THE JAPANESE CABINET
Remembering that Barleyfield had said that the man who now entered had
been in Ashton's company in that very room on the evening of the murder,
Viner looked at him with keen interest and speculation. He was a tall,
well-built, clean-shaven man, of professional appearance and of a large,
heavy, solemn face the evidently usual pallor of which was deepened by
his black overcoat and cravat. An eminently respectable, slow-going,
unimaginative man, in Viner's opinion, and of a type which one may see by
the dozen in the precincts of the Temple; a man who would be content to
do a day's work in a placid fashion, and who cherished no ambition to set
the Thames on fire; certainly, so Viner thought from appearances, not the
man to commit a peculiarly daring murder. Nevertheless, knowing what he
did, he watched him closely.
The newcomer, on entering, glanced at once at a quiet corner of the room,
and seeing it unoccupied, turned to the bar, where the landlord, who was
as old-fashioned as his surroundings, was glancing over the evening
paper. He asked for whisky and soda, and when he took up the glass, drank
slowly and thoughtfully. Suddenly he turned to the landlord.
"Have you seen that gentleman lately that I've sometimes talked to in
the corner there?" he asked.
The landlord glanced across the room and shook his head.
"Can't say that I have, sir," he answered. "The tallish gentleman with a
grey beard? No, he hasn't been in this last night or two."
The other man sat down his glass and drew something from his pocket.
"I promised to bring him a specimen of some cigars I bought lately," he
said, laying an envelope on the counter. "I can't stop tonight. If he
should come in, will you give him that--he'll know what it is."
"Good heavens!" muttered Viner, as he turned in surprise to Barleyfield.
"These men evidently don't know that the man they're talking about is--"
"Murdered!" whispered Barleyfield, with a grim smile. "Nothing wonderful
in that, Mr. Viner. They haven't connected Mr. Ashton with the man
they're mentioning--that's all."
"And yet Ashton's portrait has been in the papers!" exclaimed Viner. "It
amazes me!"
"Aye, just so, sir," said Barleyfield. "But--a hundred yards in London
takes you into another world, Mr. Viner. For all practical purposes,
Lonsdale Passage, though it's only a mile away, is as much separated
from this spot as New York is from London. Well--that's the man I told
you of, sir."
The man in question drank off the remaining contents of his glass, nodded
to the landlord, and walked out. And Viner was suddenly minded to do
something towards getting information.
"Look here!" he said. "I'm going to ask that landlord a question or two.
Come with me."
He went up to the bar, Barleyfield following in close attendance, and
gave the landlord a significant glance.
"Can I have a word with you, in private?" he asked.
The landlord looked his questioner over and promptly opened a flap in
the counter.
"Step inside, sir," he said, indicating a door in the rear. "Private room
there, sir."
Viner and Barleyfield walked into a little snugly furnished sitting-room;
the landlord followed and closed the door.
"Do you happen to know the name of the gentleman who was speaking to you
just now?" asked Viner, going straight to his point. "I've a very
particular reason for wishing to know it."
"No more idea than I have of yours, sir," replied the landlord with a
shrewd glance.
Viner pulled out a card and laid it on the table.
"That is my name," he said. "You and the gentleman who has just gone out
were speaking just now of another gentleman whom he used to meet
here--who used to sit with him in that far corner. Just so--you don't
know the name of that gentleman, either?"
"No more than I know the others', sir," replied the landlord, shaking
his head. "Lord bless you, folks may come in here for a year or two, and
unless they happen to be neighbours of mine, I don't know who they are.
Now, there's your friend there," he went on, indicating Barleyfield with
a smile, "I know his face as that of a customer, but I don't know who he
is! That gentleman who's just gone out, he's been in the habit of
dropping in here for a twelvemonth, maybe, but I never remember hearing
his name. As for the gentleman he referred to, why, I know him as one
that's come in here pretty regular for the last few weeks, but I don't
know his name, either."
"Have you heard of the murder in Lonsdale Passage?" asked Viner.
"Markendale Square way? Yes," answered the landlord, with awakening
interest. "Why, is it anything to do--"
Viner saw an illustrated paper lying on a side-table and caught it
up. There was a portrait of Ashton in it, and he held it up before
the landlord.
"Don't you recognize that?" he asked.
The landlord started and stared.
"Bless my life and soul!" he exclaimed. "Why, surely that's very like the
gentleman I just referred to--I should say it was the very man!"
"It is the very man!" said Viner with emphasis, "the man for whom your
customer who's just gone out left the envelope. Now, this man who was
murdered in Lonsdale Passage was here in your parlour for some time on
the evening of the night on which he was murdered, and he was then in
conversation with the man who has just gone out. Naturally, therefore, I
should like to know that man's name."
"You're not a detective?" suggested the landlord.
"Not at all!" replied Viner. "I was a neighbour of Mr. Ashton's, and I am
interested--deeply interested--in an attempt to clear up the mystery of
his death. Things keep coming out. I didn't know until this evening that
Ashton spent some time here, at your house, the night he was killed. But
when I got to know, I came along to make one or two inquiries."
"Bless me!" said the landlord, who was still staring at the portrait.
"Yes, that's the gentleman, sure enough! I've often wondered who he
was--pleasant, sociable sort, he was, poor fellow. Now I come to think of
it I remember him being in here that night--last time, of course, he was
ever in. He was talking to that gentleman who's just gone; in fact, they
left together."
"They left together, did they!" exclaimed Viner with a sharp glance at
Barleyfield. "Ah! What time was that, now?"
"As near as I can recollect, about ten-fifteen to ten-thirty," answered
the landlord. "They'd been talking together for a good hour in that
corner where they usually sat. But dear me," he went on, looking from one
to the other of his two visitors, "I'm quite sure that gentleman who's
just left doesn't know of this murder! Why, you heard him ask for the
other gentleman, and leave him some cigars that he'd promised!"
"Just so--which makes it all the stranger," said Viner. "Well, I'm much
obliged to you, landlord--and for the time being, just keep the matter
of this talk strictly to yourself. You understand?"
"As you wish, sir," assented the landlord. "I shan't say anything. You
wouldn't like me to find out this gentleman's name? Somebody'll know him.
My own idea is that he lives in this part--he began coming in here of an
evening about a year since."
"No--do nothing at present," said Viner. "The inquiries are only
beginning."
He impressed the same obligation of silence on Barleyfield as they went
away, and the florist readily understood.
"No hard work for me to hold my tongue, Mr. Viner," he said. "We
tradespeople are pretty well trained to that, sir! There's things and
secrets I could tell! But upon my word, I don't ever remember quite such
a case as this. And I expect it'll be like most cases of the sort!"
"What do you mean?" asked Viner.
"Oh, there'll be a sudden flash of light on it, sir, all of a sudden,"
replied Barleyfield. "And then--it'll be as clear as noonday."
"I don't know where it's coming from!" muttered Viner. "I don't even see
a rift in the clouds yet."
He had been at work for an hour or two with Miss Wickham and Mr. Pawle
next morning, searching for whatever might be discovered among Ashton's
effects, before he saw any reason to alter this opinion. The bunch of
keys discovered in the murdered man's pocket had been duly delivered to
Miss Wickham by the police, and she handed them over to the old solicitor
with full license to open whatever they secured. But both Mr. Pawle and
Viner saw at once that Ashton had been one of those men who have no habit
of locking up things. In all that roomy house he had but one room which
he kept to himself--a small, twelve-foot-square apartment on the ground
floor, in which, they said, he used to spend an hour or two of a
morning. It contained little in the way of ornament or comfort--a solid
writing-desk with a hard chair, an easy-chair by the fireplace, a sofa
against the wall, a map of London and a picture or two, a shelf of old
books, a collection of walking-sticks, and umbrellas: these made up all
there was to see.
And upon examination the desk yielded next to nothing. One drawer
contained a cash-box, a checkbook, a pass-book. Some sixty or seventy
pounds in notes, gold and silver lay in the cash-box; the stubs of
the checks revealed nothing but the payment of tradesmen's bills; the
pass-book showed that an enormous balance lay at the bank. In another
drawer rested a collection of tradesmen's books--Mr. Ashton, said
Mrs. Killenhall, used to pay his tradesmen every week; these books
had been handed to him on the very evening of his death for
settlement next morning.
"Evidently a most methodical man!" remarked Mr. Pawle. "Which makes it
all the more remarkable that so few papers are discoverable. You'd have
thought that in his longish life he'd have accumulated a good many
documents that he wanted to keep."
But documents there were next to none. Several of the drawers of the desk
were empty, save for stationery. One contained a bunch of letters, tied
up with blue ribbon--these, on examination, proved to be letters written
by Miss Wickham, at school in England, to her guardian in Australia. Miss
Wickham, present while Mr. Pawle and Viner searched, showed some emotion
at the sight of them.
"I used to write to him once a month," she said. "I had no idea that he
had kept the letters, though!"
The two men went silently on with their search. But there was no further
result. Ashton did not appear to have kept any letters or papers relative
to his life or doings prior to his coming to England. Private documents
of any sort he seemed to have none. And whatever business had taken him
to Marketstoke, they could find no written reference to it; nor could
they discover anything about the diamond of which Mr. Van Hoeren had
spoken. They went upstairs to his bedroom and examined the drawers,
cabinets and dressing-case--they found nothing.
"This is distinctly disappointing," remarked Mr. Pawle when he and Viner
returned to the little room. "I never knew a man who left such small
evidence behind him. It's quite evident to me that there's nothing
whatever in this house that's going to be of any use to us. I wonder if
he rented a box at any of the safe-deposit places? He must have had
documents of some sort."
"In that case, we should surely have found a key, and perhaps a receipt
for the rent of the box," suggested Viner. "I should have thought he'd
have had a safe in his own house," he added, "but we don't hear of one."
Mr. Pawle looked round the room, as if suspicious that Ashton might have
hidden papers in the stuffing of the sofa or the easy-chair.
"I wonder if there's anything in that," he said suddenly. "It looks like
a receptacle of some sort."
Viner turned and saw the old lawyer pointing to a curious Japanese
cabinet which stood in the middle of the marble mantelpiece--the only
really notable ornament in the room. Mr. Pawle laid hold of it and
uttered a surprised exclamation. "That's a tremendous weight for so small
a thing!" he said. "Feel it!"
Viner took hold of the cabinet--an affair of some eighteen inches in
height and twelve in depth--and came to the conclusion that it was
heavily weighted with lead. He lifted it down to the desk, giving it a
slight shake.
"I took it for a cigar cabinet," he remarked. "How does it open? Have you
a key that will fit it?"
But upon examination there was no keyhole, and nothing to show how the
door was opened.
"I see what this is," said Viner, after looking closely over the cabinet,
back, front and sides. "It opens by a trick--a secret. Probably you press
something somewhere and the door flies open. But--where?"
"Try," counselled Mr. Pawle. "There's something inside--I heard it when
you shook the thing."
It took Viner ten minutes to find out the secret. He would not have found
it at all but for accident. But pressing here and pulling there, he
suddenly touched what appeared to be no more than a cleverly inserted
rivet in the ebony surface; there was a sharp click, and the panelled
front flew open.
"There is something!" exclaimed Mr. Pawle. "Papers!"
He drew out a bundle of papers, folded in a strong sheet of
cartridge-paper and sealed back and front. The enveloping cover
was old and faded; the ribbon which had been tied round the
bundle was discoloured by age; the wax of the seals was cracked
all over the surface.
"No inscription, no writing," said Mr. Pawle. "Now, I wonder
what's in here?"
"Shall I fetch Miss Wickham?" suggested Viner. Mr. Pawle hesitated.
"No!" he said at last. "I think not. Let us first find out what this
packet contains. I'll take the responsibility."
He cut the ribbons beneath the seals, and presently revealed a number of
letters, old and yellow, in a woman's handwriting. And after a hasty
glance at one or two of the uppermost, he turned to Viner with an
exclamation that signified much.
"Viner!" he said, "here is indeed a find! These are letters written by
the Countess of Ellingham to her son, Lord Marketstoke, when he was a
schoolboy at Eton!"