DISCLOSES A MYSTERY.
The man's amazing announcement held me speechless.
"Murdered!" I cried when I found tongue. "Impossible!"
"Ah! sir, it's too true. He's quite dead."
"But surely he has died from natural causes--eh?"
"No, sir. My poor master has been foully murdered."
"How do you know that?" I asked breathlessly. "Tell me all the facts."
I saw by the man's agitation, his white face, and the hurried manner
in which he had evidently dressed to come in search of me, that
something tragic had really occurred.
"We know nothing yet, sir," was his quick response. "I entered his
room at two o'clock, as usual, to see if he wanted anything, and saw
that he was quite still, apparently asleep. The lamp was turned low,
but as I looked over the bed I saw a small dark patch upon the sheet.
This I discovered to be blood, and a moment later was horrified to
discover a small wound close to the heart, and from it the blood was
slowly oozing."
"Then he's been stabbed, you think?" I gasped, springing up and
beginning to dress myself hastily.
"We think so, sir. It's awful!"
"Terrible!" I said, utterly dumbfounded by the man's amazing story.
"After you made the discovery, how did you act?"
"I awoke the nurse, who slept in the room adjoining. And then we
aroused Miss Mivart. The shock to her was terrible, poor young lady.
When she saw the body of the old gentleman she burst into tears, and
at once sent me to you. I didn't find a cab till I'd walked almost to
Hammersmith, and then I came straight on here."
"But is there undoubtedly foul play, Short?"
"No doubt whatever, sir. I'm nothing of a doctor, but I could see the
wound plainly, like a small clean cut just under the heart."
"No weapon about?"
"I didn't see anything, sir."
"Have you called the police?"
"No, sir. Miss Mivart said she would wait until you arrived. She wants
your opinion."
"And Mrs. Courtenay. How does she bear the tragedy?"
"The poor lady doesn't know yet."
"Doesn't know? Haven't you told her?"
"No, sir. She's not at home."
"What? She hasn't returned?"
"No, sir," responded the man.
That fact was in itself peculiar. Yet there was, I felt sure, some
strong reason if young Mrs. Courtenay remained the night with her
friends, the Hennikers. Trains run to Kew after the theatres, but she
had possibly missed the last, and had been induced by her friends to
remain the night with them in town.
Yet the whole of the tragic affair was certainly very extraordinary.
It was Short's duty to rise at two o'clock each morning and go to his
master's room to ascertain if the invalid wanted anything. Generally,
however, the old gentleman slept well, hence there had been no
necessity for a night nurse.
When I entered the cab, and the man having taken a seat beside me, we
had set out on our long night drive to Kew, I endeavoured to obtain
more details regarding the Courtenay _menage_. In an ordinary way I
could scarcely have questioned a servant regarding his master and
mistress, but on this drive I saw an occasion to obtain knowledge, and
seized it.
Short, although a well-trained servant, was communicative. The shock
he had sustained in discovering his master made him so.
After ten years' service he was devoted to his master, but from the
remarks he let drop during our drive I detected that he entertained a
strong dislike of the old gentleman's young wife. He was, of course,
well aware of my affection for Ethelwynn, and carefully concealed his
antipathy towards her, an antipathy which I somehow felt convinced
existed. He regarded both sisters with equal mistrust.
"Does your mistress often remain in town with her friends at night?"
"Sometimes, when she goes to balls."
"And is that often?"
"Not very often."
"And didn't the old gentleman know of his wife's absence?"
"Sometimes. He used to ask me whether Mrs. Courtenay was at home, and
then I was bound to tell the truth."
By his own admission then, this man Short had informed the invalid of
his wife's frequent absences. He was an informer, and as such most
probably the enemy of both Mary and Ethelwynn. I knew him to be the
confidential servant of the old gentleman, but had not before
suspected him of tale-telling. Without doubt Mrs. Courtenay's recent
neglect had sorely grieved the old gentleman. He doted upon her,
indulged her in every whim and fancy and, like many an aged husband
who has a smart young wife, dared not to differ from her or complain
of any of her actions. There is a deal of truth in the adage, "There's
no fool like an old fool."
But the mystery was increasing, and as we drove together down that
long interminable high road through Hammersmith to Chiswick, wet, dark
and silent at that hour, I reflected that the strange presage of
insecurity which had so long oppressed me was actually being
fulfilled. Ambler Jevons had laughed at it. But would he laugh now?
To-morrow, without doubt, he would be working at the mystery in the
interests of justice. To try to keep the affair out of the Press
would, I knew too well, be impossible. Those men, in journalistic
parlance called "liners," are everywhere, hungry for copy, and always
eager to seize upon anything tragic or mysterious.
From Short I gathered a few additional details. Not many, be it said,
but sufficient to make it quite clear that he was intensely
antagonistic towards his mistress. This struck me as curious, for as
far as I had seen she had always treated him with the greatest
kindness and consideration, had given him holidays, and to my
knowledge had, a few months before, raised his wages of her own
accord. Nevertheless, the _menage_ was a strange one, incongruous in
every respect.
My chief thoughts were, however, with my love. The shock to her must,
I knew, be terrible, especially as Mary was absent and she was alone
with the nurse and servants.
When I sprang from the cab and entered the house she met me in the
hall. She had dressed hastily and wore a light shawl over her head,
probably to conceal her disordered hair, but her face was blanched to
the lips.
"Oh, Ralph!" she cried in a trembling voice. "I thought you were never
coming. It's terrible--terrible!"
"Come in here," I said, leading her into the dining room. "Tell me all
you know of the affair."
"Short discovered him just after two o'clock. He was then quite
still."
"But there may be life," I exclaimed suddenly, and leaving her I
rushed up the stairs and into the room where the old man had chatted
to me so merrily not many hours before.
The instant my gaze fell upon him I knew the truth. Cadaveric rigidity
had supervened, and he had long been beyond hope of human aid. His
furrowed face was as white as ivory, and his lower jaw had dropped in
that manner that unmistakably betrays the presence of death.
As the man had described, the sheet was stained with blood. But there
was not much, and I was some moments before I discovered the wound. It
was just beneath the heart, cleanly cut, and about three-quarters of
an inch long, evidently inflicted by some sharp instrument. He had no
doubt been struck in his sleep, and with such precision that he had
died without being able to raise the alarm.
The murderer, whoever he was, had carried the weapon away.
I turned and saw Ethelwynn, a pale wan figure in her light gown and
shawl, standing on the threshold, watching me intently. She stood
there white and trembling, as though fearing to enter the presence of
the dead.
I made a hasty tour of the room, examining the window and finding it
fastened. As far as I could discover, nothing whatever was disturbed.
Then I went out to her and, closing the door behind me, said--
"Short must go along to the police station. We must report it."
"But is it really necessary?" she asked anxiously. "Think of the awful
exposure in the papers. Can't we hush it up? Do, Ralph--for my sake,"
she implored.
"But I can't give a death certificate when a person has been
murdered," I explained. "Before burial there must be a _post-mortem_
and an inquest."
"Then you think he has actually been murdered?"
"Of course, without a doubt. It certainly isn't suicide."
The discovery had caused her to become rigid, almost statuesque.
Sudden terror often acts thus upon women of her highly nervous
temperament. She allowed me to lead her downstairs and back to the
dining room. On the way I met Short in the hall, and ordered him to go
at once to the police station.
"Now, dearest," I said, taking her hand tenderly in mine when we were
alone together with the door closed, "tell me calmly all you know of
this awful affair."
"I--I know nothing," she declared. "Nothing except what you already
know. Short knocked at my door and I dressed hastily, only to discover
that the poor old gentleman was dead."
"Was the house still locked up?"
"I believe so. The servants could, I suppose, tell that."
"But is it not strange that Mary is still absent?" I remarked,
perplexed.
"No, not very. Sometimes she has missed her last train and has stopped
the night with the Penn-Pagets or the Hennikers. It is difficult, she
says, to go to supper after the theatre and catch the last train. It
leaves Charing Cross so early."
Again there seemed a distinct inclination on her part to shield her
sister.
"The whole thing is a most profound mystery," she went on. "I must
have slept quite lightly, for I heard the church clock strike each
quarter until one o'clock, yet not an unusual sound reached me.
Neither did nurse hear anything."
Nurse Kate was an excellent woman whom I had known at Guy's through
several years. Both Sir Bernard and myself had every confidence in
her, and she had been the invalid's attendant for the past two years.
"It certainly is a mystery--one which we must leave to the police to
investigate. In the meantime, however, we must send Short to Redcliffe
Square to find Mary. He must not tell her the truth, but merely say
that her husband is much worse. To tell her of the tragedy at once
would probably prove too great a blow."
"She ought never to have gone to town and left him," declared my
well-beloved in sudden condemnation of her sister's conduct. "She will
never forgive herself."
"Regrets will not bring the poor fellow to life again," I said with a
sigh. "We must act, and act promptly, in order to discover the
identity of the murderer and the motive of the crime. That there is a
motive is certain; yet it is indeed strange that anyone should
actually kill a man suffering from a disease which, in a few months at
most, must prove fatal. The motive was therefore his immediate
decease, and that fact will probably greatly assist the police in
their investigations."
"But who could have killed him?"
"Ah! that's the mystery. If, as you believe, the house was found to be
still secured when the alarm was raised, then it would appear that
someone who slept beneath this roof was guilty."
"Oh! Impossible! Remember there are only myself and the servants. You
surely don't suspect either of them?"
"I have no suspicion of anyone at present," I answered. "Let the
police search the place, and they may discover something which will
furnish them with a clue."
I noticed some telegraph-forms in the stationery rack on a small
writing-table, and taking one scribbled a couple of lines to Sir
Bernard, at Hove, informing him of the mysterious affair. This I
folded and placed in my pocket in readiness for the re-opening of the
telegraph office at eight o'clock.
Shortly afterwards we heard the wheels of the cab outside, and a few
minutes later were joined by a police inspector in uniform and an
officer in plain clothes.
In a few brief sentences I explained to them the tragic circumstances,
and then led them upstairs to the dead man's room.
After a cursory glance around, they went forth again out upon the
landing in order to await the arrival of two other plain-clothes
officers who had come round on foot, one of them the sergeant of the
Criminal Investigation Department attached to the Kew station. Then,
after giving orders to the constable on the beat to station himself at
the door and allow no one to enter or leave without permission, the
three detectives and the inspector entered the room where the dead man
lay.