Horton re-entered the room and said some words in a low tone to his
master, whereupon the latter rose, left the table, and evidently went
to greet me, leaving Gabrielle in Miss Engledue's care.
Horton, even though he had been engaged in serving the dinner at the
rear of the house, was apparently also on the look-out for me, and now
I recollected that on my journey down from York, I had mentioned to
Suzor my habit of going to visit my uncle in Orchard Street on certain
evenings. He had asked me to dine with him on the seventh, but I had
excused myself as my uncle would expect me that evening. He evidently
held previous knowledge that the route I habitually took was through
Stretton Street, hence the plot to get me within that house. Besides,
it was quite likely that Suzor himself was watching for me and had
sent Horton out to call me. In any case, the plot had been well-timed
and elaborately thought out.
The fact was plain that Gabrielle Engledue, who had sent her luggage
to the station cloak-room and was about to return to Madrid, was
killed, probably by the scratch of a pin upon which orosin had been
placed.
"All this is most astounding," declared Superintendent Fletcher. "Of
course, De Gex contrived that no inquiry would be made concerning the
dead girl. He might have shown you the body of Miss Engledue, but he
had some motive in keeping it from you, and obtaining a death
certificate for the girl who was still living."
"The motive was that he was not quite certain whether the orosin could
be detected. Since then he has grown bolder, as witness the murder of
the Baron van Veltrup," I replied.
"But why should he not have shown you the dead girl?" queried the
Superintendent.
"Because he no doubt wished to mystify me in case of my recovery from
the effects of the drug," was my reply. "He was not quite certain of
the effect that the dose might have upon me, so in order to entirely
mislead me, so that if I recovered my statements would be discredited,
he showed me a girl who was still living, though to all intents dead.
Indeed, I have come to the conclusion that, aided by Moroni, he
purposely contrived that I should meet and recognize in Miss Tennison
the girl I had been told was the dead girl Gabrielle Engledue. And I
confess that I have been sorely puzzled all along that the girl whom I
had seen dead was actually alive, even though her mental state was
such as to show that she had met with foul play."
"Yes," remarked Rivero. "The plot was very cunningly conceived,
especially the manner in which you were entrapped and induced to give
the certificate."
"Here is the money which De Gex gave me for my share in the crime," I
said openly, laying the bank notes upon the Superintendent's table. "I
suppose some action will be taken against me, but I am prepared to
take the consequences, now that I have unmasked one of the greatest
and most dangerous criminals of modern times."
"You certainly have done that, Mr. Garfield," remarked Superintendent
Fletcher. "And I venture to think that the part which you have played
in solving this problem will be taken into account when your own
actions are considered."
"It seems to me," remarked Rivero, "that the reason the poison-maker,
Moroni, evinced such a keen interest in Miss Tennison, and his reason
for taking her to a number of specialists was solely in order to gain
their opinions and so further study the effects of the deadly drug
which he prepared."
"I have learnt," I said, "that Moroni was the laboratory assistant of
the late Professor Orosi, the discoverer of the drug."
"Ah! Then of course he knows the secret of its preparation, how to
administer it, and in what doses," remarked Fletcher.
"Even to-day," I said, "I have had yet another attempt upon my life
made by these scoundrels," and from my pocket I drew the little packet
containing the sample cake of toilet-soap, which I displayed to them
all. Then, handling it in the thick brown paper wrapping, I took my
pocket-knife and scraped the soap, quickly revealing a number of sharp
steel points imbedded in it.
"You see there are sharp clippings in it! Each has no doubt been
treated with orosin!" I said. "Had I washed my hands with it as a
trial, they would have become scratched and infected with the deadly
poison before I was aware of it."
"Sanz has no doubt sent you that!" remarked Rivero instantly.
"Well, Hugh, it is certainly a providential escape that you discovered
in time this latest plot against you!" exclaimed Gabrielle. "Really
the craft and cunning of De Gex is without limit."
"But I think, Miss Tennison, that you need have nothing further to
fear from him," said the Superintendent with satisfaction. "He has no
doubt, very powerful friends, and if the evidence were not so damning
and direct as that collected after so much patience and perseverance
by Mr. Garfield, he might perhaps wriggle out of it. But once we have
him he can hope for no escape," he added. "And we shall arrest him
before an hour is out. Fortunately he is still quite unsuspicious,
though his chief fear is of Mr. Garfield, and of the ugly revelations
which either Moroni or Sanz could make. Nevertheless we shall see!"
CONCLUSION
Just after noon I accompanied Superintendent Fletcher and Señor Rivero
with three detectives from Scotland Yard to the little hotel at
Notting Hill Gate, where Mateo Sanz was then staying, for he had twice
changed his abode within the past week. Rivero saw the proprietor, and
giving his name as Sanchez Orozco, a well-known criminal and friend of
his, asked to see his visitor who we knew had taken the name of
Nardiz, and represented himself as an agent of a firm of Spanish wine
exporters.
Mention of the name of Orozco at once brought the much-sought-after
bandit downstairs, and as he entered the little sitting-room Rivero
covered him instantly with his automatic pistol, shouting to him
authoritatively in Spanish.
The notorious bandit staggered, so completely was he taken aback.
"You know me, Sanz!" exclaimed Rivero. "You are under arrest. Now tell
me who prepared that cake of soap which you sent to Mr. Garfield?"
The question was quite an unorthodox procedure in English justice. But
it was the Chief of the Spanish Detective Department who had arrested
a Spanish criminal.
"Find out," was the fellow's defiant retort.
"It was Oswald De Gex," said Rivero. "You won't deny that! You may as
well tell the truth, and things may go better with you. He was
Despujol's friend, as well as yours--was he not?"
"Yes," the dark-faced man admitted sullenly. "We have both done his
dirty work--and Moroni assisted him."
"You sent that soap to Mr. Garfield--eh?"
The man under arrest with Rivero's pistol still pointed at him nodded
in the affirmative.
"And you went to The Hague and there met the Baron van Veltrup. You
put that little piece of steel into his glove. I know that you did,"
Rivero went on relentlessly.
"Yes. De Gex paid me for it," was his reply.
"As he paid Despujol--eh?"
"Yes."
"Very well," replied Rivero. "I will note your replies. De Gex is
expecting you to call upon him to-day, is he not?"
"Yes. At one o'clock. I was to receive some money," he laughed grimly.
The Spaniard having been taken away in a taxi to Bow Street Police
Station, together with his luggage, we went on to Stretton Street.
"Mr. De Gex is not in," replied the man-servant who appeared in answer
to my ring.
"Never mind," I said. "My friends and I have some business with him."
And I walked into that big familiar hall, followed by Superintendent
Fletcher, Señor Rivero, and two detectives.
"We have a meeting here," I explained casually to the smart
man-servant who in surprise at our sudden entry showed us to the
library, that same room in which I remembered sitting on that fateful
November night.
It was nearly a year ago since I had last been in that big, handsomely
furnished apartment. I did not remain there, for it was my intention
to greet my would-be murderer on his return. Therefore I went to the
hall and there awaited him.
Just before one o'clock he entered with his latchkey, and he having
closed the door I stepped forward in his path.
"I think you know me--Mr. De Gex!" I exclaimed very firmly, my eyes
fixed on him.
He started, and for a second went pale. Then in indignation, he
exclaimed:
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"I am here to see you, Mr. De Gex," I replied quite calmly.
"I don't know you," he declared angrily.
"Perhaps not," I laughed. "But there are others with me here who wish
to speak a few words with you."
As I said this Superintendent Fletcher stepped forward, while behind
him came the others.
"Mr. Oswald De Gex?" he asked. "Is that your name?"
The owner of the big mansion went pale to the lips, and muttered an
affirmative.
"I hold a warrant for your arrest on the charge of the wilful murder
of Gabrielle Engledue on the seventh of November last," said the
Superintendent. "Your accomplice Sanz is already under arrest, I may
tell you, and orders have gone out to Paris and to Florence for the
arrest of your friends Suzor and Moroni." Then turning to his
lieutenants, he gave orders for the great financier to be secured.
So utterly aghast was the guilty man at our sudden appearance, and the
terrible charge levelled against him, that he was quite unable to
speak. He tried to articulate, to protest, but his tongue seemed tied.
Only a low, gurgling sound escaped his lips, and the next second he
had collapsed into the arms of the detectives who half carried him
out to the taxi which stood near by in readiness.
He was placed in a cell at Bow Street to await his appearance before
the stipendiary on the following day, but an hour later when the
warder went to him he found him dead. Upon the thumb of his left hand
was a slight punctured wound.
Rather than face a trial and the penalty for his crimes, he had killed
himself by that same most deadly drug by which he had sought to enrich
himself.
* * * * *
Next day all the world rang with the sensational news of the arrest
and suicide of the mighty millionaire of Europe, but De Gex had many
influential friends, hence to the public the actual truth was never
disclosed.
Mateo Sanz was extradited to Spain, where at the Assize Court at
Madrid he was, six months later, sentenced to death and in due course
executed, while Moroni, after many delays, as is usual in the Italian
Courts, was sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment for being in the
possession of orosin, and also attempting to administer it. The charge
against him of having had a hand in the heartless murder of poor
Gabrielle Engledue was unfortunately not substantiated for lack of
evidence.
Though the police are still seeking everywhere for Gaston Suzor, he
has not up to the present been found. They, however, do not despair of
arresting him.
At first it was resolved to seek the man-servant Horton and arrest
him, but as it seemed that he had had no actual hand in the girl's
assassination, and as, moreover, the murderer had committed suicide,
his evidence was not required, the hue-and-cry after him was dropped.
And myself?
What need I say, except that to-day I am extremely happy. Owing to the
sudden great rise of some securities which my father left me I later
found myself quite well off. Indeed, upon the death of old Mr. Francis
a few months ago, I was able to purchase a partnership in the firm,
and I am thankful to say we are doing quite well in face of the
strenuous competition in electrical engineering.
Gabrielle Tennison, the sweet, open-hearted girl whom I first met
under such extraordinary circumstances, is now my wife. We live very
happily in a charming, old-world farmhouse embowered in roses and
honeysuckle, on the Portsmouth Road at Cobham, in Surrey.
Life nowadays is one of idyllic bliss, of perfect love and undisturbed
peace, different indeed from that fevered year of struggle, adventure,
travel and unrest during which I strove so steadily and with all my
might to avenge the crimes of Oswald De Gex, and to unravel that
tangled skein of the misdeeds of the international financier--the
Stretton Street Affair.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Stretton Street Affair, by William Le Queux