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diff --git a/25388.txt b/25388.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0723209 --- /dev/null +++ b/25388.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9408 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Herapath Property, by J. S. Fletcher + +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 Herapath Property + +Author: J. S. Fletcher + +Release Date: May 8, 2008 [EBook #25388] +Last updated: January 31, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HERAPATH PROPERTY *** + + + + +Produced by Andrew Wainwright, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE + + H E R A P A T H + + P R O P E R T Y + + + BY + J. S. FLETCHER + + + NEW YORK + ALFRED . A . KNOPF + MCMXXII + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY + ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC. + + _Published October, 1921_ + + _Second Printing, May, 1922_ + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I JACOB HERAPATH IS MISSING, 9 + II IS IT MURDER? 18 + III BARTHORPE TAKES CHARGE, 27 + IV THE PRESSMAN, 36 + V THE GLASS AND THE SANDWICH, 45 + VI THE TAXI-CAB DRIVER, 54 + VII IS THERE A WILL? 64 + VIII THE SECOND WITNESS, 74 + IX GREEK AGAINST GREEK, 83 + X MR. BENJAMIN HALFPENNY, 91 + XI THE SHADOW, 100 + XII FOR TEN PER CENT, 109 + XIII ADJOURNED, 118 + XIV THE SCOTTISH VERDICT, 127 + XV YOUNG BRAINS, 136 + XVI NAMELESS FEAR, 145 + XVII THE LAW, 154 + XVIII THE ROSEWOOD BOX, 163 + XIX WEAVING THE NET, 172 + XX THE DIAMOND RING, 181 + XXI THE DESERTED FLAT, 190 + XXII YEA AND NAY, 199 + XXIII THE ACCUSATION, 208 + XXIV COLD STEEL, 217 + XXV PROFESSIONAL ANALYSIS, 226 + XXVI THE REMAND PRISON, 235 + XXVII THE LAST CHEQUE, 244 + XXVIII THE HOTEL RAVENNA, 253 + XXIX THE NOTE IN THE PRAYER-BOOK, 263 + XXX THE WHITE-HAIRED LADY, 273 + XXXI THE INTERRUPTED DINNER-PARTY, 283 + XXXII THE YORKSHIRE PROVERB, 290 + XXXIII BURCHILL FILLS THE STAGE, 294 + XXXIV DAVIDGE'S TRUMP CARD, 304 + XXXV THE SECOND WARRANT, 312 + + + + + THE + + HERAPATH + + PROPERTY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +JACOB HERAPATH IS MISSING + + +This was the third week of Selwood's secretaryship to Jacob Herapath. +Herapath was a well-known man in London. He was a Member of Parliament, +the owner of a sort of model estate of up-to-date flats, and something +of a crank about such matters as ventilation, sanitation, and lighting. +He himself, a bachelor, lived in one of the best houses in Portman +Square; when he engaged Selwood as his secretary he made him take a +convenient set of rooms in Upper Seymour Street, close by. He also +caused a telephone communication to be set up between his own house and +Selwood's bedroom, so that he could summon his secretary at any hour of +the night. Herapath occasionally had notions about things in the small +hours, and he was one of those active, restless persons who, if they get +a new idea, like to figure on it at once. All the same, during those +three weeks he had not once troubled his secretary in this fashion. No +call came to Selwood over that telephone until half-past seven one +November morning, just as he was thinking of getting out of bed. And the +voice which then greeted him was not Herapath's. It was a rather anxious, +troubled voice, and it belonged to one Kitteridge, a middle-aged man, who +was Herapath's butler. + +In the act of summoning Selwood, Kitteridge was evidently interrupted by +some person at his elbow; all that Selwood made out was that Kitteridge +wanted him to go round at once. He dressed hurriedly, and ran off to +Herapath's house; there in the hall, near the door of a room which +Herapath used as a study and business room, he found Kitteridge talking +to Mountain, Herapath's coachman, who, judging by the state of his +attire, had also been called hurriedly from his bed. + +"What is it, Kitteridge?" demanded Selwood. "Mr. Herapath ill?" + +The butler shook his head and jerked his thumb towards the open door of +the study. + +"The fact is, we don't know where Mr. Herapath is, sir," he answered. +"He hasn't slept in his bed, and he isn't in the house." + +"Possibly he didn't come home last night," suggested Selwood. "He may +have slept at his club, or at an hotel." + +The butler and the coachman looked at each other--then the coachman, a +little, sharp-eyed man who was meditatively chewing a bit of straw, +opened his tightly-compressed lips. + +"He did come home, sir," he said. "I drove him home--as usual. I saw him +let himself into the house. One o'clock sharp, that was. Oh, yes, he +came home!" + +"He came home," repeated Kitteridge. "Look here, sir." He led the way +into the study and pointed to a small table set by the side of +Herapath's big business desk. "You see that tray, Mr. Selwood? That's +always left out, there, on that table, for Mr. Herapath every night. A +small decanter of whiskey, a syphon, a few sandwiches, a dry biscuit or +two. Well, there you are, sir--he's had a drink out of that glass, he's +had a mouthful or so of sandwiches. Oh, yes, he came home, but he's not +at home now! Charlesworth--the valet, you know, sir--always goes into +Mr. Herapath's room at a quarter past seven every morning; when he went +in just now he found that Mr. Herapath wasn't there, and the bed hadn't +been slept in. So--that's where things stand." + +Selwood looked round the room. The curtains had not yet been drawn +aside, and the electric light cast a cold glare on the various +well-known objects and fittings. He glanced at the evidences of the +supper tray; then at the blotting-pad on Herapath's desk; there he might +have left a note for his butler or his secretary. But there was no note +to be seen. + +"Still, I don't see that there's anything to be alarmed about, +Kitteridge," he said. "Mr. Herapath may have wanted to go somewhere by a +very early morning train----" + +"No, sir, excuse me, that won't do," broke in the butler. "I thought of +that myself. But if he'd wanted to catch a night train, he'd have taken +a travelling coat, and a rug, and a bag of some sort--he's taken nothing +at all in that way. Besides, I've been in this house seven years, and I +know his habits. If he'd wanted to go away by one of the very early +morning trains he'd have kept me and Charlesworth up, making ready for +him. No, sir! He came home, and went out again--must have done. +And--it's uncommonly queer. Seven years I've been here, as I say, and he +never did such a thing before." + +Selwood turned to the coachman. + +"You brought Mr. Herapath home at one o'clock?" he said. "Alone?" + +"He was alone, sir," replied the coachman, who had been staring around him +as if to seek some solution of the mystery. "I'll tell you all that +happened--I was just beginning to tell Mr. Kitteridge here when you come +in. I fetched Mr. Herapath from the House of Commons last night at a +quarter past eleven--took him up in Palace Yard at the usual spot, just as +the clock was striking. 'Mountain,' he says, 'I want you to drive round to +the estate office--I want to call there.' So I drove there--that's in +Kensington, as you know, sir. When he got out he says, 'Mountain,' he +says, 'I shall be three-quarters of an hour or so here--wrap the mare up +and walk her about,' he says. I did as he said, but he was more than +three-quarters--it was like an hour. Then at last he came back to the +brougham, just said one word, 'Home!' and I drove him here, and the clocks +were striking one when he got out. He said 'Good night,' and I saw him +walk up the steps and put his key in the latch as I drove off to our +stables. And that's all I know about it." + +Selwood turned to the butler. + +"I suppose no one was up at that time?" he inquired. + +"Nobody, sir," answered Kitteridge. "There never is. Mr. Herapath, as +you've no doubt observed, is a bit strict in the matter of rules, and +it's one of his rules that everybody in the house must be in bed by +eleven-thirty. No one was ever to sit up for him on any occasion. That's +why this supper-tray was always left ready. His usual time for coming in +when he'd been at the House was twelve o'clock." + +"Everybody in the house might be in bed," observed Selwood, "but not +everybody might be asleep. Have you made any inquiry as to whether +anybody heard Mr. Herapath moving about in the night, or leaving the +house? Somebody may have heard the hall door opened and closed, you +know." + +"I'll make inquiry as to that, sir," responded Kitteridge, "but I've +heard nothing of the sort so far, and all the servants are aware by now +that Mr. Herapath isn't in the house. If anybody had heard anything----" + +Before the butler could say more the study door opened and a girl came +into the room. At sight of her Selwood spoke hurriedly to Kitteridge. + +"Have you told Miss Wynne?" he whispered. "Does she know?" + +"She may have heard from her maid, sir," replied Kitteridge in low +tones. "Of course they're all talking of it. I was going to ask to see +Miss Wynne as soon as she was dressed." + +By that time the girl had advanced towards the three men, and Selwood +stepped forward to meet her. He knew her as Herapath's niece, the +daughter of a dead sister of whom Herapath had been very fond; he knew, +too, that Herapath had brought her up from infancy and treated her as a +daughter. She was at this time a young woman of twenty-one or two, a +pretty, eminently likeable young woman, with signs of character and +resource in eyes and lips, and Selwood had seen enough of her to feel +sure that in any disturbing event she would keep her head. She spoke +calmly enough as the secretary met her. + +"What's all this, Mr. Selwood?" she asked. "I understand my uncle is not +in the house. But there's nothing alarming in that, Kitteridge, is +there? Mr. Herapath may have gone away during the night, you know." + +"Kitteridge thinks that highly improbable," replied Selwood. "He says +that Mr. Herapath had made no preparation for a sudden journey, has +taken no travelling coat or rug, or luggage of any sort." + +"Did he come in from the House?" she asked. "Perhaps not?" + +Kitteridge pointed to the supper-tray and then indicated the coachman. + +"He came in as usual, miss," he replied. "Or rather an hour later than +usual. Mountain brought him home at one o'clock, and he saw him let +himself in with his latch-key." + +Peggie Wynne turned to the coachman. + +"You're sure that he entered the house?" she asked. + +"As sure as I could be, miss," replied Mountain. "He was putting his key +in the door when I drove off." + +"He must have come in," said Kitteridge, pointing to the tray. "He had +something after he got in." + +"Well, go and tell the servants not to talk, Kitteridge," said Peggie. +"My uncle, no doubt, had reasons for going out again. Have you said +anything to Mr. Tertius?" + +"Mr. Tertius isn't down yet, miss," answered the butler. + +He left the room, followed by the coachman, and Peggie turned to +Selwood. "What do you think?" she asked, with a slight show of anxiety. +"You don't know of any reason for this, do you?" + +"None," replied Selwood. "And as to what I think, I don't know +sufficient about Mr. Herapath's habits to be able to judge." + +"He never did anything like this before," she remarked. "I know that he +sometimes gets up in the middle of the night and comes down here, but I +never knew him to go out. If he'd been setting off on a sudden journey +he'd surely have let me know. Perhaps----" + +She paused suddenly, seeing Selwood lift his eyes from the papers +strewn about the desk to the door. She, too, turned in the same +direction. + +A man had come quietly into the room--a slightly-built, little man, +grey-bearded, delicate-looking, whose eyes were obscured by a pair of +dark-tinted spectacles. He moved gently and with an air of habitual +shyness, and Selwood, who was naturally observant, saw that his lips and +his hands were trembling slightly as he came towards them. + +"Mr. Tertius," said Peggie, "do you know anything about Uncle Jacob? He +came in during the night--one o'clock--and now he's disappeared. Did he +say anything to you about going away early this morning?" + +Mr. Tertius shook his head. + +"No--no--nothing!" he answered. "Disappeared! Is it certain he came in?" + +"Mountain saw him come in," she said. "Besides, he had a drink out of +that glass, and he ate something from the tray--see!" + +Mr. Tertius bent his spectacled eyes over the supper tray and remained +looking at what he saw there for a while. Then he looked up, and at +Selwood. + +"Strange!" he remarked. "And yet, you know, he is a man who does things +without saying a word to any one. Have you, now, thought of telephoning +to the estate office? He may have gone there." + +Peggie, who had dropped into the chair at Herapath's desk, immediately +jumped up. + +"Of course we must do that at once!" she exclaimed. "Come to the +telephone, Mr. Selwood--we may hear something." + +She and Selwood left the room together. When they had gone, Mr. Tertius +once more bent over the supper tray. He picked up the empty glass, +handling it delicately; he held it between himself and the electric +light over the desk; he narrowly inspected it, inside and out. Then he +turned his attention to the plate of sandwiches. One sandwich had been +taken from the plate and bitten into--once. Mr. Tertius took up that +sandwich with the tips of his delicately-shaped fingers. He held that, +too, nearer the light. And having looked at it he hastily selected an +envelope from the stationery cabinet on the desk, carefully placed the +sandwich within it, and set off to his own rooms in the upper part of +the house. As he passed through the hall he heard Selwood at the +telephone, which was installed in a small apartment at the foot of the +stairs--he was evidently already in communication with some one at the +Herapath Estate Office. + +Mr. Tertius went straight to his room, stayed there a couple of minutes, +and went downstairs again. Selwood and Peggie Wynne were just coming +away from the telephone; they looked up at him with faces grave with +concern. + +"We're wanted at the estate office," said Selwood. "The caretaker was +just going to ring us up when I got through to him. Something is +wrong--wrong with Mr. Herapath." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +IS IT MURDER? + + +It struck Selwood, afterwards, as a significant thing that it was +neither he nor Mr. Tertius who took the first steps towards immediate +action. Even as he spoke, Peggie was summoning the butler, and her +orders were clear and precise. + +"Kitteridge," she said quietly, "order Robson to bring the car round at +once--as quickly as possible. In the meantime, send some coffee into the +breakfast-room--breakfast itself must wait until we return. Make haste, +Kitteridge." + +Selwood turned on her with a doubtful look. + +"You--you aren't going down there?" he asked. + +"Of course I am!" she answered. "Do you think I should wait here--wondering +what had happened? We will all go--come and have some coffee, both of you, +while we wait for the car." + +The two followed her into the breakfast-room and silently drank the +coffee which she presently poured out for them. She, too, was silent, +but when she had left the room to make ready for the drive Mr. Tertius +turned to Selwood. + +"You heard--what?" he asked. + +"Nothing definite," answered Selwood. "All I heard was that Mr. +Herapath was there, and there was something seriously wrong, and would +we go down at once." + +Mr. Tertius made no comment. He became thoughtful and abstracted, and +remained so during the journey down to Kensington. Peggie, too, said +nothing as they sped along; as for Selwood, he was wondering what had +happened, and reflecting on this sudden stirring up of mystery. There was +mystery within that car--in the person of Mr. Tertius. During his three +weeks' knowledge of the Herapath household Selwood had constantly wondered +who Mr. Tertius was, what his exact relationship was, what his position +really was. He knew that he lived in Jacob Herapath's house, but in a +sense he was not of the family. He seldom presented himself at Herapath's +table, he was rarely seen about the house; Selwood remembered seeing him +occasionally in Herapath's study or in Peggie Wynne's drawing-room. He had +learnt sufficient to know that Mr. Tertius had rooms of his own in the +house; two rooms in some upper region; one room on the ground-floor. Once +Selwood had gained a peep into that ground-floor room, and had seen that +it was filled with books, and that its table was crowded with papers, and +he had formed the notion that Mr. Tertius was some book-worm or antiquary, +to whom Jacob Herapath for some reason or other gave house-room. That +he was no relation Selwood judged from the way in which he was always +addressed by Herapath and by Peggie Wynne. To them as to all the servants +he was Mr. Tertius--whether that was his surname or not, Selwood did not +know. + +There was nothing mysterious or doubtful about the great pile of buildings +at which the automobile presently stopped. They were practical and +concrete facts. Most people in London knew the famous Herapath Flats--they +had aroused public interest from the time that their founder began +building them. + +Jacob Herapath, a speculator in real estate, had always cherished a +notion of building a mass of high-class residential flats on the most +modern lines. Nothing of the sort which he contemplated, he said, +existed in London--when the opportunity came he would show the building +world what could and should be done. The opportunity came when a parcel +of land in Kensington fell into the market--Jacob Herapath made haste to +purchase it, and he immediately began building on it. The result was a +magnificent mass of buildings which possessed every advantage and +convenience--to live in a Herapath flat was to live in luxury. +Incidentally, no one could live in one who was not prepared to pay a +rental of anything from five to fifteen hundred a year. The gross rental +of the Herapath Flats was enormous--the net profits were enough to make +even a wealthy man's mouth water. And Selwood, who already knew all +this, wondered, as they drove away, where all this wealth would go if +anything had really happened to its creator. + +The entrance to the Herapath estate office was in an archway which led +to one of the inner squares of the great buildings. When the car stopped +at it, Selwood saw that there were police within the open doorway. One +of them, an inspector, came forward, looking dubiously at Peggie Wynne. +Selwood hastened out of the car and made for him. + +"I'm Mr. Herapath's secretary--Mr. Selwood," he said, drawing the +inspector out of earshot. "Is anything seriously wrong?--better tell me +before Miss Wynne hears. He isn't--dead?" + +The inspector gave him a warning look. + +"That's it, sir," he answered in a low voice. "Found dead by the +caretaker in his private office. And it's here--Mr. Selwood, it's either +suicide or murder. That's flat!" + +Selwood got his two companions inside the building and into a waiting-room. +Peggie turned on him at once. + +"I see you know," she said. "Tell me at once what it is. Don't be afraid, +Mr. Selwood--I'm not likely to faint nor to go into hysterics. Neither is +Mr. Tertius. Tell us--is it the worst?" + +"Yes," said Selwood. "It is." + +"He is dead?" she asked in a low voice. "You are sure? Dead?" + +Selwood bent his head by way of answer; when he looked up again the girl +had bent hers, but she quickly lifted it, and except that she had grown +pale, she showed no outward sign of shock or emotion. As for Mr. +Tertius, he, too, was calm--and it was he who first broke the silence. + +"How was it?" he asked. "A seizure?" + +Selwood hesitated. Then, seeing that he had to deal with two people who +were obviously in full control of themselves, he decided to tell the +truth. + +"I'm afraid you must be prepared to hear some unpleasant news," he said, +with a glance at the inspector, who just then quietly entered the room. +"The police say it is either a case of suicide or of murder." + +Peggie looked sharply from Selwood to the police official, and a sudden +flush of colour flamed into her cheeks. + +"Suicide?" she exclaimed. "Never! Murder? That may be. Tell me what you +have found," she went on eagerly. "Don't keep things back!--don't you +see I want to know?" + +The inspector closed the door and came nearer to where the three were +standing. + +"Perhaps I'd better tell you what we do know," he said. "Our station was +rung up by the caretaker here at five minutes past eight. He said Mr. +Herapath had just been found lying on the floor of his private room, and +they were sure something was wrong, and would we come round. I came +myself with one of our plain-clothes men who happened to be in, and our +surgeon followed us a few minutes later. We found Mr. Herapath lying +across the hearthrug in his private room, quite dead. Close by----" He +paused and looked dubiously at Peggie. "The details are not pleasant," +he said meaningly. "Shall I omit them?" + +"No!" answered Peggie with decision. "Please omit nothing. Tell us +all." + +"There was a revolver lying close by Mr. Herapath's right hand," +continued the inspector. "One chamber had been discharged. Mr. Herapath +had been shot through the right temple, evidently at close quarters. I +should say--and our surgeon says--he had died instantly. And--I think +that's all I need say just now." + +Peggie, who had listened to this with unmoved countenance, involuntarily +stepped towards the door. + +"Let us go to him," she said. "I suppose he's still here?" + +But there Selwood, just as involuntarily, asserted an uncontrollable +instinct. He put himself between the door and the girl. + +"No!" he said firmly, wondering at himself for his insistence. "Don't! +There's no need for that--yet. You mustn't go. Mr. Tertius----" + +"Better not just yet, miss," broke in the inspector. "The doctor is +still here. Afterwards, perhaps. If you would wait here while these +gentlemen go with me." + +Peggie hesitated a moment; then she turned away and sat down. + +"Very well," she said. + +The inspector silently motioned the two men to follow him; with his hand +on the door Selwood turned again to Peggie. + +"You will stay here?" he said. "You won't follow us?" + +"I shall stay here," she answered. "Stop a minute--there's one thing +that should be thought of. My cousin Barthorpe----" + +"Mr. Barthorpe Herapath has been sent for, miss--he'll be here +presently," replied the inspector. "The caretaker's telephoned to him. +Now gentlemen." + +He led the way along a corridor to a room with which Selwood was +familiar enough--an apartment of some size which Jacob Herapath used as +a business office and kept sacred to himself and his secretary. When he +was in it no one ever entered that room except at Herapath's bidding; +now there were strangers in it who had come there unbidden, and Herapath +lay in their midst, silent for ever. They had laid the lifeless body on +a couch, and Selwood and Mr. Tertius bent over it for a moment before +they turned to the other men in the room. The dead face was calm enough; +there was no trace of sudden fear on it, no signs of surprise or anger +or violent passion. + +"If you'll look here, gentlemen," said the police-inspector, motioning +them towards the broad hearthrug. "This is how things were--nothing had +been touched when we arrived. He was lying from there to here--he'd +evidently slipped down and sideways out of that chair, and had fallen +across the rug. The revolver was lying a few inches from his right hand. +Here it is." + +He pulled open a drawer as he spoke and produced a revolver which he +carefully handled as he showed it to Selwood and Mr. Tertius. + +"Have either of you gentlemen ever seen that before?" he asked. "I +mean--do you recognize it as having belonged to--him? You don't? Never +seen it before, either of you? Well, of course he might have kept a +revolver in his private desk or in his safe, and nobody would have +known. We shall have to make an exhaustive search and see if we can find +any cartridges or anything. However, that's what we found--and, as I +said before, one chamber had been discharged. The doctor here says the +revolver had been fired at close quarters." + +Mr. Tertius, who had watched and listened with marked attention, turned +to the police surgeon. + +"The wound may have been self-inflicted?" he asked. + +"From the position of the body, and of the revolver, there is strong +presumption that it was," replied the doctor. + +"Yet--it may not have been?" suggested Mr. Tertius, mildly. + +The doctor shrugged his shoulders. It was easy to see what his own +opinion was. + +"It may not have been--as you say," he answered. "But if he was shot by +some other person--murdered, that is--the murderer must have been +standing either close at his side, or immediately behind him. Of this I +am certain--he was sitting in that chair, at his desk, when the shot was +fired." + +"And--what would the immediate effect be?" asked Mr. Tertius. + +"He would probably start violently, make as if to rise, drop forward +against the desk and gradually--but quickly--subside to the floor in the +position in which he was found," replied the doctor. "As he fell he +would relinquish his grip on the revolver--it is invariably a tight grip +in these cases--and it would fall--just where it was found." + +"Still, there is nothing to disprove the theory that the revolver may +have been placed--where it was found?" suggested Mr. Tertius. + +"Oh, certainly it may have been placed there!" said the doctor, with +another shrug of the shoulders. "A cool and calculating murderer may +have placed it there, of course." + +"Just so," agreed Mr. Tertius. He remained silently gazing at the +hearthrug for a while; then he turned to the doctor again. "Now, how +long do you think Mr. Herapath had been dead when you were called to the +body?" he asked. + +"Quite eight hours," answered the doctor promptly. + +"Eight hours!" exclaimed Mr. Tertius. "And you first saw him at----" + +"A quarter past eight," said the doctor. "I should say he died just +about midnight." + +"Midnight!" murmured Mr. Tertius. "Midnight? Then----" + +Before he could say more, a policeman, stationed in the corridor +outside, opened the door of the room, and glancing at his inspector, +announced the arrival of Mr. Barthorpe Herapath. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +BARTHORPE TAKES CHARGE + + +The man who strode into the room as the policeman threw the door open for +him immediately made two distinct impressions on the inspector and the +doctor, neither of whom had ever seen him before. The first was that he +instantly conveyed a sense of alert coolness and self-possession; the +second that, allowing for differences of age, he was singularly like the +dead man who lay in their midst. Both were tall, well-made men; both were +clean-shaven; both were much alike as to feature and appearance. Apart +from the fact that Jacob Herapath was a man of sixty and grey-haired, and +his nephew one of thirty to thirty-five and dark-haired, they were very +much alike--the same mould of nose, mouth, and chin, the same strength of +form. The doctor noted this resemblance particularly, and he involuntarily +glanced from the living to the dead. + +Barthorpe Herapath bent over his dead uncle for no more than a minute. +His face was impassive, almost stern as he turned to the others. He +nodded slightly to Mr. Tertius and to Selwood; then he gave his +attention to the officials. + +"Yes?" he said inquiringly and yet with a certain tone of command. "Now +tell me all you know of this." + +He stood listening silently, with concentrated attention, as the +inspector put him in possession of the facts already known. He made no +comment, asked no questions, until the inspector had finished; then he +turned to Selwood, almost pointedly ignoring Mr. Tertius. + +"What is known of this in Portman Square, Mr. Selwood?" he inquired. +"Tell me, briefly." + +Selwood, who had only met Barthorpe Herapath once or twice, and who had +formed an instinctive and peculiar dislike to him, for which he could +not account, accepted the invitation to be brief. In a few words he told +exactly what had happened at Jacob Herapath's house. + +"My cousin is here, then?" exclaimed Barthorpe. + +"Miss Wynne is in the larger waiting-room down the corridor," replied +Selwood. + +"I will go to her in a minute," said Barthorpe. "Now, inspector, there +are certain things to be done at once. There will, of course, have to be +an inquest--your people must give immediate notice to the coroner. +Then--the body--that must be properly attended to--that, too, you will +see about. Before you go away yourself, I want you to join me in +collecting all the evidence we can get on the spot. You have one of your +detective staff here?--good. Now, have you searched--him?" + +The inspector drew open a drawer in the front desk which occupied the +centre of the room, and pointed to some articles which lay within. + +"Everything that we found upon him is in there," he answered. "You see +there is not much--watch and chain, pocket articles, a purse, some loose +money, a pocket-book, a cigar-case--that's all. One matter I should have +expected to find, we didn't find." + +"What's that?" asked Barthorpe quickly. + +"Keys," answered the inspector. "We found no keys on him--not even a +latch-key. Yet he must have let himself in here, and I understand from +the caretaker that he must have unlocked this door after he'd entered by +the outer one." + +Barthorpe made no immediate answer beyond a murmur of perplexity. + +"Strange," he said after a pause, during which he bent over the open +drawer. "However, that's one of the things to be gone into. Close that +drawer, lock it up, and for the present keep the key yourself--you and I +will examine the contents later. Now for these immediate inquiries. Mr. +Selwood, will you please telephone at once to Portman Square and tell +Kitteridge to send Mountain, the coachman, here--instantly. Tell +Kitteridge to come with him. Inspector, will you see to this arrangement +we spoke of, and also tell the caretaker that we shall want him +presently? Now I will go to my cousin." + +He strode off, still alert, composed, almost bustling in his demeanour, +to the waiting-room in which they had left Peggie--a moment later, +Selwood, following him down the corridor, saw him enter and close the +door. And Selwood cursed himself for a fool for hating to think that +these two should be closeted together, for disliking the notion that +Barthorpe Herapath was Peggie Wynne's cousin--and now, probably, her +guardian protector. For during those three weeks in which he had been +Jacob Herapath's secretary, Selwood had seen a good deal of his +employer's niece, and he was already well over the verge of falling in +love with her, and was furious with himself for daring to think of a +girl who was surely one of the richest heiresses in London. He was angry +with himself, too, for disliking Barthorpe, for he was inclined to +cultivate common-sense, and common-sense coldly reminded him that he did +not know Barthorpe Herapath well enough to either like or dislike him. + +Half an hour passed--affairs suggestive of the tragedy of the night went +on in the Herapath Estate Office. Two women in the garb of professional +nurses came quietly, and passed into the room where Herapath lay dead. A +man arrayed in dismal black came after them, summoned by the police who +were busy at the telephone as soon as Selwood had finished with it. +Selwood himself, having summoned Kitteridge and Mountain, hung about, +waiting. He heard the police talking in undertones of clues and +theories, and of a coroner's inquest, and the like; now and then he +looked curiously at Mr. Tertius, who had taken a seat in the hall and +was apparently wrapped in meditation. And still Barthorpe Herapath +remained closeted with Peggie Wynne. + +A taxi drove up and deposited the butler and the coachman at the door. +Selwood motioned them inside. + +"Mr. Barthorpe Herapath wants both of you," he said curtly. "I suppose +he will ask for you presently." + +Kitteridge let out an anxious inquiry. + +"The master, sir?" he exclaimed. "Is----" + +"Good heavens!" muttered Selwood. "I--of course, you don't know. Mr. +Herapath is dead." + +The two servants started and stared at each other. Before either could +speak Barthorpe Herapath suddenly emerged from the waiting-room and +looked round the hall. He beckoned to the inspector, who was talking in +low tones with the detective, at a little distance. + +"Now, inspector," he said, "will you and your officer come in? And the +caretaker--and you, Kitteridge, and you, Mountain. Mr. Selwood, will you +come in, too?" + +He stood at the door while those he had invited inside passed into the +room where Peggie still sat. And as he stood there, and Selwood wound up +the little procession, Mr. Tertius rose and also made as if to join the +others. Barthorpe stopped him by intruding himself between him and the +door. + +"This is a private inquiry of my own, Mr. Tertius," he said, with a +meaning look. + +Selwood, turning in sheer surprise at this announcement, so pointed and +so unmistakable, saw a faint tinge of colour mount to the elder man's +usually pale cheeks. Mr. Tertius stopped sharply and looked at Barthorpe +in genuine surprise. + +"You do not wish me to enter--to be present?" he faltered. + +"Frankly, I don't," said Barthorpe, with aggressive plainness. "There +will be a public inquiry--I can't stop you from attending that." + +Mr. Tertius drew back. He stood for a moment staring hard at Barthorpe; +then, with a slight, scarcely perceivable bow, he turned away, crossed +the hall, and went out of the front door. And Barthorpe Herapath +laughed--a low, sneering laugh--and following the other men into the +waiting-room, locked the door upon those assembled there. As if he and +they were assembled on some cut-and-dried business matter, he waved them +all to chairs, and himself dropped into one at the head of the table, +close to that in which Peggie was sitting. + +"Now, inspector," he began, "you and I must get what we may as well call +first information about this matter. There will be a vast amount of +special and particular investigation later on, but I want us, at the +very outset, while facts are fresh in the mind, to get certain +happenings clearly before us. And for this reason--I understand that the +police-surgeon is of opinion that my uncle committed suicide. With all +respect to him--I'm sorry he's gone before I could talk to him--that +theory cannot be held for an instant! My cousin, Miss Wynne, and I knew +our uncle far too well to believe that theory for a single moment, and +we shall combat it by every means in our power when the inquest is held. +No--my uncle was murdered! Now I want to know all I can get to know of +his movements last night. And first I think we'll hear what the +caretaker can tell us. Hancock," he continued, turning to an elderly man +who looked like an ex-soldier, "I understand you found my uncle's body?" + +The caretaker, obviously much upset by the affairs of the morning, +pulled himself up to attention. + +"I did, sir," he replied. + +"What time was that?" + +"Just eight o'clock, sir--that's my usual time for opening the office." + +"Tell us exactly how you found him, Hancock." + +"I opened the door of Mr. Herapath's private room, sir, to pull up the +blinds and open the window. When I walked in I saw him lying across the +hearth-rug. Then I noticed the--the revolver." + +"And of course that gave you a turn. What did you do? Go into the room?" + +"No, sir! I shut the door again, went straight to the telephone and rang +up the police-station. Then I waited at the front door till the +inspector there came along." + +"Was the front door fastened as usual when you went to it at that time?" + +"It was fastened as it always is, sir, by the latch. It was Mr. Herapath's +particular orders that it never should be fastened any other way at night, +because he sometimes came in at night, with his latch-key." + +"Just so. Now these offices are quite apart and distinct from the rest +of the building--mark that, inspector! There's no way out of them into +the building, nor any way out of the building into them. In fact, the +only entrance into these offices is by the front door. Isn't that so, +Hancock?" + +"That's quite so, sir--only that one door." + +"No area entrance or side-door?" + +"None, sir--nothing but that." + +"And the only tenants in here--these offices--at night are you and your +wife, Hancock?" + +"That's all, sir." + +"Now, where are your rooms?" + +"We've two rooms in the basement, sir--living-room and kitchen--and two +rooms on the top floor--a bedroom and a bathroom." + +"On the top-floor. How many floors are there?" + +"Well, sir, there's the basement--then there's this--then there's two +floors that's used by the clerks--then there's ours." + +"That's to say there are two floors between your bedroom and this ground +floor?" + +"Yes, sir--two." + +"Very well. Now, about last night. What time did you and your wife go to +bed?" + +"Eleven o'clock, sir--half an hour later than usual." + +"You'd previously looked round, I suppose?" + +"Been all round, sir--I always look into every room in the place last +thing at night--thoroughly." + +"Are you and your wife sound sleepers?" + +"Yes, sir--both of us. Good sleepers." + +"You heard no sound after you got to bed?" + +"Nothing, sir--neither of us." + +"No recollection of hearing a revolver shot?--not even as if it were a +long way off?" + +"No, sir--we never heard anything--nothing unusual, at any rate." + +"You heard no sound of doors opening or being shut, nor of any +conveyance coming to the door?" + +"No, sir, nothing at all." + +"Well, one or two more questions, Hancock. You didn't go into the room +after first catching sight of the body? Just so--but you'd notice +things, even in a hurried glance. Did you notice any sign of a +struggle--overturned chair or anything?" + +"No, sir. I did notice that Mr. Herapath's elbow chair, that he always +sat in at his desk, was pushed back a bit, and was a bit on one side as +it were. That was all." + +"And the light--the electric light? Was that on?" + +"No, sir." + +"Then all you can tell us comes to this--that you never heard anything, +and had no notion of what was happening, or had happened, until you came +down in the morning?" + +"Just so, sir. If I'd known what was going on, or had gone on, I should +have been down at once." + +Barthorpe nodded and turned to the coachman. + +"Now, Mountain," he said. "We want to hear your story. Be careful about +your facts--what you can tell us is probably of the utmost importance." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE PRESSMAN + + +The coachman, thus admonished, unconsciously edged his chair a little +nearer to the table at which Barthorpe Herapath sat, and looked +anxiously at his interrogator. He was a little, shrewd-eyed fellow, and +it seemed to Selwood, who had watched him carefully during the informal +examination to which Barthorpe had subjected the caretaker, that he had +begun to think deeply over some new presentiment of this mystery which +was slowly shaping itself in his mind. + +"I understand, Mountain, that you fetched Mr. Herapath from the House of +Commons last night?" began Barthorpe. "You fetched him in the brougham, +I believe?" + +"Yes, sir," answered the coachman. "Mr. Herapath always had the brougham +at night--and most times, too, sir. Never took kindly to the motor, +sir." + +"Where did you meet him, Mountain?" + +"Usual place, sir--in Palace Yard--just outside the Hall." + +"What time was that?" + +"Quarter past eleven, exactly, sir--the clock was just chiming the +quarter as he came out." + +"Was Mr. Herapath alone when he came out?" + +"No sir. He came out with another gentleman--a stranger to me, sir. The +two of 'em stood talking a bit a yard or two away from the brougham." + +"Did you hear anything they said?" + +"Just a word or two from Mr. Herapath, sir, as him and the other +gentleman parted." + +"What were they?--tell us the words, as near as you can remember." + +"Mr. Herapath said, 'Have it ready for me tomorrow, and I'll look in at +your place about noon.' That's all, sir." + +"What happened then?" + +"The other gentleman went off across the Yard, sir, and Mr. Herapath came +to the brougham, and told me to drive him to the estate office--here, +sir." + +"You drove him up to this door, I suppose?" + +"No, sir. Mr. Herapath never was driven up to the door--he always got +out of the brougham in the road outside and walked up the archway. He +did that last night." + +"From where you pulled up could you see if there was any light in these +offices?" + +"No, sir--I pulled up just short of the entrance to the archway." + +"Did Mr. Herapath say anything to you when he got out?" + +"Yes, sir. He said he should most likely be three-quarters of an hour +here, and that I'd better put a rug over the mare and walk her about." + +"Then I suppose he went up the archway. Now, did you see anybody about +the entrance? Did you see any person waiting as if to meet him? Did he +meet anybody?" + +"I saw no one, sir. As soon as he'd gone up the archway I threw a rug +over the mare and walked her round and round the square across the +road." + +"You heard and saw nothing of him until he came out again?" + +"Nothing, sir." + +"And how long was he away from you?" + +"Nearer an hour than three-quarters, sir." + +"Were you in full view of the entrance all that time?" + +"No, sir, I wasn't. Some of the time I was--some of it I'd my back to +it." + +"You never saw any one enter the archway during the time Mr. Herapath +was in the office?" + +"No, sir." + +"All the same, some one could have come here during that time without +your seeing him?" + +"Oh, yes, sir!" + +"Well, at last Mr. Herapath came out. Where did he rejoin you?" + +"In the middle of the road, sir--right opposite that statue in the +Square gardens." + +"Did he say anything particular then?" + +"No, sir. He walked sharply across, opened the door, said 'Home' and +jumped in." + +"You didn't notice anything unusual about him?" + +"Nothing, sir--unless it was that he hung his head down rather as he +came across--same as if he was thinking hard, sir." + +"You drove straight home to Portman Square, then. What time did you get +there?" + +"Exactly one o'clock, sir." + +"You're certain about that time?" + +"Certain, sir. It was just five minutes past one when I drove into our +mews." + +"Now, then, be careful about this, Mountain. I want to know exactly what +happened when you drove up to the house. Tell us in your own way." + +The coachman looked round amongst the listeners as if he were a little +perplexed. "Why, sir," he answered, turning back to Barthorpe, "there +was nothing happened! At least, I mean to say, there was nothing +happened that didn't always happen on such occasions--Mr. Herapath got +out of the brougham, shut the door, said 'Good night,' and went up the +steps, taking his latch-key out of his pocket as he crossed the +pavement, sir. That was all, sir." + +"Did you actually see him enter the house?" + +"No, sir," replied Mountain, with a decisive shake of the head. "I +couldn't say that I did that. I saw him just putting the key in the +latch as I drove off." + +"And that's all you know?" + +"That's all I know, sir--all." + +Barthorpe, after a moment's hesitation, turned to the police-inspector. + +"Is there anything that occurs to you?" he asked. + +"One or two things occur to me," answered the inspector. "But I'm not +going to ask any questions now. I suppose all you want at present is to +get a rough notion of how things were last night?" + +"Just so," assented Barthorpe. "A rough notion--that's it. Well, +Kitteridge, it's your turn. Who found out that Mr. Herapath wasn't in +the house this morning?" + +"Charlesworth, sir--Mr. Herapath's valet," replied the butler. "He +always called Mr. Herapath at a quarter past seven every morning. When +he went into the bedroom this morning Mr. Herapath wasn't there, and the +bed hadn't been slept in. Then Charlesworth came and told me, sir, and +of course I went to the study at once, and then I saw that, wherever Mr. +Herapath might be then, he certainly had been home." + +"You judged that from--what?" asked Barthorpe. + +"Well, sir, it's been the rule to leave a supper-tray out for Mr. +Herapath. Not much, sir--whisky and soda, a sandwich or two, a dry +biscuit. I saw that he'd had something, sir." + +"Somebody else might have had it--eh?" + +"Yes, sir, but then you see, I'd had Mountain fetched by that time, and +he told me that he'd seen Mr. Herapath letting himself in at one +o'clock. So of course I knew the master had been in." + +Barthorpe hesitated, seemed to ponder matters for a moment, and then +rose. "I don't think we need go into things any further just now," he +said. "You, Kitteridge, and you, Mountain, can go home. Don't talk--that +is, don't talk any more than is necessary. I suppose," he went on, +turning to the inspector when the two servants and the caretaker had +left the room. "I suppose you'll see to all the arrangements we spoke +of?" + +"They're being carried out already," answered the inspector. "Of +course," he added, drawing closer to Barthorpe and speaking in lower +tones, "when the body's been removed, you'll join me in making a +thorough inspection of the room? We haven't done that yet, you know, and +it should be done. Wouldn't it be best," he continued with a glance at +Peggie and a further lowering of his voice, "if the young lady went back +to Portman Square?" + +"Just so, just so--I'll see to it," answered Barthorpe. "You go and keep +people out of the way for a few minutes, and I'll get her off." He +turned to his cousin when the two officers had left the room and +motioned her to rise. "Now, Peggie," he said, "you must go home. I shall +come along there myself in an hour or two--there are things to be done +which you and I must do together. Mr. Selwood--will you take Miss Wynne +out to the car? And then, please, come back to me--I want your +assistance for a while." + +Peggie walked out of the room and to the car without demur or comment. +But as she was about to take her seat she turned to Selwood. + +"Why didn't Mr. Tertius come into the room just now?" she demanded. + +Selwood hesitated. Until then he had thought that Peggie had heard the +brief exchange of words between Barthorpe and Mr. Tertius at the door. + +"Didn't you hear what was said at the door when we were all coming in?" +he asked suddenly, looking attentively at her. + +"I heard my cousin and Mr. Tertius talking, but I couldn't catch what +was said," she replied. "If you did, tell me--I want to know." + +"Mr. Barthorpe Herapath refused to admit Mr. Tertius," said Selwood. + +"Refused?" she exclaimed. "Refused?" + +"Refused," repeated Selwood. "That's all I know." + +Peggie sat down and gave him an enigmatic look. + +"You, of course, will come back to the house when--when you've finished +here?" she said. + +"I don't know--I suppose--really, I don't know," answered Selwood. "You +see, I--I, of course, don't know exactly where I am, now. I suppose I +must take my orders from--your cousin." + +Peggie gave him another look, more enigmatic than the other. + +"That's nonsense!" she said sharply. "Of course, you'll come. Do +whatever it is that Barthorpe wants just now, but come on to Portman +Square as soon as you've done it--I want you. Go straight home, Robson," +she went on, turning to the chauffeur. + +Selwood turned slowly and unwillingly back to the office door as the car +moved off. And as he set his foot on the first step a young man came +running up the entry--not hurrying but running--and caught him up and +hailed him. + +"Mr. Selwood?" he said, pantingly. "You'll excuse me--you're Mr. +Herapath's secretary, aren't you?--I've seen you with him. I'm Mr. +Triffitt, of the _Argus_--I happened to call in at the police-station +just now, and they told me of what had happened here, so I rushed along. +Will you tell me all about it, Mr. Selwood?--it'll be a real scoop for +me--I'll hustle down to the office with it at once, and we'll have a +special out in no time. And whether you know it or not, that'll help the +police. Give me the facts, Mr. Selwood!" + +Selwood stared at the ardent collector of news; then he motioned him to +follow, and led him into the hall to where Barthorpe Herapath was +standing with the police-inspector. + +"This is a newspaper man," he said laconically, looking at Barthorpe. +"Mr. Triffitt, of the _Argus_. He wants the facts of this affair." + +Barthorpe turned and looked the new-comer up and down. Triffitt, who had +almost recovered his breath, pulled out a card and presented it with a +bow. And Barthorpe suddenly seemed to form a conclusion. + +"All right!" he said. "Mr. Selwood, you know all the facts. Take Mr. +Triffitt into that room we've just left, and give him a resume of them. +And--listen! we can make use of the press. Mention two matters, which +seem to me to be of importance. Tell of the man who came out of the +House of Commons with my uncle last night--ask him if he'll come +forward. And, as my uncle must have returned to this office after he'd +been home, and as he certainly wouldn't walk here, ask for information +as to who drove him down to Kensington from Portman Square. Don't tell +this man too much--give him the bare outlines on how matters stand." + +The reporter wrote at lightning speed while Selwood, who had some +experience of condensation, gave him the news he wanted. Finding that he +was getting a first-class story, Triffitt asked no questions and made no +interruptions. But when Selwood was through with the account, he looked +across the table with a queer glance of the eye. + +"I say!" he said. "This is a strange case!" + +"Why so strange?" asked Selwood. + +"Why? Great Scott!--I reckon it's an uncommonly strange case," exclaimed +Triffitt. "It's about a dead certainty that Herapath was in his own +house at Portman Square at one o'clock, isn't it?" + +"Well?" said Selwood. + +"And yet according to the doctor who examined him at eight o'clock he'd +been dead quite eight hours!" said Triffitt. "That means he died at +twelve o'clock--an hour before he's supposed to have been at his house! +Queer! But all the queerer, all the better--for me! Now I'm off--for the +present. This'll be on the streets in an hour, Mr. Selwood. Nothing like +the press, sir!" + +Therewith he fled, and the secretary suddenly found himself confronting +a new idea. If the doctor was right and Jacob Herapath had been shot +dead at midnight, how on earth could he possibly have been in Portman +Square at one o'clock, an hour later? + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GLASS AND THE SANDWICH + + +Mr. Tertius, dismissed in such cavalier fashion by Barthorpe Herapath, +walked out of the estate office with downcast head--a superficial +observer might have said that he was thoroughly crestfallen and +brow-beaten. But by the time he had reached the road outside, the two +faint spots of colour which had flushed his cheeks when Barthorpe turned +him away had vanished, and he was calm and collected enough when, seeing +a disengaged taxi-cab passing by, he put up his hand and hailed it. The +voice which bade the driver go to Portman Square was calm enough, +too--Mr. Tertius had too much serious work immediately in prospect to +allow himself to be disturbed by a rudeness. + +He thought deeply about that work as the taxi-cab whirled him along; he +was still thinking about it when he walked into the big house in Portman +Square. In there everything was very quiet. The butler was away at +Kensington; the other servants were busily discussing the mystery of +their master in their own regions. No one was aware that Mr. Tertius had +returned, for he let himself into the house with his own latch-key, and +went straight into Herapath's study. There, if possible, everything was +still quieter--the gloom of the dull November morning seemed to be +doubly accentuated in the nooks and corners; there was a sense of +solitude which was well in keeping with Mr. Tertius's knowledge of what +had happened. He looked at the vacant chair in which he had so often +seen Jacob Herapath sitting, hard at work, active, bustling, intent on +getting all he could out of every minute of his working day, and he +sighed deeply. + +But in the moment of sighing Mr. Tertius reflected that there was no +time for regret. It was a time--his time--for action; there was a thing +to do which he wanted to do while he had the room to himself. Therefore +he went to work, carefully and methodically. For a second or two he +stood reflectively looking at the supper tray which still stood on the +little table near the desk. With a light, delicate touch he picked up +the glass which had been used and held it up to the light. He put it +down again presently, went quietly out of the study to the dining-room +across the hall, and returned at once with another glass precisely +similar in make and pattern to the one which he had placed aside. Into +that clear glass he poured some whisky, afterwards mixing with it some +soda-water from the syphon--this mixture he poured away into the soil of +a flower-pot which stood in the window. And that done he placed the +second glass on the tray in the place where the first had stood, and +picking up the first, in the same light, gingerly fashion, he went +upstairs to his own rooms at the top of the house. + +Five minutes later Mr. Tertius emerged from his rooms. He then carried +in his hand a small, square bag, and he took great care to handle it +very carefully as he went downstairs and into the square. At the corner +of Orchard Street he got another taxi-cab and bade the driver go to +Endsleigh Gardens. And during the drive he took the greatest pains to +nurse the little bag on his knee, thereby preserving the equilibrium of +the glass inside it. + +Ringing the bell of one of the houses in Endsleigh Gardens, Mr. Tertius +was presently confronted by a trim parlourmaid, whose smile was ample +proof that the caller was well-known to her. + +"Is the Professor in, Mary?" asked Mr. Tertius. "And if he is, is he +engaged?" + +The trim parlourmaid replied that the Professor was in, and that she +hadn't heard that he was particularly engaged, and she immediately +preceded the visitor up a flight or two of stairs to a door, which in +addition to being thickly covered with green felt, was set in flanges of +rubber--these precautions being taken, of course, to ensure silence in +the apartment within. An electric bell was set in the door; a moment or +two elapsed before any response was made to the parlourmaid's ring. Then +the door automatically opened, the parlourmaid smiled at Mr. Tertius and +retired; Mr. Tertius walked in; the door closed softly behind him. + +The room in which the visitor found himself was a large and lofty one, +lighted from the roof, from which it was also ventilated by a patent +arrangement of electric fans. Everything that met the view betokened +science, order, and method. The walls, destitute of picture or ornament, +were of a smooth neutral tinted plaster; where they met the floor the +corners were all carefully rounded off so that no dust could gather in +cracks and crevices; the floor, too, was of smooth cement; there was no +spot in which a speck of dust could settle in improper peace. A series +of benches ran round the room, and gave harbourings to a collection of +scientific instruments of strange appearance and shape; two large +tables, one at either end of the room, were similarly equipped. And at a +desk placed between them, and just then occupied in writing in a +note-book, sat a large man, whose big muscular body was enveloped in a +brown holland blouse or overall, fashioned something like a smock-frock +of the old-fashioned rural labourer. He lifted a colossal, mop-like head +and a huge hand as Mr. Tertius stepped across the threshold, and his +spectacled eyes twinkled as their glance fell on the bag which the +visitor carried so gingerly. + +"Hullo, Tertius!" exclaimed the big man, in a deep, rich voice. "What +have you got there? Specimens?" + +Mr. Tertius looked round for a quite empty space on the adjacent bench, +and at last seeing one, set his bag down upon it, and sighed with +relief. + +"My dear Cox-Raythwaite!" he said, mopping his forehead with a bandanna +handkerchief which he drew from the tail of his coat. "I am thankful to +have got these things here in--I devoutly trust!--safety. Specimens? +Well, not exactly; though, to be sure, they may be specimens of--I don't +quite know what villainy yet. Objects?--certainly! Perhaps, my dear +Professor, you will come and look at them." + +The Professor slowly lifted his six feet of muscle and sinew out of his +chair, picked up a briar pipe which lay on his desk, puffed a great +cloud of smoke out of it, and lounged weightily across the room to his +visitor. + +"Something alive?" he asked laconically. "Likely to bite?" + +"Er--no!" replied Mr. Tertius. "No--they won't bite. The fact is," he +went on, gingerly opening the bag, "this--er--this, or these are they." + +Professor Cox-Raythwaite bent his massive head and shoulders over the +little bag and peered narrowly into its obscurity. Then he started. + +"Good Lord!" he exclaimed. "A glass tumbler! And--is it a sandwich? Why, +what on earth----" + +He made as if to pull the glass out of the bag, and Mr. Tertius hastily +seized the great hand in an agony of apprehension. + +"My dear Cox-Raythwaite!" he said. "Pray don't! Allow me--presently. +When either of these objects is touched it must be in the most, quite +the most, delicate fashion. Of course, I know you have a fairy-like +gentleness of touch--but don't touch these things yet. Let me explain. +Shall we--suppose we sit down. Give me--yes--give me one of your +cigars." + +The Professor, plainly mystified, silently pointed to a cigar box which +stood on a corner of his desk, and took another look into the bag. + +"A sandwich--and a glass!" he murmured reflectively. "Um! Well?" he +continued, going back to his chair and dropping heavily into it. "And +what's it all about, Tertius? Some mystery, eh?" + +Mr. Tertius drew a whiff or two of fragrant Havana before he replied. +Then he too dropped into a chair and pulled it close to his friend's +desk. + +"My dear Professor!" he said, in a low, thrilling voice, suggestive of +vast importance, "I don't know whether the secret of one of the most +astounding crimes of our day may not lie in that innocent-looking +bag--or, rather, in its present contents. Fact! But I'll tell you--you +must listen with your usual meticulous care for small details. The truth +is--Jacob Herapath has, I am sure, been murdered!" + +"Murdered!" exclaimed the Professor. "Herapath? Murder--eh? Now then, +slow and steady, Tertius--leave out nothing!" + +"Nothing!" repeated Mr. Tertius solemnly. "Nothing! You shall hear +all. And this it is--point by point, from last night until--until +the present moment. That is--so far as I know. There may have been +developments--somewhere else. But this is what I know." + +When Mr. Tertius had finished a detailed and thorough-going account of +the recent startling discovery and subsequent proceedings, to all of +which Professor Cox-Raythwaite listened in profound silence, he rose, +and tip-toeing towards the bag, motioned his friend to follow him. + +"Now, my dear sir," he said, whispering in his excitement as if he +feared lest the very retorts and crucibles and pneumatic troughs should +hear him, "Now, my dear sir, I wish you to see for yourself. First of +all, the glass. I will take it out myself--I know exactly how I put it +in. I take it out--thus! I place it on this vacant space--thus. Look for +yourself, my dear fellow. What do you see?" + +The Professor, watching Mr. Tertius's movements with undisguised +interest, took off his spectacles, picked up a reading-glass, bent down +and carefully examined the tumbler. + +"Yes," he said, after a while, "yes, Tertius, I certainly see distinct +thumb and finger-marks round the upper part of this glass. Oh, yes--no +doubt of that!" + +"Allow me to take one of your clean specimen slides," observed Mr. +Tertius, picking up a square of highly polished glass. "There! I place +this slide here and upon it I deposit this sandwich. Now, my dear +Cox-Raythwaite, favour me by examining the sandwich even more closely +than you did the glass--if necessary." + +But the Professor shook his head. He clapped Mr. Tertius on the +shoulder. + +"Excellent!" he exclaimed. "Good! Pooh!--no need for care there. The +thing's as plain as--as I am. Good, Tertius, good!" + +"You see it?" said Mr. Tertius, delightedly. + +"See it! Good Lord, why, who could help see it?" answered the Professor. +"Needs no great amount of care or perception to see that, as I said. Of +course, I see it. Glad you did, too!" + +"But we must take the greatest care of it," urged Mr. Tertius. "The most +particular care. That's why I came to you. Now, what can we do? How +preserve this sandwich--just as it is?" + +"Nothing easier," replied the Professor. "We'll soon fix that. We'll put +it in such safety that it will still be a fresh thing if it remains +untouched until London Bridge falls down from sheer decay." + +He moved off to another part of the laboratory, and presently returned +with two objects, one oblong and shallow, the other deep and square, +which on being set down before Mr. Tertius proved to be glass boxes, +wonderfully and delicately made, with removable lids that fitted into +perfectly adjusted grooves. + +"There, my dear fellow," he said. "Presently I will deposit the glass in +that, and the sandwich in this. Then I shall adjust and seal the lids in +such a fashion that no air can enter these little chambers. Then through +those tiny orifices I shall extract whatever air is in them--to the most +infinitesimal remnant of it. Then I shall seal those orifices--and there +you are. Whoever wants to see that sandwich or that glass will find both +a year hence--ten years hence--a century hence!--in precisely the same +condition in which we now see them. And that reminds me," he continued, +as he turned away to his desk and picked up his pipe, "that reminds me, +Tertius--what are you going to do about these things being seen? +They'll have to be seen, you know. Have you thought of the police--the +detectives?" + +"I have certainly thought of both," replied Mr. Tertius. "But--I think +not yet, in either case. I think one had better await the result of the +inquest. Something may come out, you know." + +"Coroners and juries," observed the Professor oracularly, "are good at +finding the obvious. Whether they get at the mysteries and the +secrets----" + +"Just so--just so!" said Mr. Tertius. "I quite apprehend you. All the +same, I think we will see what is put before the coroner. Now, what +point suggests itself to you, Cox-Raythwaite?" + +"One in particular," answered the Professor. "Whatever medical evidence +is called ought to show without reasonable doubt what time Herapath +actually met his death." + +"Quite so," said Mr. Tertius gravely. "If that's once established----" + +"Then, of course, your own investigation, or suggestion, or theory about +that sandwich will be vastly simplified," replied the Professor. +"Meanwhile, you will no doubt take some means of observing--eh?" + +"I shall use every means to observe," said Mr. Tertius with a significant +smile, which was almost a wink. "Of that you may be--dead certain!" + +Then he left Professor Cox-Raythwaite to hermetically seal up the glass +and the sandwich, and quitting the house, walked slowly back to Portman +Square. As he turned out of Oxford Street into Orchard Street the +newsboys suddenly came rushing along with the _Argus_ special. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE TAXI-CAB DRIVER + + +Mr. Tertius bought a copy of the newspaper, and standing aside on the +pavement, read with much interest and surprise the story which +Triffitt's keen appetite for news and ready craftsmanship in writing had +so quickly put together. Happening to glance up from the paper in the +course of his reading, he observed that several other people were +similarly employed. The truth was that Triffitt had headed his column: +"MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF MR. HERAPATH, M.P. IS IT SUICIDE OR MURDER?"--and +as this also appeared in great staring letters on the contents bills +which the newsboys were carrying about with them, and as Herapath had +been well known in that district, there was a vast amount of interest +aroused thereabouts by the news. Indeed, people were beginning to +chatter on the sidewalks, and at the doors of the shops. And as Mr. +Tertius turned away in the direction of Portman Square, he heard one +excited bystander express a candid opinion. + +"Suicide?" exclaimed this man, thrusting his paper into the hands of a +companion. "Not much! Catch old Jacob Herapath at that game--he was a +deuced deal too fond of life and money! Murder, sir--murder!--that's the +ticket--murder!" + +Mr. Tertius went slowly homeward, head bent and eyes moody. He let +himself into the house; at the sound of his step in the hall Peggie +Wynne looked out of the study. She retreated into it at sight of Mr. +Tertius, and he followed her and closed the door. Looking narrowly at +her, he saw that the girl had been shedding tears, and he laid his hand +shyly yet sympathetically on her arm. "Yes," he said quietly, "I've been +feeling like that ever since--since I heard about things. But I don't +know--I suppose we shall feel it more when--when we realize it more, eh? +Just now there's the other thing to think about, isn't there?" + +Peggie mopped her eyes and looked at him. He was such a quiet, +unobtrusive, inoffensive old gentleman that she wondered more than ever +why Barthorpe had refused to admit him to the informal conference. + +"What other thing?" she asked. + +Mr. Tertius looked round the room--strangely empty now that Jacob +Herapath's bustling and strenuous presence was no longer in it--and +shook his head. + +"There's one thought you mustn't permit yourself to harbour for a moment, +my dear," he answered. "Don't even for a fraction of time allow yourself +to think that my old friend took his own life! That's--impossible." + +"I don't," said Peggie. "I never did think so. It is, as you say, +impossible. I knew him too well to believe that. So, of course, +it's----" + +"Murder," assented Mr. Tertius. "Murder! I heard a man in the street +voice the same opinion just now. Of course! It's the only opinion. Yet +in the newspaper they're asking which it was. But I suppose the +newspapers must be--sensational." + +"You don't mean to say it's in the newspapers already?" exclaimed +Peggie. + +Mr. Tertius handed to her the _Argus_ special, which he had carried +crumpled up in his hand. + +"Everybody's reading it out there in the streets," he said. "It's +extraordinary, now, how these affairs seem to fascinate people. +Yes--it's all there. That is, of course, as far as it's gone." + +"How did the paper people come to know all this?" asked Peggie, glancing +rapidly over Triffitt's leaded lines. + +"I suppose they got it from the police," replied Mr. Tertius. "I don't +know much about such matters, but I believe the police and the Press are +in constant touch. Of course, it's well they should be--it attracts +public notice. And in cases like this, public notice is an excellent +thing. We shall have to hear--and find out--a good deal before we get at +the truth in this case, my dear." + +Peggie suddenly flung down the newspaper and looked inquiringly at the +old man. + +"Mr. Tertius," she said abruptly, "why wouldn't Barthorpe let you come +into that room down there at the office this morning?" + +Mr. Tertius did not answer this direct question at once. He walked away +to the window and stood looking out into the square for a while. When +at last he spoke his voice was singularly even and colourless. He might +have been discussing a question on which it was impossible to feel any +emotion. + +"I really cannot positively say, my dear," he replied. "I have known, of +course, for some time that Mr. Barthorpe Herapath is not well disposed +towards me. I have observed a certain coldness, a contempt, on his part. +I have been aware that he has resented my presence in this house. And I +suppose he felt that as I am not a member of the family, I had no right +to sit in council with him and with you." + +"Not a member of the family!" exclaimed Peggie. "Why, you came here soon +after I came--all those years ago!" + +"I have dwelt under Jacob Herapath's roof, in this house, fifteen +years," said Mr. Tertius, reflectively. "Fifteen years!--yes. Yes--Jacob +and I were--good friends." + +As he spoke the last word a tear trickled from beneath Mr. Tertius's +spectacles and ran down into his beard, and Peggie, catching sight of +it, impulsively jumped from her seat and kissed him affectionately. + +"Never mind, Mr. Tertius!" she said, patting his shoulders. "You and I +are friends, too, anyway. I don't like Barthorpe when he's like that--I +hate that side of him. And anyhow, Barthorpe doesn't matter--to me. I +don't suppose he matters to anything--except himself." + +Mr. Tertius gravely shook his head. + +"Mr. Barthorpe Herapath may matter a great deal, my dear," he remarked. +"He is a very forceful person. I do not know what provision my poor +friend may have made, but Barthorpe, you will remember, is his nephew, +and, I believe, his only male relative. And in that case----" + +Mr. Tertius was just then interrupted by the entrance of a footman who +came in and looked inquiringly at Peggie. + +"There's a taxi-cab driver at the door, miss," he announced. "He says he +would like to speak to some one about the news in the paper about--about +the master, miss." + +Peggie looked at Mr. Tertius. And Mr. Tertius quickly made a sign to the +footman. + +"Bring the man in at once," he commanded. And, as if to lose no time, he +followed the footman into the hall, and at once returned, conducting a +young man who carried a copy of the _Argus_ in his hand. "Yes?" he said, +closing the door behind them and motioning the man to a seat. "You wish +to tell us something! This lady is Miss Wynne--Mr. Herapath's niece. You +can tell us anything you think of importance. Do you know anything, +then?" + +The taxi-cab driver lifted the _Argus_. + +"This here newspaper, sir," he answered. "I've just been reading of +it--about Mr. Herapath, sir." + +"Yes," said Mr. Tertius gently. "Yes?" + +"Well, sir--strikes me as how I drove him, sir, this morning," answered +the driver. "Gentleman of his appearance, anyway, sir--that's a fact!" + +Mr. Tertius glanced at Peggie, who was intently watching the caller. + +"Ah!" he said, turning again to the driver, "you think you drove either +Mr. Herapath or a gentleman of his appearance this morning. You did not +know Mr. Herapath by sight, then?" + +"No, sir. I've only just come into this part--came for the first time +yesterday. But I'm as certain----" + +"Just tell us all about it," said Mr. Tertius, interrupting him. "Tell +us in your own way. Everything, you know." + +"Ain't so much to tell, sir," responded the driver. "All the same, +soon's I'd seen this piece in the paper just now I said to myself, 'I'd +best go round to Portman Square and tell what I do know,' I says. And +it's like this, sir--I come on this part yesterday--last night it was. +My taxi belongs to a man as keeps half a dozen, and he put me on to +night work, this end of Oxford Street. Well, it 'ud be just about a +quarter to two this morning when a tall, well-built gentleman comes out +of Orchard Street and made for my cab. I jumps down and opens the door +for him. 'You know St. Mary Abbot's Church, Kensington?' he says as he +got in. 'Drive me down there and pull up at the gate.' So, of course, I +ran him down, and there he got out, give me five bob, and off he went. +That's it, sir." + +"And when he got out, which way did he go?" asked Mr. Tertius. + +"West, sir--along the High Street, past the Town Hall," promptly +answered the driver. "And there he crossed the road. I see him cross, +because I stopped there a minute or two after he'd got out, tinkering at +my engine." + +"Can you tell us what this gentleman was like in appearance?" asked Mr. +Tertius. + +"Well, sir, not so much as regards his face," answered the driver. "I +didn't look at him, not particular, in that way--besides, he was wearing +one of them overcoats with a big fur collar to it, and he'd the collar +turned high up about his neck and cheeks, and his hat--one of them +slouched, soft hats, like so many gentlemen wears nowadays sir--was well +pulled down. But from what bit I see of him, sir, I should say he was a +fresh-coloured gentleman." + +"Tall and well built, you say?" observed Mr. Tertius. + +"Yes, sir--fine-made gentleman--pretty near six feet, I should have +called him," replied the driver. "Little bit inclined to stoutness, +like." + +Mr. Tertius turned to Peggie. + +"I believe you have some recent photographs of Mr. Herapath," he said. +"You might fetch them and let me see if our friend here can recognize +them. You didn't notice anything else about your fare?" he went on, +after Peggie had left the room. "Anything that excited your attention, +eh?" + +The driver, after examining the pattern of the carpet for one minute and +studying the ceiling for another, slowly shook his head. But he then +suddenly started into something like activity. + +"Yes, there was, sir, now I come to think of it!" he exclaimed. "I +hadn't thought of it until now, but now you mention it, there was. I +noticed he'd a particularly handsome diamond ring on his left hand--an +extra fine one, too, it was." + +"Ah!" said Mr. Tertius. "A very fine diamond ring on his left hand? Now, +how did you come to see that?" + +"He rested that hand on the side of the door as he was getting in, sir, +and I noticed how it flashed," answered the driver. "There was a lamp +right against us, you see, sir." + +"I see," said Mr. Tertius. "He wasn't wearing gloves, then?" + +"He hadn't a glove on that hand, sir. He was carrying some papers in +it--a sort of little roll of papers." + +"Ah!" murmured Mr. Tertius. "A diamond ring--and a little roll of +papers." He got up from his chair and put a hand in his pocket. "Now, my +friend," he went on, chinking some coins as he withdrew it, "you haven't +told this to any one else, I suppose?" + +"No, sir," answered the driver. "Came straight here, sir." + +"There's a couple of sovereigns for your trouble," said Mr. Tertius, +"and there'll be more for you if you do what I tell you to do. At +present--that is, until I give you leave--don't say a word of this to a +soul. Not even to the police--yet. In fact, not a word to them until I +say you may. Keep your mouth shut until I tell you to open it--I shall +know where to find you. If you want me, keep an eye open for me in the +square outside, or in the street. When the young lady comes back with +the photographs, don't mention the ring to her. This is a very queer +business, and I don't want too much said just yet. Do as I tell you, and +I'll see you're all right. Understand?" + +The driver pocketed his sovereigns, and touched his forehead with a +knowing look. + +"All right, sir," he said. "I understand. Depend on me, sir--I shan't +say a word without your leave." + +Peggie came in just then with a half a dozen cabinet photographs in her +hand. One by one she exhibited them to the driver. + +"Do you recognize any of these?" she asked. + +The driver shook his head doubtingly until Peggie showed him a +half-length of her uncle in outdoor costume. Then his eyes lighted up. + +"Couldn't swear as to the features, miss," he exclaimed. "But I'd take +my 'davy about the coat and the hat! That's what the gentleman was +wearing as I drove this morning--take my Gospel oath on it." + +"He recognizes the furred overcoat and the soft hat," murmured Mr. +Tertius. "Very good--very good! All right, my man--we are much obliged +to you." + +He went out into the hall with the driver, and had another word in +secret with him before the footman opened the door. As the door closed +Mr. Tertius turned slowly back to the study. And as he turned he +muttered a word or two and smiled cynically. + +"A diamond ring!" he said. "Jacob Herapath never wore a diamond ring in +his life!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +IS THERE A WILL? + + +When Triffitt hurried off with his precious budget of news Selwood +lingered on the step of the office watching his retreating figure, and +wondering about the new idea which the reporter had put into his mind. +It was one of those ideas which instantly arouse all sorts of vague, +sinister possibilities, but Selwood found himself unable to formulate +anything definite out of any of them. Certainly, if Mr. Herapath died +at, or before, twelve o'clock midnight, he could not have been in +Portman Square at one o'clock in the morning! Yet, according to all the +evidence, he had been there, in his own house, in his own study. His +coachman had seen him in the act of entering the house; there was proof +that he had eaten food and drunk liquor in the house. The doctor must +have made a mistake--and yet, Selwood remembered, he had spoken very +positively. But if he had not made a mistake?--what then? How could +Jacob Herapath be lying dead in his office at Kensington and nibbling at +a sandwich in Portman Square at one and the same hour? Clearly there was +something wrong, something deeply mysterious, something---- + +At that point of his surmisings and questionings Selwood heard himself +called by Barthorpe Herapath, and he turned to see that gentleman +standing in the hall dangling a bunch of keys, which Selwood instantly +recognized. + +"We have just found these keys," said Barthorpe. "You remember the +inspector said he found no keys in my uncle's pockets? We found these +pushed away under some loose papers on the desk. It looks as if he'd put +them on the desk when he sat down, and had displaced them when he fell +out of his chair. Of course, they're his--perhaps you recognize them?" + +"Yes," answered Selwood, abruptly. "They're his." + +"I want you to come with me while I open his private safe," continued +Barthorpe. "At junctures like these there are always things that have got +to be done. Now, did you ever hear my uncle speak of his will--whether +he'd made one, and, if so, where he'd put it? Hear anything?" + +"Nothing," replied Selwood. "I never heard him mention such a thing." + +"Well, between ourselves," said Barthorpe, "neither did I. I've done all +his legal work for him for a great many years--ever since I began to +practice, in fact--and so far as I know, he never made a will. More than +once I've suggested that he should make one, but like most men who are +in good health and spirits, he always put it off. However, we must look +over his papers both here and at Portman Square." + +Selwood made no comment. He silently followed Barthorpe into the +private room in which his late employer had so strangely met his death. +The body had been removed by that time, and everything bore its usual +aspect, save for the presence of the police inspector and the detective, +who were peering about them in the mysterious fashion associated with +their calling. The inspector was looking narrowly at the fastenings of +the two windows and apparently debating the chances of entrance and exit +from them; the detective, armed with a magnifying glass, was examining +the edges of the door, the smooth backs of chairs, even the surface of +the desk, presumably for finger-marks. + +"I shan't disturb you," said Barthorpe, genially. "Mr. Selwood and I +merely wish to investigate the contents of this safe. There's no +likelihood of finding what I'm particularly looking for in any of his +drawers in that desk," he continued, turning to Selwood. "I knew enough +of his habits to know that anything that's in there will be of a purely +business nature--referring to the estate. If he did keep anything that's +personal here, it'll be in that safe. Now, which is the key? Do you +know?" + +He handed the bunch of keys to Selwood. And Selwood, who was feeling +strangely apathetic about the present proceedings, took them mechanically +and glanced carelessly at them. Then he started. + +"There's a key missing!" he exclaimed, suddenly waking into interest. "I +know these keys well enough--Mr. Herapath was constantly handing them to +me. There ought to be six keys here--the key of this safe, the key of +the safe at Portman Square, the latch-key for this office, the key of +this room, the latch-key of the house, and a key of a safe at the Alpha +Safe Deposit place. That one--the Safe Deposit key--is missing." + +Barthorpe knitted his forehead, and the two police officials paused in +their tasks and drew near the desk at which Selwood was standing. + +"Are you certain of that?" asked Barthorpe. + +"Sure!" answered Selwood. "As I say, I've been handling these keys every +day since I came to Mr. Herapath." + +"When did you handle them last?" + +"Yesterday afternoon: not so very long before Mr. Herapath went down to +the House. That was in Portman Square. He gave them to me to get some +papers out of the safe there." + +"Was that Safe Deposit key there at that time?" + +"They were all there--all six. I'm certain of it," asserted Selwood. +"This is the key of this safe," he went on, selecting one. + +"Open the safe, then," said Barthorpe. "Another safe at the Alpha, eh?" +he continued, musingly. "I never knew he had a safe there. Did you ever +know him to use it?" + +"I've been to it myself," answered Selwood. "I took some documents there +and deposited them, two days ago. There's not very much in this safe," +he went on, throwing open the door. "It's not long since I tidied it +out--at his request. So far as I know, there are no private papers of +any note there. He never made much use of this safe--in my presence, at +any rate." + +"Well, we'll see what there is, anyhow," remarked Barthorpe. He began to +examine the contents of the safe methodically, taking the various papers +and documents out one by one and laying them in order on a small table +which Selwood wheeled up to his side. Within twenty minutes he had gone +through everything, and he began to put the papers back. + +"No will there," he murmured. "We'll go on to Portman Square now, Mr. +Selwood. After all, it's much more likely that he'd keep his will in the +safe at his own house--if he made one. But I don't believe he ever made +a will." + +Mr. Tertius and Peggie Wynne were still in the study when Barthorpe and +Selwood drove up to the house. The driver of the taxi-cab had just gone +away, and Mr. Tertius was discussing his information with Peggie. +Hearing Barthorpe's voice in the hall he gave her a warning glance. + +"Quick!" he said hurriedly. "Attend to what I say! Not a word to your +cousin about the man who has just left us. At present I don't want Mr. +Barthorpe Herapath to know what he told us. Be careful, my dear--not a +word! I'll tell you why later on--but at present, silence--strict +silence!" + +Barthorpe Herapath came bustling into the room, followed by Selwood, +who, as it seemed to Peggie, looked utterly unwilling for whatever task +might lay before him. At sight of Mr. Tertius, Barthorpe came to a +sudden halt and frowned. + +"I don't want to discuss matters further, Mr. Tertius," he said coldly. +"I thought I had given you a hint already. My cousin and I have private +matters to attend to, and I shall be obliged if you'll withdraw. You've +got private rooms of your own in this house, I believe--at any rate, +until things are settled--and it will be best if you keep to them." + +Mr. Tertius, who had listened to this unmoved, turned to Peggie. + +"Do you wish me to go away?" he asked quietly. + +Barthorpe turned on him with an angry scowl. + +"It's not a question of what Miss Wynne wishes, but of what I order," he +burst out. "If you've any sense of fitness, you'll know that until my +uncle's will is found and his wishes ascertained I'm master here, Mr. +Tertius, and----" + +"You're not my master, Barthorpe," exclaimed Peggie, with a sudden flash +of spirit. "I know what my uncle's wishes were as regards Mr. Tertius, +and I intend to respect them. I've always been mistress of this house +since my uncle brought me to it, and I intend to be until I find I've no +right to be. Mr. Tertius, you'll please to stop where you are!" + +"I intend to," said Mr. Tertius, calmly. "I never had any other +intention. Mr. Barthorpe Herapath, I believe, will hardly use force to +compel me to leave the room." + +Barthorpe bit his lips as he glanced from one to the other. + +"Oh!" he said. "So that's how things are? Very good, Mr. Tertius. No, I +shan't use physical force. But mind I don't use a little moral force--a +slight modicum of that would be enough for you, I'm thinking!" + +"Do I understand that you are using threatening language to me?" asked +Mr. Tertius, mildly. + +Barthorpe sneered, and turned to Selwood. + +"We'll open this safe now," he said. "You know which is the key, I +suppose," he went on, glaring at Peggie, who had retreated to the +hearthrug and was evidently considerably put out by her cousin's +behaviour. "I suppose you never heard my uncle mention a will? We've +searched his private safe at the office and there's nothing there. +Personally, I don't believe he ever made a will--I never heard of it. +And I think he'd have told me if--" + +Mr. Tertius broke in upon Barthorpe's opinions with a dry cough. + +"It may save some unnecessary trouble if I speak at this juncture," he +said. "There is a will." + +Barthorpe's ruddy cheeks paled in spite of his determined effort to +appear unconcerned. He twisted round on Mr. Tertius with a startled eye +and twitching lips. + +"You--you say there is a will!" he exclaimed. "You say--what do you know +about it?" + +"When it was made, where it was made, where it now is," answered Mr. +Tertius. + +"Where it now is!" repeated Barthorpe. "Where it now--is! And where is +it, I should like to know?" + +Mr. Tertius, who had gone up to Peggie, laid his hand reassuringly on +her arm. + +"Don't be afraid, my dear," he whispered. "Perhaps," he continued, +glancing at Barthorpe, "I had better tell you when and where it was +made. About six months ago--in this room. One day Mr. Herapath called me +in here. He had his then secretary, Mr. Burchill, with him. He took a +document out of a drawer, told us that it was his will, signed it in our +joint presence, and we witnessed his signature in each other's presence. +He then placed the will in an envelope, which he sealed. I do not know +the terms of the will--but I know where the will is." + +Barthorpe's voice sounded strangely husky as he got out one word: + +"Where?" + +Mr. Tertius took Peggie by the elbow and led her across the room to a +recess in which stood an ancient oak bureau. + +"This old desk," he said, "belonged, so he always told me, to Jacob's +great-grandfather. There is a secret drawer in it. Here it is--concealed +behind another drawer. You put this drawer out--so--and here is the +secret one. And here--where I saw Jacob Herapath put it--is the will." + +Barthorpe, who had followed these proceedings with almost irrepressible +eagerness, thrust forward a shaking hand. But Mr. Tertius quietly handed +the sealed envelope to Peggie. + +"This envelope," he remarked, "is addressed to Miss Wynne." + +Barthorpe made an effort and controlled himself. + +"Open it!" he said hoarsely. "Open it!" + +Peggie fumbled with the seal of the envelope and then, with a sudden +impulse, passed it to Selwood. + +"Mr. Selwood!" she exclaimed imploringly. "You--I can't. You open it, +and--" + +"And let him read it," added Mr. Tertius. + +Selwood, whose nerves had been strung to a high pitch of excitement by +this scene, hastily slit open the envelope, and drew out a folded sheet +of foolscap paper. He saw at a glance that there was very little to +read. His voice trembled slightly as he began a recital of the contents. + + "'This is the last will of me, Jacob Herapath, of 500, + Portman Square, London, in the County of Middlesex. I + give, devise, and bequeath everything of which I die + possessed, whether in real or personal estate, absolutely + to my niece, Margaret Wynne, now resident with me at the + above address, and I appoint the said Margaret Wynne the + sole executor of this my will. And I revoke all former + wills and codicils. Dated this eighteenth day of April, + 1912. + + "'JACOB HERAPATH.'" + +Selwood paused there, and a sudden silence fell--to be as suddenly +broken by a sharp question from Barthorpe. + +"The Witnesses?" he said. "The witnesses!" + +Selwood glanced at the further paragraph which he had not thought it +necessary to read. + +"Oh, yes!" he said. "It's witnessed all right." And he went on reading. + + "'Signed by the testator in the presence of us both + present at the same time who in his presence and in the + presence of each other have hereunto set our names as + witnesses. + + "'JOHN CHRISTOPHER TERTIUS, of 500, Portman Square, + London: Gentleman. + + "'FRANK BURCHILL, of 331, Upper Seymour Street, London: + Secretary.'" + +As Selwood finished, he handed the will to Peggie, who in her turn +hastily gave it to Mr. Tertius. For a moment nobody spoke. Then +Barthorpe made a step forward. + +"Let me see that!" he said, in a strangely quiet voice. "I don't want to +handle it--hold it up!" + +For another moment he stood gazing steadily, intently, at the signatures +at the foot of the document. Then, without a word or look, he twisted +sharply on his heel, and walked swiftly out of the room and the house. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE SECOND WITNESS + + +If any close observer had walked away with Barthorpe Herapath from the +house in Portman Square and had watched his face and noted his manner, +that observer would have said that his companion looked like a man who was +either lost in a profound day-dream or had just received a shock that had +temporarily deprived him of all but the mechanical faculties. And in point +of strict fact, Barthorpe was both stunned by the news he had just +received and plunged into deep speculation by a certain feature of it. He +hurried along, scarcely knowing where he was going--but he was thinking +all the same. And suddenly he pulled himself up and found that he had +turned down Portman Street and was already in the thick of Oxford Street's +busy crowds. A passer-by into whom he jostled in his absent-mindedness +snarled angrily, bidding him look where he was going--that pulled +Barthorpe together and he collected his wits, asking himself what he +wanted. The first thing that met his gaze on this recovery was a little +Italian restaurant and he straightway made for the door. + +"This is what I want," he muttered. "Some place in which to sit down and +think calmly." + +He slipped into a quiet corner as soon as he had entered the restaurant, +summoned a waiter with a glance, and for a moment concentrated his +attention on the bill of fare which the man put before him. That slight +mental exercise restored him; when the waiter had taken his simple order +and gone away, Barthorpe was fully himself again. And finding himself in +as satisfactory a state of privacy as he could desire, with none to +overlook or spy on him, he drew from an inner pocket a letter-case which +he had taken from Jacob Herapath's private safe at the estate office and +into which he had cast a hurried glance before leaving Kensington for +Portman Square. + +From this letter-case he now drew a letter, and as he unfolded it he +muttered a word or two. + +"Frank Burchill, 331, Upper Seymour Street," he said. "Um--but not Upper +Seymour Street any longer, I think. Now let's see what it all is--what +it all means I've got to find out." + +The sheet of paper which he was handling was of the sort used by +typists, but the letter itself was written by hand, and Barthorpe +recognized the penmanship as that of his uncle's ex-secretary, Burchill, +second witness to the will which had just been exhibited to him. Then he +read, slowly and carefully, what Burchill had written to Jacob +Herapath--written, evidently, only a few days previously. For there was +the date, plain enough. + + "35c, Calengrove Mansions, + "Maida Vale, W. + "_November 11th_, 19--. + + "DEAR SIR, + + "I don't know that I am particularly surprised that you + have up to now entirely ignored my letters of the 1st and + the 5th instant. You probably think that I am not a + person about whom any one need take much trouble; a mean + cur, perhaps, who can do no more than snap at a mastiff's + heels. I am very well aware (having had the benefit of a + year's experience of your character and temperament) that + you have very little respect for unmoneyed people and are + contemptuous of their ability to interfere with the + moneyed. But in that matter you are mistaken. And to put + matters plainly, it will pay you far better to keep me a + friend than to transform me into an enemy. Therefore I + ask you to consider well and deeply the next sentence of + this letter--which I will underline. + + "I am in full possession of the secret which you have + taken such vast pains to keep for fifteen years. + + "I think you are quite competent to read my meaning, and + I now confidently expect to hear that you will take + pleasure in obliging me in the way which I indicated to + you in my previous letters. + + "Yours faithfully, + + "FRANK BURCHILL." + +Barthorpe read this communication three times, pausing over every +sentence, seeking to read the meanings, the implications, the subtly +veiled threat. When he folded the square sheet and replaced it in the +letter-case he half spoke one word: + +"Blackmail!" + +Then, staring in apparent idleness about the little restaurant, with its +gilt-framed mirrors, its red, plush-covered seats, its suggestion of +foreign atmosphere and custom, he idly drummed the tips of his fingers +on the table, and thought. Naturally, he thought of the writer of the +letter. Of course, he said to himself, of course he knew Burchill. +Burchill had been Jacob Herapath's private secretary for rather more +than a year, and it was now about six months since Jacob had got rid of +him. He, Barthorpe, remembered very well why Jacob had quietly dismissed +Burchill. One day Jacob had said to him, with a dry chuckle: + +"I'm getting rid of that secretary of mine--it won't do." + +"What won't do?" Barthorpe had asked. + +"He's beginning to make eyes at Peggie," Jacob had answered with another +chuckle, "and though Peggie's a girl of sense, that fellow's too good +looking to have about a house. I never ought to have had him. However--he +goes." + +Barthorpe, as he ate the cutlets and sipped the half-bottle of claret +which the waiter presently brought him, speculated on these facts and +memories. He was not very sure about Burchill's antecedents: he believed +he was a young man of good credentials and high respectability--personally, +he had always wondered why old Jacob Herapath, a practical business man, +should have taken as a private secretary a fellow who looked, dressed, +spoke, and behaved like a play-actor. As it all came within the scope of +things he mused on Burchill and his personal appearance, calling up the +ex-secretary's graceful and slender figure, his oval, olive-tinted face, +his large, dark, lustrous eyes, his dark, curling hair, his somewhat +affected dress, his tall, wide-brimmed hats, his taper fingers, his +big, wide-ended cravats. It had once amused Barthorpe--and many other +people--to see Jacob Herapath and his secretary together; nevertheless, +Jacob had always spoken of Burchill as being thoroughly capable, +painstaking, thorough and diligent. His airs and graces Jacob put down as +a young man's affectations--yet there came the time when they suited Jacob +no longer. + +"I catch him talking too much to Peggie," he had added, in that +conversation of which Barthorpe was thinking. "Better get rid of him +before they pass the too-much stage." + +So Burchill had gone, and Barthorpe had heard no more of him until now. +But what he had heard now was a revelation. Burchill had witnessed a +will of Jacob Herapath's, which, if good and valid and the only will in +existence, would leave him, Barthorpe, a ruined man. Burchill had +written a letter to Jacob Herapath asking for some favour, reward, +compensation, as the price of his silence about a secret. What secret? +Barthorpe could not even guess at it--but Burchill had said, evidently +knowing what he was talking about, that Jacob Herapath had taken vast +pains to keep it for fifteen years. + +By the time Barthorpe had finished his lunch he had come to the +conclusion that there was only one thing for him to do. He must go +straight to Calengrove Mansions and interview Mr. Frank Burchill. In one +way or another he must make sure of him, or, rather--though it was +really the same thing--sure of what he could tell. And on the way there +he would make sure of something else--in order to do which he presently +commissioned a taxi-cab and bade its driver go first to 331, Upper +Seymour Street. + +The domestic who answered Barthorpe's double knock at that house shook +her head when he designedly asked for Mr. Frank Burchill. Nobody of that +name, she said. But on being assured that there once had been a lodger +of that name in residence there, she observed that she would fetch her +mistress, and disappeared to return with an elderly lady who also shook +her head at sight of the caller. + +"Mr. Burchill left here some time ago," she said. "Nearly six months. I +don't know where he is." + +"Did he leave no address to which his letters were to be sent?" asked +Barthorpe, affecting surprise. + +"He said there'd be no letters coming--and there haven't been," answered +the landlady. "And I've neither seen nor heard of him since he went." + +Something in her manner suggested to Barthorpe that she had no desire to +renew acquaintance with her former lodger. This sent Barthorpe away well +satisfied. It was precisely what he wanted. The three people whom he had +left in Portman Square in all probability knew no other address than +this at which to seek for Burchill when he was wanted; they would seek +him there eventually and get no news. Luckily for himself, Barthorpe +knew where he was to be found, and he went straight off up Edgware Road +to find him. + +Calengrove Mansions proved to be a new block of flats in the dip of +Maida Vale; 35c was a top flat in a wing which up to that stage of its +existence did not appear to be much sought after by would-be tenants. It +was some time before Barthorpe succeeded in getting an answer to his +ring and knock; when at last the door was opened Burchill himself looked +out upon him, yawning, and in a dressing-gown. And narrowly and +searchingly as Barthorpe glanced at Burchill he could not see a trace of +unusual surprise or embarrassment in his face. He looked just as any man +might look who receives an unexpected caller. + +"Oh!" he said. "Mr. Barthorpe Herapath! Come in--do. I'm a bit late--a +good bit late, in fact. You see, I'm doing dramatic criticism now, and +there was an important _premiere_ last night at the Hyperion, and I had +to do a full column, and so--but that doesn't interest you. Come in, +pray." + +He led the way into a small sitting-room, drew forward an easy-chair, +and reaching down a box of cigarettes from the mantelpiece offered its +contents to his visitor. Barthorpe, secretly wondering if all this +unconcerned behaviour was natural or merely a bit of acting, took a +cigarette and dropped into the chair. + +"I don't suppose you thought of seeing me when you opened your door, +Burchill?" he remarked good-humouredly, as he took the match which his +host had struck for him. "Last man in the world you thought of seeing, +eh?" + +Burchill calmly lighted a cigarette for himself before he answered. + +"Well," he said at last, "I don't know--you never know who's going to +turn up. But to be candid, I didn't expect to see you, and I don't know +why you've come." + +Barthorpe slowly produced the letter-case from his pocket, took +Burchill's letter from it, and held it before him. + +"That's what brought me here," he said significantly. "That! Of course, +you recognize it." + +Burchill glanced at the letter without turning a hair. If he was merely +acting, thought Barthorpe, he was doing it splendidly, and instead of +writing dramatic criticism he ought to put on the sock and buskins +himself. But somehow he began to believe that Burchill was not acting. +And he was presently sure of it when Burchill laughed--contemptuously. + +"Oh!" said Burchill. "Ah! So Mr. Jacob Herapath employs legal +assistance--your assistance--in answering me? Foolish--foolish! Or, +since that is, perhaps, too strong a word--indiscreet. Indiscreet--and +unnecessary. Say so, pray, to Mr. Jacob Herapath." + +Barthorpe remained silent a moment; then he put the letter back in the +case and gave Burchill a sharp steady look. + +"Good gracious, man!" he said quietly. "Are you pretending? Or--haven't +you heard? Say--that--to Jacob Herapath? Jacob Herapath is dead!" + +Burchill certainly started at that. What was more he dropped his +cigarette, and when he straightened himself from picking it up his face +was flushed a little. + +"Upon my honour!" he exclaimed. "I didn't know. Dead! When? It must have +been sudden." + +"Sudden!" said Barthorpe. "Sudden? He was murdered!" + +There was no doubt that this surprised Burchill. At any rate, he showed +all the genuine signs of surprise. He stood staring at Barthorpe for a +full minute of silence, and when he spoke his voice had lost something +of its usual affectation. + +"Murdered?" he said. "Murdered! Are you sure of that? You are? Good +heavens!--no, I've heard nothing. But I've not been out since two +o'clock this morning, so how could I hear? Murdered----" he broke off +sharply and stared at his visitor. "And you came to me--why?" + +"I came to ask you if you remember witnessing my uncle's will," replied +Barthorpe promptly. "Give me a plain answer. Do you remember?" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +GREEK AGAINST GREEK + + +At this direct question, Burchill, who had been standing on the +hearthrug since Barthorpe entered the room, turned away and took a seat +in the corner of a lounge opposite his visitor. He gave Barthorpe a +peculiarly searching look before he spoke, and as soon as he replied +Barthorpe knew that here was a man who was not readily to be drawn. + +"Oh," said Burchill, "so I am supposed to have witnessed a will made by +Mr. Jacob Herapath, am I?" + +Barthorpe made a gesture of impatience. + +"Don't talk rot!" he said testily. "A man either knows that he witnessed +a will or knows that he didn't witness a will." + +"Excuse me," returned Burchill, "I don't agree with that proposition. I +can imagine it quite possible that a man may think he has witnessed a +will when he has done nothing of the sort. I can also imagine it just as +possible that a man may have really witnessed a will when he thought he +was signing some much less important document. Of course, you're a +lawyer, and I'm not. But I believe that what I have just said is much +more in accordance with what we may call the truth of life than what +you've said." + +"If a man sees another man sign a document and witnesses the signature +together with a third man who had been present throughout, what would +you say was being done?" asked Barthorpe, sneeringly. "Come, now?" + +"I quite apprehend your meaning," replied Burchill. "You put it very +cleverly." + +"Then why don't you answer my question?" demanded Barthorpe. + +Burchill laughed softly. + +"Why not answer mine?" he said. "However, I'll ask it in another and +more direct form. Have you seen my signature as witness to a will made +by Jacob Herapath?" + +"Yes," replied Barthorpe. + +"Are you sure it was my signature?" asked Burchill. + +Barthorpe lifted his eyes and looked searchingly at his questioner. But +Burchill's face told him nothing. What was more, he was beginning to +feel that he was not going to get anything out of Burchill that Burchill +did not want to tell. He remained silent, and again Burchill laughed. + +"You see," he said, "I can suppose all sorts of things. I can suppose, +for example, that there's such a thing as forging a signature--two +signatures--three signatures to a will--or, indeed, to any other +document. Don't you think that instead of asking me a direct question +like this that you'd better wait until this will comes before the--is it +the Probate Court?--and then let some of the legal gentlemen ask me if +that--that!--is my signature? I'm only putting it to you, you know. But +perhaps you'd like to tell me--all about it?" He paused, looking +carefully at Barthorpe, and as Barthorpe made no immediate answer, he +went on speaking in a lower, softer tone. "All about it," he repeated +insinuatingly. "Ah!" + +Barthorpe suddenly flung his cigarette in the hearth with a gesture that +implied decision. + +"I will!" he exclaimed. "It may be the shortest way out. Very +well--listen, then. I tell you my uncle was murdered at his office +about--well, somewhere between twelve and three o'clock this morning. +Naturally, after the preliminaries were over, I wanted to find out +if he'd made a will--naturally, I say." + +"Naturally, you would," murmured Burchill. + +"I didn't believe he had," continued Barthorpe. "But I examined his safe +at the office, and I was going to examine that in his study at Portman +Square when Tertius said in the presence of my cousin, myself, and +Selwood, your successor, that there was a will, and produced one from a +secret drawer in an old bureau----" + +"A secret drawer in an old bureau!" murmured Burchill. "How deeply +interesting for all of you!--quite dramatic. Yes?" + +"Which, on being inspected," continued Barthorpe, "proved to be a +holograph----" + +"Pardon," interrupted Burchill, "a holograph? Now, I am very ignorant. +What is a holograph?" + +"A holograph will is a will entirely written in the handwriting of the +person who makes it," replied Barthorpe. + +"I see. So this was written out by Mr. Jacob Herapath, and witnessed +by--whom?" asked Burchill. + +"Tertius as first witness, and you as second," answered Barthorpe. "Now +then, I've told you all about it. What are you going to tell me? +Come--did you witness this will or not? Good gracious, man!--don't you +see what a serious thing it is?" + +"How can I when I don't know the contents of the will?" asked Burchill. +"You haven't told me that--yet." + +Barthorpe swallowed an exclamation of rage. + +"Contents!" he exclaimed. "He left everything--everything!--to my +cousin! Everything to her." + +"And nothing to you," said Burchill, accentuating his habitual drawl. +"Really, how infernally inconsiderate! Yes--now I see that it is +serious. But--only for you." + +Barthorpe glared angrily at him and began to growl, almost threateningly. +And Burchill spoke, soothingly and quietly. + +"Don't," he said. "It does no good, you know. Serious--yes. Most +serious--for you, as I said. But remember--only serious for you if the +will is--good. Eh?" + +Barthorpe jumped to his feet and thrust his hands in his pockets. He +began to pace the room. + +"Hang me if I know what you mean, Burchill!" he said. "Is that your +signature on that will or not?" + +"How can I say until I see it?" asked Burchill, with seeming innocence. +"Let's postpone matters until then. By the by, did Mr. Tertius say that +it was my signature?" + +"What do you mean!" exclaimed Barthorpe. "Why, of course, he said that +he and you witnessed the will!" + +"Ah, to be sure, he would say so," assented Burchill. "Of course. +Foolish of me to ask. It's quite evident that we must postpone matters +until this will is--what do you call it?--presented, propounded--what is +it?--for probate. Let's turn to something else. My letter to your uncle, +for instance. Of course, as you've got it, you've read it." + +Barthorpe sat down again and stared. + +"You're a cool customer, Master Burchill!" he said. "By Jove, you are! +You're playing some game. What is it?" + +Burchill smiled deprecatingly. + +"What's your own?" he asked. "Or, if that's too pointed a question at +present, suppose we go back to--my letter? Want to ask me anything about +it?" + +Barthorpe again drew the letter from the case. He affected to re-read +it, while Burchill narrowly watched him. + +"What," asked Barthorpe at last, "what was it that you wanted my uncle +to oblige you with? A loan?" + +"If it's necessary to call it anything," replied Burchill suavely, "you +can call it a--well, say a donation. That sounds better--it's more +dignified." + +"I don't suppose it matters much what it's called," said Barthorpe +drily. "I should say, from the tone of your letter, that most people +would call it----" + +"Yes, but not polite people," interrupted Burchill, "and you and I +are--or must be--polite. So we'll say donation. The fact is, I want to +start a newspaper--weekly--devoted to the arts. I thought your +uncle--now, unfortunately, deceased--would finance it. I didn't want +much, you know." + +"How much?" asked Barthorpe. "The amount isn't stated in this letter." + +"It was stated in the two previous letters," replied Burchill. "Oh, not +much. Ten thousand." + +"The price of your silence, eh?" suggested Barthorpe. + +"Dirt cheap!" answered Burchill. + +Barthorpe folded up the letter once more and put it away. He helped +himself to another cigarette and lighted it before he spoke again. Then +he leaned forward confidentially. + +"What is the secret?" he asked. + +Burchill stated and assumed an air of virtuous surprise. + +"My dear fellow!" he said. "That's against all the rules--all the rules +of----" + +"Of shady society," sneered Barthorpe. "Confound it, man, what do you +beat about the bush so much for? Hang it, I've a pretty good notion of +you, and I daresay you've your own of me. Why can't you tell me?" + +"You forget that I offered not to tell for--ten thousand pounds," said +Burchill. "Therefore I should want quite as much for telling. If you +carry ten thousand in cash on you----" + +"Is there a secret?" asked Barthorpe. "Sober earnest, now?" + +"I have no objection to answering that question," replied Burchill. +"There is!" + +"And you want ten thousand pounds for it?" suggested Barthorpe. + +"Pardon me--I want a good deal more for it, under the present much +altered circumstances," said Burchill quietly. "There is an old saying +that circumstances alter cases. It's true--they do. I would have taken +ten thousand pounds from your uncle to hold my tongue--true. But--the +case is altered by his death." + +Barthorpe pondered over this definite declaration for a minute or two. +Then, lowering his voice, he said: + +"Looks uncommonly like--blackmail! And that----" + +"Pardon me again," interrupted Burchill. "No blackmail at all--in my +view. I happen to possess information of a certain nature, and----" + +Barthorpe interrupted in his turn. + +"The thing is," he said, "the only thing is--how long are you and I +going to beat about the bush? Are you going to tell me if you signed +that will I told you of?" + +"Certainly not before I've seen it," answered Burchill promptly. + +"Will you tell me then?" + +"That entirely depends." + +"On--what?" + +"Circumstances!" + +"Have the circumstances got anything to do with this secret?" + +"Everything! More than anything--now." + +"Now--what?" + +"Now that Jacob Herapath is dead. Look here!" continued Burchill, +leaning forward and speaking impressively. "Take my counsel. Leave this +for the moment and come to see me--now, when? Tonight. Come tonight. +I've nothing to do. Come at ten o'clock. Then--I'll be in a position to +say a good deal more. How will that do?" + +"That'll do," answered Barthorpe after a moment's consideration. +"Tonight, here, at ten o 'clock." + +He got up and made for the door. Burchill got up too, and for a moment +both men glanced at each other. Then Burchill spoke. + +"I suppose you've no idea who murdered your uncle?" he said. + +"Not the slightest!" exclaimed Barthorpe. "Have you?" + +"None! Of course--the police are on the go?" + +"Oh, of course!" + +"All right," said Burchill. "Tonight, then." + +He opened the door for his visitor, nodded to him, as he passed out, and +when he had gone sat down in the easy chair which Barthorpe had vacated +and for half an hour sat immobile, thinking. At the end of that +half-hour he rose, went into his bedroom, made an elaborate toilet, went +out, found a taxi-cab, and drove off to Portman Square. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +MR. BENJAMIN HALFPENNY + + +When Barthorpe Herapath left his cousin, Mr. Tertius, and Selwood in +company with the newly discovered will, and walked swiftly out of the +house and away from Portman Square, he passed without seeing it a quiet, +yet smartly appointed coupe brougham which came round the corner from +Portman Street and pulled up at the door which Barthorpe had just +quitted. From it at once descended an elderly gentleman, short, stout, +and rosy, who bustled up the steps of the Herapath mansion and appeared +to fume and fret until his summons was responded to. When the door was +opened to him he bustled inside at the same rate, rapped out the +inquiry, "Miss Wynne at home?--Miss Wynne at home?" several times +without waiting for a reply, and never ceased in his advance to the door +of the study, into which he precipitated himself panting and blowing, as +if he had run hard all the way from his original starting-point. The +three people standing on the hearthrug turned sharply and two of them +uttered cries which betokened pleasure mixed with relief. + +"Mr. Halfpenny!" exclaimed Peggie, almost joyfully. "How good of you to +come!" + +"We had only just spoken--were only just speaking of you," remarked Mr. +Tertius. "In fact--yes, Mr. Selwood and I were thinking of going round +to your offices to see if you were in town." + +The short, stout, and rosy gentleman who, as soon as he had got well +within the room, began to unswathe his neck from a voluminous white silk +muffler, now completed his task and advancing upon Peggie solemnly +kissed her on both cheeks, held her away from him, looked at her, kissed +her again, and then patted her on the shoulder. This done, he shook +hands solemnly with Mr. Tertius, bowed to Selwood, took off his +spectacles and proceeded to polish them with a highly-coloured bandana +handkerchief which he produced from the tail of his overcoat. This +operation concluded, he restored the spectacles to his nose, sat down, +placed his hands, palm downwards, on his plump knees and solemnly +inspected everybody. + +"My dear friends!" he said in a hushed, deep voice. "My dear, good +friends! This dreadful, awful, most afflicting news! I heard it but +three-quarters of an hour ago--at the office, to which I happened +by mere chance, to have come up for the day. I immediately ordered +out our brougham and drove here--to see if I could be of any use. +You will command me, my dear friends, in anything that I can do. Not +professionally, of course. No--in that respect you have Mr. Barthorpe +Herapath. But--otherwise." + +Mr. Tertius looked at Peggie. + +"I don't know whether we shan't be glad of Mr. Halfpenny's professional +services?" he said. "The truth is, Halfpenny, we were talking of seeing +you professionally when you came in. That's one truth--another is that a +will has been found--our poor friend's will, of course." + +"God bless me!" exclaimed Mr. Halfpenny. "A will--our poor friend's +will--has been found! But surely, Barthorpe, as nephew, and solicitor--eh?" + +Again Mr. Tertius looked at Peggie. + +"I suppose we'd better tell Mr. Halfpenny everything," he remarked. "Of +course, Halfpenny, you'll understand that as soon as this dreadful +affair was discovered and the first arrangements had been made, +Barthorpe, as only male relative, began to search for a will. He +resented any interference from me and was very rude to me, but when he +came here and proposed to examine that safe, I told him at once that I +knew of a will and where it was, though I didn't know its terms. And I +immediately directed him to it, and we found it and read it a few +minutes ago with the result that Barthorpe at once quitted the +house--you must have passed him in the square." + +"God bless us!" repeated Mr. Halfpenny. "I judge from that, then--but +you had better show me this document." + +Mr. Tertius at once produced the will, and Mr. Halfpenny, rising from +his chair, marched across the room to one of the windows where he +solemnly half-chanted every word from start to finish. This performance +over, he carefully and punctiliously folded the document into its +original lines, replaced it in its envelope, and grasping this firmly in +his hand, resumed his seat and motioned everybody to attention. + +"My dear Tertius!" he said. "Oblige me by narrating, carefully, briefly, +your recollection of the circumstances under which your signature to +this highly important document was obtained and made." + +"Easily done," responded Mr. Tertius. "One night, some months ago, when +our poor friend was at work here with his secretary, a Mr. Frank +Burchill, he called me into the room, just as Burchill was about to +leave. He said: 'I want you two to witness my signature to a paper.' +He----" + +"A moment," interrupted Mr. Halfpenny. "He said--'a paper.' Did he not +say 'my will'?" + +"Not before the two of us. He merely said a paper. He produced the +paper--that paper, which you now hold. He let us see that it was covered +with writing, but we did not see what the writing was. He folded it +over, laid it, so folded, on that desk, and signed his name. Then we +both signed it in the blank spaces which he indicated: I first, then +Burchill. He then put it into an envelope--that envelope--and fastened +it up. As regards that part of the proceedings," said Mr. Tertius, "that +is all." + +"There was, then, another part?" suggested Mr. Halfpenny. + +"Yes," replied Mr. Tertius. "There was. Burchill then left--at once. I, +too, was leaving the room when Jacob called me back. When we were alone, +he said: 'That was my will that you've just witnessed. Never mind what's +in it--I may alter it, or some of it, some day, but I don't think I +shall. Now look here, I'm going to seal this envelope, and I'll show you +where I put it when it's sealed.' He then sealed the envelope in two +places, as you see, and afterwards, in my presence, placed it in a +secret drawer, which I'll show to you now. And that done, he said: +'There, Tertius, you needn't mention that to anybody, unless I happen to +be taken off suddenly.' And," concluded Mr. Tertius, as he motioned Mr. +Halfpenny to accompany him to the old bureau, "I never, of course, did +mention it until half an hour ago." + +Mr. Halfpenny solemnly inspected the secret drawer, made no remark upon +it, and reseated himself. + +"Now," he said, "this Mr. Frank Burchill--the other witness? He left our +old friend?" + +"Some little time ago," replied Mr. Tertius. + +"Still, we have his address on the will," said Mr. Halfpenny. "I shall +call on Mr. Burchill at once--as soon as I leave here. There is, of +course, no doubt as to the validity of this will. You said just now that +Barthorpe left you as soon as he had seen it. Now, what did Barthorpe +say about it?" + +"Nothing!" answered Mr. Tertius. "He went away without a word--rushed +away, in fact." + +Mr. Halfpenny shook his head with profound solemnity. + +"I am not in the least surprised to hear that," he observed. "Barthorpe +naturally received a great shock. What I am surprised at is--the terms +of the will. Nothing whatever to Barthorpe--his only male relative--his +only brother's only son. Extraordinary! My dear," he continued, turning +to Peggie, "can you account for this? Do you know of anything, any +difference between them, anything at all which would make your uncle +leave his nephew out of his will?" + +"Nothing!" answered Peggie. "And I'm very troubled about it. Does it +really mean that I get everything, and Barthorpe nothing?" + +"That is the precise state of affairs," answered Mr. Halfpenny. "And it +is all the more surprising when we bear in mind that you two are the +only relations Jacob Herapath had, and that he was a rich man--a very +rich man indeed. However, he doubtless had his reasons. And now, as I +conclude you desire me to act for you, I shall take charge of this will +and lock it up in my safe as soon as I return to the office. On my way, +I shall call at Mr. Burchill's address and just have a word with him. +Tertius, you had better come with me. And--yes, there is another thing +that I should like to have done. Mr. Selwood--are you engaged on any +business?" + +"No," replied Selwood, who was secretly speculating on the meaning of +the morning's strange events. "I have nothing to attend to." + +"Then will you go to Mr. Barthorpe Herapath's office--in Craven Street, +I think?--and see him personally and tell him that Mr. Benjamin +Halfpenny is in town, has been acquainted with these matters by Mr. +Tertius and Miss Wynne, and would esteem it a favour if he would call +upon him before five o'clock. Thank you, Mr. Selwood. Now, Tertius, you +and I will attend to our business." + +Left alone, Peggie Wynne suddenly realized that the world had become a +vastly different world to what it had seemed a few short hours before. +This room, into which Jacob Herapath, bustling and busy, would never +come again, was already a place of dread; nay, the whole house in +which she had spent so many years of comfort and luxury suddenly +assumed a strange atmosphere of distastefulness. It was true that her +uncle had never spent much time in the house. An hour or two in the +morning--yes, but by noon he had hurried off to some Committee at the +House of Commons, and in session time she had never seen him again +that day. But he had a trick of running in for a few minutes at +intervals during the day; he would come for a cup of tea; sometimes he +would contrive to dine at home; whether he was at home or not, his +presence, always alert, masterful, active, seemed to be everywhere in +the place. She could scarcely realize that she would never see him +again. And as she stood looking at his vacant chair she made an effort +to realize what it all really meant to her, and suddenly, for the +first time in her life, she felt the meaning of the usually vague +term--loneliness. In all practical essentials she was absolutely +alone. So far as she knew she had no relations in the world but +Barthorpe Herapath--and there was something--something shadowy and +undefinable--about Barthorpe which she neither liked nor trusted. +Moreover, she had caught a glimpse of Barthorpe's face as he turned +from looking at the will and hurried away, and what she had seen had +given her a strange feeling of fear and discomfort. Barthorpe, she +knew, was not the sort of man to be crossed or thwarted or balked of +his will, and now---- + +"Supposing Barthorpe should begin to hate me because all the money is +mine?" she thought. "Then--why, then I should have no one! No one of my +own flesh and blood, anyway. Of course, there's Mr. Tertius. But--I must +see Barthorpe. I must tell him that I shall insist on sharing--if it's +all mine, I can do that. And yet--why didn't Uncle Jacob divide it? Why +did he leave Barthorpe--nothing?" + +Still pondering sadly over these and kindred subjects Peggie went +upstairs to a parlour of her own, a room in which she did as she liked +and made into a den after her own taste. There, while the November +afternoon deepened in shadow, she sat and thought still more deeply. And +she was still plunged in thought when Kitteridge came softly into the +room and presented a card. Peggie took it from the butler's salver and +glanced half carelessly at it. Then she looked at Kitteridge with some +concern. + +"Mr. Burchill?" she said. "Here?" + +"No, miss," answered Kitteridge. "Mr. Burchill desired me to present his +most respectful sympathy, and to say that if he could be of any service +to you or to the family, he begged that you would command him. His +address is on this card, miss." + +"Very kind of him," murmured Peggie, and laid the card aside on her +writing-table. When Kitteridge had gone she picked it up and looked at +it again. Burchill?--she had been thinking of him only a few minutes +before the butler's entrance; thinking a good deal. And her thoughts had +been disquieted and unhappy. Burchill was the last man in the world that +she wished to have anything to do with, and the fact that his name +appeared on Jacob Herapath's will had disturbed her more than she would +have cared to admit. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE SHADOW + + +Mr. Halfpenny, conducting Mr. Tertius to the coupe brougham, installed +him in its further corner, got in himself and bade his coachman drive +slowly to 331, Upper Seymour Street. + +"I said slowly," he remarked as they moved gently away, "because I +wanted a word with you before we see this young man. Tertius--what's the +meaning of all this?" + +Mr. Tertius groaned dolefully and shook his head. + +"There is so much, Halfpenny," he answered, "that I don't quite know +what you specifically mean by this. Do you mean----" + +"I mean, first of all, Herapath's murder," said Mr. Halfpenny. "You +think it is a case of murder?" + +"I'm sure it's a case of murder--cold, calculated murder," replied Mr. +Tertius, with energy. "Vile murder, Halfpenny." + +"And, as far as you know, is there no clue?" asked the old lawyer. +"There's nothing said or suggested in the newspapers. Haven't you any +notion--hasn't Barthorpe any notion?" + +Mr. Tertius remained silent for a while. The coupe brougham turned into +Upper Seymour Street. + +"I think," he said at last, "yes, I think that when we've made this +call, I shall ask you to accompany me to my friend Cox-Raythwaite's, in +Endsleigh Gardens--you know him, I believe. I've already seen him this +morning and told him--something. When we get there, I'll tell it to you, +and he shall show you--something. After that, we'll hear what your legal +instinct suggests. It is my opinion, Halfpenny--I offer it with all +deference, as a layman--that great, excessive caution is necessary. This +case is extraordinary--very extraordinary. That is--in my opinion." + +"It's an extraordinary thing that Jacob Herapath should have made that +will," murmured Mr. Halfpenny reflectively. "Why Barthorpe should be +entirely ignored is--to me--marvellous. And--it may be--significant. You +never heard of any difference, quarrel, anything of that sort, between +him and his uncle?" + +"I have not the remotest notion as to what the relations were that +existed between the uncle and the nephew," replied Mr. Tertius. "And +though, as I have said, I knew that the will was in existence, I hadn't +the remotest idea, the faintest notion, of its contents until we took it +out of the sealed envelope an hour or so ago. But----" he paused and +shook his head meaningly. + +"Well?" said Mr. Halfpenny. + +"I'm very sure, knowing Jacob as I did, that he had a purpose in making +that will," answered Mr. Tertius. "He was not the man to do anything +without good reasons. I think we are here." + +The landlady of No. 331 opened its door herself to these two visitors. +Her look of speculative interest on seeing two highly respectable +elderly gentlemen changed to one of inquisitiveness when she heard what +they wanted. + +"No, sir," she answered. "Mr. Frank Burchill doesn't live here now. And +it's a queer thing that during the time he did live here and gave me +more trouble than any lodger I ever had, him keeping such strange hours +of a night and early morning, he never had nobody to call on him, as I +recollect of! And now here's been three gentlemen asking for him within +this last hour--you two and another gentleman. And I don't know where +Mr. Burchill lives, and don't want, neither!" + +"My dear lady!" said Mr. Halfpenny, mildly and suavely. "I am sure we are +deeply sorry to disturb you--no doubt we have called you away from your +dinner. Perhaps, er, this"--here there was a slight chink of silver in +Mr. Halfpenny's hand, presently repeated in one of the landlady's--"will, +er, compensate you a little? But we are really anxious to see Mr. +Burchill--haven't you any idea where he's gone to live? Didn't he +leave an address for any letters that might come here?" + +"He didn't, sir--not that he ever had many letters," answered the +landlady. "And I haven't the remotest notion. Of course, if I had I'd +give the address. But, as I said to the gentleman what was here not so +long ago, I've neither seen nor heard of Mr. Burchill since he left--and +that's six months since." + +Mr. Halfpenny contrived to give his companion a nudge of the elbow. + +"Is it, indeed, ma'am?" he said. "Ah! That gentleman who called, now?--I +think he must be a friend of ours, who didn't know we were coming. What +was he like, now, ma'am?" + +"He was a tallish, fine-built gentleman," answered the landlady. +"Fresh-coloured, clean-shaved gentleman. And for that matter, he can't +be so far away--it isn't more than a quarter of an hour since he was +here. I'll ask my girl if she saw which way he went." + +"Don't trouble, pray, ma'am, on my account," entreated Mr. Halfpenny. +"It's of no consequence. We're deeply obliged to you." He swept off his +hat in an old-fashioned obeisance and drew Mr. Tertius away to the coupe +brougham. "That was Barthorpe, of course," he said. "He lost no time, +you see, Tertius, in trying to see Burchill." + +"Why should he want to see Burchill?" asked Mr. Tertius. + +"Wanted to know what Burchill had to say about signing the will, of +course," replied Mr. Halfpenny. "Well--what next? Do you want me to see +Cox-Raythwaite with you?" + +Mr. Tertius, who had seemed to be relapsing into a brown study on the +edge of the pavement, woke up into some show of eagerness. "Yes, yes!" +he said. "Yes, by all means let us go to Cox-Raythwaite. I'm sure that's +the thing to do. And there's another man--the chauffeur. But--yes, we'll +go to Cox-Raythwaite first. Tell your man to drive to the corner of +Endsleigh Gardens--the corner by St. Pancras Church." + +Professor Cox-Raythwaite was exactly where Mr. Tertius had left him in +the morning, when the two visitors were ushered into his laboratory. And +for the second time that day he listened in silence to Mr. Tertius's +story. When it was finished, he looked at Mr. Halfpenny, whose solemn +countenance had grown more solemn than ever. + +"Queer story, isn't it, Halfpenny?" he said laconically. "How does it +strike you?" + +Mr. Halfpenny slowly opened his pursed-up lips. + +"Queer?" he exclaimed. "God bless me!--I'm astounded! I--but let me see +these--these things." + +"Sealed 'em up not so long ago--just after lunch," remarked the +Professor, lifting his heavy bulk out of his chair. "But you can see 'em +all right through the glass. There you are!" He led the way to a +side-table and pointed to the hermetically-sealed receptacles in which +he had safely bestowed the tumbler and the sandwich brought so gingerly +from Portman Square by Mr. Tertius. "The tumbler," he continued, jerking +a big thumb at it, "will have, of course, to be carefully examined by an +expert in finger-prints; the sandwich, so to speak, affords primary +evidence. You see--what there is to see, Halfpenny?" + +Mr. Halfpenny adjusted his spectacles, bent down, and examined the +exhibits with scrupulous, absorbed interest. Again he pursed up his +lips, firmly, tightly, as if he would never open them again; when he did +open them it was to emit a veritable whistle which indicated almost as +much delight as astonishment. Then he clapped Mr. Tertius on the back. + +"A veritable stroke of genius!" he exclaimed. "Tertius, my boy, you +should have been a Vidocq or a Hawkshaw! How did you come to think of +it? For I confess that with all my forty years' experience of Law, +I--well, I don't think I should ever have thought of it!" + +"Oh, I don't know," said Mr. Tertius, modestly. "I--well, I looked--and +then, of course, I saw. That's all!" + +Mr. Halfpenny sat down and put his hands on his knees. + +"It's a good job you did see, anyway," he said, ruminatively; "an +uncommonly good job. Well--you're certain of what we may call the +co-relative factor to what is most obvious in that sandwich?" + +"Absolutely certain," replied Mr. Tertius. + +"And you're equally certain about the diamond ring?" + +"Equally and positively certain!" + +"Then," said Mr. Halfpenny, rising with great decision, "there is only +one thing to be done. You and I, Tertius, must go at once--at once!--to +New Scotland Yard. In fact, we will drive straight there. I happen +to know a man who is highly placed in the Criminal Investigation +Department--we will put our information before him. He will know +what ought to be done. In my opinion, it is one of those cases which +will require infinite care, precaution, and, for the time being, +secrecy--mole's work. Let us go, my dear friend." + +"Want me--and these things?" asked the Professor. + +"For the time being, no," answered Mr. Halfpenny. "Nor, at present, the +taxi-cab driver that Tertius has told us of. We'll merely tell what we +know. But take care of these--these exhibits, as if they were the apples +of your eyes, Cox-Raythwaite. They--yes, they may hang somebody!" + +Half an hour later saw Mr. Halfpenny and Mr. Tertius closeted with a +gentleman who, in appearance, resembled the popular conception of a +country squire and was in reality as keen a tracker-down of wrong-doers +as ever trod the pavement of Parliament Street. And before Mr. Halfpenny +had said many words he stopped him. + +"Wait a moment," he said, touching a bell at his side, "we're already +acquainted, of course, with the primary facts of this case, and I've +told off one of our sharpest men to give special attention to it. We'll +have him in." + +The individual who presently entered and who was introduced to the two +callers as Detective-Inspector Davidge looked neither preternaturally +wise nor abnormally acute. What he really did remind Mr. Tertius of was +a gentleman of the better-class commercial traveller persuasion--he was +comfortable, solid, genial, and smartly if quietly dressed. And he and +the highly placed gentleman listened to all that the two visitors had +to tell with quiet and concentrated attention and did not even exchange +looks with each other. In the end the superior nodded as if something +satisfied him. + +"Very well," he said. "Now the first thing is--silence. You two +gentlemen will not breathe a word of all this to any one. As you said +just now, Mr. Halfpenny, the present policy is--secrecy. There will be a +great deal of publicity during the next few days--the inquest, and so +on. We shall not be much concerned with it--the public will say that as +usual we are doing nothing. You may think so, too. But you may count on +this--we shall be doing a great deal, and within a very short time from +now we shall never let Mr. Barthorpe Herapath out of our sight until--we +want him." + +"Just so," assented Mr. Halfpenny. He took Mr. Tertius away, and when he +had once more bestowed him in the coupe brougham, dug him in the ribs. +"Tertius!" he said, with something like a dry chuckle. "What an +extraordinary thing it is that people can go about the world unconscious +that other folks are taking a very close and warm interest in them! Now, +I'll lay a pound to a penny that Barthorpe hasn't a ghost of a notion +that he's already under suspicion. My idea of the affair, sir, is that +he has not the mere phantasm of such a thing. And yet, from now, as our +friend there observed, Master Barthorpe, sir, will be watched. Shadowed, +Tertius, shadowed!" + +Barthorpe Herapath certainly had none of the notions of which Mr. +Halfpenny spoke. He spent his afternoon, once having quitted Burchill's +flat, in a businesslike fashion. He visited the estate office in +Kensington; he went to see the undertaker who had been charged with the +funeral arrangements; he called in at the local police-office and saw +the inspector and the detective who had first been brought into +connection with the case; he made some arrangements with the Coroner's +officer about the necessary inevitable inquest. He did all these things +in the fashion of a man who has nothing to fear, who is unconscious that +other men are already eyeing him with suspicion. And he was quite +unaware that when he left his office in Craven Street that evening he +was followed by a man who quietly attended him to his bachelor rooms in +the Adelphi, who waited patiently until he emerged from them to dine at +a neighbouring restaurant, who himself dined at the same place, and who +eventually tracked him to Maida Vale and watched him enter Calengrove +Mansions. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +FOR TEN PER CENT + + +Mr. Frank Burchill welcomed his visitor with easy familiarity--this might +have been a mere dropping-in of one friend to another, for the very +ordinary purpose of spending a quiet social hour before retiring for the +night. There was a bright fire on the hearth, a small smoking-jacket on +Burchill's graceful shoulders and fancy slippers on his feet; decanters +and glasses were set out on the table in company with cigars and +cigarettes. And by the side of Burchill's easy chair was a pile of +newspapers, to which he pointed one of his slim white hands as the two men +settled themselves to talk. + +"I've been reading all the newspapers I could get hold of," he observed. +"Brought all the latest editions in with me after dinner. There's little +more known, I think, than when you were here this afternoon." + +"There's nothing more known," replied Barthorpe. "That is--as far as I'm +aware." + +Burchill took a sip at his glass and regarded Barthorpe thoughtfully +over its rim. + +"In strict confidence," he said, "have you got any idea whatever on the +subject?" + +"None!" answered Barthorpe. "None whatever! I've no more idea of who it +was that killed my uncle than I have of the name of the horse that'll +win the Derby of year after next! That's a fact. There isn't a clue." + +"The police are at work, of course," suggested Burchill. + +"Of course!" replied Barthorpe, with an unconcealed sneer. "And a lot of +good they are. Whoever knew the police to find out anything, except by a +lucky accident?" + +"Just so," agreed Burchill. "But then--accidents, lucky or otherwise, +will happen. You can't think of anybody whose interest it was to get +your esteemed relative out of the way?" + +"Nobody!" said Barthorpe. "There may have been somebody. We want to know +who the man was who came out of the House with him last night--so far we +don't know. It'll all take a lot of finding out. In the meantime----" + +"In the meantime, you're much more concerned and interested in the will, +eh?" said Burchill. + +"I'm much more concerned--being a believer in present necessities--in +hearing what you've got to say to me now that you've brought me here," +answered Barthorpe, coolly. "What is it?" + +"Oh, I've a lot to say," replied Burchill. "Quite a lot. But you'll have +to let me say it in my own fashion. And to start with, I want to ask you +a few questions. About your family history, for instance." + +"I know next to nothing about my family history," said Barthorpe; "but +if my knowledge is helpful to what we--or I--want to talk about, fire +ahead!" + +"Good!" responded Burchill. "Now, just tell me what you know about Mr. +Jacob Herapath, about his brother, your father, and about his sister, +who was, of course, Miss Wynne's mother. Briefly--concisely." + +"Not so much," answered Barthorpe. "My grandfather was a medical +man--pretty well known, I fancy--at Granchester, in Yorkshire; I, of +course, never knew or saw him. He had three children. The eldest was +Jacob, who came to his end last night. Jacob left Granchester for +London, eventually began speculating in real estate, and became--what he +was. The second was Richard, my father. He went out to Canada as a lad, +and did there pretty much what Jacob did here in London----" + +"With the same results?" interjected Burchill. + +Barthorpe made a wry face. + +"Unfortunately, no!" he replied. "He did remarkably well to a certain +point--then he made some most foolish and risky speculations in American +railroads, lost pretty nearly everything he'd made, and died a poorish +man." + +"Oh--he's dead, then?" remarked Burchill. + +"He's dead--years ago," replied Barthorpe. "He died before I came to +England. I, of course, was born out there. I----." + +"Never mind you just now," interrupted Burchill. "Keep to the earlier +branches of the family. Your grandfather had one other child?" + +"A daughter," assented Barthorpe. "I never saw her, either. However, I +know that her name was Susan. I also know that she married a man named +Wynne--my cousin's father, of course. I don't know who he was or +anything about him." + +"Nothing?" + +"Nothing--nothing at all: My Uncle Jacob never spoke of him to +me--except to mention that such a person had once existed. My cousin +doesn't know anything about him, either. All she knows is that her +father and mother died when she was about--I think--two years old, and +that Jacob then took charge of her. When she was six years old, he +brought her to live with him. That was about the time I myself came to +England." + +"All right," said Burchill. "Now, we'll come to you. Tell about +yourself. It all matters." + +"Well, of course, I don't know what you're getting at," replied +Barthorpe. "But I'm sure you do. Myself, eh? Well, I was put to the Law +out there in Canada. When my father died--not over well off--I wrote to +Uncle Jacob, telling him all about how things were. He suggested that I +should come over to this country, finish my legal training here, and +qualify. He also promised--if I suited him--to give me his legal work. +And, of course, I came." + +"Naturally," said Burchill. "And that's--how long ago?" + +"Between fifteen and sixteen years," answered Barthorpe. + +"Did Jacob Herapath take you into his house?" asked Burchill, continuing +the examination which Barthorpe was beginning to find irksome as well as +puzzling. "I'm asking all this for good reasons--it's necessary, if you're +to understand what I'm going to tell you." + +"Oh, as long as you're going to tell me something I don't mind telling you +anything you like to ask," replied Barthorpe. "That's what I want to be +getting at. No--he didn't take me into the house. But he gave me a very +good allowance, paid all my expenses until I got through my remaining +examinations and stages, and was very decent all around. No--I fixed up in +the rooms which I've still got--a flat in the Adelphi." + +"But you went a good deal to Portman Square?" + +"Why, yes, a good deal--once or twice a week, as a rule." + +"Had your cousin--Miss Wynne--come there then?" + +"Yes, she'd just about come. I remember she had a governess. Of course, +Peggie was a mere child then--about five or six. Must have been six, +because she's quite twenty-one now." + +"And--Mr. Tertius?" + +Burchill spoke the name with a good deal of subtle meaning, and +Barthorpe suddenly looked at him with a rising comprehension. + +"Tertius?" he answered. "No--Tertius hadn't arrived on the scene then. +He came--soon after." + +"How soon after?" + +"I should say," replied Barthorpe, after a moment's consideration, "I +should say--from my best recollection--a few months after I came to +London. It was certainly within a year of my coming." + +"You remember his coming?" + +"Not particularly. I remember that he came--at first, I took it, as a +visitor. Then I found he'd had rooms of his own given him, and that he +was there as a permanency." + +"Settled down--just as he has been ever since?" + +"Just! Never any difference that I've known of, all these years." + +"Did Jacob ever tell you who he was?" + +"Never! I never remember my uncle speaking of him in any particular +fashion--to me. He was simply--there. Sometimes, you saw him; sometimes, +you didn't see him. At times, I mean, you'd meet him at dinner--other +times, you didn't." + +Burchill paused for a while; when he asked his next question he seemed +to adopt a more particular and pressing tone. + +"Now--have you the least idea who Tertius is?" he asked. + +"Not the slightest!" affirmed Barthorpe. "I never have known who he is. +I never liked him--I didn't like his sneaky way of going about the +house--I didn't like anything of him--and he never liked me. I always +had a feeling--a sort of intuition--that he resented my presence--in +fact, my existence." + +"Very likely," said Burchill, with a dry laugh. "Well--has it ever +struck you that there was a secret between Tertius and Jacob Herapath?" + +Barthorpe started. At last they were coming to something definite. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed. "So--that's the secret you mentioned in that +letter?" + +"Never mind," replied Burchill. "Answer my question." + +"No, then--it never did strike me." + +"Very well," said Burchill. "There is a secret." + +"There is?" + +"There is! And," whispered Burchill, rising and coming nearer to his +visitor, "it's a secret that will put you in possession of the whole of +the Herapath property! And--I know it." + +Barthorpe had by this time realized the situation. And he was thinking +things over at a rapid rate. Burchill had asked Jacob Herapath for ten +thousand pounds as the price of his silence; therefore---- + +"And, of course, you want to make something out of your knowledge?" he +said presently. + +"Of course," laughed Burchill. He opened a box of cigars, selected one +and carefully trimmed the end before lighting it. "Of course!" he +repeated. "Who wouldn't? Besides, you'll be in a position to afford me +something when you come into all that." + +"The will?" suggested Barthorpe. + +Burchill threw the burnt-out match into the fire. + +"The will," he said slowly, "will be about as valuable as that--when +I've fixed things up with you. Valueless!" + +"You mean it?" exclaimed Barthorpe incredulously. "Then--your signature?" + +"Look here!" said Burchill. "The only thing between us is--terms! Fix +up terms with me, and I'll tell you the whole truth. And then--you'll +see!" + +"Well--what terms?" demanded Barthorpe, a little suspiciously. "If you +want money down----" + +"You couldn't pay in cash down what I want, nor anything like it," said +Burchill. "I may want an advance that you can pay--but it will only be +an advance. What I want is ten per cent. on the total value of Jacob +Herapath's property." + +"Good heavens!" exclaimed Barthorpe. "Why I believe he'll cut up for a +good million and a half!" + +"That's about the figure--as I've reckoned it," assented Burchill. "But +you'll have a lot left when you've paid me ten per cent." + +Barthorpe fidgeted in his chair. + +"When did you find out this secret?" he asked. + +"Got an idea of it just before I left Jacob, and worked it all out, to +the last detail, after I left," replied Burchill. "I tell you this for a +certainty--when I've told you all I know, you'll know for an absolute +fact, that the Herapath property is--yours!" + +"Well!" said Barthorpe. "What do you want me to do?" + +Burchill moved across to a desk and produced some papers. + +"I want you to sign certain documents," he said, "and then I'll tell you +the whole story. If the story's no good, the documents are no good. +How's that?" + +"That'll do!" answered Barthorpe. "Let's get to business." + +It was one o'clock in the morning when Barthorpe left Calengrove +Mansions. But the eyes that had seen him enter saw him leave, and the +shadow followed him through the sleeping town until he, too, sought his +own place of slumber. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ADJOURNED + + +Ever since Triffitt had made his lucky scoop in connection with the +Herapath Mystery he had lived in a state of temporary glory, with strong +hopes of making it a permanent one. Up to the morning of the event, which +gave him a whole column of the _Argus_ (big type, extra leaded), Triffitt, +as a junior reporter, had never accomplished anything notable. As he was +fond of remarking, he never got a chance. Police-court cases--county-court +cases--fires--coroners' inquests--street accidents--they were all exciting +enough, no doubt, to the people actively concerned in them, but you never +got more than twenty or thirty lines out of their details. However, the +chance did come that morning, and Triffitt made the most of it, and +the news editor (a highly exacting and particular person) blessed him +moderately, and told him, moreover, that he could call the Herapath case +his own. Thenceforth Triffitt ate, drank, smoked, and slept with the +case; it was the only thing he ever thought of. But at half-past one on +the afternoon of the third day after what one may call the actual start +of the affair, Triffitt sat in a dark corner of a tea-shop in Kensington +High Street, munching ham sandwiches, sipping coffee, and thinking +lugubriously, if not despairingly. He had spent two and a half hours in +the adjacent Coroner's Court, listening to all that was said in evidence +about the death of Jacob Herapath, and he had heard absolutely nothing +that was not quite well known to him when the Coroner took his seat, +inspected his jurymen, and opened the inquiry. Two and a half hours, at +the end of which the court adjourned for lunch--and the affair was just +as mysterious as ever, and not a single witness had said a new thing, not +a single fresh fact had been brought forward out of which a fellow could +make good, rousing copy! + +"Rotten!" mumbled Triffitt into his cup. "Extra rotten! Somebody's keeping +something back--that's about it!" + +Just then another young gentleman came into the alcove in which Triffitt +sat disconsolate--a pink-cheeked young gentleman, who affected a tweed +suit of loud checks and a sporting coat, and wore a bit of feather in +the band of his rakish billycock. Triffitt recognized him as a +fellow-scribe, one of the youthful bloods of an opposition journal, whom +he sometimes met on the cricket-field; he also remembered that he had +caught a glimpse of him in the Coroner's Court, and he hastened to make +room for him. + +"Hullo!" said Triffitt. + +"What-ho!" responded the pink young gentleman. He beckoned knowingly to +a waitress, and looked at her narrowly when she came. "Got such a thing +as a muffin?" he asked. + +"Muffins, sir--yes, sir," replied the waitress, "Fresh muffins." + +"Pick me out a nice, plump, newly killed muffin" commanded Triffitt's +companion. "Leave it in its natural state--that is to say, cold--split +it in half put between the halves a thick, generous slice of that cold +ham I see on your counter, and produce it with a pot of fresh--and very +hot--China tea. That's all." + +"Plenty too, I should think!" muttered Triffitt. "Fond of indigestion, +Carver?" + +"I don't think you've ever been in Yorkshire, have you, Triffitt?" asked +Mr. Carver, settling himself comfortably. "You haven't had that +pleasure?--well, if you'd ever gone to a football match on a Saturday +afternoon in a Yorkshire factory district, you'd have seen men selling +muffin-and-ham sandwiches--fact! And I give you my word that if you want +something to fill you up during the day, something to tide over the +weary wait between breakfast and dinner, a fat muffin with a thick slice +of ham is the best thing I know." + +"I don't want anything to fill me up," grunted Triffitt. "I want +something cheering--at present. I've been listening with all my ears for +something new in that blessed Herapath case all the morning, and, as you +know, there's been nothing!" + +"Think so?" said Carver. "Um--I should have said there was a good deal, +now." + +"Nothing that I didn't know, anyway," remarked Triffitt. "I got all that +first thing; I was on the spot first." + +"Oh, it was you, was it?" said Carver, with professional indifference. +"Lucky man! So you've only been hearing----" + +"A repetition of what I'd heard before," answered Triffitt. "I knew all +that evidence before I went into court. Caretaker--police--folks from +Portman Square--doctor--all the lot! And I guess there'll be nothing +this afternoon--the thing'll be adjourned." + +"Oh, that's of course," assented Carver, attacking his muffin sandwich. +"There'll be more than one adjournment of this particular inquest, +Triffitt. But aren't you struck by one or two points?" + +"I'm struck by this," replied Triffitt. "If what the police-surgeon +says--and you noticed how positive he was about it--if what he says is +true, that old Herapath was shot, and died, at, or just before +(certainly not after, he positively asserted), twelve o'clock midnight, +it was not he who went to Portman Square!" + +"That, of course, is obvious," said Carver. "And it's just as obvious +that whoever went to Portman Square returned from Portman Square to that +office. Eh?" + +"That hasn't quite struck me," replied Triffitt. "How is it just as +obvious?" + +"Because whoever went to Portman Square went in old Herapath's +fur-trimmed coat and his slouch hat, and the fur trimmed coat and slouch +hat were found in the office," answered Carver. "It's absolutely plain, +that. I put it like this. The murderer, having settled his man, put on +his victim's coat and hat, took his keys, went to Portman Square, did +something there, went back to the office, left the coat and hat, and +hooked it. That, my son, is a dead certainty. There's been little--if +anything--made of all that before the Coroner, and it's my impression, +Triffitt, that somebody--somebody official, mind you--is keeping +something back. Now," continued Carver, dropping his voice to a +confidential whisper, "I'm only doing a plain report of this affair for +our organ of light and leading, but I've read it up pretty well, and +there are two things I want to know, and I'll tell you what, Triffitt, +if you like to go in with me at finding them out--two can always work +better than one--I'm game!" + +"What are the two things?" asked Triffitt, cautiously. "Perhaps I've got +'em in mind also." + +"The first's this," replied Carver. "Somebody--some taxi-cab driver or +somebody of that sort--must have brought the man who personated old +Jacob Herapath back to, or to the neighbourhood of, the office that +morning. How is it that somebody hasn't been discovered? You made a +point of asking for him in the _Argus_. Do you know what I think? I +think he has been discovered, and he's being kept out of the way. That's +point one." + +"Good!" muttered Triffitt. "And point two?" + +"Point two is--where is the man who came out of the House of Commons +with Jacob Herapath that night, the man that the coachman Mountain +described? In my opinion," asserted Carver, "I believe that man's been +found, too, and he's being kept back." + +"Good again!" said Triffitt. "It's likely. Well, I've a point. You +heard the evidence about old Herapath's keys? Yes--well, where's the key +of that safe that he rented at the Safe Deposit place. That young +secretary, Selwood, swore that it was on the little bunch the day of the +murder, that he saw it at three o'clock in the afternoon. What did Jacob +Herapath do with it between then and the time of the murder?" + +"Yes--that's a great point," asserted Carver. "We may hear something of +that this afternoon--perhaps of all these points." + +But when they went back to the densely crowded court it was only to find +that they--and an expectant public--were going to hear nothing more for +that time. As soon as the court re-assembled, there was some putting +together of heads on the part of the legal gentlemen and the Coroner; +there were whisperings and consultations and noddings and veiled hints, +palpable enough to everybody with half an eye; then the Coroner +announced that no further evidence would be taken that day, and +adjourned the inquest for a fortnight. Such of the public as had +contrived to squeeze into the court went out murmuring, and Triffitt and +Carver went out too and exchanged meaning glances. + +"Just what I expected!" said Carver. "I reckon the police are at the +bottom of all that. A fortnight today we'll be hearing something +good--something sensational." + +"I don't want to wait until a fortnight today," growled Triffitt. "I +want some good, hot stuff--now!" + +"Then you'll have to find it for yourself, very soon," remarked Carver. +"Take my tip--you'll get nothing from the police." + +Triffitt was well aware of that. He had talked to two or three police +officials and detectives that morning, and had found them singularly +elusive and uncommunicative. One of them was the police-inspector who +had been called to the Herapath Estate Office on the discovery of the +murder; another was the detective who had accompanied him. Since the +murder Triffitt had kept in touch with these two, and had found them +affable and ready to talk; now, however, they had suddenly curled up +into a dry taciturnity, and there was nothing to be got out of them. + +"Tell you what it is," he said suddenly. "We'll have to go for the +police!" + +"How go for the police?" asked Carver doubtfully. + +"Throw out some careful hints that the police know more than they'll +tell at present," answered Triffitt, importantly. "That's what I shall +do, anyhow--I've got _carte blanche_ on our rag, and I'll make the +public ear itch and twitch by breakfast-time tomorrow morning! And after +that, my boy, you and I'll put our heads together, as you suggest, and +see if we can't do a bit of detective work of our own. See you tomorrow +at the usual in Fleet Street." + +Then Triffitt went along to the _Argus_ office, and spent the rest of +the afternoon in writing up a breezy and brilliant column about the +scene at the inquest, intended to preface the ordinary detailed report. +He wound it up with an artfully concocted paragraph in which he threw +out many thinly veiled hints and innuendoes to the effect that the +police were in possession of strange and sensational information and +that ere long such a dramatic turn would be given to this Herapath +Mystery that the whole town would seethe with excitement. He preened his +feathers gaily over this accomplishment, and woke earlier than usual +next morning on purpose to go out before breakfast and buy the _Argus_. +But when he opened that enterprising journal he found that his column +had been woefully cut down, and that the paragraph over which he had so +exercised his brains was omitted altogether. Triffitt had small appetite +for breakfast that morning, and he went early to the office and made +haste to put himself in the way of the news editor, who grinned at sight +of him. + +"Look here, Master Triffitt," said the news editor, "there's such a +thing as being too smart--and too previous. I was a bit doubtful about +your prognostications last night, and I rang up the C.I.D. about 'em. +Don't do it again, my son!--you mean well, but the police know their job +better than you do. If they want to keep quiet for a while in this +matter, they've good reasons for it. So--no more hints. See?" + +"So they do know something?" muttered Triffitt sourly. "Then I was +right, after all!" + +"You'll be wrong, after all, if you stick your nose where it isn't +wanted," said the news editor. "Just chuck the inspired prophet game for a +while, will you? Keep to mere facts; you'll be alarming the wrong people, +if you don't. Off you go now! and do old Herapath's funeral--it's at noon, +at Kensal Green. There'll be some of his fellow M.P.'s there, and so on. +Get their names--make a nice, respectable thing of it on conventional +lines. And no fireworks! This thing's to lie low at present." + +Triffitt went off to Kensal Green, scowling and cogitating. Of course +the police knew something! But--what? What they knew would doubtless +come out in time, but Triffitt had a strong desire to be beforehand with +them. In spite of the douche of cold water which the news editor had +just administered, Triffitt knew his _Argus_. If he could fathom the +Herapath Mystery in such a fashion as to make a real great, smashing, +all-absorbing feature of a sensational discovery, the _Argus_ would +throw police precaution and official entreaties to the first wind that +swept down Fleet Street. No!--he, Triffitt, was not to be balked. He +would do his duty--he would go and see Jacob Herapath buried, but he +would also continue his attempt to find out how it was that that burial +came to be. And as he turned into the cemetery and stared at its weird +collection of Christian and pagan monuments he breathed a fervent prayer +to the Goddesses of Chance and Fortune to give him what he called +"another look-in." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE SCOTTISH VERDICT + + +If Triffitt had only known it, the Goddesses of Chance and Fortune were +already close at hand, hovering lovingly and benignly above the crown of +his own Trilby hat. Triffitt, of course, did not see them, nor dream +that they were near; he was too busily occupied in taking stock of the +black-garmented men who paid the last tribute of respect (a conventional +phrase which he felt obliged to use) to Jacob Herapath. These men were +many in number; some of them were known to Triffitt, some were not. He +knew Mr. Fox-Crawford, an Under-Secretary of State, who represented the +Government; he knew Mr. Dayweather and Mr. Encilmore, and Mr. Camford +and Mr. Wallburn; they were all well-known members of Parliament. Also, +he knew Mr. Barthorpe Herapath, walking at the head of the procession of +mourners. Very soon he had quite a lengthy list of names; some others, +if necessary, he could get from Selwood, whom he recognized as the +cortege passed him by. So for the time being he closed his note-book and +drew back beneath the shade of a cypress-tree, respectfully watching. In +the tail-end of the procession he knew nobody; it was made up, he +guessed, of Jacob Herapath's numerous clerks from the estate offices, +and---- + +But suddenly Triffitt saw a face in that procession. The owner of that +face was not looking at Triffitt; he was staring quietly ahead, with the +blank, grave demeanour which people affect when they go to funerals. And +it was as well that he was not looking at Triffitt, for Triffitt, seeing +that face, literally started and even jumped a little, feeling as if the +earth beneath him suddenly quaked. + +"Gad!" exclaimed Triffitt under his breath. "It is! It can't be! Gad, +but I'm certain it is! Can't be mistaken--not likely I should ever +forget him!" + +Then he took off the Trilby hat, which he had resumed after the coffin +had passed, and he rubbed his head as men do when they are exceedingly +bewildered or puzzled. After which he unobtrusively followed the +procession, hovered about its fringes around the grave until the last +rites were over, and eventually edged himself up to Selwood as the +gathering was dispersing. He quietly touched Selwood's sleeve. + +"Mr. Selwood!" he whispered. "Just a word. I know a lot of these +gentlemen--the M.P.'s and so on--but there are some I don't know. Will +you oblige me, now?--I want to get a full list. Who are the two elderly +gentlemen with Mr. Barthorpe Herapath--relatives, eh?" + +"No--old personal friends," answered Selwood, good-naturedly turning +aside with the little reporter. "One is Mr. Tertius--Mr. J. C. +Tertius--a very old friend of the late Mr. Herapath's; the other is Mr. +Benjamin Halfpenny, the solicitor, also an old friend." + +"Oh, I know of his firm," said Triffitt, busily scribbling. "Halfpenny +and Farthing, of course--odd combination, isn't it? And that burly +gentleman behind them, now--who's he?" + +"That's Professor Cox-Raythwaite, the famous scientist," answered +Selwood. "He's also an old friend. The gentleman he's speaking to is Sir +Cornelius Debenham, chairman of the World Alliance Association, with +which Mr. Herapath was connected, you know." + +"I know--I know," answered Triffitt, still busy. "Those two behind him, +now--middle-aged parties?" + +"One's Mr. Frankton, the manager, and the other's Mr. Charlwood, the +cashier, at the estate office," replied Selwood. + +"They'll go down in staff and employees," said Triffitt. "Um--I've got a +good list. By the by, who's the gentleman across there--just going up to +the grave--the gentleman who looks like an actor? Is he an actor?" + +"That? Oh!" answered Selwood. "No--that's Mr. Frank Burchill, who used +to be Mr. Herapath's secretary--my predecessor." + +"Oh!" responded Triffitt. He had caught sight of Carver a few yards off, +and he hurried his notebook into his pocket, and bustled off. "Much +obliged to you, Mr. Selwood," he said with a grin. "Even we with all our +experience, don't know everybody, you know--many thanks." He hastened +over to Carver who was also busy pencilling, and drew him away into the +shelter of a particularly large and ugly monument. "I say!" he +whispered. "Here's something! Shove that book away now--I've got all the +names--and attend to me a minute. Don't look too obtrusively--but do you +see that chap--looks like an actor--who is just coming away from the +graveside--tall, well-dressed chap?" + +Carver looked across. His face lighted up. + +"I know that man," he said. "I've seen him at the club--he's been in +once or twice, though he's not a member. He does theatre stuff for the +_Magnet_. His name's Burchill." + +Triffitt dropped his friend's arm. + +"Oh!" he said. "So you know him--by sight, anyhow? And his name's +Burchill, eh? Very good. Let's get." + +He walked Carver out of the cemetery, down the Harrow Road, and turned +into the saloon bar of the first tavern that presented itself. + +"I'm going to have some ale and some bread and cheese," he observed, "and +if you'll follow suit, Carver, we'll sit in that corner, and I'll tell +you something that'll make your hair curl. Two nice plates of bread and +cheese, and two large tankards of your best bitter ale, if you please," +he continued, approaching the bar and ringing a half-crown on it. "Yes, +Carver, my son--that will curl your hair for you. And," he went on, when +they had carried their simple provender over to a quiet corner, "about +that chap now known as Burchill--Burchill. Mr.--Frank--Burchill; late +secretary to the respected gentleman whose mortal remains have just been +laid to rest. Ah!" + +"What's the mystery?" asked Carver, setting down his tankard. "Seems to be +one, anyway. What about Burchill?" + +"Speak his name softly," answered Triffitt. "Well, my son, I suddenly +saw--him--this morning, and I just as suddenly remembered that I'd seen +him before!" + +"You had, eh?" said Carver. "Where?" + +Triffitt sank his voice to a still lower whisper. + +"Where?" he said. "Where? In the dock!" + +Carver arrested the progress of a lump of bread and cheese and turned in +astonishment. + +"In the dock?" he exclaimed. "That chap? Good heavens! When--where?" + +"It's a longish story," answered Triffitt. "But you've got to hear it if +we're going into this thing--as we are. Know, then, that I have an +aunt--Eliza. My aunt--maternal aunt--Eliza is married to a highly +respectable Scotsman named Kierley, who runs a flour-mill in the ancient +town of Jedburgh, which is in the county of Roxburgh, just over the +Border. And it's just about nine years (I can tell the exact date to a +day if I look at an old diary) that Mr. and Mrs. Kierley were good +enough to invite me to spend a few weeks in Bonnie Scotland. And the +first night of my arrival Kierley told me that I was in luck, for +within a day or two there was going to be a grand trial before the +Lords Justiciar--Anglice, judges. A trial of a man for murder!" + +"Great Scott!" said Carver. "Murder, eh? And"--he nodded his head in the +direction of the adjacent cemetery. "Him?" + +"Let me explain a few legal matters," said Triffitt, disregarding the +question. "Then you'll get the proper hang of things. In Scotland, law's +different in procedure to ours. The High Court of Justiciary is fixed +permanently at Edinburgh, but its judges go on circuit so many times a +year to some of the principal towns, where they hold something like our +own assizes. Usually, only one judge sits, but in cases of special +importance there are two, and two came to Jedburgh, this being a case of +very special importance, and one that was arousing a mighty amount of +interest. It was locally known as the Kelpies' Glen Case, and by that +name it got into all the papers--we could find it, of course, in our own +files." + +"I'll turn it up," observed Carver. + +"By all means," agreed Triffitt; "but I'll give you an outline of it +just now. Briefly, it was this. About eleven years ago, there was near +the town of Jedburgh a man named Ferguson, who kept an old-established +school for boys. He was an oldish chap, married to a woman a good deal +younger than himself, and she had a bit of a reputation for being +overfond of the wine of the country. According to what the Kierleys told +me, old Ferguson used to use the tawse on her sometimes, and they led a +sort of cat-and-dog life. Well, about the time I'm talking about, +Ferguson got a new undermaster; he only kept one. This chap was an +Englishman--name of Bentham--Francis Bentham, to give him his full +patronymic, but I don't know where he came from--I don't think anybody +did." + +"F. B., eh?" muttered Carver. "Same initials as----" + +"Precisely," said Triffitt, "and--to anticipate--same man. But to +proceed in due order. Old Ferguson died rather suddenly--but in quite an +above-board and natural fashion, about six months after this Bentham +came to him. The widow kept on the school, and retained Bentham's +services. And within half a year of the demise of her first husband, she +took Bentham for her second." + +"Quick work!" remarked Carver. + +"And productive of much wagging of tongues, you may bet!" said Triffitt. +"Many things were said--not all of them charitable. Well, this marriage +didn't mend the lady's manners. She still continued, now and then, to +take her drops in too generous measure. Rumour had it that the successor +to Ferguson followed his predecessor's example and corrected his wife in +the good, old-fashioned way. It was said that the old cat-and-dog life +was started again by these two. However, before they'd been married a +year, the lady ended that episode by quitting life for good. She was +found one night lying at the foot of the cliff in the Kelpies' +Glen--with a broken neck." + +"Ah!" said Carver. "I begin to see." + +"Now, that Kelpies' Glen," continued Triffitt, "was a sort of ravine +which lay between the town of Jedburgh and the school. It was traversed +by a rough path which lay along the top of one side of it, amongst trees +and crags. At one point, this path was on the very edge of a precipitous +cliff; from that edge there was a sheer drop of some seventy or eighty +feet to a bed of rocks down below, on the edge of a brawling stream. It +was on these rocks that Mrs. Bentham's body was found. She was dead +enough when she was discovered, and the theory was that she had come +along the path above in a drunken condition, had fallen over the low +railings which fenced it in, and so had come to her death." + +"Precisely," assented Carver, nodding his head with wise appreciation. +"Her alcoholic tendencies were certainly useful factors in the case." + +"Just so--you take my meaning," agreed Triffitt. "Well, at first nobody +saw any reason to doubt this theory, for the lady had been seen +staggering along that path more than once. But she had a brother, a +canny Scot who was not over well pleased when he found that his +sister--who had come into everything that old Ferguson left, which was a +comfortable bit--had made a will not very long before her death in which +she left absolutely everything to her new husband, Francis Bentham. The +brother began to inquire and to investigate--and to cut the story short, +within a fortnight of his wife's death, Bentham was arrested and charged +with her murder." + +"On what evidence?" asked Carver. + +"Precious little!" answered Triffitt. "Indeed next to none. Still, +there was some. It was proved that he was absent from the house for half +an hour or so about the time that she would be coming along that path; +it was also proved that certain footprints in the clay of the path were +his. He contended that he had been to look for her; he proved that he +had often been to look for her in that way; moreover, as to the +footprints, he, like everybody in the house, constantly used that path +in going to the town." + +"Aye, to be sure," said Carver. "He'd a good case, I'm thinking." + +"He had--and so I thought at the time," continued Triffitt. "And so a +good many folks thought--and they, and I, also thought something else, I +can tell you. I know what the verdict of the crowded court would have +been!" + +"What?" asked Carver. + +"Guilty!" exclaimed Triffitt. "And so far as I'm concerned, I haven't a +doubt that the fellow pushed her over the cliff. But opinion's neither +here nor there. The only thing that mattered, my son, was the jury's +verdict!" + +"And the jury's verdict was--what?" demanded Carver. + +Triffitt winked into his empty tankard and set it down with a bang. + +"The jury's verdict, my boy," he answered, "was one that you can only +get across the Border. It was '_Not Proven_'!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +YOUNG BRAINS + + +Carver, who had been listening intently to the memory of a bygone event, +pushed away the remains of his frugal lunch, and shook his head as he +drew out a cigarette-case. + +"By gad, Triff, old man!" he said. "If I'd been that chap I'd rather +have been hanged, I think. Not proven, eh?--whew! That meant----" + +"Pretty much what the folk in court and the mob outside thought," +asserted Triffitt. "That scene outside, after the trial, is one of my +liveliest recollections. There was a big crowd there--chiefly women. +When they heard the verdict there was such yelling and hooting as you +never heard in your life! You see, they were all certain about the +fellow's guilt, and they wanted him to swing. If they could have got at +him, they'd have lynched him. And do you know, he actually had the cheek +to leave the court by the front entrance, and show himself to that +crowd! Then there was a lively scene--stones and brickbats and the mud +of the street began flying. Then the police waded in--and they gave Mr. +Francis Bentham pretty clearly to understand that there must be no going +home for him, or the folks would pull his roof over his head. And they +forced him back into the court, and got him away out of the town on the +quiet--and I reckon he's never shown his face in that quarter of the +globe since." + +"That will?" asked Carver. "Did it stand good--did he get the woman's +money?" + +"He did. My aunt told me afterwards that he employed some local +solicitor chap--writers, as they call 'em there--to wind everything up, +convert everything into cash, for him. Oh, yes!" concluded Triffitt. "He +got the estate, right enough. Not an awful lot, you know--a thousand or +two--perhaps three--but enough to go adventuring with elsewhere." + +"You're sure this is the man?" asked Carver. + +"As certain as that I'm myself!" answered Triffitt. "Couldn't mistake +him--even if it is nine years ago. It's true I was only a nipper +then--sixteen or so--but I'd all my wits about me, and I was so taken +with him in the dock, and with his theatrical bearing there--he's a fine +hand at posing--that I couldn't forget or mistake him. Oh, he's the man! +I've often wondered what had become of him." + +"And now you find out that he's up till recently been secretary to Jacob +Herapath, M.P., and is just now doing dramatic criticism for the +_Magnet_," observed Carver. "Well, Triffitt, what do you make of it?" + +Triffitt, who had filled and lighted an old briarwood pipe, puffed +solemnly and thoughtfully for a while. + +"Well," he said, "nobody can deny that there's a deep mystery about +Jacob Herapath's death. And knowing what I do about this Bentham or +Burchill, and that he's recently been secretary to Jacob Herapath, I'd +just like to know a lot more. And--I mean to!" + +"Got any plan of campaign?" asked Carver. + +"I have!" affirmed Triffitt with sublime confidence. "And it's this--I'm +going to dog this thing out until I can go to our boss and tell him that +I can force the hands of the police! For the police are keeping +something dark, my son, and I mean to find out what it is. I got a +quencher this morning from our news editor, but it'll be the last. When +I go back to the office to write out this stuff, I'm going to have that +extremely rare thing with any of our lot--an interview with the old +man." + +"Gad!--I thought your old man was unapproachable!" exclaimed Carver. + +"To all intents and purposes, he is," assented Triffitt. "But I'll see +him--and today. And after that--but you'll see. Now, as to you, old man. +You're coming in with me at this, of course--not on behalf of your +paper, but on your own. Work up with me, and if we're successful, I'll +promise you a post on the _Argus_ that'll be worth three times what +you're getting now. I know what I'm talking about--unapproachable as our +guv'nor is, I've sized him up, and if I make good in this affair, he'll +do anything I want. Stick to Triffitt, my son, and Triffitt'll see you +all serene!" + +"Right-oh!" said Carver. "I'm on. Well, and what am I to do, first?" + +"Two things," responded Triffitt. "One of 'em's easy, and can be done +at once. Get me--diplomatically--this man Burchill's, or Bentham's, +present address. You know some _Magnet_ chaps--get it out of them. Tell +'em you want to ask Burchill's advice about some dramatic stuff--say +you've written a play and you're so impressed by his criticisms that +you'd like to take his counsel." + +"I can do that," replied Carver. "As a matter of fact, I've got a real +good farce in my desk. And the next?" + +"The next is--try to find out if there's any taxi-cab driver around the +Portman Square district who took a fare resembling old Herapath from +anywhere about there to Kensington on the night of the murder," said +Triffitt. "There must be some chap who drove that man, and if we've got +any brains about us we can find him. If we find him, and can get him to +talk--well, we shall know something." + +"It'll mean money," observed Carver. + +"Never mind," said Triffitt, confident as ever. "If it comes off all +right with our boss, you needn't bother about money, my son! Now let's +be going Fleet Street way, and I'll meet you tonight at the usual--say +six o'clock." + +Arrived at the _Argus_ office and duly seated at his own particular +table, Triffitt, instead of proceeding to write out his report of the +funeral ceremony of the late Jacob Herapath, M.P., wrote a note to his +proprietor, which note he carefully sealed and marked "Private." He +carried this off to the great man's confidential secretary, who stared +at it and him. + +"I suppose this really is of a private nature?" he asked suspiciously. +"You know as well as I do that Mr. Markledew'll make me suffer if it +isn't." + +"Soul and honour, it's of the most private!" affirmed Triffitt, laying a +hand on his heart. "And of the highest importance, too, and I'll be +eternally grateful if you'll put it before him as soon as you can." + +The confidential secretary took another look at Triffitt, and allowed +himself to be reluctantly convinced of his earnestness. + +"All right!" he said. "I'll shove it under his nose when he comes in at +four o'clock." + +Triffitt went back to his work, excited, yet elated. It was no easy job to +get speech of Markledew. Markledew, as everybody in Fleet Street knew, was +a man in ten thousand. He was not only sole proprietor of his paper, but +its editor and manager, and he ruled his office and his employees with a +rod of iron--chiefly by silence. It was usually said of him that he never +spoke to anybody unless he was absolutely obliged to do so--certain it was +that all his orders to the various heads were given out pretty much after +the fashion of a drill sergeant's commands to a squad of well-trained, +five-month recruits, and that monosyllables were much more in his mouth +than even brief admonitions and explanations. If anybody ever did manage +to approach Markledew, it was always with fear and trembling. A big, +heavy, lumbering man, with a face that might have been carved out of +granite, eyes that bored through an opposing brain, and a constant +expression of absolute, yet watchful immobility, he was a trying person to +tackle, and most men, when they did tackle him, felt as if they might be +talking to the Sphinx and wondered if the tightly-locked lips were ever +going to open. But all men who ever had anything to do with Markledew were +well aware that, difficult as he was of access, you had only got to +approach him with something good to be rewarded for your pains in full +measure. + +At ten minutes past four Triffitt, who had just finished his work, lifted +his head to see a messenger-boy fling open the door of the reporter's room +and cast his eyes round. A shiver shot through Triffitt's spine and went +out of his toes with a final sting. + +"Mr. Markledew wants Mr. Triffitt!" + +Two or three other junior reporters who were scribbling in the room +glanced at Triffitt as he leapt to obey the summons. They hastened to +make kindly comments on this unheard-of episode in the day's dull +routine. + +"Pale as a fair young bride!" sighed one. "Buck up, Triff!--he won't eat +you." + +"I hear your knees knocking together, Triff," said another. "Brace +yourself!" + +"Markledew," observed a third, "has decided to lay down the sceptre and +to instal Triff in the chair of rule. Ave, Triffitt, Imperator!--be +merciful to the rest of us." + +Triffitt consigned them to the nether regions and hurried to the +presence. The presence was busied with its secretary and kept Triffitt +standing for two minutes, during which space he recovered his breath. +Then the presence waved away secretary and papers with one hand, turned +its awful eyes upon him, and rapped out one word: + +"Now!" + +Triffitt breathed a fervent prayer to all his gods, summoned his +resolution and his powers, and spoke. He endeavoured to use as few words +as possible, to be lucid, to make his points, to show what he was +after--and, driving fear away from him, he kept his own eyes steadily +fixed on those penetrating organs which confronted him. And once, twice, +he saw or thought he saw a light gleam of appreciation in those organs; +once, he believed, the big head nodded as if in agreement. Anyhow, at +the end of a quarter of an hour (unheard-of length for an interview with +Markledew!) Triffitt had neither been turned out nor summarily silenced; +instead, he had come to what he felt to be a good ending of his pleas +and his arguments, and the great man was showing signs of speech. + +"Now, attend!" said Markledew, impressively. "You'll go on with this. +You'll follow it up on the lines you suggest. But you'll print nothing +except under my personal supervision. Make certain of your facts. +Facts!--understand! Wait." + +He pulled a couple of slips of paper towards him, scribbled a line or +two on each, handed them to Triffitt, and nodded at the door. + +"That'll do," he said. "When you want me, let me know. And mind--you've +got a fine chance, young man." + +Triffitt could have fallen on the carpet and kissed Markledew's large +boots. But knowing Markledew, he expressed his gratitude in two words +and a bow, and sped out of the room. Once outside, he hastened to send +the all-powerful notes. They were short and sharp, like Markledew's +manner, but to Triffitt of an inexpressible sweetness, and he walked on +air as he went off to other regions to present them. + +The news editor, who was by nature irascible and whom much daily worry +had rendered more so, glared angrily as Triffitt marched up to his +table. He pointed to a slip of proof which lay, damp and sticky, close +by. + +"You've given too much space to that Herapath funeral," he growled. +"Take it away and cut it down to three-quarters." + +Triffitt made no verbal answer. He flung Markledew's half-sheet of +notepaper before the news editor, and the news editor, seeing the great +man's sprawling caligraphy, read, wonderingly:-- + + "Mr. Triffitt is released from ordinary duties to + pursue others under my personal supervision. + J. M." + +The news editor stared at Triffitt as if that young gentleman had +suddenly become an archangel. + +"What's this mean?" he demanded. + +"Obvious--and sufficient," retorted Triffitt. And he turned, hands in +pockets, and strolled out, leaving the proof lying unheeded. That was +the first time he had scored off his news editor, and the experience was +honey-like and intoxicating. His head was higher than ever as he sought +the cashier and handed Markledew's other note to him. The cashier read +it over mechanically. + + "Mr. Triffitt is to draw what money he needs for a + special purpose. He will account to me for it. + J. M." + +The cashier calmly laid the order aside and looked at its deliverer. + +"Want any now?" he asked apathetically. "How much?" + +"Not at present," replied Triffitt. "I'll let you know when I do." + +Then he went away, got his overcoat, made a derisive and sphinx-like +grin at his fellow-reporters, and left the office to find Carver. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +NAMELESS FEAR + + +If Triffitt had stayed in Kensal Green Cemetery a little longer, he +would have observed that Mr. Frank Burchill's presence at the funeral +obsequies of the late Jacob Herapath was of an eminently modest, +unassuming, and retiring character. He might, as an ex-secretary of the +dead man, have claimed to walk abreast of Mr. Selwood, and ahead of the +manager and cashier from the estate office; instead, he had taken a +place in the rear ranks of the procession, and in it he remained until +the close of the ceremony. Like the rest of those present, he defiled +past the grave at which the chief mourners were standing, but he claimed +no recognition from and gave no apparent heed to any of them; certainly +none to Barthorpe Herapath. Also, like all the rest, he went away at +once from the cemetery, and after him, quietly and unobtrusively, went a +certain sharp-eyed person who had also been present, not as a mourner, +but in the character of a casual stroller about the tombs and monuments, +attracted for the moment by the imposing cortege which had followed the +dead man to his grave. + +Another sharp-eyed person made it his business to follow Barthorpe +Herapath when he, too, went away. Barthorpe had come to the ceremony +unattended. Selwood, Mr. Tertius, Professor Cox-Raythwaite, and Mr. +Halfpenny had come together. These four also went away together. +Barthorpe, still alone, re-entered his carriage when they had driven +off. The observant person of the sharp eyes, hanging around the gates, +heard him give his order: + +"Portman Square!" + +The four men who had preceded him were standing in the study when +Barthorpe drove up to the house--standing around Peggie, who was +obviously ill at ease and distressed. And when Barthorpe's voice was +heard in the hall, Mr. Halfpenny spoke in decisive tones. + +"We must understand matters at once," he said. "There is no use in +beating about the bush. He has refused to meet or receive me so far--now +I shall insist upon his saying plainly whatever he has to say. You, too, +my dear, painful as it may be, must also insist." + +"On--what?" asked Peggie. + +"On his saying what he intends--if he intends--I don't know what he +intends!" answered Mr. Halfpenny, testily. "It's most annoying, and we +can't----" + +Barthorpe came striding in, paused as he glanced around, and affected +surprise. + +"Oh!" he said. "I came to see you, Peggie--I did not know that there was +any meeting in progress." + +"Barthorpe!" said Peggie, looking earnestly at him. "You know that all +these gentlemen were Uncle Jacob's friends--dear friends--and they are +mine. Don't go away--Mr. Halfpenny wants to speak to you." + +Barthorpe had already half turned to the door. He turned back--then +turned again. + +"Mr. Halfpenny can only want to speak to me on business," he said, +coldly. "If Mr. Halfpenny wants to speak to me on business, he knows +where to find me." + +He had already laid a hand on the door when Mr. Halfpenny spoke sharply +and sternly. + +"Mr. Barthorpe Herapath!" he said. "I know very well where to find you, +and I have tried to find you and to get speech with you for two days--in +vain. I insist, sir, that you speak to us--or at any rate to your +cousin--you are bound to speak, sir, out of common decency!" + +"About what?" asked Barthorpe. "I came to speak to my cousin--in +private." + +"There is a certain something, sir," retorted Mr. Halfpenny, with +warmth, "about which we must speak in public--such a public, at any +rate, as is represented here and now. You know what it is--your uncle's +will!" + +"What about my uncle's will--or alleged will?" asked Barthorpe with a +sneer. + +Mr. Halfpenny appeared to be about to make a very angry retort, but he +suddenly checked himself and looked at Peggie. + +"You hear, my dear?" he said. "He says--alleged will!" + +Peggie turned to Barthorpe with an appealing glance. + +"Barthorpe!" she exclaimed. "Is that fair--is it generous? Is it +just--to our uncle's memory? You know that is his will--what doubt can +there be about it?" + +Barthorpe made no answer. He still stood with one hand on the door, +looking at Mr. Halfpenny. And suddenly he spoke. + +"What do you wish to ask me?" he said. + +"I wish to ask you a plain question," replied Mr. Halfpenny. "Do you +accept this will, and are you going to act on your cousin's behalf? I +want your plain answer." + +Barthorpe hesitated a moment before replying. Then he made as if to open +the door. + +"I decline to discuss the matter of the alleged will," he answered. "I +decline--especially," he continued, lifting a finger and pointing at Mr. +Tertius, "especially in the presence of that man!" + +"Barthorpe!" exclaimed Peggie, flushing at the malevolence of the tone +and gesture. "How dare you! In my house----" + +Barthorpe suddenly laughed. Once again he turned to the door--and this +time he opened it. + +"Just so--just so!" he said. "Your house, my dear cousin--according to +the alleged will." + +"Which will be proved, sir," snapped out Mr. Halfpenny. "As you refuse, +or seem to do so, I shall act for your cousin--at once." + +Barthorpe opened the door wide, and as he crossed the threshold, turned +and gave Mr. Halfpenny a swift glance. + +"Act!" he said. "Act!--if you can!" + +Then he walked out and shut the door behind him, and Mr. Halfpenny +turned to the others. + +"The will must be proved at once," he said decisively. "Alleged--you all +heard him say alleged! That looks as if--um! My dear Tertius, you have +no doubt whatever about the proper and valid execution of this important +document--now in my safe. None?" + +"How can I have any doubt about what I actually saw?" replied Mr. +Tertius. "I can't have any doubt, Halfpenny! I saw Jacob sign it; I +signed it myself; I saw young Burchill sign it; we all three saw each +other sign. What more can one want?" + +"I must see this Mr. Burchill," remarked Mr. Halfpenny. "I must see him +at once. Unfortunately, he left no address at the place we called at. He +will have to be discovered." + +Peggie coloured slightly as she turned to Mr. Halfpenny. + +"Is it really necessary to see Mr. Burchill personally?" she asked with +a palpable nervousness which struck Selwood strangely. "Must he be +found?" + +"Absolutely necessary, my dear," replied Mr. Halfpenny. "He must be +found, and at once." + +Mr. Tertius uttered an exclamation of annoyance. + +"Dear, dear!" he said. "I noticed the young man at the cemetery just +now--I ought really to have pointed him out to you--most forgetful of +me!" + +"I have Mr. Burchill's address," said Peggie, with an effort. "He left +his card here on the day of my uncle's death--the address is on it. And +I put it in this drawer." + +Selwood watched Peggie curiously, and with a strange, vague sense of +uneasiness as she went over to a drawer in Jacob Herapath's desk and +produced the card. He had noticed a slight tremor in her voice when she +spoke of Burchill, and her face, up till then very pale, had coloured at +the first mention of his name. And now he was asking himself why any +reference to this man seemed to disturb her, why---- + +But Mr. Halfpenny cut in on his meditations. The old lawyer held up the +card to the light and slowly read out the address. + +"Ah! Calengrove Mansions, Maida Vale," he said. "Um--quarter of an +hour's drive. Tertius--you and I will go and see this young fellow at +once." + +Mr. Tertius turned to Professor Cox-Raythwaite. + +"What do you think of this, Cox-Raythwaite?" he asked, almost piteously. +"I mean--what do you think's best to be done?" + +The Professor, who had stood apart with Selwood during the episode which +had just concluded, pulling his great beard and looking very big and +black and formidable, jerked his thumb in the direction of the old +lawyer. + +"Do what Halfpenny says," he growled. "See this other witness. And--but +here, I'll have a word with you in the hall." + +He said good-bye in a gruffly affectionate way to Peggie, patted her +shoulder and her head as if she were a child, and followed the two other +men out. Peggie, left alone with Selwood, turned to him. There was +something half-appealing in her face, and Selwood suddenly drove his +hands deep into his pockets, clenched them there, and put a tight hold +on himself. + +"It's all different!" exclaimed Peggie, dropping into a chair and +clasping her hands on her knees. "All so different! And I feel so +utterly helpless." + +"Scarcely that," said Selwood, with an effort to speak calmly. "You've +got Mr. Tertius, and Mr. Halfpenny, and the Professor, and--and if +there's anything--anything I can do, don't you know, why, I----" + +Peggie impulsively stretched out a hand--and Selwood, not trusting +himself, affected not to see it. To take Peggie's hand at that moment +would have been to let loose a flood of words which he was resolved not +to utter just then, if ever. He moved across to the desk and pretended +to sort and arrange some loose papers. + +"We'll--all--all--do everything we can," he said, trying to keep any +tremor out of his voice. "Everything you know, of course." + +"I know--and I'm grateful," said Peggie. "But I'm frightened." + +Selwood turned quickly and looked sharply at her. + +"Frightened?" he exclaimed. "Of what?" + +"Of something that I can't account for or realize," she replied. "I've a +feeling that everything's all wrong--and strange. And--I'm frightened of +Mr. Burchill." + +"What!" snapped Selwood. He dropped the papers and turned to face her +squarely. "Frightened of--Burchill? Why?" + +"I--don't--know," she answered, shaking her head. "It's more an +idea--something vague. I was always afraid of him when he was here--I've +been afraid of him ever since. I was very much afraid when he came here +the other day." + +"You saw him?" asked Selwood. + +"I didn't see him. He merely sent up that card. But," she added, "I was +afraid even then." + +Selwood leaned back against the desk, regarding her attentively. + +"I don't think you're the sort to be afraid without reason," he said. +"Of course, if you have reason, I've no right to ask what it is. All the +same, if this chap is likely to annoy you, you've only to speak +and--and----" + +"Yes?" she said, smiling a little. "You'd----" + +"I'll punch his head and break his neck for him!" growled Selwood. +"And--and I wish you'd say if you have reasons why I should. Has--has he +annoyed you?" + +"No," answered Peggie. She regarded Selwood steadily for a minute; then +she spoke with sudden impulse. "When he was here," she said, "I mean +before he left my uncle, he asked me to marry him." + +Selwood, in spite of himself, could not keep a hot flush from mounting +to his cheek. + +"And--you?" he said. + +"I said no, of course, and he took my answer and went quietly away," +replied Peggie. "And that--that's why I'm frightened of him." + +"Good heavens! Why?" demanded Selwood. "I don't understand. Frightened +of him because he took his answer, went away quietly, and hasn't annoyed +you since? That--I say, that licks me!" + +"Perhaps," she said. "But, you see, you don't know him. It's just +because of that--that quiet--that--oh, I don't quite know how to +explain!--that--well, silence--that I'm afraid--yes, literally afraid. +There's something about him that makes me fear. I used to wish that my +uncle had never employed him--that he had never come here. And--I'd +rather be penniless than that my uncle had ever got him--him!--to +witness that will!" + +Selwood found no words wherewith to answer this. He did not understand +it. Nevertheless he presently found words of another sort. + +"All right!" he muttered doggedly. "I'll watch him--or, I'll watch that +he--that--well, that no harm comes to--you know what I mean, don't you?" + +"Yes," murmured Peggie, and once more held out an impulsive hand. But +Selwood again pretended to see nothing, and he began another energetic +assault upon the papers which Jacob Herapath would never handle again. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE LAW + + +Once within a taxi-cab and on their way to Maida Vale, Mr. Halfpenny +turned to his companion with a shake of the head which implied a much +mixed state of feeling. + +"Tertius!" he exclaimed. "There's something wrong! Quite apart from what +we know, and from what we were able to communicate to the police, +there's something wrong. I feel it--it's in the air, the--the whole +atmosphere. That fellow Barthorpe is up to some game. What? Did you +notice his manner, his attitude--everything? Of course!--who could help +it? He--has some scheme in his head. Again I say--what?" + +Mr. Tertius stirred uneasily in his seat and shook his head. + +"You haven't heard anything from New Scotland Yard?" he asked. + +"Nothing--so far. But they are at work, of course. They'll work in their +own way. And," continued Mr. Halfpenny, with a grim chuckle, "you can be +certain of this much, Tertius--having heard what we were able to tell +them, having seen what we were able to put before them, with respect to +the doings of that eventful night, they won't let Master Barthorpe out +of their ken--not they! It is best to let them pursue their own +investigations in their own manner--they'll let us know what's been +done, sure enough, at the right time." + +"Yes," assented Mr. Tertius. "Yes--so I gather--I am not very conversant +with these things. I confess there's one thing that puzzles me greatly +though, Halfpenny. That's the matter of the man who came out of the House +of Commons with Jacob that night. You remember that the coachman, +Mountain, told us--and said at the inquest also--that he overheard what +Jacob said to that man--'The thing must be done at once, and you must have +everything ready for me at noon tomorrow,' or words to that effect. Now +that man must be somewhere at hand--he must have read the newspapers, know +all about the inquest--why doesn't he come forward?" + +Mr. Halfpenny chuckled again and patted his friend's arm. + +"Ah!" he said. "But you don't know that he hasn't come forward! The +probability is, Tertius, that he has come forward, and that the people at +New Scotland Yard are already in possession of whatever story he had to +tell. Oh, yes, I quite expect that--I also expect to hear, eventually, +another piece of news in relation to that man." + +"What's that?" asked Mr. Tertius. + +"Do you remember that, at the inquest, Mountain, the coachman, said that +there was another bit of evidence he had to give which he'd forgotten to +tell Mr. Barthorpe when he questioned him? Mountain"--continued Mr. +Halfpenny--"went on to say that while Jacob Herapath and the man stood +talking in Palace Yard, before Jacob got into his brougham, Jacob took +some object from his waistcoat pocket and handed it, with what looked +like a letter, to the man? Eh?" + +"I remember very well," replied Mr. Tertius. + +"Very good," said Mr. Halfpenny. "Now I believe that object to have been +the key of Jacob's safe at the Safe Deposit, which, you remember, could +not be found, but which young Selwood affirmed had been in Jacob's +possession only that afternoon. The letter I believe to have been a +formal authority to the Safe Deposit people to allow the bearer to open +that safe. I've thought all that out," concluded Mr. Halfpenny, with a +smile of triumph, "thought it out carefully, and it's my impression that +that's what we shall find when the police move. I believe that man has +revealed himself to the police, has told them--whatever it is he has to +tell, and that his story probably throws a vast flood of light on the +mystery. So I say--let us not at present concern ourselves with the +actual murder of our poor friend: the police will ferret that out! What +we're concerned with is--the will! That will, Tertius, must be proved, +and at once." + +"I am as little conversant with legal matters as with police procedure," +observed Mr. Tertius. "What is the exact course, now, in a case of this +sort?" + +"The exact procedure, my dear sir," replied Mr. Halfpenny, dropping into +his best legal manner, and putting the tips of his warmly-gloved +fingers together in front of his well-filled overcoat, "the exact +procedure is as follows. Barthorpe Herapath is without doubt the +heir-at-law of his deceased uncle, Jacob Herapath. If Jacob had died +intestate Barthorpe would have taken what we may call everything, for +his uncle's property is practically all in the shape of real estate, in +comparison to which the personalty is a mere nothing. But there is a +will, leaving everything to Margaret Wynne. If Barthorpe Herapath +intends to contest the legality of that will----" + +"Good heavens, is that possible?" exclaimed Mr. Tertius. "He can't!" + +"He can--if he wishes," replied Mr. Halfpenny, "though at present I don't +know on what possible grounds. But, if he does, he can at once enter a +caveat in the Probate Registry. The effect of that--supposing he does +it--will be that when I take the will to be proved, progress will be +stopped. Very well--I shall then, following the ordinary practice, issue +and serve upon Barthorpe Herapath a document technically known as a +'warning.' On service of this warning, Barthorpe, if he insists upon his +opposition, must enter an appearance. There will then be an opportunity +for debate and attempt at agreement between him and ourselves. If that +fails, or does not take place, I shall then issue a writ to establish the +will. And that being done, why, then, my dear sir, the proceedings--ah, +the proceedings would follow--substantially--the--er--usual course of +litigation in this country." + +"And that," asked Mr. Tertius, deeply interested and wholly innocent, +"that would be----?" + +"Well, there are two parties in this case--supposed case," continued Mr. +Halfpenny, "Barthorpe Herapath, Margaret Wynne. After the issue of the +writ I have just spoken of, each party would put in his or her pleas, +and the matter would ultimately go to trial in the Probate Division of +the High Court, most likely before a judge and a special jury." + +"And how long would all this take?" asked Mr. Tertius. + +"Ah!--um!" replied Mr. Halfpenny, tapping the tips of his gloves +together. "That, my dear sir, is a somewhat difficult question to +answer. I believe that all readers of the newspapers are aware that our +Law Courts are somewhat congested--the cause lists are very full. The +time which must elapse before a case can actually come to trial varies, +my dear Tertius, varies enormously. But if--as in the matter we are +supposing would probably be the case--if all the parties concerned were +particularly anxious to have the case disposed of without delay, the +trial might be arrived at within three or four months--that is, my dear +sir, if the Long Vacation did not intervene. But--speaking generally--a +better, more usual, more probable estimate would be, say six, seven, +eight, or nine months." + +"So long?" exclaimed Mr. Tertius. "I thought that justice was neither +denied, sold, nor delayed!" + +"Justice is never denied, my good friend, nor is it sold," replied Mr. +Halfpenny, oracularly. "As to delay, ah, well, you know, if people will +be litigants--and I assure you that nothing is so pleasing to a very +large number of extraordinary persons who simply love litigation--a +little delay cannot be avoided. However, we will hope that we shall have +no litigation. Our present job is to get that will proved, and so far I +see no difficulty. There is the will--we have the witnesses. At least, +there are you, and we're hoping to see t'other in a few minutes. By the +by, Tertius, what sort of fellow is this Burchill?" + +Mr. Tertius considered his answer to this question. + +"Well, I hardly know," he said at last. "Of course, I have rarely seen +much of Jacob's secretaries. This man--he's not quite a youngster, +Halfpenny--struck me as being the sort of person who might be dangerous." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Mr. Halfpenny. "Dangerous! God bless me! Now, in what +way, Tertius?" + +"I don't quite know," replied Mr. Tertius. "He, somehow, from what I saw +of him, suggested, I really don't know how, a certain atmosphere of, +say--I'm trying to find the right words--cunning, subtlety, depth. +Yes--yes, I should say he was what we commonly call--or what is commonly +called in vulgar parlance--deep. Deep!" + +"You mean--designing?" suggested Mr. Halfpenny. + +"Exactly--designing," assented Mr. Tertius. "It--it was the sort of idea +he conveyed, you know." + +"Don't like the sound of him," said Mr. Halfpenny, "However, he's the +second witness and we must put up with the fact. And here we are at +these Calengrove Mansions, and let's hope we haven't a hundred infernal +steps to climb, and that we find the fellow in." + +The fellow was in. And the fellow, who had now discarded his mourning +suit for the purple and fine linen which suggested Bond Street, was just +about to go out, and was in a great hurry, and said so. He listened with +obvious impatience while Mr. Tertius presented his companion. + +"I wished to see you about the will of the deceased Jacob Herapath, Mr. +Burchill," said Mr. Halfpenny "The will which, of course, you witnessed." + +Burchill, who was gathering some books and papers together, and had +already apologized for not being able to ask his callers to sit down, +answered in an off-hand, bustling fashion. + +"Of course, of course!" he replied. "Mr. Jacob Herapath's will, eh? Oh, +of course, yes. Anything I can do, Mr. Halfpenny, of course--perhaps +you'll drop me a line and make an appointment at your office some +day--then I'll call, d'you see?" + +"You remember the occasion, and the will, and your signature?" said Mr. +Halfpenny, contriving to give Mr. Tertius a nudge as he put this direct +question. + +"Oh, I remember everything that ever happened in connection with my +secretaryship to Mr. Jacob Herapath!" replied Burchill, still bustling. +"I shall be ready for anything whenever I'm wanted, Mr. Halfpenny--pleased +to be of service to the family, I'm sure. Now, you must really pardon +me, gentlemen, if I hurry you and myself out--I've a most important +engagement and I'm late already. As I said--drop me a line for an +appointment, Mr. Halfpenny, and I'll come to you. Now, good-bye, +good-bye!" + +He had got them out of his flat, shaken hands with them, and hurried +off before either elderly gentleman could get a word in, and as he flew +towards the stairs Mr. Halfpenny looked at Mr. Tertius and shook his head. + +"That beggar didn't want to talk," he said. "I don't like it." + +"But he said that he remembered!" exclaimed Mr. Tertius. "Wasn't that +satisfactory?" + +"Anything but satisfactory, the whole thing," replied the old lawyer. +"Didn't you notice that the man avoided any direct reply? He said 'of +course' about a hundred times, and was as ambiguous, and non-committal, +and vague, as he could be. My dear Tertius, the fellow was fencing!" + +Mr. Tertius looked deeply distressed. + +"You don't think----" he began. + +"I might think a lot when I begin to think," said Mr. Halfpenny as they +slowly descended the stairs from the desert solitude of the top floor of +Calengrove Mansions. "But there's one thought that strikes me just +now--do you remember what Burchill's old landlady at Upper Seymour +Street told us?" + +"That Barthorpe Herapath had been to inquire for Burchill?--yes," +replied Mr. Tertius. "You're wondering----" + +"I'm wondering if, since then, Barthorpe has found him," said Mr. +Halfpenny. "If he has--if there have been passages between them--if----" + +He paused half-way down the stairs, stood for a moment or two in deep +thought and then laid his hand on his friend's arm. + +"Tertius!" he said gravely. "That will must be presented for probate at +once! I must lose no time. Come along--let me get back to my office and +get to work. And do you go back to Portman Square and give the little +woman your company." + +Mr. Tertius went back to Portman Square there and then, and did what he +could to make the gloomy house less gloomy. Instead of retreating to his +own solitude he remained with Peggie, and tried to cheer her up by +discussing various plans and matters of the future. And he was taking a +quiet cup of tea with her at five o'clock when Kitteridge came in with a +telegram for him. He opened it with trembling fingers and read: + + _"Barthorpe entered caveat in Probate Registry at half-past + three this afternoon.--Halfpenny."_ + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE ROSEWOOD BOX + + +Mr. Tertius dropped the telegram on the little table at which he and +Peggie were sitting, and betrayed his feelings with a deep groan. +Peggie, who was just about to give him his second cup of tea, set down +her teapot and jumped to his side. + +"Oh, what is it!" she exclaimed. "Some bad news? Please--" + +Mr. Tertius pulled himself together and tried to smile. + +"You must forgive me, my dear," he said, with a feeble attempt to speak +cheerily. "I--the truth is, I think I have lived in such a state of ease +and--yes, luxury, for so many years that I am not capable of readily +bearing these trials and troubles. I'm ashamed of myself--I must be +braver--not so easily affected." + +"But--the telegram?" said Peggie. + +Mr. Tertius handed it to her with a dismal shake of his head. + +"I suppose it's only what was to be expected, after all that Halfpenny +told me this afternoon," he remarked. "But I scarcely thought it would +occur so soon. My dear, I am afraid you must prepare yourself for a +great deal of unpleasantness and worry. Your cousin seems to be +determined to give much trouble. Extraordinary!--most extraordinary! My +dear, I confess I do not understand it." + +Peggie had picked up the telegram and was reading it with knitted brow. + +"'Barthorpe entered caveat in Probate Registry at half-past three this +afternoon,'" she slowly repeated. "But what does that mean, Mr. Tertius? +Something to do with the will?" + +"A great deal to do with the will, I fear!" replied Mr. Tertius, +lugubriously. "A caveat, my dear, is some sort of process--I'm sure I +don't know whether it's given by word of mouth, or if it's a document--by +which the admission to probate of a dead person's last will and testament +can be stopped. In plain language," continued Mr. Tertius, "your cousin +Barthorpe has been to the Probate Registry and done something to prevent +Mr. Halfpenny from proving the will. It is a wicked action on his +part--and, considering that he is a solicitor, and that he saw the +will with his own eyes, it is, as I have previously remarked, most +extraordinary!" + +"And all this means--what?" asked Peggie. + +"It means that there will be legal proceedings," groaned Mr. Tertius. +"Long, tedious, most annoying and trying proceedings! Perhaps a trial--we +may have to go to court and give evidence. I dread it!--I am, as I said, +so used to a life of ease and freedom from anxiety that anything of this +sort distresses me unspeakably. I fear I am degenerating into cowardice!" + +"Nonsense!" said Peggie. "It is merely that this sort of thing is +disturbing. And we are not going to be afraid of Barthorpe. Barthorpe is +very foolish. I meant--always have meant, ever since I heard about the +will--to share with him, for there's no law against that. But if +Barthorpe wants to upset the will altogether and claim everything, I +shall fight him. And if I win--as I suppose I shall--I shall make him do +penance pretty heavily before he's forgiven. However, that's all in the +future. What I don't understand about the present is--how can that will +be upset? Mr. Halfpenny says it's duly and properly executed, witnessed, +and so on--how can Barthorpe object to it?" + +Mr. Tertius put down his cup and rose. + +"Your cousin, Barthorpe, my dear, is, I regret to say, a deep man," he +replied. "He has some scheme in his head. This," he went on, picking up +the telegram and placing it in his pocket, "this is the first step in +that scheme. Well, it is perhaps a relief to know that he has taken it: +we shall now know where we are and what has to be done." + +"Quite so," said Peggie. "But there is another matter, Mr. Tertius, +which seems to be forgotten in this of the will. Pray, what is Barthorpe +doing, what is anybody doing, about solving the mystery of my uncle's +death? Everybody says he was murdered--who is doing anything to find the +murderer?" + +Mr. Tertius, who had advanced as far as the door on his way out of the +room, came back to Peggie's side in a fashion suggestive of deep +mystery, walking on the tips of his toes and putting a finger to his +lips as he drew near his chair. + +"My dear!" he said, bending down to her and speaking in a tone fully as +indicative of mystery as his tip-toe movement, "a great deal is being +done--but in the strictest secrecy! Most important investigations, my +dear!--the police, the detective police, you know. The word at +present--to put it into one word, vulgar, but expressive--the word is +'Mum'! Silence, my dear--the policy of the mole--underground working, +you know. From what I am aware of, and from what our good friend +Halfpenny tells me, and believes, I gather that a result will be +attained which will be surprising." + +"So long as justice is done," remarked Peggie. "That is all I want--all we +ought to aim at. I don't care twopence about surprising or sensational +discoveries--I want to see my uncle's murderer properly punished." + +She shed a few more quiet tears over Jacob Herapath's untoward fate when +Mr. Tertius had left her and fell to thinking about him. The thoughts +which came presently led her to go to the dead man's room--a simple, +spartan-like chamber which she had not entered since his death. She had +a vague sense of wanting to be brought into touch with him through the +things which had been his, and for a while she wandered aimlessly about +the room, laying a hand now and then on the objects which she knew he +must have handled the last time he had occupied the room--his toilet +articles, the easy chair in which he always sat for a few minutes every +night, reading a little before going to bed, the garments which hung in +his wardrobe, anything on which his fingers had rested. And as she +wandered about she noted, not for the first nor the hundredth time, how +Jacob Herapath had gathered about him in this room a number of objects +connected with his youth. The very furniture, simple, homely stuff, had +once stood in his mother's bedroom in a small cottage in a far-off +country. On the walls were portraits of his father and mother--crude +things painted by some local artist; there, too, were some samplers +worked by his mother in her girlhood, flanked by some faded groups of +flowers which she had painted about the same time. Jacob Herapath had +brought all these things to his grand house in Portman Square years +before, and had cleared a room of fine modern furniture and fittings to +make space for them. He had often said to Peggie, when she grew old +enough to understand, that he liked to wake in a morning and see the old +familiar things about him which he had known as a child. For one object +in that room he had a special veneration and affection--an old rosewood +workbox, which had belonged to his mother, and to her mother before her. +Once he had allowed Peggie to inspect it, to take from it the tray lined +with padded green silk, to examine the various nooks and corners +contrived by the eighteenth-century cabinetmaker--some disciple, maybe, +of Chippendale or Sheraton--to fit the tarnished silver thimbles on to +her own fingers, to wonder at the knick-knacks of a departed age, and to +laugh over the scent of rose and lavender which hung about the skeins +and spools. And he had told her that when he died the rosewood box +should be hers--as long as he lived, he said, it must stand on his chest +of drawers, so that he could see it at least twice a day. + +Jacob Herapath was dead now, and buried, and the rosewood box and +everything else that had been his had passed to Peggie--as things were, +at any rate. She presently walked up to the queer old chest of drawers, +and drew the rosewood box towards her and lifted the lid. It was years +since Jacob had shown it to her, and she remembered the childish delight +with which she had lifted out the tray which lay on the top and looked +into the various compartments beneath it. Now she opened the box again, +and lifted the tray--and there, lying bold and uncovered before her +eyes, she saw a letter, inscribed with one word in Jacob Herapath's +well-known handwriting--"Peggie." + +If Jacob Herapath himself had suddenly appeared before her in that quiet +room, the girl could scarcely have felt more keenly the strange and +subtle fear which seized upon her as she realized that what she was +staring at was probably some message to herself. It was some time before +she dared to lay hands on this message--when at last she took the letter +out of the box her fingers trembled so much that she found a difficulty +in opening the heavily-sealed envelope. But she calmed herself with a +great effort, and carrying the half-sheet of note-paper, which she drew +from its cover, over to the window, lifted it in the fading light and +read the few lines which Jacob Herapath had scrawled there. + + "If anything ever happens suddenly to me, my will, duly + executed and witnessed by Mr. Tertius and Mr. Frank + Burchill, is in a secret drawer of my old bureau which + lies behind the third small drawer on the right-hand + side. + + "JACOB HERAPATH." + +That was all--beyond a date, and the date was a recent one. "If anything +ever happens suddenly"--had he then felt some fear, experienced any +premonition, of a sudden happening? Why had he never said anything to +her, why? + +But Peggie realized that such questions were useless at that time--that +time was pre-eminently one of action. She put the letter back in the +rosewood box, took the box in her arms, and carrying it off to her own +room, locked it up in a place of security. And that had scarcely been +done when Kitteridge came seeking her and bringing with him a card: Mr. +Frank Burchill's card, and on it scribbled a single line: "Will you +kindly give me a few minutes?" + +Peggie considered this request in one flash of thought, and turned to +the butler. + +"Where is Mr. Burchill?" she asked. "In the study? Very well, I will +come down to him in a few minutes." + +She made a mighty effort to show herself calm, collected, and indifferent, +when she presently went down to the study. But she neither shook hands +with the caller, nor asked him to sit; instead she marched across to the +hearthrug and regarded him from a distance. + +"Yes, Mr. Burchill?" she said quietly. "You wish to see me?" + +She looked him over steadily as she spoke, and noted a certain air of +calm self-assurance about him which struck her with a vague uneasiness. +He was too easy, too quiet, too entirely businesslike to be free from +danger. And the bow which he gave her was, to her thinking, the height +of false artifice. + +"I wished to see you and to speak to you, with your permission," he +answered. "I beg you to believe that what I have--what I desire to say +is to be said by me with the deepest respect, the most sincere +consideration. I have your permission to speak? Then I beg to ask you +if--I speak with deep courtesy!--if the answer which you made to a +certain question of mine some time ago is--was--is to be--final?" + +"So final that I am surprised that you should refer to the matter," +replied Peggie. "I told you so at the time." + +"Circumstances have changed," he said. "I am at a parting of the ways in +life's journey. I wish to know--definitely--which way I am to take. A +ray of guiding light from you----" + +"There will be none!" said Peggie sharply. "Not a gleam. This is waste +of time. If that is all you have to say----" + +The door of the study opened, and Selwood, who was still engaged about +the house, came in. He paused on the threshold, staring from one to the +other, and made as if to withdraw. But Peggie openly smiled on him. + +"Come in, Mr. Selwood," she said. "I was just going to ask Kitteridge to +find you. I want to see both you and Mr. Tertius." + +Then she turned to Burchill, who stood, a well-posed figure in his fine +raiment, still watching her, and made him a frigid bow. + +"There is no more to say on that point--at any time," she said quietly. +"Good day. Mr. Selwood, will you ring the bell?" + +Burchill executed another profound and self-possessed bow. He presently +followed the footman from the room, and Peggie, for the first time since +Jacob Herapath's death, suddenly let her face relax and burst into a +hearty laugh. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +WEAVING THE NET + + +That evening Triffitt got Burchill's address from Carver, and next day +he drew a hundred pounds from the cashier of the _Argus_ and went off to +Calengrove Mansions. In his mind there was a clear and definite notion. +It might result in something; it might come to nothing, but he was going +to try it. Briefly, it was that if he wished--as he unfeignedly did +wish--to find out anything about Burchill, he must be near him; so near, +indeed, that he could keep an eye on him, acquaint himself with his +goings and comings, observe his visitors, watch for possible openings, +make himself familiar with Burchill's daily life. It might be a +difficult task; it might be an easy task--in any case, it was a task +that must be attempted. With Markledew's full consent and approval +behind him and Markledew's money-bags to draw upon, Triffitt felt equal +to attempting anything. + +The first thing was to take a quiet look at Burchill's immediate +environment. Calengrove Mansions turned out to be one of the smaller of +the many blocks of residential flats which have of late years arisen in +such numbers in the neighbourhood of Maida Vale and St. John's Wood. It +was an affair of some five or six floors, and judging from what Triffitt +could see of it from two sides, it was not fully occupied at that time, +for many of its windows were uncurtained, and there was a certain air of +emptiness about the upper storeys. This fact was not unpleasing to +Triffitt; it argued that he would have small difficulty in finding a +lodgment within the walls which sheltered the man he wanted to watch. +And in pursuance of his scheme, which, as a beginning, was to find out +exactly where Burchill was located, he walked into the main entrance and +looked about him, hoping to find an address-board. Such a board +immediately caught his eye, affixed to the wall near the main staircase. +Then Triffitt saw that the building was divided into five floors, each +floor having some three or four flats. Those on the bottom floors +appeared to be pretty well taken; the names of their occupants were +neatly painted in small compartments on the board. Right at the top was +the name Mr. Frank Burchill--and on that floor, which evidently +possessed three flats, there were presumably no other occupants, for the +remaining two spaces relating to it were blank. + +Triffitt took all this in at a glance; another glance showed him a door +close by on which was painted the word "Office." He pushed this open and +walked inside, to confront a clerk who was the sole occupant. To him, +Triffitt, plunging straight into business, gently intimated that he was +searching for a convenient flat. The clerk immediately began to pull out +some coloured plans, labelled first, second, third floors. + +"About what sized flat do you require?" he asked. He had already looked +Triffitt well over, and as Triffitt, in honour of the occasion, had put +on his smartest suit and a new overcoat, he decided that this was a +young man who was either just married or about to be married. "Do you +want a family flat, or one for a couple without family, or----" + +"What I want," answered Triffitt readily, "is a bachelor flat--for +myself. And--if possible--furnished." + +"Oh!" said the clerk. "Just so. I happen to have something that will +suit you exactly--that is, if you don't want to take it for longer than +three or four months." He pulled forward another plan, labelled "Fifth +Floor," and pointed to certain portions, shaded off in light colours. +"One of our tenants, Mr. Stillwater," he continued, "has gone abroad for +four months, and he'd be glad to let his flat, furnished, in his +absence. That's it--it contains, you see, a nice sitting-room, a +bedroom, a bathroom, and a small kitchen--all contained within the flat, +of course. It is well and comfortably furnished, and available at once." + +Triffitt bent over the plan. But he was not looking at the shaded +portion over which the clerk's pencil was straying; instead he was +regarding the fact that across the corresponding portion of the plan was +written in red ink the words, "Mr. Frank Burchill." The third portion +was blank; it, apparently, was unlet. + +"That is really about the size of flat I want," said Triffitt, musingly. +"What's the rent of that, now?" + +"I can let that to you for fifty shillings a week," answered the clerk. +"That includes everything--there's plate, linen, glass, china, anything +you want. Slight attendance can be arranged for with our caretaker's +wife--that is, she can cook breakfast, and make beds, and do more, if +necessary. Perhaps you would like to see this flat?" + +Triffitt followed the clerk to the top of the house. The absent Mr. +Stillwater's rooms were comfortable and pleasant; one glance around them +decided Triffitt. + +"This place will suit me very well," he said. "Now I'll give you +satisfactory references about myself, and pay you a month's rent in +advance, and if that's all right to you, I'll come in today. You can +ring up my references on your 'phone, and then, if you're satisfied, +we'll settle the rent, and I'll see the caretaker's wife about airing +that bed." + +Within half an hour Triffitt was occupant of the flat, the cashier of +the _Argus_ having duly telephoned that he was a thoroughly dependable +and much-respected member of its staff, and Triffitt himself having +handed over ten pounds as rent for the coming month, he interviewed the +caretaker's wife, went to a neighbouring grocer's shop and ordered a +stock of necessaries wherewith to fill his larder, repaired to his own +lodgings and brought away all that he wanted in the way of luggage, +books, and papers, and by the middle of the afternoon was fairly settled +in his new quarters. He spent an hour in putting himself and his +belongings straight--and then came the question what next? + +He was there for a special purpose--that special purpose was to +acquaint himself as thoroughly as possible with the doings of Frank +Burchill. Burchill was there--he was almost on the point of saying, in +the next cell!--there, in the flat across the corridor; figuratively, +within touch, if it were not for sundry divisions of brick, mortar, and +the like. Burchill's door was precisely opposite his own; there was an +advantage in that fact. And in Triffitt's outer door (all these flats, +he discovered--that is, if they were all like his own, possessed double +doors) there was a convenient letter slit, by manipulating which he +could, if he chose, keep a perpetual observation on the other opposite. +But Triffitt did not propose to sit with his eye glued to that letter +slit all day--it might be useful at times, and for some special purpose, +but he had wider views. And the first thing to do was to make an +examination, geographical and exhaustive, of his own surroundings: +Triffitt had learnt, during his journalistic training, that attention to +details is one of the most important things in life. + +The first thing that had struck Triffitt in this respect was that there +was no lift in this building. He had remarked on that to the clerk, and +the clerk had answered with a shrug of the shoulders that it was a +mistake and one for which the proprietor was already having to pay. +However, Triffitt, bearing in mind what job he was on, was not +displeased that the lift had been omitted--it is sometimes an advantage +to be able to hang over the top rail of a staircase and watch people +coming up from below. He stored that fact in his mental reservoirs. And +now that he had got into his rooms, he proceeded to seek for more +facts. First, as to the rooms themselves--he wanted to know all about +them, because he had carefully noticed, while looking at the plan of +that floor in the office downstairs, that Burchill's flat was arranged +exactly like his own. And Triffitt's flat was like this--you entered +through a double door into a good-sized sitting-room, out of which two +other rooms led--one went into a small kitchen and pantry; the other +into the bedroom, at the side of which was a little bathroom. The +windows of the bedroom opened on to a view of the street below; those of +the sitting-room on to a square of garden, on the lawn of which tenants +might disport themselves, more or less sadly, with tennis or croquet in +summer. + +Triffitt looked out of his sitting-room windows last of all. He then +perceived with great joy that in front of them was a balcony, and that +this balcony stretched across the entire front of the house. There were, +in fact, balconies to all five floors--the notion being, of course, that +occupants could whenever they pleased sit out there in such sunlight as +struggled between their own roof and the tall buildings opposite. It +immediately occurred to Triffitt that here was an easy way of making a +call upon your next door neighbour; instead of crossing the corridor and +knocking at his door, you had nothing to do but walk along the balcony +and tap at his window. Filled with this thought Triffitt immediately +stepped out on his balcony and inspected the windows of his own and the +next flat. He immediately saw something which filled him with a great +idea. Both windows were fitted with patent ventilators, let into the top +panes. Now, supposing one of these ventilators was fully open, and two +people were talking within the room in even the ordinary tones of +conversation--would it not be possible for an eavesdropper outside to +hear a good deal, if not everything, of what was said? The idea was +worth thinking over, anyway, and Triffitt retired indoors to ruminate +over it and over much else. + +For two or three days nothing happened. Twice Triffitt met Burchill on +the stairs--Burchill, of course, did not know him from Adam, and gave +him no more than the mere glance he would have thrown at any other +ordinary young man. Triffitt, however, gave Burchill more than a passing +look--unobtrusively. Certainly he was the man whom he had seen in the +dock nine years before in that far-off Scottish town--there was little +appreciable alteration in his appearance, except that he was now very +smartly dressed. There were peculiarities about the fellow, said +Triffitt, which you couldn't forget--certainly, Frank Burchill was +Francis Bentham. + +But on the third day, two things happened--one connected directly with +Triffitt's new venture, the other not. The first was that as Triffitt +was going down the stairs that afternoon, on his way to the office, at +which he kept looking in now and then, although he was relieved from +regular attendance and duty, he met Barthorpe Herapath coming up. +Triffitt thanked his lucky stars that the staircase was badly lighted, +and that this was an unusually gloomy November day. True, Barthorpe had +only once seen him, that he knew of--that morning at the estate office, +when he, Triffitt, had asked Selwood for information--but then, some men +have sharp memories for faces, and Barthorpe might recognize him and +wonder what an _Argus_ man was doing there in Calengrove Mansions. So +Triffitt quickly pulled the flap of the Trilby hat about his nose, and +sank his chin lower into the turned-up collar of his overcoat, and +hurried past the tall figure. And Barthorpe on his part never looked at +the reporter--or if he did, took no more heed of him than of the +balustrade at his side. + +"That's one thing established, anyway!" mused Triffitt as he went his +way. "Barthorpe Herapath is in touch with Burchill. The dead man's +nephew and the dead man's ex-secretary--um! Putting their heads +together--about what?" + +He was still pondering this question when he reached the office and +found a note from Carver who wanted to see him at once. Triffitt went +round to the _Magnet_ and got speech with Carver in a quiet corner. +Carver went straight to his point. + +"I've got him," he said, eyeing his fellow-conspirator triumphantly. + +"Got--who?" demanded Triffitt. + +"That taxi-cab chap--you know who I mean," answered Carver. "Ran him +down at noon today." + +"No!" exclaimed Triffitt. "Gad! Are you sure, though?--is it certain +he's the man you were after?" + +"He's the chap who drove a gentleman from near Portman Square to just by +St. Mary Abbot church at two o'clock on the morning of the Herapath +murder," replied Carver. "That's a dead certainty! I risked five pounds +on it, anyway, for which I'll trouble you. I went on the lines of +rounding up all the cabbies I could find who were as a rule on night +duty round about that quarter, and bit by bit I got on to this fellow, +and, as I say, I gave him a fiver for just telling me a mere bit. And +it's here--he's already given some information to that old Mr. +Tertius--you know--and Tertius commanded him to keep absolutely quiet +until the moment came for a move. Well, that moment has not come yet, +evidently--the chap hasn't been called on since, anyhow--and when I +mentioned money he began to prick his ears. He's willing to tell--for +money--if we keep dark what he tells us. The truth is, he's out to get +what he can out of anybody. If you make it worth his while, he'll tell." + +"Aye!" said Triffitt. "But the question is, what has he got to tell? +What does he know?--actually know?" + +"He knows," replied Carver, "he actually knows who the man was that he +drove that morning! He didn't know who he was when he first gave +information to Tertius, but he knows now, and, as I say, he's willing to +sell his knowledge--in private." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE DIAMOND RING + + +Triffitt considered Carver's report during a moment of mutual silence. +If he had consulted his own personal inclination he would have demanded +to be led straight to the taxi-cab driver. But Triffitt knew himself to +be the expender of the Markledew money, and the knowledge made him +unduly cautious. + +"It comes to this," he said at last, "this chap knows something which he's +already told to this Mr. Tertius. Mr. Tertius has in all probability +already told it to the people at New Scotland Yard. They, of course, will +use the information at their own time and in their own way. But what we +want is something new--something startling--something good!" + +"I tell you the fellow's got all that," said Carver. "He knows the man +whom he drove that morning. Isn't that good enough?" + +"Depend upon how I can bring it out," answered Triffitt. "Well, when can +I see this chap?" + +"Tonight--seven o'clock," replied Carver. "I fixed that, in anticipation." + +"And--where?" demanded Triffitt. + +"I'll go with you--it's to be at a pub near Orchard Street," said +Carver. "Better bring money with you--he'll want cash." + +"All right," agreed Triffitt. "But I'm not going to throw coin about +recklessly. I shall want value." + +Carver laughed. Triffitt's sudden caution amused him. + +"I reckon people have to buy pigs in pokes in dealing with this sort of +thing, Triff," he said. "But whether the chap's information's good for +much or not, I'm certain it's genuine. Well, come round here again at +six-thirty." + +Triffitt, banknotes in pocket, went round again at six-thirty, and was +duly conducted Oxford Street way by Carver, who eventually led him into +a network of small streets, in which the mews and the stable appeared to +be conspicuous features, and to the bar-parlour of a somewhat dingy +tavern, at that hour little frequented. And at precisely seven o'clock +the door of the parlour opened and a face showed itself, recognized +Carver, and grinned. Carver beckoned the face into a corner, and having +formally introduced his friend Triffitt, suggested liquid refreshment. +The face assented cordially, and having obscured itself for a moment +behind a pint pot, heaved a sigh of gratification, and seemed desirous +of entering upon business. + +"But it ain't, of course, to go no further--at present," said the owner +of the face. "Not into no newspapers nor nothing, _at_ present. I don't +mind telling you young gents, if it's made worth my while, of course, +but as things is, I don't want the old gent in Portman Square to know as +how I've let on--d'ye see? Of course, I ain't seen nothing of him never +since I called there, and he gave me a couple o' quid, and told me to +expect more--only the more's a long time o' coming, and if I do see my +way to turning a honest penny by what I knows, why, then, d'ye see----" + +"I see, very well," assented Triffitt. "And what might your idea of an +honest penny be, now?" + +The taxi-cab driver silently regarded his questioner. He had already had +a five-pound note out of Carver, who carried a small fund about him in +case of emergency; he was speculating on his chances of materially +increasing this, and his eyes grew greedy. + +"Well, now, guv'nor, what's your own notion of that?" he asked at last. +"I'm a poor chap, you know, and I don't often get a chance o' making a +bit in this way. What's it worth--what I can tell, you know--to you? +This here young gentleman was keen enough about it this afternoon, +guv'nor." + +"Depends," answered Triffitt. "You'd better answer a question or two. +First--you haven't told the old gentleman in Portman Square--Mr. +Tertius--any more than what you told my friend here you'd told him?" + +"Not a word more, guv'nor! 'Cause why--I ain't seen him since." + +"And you've told nothing to the police?" + +"The police ain't never come a-nigh me, and I ain't been near them. What +the old chap said was--wait! And I've waited and ain't heard nothing." + +"Wherefore," observed Triffitt sardonically, "you want to make a bit." + +"Ain't no harm in a man doing his best for his-elf, guv'nor, I hope," +said the would-be informant. "If I don't look after myself, who's +a-going to look after me--I asks you that, now?" + +"And I ask you--how much?" said Triffitt. "Out with it!" + +The taxi-cab driver considered, eyeing his prospective customer +furtively. + +"The other gent told you what it is I can tell, guv'nor?" he said at +last. "It's information of what you might call partik'lar importance, is +that." + +"I know--you can tell the name of the man whom you drove that morning +from the corner of Orchard Street to Kensington High Street," replied +Triffitt. "It may be important--it mayn't. You see, the police haven't +been in any hurry to approach you, have they? Come now, give it a name?" + +The informant summoned up his resolution. + +"Cash down--on the spot, guv'nor?" he asked. + +"Spot cash," replied Triffitt. "On this table!" + +"Well--how would a couple o' fivers be, now?" asked the anxious one. +"It's good stuff, guv'nor." + +"A couple of fivers will do," answered Triffitt. "And here they are." He +took two brand-new, crackling five-pound notes from his pocket, folded +them up, laid them on the table, and set a glass on them. "Now, then!" +he said. "Tell your tale--there's your money when it's told." + +The taxi-cab driver eyed the notes, edged his chair further into the +half-lighted corner in which Triffitt and Carver sat, and dropped his +voice to a whisper. + +"All right, guv'nor," he said. "Thanking you. Then it's this here--the +man what I drove that morning was the nephew!" + +"You mean Mr. Barthorpe Herapath?" said Triffitt, also in a whisper. + +"That's him--that's the identical, sir! Of course," continued the +informant, "I didn't know nothing of that when I told the old gent in +Portman Square what I did tell him. Now, you see, I wasn't called at +that inquest down there at Kensington--after what I'd told the old gent, +I expected to be, but I wasn't. All the same, there's been a deal of +talk around about the corner of Orchard Street, and, of course, there is +them in that quarter as knows all the parties concerned, and this man +Barthorpe, as you call him, was pointed out to me as the nephew--nephew +to him as was murdered that night. And then, of course, I knew it was +him as I took up at two o'clock that morning." + +"How did you know?" asked Triffitt. + +The taxi-cab driver held up a hand and tapped a brass ring on its third +finger. + +"Where I wears that ring, gentlemen," he said triumphantly, "he wears a +fine diamond--a reg'lar swell 'un. That morning, when he got into my +cab, he rested his hand a minute on the door, and the light from one o' +the lamps across the street shone full on the stone. Now, then, when +this here Barthorpe was pointed out to me in Orchard Street, a few days +ago, as the nephew of Jacob Herapath, he was talking to another +gentleman, and as they stood there he lighted a cigar, and when he put +his hand up, I see that ring again--no mistaking it, guv'nor! He was +the man. And, from what I've read, it seems to me it was him as put on +his uncle's coat and hat after the old chap was settled, and----" + +"If I were you, I'd keep those theories to myself--yet awhile, at any +rate," said Triffitt. "In fact--I want you to. Here!" he went on, +removing the glass and pushing the folded banknotes towards the taxi-cab +driver, "put those in your pocket. And keep your mouth shut about having +seen and told me. I shan't make any use--public use, anyway--of what +you've said, just yet. If the old gentleman, Tertius, comes to you, or +the police come along with or without him, you can tell 'em anything you +like--everything you've told me if you please--it doesn't matter, now. +But you're on no account to tell them that I've seen you and that you've +spilt to me--do you understand?" + +The informant understood readily enough, and promised with equal +readiness, even going so far as to say that that would suit him down to +the ground. + +"All right," said Triffitt, "keep a still tongue as regards me, and +there'll be another fiver for you. Now, Carver, we'll get." + +Outside Triffitt gave his companion's arm a confidential squeeze. + +"Things are going well!" he said. "I wasn't a bit surprised at what that +fellow told me--I expected it. What charms me is that Barthorpe +Herapath, who is certainly to be strongly suspected, is in touch with +Burchill--I didn't tell you that I met him on the stairs at Calengrove +Mansions this afternoon. Of course, he was going to see my next-door +neighbour! What about, friend Carver?" + +"If you could answer your own last question, we should know something," +replied Carver. + +"We know something as it is," said Triffitt. "Enough for me to tell +Markledew, anyway. I don't see so far into all this, myself, but +Markledew's the sort of chap who can look through three brick walls and +see a mole at work in whatever's behind the third, and he'll see +something in what I tell him, and I'll do the telling as soon as he +comes down tomorrow morning." + +Markledew listened to Triffitt's story next day in his usual rapt +silence. The silence remained unbroken for some time after Triffitt had +finished. And eventually Markledew got up from his elbow-chair and +reached for his hat. + +"You can come with me," he said. "We'll just ride as far as New Scotland +Yard." + +Triffitt felt himself turning pale. New Scotland Yard! Was he then to +share his discoveries with officials? In spite of his awful veneration +for the great man before him he could not prevent two words of +despairing ejaculation escaping from his lips. + +"The police!" + +"Just so--the police," answered Markledew, calmly. "I mean to work this +in connection with them. No need to alarm yourself, young man--I know +what you're thinking. But you won't lose any 'kudos'--I'm quite +satisfied with you so far. But we can't do without the police--and they +may be glad of even a hint from us. Now run down and get a taxi-cab and +I'll meet you outside." + +Triffitt had never been within the mazes of New Scotland Yard in his +life, and had often wished that business would take him there. It was +very soon plain to him, however, that his proprietor knew his way about +the Criminal Investigation Department as well as he knew the _Argus_ +office. Markledew was quickly closeted with the high official who had +seen Mr. Halfpenny and Mr. Tertius a few days previously; while they +talked, Triffitt was left to kick his heels in a waiting-room. When he +was eventually called in, he found not only the high official and +Markledew, but another man whose name was presently given to him as +Davidge. + +"Mr. Davidge," observed the high official, "is in charge of this case. +Will you just tell him your story?" + +It appeared to Triffitt that Mr. Davidge was the least impressionable, +most stolid man he had ever known. Davidge showed no sign of interest; +Triffitt began to wonder if anything could ever surprise him. He +listened in dead silence to all that the reporter had to say; when +Triffitt had finished he looked apathetically at his superior. + +"I think, sir, I will just step round to Mr. Halfpenny's office," he +remarked. "Perhaps Mr. Triffitt will accompany me?--then he and I can +have a bit of a talk." + +Triffitt looked at Markledew: Markledew nodded his big head. + +"Go with him," said Markledew. "Work with him! He knows what he's +after." + +Davidge took Triffitt away to Mr. Halfpenny's office--on the way thither +he talked about London fogs, one of which had come down that morning. +But he never mentioned the business in hand until--having left Triffitt +outside while he went in--he emerged from Mr. Halfpenny's room. Then he +took the reporter's arm and led him away, and his manner changed to one +of interest and even enthusiasm. + +"Well, young fellow!" he said, leading Triffitt down the street, "you're +the chap I wanted to get hold of!--you're a godsend. And so you really +have a flat next to that occupied by the person whom we'll refer to as +F. B., eh?" + +"I have," answered Triffitt, who was full of wonderment. + +"Good--good!--couldn't be better!" murmured the detective. "Now then--I +dare say you'd be quite pleased if I called on you at your flat--quietly +and unobtrusively--at say seven o'clock tonight, eh?" + +"Delighted!" answered Triffitt. "Of course!" + +"Very good," said Davidge. "Then at seven o'clock tonight I shall be +there. In the meantime--not a word. You're curious to know why I'm +coming? All right--keep your curiosity warm till I come--I'll satisfy +it. Tonight, mind, young man--seven, sharp!" + +Then he gave Triffitt's arm a squeeze and winked an eye at him, and at +once set off in one direction, while the reporter, mystified and +inquisitive, turned in another. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE DESERTED FLAT + + +When Triffitt had fairly separated from the detective and had come to +reckon up the events of that morning he became definitely conscious of +one indisputable fact. The police knew more than he did. The police were +in possession of information which had not come his way. The police were +preparing some big _coup_. Therefore--the police would get all the +glory. + +This was not what Triffitt had desired. He had wanted to find things out +for himself, to make a grand discovery, to be able to go to Markledew +and prove his case. Markledew could then have done what he pleased; it +had always been in Triffitt's mind that Markledew would in all +probability present the result of his reporter's labours to the people +at Scotland Yard. But Markledew had become somewhat previous--he had +insisted that Triffitt should talk to the Scotland Yard folk at this +early--in Triffitt's view, much too early--stage of the proceedings. And +Triffitt had felt all the time he was talking that he was only telling +the high official and the apathetic Davidge something that they already +knew. He had told them about his memories of Bentham and the Scottish +murder trial--something convinced him that they were already well +acquainted with that story. He had narrated the incident of the taxi-cab +driver: he was sure that they were quite well aware that the man who had +been driven from Orchard Street to St. Mary Abbot church that morning +after the murder was Barthorpe Herapath. Their cold eyes and polite, yet +almost chillingly indifferent manner had convinced Triffitt that they +were just listening to something with which they were absolutely +familiar. Never a gleam of interest had betrayed itself in their stolid +official faces until he had referred to the fact that he himself was +living in a flat next door to Burchill's. Then, indeed, the detective +had roused himself almost to eagerness, and now he was coming to see +him, Triffitt, quietly and unobtrusively. Why? + +"All the same," mused Triffitt, "I shall maybe prove a small cog in the +bigger mechanism, and that's something. And Markledew was satisfied, +anyway, so far. And if I don't get something out of that chap Davidge +tonight, write me down an ass!" + +From half-past six that evening, Triffitt, who had previously made some +ingenious arrangements with the slit of his letter-box, by which he could +keep an eye on the corridor outside, kept watch on Burchill's door--he +had an instinctive notion that Davidge, when he arrived, would be glad to +know whether the gentleman opposite was in or out. At a quarter to seven +Burchill went out in evening dress, cloak, and opera hat, making a fine +figure as he struck the light of the corridor lamp. And ten minutes later +Triffitt heard steps coming along the corridor and he opened the door +to confront Davidge and another man, a quiet-looking, innocent-visaged +person. Davidge waved a hand towards his companion. + +"Evening, Mr. Triffitt," said he. "Friend of mine--Mr. Milsey. You'll +excuse the liberty, I'm sure." + +"Glad to see both of you," answered Triffitt, cordially. He led the way +into his sitting-room, drew chairs forward, and produced refreshments +which he had carefully laid in during the afternoon in preparation. +"Drop of whisky and soda, gentlemen?" he said, hospitably. "Let me help +you. Will you try a cigar?" + +"Very kind of you," replied Davidge. "A slight amount of the liquid'll +do us no harm, but no cigars, thank you, Mr. Triffitt. Cigars are apt to +leave a scent, an odour, about one's clothes, however careful you may +be, and we don't want to leave any traces of our presence where we're +going, do we, Jim?" + +"Not much," assented Mr. Milsey, laconically. "Wouldn't do." + +Triffitt handed round the glasses and took a share himself. + +"Ah!" he said. "That's interesting! And where are you going, now--if one +may ask?" + +Davidge nodded his desires for his host's good health, and then gave him +a wink. + +"We propose to go in there," he said with a jerk of his thumb towards +Burchill's flat. "It's what I've been wanting to do for three or four +days, but I didn't see my way clear without resorting to a lot of +things--search-warrant, and what not--and it would have meant collusion +with the landlord here, and the clerk downstairs, and I don't know what +all, so I put it off a bit. But when you told me that you'd got this +flat, why, then, I saw my way! Of course, I've been familiar with the +lie of these flats for a week--I saw the plans of 'em downstairs as soon +as I started on to this job." + +"You've been on this job from the beginning, then--in connection with +him?" exclaimed Triffitt, nodding towards the door. + +"We've never had him out of our sight since I started," replied Davidge, +coolly, "except when he's been within his own four walls--where we're +presently going. Oh, yes--we've watched him." + +"He's out now," remarked Triffitt. + +"We know that," said Davidge. "We know where he's gone. There's a first +night, a new play, at the Terpsichoreum--he's gone there. He's safe +enough till midnight, so we've plenty of time. We just want to have a +look around his little nest while he's off it, d'you see?" + +"How are you going to get in?" asked Triffitt. + +Davidge nodded towards the window of the sitting-room. + +"By way of that balcony," he answered. "I told you I knew all about how +these flats are arranged. That balcony's mighty convenient, for the +window'll not be any more difficult than ordinary." + +"It'll be locked, you know," observed Triffitt, with a glance at his +own. "Mine is, anyway, and you can bet his will be, too." + +"Oh--that doesn't matter," said Davidge, carelessly. "We're prepared. +Show Mr. Triffitt your kit, Jim--all pals here." + +The innocent-looking Mr. Milsey, who, during this conversation, had +mechanically sipped at his whisky and soda and reflectively gazed at the +various pictures with which the absent Mr. Stillwater had decorated the +walls of his parlour, plunged a hand into some deep recess in his +overcoat and brought out an oblong case which reminded Triffitt of +nothing so much as those Morocco or Russian-leather affairs in which a +knife, a fork, and a spoon repose on padded blue satin and form an +elegant present to a newly-born infant. Mr. Milsey snapped open the lid +of his case, and revealed, instead of spoon or fork or knife a number of +shining keys, of all sorts and sizes and strange patterns, all of +delicate make and of evidently superior workmanship. He pushed the case +across the table to the corner at which Triffitt was sitting, and +Davidge regarded it fondly in transit. + +"Pretty things, ain't they?" he said. "Good workmanship there! There's +not very much that you could lock up--in the ordinary way of drawers, +boxes, desks, and so on--that Milsey there couldn't get into with the +help of one or other of those little friends--what, Jim?" + +"Nothing!--always excepting a safe," assented Mr. Milsey. + +"Well, we don't suppose our friend next door keeps an article of that +description on his premises," said Davidge cheerfully. "But we expect +he's got a desk, or a private drawer, or something of that nature in +which we may find a few little matters of interest and importance--it's +curious, Mr. Triffitt--we're constantly taking notice of it in the +course of our professional duties--it's curious how men will keep by +them bits of paper that they ought to throw into the fire, and objects +that they'd do well to cast into the Thames! Ah!--I've known one case in +which a mere scrap of a letter hanged a man, and another in which a bit +of string got a chap fifteen years of the very best--fact, sir! You +never know what you may come across during a search." + +"You're going to search his rooms?" asked Triffitt. + +"Something of that sort," replied Davidge. "Just a look round, you know, +and a bit of a peep into his private receptacles." + +"Then--you're suspecting him in connection with this----" began +Triffitt. + +Davidge stopped him with a look, and slowly drank off the contents of +his glass. Then he rose. + +"We'll talk of those matters later," he said significantly. "Now that my +gentleman's safely away I think we'll set to work. It'll take a bit of +time. And first of all, Mr. Triffitt, we'll examine your balcony door--I +know enough about these modern flats to know that everything's pretty +much alike in them as regards fittings, and if your door's easy to open, +so will the door of the next be. Now we'll just let Jim there go outside +with his apparatus, and we'll lock your balcony door on him, and then +see if he finds any difficulty in getting in. To it, Jim!" + +Mr. Milsey, thus adjured, went out on the balcony with his little case +and was duly locked out. Within two minutes he opened the door and +stepped in with a satisfied grin. + +"Easy as winking!" said Mr. Milsey. "It's what you might call one of +your penny plain locks, this--and t'other'll be like it. No difficulty +about this job, anyway." + +"Then we'll get to work," said Davidge. "Mr. Triffitt, I can't ask you +to come with us, because that wouldn't be according to etiquette. Sit +you down and read your book and smoke your pipe and drink your drop--and +maybe we'll have something to tell you when our job's through." + +"You've no fear of interruption?" asked Triffitt, who would vastly have +preferred action to inaction. "Supposing--you know how things do and +will turn out sometimes--supposing he came back?" + +Davidge shook his head and smiled grimly and knowingly. + +"No," he said. "He'll not come back--at least, if he did, we should be +well warned. I've more than one man at work on this job, Mr. Triffitt, +and if his lordship changed the course of his arrangements and returned +this way, one of my chaps would keep him in conversation while another +hurried up here to give us the office by a few taps on the outer door. +No!--we're safe enough. Sit you down and don't bother about us. Come on, +Jim--we'll get to it." + +Triffitt tried to follow the detective's advice--he was just then deep +in a French novel of the high-crime order, and he picked it up when the +two men had gone out on the balcony and endeavoured to get interested in +it. But he speedily discovered that the unravelling of crime on paper +was nothing like so fascinating as the actual participation in detection +of crime in real life, and he threw the book aside and gave himself up +to waiting. What were those two doing in Burchill's rooms? What were +they finding? What would the result be? + +Certainly Davidge and his man took their time. Eight o'clock came and +went--nine o'clock, ten o'clock followed and sped into the past, and +they were still there. It was drawing near to eleven, and they had been +in those rooms well over three hours, when a slight sound came at +Triffitt's window and Davidge put his head in, to be presently followed +by Milsey. Milsey looked as innocent as ever, but it seemed to Triffitt +that Davidge looked grave. + +"Well?" said Triffitt. "Any luck?" + +Davidge drew the curtains over the balcony window before he turned and +answered this question. + +"Mr. Triffitt," he said, when at last he faced round, "you'll have to +put us up for the night. After what I've found, I'm not going to lose +sight, or get out of touch with this man. Now listen, and I'll tell you, +at any rate, something. Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock there's to be a +sort of informal inquiry at Mr. Halfpenny's office into the matter of a +will of the date of Jacob Herapath's--all the parties concerned are +going to meet there, and I know that this man Burchill is to be present. +I don't propose to lose sight of him after he returns here tonight +until he goes to that office--what happens after he's once there, you +shall see. So Milsey and I'll just have to trouble you to let me stop +here for the night. You can go to your bed, of course--we'll sit up. +I'll send Milsey out to buy a bit of supper for us--I dare say he'll +find something open close by." + +"No need," Triffitt hastened to say. "I've a cold meat pie, uncut, and +plenty of bread, and cheese. And there's bottled ale, and whisky, and +I'll get you some supper ready at once. So"--he went on, as he began to +bustle about--"you did find--something?" + +Davidge rubbed his hands and winked first at Milsey and then at +Triffitt. + +"Wait till tomorrow!" he said. "There'll be strange news for you +newspaper gentlemen before tomorrow night." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +YEA AND NAY + + +Mr. Halfpenny, face to face with the fact that Barthorpe Herapath meant +mischief about the will, put on his thinking-cap and gave himself up to +a deep and serious consideration of the matter. He thought things over +as he journeyed home to his house in the country; he spent an evening in +further thought; he was still thinking when he went up to town next +morning. The result of his cogitations was that after giving certain +instructions in his office as to the next steps to be taken towards duly +establishing Jacob Herapath's will, he went round to Barthorpe +Herapath's office and asked to see him. + +Barthorpe himself came out of his private room and showed some +politeness in ushering his caller within. His manner seemed to be +genuinely frank and unaffected: Mr. Halfpenny was considerably puzzled +by it. Was Barthorpe playing a part, or was all this real? That, of +course, must be decided by events: Mr. Halfpenny was not going to lose +any time in moving towards them, whatever they might turn out to be. He +accordingly went straight to the point. + +"My dear sir," he began, bending confidentially towards Barthorpe, who +had taken a seat at his desk and was waiting for his visitor to speak, +"you have entered a caveat against the will in the Probate Registry." + +"I have," answered Barthorpe, with candid alacrity. "Of course!" + +"You intend to contest the matter?" inquired Mr. Halfpenny. + +"Certainly!" replied Barthorpe. + +Mr. Halfpenny gathered a good deal from the firm and decisive tone in +which this answer was made. Clearly there was something in the air of +which he was wholly ignorant. + +"You no doubt believe that you have good reason for your course of +action," he observed. + +"The best reasons," said Barthorpe. + +Mr. Halfpenny ruminated a little, silently. + +"After all," he said at last, "there are only two persons really +concerned--your cousin, Miss Wynne, and yourself. I propose to make an +offer to you." + +"Always willing to be reasonable, Mr. Halfpenny," answered Barthorpe. + +"Very good," said Mr. Halfpenny. "Of course, I see no possible reason for +doubting the validity of the will. From our side, litigation must go on in +the usual course. But I have a proposal to make to you. It is this--will +you meet your cousin at my office, with all the persons--witnesses to the +will, I mean--and state your objections to the will? In short, let us +have what we may call a family discussion about it--it may prevent much +litigation." + +Barthorpe considered this suggestion for a while. + +"What you really mean is that I should come to your offices and tell my +cousin and you why I am fighting this will," he said eventually. "That +it?" + +"Practically--yes," assented Mr. Halfpenny. + +"Whom do you propose to have present?" asked Barthorpe. + +"Yourself, your cousin, myself, the two witnesses, and, as a friend of +everybody concerned, Professor Cox-Raythwaite," replied Mr. Halfpenny. +"No one else is necessary." + +"And you wish me to tell, plainly, why I refuse to believe that the will +is genuine?" asked Barthorpe. + +"Certainly--yes," assented Mr. Halfpenny. + +Barthorpe hesitated, eyeing the old lawyer doubtfully. + +"It will be a painful business--for my cousin," he said. + +"If--I really haven't the faintest notion of what you mean!" exclaimed +Mr. Halfpenny. "But if--if it will be painful for your cousin to hear +this--whatever it is--in private, it would be much more painful for her +to hear it in public. I gather, of course, that you have some strange +revelation to make. Surely, it would be most considerate to her to make +it in what we may call the privacy of the family circle, Cox-Raythwaite +and myself." + +"I haven't the least objection to Cox-Raythwaite's presence, nor yours," +said Barthorpe. "Very good--I'll accept your proposal--it will, as you +say, save a lot of litigation. Now--when?" + +"Today is Tuesday," said Mr. Halfpenny. "What do you say to next Friday +morning, at ten o'clock?" + +"Friday will do," answered Barthorpe. "I will be there at ten o'clock. I +shall leave it to you to summon all the parties concerned. By the by, +have you Burchill's address?" + +"I have," replied Mr. Halfpenny. "I will communicate with him at once." + +Barthorpe nodded, rose from his seat, and walked with his visitor +towards the door of his private room. + +"Understand, Mr. Halfpenny," he said, "I'm agreeing to this to oblige +you. And if the truth is very painful to my cousin, well, as you say, +it's better for her to hear it in private than in a court of justice. +All right, then--Friday at ten." + +Mr. Halfpenny went back to his own office, astonished and marvelling. +What on earth were these revelations which Barthorpe hinted at--these +unpleasant truths which would so wound and hurt Peggie Wynne? Could it +be possible that there really was some mystery about that will of which +only Barthorpe knew the secret? It was incomprehensible to Mr. Halfpenny +that any man could be so cool, so apparently cocksure about matters as +Barthorpe was unless he felt absolutely certain of his own case. What +that case could be, Mr. Halfpenny could not imagine--the only thing +really certain was that Barthorpe seemed resolved on laying it bare when +Friday came. + +"God bless me!--it's a most extraordinary complication altogether!" +mused Mr. Halfpenny, once more alone in his own office. "It's very +evident to me that Barthorpe Herapath is absolutely ignorant that he's +suspected, and that the police are at work on him! What a surprise for +him if the thing comes to a definite head, and--but let us see what +Friday morning brings." + +Friday morning brought Barthorpe to Mr. Halfpenny's offices in good +time. He came alone; a few minutes after his arrival Peggie Wynne, +nervous and frightened, came, attended by Mr. Tertius and Professor +Cox-Raythwaite. All these people were at once ushered into Mr. +Halfpenny's private room, where polite, if constrained, greetings +passed. At five minutes past ten o'clock Mr. Halfpenny looked at +Barthorpe. + +"We're only waiting for Mr. Burchill," he remarked. "I wrote to him +after seeing you, and I received a reply from him in which he promised +to be here at ten this morning. It's now----" + +But at that moment the door opened to admit Mr. Frank Burchill, who, all +unconscious of the fact that more than one pair of sharp eyes had +followed him from his flat to Mr. Halfpenny's office, and that their +owners were now in the immediate vicinity, came in full of polite +self-assurance, and executed formal bows while he gracefully apologised +to Mr. Halfpenny for being late. + +"It's all right, all right, Mr. Burchill," said the old lawyer, a little +testy under the last-comer's polite phrases, all of which he thought +unnecessary. "Five or ten minutes won't make any great difference. Take +a seat, pray: I think if we all sit around this centre table of mine it +will be more convenient. We can begin at once now, Mr. Barthorpe +Herapath--I have already given strict instructions that we are not to be +disturbed, on any account. My dear--perhaps you will sit here by +me?--Mr. Tertius, you sit next to Miss Wynne--Professor----" + +Mr. Halfpenny's dispositions of his guests placed Peggie and her two +companions on one side of a round table; Barthorpe and Burchill at the +other--Mr. Halfpenny himself sat at the head. And as soon as he had +taken his own seat, he looked at Barthorpe. + +"This, of course," he began, "is a quite informal meeting. We are here, +as I understand matters, to hear why you, Mr. Barthorpe Herapath, object +to your late uncle's will, and why you intend to dispute it. So I +suppose the next thing to do will be to ask you to state your grounds." + +But Barthorpe shook his head with a decisive motion. + +"No," he answered. "Not at all! The first thing to do, Mr. Halfpenny, in +my opinion, is to hear what is to be said in favour of the will. The +will itself, I take it, is in your possession. I have seen it--I mean, I +have seen the document which purports to be a will of the late Jacob +Herapath--so I admit its existence. Two persons are named on that +document as witnesses: Mr. Tertius, Mr. Burchill. They are both present +now; at your request. I submit that the proper procedure is to question +them both as to the circumstances under which this alleged will was +made." + +"I have no objections to that," answered Mr. Halfpenny. "I have no +objection--neither, I am sure, has Miss Wynne--to anything you propose. +Well, we take it for granted that this document exists--it is, of +course, in my safe keeping. Every person has seen it, one time or +another. We have here the two gentlemen who witnessed Jacob Herapath's +signature and each other's. So I will first ask the elder of the two to +tell us what he recollects of the matter. Now, Mr. Tertius?" + +Mr. Tertius, who since his arrival had shown as much nervousness as +would probably have signalised his appearance in a witness-box, started +at this direct appeal. + +"You--er, wish me----" he began, with an almost blank stare at Mr. +Halfpenny. "You want me to----" + +"Come, come!" said Mr. Halfpenny. "This is as I have already said, an +informal gathering. We needn't have any set forms or cut-and-dried +procedure. I want you--we all want you--to tell us what you remember +about the making of Jacob Herapath's will. Tell us in your own way, in +whatever terms you like. Then we shall hear what your fellow-witness has +to say." + +"Perhaps you'll let me suggest something," broke in Barthorpe, who had +obviously been thinking matters over. "Lay the alleged will on the table +before you, Mr. Halfpenny--question the two opposed witnesses on it. +That will simplify things." + +Mr. Halfpenny considered this proposition for a moment or two; then +having whispered to Peggie and received her assent, he went across to a +safe and presently returned with the will, which he placed on a +writing-pad that lay in front of him. + +"Now, Mr. Tertius," he said. "Look at this will, which purports to have +been made on the eighteenth day of April last. I understand that Jacob +Herapath called you into his study on the evening of that day and told +you that he wanted you and Mr. Burchill, his secretary, to witness his +signature to a will which he had made--had written out himself. I +understand also that you did witness his signature, attached your own, +in Mr. Herapath's presence and Mr. Burchill's presence, and that Mr. +Burchill's signature was attached under the same conditions. Am I right +in all this?" + +"Quite right," replied Mr. Tertius. "Quite!" + +"Is this the document which Jacob Herapath produced?" + +"It is--certainly." + +"Was it all drawn out then?--I am putting these questions to you quite +informally." + +"It was all written out, except the signatures. Jacob showed us that it +was so written, though he did not allow us to see the wording. But he +showed us plainly that there was nothing to do but to sign. Then he laid +it on the desk, covered most of the sheet of paper with a piece of +blotting paper and signed his name in our presence--I stood on one side +of him, Mr. Burchill on the other. Then Mr. Burchill signed in his +place--beneath mine." + +"And this," asked Mr. Halfpenny, pointing to the will, "this is your +signature?" + +"Most certainly!" answered Mr. Tertius. + +"And this," continued Mr. Halfpenny, "is Jacob Herapath's?--and this Mr. +Burchill's? You have no doubt about it?" + +"No more than that I see and hear you," replied Mr. Tertius. "I have no +doubt." + +Mr. Halfpenny turned from Mr. Tertius to Barthorpe Herapath. But +Barthorpe's face just then revealed nothing. Therefore the old lawyer +turned towards Burchill. And suddenly a sharp idea struck him. He would +settle one point to his own satisfaction at once, by one direct +question. And so he--as it were by impulse--thrust the will before and +beneath Burchill's eyes, and placed his finger against the third +signature. + +"Mr. Burchill," he said, "is that your writing?" + +Burchill, calm and self-possessed, glanced at the place which Mr. +Halfpenny indicated, and then lifted his eyes, half sadly, half +deprecatingly. + +"No!" he replied, with a little shake of the head; "No, Mr. Halfpenny, it +is not!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE ACCUSATION + + +The old lawyer, who had bent forward across the table in speaking to +Burchill, pulled himself up sharply on receiving this answer, and for a +second or two stared with a keen, searching gaze at the man he had +questioned, who, on his part, returned the stare with calm assurance. A +deep silence had fallen on the room; nothing broke it until Professor +Cox-Raythwaite suddenly began to tap the table with the ends of his +fingers. The sound roused Mr. Halfpenny to speech and action. He bent +forward again towards Burchill, once more laying a hand on the will. + +"That is not your signature?" he asked quietly. + +Burchill shook his head--this time with a gesture of something very like +contempt. + +"It is not!" he answered. + +"Did you see the late Jacob Herapath write--that?" + +"I did not!" + +"Did you see Mr. Tertius write--that?" + +"I did not!" + +"Have you ever seen this will, this document, before?" + +"Never!" + +Mr. Halfpenny drew the will towards himself with an impatient movement +and began to replace it in the large envelope from which it had been +taken. + +"In short, you never assisted at the execution of this document--never +saw Jacob Herapath make any will--never witnessed any signature of his +to this?" he said testily. "That's what you really say--what you +affirm?" + +"Just so," replied Burchill. "You apprehend me exactly." + +"Yet you have just heard what Mr. Tertius says! What do you say to that, +Mr. Burchill?" + +"I say nothing to that, Mr. Halfpenny. I have nothing to do with what +Mr. Tertius says. I have answered your questions." + +"Mr. Tertius says that he and you saw Jacob Herapath sign that document, +saw each other sign it! What you say now gives Mr. Tertius the direct +lie, and----" + +"Pardon me, Mr. Halfpenny," interrupted Burchill quietly. "Mr. Tertius +may be under some strange misapprehension; Mr. Tertius may be suffering +from some curious hallucination. What I say is--I did not see the late +Jacob Herapath sign that paper; I did not sign it myself; I did not see +Mr. Tertius sign it; I have never seen it before!" + +Mr. Halfpenny made a little snorting sound, got up from his chair, +picked up the envelope which contained the will, walked over to his +safe, deposited the envelope in some inner receptacle, came back, +produced his snuff-box, took a hearty pinch of its contents, snorted +again, and looked hard at Barthorpe. + +"I don't see the least use in going on with this!" he said. "We have +heard what Mr. Tertius, as one witness, says; we have heard what Mr. +Frank Burchill, as the other witness, says. Mr. Tertius says that he saw +the will executed in Mr. Burchill's presence; Mr. Burchill denies that +in the fullest and most unqualified fashion. Why waste more time? We had +better separate." + +But Barthorpe laughed, maliciously. + +"Scarcely!" he said. "You brought us here. It was your own proposal. I +assented. And now that we are here, and you have heard--what you have +heard--I'm going to have my say. You have gone, all along, Mr. +Halfpenny, on the assumption that the piece of paper which you have just +replaced in your safe is a genuine will. That's what you've said--I +believe it's what you say now. I don't say so!" + +"What do you say it is, then?" demanded Mr. Halfpenny. + +Barthorpe slightly lowered his voice. + +"I say it's a forgery!" he answered. "That, I hope, is plain language. A +forgery--from the first word to its last." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Mr. Halfpenny, a little sneeringly. "And who's the +forger, pray?" + +"That man, there!" said Barthorpe, suddenly pointing to Mr. Tertius. +"He's the forger! I accuse him to his face of forging every word, every +letter of it from the first stroke to the final one. And I'll give you +enough evidence to prove it--enough evidence, at any rate, to prove it +to any reasonable man or before a judge and jury. Forgery, I tell you!" + +Mr. Halfpenny sat down again and became very calm and judicial. And he +had at once to restrain Peggie Wynne, who during Barthorpe's last speech +had manifested signs of a desire to speak, and had begun to produce a +sealed packet from her muff. + +"Wait, my dear," said Mr. Halfpenny. "Do not speak just now--you shall +have an opportunity later--leave this to me at present. So you say you +can prove that this will is a forgery, Mr. Barthorpe Herapath?" he +continued, turning to the other side of the table. "Very well--since I +suggested that you should come here, you shall certainly have the +opportunity. But just allow me to ask Mr. Tertius a question--Tertius, +you have heard what Mr. Frank Burchill has just said?" + +"I have!" replied Mr. Tertius. "And--I am amazed!" + +"You stand by what you said yourself? You gave us a perfectly truthful +account of the execution of the will?" + +"I stand by every word I said. I gave you--will give it again, +anywhere!--a perfectly truthful account of the circumstances under which +the will was signed and witnessed. I have made no mistakes--I am under +no hallucination. I am--astonished!" + +Mr. Halfpenny turned to Barthorpe with a wave of the hand. + +"We are at your disposal, Mr. Barthorpe Herapath," he said. "I leave +the rest of these proceedings to you. You have openly and unqualifiedly +accused Mr. Tertius of forging the will which we have all seen, and have +said you can prove your accusations. Perhaps you'd better do it. Mind +you!" he added, with a sudden heightening of tone, "mind you, I'm not +asking you to prove anything. But if I know Tertius--and I think I +do--he won't object to your saying anything you like--we shall, perhaps, +get at the truth by way of what you say. So--say on!" + +"You're very kind," retorted Barthorpe. "I shall say on! But--I warned +you--what I've got to say will give a good deal of pain to my cousin +there. It would have been far better if you'd kept her out of this--still, +she'd have had to hear it sooner or later in a court of justice----" + +"It strikes me we shall have to hear a good deal in a court of +justice--as you say, sooner or later," interrupted Mr. Halfpenny, dryly. +"So I don't think you need spare Miss Wynne. I should advise you to go +on, and let us become acquainted with what you've got to tell us." + +"Barthorpe!" said Peggie, "I do not mind what pain you give me--you +can't give me much more than I've already been given this morning. But I +wish"--she turned appealingly to Mr. Halfpenny and again began to draw +the sealed packet from her muff--"I do wish, Mr. Halfpenny, you'd let me +say something before----" + +"Say nothing, my dear, at present," commanded Mr. Halfpenny, firmly. +"Allow Mr. Barthorpe Herapath to have his say. Now, sir!" he went on, +with a motion of his hand towards the younger solicitor. "Pray let us +hear you." + +"In my own fashion," retorted Barthorpe. "You're not a judge, you know. +Very good--if I give pain to you, Peggie, it's not my fault. Now, Mr. +Halfpenny," he continued, turning and pointing contemptuously to Mr. +Tertius, "as this is wholly informal, I'll begin with an informal yet +pertinent question, to you. Do you know who that man really is?" + +"I believe that gentleman, sir, to be Mr. John Christopher Tertius, and +my very good and much-esteemed friend," replied Mr. Halfpenny, with +asperity. + +"Pshaw!" sneered Barthorpe. He turned to Professor Cox-Raythwaite. "I'll +put the same question to you?" he said. "Do you know who he is?" + +"And I give you the same answer, sir," answered the professor. + +"No doubt!" said Barthorpe, still sneeringly. "The fact is, neither of +you know who he is. So I'll tell you. He's an ex-convict. He served a +term of penal servitude for forgery--forgery, do you hear? And his real +name is not Tertius. What it is, and who he really is, and all about +him, I'm going to tell you. Forger--ex-convict--get that into your +minds, all of you. For it's true!" + +Mr. Tertius, who had started visibly as Barthorpe rapped out the first +of his accusations, and had grown paler as they went on, quietly rose +from his chair. + +"Before this goes further, Halfpenny," he said, "I should like to have a +word in private with Miss Wynne. Afterwards--and I shan't detain her +more than a moment--I shall have no objection to hearing anything that +Mr. Barthorpe Herapath has to say. My dear!--step this way with me a +moment, I beg." + +Mr. Halfpenny's private room was an apartment of considerable size, +having in it two large recessed windows. Into one of these Mr. Tertius +led Peggie, and there he spoke a few quiet words to her. Barthorpe +Herapath affected to take no notice, but the other men, watching them +closely, saw the girl start at something which Mr. Tertius said. But she +instantly regained her self-possession and composure, and when she came +back to the table her face, though pale, was firm and resolute. And +Barthorpe looked at her then, and his voice, when he spoke again, was +less aggressive and more civil. + +"It's not to my taste to bring unpleasant family scandals into public +notice," he said, "and that's why I rather welcomed your proposal that +we should discuss this affair in private, Mr. Halfpenny. And now for +what I've got to tell you. I shall have to go back a long way in our +family history. My late uncle, Jacob Herapath, was the eldest of the +three children of his father, Matthew Herapath, who was a medical +practitioner at Granchester in Yorkshire--a small town on the Yorkshire +and Lancashire border. The three children were Jacob, Richard, and +Susan. With the main outlines of Jacob Herapath's career I believe we +are all fairly well acquainted. He came to London as a youth, and he +prospered, and became what we know him to have been. Richard, my father, +went out to Canada, when he was very young, settled there, and there he +died. + +"Now we come to Susan, the only daughter. Susan Herapath, at the age of +twenty, married a man named Wynne--Arthur John Wynne, who at that time +was about twenty-five years of age, was the secretary and treasurer of a +recently formed railway--a sort of branch railway on the coast, which +had its head office at Southampton, a coast town. In Southampton, this +Arthur John Wynne and his wife settled down. At the end of a year their +first child was born--my cousin Margaret, who is here with us. When +she--I am putting all this as briefly as I can--when she was about +eighteen months old a sad affair happened. Wynne, who had been living in +a style very much above his position, was suddenly arrested on a charge +of forgery. Investigations proved that he had executed a number of most +skilful and clever forgeries, by which he had defrauded his employers of +a large--a very large--amount of money. He was sent for trial to the +assizes at Lancaster, he was found guilty, and he was sentenced to seven +years' penal servitude. And almost at once after the trial his wife +died. + +"Here my late uncle, Jacob Herapath, came forward. He went north, +assumed possession and guardianship of the child, and took her away from +Southampton. He took her into Buckinghamshire and there placed her in +the care of some people named Bristowe, who were farmers near Aylesbury +and whom he knew very well. In the care of Mrs. Bristowe, the child +remained until she was between six and seven years old. Then she was +removed to Jacob Herapath's own house in Portman Square, where she has +remained ever since. My cousin, I believe, has a very accurate +recollection of her residence with the Bristowes, and she will remember +being brought from Buckinghamshire to London at the time I have spoken +of." + +Barthorpe paused for a moment and looked at Peggie. But Peggie, who was +listening intently with downcast head, made no remark, and he presently +continued. + +"Now, not so very long after that--I mean, after the child was brought +to Portman Square--another person came to the house as a permanent +resident. His name was given to the servants as Mr. Tertius. The +conditions of his residence were somewhat peculiar. He had rooms of his +own; he did as he liked. Sometimes he joined Jacob Herapath at meals; +sometimes he did not. There was an air of mystery about him. What was +it? I will tell you in a word--the mystery or its secret, was this--the +man Tertius, who sits there now, was in reality the girl's father! He +was Arthur John Wynne, the ex-convict--the clever forger!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +COLD STEEL + + +The two men who formed what one may call the alien and impartial audience +at that table were mutually and similarly impressed by a certain feature +of Barthorpe Herapath's speech--its exceeding malevolence. As he went on +from sentence to sentence, his eyes continually turned to Mr. Tertius, +who sat, composed and impassive, listening, and in them was a gleam +which could not be mistaken--the gleam of bitter, personal dislike. Mr. +Halfpenny and Professor Cox-Raythwaite both saw that look and drew their +own conclusions, and when Barthorpe spat out his last words, the man of +science turned to the man of law and muttered a sharp sentence in Latin +which no one else caught. And Mr. Halfpenny nodded and muttered a word +or two back before he turned to Barthorpe. + +"Even supposing--mind, I only say supposing--even supposing you are +correct in all you say--and I don't know that you are," he said, "what you +have put before us does nothing to prove that the will which we have just +inspected is not what we believe it to be--we, at any rate--the valid will +of Jacob Herapath. You know as well as I do that you'd have to give +stronger grounds than that before a judge and jury." + +"I'll give you my grounds," answered Barthorpe eagerly. He bent over the +table in his eagerness, and the old lawyer suddenly realized that +Barthorpe genuinely believed himself to be in the right. "I'll give you +my grounds without reserve. Consider them--I'll check them off, point by +point--you can follow them: + +"First. It was well known--to me, at any rate, that my uncle Jacob +Herapath, had never made a will. + +"Second. Is it not probable that if he wanted to make a will he would +have employed me, who had acted as his solicitor for fifteen years? + +"Third. I had a conversation with him about making a will just under a +year ago, and he then said he'd have it done, and he mentioned that he +should divide his estate equally between me and my cousin there. + +"Fourth. Mr. Burchill here absolutely denies all knowledge of this +alleged will. + +"Fifth. My uncle's handwriting, as you all know, was exceedingly plain +and very easy to imitate. Burchill's handwriting is similarly plain--of +the copperplate sort--and just as easy to imitate. + +"Sixth. That man across there is an expert forger! I have the account of +his trial at Lancaster Assizes--the evidence shows that his work was most +expert. Is it likely that his hand should have lost its cunning--even +after several years? + +"Seventh. That man there had every opportunity of forging this will. +With his experience and knowledge it would be a simple matter to him. He +did it with the idea of getting everything into the hands of his own +daughter, of defrauding me of my just rights. Since my uncle's death he +has made two attempts to see Burchill privately--why? To square him, of +course! And----" + +Mr. Tertius, who had been gazing at the table while Barthorpe went +through these points, suddenly lifted his head and looked at Mr. +Halfpenny. His usual nervousness seemed to have left him, and there was +something very like a smile of contempt about his lips when he spoke. + +"I think, Halfpenny," he said quietly, "I really think it is time all +this extraordinary farce--for it is nothing less!--came to an end. May I +be permitted to ask Mr. Barthorpe Herapath a few questions?" + +"So far as I am concerned, as many as you please, Tertius," replied Mr. +Halfpenny. "Whether he'll answer them or not is another matter. He ought +to." + +"I shall answer them if I please, and I shall not answer them if I don't +want to," said Barthorpe sullenly. "You can put them, anyway. But +they'll make no difference--I know what I'm talking about." + +"So do I," said Mr. Tertius. "And really, as we come here to get at the +truth, it will be all the better for everybody concerned if you do +answer my questions. Now--you say I am in reality Arthur Wynne, the +father of your cousin, the brother-in-law of Jacob Herapath. What you +have said about Arthur John Wynne is unfortunately only too true. It is +true that he erred and was punished--severely. In due course he went to +Portland. I want to ask you what became of him afterwards?--you say you +have full knowledge." + +"You mean, what became of you afterwards," sneered Barthorpe. "I know +when you left Portland. You left it for London--and you came to London +to be sheltered, under your assumed name, by Jacob Herapath." + +"No more than that?" asked Mr. Tertius. + +"That's enough," answered Barthorpe. "You left Portland in April, 1897; +you came to London when you were discharged; in June of that year you'd +taken up your residence under Jacob Herapath's roof. And it's no use +your trying to bluff me--I've traced your movements!" + +"With the aid, no doubt, of Mr. Burchill there," observed Mr. Tertius, +dryly. "But----" + +Burchill drew himself up. + +"Sir!" he exclaimed. "That is an unwarrantable assumption, and----" + +"Unwarrantable assumptions, Mr. Burchill, appear to be present in great +quantity," interrupted Mr. Tertius, with an air of defiance which +surprised everybody. "Don't you interrupt me, sir!--I'll deal with you +before long in a way that will astonish you. Now, Mr. Barthorpe +Herapath," he went on, turning to that person with determination, "I +will astonish you somewhat, for I honestly believe you really have some +belief in what you say. I am not Arthur John Wynne. I am what I have +always been--John Christopher Tertius, as a considerable number of +people in this town can prove. But I knew Arthur John Wynne. When he +left Portland he came to me here in London--at the suggestion of Jacob +Herapath. I then lived in Bloomsbury--I had recently lost my wife. I +took Wynne to live with me. But he had not long to live. If you had +searched into matters more deeply, you would have found that he got his +discharge earlier than he would have done in the usual course, because +of his health. As a matter of fact, he was very ill when he came to me, +and he died six weeks after his arrival at my house. He is buried in the +churchyard of the village from which he originally came--in Wales--and +you can inspect all the documents relating to his death, and see his +grave if you care to. After his death, for reasons into which I need not +go, I went to live with Jacob Herapath. It was his great desire--and +mine--that Wynne's daughter, your cousin, should never know her father's +sad history. But for you she never would have known it! And--that is a +plain answer to what you have had to allege against me. Now, sir, let me +ask you a plain question. Who invented this cock-and-bull story? You +don't reply--readily? Shall I assist you by a suggestion? Was it that +man who sits by you--Burchill? For Burchill knows that he has lied +vilely and shamelessly this morning--Burchill knows that he did see +Jacob Herapath sign that will--Burchill knows that that will was duly +witnessed by himself and by me in the presence of each other and of the +testator! God bless my soul!" exclaimed Mr. Tertius, thumping the table +vehemently. "Why, man alive, your cousin Margaret has a document here +which proves that that will is all right--a document written by Jacob +Herapath himself! Bring it out, my dear--confound these men with an +indisputable proof!" + +But before Peggie could draw the packet from her muff, Burchill had +risen and was showing signs of retreat. And Barthorpe, now pale with +anger and perplexity, had risen too--and he was looking at Burchill. + +Mr. Halfpenny looked at both men. Then he pointed to their chairs. +"Hadn't you better sit down again?" he said. "It seems to me that we're +just arriving at the most interesting stage of these proceedings." + +Burchill stepped towards the door. + +"I do not propose to stay in company in which I am ruthlessly insulted," +he said. "It is, of course, a question of my word against Mr. Tertius's. +We shall see. As for the present, I do." + +"Stop!" said Barthorpe. He moved towards Burchill, motioning him towards +the window in which Peggie and Mr. Tertius had spoken together. "Here--a +word with you!" + +But Burchill made for the door, and Mr. Halfpenny nudged Professor +Cox-Raythwaite. + +"I say--stop!" exclaimed Barthorpe. "There's some explanation----" + +He was about to lay a hand on the door when Mr. Halfpenny touched a +bell which stood in front of him on the table. And at its sharp sound +the door opened from without, and Burchill fell back at what he +saw--fell back upon Barthorpe, who looked past him, and started in his +turn. + +"Great Scot!" said Barthorpe. "Police!" + +Davidge came quickly and quietly in--three other men with him. And in +the room from which they emerged Barthorpe saw more men, many more men, +and with them an eager, excited face which he somehow recognized--the +face of the little _Argus_ reporter who had asked him and Selwood for +news on the morning after Jacob Herapath's murder. + +But Barthorpe had no time to waste thoughts on Triffitt. He suddenly +became alive to the fact that two exceedingly strong men had seized his +arms; that two others had similarly seized Burchill. The pallor died out +of his face and gave place to a dull glow of anger. + +"Now, then?" he growled. "What's all this!" + +"The same for both of you, Mr. Herapath," answered Davidge, cheerfully +and in business-like fashion. "I'll charge both you and Mr. Burchill +formally when we've got you to the station. You're both under arrest, +you know. And I may as well warn you----" + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Barthorpe. "Arrest!--on what charge?" + +"Charge will be the same for both," answered Davidge coolly. "The murder +of Jacob Herapath." + +A dead silence fell on the room. Then Peggie Wynne cried out, and +Barthorpe suddenly made a spring at Burchill. + +"You villain!" he said in a low concentrated voice. "You've done me, you +devil! Let me get my hands on----" + +The other men, Triffitt on their heels, came bustling into the room, +obedient to Davidge's lifted finger. + +"Put the handcuffs on both of 'em," commanded Davidge. "Can't take any +chances, Mr. Herapath, if you lose your temper--the other gentleman----" + +It was at that moment that the other gentleman took his chance. While +Barthorpe Herapath had foolishly allowed himself to become warm and +excited, Burchill had remained cool and watchful and calculating. And now +in the slight diversion made by the entrance of the other detectives, he +suddenly and adroitly threw off the grasp of the men who held him, darted +through the open door on to the stairs, and had vanished before Davidge +could cry out. Davidge darted too, the other police darted, Mr. Halfpenny +smote his bell and shouted to his clerks. But the clerks were downstairs, +out of hearing, and the police were fleshy men, slow of movement, while +Burchill was slippery as an eel and agile as an athlete. Moreover, +Burchill, during his secretaryship to Jacob Herapath, had constantly +visited Mr. Halfpenny's office, and was as well acquainted with its ins +and outs as its tenant; he knew where, in those dark stairs there was +a side stair which led to a private door in a neighbouring alley. And +while the pursuers blundered this way and that, he calmly slipped out to +freedom, and, in a couple of minutes was mingling with the crowds in a +busy thoroughfare, safe for that time. + +Then Davidge, cursing his men and his luck, took Barthorpe Herapath away, +and Triffitt rushed headlong to Fleet Street, seething with excitement and +brimming with news. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +PROFESSIONAL ANALYSIS + + +The _Argus_ came out in great style next morning, and it and Triffitt +continued to give its vast circle of readers a similar feast of +excitement for a good ten days. Triffitt, in fact, went almost foodless +and sleepless; there was so much to do. To begin with, there was the +daily hue and cry after Burchill, who had disappeared as completely as +if his familiar evil spirits had carried him bodily away from the very +door of Halfpenny and Farthing's office. Then there was the bringing up +of Barthorpe Herapath before the magistrate at Bow Street, and the +proceedings at the adjourned coroner's inquest. It was not until the +tenth day that anything like a breathing space came. But the position of +affairs on that tenth day was a fairly clear one. The coroner's jury had +returned a verdict of wilful murder against Barthorpe Herapath and Frank +Burchill; the magistrate had committed Barthorpe for trial; the police +were still hunting high and low for Burchill. And there was scarcely a +soul who had heard the evidence before the coroner and the magistrate +who did not believe that both the suspected men were guilty and that +both--when Burchill had been caught--would ere long stand in the Old +Bailey dock and eventually hear themselves sentenced to the scaffold. + +One man, however, believed nothing of the sort, and that man was +Professor Cox-Raythwaite. His big, burly form had been very much in +evidence at all the proceedings before coroner and magistrate. He had +followed every scrap of testimony with the most scrupulous care; he had +made notes from time to time; he had given up his leisure moments, and +stolen some from his proper pursuits, to a deep consideration of the +case as presented by the police. And on the afternoon which saw +Barthorpe committed to take his trial, he went away from Bow Street, +alone, thinking more deeply than ever. He walked home to his house in +Endsleigh Gardens, head bent, hands clasped behind his big back, the +very incarnation of deep and ponderous musing. He shut himself in his +study; he threw himself into his easy chair before his hearth; he +remained smoking infinite tobacco, staring into vacancy, until his +dinner-bell rang. He roused himself to eat and drink; then he went out +into the street, bought all the evening newspapers he could lay hands +on, and, hailing a taxi-cab, drove to Portman Square. + +Peggie, Mr. Tertius, and Selwood had just dined; they were sitting in a +quiet little parlour, silent and melancholy. The disgrace of Barthorpe's +arrest, of the revelations before coroner and magistrate, of his +committal on the capital charge, had reduced Peggie to a state of +intense misery; the two men felt hopelessly unable to give her any +comfort. To both, the entrance of Cox-Raythwaite came as a positive +relief. + +Cox-Raythwaite, shown into the presence of these three, closed the door +in a fashion which showed that he did not wish to be disturbed, came +silently across the room, and drew a chair into the midst of the +disconsolate group. His glance round commanded attention. + +"Now, my friends," he said, plunging straight into his subject, "if we +don't wish to see Barthorpe hanged, we've just got to stir ourselves! +I've come here to begin the stirring." + +Peggie looked up with a sudden heightening of colour. Mr. Tertius slowly +shook his head. + +"Pitiable!" he murmured. "Pitiable, most pitiable! But the evidence, my +dear Cox-Raythwaite, the evidence! I only wish----" + +"I've been listening to all the evidence that could be brought before +coroner's jury and magistrate in police court," broke in the Professor. +"Listening with all my ears until I know every scrap of it by heart. And +for four solid hours this afternoon I've been analysing it. I'm going to +analyse it to you--and then I'll show you why it doesn't satisfy me. +Give me your close attention, all of you." + +He drew a little table to his elbow, laid his bundle of papers upon it, +and began to talk, checking off his points on the tips of his big, +chemical-stained fingers. + +"Now," he said, "we'll just go through the evidence which has been +brought against these two men, Barthorpe and Burchill, which evidence +has resulted in Barthorpe being committed for trial and in the police's +increased anxiety to lay hold of Burchill. The police theory, after all, +is a very simple one--let's take it and their evidence point by point. + + "1. The police say that Jacob Herapath came to his death + as the result of a conspiracy between his nephew + Barthorpe Herapath and Frank Burchill. + + "2. They say that the proof that that conspiracy existed + is found in certain documents discovered by Davidge at + Burchill's flat, in which documents Barthorpe + covenants to pay Burchill ten per cent. of the value + of the Herapath property if and when he, Barthorpe, + comes into it. + + "3. The police argue that this conspiracy to murder Jacob + Herapath and upset the will was in existence before + November 12th--in other words that the idea of + upsetting the will came first, and that the murder + arose out of it. + + "4. In support of this they have proved that Barthorpe was + in close touch with Burchill as soon as the murder was + committed--afternoon of the same day, at any rate--and + therefore presumably had been in close touch with him + previously. + + "5. They have proved to the full a certain matter about + which there is no doubt--that Barthorpe was at the + estate office about the time at which, according to + medical evidence, his uncle was murdered, that he + subsequently put on his uncle's coat and hat and + visited this house, and afterwards returned to the + estate office. That, I say, is certain--and it is the + most damning thing against Barthorpe. + + "6. According to the police, then, Barthorpe was the + actual murderer, and Burchill was an accessory before + the fact. There is no evidence that Burchill was near + the estate office that night. But that, of course, + doesn't matter--if, as the police suggest, there is + evidence that the conspiracy to kill Jacob Herapath + existed before November 12th, then it doesn't matter + at all whether Burchill took an active part in it or + not--he's guilty as accessory." + +The Professor here paused and smote his bundle of papers. Then he lifted +and wagged one of his great fingers. + +"But!" he exclaimed. "But--but--always a but! And the but in this case +is a mighty one. It's this--did that conspiracy exist before November +12th? Did it--did it? It's a great point--it's a great point. Now, we +all know that this morning, before he was committed, Barthorpe, much +against the wishes of his legal advisers, insisted, forcibly insisted, +on making a statement. It's in the evening papers here, verbatim. I'll +read it to you carefully--you heard him, all of you, but I want you to +hear it again, read slowly. Consider it--think of it carefully--remember +the circumstances under which it's made!" + +He turned to the table, selected a newspaper, and read: + + "'The accused, having insisted, in spite of evident + strong dissuasion from his counsel, upon making a + statement, said: "I wish to tell the plain and absolute + truth about my concern with this affair. I have heard + the evidence given by various witnesses as to my + financial position. That evidence is more or less true. I + lost a lot of money last winter in betting and gambling. + I was not aware that my position was known to my uncle + until one of these witnesses revealed that my uncle had + been employing private inquiry agents to find it out. I + was meaning, when his death occurred, to make a clean + breast to him. I was on the best of terms with + him--whatever he may have known, it made no difference + that I ever noticed in his behaviour to me. I was not + aware that my uncle had made a will. He never mentioned + it to me. About a year ago, there was some joking + conversation between us about making a will, and I said + to him that he ought to do it, and give me the job, and + he replied, laughingly, that he supposed he would have + to, some time. I solemnly declare that on November 12th I + hadn't the ghost of a notion that he had made a will. + + "'"On November 12th last, about five o'clock in the + afternoon, I received a note from my uncle, asking me to + meet him at his estate office, at midnight. I had often + met him there at that time--there was nothing unusual + about such an appointment. I went there, of course--I + walked there from my flat in the Adelphi. I noticed when I + got there that my uncle's brougham was being slowly driven + round the square across the road. The outer door of the + office was slightly open. I was surprised. The usual thing + when I made late calls was for me to ring a bell which + sounded in my uncle's private room, and he then came and + admitted me. I went in, and down the hall, and I then saw + that the door of his room was also open. The electric + light was burning. I went in. I at once saw my uncle--he + was lying between the desk and the hearth, quite dead. + There was a revolver lying near. I touched his hand and + found it was quite warm. + + "'"I looked round, and seeing no sign of any struggle, I + concluded that my uncle had shot himself. I noticed that + his keys were lying on the desk. His fur-collared overcoat + and slouch hat were thrown on a sofa. Of course, I was + much upset. I went outside, meaning, I believe, to call + the caretaker. Everything was very still in the house. I + did not call. I began to think. I knew I was in a strange + position. I knew my uncle's death would make a vast + difference to me. I was next of kin. I wanted to know how + things stood--how I was left. Something suggested itself + to me. I think the overcoat and hat suggested it. I put on + the hat and coat, took the keys from the table, and the + latch-key of the Portman Square house from my uncle's + waistcoat pocket, turned out the light, went out, closed + both doors, went to the brougham, and was driven away. I + saw very well that the coachman didn't know me at all--he + thought I was his master. + + "'"I have heard the evidence about my visit to Portman + Square. I stopped there some time. I made a fairly + complete search for a will and didn't find anything. It is + quite true that I used one of the glasses, and ate a + sandwich, and very likely I did bite into another. It's + true, too, that I have lost two front teeth, and that the + evidence of that could be in the sandwich. All that's + true--I admit it. It's also quite true that I got the + taxi-cab at two o'clock at the corner of Orchard Street + and drove back to Kensington. I re-entered the office; + everything was as I'd left it. I took off the coat and + hat, put the keys under some loose papers on the table, + turned out the light and went home to my flat. + + "'"Now I wish to tell the absolute, honest truth about + Burchill and the will. When I heard of and saw the will, + after Mr. Tertius produced it, I went to see Burchill at + his flat. I had never seen him, never communicated with + him in any way whatever since he had left my uncle's + service until that afternoon. I had got his address from a + letter which I found in a pocket-book of my uncle's, which + I took possession of when the police and I searched his + effects. I went to see Burchill about the will, of course. + When I said that a will had been found he fenced with me. + He would only reply ambiguously. Eventually he asked me, + point-blank, if I would make it worth his while if he + aided me in upsetting the will. I replied that if he + could--which I doubted--I would. He told me to call at ten + o'clock that night. I did so. He then told me what I had + never suspected--that Mr. Tertius was, in reality, Arthur + John Wynne, a convicted forger. He gave me his proofs, and + I was fool enough to believe them. He then suggested that + it would be the easiest thing in the world, considering + Wynne's record, to prove that he had forged the will for + his daughter's benefit. He offered to aid in this if I + would sign documents giving him ten per cent. of the total + value of my uncle's estate, and I was foolish enough to + consent, and to sign. I solemnly declare that the entire + suggestion about upsetting the will came from Burchill, + and that there was no conspiracy between us of any sort + whatever previous to that night. Whatever may happen, I've + told this court the absolute, definite truth!"'" + +Professor Cox-Raythwaite folded up the newspaper, laid it on the little +table, and brought his big hand down on his knee with an emphatic smack. + +"Now, then!" he said. "In my deliberate, coldly reasoned opinion, that +statement is true! If they hang Barthorpe, they'll hang an innocent man. +But----" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE REMAND PRISON + + +Mr. Tertius broke the significant silence which followed. He shook his +head sadly, and sighed deeply. + +"Ah, those buts!" he said. "As you remarked just now, Cox-Raythwaite, +there is always a but. Now, this particular one--what is it?" + +"Let me finish my sentence," responded the Professor. "I say, I do not +believe Barthorpe to be guilty of murder, though guilty enough of a +particularly mean, dirty, and sneaking conspiracy to defraud his cousin. +Yes, innocent of murder--but it will be a stiff job to prove his +innocence. As things stand, he'll be hanged safe enough! You know what +our juries are, Tertius--evidence such as that which has been put before +the coroner and the magistrate will be quite sufficient to damn him at +the Old Bailey. Ample!" + +"What do you suggest, then?" asked Mr. Tertius. + +"Suggestion," answered the Professor, "is a difficult matter. But there +are two things--perhaps more, but certainly two--on which I want light. +The first is--nobody has succeeded in unearthing the man who went to the +House of Commons to see Jacob on the night of the murder. In spite of +everything, advertisements and all the rest of it, he's never come +forward. If you remember, Halfpenny had a theory that the letter and +the object which Mountain saw Jacob hand to that man were a note to the +Safe Deposit people and the key of the safe. Now we know that's not so, +because no one ever brought any letter to the Safe Deposit people and +nobody's ever opened the safe. Halfpenny, too, believed, during the +period of the police officials' masterly silence, that that man had put +himself in communication with them. Now we know that the police have +never heard anything whatever of him, have never traced him. I'm +convinced that if we could unearth that man we should learn something. +But how to do it, I don't know." + +"And the other point?" asked Selwood, after a pause during which +everybody seemed to be ruminating deeply. "You mentioned two." + +"The other point," replied the Professor, "is one on which I am going to +make a practical suggestion. It's this--I believe that Barthorpe told +the truth in that statement of his which I've just read to you, but I +should like to know if he told all the truth--all! He may have omitted +some slight thing, some infinitesimal circumstance----" + +"Do you mean about himself or--what?" asked Selwood. + +"I mean some very--or seemingly very--slight thing, during his two +visits to the estate office that night, which, however slight it may +seem, would form a clue to the real murderer," answered the Professor. +"He may have seen something, noticed something, and forgotten it, or not +attached great importance to it. And, in short," he continued, with +added emphasis, "in short, my friends, Barthorpe must be visited, +interviewed, questioned--not merely by his legal advisers, but by some +friend, and the very person to do it"--here he turned and laid his great +hand on Peggie's shoulder--"is--you, my dear!" + +"I!" exclaimed Peggie. + +"You, certainly! Nobody better. He will tell you what he would tell no +one else," said the Professor. "You're the person. Am I not right, +Tertius?" + +"I think you are right," assented Mr. Tertius. "Yes, I think so." + +"But--he's in prison!" said Peggie. "Will they let me?" + +"Oh, that's all right," answered the Professor. "Halfpenny will arrange +that like winking. You must go at once--and Selwood there will go with +you. Far better for you two young people to go than for either +Halfpenny, or Tertius, or myself. Youth invites confidence." + +Peggie turned and looked at Selwood. + +"You'll go?" she asked. + +Selwood felt his cheeks flush and rose to conceal his sudden show of +feeling. "I'll go anywhere and do anything!" he answered quietly. "I +don't know whether my opinion's worth having, but I think exactly as +Professor Cox-Raythwaite does about this affair. But--who's the guilty +man? Is it--can it be Burchill? If what Barthorpe Herapath says about +that will affair is true, Burchill is cunning and subtle enough for----" + +"Burchill, my dear lad, is at present out of our ken," interrupted +Cox-Raythwaite. "Barthorpe, however, is very much within it, and +Halfpenny must arrange for you two to see him without delay. And once +closeted with him, you must talk to him for his soul's good--get him to +search his memory, to think of every detail he can rake up--above +everything, if there's anything he's keeping back, beg him, on your +knees if necessary, to make a clean breast of it. Otherwise----" + +Two days later Peggie, sick at heart, and Selwood, nervous and fidgety, +sat in a room which gave both of them a feeling as of partial suffocation. +It was not that it was not big enough for two people, or for six people, +or for a dozen people to sit in--there was space for twenty. What +oppressed them was the horrible sense of formality, the absence of +life, colour, of anything but sure and solid security, the intrusive +spick-and-spanness, the blatant cleanliness, the conscious odour of some +sort of soap, used presumably for washing floors and walls, the whole +crying atmosphere of incarceration. The barred window, the pictureless +walls, the official look of the utterly plain chairs and tables, the +grilles of iron bars which cut the place in half--these things oppressed +the girl so profoundly that she felt as if a sharp scream was the only +thing that would relieve her pent-up feelings. And as she sat there with +thumping heart, dreading the appearance of her cousin behind those bars, +yet wishing intensely that he would come, Peggie had a sudden fearful +realization of what it really meant to fall into the hands of justice. +There, somewhere close by, no doubt, Barthorpe was able to move hands +and feet, legs and arms, body and head--but within limits. He could pace +a cell, he could tramp round an exercise yard, he could eat and drink, +he could use his tongue when allowed, he could do many things--but +always within limits. He was held--held by an unseen power which could +materialize, could make itself very much seen, at a second's notice. +There he would stop until he was carried off to his trial; he would come +and go during that trial, the unseen power always holding him. And one +day he would either go out of the power's clutches--free, or he would be +carried off, not to this remand prison but a certain cell in another +place in which he would sit, or lounge, or lie, with nothing to do, +until a bustling, businesslike man came in one morning with a little +group of officials and in his hand a bundle of leather straps. Held!--by +the strong, never-relaxing clutch of the law. That---- + +"Buck up!" whispered Selwood, in the blunt language of irreverent, yet +good-natured, youth. "He's coming!" + +Peggie looked up to see Barthorpe staring at her through the iron bars. +He was not over good to look at. He had a two days' beard on his face; +his linen was not fresh; his clothes were put on untidily; he stood with +his hands in his pockets lumpishly--the change wrought by incarceration, +even of that comparative sort, was great. He looked both sulky and +sheepish; he gave Selwood no more than a curt nod; his first response to +his cousin was of the nature of a growl. + +"Hanged if I know what you've come for!" he said. "What's the good of +it? You may mean well, but----" + +"Oh, Barthorpe, how can you!" exclaimed Peggie. "Of course we've come! +Do you think it possible we shouldn't come? You know very well we all +believe you innocent." + +"Who's all?" demanded Barthorpe, half-sneeringly. "Yourself, perhaps, +and the parlour-maid!" + +"All of us," said Selwood, thinking it was time a man spoke. +"Cox-Raythwaite, Mr. Tertius, myself. That's a fact, anyhow, so you'd +better grasp it." + +Barthorpe straightened himself and looked keenly at Selwood. Then he +spoke naturally and simply. + +"I'm much obliged to you, Selwood," he said. "I'd shake hands with you if +I could. I'm obliged to the others, too--especially to old Tertius--I've +wronged him, no doubt. But"--here his face grew dark and savage--"if you +only knew how I was tricked by that devil! Is he caught?--that's what I +want to know." + +"No!" answered Selwood. "But never mind him--we've come here to see what +we can do for you. That's the important thing." + +"What can anybody do?" said Barthorpe, with a mirthless laugh. "You know +all the evidence. It's enough--they'll hang me on it!" + +"Barthorpe, you mustn't!" expostulated Peggie. "That's not the way to +treat things. Tell him," she went on, turning to Selwood, "tell him all +that Professor Cox-Raythwaite said the other night." + +Selwood repeated the gist of the Professor's arguments and suggestions, +and Barthorpe began to show some interest. But at the end he shook his +head. + +"I don't know that there's anything more that I can tell," he said. +"Whatever anybody may think, I told the entire truth about myself and +this affair in that statement before the magistrate. Of course, you know +they didn't want me to say a word--my legal advisers, I mean. They were +dead against it. But you see, I was resolved on it--I wanted it to get +in the papers. I told everything in that. I tried to put it as plainly +as I could. No--I've told the main facts." + +"But aren't there any little facts, Barthorpe?" asked Peggie. "Can't you +think of any small thing--was there nothing that would give--I don't +know how to put it." + +"Anything that you can think of that would give a clue?" suggested +Selwood. "Was there nothing you noticed--was there anything----" + +Barthorpe appeared to be thinking; then to be hesitating--finally, he +looked at Selwood a little shamefacedly. + +"Well, there were one or two things that I didn't tell," he said. +"I--the fact is, I didn't think they were of importance. One of them was +about that key to the Safe Deposit. You know you and I couldn't find it +when we searched the office that morning. Well, I had found it. Or +rather, I took it off the bunch of keys. I wanted to search the safe at +the Safe Deposit myself. But I never did. I don't know whether the +detectives have found it or not--I threw it into a drawer at my office +in which there are a lot of other keys. But, you know, there's nothing +in that--nothing at all." + +"You said one or two other things just now," remarked Selwood. "That's +one--what's the other?" + +Barthorpe hesitated. The three were not the only occupants of that +gloomy room, and though the official ears might have been graven out of +stone, he felt their presence. + +"Don't keep anything back, Barthorpe," pleaded Peggie. + +"Oh, well!" responded Barthorpe. "I'll tell you, though I don't know +what good it will do. I didn't tell this, because--well, of course, it's +not exactly a thing a man likes to tell. When I looked over Uncle +Jacob's desk, just after I found him dead, you know, I found a +hundred-pound note lying there. I put it in my pocket. Hundred-pound +notes weren't plentiful, you know," he went on with a grim smile. "Of +course, it was a shabby thing to do, sort of robbing the dead, you know, +but----" + +"Do you see any way in which that can help?" asked Selwood, whose mind +was not disposed to dwell on nice questions of morality or conduct. +"Does anything suggest itself?" + +"Why, this," answered Barthorpe, rubbing his chin. "It was a brand-new +note. That's puzzled me--that it should be lying there amongst papers. +You might go to Uncle Jacob's bank and find out when he drew it--or +rather, if he'd been drawing money that day. He used, as you and I know, +to draw considerable amounts in notes. And--it's only a notion--if he'd +drawn anything big that day, and he had it on him that night, why, +there's a motive there. Somebody may have known he'd a considerable +amount on him and have followed him in there. Don't forget that I found +both doors open when I went there! That's a point that mustn't be +overlooked." + +"There's absolutely nothing else you can think of?" asked Selwood. + +Barthorpe shook his head. No--there was nothing--he was sure of that. +And then he turned eagerly to the question of finding Burchill. +Burchill, he was certain, knew more than he had given him credit for, +knew something, perhaps, about the actual murder. He was a deep, crafty +dog, Burchill--only let the police find him!---- + +Time was up, then, and Peggie and Selwood had to go--their last +impression that of Barthorpe thrusting his hands in his pockets and +lounging away to his enforced idleness. It made the girl sick at heart, +and it showed Selwood what deprivation of liberty means to a man who has +hitherto been active and vigorous. + +"Have we done any good?" asked Peggie, drawing a deep breath of free air +as soon as they were outside the gates. "Any bit of good?" + +"There's the affair of the bank-note," answered Selwood. "That may be of +some moment. I'll go and report progress on that, anyway." + +He put Peggie into her car to go home, and himself hailed a taxi-cab and +drove straight to Mr. Halfpenny's office, where Professor Cox-Raythwaite +and Mr. Tertius had arranged to meet him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE LAST CHEQUE + + +The three elderly gentlemen, seated in Mr. Halfpenny's private room, +listened with intense, if silent, interest to Selwood's account of the +interview with Barthorpe. It was a small bundle of news that he had +brought back and two of his hearers showed by their faces that they +attached little importance to it. But Professor Cox-Raythwaite caught +eagerly at the mere scrap of suggestion. + +"Tertius!--Halfpenny!" he exclaimed. "That must be followed up--we must +follow it up at once. That bank-note may be a most valuable and +effective clue." + +Mr. Halfpenny showed a decided incredulity and dissent. + +"I don't see it," he answered. "Don't see it at all, Cox-Raythwaite. What +is there in it? What clue can there be in the fact that Barthorpe picked +up a hundred pound bank-note from his uncle's writing-desk? Lord bless +me!--why, every one of us four men knows very well that hundred pound +notes were as common to Jacob Herapath as half-crowns are to any of +us! He was a man who carried money in large amounts on him always--I've +expostulated with him about it. Don't you know--no, I dare say you don't +though, because you never had business dealings with him, and perhaps +Tertius doesn't, either, because he, like you, only knew him as a +friend--you don't know that Jacob had a peculiarity. Perhaps Mr. Selwood +knows of it, though, as he was his secretary." + +"What peculiarity?" asked the Professor. "I know he had several fads, +which one might call peculiarities." + +"He had a business peculiarity," replied Mr. Halfpenny, "and it was well +known to people in his line of business. You know that Jacob Herapath +had extensive, unusually extensive, dealings in real property--land and +houses. Quite apart from the Herapath Flats, he dealt on wide lines with +real estate; he was always buying and selling. And his peculiarity was +that all his transactions in this way were done by cash--bank-notes or +gold--instead of by cheque. It didn't matter if he was buying a hundred +thousand pounds' worth of property, or selling two hundred thousand +pounds' worth--the affairs had to be completed by payment in that +fashion. I've scolded him about it scores of times; he only laughed at +me; he said that had been the custom when he went into the business, and +he'd stuck to it, and wasn't going to give it up. God bless me!" +concluded Mr. Halfpenny, with emphasis. "I ought to know, for Jacob +Herapath has concluded many an operation in this very room, and at this +very table--I've seen him handle many a hundred thousand pounds' worth +of notes in my time, paying or receiving! And, as I said, the mere +picking up of a hundred pound note from his desk is--why, it's no more +than if I picked up a few of those coppers that are lying there on my +chimney-piece!" + +"Just so, just so!" observed Mr. Tertius mildly. "Jacob was a very +wealthy man--the money evidence was everywhere." + +But Professor Cox-Raythwaite only laughed and smote the table with his +big fist. + +"My dear Halfpenny!" he exclaimed. "Why, you've just given us the very +best proof of what I've been saying! You're not looking deeply enough +into things. The very fact to which you bear testimony proves to me that +a certain theory which is assuming shape in my mind may possibly have a +great deal in it. That theory, briefly, is this--on the day of his death, +Jacob Herapath may have had upon his person a large amount of money in +bank-notes. He may have had them paid to him. He may have drawn them from +his bank, to pay to somebody else. Some evil person may have been aware of +his possession of those notes and have tracked him to the estate offices, +or gained entrance, or--mark this!--have been lurking--lurking!--there, in +order to rob him. Don't forget two points, my friend--one, that Barthorpe +(if he's speaking the truth, and I, personally, believe he is) tells us +that the doors of the offices and the private room were open when he +called at twelve o'clock; and, too, that, according to Mountain, the +coachman, Jacob Herapath had been in those offices since twenty-five +minutes to twelve--plenty of time for murder and robbery to take place. +I repeat--Jacob may have had a considerable sum of money on him that +night, some one may have known it, and the motive of his murder may have +been--probably was--sheer robbery. And we ought to go on that, if we want +to save the family honour." + +Mr. Tertius nodded and murmured assent, and Mr. Halfpenny stirred +uneasily in his chair. + +"Family honour!" he said. "Yes, yes, that's right, of course. It would +be a dreadful thing to see a nephew hanged for the murder of his +uncle--quite right!" + +"A much more dreadful thing to stand by and see an innocent man hanged, +without moving heaven and earth to clear him," commented the Professor. +"Come now, I helped to establish the fact that Barthorpe visited Portman +Square that night--Tertius there helped too, by his quickness in seeing +that the half-eaten sandwich had been bitten into by a man who had lost +two front teeth, which, of course, was Barthorpe's case--so the least we +can do is to bestir ourselves now that we believe him to have told the +truth in that statement." + +"But how exactly are we to bestir ourselves?" asked Mr. Halfpenny. + +"I suggest a visit to Jacob Herapath's bankers, first of all," answered +the Professor. "I haven't heard that any particular inquiry has been +made. Did you make any, Halfpenny?" + +"Jacob's bankers are Bittleston, Stocks and Bittleston," replied the old +lawyer. "I did make it in my way to drop in there and to see Mr. +Playbourne, the manager of their West End branch, in Piccadilly. He +assured me that there was nothing whatever out of the common in Jacob +Herapath's transactions with them just before his death, and nothing at +all in their particulars of his banking account which could throw any +possible light on his murder." + +"In his opinion," said the Professor, caustically, "in his opinion, +Halfpenny! But--you don't know what our opinion might be. Now, I suggest +that we all go at once to see this Mr. Playbourne; there's ample time +before the bank closes for the day." + +"Very well," assented Mr. Halfpenny. "All the same, I'm afraid +Playbourne will only say just what he said before." + +Mr. Playbourne, a good typical specimen of the somewhat old-fashioned +bank manager, receiving this formidable deputation of four gentlemen in +his private room, said precisely what he had said before, and seemed +astonished to think that any light upon such an unpleasant thing as a +murder could possibly be derived from so highly respectable a quarter as +that in which he moved during the greater part of the day. + +"I can't think of anything in our transactions with the late Mr. +Herapath that gives any clue, any idea, anything at all," he said, +somewhat querulously. "Mr. Herapath's transactions with us, right up to +the day of his death, were just what they had been for years. Of course, +I'm willing to tell you anything, show you anything. You're acting for +Miss Wynne, aren't you, Mr. Halfpenny?" + +"I have a power of attorney from Miss Wynne, for that matter," answered +Mr. Halfpenny. "Everything of that sort's in my hands." + +"I'll tell you what, then," said the bank manager, laying his hand on a +bell at his side. "You'd better see Jacob Herapath's pass-book. I +recently had it posted up to the day of his death, and of course we've +retained it until you demanded it. You can't have a better index to his +affairs with us than you'll find in it. Sellars," he went on, as a clerk +appeared, "bring me the late Mr. Herapath's pass-book--Mr. Ravensdale +has it." + +The visitors presently gathered round the desk on which Mr. Playbourne +laid the parchment-bound book--one of a corresponding thickness with the +dead man's transactions. The manager turned to the pages last filled in. + +"You're aware, of course, some of you at any rate," he said, "you, Mr. +Halfpenny, and you, Mr. Selwood, that the late Jacob Herapath dealt in +big sums. He always had a very large balance at this branch of our bank; +he was continually paying in and drawing out amounts which, to men of +less means, must needs seem tremendous. Now, you can see for yourselves +what his transactions with us were during the last few days of his life; +I, as I have said, see nothing out of the way in them--you, of course," +he continued, with a sniff, "may see a good deal!" + +Professor Cox-Raythwaite ran his eye over the neatly-written pages, +passing rapidly on to the important date--November 12th. And he suddenly +thrust out his arm and put the tip of a big yellow finger on one +particular entry. + +"There!" he exclaimed. "Look at that. 'Self, L5,000.' Paid out, you see, +on November 12th. Do you see?" + +Mr. Playbourne laughed cynically. + +"My dear sir!" he said. "Do you mean to say that you attach any +importance to an entry like that? Jacob Herapath constantly drew cheques +to self for five, ten, twenty, thirty--aye, fifty thousand pounds! He +dealt in tens of thousands--he was always buying or selling. Five +thousand pounds!--a fleabite!" + +"All the same, if you please," said the Professor quietly, "I should +like to know if Jacob Herapath presented that self cheque himself, and +if so, how he took the money it represents." + +"Oh, very well!" said the manager resignedly. He touched his bell again, +and looked wearily at the clerk who answered it. "Find out if the late +Mr. Herapath himself presented a cheque for five thousand on November +12th, and if so, how he took it," he said. "Well," he continued, turning +to his visitors. "Do you see anything with any further possible mystery +attached to it?" + +"There's an entry there--the last," observed Mr. Halfpenny. "That. +'Dimambro: three thousand guineas.' That's the same date." + +Mr. Playbourne suddenly showed some interest and animation. His eyes +brightened; he sat up erect. + +"Ah!" he said. "Well, now, that is somewhat remarkable, that entry!--though +of course there's nothing out of the common in it. But that cheque was +most certainly the very last ever drawn by Jacob Herapath, and according +to strict law, it never ought to have been paid out by us." + +"Why?" asked Professor Cox-Raythwaite. + +"Because Jacob Herapath, the drawer, was dead before it was presented," +replied the manager. "But of course we didn't know that. The cheque, you +see, was drawn on November 12th, and it was presented here as soon as +ever the doors were opened next morning and before any of us knew of +what had happened during the night, and it was accordingly honoured in +the usual way." + +"The payee, of course, was known?" observed Mr. Halfpenny. + +"No, he was not known, but he endorsed the cheque with name and address, +and there can be no reason whatever to doubt that it had come to him in +the ordinary way of business," replied the manager. "Quite a usual +transaction, but, as I say, noteworthy, because, as you know, a cheque +is no good after its drawer's demise." + +Professor Cox-Raythwaite, who appeared to have fallen into a brown study +for a moment, suddenly looked up. + +"Now I wonder if we might be permitted to see that cheque--as a +curiosity?" he said. "Can we be favoured so far?" + +"Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Playbourne. "No trouble. +I'll--ah, here's your information about the other cheque--the self +cheque for five thousand." + +He took a slip of paper from the clerk who just then entered, and read +it aloud. + +"Here you are," he said. "'Mr. Herapath cashed cheque for L5,000 +himself, at three o'clock; the money in fifty notes of L100 each, +numbered as follows'--you can take this slip, if you like," he +continued, handing the paper to Professor Cox-Raythwaite, as the +obviously most interested man of his party. "There are the numbers of +the notes. Of course, I can't see how all this throws any light on the +mystery of Herapath's murder, but perhaps you can. Sellers," he +continued, turning to the clerk, and beckoning him to look at the +pass-book, "find me the cheque referred to there, and bring it here." + +The clerk returned in a few minutes with the cheque, which Mr. +Playbourne at once exhibited to his visitors. + +"There you are, gentlemen," he said. "Quite a curiosity!--certainly the +last cheque ever drawn by our poor friend. There, you see, is his +well-known signature with his secret little mark which you wouldn't +detect--secret between him and us, eh!--big, bold handwriting, wasn't +it? Sad to think that that was--very likely--the last time he used a +pen!" + +Professor Cox-Raythwaite in his turn handled the cheque. Its face gave +him small concern; what he was most interested in was the endorsement on +the back. Without saying anything to his companions, he memorized that +endorsement, and he was still murmuring it to himself when, a few +minutes later, he walked out of the bank. + +"Luigi Dimambro, Hotel Ravenna, Soho." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE HOTEL RAVENNA + + +Once closeted together in the private room at Halfpenny and Farthing's +office, Mr. Halfpenny, who had seemed somewhat mystified by the +happenings at the bank, looked inquiringly at Professor Cox-Raythwaite +and snapped out one suggestive monosyllable: + +"Well?" + +"Very well indeed," answered Cox-Raythwaite. "I consider we have done +good work. We have found things out. That bank manager is a pompous ass; +he's a man of asinine, or possible bovine, mind! Of course, he ought to +have revealed these things at both the inquest and the magisterial +proceedings!--they'll certainly have to be put in evidence at Barthorpe +Herapath's trial." + +"What things?" demanded the old lawyer, a little testily. + +"Two things--facts," replied the Professor, composedly. "First, that +Jacob Herapath drew five thousand pounds in hundred pound notes at three +o'clock on the day of his death. Second, that at some hour of that day +he drew a cheque in favour of one Luigi Dimambro, which cheque was +cashed as soon as the bank opened next morning." + +"Frankly," observed Mr. Halfpenny, "frankly, candidly, Cox-Raythwaite, +I do not see what these things--facts--prove." + +"Very likely," said the Professor, imperturbable as ever, "but they're +remarkably suggestive to me. They establish for one thing the fact that, +in all probability, Jacob Herapath had those notes on him when he was +murdered." + +"Don't see it," retorted Mr. Halfpenny. "He got the fifty one-hundred-pound +notes from the bank at three o'clock in the afternoon. He's supposed to +have been murdered at twelve--midnight. That's nine hours. Plenty of time +in which to pay those notes away--as he most likely did." + +"If you'll let your mind go back to what came out in evidence at the +inquest," said the Professor, "you'll remember that Jacob Herapath went +to the House of Commons at half-past three that day and never left it +until his coachman fetched him at a quarter-past eleven. It's not very +likely that he'd transact business at the House." + +"Plenty of time between three and half-past three," objected Mr. +Halfpenny. + +"Quite so, but we haven't heard of any transaction being carried out +during that time. Make inquiry, and see if he did engage in any such +transaction," said the Professor. "If he didn't, then my theory that he +had the notes on him is correct. Moreover, Barthorpe has told Selwood +that he picked up one note from the desk in his uncle's private room." + +"One note!" exclaimed Mr. Halfpenny. + +"One note--quite so," agreed the Professor. "May it not have been--it's +all theory, of course--that Jacob had all the notes on the desk when he +was murdered, that the murderer grabbed them afterwards, and in his +haste, left one? Come, now!" + +"Theory--theory!" said Mr. Halfpenny. "Still, I'll make inquiries all +around, to see if Jacob did pay five thousand away to anybody that +afternoon. Well, and your other point?" + +"I should like to know what the cheque for three thousand guineas was +for," answered the Professor. "It was paid out to one Luigi Dimambro, +whose address was written down by himself in endorsing the cheque as +Hotel Ravenna, Soho. He, presumably, is a foreigner, an Italian, or a +Corsican, or a Sicilian, and the probability is that Jacob Herapath +bought something from him that day, and that the transaction took place +after banking hours." + +"How do you deduce that?" asked Mr. Halfpenny. + +"Because Dimambro cashed his cheque as soon as the bank opened its doors +next morning," answered the Professor. "If he'd been given the cheque +before four o'clock on November 12th, he'd have cashed it then." + +"The cheque may have been posted to him," said Mr. Halfpenny. + +"May be; the point is that it was drawn by Jacob on November 12th and +cashed at the earliest possible hour next day," replied the Professor. +"Now, though it may have nothing to do with the case, I want to know +what that cheque referred to. More than this, I have an idea. May not +this man Dimambro be the man who called on Jacob Herapath at the House +of Commons that night--the man whom Mountain saw, but did not recognize +as one of his master's usual friends or acquaintances? Do you see that +point?" + +Mr. Tertius and Selwood muttered expressions of acquiescence, but Mr. +Halfpenny shook his head. + +"Can't see anything much in it," he said. "If this foreign fellow, +Dimambro, was the man who called at the House, I don't see what that's got +to do with the murder. Jacob Herapath, of course, had business affairs +with all sorts of queer people--Italians, Spaniards, Chinese--many a Tom, +Dick, and Harry of 'em; he bought curios of all descriptions, and often +sold them again as soon as bought." + +"Very good suggestion," said Professor Cox-Raythwaite. "He may have +bought something extremely valuable from this Dimambro that day, or that +night, and--he may have had it on him when he was murdered. Clearly, we +must see this Luigi Dimambro!" + +"If he's the man who called at the House, you forget that he's been +advertised for no end," said Selwood. + +"No, I don't," responded the Professor. "But he may be out of the +country: may have come to it specially to see Jacob Herapath, and left +it again. I repeat, we must see this man, if he's to be found. We must +make inquiries--cautious, guarded inquiries--at this hotel in Soho, +which is probably a foreigners' house of call, a mere restaurant. And +the very person to make those inquiries," he concluded, turning to +Selwood and favouring him with a smack of the shoulder, "is--you!" + +Selwood flinched, physically and mentally. He had no great love of the +proposed role--private detective work did not appeal to him. And he +suggested that Professor Cox-Raythwaite had far better apply to Scotland +Yard. + +"By no means," answered the Professor calmly. "You are the man to do the +work. We don't want any police interference. This Hotel Ravenna is +probably some cafe, restaurant, or saloon in Soho, frequented by +foreigners--a place where, perhaps, a man can get a room for a night or +two. You must go quietly, unobtrusively, there; if it's a restaurant, as +it's sure to be, or at any rate, a place to which a restaurant is +attached, go in and get some sort of a meal, keep your eyes open, find +out the proprietor, get into talk with him, see if he knows Luigi +Dimambro. All you need is tact, caution, and readiness to adapt yourself +to circumstances." + +Then, when they left Mr. Halfpenny's office he took Selwood aside and +gave him certain hints and instructions, and enlarged upon the +advantages of finding Dimambro if he was to be found. The Professor +himself was enthusiastic about these recent developments, and he +succeeded in communicating some of his enthusiasm to Selwood. After all, +thought Selwood, as he went to Portman Square to tell Peggie of the +afternoon's doings, whatever he did was being done for Peggie; moreover, +he was by that time certain that however mean and base Barthorpe +Herapath's conduct had been about the will, he was certainly not the +murderer of his uncle. If that murderer was to be tracked--why, there +was a certain zest, an appealing excitement in the tracking of him that +presented a sure fascination to youthful spirits. + +That evening found Selwood, quietly and unassumingly attired, examining +the purlieus of Soho. It was a district of which he knew little, and for +half an hour he perambulated its streets, wondering at the distinctly +foreign atmosphere. And suddenly he came across the Hotel Ravenna--there +it was, confronting him, at the lower end of Dean Street. He drew back +and looked it well over from the opposite pavement. + +The Hotel Ravenna was rather more of a pretentious establishment than +Selwood had expected it to be. It was typically Italian in outward +aspect. There were the usual evergreen shrubs set in the usual green +wood tubs at the entrance; the usual abundance of plate-glass and garish +gilt; the usual glimpse, whenever the door opened, of the usual vista of +white linen, red plush, and many mirrors; the waiter who occasionally +showed himself at the door, napkin in hand, was of the type which +Selwood had seen a thousand times under similar circumstances. But all +this related to the restaurant--Selwood was more interested that the +word "Hotel" appeared in gilt letters over a door at the side of the +establishment and was repeated in the windows of the upper storeys. He +was half-minded to enter the door at once, and to make a guarded inquiry +for Mr. Luigi Dimambro; on reflection he walked across the street and +boldly entered the restaurant. + +It was half-past seven o'clock, and the place was full of customers. +Selwood took most of them to be foreigners. He also concluded after a +first glance around him that the majority had some connection, more or +less close, with either the dramatic, or the musical, or the artistic +professions. There was much laughter and long hair, marvellous neckties +and wondrous costumes; everybody seemed to be talking without regard to +question or answer; the artillery of the voices mingled with the +rattling of plates and popping of corks. Clearly this was no easy place +in which to seek for a man whom one had never seen! + +Selwood allowed a waiter to conduct him to a vacant seat--a plush throne +half-way along the restaurant. He ordered a modest dinner and a bottle +of light wine, and following what seemed to be the custom, lighted a +cigarette until his first course appeared. And while he waited he looked +about him, noting everything that presented itself. Out of all the folk +there, waiters and customers, the idle and the busy, he quickly decided +that there was only one man who possessed particular interest for him. +That man was the big, smiling, frock-coated, sleek-haired patron or +proprietor, who strode up and down, beaming and nodding, sharp-eyed and +courteous, and whom Selwood, from a glance at the emblazoned lettering +of the bill-of-fare, took to rejoice in the name of Mr. Alessandro +Bioni. This man, if he was landlord, or manager, of the Ravenna Hotel, +was clearly the person to approach if one wanted information about the +Luigi Dimambro who had given the place as his address as recently as +November 12th. + +While he ate and drank, Selwood wondered how to go about his business. +It seemed to him that the best thing to do, now that he had seen the +place and assured himself that it was a hotel evidently doing a proper +and legitimate business, was to approach its management with a plain +question--was Mr. Luigi Dimambro staying there, or was he known there? +Since Dimambro, whoever he might be, had given that as his address, +something must be known of him. And when the smiling patron presently +came round, and, seeing a new customer, asked politely if he was being +served to his satisfaction, Selwood determined to settle matters at +once. + +"The proprietor, I presume?" he asked. + +"Manager, sir," answered the other. "The proprietor, he is an old +gentleman--practically retired." + +"Perhaps I can ask you a question," Selwood. "Have you got a Mr. Luigi +Dimambro staying at your hotel? He is, I believe"--here Selwood made a +bold shot at a possibility--"a seller of curios, or art objects. I know +he stops here sometimes." + +The manager rubbed his hands together and reflected. + +"One moment, sir," he said. "I get the register. The hotel guests, they +come in here for meals, but always I do not recollect their names, and +sometimes not know them. But the register----" + +He sped down the room, through a side door, vanished; to return in a +moment with a book which he carried to Selwood's side. + +"Dimambro?" he said. "Recently, then? We shall see." + +"About the beginning or middle of November," answered Selwood. + +The manager found the pages: suddenly he pointed to an entry. + +"See, then!" he exclaimed dramatically. "You are right, sir. There--Luigi +Dimambro--November 11th to--yes--13th. Two days only. Then he go--leave +us, eh?" + +"Oh, then, he's not here now," said Selwood, affecting disappointment. +"That's a pity. I wanted to see him. I wonder if he left any address?" + +The manager showed more politeness in returning to the hotel office and +making inquiry. He came back full of disappointment that he could not +oblige his customer. No--no address--merely there for two nights--then +gone--nobody knew where. Perhaps he would return--some day. + +"Oh, it's of no great consequence, thank you," remarked Selwood. "I'm +much obliged to you." + +He had found out, at any rate, that a man named Dimambro had certainly +stayed at the Hotel Ravenna on the critical and important date. +Presumably he was the man who had presented Jacob Herapath's cheque at +Bittleston's Bank first thing on the morning after the murder. But +whether this man had any connection with that murder, whether to +discover his whereabouts would be to reveal something of use in +establishing Barthorpe Herapath's innocence, were questions which he +must leave to Professor Cox-Raythwaite, to whom he was presently going +with his news. + +He had just finished his coffee, and was about to pay his bill when, +looking up to summon the waiter, he suddenly saw a face appear behind +the glass panel of the street door--the face of a man who had evidently +stolen quietly into the entry between the evergreen shrubs and wished to +take a surreptitious peep into the interior of the little restaurant. It +was there, clearly seen through the glass, but for one fraction of a +second--then it was withdrawn as swiftly as it had come and the panel of +glass was blank again. But in that flash of time Selwood had recognized +it. + +Burchill! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE NOTE IN THE PRAYER-BOOK + + +Selwood hurried out of that restaurant as soon as he had paid his bill, +but it was with small hopes of finding the man whose face had appeared +at the glass panel for the fraction of a second. As well look for one +snowflake in a drift as for one man in those crowded streets!--all the +same, he spent half an hour in wandering round the neighbourhood, +looking eagerly at every tall figure he met or passed. And at the end of +that time he went off to Endsleigh Gardens and reported progress to +Professor Cox-Raythwaite. + +The Professor heard both items of news without betraying any great +surprise. + +"You're sure it was Burchill?" he asked. + +"As sure," answered Selwood, "as that you're you! His is not a face easy +to mistake." + +"He's a daring fellow," observed the Professor, musingly. "A very bold +fellow! There's a very good portrait of him on those bills that the police +have put out and posted so freely, and he must know that every constable +and detective in London is on the look-out for him, to say nothing of folk +who would be glad of the reward. If that was Burchill--and I've no doubt +of it, since you're so certain--it suggests a good deal to me." + +"What?" asked Selwood. + +"That he's not afraid of being recaptured as you'd think he would +be," replied the Professor. "It suggests that he's got some card +up his sleeve--which is what I've always thought. He probably knows +something--you may be certain, in any case, that he's playing a deep +and bold game, for his own purpose, of course. Now, I wonder if +Burchill went to that restaurant on the same errand as yourself?" + +"What!--to look for Dimambro?" exclaimed Selwood. + +"Why not? Remember that Burchill was Jacob Herapath's secretary before +you were," answered the Professor. "He was with Jacob some time, +wasn't he? Well, he knew a good deal about Jacob's doings. Jacob may +have had dealings with this Dimambro person in Burchill's days. You +don't remember that Jacob had any such dealings in your time?" + +"Never!" replied Selwood. "Never heard the man's name until +yesterday--never saw any letters from him, never heard Mr. Herapath +mention him. But then, as Mr. Halfpenny said, yesterday, Mr. Herapath +had all sorts of queer dealings with queer people. It's a fact that he +used to buy and sell all sorts of things--curios, pictures, precious +stones--he'd all sorts of irons in the fire. It's a fact, too, that he +was accustomed to carrying not only considerable sums of money, but +valuables on him." + +"Ah!" exclaimed the Professor. He rose out of his chair, put his hands +behind his broad back, and began to march up and down his study. "I'll +tell you what, young man!" he said earnestly. "I'm more than ever +convinced that Jacob Herapath was robbed as well as murdered, and that +robbery and murder--or, rather, murder and robbery, for the murder would +go first--took place just before Barthorpe entered the offices to keep +that appointment. Selwood!--we must find this Dimambro man!" + +"Who's most likely left the country," remarked Selwood. + +"That's probable--it may be certain," said the Professor. "Nevertheless, +he may be here. And Burchill may be looking for him, too. Now, if Dimambro +stopped two days at that Hotel Ravenna, from November 11th to 13th, there +must be somebody who knows something of him. We must--you must--make more +inquiry--there at the hotel. Talk quietly to that manager or the servants. +Get a description of him. Do that at once--first thing tomorrow morning." + +"You don't want to tell the police all this?" asked Selwood. + +"No! Not at present, at any rate," answered the Professor. "The police +have their own methods, and they don't thank anybody for putting them +off their beaten tracks. And--for the present--we won't tell them +anything about your seeing Burchill. If we did, they'd be incredulous. +Police-like, they'll have watched the various seaports much more closely +than they'll have watched London streets for Burchill. And Burchill's a +clever devil--he'll know that he's much safer under the very nose of the +people who want him than he would be fifty miles away from their toes! +No, it's my opinion that Master Burchill will reveal himself, when the +time comes." + +"Give himself up, do you mean?" exclaimed Selwood. + +"Likely--but if he does, it'll be done with a purpose," answered the +Professor. "Well--keep all quiet at present, and tomorrow morning, go +and see if you can find out more about Dimambro at that hotel." + +Selwood repaired to the polite manager again next day and found no +difficulty in getting whatever information the hotel staff--represented +by a manageress, a general man-servant, and a maid or two--could give. +It was meagre, and not too exact in particulars. Mr. Dimambro, who had +never been there before, had stopped two days. He had occupied Room +5--the gentleman could see it if he wished. Mr. Dimambro had been in and +out most of the time. On the 13th he had gone out early in the morning; +by ten o'clock he had returned, paid his bill, and gone away with his +luggage--one suit-case. No--he had had no callers at the hotel. But a +waiter in the restaurant was discovered who remembered him as Number 5, +and that on the 12th he had entertained a gentleman to dinner at seven +o'clock--a tall, thin, dark-faced gentleman, who looked like--yes, like +an actor: a nicely dressed gentleman. That was all the waiter could +remember of the guest; he remembered just about as much of Number 5, +which was that Dimambro was a shortish, stoutish gentleman, with a +slight black beard and moustache. There was a good reason why the +waiter remembered this occurrence--the two gentlemen had a bottle of the +best champagne, a rare occurrence at the Hotel Ravenna--a whole bottle, +for which the surprising sum of twelve shillings and sixpence was +charged! In proof of that startling episode in the restaurant routine, +he produced the desk book for that day--behold it, the entry: Number +5--1 Moet & Chandon, 12_s._ 6_d._ + +"It is of a rare thing our customers call for wine so expensive," said +the polite manager. "Light wines, you understand, sir, we mostly sell. +Champagne at twelve and six--an event!" + +Selwood carried this further news to Professor Cox-Raythwaite, who +roused himself from his microscope to consider it. + +"Could that tall, dark, nicely-dressed gentleman have been Burchill?" he +muttered. "Sounds like him. But you've got a description of Dimambro, at +any rate. Now we know of one man who saw the caller at the House of +Commons--Mountain, the coachman. Come along--I'll go with you to see +Mountain." + +Mountain, discovered at the mews wherein the Herapath stable was kept, +said at once that he remembered the gentleman who had come out of the +House of Commons with his late master. But when he came to be taxed with +a requirement of details, Mountain's memory proved to be of no real +value. The gentleman--well, he was a well-dressed gentleman, and he wore +a top hat. But whether the gentleman was dark or fair, elderly or +middle-aged, short or medium-heighted, he did not know--exactly. +Nevertheless---- + +"I should know him again, sir, if I was to set eyes on him!" said +Mountain, with such belief in his powers. "Pick him out of a thousand, I +could!" + +"Queer how deficient most of our people are in the faculty of observation!" +remarked the Professor as he and Selwood left the mews. "It really is most +extraordinary that a man like that, with plenty of intelligence, and is no +doubt a good man in his own line, can look at another man for a full minute +and yet be utterly unable to tell you anything definite about him a month +later! No help there, Selwood." + +It seemed to Selwood that they were face to face with an impossible +situation, and he began to feel inclined to share Mr. Halfpenny's +pessimistic opinions as to the usefulness of these researches. But +Professor Cox-Raythwaite was not to be easily daunted, and he was no +sooner baulked in one direction than he hastened to try another. + +"Now, let's see where we are," he said, as they went round to Portman +Square. "We do know for a certainty that Jacob Herapath had a transaction +of some sort with one Luigi Dimambro, on November 12th, and that it +resulted in his handing, or sending, the said Luigi a cheque for three +thousand guineas. Let's see if we can't find some trace of it, or some +mention of it, or of previous dealings with Dimambro, amongst Jacob's +papers. I suppose we can get access to everything here at the house, +and down at the office, too, can't we? The probability is that the +transaction with Dimambro was not the first. There must be something, +Selwood--memoranda, letters, receipts--must be!" + +But Selwood shook his head and uttered a dismal groan. + +"Another of my late employer's peculiarities," he answered, "was that +he never gave or took receipts in what one may call word-of-mouth +transactions! He had a rooted--almost savage--objection to anybody +asking him for a receipt for cash; he absolutely refused to take one if +he paid cash. I've seen him pay several thousand pounds for a purchase +and fling the proffered receipt in the fire in the purchaser's presence. +He used to ask--vehemently!--if you wanted receipts for a loaf of bread +or a pound of beef-steak. I'm afraid we shan't find much of that sort. +As to letters and memoranda, Mr. Herapath had a curious habit which gave +me considerable trouble of mind when I first went to him, though I admit +it was a simple one. He destroyed every letter he ever got as soon as +he'd answered it. And as he insisted on everything being answered there +and then, there's no great accumulation of paper in that way!" + +"We'll see what there is, anyhow," said the Professor. "If we could find +something, anything--a mere business card, a letter-heading--that would +give us Dimambro's permanent address, it would be of use. For I'm more +and more convinced that Dimambro was the man who called at the House of +Commons that night, and if it was Burchill who dined with him that same +evening, why, then--but come along, let's have a look at Jacob's desk +in the house here, and after that we'll go down to the estate offices +and see if we can find anything there." + +This was a Saturday morning--during the whole of that afternoon and +evening the Professor and Selwood examined every drawer and receptacle +in which Jacob Herapath's papers lay, both at Portman Square and at +Kensington. And, exactly as Selwood had said, there was next to nothing +of a private nature. Papers relating to Parliamentary matters, to +building schemes, to business affairs, there were in plenty, duly filed, +docketed, and arranged, but there was nothing of the sort that +Cox-Raythwaite hoped to find, and when they parted, late at night, they +were no wiser than when they began their investigations. + +"Go home to bed," counselled the Professor. "Put the whole thing out of +your head until Monday morning. Don't even think about it. Come and see +me on Monday, first thing, and we'll start again. For by the Lord Harry! +I'll find out yet what the real nature of Jacob Herapath's transaction +with Dimambro was, if I have to track Dimambro all through Italy!" + +Selwood was glad enough to put everything out of his mind; it seemed to him +a hopeless task to search for a man to whose identity they only had the +very faintest clue. But before noon of the next day--Sunday--he was face +to face with a new phase of the problem. Since her uncle's death, Peggie +had begun to show a quiet reliance on Selwood. It had come to be tacitly +understood between them that he was to be in constant attendance on her +for the present, at any rate. He spent all his time at the house in +Portman Square; he saved its young mistress all the trouble he could; he +accompanied her in her goings and comings. And of late he had taken to +attending her to a certain neighbouring church, whereto Peggie, like a +well-regulated young lady, was constant in her Sunday visits. There in +the Herapath family pew, he and Peggie sat together on this particular +Sunday morning, neither with any thought that the Herapath mystery had +penetrated to their sacred surroundings. Selwood had been glad to take +Cox-Raythwaite's advice and to put the thing out of his mind for thirty-six +hours: Peggie had nothing in her mind but what was proper to the occasion. + +Jacob Herapath had been an old-fashioned man in many respects; one of +his fads was an insistence upon having a family pew in the church which +he attended, and in furnishing it with his own cushions, mats, and +books. Consequently Peggie left her own prayer-book in that pew from +Sunday to Sunday. She picked it up now, and opened it at the usual +familiar place. And from that place immediately dropped a folded note. + +Had this communication been a _billet-doux_, Peggie could hardly have +betrayed more alarm and confusion. For a moment she let the thing rest +in the palm of her hand, holding the hand out towards Selwood at her +side; then with trembling fingers she unfolded it in such a fashion that +she and Selwood read it together. With astonished eyes and beating hearts +they found themselves looking at a half-sheet of thin, foreign-looking +notepaper, on which were two or three lines of typewriting: + + "If you wish to save your cousin Barthorpe's life, + leave the church and speak to the lady whom you will find + in a private automobile at the entrance to the + churchyard." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE WHITE-HAIRED LADY + + +The two young people who bent over this mysterious message in the shelter +of that old-fashioned pew were each conscious of a similar feeling--they +were thankful that they were together. Peggie Wynne had never been so glad +of anything in her life as for Selwood's immediate presence at that moment: +Selwood felt a world of unspeakable gratitude that he was there, just when +help and protection were wanted. For each recognized, with a sure instinct +and intuition, that those innocent-looking lines of type-script signified +much, heralded some event of dire importance. To save Barthorpe Herapath's +life!--that could only mean that somebody--the sender of the note--knew +that Barthorpe was innocent and some other person guilty. + +For a moment the girl stared with startled eyes and flushed cheeks at +the scrap of paper; then she turned with a quick, questioning look at +her companion. And Selwood reached for his hat and his stick, and +murmured one word: + +"Come!" + +Peggie saw nothing of the surprised and questioning looks which were turned +on Selwood and herself as they left the pew and passed down the aisle of +the crowded church. She had but one thought--whom was she going to meet +outside, what revelation was going to be made to her? Unconsciously, she +laid a hand on Selwood's arm as they passed through the porch, and Selwood, +with a quick throb of pride, took it and held it. Then, arm in arm, they +walked out, and a verger who opened the outer door for them, smiled as they +passed him; he foresaw another passing-out, whereat Peggie would wear +orange blossoms. + +The yard of this particular church was not a place of green sward, +ancient trees, and tumble-down tombs; instead it was an expanse of bare +flagstones, shut in by high walls which terminated at a pair of iron +gates. Outside those gates an automobile was drawn up; its driver stood +attentively at its door. Selwood narrowly inspected both, as he and +Peggie approached. The car was evidently a private one: a quiet, yet +smart affair; its driver was equally smart in his dark green livery. And +that he had received his orders was evident from the fact that as the +two young people approached he touched his cap and laid a hand on the +door of the car. + +"Be watchful and careful," whispered Selwood, as he and Peggie crossed +the pavement. "Leave all to me!" + +He himself was keenly alert to whatever might be going to happen. It +seemed to him, from the chauffeur's action, that they were to be +invited, or Peggie was to be invited, to enter the car. Very good--but +he was going to know who was in that car before any communications of +any sort were entered upon. Also, Peggie was not going to exchange one +word with anybody, go one step with anybody, unless he remained in close +attendance upon her. The phraseology of the mysterious note; the +clandestine fashion in which it had been brought under Peggie's notice; +the extraordinary method adopted of procuring an interview with her--all +these things had aroused Selwood's suspicions, and his natural sense of +caution was at its full stretch as he walked across to the car, +wondering what he and Peggie were about to confront. + +What they did confront was a pleasant-faced, white-haired, elderly lady, +evidently a woman of fashion and of culture, who bent forward from her +seat with a kindly, half-apologetic smile. + +"Miss Wynne?" she said inquiringly. "How do you do? And this gentleman +is, no doubt, Mr. Selwood, of whom I have heard? You must forgive this +strange conduct, this extraordinary manner of getting speech with you--I +am not a free agent. Now, as I have something to say--will you both come +into the car and hear it?" + +Peggie, who was greatly surprised at this reception, turned diffidently +to her companion. And Selwood, who had been gazing earnestly at the +elderly lady's face, and had seen nothing but good intention in it, felt +himself considerably embarrassed. + +"I--well, really, this is such a very strange affair altogether that I +don't know what we ought to do," he said. "May I suggest that if you +wish to talk to Miss Wynne, we should go to her house? It's only just +round the corner, and----" + +"But that's just what I am not to do," replied the lady, with an amused +laugh. "I repeat--I am not exactly a free agent. It's all very strange, +and very unpleasant, and sounds, no doubt, very mysterious, but I am +acting--practically--under orders. Let me suggest something--will you +and Miss Wynne come into the car, and I will tell the man to drive +gently about until you have heard what I have to say? Come now!--I am +not going to kidnap you, and you can't come to much harm by driving +round about Portman Square for a few minutes, in the company of an old +woman! Dickerson," she went on, as Selwood motioned Peggie to enter the +car, "drive us very slowly round about here until I tell you to stop--go +round the square--anywhere." + +The car moved gently up Baker Street, and Selwood glanced inquiringly at +their captor. + +"May we have the pleasure of----" + +The elderly lady brought out a card-case and some papers. + +"I am Mrs. Engledew," she said. "I live in the Herapath Flats. I don't +suppose you ever heard of me, Miss Wynne, but I knew your uncle very +well--we had been acquaintances, nay, friends, for years. I thought it +might be necessary to prove my _bona fides_," she continued, with a +laugh, "so I brought some letters of Jacob Herapath's with me--letters +written to me--you recognize his big, bold hand, of course." + +There was no mistaking Jacob Herapath's writing, and the two young +people, after one glance at it, exchanged glances with each other. + +"Now you want to know why I am here," said Mrs. Engledew. "The answer +is plain--if astonishing. I have managed to get mixed up in this matter +of Jacob Herapath's murder! That sounds odd, doesn't it?--nevertheless, +it's true. But we can't go into that now. And I cannot do more than tell +you that I simply bring a message and want an answer. My dear!" she +continued, laying a hand on Peggie's arm, "you do not wish to see +Barthorpe Herapath hanged?" + +"We believe him innocent," replied Peggie. + +"Quite so--he is innocent--of murder, anyway," said Mrs. Engledew. +"Now--I speak in absolute confidence, remember!--there are two men who +know who the real murderer is. They are in touch with me--that is, one +of them is, on behalf of both. I am really here as their emissary. They +are prepared to give you and the police full particulars about the +murder--for a price." + +Selwood felt himself grow more suspicious than ever. This lady was of +charming address, pleasant smile, and apparently candid manners, +but--price!--price for telling the truth in a case like this! + +"What price?" he asked. + +"Their price is ten thousand pounds--cash," answered Mrs. Engledew, with +a little shrug of her shoulders. "Seems a great deal, doesn't it? But +that is their price. They will not be moved from it. If Miss Wynne will +agree to pay that sum, they will at once not only give their evidence as +to the real murderer of Jacob Herapath, but they will point him out." + +"When?" demanded Selwood. + +"Tonight!" replied Mrs. Engledew. "Tonight--at an hour to be fixed after +your agreement to their terms." + +Selwood felt himself in a difficult position. Mr. Tertius was out of +town for the day, gone to visit an antiquarian friend in Berkshire: Mr. +Halfpenny lived away down amongst the Surrey hills. Still, there was +Cox-Raythwaite to turn to. But it seemed as if the lady desired an +immediate answer. + +"You know these men?" he asked. + +"One only, who represents both," answered Mrs. Engledew. + +"Why not point him out to the police, and let them deal with them?" +suggested Selwood. "They would get his evidence out of him without any +question of price!" + +"I have given my word," said Mrs. Engledew. "I--the fact is, I am mixed +up in this, quite innocently, of course. And I am sure that no living +person knows the truth except these men, and just as sure that they will +not tell what they know unless they are paid. The police could not make +them speak if they didn't want to speak. They know very well that they +have got the whip-hand of all of us in that respect!" + +"Of you, too?" asked Selwood. + +"Of me, too!" she answered. "Nobody in the world, I'm sure, knows the +secret but these men. And it's important to me personally that they +should reveal it. In fact, though I'm not rich, I'll join Miss Wynne in +paying their price, so far as a thousand pounds is concerned. I would +pay more, but I really haven't got the money--I daren't go beyond a +thousand." + +Selwood felt himself impressed by this candid offer. + +"Precisely what do they ask--what do they propose?" he asked. + +"This. If you agree to pay them ten thousand pounds, you and Professor +Cox-Raythwaite are to meet them tonight. They will then tell the true +story, and they will further take you and the police to the man, the +real murderer," answered Mrs. Engledew. "It is important that all this +should be done tonight." + +"Where is this meeting to take place?" demanded Selwood. + +"It can take place at my flat: in fact, it must, because, as I say, I am +unfortunately mixed up," said Mrs. Engledew. "If you agree to the terms, +you are to telephone to me--I have written my number on the card--at two +o'clock this afternoon. Then I shall telephone the time of meeting +tonight, and you must bring the money with you." + +"Ten thousand pounds in cash--on Sunday!" exclaimed Selwood. "That, of +course, is utterly impossible." + +"Not cash in that sense," replied Mrs. Engledew. "An open cheque will +do. And, don't you see, that, I think, proves the _bona fides_ of the +men. If they fail to do what they say they can and will do, you can stop +payment of that cheque first thing tomorrow morning." + +"Yes, that's so," agreed Selwood. He glanced at Peggie, who was +silently listening with deep interest. "I don't know how things stand," +he went on. "Mr. Halfpenny, Miss Wynne's solicitor, lives a long way out +of town. Miss Wynne would doubtless cheerfully sacrifice ten thousand +pounds to save her cousin----" + +"Oh, twenty thousand--anything!" exclaimed Peggie. "Don't let us +hesitate about money, please." + +"But I don't know whether she can draw a cheque," continued Selwood. "At +least, for such an amount as that. Perhaps Professor Cox-Raythwaite can +tell us. Let me ask you a question or two, if you please, Mrs. +Engledew," he went on. "You say you only know one of these men. Do you +know his name?" + +"No--I don't," confessed Mrs. Engledew. "Everything is secret and +mysterious." + +"Are you convinced--has he done anything to convince you--of his good +faith?" + +"Yes--absolutely!" + +"You don't doubt his--their--ability to clear all this up?" + +"I'm quite sure they can clear it up." + +"Have you any idea as to the identity of the real murderer?" + +"Not the least!" + +"One more question, then," concluded Selwood. "Are the police to be +there when Cox-Raythwaite and I come tonight?" + +"That I don't know," replied Mrs. Engledew. "All I know is--just what I +am ordered to say. Pay them the money--they will tell the truth and take +you and the police to the real criminal. One more thing--it is +understood that you will not approach the police between now and this +evening. That part--the police part--is to be left to them." + +"I understand," said Selwood. "Very well--we will get out, if you +please, and we will go straight to Professor Cox-Raythwaite. At two +o'clock I shall ring you up and give you our answer." + +He hurried Peggie into a taxi-cab as soon as Mrs. Engledew's car had +gone away, and they went hastily to Endsleigh Gardens, where Professor +Cox-Raythwaite listened to the strange story in dead silence. + +"Mrs. Engledew--lady living in Herapath Flats--old friend of +Jacob's--possessed letters of his--instrument for two men in possession of +secret--willing to fork out a thousand of her own," he muttered. "Gad!--I +take that to be genuine, Selwood! The only question is for Peggie +here--does she wish to throw away nine thousand to save Barthorpe's neck?" + +"The only question, Professor," said Peggie, reprovingly, "is--can I do +it? Can I draw a cheque for that amount?" + +"Why not?" replied the Professor. "Everything's in order. Barthorpe +withdrew that wretched caveat--the will's been proved--every penny that +Jacob possessed is yours. Draw a cheque for fifty thousand, if you +like!" + +"And you will go with Mr. Selwood?" asked Peggie, with a touch of +anxiety which was not lost on the Professor. + +"Go with him--and take care of him, too," answered the Professor, +digging his big fingers into Selwood's ribs. "Very good. Now stop here +and lunch with me, and at two o'clock we'll telephone." + +He and Peggie stood breathlessly waiting in the hall that afternoon +while Selwood was busy at the telephone in an adjacent lobby. Selwood +came back to them nodding his head. + +"All right!" he said. "You and I, Professor, at her flat--tonight, at +nine o'clock." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE INTERRUPTED DINNER-PARTY + + +Triffitt's recent inquiries in connection with the Herapath affair had been +all very well from a strictly professional point of view, but not so well +from another. For nearly twelve months he had been engaged to a sweet girl, +of whom he was very fond, and who thoroughly reciprocated his affection; +up to the time of the Herapath murder he had contrived to spend a certain +portion of each day with her, and to her he had invariably devoted the +whole of his Sundays. In this love affair he was joined by his friend, +to whom Triffitt's young lady had introduced her great friend, with whom +Carver had promptly become infatuated. These ladies, both very young and +undeniably charming, spent the greater part of the working week at the +School of Needlework, in South Kensington, where they fashioned various +beautiful objects with busy needles; Sundays they gave up to their +swains, and every Sunday ended with a little dinner of four at some cheap +restaurant whereat you could get quite a number of courses at the fixed +price of half a crown or so and drink light wine which was very little +dearer than pale ale. All parties concerned looked forward throughout the +week to these joyful occasions; the girls wore their best frocks, and the +young men came out bravely in the matter of neckties; there was laughter +and gaiety and a general escape from the prosaic matters which obtained +from Monday to Saturday--consequently, Triffitt felt it a serious thing +that attention to this Herapath business had come to interfere with his +love-making and his Sunday feast of mirth and gladness. More than once he +had been obliged to let Carver go alone to the usual rendezvous; he himself +had been running hither and thither after chances of news which never +materialized, while his sweetheart played gooseberry to the more favoured +people. And as he was very much in love, Triffitt had often been tempted to +throw his clues and his theories to the winds, and to vow himself to the +service of Venus rather than to that of Mercury. + +But on that Sunday which saw the white-haired lady interviewing Peggie +Wynne and Selwood, Triffitt, to his great delight, found that newspaper +requirements were not going to interfere with him. The hue-and-cry after +the missing Burchill was dying down--the police (so Davidge told Triffitt +in strict confidence) were of the firm opinion that Burchill had escaped +to the continent--probably within a few hours of the moment wherein he +made his unceremonious exit from Mr. Halfpenny's office. Even Markledew was +not so keen about the Herapath affair as he had been. His policy was--a +new day, a new affair. The Herapath mystery was becoming a little stale--it +would get staler unless a fresh and startling development took place. As +it was, nothing was likely to arise which would titillate the public until +Barthorpe Herapath, now safely lodged in the remand prison, was brought +to trial, or unless Burchill was arrested. Consequently, Triffitt was not +expected to make up a half or a whole column of recent and sensational +Herapath news every morning. And so he gladly took this Sunday for a return +to the primrose paths. He and Carver met their sweethearts; they took them +to the Albert Hall Sunday afternoon concert--nothing better offering in +the middle of winter--they went to tea at the sweethearts' lodgings; later +in the evening they carried them off to the accustomed Sunday dinner. + +Triffitt and Carver had become thoroughly seasoned men of the world in +the matter of finding out good places whereat to dine well and cheaply. +They knew all the Soho restaurants. They had sampled several in Oxford +Street and in Tottenham Court Road. But by sheer luck they had found +one--an Italian restaurant--in South Kensington which was, in their +opinion, superior to all of their acquaintance. This establishment had +many advantages for lovers. To begin with, it bore a poetical name--the +Cafe Venezia--Triffitt, who frequently read Byron and Shelley to his +adored one, said it made one think of moonlight and gondolas, and +similar adjuncts to what he called _parfaite amour_. Then it was divided +off into little cabinets, just holding four people--that was an +advantage when you were sure of your company. And for the _prix fixe_ of +two shillings they gave you quite a good dinner; also their Chianti was +of exceptional quality, and according to the proprietor, it came +straight from Siena. + +On this Sunday evening, then, Triffitt on one side of a table with his +lady-love, Carver on the other with his, made merry, with no thought of +anything but the joys of the moment. They had arrived at the last stages +of the feast; the heroes puffed cigarettes and sipped Benedictine; the +heroines daintily drank their sweetened coffee. They all chattered +gaily, out of the fulness of their youthful hearts; not one of them had +any idea that anything was going to happen. And in the midst of their +lightsomeness, Triffitt, who faced a mirror, started, dropped his +cigarette, upset his liqueur glass and turned pale. For an instant he +clutched the tablecloth, staring straight in front of him; then with a +great effort he controlled his emotion and with a cautious hissing of +his breath, gazed warningly at Carver. + +"'Sh!" whispered Triffitt. "Not a word! And don't move--don't show a +sign, any of you. Carver--turn your head very slowly and look behind +you. At the bar!" + +At the entrance to that restaurant there was a bar, whereat it was +possible to get a drink. There were two or three men, so occupied, +standing at this bar at that moment--Carver, leisurely turning to +inspect them, suddenly started as violently as Triffitt had started a +moment before. + +"Good heavens!" he muttered. "Burchill!" + +"Quiet!" commanded Triffitt. "Quiet, all of you. By Gad!--this is----" + +He ended in an eloquent silence and with a glare at his companions +which would have imposed silence on an unruly class-room. He was already +at work--the quick, sure journalistic instinct had come up on top and +was rapidly realizing the situation. That the man standing there, +openly, calmly, taking a drink of some sort, was Frank Burchill he had +no more doubt than of his own identity. The thing was--what was to be +done? + +Triffitt was as quick of action as of thought--in two seconds he had +made up his mind. With another warning glance at the startled girls, he +bent across the table to Carver. + +"Carver!" he whispered. "Do exactly what I tell you. When Burchill goes +out, Trixie and I'll follow him. You pay the bill--then you and Lettie +jump into the first taxi you can get and go to Scotland Yard. Find +Davidge! If Davidge isn't there, get somebody else. Wait there until I +ring you up! What I'll do will be this--we'll follow Burchill, and if I +see that he's going to take to train or cab I'll call help and stop him. +You follow me? As soon as I've taken action, or run him to earth, I'll +ring up Scotland Yard, and then----" + +"He's going," announced Carver, who had taken advantage of the many +mirrors to keep his eye on Burchill. "He's off! I understand----" + +Triffitt was already leading his sweetheart quietly out. In the gloom of +the street he saw Burchill's tall figure striding away towards Cromwell +Road. Triffitt's companion was an athletically inclined young woman--long +walks in the country on summer Sundays had toughened her powers of +locomotion and she strode out manfully in response to Triffitt's command +to hurry up. + +"Lucky that you were with me, Trixie!" exclaimed Triffitt. "You make a +splendid blind. Supposing he does look round and sees that he's being +followed? Why, he'd never think that we were after him. Slip your hand in +my arm--he'll think we're just a couple of sweethearts, going his way. +Gad!--what a surprise! And what a cheek he has--with all those bills out +against him!" + +"You don't think he'll shoot you if he catches sight of you?" asked +Trixie, anxiously. "He'd be sure to recognize you, wouldn't he?" + +"We'll not come within shooting distance," replied Triffitt grimly. "All +I want to do is to track him. Of course, if he gets into any vehicle, +I'll have to act. Let's draw a bit nearer." + +Burchill showed no sign of hailing any vehicle; indeed, he showed no +sign of anything but cool confidence. It was certainly nearly nine +o'clock of a dark winter evening, but there was plenty of artificial +light in the streets, and Burchill made no attempt to escape its glare. +He walked on, smoking a cigar, jauntily swinging an umbrella, he passed +and was passed by innumerable people; more than one policeman glanced at +his tall figure and took no notice. And Triffitt chuckled cynically. + +"There you are, Trixie!" he said. "There's a fellow who's wanted about as +badly as can be, whose picture's posted up outside every police-station in +London, and at every port in England, and he walks about, and stares at +people, and passes policemen as unconcernedly as I do. The fact of the case +is that if I went to that bobby and pointed Burchill out, and told the +bobby who he is, all that bobby would say would be, 'Who are you a-kiddin' +of?'--or words to that equivalent. And so--still ahead he goes, and we +after him! And--where?" + +Burchill evidently knew very well where he was going. He crossed Cromwell +Road, went up Queen's Road, turned into Queen's Gate Terrace, and +leisurely pursuing his way, proceeded to cut through various streets and +thoroughfares towards Kensington High Street. Always he looked forward; +never once did he turn nor seem to have any suspicion that he was being +followed. There was nothing here of the furtive slink, the frightened +slouch of the criminal escaped from justice; the man's entire bearing +was that of fearlessness; he strode across Kensington High Street in the +full glare of light before the Town Hall and under the noses of several +policemen. + +Five minutes later Triffitt pulled himself and Trixie up with a gasp. The +chase had come to an end--for that moment, at any rate. Boldly, openly, +with absolute nonchalance, Burchill walked into a brilliantly-lighted +entrance of the Herapath Flats! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE YORKSHIRE PROVERB + + +In the course of Triffitt's brief and fairly glorious journalistic +career, he had enjoyed and suffered a few startling experiences. He had +been fastened up in the darker regions of a London sewer in flood, +wondering if he would ever breathe the fine air of Fleet Street again or +go down with the rats that scurried by him. He had been down a coal-mine +in the bad hour which follows an explosion. He had several times risked +his neck; his limbs had often been in danger; he had known what it was +to feel thumpings of the heart and catchings of the breath from sheer +fright. He had come face to face with surprise, with astonishment, with +audacious turnings of Fortune's glass. But never in all his life had he +been so surprised as he now was, and after one long, low whistle he +relieved his feelings by quoting verse: + + "Is things what they seem? + Or is visions about? + +"Trixie!" he went on in a low, concentrated voice. "This licks all! This +bangs Banagher! This--but words fail me, Trixie!" + +"What is it, Herbert?" demanded Trixie anxiously. "What does it all +mean?" + +"Ah!" responded Triffitt, wildly smiting the crown of his deerstalker. +"That's just it! What does it all mean, my dear! Gad!--this is--to use +the common language of the common man, a fair licker! That that chap +Burchill should march as bold as brass into those Herapath Flats, +is--well, I couldn't be more surprised, Trixie, than if you were to tell +me that you are the Queen of Sheba's grand-daughter! Not so much so, in +fact. You see----" + +But at that moment a taxi-cab came speeding round the corner, and from +it presently emerged Carver and Davidge. The detective, phlegmatic, +quiet as ever, nodded familiarly to Triffitt and lifted his hat to +Trixie. + +"Evening, Mr. Triffitt," he said quietly. + +"He's in there!" exclaimed Triffitt, grabbing Davidge's arm and pointing +wildly to the brilliantly lighted entrance, wherein two or three +uniformed servants lounged about to open doors and attend to elevators. +"Walked in as if the whole place belonged to him! You know--Burchill!" + +"Ah, just so!" responded Davidge unconcernedly. "Quite so--I wouldn't +name no names in the street if I were you, Mr. Triffitt. Ah!--to be +sure, now. Well, of course, he would have to go in somewhere, wouldn't +he?--as well here as anywhere, perhaps. Yes. Now, if this young lady +would join the other young lady in the cab, Mr. Carver'll escort 'em +home, and then he can come back here if he likes--we might have a bit of +a job for him. And when the ladies retire, you and me can do our bit of +business, d'ye see, Mr. Triffitt. What?" + +Trixie, urged towards the cab, showed signs of uneasiness. + +"Promise me you won't get shot, or poisoned, or anything, Herbert!" she +entreated. "If you do----" + +"We aren't going in for any shooting tonight, miss," said Davidge +gravely. "Some other night, perhaps. All quiet and serene tonight--just +a little family gathering, as it were--all pleasant!" + +"But that dreadful man!" exclaimed Trixie, pointing to the door of the +flats. "Supposing----" + +"Ah, but we won't suppose," answered Davidge. "He's all right, he is. +Mild as milk we shall find him--my word on it, miss. Now," he continued, +when he had gently but firmly assisted Trixie into the cab, said a word +or two to Carver, taken Triffitt's arm, and led him across the street, +"now we'll talk a bit, quietly. So he's gone in there, has he, Mr. +Triffitt? Just so. Alone, now?" + +"Quite alone," replied Triffitt. "What's it all about--what does it +mean? You seem remarkably cool about it!" + +"I shouldn't be much use in my trade if I didn't keep cool, Mr. +Triffitt," answered Davidge. "You see, I know a bit--perhaps a good +deal--of what's going on--or what's going to go on, presently. So will +you. I'll take you in there." + +"There? Where?" demanded Triffitt. + +"Where he's gone," said Davidge. "Where--if I'm not mistaken--that +chap's going." + +He pointed to a man who had come quickly round the corner from the +direction of the High Street, a middle-sized, apparently well-dressed +man, who hurried up the broad steps and disappeared within the +glass-panelled doors. + +"That's another of 'em," observed Davidge. "And I'm a Dutchman if this +taxi-cab doesn't hold t'other two. You'll recognize them, easy." + +Triffitt gaped with astonishment as he saw Professor Cox-Raythwaite and +Selwood descend from the taxi-cab, pass up the steps, and disappear. + +"Talk of mysteries!" he said. "This----" + +Davidge pulled out an old-fashioned watch. + +"Nine o'clock," he remarked. "Come on--we'll go in. Now, then, Mr. +Triffitt," he continued, pressing his companion's arm, "let me give you +a tip. You mayn't know that I'm a Yorkshireman--I am! We've a good old +proverb--it's often cast up against us: 'Hear all--say naught!' You'll +see me act on it tonight--act on it yourself. And--a word in your +ear!--you're going to have the biggest surprise you ever had in your +life--and so's a certain somebody else that we shall see in five +minutes! Come on!" + +He took Triffitt's arm firmly in his, led him up the stairs, in at the +doors. The hall-porter came forward. + +"Take me up," said Davidge, "to Mrs. Engledew's flat." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +BURCHILL FILLS THE STAGE + + +It seemed to Triffitt, who possessed, and sedulously cultivated, a sense +of the dramatic, that the scene to which he and Davidge were presently +conducted by a trim and somewhat surprised-looking parlour-maid, was one +which might have been bodily lifted from the stage of any theatre +devoted to work of the melodramatic order. The detective and the +reporter found themselves on the threshold of a handsomely furnished +dining-room, vividly lighted by lamps which threw a warm pink glow over +the old oak furniture and luxurious fittings. On one side of the big +table sat Professor Cox-Raythwaite and Selwood both looking a little +mystified; at the further end sat a shortish, rather fat man, obviously +a foreigner, who betrayed anxiety in every line of his rather oily +countenance. And posed in an elegant attitude on the hearthrug, one +elbow resting on the black marble of the mantelpiece, one hand toying +with a cigarette, stood Burchill, scrupulously attired as usual, and +conveying, or endeavouring to convey to whoever looked upon him, that +he, of all people present, was master of himself and all of the scene. + +Triffitt took all this in at a glance; his next glance was at the +elegant, white-haired lady who came forward to meet him and his +companion. Davidge gave him a nudge as he executed a duck-like bow. + +"Servant, ma'am," said Davidge in his quietest and coolest manner. "I +took the liberty of bringing a friend with me. You see, ma'am, as these +proceedings are in what we may call the public way, Mrs. Engledew, no +objection I'm sure to having a press gentleman at them. Mr. Triffitt, +ma'am, of the _Argus_ newspaper. Known to these gentlemen--all of +'em--unless it's the gentleman at the far end, there. Known, at any +rate, to Mr. Selwood and the Professor," continued Davidge, nodding with +much familiarity to the person he named. "And likewise to Mr. Burchill +there. How do you do, sir, this evening? You and me, I think, has met +before, and shall no doubt meet again. Well, ma'am, and now that I've +come, perhaps I might ask a question. What have I come for?" + +Davidge had kept up this flow of talk while he took stock of his +surroundings, and now, with another nudge of his companion's elbow, he +took a chair between the door and the table, planted himself firmly in +it, put his hands on top of his stout stick, and propped his chin on his +hands. He looked at Mrs. Engledew once more, and then let his eyes make +another inspection of her guests. + +"What have I come for, ma'am?" he repeated. "To hear those revelations +you spoke of when you called on me this afternoon? Just so. Well, ma'am, +the only question now is--who's going to make 'em? For," he added, +sitting up again after his further inspection, and bestowing a general +smile all round, "revelations, ma'am, is what I chiefly hanker after, +and I shall be glad--delighted!--to hear any specimens from--anybody as +chooses to make 'em!" + +Mrs. Engledew looked at Burchill as she resumed her seat. + +"I think Mr. Burchill is the most likely person to tell you what there +is to tell," she said. "His friend----" + +"Ah!--the gentleman at the other end of the table, no doubt," observed +Davidge. "How do you do, sir? And what might that gentleman's name be, +now?" + +Burchill, who had been watching the detective carefully, threw away his +cigarette and showed an inclination to speak. + +"Look here, Davidge!" he said. "You know very well why you're here--you're +here to hear the real truth about the Herapath murder! Mrs. Engledew told +you that this afternoon, when she called on you at Scotland Yard. Now the +only two people who know the real truth are myself and my friend there--Mr. +Dimambro." + +Selwood and Cox-Raythwaite, who until then had remained in ignorance of the +little foreigner's identity, started and looked at him with interest. So +this was the missing witness! But Davidge remained cool and unimpressed. + +"Ah, just so!" he said. "Foreign gentleman, no doubt. And you and Mr. +Dimambro are the only persons who know the real truth about that little +affair, eh, Mr. Burchill. Very good, so as----" + +"As Mr. Dimambro doesn't speak English very well----" began Burchill. + +"I speak it--you understand--enough to say a good many words--but not so +good as him," observed Mr. Dimambro, waving a fat hand. "He say it for +me--for both of us, eh?" + +"To be sure, sir, to be sure," said Davidge. "Mr. Burchill is gifted +that way, of course. Well, Mr. Burchill, and what might this story be, +now? Deeply interesting, I'll be bound." + +Burchill pulled a chair to the table, opposite Selwood and the +Professor. He put the tips of his fingers together and assumed an +explanatory manner. + +"I shall have to begin at the beginning," he said. "You'll all please to +follow me closely. Now, to commence--Mrs. Engledew permits me to speak for +her as well as for Mr. Dimambro. The fact is, I can put the circumstances +of the whole affair into a consecutive manner. And I will preface what I +have to say by making a statement respecting a fact in the life of the late +Mr. Herapath which will, I believe, be substantiated by Mr. Selwood, my +successor as secretary to the deceased gentleman. Mr. Herapath, in addition +to being an authority on the building of up-to-date flats, was also more or +less of an expert in precious stones. He not only bought and sold in these +things, but he gave advice to his friends in matters relating to them. Mr. +Selwood has, I am sure, had experience of that fact?" + +"To a certain extent--yes," agreed Selwood. "But I had not been long +enough in Mr. Herapath's employ to know how much he went in for that sort +of thing." + +"That is immaterial," continued Burchill. "We establish the fact that +he did. Now we come to the first chapter of our story. This lady, Mrs. +Engledew, a tenant of this flat since the Herapath Estate was built, is +an old acquaintance--I am permitted to say, friend--of the late Jacob +Herapath. She occasionally consulted him on matters of business. On +November 12th last she consulted him on another affair--though it had, of +course, a business complexion. Mrs. Engledew, by the death of a relative, +had just come into possession of some old family jewels--chiefly diamonds. +These diamonds, which, Mrs. Engledew tells me, had been valued by Spinks at +about seven thousand pounds, were in very old, considerably worn settings. +Mrs. Engledew wished to have them reset. Knowing that Jacob Herapath had +great taste and knowledge in that direction, she saw him at his office on +the noon of November 12th, showed him the diamonds, and asked his advice. +Jacob Herapath--I am giving you Mrs. Engledew's account--told her to leave +the diamonds with him, as he was going to see, that very day, an expert in +that line, to whom he would show the stones with the idea of his giving +him his opinion on what ought to be done with them. Mrs. Engledew handed +him the diamonds in a small case, which he put in his pocket. I hope," +added Burchill, turning to Mrs. Engledew, "that I have given all this +quite correctly?" + +"Quite," assented Mrs. Engledew. "It is perfectly correct." + +"Then," continued Burchill, "we pass on to Mr. Dimambro. Mr. Luigi Dimambro +is a dealer in precious stones, who resides in Genoa, but travels widely +about Europe in pursuance of his business. Mr. Dimambro had had several +dealings with Jacob Herapath during past years, but previous to November +12th last they had not met for something like twelve months. On their last +previous meeting Jacob Herapath told Mr. Dimambro that he was collecting +pearls of a certain sort and size--specimens of which he showed him--with a +view to presenting his niece, Miss Wynne, with a necklace which was to be +formed of them. He gave Dimambro a commission to collect such pearls for +him. On November 11th last Dimambro arrived in London from the Continent, +and wrote to Mr. Herapath to tell him of his arrival, and to notify him +that he had brought with him some pearls of the sort he wanted. Mr. +Herapath thereupon made an appointment with Dimambro at the House of +Commons on the evening of November 12th at half-past ten o'clock. Dimambro +kept that appointment, showed Mr. Herapath the pearls which he had brought, +sold them to him, and received from him, in payment for them, a cheque for +three thousand guineas. This transaction being conducted, Mr. Herapath drew +from his pocket (the same pocket in which he had already placed the pearls, +which I understand, were wrapped up in a small bag or case of wash-leather) +the diamonds which Mrs. Engledew had entrusted to him, showed them to +Dimambro, and asked his opinion as to how they could best be reset. It +is not material to this explanation to repeat what Dimambro said on that +matter--suffice it to say that Dimambro gave an expert opinion, that Mr. +Herapath once more pocketed the diamonds, and soon afterwards left the +House of Commons for his estate offices with both lots of valuable stones +in his possession--some ten thousand pounds' worth in all. As for Dimambro, +he went home to the hotel at which he was stopping--a little place called +the Ravenna, in Soho, an Italian house--next morning, first thing, he +cashed his cheque, and before noon he left for the Continent. He had not +heard of the murder of Jacob Herapath when he left London, and he did not +hear of it until next day. I think I have given Mr. Dimambro's account +accurately--his account so far," concluded Burchill, turning to the +Italian. "If not, he will correct me." + +"Quite right, quite right!" said Dimambro, who had listened eagerly. "I +do not hear of the murder, eh, until I am in Berlin--it is, yes, next +day--day after I leave London--that I hear of it, you understand? I then +see it in the newspaper--English news, eh?" + +"Why did you not come back at once?" asked Cox-Raythwaite. + +Dimambro spread out his hands. + +"Oh, I have my business--very particular," he said. "Besides, it has +nothing to do with me, eh? I don't see no--no connection between me and +that--no! But in time, I do come back, and then--he tell you," he broke +off, pointing to Burchill. "He tell you better, see?" + +"I am taking everything in order," said Burchill. "And for the present I +have done with Mr. Dimambro. Now I come to myself. I shall have to go +into details about myself which I should not give if it were not for +these exceptional circumstances. Mr. Davidge, I am sure, will understand +me. Well, about myself--you will all remember that at both the coroner's +inquest and at the proceedings before the magistrate at which Barthorpe +Herapath was present and I--for reasons well known!--was not, there was +mention made of a letter which I had written to Jacob Herapath and was +subsequently found in Barthorpe's possession, on his arrest. That letter +was taken to be a blackmailing letter--I don't know whether any of you +will believe me, and I don't care whether you do or not, but I declare +that it was not meant to be a letter of that sort, though its wording +might set up that opinion. However, Jacob Herapath resented that letter, +and on its receipt he wrote to me showing that it had greatly displeased +him. Now, I did not want to displease Jacob Herapath, and on receipt of +his letter, I determined to see him personally at once. Being, of +course, thoroughly familiar with his habits, I knew that he generally +left the House of Commons about a quarter past eleven, every night when +the House was sitting. I accordingly walked down to Palace Yard, +intending to accost him. I arrived at the entrance to the Hall soon +after eleven. A few minutes later Mountain, the coachman, drove up with +the coupe brougham. I remained within the shadow of the porch--there +were other people about--several Members, and men who were with them. At +a quarter past eleven Jacob Herapath came down the Hall, accompanied by +Dimambro. I knew Dimambro, though I had not seen him for some time--I +used to see him, very occasionally, during my secretaryship to Mr. +Herapath. When I saw these two in conversation, I drew back, and neither +of them saw me. I did not want to accost Mr. Herapath in the presence of +a second party. I watched him part from Dimambro, and I heard him tell +Mountain to drive to the estate office. When both he and Dimambro had +gone, I walked out into Parliament Square, and after thinking things +over, I hailed a passing taxi-cab, and told the driver to go to +Kensington High Street, and to pull up by the Metropolitan Station." + +Burchill here paused--to give Davidge a peculiarly knowing look. + +"Now I want you all--and particularly Mr. Davidge--to follow closely +what I'm going to tell you," he continued. "I got out of the cab at the +station in the High Street, dismissed it, walked a little way along the +street, and then crossed over and made for the Herapath Flats--for the +estate office entrance. I think you are all very well acquainted with +that entrance. You know that it lies in a covered carriage way which +leads from the side-street into the big quadrangle round which the flats +are built. As I went up the side-street, on the opposite side, mind, to +the entrance, I saw a man come out of the covered carriage way. That +man I knew!" + +Burchill made a dramatic pause, looking impressively around him amidst a +dead silence. + +"Knew!" he repeated, shaking his finger at the expectant faces. "Knew +well! But--I am not going to tell you his name at this moment. For the +present we will call him Mr. X." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +DAVIDGE'S TRUMP CARD + + +Burchill paused for a moment, to give full effect to this dramatic +announcement, which, to tell truth, certainly impressed every member of +his audience but one. That one skilfully concealed his real feelings +under a show of feigned interest. + +"You never say!" exclaimed Davidge, dropping into a favourite colloquialism +of his native county. "Dear me, today! A man that you knew, Mr. Burchill, +and that for the present you'll call Mr. X. You knew him well, then?" + +"Better than I know you," replied Burchill. He was beginning to be +suspicious of Davidge's tone, and his resentment of it showed in his +answer. "Well enough to know him and not to mistake him, anyhow! And +mind you, there was nothing surprising in his being there at that time +of night--that's a point that you should bear in mind, Davidge--it's in +your line, that. I knew so much of Jacob Herapath's methods and doings +that it was quite a reasonable thing for this man to be coming out of +the estate offices just before midnight." + +"Exactly, sir--I follow you," said Davidge. "Ah!--and what might this +Mr. X. do then, Mr. Burchill?" + +Burchill, who had addressed his remarks chiefly to the listeners on the +other side of the table, and notably to Cox-Raythwaite, turned away from +the detective and went on. + +"This man--Mr. X," he said, "came quickly out of the door, turned down the +side-street a little, then turned back, passed the carriage-entrance, and +went away up the street in the opposite direction. He turned on his own +tracks so quickly that I was certain he had seen somebody coming whom he +did not wish to meet. He----" + +"Excuse me a moment," broke in Cox-Raythwaite. "How was it X. didn't see +you?" + +"Because I was on the opposite side of the street, in deep shadow," +replied Burchill. "Besides that, the instant I caught sight of him I +quietly slipped back into a doorway. I remained there while he turned +and hurried up the street, for I was sure he had seen somebody coming, +and I wanted to find out who it was. And in another minute Barthorpe +Herapath came along, walking quickly. Then I understood--X. had seen him +in the distance, and didn't want to meet him." + +"Just so, just so," murmured Davidge. "To be sure." + +"Barthorpe Herapath turned into the carriageway and went into the +office," continued Burchill. "Now, as I've already said, I knew Jacob +Herapath's methods; I hadn't served him for nothing. He was the sort of +man who makes no distinction between day and night--it was quite a +common thing for him to fix up business appointments with people at +midnight. I've been present at such appointments many a time. So, I +dare say, has Mr. Selwood; any one who acted as secretary to Jacob +Herapath knows well that he'd think nothing of transacting business at +three o'clock in the morning. So I knew, of course, that Barthorpe had +gone there to keep some such appointment. I also knew that it would +probably last some time. Now I wanted to see Jacob Herapath alone. And +as there didn't seem to be any chance of it just then, I went home to my +flat in Maida Vale." + +"Walked in?" asked Davidge. + +"If you're particular as to the means, I took a taxi-cab at the Gardens +end of the High Street," replied Burchill, half-contemptuously. He +turned his attention to Selwood and the Professor again. "Now, I'm going +to tell you the plain truth about what happened afterwards," he +continued. "This part of the story is for the particular benefit of you +two gentlemen, though it has its proper connection with all the rest of +the narrative. I sat up rather late when I got home that night, and I +lay in bed next day until afternoon--in fact, I'd only just risen when +Barthorpe Herapath called on me at three o'clock. Now, as I don't have +papers delivered, but go out to buy what I want, it's the fact that I +never heard of Jacob Herapath's murder until Barthorpe told me of it, +then! That's the truth. And I'll at once anticipate the question that +you'll naturally want to ask. Why didn't I at once tell Barthorpe of +what I'd seen the night before?--of the presence of the man whom we're +calling Mr. X.?" + +"Just so!" murmured Davidge. "Ah, yes, why not?" + +"I'll tell you," continued Burchill. "Because Barthorpe immediately +sprang upon me the matter of the will. And I just as immediately +recognized--I think I may count myself as a quick thinker--that the +really important matter just then was not the murder of Jacob Herapath, +but the ultimate disposal of Jacob Herapath's immense wealth." + +"Clever!" sighed Davidge. "Uncommonly clever!" + +"Now, Professor Cox-Raythwaite, and you, Mr. Selwood," Burchill went on, +adding new earnestness to his tone. "I want you to fully understand that +I'm giving you the exact truth. I firmly believed at that moment, and I +continued to believe until the eventful conference at Mr. Halfpenny's +office, that the gentleman whom I had known as Mr. Tertius was in +reality Arthur John Wynne, forger and ex-convict. I say I firmly +believed it, and I'll tell you why. During my secretaryship to Jacob +Herapath, he one day asked me to clear out a box full of old papers and +documents. In doing so I came across an old North-country newspaper +which contained a full account of the trial at Lancaster Assizes of +Arthur John Wynne on various charges of forgery. Jacob Herapath's name, +of course, cropped up in it, as a relative. The similarity of the names +of Jacob Herapath's ward, Miss Wynne, and that of the forger, roused my +suspicions, and I not only put two and two together, but I made some +inquiries privately, and I formed the definite conclusion that Tertius +and Wynne were identical, and that the semi-mystery of Tertius's +residence in Jacob Herapath's house was then fully accounted for. So +when Barthorpe told me what he did, and explained his anxiety about the +will, I saw my way to upsetting that will, for his benefit and for my +own. If I swore that I'd never signed that will, and could prove that +Tertius was Wynne, the forger, why then, of course, the will would be +upset, for it seemed to me that any jury would believe that Tertius, or +Wynne, had forged the will for his daughter's benefit. And so Barthorpe +and I fixed that up. Reprehensible, no doubt, gentlemen, but we all have +to live, and besides, Barthorpe promised me that he'd treat Miss Wynne +most handsomely. Well, that procedure was settled--with the result that +we're all aware of. And now I'd like to ask Mr. Davidge there a +question--as I'm about to tell him who the real murderer of Jacob +Herapath was, perhaps he'll answer it. I take it, Davidge, that the only +evidence you had against me in regard to the murder was the document +which you found at my flat, by which Barthorpe Herapath promised to pay +me ten per cent. on the value of the Herapath estate? That and the fact +that Barthorpe and I were in league about the will? Come now--as all's +being cleared up, isn't that so?" + +Davidge rubbed his chin with affected indifference. + +"Oh, well, you can put it down at something like that, if you like, Mr. +Burchill," he answered. "You're a very clever young fellow, and I dare +say you're as well aware of what the law about accessories is as I am. +'Tisn't necessary for a party to a murder to be actually present at the +execution of the crime, sir--no! And there's such a thing as being +accessory after the crime--of course. Leave it at that, Mr. Burchill, +leave it at that!" + +Cox-Raythwaite, who had been eyeing Burchill with ill-concealed disgust, +spoke sharply. + +"And--the rest?" he asked. + +"I'm going along in order," answered Burchill coolly. "Well, I come to +the time when Davidge there arrested Barthorpe and myself at Halfpenny +and Farthing's, and when I escaped. There's no need to tell you what I +did with myself," he went on, with an obvious sneer in the detective's +direction. "But I can tell you that I didn't particularly restrict my +movements. And eventually--a few days ago--I come into touch with +Dimambro, who had returned to England. As I said before, we had met +during the time I was secretary to Jacob Herapath. Dimambro, when I met +him--accidentally--was on his way to the police, to tell them what he +knew. I stopped him--he told his story to me instead. I told him mine. +And the result of our deliberations was that we got an interview--at +least I did--with Mrs. Engledew here, with respect to the diamonds which +she had entrusted to Jacob Herapath. And----" + +"I should like to ask you a question, Mrs. Engledew," said Cox-Raythwaite, +interrupting Burchill without ceremony. "Why did you not inform the police +about your diamonds as soon as you heard of the murder?" + +Mrs. Engledew betrayed slight signs of confusion, and Davidge gave the +questioner a look. + +"I think if I were you, I shouldn't go into that matter just now, +Professor," he said apologetically. "Ladies, you know, have their reasons +for these little--what shall we call 'em?--peculiarities. No, I wouldn't +press that point, sir. We're having a nice, straight story--quite like +a printed one!--from Mr. Burchill there, and I think we'd better let +him come to what we may term the last chapter in his own way--what?" + +"I'm at the last chapter," said Burchill. "And it's a short one. I saw Mrs. +Engledew and made certain arrangements with her. And just after they were +made--yesterday in fact--Dimambro and I got a new piece of evidence. When +Dimambro was collecting those pearls for Jacob Herapath he bought some +from a well-known dealer in Amsterdam, a specialist in pearls. Yesterday, +Dimambro got a letter from this man telling him that a small parcel of +those very pearls had been sent to him from London, for sale. He gave +Dimambro the name and address of the sender, who, of course, was the Mr. X. +of whom I have spoken. So then Dimambro and I resolved to act, through Mrs. +Engledew----" + +"For a slight consideration, I think," suggested Davidge dryly. "A matter +of a little cheque, I believe, Mr. Burchill." + +"We've quite as much right to be paid for our detective services, +amateur though they are, as you have for yours, Davidge," retorted +Burchill. "However, I've come to an end, and it only remains for me to +tell you who Mr. X. really is. He hasn't the slightest notion that he's +suspected, and if you and your men, Davidge, go round to his house, +which isn't half a mile away, you'll probably find him eating his Sunday +evening supper in peace and quietness. The man is----" + +Davidge suddenly rose from his chair, nudging Triffitt as he moved. He +laughed--and the laugh made Burchill start to his feet. + +"You needn't trouble yourself, Mr. Burchill!" said Davidge. "Much +obliged to you for your talk, there's nothing like letting some folks +wag their tongues till they're tired. I know who murdered Jacob Herapath +as well as you do, and who your Mr. X. is. Jacob Herapath, gentlemen," +he added, turning to his astonished listeners, "was shot dead and robbed +by his office manager, James Frankton, and if James Frankton's eating +his Sunday supper in peace and quietness, it's in one of our cells, for +I arrested him at seven o'clock this very evening--and with no help from +you, Mr. Burchill! I'm not quite such a fool as I may look, my lad, and +if I made one mistake when I let you slip I didn't make another when I +got on the track of the real man. And now, ma'am," he concluded, with an +old-fashioned bow to Mrs. Engledew, "there's no more to be said--by me, +at all events, and I've the honour to wish you a good night. Mr. +Triffitt--we'll depart." + +Outside, Davidge took the reporter's arm in a firm grip, and chuckled as +he led him towards the elevator. + +"That's surprise one!" he whispered. "Wait till we get downstairs and +into the street, and you'll have another, and it'll be of a bit livelier +nature!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +THE SECOND WARRANT + + +Davidge preserved a strict silence as he and Triffitt went down in the +elevator, but when they had reached the ground floor he took the +reporter's arm again, and as they crossed the entrance hall gave it a +significant squeeze. + +"You'll see two or three rather heavy swells, some of 'em in evening +dress, hanging about the door," he murmured. "Look like residents, +coming in or going out, puffing their cigars and their cigarettes, eh? +They're my men--all of 'em! Take no notice--there'll be your friend +Carver outside--I gave him a hint. Join him, and hang about--you'll have +something to do a bit of newspaper copy about presently." + +Triffitt, greatly mystified, joined Carver at the edge of the pavement +outside the wide entrance door. Glancing around him he saw several men +lounging about--two, of eminently military appearance, with evening +dress under their overcoats, stood chatting on the lower steps; two or +three others, all very prosperous looking, were talking close by. There +was nothing in their outward show to arouse suspicion--at any other +time, and under any other circumstances Triffitt would certainly have +taken them for residents of the Herapath Flats. Carver, however, winked +at him. + +"Detectives," he said. "They've gathered here while you were upstairs. +What's up now, Triffitt? Heard anything?" + +"Piles!" answered Triffitt. "Heaps! But I don't know what this is all +about. Some new departure. Hullo!--here's the secretary and the +Professor." + +Cox-Raythwaite and Selwood just then appeared at the entrance door and +began to descend the steps. Davidge, who had stopped on the steps to +speak to a man, hailed and drew them aside. + +"What has gone on up there?" asked Carver. "Anything really----" + +Triffitt suddenly grasped his companion's shoulder, twisting him round +towards the door. His lips emitted a warning to silence; his eyes +signalled Carver to look. + +Burchill came out of the doors, closely followed by Dimambro. Jauntily +swinging his walking-cane he began to descend, affecting utter +unconsciousness of the presence of Cox-Raythwaite, Selwood, and Davidge. +He passed close by the men in evening dress, brushing the sleeve of one. +And the man thus brushed turned quickly, and his companion turned +too--and then something happened that made the two reporters exclaim +joyfully and run up the steps. + +"Gad!--that was quick--quick!" exclaimed Triffitt, with the delight of a +schoolboy. "Never saw the bracelets put on more neatly. Bully for you, +Davidge, old man!--got him this time, anyhow!" + +Burchill, taken aback by the sudden onslaught of Davidge's satellites, +drew himself up indignantly and looked down at his bands, around the +wrists of which his captors had snapped a pair of handcuffs. He lifted a +face white with rage and passion and glanced at Cox-Raythwaite and +Selwood. + +"Liars!" he hissed between his teeth. "You gave me safe conduct! It was +understood that I was to come and go without interference, you hounds!" + +"Not with me, nor I should think with anybody, my lad," exclaimed +Davidge, bustling forward. "Not likely! You forget that you're under +arrest for the old charge yet, and though you'll get off for that, you +won't go scot-free, my friend! I've got a second warrant for you, and +the charge'll be read to you when you get to the station. You'll clear +yourself of the charge of murder, but not of t'other charge, I'm +thinking!" + +"Second warrant! Another charge!" growled Burchill. "What charge?" + +"I should think you know as well as I do," replied Davidge quietly. +"You're a bigger fool than I take you for if you don't. Conspiracy, of +course! It's a good thing to have two strings to one's bow, Mr. Frank +Burchill, in dealing with birds like you. This is my second string. Take +him off," he added, motioning to his men, "and get him searched, and put +everything carefully aside for me--especially a cheque for ten thousand +pounds which you'll find in one of his pockets." + +When the detectives had hurried Burchill into a taxi-cab which suddenly +sprang into useful proximity to the excited group, Davidge spat on the +ground and made a face. He motioned Cox-Raythwaite, Selwood, and the +two reporters to go down the street; he himself turned to Dimambro. What +he said to that highly-excited gentleman they did not hear, but the +Italian presently walked off looking very crestfallen, while Davidge, +joining them, looked highly pleased with himself. + +"Of course, you'll stop payment of that cheque at the bank first thing +tomorrow, gentlemen," he said. "Though that'll only be for form's sake, +because I shall take charge of it when I go round to the police-station +presently--they'll have got Burchill searched when I get there. Of +course, I wasn't going to say anything up there, but Mrs. Engledew has +been in with us at this, and she took Burchill and Dimambro in as +beautifully as ever I saw it done in my life! Clever woman, that! We +knew about her diamonds, gentlemen, within a few hours of the discovery +of the murder, and of course, I thought Barthorpe had got them; I did, +mistaken though I was! I didn't want anybody to know about those +diamonds, though, and I kept it all dark until these fellows came on the +scene. And, anyway, we didn't get the real culprit through the diamonds, +either!" + +"That's what we want to know," said Selwood. "Have you got the real +culprit? Are you certain? And how on earth did you get him--a man that +none of us ever suspected!" + +"Just so!" answered Davidge with a grim laugh. "As nice and quiet-mannered +a man as ever I entered as a candidate for the gallows! It's very often +the case, gentlemen. Oh, yes--it's true enough! He's confessed--crumpled +up like a bit of tissue paper when we took him--confessed everything to me +just before I came along here. Of course we didn't get him through anything +we've heard tonight; quite different line altogether, and a simple one." + +"We should like to know about it," said Cox-Raythwaite. "Can't you give +us a mere outline?" + +"I was going to," answered Davidge. "No secret about it. I may as well +tell you that after hearing what Barthorpe Herapath insisted on saying +before the magistrate, I began to feel that he was very likely telling +the truth, and that somebody'd murdered and robbed his uncle just before +he got to the offices. But, of course, there was nothing to connect the +murder and robbery with any person that I knew of. Well, now then, this +is how we got on the track. Only two or three days ago a little, quiet +man, who turned out to be a bit of a property-owner down at Fulham, came +to me and said that ever since Mr. Jacob Herapath's murder he'd been +what he called studying over it, and he thought he ought to tell me +something. He said he was a very slow thinker, and it had taken him a +long time to think all this out. Then he told me his tale. He said that +for some time Jacob Herapath had been waiting to buy a certain bit of +land which he had to sell. On November 12th last he called to see Jacob +at these offices, and they agreed on the matter, price to be L5,000. +Jacob told him to come in at ten o'clock next morning, and in accordance +with his usual way of doing business, he'd hand him the money in +cash--notes, of course. Well, the chap called next morning, only to hear +of what had happened, and so his business had fallen through. And it +wasn't until some time later--he's a bit of a slow-witted fellow, +dullish of brain, you understand," continued Davidge indulgently, "that +he remembered a certain conversation, or rather a remark which Jacob +Herapath made during that deal. This man, James Frankton, the manager, +was present when the deal was being effected, and when they'd concluded +terms, Jacob said, turning to Frankton. 'I'll get the money in notes +from the bank this afternoon, Frankton, and if I don't give it to you in +the meantime, you'll find the notes in the top left-hand drawer of my +desk tomorrow morning.' Well, that was what the man told me; said he'd +been bothering his brains in wondering if Jacob did draw that money, and +so on--Frankton, of course, had told him that he knew nothing about it, +and that as Jacob was dead, no more could be done in the matter. Now on +that, I at once began some inquiries. I found out a thing or two--never +mind what--one was to trace a hundred pound note which Frankton had +cashed recently. I found, only yesterday morning, that that note was one +of fifty similar notes paid to Jacob Herapath by his bankers in exchange +for his own cheque on the afternoon of November 12th. And, on that, I +had Frankton watched all yesterday, last night, and today, and as I +said, I arrested him tonight--and, in all my experience I never saw a +man more surprised, and never knew one who so lost his nerve." + +"And his confession?" asked Selwood. + +"Oh! ordinary," answered Davidge. "Jacob had made an appointment with +him for half-past eleven or so. Got there a bit late, found his master +sitting at his desk with a wad of bank notes on the blotting-pad, a +paper of pearls on one side of him, a lot of diamond ornaments at the +other--big temptation to a chap, who, as it turns out, was hard up, and +had got into the hands of money-lenders. And, oh, just the ordinary +thing in such cases, happened to have on him a revolver that he'd bought +abroad, yielded to temptation, shot his man, took money and valuables, +went home, and turned up at the office next day to lift his hands in +horror at the dreadful news. You see what truth is, gentlemen, when you +get at it--just a common, vulgar murder, for the sake of robbery. And +he'll swing!" + +"'Just a common, vulgar murder, and he'll swing!'" softly repeated +Cox-Raythwaite, as he and Selwood walked up the steps of the house in +Portman Square half an hour later. "Well, that's solved, anyway. As for +the other two----" + +"I suppose there's no doubt of their guilt with respect to their +conspiring to upset the will?" said Selwood. "And that's a serious +offence, isn't it?" + +"In this eminently commercial country, very," answered Cox-Raythwaite, +sententiously. "Barthorpe and Burchill will inevitably retire to the +shelter of a convict establishment for awhile. Um! Well, my boy, good +night!" + +"Not coming in?" asked Selwood, as he put a key in the latch. + +The Professor gave his companion's shoulder a pressure of his big hand. + +"I think," he said, turning down the steps with a shy laugh, "I think +Peggie will prefer to receive you--alone." + +THE END + + + + + _THE MYSTERY STORIES OF_ + + _J . S . F L E T C H E R_ + + "_We always feel as though we were really spreading happiness when we + can announce a genuinely satisfactory mystery story, such as J. S. + Fletcher's new one._"--N. P. D. in the New York Globe. + +THE MIDDLE TEMPLE MURDER [1918] + +"Unquestionably, _the_ detective story of the season and, therefore, one +which no lover of detective fiction should miss."--_The Broadside._ + +THE TALLEYRAND MAXIM [1920] + +"A crackerjack mystery tale; the story of Linford Pratt, who earnestly +desired to get on in life, by hook or by crook--with no objection +whatever to crookedness, so long at it could be performed in safety and +secrecy."--_Knickerbocker Press._ + +THE PARADISE MYSTERY [1920] + +"As a weaver of detective tales Mr. Fletcher is entitled to a seat among +the elect. His numerous followers will find his latest book fully as +absorbing as anything from his pen that has previously appeared."--_New +York Times._ + +DEAD MEN'S MONEY [1920] + +"The story is one that holds the reader with more than the mere interest +of sensational events; Mr. Fletcher writes in a notable style."--_Newark +Evening News._ + +THE ORANGE-YELLOW DIAMOND [1921] + +". . . A rattling good yarn. . . . An uncommonly well written tale."--_New +York Times._ + +THE CHESTERMARKE INSTINCT [1921] + +"Mr. Fletcher is a master of plot. . . . To tell a story as well as this +is a literary achievement."--_Boston Transcript._ + +THE BOROUGH TREASURER [1921] + +"As mystifying a tale as even Mr. Fletcher himself has written."--_New +York Times._ + +THE HERAPATH PROPERTY [1921] + +Numerous complications lead from the murder of Jacob Herapath and the +search for his will. + +SCARHAVEN KEEP [1922] + +The mystery of the disappearance of Bassett Oliver, famous actor. + +RAVENSDENE COURT [1922] + +Two men are struck down by an unseen hand, at the same time in widely +separated places--who killed them? + + _$2.00 net each at all booksellers or from the Publisher_ + + ALFRED A. KNOPF, New York. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + + +The advertisement "The Mystery Stories of J. S. Fletcher" has been moved +from the front of the book to the back. + +Spacing around ellipses and em-dashes is as in the original. + +The following corrections have been applied: + + Advertisement: "As mystifying{original had mystifyng} a tale as + even Mr. Fletcher himself has written." + + Page vi: XXIV{original had XIV} COLD STEEL + + Page 18: but when she had left the room to make ready for the + drive Mr.{original omitted period} Tertius turned to Selwood. + + Page 66: the detective, armed with a magnifying glass, was + examining the edges of the door, the smooth backs of chairs, + even the surface of the desk, presumably for + finger-marks{original had fingermarks}. + + Page 72: "Mr. Selwood!" she exclaimed imploringly. "You--I + can't.{The original text has no em-dash, and it's not clear what + the author's intention was.} You open it, and--" + + Page 85: "Pardon," interrupted Burchill, "a{original had A} + holograph? + + Page 128: And it was as well that he was not looking{original + had look-} at Triffitt + + Page 160: perhaps you'll{original had you'l} drop me a line and + make an appointment at your office some day--then I'll call, + d'you see?"{original omitted closing quotation mark} + + Page 166: "So long as justice is done," remarked + Peggie.{original omitted period} + + Page 178: There were peculiarities about the fellow, said + Triffitt{original had Triffit}, which you couldn't forget + + Page 186: "All right," said Triffitt, "keep{original had Keep} a + still tongue as regards me + + Page 186: {original had a quotation mark here}Outside Triffitt + gave his companion's arm a confidential squeeze. + + Page 187: Markledew{original had Markledek} listened to + Triffitt's story next day in his usual rapt silence. + + Page 196: "Then we'll get to work," said Davidge. "{original + omitted quotation mark}Mr. Triffitt, I can't ask you to come + with us + + Page 201: "I haven't{original had haven'} the least objection + to Cox-Raythwaite's presence, nor yours," said Barthorpe. + + Page 211: Peggie Wynne, who during Barthorpe's last speech had + manifested signs of a desire to speak, and had begun to produce + a sealed packet from her muff.{original had a superfluous + quotation mark here} + + Page 214: as they{original had ast hey} went on, quietly rose + from his chair. + + Page 218: Is it not probable that if he wanted to make a will + he{original had be} would have employed me + + Page 273: Peggie{original had Peggy} Wynne had never been so + glad of anything in her life as for Selwood's immediate presence + at that moment + + Page 287: You follow me? As soon as I've taken action, or run + him to earth, I'll ring up Scotland Yard, and{original had an} + then----" + + Page 293: "Nine o'clock," he remarked. "{original omitted this + quotation mark}Come on--we'll go in. Now, then, Mr. Triffitt," + he continued, + +The following unusual spellings are as printed: + + Page 143: He flung Markledew's half-sheet of notepaper before + the news editor, and the news editor, seeing the great man's + sprawling caligraphy{sic}, read, wonderingly:-- + +The following words appear with and without a hyphen. They have been +left as in the original. + + bank-notes/banknotes + + business-like/businesslike + + hearth-rug/hearthrug + + note-book/notebook + + note-paper/notepaper + + parlour-maid/parlourmaid + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Herapath Property, by J. S. 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