Two years later. A frosty evening, clear and starlit--one of those dry
nights in early spring so delightful to the dweller in London, too
familiar with choking fog, drizzling rain, and sloppy mire.
In the vicinity of Charing Cross the busy stream of traffic had almost
subsided. At ten o'clock the Strand is usually half deserted--the shops
are closed, foot passengers are few, and the theatres have not yet
disgorged their crowds of pleasure-seekers anxious to secure conveyances
to take them to the suburbs. For half an hour previous to eleven
o'clock the thoroughfare, notwithstanding the glare of electricity at
theatre entrances and the blaze of garish restaurants and public-houses,
assumes an appearance of almost dismal solitude. Boys who have hitherto
indefatigably cried "special editions," congregate at corners to chat
among themselves, the few loungers stroll along dejectedly, and cadgers
slink into doorways to await the time when they can resume their
importunities among returning playgoers.
A similar aspect was presented this calm, bright night, as one of the
omnibuses plying between the Strand and Kilburn slowly crossed Trafalgar
Square, mounted the short incline to Charing Cross at walking pace, and,
turning into Duncannon Street, pulled up before the public-house which
at that time was the starting-point for that route.
The driver, facetiously adjuring his colleague on the 'bus, which was
just moving off, to get "higher up," unfastened his waist-strap, and,
casting aside his multifarious wraps, descended. Stamping his feet to
promote circulation, he was about to enter the bar. Suddenly he
remembered that the conductor, after collecting the fares, had left the
vehicle at the corner of the Haymarket for the purpose of walking the
remainder of the journey--a proceeding not unusual in cold weather, when
one's hands become numbed, and a walk proves a welcome exercise.
It occurred to him that some one might still be inside. His surmise
proved correct for, ensconced in a corner in the front of the
conveyance, sat a well-dressed, middle-aged man. His fur-trimmed
overcoat was unbuttoned, his head had fallen forward upon his chest, and
he was apparently slumbering soundly.
"Charin' Cross, sir," shouted the plethoric old driver, peering in at
the door.
The man showed no sign of awakening.
Sleeping passengers, who at their journey's end awake irate and in great
consternation at finding themselves a mile or two past their
destination, are the daily experience of every omnibus conductor; and it
is a remarkable fact that the rattle, combined with the rocking of the
vehicle, is conducive to slumber.
Chuckling at the unconscious man's probable chagrin, the driver entered
the conveyance, and, grasping his shoulder, shook him violently,
exclaiming in a loud voice--
"'Ere y'are! Charin' Cross, sir. Wake up, guv'nor, please."
The passenger did not stir. His arm dropped inertly by his side, and as
the driver relaxed his hold, he swayed forward, and, before the mishap
could be prevented, fell heavily upon the cushions opposite, and rolled
upon the floor.
"He must be ill," the driver exclaimed to himself in alarm.
Then stooping, he seized the prostrate man round the waist, and with
some difficulty succeeded in dragging him to his feet and replacing him
upon the seat.
As he did so he felt his fingers come into contact with some wet, sticky
substance. Holding his hand against the dim oil lamp, he examined it
closely.
"Blood, by God!" he gasped.
Glancing quickly down at the feet of the inanimate man, he noticed for
the first time a small, dark pool, beside which lay a white
handkerchief.
In a moment the terrible truth dawned upon him.
Vaguely apprehensive of foul play, he pulled aside the overcoat, and
placed his hand upon the heart of the prostrate man.
There was no movement.
"Hullo, Teddy, what's up? Any one would think you were robbing the
chap," shouted a voice jocosely at the door.
The driver started, and, looking up, saw his conductor who, having taken
a shorter route than the omnibus by walking along Pall Mall, across the
north side of Trafalgar Square, and entering Duncannon Street from the
opposite end, had just arrived.
"Bill," replied the driver in an awe-stricken tone, his face wearing a
scared look, "there's something wrong here. I believe the gent's dead."
"Dead?"
"Yes. Come here."
The conductor grew pale, and got into the conveyance beside his
companion.
"Look! that's blood," the latter said, pointing to the floor.
"You're joking," the other replied incredulously, bending down to
examine it.
"'Pon my honour I'm not. There's some on my hand here. Besides, his
heart doesn't beat."
Leaning hastily forward, the conductor pressed his hand to the
passenger's breast. He quickly withdrew it, admitting that such indeed
was the case.
"But what can be wrong with him, Ted? He looks like a gentleman," he
added in amazement.
"I can't tell. In this 'ere light it's impossible to see."
Striking a vesta, the conductor held it close to the man's coat. As it
shed its light in fitful gleams, their eager eyes at once discerned a
small hole in the breast, from which blood was slowly oozing.
Both drew back in dismay.
"He's been stabbed?" the man who held the match exclaimed in a low,
terrified voice. "See, the overcoat must have been opened first, as it
isn't pierced."
The victim had been wounded in the heart, struck by a steady hand, and
evidently with great violence.
They stood aghast at the horrifying discovery.
"What do you think of it, Bill?" asked the old driver timorously.
"Murder, without a doubt."
"I wonder whether this will give any clue to the murderer?" the elder
man said, picking up the handkerchief.
It was a lady's--a small square of fine cambric with a delicate border
of lace.
"Let's look," exclaimed his companion, taking it in his hands, and
holding it to the lamp.
"Any mark on it?"
"No, nothing," he replied. "There's some funny scent on it, though," he
added, placing it nearer his nose.
"Good heavens, Bill, what shall we do?" ejaculated the driver,
thoroughly alarmed at the startling discovery.
"Call the police at once. Wait here a minute, and I'll fetch a
constable," the other replied, getting out of the omnibus, and running
to the corner of the Strand, where an officer is constantly stationed on
point duty.
Already a small crowd had collected, for the cabmen from the shelter
opposite had quickly discerned that something unusual had occurred, and,
on learning of the crime, grouped themselves around the vehicle in a
state of great excitement, and eager to obtain a glimpse of the corpse.
A minute later the conductor returned with two constables. These were
immediately followed by a detective-sergeant, who chanced to be passing,
and another constable. The detective himself was astounded, although he
had been present on more than one occasion when bodies had been found.
The circumstances having been briefly explained, he despatched one of
the men to Agar Street for the hospital ambulance, and gave other
orders, which were executed with obedience and promptitude.
"Do you know the gentleman by sight?" asked the detective of the
conductor, as they both stood gazing upon the body, awaiting the arrival
of the ambulance.
"No, I've never seen him before," the man replied; "and the strangest
part of the affair is, that when I got off at the Haymarket corner he
wasn't inside. There were two gentlemen in the 'bus."
"They got out at Spring Gardens," interrupted the driver. "I stopped
for them."
"Then he must have entered immediately afterwards," remarked the
detective thoughtfully.
"Yes, that's the only way I can account for it."
"It is certainly an extraordinary case," the officer said, bending down
and re-examining the dead man's wound. "From the time he got into the
'bus until you discovered him dead could not have been more than six or
seven minutes?"
"Not so much," replied the driver. "I generally reckon it takes four
minutes from Dent's to the corner here, including the stoppage in front
of the lions."
"But you didn't pull up there to-night?"
"No, because I was not aware I had any fare inside."
"Ah?" exclaimed the detective confidently. "The murder was evidently
cleverly planned, and the assassin has got away very neatly indeed."
"It couldn't be suicide, could it?" suggested one of the constables.
"Impossible, for the knife has disappeared. But here's the ambulance;
we must remove the body and disperse the crowd."
At that moment a hansom, which had turned from the Strand towards Pall
Mall, was compelled to pull up owing to the throng of eager onlookers
which had now become so augmented as to reach across the road.
Pushing up the flap in the roof with his walking-stick, the fare, a
well-dressed and rather handsome young man, whose face bore that frank,
good-humoured expression which always impresses favourably,
asked--"What's the fuss, cabby?"
"Can't exactly make out, sir," replied the man. "They say a murder's
been committed."
"Somebody murdered!" he exclaimed in surprise. "By Jove, a crime in a
'bus isn't a sight to be witnessed every day. Wait over there, cabby,
opposite the church. I'll go and have a look."
Alighting, he quickly made his way through the excited crowd. As he
edged in towards the omnibus, two constables, who had just lifted the
body out, were placing it carefully upon the stretcher, for a doctor had
already made an examination and pronounced that death had been almost
instantaneous.
In the brief moment while the constables arranged his head the light of
the gas lamps outside the public-house shone full upon the pale,
bloodless features, revealing a man of about thirty-five, whose face was
well moulded and refined, with closed eyes, very wavy hair, and short,
pointed beard. That he was a gentleman was evident. His hands looked
soft and white, his finger-nails showed that attention had been bestowed
upon them; a large diamond glittered on his finger, and in his scarf was
another valuable stone. His attire, too, was the reverse of common, for
his overcoat was lined with sable in a style which only a West-End
tailor could produce, and his other garments were of the best quality
and latest fashion.
"Poor fellow--he looks as if he's asleep," exclaimed a woman
sympathetically, at the young man's elbow.
"Ah," remarked another, "he'll never wake again. Whoever killed him
accomplished the deed very effectually."
"He's a thorough gentleman, too," commented a cabman, who was eagerly
watching with several of his companions. "I wonder what the motive
could have been?"
"They'll call Teddy Mills's 'bus the hearse, now," said another cabman;
but his companion replied--
"G'arn, 'Arry, it ain't no laughing matter."
"Well, it's a bold stroke, at any rate," rejoined the man addressed.
"Why, he couldn't have been seated in the 'bus a minute before he was
killed."
"Is it such a mysterious affair, then?" asked the young man who had
alighted from the cab, turning to them.
"Mysterious? I should rather think it was. It all happened between the
corner of Pall Mall and here. The victim must have entered the 'bus as
it was going along, but whether the murderer was inside or whether he
followed, nobody knows."
"Pass along, please; pass along!" two constables commanded.
The body, which had by this time been placed on the ambulance and
lightly covered, was being wheeled away, and the police were busy
dispersing the ever-increasing crowd.
"By Jove, it's terrible! Such sights are enough to give one the blues,"
the young man exclaimed aloud, as he made his way towards his cab. "I
wonder who the Johnnie is? The face seems familiar, yet for the life of
me I can't recollect where I've seen it before. But, there, it isn't
any use making oneself glum over the troubles of others, and, goodness
knows, my own cursed luck is hard enough."
He sighed, and, springing into the hansom, shouted--"Drive on, cabby, as
fast as you can make that bag of bones travel."
The man laughed at his fare's humorous cynicism, and, whipping his
horse, drove rapidly away.