It was arranged between Lord St. Amant and the coroner--who was his
lordship's own medical attendant (when he required a medical attendant,
which was seldom)--that the inquest should be held at Freshley Manor.
The body had been placed in Mrs. Tropenell's own room, that is, in the
very room, as the cook, who had been in the house close on thirty-five
years, explained to some of the members of the jury, where poor Mr.
Oliver had been born.
So it was there, in that peaceful, old-fashioned, lady's bedchamber,
that the twelve good men and true of Pewsbury had to view the body. It
was remembered afterwards that the expression on the dead man's face
showed how completely he had been taken by surprise: it bore an
expression of absolute serenity--almost as if he had died in his sleep.
Rather to the disapproval of some of the Pewsbury people, but with the
sympathetic understanding of others, Mrs. Tropenell, by her own desire,
was present at the inquest; and, supporting her on the painful occasion,
was her nearest neighbour and almost daughter, Mrs. Pavely.
The chief witness was Mr. Robert Buckhurst, the gentleman who had been
host to the ill-fated shooting party.
His evidence was quite simple and straightforward--indeed, there was
nothing at all strange or mysterious about the sad affair.
"Lord St. Amant shot a bird," he said, "and we hunted for it for some
time. We were engaged in beating up the next field, when some one said,
'Where is Tropenell?' Just at that moment I heard a shot." He waited a
moment, and then went on: "It sounded as if it were fifty yards away."
Again the witness paused, and then he continued gravely: "I said in
jest, 'I hope he has not shot himself!' And Lord St. Amant said, 'Hold
my gun, Buckhurst, and I'll walk along behind the hedge, and see if I
can find him.' He got through a gap, and he could only have gone a very
few yards before we heard him call out. 'Come at once! He's shot!' With
this we got through a gap, and ten paces on we saw Mr. Oliver Tropenell
lying on his back, parallel with the hedge. The gun was lying across his
body, the muzzle towards the hedge. At first we could not find the
wound, but soon we discovered that he had been shot through the heart."
In reply to various questions, the witness explained how he raised Mr.
Oliver Tropenell's left hand, fancying he could detect a slight flutter
of the pulse. He called out for Dr. Turner, who happened to be a member
of the party. That gentleman came up, and after a brief examination,
said that Mr. Tropenell was certainly dead. The charge had gone through
the heart, and death must have been practically instantaneous. Some one,
probably the keeper, opened the breech of Mr. Tropenell's gun, and found
that the cartridge in the right-hand chamber had been exploded.
At this point, in answer to a word from a juryman, Mr. Buckhurst said
very decidedly that there could be no doubt at all that the shot had
been fired by Mr. Tropenell's own gun. If he might venture to give an
informal opinion, it was perfectly plain what had happened. The ground
was rough just there, and twilight was falling. Without doubt Mr.
Tropenell, on getting through the hedge, had stumbled heavily, the gun
had fallen forward, and then had occurred one of those accidents which
occasionally do happen out shooting, and which no amount of care or
experience can prevent.
There was some little doubt as to what had been the exact position of
the body, and while this was being discussed every one felt particularly
sorry for the dead man's mother.
Following Mr. Buckhurst, Lord St. Amant went into the witness-box, and
then some inquisitive juryman asked his lordship a question as to the
mental condition of the deceased. In answer to that question, Lord St.
Amant explained, with a good deal of emotion, that just before he and
Mr. Tropenell had started out on their fatal expedition they had had a
pleasant little talk together, during which Mr. Tropenell had seemed
particularly well and cheerful. Further, the witness threw in, as an
after-thought, the statement that the deceased gentleman had expressed
considerable gratification at the fact that his mother, Mrs. Tropenell,
and he, Lord St. Amant, had just entered together into an engagement of
marriage.
This announcement of a forthcoming alliance which so closely touched the
whole neighbourhood naturally overshadowed the rest of the purely formal
medical evidence at the inquest. Very soon there remained nothing for
the jury to do but to return a verdict of "death by misadventure," and
to express the deepest sympathy with Mr. Tropenell's mother.
A great deal of deep, unaffected sympathy, more sincere in this case
perhaps than a great deal of the sympathy which is lavished on the
bereaved in this world, was felt for Mrs. Tropenell.
Her son had not only been the most devoted and excellent of sons, but he
had been such a success, such a man to be proud of! It was also
remembered that he had done many a kindly turn to the good folk of
Pewsbury in the last eighteen months or so, since he had come home to
make the first long stay he had made in their neighbourhood for over ten
years. His manner, if reserved, was always kindly and pleasant, without
any touch of that patronage which is sometimes irritating in gentlemen
of his sort. The townspeople recalled, too, the dead man's intimacy with
the late Mr. Godfrey Pavely, and the more sober among them did not fail
to remind one another how curious it was that in under a year those two
men, still both young as youth is counted nowadays, had been gathered to
their fathers.
And then, before Pewsbury had had time to recover from the excitement of
poor Oliver Tropenell's tragic end, and from the announcement, given
under such painful and dramatic circumstances, of his mother's
forthcoming marriage to Lord St. Amant, yet another thrilling sensation
was provided for the inhabitants of the little town. This was the
surprising news that Mrs. Winslow had married again!
The fortunate man was, it seemed, a certain Mr. Greville Howard, one of
the largest subscribers to the Prince of Wales's Hospital Fund, a
gentleman, therefore, of evident social standing and wealth.
The ceremony had taken place at St. James's, Piccadilly, in the presence
of a few friends of the bridegroom, and the happy pair had gone straight
off to Mr. Howard's villa in the South of France. There Harber, Mrs.
Winslow's faithful factotum, was to join her mistress as soon as she had
made the necessary arrangements for the disposal, by auction, of the
furniture at Rosedean. Of that furniture two objects were at the last
moment withdrawn from the sale--one was a china cabinet, and the other a
rather curious-looking old chandelier, both associated, so it was
understood, with the new Mrs. Greville Howard's youth.
The auctioneer regretted these omissions from the catalogue, for by bad
luck they were the only objects in the house which a big London dealer
had come specially down to see, and for which he had intimated that he
was prepared to give a very good price.
THE END
Transcriber's Notes:
Repeated part titles have been deleted.
Obsolete spellings and alternate spellings of words (e.g., dulness) have
been retained.
Passages in italics were indicated by _underscores_.
On page 36, the [oe] ligature was replaced with "oe".
On page 137, "Bayton" was replaced with "Baynton".
On page 148, a period was added after "drew a piece of notepaper towards
him".
On page 159, "kindess" was replaced with "kindness".
On page 160, "contributary" was replaced with "contributory".
On page 239, "wainting" was replaced with "waiting".
On page 279, "lov" was replaced with "love".
On page 300, "affectionte" was replaced with "affectionate".
On page 329, "whispred" was replaced with "whispered".
On page 352, "Olive" was replaced with "Oliver".
On page 355, "a great deal as as" was replaced with "a great deal as".
On page 361, "expresson" was replaced with "expression".