.' + +"'Poor beggar! it looks almost like an old-fashioned case of +garroting.' + +"'Anyway, the blackguardly murderer, whoever he was, wanted to make sure +he had killed his man!' added Constable F 18, as he picked up an object +from the pavement. 'Here's the revolver, with two cartridges missing. +You gentlemen heard the report just now?' + +"'He don't seem to have hit him though. The poor bloke was strangled, no +doubt.' + +"'And tried to shoot at his assailant, obviously,' asserted the young +barrister with authority. + +"'If he succeeded in hitting the brute, there might be a chance of +tracing the way he went.' + +"'But not in the fog.' + +"Soon, however, the appearance of the inspector, detective, and medical +officer, who had quickly been informed of the tragedy, put an end to +further discussion. + +"The bell at No. 30 was rung, and the servants--all four of them +women--were asked to look at the body. + +"Amidst tears of horror and screams of fright, they all recognized in +the murdered man their master, Mr. Aaron Cohen. He was therefore +conveyed to his own room pending the coroner's inquest. + +"The police had a pretty difficult task, you will admit; there were so +very few indications to go by, and at first literally no clue. + +"The inquest revealed practically nothing. Very little was known in the +neighbourhood about Mr. Aaron Cohen and his affairs. His female servants +did not even know the name or whereabouts of the various clubs he +frequented. + +"He had an office in Throgmorton Street and went to business every day. +He dined at home, and sometimes had friends to dinner. When he was alone +he invariably went to the club, where he stayed until the small hours of +the morning. + +"The night of the murder he had gone out at about nine o'clock. That was +the last his servants had seen of him. With regard to the revolver, all +four servants swore positively that they had never seen it before, and +that, unless Mr. Cohen had bought it that very day, it did not belong to +their master. + +"Beyond that, no trace whatever of the murderer had been found, but on +the morning after the crime a couple of keys linked together by a short +metal chain were found close to a gate at the opposite end of the +Square, that which immediately faced Portland Place. These were proved +to be, firstly, Mr. Cohen's latch-key, and, secondly, his gate-key of +the Square. + +"It was therefore presumed that the murderer, having accomplished his +fell design and ransacked his victim's pockets, had found the keys and +made good his escape by slipping into the Square, cutting under the +tunnel, and out again by the further gate. He then took the precaution +not to carry the keys with him any further, but threw them away and +disappeared in the fog. + +"The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against some person or +persons unknown, and the police were put on their mettle to discover the +unknown and daring murderer. The result of their investigations, +conducted with marvellous skill by Mr. William Fisher, led, about a week +after the crime, to the sensational arrest of one of London's smartest +young bucks. + +"The case Mr. Fisher had got up against the accused briefly amounted to +this: + +"On the night of February 6th, soon after midnight, play began to run +very high at the Harewood Club, in Hanover Square. Mr. Aaron Cohen held +the bank at roulette against some twenty or thirty of his friends, +mostly young fellows with no wits and plenty of money. 'The Bank' was +winning heavily, and it appears that this was the third consecutive +night on which Mr. Aaron Cohen had gone home richer by several hundreds +than he had been at the start of play. + +"Young John Ashley, who is the son of a very worthy county gentleman who +is M.F.H. somewhere in the Midlands, was losing heavily, and in his case +also it appears that it was the third consecutive night that Fortune +had turned her face against him. + +"Remember," continued the man in the corner, "that when I tell you all +these details and facts, I am giving you the combined evidence of +several witnesses, which it took many days to collect and to classify. + +"It appears that young Mr. Ashley, though very popular in society, was +generally believed to be in what is vulgarly termed 'low water'; up to +his eyes in debt, and mortally afraid of his dad, whose younger son he +was, and who had on one occasion threatened to ship him off to Australia +with a L5 note in his pocket if he made any further extravagant calls +upon his paternal indulgence. + +"It was also evident to all John Ashley's many companions that the +worthy M.F.H. held the purse-strings in a very tight grip. The young +man, bitten with the desire to cut a smart figure in the circles in +which he moved, had often recourse to the varying fortunes which now and +again smiled upon him across the green tables in the Harewood Club. + +"Be that as it may, the general consensus of opinion at the Club was +that young Ashley had changed his last 'pony' before he sat down to a +turn of roulette with Aaron Cohen on that particular night of February +6th. + +"It appears that all his friends, conspicuous among whom was Mr. Walter +Hatherell, tried their very best to dissuade him from pitting his luck +against that of Cohen, who had been having a most unprecedented run of +good fortune. But young Ashley, heated with wine, exasperated at his own +bad luck, would listen to no one; he tossed one L5 note after another on +the board, he borrowed from those who would lend, then played on parole +for a while. Finally, at half-past one in the morning, after a run of +nineteen on the red, the young man found himself without a penny in his +pockets, and owing a debt--gambling debt--a debt of honour of L1500 to +Mr. Aaron Cohen. + +"Now we must render this much maligned gentleman that justice which was +persistently denied to him by press and public alike; it was positively +asserted by all those present that Mr. Cohen himself repeatedly tried to +induce young Mr. Ashley to give up playing. He himself was in a delicate +position in the matter, as he was the winner, and once or twice the +taunt had risen to the young man's lips, accusing the holder of the bank +of the wish to retire on a competence before the break in his luck. + +"Mr. Aaron Cohen, smoking the best of Havanas, had finally shrugged his +shoulders and said: 'As you please!' + +"But at half-past one he had had enough of the player, who always lost +and never paid--never could pay, so Mr. Cohen probably believed. He +therefore at that hour refused to accept Mr. John Ashley's 'promissory' +stakes any longer. A very few heated words ensued, quickly checked by +the management, who are ever on the alert to avoid the least suspicion +of scandal. + +"In the meanwhile Mr. Hatherell, with great good sense, persuaded young +Ashley to leave the Club and all its temptations and go home; if +possible to bed. + +"The friendship of the two young men, which was very well known in +society, consisted chiefly, it appears, in Walter Hatherell being the +willing companion and helpmeet of John Ashley in his mad and extravagant +pranks. But to-night the latter, apparently tardily sobered by his +terrible and heavy losses, allowed himself to be led away by his friend +from the scene of his disasters. It was then about twenty minutes to +two. + +"Here the situation becomes interesting," continued the man in the +corner in his nervous way. "No wonder that the police interrogated at +least a dozen witnesses before they were quite satisfied that every +statement was conclusively proved. + +"Walter Hatherell, after about ten minutes' absence, that is to say at +ten minutes to two, returned to the club room. In reply to several +inquiries, he said that he had parted with his friend at the corner of +New Bond Street, since he seemed anxious to be alone, and that Ashley +said he would take a turn down Piccadilly before going home--he thought +a walk would do him good. + +"At two o'clock or thereabouts Mr. Aaron Cohen, satisfied with his +evening's work, gave up his position at the bank and, pocketing his +heavy winnings, started on his homeward walk, while Mr. Walter Hatherell +left the club half an hour later. + +"At three o'clock precisely the cries of 'Murder' and the report of +fire-arms were heard in Park Square West, and Mr. Aaron Cohen was found +strangled outside the garden railings." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE MOTIVE + + +"Now at first sight the murder in the Regent's Park appeared both to +police and public as one of those silly, clumsy crimes, obviously the +work of a novice, and absolutely purposeless, seeing that it could but +inevitably lead its perpetrators, without any difficulty, to the +gallows. + +"You see, a motive had been established. 'Seek him whom the crime +benefits,' say our French _confreres_. But there was something more than +that. + +"Constable James Funnell, on his beat, turned from Portland Place into +Park Crescent a few minutes after he had heard the clock at Holy Trinity +Church, Marylebone, strike half-past two. The fog at that moment was +perhaps not quite so dense as it was later on in the morning, and the +policeman saw two gentlemen in overcoats and top-hats leaning arm in arm +against the railings of the Square, close to the gate. He could not, of +course, distinguish their faces because of the fog, but he heard one of +them saying to the other: + +"'It is but a question of time, Mr. Cohen. I know my father will pay +the money for me, and you will lose nothing by waiting.' + +"To this the other apparently made no reply, and the constable passed +on; when he returned to the same spot, after having walked over his +beat, the two gentlemen had gone, but later on it was near this very +gate that the two keys referred to at the inquest had been found. + +"Another interesting fact," added the man in the corner, with one of +those sarcastic smiles of his which Polly could not quite explain, "was +the finding of the revolver upon the scene of the crime. That revolver, +shown to Mr. Ashley's valet, was sworn to by him as being the property +of his master. + +"All these facts made, of course, a very remarkable, so far quite +unbroken, chain of circumstantial evidence against Mr. John Ashley. No +wonder, therefore, that the police, thoroughly satisfied with Mr. +Fisher's work and their own, applied for a warrant against the young +man, and arrested him in his rooms in Clarges Street exactly a week +after the committal of the crime. + +"As a matter of fact, you know, experience has invariably taught me that +when a murderer seems particularly foolish and clumsy, and proofs +against him seem particularly damning, that is the time when the police +should be most guarded against pitfalls. + +"Now in this case, if John Ashley had indeed committed the murder in +Regent's Park in the manner suggested by the police, he would have been +a criminal in more senses than one, for idiocy of that kind is to my +mind worse than many crimes. + +"The prosecution brought its witnesses up in triumphal array one after +another. There were the members of the Harewood Club--who had seen the +prisoner's excited condition after his heavy gambling losses to Mr. +Aaron Cohen; there was Mr. Hatherell, who, in spite of his friendship +for Ashley, was bound to admit that he had parted from him at the corner +of Bond Street at twenty minutes to two, and had not seen him again till +his return home at five a.m. + +"Then came the evidence of Arthur Chipps, John Ashley's valet. It proved +of a very sensational character. + +"He deposed that on the night in question his master came home at about +ten minutes to two. Chipps had then not yet gone to bed. Five minutes +later Mr. Ashley went out again, telling the valet not to sit up for +him. Chipps could not say at what time either of the young gentlemen had +come home. + +"That short visit home--presumably to fetch the revolver--was thought to +be very important, and Mr. John Ashley's friends felt that his case was +practically hopeless. + +"The valet's evidence and that of James Funnell, the constable, who had +overheard the conversation near the park railings, were certainly the +two most damning proofs against the accused. I assure you I was having a +rare old time that day. There were two faces in court to watch which was +the greatest treat I had had for many a day. One of these was Mr. John +Ashley's. + +"Here's his photo--short, dark, dapper, a little 'racy' in style, but +otherwise he looks a son of a well-to-do farmer. He was very quiet and +placid in court, and addressed a few words now and again to his +solicitor. He listened gravely, and with an occasional shrug of the +shoulders, to the recital of the crime, such as the police had +reconstructed it, before an excited and horrified audience. + +"Mr. John Ashley, driven to madness and frenzy by terrible financial +difficulties, had first of all gone home in search of a weapon, then +waylaid Mr. Aaron Cohen somewhere on that gentleman's way home. The +young man had begged for delay. Mr. Cohen perhaps was obdurate; but +Ashley followed him with his importunities almost to his door. + +"There, seeing his creditor determined at last to cut short the painful +interview, he had seized the unfortunate man at an unguarded moment from +behind, and strangled him; then, fearing that his dastardly work was not +fully accomplished, he had shot twice at the already dead body, missing +it both times from sheer nervous excitement. The murderer then must have +emptied his victim's pockets, and, finding the key of the garden, +thought that it would be a safe way of evading capture by cutting across +the squares, under the tunnel, and so through the more distant gate +which faced Portland Place. + +"The loss of the revolver was one of those unforeseen accidents which a +retributive Providence places in the path of the miscreant, delivering +him by his own act of folly into the hands of human justice. + +"Mr. John Ashley, however, did not appear the least bit impressed by the +recital of his crime. He had not engaged the services of one of the most +eminent lawyers, expert at extracting contradictions from witnesses by +skilful cross-examinations--oh, dear me, no! he had been contented with +those of a dull, prosy, very second-rate limb of the law, who, as he +called his witnesses, was completely innocent of any desire to create a +sensation. + +"He rose quietly from his seat, and, amidst breathless silence, called +the first of three witnesses on behalf of his client. He called +three--but he could have produced twelve--gentlemen, members of the +Ashton Club in Great Portland Street, all of whom swore that at three +o'clock on the morning of February 6th, that is to say, at the very +moment when the cries of 'Murder' roused the inhabitants of Park Square +West, and the crime was being committed, Mr. John Ashley was sitting +quietly in the club-rooms of the Ashton playing bridge with the three +witnesses. He had come in a few minutes before three--as the hall porter +of the Club testified--and stayed for about an hour and a half. + +"I need not tell you that this undoubted, this fully proved, _alibi_ was +a positive bombshell in the stronghold of the prosecution. The most +accomplished criminal could not possibly be in two places at once, and +though the Ashton Club transgresses in many ways against the gambling +laws of our very moral country, yet its members belong to the best, most +unimpeachable classes of society. Mr. Ashley had been seen and spoken to +at the very moment of the crime by at least a dozen gentlemen whose +testimony was absolutely above suspicion. + +"Mr. John Ashley's conduct throughout this astonishing phase of the +inquiry remained perfectly calm and correct. It was no doubt the +consciousness of being able to prove his innocence with such absolute +conclusion that had steadied his nerves throughout the proceedings. + +"His answers to the magistrate were clear and simple, even on the +ticklish subject of the revolver. + +"'I left the club, sir,' he explained, 'fully determined to speak with +Mr. Cohen alone in order to ask him for a delay in the settlement of my +debt to him. You will understand that I should not care to do this in +the presence of other gentlemen. I went home for a minute or two--not in +order to fetch a revolver, as the police assert, for I always carry a +revolver about with me in foggy weather--but in order to see if a very +important business letter had come for me in my absence. + +"'Then I went out again, and met Mr. Aaron Cohen not far from the +Harewood Club. I walked the greater part of the way with him, and our +conversation was of the most amicable character. We parted at the top of +Portland Place, near the gate of the Square, where the policeman saw us. +Mr. Cohen then had the intention of cutting across the Square, as being +a shorter way to his own house. I thought the Square looked dark and +dangerous in the fog, especially as Mr. Cohen was carrying a large sum +of money. + +"'We had a short discussion on the subject, and finally I persuaded him +to take my revolver, as I was going home only through very frequented +streets, and moreover carried nothing that was worth stealing. After a +little demur Mr. Cohen accepted the loan of my revolver, and that is +how it came to be found on the actual scene of the crime; finally I +parted from Mr. Cohen a very few minutes after I had heard the church +clock striking a quarter before three. I was at the Oxford Street end of +Great Portland Street at five minutes to three, and it takes at least +ten minutes to walk from where I was to the Ashton Club.' + +"This explanation was all the more credible, mind you, because the +question of the revolver had never been very satisfactorily explained by +the prosecution. A man who has effectually strangled his victim would +not discharge two shots of his revolver for, apparently, no other +purpose than that of rousing the attention of the nearest passer-by. It +was far more likely that it was Mr. Cohen who shot--perhaps wildly into +the air, when suddenly attacked from behind. Mr. Ashley's explanation +therefore was not only plausible, it was the only possible one. + +"You will understand therefore how it was that, after nearly half an +hour's examination, the magistrate, the police, and the public were +alike pleased to proclaim that the accused left the court without a +stain upon his character." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +FRIENDS + + +"Yes," interrupted Polly eagerly, since, for once, her acumen had been +at least as sharp as his, "but suspicion of that horrible crime only +shifted its taint from one friend to another, and, of course, I know--" + +"But that's just it," he quietly interrupted, "you don't know--Mr. +Walter Hatherell, of course, you mean. So did every one else at once. +The friend, weak and willing, committing a crime on behalf of his +cowardly, yet more assertive friend who had tempted him to evil. It was +a good theory; and was held pretty generally, I fancy, even by the +police. + +"I say 'even' because they worked really hard in order to build up a +case against young Hatherell, but the great difficulty was that of time. +At the hour when the policeman had seen the two men outside Park Square +together, Walter Hatherell was still sitting in the Harewood Club, which +he never left until twenty minutes to two. Had he wished to waylay and +rob Aaron Cohen he would not have waited surely till the time when +presumably the latter would already have reached home. + +"Moreover, twenty minutes was an incredibly short time in which to walk +from Hanover Square to Regent's Park without the chance of cutting +across the squares, to look for a man, whose whereabouts you could not +determine to within twenty yards or so, to have an argument with him, +murder him, and ransack his pockets. And then there was the total +absence of motive." + +"But--" said Polly meditatively, for she remembered now that the +Regent's Park murder, as it had been popularly called, was one of those +which had remained as impenetrable a mystery as any other crime had ever +been in the annals of the police. + +The man in the corner cocked his funny birdlike head well on one side +and looked at her, highly amused evidently at her perplexity. + +"You do not see how that murder was committed?" he asked with a grin. + +Polly was bound to admit that she did not. + +"If you had happened to have been in Mr. John Ashley's predicament," he +persisted, "you do not see how you could conveniently have done away +with Mr. Aaron Cohen, pocketed his winnings, and then led the police of +your country entirely by the nose, by proving an indisputable _alibi_?" + +"I could not arrange conveniently," she retorted, "to be in two +different places half a mile apart at one and the same time." + +"No! I quite admit that you could not do this unless you also had a +friend--" + +"A friend? But you say--" + +"I say that I admired Mr. John Ashley, for his was the head which +planned the whole thing, but he could not have accomplished the +fascinating and terrible drama without the help of willing and able +hands." + +"Even then--" she protested. + +"Point number one," he began excitedly, fidgeting with his inevitable +piece of string. "John Ashley and his friend Walter Hatherell leave the +club together, and together decide on the plan of campaign. Hatherell +returns to the club, and Ashley goes to fetch the revolver--the revolver +which played such an important part in the drama, but not the part +assigned to it by the police. Now try to follow Ashley closely, as he +dogs Aaron Cohen's footsteps. Do you believe that he entered into +conversation with him? That he walked by his side? That he asked for +delay? No! He sneaked behind him and caught him by the throat, as the +garroters used to do in the fog. Cohen was apoplectic, and Ashley is +young and powerful. Moreover, he meant to kill--" + +"But the two men talked together outside the Square gates," protested +Polly, "one of whom was Cohen, and the other Ashley." + +"Pardon me," he said, jumping up in his seat like a monkey on a stick, +"there were not two men talking outside the Square gates. According to +the testimony of James Funnell, the constable, two men were leaning arm +in arm against the railings and _one_ man was talking." + +"Then you think that--" + +"At the hour when James Funnell heard Holy Trinity clock striking +half-past two Aaron Cohen was already dead. Look how simple the whole +thing is," he added eagerly, "and how easy after that--easy, but oh, +dear me! how wonderfully, how stupendously clever. As soon as James +Funnell has passed on, John Ashley, having opened the gate, lifts the +body of Aaron Cohen in his arms and carries him across the Square. The +Square is deserted, of course, but the way is easy enough, and we must +presume that Ashley had been in it before. Anyway, there was no fear of +meeting any one. + +"In the meantime Hatherell has left the club: as fast as his athletic +legs can carry him he rushes along Oxford Street and Portland Place. It +had been arranged between the two miscreants that the Square gate should +be left on the latch. + +"Close on Ashley's heels now, Hatherell too cuts across the Square, and +reaches the further gate in good time to give his confederate a hand in +disposing the body against the railings. Then, without another instant's +delay, Ashley runs back across the gardens, straight to the Ashton Club, +throwing away the keys of the dead man, on the very spot where he had +made it a point of being seen and heard by a passer-by. + +"Hatherell gives his friend six or seven minutes' start, then he begins +the altercation which lasts two or three minutes, and finally rouses the +neighbourhood with cries of 'Murder' and report of pistol in order to +establish that the crime was committed at the hour when its perpetrator +has already made out an indisputable _alibi_." + +"I don't know what you think of it all, of course," added the funny +creature as he fumbled for his coat and his gloves, "but I call the +planning of that murder--on the part of novices, mind you--one of the +cleverest pieces of strategy I have ever come across. It is one of those +cases where there is no possibility whatever now of bringing the crime +home to its perpetrator or his abettor. They have not left a single +proof behind them; they foresaw everything, and each acted his part with +a coolness and courage which, applied to a great and good cause, would +have made fine statesmen of them both. + +"As it is, I fear, they are just a pair of young blackguards, who have +escaped human justice, and have only deserved the full and ungrudging +admiration of yours very sincerely." + +He had gone. Polly wanted to call him back, but his meagre person was no +longer visible through the glass door. There were many things she would +have wished to ask of him--what were his proofs, his facts? His were +theories, after all, and yet, somehow, she felt that he had solved once +again one of the darkest mysteries of great criminal London. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE DE GENNEVILLE PEERAGE + + +The man in the corner rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and looked out upon +the busy street below. + +"I suppose," he said, "there is some truth in the saying that Providence +watches over bankrupts, kittens, and lawyers." + +"I didn't know there was such a saying," replied Polly, with guarded +dignity. + +"Isn't there? Perhaps I am misquoting; anyway, there should be. Kittens, +it seems, live and thrive through social and domestic upheavals which +would annihilate a self-supporting tom-cat, and to-day I read in the +morning papers the account of a noble lord's bankruptcy, and in the +society ones that of his visit at the house of a Cabinet minister, where +he is the most honoured guest. As for lawyers, when Providence had +exhausted all other means of securing their welfare, it brought forth +the peerage cases." + +"I believe, as a matter of fact, that this special dispensation of +Providence, as you call it, requires more technical knowledge than any +other legal complication that comes before the law courts," she said. + +"And also a great deal more money in the client's pocket than any other +complication. Now, take the Brockelsby peerage case. Have you any idea +how much money was spent over that soap bubble, which only burst after +many hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds went in lawyers' and +counsels' fees?" + +"I suppose a great deal of money was spent on both sides," she replied, +"until that sudden, awful issue--" + +"Which settled the dispute effectually," he interrupted with a dry +chuckle. "Of course, it is very doubtful if any reputable solicitor +would have taken up the case. Timothy Beddingfield, the Birmingham +lawyer, is a gentleman who--well--has had some misfortunes, shall we +say? He is still on the rolls, mind you, but I doubt if any case would +have its chances improved by his conducting it. Against that there is +just this to be said, that some of these old peerages have such peculiar +histories, and own such wonderful archives, that a claim is always worth +investigating--you never know what may be the rights of it. + +"I believe that, at first, every one laughed over the pretensions of the +Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville to the joint title and part revenues of +the old barony of Genneville, but, obviously, he _might_ have got his +case. It certainly sounded almost like a fairy-tale, this claim based +upon the supposed validity of an ancient document over 400 years old. It +was _then_ that a mediaeval Lord de Genneville, more endowed with muscle +than common sense, became during his turbulent existence much +embarrassed and hopelessly puzzled through the presentation made to him +by his lady of twin-born sons. + +"His embarrassment chiefly arose from the fact that my lady's +attendants, while ministering to the comfort of the mother, had, in a +moment of absent-mindedness, so placed the two infants in their cot that +subsequently no one, not even--perhaps least of all--the mother, could +tell which was the one who had been the first to make his appearance +into this troublesome and puzzling world. + +"After many years of cogitation, during which the Lord de Genneville +approached nearer to the grave and his sons to man's estate, he gave up +trying to solve the riddle as to which of the twins should succeed to +his title and revenues; he appealed to his Liege Lord and King--Edward, +fourth of that name--and with the latter's august sanction he drew up a +certain document, wherein he enacted that both his sons should, after +his death, share his titles and goodly revenues, and that the first son +born in wedlock of _either_ father should subsequently be the sole heir. + +"In this document was also added that if in future times should any +Lords de Genneville be similarly afflicted with twin sons, who had equal +rights to be considered the eldest born, the same rule should apply as +to the succession. + +"Subsequently a Lord de Genneville was created Earl of Brockelsby by one +of the Stuart kings, but for four hundred years after its enactment the +extraordinary deed of succession remained a mere tradition, the +Countesses of Brockelsby having, seemingly, no predilection for twins. +But in 1878 the mistress of Brockelsby Castle presented her lord with +twin-born sons. + +"Fortunately, in modern times, science is more wide-awake, and +attendants more careful. The twin brothers did not get mixed up, and one +of them was styled Viscount Tirlemont, and was heir to the earldom, +whilst the other, born two hours later, was that fascinating, dashing +young Guardsman, well known at Hurlingham, Goodwood, London, and in his +own county--the Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville. + +"It certainly was an evil day for this brilliant young scion of the +ancient race when he lent an ear to Timothy Beddingfield. This man, and +his family before him, had been solicitors to the Earls of Brockelsby +for many generations, but Timothy, owing to certain 'irregularities,' +had forfeited the confidence of his client, the late earl. + +"He was still in practice in Birmingham, however, and, of course, knew +the ancient family tradition anent the twin succession. Whether he was +prompted by revenge or merely self-advertisement no one knows. + +"Certain it is that he did advise the Hon. Robert de Genneville--who +apparently had more debts than he conveniently could pay, and more +extravagant tastes than he could gratify on a younger son's portion--to +lay a claim, on his father's death, to the joint title and a moiety of +the revenues of the ancient barony of Genneville, that claim being based +upon the validity of the fifteenth-century document. + +"You may gather how extensive were the pretensions of the Hon. Robert +from the fact that the greater part of Edgbaston is now built upon land +belonging to the old barony. Anyway, it was the last straw in an ocean +of debt and difficulties, and I have no doubt that Beddingfield had not +much trouble in persuading the Hon. Robert to commence litigation at +once. + +"The young Earl of Brockelsby's attitude, however, remained one of +absolute quietude in his nine points of the law. He was in possession +both of the title and of the document. It was for the other side to +force him to produce the one or to share the other. + +"It was at this stage of the proceedings that the Hon. Robert was +advised to marry, in order to secure, if possible, the first male heir +of the next generation, since the young earl himself was still a +bachelor. A suitable _fiancee_ was found for him by his friends in the +person of Miss Mabel Brandon, the daughter of a rich Birmingham +manufacturer, and the marriage was fixed to take place at Birmingham on +Thursday, September 15th, 1907. + +"On the 13th the Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville arrived at the Castle +Hotel in New Street for his wedding, and on the 14th, at eight o'clock +in the morning, he was discovered lying on the floor of his +bedroom--murdered. + +"The sensation which the awful and unexpected sequel to the De +Genneville peerage case caused in the minds of the friends of both +litigants was quite unparalleled. I don't think any crime of modern +times created quite so much stir in all classes of society. Birmingham +was wild with excitement, and the employes of the Castle Hotel had real +difficulty in keeping off the eager and inquisitive crowd who thronged +daily to the hall, vainly hoping to gather details of news relating to +the terrible tragedy. + +"At present there was but little to tell. The shrieks of the +chambermaid, who had gone into the Hon. Robert's room with his shaving +water at eight o'clock, had attracted some of the waiters. Soon the +manager and his secretary came up, and immediately sent for the police. + +"It seemed at first sight as if the young man had been the victim of a +homicidal maniac, so brutal had been the way in which he had been +assassinated. The head and body were battered and bruised by some heavy +stick or poker, almost past human shape, as if the murderer had wished +to wreak some awful vengeance upon the body of his victim. In fact, it +would be impossible to recount the gruesome aspect of that room and of +the murdered man's body such as the police and the medical officer took +note of that day. + +"It was supposed that the murder had been committed the evening before, +as the victim was dressed in his evening clothes, and all the lights in +the room had been left fully turned on. Robbery, also, must have had a +large share in the miscreant's motives, for the drawers and cupboards, +the portmanteau and dressing-bag had been ransacked as if in search of +valuables. On the floor there lay a pocket-book torn in half and only +containing a few letters addressed to the Hon. Robert de Genneville. + +"The Earl of Brockelsby, next-of-kin to the deceased, was also +telegraphed for. He drove over from Brockelsby Castle, which is about +seven miles from Birmingham. He was terribly affected by the awfulness +of the tragedy, and offered a liberal reward to stimulate the activity +of the police in search of the miscreant. + +"The inquest was fixed for the 17th, three days later, and the public +was left wondering where the solution lay of the terrible and gruesome +murder at the Castle Hotel." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +A HIGH-BRED GENTLEMAN + + +"The central figure in the coroner's court that day was undoubtedly the +Earl of Brockelsby in deep black, which contrasted strongly with his +florid complexion and fair hair. Sir Marmaduke Ingersoll, his solicitor, +was with him, and he had already performed the painful duty of +identifying the deceased as his brother. This had been an exceedingly +painful duty owing to the terribly mutilated state of the body and face; +but the clothes and various trinkets he wore, including a signet ring, +had fortunately not tempted the brutal assassin, and it was through them +chiefly that Lord Brockelsby was able to swear to the identity of his +brother. + +"The various employes at the hotel gave evidence as to the discovery of +the body, and the medical officer gave his opinion as to the immediate +cause of death. Deceased had evidently been struck at the back of the +head with a poker or heavy stick, the murderer then venting his blind +fury upon the body by battering in the face and bruising it in a way +that certainly suggested the work of a maniac. + +"Then the Earl of Brockelsby was called, and was requested by the +coroner to state when he had last seen his brother alive. + +"'The morning before his death,' replied his lordship, 'he came up to +Birmingham by an early train, and I drove up from Brockelsby to see him. +I got to the hotel at eleven o'clock and stayed with him for about an +hour.' + +"'And that is the last you saw of the deceased?' + +"'That is the last I saw of him,' replied Lord Brockelsby. + +"He seemed to hesitate for a moment or two as if in thought whether he +should speak or not, and then to suddenly make up his mind to speak, for +he added: 'I stayed in town the whole of that day, and only drove back +to Brockelsby late in the evening. I had some business to transact, and +put up at the Grand, as I usually do, and dined with some friends.' + +"'Would you tell us at what time you returned to Brockelsby Castle?' + +"'I think it must have been about eleven o'clock. It is a seven-mile +drive from here.' + +"'I believe,' said the coroner after a slight pause, during which the +attention of all the spectators was riveted upon the handsome figure of +the young man as he stood in the witness-box, the very personification +of a high-bred gentleman, 'I believe that I am right in stating that +there was an unfortunate legal dispute between your lordship and your +brother?' + +"'That is so.' + +"The coroner stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment or two, then he +added: + +"'In the event of the deceased's claim to the joint title and revenues +of De Genneville being held good in the courts of law, there would be a +great importance, would there not, attached to his marriage, which was +to have taken place on the 15th?' + +"'In that event, there certainly would be.' + +"'Is the jury to understand, then, that you and the deceased parted on +amicable terms after your interview with him in the morning?' + +"The Earl of Brockelsby hesitated again for a minute or two, while the +crowd and the jury hung breathless on his lips. + +"'There was no enmity between us,' he replied at last. + +"'From which we may gather that there may have been--shall I say--a +slight disagreement at that interview?' + +"'My brother had unfortunately been misled by the misrepresentations or +perhaps the too optimistic views of his lawyer. He had been dragged into +litigation on the strength of an old family document which he had never +seen, which, moreover, is antiquated, and, owing to certain wording in +it, invalid. I thought that it would be kinder and more considerate if +I were to let my brother judge of the document for himself. I knew that +when he had seen it he would be convinced of the absolutely futile basis +of his claim, and that it would be a terrible disappointment to him. +That is the reason why I wished to see him myself about it, rather than +to do it through the more formal--perhaps more correct--medium of our +respective lawyers. I placed the facts before him with, on my part, a +perfectly amicable spirit.' + +"The young Earl of Brockelsby had made this somewhat lengthy, perfectly +voluntary explanation of the state of affairs in a calm, quiet voice, +with much dignity and perfect simplicity, but the coroner did not seem +impressed by it, for he asked very drily: + +"'Did you part good friends?' + +"'On my side absolutely so.' + +"'But not on his?' insisted the coroner. + +"'I think he felt naturally annoyed that he had been so ill-advised by +his solicitors.' + +"'And you made no attempt later on in the day to adjust any ill-feeling +that may have existed between you and him?' asked the coroner, marking +with strange, earnest emphasis every word he uttered. + +"'If you mean did I go and see my brother again that day--no, I did +not.' + +"'And your lordship can give us no further information which might +throw some light upon the mystery which surrounds the Hon. Robert de +Genneville's death?' still persisted the coroner. + +"'I am sorry to say I cannot,' replied the Earl of Brockelsby with firm +decision. + +"The coroner still looked puzzled and thoughtful. It seemed at first as +if he wished to press his point further; every one felt that some deep +import had lain behind his examination of the witness, and all were on +tenter-hooks as to what the next evidence might bring forth. The Earl of +Brockelsby had waited a minute or two, then, at a sign from the coroner, +had left the witness-box in order to have a talk with his solicitor. + +"At first he paid no attention to the depositions of the cashier and +hall porter of the Castle Hotel, but gradually it seemed to strike him +that curious statements were being made by these witnesses, and a frown +of anxious wonder settled between his brows, whilst his young face lost +some of its florid hue. + +"Mr. Tremlett, the cashier at the hotel, had been holding the attention +of the court. He stated that the Hon. Robert Ingram de Genneville had +arrived at the hotel at eight o'clock on the morning of the 13th; he had +the room which he usually occupied when he came to the 'Castle,' namely, +No. 21, and he went up to it immediately on his arrival, ordering some +breakfast to be brought up to him. + +"At eleven o'clock the Earl of Brockelsby called to see his brother and +remained with him until about twelve. In the afternoon the deceased went +out, and returned for his dinner at seven o'clock in company with a +gentleman whom the cashier knew well by sight, Mr. Timothy Beddingfield, +the lawyer, of Paradise Street. The gentlemen had their dinner +downstairs, and after that they went up to the Hon. Mr. de Genneville's +room for coffee and cigars. + +"'I could not say at what time Mr. Beddingfield left,' continued the +cashier, 'but I rather fancy I saw him in the hall at about 9.15 p.m. He +was wearing an Inverness cape over his dress clothes and a Glengarry +cap. It was just at the hour when the visitors who had come down for the +night from London were arriving thick and fast; the hall was very full, +and there was a large party of Americans monopolising most of our +_personnel_, so I could not swear positively whether I did see Mr. +Beddingfield or not then, though I am quite sure that it was Mr. Timothy +Beddingfield who dined and spent the evening with the Hon. Mr. de +Genneville, as I know him quite well by sight. At ten o'clock I am off +duty, and the night porter remains alone in the hall.' + +"Mr. Tremlett's evidence was corroborated in most respects by a waiter +and by the hall porter. They had both seen the deceased come in at seven +o'clock in company with a gentleman, and their description of the +latter coincided with that of the appearance of Mr. Timothy +Beddingfield, whom, however, they did not actually know. + +"At this point of the proceedings the foreman of the jury wished to know +why Mr. Timothy Beddingfield's evidence had not been obtained, and was +informed by the detective-inspector in charge of the case that that +gentleman had seemingly left Birmingham, but was expected home shortly. +The coroner suggested an adjournment pending Mr. Beddingfield's +appearance, but at the earnest request of the detective he consented to +hear the evidence of Peter Tyrrell, the night porter at the Castle +Hotel, who, if you remember the case at all, succeeded in creating the +biggest sensation of any which had been made through this extraordinary +and weirdly gruesome case. + +"'It was the first time I had been on duty at "The Castle," he said, +'for I used to be night porter at "Bright's," in Wolverhampton, but just +after I had come on duty at ten o'clock a gentleman came and asked if he +could see the Hon. Robert de Genneville. I said that I thought he was +in, but would send up and see. The gentleman said: "It doesn't matter. +Don't trouble; I know his room. Twenty-one, isn't it?" And up he went +before I could say another word.' + +"'Did he give you any name?' asked the coroner. + +"'No, sir.' + +"'What was he like?' + +"'A young gentleman, sir, as far as I can remember, in an Inverness cape +and Glengarry cap, but I could not see his face very well as he stood +with his back to the light, and the cap shaded his eyes, and he only +spoke to me for a minute.' + +"'Look all round you,' said the coroner quietly. 'Is there any one in +this court at all like the gentleman you speak of?' + +"An awed hush fell over the many spectators there present as Peter +Tyrrell, the night porter of the Castle Hotel, turned his head towards +the body of the court and slowly scanned the many faces there present; +for a moment he seemed to hesitate--only for a moment though, then, as +if vaguely conscious of the terrible importance his next words might +have, he shook his head gravely and said: + +"'I wouldn't like to swear.' + +"The coroner tried to press him, but with true British stolidity he +repeated: 'I wouldn't like to say.' + +"'Well, then, what happened?' asked the coroner, who had perforce to +abandon his point. + +"'The gentleman went upstairs, sir, and about a quarter of an hour later +he come down again, and I let him out. He was in a great hurry then, he +threw me a half-crown and said: "Good night."' + +"'And though you saw him again then, you cannot tell us if you would +know him again?' + +"Once more the hall porter's eyes wandered as if instinctively to a +certain face in the court; once more he hesitated for many seconds which +seemed like so many hours, during which a man's honour, a man's life, +hung perhaps in the balance. + +"Then Peter Tyrrell repeated slowly: 'I wouldn't swear.' + +"But coroner and jury alike, aye, and every spectator in that crowded +court, had seen that the man's eyes had rested during that one moment of +hesitation upon the face of the Earl of Brockelsby." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE LIVING AND THE DEAD + + +The man in the corner blinked across at Polly with his funny mild blue +eyes. + +"No wonder you are puzzled," he continued, "so was everybody in the +court that day, every one save myself. I alone could see in my mind's +eye that gruesome murder such as it had been committed, with all its +details, and, above all, its motive, and such as you will see it +presently, when I place it all clearly before you. + +"But before you see daylight in this strange case, I must plunge you +into further darkness, in the same manner as the coroner and jury were +plunged on the following day, the second day of that remarkable inquest. +It had to be adjourned, since the appearance of Mr. Timothy Beddingfield +had now become of vital importance. The public had come to regard his +absence from Birmingham at this critical moment as decidedly remarkable, +to say the least of it, and all those who did not know the lawyer by +sight wished to see him in his Inverness cape and Glengarry cap such as +he had appeared before the several witnesses on the night of the awful +murder. + +"When the coroner and jury were seated, the first piece of information +which the police placed before them was the astounding statement that +Mr. Timothy Beddingfield's whereabouts had not been ascertained, though +it was confidently expected that he had not gone far and could easily be +traced. There was a witness present who, the police thought, might throw +some light as to the lawyer's probable destination, for obviously he had +left Birmingham directly after his interview with the deceased. + +"This witness was Mrs. Higgins, who was Mr. Beddingfield's housekeeper. +She stated that her master was in the constant habit--especially +latterly--of going up to London on business. He usually left by a late +evening train on those occasions, and mostly was only absent thirty-six +hours. He kept a portmanteau always ready packed for the purpose, for he +often left at a few moments' notice. Mrs. Higgins added that her master +stayed at the Great Western Hotel in London, for it was there that she +was instructed to wire if anything urgent required his presence back in +Birmingham. + +"'On the night of the 14th,' she continued, 'at nine o'clock or +thereabouts, a messenger came to the door with the master's card, and +said that he was instructed to fetch Mr. Beddingfield's portmanteau, and +then to meet him at the station in time to catch the 9.35 p.m. up train. +I gave him the portmanteau, of course, as he had brought the card, and +I had no idea there could be anything wrong; but since then I have heard +nothing of my master, and I don't know when he will return.' + +"Questioned by the coroner, she added that Mr. Beddingfield had never +stayed away quite so long without having his letters forwarded to him. +There was a large pile waiting for him now; she had written to the Great +Western Hotel, London, asking what she should do about the letters, but +had received no reply. She did not know the messenger by sight who had +called for the portmanteau. Once or twice before Mr. Beddingfield had +sent for his things in that manner when he had been dining out. + +"Mr. Beddingfield certainly wore his Inverness cape over his dress +clothes when he went out at about six o'clock in the afternoon. He also +wore a Glengarry cap. + +"The messenger had so far not yet been found, and from this +point--namely, the sending for the portmanteau--all traces of Mr. +Timothy Beddingfield seem to have been lost. Whether he went up to +London by that 9.35 train or not could not be definitely ascertained. +The police had questioned at least a dozen porters at the railway, as +well as ticket collectors; but no one had any special recollection of a +gentleman in an Inverness cape and Glengarry cap, a costume worn by +more than one first-class passenger on a cold night in September. + +"There was the hitch, you see; it all lay in this. Mr. Timothy +Beddingfield, the lawyer, had undoubtedly made himself scarce. He was +last seen in company with the deceased, and wearing an Inverness cape +and Glengarry cap; two or three witnesses saw him leaving the hotel at +about 9.15. Then the messenger calls at the lawyer's house for the +portmanteau, after which Mr. Timothy Beddingfield seems to vanish into +thin air; but--and that is a great 'but'--the night porter at the +'Castle' seems to have seen some one wearing the momentous Inverness and +Glengarry half an hour or so later on, and going up to deceased's room, +where he stayed about a quarter of an hour. + +"Undoubtedly you will say, as every one said to themselves that day +after the night porter and Mrs. Higgins had been heard, that there was a +very ugly and very black finger which pointed unpleasantly at Mr. +Timothy Beddingfield, especially as that gentleman, for some reason +which still required an explanation, was not there to put matters right +for himself. But there was just one little thing--a mere trifle, +perhaps--which neither the coroner nor the jury dared to overlook, +though, strictly speaking, it was not evidence. + +"You will remember that when the night porter was asked if he could, +among the persons present in court, recognize the Hon. Robert de +Genneville's belated visitor, every one had noticed his hesitation, and +marked that the man's eyes had rested doubtingly upon the face and +figure of the young Earl of Brockelsby. + +"Now, if that belated visitor had been Mr. Timothy Beddingfield--tall, +lean, dry as dust, with a bird-like beak and clean-shaven chin--no one +could for a moment have mistaken his face--even if they only saw it very +casually and recollected it but very dimly--with that of young Lord +Brockelsby, who was florid and rather short--the only point in common +between them was their Saxon hair. + +"You see that it was a curious point, don't you?" added the man in the +corner, who now had become so excited that his fingers worked like long +thin tentacles round and round his bit of string. "It weighed very +heavily in favour of Timothy Beddingfield. Added to which you must also +remember that, as far as he was concerned, the Hon. Robert de Genneville +was to him the goose with the golden eggs. + +"The 'De Genneville peerage case' had brought Beddingfield's name in +great prominence. With the death of the claimant all hopes of prolonging +the litigation came to an end. There was a total lack of motive as far +as Beddingfield was concerned." + +"Not so with the Earl of Brockelsby," said Polly, "and I've often +maintained--" + +"What?" he interrupted. "That the Earl of Brockelsby changed clothes +with Beddingfield in order more conveniently to murder his own brother? +Where and when could the exchange of costume have been effected, +considering that the Inverness cape and Glengarry cap were in the hall +of the Castle Hotel at 9.15, and at that hour and until ten o'clock Lord +Brockelsby was at the Grand Hotel finishing dinner with some friends? +That was subsequently proved, remember, and also that he was back at +Brockelsby Castle, which is seven miles from Birmingham, at eleven +o'clock sharp. Now, the visit of the individual in the Glengarry +occurred some time after 10 p.m." + +"Then there was the disappearance of Beddingfield," said the girl +musingly. "That certainly points very strongly to him. He was a man in +good practice, I believe, and fairly well known." + +"And has never been heard of from that day to this," concluded the old +scarecrow with a chuckle. "No wonder you are puzzled. The police were +quite baffled, and still are, for a matter of that. And yet see how +simple it is! Only the police would not look further than these two +men--Lord Brockelsby with a strong motive and the night porter's +hesitation against him, and Beddingfield without a motive, but with +strong circumstantial evidence and his own disappearance as condemnatory +signs. + +"If only they would look at the case as I did, and think a little about +the dead as well as about the living. If they had remembered that +peerage case, the Hon. Robert's debts, his last straw which proved a +futile claim. + +"Only that very day the Earl of Brockelsby had, by quietly showing the +original ancient document to his brother, persuaded him how futile were +all his hopes. Who knows how many were the debts contracted, the +promises made, the money borrowed and obtained on the strength of that +claim which was mere romance? Ahead nothing but ruin, enmity with his +brother, his marriage probably broken off, a wasted life, in fact. + +"Is it small wonder that, though ill-feeling against the Earl of +Brockelsby may have been deep, there was hatred, bitter, deadly hatred +against the man who with false promises had led him into so hopeless a +quagmire? Probably the Hon. Robert owed a great deal of money to +Beddingfield, which the latter hoped to recoup at usurious interest, +with threats of scandal and what not. + +"Think of all that," he added, "and then tell me if you believe that a +stronger motive for the murder of such an enemy could well be found." + +"But what you suggest is impossible," said Polly, aghast. + +"Allow me," he said, "it is more than possible--it is very easy and +simple. The two men were alone together in the Hon. Robert de +Genneville's room after dinner. You, as representing the public, and the +police say that Beddingfield went away and returned half an hour later +in order to kill his client. I say that it was the lawyer who was +murdered at nine o'clock that evening, and that Robert de Genneville, +the ruined man, the hopeless bankrupt, was the assassin." + +"Then--" + +"Yes, of course, now you remember, for I have put you on the track. The +face and the body were so battered and bruised that they were past +recognition. Both men were of equal height. The hair, which alone could +not be disfigured or obliterated, was in both men similar in colour. + +"Then the murderer proceeds to dress his victim in his own clothes. With +the utmost care he places his own rings on the fingers of the dead man, +his own watch in the pocket; a gruesome task, but an important one, and +it is thoroughly well done. Then he himself puts on the clothes of his +victim, with finally the Inverness cape and Glengarry, and when the hall +is full of visitors he slips out unperceived. He sends the messenger for +Beddingfield's portmanteau and starts off by the night express." + +"But then his visit at the Castle Hotel at ten o'clock--" she urged. +"How dangerous!" + +"Dangerous? Yes! but oh, how clever. You see, he was the Earl of +Brockelsby's twin brother, and twin brothers are always somewhat alike. +He wished to appear dead, murdered by some one, he cared not whom, but +what he did care about was to throw clouds of dust in the eyes of the +police, and he succeeded with a vengeance. Perhaps--who knows?--he +wished to assure himself that he had forgotten nothing in the _mise en +scene_, that the body, battered and bruised past all semblance of any +human shape save for its clothes, really would appear to every one as +that of the Hon. Robert de Genneville, while the latter disappeared for +ever from the old world and started life again in the new. + +"Then you must always reckon with the practically invariable rule that a +murderer always revisits, if only once, the scene of his crime. + +"Two years have elapsed since the crime; no trace of Timothy +Beddingfield, the lawyer, has ever been found, and I can assure you that +it will never be, for his plebeian body lies buried in the aristocratic +family vault of the Earl of Brockelsby." + +He was gone before Polly could say another word. The faces of Timothy +Beddingfield, of the Earl of Brockelsby, of the Hon. Robert de +Genneville seemed to dance before her eyes and to mock her for the +hopeless bewilderment in which she found herself plunged because of +them; then all the faces vanished, or, rather, were merged in one long, +thin, bird-like one, with bone-rimmed spectacles on the top of its +beak, and a wide, rude grin beneath it, and, still puzzled, still +doubtful, the young girl too paid for her scanty luncheon and went her +way. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH IN PERCY STREET + + +Miss Polly Burton had had many an argument with Mr. Richard Frobisher +about that old man in the corner, who seemed far more interesting and +deucedly more mysterious than any of the crimes over which he +philosophised. + +Dick thought, moreover, that Miss Polly spent more of her leisure time +now in that A.B.C. shop than she had done in his own company before, and +told her so, with that delightful air of sheepish sulkiness which the +male creature invariably wears when he feels jealous and won't admit it. + +Polly liked Dick to be jealous, but she liked that old scarecrow in the +A.B.C. shop very much too, and though she made sundry vague promises +from time to time to Mr. Richard Frobisher, she nevertheless drifted +back instinctively day after day to the tea-shop in Norfolk Street, +Strand, and stayed there sipping coffee for as long as the man in the +corner chose to talk. + +On this particular afternoon she went to the A.B.C. shop with a fixed +purpose, that of making him give her his views of Mrs. Owen's mysterious +death in Percy Street. + +The facts had interested and puzzled her. She had had countless +arguments with Mr. Richard Frobisher as to the three great possible +solutions of the puzzle--"Accident, Suicide, Murder?" + +"Undoubtedly neither accident nor suicide," he said dryly. + +Polly was not aware that she had spoken. What an uncanny habit that +creature had of reading her thoughts! + +"You incline to the idea, then, that Mrs. Owen was murdered. Do you know +by whom?" + +He laughed, and drew forth the piece of string he always fidgeted with +when unravelling some mystery. + +"You would like to know who murdered that old woman?" he asked at last. + +"I would like to hear your views on the subject," Polly replied. + +"I have no views," he said dryly. "No one can know who murdered the +woman, since no one ever saw the person who did it. No one can give the +faintest description of the mysterious man who alone could have +committed that clever deed, and the police are playing a game of blind +man's buff." + +"But you must have formed some theory of your own," she persisted. + +It annoyed her that the funny creature was obstinate about this point, +and she tried to nettle his vanity. + +"I suppose that as a matter of fact your original remark that 'there are +no such things as mysteries' does not apply universally. There is a +mystery--that of the death in Percy Street, and you, like the police, +are unable to fathom it." + +He pulled up his eyebrows and looked at her for a minute or two. + +"Confess that that murder was one of the cleverest bits of work +accomplished outside Russian diplomacy," he said with a nervous laugh. +"I must say that were I the judge, called upon to pronounce sentence of +death on the man who conceived that murder, I could not bring myself to +do it. I would politely request the gentleman to enter our Foreign +Office--we have need of such men. The whole _mise en scene_ was truly +artistic, worthy of its _milieu_--the Rubens Studios in Percy Street, +Tottenham Court Road. + +"Have you ever noticed them? They are only studios by name, and are +merely a set of rooms in a corner house, with the windows slightly +enlarged, and the rents charged accordingly in consideration of that +additional five inches of smoky daylight, filtering through dusty +windows. On the ground floor there is the order office of some stained +glass works, with a workshop in the rear, and on the first floor landing +a small room allotted to the caretaker, with gas, coal, and fifteen +shillings a week, for which princely income she is deputed to keep tidy +and clean the general aspect of the house. + +"Mrs. Owen, who was the caretaker there, was a quiet, respectable woman, +who eked out her scanty wages by sundry--mostly very meagre--tips doled +out to her by impecunious artists in exchange for promiscuous domestic +services in and about the respective studios. + +"But if Mrs. Owen's earnings were not large, they were very regular, and +she had no fastidious tastes. She and her cockatoo lived on her wages; +and all the tips added up, and never spent, year after year, went to +swell a very comfortable little account at interest in the Birkbeck +Bank. This little account had mounted up to a very tidy sum, and the +thrifty widow--or old maid--no one ever knew which she was--was +generally referred to by the young artists of the Rubens Studios as a +'lady of means.' But this is a digression. + +"No one slept on the premises except Mrs. Owen and her cockatoo. The +rule was that one by one as the tenants left their rooms in the evening +they took their respective keys to the caretaker's room. She would then, +in the early morning, tidy and dust the studios and the office +downstairs, lay the fire and carry up coals. + +"The foreman of the glass works was the first to arrive in the morning. +He had a latch-key, and let himself in, after which it was the custom of +the house that he should leave the street door open for the benefit of +the other tenants and their visitors. + +"Usually, when he came at about nine o'clock, he found Mrs. Owen busy +about the house doing her work, and he had often a brief chat with her +about the weather, but on this particular morning of February 2nd he +neither saw nor heard her. However, as the shop had been tidied and the +fire laid, he surmised that Mrs. Owen had finished her work earlier than +usual, and thought no more about it. One by one the tenants of the +studios turned up, and the day sped on without any one's attention being +drawn noticeably to the fact that the caretaker had not appeared upon +the scene. + +"It had been a bitterly cold night, and the day was even worse; a +cutting north-easterly gale was blowing, there had been a great deal of +snow during the night which lay quite thick on the ground, and at five +o'clock in the afternoon, when the last glimmer of the pale winter +daylight had disappeared, the confraternity of the brush put palette and +easel aside and prepared to go home. The first to leave was Mr. Charles +Pitt; he locked up his studio and, as usual, took his key into the +caretaker's room. + +"He had just opened the door when an icy blast literally struck him in +the face; both the windows were wide open, and the snow and sleet were +beating thickly into the room, forming already a white carpet upon the +floor. + +"The room was in semi-obscurity, and at first Mr. Pitt saw nothing, but +instinctively realizing that something was wrong, he lit a match, and +saw before him the spectacle of that awful and mysterious tragedy which +has ever since puzzled both police and public. On the floor, already +half covered by the drifting snow, lay the body of Mrs. Owen face +downwards, in a nightgown, with feet and ankles bare, and these and her +hands were of a deep purple colour; whilst in a corner of the room, +huddled up with the cold, the body of the cockatoo lay stark and stiff." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +SUICIDE OR MURDER? + + +"At first there was only talk of a terrible accident, the result of some +inexplicable carelessness which perhaps the evidence at the inquest +would help to elucidate. + +"Medical assistance came too late; the unfortunate woman was indeed +dead, frozen to death, inside her own room. Further examination showed +that she had received a severe blow at the back of the head, which must +have stunned her and caused her to fall, helpless, beside the open +window. Temperature at five degrees below zero had done the rest. +Detective Inspector Howell discovered close to the window a wrought-iron +gas bracket, the height of which corresponded exactly with the bruise at +the back of Mrs. Owen's head. + +"Hardly however had a couple of days elapsed when public curiosity was +whetted by a few startling headlines, such as the halfpenny evening +papers alone know how to concoct. + +"'The mysterious death in Percy Street.' 'Is it Suicide or Murder?' +'Thrilling details--Strange developments.' 'Sensational Arrest.' + +"What had happened was simply this: + +"At the inquest a few certainly very curious facts connected with Mrs. +Owen's life had come to light, and this had led to the apprehension of a +young man of very respectable parentage on a charge of being concerned +in the tragic death of the unfortunate caretaker. + +"To begin with, it happened that her life, which in an ordinary way +should have been very monotonous and regular, seemed, at any rate +latterly, to have been more than usually chequered and excited. Every +witness who had known her in the past concurred in the statement that +since October last a great change had come over the worthy and honest +woman. + +"I happen to have a photo of Mrs. Owen as she was before this great +change occurred in her quiet and uneventful life, and which led, as far +as the poor soul was concerned, to such disastrous results. + +"Here she is to the life," added the funny creature, placing the photo +before Polly--"as respectable, as stodgy, as uninteresting as it is well +possible for a member of your charming sex to be; not a face, you will +admit, to lead any youngster to temptation or to induce him to commit a +crime. + +"Nevertheless one day all the tenants of the Rubens Studios were +surprised and shocked to see Mrs. Owen, quiet, respectable Mrs. Owen, +sallying forth at six o'clock in the afternoon, attired in an +extravagant bonnet and a cloak trimmed with imitation astrakhan +which--slightly open in front--displayed a gold locket and chain of +astonishing proportions. + +"Many were the comments, the hints, the bits of sarcasm levelled at the +worthy woman by the frivolous confraternity of the brush. + +"The plot thickened when from that day forth a complete change came over +the worthy caretaker of the Rubens Studios. While she appeared day after +day before the astonished gaze of the tenants and the scandalized looks +of the neighbours, attired in new and extravagant dresses, her work was +hopelessly neglected, and she was always 'out' when wanted. + +"There was, of course, much talk and comment in various parts of the +Rubens Studios on the subject of Mrs. Owen's 'dissipations.' The tenants +began to put two and two together, and after a very little while the +general consensus of opinion became firmly established that the honest +caretaker's demoralisation coincided week for week, almost day for day, +with young Greenhill's establishment in No. 8 Studio. + +"Every one had remarked that he stayed much later in the evening than +any one else, and yet no one presumed that he stayed for purposes of +work. Suspicions soon rose to certainty when Mrs. Owen and Arthur +Greenhill were seen by one of the glass workmen dining together at +Gambia's Restaurant in Tottenham Court Road. + +"The workman, who was having a cup of tea at the counter, noticed +particularly that when the bill was paid the money came out of Mrs. +Owen's purse. The dinner had been sumptuous--veal cutlets, a cut from +the joint, dessert, coffee and liqueurs. Finally the pair left the +restaurant apparently very gay, young Greenhill smoking a choice cigar. + +"Irregularities such as these were bound sooner or later to come to the +ears and eyes of Mr. Allman, the landlord of the Rubens Studios; and a +month after the New Year, without further warning, he gave her a week's +notice to quit his house. + +"'Mrs. Owen did not seem the least bit upset when I gave her notice,' +Mr. Allman declared in his evidence at the inquest; 'on the contrary, +she told me that she had ample means, and had only worked latterly for +the sake of something to do. She added that she had plenty of friends +who would look after her, for she had a nice little pile to leave to any +one who would know how "to get the right side of her."' + +"Nevertheless, in spite of this cheerful interview, Miss Bedford, the +tenant of No. 6 Studio, had stated that when she took her key to the +caretaker's room at 6.30 that afternoon she found Mrs. Owen in tears. +The caretaker refused to be comforted, nor would she speak of her +trouble to Miss Bedford. + +"Twenty-four hours later she was found dead. + +"The coroner's jury returned an open verdict, and Detective-Inspector +Jones was charged by the police to make some inquiries about young Mr. +Greenhill, whose intimacy with the unfortunate woman had been +universally commented upon. + +"The detective, however, pushed his investigations as far as the +Birkbeck Bank. There he discovered that after her interview with Mr. +Allman, Mrs. Owen had withdrawn what money she had on deposit, some +L800, the result of twenty-five years' saving and thrift. + +"But the immediate result of Detective-Inspector Jones's labours was +that Mr. Arthur Greenhill, lithographer, was brought before the +magistrate at Bow Street on the charge of being concerned in the death +of Mrs. Owen, caretaker of the Rubens Studios, Percy Street. + +"Now that magisterial inquiry is one of the few interesting ones which I +had the misfortune to miss," continued the man in the corner, with a +nervous shake of the shoulders. "But you know as well as I do how the +attitude of the young prisoner impressed the magistrate and police so +unfavourably that, with every new witness brought forward, his position +became more and more unfortunate. + +"Yet he was a good-looking, rather coarsely built young fellow, with +one of those awful Cockney accents which literally make one jump. But he +looked painfully nervous, stammered at every word spoken, and repeatedly +gave answers entirely at random. + +"His father acted as lawyer for him, a rough-looking elderly man, who +had the appearance of a common country attorney rather than of a London +solicitor. + +"The police had built up a fairly strong case against the lithographer. +Medical evidence revealed nothing new: Mrs. Owen had died from exposure, +the blow at the back of the head not being sufficiently serious to cause +anything but temporary disablement. When the medical officer had been +called in, death had intervened for some time; it was quite impossible +to say how long, whether one hour or five or twelve. + +"The appearance and state of the room, when the unfortunate woman was +found by Mr. Charles Pitt, were again gone over in minute detail. Mrs. +Owen's clothes, which she had worn during the day, were folded neatly on +a chair. The key of her cupboard was in the pocket of her dress. The +door had been slightly ajar, but both the windows were wide open; one of +them, which had the sash-line broken, had been fastened up most +scientifically with a piece of rope. + +"Mrs. Owen had obviously undressed preparatory to going to bed, and the +magistrate very naturally soon made the remark how untenable the theory +of an accident must be. No one in their five senses would undress with a +temperature at below zero, and the windows wide open. + +"After these preliminary statements the cashier of the Birkbeck was +called and he related the caretaker's visit at the bank. + +"'It was then about one o'clock,' he stated. 'Mrs. Owen called and +presented a cheque to self for L827, the amount of her balance. She +seemed exceedingly happy and cheerful, and talked about needing plenty +of cash, as she was going abroad to join her nephew, for whom she would +in future keep house. I warned her about being sufficiently careful with +so large a sum, and parting from it injudiciously, as women of her class +are very apt to do. She laughingly declared that not only was she +careful of it in the present, but meant to be so for the far-off future, +for she intended to go that very day to a lawyer's office and to make a +will.' + +"The cashier's evidence was certainly startling in the extreme, since in +the widow's room no trace of any kind was found of any money; against +that, two of the notes handed over by the bank to Mrs. Owen on that day +were cashed by young Greenhill on the very morning of her mysterious +death. One was handed in by him to the West End Clothiers Company, in +payment for a suit of clothes, and the other he changed at the Post +Office in Oxford Street. + +"After that all the evidence had of necessity to be gone through again +on the subject of young Greenhill's intimacy with Mrs. Owen. He listened +to it all with an air of the most painful nervousness, his cheeks were +positively green, his lips seemed dry and parched, for he repeatedly +passed his tongue over them, and when Constable E 18 deposed that at 2 +a.m. on the morning of February 2nd he had seen the accused and spoken +to him at the corner of Percy Street and Tottenham Court Road, young +Greenhill all but fainted. + +"The contention of the police was that the caretaker had been murdered +and robbed during that night before she went to bed, that young +Greenhill had done the murder, seeing that he was the only person known +to have been intimate with the woman, and that it was, moreover, proved +unquestionably that he was in the immediate neighbourhood of the Rubens +Studios at an extraordinarily late hour of the night. + +"His own account of himself, and of that same night, could certainly not +be called very satisfactory. Mrs. Owen was a relative of his late +mother's, he declared. He himself was a lithographer by trade, with a +good deal of time and leisure on his hands. He certainly had employed +some of that time in taking the old woman to various places of +amusement. He had on more than one occasion suggested that she should +give up menial work, and come and live with him, but, unfortunately, she +was a great deal imposed upon by her nephew, a man of the name of Owen, +who exploited the good-natured woman in every possible way, and who had +on more than one occasion made severe attacks upon her savings at the +Birkbeck Bank. + +"Severely cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel about this supposed +relative of Mrs. Owen, Greenhill admitted that he did not know him--had, +in fact, never seen him. He knew that his name was Owen and that was +all. His chief occupation consisted in sponging on the kind-hearted old +woman, but he only went to see her in the evenings, when he presumably +knew that she would be alone, and invariably after all the tenants of +the Rubens Studios had left for the day. + +"I don't know whether at this point it strikes you at all, as it did +both magistrate and counsel, that there was a direct contradiction in +this statement and the one made by the cashier of the Birkbeck on the +subject of his last conversation with Mrs. Owen. 'I am going abroad to +join my nephew, for whom I am going to keep house,' was what the +unfortunate woman had said. + +"Now Greenhill, in spite of his nervousness and at times contradictory +answers, strictly adhered to his point, that there was a nephew in +London, who came frequently to see his aunt. + +"Anyway, the sayings of the murdered woman could not be taken as +evidence in law. Mr. Greenhill senior put the objection, adding: 'There +may have been two nephews,' which the magistrate and the prosecution +were bound to admit. + +"With regard to the night immediately preceding Mrs. Owen's death, +Greenhill stated that he had been with her to the theatre, had seen her +home, and had had some supper with her in her room. Before he left her, +at 2 a.m., she had of her own accord made him a present of L10, saying: +'I am a sort of aunt to you, Arthur, and if you don't have it, Bill is +sure to get it.' + +"She had seemed rather worried in the early part of the evening, but +later on she cheered up. + +"'Did she speak at all about this nephew of hers or about her money +affairs? asked the magistrate. + +"Again the young man hesitated, but said, 'No! she did not mention +either Owen or her money affairs.' + +"If I remember rightly," added the man in the corner, "for recollect I +was not present, the case was here adjourned. But the magistrate would +not grant bail. Greenhill was removed looking more dead than +alive--though every one remarked that Mr. Greenhill senior looked +determined and not the least worried. In the course of his examination +on behalf of his son, of the medical officer and one or two other +witnesses, he had very ably tried to confuse them on the subject of the +hour at which Mrs. Owen was last known to be alive. + +"He made a very great point of the fact that the usual morning's work +was done throughout the house when the inmates arrived. Was it +conceivable, he argued, that a woman would do that kind of work +overnight, especially as she was going to the theatre, and therefore +would wish to dress in her smarter clothes? It certainly was a very nice +point levelled against the prosecution, who promptly retorted: Just as +conceivable as that a woman in those circumstances of life should, +having done her work, undress beside an open window at nine o'clock in +the morning with the snow beating into the room. + +"Now it seems that Mr. Greenhill senior could produce any amount of +witnesses who could help to prove a conclusive _alibi_ on behalf of his +son, if only some time subsequent to that fatal 2 a.m. the murdered +woman had been seen alive by some chance passer-by. + +"However, he was an able man and an earnest one, and I fancy the +magistrate felt some sympathy for his strenuous endeavours on his son's +behalf. He granted a week's adjournment, which seemed to satisfy Mr. +Greenhill completely. + +"In the meanwhile the papers had talked of and almost exhausted the +subject of the mystery in Percy Street. There had been, as you no doubt +know from personal experience, innumerable arguments on the puzzling +alternatives:-- + +"Accident? + +"Suicide? + +"Murder? + +"A week went by, and then the case against young Greenhill was resumed. +Of course the court was crowded. It needed no great penetration to +remark at once that the prisoner looked more hopeful, and his father +quite elated. + +"Again a great deal of minor evidence was taken, and then came the turn +of the defence. Mr. Greenhill called Mrs. Hall, confectioner, of Percy +Street, opposite the Rubens Studios. She deposed that at 8 o'clock in +the morning of February 2nd, while she was tidying her shop window, she +saw the caretaker of the Studios opposite, as usual, on her knees, her +head and body wrapped in a shawl, cleaning her front steps. Her husband +also saw Mrs. Owen, and Mrs. Hall remarked to her husband how thankful +she was that her own shop had tiled steps, which did not need scrubbing +on so cold a morning. + +"Mr. Hall, confectioner, of the same address, corroborated this +statement, and Mr. Greenhill, with absolute triumph, produced a third +witness, Mrs. Martin, of Percy Street, who from her window on the second +floor had, at 7.30 a.m., seen the caretaker shaking mats outside her +front door. The description this witness gave of Mrs. Owen's get-up, +with the shawl round her head, coincided point by point with that given +by Mr. and Mrs. Hall. + +"After that Mr. Greenhill's task became an easy one; his son was at home +having his breakfast at 8 o'clock that morning--not only himself, but +his servants would testify to that. + +"The weather had been so bitter that the whole of that day Arthur had +not stirred from his own fireside. Mrs. Owen was murdered after 8 a.m. +on that day, since she was seen alive by three people at that hour, +therefore his son could not have murdered Mrs. Owen. The police must +find the criminal elsewhere, or else bow to the opinion originally +expressed by the public that Mrs. Owen had met with a terrible untoward +accident, or that perhaps she may have wilfully sought her own death in +that extraordinary and tragic fashion. + +"Before young Greenhill was finally discharged one or two witnesses were +again examined, chief among these being the foreman of the glassworks. +He had turned up at the Rubens Studios at 9 o'clock, and been in +business all day. He averred positively that he did not specially notice +any suspicious-looking individual crossing the hall that day. 'But,' he +remarked with a smile, 'I don't sit and watch every one who goes up and +downstairs. I am too busy for that. The street door is always left open; +any one can walk in, up or down, who knows the way.' + +"That there was a mystery in connection with Mrs. Owen's death--of that +the police have remained perfectly convinced; whether young Greenhill +held the key of that mystery or not they have never found out to this +day. + +"I could enlighten them as to the cause of the young lithographer's +anxiety at the magisterial inquiry, but, I assure you, I do not care to +do the work of the police for them. Why should I? Greenhill will never +suffer from unjust suspicions. He and his father alone--besides +myself--know in what a terribly tight corner he all but found himself. + +"The young man did not reach home till nearly _five_ o'clock that +morning. His last train had gone; he had to walk, lost his way, and +wandered about Hampstead for hours. Think what his position would have +been if the worthy confectioners of Percy Street had not seen Mrs. Owen +'wrapped up in a shawl, on her knees, doing the front steps.' + +"Moreover, Mr. Greenhill senior is a solicitor, who has a small office +in John Street, Bedford Row. The afternoon before her death Mrs. Owen +had been to that office and had there made a will by which she left all +her savings to young Arthur Greenhill, lithographer. Had that will been +in other than paternal hands, it would have been proved, in the natural +course of such things, and one other link would have been added to the +chain which nearly dragged Arthur Greenhill to the gallows--'the link of +a very strong motive.' + +"Can you wonder that the young man turned livid, until such time as it +was proved beyond a doubt that the murdered woman was alive hours after +he had reached the safe shelter of his home? + +"I saw you smile when I used the word 'murdered,'" continued the man in +the corner, growing quite excited now that he was approaching the +_denouement_ of his story. "I know that the public, after the magistrate +had discharged Arthur Greenhill, were quite satisfied to think that the +mystery in Percy Street was a case of accident--or suicide." + +"No," replied Polly, "there could be no question of suicide, for two +very distinct reasons." + +He looked at her with some degree of astonishment. She supposed that he +was amazed at her venturing to form an opinion of her own. + +"And may I ask what, in your opinion, these reasons are?" he asked very +sarcastically. + +"To begin with, the question of money," she said--"has any more of it +been traced so far?" + +"Not another L5 note," he said with a chuckle; "they were all cashed in +Paris during the Exhibition, and you have no conception how easy a thing +that is to do, at any of the hotels or smaller _agents de change_." + +"That nephew was a clever blackguard," she commented. + +"You believe, then, in the existence of that nephew?" + +"Why should I doubt it? Some one must have existed who was sufficiently +familiar with the house to go about in it in the middle of the day +without attracting any one's attention." + +"In the middle of the day?" he said with a chuckle. + +"Any time after 8.30 in the morning." + +"So you, too, believe in the 'caretaker, wrapped up in a shawl,' +cleaning her front steps?" he queried. + +"But--" + +"It never struck you, in spite of the training your intercourse with me +must have given you, that the person who carefully did all the work in +the Rubens Studios, laid the fires and carried up the coals, merely did +it in order to gain time; in order that the bitter frost might really +and effectually do its work, and Mrs. Owen be not missed until she was +truly dead." + +"But--" suggested Polly again. + +"It never struck you that one of the greatest secrets of successful +crime is to lead the police astray with regard to the time when the +crime was committed. That was, if you remember, the great point in the +Regent's Park murder. + +"In this case the 'nephew,' since we admit his existence, would--even if +he were ever found, which is doubtful--be able to prove as good an +_alibi_ as young Greenhill." + +"But I don't understand--" + +"How the murder was committed?" he said eagerly. "Surely you can see it +all for yourself, since you admit the 'nephew'--a scamp, perhaps--who +sponges on the good-natured woman. He terrorises and threatens her, so +much so that she fancies her money is no longer safe even in the +Birkbeck Bank. Women of that class are apt at times to mistrust the Bank +of England. Anyway, she withdraws her money. Who knows what she meant to +do with it in the immediate future? + +"In any case, she wishes to secure it after her death to a young man +whom she likes, and who has known how to win her good graces. That +afternoon the nephew begs, entreats for more money; they have a row; the +poor woman is in tears, and is only temporarily consoled by a pleasant +visit at the theatre. + +"At 2 o'clock in the morning young Greenhill parts from her. Two minutes +later the nephew knocks at the door. He comes with a plausible tale of +having missed his last train, and asks for a 'shake down' somewhere in +the house. The good-natured woman suggests a sofa in one of the studios, +and then quietly prepares to go to bed. The rest is very simple and +elementary. The nephew sneaks into his aunt's room, finds her standing +in her nightgown; he demands money with threats of violence; terrified, +she staggers, knocks her head against the gas bracket, and falls on the +floor stunned, while the nephew seeks for her keys and takes possession +of the L800. You will admit that the subsequent _mise en scene_--is +worthy of a genius. + +"No struggle, not the usual hideous accessories round a crime. Only the +open windows, the bitter north-easterly gale, and the heavily falling +snow--two silent accomplices, as silent as the dead. + +"After that the murderer, with perfect presence of mind, busies himself +in the house, doing the work which will ensure that Mrs. Owen shall not +be missed, at any rate, for some time. He dusts and tidies; some few +hours later he even slips on his aunt's skirt and bodice, wraps his +head in a shawl, and boldly allows those neighbours who are astir to see +what they believe to be Mrs. Owen. Then he goes back to her room, +resumes his normal appearance and quietly leaves the house." + +"He may have been seen." + +"He undoubtedly _was_ seen by two or three people, but no one thought +anything of seeing a man leave the house at that hour. It was very cold, +the snow was falling thickly, and as he wore a muffler round the lower +part of his face, those who saw him would not undertake to know him +again." + +"That man was never seen nor heard of again?" Polly asked. + +"He has disappeared off the face of the earth. The police are searching +for him, and perhaps some day they will find him--then society will be +rid of one of the most ingenious men of the age." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE END + + +He had paused, absorbed in meditation. The young girl also was silent. +Some memory too vague as yet to take a definite form was persistently +haunting her--one thought was hammering away in her brain, and playing +havoc with her nerves. That thought was the inexplicable feeling within +her that there was something in connection with that hideous crime which +she ought to recollect, something which--if she could only remember what +it was--would give her the clue to the tragic mystery, and for once +ensure her triumph over this self-conceited and sarcastic scarecrow in +the corner. + +He was watching her through his great bone-rimmed spectacles, and she +could see the knuckles of his bony hands, just above the top of the +table, fidgeting, fidgeting, fidgeting, till she wondered if there +existed another set of fingers in the world which could undo the knots +his lean ones made in that tiresome piece of string. + +Then suddenly--_a propos_ of nothing, Polly _remembered_--the whole +thing stood before her, short and clear like a vivid flash of +lightning:--Mrs. Owen lying dead in the snow beside her open window; one +of them with a broken sash-line, tied up most scientifically with a +piece of string. She remembered the talk there had been at the time +about this improvised sash-line. + +That was after young Greenhill had been discharged, and the question of +suicide had been voted an impossibility. + +Polly remembered that in the illustrated papers photographs appeared of +this wonderfully knotted piece of string, so contrived that the weight +of the frame could but tighten the knots, and thus keep the window open. +She remembered that people deduced many things from that improvised +sash-line, chief among these deductions being that the murderer was a +sailor--so wonderful, so complicated, so numerous were the knots which +secured that window-frame. + +But Polly knew better. In her mind's eye she saw those fingers, rendered +doubly nervous by the fearful cerebral excitement, grasping at first +mechanically, even thoughtlessly, a bit of twine with which to secure +the window; then the ruling habit strongest through all, the girl could +see it; the lean and ingenious fingers fidgeting, fidgeting with that +piece of string, tying knot after knot, more wonderful, more +complicated, than any she had yet witnessed. + +"If I were you," she said, without daring to look into that corner +where he sat, "I would break myself of the habit of perpetually making +knots in a piece of string." + +He did not reply, and at last Polly ventured to look up--the corner was +empty, and through the glass door beyond the desk, where he had just +deposited his few coppers, she saw the tails of his tweed coat, his +extraordinary hat, his meagre, shrivelled-up personality, fast +disappearing down the street. + +Miss Polly Burton (of the _Evening Observer_) was married the other day +to Mr. Richard Frobisher (of the _London Mail_). She has never set eyes +on the man in the corner from that day to this. + + +FINIS + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Old Man in the Corner, by Baroness Orczy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER *** + +***** This file should be named 10556.txt or 10556.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/5/10556/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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