THE DUBLIN MYSTERY
"I always thought that the history of that forged will was about as
interesting as any I had read," said the man in the corner that day. He
had been silent for some time, and was meditatively sorting and looking
through a packet of small photographs in his pocket-book. Polly guessed
that some of these would presently be placed before her for
inspection--and she had not long to wait.
"That is old Brooks," he said, pointing to one of the photographs,
"Millionaire Brooks, as he was called, and these are his two sons,
Percival and Murray. It was a curious case, wasn't it? Personally I
don't wonder that the police were completely at sea. If a member of that
highly estimable force happened to be as clever as the clever author of
that forged will, we should have very few undetected crimes in this
country."
"That is why I always try to persuade you to give our poor ignorant
police the benefit of your great insight and wisdom," said Polly, with
a smile.
"I know," he said blandly, "you have been most kind in that way, but I
am only an amateur. Crime interests me only when it resembles a clever
game of chess, with many intricate moves which all tend to one solution,
the checkmating of the antagonist--the detective force of the country.
Now, confess that, in the Dublin mystery, the clever police there were
absolutely checkmated."
"Absolutely."
"Just as the public was. There were actually two crimes committed in one
city which have completely baffled detection: the murder of Patrick
Wethered the lawyer, and the forged will of Millionaire Brooks. There
are not many millionaires in Ireland; no wonder old Brooks was a
notability in his way, since his business--bacon curing, I believe it
is--is said to be worth over £2,000,000 of solid money.
"His younger son Murray was a refined, highly educated man, and was,
moreover, the apple of his father's eye, as he was the spoilt darling of
Dublin society; good-looking, a splendid dancer, and a perfect rider, he
was the acknowledged 'catch' of the matrimonial market of Ireland, and
many a very aristocratic house was opened hospitably to the favourite
son of the millionaire.
"Of course, Percival Brooks, the eldest son, would inherit the bulk of
the old man's property and also probably the larger share in the
business; he, too, was good-looking, more so than his brother; he, too,
rode, danced, and talked well, but it was many years ago that mammas
with marriageable daughters had given up all hopes of Percival Brooks as
a probable son-in-law. That young man's infatuation for Maisie
Fortescue, a lady of undoubted charm but very doubtful antecedents, who
had astonished the London and Dublin music-halls with her extravagant
dances, was too well known and too old-established to encourage any
hopes in other quarters.
"Whether Percival Brooks would ever marry Maisie Fortescue was thought
to be very doubtful. Old Brooks had the full disposal of all his wealth,
and it would have fared ill with Percival if he introduced an
undesirable wife into the magnificent Fitzwilliam Place establishment.
"That is how matters stood," continued the man in the corner, "when
Dublin society one morning learnt, with deep regret and dismay, that old
Brooks had died very suddenly at his residence after only a few hours'
illness. At first it was generally understood that he had had an
apoplectic stroke; anyway, he had been at business hale and hearty as
ever the day before his death, which occurred late on the evening of
February 1st.
"It was the morning papers of February 2nd which told the sad news to
their readers, and it was those selfsame papers which on that eventful
morning contained another even more startling piece of news, that proved
the prelude to a series of sensations such as tranquil, placid Dublin
had not experienced for many years. This was, that on that very
afternoon which saw the death of Dublin's greatest millionaire, Mr.
Patrick Wethered, his solicitor, was murdered in Phoenix Park at five
o'clock in the afternoon while actually walking to his own house from
his visit to his client in Fitzwilliam Place.
"Patrick Wethered was as well known as the proverbial town pump; his
mysterious and tragic death filled all Dublin with dismay. The lawyer,
who was a man sixty years of age, had been struck on the back of the
head by a heavy stick, garrotted, and subsequently robbed, for neither
money, watch, or pocket-book were found upon his person, whilst the
police soon gathered from Patrick Wethered's household that he had left
home at two o'clock that afternoon, carrying both watch and pocket-book,
and undoubtedly money as well.
"An inquest was held, and a verdict of wilful murder was found against
some person or persons unknown.
"But Dublin had not exhausted its stock of sensations yet. Millionaire
Brooks had been buried with due pomp and magnificence, and his will had
been proved (his business and personalty being estimated at £2,500,000)
by Percival Gordon Brooks, his eldest son and sole executor. The younger
son, Murray, who had devoted the best years of his life to being a
friend and companion to his father, while Percival ran after
ballet-dancers and music-hall stars--Murray, who had avowedly been the
apple of his father's eye in consequence--was left with a miserly
pittance of £300 a year, and no share whatever in the gigantic business
of Brooks & Sons, bacon curers, of Dublin.
"Something had evidently happened within the precincts of the Brooks'
town mansion, which the public and Dublin society tried in vain to
fathom. Elderly mammas and blushing _débutantes_ were already thinking
of the best means whereby next season they might more easily show the
cold shoulder to young Murray Brooks, who had so suddenly become a
hopeless 'detrimental' in the marriage market, when all these sensations
terminated in one gigantic, overwhelming bit of scandal, which for the
next three months furnished food for gossip in every drawing-room in
Dublin.
"Mr. Murray Brooks, namely, had entered a claim for probate of a will,
made by his father in 1891, declaring that the later will made the very
day of his father's death and proved by his brother as sole executor,
was null and void, that will being a forgery."