THE PRIMA DONNA'S PORTRAIT
Marshall Allerdyke's sharp eyes were quick to see that his new visitor
had something of importance to communicate and wished to give his news in
private. Dr. Orwin glanced inquiringly at the American as he took the
seat which Allerdyke drew forward, and the cock of his eyes indicated a
strong desire to know who the stranger was.
"Friend of my late cousin," said Allerdyke brusquely. "Mr. Franklin
Fullaway, of London--just as anxious as I am to hear what you have to
tell us, doctor. You've come to tell something, of course?"
The doctor inclined his head towards Fullaway, and added a grave bow in
answer to Allerdyke's question.
"The autopsy has been made," he replied. "By Dr. Lydenberg, Dr. Quillet,
who is one of the police-surgeons here, and myself. We made a very
careful and particular examination."
"And--the result?" asked Allerdyke eagerly. "Is it what you anticipated
from your first glance at him--here?"
The doctor's face became a shade graver; his voice assumed an
oracular tone.
"My two colleagues," he said, "agreed that your cousin's death resulted
from heart failure which arose from what we may call ordinary causes.
There is no need for me to go into details--it is quite sufficient to say
that they are abundantly justified in coming to the conclusion at which
they have arrived: it is quite certain that your cousin's heart had
recently become seriously affected. But as regards myself"--here he
paused, and looking narrowly from one to the other of his two hearers, he
sank his voice to a lower, more confidential tone--"as regards myself, I
am not quite so certain as Dr. Lydenberg and Dr. Quillet appear to be.
The fact of the case is, I think it very possible that Mr. James
Allerdyke was--poisoned."
Neither of the two who listened so intently made any reply to this
significant announcement. Instead they kept their eyes intently fixed on
the doctor's grave face; then they slowly turned from him to each other,
exchanging glances. And after a pause the doctor went on, speaking in
measured and solemn accents.
"There is no need, either, at present--only at present--that I should
tell you why I think that," he continued. "I may be wrong--my two
colleagues are inclined to think I am wrong. But they quite agree with me
that it will be proper to preserve certain organs--you understand?--for
further examination by, say, the Home Office analyst, who is always, of
course, a famous pathological expert. That will be done--in fact, we have
already sealed up what we wish to be further examined. But"--he paused
again, shaking his head more solemnly than ever--"the truth is,
gentlemen," he went on at last, "I am doubtful if even that analysis and
examination will reveal anything. If my suspicions are correct--and
perhaps I ought to call them mere notions, theories, ideas, rather than
suspicions--but, at any rate, if there is anything in the vague thoughts
which I have, no trace of any poison will be found--and yet your cousin
may have been poisoned, all the same."
"Secretly!" exclaimed Fullaway.
Dr. Orwin gave the American a sharp glance which indicated that he
realized Fullaway's understanding of what he had just said.
"Precisely," he answered. "There are poisons--known to experts--which
will destroy life almost to a given minute, and of which the most skilful
pathologist and expert will not be able to find a single trace. Now,
please, understand my position--I say, it is quite possible, quite
likely, quite in accordance with what I have seen, that this unfortunate
gentleman died of heart failure brought about by even such an ordinary
exertion as his stooping forward to untie his shoe-lace, but--I also
think it likely that his death resulted from poison, subtly and cunningly
administered, probably not very long before his death took place. And if
I only knew--"
He paused at that, and looked searchingly and meaningly at Marshall
Allerdyke before he continued. And Allerdyke looked back with the same
intentness and nodded.
"Yes--yes!" he said. "If you only knew--? Say it, doctor!"
"If I only knew if there was any reason why any person wished to take
this man's life," responded Dr. Orwin, slowly and deliberately. "If I
knew that somebody wanted to get him out of the way, for instance--"
Allerdyke jumped to his feet and tapped Fullaway on the shoulder.
"Come in here a minute," he said, motioning towards the door of his
bedroom. "Excuse us, doctor--I want to have a word with this gentleman.
Look here," he continued, when he had led the American into the bedroom
and had closed the door. "You hear what he says? Shall we tell him? Or
shall we keep it all dark for a while? Which--what?"
"Tell him under promise of secrecy," replied Fullaway after a moment's
consideration. "Medical men are all right--yes, tell him. He may suggest
something. And I'm inclined to think his theory is correct, eh?"
"Correct!" exclaimed Allerdyke, with a grim laugh. "You bet it's correct!
Come on, then--we'll tell him all. Now, doctor," he went on, leading the
way back into the sitting-room, "we're going to give you our confidence.
You'll treat it as a strict confidence, a secret between us, for the
present. The truth is that when my cousin came to this hotel last night
he was in possession--that is, we have the very strongest grounds for
believing him to have been in possession--of certain extremely valuable
property---jewels worth a large amount--which he was carrying,
safeguarding, from a lady in Russia to this gentleman in London. When I
searched his body and luggage, these valuables were missing. Mr. Fullaway
and myself haven't the least doubt that he was robbed. So your
theory--eh?"
Dr. Orwin had listened to this with deep attention, and he now put two
quick questions.
"The value of these things was great?"
"Relatively, very great," answered Allerdyke.
"Enough to engage, the attention of a clever gang of thieves?"
"Quite!"
"Then," said the doctor, "I am quite of opinion that my ideas are
correct. These, people probably tracked your cousin to this place,
contrived to administer a subtle and deadly poison to him last night, and
entered his room after the time at which they knew it would take effect.
Have you any clue--even a slight one?"
"Only this," answered Allerdyke, and proceeded to narrate the story of
the shoe-buckle, adding Fullaway's theory to it. "That's not much, eh?"
"You must find that woman and produce her at the inquest," said the
doctor. "I take it that Mr. Fullaway's idea is a correct one. Your cousin
probably did invite Miss Lennard into his room to show her these
jewels--that, of course, would prove that he had them in his possession
at some certain hour last night. Now, about that inquest. It is fixed for
ten o'clock to-morrow morning. Let me advise you as to your own course of
procedure, having an eye on what you have told me. Your object should be
to make the proceedings to-morrow merely formal, so that the Coroner can
issue his order for interment, and then adjourn for further evidence. It
will be sufficient if you give evidence identifying the body, if evidence
is given of the autopsy, and an adjournment asked for until a further
examination of the reserved organs and viscera can be made. For the
present, I should keep back the matter of the supposed robbery until you
can find this Miss Lennard. At the adjourned inquest--say in a week or
ten days hence--everything pertinent can be brought out. But you will
need legal help--I am rather trespassing on legal preserves in telling
you so much."
"Deeply obliged to you, doctor--and you can add to our obigations by
giving us the name of a good man to go to," said Allerdyke. "We'll see
him at once and fix things up for to-morrow morning."
Dr. Orwin wrote down the name and address of a well-known solicitor, and
presently went away. When he had gone, Allerdyke turned to Fullaway.
"Now, then," he said, "you and I'll do one or two things. We'll call
on this lawyer. Then we'll cable to the Princess. But how shall we get
her address!"
"There's sure to be a Russian Consul in the town," suggested Fullaway.
"Good idea! And I'm going to telephone to this Miss Lennard's address
in London," continued Allerdyke. "She evidently set off from here to
Edinburgh; but, anyway, the address she gave in that wire to the
manager is a London one, and I'm going to try it. Now let's get out and
be at work."
The ensuing conversation between these two and a deeply interested and
much-impressed solicitor resulted in the dispatch of a lengthy cablegram
to St. Petersburg, a conversation over the telephone with the housekeeper
of Miss Celia Lennard's London flat, and the interviewing of the captain
and stewards of the steamship on which James Allerdyke had crossed from
Christiania. The net result of this varied inquiry was small, and
produced little that could throw additional light on the matter in
question. The _Perisco_ officials had not seen anything suspicious in the
conduct or personality of any of their passengers. They had observed
James Allerdyke in casual conversation with some of them--they had seen
him talking to Miss Lennard, to Dr. Lydenberg, to others, ladies and
gentlemen who subsequently put up at the Station Hotel for the night.
Nothing that they could tell suggested anything out of the common. Miss
Lennard's housekeeper gave no other information than that her mistress
was at present in Edinburgh, and was expected to remain there for at
least a week. And towards night came a message from the Princess
Nastirsevitch confirming Fullaway's conviction that James Allerdyke was
in possession of her jewels and announcing that she was leaving for
England at once, and should travel straight, via Berlin and Calais, to
meet Mr. Franklin Fullaway at his hotel in London.
The solicitor agreed with Dr. Orwin's suggestions as to the course to be
followed with regard to the inquest; it would be wise, he said, to keep
matters quiet for at any rate a few days, until they were in a position
to bring forward more facts. Consequently, the few people who were
present at the Coroner's court next morning gained no idea of the real
importance of the inquiry which was then opened. Even the solitary
reporter who took a perfunctory note of the proceedings for his newspaper
gathered no more from what he heard than that a gentleman had died
suddenly at the Station Hotel, that it had been necessary to hold an
inquest, that there was some little doubt as to the precise cause of his
death, and that the inquest was accordingly adjourned until the medical
men could tell something of a more definite nature. Nothing sensational
crept out into the town; no bold-lettered headlines ornamented the
afternoon editions. An hour before noon Marshall Allerdyke entrusted his
cousin's body to the care of certain kinsfolk who had come over from
Bradford to take charge of it; by noon he and Fullaway were slipping out
of Hull on their way to Edinburgh--to search for a witness, who, if and
when they found her, might be able to tell them--what?
"Seems something like a wild-goose chase," said Allerdyke as the train
steamed on across country towards York and the North. "How do we know
where to find this woman in Edinburgh? Her housekeeper didn't know what
hotel she was at--I suppose we'll have to try every one in the place till
we come across her!"
"Edinburgh is not a very big town," remarked Fullaway. "I reckon to run
her down--if she's still there--within a couple of hours. It's our first
duty, anyway. If she--as I guess she did--saw those jewels, then we know
that James Allerdyke had them on him when he reached Hull, dead sure."
"And supposing she can tell that?" said Allerdyke. "What then? How does
that help? The devils who got 'em have already had thirty-six hours'
start of us!"
The American produced a bulky cigar-case, found a green cigar, and
lighted it with a deliberation which was in marked contrast to his usual
nervous movements.
"Seems to me," he said presently, "seems very much to me that this has
been a great thing! I figure it out like this--somehow, somebody has got
to know of what the Princess and your cousin were up to--that he was
going to carry those valuable jewels with him to England. He must have
been tracked all the way, unless--does any unless strike you, now?"
"Not at the moment," replied Allerdyke. "So unless what?"
"Unless the thieves--and murderers--were waiting there in Hull for his
arrival," said Fullaway quietly. "That's possible!"
"Strikes me a good many possibilities are knocking around," remarked
Allerdyke, with more than his usual dryness. "As for me, I'll want to
know a lot about these valuables and their consignment before I make up
my mind in any way. I tell you frankly. I'm not running after them--I'm
wanting to find the folk who killed my cousin, and I only hope this young
woman'll be able to give me a hand. And the sooner we get to the bottle
of hay and begin prospecting for the needle the better!"
But the search for Miss Celia Lennard to which Allerdyke alluded so
gloomily was not destined to be either difficult or lengthy. As he and
his companion walked along one of the platforms in the Waverley Station
in Edinburgh that evening, on their way to a cab, Allerdyke suddenly
uttered a sharp exclamation and seized the American by the elbow,
twisting him round in front of a big poster which displayed the portrait
of a very beautiful woman.
"Good Lord!" he exclaimed. "There she is! See? That's the woman. Man
alive, we've hit it at once! Look!"
Fullaway turned and stared, not so much at the portrait as at the big
lettering above and beneath it:
ZÉLIE DE LONGARDE,
THE WORLD-FAMED SOPRANO.
RECENTLY RETURNED FROM MOSCOW
AND ST. PETERSBURG.
Only Visit to Edinburgh this Year.
TO-NIGHT AT 8.