THE EDINBURGH MYSTERY
The man in the corner had not enjoyed his lunch. Miss Polly Burton could
see that he had something on his mind, for, even before he began to talk
that morning, he was fidgeting with his bit of string, and setting all
her nerves on the jar.
"Have you ever felt real sympathy with a criminal or a thief?" he asked
her after a while.
"Only once, I think," she replied, "and then I am not quite sure that
the unfortunate woman who did enlist my sympathies was the criminal you
make her out to be."
"You mean the heroine of the York mystery?" he replied blandly. "I know
that you tried very hard that time to discredit the only possible
version of that mysterious murder, the version which is my own. Now, I
am equally sure that you have at the present moment no more notion as to
who killed and robbed poor Lady Donaldson in Charlotte Square,
Edinburgh, than the police have themselves, and yet you are fully
prepared to pooh-pooh my arguments, and to disbelieve my version of the
mystery. Such is the lady journalist's mind."
"If you have some cock-and-bull story to explain that extraordinary
case," she retorted, "of course I shall disbelieve it. Certainly, if you
are going to try and enlist my sympathies on behalf of Edith Crawford, I
can assure you you won't succeed."
"Well, I don't know that that is altogether my intention. I see you are
interested in the case, but I dare say you don't remember all the
circumstances. You must forgive me if I repeat that which you know
already. If you have ever been to Edinburgh at all, you will have heard
of Graham's bank, and Mr. Andrew Graham, the present head of the firm,
is undoubtedly one of the most prominent notabilities of 'modern
Athens.'"
The man in the corner took two or three photos from his pocket-book and
placed them before the young girl; then, pointing at them with his long
bony finger--
"That," he said, "is Mr. Elphinstone Graham, the eldest son, a typical
young Scotchman, as you see, and this is David Graham, the second son."
Polly looked more closely at this last photo, and saw before her a young
face, upon which some lasting sorrow seemed already to have left its
mark. The face was delicate and thin, the features pinched, and the
eyes seemed almost unnaturally large and prominent.
"He was deformed," commented the man in the corner in answer to the
girl's thoughts, "and, as such, an object of pity and even of repugnance
to most of his friends. There was also a good deal of talk in Edinburgh
society as to his mental condition, his mind, according to many intimate
friends of the Grahams, being at times decidedly unhinged. Be that as it
may, I fancy that his life must have been a very sad one; he had lost
his mother when quite a baby, and his father seemed, strangely enough,
to have an almost unconquerable dislike towards him.
"Every one got to know presently of David Graham's sad position in his
father's own house, and also of the great affection lavished upon him by
his godmother, Lady Donaldson, who was a sister of Mr. Graham's.
"She was a lady of considerable wealth, being the widow of Sir George
Donaldson, the great distiller; but she seems to have been decidedly
eccentric. Latterly she had astonished all her family--who were rigid
Presbyterians--by announcing her intention of embracing the Roman
Catholic faith, and then retiring to the convent of St. Augustine's at
Newton Abbot in Devonshire.
"She had sole and absolute control of the vast fortune which a doting
husband had bequeathed to her. Clearly, therefore, she was at liberty
to bestow it upon a Devonshire convent if she chose. But this evidently
was not altogether her intention.
"I told you how fond she was of her deformed godson, did I not? Being a
bundle of eccentricities, she had many hobbies, none more pronounced
than the fixed determination to see--before retiring from the world
altogether--David Graham happily married.
"Now, it appears that David Graham, ugly, deformed, half-demented as he
was, had fallen desperately in love with Miss Edith Crawford, daughter
of the late Dr. Crawford, of Prince's Gardens. The young lady,
however--very naturally, perhaps--fought shy of David Graham, who, about
this time, certainly seemed very queer and morose, but Lady Donaldson,
with characteristic determination, seems to have made up her mind to
melt Miss Crawford's heart towards her unfortunate nephew.
"On October the 2nd last, at a family party given by Mr. Graham in his
fine mansion in Charlotte Square, Lady Donaldson openly announced her
intention of making over, by deed of gift, to her nephew, David Graham,
certain property, money, and shares, amounting in total value to the sum
of £100,000, and also her magnificent diamonds, which were worth
£50,000, for the use of the said David's wife. Keith Macfinlay, a lawyer
of Prince's Street, received the next day instructions for drawing up
the necessary deed of gift, which she pledged herself to sign the day of
her godson's wedding.
"A week later _The Scotsman_ contained the following paragraph:--
"'A marriage is arranged and will shortly take place between David,
younger son of Andrew Graham, Esq., of Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, and
Dochnakirk, Perthshire, and Edith Lillian, only surviving daughter of
the late Dr. Kenneth Crawford, of Prince's Gardens.'
"In Edinburgh society comments were loud and various upon the
forthcoming marriage, and, on the whole, these comments were far from
complimentary to the families concerned. I do not think that the Scotch
are a particularly sentimental race, but there was such obvious buying,
selling, and bargaining about this marriage that Scottish chivalry rose
in revolt at the thought.
"Against that the three people most concerned seemed perfectly
satisfied. David Graham was positively transformed; his moroseness was
gone from him, he lost his queer ways and wild manners, and became
gentle and affectionate in the midst of this great and unexpected
happiness. Miss Edith Crawford ordered her trousseau, and talked of the
diamonds to her friends, and Lady Donaldson was only waiting for the
consummation of this marriage--her heart's desire--before she finally
retired from the world, at peace with it and with herself.
"The deed of gift was ready for signature on the wedding day, which was
fixed for November 7th, and Lady Donaldson took up her abode temporarily
in her brother's house in Charlotte Square.
"Mr. Graham gave a large ball on October 23rd. Special interest is
attached to this ball, from the fact that for this occasion Lady
Donaldson insisted that David's future wife should wear the magnificent
diamonds which were soon to become hers.
"They were, it seems, superb, and became Miss Crawford's stately beauty
to perfection. The ball was a brilliant success, the last guest leaving
at four a.m. The next day it was the universal topic of conversation,
and the day after that, when Edinburgh unfolded the late editions of its
morning papers, it learned with horror and dismay that Lady Donaldson
had been found murdered in her room, and that the celebrated diamonds
had been stolen.
"Hardly had the beautiful little city, however, recovered from this
awful shock, than its newspapers had another thrilling sensation ready
for their readers.
"Already all Scotch and English papers had mysteriously hinted at
'startling information' obtained by the Procurator Fiscal, and at an
'impending sensational arrest.'
"Then the announcement came, and every one in Edinburgh read,
horror-struck and aghast, that the 'sensational arrest' was none other
than that of Miss Edith Crawford, for murder and robbery, both so daring
and horrible that reason refused to believe that a young lady, born and
bred in the best social circle, could have conceived, much less
executed, so heinous a crime. She had been arrested in London at the
Midland Hotel, and brought to Edinburgh, where she was judicially
examined, bail being refused."