"This affair is certainly most distressing, Mrs Laing. Dudley was such
an excellent fellow that we must each one of us regret his loss very
deeply indeed. I have just been discussing the matter with the doctor;
but, of course, he can at present form no conjecture as to the cause of
death."
"Natural causes, no doubt," chimed in the medical man, in a dry,
business-like tone. "I think we may at once dismiss all idea that
violence was used."
"You think so?" inquired Mrs Laing, with eagerness. "You don't believe,
then, he has been a victim of foul play?"
"Not at all. Beyond the slight bruise on the forehead, evidently caused
by the fall upon the gravel, there is no mark whatever," the doctor
answered. "Until I have made a thorough examination I cannot, of
course, determine the nature of the fatal cause. By noon to-morrow we
shall, I hope, know the truth."
"He must have fallen and expired within ten minutes of leaving the
house," Beck exclaimed. "Yet when he shook hands with us he was in the
highest possible spirits. How terribly sudden his end was."
"Terrible!" I exclaimed, myself dazed by the peculiarly tragic and
mysterious affair. "When he wished us adieu he could not have dreamed
that his life had so nearly run its course."
"He complained of no pain during the evening, I suppose?" the doctor
inquired.
"Not to my knowledge," Beck answered, and this statement I was compelled
to endorse.
"He dined here?" Dr Allenby exclaimed, turning to Mrs Laing.
"Yes."
"There are some remains of the food left, I presume?"
"No doubt," she answered quickly. "But--but what do you suspect! Are
the symptoms those of poisoning?" she gasped.
"I suspect nothing," replied the doctor, with hesitation. "The fact
that the hands are tightly clenched suggests a final paroxysm of pain
which might possibly accrue from poison. The remains of the dinner may
be required for analysis, therefore it would be advisable to keep them."
"Very well," she answered, a shadow of annoyance upon her face. "I'll
give orders to that effect. But surely, doctor, you do not think poor
Dudley can have been poisoned in my house. If anything we had for
dinner had been deleterious, all of us must have suffered."
"No, pardon me for disagreeing," he answered politely. "In many cases
known to toxicologists, families have eaten of the same meal, and one
person only has been seized with sudden illness that has proved fatal.
By analysis we may obtain some clue as to the cause of Mr Ogle's
unfortunate end."
Mrs Laing's thin lips moved, but no sound escaped them. At last,
turning suddenly, she covered her face with her hands, as if to shut out
from her gaze the white, haggard countenance she had so recently looked
upon.
"Come," exclaimed the doctor, sympathetically, laying his hand upon her
arm. "You are trembling. This unfortunate occurrence has no doubt
upset you, but you must bear up. Immediately I get home I shall send
you a draught that will brace up your nerves. Take care how the sad
news is broken to Miss Ella. The slightest undue excitement may affect
her very seriously."
"I have not forgotten your words yesterday, doctor," she replied. "You
are very kind. Good-night!"
They shook hands, and Dr Allenby, taking up his hat, left--an example
Beck and I soon afterwards followed, passing the night at the Angel
Hotel.
Throughout the dark, breathless hours sleep came not to my eyes, so full
was my mind of the tragic discovery. As I lay awake, hour after hour,
listening to the chiming bells, and watching the dawn struggling in
between the curtains, I reflected deeply upon the strange events of that
evening, and the more I pondered, the more mysterious appeared the
circumstances. Foremost in my mind was the strange, inviolable secret
that I felt convinced existed between Ella and Beck. Although
strenuously denied by her, she had nevertheless admitted her
unworthiness of my love. Yet I adored her. No woman had ever stirred
my soul as she had; no woman had so completely held me under her spell.
I remembered how she had seemed a trifle wan and distressed; yet that
look enhanced rather than detracted from her refined beauty. Her steady
refusal to enlighten me regarding the subject of her earnest
conversation with Beck when I had watched them in the garden, and the
significant glances she had exchanged with him across the dinner-table,
had aroused within me a suspicion that, notwithstanding her declaration,
she loved Beck. Again, the tone of her letter was, I now saw
distinctly, such as a woman would write if she desired to break off her
engagement. Yet had I not a right to demand full explanation of her
extraordinary statement? had I not a right to seek the truth of her
relations with this loud-spoken parvenu? Nevertheless, as I pondered, I
felt half inclined to believe that my estimate of Beck was a distorted
one, for his regret at the death of Dudley, and his sympathy for Mrs
Laing were, I felt assured, deep, heartfelt and genuine. When at last I
carefully analysed my feelings towards him, I was bound to admit within
myself that jealousy was now the only cause of my bitter antipathy.
Again, other incidents increased the mystery. Mrs Laing's dread that
Ella should know of Dudley's death was very curious, and her
exclamations and inquiries of the doctor regarding his conjecture of
poison seemed to point to the fact that she entertained certain
suspicions, or was aware of certain facts. But, after fully reviewing
the tragic affair in all its phases, I arrived at the conclusion that Dr
Allenby did not anticipate for one moment finding poison at the
_post-mortem_. On the contrary, from the words he had let drop, he
undoubtedly believed death due to heart-disease. I could not, however,
rid myself of a vague suspicion that Ella's mother feared analysis of
the remains of the dinner, and that the presence of the police unnerved
her, as it invariably does those who are guilty.
Until the sun shone out, casting a long bright beam across the dingy
carpet, I pondered over these curious facts in their sequence, unable to
elucidate the deep mystery underlying them. After a dismal, sleepless
night, haunted by a nameless spectral fear, that ray of sunshine brought
back hope and banished despair I found myself at last reflecting that,
after all, Dudley had expired suddenly from a cause to which any of us
might be liable, and it was probable that I had been scenting mystery
and tragedy where there were none.
I rose, and actually smiled at the weird and horrible nature of the
thoughts that throughout the wearying night had held me spellbound in
indescribable dread and terror.