"Come, for God's sake! F. C. is dead. You will
understand.--BRODRIBB."
I handed him back the telegram, too much shocked for a moment to speak.
The whole dreadful tragedy summed up in that curt message rose before me
in an instant, and a wave of deep pity swept over me at this miserable
end to the sad, empty life.
"What an awful thing, Thorndyke!" I exclaimed at length. "To be killed
by a mere grotesque delusion."
"Do you think so?" he asked dryly. "Well, we shall see; but you will
come?"
"Yes," I replied; and as he retired, I proceeded hurriedly to finish
dressing.
Half an hour later, as we rose from a rapid breakfast, Polton came into
the room, carrying a small roll-up case of tools and a bunch of skeleton
keys.
"Will you have them in a bag, sir?" he asked.
"No," replied Thorndyke; "in my overcoat pocket. Oh, and here is a note,
Polton, which I want you to take round to Scotland Yard. It is to the
Assistant Commissioner, and you are to make sure that it is in the right
hands before you leave. And here is a telegram to Mr. Brodribb."
He dropped the keys and the tool-case into his pocket, and we went down
together to the waiting hansom.
At Weybridge Station we found Mr. Brodribb pacing the platform in a
state of extreme dejection. He brightened up somewhat when he saw us,
and wrung our hands with emotional heartiness.
"It was very good of you both to come at a moment's notice," he said
warmly, "and I feel your kindness very much. You understood, of course,
Thorndyke?"
"Yes," Thorndyke replied. "I suppose the mandarin beckoned to him."
Mr. Brodribb turned with a look of surprise. "How did you guess that?"
he asked; and then, without waiting for a reply, he took from his pocket
a note, which he handed to my colleague. "The poor old fellow left this
for me," he said. "The servant found it on his dressing-table."
Thorndyke glanced through the note and passed it to me. It consisted of
but a few words, hurriedly written in a tremulous hand.
"He has beckoned to me, and I must go. Good-bye, dear old friend."
"How does his cousin take the matter?" asked Thorndyke.
"He doesn't know of it yet," replied the lawyer. "Alfred and Raggerton
went out after an early breakfast, to cycle over to Guildford on some
business or other, and they have not returned yet. The catastrophe was
discovered soon after they left. The maid went to his room with a cup of
tea, and was astonished to find that his bed had not been slept in. She
ran down in alarm and reported to the butler, who went up at once and
searched the room; but he could find no trace of the missing one, except
my note, until it occurred to him to look in the cupboard. As he opened
the door he got rather a start from his own reflection in the mirror;
and then he saw poor Fred hanging from one of the pegs near the end of
the closet, close to the glass. It's a melancholy affair--but here is
the house, and here is the butler waiting for us. Mr. Alfred is not back
yet, then, Stevens?"
"No, sir." The white-faced, frightened-looking man had evidently been
waiting at the gate from distaste of the house, and he now walked back
with manifest relief at our arrival. When we entered the house, he
ushered us without remark up on to the first-floor, and, preceding us
along a corridor, halted near the end. "That's the room, sir," said he;
and without another word he turned and went down the stairs.
We entered the room, and Mr. Brodribb followed on tiptoe, looking about
him fearfully, and casting awe-struck glances at the shrouded form on
the bed. To the latter Thorndyke advanced, and gently drew back the
sheet.
"You'd better not look, Brodribb," said he, as he bent over the corpse.
He felt the limbs and examined the cord, which still remained round the
neck, its raggedly-severed end testifying to the terror of the servants
who had cut down the body. Then he replaced the sheet and looked at his
watch. "It happened at about three o'clock in the morning," said he. "He
must have struggled with the impulse for some time, poor fellow! Now let
us look at the cupboard."
We went together to a door in the corner of the room, and, as we opened
it, we were confronted by three figures, apparently looking in at us
through an open door at the other end.
"It is really rather startling," said the lawyer, in a subdued voice,
looking almost apprehensively at the three figures that advanced to meet
us. "The poor lad ought never to have been here."
It was certainly an eerie place, and I could not but feel, as we walked
down the dark, narrow passage, with those other three dimly-seen figures
silently coming towards us, and mimicking our every gesture, that it was
no place for a nervous, superstitious man like poor Fred Calverley.
Close to the end of the long row of pegs was one from which hung an end
of stout box-cord, and to this Mr. Brodribb pointed with an awe-struck
gesture. But Thorndyke gave it only a brief glance, and then walked up
to the mirror, which he proceeded to examine minutely. It was a very
large glass, nearly seven feet high, extending the full width of the
closet, and reaching to within a foot of the floor; and it seemed to
have been let into the partition from behind, for, both above and below,
the woodwork was in front of it. While I was making these observations,
I watched Thorndyke with no little curiosity. First he rapped his
knuckles on the glass; then he lighted a wax match, and, holding it
close to the mirror, carefully watched the reflection of the flame.
Finally, laying his cheek on the glass, he held the match at arm's
length, still close to the mirror, and looked at the reflection along
the surface. Then he blew out the match and walked back into the room,
shutting the cupboard door as we emerged.
"I think," said he, "that as we shall all undoubtedly be subpoenaed by
the coroner, it would be well to put together a few notes of the facts.
I see there is a writing-table by the window, and I would propose that
you, Brodribb, just jot down a _précis_ of the statement that you heard
last night, while Jervis notes down the exact condition of the body.
While you are doing this, I will take a look round."
"We might find a more cheerful place to write in," grumbled Mr.
Brodribb; "however--"
Without finishing the sentence, he sat down at the table, and, having
found some sermon paper, dipped a pen in the ink by way of encouraging
his thoughts. At this moment Thorndyke quietly slipped out of the room,
and I proceeded to make a detailed examination of the body: in which
occupation I was interrupted at intervals by requests from the lawyer
that I should refresh his memory.
We had been occupied thus for about a quarter of an hour, when a quick
step was heard outside, the door was opened abruptly, and a man burst
into the room. Brodribb rose and held out his hand.
"This is a sad home-coming for you, Alfred," said he.
"Yes, my God!" the newcomer exclaimed. "It's awful."
He looked askance at the corpse on the bed, and wiped his forehead with
his handkerchief. Alfred Calverley was not extremely prepossessing. Like
his cousin, he was obviously neurotic, but there were signs of
dissipation in his face, which, just now, was pale and ghastly, and wore
an expression of abject fear. Moreover, his entrance was accompanied by
that of a perceptible odour of brandy.
He had walked over, without noticing me, to the writing-table, and as he
stood there, talking in subdued tones with the lawyer, I suddenly found
Thorndyke at my side. He had stolen in noiselessly through the door that
Calverley had left open.
"Show him Brodribb's note," he whispered, "and then make him go in and
look at the peg."
With this mysterious request, he slipped out of the room as silently as
he had come, unperceived either by Calverley or the lawyer.
"Has Captain Raggerton returned with you?" Brodribb was inquiring.
"No, he has gone into the town," was the reply; "but he won't be long.
This will be a frightful shock to him."
At this point I stepped forward. "Have you shown Mr. Calverley the
extraordinary letter that the deceased left for you?" I asked.
"What letter was that?" demanded Calverley, with a start.
Mr. Brodribb drew forth the note and handed it to him. As he read it
through, Calverley turned white to the lips, and the paper trembled in
his hand.
"'He has beckoned to me, and I must go,'" he read. Then, with a furtive
glance at the lawyer: "Who had beckoned? What did he mean?"
Mr. Brodribb briefly explained the meaning of the allusion, adding: "I
thought you knew all about it."
"Yes, yes," said Calverley, with some confusion; "I remember the matter
now you mention it. But it's all so dreadful and bewildering."
At this point I again interposed. "There is a question," I said, "that
may be of some importance. It refers to the cord with which the poor
fellow hanged himself. Can you identify that cord, Mr. Calverley?"
"I!" he exclaimed, staring at me, and wiping the sweat from his white
face; "how should I? Where is the cord?"
"Part of it is still hanging from the peg in the closet. Would you mind
looking at it?"
"If you would very kindly fetch it--you know I--er--naturally--have a--"
"It must not be disturbed before the inquest," said I; "but surely you
are not afraid--"
"I didn't say I was afraid," he retorted angrily. "Why should I be?"
With a strange, tremulous swagger, he strode across to the closet, flung
open the door, and plunged in.
A moment later we heard a shout of horror, and he rushed out, livid and
gasping.
"What is it, Calverley?" exclaimed Mr. Brodribb, starting up in alarm.
But Calverley was incapable of speech. Dropping limply into a chair, he
gazed at us for a while in silent terror; then he fell back uttering a
wild shriek of laughter.
Mr. Brodribb looked at him in amazement. "What is it, Calverley?" he
asked again.
As no answer was forthcoming, he stepped across to the open door of the
closet and entered, peering curiously before him. Then he, too, uttered
a startled exclamation, and backed out hurriedly, looking pale and
flurried.
"Bless my soul!" he ejaculated. "Is the place bewitched?"
He sat down heavily and stared at Calverley, who was still shaking with
hysteric laughter; while I, now consumed with curiosity, walked over to
the closet to discover the cause of their singular behaviour. As I flung
open the door, which the lawyer had closed, I must confess to being very
considerably startled; for though the reflection of the open door was
plain enough in the mirror, my own reflection was replaced by that of a
Chinaman. After a momentary pause of astonishment, I entered the closet
and walked towards the mirror; and simultaneously the figure of the
Chinaman entered and walked towards me. I had advanced more than halfway
down the closet when suddenly the mirror darkened; there was a whirling
flash, the Chinaman vanished in an instant, and, as I reached the glass,
my own reflection faced me.
I turned back into the room pretty completely enlightened, and looked at
Calverley with a new-born distaste. He still sat facing the bewildered
lawyer, one moment sobbing convulsively, the next yelping with hysteric
laughter. He was not an agreeable spectacle, and when, a few moments
later, Thorndyke entered the room, and halted by the door with a stare
of disgust, I was moved to join him. But at this juncture a man pushed
past Thorndyke, and, striding up to Calverley, shook him roughly by the
arm.
"Stop that row!" he exclaimed furiously. "Do you hear? Stop it!"
"I can't help it, Raggerton," gasped Calverley. "He gave me such a
turn--the mandarin, you know."
"What!" ejaculated Raggerton.
He dashed across to the closet, looked in, and turned upon Calverley
with a snarl. Then he walked out of the room.
"Brodribb," said Thorndyke, "I should like to have a word with you and
Jervis outside." Then, as we followed him out on to the landing, he
continued: "I have something rather interesting to show you. It is in
here."
He softly opened an adjoining door, and we looked into a small
unfurnished room. A projecting closet occupied one side of it, and at
the door of the closet stood Captain Raggerton, with his hand upon the
key. He turned upon us fiercely, though with a look of alarm, and
demanded:
"What is the meaning of this intrusion? and who the deuce are you? Do
you know that this is my private room?"
"I suspected that it was," Thorndyke replied quietly. "Those will be
your properties in the closet, then?"
Raggerton turned pale, but continued to bluster. "Do I understand that
you have dared to break into my private closet?" he demanded.
"I have inspected it," replied Thorndyke, "and I may remark that it is
useless to wrench at that key, because I have hampered the lock."
"The devil you have!" shouted Raggerton.
"Yes; you see, I am expecting a police-officer with a search warrant, so
I wished to keep everything intact."
Raggerton turned livid with mingled fear and rage. He stalked up to
Thorndyke with a threatening air, but, suddenly altering his mind,
exclaimed, "I must see to this!" and flung out of the room.
Thorndyke took a key from his pocket, and, having locked the door,
turned to the closet. Having taken out the key to unhamper the lock with
a stout wire, he reinserted it and unlocked the door. As we entered, we
found ourselves in a narrow closet, similar to the one in the other
room, but darker, owing to the absence of a mirror. A few clothes hung
from the pegs, and when Thorndyke had lit a candle that stood on a
shelf, we could see more of the details.
"Here are some of the properties," said Thorndyke. He pointed to a peg
from which hung a long, blue silk gown of Chinese make, a mandarin's
cap, with a pigtail attached to it, and a beautifully-made papier-màché
mask. "Observe," said Thorndyke, taking the latter down and exhibiting a
label on the inside, marked "Renouard à Paris," "no trouble has been
spared."
He took off his coat, slipped on the gown, the mask, and the cap, and
was, in a moment, in that dim light, transformed into the perfect
semblance of a Chinaman.
"By taking a little more time," he remarked, pointing to a pair of
Chinese shoes and a large paper lantern, "the make-up could be rendered
more complete; but this seems to have answered for our friend Alfred."
"But," said Mr. Brodribb, as Thorndyke shed the disguise, "still, I
don't understand--"
"I will make it clear to you in a moment," said Thorndyke. He walked to
the end of the closet, and, tapping the right-hand wall, said: "This is
the back of the mirror. You see that it is hung on massive well-oiled
hinges, and is supported on this large, rubber-tyred castor, which
evidently has ball bearings. You observe three black cords running along
the wall, and passing through those pulleys above. Now, when I pull this
cord, notice what happens."
He pulled one cord firmly, and immediately the mirror swung noiselessly
inwards on its great castor, until it stood diagonally across the
closet, where it was stopped by a rubber buffer.
"Bless my soul!" exclaimed Mr. Brodribb. "What an extraordinary thing!"
The effect was certainly very strange, for, the mirror being now exactly
diagonal to the two closets they appeared to be a single, continuous
passage, with a door at either end. On going up to the mirror, we found
that the opening which it had occupied was filled by a sheet of plain
glass, evidently placed there as a precaution to prevent any person from
walking through from one closet into the other, and so discovering the
trick.
"It's all very puzzling," said Mr. Brodribb; "I don't clearly understand
it now."
"Let us finish here," replied Thorndyke, "and then I will explain.
Notice this black curtain. When I pull the second cord, it slides across
the closet and cuts off the light. The mirror now reflects nothing into
the other closet; it simply appears dark. And now I pull the third
cord."
He did so, and the mirror swung noiselessly back into its place.
"There is only one other thing to observe before we go out," said
Thorndyke, "and that is this other mirror standing with its face to the
wall. This, of course, is the one that Fred Calverley originally saw at
the end of the closet; it has since been removed, and the larger
swinging glass put in its place. And now," he continued, when we came
out into the room, "let me explain the mechanism in detail. It was
obvious to me, when I heard poor Fred Calverley's story, that the mirror
was 'faked,' and I drew a diagram of the probable arrangement, which
turns out to be correct. Here it is." He took a sheet of paper from his
pocket and handed it to the lawyer. "There are two sketches. Sketch 1
shows the mirror in its ordinary position, closing the end of the
closet. A person standing at A, of course, sees his reflection facing
him at, apparently, A 1. Sketch 2 shows the mirror swung across. Now a
person standing at A does not see his own reflection at all; but if some
other person is standing in the other closet at B, A sees the reflection
of B apparently at B 1--that is, in the identical position that his own
reflection occupied when the mirror was straight across."
"I see now," said Brodribb; "but who set up this apparatus, and why was
it done?"
"Let me ask you a question," said Thorndyke. "Is Alfred Calverley the
next-of-kin?"
"No; there is Fred's younger brother. But I may say that Fred has made
a will quite recently very much in Alfred's favour."
"There is the explanation, then," said Thorndyke. "These two scoundrels
have conspired to drive the poor fellow to suicide, and Raggerton was
clearly the leading spirit. He was evidently concocting some story with
which to work on poor Fred's superstitions when the mention of the
Chinaman on the steamer gave him his cue. He then invented the very
picturesque story of the murdered mandarin and the stolen pearl. You
remember that these 'visitations' did not begin until after that story
had been told, and Fred had been absent from the house on a visit.
Evidently, during his absence, Raggerton took down the original mirror,
and substituted this swinging arrangement; and at the same time procured
the Chinaman's dress and mask from the theatrical property dealers. No
doubt he reckoned on being able quietly to remove the swinging glass and
other properties and replace the original mirror before the inquest."
"By God!" exclaimed Mr. Brodribb, "it's the most infamous, cowardly plot
I have ever heard of. They shall go to gaol for it, the villains, as
sure as I am alive."
But in this Mr. Brodribb was mistaken; for immediately on finding
themselves detected, the two conspirators had left the house, and by
nightfall were safely across the Channel; and the only satisfaction that
the lawyer obtained was the setting aside of the will on facts disclosed
at the inquest.
As to Thorndyke, he has never to this day forgiven himself for having
allowed Fred Calverley to go home to his death.