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diff --git a/37820-8.txt b/37820-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5c2a30f --- /dev/null +++ b/37820-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7787 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Chronicles of Martin Hewitt, by Arthur Morrison + +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: Chronicles of Martin Hewitt + +Author: Arthur Morrison + +Release Date: October 22, 2011 [EBook #37820] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRONICLES OF MARTIN HEWITT *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Rory OConor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by Cornell University Digital Collections) + + + + + + + + + Appletons' Town and Country Library + No. 191 + + + + + CHRONICLES OF MARTIN HEWITT + + + BY + + ARTHUR MORRISON + AUTHOR OF TALES OF MEAN STREETS, ETC. + + + [Illustration] + + + NEW YORK + D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + 1896 + + + COPYRIGHT, 1895, 1896, + BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + THE IVY COTTAGE MYSTERY 1 + + THE NICOBAR BULLION CASE 42 + + THE HOLFORD WILL CASE 94 + + THE CASE OF THE MISSING HAND 138 + + THE CASE OF LAKER, ABSCONDED 187 + + THE CASE OF THE LOST FOREIGNER 228 + + + + +CHRONICLES OF MARTIN HEWITT. + + + + +THE IVY COTTAGE MYSTERY. + + +I had been working double tides for a month: at night on my morning +paper, as usual; and in the morning on an evening paper as _locum +tenens_ for another man who was taking a holiday. This was an exhausting +plan of work, although it only actually involved some six hours' +attendance a day, or less, at the two offices. I turned up at the +headquarters of my own paper at ten in the evening, and by the time I +had seen the editor, selected a subject, written my leader, corrected +the slips, chatted, smoked, and so on, and cleared off, it was very +usually one o'clock. This meant bed at two, or even three, after supper +at the club. + +This was all very well at ordinary periods, when any time in the morning +would do for rising, but when I had to be up again soon after seven, and +round at the evening paper office by eight, I naturally felt a little +worn and disgusted with things by midday, after a sharp couple of +hours' leaderette scribbling and paragraphing, with attendant sundries. + +But the strain was over, and on the first day of comparative comfort I +indulged in a midday breakfast and the first undisgusted glance at a +morning paper for a month. I felt rather interested in an inquest, begun +the day before, on the body of a man whom I had known very slightly +before I took to living in chambers. + +His name was Gavin Kingscote, and he was an artist of a casual and +desultory sort, having, I believe, some small private means of his own. +As a matter of fact, he had boarded in the same house in which I had +lodged myself for a while, but as I was at the time a late homer and a +fairly early riser, taking no regular board in the house, we never +became much acquainted. He had since, I understood, made some judicious +Stock Exchange speculations, and had set up house in Finchley. + +Now the news was that he had been found one morning murdered in his +smoking-room, while the room itself, with others, was in a state of +confusion. His pockets had been rifled, and his watch and chain were +gone, with one or two other small articles of value. On the night of the +tragedy a friend had sat smoking with him in the room where the murder +took place, and he had been the last person to see Mr. Kingscote alive. +A jobbing gardener, who kept the garden in order by casual work from +time to time, had been arrested in consequence of footprints exactly +corresponding with his boots, having been found on the garden beds near +the French window of the smoking-room. + +I finished my breakfast and my paper, and Mrs. Clayton, the housekeeper, +came to clear my table. She was sister of my late landlady of the house +where Kingscote had lodged, and it was by this connection that I had +found my chambers. I had not seen the housekeeper since the crime was +first reported, so I now said: + +"This is shocking news of Mr. Kingscote, Mrs. Clayton. Did you know him +yourself?" + +She had apparently only been waiting for some such remark to burst out +with whatever information she possessed. + +"Yes, sir," she exclaimed: "shocking indeed. Pore young feller! I see +him often when I was at my sister's, and he was always a nice, quiet +gentleman, so different from some. My sister, she's awful cut up, sir, I +assure you. And what d'you think 'appened, sir, only last Tuesday? You +remember Mr. Kingscote's room where he painted the woodwork so beautiful +with gold flowers, and blue, and pink? He used to tell my sister she'd +always have something to remember him by. Well, two young fellers, +gentlemen I can't call them, come and took that room (it being to let), +and went and scratched off all the paint in mere wicked mischief, and +then chopped up all the panels into sticks and bits! Nice sort o' +gentlemen them! And then they bolted in the morning, being afraid, I +s'pose, of being made to pay after treating a pore widder's property +like that. That was only Tuesday, and the very next day the pore young +gentleman himself's dead, murdered in his own 'ouse, and him going to be +married an' all! Dear, dear! I remember once he said----" + +Mrs. Clayton was a good soul, but once she began to talk some one else +had to stop her. I let her run on for a reasonable time, and then rose +and prepared to go out. I remembered very well the panels that had been +so mischievously destroyed. They made the room the show-room of the +house, which was an old one. They were indeed less than half finished +when I came away, and Mrs. Lamb, the landlady, had shown them to me one +day when Kingscote was out. All the walls of the room were panelled and +painted white, and Kingscote had put upon them an eccentric but charming +decoration, obviously suggested by some of the work of Mr. Whistler. +Tendrils, flowers, and butterflies in a quaint convention wandered +thinly from panel to panel, giving the otherwise rather uninteresting +room an unwonted atmosphere of richness and elegance. The lamentable +jackasses who had destroyed this had certainly selected the best feature +of the room whereon to inflict their senseless mischief. + +I strolled idly downstairs, with no particular plan for the afternoon in +my mind, and looked in at Hewitt's offices. Hewitt was reading a note, +and after a little chat he informed me that it had been left an hour +ago, in his absence, by the brother of the man I had just been speaking +of. + +"He isn't quite satisfied," Hewitt said, "with the way the police are +investigating the case, and asks me to run down to Finchley and look +round. Yesterday I should have refused, because I have five cases in +progress already, but to-day I find that circumstances have given me a +day or two. Didn't you say you knew the man?" + +"Scarcely more than by sight. He was a boarder in the house at Chelsea +where I stayed before I started chambers." + +"Ah, well; I think I shall look into the thing. Do you feel particularly +interested in the case? I mean, if you've nothing better to do, would +you come with me?" + +"I shall be very glad," I said. "I was in some doubt what to do with +myself. Shall you start at once?" + +"I think so. Kerrett, just call a cab. By the way, Brett, which paper +has the fullest report of the inquest yesterday? I'll run over it as we +go down." + +As I had only seen one paper that morning, I could not answer Hewitt's +question. So we bought various papers as we went along in the cab, and I +found the reports while Martin Hewitt studied them. Summarised, this was +the evidence given-- + +_Sarah Dodson_, general servant, deposed that she had been in service at +Ivy Cottage, the residence of the deceased, for five months, the only +other regular servant being the housekeeper and cook. On the evening of +the previous Tuesday both servants retired a little before eleven, +leaving Mr. Kingscote with a friend in the smoking or sitting room. She +never saw her master again alive. On coming downstairs the following +morning and going to open the smoking-room windows, she was horrified to +discover the body of Mr. Kingscote lying on the floor of the room with +blood about the head. She at once raised an alarm, and, on the +instructions of the housekeeper, fetched a doctor, and gave information +to the police. In answer to questions, witness stated she had heard no +noise of any sort during the night, nor had anything suspicious +occurred. + +_Hannah Carr_, housekeeper and cook, deposed that she had been in the +late Mr. Kingscote's service since he had first taken Ivy Cottage--a +period of rather more than a year. She had last seen the deceased alive +on the evening of the previous Tuesday, at half-past ten, when she +knocked at the door of the smoking-room, where Mr. Kingscote was sitting +with a friend, to ask if he would require anything more. Nothing was +required, so witness shortly after went to bed. In the morning she was +called by the previous witness, who had just gone downstairs, and found +the body of deceased lying as described. Deceased's watch and chain were +gone, as also was a ring he usually wore, and his pockets appeared to +have been turned out. All the ground floor of the house was in +confusion, and a bureau, a writing-table, and various drawers were +open--a bunch of keys usually carried by deceased being left hanging at +one keyhole. Deceased had drawn some money from the bank on the Tuesday, +for current expenses; how much she did not know. She had not heard or +seen anything suspicious during the night. Besides Dodson and herself, +there were no regular servants; there was a charwoman, who came +occasionally, and a jobbing gardener, living near, who was called in as +required. + +_Mr. James Vidler_, surgeon, had been called by the first witness +between seven and eight on Wednesday morning. He found the deceased +lying on his face on the floor of the smoking-room, his feet being about +eighteen inches from the window, and his head lying in the direction of +the fireplace. He found three large contused wounds on the head, any one +of which would probably have caused death. The wounds had all been +inflicted, apparently, with the same blunt instrument--probably a club +or life preserver, or other similar weapon. They could not have been +done with the poker. Death was due to concussion of the brain, and +deceased had probably been dead seven or eight hours when witness saw +him. He had since examined the body more closely, but found no marks at +all indicative of a struggle having taken place; indeed, from the +position of the wounds and their severity, he should judge that the +deceased had been attacked unawares from behind, and had died at once. +The body appeared to be perfectly healthy. + +Then there was police evidence, which showed that all the doors and +windows were found shut and completely fastened, except the front door, +which, although shut, was not bolted. There were shutters behind the +French windows in the smoking-room, and these were found fastened. No +money was found in the bureau, nor in any of the opened drawers, so that +if any had been there, it had been stolen. The pockets were entirely +empty, except for a small pair of nail scissors, and there was no watch +upon the body, nor a ring. Certain footprints were found on the garden +beds, which had led the police to take certain steps. No footprints +were to be seen on the garden path, which was hard gravel. + +_Mr. Alexander Campbell_, stockbroker, stated that he had known deceased +for some few years, and had done business for him. He and Mr. Kingscote +frequently called on one another, and on Tuesday evening they dined +together at Ivy Cottage. They sat smoking and chatting till nearly +twelve o'clock, when Mr. Kingscote himself let him out, the servants +having gone to bed. Here the witness proceeded rather excitedly: "That +is all I know of this horrible business, and I can say nothing else. +What the police mean by following and watching me----" + +_The Coroner_: "Pray be calm, Mr. Campbell. The police must do what +seems best to them in a case of this sort. I am sure you would not have +them neglect any means of getting at the truth." + +_Witness_: "Certainly not. But if they suspect me, why don't they say +so? It is intolerable that I should be----" + +_The Coroner_: "Order, order, Mr. Campbell. You are here to give +evidence." + +The witness then, in answer to questions, stated that the French windows +of the smoking-room had been left open during the evening, the weather +being very warm. He could not recollect whether or not deceased closed +them before he left, but he certainly did not close the shutters. +Witness saw nobody near the house when he left. + +_Mr. Douglas Kingscote_, architect, said deceased was his brother. He +had not seen him for some months, living as he did in another part of +the country. He believed his brother was fairly well off, and he knew +that he had made a good amount by speculation in the last year or two. +Knew of no person who would be likely to owe his brother a grudge, and +could suggest no motive for the crime except ordinary robbery. His +brother was to have been married in a few weeks. Questioned further on +this point, witness said that the marriage was to have taken place a +year ago, and it was with that view that Ivy Cottage, deceased's +residence, was taken. The lady, however, sustained a domestic +bereavement, and afterwards went abroad with her family: she was, +witness believed, shortly expected back to England. + +_William Bates_, jobbing gardener, who was brought up in custody, was +cautioned, but elected to give evidence. Witness, who appeared to be +much agitated, admitted having been in the garden of Ivy Cottage at four +in the morning, but said that he had only gone to attend to certain +plants, and knew absolutely nothing of the murder. He however admitted +that he had no order for work beyond what he had done the day before. +Being further pressed, witness made various contradictory statements, +and finally said that he had gone to take certain plants away. + +The inquest was then adjourned. + +This was the case as it stood--apparently not a case presenting any very +striking feature, although there seemed to me to be doubtful +peculiarities in many parts of it. I asked Hewitt what he thought. + +"Quite impossible to think anything, my boy, just yet; wait till we see +the place. There are any number of possibilities. Kingscote's friend, +Campbell, may have come in again, you know, by way of the window--or he +may not. Campbell may have owed him money or something--or he may not. +The anticipated wedding may have something to do with it--or, again, +_that_ may not. There is no limit to the possibilities, as far as we can +see from this report--a mere dry husk of the affair. When we get closer +we shall examine the possibilities by the light of more detailed +information. One _probability_ is that the wretched gardener is +innocent. It seems to me that his was only a comparatively blameless +manoeuvre not unheard of at other times in his trade. He came at four +in the morning to steal away the flowers he had planted the day before, +and felt rather bashful when questioned on the point. Why should he +trample on the beds, else? I wonder if the police thought to examine the +beds for traces of rooting up, or questioned the housekeeper as to any +plants being missing? But we shall see." + +We chatted at random as the train drew near Finchley, and I mentioned +_inter alia_ the wanton piece of destruction perpetrated at Kingscote's +late lodgings. Hewitt was interested. + +"That was curious," he said, "very curious. Was anything else damaged? +Furniture and so forth?" + +"I don't know. Mrs. Clayton said nothing of it, and I didn't ask her. +But it was quite bad enough as it was. The decoration was really good, +and I can't conceive a meaner piece of tomfoolery than such an attack on +a decent woman's property." + +Then Hewitt talked of other cases of similar stupid damage by creatures +inspired by a defective sense of humour, or mere love of mischief. He +had several curious and sometimes funny anecdotes of such affairs at +museums and picture exhibitions, where the damage had been so great as +to induce the authorities to call him in to discover the offender. The +work was not always easy, chiefly from the mere absence of intelligible +motive; nor, indeed, always successful. One of the anecdotes related to +a case of malicious damage to a picture--the outcome of blind artistic +jealousy--a case which had been hushed up by a large expenditure in +compensation. It would considerably startle most people, could it be +printed here, with the actual names of the parties concerned. + +Ivy Cottage, Finchley, was a compact little house, standing in a compact +little square of garden, little more than a third of an acre, or perhaps +no more at all. The front door was but a dozen yards or so back from the +road, but the intervening space was well treed and shrubbed. Mr. Douglas +Kingscote had not yet returned from town, but the housekeeper, an +intelligent, matronly woman, who knew of his intention to call in Martin +Hewitt, was ready to show us the house. + +"_First_," Hewitt said, when we stood in the smoking-room, "I observe +that somebody has shut the drawers and the bureau. That is unfortunate. +Also, the floor has been washed and the carpet taken up, which is much +worse. That, I suppose, was because the police had finished their +examination, but it doesn't help me to make one at all. Has +_anything_--anything _at all_--been left as it was on Tuesday morning?" + +"Well, sir, you see everything was in such a muddle," the housekeeper +began, "and when the police had done----" + +"Just so. I know. You 'set it to rights,' eh? Oh, that setting to +rights! It has lost me a fortune at one time and another. As to the +other rooms, now, have they been set to rights?" + +"Such as was disturbed have been put right, sir, of course." + +"Which were disturbed? Let me see them. But wait a moment." + +He opened the French windows, and closely examined the catch and bolts. +He knelt and inspected the holes whereinto the bolts fell, and then +glanced casually at the folding shutters. He opened a drawer or two, and +tried the working of the locks with the keys the housekeeper carried. +They were, the housekeeper explained, Mr. Kingscote's own keys. All +through the lower floors Hewitt examined some things attentively and +closely, and others with scarcely a glance, on a system unaccountable to +me. Presently, he asked to be shown Mr. Kingscote's bedroom, which had +not been disturbed, "set to rights," or slept in since the crime. Here, +the housekeeper said, all drawers were kept unlocked but two--one in the +wardrobe and one in the dressing-table, which Mr. Kingscote had always +been careful to keep locked. Hewitt immediately pulled both drawers open +without difficulty. Within, in addition to a few odds and ends, were +papers. All the contents of these drawers had been turned over +confusedly, while those of the unlocked drawers were in perfect order. + +"The police," Hewitt remarked, "may not have observed these matters. +Any more than such an ordinary thing as _this_," he added, picking up a +bent nail lying at the edge of a rug. + +The housekeeper doubtless took the remark as a reference to the entire +unimportance of a bent nail, but I noticed that Hewitt dropped the +article quietly into his pocket. + +We came away. At the front gate we met Mr. Douglas Kingscote, who had +just returned from town. He introduced himself, and expressed surprise +at our promptitude both of coming and going. + +"You can't have got anything like a clue in this short time, Mr. +Hewitt?" he asked. + +"Well, no," Hewitt replied, with a certain dryness, "perhaps not. But I +doubt whether a month's visit would have helped me to get anything very +striking out of a washed floor and a houseful of carefully cleaned-up +and 'set-to-rights' rooms. Candidly, I don't think you can reasonably +expect much of me. The police have a much better chance--they had the +scene of the crime to examine. I have seen just such a few rooms as any +one might see in the first well-furnished house he might enter. The +trail of the housemaid has overlaid all the others." + +"I'm very sorry for that; the fact was, I expected rather more of the +police; and, indeed, I wasn't here in time entirely to prevent the +clearing up. But still, I thought your well-known powers----" + +"My dear sir, my 'well-known powers' are nothing but common sense +assiduously applied and made quick by habit. That won't enable me to see +the invisible." + +"But can't we have the rooms put back into something of the state they +were in? The cook will remember----" + +"No, no. That would be worse and worse; that would only be the +housemaid's trail in turn overlaid by the cook's. You must leave things +with me for a little, I think." + +"Then you don't give the case up?" Mr. Kingscote asked anxiously. + +"Oh, no! I don't give it up just yet. Do you know anything of your +brother's private papers--as they were before his death?" + +"I never knew anything till after that. I have gone over them, but they +are all very ordinary letters. Do you suspect a theft of papers?" + +Martin Hewitt, with his hands on his stick behind him, looked sharply at +the other, and shook his head. "No," he said, "I can't quite say that." + +We bade Mr. Douglas Kingscote good-day, and walked towards the station. +"Great nuisance, that setting to rights," Hewitt observed, on the way. +"If the place had been left alone, the job might have been settled one +way or another by this time. As it is, we shall have to run over to your +old lodgings." + +"My old lodgings?" I repeated, amazed. "Why my old lodgings?" + +Hewitt turned to me with a chuckle and a wide smile. "Because we can't +see the broken panel-work anywhere else," he said. "Let's see--Chelsea, +isn't it?" + +"Yes, Chelsea. But why--you don't suppose the people who defaced the +panels also murdered the man who painted them?" + +"Well," Hewitt replied, with another smile, "that would be carrying a +practical joke rather far, wouldn't it? Even for the ordinary picture +damager." + +"You mean you _don't_ think they did it, then? But what _do_ you mean?" + +"My dear fellow, I don't mean anything but what I say. Come now, this is +rather an interesting case despite appearances, and it _has_ interested +me: so much, in fact, that I really think I forgot to offer Mr. Douglas +Kingscote my condolence on his bereavement. You see a problem is a +problem, whether of theft, assassination, intrigue, or anything else, +and I only think of it as one. The work very often makes me forget +merely human sympathies. Now, you have often been good enough to express +a very flattering interest in my work, and you shall have an opportunity +of exercising your own common sense in the way I am always having to +exercise mine. You shall see all my evidence (if I'm lucky enough to get +any) as I collect it, and you shall make your own inferences. That will +be a little exercise for you; the sort of exercise I should give a pupil +if I had one. But I will give you what information I have, and you shall +start fairly from this moment. You know the inquest evidence, such as it +was, and you saw everything I did in Ivy Cottage?" + +"Yes; I think so. But I'm not much the wiser." + +"Very well. Now I will tell you. What does the whole case look like? How +would you class the crime?" + +"I suppose as the police do. An ordinary case of murder with the object +of robbery." + +"It is _not_ an ordinary case. If it were, I shouldn't know as much as I +do, little as that is; the ordinary cases are always difficult. The +assailant did not come to commit a burglary, although he was a skilled +burglar, or one of them was, if more than one were concerned. The affair +has, I think, nothing to do with the expected wedding, nor had Mr. +Campbell anything to do in it--at any rate, personally--nor the +gardener. The criminal (or one of them) was known personally to the dead +man, and was well-dressed: he (or again one of them, and I think there +were two) even had a chat with Mr. Kingscote before the murder took +place. He came to ask for something which Mr. Kingscote was unwilling to +part with,--perhaps hadn't got. It was not a bulky thing. Now you have +all my materials before you." + +"But all this doesn't look like the result of the blind spite that would +ruin a man's work first and attack him bodily afterwards." + +"Spite isn't always blind, and there are other blind things besides +spite; people with good eyes in their heads are blind sometimes, even +detectives." + +"But where did you get all this information? What makes you suppose that +this was a burglar who didn't want to burgle, and a well-dressed man, +and so on?" + +Hewitt chuckled and smiled again. + +"I saw it--saw it, my boy, that's all," he said. "But here comes the +train." + +On the way back to town, after I had rather minutely described +Kingscote's work on the boarding-house panels, Hewitt asked me for the +names and professions of such fellow lodgers in that house as I might +remember. "When did you leave yourself?" he ended. + +"Three years ago, or rather more. I can remember Kingscote himself; +Turner, a medical student--James Turner, I think; Harvey Challitt, +diamond merchant's articled pupil--he was a bad egg entirely, he's doing +five years for forgery now; by the bye he had the room we are going to +see till he was marched off, and Kingscote took it--a year before I +left; there was Norton--don't know what he was; 'something in the City,' +I think; and Carter Paget, in the Admiralty Office. I don't remember any +more at this moment; there were pretty frequent changes. But you can get +it all from Mrs. Lamb, of course." + +"Of course; and Mrs. Lamb's exact address is--what?" + +I gave him the address, and the conversation became disjointed. At +Farringdon station, where we alighted, Hewitt called two hansoms. +Preparing to enter one, he motioned me to the other, saying, "You get +straight away to Mrs. Lamb's at once. She may be going to burn that +splintered wood, or to set things to rights, after the manner of her +kind, and you can stop her. I must make one or two small inquiries, but +I shall be there half an hour after you." + +"Shall I tell her our object?" + +"Only that I may be able to catch her mischievous lodgers--nothing else +yet." He jumped into the hansom and was gone. + +I found Mrs. Lamb still in a state of indignant perturbation over the +trick served her four days before. Fortunately, she had left everything +in the panelled room exactly as she had found it, with an idea of the +being better able to demand or enforce reparation should her lodgers +return. "The room's theirs, you see, sir," she said, "till the end of +the week, since they paid in advance, and they may come back and offer +to make amends, although I doubt it. As pleasant-spoken a young chap as +you might wish, he seemed, him as come to take the rooms. 'My cousin,' +says he, 'is rather an invalid, havin' only just got over congestion of +the lungs, and he won't be in London till this evening late. He's comin' +up from Birmingham,' he ses, 'and I hope he won't catch a fresh cold on +the way, although of course we've got him muffled up plenty.' He took +the rooms, sir, like a gentleman, and mentioned several gentlemen's +names I knew well, as had lodged here before; and then he put down on +that there very table, sir."--Mrs. Lamb indicated the exact spot with +her hand, as though that made the whole thing much more wonderful--"he +put down on that very table a week's rent in advance, and ses, 'That's +always the best sort of reference, Mrs. Lamb, I think,' as kind-mannered +as anything--and never 'aggled about the amount nor nothing. He only had +a little black bag, but he said his cousin had all the luggage coming +in the train, and as there was so much p'r'aps they wouldn't get it here +till next day. Then he went out and came in with his cousin at eleven +that night--Sarah let 'em in her own self--and in the morning they was +gone--and this!" Poor Mrs. Lamb, plaintively indignant, stretched her +arm towards the wrecked panels. + +"If the gentleman as you say is comin' on, sir," she pursued, "can do +anything to find 'em, I'll prosecute 'em, that I will, if it costs me +ten pound. I spoke to the constable on the beat, but he only looked like +a fool, and said if I knew where they were I might charge 'em with +wilful damage, or county court 'em. Of course I know I can do that if I +knew where they were, but how can I find 'em? Mr. Jones he said his name +was; but how many Joneses is there in London, sir?" + +I couldn't imagine any answer to a question like this, but I condoled +with Mrs. Lamb as well as I could. She afterwards went on to express +herself much as her sister had done with regard to Kingscote's death, +only as the destruction of her panels loomed larger in her mind, she +dwelt primarily on that. "It might almost seem," she said, "that +somebody had a deadly spite on the pore young gentleman, and went +breakin' up his paintin' one night, and murderin' him the next!" + +I examined the broken panels with some care, having half a notion to +attempt to deduce something from them myself, if possible. But I could +deduce nothing. The beading had been taken out, and the panels, which +were thick in the centre but bevelled at the edges, had been removed and +split up literally into thin firewood, which lay in a tumbled heap on +the hearth and about the floor. Every panel in the room had been treated +in the same way, and the result was a pretty large heap of sticks, with +nothing whatever about them to distinguish them from other sticks, +except the paint on one face, which I observed in many cases had been +scratched and scraped away. The rug was drawn half across the hearth, +and had evidently been used to deaden the sound of chopping. But +mischief--wanton and stupid mischief--was all I could deduce from it +all. + +Mr. Jones's cousin, it seemed, only Sarah had seen, as she admitted him +in the evening, and then he was so heavily muffled that she could not +distinguish his features, and would never be able to identify him. But +as for the other one, Mrs. Lamb was ready to swear to him anywhere. + +Hewitt was long in coming, and internal symptoms of the approach of +dinner-time (we had had no lunch) had made themselves felt before a +sharp ring at the door-bell foretold his arrival. "I have had to wait +for answers to a telegram," he said in explanation, "but at any rate I +have the information I wanted. And these are the mysterious panels, are +they?" + +Mrs. Lamb's true opinion of Martin Hewitt's behaviour as it proceeded +would have been amusing to know. She watched in amazement the antics of +a man who purposed finding out who had been splitting sticks by dint of +picking up each separate stick and staring at it. In the end he +collected a small handful of sticks by themselves and handed them to me, +saying, "Just put these together on the table, Brett, and see what you +make of them." + +I turned the pieces painted side up, and fitted them together into a +complete panel, joining up the painted design accurately. "It is an +entire panel," I said. + +"Good. Now look at the sticks a little more closely, and tell me if you +notice anything peculiar about them--any particular in which they differ +from all the others." + +I looked. "Two adjoining sticks," I said, "have each a small +semi-circular cavity stuffed with what seems to be putty. Put together +it would mean a small circular hole, perhaps a knot-hole, half an inch +or so in diameter, in the panel, filled in with putty, or whatever it +is." + +"A _knot-hole_?" Hewitt asked, with particular emphasis. + +"Well, no, not a knot-hole, of course, because that would go right +through, and this doesn't. It is probably less than half an inch deep +from the front surface." + +"Anything else? Look at the whole appearance of the wood itself. Colour, +for instance." + +"It is certainly darker than the rest." + +"So it is." He took the two pieces carrying the puttied hole, threw the +rest on the heap, and addressed the landlady. "The Mr. Harvey Challitt +who occupied this room before Mr. Kingscote, and who got into trouble +for forgery, was the Mr. Harvey Challitt who was himself robbed of +diamonds a few months before on a staircase, wasn't he?" + +"Yes, sir," Mrs. Lamb replied in some bewilderment. "He certainly was +that, on his own office stairs, chloroformed." + +"Just so, and when they marched him away because of the forgery, Mr. +Kingscote changed into his rooms?" + +"Yes, and very glad I was. It was bad enough to have the disgrace +brought into the house, without the trouble of trying to get people to +take his very rooms, and I thought----" + +"Yes, yes, very awkward, very awkward!" Hewitt interrupted rather +impatiently. "The man who took the rooms on Monday, now--you'd never +seen him before, had you?" + +"No, sir." + +"Then is _that_ anything like him?" Hewitt held a cabinet photograph +before her. + +"Why--why--law, yes, that's _him_!" + +Hewitt dropped the photograph back into his breast pocket with a +contented "Um," and picked up his hat. "I think we may soon be able to +find that young gentleman for you, Mrs. Lamb. He is not a very +respectable young gentleman, and perhaps you are well rid of him, even +as it is. Come, Brett," he added, "the day hasn't been wasted, after +all." + +We made towards the nearest telegraph office. On the way I said, "That +puttied-up hole in the piece of wood seems to have influenced you. Is it +an important link?" + +"Well--yes," Hewitt answered, "it is. But all those other pieces are +important, too." + +"But why?" + +"Because there are no holes in them." He looked quizzically at my +wondering face, and laughed aloud. "Come," he said, "I won't puzzle you +much longer. Here is the post-office. I'll send my wire, and then we'll +go and dine at Luzatti's." + +He sent his telegram, and we cabbed it to Luzatti's. Among actors, +journalists, and others who know town and like a good dinner, Luzatti's +is well known. We went upstairs for the sake of quietness, and took a +table standing alone in a recess just inside the door. We ordered our +dinner, and then Hewitt began: + +"Now tell me what _your_ conclusion is in this matter of the Ivy Cottage +murder." + +"Mine? I haven't one. I'm sorry I'm so very dull, but I really haven't." + +"Come, I'll give you a point. Here is the newspaper account (torn +sacrilegiously from my scrap-book for your benefit) of the robbery +perpetrated on Harvey Challitt a few months before his forgery. Read +it." + +"Oh, but I remember the circumstances very well. He was carrying two +packets of diamonds belonging to his firm downstairs to the office of +another firm of diamond merchants on the ground-floor. It was a quiet +time in the day, and half-way down he was seized on a dark landing, made +insensible by chloroform, and robbed of the diamonds--five or six +thousand pounds' worth altogether, of stones of various smallish +individual values up to thirty pounds or so. He lay unconscious on the +landing till one of the partners, noticing that he had been rather long +gone, followed and found him. That's all, I think." + +"Yes, that's all. Well, what do you make of it?" + +"I'm afraid I don't quite see the connection with this case." + +"Well, then, I'll give you another point. The telegram I've just sent +releases information to the police, in consequence of which they will +probably apprehend Harvey Challitt and his confederate, Henry Gillard, +_alias_ Jones, for the murder of Gavin Kingscote. Now, then." + +"Challitt! But he's in gaol already." + +"Tut, tut, consider. Five years' penal was his dose, although for the +first offence, because the forgery was of an extremely dangerous sort. +You left Chelsea over three years ago yourself, and you told me that his +difficulty occurred a year before. That makes four years, at least. Good +conduct in prison brings a man out of a five years' sentence in that +time or a little less, and, as a matter of fact, Challitt was released +rather more than a week ago." + +"Still, I'm afraid I don't see what you are driving at." + +"Whose story is this about the diamond robbery from Harvey Challitt?" + +"His own." + +"Exactly. His own. Does his subsequent record make him look like a +person whose stories are to be accepted without doubt or question?" + +"Why, no. I think I see--no, I don't. You mean he stole them himself? +I've a sort of dim perception of your drift now, but still I can't fix +it. The whole thing's too complicated." + +"It is a little complicated for a first effort, I admit, so I will tell +you. This is the story. Harvey Challitt is an artful young man, and +decides on a theft of his firm's diamonds. He first prepares a +hiding-place somewhere near the stairs of his office, and when the +opportunity arrives he puts the stones away, spills his chloroform, and +makes a smell--possibly sniffs some, and actually goes off on the +stairs, and the whole thing's done. He is carried into the office--the +diamonds are gone. He tells of the attack on the stairs, as we have +heard, and he is believed. At a suitable opportunity he takes his +plunder from the hiding-place, and goes home to his lodgings. What is he +to do with those diamonds? He can't sell them yet, because the robbery +is publicly notorious, and all the regular jewel buyers know him. + +"Being a criminal novice, he doesn't know any regular receiver of stolen +goods, and if he did would prefer to wait and get full value by an +ordinary sale. There will always be a danger of detection so long as the +stones are not securely hidden, so he proceeds to hide them. He knows +that if any suspicion were aroused his rooms would be searched in every +likely place, so he looks for an unlikely place. Of course, he thinks of +taking out a panel and hiding them behind that. But the idea is so +obvious that it won't do; the police would certainly take those panels +out to look behind them. Therefore he determines to hide them _in_ the +panels. See here--he took the two pieces of wood with the filled hole +from his tail pocket and opened his penknife--the putty near the surface +is softer than that near the bottom of the hole; two different lots of +putty, differently mixed, perhaps, have been used, therefore, +presumably, at different times." + +"But to return to Challitt. He makes holes with a centre-bit in +different places on the panels, and in each hole he places a diamond, +embedding it carefully in putty. He smooths the surface carefully flush +with the wood, and then very carefully paints the place over, shading +off the paint at the edges so as to leave no signs of a patch. He +doesn't do the whole job at once, creating a noise and a smell of paint, +but keeps on steadily, a few holes at a time, till in a little while the +whole wainscoting is set with hidden diamonds, and every panel is +apparently sound and whole." + +"But, then--there was only one such hole in the whole lot." + +"Just so, and that very circumstance tells us the whole truth. Let me +tell the story first--I'll explain the clue after. The diamonds lie +hidden for a few months--he grows impatient. He wants the money, and he +can't see a way of getting it. At last he determines to make a bolt and +go abroad to sell his plunder. He knows he will want money for +expenses, and that he may not be able to get rid of his diamonds at +once. He also expects that his suddenly going abroad while the robbery +is still in people's minds will bring suspicion on him in any case, so, +in for a penny in for a pound, he commits a bold forgery, which, had it +been successful, would have put him in funds and enabled him to leave +the country with the stones. But the forgery is detected, and he is +haled to prison, leaving the diamonds in their wainscot setting. + +"Now we come to Gavin Kingscote. He must have been a shrewd fellow--the +sort of man that good detectives are made of. Also he must have been +pretty unscrupulous. He had his suspicions about the genuineness of the +diamond robbery, and kept his eyes open. What indications he had to +guide him we don't know, but living in the same house a sharp fellow on +the look-out would probably see enough. At any rate, they led him to the +belief that the diamonds were in the thief's rooms, but not among his +movables, or they would have been found after the arrest. Here was his +chance. Challitt was out of the way for years, and there was plenty of +time to take the house to pieces if it were necessary. So he changed +into Challitt's rooms. + +"How long it took him to find the stones we shall never know. He +probably tried many other places first, and, I expect, found the +diamonds at last by pricking over the panels with a needle. Then came +the problem of getting them out without attracting attention. He decided +not to trust to the needle, which might possibly leave a stone or two +undiscovered, but to split up each panel carefully into splinters so as +to leave no part unexamined. Therefore he took measurements, and had a +number of panels made by a joiner of the exact size and pattern of those +in the room, and announced to his landlady his intention of painting her +panels with a pretty design. This to account for the wet paint, and even +for the fact of a panel being out of the wall, should she chance to +bounce into the room at an awkward moment. All very clever, eh?" + +"Very." + +"Ah, he was a smart man, no doubt. Well, he went to work, taking out a +panel, substituting a new one, painting it over, and chopping up the old +one on the quiet, getting rid of the splinters out of doors when the +booty had been extracted. The decoration progressed and the little heap +of diamonds grew. Finally, he came to the last panel, but found that he +had used all his new panels and hadn't one left for a substitute. It +must have been at some time when it was difficult to get hold of the +joiner--Bank Holiday, perhaps, or Sunday, and he was impatient. So he +scraped the paint off, and went carefully over every part of the +surface--experience had taught him by this that all the holes were of +the same sort--and found one diamond. He took it out, refilled the hole +with putty, painted the old panel and put it back. _These_ are pieces of +that old panel--the only old one of the lot. + +"Nine men out of ten would have got out of the house as soon as possible +after the thing was done, but he was a cool hand and stayed. That made +the whole thing look a deal more genuine than if he had unaccountably +cleared out as soon as he had got his room nicely decorated. I expect +the original capital for those Stock Exchange operations we heard of +came out of those diamonds. He stayed as long as suited him, and left +when he set up housekeeping with a view to his wedding. The rest of the +story is pretty plain. You guess it, of course?" + +"Yes," I said, "I think I can guess the rest, in a general sort of +way--except as to one or two points." + +"It's all plain--perfectly. See here! Challitt, in gaol, determines to +get those diamonds when he comes out. To do that without being suspected +it will be necessary to hire the room. But he knows that he won't be +able to do that himself, because the landlady, of course, knows him, and +won't have an ex-convict in the house. There is no help for it; he must +have a confederate, and share the spoil. So he makes the acquaintance +of another convict, who seems a likely man for the job, and whose +sentence expires about the same time as his own. When they come out, he +arranges the matter with this confederate, who is a well-mannered (and +pretty well-known) housebreaker, and the latter calls at Mrs. Lamb's +house to look for rooms. The very room itself happens to be to let, and +of course it is taken, and Challitt (who is the invalid cousin) comes in +at night muffled and unrecognisable. + +"The decoration on the panel does not alarm them, because, of course, +they suppose it to have been done on the old panels and over the old +paint. Challitt tries the spots where diamonds were left--there are +none--there is no putty even. Perhaps, think they, the panels have been +shifted and interchanged in the painting, so they set to work and split +them all up as we have seen, getting more desperate as they go on. +Finally they realize that they are done, and clear out, leaving Mrs. +Lamb to mourn over their mischief. + +"They know that Kingscote is the man who has forestalled them, because +Gillard (or Jones), in his chat with the landlady, has heard all about +him and his painting of the panels. So the next night they set off for +Finchley. They get into Kingscote's garden and watch him let Campbell +out. While he is gone, Challitt quietly steps through the French window +into the smoking-room, and waits for him, Gillard remaining outside. + +"Kingscote returns, and Challitt accuses him of taking the stones. +Kingscote is contemptuous--doesn't care for Challitt, because he knows +he is powerless, being the original thief himself; besides, knows there +is no evidence, since the diamonds are sold and dispersed long ago. +Challitt offers to divide the plunder with him--Kingscote laughs and +tells him to go; probably threatens to throw him out, Challitt being the +smaller man. Gillard, at the open window, hears this, steps in behind, +and quietly knocks him on the head. The rest follows as a matter of +course. They fasten the window and shutters, to exclude observation; +turn over all the drawers, etc., in case the jewels are there; go to the +best bedroom and try there, and so on. Failing (and possibly being +disturbed after a few hours' search by the noise of the acquisitive +gardener), Gillard, with the instinct of an old thief, determines they +shan't go away with nothing, so empties Kingscote's pockets and takes +his watch and chain and so on. They go out by the front door and shut it +after them. _Voilà tout._" + +I was filled with wonder at the prompt ingenuity of the man who in these +few hours of hurried inquiry could piece together so accurately all the +materials of an intricate and mysterious affair such as this; but more, +I wondered where and how he had collected those materials. + +"There is no doubt, Hewitt," I said, "that the accurate and minute +application of what you are pleased to call your common sense has become +something very like an instinct with you. What did you deduce from? You +told me your conclusions from the examination of Ivy Cottage, but not +how you arrived at them." + +"They didn't leave me much material downstairs, did they? But in the +bedroom, the two drawers which the thieves found locked were +ransacked--opened probably with keys taken from the dead man. On the +floor I saw a bent French nail; here it is. You see, it is twice bent at +right angles, near the head and near the point, and there is the faint +mark of the pliers that were used to bend it. It is a very usual +burglars' tool, and handy in experienced hands to open ordinary drawer +locks. Therefore, I knew that a professional burglar had been at work. +He had probably fiddled at the drawers with the nail first, and then had +thrown it down to try the dead man's keys. + +"But I knew this professional burglar didn't come for a burglary, from +several indications. There was no attempt to take plate, the first thing +a burglar looks for. Valuable clocks were left on mantelpieces, and +other things that usually go in an ordinary burglary were not +disturbed. Notably, it was to be observed that no doors or windows were +broken, or had been forcibly opened; therefore, it was plain that the +thieves had come in by the French window of the smoking-room, the only +entrance left open at the last thing. _Therefore_, they came in, or one +did, knowing that Mr. Kingscote was up, and being quite +willing--presumably anxious--to see him. Ordinary burglars would have +waited till he had retired, and then could have got through the closed +French window as easily almost as if it were open, notwithstanding the +thin wooden shutters, which would never stop a burglar for more than +five minutes. Being anxious to see him, they--or again, _one_ of +them--presumably knew him. That they had come to _get_ something was +plain, from the ransacking. As, in the end, they _did_ steal his money, +and watch, but did _not_ take larger valuables, it was plain that they +had no bag with them--which proves not only that they had not come to +burgle, for every burglar takes his bag, but that the thing they came to +get was not bulky. Still, they could easily have removed plate or clocks +by rolling them up in a table-cover or other wrapper, but such a bundle, +carried by well-dressed men, would attract attention--therefore it was +probable that they were well dressed. Do I make it clear?" + +"Quite--nothing seems simpler now it is explained--that's the way with +difficult puzzles." + +"There was nothing more to be got at the house. I had already in my mind +the curious coincidence that the panels at Chelsea had been broken the +very night before that of the murder, and determined to look at them in +any case. I got from you the name of the man who had lived in the +panelled room before Kingscote, and at once remembered it (although I +said nothing about it) as that of the young man who had been +chloroformed for his employer's diamonds. I keep things of that sort in +my mind, you see--and, indeed, in my scrap-book. You told me yourself +about his imprisonment, and there I was with what seemed now a hopeful +case getting into a promising shape. + +"You went on to prevent any setting to rights at Chelsea, and I made +enquiries as to Challitt. I found he had been released only a few days +before all this trouble arose, and I also found the name of another man +who was released from the same establishment only a few days earlier. I +knew this man (Gillard) well, and knew that nobody was a more likely +rascal for such a crime as that at Finchley. On my way to Chelsea I +called at my office, gave my clerk certain instructions, and looked up +my scrap-book. I found the newspaper account of the chloroform business, +and also a photograph of Gillard--I keep as many of these things as I +can collect. What I did at Chelsea you know. I saw that one panel was of +old wood and the rest new. I saw the hole in the old panel, and I asked +one or two questions. The case was complete." + +We proceeded with our dinner. Presently I said: "It all rests with the +police now, of course?" + +"Of course. I should think it very probable that Challitt and Gillard +will be caught. Gillard, at any rate, is pretty well known. It will be +rather hard on the surviving Kingscote, after engaging me, to have his +dead brother's diamond transactions publicly exposed as a result, won't +it? But it can't be helped. _Fiat justitia_, of course." + +"How will the police feel over this?" I asked. "You've rather cut them +out, eh?" + +"Oh, the police are all right. They had not the information I had, you +see; they knew nothing of the panel business. If Mrs. Lamb had gone to +Scotland Yard instead of to the policeman on the beat, perhaps I should +never have been sent for." + +The same quality that caused Martin Hewitt to rank as mere +"common-sense" his extraordinary power of almost instinctive deduction, +kept his respect for the abilities of the police at perhaps a higher +level than some might have considered justified. + +We sat some little while over our dessert, talking as we sat, when +there occurred one of those curious conjunctions of circumstances that +we notice again and again in ordinary life, and forget as often, unless +the importance of the occasion fixes the matter in the memory. A young +man had entered the dining-room, and had taken his seat at a corner +table near the back window. He had been sitting there for some little +time before I particularly observed him. At last he happened to turn his +thin, pale face in my direction, and our eyes met. It was Challitt--the +man we had been talking of! + +I sprang to my feet in some excitement. + +"That's the man!" I cried. "Challitt!" + +Hewitt rose at my words, and at first attempted to pull me back. +Challitt, in guilty terror, saw that we were between him and the door, +and turning, leaped upon the sill of the open window, and dropped out. +There was a fearful crash of broken glass below, and everybody rushed to +the window. + +Hewitt drew me through the door, and we ran downstairs. "Pity you let +out like that," he said, as he went. "If you'd kept quiet we could have +sent out for the police with no trouble. Never mind--can't help it." + +Below, Challitt was lying in a broken heap in the midst of a crowd of +waiters. He had crashed through a thick glass skylight and fallen, back +downward, across the back of a lounge. He was taken away on a stretcher +unconscious, and, in fact, died in a week in hospital from injuries to +the spine. + +During his periods of consciousness he made a detailed statement, +bearing out the conclusions of Martin Hewitt with the most surprising +exactness, down to the smallest particulars. He and Gillard had parted +immediately after the crime, judging it safer not to be seen together. +He had, he affirmed, endured agonies of fear and remorse in the few days +since the fatal night at Finchley, and had even once or twice thought of +giving himself up. When I so excitedly pointed him out, he knew at once +that the game was up, and took the one desperate chance of escape that +offered. But to the end he persistently denied that he had himself +committed the murder, or had even thought of it till he saw it +accomplished. That had been wholly the work of Gillard, who, listening +at the window and perceiving the drift of the conversation, suddenly +beat down Kingscote from behind with a life-preserver. And so Harvey +Challitt ended his life at the age of twenty-six. + +Gillard was never taken. He doubtless left the country, and has probably +since that time become "known to the police" under another name abroad. +Perhaps he has even been hanged, and if he has been, there was no +miscarriage of justice, no matter what the charge against him may have +been. + + + + +THE _NICOBAR_ BULLION CASE. + + +I. + +The whole voyage was an unpleasant one, and Captain Mackrie, of the +Anglo-Malay Company's steamship _Nicobar_, had at last some excuse for +the ill-temper that had made him notorious and unpopular in the +company's marine staff. Although the fourth and fifth mates in the +seclusion of their berth ventured deeper in their search for motives, +and opined that the "old man" had made a deal less out of this voyage +than usual, the company having lately taken to providing its own stores; +so that "makings" were gone clean and "cumshaw" (which means commission +in the trading lingo of the China seas) had shrunk small indeed. In +confirmation they adduced the uncommonly long face of the steward (the +only man in the ship satisfied with the skipper), whom the new +regulations hit with the same blow. But indeed the steward's dolor might +well be credited to the short passenger list, and the unpromising aspect +of the few passengers in the eyes of a man accustomed to gauge one's +tip-yielding capacity a month in advance. For the steward it was +altogether the wrong time of year, the wrong sort of voyage, and +certainly the wrong sort of passengers. So that doubtless the +confidential talk of the fourth and fifth officers was mere youthful +scandal. At any rate, the captain had prospect of a good deal in private +trade home, for he had been taking curiosities and Japanese oddments +aboard (plainly for sale in London) in a way that a third steward would +have been ashamed of, and which, for a captain, was a scandal and an +ignominy; and he had taken pains to insure well for the lot. These +things the fourth and fifth mates often spoke of, and more than once +made a winking allusion to, in the presence of the third mate and the +chief engineer, who laughed and winked too, and sometimes said as much +to the second mate, who winked without laughing; for of such is the +tittle-tattle of shipboard. + +The _Nicobar_ was bound home with few passengers, as I have said, a +small general cargo, and gold bullion to the value of £200,000--the +bullion to be landed at Plymouth, as usual. The presence of this bullion +was a source of much conspicuous worry on the part of the second +officer, who had charge of the bullion-room. For this was his first +voyage on his promotion from third officer, and the charge of £200,000 +worth of gold bars was a thing he had not been accustomed to. The placid +first officer pointed out to him that this wasn't the first shipment of +bullion the world had ever known, by a long way, nor the largest. Also +that every usual precaution was taken, and the keys were in the +captain's cabin; so that he might reasonably be as easy in his mind as +the few thousand other second officers who had had charge of hatches and +special cargo since the world began. But this did not comfort Brasyer. +He fidgeted about when off watch, considering and puzzling out the +various means by which the bullion-room might be got at, and fidgeted +more when on watch, lest somebody might be at that moment putting into +practice the ingenious dodges he had thought of. And he didn't keep his +fears and speculations to himself. He bothered the first officer with +them, and when the first officer escaped he explained the whole thing at +length to the third officer. + +"Can't think what the company's about," he said on one such occasion to +the first mate, "calling a tin-pot bunker like that a bullion-room." + +"Skittles!" responded the first mate, and went on smoking. + +"Oh, that's all very well for you who aren't responsible," Brasyer went +on, "but I'm pretty sure something will happen some day; if not on this +voyage on some other. Talk about a strong room! Why, what's it made of?" + +"Three-eighths boiler plate." + +"Yes, three-eighths boiler plate--about as good as a sixpenny tin money +box. Why, I'd get through that with my grandmother's scissors!" + +"All right; borrow 'em and get through. _I_ would if I had a +grandmother." + +"There it is down below there out of sight and hearing, nice and handy +for anybody who likes to put in a quiet hour at plate cutting from the +coal bunker next door--always empty, because it's only a seven-ton +bunker, not worth trimming. And the other side's against the steward's +pantry. What's to prevent a man shipping as steward, getting quietly +through while he's supposed to be bucketing about among his slops and +his crockery, and strolling away with the plunder at the next port? And +then there's the carpenter. _He's_ always messing about somewhere below, +with a bag full of tools. Nothing easier than for him to make a job in a +quiet corner, and get through the plates." + +"But then what's he to do with the stuff when he's got it? You can't +take gold ashore by the hundredweight in your boots." + +"Do with it. Why, dump it, of course. Dump it overboard in a quiet port +and mark the spot. Come to that, he could desert clean at Port +Said--what easier place?--and take all he wanted. You know what Port +Said's like. Then there are the firemen--oh, _anybody_ can do it!" And +Brasyer moved off to take another peep under the hatchway. + +The door of the bullion-room was fastened by one central patent lock and +two padlocks, one above and one below the other lock. A day or two after +the conversation recorded above, Brasyer was carefully examining and +trying the lower of the padlocks with a key, when a voice immediately +behind him asked sharply, "Well, sir, and what are you up to with that +padlock?" + +Brasyer started violently and looked round. It was Captain Mackrie. + +"There's--that is--I'm afraid these are the same sort of padlocks as +those in the carpenter's stores," the second mate replied, in a hurry of +explanation. "I--I was just trying, that's all; I'm afraid the keys +fit." + +"Just you let the carpenter take care of his own stores, will you, Mr. +Brasyer? There's a Chubb's lock there as well as the padlocks, and the +key of that's in my cabin, and I'll take care doesn't go out of it +without my knowledge. So perhaps you'd best leave off experiments till +you're asked to make 'em, for your own sake. That's enough now," the +captain added, as Brasyer appeared to be ready to reply; and he turned +on his heel and made for the steward's quarters. + +Brasyer stared after him ragefully. "Wonder what _you_ want down here," +he muttered under his breath. "Seems to me one doesn't often see a +skipper as thick with the steward as that." And he turned off growling +towards the deck above. + +"Hanged if I like that steward's pantry stuck against the side of the +bullion-room," he said later in the day to the first officer. "And what +does a steward want with a lot of boiler-maker's tools aboard? You know +he's got them." + +"In the name of the prophet, rats!" answered the first mate, who was of +a less fussy disposition. "What a fatiguing creature you are, Brasyer! +Don't you know the man's a boiler-maker by regular trade, and has only +taken to stewardship for the last year or two? That sort of man doesn't +like parting with his tools, and as he's a widower, with no home ashore, +of course he has to carry all his traps aboard. Do shut up, and take +your proper rest like a Christian. Here, I'll give you a cigar; it's all +right--Burman; stick it in your mouth, and keep your jaw tight on it." + +But there was no soothing the second officer. Still he prowled about the +after orlop deck, and talked at large of his anxiety for the contents of +the bullion-room. Once again, a few days later, as he approached the +iron door, he was startled by the appearance of the captain coming, this +time, _from_ the steward's pantry. He fancied he had heard tapping, +Brasyer explained, and had come to investigate. But the captain turned +him back with even less ceremony than before, swearing he would give +charge of the bullion-room to another officer if Brasyer persisted in +his eccentricities. On the first deck the second officer was met by the +carpenter, a quiet, sleek, soft-spoken man, who asked him for the +padlock and key he had borrowed from the stores during the week. But +Brasyer put him off, promising to send it back later. And the carpenter +trotted away to a job he happened to have, singularly enough, in the +hold, just under the after orlop deck, and below the floor of the +bullion-room. + +As I have said, the voyage was in no way a pleasant one. Everywhere the +weather was at its worst, and scarce was Gibraltar passed before the +Lascars were shivering in their cotton trousers, and the Seedee boys +were buttoning tight such old tweed jackets as they might muster from +their scanty kits. It was January. In the Bay the weather was +tremendous, and the _Nicobar_ banged and shook and pitched distractedly +across in a howling world of thunderous green sea, washed within and +without, above and below. Then, in the Chops, as night fell, something +went, and there was no more steerage-way, nor, indeed, anything else but +an aimless wallowing. The screw had broken. + +The high sea had abated in some degree, but it was still bad. Such sail +as the steamer carried, inadequate enough, was set, and shift was made +somehow to worry along to Plymouth--or to Falmouth if occasion better +served--by that means. And so the _Nicobar_ beat across the Channel on a +rather better, though anything but smooth, sea, in a black night, made +thicker by a storm of sleet, which turned gradually to snow as the hours +advanced. + +The ship laboured slowly ahead, through a universal blackness that +seemed to stifle. Nothing but a black void above, below, and around, and +the sound of wind and sea; so that one coming before a deck-light was +startled by the quiet advent of the large snowflakes that came like +moths as it seemed from nowhere. At four bells--two in the morning--a +foggy light appeared away on the starboard bow--it was the Eddystone +light--and an hour or two later, the exact whereabouts of the ship being +a thing of much uncertainty, it was judged best to lay her to till +daylight. No order had yet been given, however, when suddenly there were +dim lights over the port quarter, with a more solid blackness beneath +them. Then a shout and a thunderous crash, and the whole ship shuddered, +and in ten seconds had belched up every living soul from below. The +_Nicobar's_ voyage was over--it was a collision. + +The stranger backed off into the dark, and the two vessels drifted +apart, though not till some from the _Nicobar_ had jumped aboard the +other. Captain Mackrie's presence of mind was wonderful, and never for a +moment did he lose absolute command of every soul on board. The ship had +already begun to settle down by the stern and list to port. Life-belts +were served out promptly. Fortunately there were but two women among the +passengers, and no children. The boats were lowered without a mishap, +and presently two strange boats came as near as they dare from the ship +(a large coasting steamer, it afterwards appeared) that had cut into the +_Nicobar_. The last of the passengers were being got off safely, when +Brasyer, running anxiously to the captain, said:-- + +"Can't do anything with that bullion, can we, sir? Perhaps a box or +two----" + +"Oh, damn the bullion!" shouted Captain Mackrie. "Look after the boat, +sir, and get the passengers off. The insurance companies can find the +bullion for themselves." + +But Brasyer had vanished at the skipper's first sentence. The skipper +turned aside to the steward as the crew and engine-room staff made for +the remaining boats, and the two spoke quietly together. Presently the +steward turned away as if to execute an order, and the skipper continued +in a louder tone:-- + +"They're the likeliest stuff, and we can but drop 'em, at worst. But be +slippy--she won't last ten minutes." + +She lasted nearly a quarter of an hour. By that time, however, everybody +was clear of her, and the captain in the last boat was only just near +enough to see the last of her lights as she went down. + + +II. + +The day broke in a sulky grey, and there lay the _Nicobar_, in ten +fathoms, not a mile from the shore, her topmasts forlornly visible above +the boisterous water. The sea was rough all that day, but the snow had +ceased, and during the night the weather calmed considerably. Next day +Lloyd's agent was steaming about in a launch from Plymouth, and soon a +salvage company's tug came up and lay to by the emerging masts. There +was every chance of raising the ship as far as could be seen, and a +diver went down from the salvage tug to measure the breach made in the +_Nicobar's_ side, in order that the necessary oak planking or sheeting +might be got ready for covering the hole, preparatory to pumping and +raising. This was done in a very short time, and the necessary telegrams +having been sent, the tug remained in its place through the night, and +prepared for the sending down of several divers on the morrow to get +out the bullion as a commencement. + +Just at this time Martin Hewitt happened to be engaged on a case of some +importance and delicacy on behalf of Lloyd's Committee, and was staying +for a few days at Plymouth. He heard the story of the wreck, of course, +and speaking casually with Lloyd's agent as to the salvage work just +beginning, he was told the name of the salvage company's representative +on the tug, Mr. Percy Merrick--a name he immediately recognised as that +of an old acquaintance of his own. So that on the day when the divers +were at work in the bullion-room of the sunken _Nicobar_, Hewitt gave +himself a holiday, and went aboard the tug about noon. + +Here he found Merrick, a big, pleasant man of thirty-eight or so. He was +very glad to see Hewitt, but was a great deal puzzled as to the results +of the morning's work on the wreck. Two cases of gold bars were missing. + +"There was £200,000 worth of bullion on board," he said, "that's plain +and certain. It was packed in forty cases, each of £5,000 value. But now +there are only thirty-eight cases! Two are gone clearly. I wonder what's +happened?" + +"I suppose your men don't know anything about it?" asked Hewitt. + +"No, they're all right. You see, it's impossible for them to bring +anything up without its being observed, especially as they have to be +unscrewed from their diving-dresses here on deck. Besides, bless you, I +was down with them." + +"Oh! Do you dive yourself, then?" + +"Well, I put the dress on sometimes, you know, for any such special +occasion as this. I went down this morning. There was no difficulty in +getting about on the vessel below, and I found the keys of the +bullion-room just where the captain said I would, in his cabin. But the +locks were useless, of course, after being a couple of days in salt +water. So we just burgled the door with crowbars, and then we saw that +we might have done it a bit more easily from outside. For that +coasting-steamer cut clean into the bunker next the bullion-room, and +ripped open the sheet of boiler-plate dividing them." + +"The two missing cases couldn't have dropped out that way, of course?" + +"Oh, no. We looked, of course, but it would have been impossible. The +vessel has a list the other way--to starboard--and the piled cases +didn't reach as high as the torn part. Well, as I said, we burgled the +door, and there they were, thirty-eight sealed bullion cases, neither +more nor less, and they're down below in the after-cabin at this moment. +Come and see." + +Thirty-eight they were; pine cases bound with hoop-iron and sealed at +every joint, each case about eighteen inches by a foot, and six inches +deep. They were corded together, two and two, apparently for convenience +of transport. + +"Did you cord them like this yourself?" asked Hewitt. + +"No, that's how we found 'em. We just hooked 'em on a block and tackle, +the pair at a time, and they hauled 'em up here aboard the tug." + +"What have you done about the missing two--anything?" + +"Wired off to headquarters, of course, at once. And I've sent for +Captain Mackrie--he's still in the neighbourhood, I believe--and +Brasyer, the second officer, who had charge of the bullion-room. They +may possibly know something. Anyway, _one_ thing's plain. There were +forty cases at the beginning of the voyage, and now there are only +thirty-eight." + +There was a pause; and then Merrick added, "By the bye, Hewitt, this is +rather your line, isn't it? You ought to look up these two cases." + +Hewitt laughed. "All right," he said; "I'll begin this minute if you'll +commission me." + +"Well," Merrick replied slowly, "of course I can't do that without +authority from headquarters. But if you've nothing to do for an hour or +so there is no harm in putting on your considering cap, is there? +Although, of course, there's nothing to go upon as yet. But you might +listen to what Mackrie and Brasyer have to say. Of course I don't know, +but as it's a £10,000 question probably it might pay you, and if you +_do_ see your way to anything I'd wire and get you commissioned at +once." + +There was a tap at the door and Captain Mackrie entered. "Mr. Merrick?" +he said interrogatively, looking from one to another. + +"That's myself, sir," answered Merrick. + +"I'm Captain Mackrie, of the _Nicobar_. You sent for me, I believe. +Something wrong with the bullion I'm told, isn't it?" + +Merrick explained matters fully. "I thought perhaps you might be able to +help us, Captain Mackrie. Perhaps I have been wrongly informed as to the +number of cases that should have been there?" + +"No; there were forty right enough. I think though--perhaps I might be +able to give you a sort of hint."--and Captain Mackrie looked hard at +Hewitt. + +"This is Mr. Hewitt, Captain Mackrie," Merrick interposed. "You may +speak as freely as you please before him. In fact, he's sort of working +on the business, so to speak." + +"Well," Mackrie said, "if that's so, speaking between ourselves, I +should advise you to turn your attention to Brasyer. He was my second +officer, you know, and had charge of the stuff." + +"Do you mean," Hewitt asked, "that Mr. Brasyer might give us some useful +information?" + +Mackrie gave an ugly grin. "Very likely he might," he said, "if he were +fool enough. But I don't think you'd get much out of him direct. I meant +you might watch him." + +"What, do you suppose he was concerned in any way with the disappearance +of this gold?" + +"I should think--speaking, as I said before, in confidence and between +ourselves--that it's very likely indeed. I didn't like his manner all +through the voyage." + +"Why?" + +"Well, he was so eternally cracking on about his responsibility, and +pretending to suspect the stokers and the carpenter, and one person and +another, of trying to get at the bullion cases--that that alone was +almost enough to make one suspicious. He protested so much, you see. He +was so conscientious and diligent himself, and all the rest of it, and +everybody else was such a desperate thief, and he was so sure there +would be some of that bullion missing some day that--that--well, I don't +know if I express his manner clearly, but I tell you I didn't like it a +bit. But there was something more than that. He was eternally smelling +about the place, and peeping in at the steward's pantry--which adjoins +the bullion-room on one side, you know--and nosing about in the bunker +on the other side. And once I actually caught him fitting keys to the +padlocks--keys he'd borrowed from the carpenter's stores. And every time +his excuse was that he fancied he heard somebody else trying to get in +to the gold, or something of that sort; every time I caught him below on +the orlop deck that was his excuse--happened to have heard something or +suspected something or somebody every time. Whether or not I succeed in +conveying my impressions to you, gentlemen, I can assure you that I +regarded his whole manner and actions as very suspicious throughout the +voyage, and I made up my mind I wouldn't forget it if by chance anything +_did_ turn out wrong. Well, it has, and now I've told you what I've +observed. It's for you to see if it will lead you anywhere." + +"Just so," Hewitt answered. "But let me fully understand, Captain +Mackrie. You say that Mr. Brasyer had charge of the bullion-room, but +that he was trying keys on it from the carpenter's stores. Where were +the legitimate keys then?" + +"In my cabin. They were only handed out when I knew what they were +wanted for. There was a Chubb's lock between the two padlocks, but a +duplicate wouldn't have been hard for Brasyer to get. He could easily +have taken a wax impression of my key when he used it at the port where +we took the bullion aboard." + +"Well, and suppose he had taken these boxes, where do you think he would +keep them?" + +Mackrie shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Impossible to say," he +replied. "He might have hidden 'em somewhere on board, though I don't +think that's likely. He'd have had a deuce of a job to land them at +Plymouth, and would have had to leave them somewhere while he came on to +London. Bullion is always landed at Plymouth, you know, and if any were +found to be missing, then the ship would be overhauled at once, every +inch of her; so that he'd have to get his plunder ashore somehow before +the rest of the gold was unloaded--almost impossible. Of course, if he's +done that it's somewhere below there now, but that isn't likely. He'd be +much more likely to have 'dumped' it--dropped it overboard at some +well-known spot in a foreign port, where he could go later on and get +it. So that you've a deal of scope for search, you see. Anywhere under +water from here to Yokohama;" and Captain Mackrie laughed. + +Soon afterward he left, and as he was leaving a man knocked at the cabin +door and looked in to say that Mr. Brasyer was on board. "You'll be able +to have a go at him now," said the captain. "Good-day." + +"There's the steward of the _Nicobar_ there too, sir," said the man +after the captain had gone, "and the carpenter." + +"Very well, we'll see Mr. Brasyer first," said Merrick, and the man +vanished. "It seems to have got about a bit," Merrick went on to Hewitt. +"I only sent for Brasyer, but as these others have come, perhaps they've +got something to tell us." + +Brasyer made his appearance, overflowing with information. He required +little assurance to encourage him to speak openly before Hewitt, and he +said again all he had so often said before on board the _Nicobar_. The +bullion-room was a mere tin box, the whole thing was as easy to get at +as anything could be, he didn't wonder in the least at the loss--he had +prophesied it all along. + +The men whose movements should be carefully watched, he said, were the +captain and the steward. "Nobody ever heard of a captain and a steward +being so thick together before," he said. "The steward's pantry was next +against the bullion-room, you know, with nothing but that wretched bit +of three-eighths boiler plate between. You wouldn't often expect to find +the captain down in the steward's pantry, would you, thick as they might +be. Well, that's where I used to find him, time and again. And the +steward kept boiler-makers' tools there! That I can swear to. And he's +been a boiler-maker, so that, likely as not, he could open a joint +somewhere and patch it up again neatly so that it wouldn't be noticed. +He was always messing about down there in his pantry, and once I +distinctly heard knocking there, and when I went down to see, whom +should I meet? Why, the skipper, coming away from the place himself, and +he bullyragged me for being there and sent me on deck. But before that +he bullyragged me because I had found out that there were other keys +knocking about the place that fitted the padlocks on the bullion-room +door. Why should he slang and threaten me for looking after these things +and keeping my eye on the bullion-room, as was my duty? But that was the +very thing that he didn't like. It was enough for him to see me anxious +about the gold to make him furious. Of course his character for meanness +and greed is known all through the company's service--he'll do anything +to make a bit." + +"But have you any positive idea as to what has become of the gold?" + +"Well," Brasyer replied, with a rather knowing air, "I don't think +they've dumped it." + +"Do you mean you think it's still in the vessel--hidden somewhere?" + +"No, I don't. I believe the captain and the steward took it ashore, one +case each, when we came off in the boats." + +"But wouldn't that be noticed?" + +"It needn't be, on a black night like that. You see, the parcels are not +so big--look at them, a foot by a foot and a half by six inches or so, +roughly. Easily slipped under a big coat or covered up with anything. Of +course they're a bit heavy--eighty or ninety pounds apiece +altogether--but that's not much for a strong man to carry--especially in +such a handy parcel, on a black night, with no end of confusion on. Now +you just look here--I'll tell you something. The skipper went ashore +last in a boat that was sent out by the coasting steamer that ran into +us. That ship's put into dock for repairs and her crew are mostly having +an easy time ashore. Now I haven't been asleep this last day or two, and +I had a sort of notion there might be some game of this sort on, because +when I left the ship that night I thought we might save a little at +least of the stuff, but the skipper wouldn't let me go near the +bullion-room, and that seemed odd. So I got hold of one of the boat's +crew that fetched the skipper ashore, and questioned him quietly--pumped +him, you know--and he assures me that the skipper _did_ have a rather +small, heavy sort of parcel with him. What do you think of that? Of +course, in the circumstances, the man couldn't remember any very +distinct particulars, but he thought it was a sort of square wooden case +about the size I've mentioned. But there's something more." Brasyer +lifted his fore-finger and then brought it down on the table before +him--"something more. I've made inquiries at the railway station and I +find that two heavy parcels were sent off yesterday to London--deal +boxes wrapped in brown paper, of just about the right size. And the +paper got torn before the things were sent off, and the clerk could see +that the boxes inside were fastened with hoop-iron--like those!" and the +second officer pointed triumphantly to the boxes piled at one side of +the cabin. + +"Well done!" said Hewitt. "You're quite a smart detective. Did you find +out who brought the parcels, and who they were addressed to?" + +"No, I couldn't get quite as far as that. Of course the clerk didn't +know the names of the senders, and not knowing me, wouldn't tell me +exactly where the parcels were going. But I got quite chummy with him +after a bit, and I'm going to meet him presently--he has the afternoon +off, and we're going for a stroll. I'll find something more, I'll bet +you!" + +"Certainly," replied Hewitt, "find all you can--it may be very +important. If you get any valuable information you'll let us know at +once, of course. Anything else, now?" + +"No, I don't think so; but I think what I've told you is pretty well +enough for the present, eh? I'll let you know some more soon." + +Brasyer went, and Norton, the steward of the old ship, was brought into +the cabin. He was a sharp-eyed, rather cadaverous-looking man, and he +spoke with sepulchral hollowness. He had heard, he said, that there was +something wrong with the chests of bullion, and came on board to give +any information he could. It wasn't much, he went on to say, but the +smallest thing might help. If he might speak strictly confidentially he +would suggest that observation be kept on Wickens, the carpenter. He +(Norton) didn't want to be uncharitable, but his pantry happened to be +next the bullion-room, and he had heard Wickens at work for a very long +time just below--on the under side of the floor of the bullion-room, it +seemed to him, although, of course, he _might_ have been mistaken. +Still, it was very odd that the carpenter always seemed to have a job +just at that spot. More, it had been said--and he (Norton) believed it +to be true--that Wickens, the carpenter, had in his possession, and kept +among his stores, keys that fitted the padlocks on the bullion-room +door. That, it seemed to him, was a very suspicious circumstance. He +didn't know anything more definite, but offered his ideas for what they +were worth, and if his suspicions proved unfounded nobody would be more +pleased than himself. But--but--and the steward shook his head +doubtfully. + +"Thank you, Mr. Norton," said Merrick, with a twinkle in his eye; "we +won't forget what you say. Of course, if the stuff is found in +consequence of any of your information, you won't lose by it." + +The steward said he hoped not, and he wouldn't fail to keep his eye on +the carpenter. He had noticed Wickens was in the tug, and he trusted +that if they were going to question him they would do it cautiously, so +as not to put him on his guard. Merrick promised they would. + +"By the bye, Mr. Norton," asked Hewitt, "supposing your suspicions to be +justified, what do you suppose the carpenter would do with the bullion?" + +"Well, sir," replied Norton, "I don't think he'd keep it on the ship. +He'd probably dump it somewhere." + +The steward left, and Merrick lay back in his chair and guffawed aloud. +"This grows farcical," he said, "simply farcical. What a happy family +they must have been aboard the _Nicobar_! And now here's the captain +watching the second officer, and the second officer watching the captain +and the steward, and the steward watching the carpenter! It's immense. +And now we're going to see the carpenter. Wonder whom _he_ suspects?" + +Hewitt said nothing, but his eyes twinkled with intense merriment, and +presently the carpenter was brought into the cabin. + +"Good-day to you, gentlemen," said the carpenter in a soft and +deferential voice, looking from one to the other. "Might I 'ave the +honour of addressin' the salvage gentlemen?" + +"That's right," Merrick answered, motioning him to a seat. "This is the +salvage shop, Mr. Wickens. What can we do for you?" + +The carpenter coughed gently behind his hand. "I took the liberty of +comin', gentlemen, consekins o' 'earin' as there was some bullion +missin'. P'raps I'm wrong." + +"Not at all. We haven't found as much as we expected, and I suppose by +this time nearly everybody knows it. There are two cases wanting. You +can't tell us where they are, I suppose?" + +"Well, sir, as to that--no. I fear I can't exactly go as far as that. +But if I am able to give vallable information as may lead to recovery of +same, I presoom I may without offence look for some reasonable small +recognition of my services?" + +"Oh, yes," answered Merrick, "that'll be all right, I promise you. The +company will do the handsome thing, of course, and no doubt so will the +underwriters." + +"Presoomin' I may take that as a promise--among gentlemen"--this with an +emphasis--"I'm willing to tell something." + +"It's a promise, at any rate as far as the company's concerned," +returned Merrick. "I'll see it's made worth your while--of course, +providing it leads to anything." + +"Purvidin' that, sir, o' course. Well, gentlemen, my story ain't a long +one. All I've to say was what I 'eard on board, just before she went +down. The passengers was off, and the crew was gettin' into the other +boats when the skipper turns to the steward an' speaks to him +quiet-like, not observin', gentlemen, as I was agin 'is elbow, so for to +say. ''Ere, Norton,' 'e sez, or words to that effeck, 'why shouldn't we +try gettin' them things ashore with us--you know, the cases--eh? I've a +notion we're pretty close inshore,' 'e sez, 'and there's nothink of a +sea now. You take one, anyway, and I'll try the other,' 'e says, 'but +don't make a flourish.' Then he sez, louder, 'cos o' the steward goin' +off, 'They're the likeliest stuff, and at worst we can but drop 'em. But +look sharp,' 'e says. So then I gets into the nearest boat, and that's +all I 'eard." + +"That was all?" asked Hewitt, watching the man's face sharply. + +"All?" the carpenter answered with some surprise. "Yes, that was all; +but I think it's pretty well enough, don't you? It's plain enough what +was meant--him and the steward was to take two cases, one apiece, on the +quiet, and they was the likeliest stuff aboard, as he said himself. And +now there's two cases o' bullion missin'. Ain't that enough?" + +The carpenter was not satisfied till an exact note had been made of the +captain's words. Then after Merrick's promise on behalf of the company +had been renewed, Wickens took himself off. + +"Well," said Merrick, grinning across the table at Hewitt, "this is a +queer go, isn't it? What that man says makes the skipper's case look +pretty fishy, doesn't it? What he says, and what Brasyer says, taken +together, makes a pretty strong case--I should say makes the thing a +certainty. But what a business! It's likely to be a bit serious for some +one, but it's a rare joke in a way. Wonder if Brasyer will find out +anything more? Pity the skipper and steward didn't agree as to whom they +should pretend to suspect. _That's_ a mistake on their part." + +"Not at all," Hewitt replied. "_If_ they are conspiring, and know what +they're about, they will avoid seeming to be both in a tale. The bullion +is in bars, I understand?" + +"Yes, five bars in each case; weight, I believe, sixteen pounds to a +bar." + +"Let me see," Hewitt went on, as he looked at his watch; "it is now +nearly two o'clock. I must think over these things if I am to do +anything in the case. In the meantime, if it could be managed, I should +like enormously to have a turn under water in a diving-dress. I have +always had a curiosity to see under the sea. Could it be managed now?" + +"Well," Merrick responded, "there's not much fun in it, I can assure +you; and it's none the pleasanter in this weather. You'd better have a +try later in the year if you really want to--unless you think you can +learn anything about this business by smelling about on the _Nicobar_ +down below?" + +Hewitt raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips. + +"I _might_ spot something," he said; "one never knows. And if I do +anything in a case I always make it a rule to see and hear everything +that can possibly be seen or heard, important or not. Clues lie where +least expected. But beyond that, probably I may never have another +chance of a little experience in a diving-dress. So if it can be managed +I'd be glad." + +"Very well, you shall go, if you say so. And since it's your first +venture, I'll come down with you myself. The men are all ashore, I +think, or most of them. Come along." + +Hewitt was put in woollens and then in india-rubbers. A leaden-soled +boot of twenty pounds' weight was strapped on each foot, and weights +were hung on his back and chest. + +"That's the dress that Gullen usually has," Merrick remarked. "He's a +very smart fellow; we usually send him first to make measurements and +so on. An excellent man, but a bit too fond of the diver's lotion." + +"What's that?" asked Hewitt. + +"Oh, you shall try some if you like, afterwards. It's a bit too heavy +for me; rum and gin mixed, I think." + +A red nightcap was placed on Martin Hewitt's head, and after that a +copper helmet, secured by a short turn in the segmental screw joint at +the neck. In the end he felt a vast difficulty in moving at all. Merrick +had been meantime invested with a similar rig-out, and then each was +provided with a communication cord and an incandescent electric lamp. +Finally, the front window was screwed on each helmet, and all was ready. + +Merrick went first over the ladder at the side, and Hewitt with much +difficulty followed. As the water closed over his head, his sensations +altered considerably. There was less weight to carry; his arms in +particular felt light, though slow in motion. Down, down they went +slowly, and all round about it was fairly light, but once on the sunken +vessel and among the lower decks, the electric lamps were necessary +enough. Once or twice Merrick spoke, laying his helmet against Hewitt's +for the purpose, and instructing him to keep his air-pipe, life-line, +and lamp connection from fouling something at every step. Here and +there shadowy swimming shapes came out of the gloom, attracted by their +lamps, to dart into obscurity again with a twist of the tail. The fishes +were exploring the _Nicobar_. The hatchway of the lower deck was open, +and down this they passed to the orlop deck. A little way along this +they came to a door standing open, with a broken lock hanging to it. It +was the door of the bullion-room, which had been forced by the divers in +the morning. + +Merrick indicated by signs how the cases had been found piled on the +floor. One of the sides of the room of thin steel was torn and thrust in +the length of its whole upper half, and when they backed out of the room +and passed the open door they stood in the great breach made by the bow +of the strange coasting vessel. Steel, iron, wood, and everything stood +in rents and splinters, and through the great gap they looked out into +the immeasurable ocean. Hewitt put up his hand and felt the edge of the +bullion-room partition where it had been torn. It was just such a tear +as might have been made in cardboard. + +They regained the upper deck, and Hewitt, placing his helmet against his +companion's, told him that he meant to have a short walk on the ocean +bed. He took to the ladder again, where it lay over the side, and +Merrick followed him. + +The bottom was of that tough, slimy sort of clay-rock that is found in +many places about our coasts, and was dotted here and there with lumps +of harder rock and clumps of curious weed. The two divers turned at the +bottom of the ladder, walked a few steps, and looked up at the great +hole in the _Nicobar's_ side. Seen from here it was a fearful chasm, +laying open hold, orlop, and lower deck. + +Hewitt turned away, and began walking about. Once or twice he stood and +looked thoughtfully at the ground he stood on, which was fairly flat. He +turned over with his foot a whitish, clean-looking stone about as large +as a loaf. Then he wandered on slowly, once or twice stopping to examine +the rock beneath him, and presently stooped to look at another stone +nearly as large as the other, weedy on one side only, standing on the +edge of a cavity in the claystone. He pushed the stone into the hole, +which it filled, and then he stood up. + +Merrick put his helmet against Hewitt's, and shouted-- + +"Satisfied now? Seen enough of the bottom?" + +"In a moment!" Hewitt shouted back; and he straightway began striding +out in the direction of the ship. Arrived at the bows, he turned back to +the point he started from, striding off again from there to the white +stone he had kicked over, and from there to the vessel's side again. +Merrick watched him in intense amazement, and hurried, as well as he +might, after the light of Hewitt's lamp. Arrived for the second time at +the bows of the ship, Hewitt turned and made his way along the side to +the ladder, and forthwith ascended, followed by Merrick. There was no +halt at the deck this time, and the two made there way up and up into +the lighter water above, and so to the world of air. + +On the tug, as the men were unscrewing them from there waterproof +prisons, Merrick asked Hewitt-- + +"Will you try the 'lotion' now?" + +"No," Hewitt replied, "I won't go quite so far as that. But I _will_ +have a little whisky, if you've any in the cabin. And give me a pencil +and a piece of paper." + +These things were brought, and on the paper Martin Hewitt immediately +wrote a few figures and kept it in his hand. + +"I might easily forget those figures," he observed. + +Merrick wondered, but said nothing. + +Once more comfortably in the cabin, and clad in his usual garments, +Hewitt asked if Merrick could produce a chart of the parts thereabout. + +"Here you are," was the reply, "coast and all. Big enough, isn't it? +I've already marked the position of the wreck on it in pencil. She lies +pointing north by east as nearly exact as anything." + +"As you've begun it," said Hewitt, "I shall take the liberty of making a +few more pencil marks on this." And with that he spread out the crumpled +note of figures, and began much ciphering and measuring. Presently he +marked certain points on a spare piece of paper, and drew through them +two lines forming an angle. This angle he transferred to the chart, and, +placing a ruler over one leg of the angle, lengthened it out till it met +the coast-line. + +"There we are," he said musingly. "And the nearest village to that is +Lostella--indeed, the only coast village in that neighbourhood." He +rose. "Bring me the sharpest-eyed person on board," he said; "that is, +if he were here all day yesterday." + +"But what's up? What's all this mathematical business over? Going to +find that bullion by rule of three?" + +Hewitt laughed. "Yes, perhaps," he said, "but where's your sharp +look-out? I want somebody who can tell me everything that was visible +from the deck of this tug all day yesterday." + +"Well, really I believe the very sharpest chap is the boy. He's most +annoyingly observant sometimes. I'll send for him." + +He came--a bright, snub-nosed, impudent-looking young ruffian. + +"See here, my boy," said Merrick, "polish up your wits and tell this +gentleman what he asks." + +"Yesterday," said Hewitt, "no doubt you saw various pieces of wreckage +floating about?" + +"Yessir." + +"What were they?" + +"Hatch-gratings mostly--nothin' much else. There's some knockin' about +now." + +"I saw them. Now, remember. Did you see a hatch-grating floating +yesterday that was different from the others? A painted one, for +instance--those out there now are not painted, you know." + +"Yessir, I see a little white 'un painted, bobbin' about away beyond the +foremast of the _Nicobar_." + +"You're sure of that?" + +"Certain sure, sir--it was the only painted thing floatin'. And to-day +it's washed away somewheres." + +"So I noticed. You're a smart lad. Here's a shilling for you--keep your +eyes open and perhaps you'll find a good many more shillings before +you're an old man. That's all." + +The boy disappeared, and Hewitt turned to Merrick and said, "I think you +may as well send that wire you spoke of. If I get the commission I think +I may recover that bullion. It may take some little time, or, on the +other hand, it may not. If you'll write the telegram at once, I'll go in +the same boat as the messenger. I'm going to take a walk down to +Lostella now--it's only two or three miles along the coast, but it will +soon be getting dark." + +"But what sort of a clue have you got? I didn't----" + +"Never mind," replied Hewitt, with a chuckle. "Officially, you know, +I've no right to a clue just yet--I'm not commissioned. When I am I'll +tell you everything." + +Hewitt was scarcely ashore when he was seized by the excited Brasyer. +"Here you are," he said. "I was coming aboard the tug again. I've got +more news. You remember I said I was going out with that railway clerk +this afternoon, and meant pumping him? Well, I've done it and rushed +away--don't know what he'll think's up. As we were going along we saw +Norton, the steward, on the other side of the way, and the clerk +recognised him as one of the men who brought the cases to be sent off; +the other was the skipper, I've no doubt, from his description. I played +him artfully, you know, and then he let out that both the cases were +addressed to Mackrie at his address in London! He looked up the entry, +he said, after I left when I first questioned him, feeling curious. +That's about enough, I think, eh? I'm off to London now--I believe +Mackrie's going to-night. I'll have him! Keep it dark!" And the zealous +second officer dashed off without waiting for a reply. Hewitt looked +after him with an amused smile, and turned off towards Lostella. + + +III. + +It was about eleven the next morning when Merrick received the following +note, brought by a boatman:-- + + "DEAR MERRICK,--Am I commissioned? If not, don't trouble, but if + I am, be just outside Lostella, at the turning before you come to + the Smack Inn, at two o'clock. Bring with you a light cart, a + policeman--or two perhaps will be better--and a man with a spade. + There will probably be a little cabbage-digging. Are you fond of + the sport?--Yours, MARTIN HEWITT. + + "P.S.--_Keep all your men aboard_; bring the spade artist from the + town." + +Merrick was off in a boat at once. His principals had replied to his +telegram after Hewitt's departure the day before, giving him a free hand +to do whatever seemed best. With some little difficulty he got the +policemen, and with none at all he got a light cart and a jobbing man +with a spade. Together they drove off to the meeting-place. + +It was before the time, but Martin Hewitt was there, waiting. "You're +quick," he said, "but the sooner the better. I gave you the earliest +appointment I thought you could keep, considering what you had to do." + +"Have you got the stuff, then?" Merrick asked anxiously. + +"No, not exactly yet. But I've got this," and Hewitt held up the point +of his walking-stick. Protruding half an inch or so from it was the +sharp end of a small gimlet, and in the groove thereof was a little +white wood, such as commonly remains after a gimlet has been used. + +"Why, what's that?" + +"Never mind. Let us move along--I'll walk. I think we're about at the +end of the job--it's been a fairly lucky one, and quite simple. But I'll +explain after." + +Just beyond the Smack Inn, Hewitt halted the cart, and all got down. +They looped the horse's reins round a hedge-stake and proceeded the +small remaining distance on foot, with the policemen behind, to avoid a +premature scare. They turned up a lane behind a few small and rather +dirty cottages facing the sea, each with its patch of kitchen garden +behind. Hewitt led the way to the second garden, pushed open the small +wicket gate and walked boldly in, followed by the others. + +Cabbages covered most of the patch, and seemed pretty healthy in their +situation, with the exception of half a dozen--singularly enough, all +together in a group. These were drooping, yellow, and wilted, and +towards these Hewitt straightway walked. "Dig up those wilted cabbages," +he said to the jobbing man. "They're really useless now. You'll probably +find something else six inches down or so." + +The man struck his spade into the soft earth, wherein it stopped +suddenly with a thud. But at this moment a gaunt, slatternly woman, with +a black eye, a handkerchief over her head, and her skirt pinned up in +front, observing the invasion from the back door of the cottage, rushed +out like a maniac and attacked the party valiantly with a broom. She +upset the jobbing man over his spade, knocked off one policeman's +helmet, lunged into the other's face with her broom, and was making her +second attempt to hit Hewitt (who had dodged), when Merrick caught her +firmly by the elbows from behind, pressed them together, and held her. +She screamed, and people came from other cottages and looked on. "Peter! +Peter!" the woman screamed, "come 'ee, come'ee here! Davey! They're +come!" + +A grimy child came to the cottage door, and seeing the woman thus held, +and strangers in the garden, set up a piteous howl. Meantime the digger +had uncovered two wooden boxes, each eighteen inches long or so, bound +with hoop-iron and sealed. One had been torn partly open at the top, and +the broken wood roughly replaced. When this was lifted, bars of yellow +metal were visible within. + +The woman still screamed vehemently, and struggled. The grimy child +retreated, and then there appeared at the door, staggering hazily and +rubbing his eyes, a shaggy, unkempt man, in shirt and trousers. He +looked stupidly at the scene before him, and his jaw dropped. + +"Take that man," cried Hewitt. "He's one!" And the policeman promptly +took him, so that he had handcuffs on his wrists before he had collected +his faculties sufficiently to begin swearing. + +Hewitt and the other policeman entered the cottage. In the lower two +rooms there was nobody. They climbed the few narrow stairs, and in the +front room above they found another man, younger, and fast asleep. "He's +the other," said Hewitt. "Take _him_." And this one was handcuffed +before he woke. + +Then the recovered gold was put into the cart, and with the help of the +village constable, who brought his own handcuffs for the benefit and +adornment of the lady with the broom, such a procession marched out of +Lostella as had never been dreamed of by the oldest inhabitant in his +worst nightmare, nor recorded in the whole history of Cornwall. + +"Now," said Hewitt, turning to Merrick, "we must have that fellow of +yours--what's his name--Gullen, isn't it? The one that went down to +measure the hole in the ship. You've kept him aboard, of course?" + +"What, Gullen?" exclaimed Merrick. "Gullen? Well, as a matter of fact he +went ashore last night and hasn't come back. But you don't mean to +say----" + +"I _do_," replied Hewitt. "And now you've lost him." + + +IV. + +"But tell me all about it now we've a little time to ourselves," asked +Merrick an hour or two later, as they sat and smoked in the after-cabin +of the salvage tug. "We've got the stuff, thanks to you, but I don't in +the least see how _they_ got it, nor how you found it out." + +"Well, there didn't seem to be a great deal either way in the tales told +by the men from the _Nicobar_. They cancelled one another out, so to +speak, though it seemed likely that there might be something in them in +one or two respects. Brasyer, I could see, tried to prove too much. If +the captain and the steward were conspiring to rob the bullion-room, why +should the steward trouble to cut through the boiler-plate walls when +the captain kept the keys in his cabin? And if the captain had been +stealing the bullion, why should he stop at two cases when he had all +the voyage to operate in and forty cases to help himself to? Of course +the evidence of the carpenter gave some colour to the theory, but I +think I can imagine a very reasonable explanation of that. + +"You told me, of course, that you were down with the men yourself when +they opened the bullion-room door and got out the cases, so that there +could be no suspicion of _them_. But at the same time you told me that +the breach in the _Nicobar's_ side had laid open the bullion-room +partition, and that you might more easily have got the cases out that +way. You told me, of course, that the cases couldn't have _fallen_ out +that way because of the list of the vessel, the position of the rent in +the boiler-plate, and so on. But I reflected that the day before a diver +had been down alone--in fact, that his business had been with the very +hole that extended partly to the bullion-room: he had to measure it. +That diver might easily have got at the cases through the breach. But +then, as you told me, a diver can't bring things up from below +unobserved. This diver would know this, and might therefore hide the +booty below. So that I made up my mind to have a look under water before +I jumped to any conclusion. + +"I didn't think it likely that he had hidden the cases, mind you. +Because he would have had to dive again to get them, and would have +been just as awkwardly placed in fetching them to the light of day then +as ever. Besides, he couldn't come diving here again in the company's +dress without some explanation. So what more likely than that he would +make some ingenious arrangement with an accomplice, whereby he might +make the gold in some way accessible to him? + +"We went under water. I kept my eyes open, and observed, among other +things, that the vessel was one of those well-kept 'swell' ones on which +all the hatch gratings and so on are in plain oak or teak, kept +holystoned. This (with the other things) I put by in my mind in case it +should be useful. When we went over the side and looked at the great +gap, I saw that it would have been quite easy to get at the broken +bullion-room partition from outside." + +"Yes," remarked Merrick, "it would be no trouble at all. The ladder goes +down just by the side of the breach, and any one descending by that +might just step off at one side on to the jagged plating at the level of +the after orlop, and reach over into the bullion safe." + +"Just so. Well, next I turned my attention to the sea-bed, which I was +extremely pleased to see was of soft, slimy claystone. I walked about a +little, getting farther and farther away from the vessel as I went, +till I came across that clean stone which I turned over with my foot. Do +you remember?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, that was noticeable. It was the only clean, bare stone to be +seen. Every other was covered with a green growth, and to most clumps of +weed clung. The obvious explanation of this was that the stone was a +new-comer--lately brought from dry land--from the shingle on the +sea-shore, probably, since it was washed so clean. Such a stone could +not have come a mile out to sea by itself. Somebody had brought it in a +boat and thrown it over, and whoever did it didn't take all that trouble +for nothing. Then its shape told a tale; it was something of the form, +rather exaggerated, of a loaf--the sort that is called a 'cottage'--the +most convenient possible shape for attaching to a line and lowering. But +the line had gone, so somebody must have been down there to detach it. +Also it wasn't unreasonable to suppose that there might have been a hook +on the end of that line. This, then, was a theory. Your man had gone +down alone to take his measurement, had stepped into the broken side, as +you have explained he could, reached into the bullion-room, and lifted +the two cases. Probably he unfastened the cord, and brought them out one +at a time for convenience in carrying. Then he carried the cases, one +at a time, as I have said, over to that white stone which lay there sunk +with the hook and line attached by previous arrangement with some +confederate. He detached the rope from the stone--it was probably fixed +by an attached piece of cord, tightened round the stone with what you +call a timber-hitch, easily loosened--replaced the cord round the two +cases, passed the hook under the cord, and left it to be pulled up from +above. But then it could not have been pulled up there in broad +daylight, under your very noses. The confederates would wait till night. +That meant that the other end of the rope was attached to some floating +object, so that it might be readily recovered. The whole arrangement was +set one night to be carried away the next." + +"But why didn't Gullen take more than two cases?" + +"He couldn't afford to waste the time, in the first place. Each case +removed meant another journey to and from the vessel, and you were +waiting above for his measurements. Then he was probably doubtful as to +weight. Too much at once wouldn't easily be drawn up, and might upset a +small boat. + +"Well, so much for the white stone. But there was more; close by the +stone I noticed (although I think you didn't) a mark in the claystone. +It was a triangular depression or pit, sharp at the bottom--just the +hole that would be made by the sharp impact of the square corner of a +heavy box, if shod with iron, as the bullion cases are. This was one +important thing. It seemed to indicate that the boxes had not been +lifted directly up from the sea-bed, but had been dragged sideways--at +all events at first--so that a sharp corner had turned over and dug into +the claystone! I walked a little farther and found more +indications--slight scratches, small stones displaced, and so on, that +convinced me of this, and also pointed out the direction in which the +cases had been dragged. I followed the direction, and presently arrived +at another stone, rather smaller than the clean one. The cases had +evidently caught against this, and it had been displaced by their +momentum, and perhaps by a possible wrench from above. The green growth +covered the part which had been exposed to the water, and the rest of +the stone fitted the hole beside it, from which it had been pulled. +Clearly these things were done recently, or the sea would have wiped out +all the traces in the soft claystone. The rest of what I did under water +of course you understood." + +"I suppose so: you took the bearings of the two stones in relation to +the ship by pacing the distances." + +"That is so. I kept the figures in my head till I could make a note of +them, as you saw, on paper. The rest was mere calculation. What I judged +had happened was this. Gullen had arranged with somebody, identity +unknown, but certainly somebody with a boat at his disposal, to lay the +line, and take it up the following night. Now anything larger than a +rowing boat could not have got up quite so close to you in the night +(although your tug was at the other end of the wreck) without a risk of +being seen. _But_ no rowing boat could have _dragged_ those cases +forcibly along the bottom; they would act as an anchor to it. Therefore +this was what had happened. The thieves had come in a large boat--a +fishing smack, lugger, or something of that sort--with a small boat in +tow. The sailing boat had lain to at a convenient distance, _in the +direction in which it was afterwards to go_, so as to save time if +observed, and a man had put off quietly in the small boat to pick up the +float, whatever it was. There must have been a lot of slack line on this +for the purpose, as also for the purpose of allowing the float to drift +about fairly freely, and not attract attention by remaining in one +place. The man pulled off to the sailing boat, and took the float and +line aboard. Then the sailing boat swung off in the direction of home, +and the line was hauled in with the plunder at the end of it." + +"One would think you had seen it all--or done it," Merrick remarked, +with a laugh. + +"Nothing else could have happened, you see. That chain of events is the +only one that will explain the circumstances. A rapid grasp of the whole +circumstances and a perfect appreciation of each is more than half the +battle in such work as this. Well, you know I got the exact bearings of +the wreck on the chart, worked out from that the lay of the two stones +with the scratch marks between, and then it was obvious that a straight +line drawn through these and carried ahead would indicate, +approximately, at any rate, the direction the thieves' vessel had taken. +The line fell on the coast close by the village of Lostella--indeed that +was the only village for some few miles either way. The indication was +not certain, but it was likely, and the only one available, therefore it +must be followed up." + +"And what about the painted hatch? How did you guess that?" + +"Well, I saw there were hatch-gratings belonging to the _Nicobar_ +floating about, and it seemed probable that the thieves would use for a +float something similar to the other wreckage in the vicinity, so as not +to attract attention. Nothing would be more likely than a hatch-grating. +But then, in small vessels, such as fishing-luggers and so on, fittings +are almost always painted--they can't afford to be such holystoning +swells as those on the _Nicobar_. So I judged the grating might be +painted, and this would possibly have been noticed by some sharp person. +I made the shot, and hit. The boy remembered the white grating, which +had gone--'washed away,' as he thought. That was useful to me, as you +shall see. + +"I made off toward Lostella. The tide was low and it was getting dusk +when I arrived. A number of boats and smacks were lying anchored on the +beach, but there were few people to be seen. I began looking out for +smacks with white-painted fittings in them. There are not so many of +these among fishing vessels--brown or red is more likely, or sheer +colourless dirt over paint unrecognisable. There were only two that I +saw last night. The first _might_ have been the one I wanted, but there +was nothing to show it. The second _was_ the one. She was half-decked +and had a small white-painted hatch. I shifted the hatch and found a +long line, attached to the grating at one end and carrying a hook at the +other! They had neglected to unfasten their apparatus--perhaps had an +idea that there might be a chance of using it again in a few days. I +went to the transom and read the inscription, '_Rebecca_. Peter and +David Garthew, Lostella.' Then my business was to find the Garthews. + +"I wandered about the village for some little time, and presently got +hold of a boy. I made a simple excuse for asking about the +Garthews--wanted to go for a sail to-morrow. The boy, with many grins, +confided to me that both of the Garthews were 'on the booze.' I should +find them at the Smack Inn, where they had been all day, drunk as +fiddlers. This seemed a likely sort of thing after the haul they had +made. I went to the Smack Inn, determined to claim old friendship with +the Garthews, although I didn't know Peter from David. There they +were--one sleepy drunk, and the other loving and crying drunk. I got as +friendly as possible with them under the circumstances, and at closing +time stood another gallon of beer and carried it home for them, while +they carried each other. I took care to have a good look round in the +cottage. I even helped Peter's 'old woman'--the lady with the broom--to +carry them up to bed. But nowhere could I see anything that looked like +a bullion-case or a hiding-place for one. So I came away, determined to +renew my acquaintance in the morning, and to carry it on as long as +might be necessary; also to look at the garden in the daylight for signs +of burying. With that view I fixed that little gimlet in my +walking-stick, as you saw. + +"This morning I was at Lostella before ten, and took a look at the +Garthews' cabbages. It seemed odd that half a dozen, all in a clump +together, looked withered and limp, as though they had been dug up +hastily, the roots broken, perhaps, and then replanted. And altogether +these particular cabbages had a dissipated, leaning-different-ways look, +as though _they_ had been on the loose with the Garthews. So, seeing a +grubby child near the back door of the cottage, I went towards him, +walking rather unsteadily, so as, if I were observed, to favour the +delusion that I was not yet quite got over last night's diversions. +'Hullo, my b-boy,' I said, 'hullo, li'l b-boy, look here,' and I plunged +my hand into my trousers' pocket and brought it out full of small +change. Then, making a great business of selecting him a penny, I +managed to spill it all over the dissipated cabbages. It was easy then, +in stooping to pick up the change, to lean heavily on my stick and drive +it through the loose earth. As I had expected, there was a box below. So +I gouged away with my walking-stick while I collected my coppers, and +finally swaggered off, after a few civil words with the 'old woman,' +carrying with me evident proof that it was white wood recently buried +there. The rest you saw for yourself. I think you and I may congratulate +each other on having dodged that broom. It hit all the others." + +"What I'm wild about," said Merrick, "is having let that scoundrel +Gullen get off. He's an artful chap, without a doubt. He saw us go over +the side, you know, and after you had gone he came into the cabin for +some instructions. Your pencil notes and the chart were on the table, +and no doubt he put two and two together (which was more than I could, +not knowing what had happened), and concluded to make himself safe for a +bit. He had no leave that night--he just pulled away on the quiet. Why +didn't you give me the tip to keep him?" + +"That wouldn't have done. In the first place, there was no legal +evidence to warrant his arrest, and ordering him to keep aboard would +have aroused his suspicions. I didn't know at the time how many days, or +weeks, it would take me to find the bullion, if I ever found it, and in +that time Gullen might have communicated in some way with his +accomplices, and so spoilt the whole thing. Yes, certainly he seems to +have been fairly smart in his way. He knew he would probably be sent +down first, as usual, alone to make measurements, and conceived his plan +and made his arrangements forthwith." + +"But now what I want to know is what about all those _Nicobar_ people +watching and suspecting one another? More especially what about the +cases the captain and the steward are said to have fetched ashore?" + +Hewitt laughed. "Well," he said, "as to that, the presence of the +bullion seems to have bred all sorts of mutual suspicion on board the +ship. Brasyer was over-fussy, and his continual chatter started it +probably, so that it spread like an infection. As to the captain and the +steward, of course I don't know anything but that their rescued cases +were not bullion cases. Probably they were doing a little private +trading--it's generally the case when captain and steward seem unduly +friendly for their relative positions--and perhaps the cases contained +something specially valuable: vases or bronzes from Japan, for instance; +possibly the most valuable things of the size they had aboard. Then, if +they had insured their things, Captain Mackrie (who has the reputation +of a sharp and not very scrupulous man) might possibly think it rather a +stroke of business to get the goods and the insurance money too, which +would lead him to keep his parcels as quiet as possible. But that's as +it may be." + +The case was much as Hewitt had surmised. The zealous Brasyer, posting +to London in hot haste after Mackrie, spent some days in watching him. +At last the captain and the steward with their two boxes took a cab and +went to Bond Street, with Brasyer in another cab behind them. The two +entered a shop, the window of which was set out with rare curiosities +and much old silver and gold. Brasyer could restrain himself no longer. +He grabbed a passing policeman, and rushed with him into the shop. +There they found the captain and the steward with two small packing +cases opened before them, trying to sell--a couple of very +ancient-looking Japanese bronze figures, of that curious old workmanship +and varied colour of metal that in genuine examples mean nowadays high +money value. + +Brasyer vanished: there was too much chaff for him to live through in +the British mercantile marine after this adventure. The fact was, the +steward had come across the bargain, but had not sufficient spare cash +to buy, so he called in the aid of the captain, and they speculated in +the bronzes as partners. There was much anxious inspection of the prizes +on the way home, and much discussion as to the proper price to ask. +Finally, it was said, they got three hundred pounds for the pair. + +Now and again Hewitt meets Merrick still. Sometimes Merrick says, "Now, +I wonder after all whether or not some of those _Nicobar_ men who were +continually dodging suspiciously about that bullion-room _did_ mean +having a dash at the gold if there were a chance?" And Hewitt replies, +"I wonder." + + + + +THE HOLFORD WILL CASE. + + +At one time, in common, perhaps, with most people, I took a sort of +languid, amateur interest in questions of psychology, and was impelled +there-by to plunge into the pages of the many curious and rather +abstruse books which attempt to deal with phenomena of mind, soul and +sense. Three things of the real nature of which, I am convinced, no man +will ever learn more than we know at present--which is nothing. + +From these I strayed into the many volumes of _Transactions_ of the +Psychical Research Society, with an occasional by-excursion into mental +telepathy and theosophy; the last, a thing whereof my Philistine +intelligence obstinately refused to make head or tail. + +It was while these things were occupying part of my attention that I +chanced to ask Hewitt whether, in the course of his divers odd and +out-of-the-way experiences, he had met with any such weird adventures as +were detailed in such profusion in the books of "authenticated" spooks, +doppelgangers, poltergeists, clairvoyance, and so forth. + +"Well," Hewitt answered, with reflection, "I haven't been such a +wallower in the uncanny as some of the worthy people who talk at large +in those books of yours, and, as a matter of fact, my little adventures, +curious as some of them may seem, have been on the whole of the most +solid and matter-of-fact description. One or two things have happened +that perhaps your 'psychical' people might be interested in, but they've +mostly been found to be capable of a disappointingly simple explanation. +One case of some genuine psychological interest, however, I have had; +although there's nothing even in that which isn't a matter of well-known +scientific possibility." And he proceeded to tell me the story that I +have set down here, as well as I can, from recollection. + +I think I have already said, in another place, that Hewitt's +professional start as a private investigator dated from his connection +with the famous will case of Bartley _v._ Bartley and others, in which +his then principals, Messrs. Crellan, Hunt & Crellan, chiefly through +his exertions established their extremely high reputation as solicitors. +It was ten years or so after this case that Mr. Crellan senior--the head +of the firm--retired into private life, and by an odd chance Hewitt's +first meeting with him after that event was occasioned by another will +difficulty. + +These were the terms of the telegram that brought Hewitt again into +personal relations with his old principal:-- + +"_Can you run down at once on a matter of private business? I will be at +Guildford to meet eleven thirty-five from Waterloo. If later or +prevented please wire. Crellan._" + +The day and the state of Hewitt's engagements suited, and there was full +half an hour to catch the train. Taking, therefore, the small +travelling-bag that always stood ready packed in case of any sudden +excursion that presented the possibility of a night from home, he got +early to Waterloo, and by half-past twelve was alighting at Guildford +Station. Mr. Crellan, a hale, white-haired old gentleman, wearing +gold-rimmed spectacles, was waiting with a covered carriage. + +"How d'ye do, Mr. Hewitt, how d'ye do?" the old gentleman exclaimed as +soon as they met, grasping Hewitt's hand, and hurrying him toward the +carriage. "I'm glad you've come, very glad. It isn't raining, and you +might have preferred something more open, but I brought the brougham +because I want to talk privately. I've been vegetating to such an extent +for the last few years down here that any little occurrence out of the +ordinary excites me, and I'm sure I couldn't have kept quiet till we had +got indoors. It's been bad enough, keeping the thing to myself, +already." + +The door shut, and the brougham started. Mr. Crellan laid his hand on +Hewitt's knee, "I hope," he said, "I haven't dragged you away from any +important business?" + +"No," Hewitt replied, "you have chosen a most excellent time. Indeed, I +did think of making a small holiday to-day, but your telegram----" + +"Yes, yes. Do you know, I was almost ashamed of having sent it after it +had gone. Because, after all, the matter is, probably, really a very +simple sort of affair that you can't possibly help me in. A few years +ago I should have thought nothing of it, nothing at all. But as I have +told you, I've got into such a dull, vegetable state of mind since I +retired and have nothing to do that a little thing upsets me, and I +haven't mental energy enough to make up my mind to go to dinner +sometimes. But you're an old friend, and I'm sure you'll forgive my +dragging you all down here on a matter that will, perhaps, seem +ridiculously simple to you, a man in the thick of active business. If I +hadn't known you so well I wouldn't have had the impudence to bother +you. But never mind all that. I'll tell you. + +"Do you ever remember my speaking of an intimate friend, a Mr. Holford? +No. Well, it's a long time ago, and perhaps I never happened to mention +him. He was a most excellent man--old fellow, like me, you know; two or +three years older, as a matter of fact. We were chums many years ago; in +fact, we lodged in the same house when I was an articled clerk and he +was a student at Guy's. He retired from the medical profession early, +having come into a fortune, and came down here to live at the house +we're going to; as a matter of fact, Wedbury Hall. + +"When I retired I came down and took up my quarters not far off, and we +were a very excellent pair of old chums till last Monday--the day before +yesterday--when my poor old friend died. He was pretty well in +years--seventy-three--and a man can't live for ever. But I assure you it +has upset me terribly, made a greater fool of me than ever, in fact, +just when I ought to have my wits about me. + +"The reason I particularly want my wits just now, and the reason I have +requisitioned yours, is this: that I can't find poor old Holford's will. +I drew it up for him years ago, and by it I was appointed his sole +executor. I am perfectly convinced that he cannot have destroyed it, +because he told me everything concerning his affairs. I have always been +his only adviser, in fact, and I'm sure he would have consulted me as +to any change in his testamentary intentions before he made it. +Moreover, there are reasons why I know he could not have wished to die +intestate." + +"Which are----?" queried Hewitt as Mr. Crellan paused in his statement. + +"Which are these: Holford was a widower, with no children of his own. +His wife, who has been dead nearly fifteen years now, was a most +excellent woman, a model wife, and would have been a model mother if she +had been one at all. As it was she adopted a little girl, a poor little +soul who was left an orphan at two years of age. The child's father, an +unsuccessful man of business of the name of Garth, maddened by a sudden +and ruinous loss, committed suicide, and his wife died of the shock +occasioned by the calamity. + +"The child, as I have said, was taken by Mrs. Holford and made a +daughter of, and my old friend's daughter she has been ever since, +practically speaking. The poor old fellow couldn't possibly have been +more attached to a daughter of his own, and on her part she couldn't +possibly have been a better daughter than she was. She stuck by him +night and day during his last illness, until she became rather ill +herself, although of course there was a regular nurse always in +attendance. + +"Now, in his will, Mr. Holford bequeathed rather more than half of his +very large property to this Miss Garth; that is to say, as residuary +legatee, her interest in the will came to about that. The rest was +distributed in various ways. Holford had largely spent the leisure of +his retirement in scientific pursuits. So there were a few legacies to +learned societies; all his servants were remembered; he left me a +certain number of his books; and there was a very fair sum of money for +his nephew, Mr. Cranley Mellis, the only near relation of Mr. Holford's +still living. So that you see what the loss of this will may mean. Miss +Garth, who was to have taken the greater part of her adoptive father's +property, will not have one shilling's worth of claim on the estate and +will be turned out into the world without a cent. One or two very old +servants will be very awkwardly placed, too, with nothing to live on, +and very little prospect of doing more work." + +"Everything will go to this nephew," said Hewitt, "of course?" + +"Of course. That is unless I attempt to prove a rough copy of the will +which I may possibly have by me. But even if I have such a thing and +find it, long and costly litigation would be called for, and the result +would probably be all against us." + +"You say you feel sure Mr. Holford did not destroy the will himself?" + +"I am quite sure he would never have done so without telling me of it; +indeed, I am sure he would have consulted me first. Moreover, it can +never have been his intention to leave Miss Garth utterly unprovided +for; it would be the same thing as disinheriting his only daughter." + +"Did you see him frequently?" + +"There's scarcely been a day when I haven't seen him since I have lived +down here. During his illness--it lasted a month--I saw him every day." + +"And he said nothing of destroying his will?" + +"Nothing at all. On the contrary, soon after his first seizure--indeed, +on the first visit at which I found him in bed--he said, after telling +me how he felt, 'Everything's as I want it, you know, in case I go +under.' That seemed to me to mean his will was still as he desired it to +be." + +"Well, yes, it would seem so. But counsel on the other side (supposing +there were another side) might quite as plausibly argue that he meant to +die intestate, and had destroyed his will so that everything should be +as he wanted it, in that sense. But what do you want me to do--find the +will?" + +"Certainly, if you can. It seemed to me that you, with your clever head, +might be able to form a better judgment than I as to what has happened +and who is responsible for it. Because if the will _has_ been taken +away, some one has taken it." + +"It seems probable. Have you told any one of your difficulty?" + +"Not a soul. I came over as soon as I could after Mr. Holford's death, +and Miss Garth gave me all the keys, because, as executor, the case +being a peculiar one, I wished to see that all was in order, and, as you +know, the estate is legally vested in the executor from the death of the +testator, so that I was responsible for everything; although, of course, +if there is no will I'm not executor. But I thought it best to keep the +difficulty to myself till I saw you." + +"Quite right. Is this Wedbury Hall?" + +The brougham had passed a lodge gate, and approached, by a wide drive, a +fine old red brick mansion carrying the heavy stone dressings and +copings distinctive of early eighteenth century domestic architecture. + +"Yes," said Mr. Crellan, "this is the place. We will go straight to the +study, I think, and then I can explain details." + +The study told the tale of the late Mr. Holford's habits and interests. +It was half a library, half a scientific laboratory--pathological +curiosities in spirits, a retort or two, test tubes on the +writing-table, and a fossilized lizard mounted in a case, balanced the +many shelves and cases of books disposed about the walls. In a recess +between two book-cases stood a heavy, old-fashioned mahogany bureau. + +"Now it was in that bureau," Mr. Crellan explained, indicating it with +his finger, "that Mr. Holford kept every document that was in the +smallest degree important or valuable. I have seen him at it a hundred +times, and he always maintained it was as secure as any iron safe. That +may not have been altogether the fact, but the bureau is certainly a +tremendously heavy and strong one. Feel it." + +Hewitt took down the front and pulled out a drawer that Mr. Crellan +unlocked for the purpose. + +"Solid Spanish mahogany an inch thick," was his verdict, "heavy, hard, +and seasoned; not the sort of thing you can buy nowadays. Locks, Chubb's +patent, early pattern, but not easily to be picked by anything short of +a blast of gunpowder. If there are no marks on this bureau it hasn't +been tampered with." + +"Well," Mr. Crellan pursued, "as I say, _that_ was where Mr. Holford +kept his will. I have often seen it when we have been here together, and +this was the drawer, the top on the right, that he kept it in. The will +was a mere single sheet of foolscap, and was kept, folded of course, in +a blue envelope." + +"When did you yourself last actually see the will?" + +"I saw it in my friend's hand two days before he took to his bed. He +merely lifted it in his hand to get at something else in the drawer, +replaced it, and locked the drawer again." + +"Of course there are other drawers, bureaux, and so on, about the place. +You have examined them carefully, I take it?" + +"I've turned out ever possible receptacle for that will in the house, I +positively assure you, and there isn't a trace of it." + +"You've thought of secret drawers, I suppose?" + +"Yes. There are two in the bureau which I always knew of. Here they +are." Mr. Crellan pressed his thumb against a partition of the +pigeon-holes at the back of the bureau and a strip of mahogany flew out +from below, revealing two shallow drawers with small ivory catches in +lieu of knobs. "Nothing there at all. And this other, as I have said, +was the drawer where the will was kept. The other papers kept in the +same drawer are here as usual." + +"Did anybody else know where Mr. Holford kept his will?" + +"Everybody in the house, I should think. He was a frank, above-board +sort of man. His adopted daughter knew, and the butler knew, and there +was absolutely no reason why all the other servants shouldn't know; +probably they did." + +"First," said Hewitt, "we will make quite sure there are no more secret +drawers about this bureau. Lock the door in case anybody comes." + +Hewitt took out every drawer of the bureau, and examined every part of +each before he laid it aside. Then he produced a small pair of silver +callipers and an ivory pocket-rule and went over every inch of the heavy +framework, measuring, comparing, tapping, adding, and subtracting +dimensions. In the end he rose to his feet satisfied. "There is most +certainly nothing concealed there," he said. + +The drawers were put back, and Mr. Crellan suggested lunch. At Hewitt's +suggestion it was brought to the study. + +"So far," Hewitt said, "we arrive at this: either Mr. Holford has +destroyed his will, or he has most effectually concealed it, or somebody +has stolen it. The first of these possibilities you don't favour." + +"I don't believe it is a possibility for a moment. I have told you why; +and I knew Holford so well, you know. For the same reasons I am sure he +never concealed it." + +"Very well, then. Somebody has stolen it. The question is, who?" + +"That is so." + +"It seems to me that every one in this house had a direct and personal +interest in preserving that will. The servants have all something left +them, you say, and without the will that goes, of course. Miss Garth +has the greatest possible interest in the will. The only person I have +heard of as yet who would benefit by its loss or destruction would be +the nephew, Mr. Mellis. There are no other relatives, you say, who would +benefit by intestacy?" + +"Not one." + +"Well, what do you think yourself, now? Have you any suspicions?" + +Mr. Crellan shrugged his shoulders. "I've no more right to suspicions +than you have, I suppose," he said. "Of course, if there are to be +suspicions they can only point one way. Mr. Mellis is the only person +who can gain by the disappearance of this will." + +"Just so, Now, what do you know of him?" + +"I don't know much of the young man," Mr. Crellan said slowly. "I must +say I never particularly took to him. He is rather a clever fellow, I +believe. He was called to the bar some time ago, and afterwards studied +medicine, I believe, with the idea of priming himself for a practice in +medical jurisprudence. He took a good deal of interest in my old +friend's researches, I am told--at any rate he _said_ he did; he may +have been thinking of his uncle's fortune. But they had a small tiff on +some medical question. I don't know exactly what it was, but Mr. Holford +objected to something--a method of research or something of that +kind--as being dangerous and unprofessional. There was no actual +rupture between them, you understand, but Mellis's visits slacked off, +and there was a coolness." + +"Where is Mr. Mellis now?" + +"In London, I believe." + +"Has he been in this house between the day you last saw the will in that +drawer and yesterday, when you failed to find it?" + +"Only once. He came to see his uncle two days before his death--last +Saturday, in fact. He didn't stay long." + +"Did you see him?" + +"Yes." + +"What did he do?" + +"Merely came into the room for a few minutes--visitors weren't allowed +to stay long--spoke a little to his uncle, and went back to town." + +"Did he do nothing else, or see anybody else?" + +"Miss Garth went out of the room with him as he left, and I should think +they talked for a little before he went away, to judge by the time she +was gone; but I don't know." + +"You are sure he went then?" + +"I saw him in the drive as I looked from the window." + +"Miss Garth, you say, has kept all the keys since the beginning of Mr. +Holford's illness?" + +"Yes, until she gave them up to me yesterday. Indeed, the nurse, who is +rather a peppery customer, and was jealous of Miss Garth's presence in +the sick room all along, made several difficulties about having to go to +her for everything." + +"And there is no doubt of the bureau having been kept locked all the +time?" + +"None at all. I have asked Miss Garth that--and, indeed, a good many +other things--without saying why I wanted the information." + +"How are Mr. Mellis and Miss Garth affected toward one another--are they +friendly?" + +"Oh, yes. Indeed, some while ago I rather fancied that Mellis was +disposed to pay serious addresses in that quarter. He may have had a +fancy that way, or he may have been attracted by the young lady's +expectations. At any rate, nothing definite seems to have come of it as +yet. But I must say--between ourselves, of course--I have more than once +noticed a decided air of agitation, shyness perhaps, in Miss Garth when +Mr. Mellis has been present. But, at any rate, that scarcely matters. +She is twenty-four years of age now, and can do as she likes. Although, +if I had anything to say in the matter--well, never mind." + +"You, I take it, have known Miss Garth a long time?" + +"Bless you, yes. Danced her on my knee twenty years ago. I've been her +'Uncle Leonard' all her life." + +"Well, I think we must at least let Miss Garth know of the loss of the +will. Perhaps, when they have cleared away these plates, she will come +here for a few minutes." + +"I'll go and ask her," Mr. Crellan answered, and having rung the bell, +proceeded to find Miss Garth. + +Presently he returned with the lady. She was a slight, very pale young +woman; no doubt rather pretty in ordinary, but now not looking her best. +She was evidently worn and nervous from anxiety and want of sleep, and +her eyes were sadly inflamed. As the wind slammed a loose casement +behind her she started nervously, and placed her hand to her head. + +"Sit down at once, my dear," Mr. Crellan said; "sit down. This is Mr. +Martin Hewitt, whom I have taken the liberty of inviting down here to +help me in a very important matter. The fact is, my dear," Mr. Crellan +added gravely, "I can't find your poor father's will." + +Miss Garth was not surprised. "I thought so," she said mildly, "when you +asked me about the bureau yesterday." + +"Of course I need not say, my dear, what a serious thing it may be for +you if that will cannot be found. So I hope you'll try and tell Mr. +Hewitt here anything he wants to know as well as you can, without +forgetting a single thing. I'm pretty sure that he will find it for us +if it is to be found." + +"I understand, Miss Garth," Hewitt asked, "that the keys of that bureau +never left your possession during the whole time of Mr. Holford's last +illness, and that the bureau was kept locked?" + +"Yes, that is so." + +"Did you ever have occasion to go to the bureau yourself?" + +"No, I have not touched it." + +"Then you can answer for it, I presume, that the bureau was never +unlocked by _any one_ from the time Mr. Holford placed the keys in your +hands till you gave them to Mr. Crellan?" + +"Yes, I am sure of that." + +"Very good. Now is there any place on the whole premises that you can +suggest where this will may possibly be hidden?" + +"There is no place that Mr. Crellan doesn't know of, I'm sure." + +"It is an old house, I observe," Hewitt pursued. "Do you know of any +place of concealment in the structure--any secret doors, I mean, you +know, or sliding panels, or hollow door frames, and so forth?" + +Miss Garth shook her head. "There is not a single place of the sort you +speak of in the whole building, so far as I know," she said, "and I +have lived here almost all my life." + +"You knew the purport of Mr. Holford's will, I take it, and understand +what its loss may mean to yourself?" + +"Perfectly." + +"Now I must ask you to consider carefully. Take your mind back to two or +three days before Mr. Holford's illness began, and tell me if you can +remember any single fact, occurrence, word, or hint from that day to +this in any way bearing on the will or anything connected with it?" + +Miss Garth shook her head thoughtfully. "I can't remember the thing +being mentioned by anybody, except perhaps by the nurse, who is rather a +touchy sort of woman, and once or twice took it upon herself to hint +that my recent anxiety was chiefly about my poor father's money. And +that once, when I had done some small thing for him, my father--I have +always called him father, you know--said that he wouldn't forget it, or +that I should be rewarded, or something of that sort. Nothing else that +I can remember in the remotest degree concerned the will." + +"Mr. Mellis said nothing about it, then?" + +Miss Garth changed colour slightly, but answered, "No, I only saw him to +the door." + +"Thank you, Miss Garth, I won't trouble you any further just now. But +if you _can_ remember anything more in the course of the next few hours +it may turn out to be of great service." + +Miss Garth bowed and withdrew. Mr. Crellan shut the door behind her and +returned to Hewitt. "_That_ doesn't carry us much further," he said. +"The more certain it seems that the will cannot have been got at, the +more difficult our position is from a legal point of view. What shall we +do now?" + +"Is the nurse still about the place?" + +"Yes, I believe so." + +"Then I'll speak to her." + +The nurse came in response to Mr. Crellan's summons: a sharp-featured, +pragmatical woman of forty-five. She took the seat offered her, and +waited for Hewitt's questions. + +"You were in attendance on Mr. Holford, I believe, Mrs. Turton, since +the beginning of his last illness?" + +"Since October 24th." + +"Were you present when Mr. Mellis came to see his uncle last Saturday?" + +"Yes." + +"Can you tell me what took place?" + +"As to what the gentleman said to Mr. Holford," the nurse replied, +bridling slightly, "of course I don't know anything, it not being my +business and not intended for my ears. Mr. Crellan was there, and knows +as much as I do, and so does Miss Garth. I only know that Mr. Mellis +stayed for a few minutes and then went out of the room with Miss Garth." + +"How long was Miss Garth gone?" + +"I don't know, ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, perhaps." + +"Now Mrs. Turton, I want you to tell me in confidence--it is very +important--whether you, at any time, heard Mr. Holford during his +illness say anything of his wishes as to how his property was to be left +in case of his death?" + +The nurse started and looked keenly from Hewitt to Mr. Crellan and back +again. + +"Is it the will you mean?" she asked sharply. + +"Yes. Did he mention it?" + +"You mean you can't find the will, isn't that it?" + +"Well, suppose it is, what then?" + +"Suppose won't do," the nurse answered shortly; "I _do_ know something +about the will, and I believe you can't find it." + +"I'm sure, Mrs. Turton, that if you know anything about the will you +will tell Mr. Crellan in the interests of right and justice." + +"And who's to protect me against the spite of those I shall offend if I +tell you?" + +Mr. Crellan interposed. + +"Whatever you tell us, Mrs. Turton," he said, "will be held in the +strictest confidence, and the source of our information shall not be +divulged. For that I give you my word of honour. And, I need scarcely +add, I will see that you come to no harm by anything you may say." + +"Then the will _is_ lost. I may understand that?" + +Hewitt's features were impassive and impenetrable. But in Mr. Crellan's +disturbed face the nurse saw a plain answer in the affirmative. + +"Yes," she said, "I see that's the trouble. Well, I know who took it." + +"Then who was it?" + +"_Miss Garth!_" + +"Miss Garth! Nonsense!" cried Mr. Crellan, starting upright. "Nonsense!" + +"It may be nonsense," the nurse replied slowly, with a monotonous +emphasis on each word. "It may be nonsense, but it's a fact. I saw her +take it." + +Mr. Crellan simply gasped. Hewitt drew his chair a little nearer. + +"If you saw her take it," he said gently, closely watching the woman's +face the while, "then, of course, there's no doubt." + +"I tell you I saw her take it," the nurse repeated. "What was in it, +and what her game was in taking it, I don't know. But it was in that +bureau, wasn't it?" + +"Yes--probably." + +"In the right hand top drawer?" + +"Yes." + +"A white paper in a blue envelope?" + +"Yes." + +"Then I saw her take it, as I said before. She unlocked that drawer +before my eyes, took it out, and locked the drawer again." + +Mr. Crellan turned blankly to Hewitt, but Hewitt kept his eyes on the +nurse's face. + +"When did this occur?" he asked, "and how?" + +"It was on Saturday night, rather late. Everybody was in bed but Miss +Garth and myself, and she had been down to the dining-room for +something. Mr. Holford was asleep, so as I wanted to re-fill the +water-bottle, I took it up and went. As I was passing the door of this +room that we are in now, I heard a noise, and looked in at the door, +which was open. There was a candle on the table which had been left +there earlier in the evening. Miss Garth was opening the top right hand +drawer of _that_ bureau"--Mrs. Turton stabbed her finger spitefully +toward the piece of furniture, as though she owed it a personal +grudge--"and I saw her take out a blue foolscap envelope, and as the +flap was open, I could see the enclosed paper was white. She shut the +drawer, locked it, and came out of the room with the envelope in her +hand." + +"And what did you do?" + +"I hurried on, and she came away without seeing me, and went in the +opposite direction--toward the small staircase." + +"Perhaps," Mr. Crellan ventured at a blurt, "perhaps she was walking in +her sleep?" + +"That she wasn't!" the nurse replied, "for she came back to Mr. +Holford's room almost as soon as I returned there, and asked some +questions about the medicine--which was nothing new, for I must say she +was very fond of interfering in things that were part of my business." + +"That is quite certain, I suppose," Hewitt remarked--"that she could not +have been asleep?" + +"Quite certain. She talked for about a quarter of an hour, and wanted to +kiss Mr. Holford, which might have wakened him, before she went to bed. +In fact, I may say we had a disagreement." + +Hewitt did not take his steady gaze from the nurse's face for some +seconds after she had finished speaking. Then he only said, "Thank you, +Mrs. Turton. I need scarcely assure you, after what Mr. Crellan has +said, that your confidence shall not be betrayed. I think that is all, +unless you have more to tell us." + +Mrs. Turton bowed and rose. "There is nothing more," she said, and left +the room. + +As soon as she had gone, "Is Mrs. Turton at all interested in the will," +Hewitt asked. + +"No, there is nothing for her. She is a new-comer, you see. Perhaps," +Mr. Crellan went on, struck by an idea, "she may be jealous, or +something. She seems a spiteful woman--and really, I can't believe her +story for a moment." + +"Why?" + +"Well, you see, it's absurd. Why should Miss Garth go to all this secret +trouble to do herself an injury--to make a beggar of herself? And +besides, she's not in the habit of telling barefaced lies. She +distinctly assured us, you remember, that she had never been to the +bureau for any purpose whatever." + +"But the nurse has an honest character, hasn't she?" + +"Yes, her character is excellent. Indeed, from all accounts, she is a +very excellent woman, except for a desire to govern everybody, and a +habit of spite if she is thwarted. But, of course, that sort of thing +sometimes leads people rather far." + +"So it does," Hewitt replied. "But consider now. Is it not possible that +Miss Garth, completely infatuated with Mr. Mellis, thinks she is doing +a noble thing for him by destroying the will and giving up her whole +claim to his uncle's property? Devoted women do just such things, you +know." + +Mr. Crellan stared, bent his head to his hand, and considered. "So they +do, so they do," he said. "Insane foolery. Really, it's the sort of +thing I can imagine her doing--she's honour and generosity itself. But +then those lies," he resumed, sitting up and slapping his leg; "I can't +believe she'd tell such tremendous lies as that for anybody. And with +such a calm face, too--I'm sure she couldn't." + +"Well, that's as it may be. You can scarcely set a limit to the lengths +a woman will go on behalf of a man she loves. I suppose, by the bye, +Miss Garth is not exactly what you would call a 'strong-minded' woman?" + +"No, she's not that. She'd never get on in the world by herself. She's a +good little soul, but nervous--very; and her month of anxiety, grief, +and want of sleep seems to have broken her up." + +"Mr. Mellis knows of the death, I suppose?" + +"I telegraphed to him at his chambers in London the first thing +yesterday--Tuesday--morning, as soon as the telegraph office was open. +He came here (as I've forgotten to tell you as yet) the first thing +this morning--before I was over here myself, in fact. He had been +staying not far off--at Ockham, I think--and the telegram had been sent +on. He saw Miss Garth, but couldn't stay, having to get back to London. +I met him going away as I came, about eleven o'clock. Of course I said +nothing about the fact that I couldn't find the will, but he will +probably be down again soon, and may ask questions." + +"Yes," Hewitt replied. "And speaking of that matter, you can no doubt +talk with Miss Garth on very intimate and familiar terms?" + +"Oh yes--yes; I've told you what old friends we are." + +"I wish you could manage, at some favourable opportunity to-day, to +speak to her alone, and without referring to the will in any way, get to +know, as circumspectly and delicately as you can, how she stands in +regard to Mr. Mellis. Whether he is an accepted lover, or likely to be +one, you know. Whatever answer you may get, you may judge, I expect, by +her manner how things really are." + +"Very good--I'll seize the first chance. Meanwhile what to do?" + +"Nothing, I'm afraid, except perhaps to examine other pieces of +furniture as closely as we have examined this bureau." + +Other bureaux, desks, tables, and chests were examined fruitlessly. It +was not until after dinner that Mr. Crellan saw a favourable opportunity +of sounding Miss Garth as he had promised. Half an hour later he came to +Hewitt in the study, more puzzled than ever. + +"There's no engagement between them," he reported, "secret or open, nor +ever has been. It seems, from what I can make out, going to work as +diplomatically as possible, that Mellis _did_ propose to her, or +something very near it, a time ago, and was point-blank refused. +Altogether, Miss Garth's sentiment for him appears to be rather dislike +than otherwise." + +"That rather knocks a hole in the theory of self-sacrifice, doesn't it?" +Hewitt remarked. "I shall have to think over this, and sleep on it. It's +possible that it may be necessary to-morrow for you to tax Miss Garth, +point-blank, with having taken away the will. Still, I hope not." + +"I hope not, too," Mr. Crellan said, rather dubious as to the result of +such an experiment. "She has been quite upset enough already. And, by +the bye, she didn't seem any the better or more composed after Mellis' +visit this morning." + +"Still, _then_ the will was gone." + +"Yes." + +And so Hewitt and Mr. Crellan talked on late into the evening, turning +over every apparent possibility and finding reason in none. The +household went to bed at ten, and, soon after, Miss Garth came to bid +Mr. Crellan good-night. It had been settled that both Martin Hewitt and +Mr. Crellan should stay the night at Wedbury Hall. + +Soon all was still, and the ticking of the tall clock in the hall below +could be heard as distinctly as though it were in the study, while the +rain without dropped from eaves and sills in regular splashes. Twelve +o'clock struck, and Mr. Crellan was about to suggest retirement, when +the sound of a light footstep startled Hewitt's alert ear. He raised his +hand to enjoin silence, and stepped to the door of the room, Mr. Crellan +following him. + +There was a light over the staircase, seven or eight yards away, and +down the stairs came Miss Garth in dressing gown and slippers; she +turned at the landing and vanished in a passage leading to the right. + +"Where does that lead to?" Hewitt whispered hurriedly. + +"Toward the small staircase--other end of house," Mr. Crellan replied in +the same tones. + +"Come quietly," said Hewitt, and stepped lightly after Miss Garth, Mr. +Crellan at his heels. + +She was nearing the opposite end of the passage, walking at a fair pace +and looking neither to right nor left. There was another light over the +smaller staircase at the end. Without hesitation Miss Garth turned down +the stairs till about half down the flight, and then stopped and pressed +her hand against the oak wainscot. + +Immediately the vertical piece of framing against which she had placed +her hand turned on central pivots top and bottom, revealing a small +recess, three feet high and little more than six inches wide. Miss Garth +stooped and felt about at the bottom of this recess for several seconds. +Then with every sign of extreme agitation and horror she withdrew her +hand empty, and sank on the stairs. Her head rolled from side to side on +her shoulders, and beads of perspiration stood on her forehead. Hewitt +with difficulty restrained Mr. Crellan from going to her assistance. + +Presently, with a sort of shuddering sigh, Miss Garth rose, and after +standing irresolute for a moment, descended the flight of stairs to the +bottom. There she stopped again, and pressing her hand to her forehead, +turned and began to re-ascend the stairs. + +Hewitt touched his companion's arm, and the two hastily but noiselessly +made their way back along the passage to the study. Miss Garth left the +open framing as it was, reached the top of the landing, and without +stopping proceeded along the passage and turned up the main staircase, +while Hewitt and Mr. Crellan still watched her from the study door. + +At the top of the flight she turned to the right, and up three or four +more steps toward her own room. There she stopped, and leaned +thoughtfully on the handrail. + +"Go up," whispered Hewitt to Mr. Crellan, "as though you were going to +bed. Appear surprised to see her; ask if she isn't well, and, if you +can, manage to repeat that question of mine about secret hiding-places +in the house." + +Mr. Crellan nodded and started quickly up the stairs. Half-way up he +turned his head, and, as he went on, "Why, Nelly, my dear," he said, +"what's the matter? Aren't you well?" + +Mr. Crellan acted his part well, and waiting below, Hewitt heard this +dialogue: + +"No, uncle, I don't feel very well, but it's nothing. I think my room +seems close. I can scarcely breathe." + +"Oh, it isn't close to-night. You'll be catching cold, my dear. Go and +have a good sleep; you mustn't worry that wise little head of yours, you +know. Mr. Hewitt and I have been making quite a night of it, but I'm off +to bed now." + +"I hope they've made you both quite comfortable, uncle?" + +"Oh, yes; capital, capital. We've been talking over business, and, no +doubt, we shall put that matter all in order soon. By the bye, I suppose +since you saw Mr. Hewitt you haven't happened to remember anything more +to tell him?" + +"No." + +"You still can't remember any hiding-places or panels, or that sort of +thing in the wainscot or anywhere?" + +"No, I'm sure I don't know of any, and I don't believe for a moment that +any exist." + +"Quite sure of that, I suppose?" + +"Oh yes." + +"All right. Now go to bed. You'll catch _such_ a cold in these draughty +landings. Come, I won't move a step till I see your door shut behind +you. Good-night." + +"Good-night, uncle." + +Mr. Crellan came downstairs again with a face of blank puzzlement. + +"I wouldn't have believed it," he assured Martin Hewitt; "positively I +wouldn't have believed she'd have told such a lie, and with such +confidence, too. There's something deep and horrible here, I'm afraid. +What does it mean?" + +"We'll talk of that afterwards," Hewitt replied. "Come now and take a +look at that recess." + +They went, quietly still, to the small staircase, and there, with a +candle, closely examined the recess. It was a mere box, three feet high, +a foot or a little more deep, and six or seven inches wide. The piece of +oak framing, pivoted to the stair at the bottom and to a horizontal +piece of framing at the top, stood edge forward, dividing the opening +down the centre. There was nothing whatever in the recess. + +Hewitt ascertained that there was no catch, the plank simply remaining +shut by virtue of fitting tightly, so that nothing but pressure on the +proper part was requisite to open it. He had closed the plank and turned +to speak to Mr. Crellan, when another interruption occurred. + +On each floor the two staircases were joined by passages, and the +ground-floor passage, from the foot of the flight they were on, led to +the entrance hall. Distinct amid the loud clicking of the hall clock, +Hewitt now heard a sound, as of a person's foot shifting on a stone +step. + +Mr. Crellan heard it too, and each glanced at the other. Then Hewitt, +shading the candle with his hand, led the way to the hall. There they +listened for several seconds--almost an hour--it seemed--and then the +noise was repeated. There was no doubt of it. It was at the other side +of the front door. + +In answer to Hewitt's hurried whispers, Mr. Crellan assured him that +there was no window from which, in the dark, a view could be got of a +person standing outside the door. Also that any other way out would be +equally noisy, and would entail the circuit of the house. The front door +was fastened by three heavy bolts, an immense old-fashioned lock, and a +bar. It would take nearly a minute to open at least, even if everything +went easily. But, as there was no other way, Hewitt determined to try +it. Handing the candle to his companion, he first lifted the bar, +conceiving that it might be done with the least noise. It went easily, +and, handling it carefully, Hewitt let it hang from its rivet without a +sound. Just then, glancing at Mr. Crellan, he saw that he was forgetting +to shade the candle, whose rays extended through the fanlight above the +door, and probably through the wide crack under it. But it was too late. +At the same moment the light was evidently perceived from outside; there +was a hurried jump from the steps, and for an instant a sound of running +on gravel. Hewitt tore back the bolts, flung the door open, and dashed +out into the darkness, leaving Mr. Crellan on the doorstep with the +candle. + +Hewitt was gone, perhaps, five or ten minutes, although to Mr. +Crellan--standing there at the open door in a state of high nervous +tension, and with no notion of what was happening or what it all +meant--the time seemed an eternity. When at last Hewitt reached the door +again, "What was it?" asked Mr. Crellan, much agitated. "Did you see? +Have you caught them?" + +Hewitt shook his head. + +"I hadn't a chance," he said. "The wall is low over there, and there's a +plantation of trees at the other side. But I think--yes, I begin to +think--that I may possibly be able to see my way through this business +in a little while. See this?" + +On the top step in the sheltered porch there remained the wet prints of +two feet. Hewitt took a letter from his pocket, opened it out, spread it +carefully over the more perfect of the two marks, pressed it lightly and +lifted it. Then, when the door was shut, he produced his pocket +scissors, and with great care cut away the paper round the wet part, +leaving a piece, of course, the shape of a boot sole. + +"Come," said Hewitt, "we may get at something after all. Don't ask me to +tell you anything now; I don't know anything, as a matter of fact. I +hope this is the end of the night's entertainment, but I'm afraid the +case is rather an unpleasant business. There is nothing for us to do now +but to go to bed, I think. I suppose there's a handy man kept about the +place?" + +"Yes, he's gardener and carpenter and carpet-beater, and so on." + +"Good! Where's his sanctum? Where does he keep his shovels and carpet +sticks?" + +"In the shed by the coach house, I believe. I think it's generally +unlocked." + +"Very good. We've earned a night's rest, and now we'll have it." + +The next morning, after breakfast, Hewitt took Mr. Crellan into the +study. + +"Can you manage," he said, "to send Miss Garth out for a walk this +morning--with somebody?" + +"I can send her out for a ride with the groom--unless she thinks it +wouldn't be the thing to go riding so soon after her bereavement." + +"Never mind, that will do. Send her at once, and see that she goes. Call +it doctor's orders; say she must go for her health's sake--anything." + +Mr. Crellan departed, used his influence, and in half an hour Miss Garth +had gone. + +"I was up pretty early this morning," Hewitt remarked on Mr. Crellan's +return to the study, "and, among other things, I sent a telegram to +London. Unless my eyes deceive me, a boy with a peaked cap--a telegraph +boy, in fact--is coming up the drive this moment. Yes, he is. It is +probably my answer." + +In a few minutes a telegram was brought in. Hewitt read it and then +asked,-- + +"Your friend Mr. Mellis, I understand, was going straight to town +yesterday morning?" + +"Yes." + +"Read that, then." + +Mr. Crellan took the telegram and read: + +"_Mellis did not sleep at chambers last night. Been out of town for some +days past. Kerrett._" + +Mr. Crellan looked up. + +"Who's Kerrett?" he asked. + +"Lad in my office; sharp fellow. You see, Mellis didn't go to town after +all. As a matter of fact, I believe he was nearer this place than we +thought. You said he had a disagreement with his uncle because of +scientific practices which the old gentleman considered 'dangerous and +unprofessional,' I think?" + +"Yes, that was the case." + +"Ah, then the key to all the mystery of the will is in this room." + +"Where?" + +"There." Hewitt pointed to the book-cases. "Read Bernheim's _Suggestive +Therapeutics_, and one or two books of Heidenhain's and Björnström's and +you'll see the thing more clearly than you can without them; but that +would be rather a long sort of job, so----but why, who's this? Somebody +coming up the drive in a fly, isn't it?" + +"Yes," Mr. Crellan replied, looking out of the window. Presently he +added, "It's Cranley Mellis." + +"Ah," said Hewitt, "he won't trouble us for a little. I'll bet you a +penny cake he goes first by himself to the small staircase and tries +that secret recess. If you get a little way along the passage you will +be able to see him; but that will scarcely matter--I can see you don't +guess now what I am driving at." + +"I don't in the least." + +"I told you the names of the books in which you could read the matter +up; but that would be too long for the present purpose. The thing is +fairly well summarised, I see, in that encyclopædia there in the corner. +I have put a marker in volume seven. Do you mind opening it at that +place and seeing for yourself?" + +Mr. Crellan, doubtful and bewildered, reached the volume. It opened +readily, and in the place where it opened lay a blue foolscap envelope. +The old gentleman took the envelope, drew from it a white paper, stared +first at the paper, then at Hewitt, then at the paper again, let the +volume slide from his lap, and gasped,-- + +"Why--why--it's the will!" + +"Ah, so I thought," said Hewitt, catching the book as it fell. "But +don't lose this place in the encyclopædia. Read the name of the article. +What is it?" + +Mr. Crellan looked absent-mindedly at the title, holding the will before +him all the time. Then, mechanically, he read aloud the word, +"_Hypnotism_." + +"Hypnotism it is," Hewitt answered. "A dangerous and terrible power in +the hands of an unscrupulous man." + +"But--but how? I don't understand it. This--this is the real will, I +suppose?" + +"Look at it; you know best." + +Mr. Crellan looked. + +"Yes," he said, "this certainly is the will. But where did it come from? +It hasn't been in this book all the time, has it?" + +"No. Didn't I tell you I put it there myself as a marker? But come, +you'll understand my explanation better if I first read you a few lines +from this article. See here now:-- + +'Although hypnotism has power for good when properly used by medical +men, it is an exceedingly dangerous weapon in the hands of the unskilful +or unscrupulous. Crimes have been committed by persons who have been +hypnotised. Just as a person when hypnotised is rendered extremely +impressionable, and therefore capable of receiving beneficial +suggestions, so he is nearly as liable to receive suggestions for evil; +and it is quite possible for an hypnotic subject, while under hypnotic +influence, to be impressed with the belief that he is to commit some act +after the influence is removed, and that act he is safe to commit, +acting at the time as an automaton. Suggestions may be thus made of +which the subject, in his subsequent uninfluenced moments, has no idea, +but which he will proceed to carry out automatically at the time +appointed. In the case of a complete state of hypnotism the subject has +subsequently no recollection whatever of what has happened. Persons +whose will or nerve power has been weakened by fear or other similar +causes can be hypnotised without consent on their part.'" + +"There now, what do you make of that?" + +"Why, do you mean that Miss Garth has been hypnotised by--by--Cranley +Mellis?" + +"I think that is the case; indeed, I am pretty sure of it. Notice, on +the occasion of each of his last two visits, he was alone with Miss +Garth for some little time. On the evening following each of those +visits she does something which she afterwards knows nothing +about--something connected with the disappearance of this will, the only +thing standing between Mr. Mellis and the whole of his uncle's property. +Who could have been in a weaker nervous state than Miss Garth has been +lately? Remember, too, on the visit of last Saturday, while Miss Garth +says she only showed Mellis to the door, both you and the nurse speak of +their being gone some little time. Miss Garth must have forgotten what +took place then, when Mellis hypnotised her, and impressed on her the +suggestion that she should take Mr. Holford's will that night, long +after he--Mellis--had gone, and when he could not be suspected of +knowing anything of it. Further, that she should, at that time when her +movements would be less likely to be observed, secrete that will in a +place of hiding known only to himself." + +"Dear, dear, what a rascal! Do you really think he did that?" + +"Not only that, but I believe he came here yesterday morning while you +were out to get the will from the recess. The recess, by the bye, I +expect he discovered by accident on one of his visits (he has been here +pretty often, I suppose, altogether), and kept the secret in case it +might be useful. Yesterday, not finding the will there, he hypnotised +Miss Garth once again, and conveyed the suggestion that, at midnight +last night, she should take the will from wherever she had put it and +pass it to him under the front door." + +"What, do you mean it was he you chased across the grounds last night?" + +"That is a thing I am pretty certain of. If we had Mr. Mellis's boot +here we could make sure by comparing it with the piece of paper I cut +out, as you will remember, in the entrance hall. As we have the will, +though, that will scarcely be necessary. What he will do now, I expect, +will be to go to the recess again on the vague chance of the will being +there now, after all, assuming that his second dose of mesmerism has +somehow miscarried. If Miss Garth were here he might try his tricks +again, and that is why I got you to send her out." + +"And where did you find the will?" + +"Now you come to practical details. You will remember that I asked about +the handyman's tool-house? Well, I paid it a visit at six o'clock this +morning, and found therein some very excellent carpenter's tools in a +chest. I took a selection of them to the small staircase, and took out +the tread of a stair--the one that the pivoted framing-plank rested on." + +"And you found the will there?" + +"The will, as I rather expected when I examined the recess last night, +had slipped down a rather wide crack at the end of the stair timber, +which, you know, formed, so to speak, the floor of the recess. The fact +was, the stair-tread didn't quite reach as far as the back of the +recess. The opening wasn't very distinct to see, but I soon felt it with +my fingers. When Miss Garth, in her hypnotic condition on Saturday +night, dropped the will into the recess, it shot straight to the back +corner and fell down the slit. That was why Mellis found it empty, and +why Miss Garth also found it empty on returning there last night under +hypnotic influence. You observed her terrible state of nervous agitation +when she failed to carry out the command that haunted her. It was +frightful. Something like what happens to a suddenly awakened +somnambulist, perhaps. Anyway, that is all over. I found the will under +the end of the stair-tread, and here it is. If you will come to the +small staircase now you shall see where the paper slipped out of sight. +Perhaps we shall meet Mr. Mellis." + +"He's a scoundrel," said Mr. Crellan. "It's a pity we can't punish him." + +"That's impossible, of course. Where's your proof? And if you had any +I'm not sure that a hypnotist is responsible at law for what his subject +does. Even if he were, moving a will from one part of the house to +another is scarcely a legal crime. The explanation I have given you +accounts entirely for the disturbed manner of Miss Garth in the presence +of Mellis. She merely felt an indefinite sense of his power over her. +Indeed, there is all the possibility that, finding her an easy subject, +he had already practised his influence by way of experiment. A +hypnotist, as you will see in the books, has always an easier task with +a person he has hypnotised before." + +As Hewitt had guessed, in the corridor they met Mr. Mellis. He was a +thin, dark man of about thirty-five, with large, bony features, and a +slight stoop. Mr. Crellan glared at him ferociously. + +"Well, sir, and what do you want?" he asked. + +Mr. Mellis looked surprised. "Really, that's a very extraordinary +remark, Mr. Crellan," he said. "This is my late uncle's house. I might, +with at least as much reason, ask you what you want." + +"I'm here, sir, as Mr. Holford's executor." + +"Appointed by will?" + +"Yes." + +"And is the will in existence?" + +"Well--the fact is--we couldn't find it----" + +"Then, what do you mean, sir, by calling yourself an executor with no +will to warrant you?" interrupted Mellis. "Get out of this house. If +there's no will, I administrate." + +"But there _is_ a will," roared Mr. Crellan, shaking it in his face. +"There is a will. I didn't say we hadn't found it yet, did I? There _is_ +a will, and here it is in spite of all your diabolical tricks, with your +scoundrelly hypnotism and secret holes, and the rest of it! Get out of +this place, sir, or I'll have you thrown out of the window!" + +Mr. Mellis shrugged his shoulders with an appearance of perfect +indifference. "If you've a will appointing you executor it's all right, +I suppose, although I shall take care to hold you responsible for any +irregularities. As I don't in the least understand your conduct, unless +it is due to drink, I'll leave you." And with that he went. + +Mr. Crellan boiled with indignation for a minute, and then turning to +Hewitt, "I say, I hope it's all right," he said, "connecting him with +all this queer business?" + +"We shall soon see," replied Hewitt, "if you'll come and look at the +pivoted plank." + +They went to the small staircase, and Hewitt once again opened the +recess. Within lay a blue foolscap envelope, which Hewitt picked up. +"See," he said, "it is torn at the corner. He has been here and opened +it. It's a fresh envelope, and I left it for him this morning, with the +corner gummed down a little so that he would have to tear it in opening. +This is what was inside," Hewitt added, and laughed aloud as he drew +forth a rather crumpled piece of white paper. "It was only a childish +trick after all," he concluded, "but I always liked a small practical +joke on occasion." He held out the crumpled paper, on which was +inscribed in large capital letters the single word--"SOLD." + + + + +THE CASE OF THE MISSING HAND. + + +I think I have recorded in another place Hewitt's frequent aphorism that +"there is nothing in this world that is at all possible that has not +happened or is not happening in London." But there are many strange +happenings in this matter-of-fact country and in these matter-of-fact +times that occur far enough from London. Fantastic crimes, savage +revenges, mediæval superstitions, horrible cruelty, though less in +sight, have been no more extinguished by the advent of the nineteenth +century than have the ancient races who practised them in the dark ages. +Some of the races have become civilized, and some of the savageries are +heard of no more. But there are survivals in both cases. I say these +things having in my mind a particular case that came under the personal +notice of both Hewitt and myself--an affair that brought one up standing +with a gasp and a doubt of one's era. + +My good uncle, the Colonel, was not in the habit of gathering large +house parties at his place at Ratherby, partly because the place was +not a great one, and partly because the Colonel's gout was. But there +was an excellent bit of shooting for two or three guns, and even when he +was unable to leave the house himself, my uncle was always pleased if +some good friend were enjoying a good day's sport in his territory. As +to myself, the good old soul was in a perpetual state of offence because +I visited him so seldom, though whenever my scant holidays fell in a +convenient time of the year I was never insensible to the attractions of +the Ratherby stubble. More than once had I sat by the old gentleman when +his foot was exceptionally troublesome, amusing him with accounts of +some of the doings of Martin Hewitt, and more than once had my uncle +expressed his desire to meet Hewitt himself, and commissioned me with an +invitation to be presented to Hewitt at the first likely opportunity, +for a joint excursion to Ratherby. At length I persuaded Hewitt to take +a fortnight's rest, coincident with a little vacation of my own, and we +got down to Ratherby within a few days past September the 1st, and +before a gun had been fired at the Colonel's bit of shooting. The +Colonel himself we found confined to the house with his foot on the +familiar rest, and though ourselves were the only guests, we managed to +do pretty well together. It was during this short holiday that the case +I have mentioned arose. + +When first I began to record some of the more interesting of Hewitt's +operations, I think I explained that such cases as I myself had not +witnessed I should set down in impersonal narrative form, without +intruding myself. The present case, so far as Hewitt's work was +concerned, I saw, but there were circumstances which led up to it that +we only fully learned afterwards. These circumstances, however, I shall +put in their proper place--at the beginning. + +The Fosters were a fairly old Ratherby family, of whom Mr. John Foster +had died by an accident at the age of about forty, leaving a wife twelve +years younger than himself and three children, two boys and one girl, +who was the youngest. The boys grew up strong, healthy, out-of-door +young ruffians, with all the tastes of sportsmen, and all the qualities, +good and bad, natural to lads of fairly well-disposed character allowed +a great deal too much of their own way from the beginning. + +Their only real bad quality was an unfortunate knack of bearing malice, +and a certain savage vindictiveness towards such persons as they chose +to consider their enemies. With the louts of the village they were at +unceasing war, and, indeed, once got into serious trouble for peppering +the butcher's son (who certainly was a great blackguard) with +sparrow-shot. At the usual time they went to Oxford together, and were +fraternally sent down together in their second year, after enjoying a +spell of rustication in their first. The offence was never specifically +mentioned about Ratherby, but was rumoured of as something particularly +outrageous. + +It was at this time, sixteen years or thereabout after the death of +their father, that Henry and Robert Foster first saw and disliked Mr. +Jonas Sneathy, a director of penny banks and small insurance offices. He +visited Ranworth (the Fosters' home) a great deal more than the brothers +thought necessary, and, indeed, it was not for lack of rudeness on their +part that Mr. Sneathy failed to understand, as far as they were +concerned, his room was preferred to his company. + +But their mother welcomed him, and in the end it was announced that Mrs. +Foster was to marry again, and that after that her name would be Mrs. +Sneathy. + +Hereupon there were violent scenes at Ranworth. Henry and Robert Foster +denounced their prospective father-in-law as a fortune-hunter, a +snuffler, a hypocrite. They did not stop at broad hints as to the +honesty of his penny banks and insurance offices, and the house +straightway became a house of bitter strife. The marriage took place, +and it was not long before Mr. Sneathy's real character became generally +obvious. For months he was a model, if somewhat sanctimonious husband, +and his influence over his wife was complete. Then he discovered that +her property had been strictly secured by her first husband's will, and +that, willing as she might be, she was unable to raise money for her new +husband's benefit, and was quite powerless to pass to him any of her +property by deed of gift. Hereupon the man's nature showed itself. +Foolish woman as Mrs. Sneathy might be, she was a loving, indeed, an +infatuated wife; but Sneathy repaid her devotion by vulgar derision, +never hesitating to state plainly that he had married her for his own +profit, and that he considered himself swindled in the result. More, he +even proceeded to blows and other practical brutality of a sort only +devisable by a mean and ugly nature. This treatment, at first secret, +became open, and in the midst of it Mr. Sneathy's penny banks and +insurance offices came to a grievous smash all at once, and everybody +wondered how Mr. Sneathy kept out of gaol. + +Keep out of gaol he did, however, for he had taken care to remain on the +safe side of the law, though some of his co-directors learnt the taste +of penal servitude. But he was beggared, and lived, as it were, a mere +pensioner in his wife's house. Here his brutality increased to a +frightful extent, till his wife, already broken in health in +consequence, went in constant fear of her life, and Miss Foster passed +a life of weeping misery. All her friends' entreaties, however, could +not persuade Mrs. Sneathy to obtain a legal separation from her husband. +She clung to him with the excuse--for it was no more--that she hoped to +win him to kindness by submission, and with a pathetic infatuation that +seemed to increase as her bodily strength diminished. + +Henry and Robert, as may be supposed, were anything but silent in these +circumstances. Indeed, they broke out violently again and again, and +more than once went near permanently injuring their worthy +father-in-law. Once especially, when Sneathy, absolutely without +provocation, made a motion to strike his wife in their presence, there +was a fearful scene. The two sprang at him like wild beasts, knocked him +down and dragged him to the balcony with the intention of throwing him +out of the window. But Mrs. Sneathy impeded them, hysterically imploring +them to desist. + +"If you lift your hand to my mother," roared Henry, gripping Sneathy by +the throat till his fat face turned blue, and banging his head against +the wall, "if you lift your hand to my mother again I'll chop it off--I +will! I'll chop it off and drive it down your throat!" + +"We'll do worse," said Robert, white and frantic with passion, "we'll +hang you--hang you to the door! You're a proved liar and thief, and +you're worse than a common murderer. I'd hang you to the front door for +twopence!" + +For a few days Sneathy was comparatively quiet, cowed by their violence. +Then he took to venting redoubled spite on his unfortunate wife, always +in the absence of her sons, well aware that she would never inform them. +On their part, finding him apparently better behaved in consequence of +their attack, they thought to maintain his wholesome terror, and +scarcely passed him without a menace, taking a fiendish delight in +repeating the threats they had used during the scene, by way of keeping +it present to his mind. + +"Take care of your hands, sir," they would say. "Keep them to yourself, +or, by George, we'll take 'em off with a billhook!" + +But his revenge for all this Sneathy took unobserved on their mother. +Truly a miserable household. + +Soon, however, the brothers left home, and went to London by way of +looking for a profession. Henry began a belated study of medicine, and +Robert made a pretence of reading for the bar. Indeed, their departure +was as much as anything a consequence of the earnest entreaty of their +sister, who saw that their presence at home was an exasperation to +Sneathy, and aggravated her mother's secret sufferings. They went, +therefore; but at Ranworth things became worse. + +Little was allowed to be known outside the house, but it was broadly +said that Mr. Sneathy's behaviour had now become outrageous beyond +description. Servants left faster than new ones could be found, and gave +their late employer the character of a raving maniac. Once, indeed, he +committed himself in the village, attacking with his walking-stick an +inoffensive tradesman who had accidentally brushed against him, and +immediately running home. This assault had to be compounded for by a +payment of fifty pounds. And then Henry and Robert Foster received a +most urgent letter from their sister requesting their immediate presence +at home. + +They went at once, of course, and the servants' account of what occurred +was this. When the brothers arrived Mr. Sneathy had just left the house. +The brothers were shut up with their mother and sister for about a +quarter of an hour, and then left them and came out to the stable yard +together. The coachman (he was a new man, who had only arrived the day +before) overheard a little of their talk as they stood by the door. + +Mr. Henry said that "the thing must be done, and at once. There are two +of us, so that it ought to be easy enough." And afterwards Mr. Robert +said, "You'll know best how to go about it, as a doctor." After which +Mr. Henry came towards the coachman and asked in what direction Mr. +Sneathy had gone. The coachman replied that it was in the direction of +Ratherby Wood, by the winding footpath that led through it. But as he +spoke he distinctly with the corner of his eye saw the other brother +take a halter from a hook by the stable door and put it into his coat +pocket. + +So far for the earlier events, whereof I learned later bit by bit. It +was on the day of the arrival of the brothers Foster at their old home, +and, indeed, little more than two hours after the incident last set +down, that news of Mr. Sneathy came to Colonel Brett's place, where +Hewitt and I were sitting and chatting with the Colonel. The news was +that Mr. Sneathy had committed suicide--had been found hanging, in fact, +to a tree in Ratherby Wood, just by the side of the footpath. + +Hewitt and I had of course at this time never heard of Sneathy, and the +Colonel told us what little he knew. He had never spoken to the man, he +said--indeed, nobody in the place outside Ranworth would have anything +to do with him. "He's certainly been an unholy scoundrel over those poor +people's banks," said my uncle, "and if what they say's true, he's been +about as bad as possible to his wretched wife. He must have been pretty +miserable, too, with all his scoundrelism, for he was a completely +ruined man, without a chance of retrieving his position, and detested by +everybody. Indeed, some of his recent doings, if what I have heard is to +be relied on, have been very much those of a madman. So that, on the +whole, I'm not much surprised. Suicide's about the only crime, I +suppose, that he has never experimented with till now, and, indeed, it's +rather a service to the world at large--his only service, I expect." + +The Colonel sent a man to make further inquiries, and presently this man +returned with the news that now it was said that Mr. Sneathy had not +committed suicide, but had been murdered. And hard on the man's heels +came Mr. Hardwick, a neighbour of my uncle's and a fellow J. P. He had +had the case reported to him, it seemed, as soon as the body had been +found, and had at once gone to the spot. He had found the body +hanging--_and with the right hand cut off_. + +"It's a murder, Brett," he said, "without doubt--a most horrible case of +murder and mutilation. The hand is cut off and taken away, but whether +the atrocity was committed before or after the hanging of course I can't +say. But the missing hand makes it plainly a case of murder, and not +suicide. I've come to consult you about issuing a warrant, for I think +there's no doubt as to the identity of the murderers." + +"That's a good job," said the Colonel, "else we should have had some +work for Mr. Martin Hewitt here, which wouldn't be fair, as he's taking +a rest. Whom do you think of having arrested?" + +"The two young Fosters. It's plain as it can be--and a most revolting +crime too, bad as Sneathy may have been. They came down from London +to-day and went out deliberately to it, it's clear. They were heard +talking of it, asked as to the direction in which he had gone, and +followed him--and with a rope." + +"Isn't that rather an unusual form of murder--hanging?" Hewitt remarked. + +"Perhaps it is," Mr. Hardwick replied; "but it's the case here plain +enough. It seems, in fact, that they had a way of threatening to hang +him and even to cut off his hand if he used it to strike their mother. +So that they appear to have carried out what might have seemed mere idle +threats in a diabolically savage way. Of course they _may_ have +strangled him first and hanged him after, by way of carrying out their +threat and venting their spite on the mutilated body. But that they did +it is plain enough for me. I've spent an hour or two over it, and feel I +am certainly more than justified in ordering their apprehension. Indeed, +they were with him at the time, as I have found by their tracks on the +footpath through the wood." + +The Colonel turned to Martin Hewitt. "Mr. Hardwick, you must know," he +said, "is by way of being an amateur in your particular line--and a very +good amateur, too, I should say, judging by a case or two I have known +in this county." + +Hewitt bowed, and laughingly expressed a fear lest Mr. Hardwick should +come to London and supplant him altogether. "This seems a curious case," +he added. "If you don't mind, I think I should like to take a glance at +the tracks and whatever other traces there may be, just by way of +keeping my hand in." + +"Certainly," Mr. Hardwick replied, brightening. "I should of all things +like to have Mr. Hewitt's opinions on the observations I have made--just +for my own gratification. As to his opinion--there can be no room for +doubt; the thing is plain." + +With many promises not to be late for dinner, we left my uncle and +walked with Mr. Hardwick in the direction of Ratherby Wood. It was an +unfrequented part, he told us, and by particular care he had managed, he +hoped, to prevent the rumour spreading to the village yet, so that we +might hope to find the trails not yet overlaid. It was a man of his own, +he said, who, making a short cut through the wood, had come upon the +body hanging, and had run immediately to inform him. With this man he +had gone back, cut down the body, and made his observations. He had +followed the trail backward to Ranworth, and there had found the new +coachman, who had once been in his own service. From him he had learned +the doings of the brothers Foster as they left the place, and from him +he had ascertained that they had not then returned. Then, leaving his +man by the body, he had come straight to my uncle's. + +Presently we came on the footpath leading from Ranworth across the field +to Ratherby Wood. It was a mere trail of bare earth worn by successive +feet amid the grass. It was damp, and we all stooped and examined the +footmarks that were to be seen on it. They all pointed one way--towards +the wood in the distance. + +"Fortunately it's not a greatly frequented path," Mr. Hardwick said. +"You see, there are the marks of three pairs of feet only, and as first +Sneathy and then both of the brothers came this way, these footmarks +must be theirs. Which are Sneathy's is plain--they are these large flat +ones. If you notice, they are all distinctly visible in the centre of +the track, showing plainly that they belong to the man who walked alone, +which was Sneathy. Of the others, the marks of the _outside_ feet--the +left on the left side and the right on the right--are often not +visible. Clearly they belong to two men walking side by side, and more +often than not treading, with their outer feet, on the grass at the +side. And where these happen to drop on the same spot as the marks in +the middle they cover them. Plainly they are the footmarks of Henry and +Robert Foster, made as they followed Sneathy. Don't you agree with me +Mr. Hewitt?" + +"Oh yes, that's very plain. You have a better pair of eyes than most +people, Mr. Hardwick, and a good idea of using them, too. We will go +into the wood now. As a matter of fact I can pretty clearly distinguish +most of the other footmarks--those on the grass; but that's a matter of +much training." + +We followed the footpath, keeping on the grass at its side, in case it +should be desirable to refer again to the foot-tracks. For some little +distance into the wood the tracks continued as before, those of the +brothers overlaying those of Sneathy. Then there was a difference. The +path here was broader and muddy, because of the proximity of trees, and +suddenly the outer footprints separated, and no more overlay the larger +ones in the centre, but proceeded at an equal distance on either side of +them. + +"See there," cried Mr. Hardwick, pointing triumphantly to the spot, +"this is where they overtook him, and walked on either side. The body +was found only a little farther on--you could see the place now if the +path didn't zigzag about so." + +Hewitt said nothing, but stooped and examined the tracks at the sides +with great care and evident thought, spanning the distances between them +comparatively with his arms. Then he rose and stepped lightly from one +mark to another, taking care not to tread on the mark itself. "Very +good," he said shortly on finishing his examination. "We'll go on." + +We went on, and presently came to the place where the body lay. Here +the ground sloped from the left down towards the right, and a tiny +streamlet, a mere trickle of a foot or two wide, ran across the path. +In rainy seasons it was probably wider, for all the earth and clay had +been washed away for some feet on each side, leaving flat, bare and very +coarse gravel, on which the trail was lost. Just beyond this, and to the +left, the body lay on a grassy knoll under the limb of a tree, from +which still depended a part of the cut rope. It was not a pleasant +sight. The man was a soft, fleshy creature, probably rather under than +over the medium height, and he lay there, with his stretched neck and +protruding tongue, a revolting object. His right arm lay by his side, +and the stump of the wrist was clotted with black blood. Mr. Hardwick's +man was still in charge, seemingly little pleased with his job, and a +few yards off stood a couple of countrymen looking on. + +Hewitt asked from which direction these men had come, and having +ascertained and noticed their footmarks, he asked them to stay exactly +where they were, to avoid confusing such other tracks as might be seen. +Then he addressed himself to his examination. "_First_," he said, +glancing up at the branch, that was scarce a yard above his head, "this +rope has been here for some time." + +"Yes," Mr. Hardwick replied, "it's an old swing rope. Some children used +it in the summer, but it got partly cut away, and the odd couple of +yards has been hanging since." + +"Ah," said Hewitt, "then if the Fosters did this they were saved some +trouble by the chance, and were able to take their halter back with +them--and so avoid _one_ chance of detection." He very closely +scrutinised the top of a tree stump, probably the relic of a tree that +had been cut down long before, and then addressed himself to the body. + +"When you cut it down," he said, "did it fall in a heap?" + +"No, my man eased it down to some extent." + +"Not on to its face?" + +"Oh no. On to its back, just as it is now." Mr. Hardwick saw that Hewitt +was looking at muddy marks on each of the corpse's knees, to one of +which a small leaf clung, and at one or two other marks of the same +sort on the fore part of the dress. "That seems to show pretty plainly," +he said, "that he must have struggled with them and was thrown forward, +doesn't it?" + +Hewitt did not reply, but gingerly lifted the right arm by its sleeve. +"Is either of the brothers Foster left-handed?" he asked. + +"No, I think not. Here, Bennett, you have seen plenty of their +doings--cricket, shooting, and so on--do you remember if either is +left-handed?" + +"Nayther, sir," Mr. Hardwick's man answered. "Both on 'em's +right-handed." + +Hewitt lifted the lapel of the coat and attentively regarded a small +rent in it. The dead man's hat lay near, and after a few glances at +that, Hewitt dropped it and turned his attention to the hair. This was +coarse and dark and long, and brushed straight back with no parting. + +"This doesn't look very symmetrical, does it?" Hewitt remarked, pointing +to the locks over the right ear. They were shorter just there than on +the other side, and apparently very clumsily cut, whereas in every other +part the hair appeared to be rather well and carefully trimmed. Mr. +Hardwick said nothing, but fidgeted a little, as though he considered +that valuable time was being wasted over irrelevant trivialities. + +Presently, however, he spoke. "There's very little to be learned from +the body, is there?" he said. "I think I'm quite justified in ordering +their arrest, eh?--indeed, I've wasted too much time already." + +Hewitt was groping about among some bushes behind the tree from which +the corpse had been taken. When he answered, he said, "I don't think I +should do anything of the sort just now, Mr. Hardwick. As a matter of +fact, I _fancy_"--this word with an emphasis--"that the brothers Foster +may not have seen this man Sneathy at all to-day." + +"Not seen him? Why, my dear sir, there's no question of it. It's +certain, absolutely. The evidence is positive. The fact of the threats +and of the body being found treated so is pretty well enough, I should +think. But that's nothing--look at those footmarks. They've walked along +with him, one each side, without a possible doubt; plainly they were the +last people with him, in any case. And you don't mean to ask anybody to +believe that the dead man, even if he hanged himself, cut off his own +hand first. Even if you do, where's the hand? And even putting aside all +these considerations, each a complete case in itself, the Fosters _must_ +at least have seen the body as they came past, and yet nothing has been +heard of them yet. Why didn't they spread the alarm? They went straight +away in the opposite direction from home--there are their footmarks, +which you've not seen yet, beyond the gravel." + +Hewitt stepped over to where the patch of clean gravel ceased, at the +opposite side to that from which we had approached the brook, and there, +sure enough, were the now familiar footmarks of the brothers leading +away from the scene of Sneathy's end. "Yes," Hewitt said, "I see them. +Of course, Mr. Hardwick, you'll do what seems right in your own eyes, +and in any case not much harm will be done by the arrest beyond a +terrible fright for that unfortunate family. Nevertheless, if you care +for my impression, it is, as I have said, that the Fosters have not seen +Sneathy to-day." + +"But what about the hand?" + +"As to that I have a conjecture, but as yet it is only a conjecture, and +if I told it you would probably call it absurd--certainly you'd +disregard it, and perhaps quite excusably. The case is a complicated +one, and, if there is anything at all in my conjecture, one of the most +remarkable I have ever had to do with. It interests me intensely, and I +shall devote a little time now to following up the theory I have formed. +You have, I suppose, already communicated with the police?" + +"I wired to Shopperton at once, as soon as I heard of the matter. It's a +twelve miles drive, but I wonder the police have not arrived yet. They +can't be long; I don't know where the village constable has got to, but +in any case _he_ wouldn't be much good. But as to your idea that the +Fosters can't be suspected--well, nobody could respect your opinion, Mr. +Hewitt, more than myself, but really, just think. The notion's +impossible--fiftyfold impossible. As soon as the police arrive I shall +have that trail followed and the Fosters apprehended. I should be a fool +if I didn't." + +"Very well, Mr. Hardwick," Hewitt replied; "you'll do what you consider +your duty, of course, and quite properly, though I _would_ recommend you +to take another glance at those three trails in the path. I shall take a +look in this direction." And he turned up by the side of the streamlet, +keeping on the gravel at its side. + +I followed. We climbed the rising ground, and presently, among the +trees, came to the place where the little rill emerged from the broken +ground in the highest part of the wood. Here the clean ground ceased, +and there was a large patch of wet clayey earth. Several marks left by +the feet of cattle were there, and one or two human footmarks. Two of +these (a pair), the newest and the most distinct, Hewitt studied +carefully, and measured each direction. + +"Notice these marks," he said. "They may be of importance or they may +not--that we shall see. Fortunately they are very distinctive--the right +boot is a badly worn one, and a small tag of leather, where the soul is +damaged, is doubled over and trodden into the soft earth. Nothing could +be luckier. Clearly they are the most recent footsteps in this +direction--from the main road, which lies right ahead, through the rest +of the wood." + +"Then you think somebody else has been on the scene of the tragedy, +beside the victim and the brothers?" I said. + +"Yes, I do. But hark; there is a vehicle in the road. Can you see +between the trees? Yes, it is the police cart. We shall be able to +report its arrival to Mr. Hardwick as we go down." + +We turned and walked rapidly down the incline to where we had come from. +Mr. Hardwick and his man were still there, and another rustic had +arrived to gape. We told Mr. Hardwick that he might expect the police +presently, and proceeded along the gravel skirting the stream, toward +the lower part of the wood. + +Here Hewitt proceeded very cautiously, keeping a sharp look-out on +either side for footprints on the neighbouring soft ground. There were +none, however, for the gravel margin of the stream made a sort of +footpath of itself, and the trees and undergrowth were close and thick +on each side. At the bottom we emerged from the wood on a small piece +of open ground skirting a lane, and here, just by the side of the lane, +where the stream fell into a trench, Hewitt suddenly pounced on another +footmark. He was unusually excited. + +"See," he said, "here it is--the right foot with its broken leather, and +the corresponding left foot on the damp edge of the lane itself. He--the +man with the broken shoe--has walked on the hard gravel all the way down +from the source of the stream, and his is the only trail unaccounted for +near the body. Come, Brett, we've an adventure on foot. Do you care to +let your uncle's dinner go by the board, and follow?" + +"Can't we go back and tell him?" + +"No--there's no time to lose; we must follow up this man--or at least I +must. You go or stay, of course, as you think best." + +I hesitated a moment, picturing to myself the excellent Colonel as he +would appear after waiting dinner an hour or two for us, but decided to +go. "At any rate," I said, "if the way lies along the roads we shall +probably meet somebody going in the direction of Ratherby who will take +a message. But what is your theory? I don't understand at all. I must +say everything Hardwick said seemed to me to be beyond question. There +were the tracks to prove that the three had walked together to the +spot, and that the brothers had gone on alone; and every other +circumstance pointed the same way. Then, what possible motive could +anybody else about here have for such a crime? Unless, indeed, it were +one of the people defrauded by Sneathy's late companies." + +"The motive," said Hewitt, "is, I fancy, a most extraordinary--indeed, a +weird one. A thing as of centuries ago. Ask me no questions--I think you +will be a little surprised before very long. But come, we must move." +And we mended our pace along the lane. + +The lane, by the bye, was hard and firm, with scarcely a spot where a +track might be left, except in places at the sides; and at these places +Hewitt never gave a glance. At the end the lane turned into a by-road, +and at the turning Hewitt stopped and scrutinised the ground closely. +There was nothing like a recognisable footmark to be seen; but almost +immediately Hewitt turned off to the right, and we continued our brisk +march without a glance at the road. + +"How did you judge which way to turn then?" I asked. + +"Didn't you see?" replied Hewitt; "I'll show you at the next turning." + +Half a mile farther on the road forked, and here Hewitt stooped and +pointed silently to a couple of small twigs, placed crosswise, with the +longer twig of the two pointing down the branch of the road to the left. +We took the branch to the left, and went on. + +"Our man's making a mistake," Hewitt observed. "He leaves his friends' +messages lying about for his enemies to read." + +We hurried forward with scarcely a word. I was almost too bewildered by +what Hewitt had said and done to formulate anything like a reasonable +guess as to what our expedition tended, or even to make an effective +inquiry--though, after what Hewitt had said, I knew that would be +useless. Who was this mysterious man with the broken shoe? what had he +to do with the murder of Sneathy? what did the mutilation mean? and who +were his friends who left him signs and messages by means of crossed +twigs? + +We met a man, by whom I sent a short note to my uncle, and soon after we +turned into a main road. Here again, at the corner, was the curious +message of twigs. A cart-wheel had passed over and crushed them, but it +had not so far displaced them as to cause any doubt that the direction +to take was to the right. At an inn a little farther along we entered, +and Hewitt bought a pint of Irish whisky and a flat bottle to hold it +in, as well as a loaf of bread and some cheese, which we carried away +wrapped in paper. + +"This will have to do for our dinner," Hewitt said as we emerged. + +"But we're not going to drink a pint of common whisky between us?" I +asked in some astonishment. + +"Never mind," Hewitt answered with a smile. "Perhaps we'll find somebody +to help us--somebody not so fastidious as yourself as to quality." + +Now we hurried--hurried more than ever, for it was beginning to get +dusk, and Hewitt feared a difficulty in finding and reading the twig +signs in the dark. Two more turnings we made, each with its silent +direction--the crossed twigs. To me there was something almost weird and +creepy in this curious hunt for the invisible and incomprehensible, +guided faithfully and persistently at every turn by this now +unmistakable signal. After the second turning we broke into a trot along +a long, winding lane, but presently Hewitt's hand fell on my shoulder, +and we stopped. He pointed ahead, where some large object, round a bend +of the hedge was illuminated as though by a light from below. + +"We will walk now," Hewitt said. "Remember that we are on a walking +tour, and have come along here entirely by accident." + +We proceeded at a swinging walk, Hewitt whistling gaily. Soon we turned +the bend, and saw that the large object was a travelling van drawn up +with two others on a space of grass by the side of the lane. It was a +gipsy encampment, the caravan having apparently only lately stopped, for +a man was still engaged in tugging at the rope of a tent that stood near +the vans. Two or three sullen-looking ruffians lay about a fire which +burned in the space left in the middle of the encampment. A woman stood +at the door of one van with a large kettle in her hand, and at the foot +of the steps below her a more pleasant-looking old man sat on an +inverted pail. Hewitt swung towards the fire from the road, and with an +indescribable mixture of slouch, bow, and smile addressed the company +generally with "_Kooshto bock, pals!_"[1] + + [1] "Good luck, brothers!" + +The men on the ground took no notice, but continued to stare doggedly +before them. The man working at the tent looked round quickly for a +moment, and the old man on the bucket looked up and nodded. + +Quick to see the most likely friend, Hewitt at once went up to the old +man, extending his hand, "_Sarshin, daddo?_" he said; "_Dell mandy +tooty's varst._"[2] + + [2] "How do you do, father? Give me your hand." + +The old man smiled and shook hands, though without speaking. Then +Hewitt proceeded, producing the flat bottle of whisky, "_Tatty for +pawny, chals. Dell mandy the pawny, and lell posh the tatty._"[3] + + [3] "Spirits for water, lads. Give me the water and take your share of + the spirits." + +The whisky did it. We were Romany ryes in twenty minutes or less, and +had already been taking tea with the gipsies for half the time. The two +or three we had found about the fire were still reserved, but these, I +found, were only half-gipsies, and understood very little Romany. One or +two others, however, including the old man, were of purer breed, and +talked freely, as did one of the women. They were Lees, they said, and +expected to be on Wirksby racecourse in three days' time. We, too, were +_pirimengroes_, or travellers, Hewitt explained, and might look to see +them on the course. + +Then he fell to telling gipsy stories, and they to telling others back, +to my intense mystification. Hewitt explained afterwards that they were +mostly stories of poaching, with now and again a horse-coping anecdote +thrown in. Since then I have learned enough of Romany to take my part in +such a conversation, but at the time a word or two here and there was +all I could understand. In all this talk the man we had first noticed +stretching the tent-rope took very little interest, but lay, with his +head away from the fire, smoking his pipe. He was a much darker man +than any other present--had, in fact, the appearance of a man of even a +swarthier race than that of the others about us. + +Presently, in the middle of a long and, of course, to me unintelligible +story by the old man, I caught Hewitt's eye. He lifted one eyebrow +almost imperceptibly, and glanced for a single moment at his +walking-stick. Then I saw that it was pointed toward the feet of the +very dark man, who had not yet spoken. One leg was thrown over the +others as he lay, with the soles of his shoes presented toward the fire, +and in its glare I saw--that the right sole was worn and broken, and +that a small triangular tag of leather was doubled over beneath in just +the place we knew of from the prints in Ratherby Wood. + +I could not take my eyes off that man with his broken shoe. There lay +the secret, the whole mystery of the fantastic crime in Ratherby Wood +centred in that shabby ruffian. What was it? + +But Hewitt went on, talking and joking furiously. The men who were not +speaking mostly smoked gloomily, but whenever one spoke, he became +animated and lively. I had attempted once or twice to join in, though my +efforts were not particularly successful, except in inducing one man to +offer me tobacco from his box--tobacco that almost made me giddy in the +smell. He tried some of mine in exchange, and though he praised it with +native politeness, and smoked the pipe through, I could see that my +Hignett mixture was poor stuff in his estimation, compared with the +awful tobacco in his own box. + +Presently the man with the broken shoe got up, slouched over to his +tent, and disappeared. Then said Hewitt (I translate): + +"You're not all Lees here, I see?" + +"Yes, _pal_, all Lees." + +"But _he's_ not a Lee?" and Hewitt jerked his head towards the tent. + +"Why not a Lee, _pal_? We be Lees, and he is with us. Thus he is a Lee." + +"Oh yes, of course. But I know he is from over the _pawny_. Come, I'll +guess the _tem_[4] he comes from--it's from Roumania, eh? Perhaps the +Wallachian part?" + + [4] Country. + +The men looked at one another, and then the old Lee said: + +"You're right, pal. You're cleverer than we took you for. That is what +they calls his _tem_. He is a petulengro,[5]and he comes with us to shoe +the _gries_[6] and mend the _vardoes_.[7] But he is with us, and so he +is a Lee." + + [5] Smith. + + [6] Horses. + + [7] Vans. + +The talk and the smoke went on, and presently the man with the broken +shoe returned, and lay down again. Then, when the whisky had all gone, +and Hewitt, with some excuse that I did not understand, had begged a +piece of cord from one of the men, we left in a chorus of _kooshto +rardies_.[8] + + [8] Good-night. + +By this time it was nearly ten o'clock. We walked briskly till we came +back again to the inn where we had bought the whisky. Here Hewitt, after +some little trouble, succeeded in hiring a village cart, and while the +driver was harnessing the horse, cut a couple of short sticks from the +hedge. These, being each divided into two, made four short, stout pieces +of something less than six inches long apiece. Then Hewitt joined them +together in pairs, each pair being connected from centre to centre by +about nine or ten inches of the cord he had brought from the gipsies' +camp. These done, he handed one pair to me. "Handcuffs," he explained, +"and no bad ones either. See--you use them so." And he passed the cord +round my wrist, gripping the two handles, and giving them a slight twist +that sufficiently convinced me of the excruciating pain that might be +inflicted by a vigorous turn, and the utter helplessness of a prisoner +thus secured in the hands of captors prepared to use their instruments. + +"Whom are these for?" I asked. "The man with the broken shoe?" + +Hewitt nodded. + +"Yes," he said. "I expect we shall find him out alone about midnight. +You know how to use these now." + +It was fully eleven before the cart was ready and we started. A quarter +of a mile or so from the gipsy encampment Hewitt stopped the cart and +gave the driver instructions to wait. We got through the hedge, and made +our way on the soft ground behind it in the direction of the vans and +the tent. + +"Roll up your handkerchief," Hewitt whispered, "into a tight pad. The +moment I grab him, ram it into his mouth--_well_ in, mind, so that it +doesn't easily fall out. Probably he will be stooping--that will make it +easier; we can pull him suddenly backward. Now be quiet." + +We kept on till nothing but the hedge divided us from the space whereon +stood the encampment. It was now nearer twelve o'clock than eleven, but +the time we waited seemed endless. But time is not eternity after all, +and at last we heard a move in the tent. A minute after, the man we +sought was standing before us. He made straight for a gap in the hedge +which we had passed on our way, and we crouched low and waited. He +emerged on our side of the hedge with his back towards us, and began +walking, as we had walked, behind the hedge, but in the opposite +direction. We followed. + +He carried something in his hand that looked like a large bundle of +sticks and twigs, and he appeared to be as anxious to be secret as we +ourselves. From time to time he stopped and listened; fortunately there +was no moon, or in turning about, as he did once or twice, he would +probably have observed us. The field sloped downward just before us, and +there was another hedge at right angles, leading down to a slight +hollow. To this hollow the man made his way, and in the shade of the new +hedge we followed. Presently he stopped suddenly, stooped, and deposited +his bundle on the ground before him. Crouching before it, he produced +matches from his pocket, struck one, and in a moment had a fire of twigs +and small branches, that sent up a heavy white smoke. What all this +portended I could not imagine, but a sense of the weirdness of the whole +adventure came upon me unchecked. The horrible corpse in the wood, with +its severed wrist, Hewitt's enigmatical forebodings, the mysterious +tracking of the man with the broken shoe, the scene round the gipsies' +fire, and now the strange behaviour of this man, whose connection with +the tragedy was so intimate and yet so inexplicable--all these things +contributed to make up a tale of but a few hours' duration, but of an +inscrutable impressiveness that I began to feel in my nerves. + +The man bent a thin stick double, and using it as a pair of tongs, held +some indistinguishable object over the flames before him. Excited as I +was, I could not help noticing that he bent and held the stick with his +left hand. We crept stealthily nearer, and as I stood scarcely three +yards behind him and looked over his shoulder, the form of the object +stood out clear and black against the dull red of the flame. It was a +_human hand_. + +I suppose I may have somehow betrayed my amazement and horror to my +companion's sharp eyes, for suddenly I felt his hand tightly grip my arm +just above the elbow. I turned, and found his face close by mine and his +finger raised warningly. Then I saw him produce his wrist-grip and make +a motion with his palm toward his mouth, which I understood to be +intended to remind me of the gag. We stepped forward. + +The man turned his horrible cookery over and over above the crackling +sticks, as though to smoke and dry it in every part. I saw Hewitt's hand +reach out toward him, and in a flash we had pulled him back over his +heels and I had driven the gag between his teeth as he opened his mouth. +We seized his wrists in the cords at once, and I shall never forget the +man's look of ghastly, frantic terror as he lay on the ground. When I +knew more I understood the reason of this. + +Hewitt took both wristholds in one hand and drove the gag entirely into +the man's mouth, so that he almost choked. A piece of sacking lay near +the fire, and by Hewitt's request I dropped that awful hand from the +wooden twigs upon it and rolled it up in a parcel--it was, no doubt, +what the sacking had been brought for. Then we lifted the man to his +feet and hurried him in the direction of the cart. The whole capture +could not have occupied thirty seconds, and as I stumbled over the rough +field at the man's left elbow I could only think of the thing as one +thinks of a dream that one knows all the time _is_ a dream. + +But presently the man, who had been walking quietly, though gasping, +sniffing and choking because of the tightly rolled handkerchief in his +mouth--presently he made a sudden dive, thinking doubtless to get his +wrists free by surprise. But Hewitt was alert, and gave them a twist +that made him roll his head with a dismal, stifled yell, and with the +opening of his mouth, by some chance the gag fell away. Immediately the +man roared aloud for help. + +"Quick," said Hewitt, "drag him along--they'll hear in the vans. Bring +the hand!" + +I seized the fallen handkerchief and crammed it over the man's mouth as +well as I might, and together we made as much of a trot as we could, +dragging the man between us, while Hewitt checked any reluctance on his +part by a timely wrench of the wristholds. It was a hard two hundred and +fifty yards to the lane even for us--for the gipsy it must have been a +bad minute and a half indeed. Once more as we went over the uneven +ground he managed to get out a shout, and we thought we heard a distinct +reply from somewhere in the direction of the encampment. + +We pulled him over a stile in a tangle; and dragged and pushed him +through a small hedge-gap all in a heap. Here we were but a short +distance from the cart, and into that we flung him without wasting time +or tenderness, to the intense consternation of the driver, who, I +believe, very nearly set up a cry for help on his own account. Once in +the cart, however, I seized the reins and the whip myself and, leaving +Hewitt to take care of the prisoner, put the turn-out along toward +Ratherby at as near ten miles an hour as it could go. + +We made first for Mr. Hardwick's, but he, we found, was with my uncle, +so we followed him. The arrest of the Fosters had been effected, we +learned, not very long after we had left the wood, as they returned by +another route to Ranworth. We brought our prisoner into the Colonel's +library, where he and Mr. Hardwick were sitting. + +"I'm not quite sure what we can charge him with unless it's anatomical +robbery," Hewitt remarked, "but here's the criminal." + +The man only looked down, with a sulkily impenetrable countenance. +Hewitt spoke to him once or twice, and at last he said, in a strange +accent, something that sounded like "_kekin jin-navvy._" + +"_Keck jin?_"[9] asked Hewitt, in the loud, clear tone one instinctively +adopts in talking to a foreigner, "_Keckeno jinny?_" + + [9] "Not understand?" + +The man understood and shook his head, but not another word would he say +or another question answer. + +"He's a foreign gipsy," Hewitt explained, "just as I thought--a +Wallachian, in fact. Theirs is an older and purer dialect than that of +the English gipsies, and only some of the root-words are alike. But I +think we can make him explain to-morrow that the Fosters at least had +nothing to do with, at any rate, cutting off Sneathy's hand. Here it is, +I think." And he gingerly lifted the folds of sacking from the ghastly +object as it lay on the table, and then covered it up again. + +"But what--what does it all mean?" Mr. Hardwick said in bewildered +astonishment. "Do you mean this man was an accomplice?" + +"Not at all--the case was one of suicide, as I think you'll agree, when +I've explained. This man simply found the body hanging and stole the +hand." + +"But what in the world for?" + +"For the HAND OF GLORY. Eh?" He turned to the gipsy and pointed to the +hand on the table: "_Yag-varst_,[10] eh?" + + [10] Fire-hand. + +There was a quick gleam of intelligence in the man's eye, but he said +nothing. As for myself I was more than astounded. Could it be possible +that the old superstition of the Hand of Glory remained alive in a +practical shape at this day? + +"You know the superstition, of course," Hewitt said. "It did exist in +this country in the last century, when there were plenty of dead men +hanging at cross-roads, and so on. On the Continent, in some places, it +has survived later. Among the Wallachian gipsies it has always been a +great article of belief, and the superstition is quite active still. The +belief is that the right hand of a hanged man, cut off and dried over +the smoke of certain wood and herbs, and then provided with wicks at +each finger made of the dead man's hair, becomes, when lighted at each +wick (the wicks are greased, of course), a charm, whereby a thief may +walk without hinderance where he pleases in a strange house, push open +all doors and take what he likes. Nobody can stop him, for everybody the +Hand of Glory approaches is made helpless, and can neither move nor +speak. You may remember there was some talk of 'thieves' candles' in +connection with the horrible series of Whitechapel murders not long ago. +That is only one form of the cult of the Hand of Glory." + +"Yes," my uncle said, "I remember reading so. There is a story about it +in the Ingoldsby Legends, too, I believe." + +"There is--it is called 'The Hand of Glory,' in fact. You remember the +spell, 'Open lock to the dead man's knock,' and so on. But I think you'd +better have the constable up and get this man into safe quarters for the +night. He should be searched, of course. I expect they will find on him +the hair I noticed to have been cut from Sneathy's head." + +The village constable arrived with his iron handcuffs in substitution +for those of cord which had so sorely vexed the wrists of our prisoner, +and marched him away to the little lock-up on the green. + +Then my uncle and Mr. Hardwick turned on Martin Hewitt with doubts and +many questions: + +"Why do you call it suicide?" Mr. Hardwick asked. "It is plain the +Fosters were with him at the time from the tracks. Do you mean to say +that they stood there and watched Sneathy hang himself without +interfering?" + +"No, I don't," Hewitt replied, lighting a cigar. "I think I told you +that they never saw Sneathy." + +"Yes, you did, and of course that's what they said themselves when they +were arrested. But the thing's impossible. Look at the tracks!" + +"The tracks are exactly what revealed to me that it was _not_ +impossible," Hewitt returned. "I'll tell you how the case unfolded +itself to me from the beginning. As to the information you gathered from +the Ranworth coachman, to begin with. The conversation between the +Fosters which he overheard might well mean something less serious than +murder. What did they say? They had been sent for in a hurry and had +just had a short consultation with their mother and sister. Henry said +that 'the thing must be done at once'; also that as there were two of +them it should be easy. Robert said that Henry, as a doctor, would know +best what to do. + +"Now you, Colonel Brett, had been saying--before we learned these things +from Mr. Hardwick--that Sneathy's behaviour of late had become so bad as +to seem that of a madman. Then there was the story of his sudden attack +on a tradesman in the village, and equally sudden running away--exactly +the sort of impulsive, wild thing that madmen do. Why then might it not +be reasonable to suppose that Sneathy _had_ become mad--more especially +considering all the circumstances of the case, his commercial ruin and +disgrace and his horrible life with his wife and her family?--had become +suddenly much worse and quite uncontrollable, so that the two wretched +women left alone with him were driven to send in haste for Henry and +Robert to help them? That would account for all. + +"The brothers arrive just after Sneathy had gone out. They are told in a +hurried interview how affairs stand, and it is decided that Sneathy must +be at once secured and confined in an asylum before something serious +happens. He has just gone out--something terrible may be happening at +this moment. The brothers determine to follow at once and secure him +wherever he may be. Then the meaning of their conversation is plain. The +thing that 'must be done, and at once,' is the capture of Sneathy and +his confinement in an asylum. Henry, as a doctor, would 'know what to +do' in regard to the necessary formalities. And they took a halter in +case a struggle should ensue and it were found necessary to bind him. +Very likely, wasn't it?" + +"Well, yes," Mr. Hardwick replied, "it certainly is. It never struck me +in that light at all." + +"That was because you believed, to begin with, that a murder had been +committed, and looked at the preliminary circumstances which you learned +after in the light of your conviction. But now, to come to my actual +observations. I saw the footmarks across the fields, and agreed with you +(it was indeed obvious) that Sneathy had gone that way first, and that +the brothers had followed, walking over his tracks. This state of the +tracks continued until well into the wood, when suddenly the tracks of +the brothers opened out and proceeded on each side of Sneathy's. The +simple inference would seem to be, of course, the one you made--that the +Fosters had here overtaken Sneathy, and walked one at each side of him. + +"But of this I felt by no means certain. Another very simple explanation +was available, which might chance to be the true one. It was just at the +spot where the brothers' tracks separated that the path became suddenly +much muddier, because of the closer overhanging of the trees at the +spot. The path was, as was to be expected, wettest in the middle. It +would be the most natural thing in the world for two well-dressed young +men, on arriving here, to separate so as to walk one on each side of the +mud in the middle. + +"On the other hand, a man in Sneathy's state (assuming him, for the +moment, to be mad and contemplating suicide) would walk straight along +the centre of the path, taking no note of mud or anything else. I +examined all the tracks very carefully, and my theory was confirmed. The +feet of the brothers had everywhere alighted in the driest spots, and +the steps were of irregular lengths--which meant, of course, that they +were picking their way; while Sneathy's footmarks had never turned aside +even for the dirtiest puddle. Here, then, were the rudiments of a +theory. + +"At the watercourse, of course, the footmarks ceased, because of the +hard gravel. The body lay on a knoll at the left--a knoll covered with +grass. On this the signs of footmarks were almost undiscoverable, +although I am often able to discover tracks in grass that are invisible +to others. Here, however, it was almost useless to spend much time in +examination, for you and your man had been there, and what slight marks +there might be would be indistinguishable one from another. + +"Under the branch from which the man had hung there was an old tree +stump, with a flat top, where the tree had been sawn off. I examined +this, and it became fairly apparent that Sneathy had stood on it when +the rope was about his neck--his muddy footprint was plain to see; the +mud was not smeared about, you see, as it probably would have been if +he had been stood there forcibly and pushed off. It was a simple, clear +footprint--another hint at suicide. + +"But then arose the objection that you mentioned yourself. Plainly the +brothers Foster were following Sneathy, and came this way. Therefore, if +he hanged himself before they arrived, it would seem that they must have +come across the body. But now I examined the body itself. There was mud +on the knees, and clinging to one knee was a small leaf. It was a leaf +corresponding to those on the bush behind the tree, and it was not a +dead leaf, so must have been just detached. + +"After my examination of the body I went to the bush, and there, in the +thick of it, were, for me, sufficiently distinct knee-marks, in one of +which the knee had crushed a spray of the bush against the ground, and +from that spray a leaf was missing. Behind the knee-marks were the +indentations of boot-toes in the soft, bare earth under the bush, and +thus the thing was plain. The poor lunatic had come in sight of the +dangling rope, and the temptation to suicide was irresistible. To people +in a deranged state of mind the mere sight of the means of +self-destruction is often a temptation impossible to withstand. But at +that moment he must have heard the steps--probably the voices--of the +brothers behind him on the winding path. He immediately hid in the bush +till they had passed. It is probable that seeing who the men were, and +conjecturing that they were following him--thinking also, perhaps, of +things that had occurred between them and himself--his inclination to +self-destruction became completely ungovernable, with the result that +you saw. + +"But before I inspected the bush I noticed one or two more things about +the body. You remember I inquired if either of the brothers Foster was +left-handed, and was assured that neither was. But clearly the hand had +been cut off by a left-handed man, with a large, sharply pointed knife. +For well away to the _right_ of where the wrist had hung the knife-point +had made a tiny triangular rent in the coat, so that the hand must have +been held in the mutilator's right hand, while he used the knife with +his left--clearly a left-handed man. + +"But most important of all about the body was the jagged hair over the +right ear. Everywhere else the hair was well cut and orderly--here it +seemed as though a good piece had been, so to speak, _sawn_ off. What +could anybody want with a dead man's right hand and certain locks of his +hair? Then it struck me suddenly--the man was hanged; it was the Hand of +Glory! + +"Then you will remember I went, at your request, to see the footprints +of the Fosters on the part of the path _past_ the watercourse. Here +again it was muddy in the middle, and the two brothers had walked as far +apart as before, although nobody had walked between them. A final proof, +if one were needed, of my theory as to the three lines of footprints. + +"Now I was to consider how to get at the man who had taken his hand. He +should be punished for the mutilation, but beyond that he would be +required as a witness. Now all the foot-tracks in the vicinity had been +accounted for. There were those of the brothers and of Sneathy, which we +have been speaking of; those of the rustics looking on, which, however, +stopped a little way off, and did not interfere with our sphere of +observation; those of your man, who had cut straight through the wood +when he first saw the body, and had come back the same way with you; and +our own, which we had been careful to keep away from the others. +Consequently there was _no_ track of the man who had cut off the hand; +therefore it was certain that he must have come along the hard gravel by +the watercourse, for that was the only possible path which would not +tell the tale. Indeed, it seemed quite a likely path through the wood +for a passenger to take, coming from the high ground by the Shopperton +road. + +"Brett and I left you and traversed the watercourse, both up and down. +We found a footprint at the top, left lately by a man with a broken +shoe. Right down to the bottom of the watercourse where it emerged from +the wood there was no sign on either side of this man having left the +gravel. (Where the body was, as you will remember, he would simply have +stepped off the gravel on to the grass, which I thought it useless to +examine, as I have explained.) But at the bottom, by the lane, the +footprint appeared again. + +"This then was the direction in which I was to search for a left-handed +man with a broken-soled shoe, probably a gipsy--and most probably a +foreign gipsy--because a foreign gipsy would be the most likely still to +hold the belief in the Hand of Glory. I conjectured the man to be a +straggler from a band of gipsies--one who probably had got behind the +caravan and had made a short cut across the wood after it; so at the end +of the lane I looked for a _patrin_. This is a sign that gipsies leave +to guide stragglers following up. Sometimes it is a heap of dead leaves, +sometimes a few stones, sometimes a mark on the ground, but more usually +a couple of twigs crossed, with the longer twig pointing the road. + +"Guided by these _patrins_ we came in the end on the gipsy camp just as +it was settling down for the night. We made ourselves agreeable (as +Brett will probably describe to you better than I can), we left them, +and after they had got to sleep we came back and watched for the +gentleman who is now in the lock-up. He would, of course, seize the +first opportunity of treating his ghastly trophy in the prescribed way, +and I guessed he would choose midnight, for that is the time the +superstition teaches that the hand should be prepared. We made a few +small preparations, collared him, and now you've got him. And I should +think the sooner you let the brothers Foster go the better." + +"But why didn't you tell me all the conclusions you had arrived at at +the time?" asked Mr. Hardwick. + +"Well, really," Hewitt replied, with a quiet smile, "you were so +positive, and some of the traces I relied on were so small, that it +would probably have meant a long argument and a loss of time. But more +than that, confess, if I had told you bluntly that Sneathy's hand had +been taken away to make a mediæval charm to enable a thief to pass +through a locked door and steal plate calmly under the owner's nose, +what _would_ you have said?" + +"Well, well, perhaps I _should_ have been a little sceptical. +Appearances combined so completely to point to the Fosters as murderers +that any other explanation almost would have seemed unlikely to me, and +_that_--well no, I confess, I shouldn't have believed in it. But it is a +startling thing to find such superstitions alive now-a-days." + +"Yes, perhaps it is. Yet we find survivals of the sort very frequently. +The Wallachians, however, are horribly superstitious still--the gipsies +among them are, of course, worse. Don't you remember the case reported a +few months ago, in which a child was drowned as a sacrifice in Wallachia +in order to bring rain? And that was not done by gipsies either. Even in +England, as late as 1865, a poor paralysed Frenchman was killed by being +'swum' for witchcraft--that was in Essex. And less atrocious cases of +belief in wizardry occur again and again even now." + +Then Mr. Hardwick and my uncle fell into a discussion as to how the +gipsy in the lock-up could be legally punished. Mr. Hardwick thought it +should be treated as a theft of a portion of a dead body, but my uncle +fancied there was a penalty for mutilation of a dead body _per se_, +though he could not point to the statute. As it happened, however, they +were saved the trouble of arriving at a decision, for in the morning he +was discovered to have escaped. He had been left, of course, with free +hands, and had occupied the night in wrenching out the bars at the top +of the back wall of the little prison-shed (it had stood on the green +for a hundred and fifty years) and climbing out. He was not found again, +and a month or two later the Foster family left the district entirely. + + + + +THE CASE OF LAKER, ABSCONDED. + + +There were several of the larger London banks and insurance offices from +which Hewitt held a sort of general retainer as detective adviser, in +fulfilment of which he was regularly consulted as to the measures to be +taken in different cases of fraud, forgery, theft, and so forth, which +it might be the misfortune of the particular firms to encounter. The +more important and intricate of these cases were placed in his hands +entirely, with separate commissions, in the usual way. One of the most +important companies of the sort was the General Guarantee Society, an +insurance corporation which, among other risks, took those of the +integrity of secretaries, clerks, and cashiers. In the case of a +cash-box elopement on the part of any person guaranteed by the society, +the directors were naturally anxious for a speedy capture of the +culprit, and more especially of the booty, before too much of it was +spent, in order to lighten the claim upon their funds, and in work of +this sort Hewitt was at times engaged, either in general advice and +direction, or in the actual pursuit of the plunder and the plunderer. + +Arriving at his office a little later than usual one morning, Hewitt +found an urgent message awaiting him from the General Guarantee Society, +requesting his attention to a robbery which had taken place on the +previous day. He had gleaned some hint of the case from the morning +paper, wherein appeared a short paragraph, which ran thus:-- + + SERIOUS BANK ROBBERY.--In the course of yesterday a clerk employed + by Messrs. Liddle, Neal & Liddle, the well-known bankers, + disappeared, having in his possession a large sum of money, the + property of his employers--a sum reported to be rather over + £15,000. It would seem that he had been entrusted to collect the + money in his capacity of "walk-clerk" from various other banks and + trading concerns during the morning, but failed to return at the + usual time. A large number of the notes which he received had been + cashed at the Bank of England before suspicion was aroused. We + understand that Detective-Inspector Plummer, of Scotland Yard, + has the case in hand. + +The clerk, whose name was Charles William Laker, had, it appeared from +the message, been guaranteed in the usual way by the General Guarantee +Society, and Hewitt's presence at the office was at once desired, in +order that steps might quickly be taken for the man's apprehension, and +in the recovery, at any rate, of as much of the booty as possible. + +A smart hansom brought Hewitt to Threadneedle Street in a bare quarter +of an hour, and there a few minutes' talk with the manager, Mr. Lyster, +put him in possession of the main facts of the case, which appeared to +be simple. Charles William Laker was twenty-five years of age, and had +been in the employ of Messrs. Liddle, Neal & Liddle for something more +than seven years--since he left school, in fact--and until the previous +day there had been nothing in his conduct to complain of. His duties as +walk-clerk consisted in making a certain round, beginning at about +half-past ten each morning. There were a certain number of the more +important banks between which and Messrs. Liddle, Neal & Liddle there +were daily transactions, and a few smaller semi-private banks and +merchant firms acting as financial agents, with whom there was business +intercourse of less importance and regularity; and each of these, as +necessary, he visited in turn, collecting cash due on bills and other +instruments of a like nature. He carried a wallet, fastened securely to +his person by a chain, and this wallet contained the bills and the cash. +Usually at the end of his round, when all his bills had been converted +into cash, the wallet held very large sums. His work and +responsibilities, in fine, were those common to walk-clerks in all +banks. + +On the day of the robbery he had started out as usual--possibly a little +earlier than was customary--and the bills and other securities in his +possession represented considerably more than £15,000. It had been +ascertained that he had called in the usual way at each establishment on +the round, and had transacted his business at the last place by about a +quarter-past one, being then, without doubt, in possession of cash to +the full value of the bills negotiated. After that, Mr. Lyster said, +yesterday's report was that nothing more had been heard of him. But this +morning there had been a message to the effect that he had been traced +out of the country--to Calais, at least, it was thought. The directors +of the society wished Hewitt to take the case in hand personally and at +once, with a view of recovering what was possible from the plunder by +way of salvage; also, of course, of finding Laker, for it is an +important moral gain to guarantee societies, as an example, if a thief +is caught and punished. Therefore Hewitt and Mr. Lyster, as soon as +might be, made for Messrs. Liddle, Neal & Liddle's, that the +investigation might be begun. + +The bank premises were quite near--in Leadenhall Street. Having arrived +there, Hewitt and Mr. Lyster made their way to the firm's private +rooms. As they were passing an outer waiting-room, Hewitt noticed two +women. One, the elder, in widow's weeds, was sitting with her head bowed +in her hand over a small writing-table. Her face was not visible, but +her whole attitude was that of a person overcome with unbearable grief; +and she sobbed quietly. The other was a young woman of twenty-two or +twenty-three. Her thick black veil revealed no more than that her +features were small and regular, and that her face was pale and drawn. +She stood with a hand on the elder woman's shoulder, and she quickly +turned her head away as the two men entered. + +Mr. Neal, one of the partners, received them in his own room. +"Good-morning, Mr. Hewitt," he said, when Mr. Lyster had introduced the +detective. "This is a serious business--very. I think I am sorrier for +Laker himself than for anybody else, ourselves included--or, at any +rate, I am sorrier for his mother. She is waiting now to see Mr. Liddle, +as soon as he arrives--Mr. Liddle has known the family for a long time. +Miss Shaw is with her, too, poor girl. She is a governess, or something +of that sort, and I believe she and Laker were engaged to be married. +It's all very sad." + +"Inspector Plummer, I understand," Hewitt remarked, "has the affair in +hand, on behalf of the police?" + +"Yes," Mr. Neal replied; "in fact, he's here now, going through the +contents of Laker's desk, and so forth; he thinks it possible Laker may +have had accomplices. Will you see him?" + +"Presently. Inspector Plummer and I are old friends. We met last, I +think, in the case of the Stanway cameo, some months ago. But, first, +will you tell me how long Laker has been a walk-clerk?" + +"Barely four months, although he has been with us altogether seven +years. He was promoted to the walk soon after the beginning of the +year." + +"Do you know anything of his habits--what he used to do in his spare +time, and so forth?" + +"Not a great deal. He went in for boating, I believe, though I have +heard it whispered that he had one or two more expensive +tastes--expensive, that is, for a young man in his position," Mr. Neal +explained, with a dignified wave of the hand that he peculiarly +affected. He was a stout old gentleman, and the gesture suited him. + +"You have had no reason to suspect him of dishonesty before, I take it?" + +"Oh, no. He made a wrong return once, I believe, that went for some time +undetected, but it turned out, after all, to be a clerical error--a mere +clerical error." + +"Do you know anything of his associates out of the office?" + +"No, how should I? I believe Inspector Plummer has been making inquiries +as to that, however, of the other clerks. Here he is, by the bye, I +expect. Come in!" + +It was Plummer who had knocked, and he came in at Mr. Neal's call. He +was a middle-sized, small-eyed, impenetrable-looking man, as yet of no +great reputation in the force. Some of my readers may remember his +connection with that case, so long a public mystery, that I have +elsewhere fully set forth and explained under the title of "The Stanway +Cameo Mystery." Plummer carried his billy-cock hat in one hand and a few +papers in the other. He gave Hewitt good-morning, placed his hat on a +chair, and spread the papers on the table. + +"There's not a great deal here," he said, "but one thing's plain--Laker +had been betting. See here, and here, and here"--he took a few letters +from the bundle in his hand--"two letters from a bookmaker about +settling--wonder he trusted a clerk--several telegrams from tipsters, +and a letter from some friend--only signed by initials--asking Laker to +put a sovereign on a horse for the friend 'with his own.' I'll keep +these, I think. It may be worth while to see that friend, if we can find +him. Ah, we often find it's betting, don't we, Mr. Hewitt? Meanwhile, +there's no news from France yet." + +"You are sure that is where he is gone?" asked Hewitt. + +"Well, I'll tell you what we've done as yet. First, of course, I went +round to all the banks. There was nothing to be got from that. The +cashiers all knew him by sight, and one was a personal friend of his. He +had called as usual, said nothing in particular, cashed his bills in the +ordinary way, and finished up at the Eastern Consolidated Bank at about +a quarter-past one. So far there was nothing whatever. But I had started +two or three men meanwhile making inquiries at the railway stations, and +so on. I had scarcely left the Eastern Consolidated when one of them +came after me with news. He had tried Palmer's Tourist Office, although +that seemed an unlikely place, and there struck the track." + +"Had he been there?" + +"Not only had he been there, but he had taken a tourist ticket for +France. It was quite a smart move, in a way. You see it was the sort of +ticket that lets you do pretty well what you like; you have the choice +of two or three different routes to begin with, and you can break your +journey where you please, and make all sorts of variations. So that a +man with a ticket like that, and a few hours' start, could twist about +on some remote branch route, and strike off in another direction +altogether, with a new ticket, from some out-of-the-way place, while we +were carefully sorting out and inquiring along the different routes he +_might_ have taken. Not half a bad move for a new hand; but he made one +bad mistake, as new hands always do--as old hands do, in fact, very +often. He was fool enough to give his own name, C. Laker! Although that +didn't matter much, as the description was enough to fix him. There he +was, wallet and all, just as he had come from the Eastern Consolidated +Bank. He went straight from there to Palmer's, by the bye, and probably +in a cab. We judge that by the time. He left the Eastern Consolidated at +a quarter-past one, and was at Palmer's by twenty-five-past--ten +minutes. The clerk at Palmer's remembered the time because he was +anxious to get out to his lunch, and kept looking at the clock, +expecting another clerk in to relieve him. Laker didn't take much in the +way of luggage, I fancy. We inquired carefully at the stations, and got +the porters to remember the passengers for whom they had been carrying +luggage, but none appeared to have had any dealings with our man. That, +of course, is as one would expect. He'd take as little as possible with +him, and buy what he wanted on the way, or when he'd reached his +hiding-place. Of course, I wired to Calais (it was a Dover to Calais +route ticket) and sent a couple of smart men off by the 8.15 mail from +Charing Cross. I expect we shall hear from them in the course of the +day. I am being kept in London in view of something expected at +headquarters, or I should have been off myself." + +"That is all, then, up to the present? Have you anything else in view?" + +"That's all I've absolutely ascertained at present. As for what I'm +going to do"--a slight smile curled Plummer's lip--"well, I shall see. +I've a thing or two in my mind." + +Hewitt smiled slightly himself; he recognised Plummer's touch of +professional jealousy. "Very well," he said, rising, "I'll make an +inquiry or two for myself at once. Perhaps, Mr. Neal, you'll allow one +of your clerks to show me the banks, in their regular order, at which +Laker called yesterday. I think I'll begin at the beginning." + +Mr. Neal offered to place at Hewitt's disposal anything or anybody the +bank contained, and the conference broke up. As Hewitt, with the clerk, +came through the rooms separating Mr. Neal's sanctum from the outer +office, he fancied he saw the two veiled women leaving by a side door. + +The first bank was quite close to Liddle, Neal & Liddle's. There the +cashier who had dealt with Laker the day before remembered nothing in +particular about the interview. Many other walk-clerks had called +during the morning, as they did every morning, and the only +circumstances of the visit that he could say anything definite about +were those recorded in figures in the books. He did not know Laker's +name till Plummer had mentioned it in making inquiries on the previous +afternoon. As far as he could remember, Laker behaved much as usual, +though really he did not notice much; he looked chiefly at the bills. He +described Laker in a way that corresponded with the photograph that +Hewitt had borrowed from the bank; a young man with a brown moustache +and ordinary-looking, fairly regular face, dressing much as other clerks +dressed--tall hat, black cutaway coat, and so on. The numbers of the +notes handed over had already been given to Inspector Plummer, and these +Hewitt did not trouble about. + +The next bank was in Cornhill, and here the cashier was a personal +friend of Laker's--at any rate, an acquaintance--and he remembered a +little more. Laker's manner had been quite as usual, he said; certainly +he did not seem preoccupied or excited in his manner. He spoke for a +moment or two--of being on the river on Sunday, and so on--and left in +his usual way. + +"Can you remember _everything_ he said?" Hewitt asked. "If you can tell +me, I should like to know exactly what he did and said to the smallest +particular." + +"Well, he saw me a little distance off--I was behind there, at one of +the desks--and raised his hand to me, and said, 'How d'ye do?' I came +across and took his bills, and dealt with them in the usual way. He had +a new umbrella lying on the counter--rather a handsome umbrella--and I +made a remark about the handle. He took it up to show me, and told me it +was a present he had just received from a friend. It was a gorse-root +handle, with two silver bands, one with his monogram C.W.L. I said it +was a very nice handle, and asked him whether it was fine in his +district on Sunday. He said he had been up the river, and it was very +fine there. And I think that was all." + +"Thank you. Now about this umbrella. Did he carry it rolled? Can you +describe it in detail?" + +"Well, I've told you about the handle, and the rest was much as usual, I +think; it wasn't rolled--just flapping loosely, you know. It was rather +an odd-shaped handle, though. I'll try and sketch it, if you like, as +well as I can remember." He did so, and Hewitt saw in the result rough +indications of a gnarled crook, with one silver band near the end, and +another, with the monogram, a few inches down the handle. Hewitt put the +sketch in his pocket, and bade the cashier good-day. + +At the next bank the story was the same as at the first--there was +nothing remembered but the usual routine. Hewitt and the clerk turned +down a narrow paved court, and through into Lombard Street for the next +visit. The bank--that of Buller, Clayton, Ladds & Co.--was just at the +corner at the end of the court, and the imposing stone entrance-porch +was being made larger and more imposing still, the way being almost +blocked by ladders and scaffold-poles. Here there was only the usual +tale, and so on through the whole walk. The cashiers knew Laker only by +sight, and that not always very distinctly. The calls of walk-clerks +were such matters of routine that little note was taken of the persons +of the clerks themselves, who were called by the names of their firms, +if they were called by any names at all. Laker had behaved much as +usual, so far as the cashiers could remember, and when finally the +Eastern Consolidated was left behind, nothing more had been learnt than +the chat about Laker's new umbrella. + +Hewitt had taken leave of Mr. Neal's clerk, and was stepping into a +hansom, when he noticed a veiled woman in widow's weeds hailing another +hansom a little way behind. He recognised the figure again, and said to +the driver, "Drive fast to Palmer's Tourist Office, but keep your eye on +that cab behind, and tell me presently if it is following us." + +The cabman drove off, and after passing one or two turnings, opened the +lid above Hewitt's head, and said, "That there other keb _is_ +a-follerin' us, sir, an' keepin' about even distance all along." + +"All right; that's what I wanted to know. Palmer's now." + +At Palmer's the clerk who had attended to Laker remembered him very +well, and described him. He also remembered the wallet, and _thought_ he +remembered the umbrella--was practically sure of it, in fact, upon +reflection. He had no record of the name given, but remembered it +distinctly to be Laker. As a matter of fact, names were never asked in +such a transaction, but in this case Laker appeared to be ignorant of +the usual procedure, as well as in a great hurry, and asked for the +ticket and gave his name all in one breath, probably assuming that the +name would be required. + +Hewitt got back to his cab, and started for Charing Cross. The cabman +once more lifted the lid and informed him that the hansom with the +veiled woman in it was again following, having waited while Hewitt had +visited Palmer's. At Charing Cross Hewitt discharged his cab and walked +straight to the lost property office. The man in charge knew him very +well, for his business had carried him there frequently before. + +"I fancy an umbrella was lost in the station yesterday," Hewitt said. +"It was a new umbrella, silk, with a gnarled gorse-root handle and two +silver bands, something like this sketch. There was a monogram on the +lower band--'C. W. L.' were the letters. Has it been brought here?" + +"There was two or three yesterday," the man said; "let's see." He took +the sketch and retired to a corner of his room. "Oh, yes--here it is, I +think; isn't this it? Do you claim it?" + +"Well, not exactly that, but I think I'll take a look at it, if you'll +let me. By the way, I see it's rolled up. Was it found like that?" + +"No; the chap rolled it up what found it--porter he was. It's a fad of +his, rolling up umbrellas close and neat, and he's rather proud of it. +He often looks as though he'd like to take a man's umbrella away and +roll it up for him when it's a bit clumsy done. Rum fad, eh?" + +"Yes; everybody has his little fad, though. Where was this found--close +by here?" + +"Yes, sir; just there, almost opposite this window, in the little +corner." + +"About two o'clock?" + +"Ah, about that time, more or less." + +Hewitt took the umbrella up, unfastened the band, and shook the silk out +loose. Then he opened it, and as he did so a small scrap of paper fell +from inside it. Hewitt pounced on it like lightning. Then, after +examining the umbrella thoroughly, inside and out, he handed it back to +the man, who had not observed the incident of the scrap of paper. + +"That will do, thanks," he said. "I only wanted to take a peep at +it--just a small matter connected with a little case of mine. +Good-morning." + +He turned suddenly and saw, gazing at him with a terrified expression +from a door behind, the face of the woman who had followed him in the +cab. The veil was lifted, and he caught but a mere glance of the face +ere it was suddenly withdrawn. He stood for a moment to allow the woman +time to retreat, and then left the station and walked toward his office, +close by. + +Scarcely thirty yards along the Strand he met Plummer. + +"I'm going to make some much closer inquiries all down the line as far +as Dover," Plummer said. "They wire from Calais that they have no clue +as yet, and I mean to make quite sure, if I can, that Laker hasn't +quietly slipped off the line somewhere between here and Dover. There's +one very peculiar thing," Plummer added confidentially. "Did you see the +two women who were waiting to see a member of the firm at Liddle, Neal & +Liddle's?" + +"Yes. Laker's mother and his _fiancée_, I was told." + +"That's right. Well, do you know that girl--Shaw her name is--has been +shadowing me ever since I left the Bank. Of course I spotted it from +the beginning--these amateurs don't know how to follow anybody--and, as +a matter of fact, she's just inside that jeweller's shop door behind me +now, pretending to look at the things in the window. But it's odd, isn't +it?" + +"Well," Hewitt replied, "of course it's not a thing to be neglected. If +you'll look very carefully at the corner of Villiers Street, without +appearing to stare, I think you will possibly observe some signs of +Laker's mother. She's shadowing _me_." + +Plummer looked casually in the direction indicated, and then immediately +turned his eyes in another direction. + +"I see her," he said; "she's just taking a look round the corner. That's +a thing not to be ignored. Of course, the Lakers' house is being +watched--we set a man on it at once, yesterday. But I'll put some one on +now to watch Miss Shaw's place, too. I'll telephone through to +Liddle's--probably they'll be able to say where it is. And the women +themselves must be watched, too. As a matter of fact, I had a notion +that Laker wasn't alone in it. And it's just possible, you know, that he +has sent an accomplice off with his tourist ticket to lead us a dance +while he looks after himself in another direction. Have you done +anything?" + +"Well," Hewitt replied, with a faint reproduction of the secretive +smile with which Plummer had met an inquiry of his earlier in the +morning, "I've been to the station here, and I've found Laker's umbrella +in the lost property office." + +"Oh! Then probably he _has_ gone. I'll bear that in mind, and perhaps +have a word with the lost property man." + +Plummer made for the station and Hewitt for his office. He mounted the +stairs and reached his door just as I myself, who had been disappointed +in not finding him in, was leaving. I had called with the idea of taking +Hewitt to lunch with me at my club, but he declined lunch. "I have an +important case in hand," he said. "Look here, Brett. See this scrap of +paper. You know the types of the different newspapers--which is this?" + +He handed me a small piece of paper. It was part of a cutting containing +an advertisement, which had been torn in half. + +[Illustration] + +"I _think_," I said, "this is from the _Daily Chronicle_, judging by the +paper. It is plainly from the 'agony column,' but all the papers use +pretty much the same type for these advertisements, except the _Times_. +If it were not torn I could tell you at once, because the _Chronicle_ +columns are rather narrow." + +"Never mind--I'll send for them all." He rang, and sent Kerrett for a +copy of each morning paper of the previous day. Then he took from a +large wardrobe cupboard a decent but well-worn and rather roughened tall +hat. Also a coat a little worn and shiny on the collar. He exchanged +these for his own hat and coat, and then substituted an old necktie for +his own clean white one, and encased his legs in mud-spotted leggings. +This done, he produced a very large and thick pocket-book, fastened by a +broad elastic band, and said, "Well, what do you think of this? Will it +do for Queen's taxes, or sanitary inspection, or the gas, or the +water-supply?" + +"Very well indeed, I should say," I replied. "What's the case?" + +"Oh, I'll tell you all about that when it's over--no time now. Oh, here +you are, Kerrett. By the bye, Kerrett, I'm going out presently by the +back way. Wait for about ten minutes or a quarter of an hour after I am +gone, and then just go across the road and speak to that lady in black, +with the veil, who is waiting in that little foot-passage opposite. Say +Mr. Martin Hewitt sends his compliments, and he advises her not to wait, +as he has already left his office by another door, and has been gone +some little time. That's all; it would be a pity to keep the poor woman +waiting all day for nothing. Now the papers. _Daily News, Standard, +Telegraph, Chronicle_--yes, here it is, in the Chronicle." + +The whole advertisement read thus:-- + + YOB.--H.R. Shop roast. You 1st. Then to-night. 02. 2nd top + 3rd L. No. 197 red bl. straight mon. One at a time. + +"What's this," I asked, "a cryptogram?" + +"I'll see," Hewitt answered. "But I won't tell you anything about it +till afterwards, so you get your lunch. Kerrett, bring the directory." + +This was all I actually saw of this case myself, and I have written the +rest in its proper order from Hewitt's information, as I have written +some other cases entirely. + +To resume at the point where, for the time I lost sight of the matter. +Hewitt left by the back way and stopped an empty cab as it passed. +"Abney Park Cemetery" was his direction to the driver. In little more +than twenty minutes the cab was branching off down the Essex Road on its +way to Stoke Newington, and in twenty minutes more Hewitt stopped it in +Church Street, Stoke Newington. He walked through a street or two, and +then down another, the houses of which he scanned carefully as he +passed. Opposite one which stood by itself he stopped, and, making a +pretence of consulting and arranging his large pocket-book, he took a +good look at the house. It was rather larger, neater, and more +pretentious than the others in the street, and it had a natty little +coach-house just visible up the side entrance. There were red blinds +hung with heavy lace in the front windows, and behind one of these +blinds Hewitt was able to catch the glint of a heavy gas chandelier. + +He stepped briskly up the front steps and knocked sharply at the door. +"Mr. Merston?" he asked, pocket-book in hand, when a neat parlour-maid +opened the door. + +"Yes." + +"Ah!" Hewitt stepped into the hall and pulled off his hat; "it's only +the meter. There's been a deal of gas running away somewhere here, and +I'm just looking to see if the meters are right. Where is it?" + +The girl hesitated. "I'll--I'll ask master," she said. + +"Very well. I don't want to take it away, you know--only to give it a +tap or two, and so on." + +The girl retired to the back of the hall, and without taking her eyes +off Martin Hewitt, gave his message to some invisible person in a back +room, whence came a growling reply of "All right." + +Hewitt followed the girl to the basement, apparently looking straight +before him, but in reality taking in every detail of the place. The gas +meter was in a very large lumber cupboard under the kitchen stairs. The +girl opened the door and lit a candle. The meter stood on the floor, +which was littered with hampers and boxes and odd sheets of brown paper. +But a thing that at once arrested Hewitt's attention was a garment of +some sort of bright blue cloth, with large brass buttons, which was +lying in a tumbled heap in a corner, and appeared to be the only thing +in the place that was not covered with dust. Nevertheless, Hewitt took +no apparent notice of it, but stooped down and solemnly tapped the meter +three times with his pencil, and listened with great gravity, placing +his ear to the top. Then he shook his head and tapped again. At length +he said:-- + +"It's a bit doubtful. I'll just get you to light the gas in the kitchen +a moment. Keep your hand to the burner, and when I call out shut it off +_at once_; see?" + +The girl turned and entered the kitchen, and Hewitt immediately seized +the blue coat--for a coat it was. It had a dull red piping in the seams, +and was of the swallow-tail pattern--a livery coat, in fact. He held it +for a moment before him, examining its pattern and colour, and then +rolled it up and flung it again into the corner. + +"Right!" he called to the servant. "Shut off!" + +The girl emerged from the kitchen as he left the cupboard. + +"Well," she asked, "are you satisfied now?" + +"Quite satisfied, thank you," Hewitt replied. + +"Is it all right?" she continued, jerking her hand toward the cupboard. + +"Well, no, it isn't; there's something wrong there, and I'm glad I came. +You can tell Mr. Merston, if you like, that I expect his gas bill will +be a good deal less next quarter." And there was a suspicion of a +chuckle in Hewitt's voice as he crossed the hall to leave. For a gas +inspector is pleased when he finds at length what he has been searching +for. + +Things had fallen out better than Hewitt had dared to expect. He saw the +key of the whole mystery in that blue coat; for it was the uniform coat +of the hall porters at one of the banks that he had visited in the +morning, though which one he could not for the moment remember. He +entered the nearest post-office and despatched a telegram to Plummer, +giving certain directions and asking the inspector to meet him; then he +hailed the first available cab and hurried toward the City. + +At Lombard Street he alighted, and looked in at the door of each bank +till he came to Buller, Clayton, Ladds & Co.'s. This was the bank he +wanted. In the other banks the hall porters wore mulberry coats, +brick-dust coats, brown coats, and what not, but here, behind the +ladders and scaffold poles which obscured the entrance, he could see a +man in a blue coat, with dull red piping and brass buttons. He sprang up +the steps, pushed open the inner swing door, and finally satisfied +himself by a closer view of the coat, to the wearer's astonishment. Then +he regained the pavement and walked the whole length of the bank +premises in front, afterwards turning up the paved passage at the side, +deep in thought. The bank had no windows or doors on the side next the +court, and the two adjoining houses were old and supported in places by +wooden shores. Both were empty, and a great board announced that tenders +would be received in a month's time for the purchase of the old +materials of which they were constructed; also that some part of the +site would be let on a long building lease. + +Hewitt looked up at the grimy fronts of the old buildings. The windows +were crusted thick with dirt--all except the bottom window of the house +nearer the bank, which was fairly clean, and seemed to have been quite +lately washed. The door, too, of this house was cleaner than that of the +other, though the paint was worn. Hewitt reached and fingered a hook +driven into the left-hand doorpost about six feet from the ground. It +was new, and not at all rusted; also a tiny splinter had been displaced +when the hook was driven in, and clean wood showed at the spot. + +Having observed these things, Hewitt stepped back and read at the bottom +of the big board the name, "Winsor & Weekes, Surveyors and Auctioneers, +Abchurch Lane." Then he stepped into Lombard Street. + +Two hansoms pulled up near the post-office, and out of the first stepped +Inspector Plummer and another man. This man and the two who alighted +from the second hansom were unmistakably plain-clothes constables--their +air, gait, and boots proclaimed it. + +"What's all this?" demanded Plummer, as Hewitt approached. + +"You'll soon see, I think. But, first, have you put the watch on No. +197, Hackworth Road?" + +"Yes; nobody will get away from there alone." + +"Very good. I am going into Abchurch Lane for a few minutes. Leave your +men out here, but just go round into the court by Buller, Clayton & +Ladds's, and keep your eye on the first door on the left. I think we'll +find something soon. Did you get rid of Miss Shaw?" + +"No, she's behind now, and Mrs. Laker's with her. They met in the +Strand, and came after us in another cab. Rare fun, eh! They think we're +pretty green! It's quite handy, too. So long as they keep behind me it +saves all trouble of watching _them_." And Inspector Plummer chuckled +and winked. + +"Very good. You don't mind keeping your eye on that door, do you? I'll +be back very soon," and with that Hewitt turned off into Abchurch Lane. + +At Winsor & Weekes's information was not difficult to obtain. The houses +were destined to come down very shortly, but a week or so ago an office +and a cellar in one of them was let temporarily to a Mr. Westley. He +brought no references; indeed, as he paid a fortnight's rent in advance, +he was not asked for any, considering the circumstances of the case. He +was opening a London branch for a large firm of cider merchants, he +said, and just wanted a rough office and a cool cellar to store samples +in for a few weeks till the permanent premises were ready. There was +another key, and no doubt the premises might be entered if there were +any special need for such a course. Martin Hewitt gave such excellent +reasons that Winsor & Weekes's managing clerk immediately produced the +key and accompanied Hewitt to the spot. + +"I think you'd better have your men handy," Hewitt remarked to Plummer +when they reached the door, and a whistle quickly brought the men over. + +The key was inserted in the lock and turned, but the door would not +open; the bolt was fastened at the bottom. Hewitt stooped and looked +under the door. + +"It's a drop bolt," he said. "Probably the man who left last let it fall +loose, and then banged the door, so that it fell into its place. I must +try my best with a wire or a piece of string." + +A wire was brought, and with some manoeuvring Hewitt contrived to pass +it round the bolt, and lift it little by little, steadying it with the +blade of a pocket-knife. When at length the bolt was raised out of the +hole, the knife-blade was slipped under it, and the door swung open. + +They entered. The door of the little office just inside stood open, but +in the office there was nothing, except a board a couple of feet long in +a corner. Hewitt stepped across and lifted this, turning its downward +face toward Plummer. On it, in fresh white paint on a black ground, were +painted the words-- + + "BULLER, CLAYTON, LADDS & CO., + TEMPORARY ENTRANCE." + +Hewitt turned to Winsor & Weekes's clerk and asked, "The man who took +this room called himself Westley, didn't he?" + +"Yes." + +"Youngish man, clean-shaven, and well-dressed?" + +"Yes, he was." + +"I fancy," Hewitt said, turning to Plummer, "I _fancy_ an old friend of +yours is in this--Mr. Sam Gunter." + +"What, the 'Hoxton Yob'?" + +"I think it's possible he's been Mr. Westley for a bit, and somebody +else for another bit. But let's come to the cellar." + +Winsor & Weekes's clerk led the way down a steep flight of steps into a +dark underground corridor, wherein they lighted their way with many +successive matches. Soon the corridor made a turn to the right, and as +the party passed the turn, there came from the end of the passage before +them a fearful yell. + +"Help! help! Open the door! I'm going mad--mad! O my God!" + +And there was a sound of desperate beating from the inside of the cellar +door at the extreme end. The men stopped, startled. + +"Come," said Hewitt, "more matches!" and he rushed to the door. It was +fastened with a bar and padlock. + +"Let me out, for God's sake!" came the voice, sick and hoarse, from the +inside. "Let me out!" + +"All right!" Hewitt shouted. "We have come for you. Wait a moment." + +The voice sank into a sort of sobbing croon, and Hewitt tried several +keys from his own bunch on the padlock. None fitted. He drew from his +pocket the wire he had used for the bolt of the front door, straightened +it out, and made a sharp bend at the end. + +"Hold a match close," he ordered shortly, and one of the men obeyed. +Three or four attempts were necessary, and several different bendings of +the wire were effected, but in the end Hewitt picked the lock, and flung +open the door. + +From within a ghastly figure fell forward among them fainting, and +knocked out the matches. + +"Hullo!" cried Plummer. "Hold up! Who are you?" + +"Let's get him up into the open," said Hewitt. "He can't tell you who he +is for a bit, but I believe he's Laker." + +"Laker! What, here?" + +"I think so. Steady up the steps. Don't bump him. He's pretty sore +already, I expect." + +Truly the man was a pitiable sight. His hair and face were caked in dust +and blood, and his finger-nails were torn and bleeding. Water was sent +for at once, and brandy. + +"Well," said Plummer hazily, looking first at the unconscious prisoner +and then at Hewitt, "but what about the swag?" + +"You'll have to find that yourself," Hewitt replied. "I think my share +of the case is about finished. I only act for the Guarantee Society, you +know, and if Laker's proved innocent----" + +"Innocent! How?" + +"Well, this is what took place, as near as I can figure it. You'd better +undo his collar, I think"--this to the men. "What I believe has happened +is this. There has been a very clever and carefully prepared conspiracy +here, and Laker has not been the criminal, but the victim." + +"Been robbed himself, you mean? But how? Where?" + +"Yesterday morning, before he had been to more than three banks--here, +in fact." + +"But then how? You're all wrong. We _know_ he made the whole round, and +did all the collection. And then Palmer's office, and all, and the +umbrella; why----" + +The man lay still unconscious. "Don't raise his head," Hewitt said. "And +one of you had best fetch a doctor. He's had a terrible shock." Then +turning to Plummer he went on, "As to _how_ they managed the job I'll +tell you what I think. First it struck some very clever person that a +deal of money might be got by robbing a walk-clerk from a bank. This +clever person was one of a clever gang of thieves--perhaps the Hoxton +Row gang, as I think I hinted. Now you know quite as well as I do that +such a gang will spend any amount of time over a job that promises a big +haul, and that for such a job they can always command the necessary +capital. There are many most respectable persons living in good style in +the suburbs whose chief business lies in financing such ventures, and +taking the chief share of the proceeds. Well, this is their plan, +carefully and intelligently carried out. They watch Laker, observe the +round he takes, and his habits. They find that there is only one of the +clerks with whom he does business that he is much acquainted with, and +that this clerk is in a bank which is commonly second in Laker's round. +The sharpest man among them--and I don't think there's a man in London +could do this as well as young Sam Gunter--studies Laker's dress and +habits just as an actor studies a character. They take this office and +cellar, as we have seen, _because it is next door to a bank whose front +entrance is being altered_--a fact which Laker must know from his daily +visits. The smart man--Gunter, let us say, and I have other reasons for +believing it to be he--makes up precisely like Laker, false moustache, +dress, and everything, and waits here with the rest of the gang. One of +the gang is dressed in a blue coat with brass buttons, like a +hall-porter in Buller's bank. Do you see?" + +"Yes, I think so. It's pretty clear now." + +"A confederate watches at the top of the court, and the moment Laker +turns in from Cornhill--having already been, mind, at the only bank +where he was so well known that the disguised thief would not have +passed muster--as soon as he turns in from Cornhill, I say, a signal is +given, and that board"--pointing to that with the white letters--"is +hung on the hook in the doorpost. The sham porter stands beside it, and +as Laker approaches says, 'This way in, sir, this morning. The front +way's shut for the alterations.' Laker, suspecting nothing, and +supposing that the firm have made a temporary entrance through the empty +house, enters. He is seized when well along the corridor, the board is +taken down and the door shut. Probably he is stunned by a blow on the +head--see the blood now. They take his wallet and all the cash he has +already collected. Gunter takes the wallet and also the umbrella, since +it has Laker's initials, and is therefore distinctive. He simply +completes the walk in the character of Laker, beginning with Buller, +Clayton & Ladds's just round the corner. It is nothing but routine work, +which is quickly done, and nobody notices him particularly--it is the +bills they examine. Meanwhile this unfortunate fellow is locked up in +the cellar here, right at the end of the underground corridor, where he +can never make himself heard in the street, and where next him are only +the empty cellars of the deserted house next door. The thieves shut the +front door and vanish. The rest is plain. Gunter, having completed the +round, and bagged some £15,000 or more, spends a few pounds in a tourist +ticket at Palmer's as a blind, being careful to give Laker's name. He +leaves the umbrella at Charing Cross in a conspicuous place right +opposite the lost property office, where it is sure to be seen, and so +completes his false trail." + +"Then who are the people at 197, Hackworth Road?" + +"The capitalist lives there--the financier, and probably the directing +spirit of the whole thing. Merston's the name he goes by there, and I've +no doubt he cuts a very imposing figure in chapel every Sunday. He'll be +worth picking up--this isn't the first thing he's been in, I'll +warrant." + +"But--but what about Laker's mother and Miss Shaw?" + +"Well, what? The poor women are nearly out of their minds with terror +and shame, that's all, but though they may think Laker a criminal, +they'll never desert him. They've been following us about with a feeble, +vague sort of hope of being able to baffle us in some way or help him if +we caught him, or something, poor things. Did you ever hear of a real +woman who'd desert a son or a lover merely because he was a criminal? +But here's the doctor. When he's attended to him will you let your men +take Laker home? I must hurry and report to the Guarantee Society, I +think." + +"But," said the perplexed Plummer, "where did you get your clue? You +must have had a tip from some one, you know--you can't have done it by +clairvoyance. What gave you the tip?" + +"The _Daily Chronicle_." + +"The _what_?" + +"The _Daily Chronicle_. Just take a look at the 'agony column' in +yesterday morning's issue, and read the message to 'Yob'--to Gunter, in +fact. That's all." + +By this time a cab was waiting in Lombard Street, and two of Plummer's +men, under the doctor's directions, carried Laker to it. No sooner, +however, were they in the court than the two watching women threw +themselves hysterically upon Laker, and it was long before they could be +persuaded that he was not being taken to gaol. The mother shrieked +aloud, "My boy--my boy! Don't take him! Oh, don't take him! They've +killed my boy! Look at his head--oh, his head!" and wrestled desperately +with the men, while Hewitt attempted to soothe her, and promised to +allow her to go in the cab with her son if she would only be quiet. The +younger woman made no noise, but she held one of Laker's limp hands in +both hers. + +Hewitt and I dined together that evening, and he gave me a full account +of the occurrences which I have here set down. Still, when he was +finished I was not able to see clearly by what process of reasoning he +had arrived at the conclusions that gave him the key to the mystery, nor +did I understand the "agony column" message, and I said so. + +"In the beginning," Hewitt explained, "the thing that struck me as +curious was the fact that Laker was said to have given his own name at +Palmer's in buying his ticket. Now, the first thing the greenest and +newest criminal thinks of is changing his name, so that the giving of +his own name seemed unlikely to begin with. Still, he _might_ have made +such a mistake, as Plummer suggested when he said that criminals usually +make a mistake somewhere--as they do, in fact. Still, it was the least +likely mistake I could think of--especially as he actually didn't wait +to be asked for his name, but blurted it out when it wasn't really +wanted. And it was conjoined with another rather curious mistake, or +what would have been a mistake if the thief were Laker. Why should he +conspicuously display his wallet--such a distinctive article--for the +clerk to see and note? Why rather had he not got rid of it before +showing himself? Suppose it should be somebody personating Laker? In any +case I determined not to be prejudiced by what I had heard of Laker's +betting. A man may bet without being a thief. + +"But, again, supposing it _were_ Laker? Might he not have given his +name, and displayed his wallet, and so on, while buying a ticket for +France, in order to draw pursuit after himself in that direction while +he made off in another, in another name, and disguised? Each supposition +was plausible. And, in either case, it might happen that whoever was +laying this trail would probably lay it a little farther. Charing Cross +was the next point, and there I went. I already had it from Plummer that +Laker had not been recognised there. Perhaps the trail had been laid in +some other manner. Something left behind with Laker's name on it, +perhaps? I at once thought of the umbrella with his monogram, and, +making a long shot, asked for it at the lost property office, as you +know. The guess was lucky. In the umbrella, as you know, I found that +scrap of paper. That, I judged, had fallen in from the hand of the man +carrying the umbrella. He had torn the paper in half in order to fling +it away, and one piece had fallen into the loosely flapping umbrella. It +is a thing that will often happen with an omnibus ticket, as you may +have noticed. Also, it was proved that the umbrella _was_ unrolled when +found, and rolled immediately after. So here was a piece of paper +dropped by the person who had brought the umbrella to Charing Cross and +left it. I got the whole advertisement, as you remember, and I studied +it. 'Yob' is back-slang for 'boy,' and it is often used in nicknames to +denote a young smooth-faced thief. Gunter, the man I suspect, as a +matter of fact, is known as the 'Hoxton Yob.' The message, then, was +addressed to some one known by such a nickname. Next, 'H.R. shop roast.' +Now, in thieves' slang, to 'roast' a thing or a person is to watch it or +him. They call any place a shop--notably, a thieves' den. So that this +meant that some resort--perhaps the 'Hoxton Row shop'--was watched. 'You +1st then to-night' would be clearer, perhaps, when the rest was +understood. I thought a little over the rest, and it struck me that it +must be a direction to some other house, since one was warned of as +being watched. Besides, there was the number, 197, and 'red bl.,' which +would be extremely likely to mean 'red blinds,' by way of clearly +distinguishing the house. And then the plan of the thing was plain. You +have noticed, probably, that the map of London which accompanies the +Post Office Directory is divided, for convenience of reference, into +numbered squares?" + +"Yes. The squares are denoted by letters along the top margin and +figures down the side. So that if you consult the directory, and find a +place marked as being in D 5, for instance, you find vertical divisions +D, and run your finger down it till it intersects horizontal division 5, +and there you are." + +"Precisely. I got my Post Office Directory, and looked for 'O 2.' It was +in North London, and took in parts of Abney Park Cemetery and Clissold +Park; '2nd top' was the next sign. Very well, I counted the second +street intersecting the top of the square--counting, in the usual way, +from the left. That was Lordship Road. Then, '3rd L.' From the point +where Lordship Road crossed the top of the square, I ran my finger down +the road till it came to '3rd L,' or, in other words, the third turning +on the left--Hackworth Road. So there we were, unless my guesses were +altogether wrong. 'Straight mon' probably meant 'straight moniker'--that +is to say, the proper name, a thief's _real_ name, in contradistinction +to that he may assume. I turned over the directory till I found +Hackworth Road, and found that No. 197 was inhabited by a Mr. Merston. +From the whole thing I judged this. There was to have been a meeting at +the 'H.R. shop,' but that was found, at the last moment, to be watched +by the police for some purpose, so that another appointment was made for +this house in the suburbs. 'You 1st. Then to-night'--the person +addressed was to come first, and the others in the evening. They were to +ask for the householder's 'straight moniker'--Mr. Merston. And they were +to come one at a time. + +"Now, then, what was this? What theory would fit it? Suppose this were a +robbery, directed from afar by the advertiser. Suppose, on the day +before the robbery, it was found that the place fixed for division of +spoils were watched. Suppose that the principal thereupon advertised (as +had already been agreed in case of emergency) in these terms. The +principal in the actual robbery--the 'Yob' addressed--was to go first +with the booty. The others were to come after, one at a time. Anyway, +the thing was good enough to follow a little further, and I determined +to try No. 197, Hackworth Road. I have told you what I found there, and +how it opened my eyes. I went, of course, merely on chance, to see what +I might chance to see. But luck favoured, and I happened on that +coat--brought back rolled up, on the evening after the robbery, +doubtless by the thief who had used it, and flung carelessly into the +handiest cupboard. _That_ was this gang's mistake." + +"Well, I congratulate you," I said. "I hope they'll catch the rascals." + +"I rather think they will, now they know where to look. They can +scarcely miss Merston, anyway. There has been very little to go upon in +this case, but I stuck to the thread, however slight, and it brought me +through. The rest of the case, of course, is Plummer's. It was a +peculiarity of my commission that I could equally well fulfil it by +catching the man with all the plunder, or by proving him innocent. +Having done the latter, my work was at an end, but I left it where +Plummer will be able to finish the job handsomely." + +Plummer did. Sam Gunter, Merston, and one accomplice were taken--the +first and last were well known to the police--and were identified by +Laker. Merston, as Hewitt had suspected, had kept the lion's share for +himself, so that altogether, with what was recovered from him and the +other two, nearly £11,000 was saved for Messrs. Liddle, Neal & Liddle. +Merston, when taken, was in the act of packing up to take a holiday +abroad, and there cash his notes, which were found, neatly packed in +separate thousands, in his portmanteau. As Hewitt had predicted, his +gas bill _was_ considerably less next quarter, for less than half-way +through it he began a term in gaol. + +As for Laker, he was reinstated, of course, with an increase of salary +by way of compensation for his broken head. He had passed a terrible +twenty-six hours in the cellar, unfed and unheard. Several times he had +become insensible, and again and again he had thrown himself madly +against the door, shouting and tearing at it, till he fell back +exhausted, with broken nails and bleeding fingers. For some hours before +the arrival of his rescuers he had been sitting in a sort of stupor, +from which he was suddenly aroused by the sound of voices and footsteps. +He was in bed for a week, and required a rest of a month in addition +before he could resume his duties. Then he was quietly lectured by Mr. +Neal as to betting, and, I believe, dropped that practice in +consequence. I am told that he is "at the counter" now--a considerable +promotion. + + + + +THE CASE OF THE LOST FOREIGNER. + + +I have already said in more than one place that Hewitt's personal +relations with the members of the London police force were of a cordial +character. In the course of his work it has frequently been Hewitt's hap +to learn of matters on which the police were glad of information, and +that information was always passed on at once; and so long as no +infringement of regulations or damage to public service were involved, +Hewitt could always rely on a return in kind. + +It was with a message of a useful sort that Hewitt one day dropped into +Vine Street police-station and asked for a particular inspector, who was +not in. Hewitt sat and wrote a note, and by way of making conversation +said to the inspector on duty, "Anything very startling this way +to-day?" + +"Nothing _very_ startling, perhaps, as yet," the inspector replied. "But +one of our chaps picked up rather an odd customer a little while ago. +Lunatic of some sort, I should think--in fact, I've sent for the doctor +to see him. He's a foreigner--a Frenchman, I believe. He seemed horribly +weak and faint; but the oddest thing occurred when one of the men, +thinking he might be hungry, brought in some bread. He went into fits of +terror at the sight of it, and wouldn't be pacified till they took it +away again." + +"That was strange." + +"Odd, wasn't it? And he _was_ hungry too. They brought him some more a +little while after, and he didn't funk it a bit,--pitched into it, in +fact, like anything, and ate it all with some cold beef. It's the way +with some lunatics--never the same five minutes together. He keeps +crying like a baby, and saying things we can't understand. As it +happens, there's nobody in just now who speaks French." + +"I speak French," Hewitt replied. "Shall I try him?" + +"Certainly, if you will. He's in the men's room below. They've been +making him as comfortable as possible by the fire until the doctor +comes. He's a long time. I expect he's got a case on." + +Hewitt found his way to the large mess-room, where three or four +policemen in their shirt-sleeves were curiously regarding a young man of +very disordered appearance who sat on a chair by the fire. He was pale, +and exhibited marks of bruises on his face, while over one eye was a +scarcely healed cut. His figure was small and slight, his coat was torn, +and he sat with a certain indefinite air of shivering suffering. He +started and looked round apprehensively as Hewitt entered. Hewitt bowed +smilingly, wished him good-day, speaking in French, and asked him if he +spoke the language. + +The man looked up with a dull expression, and after an effort or two, as +of one who stutters, burst out with, "_Je le nie!_" + +"That's strange," Hewitt observed to the men. "I ask him if he speaks +French, and he says he denies it--speaking _in_ French." + +"He's been saying that very often, sir," one of the men answered, "as +well as other things we can't make anything of." + +Hewitt placed his hand kindly on the man's shoulder and asked his name. +The reply was for a little while an inarticulate gurgle, presently +merging into a meaningless medley of words and syllables--"_Qu'est ce +qu'_--_il n'a_--Leystar Squarr--_sacré nom_--not spik it--_quel +chemin_--sank you ver' mosh--_je le nie! je le nie!_" He paused, stared, +and then, as though realizing his helplessness, he burst into tears. + +"He's been a-cryin' two or three times," said the man who had spoken +before. "He was a-cryin' when we found him." + +Several more attempts Hewitt made to communicate with the man, but +though he seemed to comprehend what was meant, he replied with nothing +but meaningless gibber, and finally gave up the attempt, and, leaning +against the side of the fireplace, buried his head in the bend of his +arm. + +Then the doctor arrived and made _his_ examination. While it was in +progress Hewitt took aside the policeman who had been speaking before +and questioned him further. He had himself found the Frenchman in a dull +back street by Golden Square, where the man was standing helpless and +trembling, apparently quite bewildered and very weak. He had brought him +in, without having been able to learn anything about him. One or two +shopkeepers in the street where he was found were asked, but knew +nothing of him--indeed, had never seen him before. + +"But the curiousest thing," the policeman proceeded, "was in this 'ere +room, when I brought him a loaf to give him a bit of a snack, seein' he +looked so weak an' 'ungry. You'd 'a thought we was a-goin' to poison +'im. He fair screamed at the very sight o' the bread, an' he scrouged +hisself up in that corner an' put his hands in front of his face. I +couldn't make out what was up at first--didn't tumble to it's bein' the +bread he was frightened of, seein' as he looked like a man as 'ud be +frightened at anything else afore _that_. But the nearer I came with it +the more he yelled, so I took it away an' left it outside, an' then he +calmed down. An' s'elp me, when I cut some bits off that there very loaf +an' brought 'em in, with a bit o' beef, he just went for 'em like one +o'clock. _He_ wasn't frightened o' no bread then, you bet. Rum thing, +how the fancies takes 'em when they're a bit touched, ain't it? All one +way one minute, all the other the next." + +"Yes, it is. By the way, have you another uncut loaf in the place?" + +"Yes, sir. Half a dozen if you like." + +"One will be enough. I am going over to speak to the doctor. Wait awhile +until he seems very quiet and fairly comfortable; then bring a loaf in +quietly and put it on the table, not far from his elbow. Don't attract +his attention to what you are doing." + +The doctor stood looking thoughtfully down on the Frenchman, who, for +his part, stared gloomily, but tranquilly, at the fireplace. Hewitt +stepped quietly over to the doctor and, without disturbing the man by +the fire, said interrogatively, "Aphasia?" + +The doctor tightened his lips, frowned, and nodded significantly. +"Motor," he murmured, just loudly enough for Hewitt to hear; "and +there's a general nervous break-down as well, I should say. By the way, +perhaps there's no agraphia. Have you tried him with pen and paper?" + +Pen and paper were brought and set before the man. He was told, slowly +and distinctly, that he was among friends, whose only object was to +restore him to his proper health. Would he write his name and address, +and any other information he might care to give about himself, on the +paper before him? + +The Frenchman took the pen and stared at the paper; then slowly, and +with much hesitation, he traced these marks:-- + +[Illustration] + +The man paused after the last of these futile characters, and his pen +stabbed into the paper with a blot, as he dazedly regarded his work. +Then with a groan he dropped it, and his face sank again into the bend +of his arm. + +The doctor took the paper and handed it to Hewitt. "Complete agraphia, +you see," he said. "He can't write a word. He begins to write 'Monsieur' +from sheer habit in beginning letters thus; but the word tails off into +a scrawl. Then his attempts become mere scribble, with just a trace of +some familiar word here and there--but quite meaningless all." + +Although he had never before chanced to come across a case of aphasia +(happily a rare disease), Hewitt was acquainted with its general nature. +He knew that it might arise either from some physical injury to the +brain, or from a break-down consequent on some terrible nervous strain. +He knew that in the case of motor aphasia the sufferer, though fully +conscious of all that goes on about him, and though quite understanding +what is said to him is entirely powerless to put his own thoughts into +spoken words--has lost, in fact, the connection between words and their +spoken symbols. Also that in most bad cases agraphia--the loss of +ability to write words with any reference to their meaning--is commonly +an accompaniment. + +"You will have him taken to the infirmary, I suppose?" Hewitt asked. + +"Yes," the doctor replied. "I shall go and see about it at once." + +The man looked up again as they spoke. The policeman had, in accordance +with Hewitt's request, placed a loaf of bread on the table near him, and +now as he looked up he caught sight of it. He started visibly and paled, +but gave no such signs of abject terror as the policeman had previously +observed. He appeared nervous and uneasy, however, and presently reached +stealthily toward the loaf. Hewitt continued to talk to the doctor, +while closely watching the Frenchman's behaviour from the corner of his +eye. + +The loaf was what is called a "plain cottage," of solid and regular +shape. The man reached it and immediately turned it bottom up on the +table. Then he sank back in his chair with a more contented expression, +though his gaze was still directed toward the loaf. The policeman +grinned silently at this curious manoeuvre. + +The doctor left, and Hewitt accompanied him to the door of the room. "He +will not be moved just yet, I take it?" Hewitt asked as they parted. + +"It may take an hour or two," the doctor replied. "Are you anxious to +keep him here?" + +"Not for long; but I think there's a curious inside to the case, and I +may perhaps learn something of it by a little watching. But I can't +spare very long." + +At a sign from Hewitt the loaf was removed. Then Hewitt pulled the small +table closer to the Frenchman and pushed the pen and sheets of paper +toward him. The manoeuvre had its result. The man looked up and down +the room vacantly once or twice and then began to turn the papers over. +From that he went to dipping the pen in the inkpot, and presently he was +scribbling at random on the loose sheets. Hewitt affected to leave him +entirely alone, and seemed to be absorbed in a contemplation of a +photograph of a police-division brass band that hung on the wall, but he +saw every scratch the man made. + +At first there was nothing but meaningless scrawls and attempted words. +Then rough sketches appeared, of a man's head, a chair or what not. On +the mantelpiece stood a small clock--apparently a sort of humble +presentation piece, the body of the clock being set in a horse-shoe +frame, with crossed whips behind it. After a time the Frenchman's eyes +fell on this, and he began a crude sketch of it. That he relinquished, +and went on with other random sketches and scribblings on the same piece +of paper, sketching and scribbling over the sketches in a +half-mechanical sort of way, as of one who trifles with a pen during a +brown study. Beginning at the top left-hand corner of the paper, he +travelled all round it till he arrived at the left-hand bottom corner. +Then dashing his pen hastily across his last sketch he dropped it, and +with a great shudder turned away again and hid his face by the +fireplace. + +Hewitt turned at once and seized the papers on the table. He stuffed +them all into his coat-pocket, with the exception of the last which the +man had been engaged on, and this, a facsimile of which is subjoined, he +studied earnestly for several minutes. + +Hewitt wished the men good-day, and made his way to the inspector. + +"Well," the inspector said, "not much to be got out of him, is there? +The doctor will be sending for him presently." + +[Illustration] + +"I fancy," said Hewitt, "that this may turn out a very important case. +Possibly--quite possibly--I may not have guessed correctly, and so I +won't tell you anything of it till I know a little more. But what I want +now is a messenger. Can I send somebody at once in a cab to my friend +Brett at his chambers?" + +"Certainly. I'll find somebody. Want to write a note?" + +Hewitt wrote and despatched a note, which reached me in less than ten +minutes. Then he asked the inspector, "Have you searched the Frenchman?" + +"Oh, yes. We went all over him, when we found he couldn't explain +himself, to see if we could trace his friends or his address. He didn't +seem to mind. But there wasn't a single thing in his pocket--not a +single thing, barring a rag of a pocket-handkerchief with no marking on +it." + +"You noticed that somebody had stolen his watch, I suppose?" + +"Well, he hadn't got one." + +"But he had one of those little vertical button-holes in his waistcoat, +used to fasten a watchguard to, and it was much worn and frayed, so that +he must be in the habit of carrying a watch; and it is gone." + +"Yes, and everything else too, eh? Looks like robbery. He's had a knock +or two in the face--notice that?" + +"I saw the bruises and the cut, of course; and his collar has been +broken away, with the back button; somebody has taken him by the collar +or throat. Was he wearing a hat when he was found?" + +"No." + +"That would imply that he had only just left a house. What street was he +found in?" + +"Henry Street--a little off Golden Square. Low street, you know." + +"Did the constable notice a door open near by?" + +The inspector shook his head. "Half the doors in the street are open," +he said, "pretty nearly all day." + +"Ah, then there's nothing in that. I don't think he lives there, by the +bye. I fancy he comes from more in the Seven Dials or Drury Lane +direction. Did you notice anything about the man that gave you a clue to +his occupation--or at any rate to his habits?" + +"Can't say I did." + +"Well, just take a look at the back of his coat before he goes +away--just over the loins. Good-day." + +As I have said, Hewitt's messenger was quick. I happened to be +in--having lately returned from a latish lunch--when he arrived with +this note:-- + + "My dear B.,--I meant to have lunched with you to-day, but have + been kept. I expect you are idle this afternoon, and I have a + case that will interest you--perhaps be useful to you from a + journalistic point of view. If you care to see anything of it, cab + away _at once_ to Fitzroy Square, south side, where I'll meet you. + I will wait no later than 3.30. Yours, M. H." + +I had scarce a quarter of an hour, so I seized my hat and left my +chambers at once. As it happened, my cab and Hewitt's burst into Fitzroy +Square from opposite sides almost at the same moment, so that we lost no +time. + +"Come," said Hewitt, taking my arm and marching me off, "we are going to +look for some stabling. Try to feel as though you'd just set up a +brougham and had come out to look for a place to put it in. I fear we +may have to delude some person with that belief presently." + +"Why--what do you want stables for? And why make me your excuse?" + +"As to what I want the stables for--really I'm not altogether sure +myself. As to making you an excuse--well, even the humblest excuse is +better than none. But come, here are some stables. Not good enough, +though, even if any of them were empty. Come on." + +We had stopped for an instant at the entrance to a small alley of rather +dirty stables, and Hewitt, paying apparently but small attention to the +stables themselves, had looked sharply about him with his gaze in the +air. + +"I know this part of London pretty well," Hewitt observed, "and I can +only remember one other range of stabling near by; we must try that. As +a matter of fact, I'm coming here on little more than conjecture, though +I shall be surprised if there isn't something in it. Do you know +anything of aphasia?" + +"I have heard of it, of course, though I can't say I remember ever +knowing a case." + +"I've seen one to-day--very curious case. The man's a Frenchman, +discovered helpless in the street by a policeman. The only thing he can +say that has any meaning in it at all is '_je le nie_,' and that he says +mechanically, without in the least knowing what he is saying. And he +can't write. But he got sketching and scrawling various things on some +paper, and his scrawls--together with another thing or two--have given +me an idea. We're following it up now. When we are less busy, and in a +quiet place, I'll show you the sketches and explain things generally; +there's no time now, and I _may_ want your help for a bit, in which case +ignorance may prevent you spoiling things, you clumsy ruffian. Hullo! +here we are, I think!" + +We had stopped at the end of another stable-yard, rather dirtier than +the first. The stables were sound but inelegant sheds, and one or two +appeared to be devoted to other purposes, having low chimneys, on one of +which an old basket was rakishly set by way of cowl. Beside the entrance +a worn-out old board was nailed, with the legend, "Stabling to Let," in +letters formerly white on a ground formerly black. + +"Come," said Hewitt, "we'll explore." + +We picked our way over the greasy cobble-stones and looked about us. On +the left was the wall enclosing certain back-yards, and on the right the +stables. Two doors in the middle of these were open, and a butcher's +young man, who with his shiny bullet head would have been known for a +butcher's young man anywhere, was wiping over the new-washed wheel of a +smart butcher's cart. + +"Good-day," Hewitt said pleasantly to the young man. "I notice there's +some stabling to let here. Now, where should I inquire about it?" + +"Jones, Whitfield Street," the young man answered, giving the wheel a +final spin. "But there's only one little place to let now, I think, and +it ain't very grand." + +"Oh, which is that?" + +"Next but one to the street there. A chap 'ad it for wood-choppin', but +'e chucked it. There ain't room for more'n a donkey an' a barrow." + +"Ah, that's a pity. We're not particular, but want something big +enough, and we don't mind paying a fair price. Perhaps we might make an +arrangement with somebody here who has a stable?" + +The young man shook his head. + +"I shouldn't think so," he said doubtfully; "they're mostly shop-people +as wants all the room theirselves. My guv'nor couldn't do nothink, I +know. These 'ere two stables ain't scarcely enough for all 'e wants as +it is. Then there's Barkett the greengrocer 'ere next door. _That_ ain't +no good. Then, next to that, there's the little place as is to let, and +at the end there's Griffith's at the butter-shop." + +"And those the other way?" + +"Well, this 'ere first one's Curtis's, Euston Road--that's a +butter-shop, too, an' 'e 'as the next after that. The last one, up at +the end--I dunno quite whose that is. It ain't been long took, but I +b'lieve it's some foreign baker's. I ain't ever see anythink come out of +it, though; but there's a 'orse there, I know--I seen the feed took in." + +Hewitt turned thoughtfully away. + +"Thanks," he said. "I suppose we can't manage it, then. Good-day." + +We walked to the street as the butcher's young man wheeled in his cart +and flung away his pail of water. + +"Will you just hang about here, Brett," he asked, "while I hurry round +to the nearest iron-monger's? I shan't be gone long. We're going to work +a little burglary. Take note if anybody comes to that stable at the +farther end." + +He hurried away and I waited. In a few moments the butcher's young man +shut his doors and went whistling down the street, and in a few moments +more Hewitt appeared. + +"Come," he said, "there's nobody about now; we'll lose no time. I've +bought a pair of pliers and a few nails." + +We re-entered the yard at the door of the last stable. Hewitt stooped +and examined the padlock. Taking a nail in his pliers he bent it +carefully against the brick wall. Then using the nail as a key, still +held by the pliers, and working the padlock gently in his left hand, in +an astonishingly few seconds he had released the hasp and taken off the +padlock. "I'm not altogether a bad burglar," he remarked. "Not so bad, +really." + +The padlock fastened a bar which, when removed, allowed the door to be +opened. Opening it, Hewitt immediately seized a candle stuck in a bottle +which stood on a shelf, pulled me in, and closed the door behind us. + +"We'll do this by candle-light," he said, as he struck a match. "If the +door were left open it would be seen from the street. Keep your ears +open in case anybody comes down the yard." + +The part of the shed that we stood in was used as a coach-house, and was +occupied by a rather shabby tradesman's cart, the shafts of which rested +on the ground. From the stall adjoining came the sound of the shuffling +and trampling of an impatient horse. + +We turned to the cart. On the name-board at the side were painted in +worn letters the words, "Schuyler, Baker." The address, which had been +below, was painted out. + +Hewitt took out the pins and let down the tail board. Within the cart +was a new bed-mattress which covered the whole surface at the bottom. I +felt it, pressed it from the top, and saw that it was an ordinary spring +mattress--perhaps rather unusually soft in the springs. It seemed a +curious thing to keep in a baker's cart. + +Hewitt, who had set the candle on a convenient shelf, plunged his arm +into the farthermost recesses of the cart and brought forth a very long +French loaf, and then another. Diving again he produced certain loaves +of the sort known as the "plain cottage "--two sets of four each, each +set baked together in a row. "Feel this bread," said Hewitt, and I felt +it. It was stale--almost as hard as wood. + +Hewitt produced a large pocket-knife, and with what seemed to me to be +superfluous care and elaboration, cut into the top of one of the cottage +loaves. Then he inserted his fingers in the gap he had made and firmly +but slowly tore the hard bread into two pieces. He pulled away the crumb +from within till there was nothing left but a rather thick outer shell. + +"No," he said, rather to himself than to me, "there's nothing in +_that_." He lifted one of the very long French loaves and measured it +against the interior of the cart. It had before been propped diagonally, +and now it was noticeable that it was just a shade longer than the +inside of the cart was wide. Jammed in, in fact, it held firmly. Hewitt +produced his knife again, and divided this long loaf in the centre; +there was nothing but bread in _that_. The horse in the stall fidgeted +more than ever. + +"That horse hasn't been fed lately, I fancy," Hewitt said. "We'll give +the poor chap a bit of this hay in the corner." + +"But," I said, "what about this bread? What did you expect to find in +it? I can't see what you're driving at." + +"I'll tell you," Hewitt replied, "I'm driving after something I expect +to find, and close at hand here, too. How are your nerves to-day--pretty +steady? The thing may try them." + +Before I could reply there was a sound of footsteps in the yard outside, +approaching. Hewitt lifted his finger instantly for silence and +whispered hurriedly, "There's only one. If he comes _here_, we grab +him." + +The steps came nearer and stopped outside the door. There was a pause, +and then a slight drawing in of breath, as of a person suddenly +surprised. At that moment the door was slightly shifted ajar and an eye +peeped in. + +"Catch him!" said Hewitt aloud, as we sprang to the door. "He mustn't +get away!" + +I had been nearer the doorway, and was first through it. The stranger +ran down the yard at his best, but my legs were the longer, and half-way +to the street I caught him by the shoulder and swung him round. Like +lightning he whipped out a knife, and I flung in my left instantly on +the chance of flooring him. It barely checked him, however, and the +knife swung short of my chest by no more than two inches; but Hewitt had +him by the wrist and tripped him forward on his face. He struggled like +a wild beast, and Hewitt had to stand on his forearm and force up his +wrist till the bones were near breaking before he dropped his knife. But +throughout the struggle the man never shouted, called for help, nor, +indeed, made the slightest sound, and we on our part were equally +silent. It was quickly over, of course, for he was on his face, and we +were two. We dragged our prisoner into the stable and closed the door +behind us. So far as we had seen, nobody had witnessed the capture from +the street, though, of course, we had been too busy to be certain. + +"There's a set of harness hanging over at the back," said Hewitt; "I +think we'll tie him up with the traces and reins--nothing like leather. +We don't need a gag; I know he won't shout." + +While I got the straps Hewitt held the prisoner by a peculiar +neck-and-wrist grip that forbade him to move except at the peril of a +snapped arm. He had probably never been a person of pleasant aspect, +being short, strongly and squatly built, large and ugly of feature, and +wild and dirty of hair and beard. And now, his face flushed with +struggling and smeared with mud from the stable-yard, his nose bleeding +and his forehead exhibiting a growing bump, he looked particularly +repellent. We strapped his elbows together behind, and as he sullenly +ignored a demand for the contents of his pockets Hewitt unceremoniously +turned them out. Helpless as he was, the man struggled to prevent this, +though, of course, ineffectually. There were papers, tobacco, a bunch of +keys, and various odds and ends. Hewitt was glancing hastily at the +papers when, suddenly dropping them, he caught the prisoner by the +shoulder and pulled him away from a partly-consumed hay-truss which +stood in a corner, and toward which he had quietly sidled. + +"Keep him still," said Hewitt; "we haven't examined this place yet." And +he commenced to pull away the hay from the corner. + +Presently a large piece of sackcloth was revealed, and this being lifted +left visible below it another batch of loaves of the same sort as we had +seen in the cart. There were a dozen of them in one square batch, and +the only thing about them that differed them from those in the cart was +their position, for the batch lay bottom side up. + +"That's enough, I think," Hewitt said. "Don't touch them, for Heaven's +sake!" He picked up the papers he had dropped. "That has saved us a +little search," he continued. "See here, Brett; I was in the act of +telling you my suspicions when this little affair interrupted me. If you +care to look at one or two of these letters you'll see what I should +have told you. It's Anarchism and bombs, of course. I'm about as certain +as I can be that there's a reversible dynamite bomb inside each of those +innocent loaves, though I assure you I don't mean meddling with them +now. But see here. Will you go and bring in a four-wheeler? Bring it +right down the yard. There's more to do, and we mustn't attract +attention." + +I hurried away and found the cab. The meaning of the loaves, the cart, +and the spring-mattress was now plain. There was an Anarchist plot to +carry out a number of explosions probably simultaneously, in different +parts of the city. I had, of course, heard much of the terrible +"reversing" bombs--those bombs which, containing a tube of acid plugged +by wadding, required no fuse, and only needed to be inverted to be set +going to explode in a few minutes. The loaves containing these bombs +would form an effectual "blind," and they were to be distributed, +probably in broad daylight, in the most natural manner possible, in a +baker's cart. A man would be waiting near the scene of each contemplated +explosion. He would be given a loaf taken from the inverted batch. He +would take it--perhaps wrapped in paper, but still inverted, and +apparently the most innocent object possible--to the spot selected, +deposit it, right side up--which would reverse the inner tube and set up +the action--in some quiet corner, behind a door or what not, and make +his own escape, while the explosion tore down walls and--if the +experiment were lucky--scattered the flesh and bones of unsuspecting +people. + +The infernal loaves were made and kept reversed, to begin with, in order +to stand more firmly, and--if observed--more naturally, when turned +over to explode. Even if a child picked up the loaf and carried it off, +that child at least would be blown to atoms, which at any rate would +have been something for the conspirators to congratulate themselves +upon. The spring-mattress, of course, was to ease the jolting to the +bombs, and obviate any random jerking loose of the acid, which might +have had the deplorable result of sacrificing the valuable life of the +conspirator who drove the cart. The other loaves, too, with no explosive +contents, had their use. The two long ones, which fitted across the +inside of the cart, would be jammed across so as to hold the bombs in +the centre, and the others would be used to pack the batch on the other +sides and prevent any dangerous slipping about. The thing seemed pretty +plain, except that as yet I had no idea of how Hewitt learned anything +of the business. + +I brought the four-wheeler up to the door of the stable and we thrust +the man into it, and Hewitt locked the stable door with its proper key. +Then we drove off to Tottenham Court Road police-station, and, by +Hewitt's order, straight into the yard. + +In less than ten minutes from our departure from the stable our prisoner +was finally secured, and Hewitt was deep in consultation with police +officials. Messengers were sent and telegrams despatched, and presently +Hewitt came to me with information. + +"The name of the helpless Frenchman the police found this morning," he +said, "appears to be Gérard--at least I am almost certain of it. Among +the papers found on the prisoner--whose full name doesn't appear, but +who seems to be spoken of as Luigi (he is Italian)--among the papers, I +say, is a sort of notice convening a meeting for this evening to decide +as to the 'final punishment' to be awarded the 'traitor Gérard, now in +charge of comrade Pingard.' + +"The place of meeting is not mentioned, but it seems more than probable +that it will be at the Bakunin Club, not five minutes' walk from this +place. The police have all these places under quiet observation, of +course, and that is the club at which apparently important Anarchist +meetings have been held lately. It is the only club that has never been +raided as yet, and, it would seem, the only one they would feel at all +safe in using for anything important. + +"Moreover, Luigi just now simply declined to open his mouth when asked +where the meeting was to be, and said nothing when the names of several +other places were suggested, but suddenly found his tongue at the +mention of the Bakunin Club, and denied vehemently that the meeting was +to be there--it was the only thing he uttered. So that it seems pretty +safe to assume that it _is_ to be there. Now, of course, the matter's +very serious. Men have been despatched to take charge of the stable very +quietly, and the club is to be taken possession of at once--also very +quietly. It must be done without a moment's delay, and as there is a +chance that the only detective officers within reach at the moment may +be known by sight, I have undertaken to get in first. Perhaps you'll +come? We may have to take the door with a rush." + +Of course I meant to miss nothing if I could help it, and said so. + +"Very well," replied Hewitt, "we'll get ourselves up a bit." He began +taking off his collar and tie. "It is getting dusk," he proceeded, "and +we shan't want old clothes to make ourselves look sufficiently shabby. +We're both wearing bowler hats, which is lucky. Make a dent in yours--if +you can do so without permanently damaging it." + +We got rid of our collars and made chokers of our ties. We turned our +coat-collars up at one side only, and then, with dented hats worn +raffishly, and our hands in our pockets, we looked disreputable enough +for all practical purposes in twilight. A cordon of plain-clothes police +had already been forming round the club, we were told, and so we sallied +forth. We turned into Windmill Street, crossed Whitfield Street, and in +a turning or two we came to the Bakunin Club. I could see no sign of +anything like a ring of policemen, and said so. Hewitt chuckled. "Of +course not," he said; "they don't go about a job of this sort with drums +beating and flags flying. But they are all there, and some are watching +us. There is the house. I'll negotiate." + +The house was one of the very shabby _passé_ sort that abound in that +quarter. The very narrow area was railed over, and almost choked with +rubbish. Visible above it were three floors, the lowest indicated by the +door and one window, and the other two by two windows each--mean and +dirty all. A faint light appeared in the top floor, and another from +somewhere behind the refuse-heaped area. Everywhere else was in +darkness. Hewitt looked intently into the area, but it was impossible to +discern anything behind the sole grimy patch of window that was visible. +Then we stepped lightly up the three or four steps to the door and rang +the bell. + +We could hear slippered feet mounting a stair and approaching. A latch +was shifted, a door opened six inches, an indistinct face appeared, and +a female voice asked, "_Qui est là?_" + +"_Deux camarades_," Hewitt grunted testily. "_Ouvrez vite._" + +I had noticed that the door was kept from opening further by a short +chain. This chain the woman unhooked from the door, but still kept the +latter merely ajar, as though intending to assure herself still +further. But Hewitt immediately pushed the door back, planted his foot +against it, and entered, asking carelessly as he did so, "_Où se trouve +Luigi?_" + +I followed on his heels, and in the dark could just distinguish that +Hewitt pushed the woman instantly against the wall and clapped his hand +to her mouth. At the same moment a file of quiet men were suddenly +visible ascending the steps at my heels. They were the police. + +The door was closed behind us almost noiselessly, and a match was +struck. Two men stood at the bottom of the stairs, and the others +searched the house. Only two men were found--both in a top room. They +were secured and brought down. + +The woman was now ungagged, and she used her tongue at a great rate. One +of the men was a small, meek-looking slip of a fellow, and he appeared +to be the woman's husband. "Eh, messieurs le police," she exclaimed +vehemently, "it ees not of 'im, mon pauvre Pierre, zat you sall rrun in. +'Im and me--we are not of the clob--we work only--we housekeep." + +Hewitt whispered to an officer, and the two men were taken below. Then +Hewitt spoke to the woman, whose protests had not ceased. "You say you +are not of the club," he said, "but what is there to prove that? If you +are but housekeepers, as you say, you have nothing to fear. But you can +only prove it by giving the police information. For instance, now, about +Gérard. What have they done with him?" + +"Jean Pingard--'im you 'ave take downstairs--'e 'ave lose 'im. Jean +Pingard get last night all a-boosa--all dronk like zis"--she rolled her +head and shoulders to express intoxication--"and he sleep too much +to-day, when Émile go out, and Gérard, he go too, and nobody know. I +will tell you anysing. We are not of the clob--we housekeep, me and +Pierre." + +"But what did they do to Gérard before he went away?" + +The woman was ready and anxious to tell anything. Gérard had been +selected to do something--what it was exactly she did not know, but +there was a horse and cart, and he was to drive it. Where the horse and +cart was also she did not know, but Gérard had driven a cart before in +his work for a baker, and he was to drive one in connection with some +scheme among the members of the club. But _le pauvre Gérard_ at the last +minute disliked to drive the cart; he had fear. He did not say he had +fear, but he prepared a letter--a letter that was not signed. The letter +was to be sent to the police, and it told them the whereabouts of the +horse and cart, so that the police might seize these things, and then +there would be nothing for Gérard, who had fear, to do in the way of +driving. No, he did not betray the names of the comrades, but he told +the place of the horse and the cart. + +Nevertheless, the letter was never sent. There was suspicion, and the +letter was found in a pocket and read. Then there was a meeting, and +Gérard was confronted with his letter. He could say nothing but "_Je le +nie!_"--found no explanation but that. There was much noise, and she had +observed from a staircase, from which one might see through a +ventilating hole, Gérard had much fear--very much fear. His face was +white, and it moved; he prayed for mercy, and they talked of killing +him. It was discussed how he should be killed, and the poor Gérard was +more terrified. He was made to take off his collar, and a razor was +drawn across his throat, though without cutting him, till he fainted. + +Then water was flung over him, and he was struck in the face till he +revived. He again repeated, "_Je le nie! je le nie!_" and nothing more. +Then one struck him with a bottle, and another with a stick; the point +of a knife was put against his throat and held there, but this time he +did not faint, but cried softly, as a man who is drunk, "_Je le nie! je +le nie!_" So they tied a handkerchief about his neck, and twisted it +till his face grew purple and black, and his eyes were round and +terrible, and then they struck his face, and he fainted again. But they +took away the handkerchief, having fear that they could not easily get +rid of the body if he were killed, for there was no preparation. So they +decided to meet again and discuss when there would be preparation. +Wherefore they took him away to the rooms of Jean Pingard--of Jean and +Émile Pingard--in Henry Street, Golden Square. But Émile Pingard had +gone out, and Jean was drunk and slept, and they lost him. Jean Pingard +was he downstairs--the taller of the two; the other was but _le pauvre +Pierre_, who, with herself, was not of the club. They worked only; they +were the keepers of the house. There was nothing for which they should +be arrested, and she would give the police any information they might +ask. + +"As I thought, you see," Hewitt said to me, "the man's nerves have +broken down under the terror and the strain, and aphasia is the result. +I think I told you that the only articulate thing he could say was '_Je +le nie!_' and now we know how those words were impressed on him till he +now pronounces them mechanically, with no idea of their meaning. Come, +we can do no more here now. But wait a moment." + +There were footsteps outside. The light was removed, and a policeman +went to the door and opened it as soon as the bell rang. Three men +stepped in one after another, and the door was immediately shut behind +them--they were prisoners. + +We left quietly, and although we, of course, expected it, it was not +till the next morning that we learned absolutely that the largest arrest +of Anarchists ever made in this country was made at the Bakunin Club +that night. Each man as he came was admitted--and collared. + + * * * * * + +We made our way to Luzatti's, and it was over our dinner that Hewitt put +me in full possession of the earlier facts of this case, which I have +set down as impersonal narrative in their proper place at the beginning. + +"But," I said, "what of that aimless scribble you spoke of that Gérard +made in the police station? Can I see it?" + +Hewitt turned to where his coat hung behind him and took a handful of +papers from his pocket. + +"Most of these," he said, "mean nothing at all. _That_ is what he wrote +at first," and he handed me the first of the two papers which were +presented in facsimile in the earlier part of this narrative. + +"You see," he said, "he has begun mechanically from long use to write +'monsieur'--the usual beginning of a letter. But he scarcely makes three +letters before tailing off into sheer scribble. He tries again and +again, and although once there is something very like 'que,' and once +something like a word preceded by a negative 'n,' the whole thing is +meaningless. + +"This" (he handed me the other paper which has been printed in +facsimile) "_does_ mean something, though Gérard never intended it. Can +you spot the meaning? Really, I think it's pretty plain--especially now +that you know as much as I about the day's adventures. The thing at the +top left-hand corner, I may tell you, Gérard intended for a sketch of a +clock on the mantelpiece in the police-station." + +I stared hard at the paper, but could make nothing whatever of it. "I +only see the horse-shoe clock," I said, "and a sort of second, +unsuccessful attempt to draw it again. Then there is a horse-shoe +dotted, but scribbled over, and then a sort of kite or balloon on a +string, a Highlander, and--well, I don't understand it, I confess. Tell +me." + +"I'll explain what I learned from that," Hewitt said, "and also what led +me to look for it. From what the inspector told me, I judged the man to +be in a very curious state, and I took a fancy to see him. Most I was +curious to know why he should have a terror of bread at one moment and +eat it ravenously at another. When I saw him I felt pretty sure that he +was not mad, in the common sense of the term. As far as I could judge +it seemed to be a case of aphasia. + +"Then when the doctor came I had a chat (as I have already told you) +with the policeman who found the man. He told me about the incident of +the bread with rather more detail than I had had from the inspector. +Thus it was plain that the man was terrified at the bread only when it +was in the form of a loaf, and ate it eagerly when it was cut into +pieces. That was _one_ thing to bear in mind. He was not afraid of +_bread_, but only of a _loaf_. + +"Very well. I asked the policeman to find another uncut loaf, and to put +it near the man when his attention was diverted. Meantime the doctor +reported that my suspicion as to aphasia was right. The man grew more +comfortable, and was assured that he was among friends and had nothing +to fear, so that when at length he found the loaf near his elbow he was +not so violently terrified, only very uneasy. I watched him and saw him +turn it bottom up--a very curious thing to do; he immediately became +less uneasy--the turning over of the loaf seemed to have set his mind at +rest in some way. This was more curious still. I thought for some little +while before accepting the bomb theory as the most probable. + +"The doctor left, and I determined to give the man another chance with +pen and paper. I felt pretty certain that if he were allowed to +scribble and sketch as he pleased, sooner or later he would do something +that would give me some sort of a hint. I left him entirely alone and +let him do as he pleased, but I watched. + +"After all the futile scribble which you have seen, he began to sketch, +first a man's head, then a chair--just what he might happen to see in +the room. Presently he took to the piece of paper you have before you. +He observed that clock and began to sketch it, then went on to other +things, such as you see, scribbling idly over most of them when +finished. When he had made the last of the sketches he made a hasty +scrawl of his pen over it and broke down. It had brought his terror to +his mind again somehow. + +"I seized the paper and examined it closely. Now just see. Ignore the +clock, which was merely a sketch of a thing before him, and look at the +three things following. What are they? A horse-shoe, a captive balloon, +and a Highlander. Now, can't you think of something those three things +in that order suggest?" + +I could think of nothing whatever, and I confessed as much. + +"Think, now. Tottenham Court Road!" + +I started. "Of course," I said. "That never struck me. There's the +Horse-shoe Hotel, with the sign outside, there's the large toy and +fancy shop half-way up, where they have a captive balloon moored to the +roof as an advertisement, and there's the tobacco and snuff shop on the +left, toward the other end, where they have a life-size wooden +Highlander at the door--an uncommon thing, indeed, nowadays." + +"You are right. The curious conjunction struck me at once. There they +are, all three, and just in the order in which one meets them going up +from Oxford Street. Also, as if to confirm the conjecture, note the +_dotted_ horse-shoe. Don't you remember that at night the Horse-shoe +Hotel sign is illuminated by two rows of gas lights? + +"Now here was my clue at last. Plainly, this man, in his mechanical +sketching, was following a regular train of thought, and unconsciously +illustrating it as he went along. Many people in perfect health and +mental soundness do the same thing if a pen and a piece of waste paper +be near. The man's train of thought led him, in memory, up Tottenham +Court Road, and further, to where some disagreeable recollection upset +him. It was my business to trace this train of thought. Do you remember +the feat of Dupin in Poe's story, 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue'--how +he walks by his friend's side in silence for some distance, and then +suddenly breaks out with a divination of his thoughts, having silently +traced them from a fruiterer with a basket, through paving-stones, +Epicurus, Dr. Nichols, the constellation Orion, and a Latin poem, to a +cobbler lately turned actor? + +"Well, it was some such task as this (but infinitely simpler, as a +matter of fact) that was set me. This man begins by drawing the +horse-shoe clock. Having done with that, and with the horse-shoe still +in his mind, he starts to draw a horse-shoe simply. It is a failure, and +he scribbles it out. His mind at once turns to the Horse-shoe Hotel, +which he knows from frequently passing it, and its sign of gas-jets. He +sketches _that_, making dots for the gas lights. Once started in +Tottenham Court Road, his mind naturally follows his usual route along +it. He remembers the advertising captive balloon half-way up, and down +_that_ goes on his paper. In imagination he crosses the road, and keeps +on till he comes to the very noticeable Highlander outside the +tobacconist's. _That_ is sketched. Thus it is plain that a familiar +route with him was from New Oxford Street up Tottenham Court Road. + +"At the police-station I ventured to guess from this that he lived +somewhere near Seven Dials. Perhaps before long we shall know if this +was right. But to return to the sketches. After the Highlander there is +something at first not very distinct. A little examination, however, +shows it to be intended for a chimney-pot partly covered with a basket. +Now an old basket, stuck sideways on a chimney by way of cowl, is not an +uncommon thing in parts of the country, but it is very unusual in +London. Probably, then, it would be in some by-street or alley. Next and +last, there is a horse's head, and it was at this that the man's trouble +returned to him. + +"Now, when one goes to a place and finds a horse there, that place is +not uncommonly a stable; and, as a matter of fact, the basket-cowl would +be much more likely to be found in use in a range of back stabling than +anywhere else. Suppose, then, that after taking the direction indicated +in the sketches--the direction of Fitzroy Square, in fact--one were to +find a range of stabling with a basket-cowl visible about it? I know my +London pretty well, as you are aware, and I could remember but two +likely stable-yards in that particular part--the two we looked at, in +the second of which you may possibly have noticed just such a +basket-cowl as I have been speaking of. + +"Well, what we did you know, and that we found confirmation of my +conjecture about the loaves you also know. It was the recollection of +the horse and cart, and what they were to transport, and what the end +of it all had been, that upset Gérard as he drew the horse's head. You +will notice that the sketches have not been done in separate rows, left +to right--they have simply followed one another all round the paper, +which means preoccupation and unconsciousness on the part of the man who +made them." + +"But," I asked, "supposing those loaves to contain bombs, how were the +bombs put there? Baking the bread round them would have been risky, +wouldn't it?" + +"Certainly. What they did was to cut the loaves, each row, down the +centre. Then most of the crumb was scooped out, the explosive inserted, +and the sides joined up and glued. I thought you had spotted the joins, +though they certainly were neat." + +"No, I didn't examine closely. Luigi, of course, had been told off for a +daily visit to feed the horse, and that is how we caught him." + +"One supposes so. They hadn't rearranged their plans as to going on with +the outrages after Gérard's defection. By the way, I noticed that he was +accustomed to driving when I first saw him. There was an unmistakable +mark on his coat, just at the small of the back, that drivers get who +lean against a rail in a cart." + +The loaves were examined by official experts, and, as everybody now +knows, were found to contain, as Hewitt had supposed, large charges of +dynamite. What became of some half-dozen of the men captured is also +well known: their sentences were exemplary. + +THE END. + + + * * * * * + + + +APPLETONS' TOWN AND COUNTRY LIBRARY. + +PUBLISHED SEMIMONTHLY. + + 1. _The Steel Hammer._ By LOUIS ULBACH. + 2. _Eve._ A Novel. By S. BARING-GOULD. + 3. _For Fifteen Years._ A Sequel to The Steel Hammer. By LOUIS ULBACH. + 4. _A Counsel of Perfection._ A Novel. By LUCAS MALET. + 5. _The Deemster._ A Romance. By HALL CAINE. + 5½. _The Bondman._ (New edition.) By HALL CAINE. + 6. _A Virginia Inheritance._ By $1 + 7. _Ninette_: An Idyll of Provence. By the author of Véra. + 8. "_The Right Honourable._" By JUSTIN MCCARTHY and Mrs. CAMPBELL-PRAED. + 9. _The Silence of Dean Maitland._ By MAXWELL GRAY. + 10. _Mrs. Lorimer_: A Study in Black and White. By LUCAS MALET. + 11. _The Elect Lady._ By GEORGE MACDONALD. + 12. _The Mystery of the "Ocean Star."_ By W. CLARK RUSSELL. + 13. _Aristocracy._ A Novel. + 14. _A Recoiling Vengeance._ By FRANK BARRETT. With Illustrations. + 15. _The Secret of Fontaine-la-Croix._ By MARGARET FIELD. + 16. _The Master of Rathkelly._ By HAWLEY SMART. + 17. _Donovan_: A Modern Englishman. By EDNA LYALL. + 18. _This Mortal Coil._ By GRANT ALLEN. + 19. _A Fair Emigrant._ By ROSA MULHOLLAND. + 20. _The Apostate._ By ERNEST DAUDET. + 21. _Raleigh Westgate_; or, Epimenides in Maine. By HELEN KENDRICK + JOHNSON. + 22. _Arius the Libyan._ A Romance of the Primitive Church. + 23. _Constance_, and _Calbot's Rival_. By JULIAN HAWTHORNE. + 24. _We Two._ By EDNA LYALL. + 25. _A Dreamer of Dreams._ By the author of Thoth. + 26. _The Ladies' Gallery._ By JUSTIN MCCARTHY and Mrs. CAMPBELL-PRAED. + 27. _The Reproach of Annesley._ By MAXWELL GRAY. + 28. _Near to Happiness._ + 29. _In the Wire Grass._ By LOUIS PENDLETON. + 30. _Lace._ A Berlin Romance. By PAUL LINDAU. + 30½. _The Black Poodle._ By F. ANSTEY. + 31. _American Coin._ A Novel. By the author of Aristocracy. + 32. _Won by Waiting._ By EDNA LYALL. + 33. _The Story of Helen Davenant._ By VIOLET FANE. + 34. _The Light of Her Countenance._ By H. H. BOYESEN. + 35. _Mistress Beatrice Cope._ By M. E. LE CLERC. + 36. _The Knight-Errant._ By EDNA LYALL. + 37. _In the Golden Days._ By EDNA LYALL. + 38. _Giraldi_; or, The Curse of Love. By ROSS GEORGE DERING. + 39. _A Hardy Norseman._ By EDNA LYALL. + 40. _The Romance of Jenny Harlowe_, and _Sketches of Maritime Life_. + By W. CLARK RUSSELL. + 41. _Passion's Slave._ By RICHARD ASHE-KING. + 42. _The Awakening of Mary Fenwick._ By BEATRICE WHITBY. + 43. _Countess Loretey._ Translated from the German of RUDOLF MENGER. + 44. _Blind Love._ By WILKIE COLLINS. + 45. _The Dean's Daughter._ By SOPHIE F. F. VEITCH. + 46. _Countess Irene._ A Romance of Austrian Life. By J. FOGERTY. + 47. _Robert Browning's Principal Shorter Poems._ + 48. _Frozen Hearts._ By G. WEBB APPLETON. + 49. _Djambek the Georgian._ By A. G. VON SUTTNER. + 50. _The Craze of Christian Engelhart._ By HENRY FAULKNER DARNELL. + 51. _Lal._ By WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, M. D. + 52. _Aline._ A Novel. By HENRY GRÉVILLE. + 53. _Joost Avelingh._ A Dutch Story. By MAARTEN MAARTENS. + 54. _Katy of Catoctin._ By GEORGE ALFRED TOWNSEND. + 55. _Throckmorton._ A Novel. By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL. + 56. _Expatriation._ By the author of Aristocracy. + 57. _Geoffrey Hampstead._ By T. S. JARVIS. + 58. _Dmitri._ A Romance of Old Russia. By F. W. BAIN, M. A. + 59. _Part of the Property._ By BEATRICE WHITBY. + 60. _Bismarck in Private Life._ By a Fellow-Student. + 61. _In Low Relief._ By MORLEY ROBERTS. + 62. _The Canadians of Old._ A Historical Romance. By PHILIPPE GASPÉ. + 63. _A Squire of Low Degree._ By LILY A. LONG. + 64. _A Fluttered Dovecote._ By GEORGE MANVILLE FENN. + 65. _The Nugents of Carriconna._ An Irish Story. By TIGHE HOPKINS. + 66. _A Sensitive Plant._ By E. and D. GERARD. + 67. _Doña Luz._ By JUAN VALERA. Translated by Mrs. MARY J. SERRANO. + 68. _Pepita Ximenez._ By JUAN VALERA. Translated by Mrs. MARY J. SERRANO. + 69. _The Primes and their Neighbors._ By RICHARD MALCOLM JOHNSTON. + 70. _The Iron Game._ By HENRY F. KEENAN. + 71. _Stories of Old New Spain._ By THOMAS A. JANVIER. + 72. _The Maid of Honor._ By Hon. LEWIS WINGFIELD. + 73. _In the Heart of the Storm._ By MAXWELL GRAY. + 74. _Consequences._ By EGERTON CASTLE. + 75. _The Three Miss Kings._ By ADA CAMBRIDGE. + 76. _A Matter of Skill._ By BEATRICE WHITBY. + 77. _Maid Marian, and Other Stories._ By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL. + 78. _One Woman's Way._ By EDMUND PENDLETON. + 79. _A Merciful Divorce._ By F. W. MAUDE. + 80. _Stephen Ellicot's Daughter._ By Mrs. J. H. NEEDELL. + 81. _One Reason Why._ By BEATRICE WHITBY. + 82. _The Tragedy of Ida Noble._ By W. CLARK RUSSELL. + 83. _The Johnstown Stage, and other Stories._ By ROBERT H. FLETCHER. + 84. _A Widower Indeed._ By RHODA BROUGHTON and ELIZABETH LISLAND. + 85. _The Flight of a Shadow._ By GEORGE MACDONALD. + 86. _Love or Money._ By KATHARINE LEE. + 87. _Not All in Vain._ By ADA CAMBRIDGE. + 88. _It Happened Yesterday._ By FREDERICK MARSHALL. + 89. _My Guardian._ By ADA CAMBRIDGE. + 90. _The Story of Philip Methuen._ By Mrs. J. H. NEEDELL. + 91. _Amethyst_: The Story of a Beauty. By CHRISTABEL R. COLERIDGE. + 92. _Don Braulio._ By JUAN VALERA. Translated by CLARA BELL. + 93. _The Chronicles of Mr. Bill Williams._ By RICHARD MALCOLM JOHNSTON. + 94. _A Queen of Curds and Cream._ By DOROTHEA GERARD. + 95. _"La Bella" and Others._ By EGERTON CASTLE. + 96. "_December Roses._" By Mrs. CAMPBELL PRAED. + 97. _Jean de Kerdren._ By JEANNE SCHULTZ. + 98. _Etelka's Vow._ By DOROTHEA GERARD. + 99. _Cross Currents._ By MARY A. DICKENS. + 100. _His Life's Magnet._ By THEODORA ELMSLIE. + 101. _Passing the Love of Women._ By Mrs. J. H. NEEDELL. + 102. _In Old St. Stephen's._ By JEANIE DRAKE. + 103. _The Berkeleys and their Neighbors._ By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL. + 104. _Mona Maclean, Medical Student._ By GRAHAM TRAVERS. + 105. _Mrs. Bligh._ By RHODA BROUGHTON. + 106. _A Stumble on the Threshold._ By JAMES PAYN. + 107. _Hanging Moss._ By PAUL LINDAU. + 108. _A Comedy of Elopement._ By CHRISTIAN REID. + 109. _In the Suntime of her Youth._ By BEATRICE WHITBY. + 110. _Stories in Black and White._ By THOMAS HARDY and Others. + 110½. _An Englishman in Paris._ Notes and Recollections. + 111. _Commander Mendoza._ By JUAN VALERA. + 112. _Dr. Paull's Theory._ By Mrs. A. M. DIEHL. + 113. _Children of Destiny._ By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL. + 114. _A Little Minx._ By ADA CAMBRIDGE. + 115. _Capt'n Davy's Honeymoon._ By HALL CAINE. + 116. _The Voice of a Flower._ By E. GERARD. + 117. _Singularly Deluded._ By SARAH GRAND. + 118. _Suspected._ By LOUISA STRATENUS. + 119. _Lucia, Hugh, and Another._ By Mrs. J. H. NEEDELL. + 120. _The Tutor's Secret._ By VICTOR CHERBULIEZ. + 121. _From the Five Rivers._ By Mrs. F. A. STEEL. + 122. _An Innocent Impostor, and Other Stories._ By MAXWELL GRAY. + 123. _Ideala._ By SARAH GRAND. + 124. _A Comedy of Masks._ By ERNEST DOWSON and ARTHUR MOORE. + 125. _Relics._ By FRANCES MACNAB. + 126. _Dodo: A Detail of the Day._ By E. F. BENSON. + 127. _A Woman of Forty._ By ESMÈ STUART. + 128. _Diana Tempest._ By MARY CHOLMONDELEY. + 129. _The Recipe for Diamonds._ By C. J. CUTCLIFFE HYNE. + 130. _Christina Chard._ By Mrs. CAMPBELL-PRAED. + 131. _A Gray Eye or So._ By FRANK FRANKFORT MOORE. + 132. _Earlscourt._ By ALEXANDER ALLARDYCE. + 133. _A Marriage Ceremony._ By ADA CAMBRIDGE. + 134. _A Ward in Chancery._ By Mrs. ALEXANDER. + 135. _Lot 13._ By DOROTHEA GERARD. + 136. _Our Manifold Nature._ By SARAH GRAND. + 137. _A Costly Freak._ By MAXWELL GRAY. + 138. _A Beginner_. By RHODA BROUGHTON. + 139. _A Yellow Aster._ By Mrs. MANNINGTON CAFFYN ("IOTA"). + 140. _The Rubicon._ By E. F. BENSON. + 141. _The Trespasser._ By GILBERT PARKER. + 142. _The Rich Miss Riddell._ By DOROTHEA GERARD. + 143. _Mary Fenwick's Daughter._ By BEATRICE WHITBY. + 144. _Red Diamonds._ By JUSTIN MCCARTHY. + 145. _A Daughter of Music._ By G. COLMORE. + 146. _Outlaw and Lawmaker._ By Mrs. CAMPBELL-PRAED. + 147. _Dr. Janet of Harley Street._ By ARABELLA KENEALY. + 148. _George Mandeville's Husband._ By C. E. RAIMOND. + 149. _Vashti and Esther._ + 150. _Timar's Two Worlds._ By M. JOKAI. + 151. _A Victim of Good Luck._ By W. E. NORRIS. + 152. _The Trail of the Sword._ By GILBERT PARKER. + 153. _A Mild Barbarian._ By EDGAR FAWCETT. + 154. _The God in the Car._ By ANTHONY HOPE. + 155. _Children of Circumstance._ By Mrs. M. CAFFYN. + 156. _At the Gate of Samaria._ By WILLIAM J. LOCKE. + 157. _The Justification of Andrew Lebrun._ By FRANK BARRETT. + 158. _Dust and Laurels._ By MARY L. PENDERED. + 159. _The Good Ship Mohock._ By W. CLARK RUSSELL. + 160. _Noémi._ By S. BARING-GOULD. + 161. _The Honour of Savelli._ By S. LEVETT YEATS. + 162. _Kitty's Engagement._ By FLORENCE WARDEN. + 163. _The Mermaid._ By L. DOUGALL. + 164. _An Arranged Marriage._ By DOROTHEA GERARD. + 165. _Eve's Ransom._ By GEORGE GISSING. + 166. _The Marriage of Esther._ By GUY BOOTHRY. + 167. _Fidelis._ By ADA CAMBRIDGE. + 168. _Into the Highways and Hedges._ By F. F. MONTRÉSOR. + 169. _The Vengeance of James Vansittart._ By Mrs. J. H. NEEDELL. + 170. _A Study in Prejudices._ By GEORGE PASTON. + 171. _The Mistress of Quest._ By ADELINE SERGEANT. + 172. _In the Year of Jubilee._ By GEORGE GISSING. + 173. _In Old New England._ By HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH. + 174. _Mrs. Musgrave--and Her Husband._ By R. MARSH. + 175. _Not Counting the Cost._ By TASMA. + 176. _Out of Due Season._ By ADELINE SERGEANT. + 177. _Scylla or Charybdis?_ By RHODA BROUGHTON. + 178. _In Defiance of the King._ By C. C. HOTCHKISS. + 179. _A Bid for Fortune._ By GUY BOOTHBY. + 180. _The King of Andaman._ By J. MACLAREN COBBAN. + 181. _Mrs. Tregaskiss_. By Mrs. CAMPBELL-PRAED. + 182. _The Desire of the Moth._ By CAPEL VANE. + 183. _A Self-Denying Ordinance._ By M. HAMILTON. + 184. _Successors to the Title._ By MRS. L. B. WALFORD. + 185. _The Lost Stradivarius._ By J. MEADE FALKNER. + 186. _The Wrong Man._ By DOROTHEA GERARD. + 187. _In the Day of Adversity._ By J. BLOUNDELLE-BURTON. + 188. _Mistress Dorothy Marvin._ By J. C. SNAITH. + 189. _A Flash of Summer._ By Mrs. W. K. CLIFFORD. + +Each, 12mo, paper cover, 50 cents; cloth, $1,00. + + +GEORG EBERS'S ROMANCES. + +_Each, 16mo, paper, 40 cents per volume; cloth, 75 cents._ + +_Sets of 24 volumes, cloth, in box, $18.00._ + + =In the Blue Pike.= A Romance of German Life in the early Sixteenth + Century. Translated by MARY J. SAFFORD. 1 volume. + + =In the Fire of the Forge.= A Romance of Old Nuremberg. Translated by + MARY J. SAFFORD. 2 volumes. + + =Cleopatra.= Translated by MARY J. SAFFORD. 2 volumes. + + =A Thorny Path.= (PER ASPERA.) Translated by CLARA BELL. 2 volumes. + + =An Egyptian Princess.= Translated by ELEANOR GROVE. 2 volumes. + + =Uarda.= Translated by CLARA BELL. 2 volumes. + + =Homo Sum.= Translated by CLARA BELL. 1 volume. + + =The Sisters.= Translated by CLARA BELL. 1 volume. + + =A Question.= Translated by MARY J. SAFFORD. 1 volume. + + =The Emperor.= Translated by CLARA BELL. 2 volumes. + + =The Burgomaster's Wife.= Translated by MARY J. SAFFORD. 1 volume. + + =A Word, only a Word.= Translated by MARY J. SAFFORD. 1 volume. + + =Serapie.= Translated by CLARA BELL. 1 volume. + + =The Bride of the Nile.= Translated by CLARA BELL. 2 volumes. + + =Margery.= (GRED.) Translated by CLARA BELL. 2 volumes. + + =Joshua.= Translated by MARY J. SAFFORD. 1 volume. + + =The Elixir, and Other Tales.= Translated by Mrs. EDWARD H. BELL. + With Portrait of the Author. 1 volume. + +"Dr. Ebers's romances founded on ancient history are hardly equaled by +any other living author.... He makes the men and women and the scenes +move before the reader with living reality."--_Boston Home Journal._ + +"Georg Ebers writes stories of ancient times with the conscientiousness +of a true investigator. His tales are so carefully told that large +portions of them might be clipped or quoted by editors of guide-books +and authors of histories intended to be popular."--_New York Herald._ + + +_For sale by all booksellers; or sent by mail on receipt of price by the +publishers._ + +New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 72 Fifth Avenue. + + * * * * * + + + +BY A. CONAN DOYLE. + + +_THE EXPLOITS OF BRIGADIER GERARD. A Romance of the Life of a Typical +Napoleonic Soldier._ Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. + +There is a flavor of Dumas's Musketeers in the life of the redoubtable +Brigadier Gerard, a typical Napoleonic soldier, more fortunate than many +of his compeers because some of his Homeric exploits were accomplished +under the personal observation of the Emperor. His delightfully romantic +career included an oddly characteristic glimpse of England, and his +adventures ranged from the battlefield to secret service. In picturing +the experiences of his fearless, hard-fighting and hard-drinking hero, +the author of "The White Company" has given us a book which absorbs the +interest and quickens the pulse of every reader. + + +_THE STARK MUNRO LETTERS._ Being a Series of Twelve Letters written by +STARK MUNRO, M. B., to his friend and former fellow-student, Herbert +Swanborough, of Lowell, Massachusetts, during the years 1881-1884. +Illustrated. 12mo. Buckram, $1.50. + +"Cullingworth, ... a much more interesting creation than Sherlock +Holmes, and I pray Dr. Doyle to give us more of him."--_Richard le +Gallienne, in the London Star._ + +"Every one who wants a hearty laugh must make acquaintance with Dr. +James Cullingworth."--_Westminster Gazette._ + +"Every one must read; for not to know Cullingworth should surely argue +one's self to be unknown."--_Pall Mall Gazette._ + +"One of the freshest figures to be met with in any recent +fiction."--_London Daily News._ + +"'The Stark Munro Letters' is a bit of real literature.... Its reading +will be an epoch-making event in many a life."--_Philadelphia Evening +Telegraph._ + +"Positively magnetic, and written with that combined force and grace for +which the author's style is known."--_Boston Budget._ + + +SEVENTH EDITION. + +_ROUND THE RED LAMP._ Being Facts and Fancies of Medical Life. 12mo. +Cloth, $1.50. + +"Too much can not be said in praise of these strong productions, that, +to read, keep one's heart leaping to the throat and the mind in a tumult +of anticipation to the end.... No series of short stories in modern +literature can approach them."--_Hartford Times._ + +"If Mr. A. Conan Doyle had not already placed himself in the front rank +of living English writers by 'The Refugees,' and other of his larger +stories, he would surely do so by these fifteen short tales."--_New York +Mail and Express._ + +"A strikingly realistic and decidedly original contribution to modern +literature."--_Boston Saturday Evening Gazette._ + + + +BY S. R. CROCKETT. + + +_CLEG KELLY, ARAB OF THE CITY. His Progress and Adventures._ Uniform +with "The Lilac Sunbonnet" and "Bog-Myrtle and Peat." Illustrated. 12mo. +Cloth, $1.50. + +It is safe to predict for the quaint and delightful figure of Cleg Kelly +a notable place in the literature of the day. Mr. Crockett's signal +success in his new field will enlarge the wide circle of his admirers. +The lights and shadows of curious phases of Edinburgh life, and of +Scotch farm and railroad life, are pictured with an intimate sympathy, +richness of humor, and truthful pathos which make this new novel a +genuine addition to literature. It seems safe to say that at least two +characters--Cleg and Muckle Alick--are likely to lead Mr. Crockett's +heroes in popular favor. The illustrations of this fascinating novel +have been the result of most faithful and sympathetic study. + + +_BOG-MYRTLE AND PEAT._ Third edition. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. + +"Here are idyls, epics, dramas of human life, written in words that +thrill and burn.... Each is a poem that has an immortal flavor. They are +fragments of the author's early dreams, too bright, too gorgeous, too +full of the blood of rubies and the life of diamonds to be caught and +held palpitating in expression's grasp."--_Boston Courier._ + +"Hardly a sketch among them all that will not afford pleasure to the +reader for its genial humor, artistic local coloring, and admirable +portrayal of character."--_Boston Home Journal._ + +"One dips into the book anywhere and reads on and on, fascinated by the +writer's charm of manner."--_Minneapolis Tribune._ + + +_THE LILAC SUNBONNET._ Sixth edition. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. + +"A love story pure and simple, one of the old-fashioned, wholesome, +sunshiny kind, with a pure-minded, sound-hearted hero, and a heroine who +is merely a good and beautiful woman; and if any other love story half +so sweet has been written this year, it has escaped our notice."--_New +York Times._ + +"The general conception of the story, the motive of which is the growth +of love between the young chief and heroine, is delineated with a +sweetness and a freshness, a naturalness and a certainty, which places +'The Lilac Sunbonnet' among the best stories of the time."--_New York +Mail and Express._ + +"In its own line this little love story can hardly be excelled. It is a +pastoral, an idyl--the story of love and courtship and marriage of a +fine young man and a lovely girl--no more. But it is told in so +thoroughly delightful a manner, with such playful humor, such delicate +fancy, such true and sympathetic feeling, that nothing more could be +desired."--_Boston Traveller._ + + + +GILBERT PARKER'S BEST BOOKS. + + +_THE SEATS OF THE MIGHTY._ Being the Memoirs of Captain ROBERT MORAY, +sometime an Officer in the Virginia Regiment, and afterward of Amherst's +Regiment. 12mo. Cloth, illustrated, $1.50. + +For the time of his story Mr. Parker has chosen the most absorbing +period of the romantic eighteenth-century history of Quebec. The curtain +rises soon after General Braddock's defeat in Virginia, and the hero, a +prisoner in Quebec, curiously entangled in the intrigues of La +Pompadour, becomes a part of a strange history, full of adventure and +the stress of peril, which culminates only after Wolfe's victory over +Montcalm. The material offered by the life and history of old Quebec has +never been utilized for the purposes of fiction with the command of plot +and incident, the mastery of local color, and the splendid realization +of dramatic situations shown in this distinguished and moving romance. +The illustrations preserve the atmosphere of the text, for they present +the famous buildings, gates, and battle grounds as they appeared at the +time of the hero's imprisonment in Quebec. + + +_THE TRAIL OF THE SWORD._ A Novel. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00. + +"Mr. Parker here adds to a reputation already wide, and anew +demonstrates his power of pictorial portrayal and of strong dramatic +situation and climax."--_Philadelphia Bulletin._ + +"The tale holds the reader's interest from first to last, for it is full +of fire and spirit, abounding in incident, and marked by good character +drawing."--_Pittsburg Times._ + + +_THE TRESPASSER._ 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00. + +"Interest, pith, force and charm--Mr. Parker's new story possesses all +these qualities.... Almost bare of synthetical decoration, his +paragraphs are stirring because they are real. We read at times--as we +have read the great masters of romance--breathlessly."--_The Critic._ + +"Gilbert Parker writes a strong novel, but thus far this is his +masterpiece.... It is one of the great novels of the year."--_Boston +Advertiser._ + + +_THE TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE._ 16mo. Flexible cloth, 75 cents. + +"A book which no one will be satisfied to put down until the end has +been matter of certainty and assurance."--_The Nation._ + +"A story of remarkable interest, originality, and ingenuity of +construction."--_Boston Home Journal._ + +"The perusal of this romance will repay those who care for new and +original types of character, and who are susceptible to the fascination +of a fresh and vigorous style."--_London Daily News._ + + +"=A better book than 'The Prisoner of Zenda.'="--_London Queen._ + +_THE CHRONICLES OF COUNT ANTONIO._ By ANTHONY HOPE, author of "The +God in the Car," "The Prisoner of Zenda," etc. With photogravure +Frontispiece by S. W. Van Schaick. Third edition. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. + +"No adventures were ever better worth recounting than are those of +Antonio of Monte Velluto, a very Bayard among outlaws.... To all those +whose pulses still stir at the recital of deeds of high courage, we may +recommend this book.... The chronicle conveys the emotion of heroic +adventure, and is picturesquely written."--_London Daily News._ + +"It has literary merits all its own, of a deliberate and rather deep +order.... In point of execution 'The Chronicles of Count Antonio' is the +best work that Mr. Hope has yet done. The design is clearer, the +workmanship more elaborate, the style more colored.... The incidents are +most ingenious, they are told quietly, but with great cunning, and the +Quixotic sentiment which pervades it all is exceedingly +pleasant."--_Westminster Gazette._ + +"A romance worthy of all the expectations raised by the brilliancy of +his former books, and likely to be read with a keen enjoyment and a +healthy exaltation of the spirits by every one who takes it up."--_The +Scotsman._ + +"A gallant tale, written with unfailing freshness and spirit."--_London +Daily Telegraph._ + +"One of the most fascinating romances written in English within many +days. The quaint simplicity of its style is delightful, and the +adventures recorded in these 'Chronicles of Count Antonio' are as +stirring and ingenious as any conceived even by Weyman at his +best."--_New York World._ + +"Romance of the real flavor, wholly and entirely romance, and narrated +in true romantic style. The characters, drawn with such masterly +handling, are not merely pictures and portraits, but statues that are +alive and step boldly forward from the canvas."--_Boston Courier._ + +"Told in a wonderfully simple and direct style, and with the magic +touch of a man who has the genius of narrative, making the varied +incidents flow naturally and rapidly in a stream of sparkling +discourse."--_Detroit Tribune._ + +"Easily ranks with, if not above, 'A Prisoner of Zenda.' ... Wonderfully +strong, graphic, and compels the interest of the most _blasé_ novel +reader."--_Boston Advertiser._ + +"No adventures were ever better worth telling than those of Count +Antonio.... The author knows full well how to make every pulse thrill, +and how to hold his readers under the spell of his magic."--_Boston +Herald._ + +"A book to make women weep proud tears, and the blood of men to tingle +with knightly fervor.... In 'Count Antonio' we think Mr. Hope surpasses +himself, as he has already surpassed all the other story-tellers of the +period."--_New York Spirit of the Times._ + + +_THE ONE WHO LOOKED ON._ By F. F. MONTRÉSOR, author of "Into the +Highways and Hedges." 16mo. Cloth, special binding, $1.25. + +"The story runs on as smoothly as a brook through lowlands; it excites +your interest at the beginning and keeps it to the end."--_New York +Herald._ + +"An exquisite story.... No person sensitive to the influence of what +makes for the true, the lovely, and the strong in human friendship and +the real in life's work can read this book without being benefited by +it."--_Buffalo Commercial._ + +"The book has universal interest and very unusual merit.... Aside from +its subtle poetic charm, the book is a noble example of the power of +keen observation."--_Boston Herald._ + + +_CORRUPTION._ By PERCY WHITE, author of "Mr. Bailey-Martin," etc. 12mo. +Cloth, $1.25. + +"There is intrigue enough in it for those who love a story of the +ordinary kind, and the political part is perhaps more attractive in its +sparkle and variety of incident than the real thing itself."--_London +Daily News._ + +"A drama of biting intensity, a tragedy of inflexible purpose and +relentless result."--_Pall Mall Gazette._ + + +_A HARD WOMAN._ A Story in Scenes. By VIOLET HUNT. 12mo. Cloth, $1.25. + +"An extremely clever work. Miss Hunt probably writes dialogue better +than any of our young novelists.... Not only are her conversations +wonderfully vivacious and sustained, but she contrives to assign to each +of her characters a distinct mode of speech, so that the reader easily +identifies them, and can follow the conversations without the slightest +difficulty."--_London Athenæum._ + +"One of the best writers of dialogue of our immediate day. The +conversations in this book will enhance her already secure +reputation."--_London Daily Chronicle._ + +"A creation that does Miss Hunt infinite credit, and places her in the +front rank of the younger novelists.... Brilliantly drawn, quivering +with life, adroit, quiet-witted, unfalteringly insolent, and withal +strangely magnetic."--_London Standard._ + + +_AN IMAGINATIVE MAN._ By ROBERT S. HICHENS, author of "The Green +Carnation." 12mo. Cloth, $1.25. + +"One of the brightest books of the year."--_Boston Budget._ + +"Altogether delightful, fascinating, unusual."--_Cleveland Amusement +Gazette._ + +"A study in character.... Just as entertaining as though it were the +conventional story of love and marriage. The clever hand of the author +of 'The Green Carnation' is easily detected in the caustic wit and +pointed epigram."--_Jeannette L. Gilder, in the New York World._ + + +_A STREET IN SUBURBIA._ By EDWIN PUGH. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00. + +"Simplicity of style, strength, and delicacy of character study will +mark this book as one of the most significant of the year."--_New York +Press._ + +"Thoroughly entertaining, and more--it shows traces of a creative genius +something akin to Dickens."--_Boston Traveller._ + +"In many respects the best of all the books of lighter literature +brought out this season."--_Providence News._ + +"Highly pleasing and gracefully recorded reminiscences of early suburban +life and youthful experience told in a congenial spirit and in very +charming prose."--_Boston Courier._ + + +_MAJESTY._ A Novel. By LOUIS COUPERUS. Translated by A. TEIXEIRA DE +MATTOS and ERNEST DOWSON. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00. + +"There have been many workers among novelists in the field of royal +portraiture, but it may be safely stated that few of those who have +essayed this dubious path have achieved more striking results than M. +Couperus. 'Majesty' is an extraordinarily vivid romance of autocratic +imperialism."--_London Academy._ + +"No novelist whom we can call to mind has ever given the world such a +masterpiece of royal portraiture as Louis Couperus's striking romance +entitled 'Majesty.'"--_Philadelphia Record._ + +"There is not an uninteresting page in the book, and it ought to be read +by all who desire to keep in line with the best that is published in +modern fiction."--_Buffalo Commercial._ + + +_THE NEW MOON._ By C. E. RAIMOND, author of "George Mandeville's +Husband," etc. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00. + +"A delicate pathos makes itself felt as the narrative progresses, whose +cadences fall on the spirit's consciousness with a sweet and soothing +influence not to be measured in words."--_Boston Courier._ + +"One of the most impressive of recent works of fiction, both for its +matter and especially for its presentation."--_Milwaukee Journal._ + +"An intensely interesting story. A curious interweaving of old +superstitions which govern a nervous woman's selfish life, and the +brisk, modern ways of a wholesome English girl."--_Philadelphia Ledger._ + + +_THE WISH._ A Novel. By HERMANN SUDERMANN. With a Biographical +Introduction by ELIZABETH LEE. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00. + +"Contains some superb specimens of original thought."--_New York World._ + +"The style is direct and incisive, and holds the unflagging attention of +the reader."--_Boston Journal._ + +"A powerful story, very simple, very direct."--_Chicago Evening Post._ + + +_SLEEPING FIRES._ By GEORGE GISSING, author of "In the Year of Jubilee," +"Eve's Ransom," etc. 16mo. Cloth, 75 cents. + +In this striking story the author has treated an original motive with +rare self-command and skill. His book is most interesting as a story, +and remarkable as a literary performance. + + +_STONEPASTURES._ By ELEANOR STUART. 16mo. Cloth, 75 cents. + +"This is a strong bit of good literary workmanship.... The book has the +value of being a real sketch of our own mining regions, and of showing +how, even in the apparently dull round of work, there is still material +for a good bit of literature."--_Philadelphia Ledger._ + + +_COURTSHIP BY COMMAND._ By M. M. BLAKE. 16mo. Cloth, 75 cents. + +"A bright, moving study of an unusually interesting period in the life +of Napoleon,... deliciously told; the characters are clearly, strongly, +and very delicately modeled, and the touches of color most artistically +done. 'Courtship by Command' is the most satisfactory Napoleon +_bonne-bouche_ we have had."--_New York Commercial Advertiser._ + + +_THE WATTER'S MOU'._ By BRAM STOKER. 16mo. Cloth, 75 cents. + +"Here is a tale to stir the most sluggish nature.... It is like standing +on the deck of a wave tossed ship; you feel the soul of the storm go +into your blood."--_N. Y. Home Journal._ + +"The characters are strongly drawn, the descriptions are intensely +dramatic, and the situations are portrayed with rare vividness of +language. It is a thrilling story, told with great power."--_Boston +Advertiser._ + + +_MASTER AND MAN._ By Count LEO TOLSTOY. With an Introduction by W. D. +HOWELLS. 16mo. Cloth, 75 cents. + +"Crowded with these characteristic touches which mark his literary +work."--_Public Opinion._ + +"Reveals a wonderful knowledge of the workings of the human mind, and it +tells a tale that not only stirs the emotions, but gives us a better +insight into our own hearts."--_San Francisco Argonaut._ + + +_THE ZEIT-GEIST._ By L. DOUGALL, author of "The Mermaid," "Beggars All," +etc. 16mo. Cloth, 75 cents. + +"One of the best of the short stories of the day."--_Boston Journal._ + +"One of the most remarkable novels of the year."--_New York Commercial +Advertiser._ + +"Powerful in conception, treatment, and influence."--_Boston Globe._ + + + +NOVELS BY HALL CAINE. + + +_THE MANXMAN._ 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. + +"A story of marvelous dramatic intensity, and in its ethical meaning has +a force comparable only to Hawthorne's 'Scarlet Letter.'"--_Boston +Beacon._ + +"A work of power which is another stone added to the foundation of +enduring fame to which Mr. Caine is yearly adding."--_Public Opinion._ + +"A wonderfully strong study of character; a powerful analysis of those +elements which go to make up the strength and weakness of a man, which +are at fierce warfare within the same breast; contending against each +other, as it were, the one to raise him to fame and power, the other to +drag him down to degradation and shame. Never in the whole range of +literature have we seen the struggle between these forces for supremacy +over the man more powerfully, more realistically delineated than Mr. +Caine pictures it."--_Boston Home Journal._ + + +_THE DEEMSTER. A Romance of the Isle of Man._ 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. + +"Hall Caine has already given us some very strong and fine work, and +'The Deemster' is a story of unusual power.... Certain passages and +chapters have an intensely dramatic grasp, and hold the fascinated +reader with a force rarely excited nowadays in literature."--_The +Critic._ + +"One of the strongest novels which has appeared in many a day."--_San +Francisco Chronicle._ + +"Fascinates the mind like the gathering and bursting of a +storm."--_Illustrated London News._ + +"Deserves to be ranked among the remarkable novels of the +day."--_Chicago Times._ + + +_THE BONDMAN._ New edition. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. + +"The welcome given to this story has cheered and touched me, but I am +conscious that, to win a reception so warm, such a book must have had +readers who brought to it as much as they took away.... I have called my +story a saga, merely because it follows the epic method, and I must not +claim for it at any point the weighty responsibility of history, or +serious obligations to the world of fact. But it matters not to me what +Icelanders may call 'The Bondman,' if they will honor me by reading it +in the open-hearted spirit and with the free mind with which they are +content to read of Grettir and of his fights with the Troll."--_From the +Author's Preface._ + + +_CAPT'N DAVY'S HONEYMOON. A Manx Yarn._ 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, +$1.00. + +"A new departure by this author. Unlike his previous works, this little +tale is almost wholly humorous, with, however, a current of pathos +underneath. It is not always that an author can succeed equally well in +tragedy and in comedy, but it looks as though Mr. Hall Caine would be +one of the exceptions."--_London Literary World._ + +"It is pleasant to meet the author of 'The Deemster' in a brightly +humorous little story like this.... It shows the same observation of +Manx character, and much of the same artistic skill."--_Philadelphia +Times._ + + + +NOVELS BY MAARTEN MAARTENS. + + +_THE GREATER GLORY. A Story of High Life._ By MAARTEN MAARTENS, author +of "God's Fool," "Joost Avelingh," etc. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. + +"Until the Appletons discovered the merits of Maarten Maartens, the +foremost of Dutch novelists, it is doubtful if many American readers +knew that there were Dutch novelists. His 'God's Fool' and 'Joost +Avelingh' made for him an American reputation. To our mind this just +published work of his is his best.... He is a master of epigram, an +artist in description, a prophet in insight."--_Boston Advertiser._ + +"It would take several columns to give any adequate idea of the superb +way in which the Dutch novelist has developed his theme and wrought out +one of the most impressive stories of the period.... It belongs to the +small class of novels which one can not afford to neglect."--_San +Francisco Chronicle._ + +"Maarten Maartens stands head and shoulders above the average novelist +of the day in intellectual subtlety and imaginative power."--_Boston +Beacon._ + + +_GOD'S FOOL._ By MAARTEN MAARTENS. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. + +"Throughout there is an epigrammatic force which would make palatable a +less interesting story of human lives or one less deftly told."--_London +Saturday Review._ + +"Perfectly easy, graceful, humorous.... The author's skill in +character-drawing is undeniable."--_London Chronicle._ + +"A remarkable work."--_New York Times._ + +"Maarten Maartens has secured a firm footing in the eddies of current +literature.... Pathos deepens into tragedy in the thrilling story of +'God's Fool.'"--_Philadelphia Ledger._ + +"Its preface alone stamps the author as one of the leading English +novelists of to-day."--_Boston Daily Advertiser._ + +"The story is wonderfully brilliant.... The interest never lags; the +style is realistic and intense; and there is a constantly underlying +current of subtle humor.... It is, in short, a book which no student of +modern literature should fail to read."--_Boston Times._ + +"A story of remarkable interest and point."--_New York Observer._ + + +_JOOST AVELINGH._ By MAARTEN MAARTENS. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. + +"So unmistakably good as to induce the hope that an acquaintance with +the Dutch literature of fiction may soon become more general among +us."--_London Morning Post._ + +"In scarcely any of the sensational novels of the day will the reader +find more nature or more human nature."--_London Standard._ + +"A novel of a very high type. At once strongly realistic and powerfully +idealistic."--_London Literary World._ + +"Full of local color and rich in quaint phraseology and +suggestion."--_London Telegraph._ + +"Maarten Maartens is a capital story-teller."--_Pall Mall Gazette._ + +"Our English writers of fiction will have to look to their +laurels."--_Birmingham Daily Post._ + + + +TWO REMARKABLE AMERICAN NOVELS. + + +_THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE. An Episode of the American Civil War._ +By STEPHEN CRANE. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00. + +"Mr. Stephen Crane is a great artist, with something new to say, and +consequently with a new way of saying it.... In 'The Red Badge of +Courage' Mr. Crane has surely contrived a masterpiece.... He has painted +a picture that challenges comparisons with the most vivid scenes of +Tolstoy's 'La Guerre et la Paix' or of Zola's 'La Débâcle.'"--_London +New Review._ + +"In its whole range of literature we can call to mind nothing so +searching in its analysis, so manifestly impressed with the stamp of +truth, as 'The Red Badge of Courage.' ... A remarkable study of the +average mind under stress of battle.... We repeat, a really fine +achievement."--_London Daily Chronicle._ + +"Not merely a remarkable book; it is a revelation.... One feels that, +with perhaps one or two exceptions, all previous descriptions of modern +warfare have been the merest abstractions."--_St. James Gazette._ + +"Holds one irrevocably. There is no possibility of resistance when once +you are in its grip, from the first of the march of the troops to the +closing scenes.... Mr. Crane, we repeat, has written a remarkable book. +His insight and his power of realization amount to genius."--_Pall Mall +Gazette._ + +"There is nothing in American fiction to compare with it in the vivid, +uncompromising, almost aggressive vigor with which it depicts the +strangely mingled conditions that go to make up what men call war.... +Mr. Crane has added to American literature something that has never been +done before, and that is, in its own peculiar way, inimitable."--_Boston +Beacon._ + +"Never before have we had the seamy side of glorious war so well +depicted.... The action of the story throughout is splendid, and all +aglow with color, movement, and vim. The style is as keen and bright as +a sword blade, and a Kipling has done nothing better in this +line."--_Chicago Evening Post._ + + +_IN DEFIANCE OF THE KING. A Romance of the American Revolution._ +By CHAUNCEY C. HOTCHKISS. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00. + +"The whole story is so completely absorbing that you will sit far into +the night to finish it. You lay it aside with the feeling that you have +seen a gloriously true picture of the Revolution."--_Boston Herald._ + +"The story is a strong one--a thrilling one. It causes the true American +to flush with excitement, to devour chapter after chapter until the eyes +smart; and it fairly smokes with patriotism."--_New York Mail and +Express._ + +"The heart beats quickly, and we feel ourselves taking part in the +scenes described.... Altogether the book is an addition to American +literature."--_Chicago Evening Post._ + +"One of the most readable novels of the year.... As a love romance it is +charming, while it is filled with thrilling adventure and deeds of +patriotic daring."--_Boston Advertiser._ + +"This romance seems to come the nearest to a satisfactory treatment in +fiction of the Revolutionary period that we have yet had."--_Buffalo +Courier._ + +"A clean, wholesome story, full of romance and interesting +adventure.... Holds the interest alike by the thread of the story +and by the incidents.... A remarkably well-balanced and absorbing +novel."--_Milwaukee Journal._ + + +New York: D. 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