long since arrived, the guests had all assembled, the bridesmaids
were waiting in the porch: but there was no bridegroom. Neither he
nor his best man had arrived; and now it was half an hour after the
time appointed for the ceremony, and, oh, horror! the bride's car was
in sight. The bride in church waiting for the bridegroom!--such an
outrage had not been witnessed in Folkestone within the memory of the
oldest inhabitants.
"One of the guests went at once to break the news to the elderly
relative who had arranged to give the bride away, and who was with
her in the car, whilst another, a Mr. Sutherland Ford, jumped into
the first available taxi, having volunteered to go to the station in
order to ascertain whether there had been any breakdown on the line,
as the bridegroom was coming down by train from London with his best
man.
"The bride, hastily apprised of the extraordinary contretemps,
remained in the car, with the blinds pulled down, well concealed from
the prying eyes of the crowd, whilst the fashionable guests,
relatives and friends had perforce to possess their soul in patience.
"And presently the news fell like a bombshell in the midst of this
lively throng. A taxi drove up, and from it alighted first Mr.
Sutherland Ford, who had volunteered to go to the station for
information, and then John and Henry Carter, the two latter
beautifully got up in frock-coats, striped trousers, top hats, and
flowers in their buttonholes, looking obviously like belated wedding
guests. But still no bridegroom, and no best man.
"The three gentlemen, paying no heed to the shower of questions that
assailed them, as soon as they had jumped out of the taxi ran
straight into the church, leaving every one's curiosity unsatisfied
and public excitement at fever pitch.
"'It was John and Henry Carter,' the ladies whispered agitatedly;
'fancy their being asked to the wedding!'
"And those who were in the know whispered to those who were less
favoured that young Henry had at one time been engaged to Louisa
Smithson, before she met her Russian Prince, and that when she threw
him over he was in such dire despair that his friends thought he
would commit suicide.
"A moment or two later Mrs. Smithson was seen hurriedly coming out of
church, her face pale and drawn, and her beautiful hat all awry. She
made straight for the bride's car, stepped into it, and the car
immediately drove off, whilst the wedding guests trooped out of the
church, and the terrible news spread like wildfire through the crowd,
and was presently all over the town.
"It seems that when the midday train, London to Folkestone, stopped
at Swanley Junction, two passengers who were about to enter a
first-class compartment in one of the corridor carriages were
horrified to find it in a terrible state of disorder. They hastily
called the guard, and on examination the carriage looked indeed as if
it had been the scene of a violent struggle: the door on the off side
was unlatched, two of the window straps were wrenched off, the
anti-macassars were torn off the cushions, one of the luggage racks
was broken, and the net hung down in strips, and over some of the
cushions were marks unmistakably made by a blood-stained hand.
"The guard immediately locked the compartment and sent for the local
police. No one was allowed in or out of the station until every
passenger on the train had satisfied the police as to his or her
identity. Thus the train was held up for over two hours whilst
preliminary investigations were going on.
"There appeared no doubt that a terrible murder had been committed,
and telephonic communication all along the line presently established
the fact that it must have been done somewhere in the neighbourhood
of Sydenham Hill, because a group of men who were at work on the 'up'
side of the line at Penge, when the down train came out of the tunnel
noticed that the door of one of the first-class carriages was open.
It swung to again just before the train steamed through the station.
"A preliminary search was at once made in and about the tunnel; it
revealed on the platform of Sydenham Hill station a first-class
single ticket of that day's issue, London to Folkestone, crushed and
stained with blood, and on the permanent way, close to the entrance
of the tunnel on the Penge side, a soft black hat, and a broken pair
of pince-nez. But as to the identity of the victim there was for the
moment no clue.
"After a couple of wearisome and anxious hours the passengers were
allowed to proceed on their journey. Among these passengers, it
appears, were John and Henry Carter, who were on their way to the
Smithson wedding. Until they arrived in Folkestone they had no more
idea than the police who the victim of the mysterious train murder
was: but in the station they caught side of Mr. Sutherland Ford, whom
they knew slightly. Mr. Ford was making agitated enquiries as to any
possible accident on the line. The Carters put him _au fait_ of what
had occurred, and as there was no sign of the Russian Prince amongst
the passengers who had just arrived, all three men came to the
horrifying conclusion that it was indeed the bridegroom elect who had
been murdered.
"They communicated at once with the police, and there were more
investigations and telephonic messages up and down the line before
the Carters and Mr. Ford were at last allowed to proceed to the
church and break the awful news to those most directly concerned.
"And in this tragic fashion did Louisa Smithson's wedding-day draw to
its end; nor, as far as the public was concerned, was the mystery of
that terrible murder ever satisfactorily cleared up. The local
police worked very hard and very systematically, but, though
presently they also had the help of one of the ablest detectives from
Scotland Yard, nothing was seen or found that gave the slightest clue
either as to the means which the murderer or murderers adopted for
removing the body of their victim, or in what manner they made good
their escape. The body of the Russian Prince was never found, and,
as far as the public knows, the murderer is still at large; and
although, as time went on, many strange facts came to light, they
only helped to plunge that extraordinary crime into darker mystery."
§2
"The facts in themselves were curious enough, you will admit," the
Old Man in the Corner went on after a while. "Many of these were
never known to the public, whilst others found their way into the
columns of the halfpenny Press, who battened on the 'Mystery of the
Russian Prince' for weeks on end, and, as far as the unfortunate
Smithsons were concerned, there was not a reader of the _Express
Post_ and kindred newspapers who did not know the whole of their
family history.
"It seems that Louisa Smithson is the daughter of a grocer in
Folkestone, who had retired from business just before the War, and
with his wife and his only child led a meagre and obscure existence
in a tiny house in Warren Avenue somewhere near the tram road. They
were always supposed to be very poor, but suddenly old Smithson died
and it turned out that he had been a miser, for he left the handsome
little fortune of fifteen thousand pounds to be equally divided
between his daughter and his widow.
"At once Mrs. Smithson and Louisa found themselves the centre of an
admiring throng of friends and relatives all eager to help them spend
their money for their especial benefit; but Mrs. Smithson was shrewd
enough not to allow herself to be exploited by those who in the past
had never condescended to more than a bowing acquaintance with her.
She turned her back on most of those sycophants, but at the same time
she was determined to do the best for herself and for Louisa, and to
this end she admitted into her councils her sister, Margaret Penny,
who was saleswoman at a fashionable shop in London, and who
immediately advised a journey up to town so that the question of
clothes might at once be satisfactorily settled.
"In addition to valuable advice on that score, this Miss Penny seems
to have succeeded in completely turning her sister's head. Certain
it is that Mrs. Smithson left Folkestone a quiet, sensible, motherly
woman, and that she returned, six weeks later, an arrogant,
ill-mannered parvenue, who seemed to think that the possession of a
few thousand pounds entitled her to ride rough-shod over the feelings
and sentiments of those who had less money than herself.
"She began by taking a suite of rooms at the Splendide Hotel for
herself, her daughter, and her maid. Then she sold her house in
Warren Avenue, bought a car, and, though she and Louisa were of
course in deep mourning, they were to be seen everywhere in wonderful
Bond Street dresses and marvellous feathered hats. Finally, they
announced their intention of spending the coming winter on the
Riviera, probably Monte Carlo.
"All this extravagant behaviour made some people smile, others
shrugged their shoulders and predicted disaster: but there was one
who suffered acutely through this change in the fortune of the
Smithsons. This was Henry Carter, a young clerk employed in an
insurance office in London. He and his brother were Folkestone men,
sons of a local tailor in a very small way of business, who had been
one of old Smithson's rare friends. The elder Carter boy had long
since cut his stick and was said to be earning a living in London by
free-lance journalism. The younger one, Henry, remained to help his
father with the tailoring. He was a constant visitor in the little
house in Warren Avenue, and presently became engaged to Louisa.
There could be no question of an immediate marriage, of course, as
Henry had neither money nor prospects. However, presently old Carter
died, the tailoring business was sold for a couple of hundred pounds,
and Henry went up to London to join his brother and to seek his
fortune. Presently he obtained a post in an insurance office, but
his engagement to Louisa subsisted: the young people were known to be
deeply in love with one another, and Henry spent most weekends and
all his holidays in Folkestone in order to be near his girl.
"Then came the change in the fortune of the Smithsons, and an
immediate coolness in Louisa's manner toward young Henry. It was all
very well in the past to be engaged to the son of a jobbing tailor,
while one was poor oneself, and one had neither wit nor good looks,
but now...!
"In fact already when they were in London Mrs. Smithson had intimated
to Henry Carter that his visits were none too welcome, and when he
appealed to Louisa she put him off with a few curt words. The young
man was in despair, and, indeed, his brother actually feared at one
time that he would commit suicide.
"It was soon after Christmas of that same year that the curtain was
rung up on the first act of the mysterious tragedy which was destined
to throw a blight for ever after upon the life of Louisa Smithson.
It began with the departure of herself and her mother for the
Continent, where they intended to remain until the end of March. For
the first few weeks their friends had no news of them, but presently
Miss Margaret Penny, who had kept up a desultory correspondence with
a pal of hers in Folkestone, started to give glowing accounts of the
Smithsons' doings in Monte Carlo.
"They were staying at the Hotel de Paris, paying two hundred francs a
day for their rooms alone. They were lunching and dining out every
day of the week. They had been introduced to one or two of the
august personages who usually graced the Riviera with their presence
at this time of year, and they had met a number of interesting
people. According to Miss Penny's account, Louisa Smithson was being
greatly admired, and, in fact, several titled gentlemen of various
nationalities had professed themselves deeply enamoured of her.
"All this Miss Penny recounted in her letters to her friends with a
wealth of detail and a marvellous profusion of adjectives, and
finally in one of her letters there was mention of a certain Russian
grandee--Prince Orsoff by name--who was paying Louisa marked
attention. He, also, was staying at the Paris, appeared very
wealthy, and was obviously of very high rank for he never mixed with
the crowd which was more than usually brilliant this year in Monte
Carlo. This exclusiveness on his part was all the more flattering to
the Smithsons, and, when he apprised them of his intention to spend
the season in London, they had asked him to come and visit them in
Folkestone, where Mrs. Smithson intended to take a house presently
and there to entertain lavishly during the summer.
"After this preliminary announcement from Miss Penny, Louisa herself
wrote a letter to Henry Carter. It was quite a pleasant chatty
letter, telling him of their marvellous doings abroad and of her own
social successes. It did not do more, however, than vaguely hint at
the Russian prince, his distinguished appearance and obvious wealth.
Nevertheless it plunged the unfortunate young man into the utmost
depths of despair, and according to his brother John's subsequent
account, the latter had a terrible time with young Henry that winter.
John himself was very busy with journalistic work which kept him away
sometimes for days and weeks on end from the little home in London
which the two brothers had set up for themselves with the money
derived from the sale of the tailoring business. And Henry's state
of mind did at times seriously alarm his brother, for he would either
threaten to do away with himself, or vow that he would be even with
that accursed foreigner.
"At the end of March, the Smithsons returned to England. During the
interval Mrs. Smithson had made all arrangements for taking The
Towers, a magnificently furnished house facing the Leas at
Folkestone, and here she and Louisa installed themselves preparatory
to launching their invitations for the various tea and tennis
parties, dinners and dances which they proposed to give during the
summer.
"One might really quite truthfully say that the eyes of all
Folkestone were fixed upon the two ladies. Their Paris dresses,
their hats, their jewellery, was the chief subject of conversation at
tea-tables, and of course every one was talking about the Russian
Prince, who--Mrs. Smithson had confided this to a bosom friend--was
coming over to England for the express purpose of proposing to Louisa.
"There was quite a flutter of excitement on a memorable Friday
afternoon when it was rumoured that Henry Carter had come down for a
week-end, and had put up at a small hotel down by the harbour. Of
course, he had come to see Louisa Smithson; every one knew that, and
no doubt he wished to make a final appeal to her love for him which
could not be entirely dead yet.
"Within twenty-four hours, however, it was common gossip that young
Henry had presented himself at The Towers and been refused
admittance. The ladies were out, the butler said, and he did not
know when they would be home. This was on the Saturday. On the
Sunday Henry walked about on the Leas all the morning, in the hope of
seeing Louisa or her mother, and as he failed to do so he called
again in the early part of the afternoon: he was told the ladies were
resting. Later he came again, and the ladies had gone out, and on
the Monday, as presumably business called him back to town, he left
by the early-morning train without having seen his former fiancée.
Indeed people from that moment took it for granted that young Henry
had formally been given his congé.
"Toward the middle of April Prince Orsoff arrived in London. Within
two days he telephoned to Mrs. Smithson to ask her when he might come
to pay his respects. A day was fixed, and he came to The Towers to
lunch. He came again, and at his third visit he formally proposed to
Miss Louisa Smithson, and was accepted. The wedding was to take
place almost immediately, and the very next day the exciting
announcement had gone the round of the Smithsons' large circle of
friends--not only in Folkestone but also in London.
"The effect of the news appears to have been staggering as far as the
unfortunate Henry Carter was concerned. In the picturesque language
of Mrs. Hicks, the middle-aged charlady who 'did' for the two
brothers in their little home in Chelsea, ''e carried on something
awful.' She even went so far as to say that she feared he might 'put
'is 'ead in the gas oven,' and that, as Mr. John was away at the
time, she took the precaution every day when she left to turn the gas
off at the meter.
"The following week-end Henry came down to Folkestone and again took
up his quarters in the small hotel by the harbour. On the Saturday
afternoon he called at The Towers, and refused to take 'no' for an
answer when he asked to see Miss Smithson. Indeed, he seems
literally to have pushed his way into the drawing-room where the
ladies were having tea. According to statements made subsequently by
the butler, there ensued a terrible scene between Henry and his
former fiancée, at the very height of which, as luck would have it,
who should walk in but Prince Orsoff.
"That elegant gentleman, however, seems to have behaved on that
trying occasion with perfect dignity and tact, making it his chief
business to reassure the ladies, and paying no heed to Henry's
recriminations, which presently degenerated into vulgar abuse and
ended in violent threats. At last, with the aid of the majestic
butler, the young man was thrust out of the house, but even on the
doorstep he turned and raised a menacing fist in the direction of
Prince Orsoff and said loudly enough for more than one person to hear:
"'Wait! I'll be even with that ---- foreigner yet!'
"It must indeed have been a terrifying scene for two sensitive and
refined ladies like Mrs. and Miss Smithson to witness. Later on,
after the Prince himself had taken his leave, the butler was rung for
by Mrs. Smithson who told him that under no circumstances was Mr.
Henry Carter ever to be admitted inside The Towers.
"However, a Sunday or two afterwards, Mr. John Carter called and Mrs.
Smithson saw him. He said that he had come down expressly from
London in order to apologise for his brother's conduct. Harry, he
said, was deeply contrite that he should thus have lost control over
himself, his broken heart was his only excuse. After all, he had
been and still was deeply in love with Louisa, and no man, worth his
salt, could see the girl he loved turning her back on him without
losing some of that equanimity which should of course be the
characteristic of every gentleman.
"In fact, Mr. John Carter spoke so well and so persuasively that Mrs.
Smithson and Louisa, who were at bottom quite a worthy pair of women,
agreed to let bygones be bygones, and said that, if Henry would only
behave himself in the future, there was no reason why he should not
remain their friend.
"This appeared a quite satisfactory state of things, and over in the
little house in Chelsea Mrs. Hicks gladly noted that 'Mr. 'Enry
seemed more like 'isself, afterwards.' The very next week-end the
two brothers went down to Folkestone together, and they called at The
Towers so that Henry might offer his apologies in person. The two
gentlemen on that occasion were actually asked to stay to tea.
"Indeed, it seems as if Henry had entirely turned over a new leaf,
and when presently the gracious invitation came for both brothers to
come to the wedding, they equally graciously accepted.
§3
"The day fixed for the happy event was now approaching. The large
circle of acquaintances, friends, and hangers-on which the Smithsons
had gathered around them were all agog with excitement, wedding
presents were pouring in by every post. A kind of network of romance
had been woven around the personalities of the future bride, her
mother, and the Russian Prince. The wealth of the Smithsons had been
magnified an hundredfold, and Prince Orsoff was reputed to be a
brother of the late Czar who had made good his escape out of Russia,
bringing away with him most of the Crown jewels, which he would
presently bestow upon his wife. And so on, _ad infinitum_.
"And upon the top of all that excitement and that gossip, and
marvellous tales akin to the Arabian Nights, came the wedding-day
with its awful culminating tragedy.
"The Russian Prince had been murdered and his body so cleverly
disposed of that in spite of the most strenuous efforts on the part
of the police, not a trace of it could be found.
"That robbery had been the main motive of the crime was quickly
enough established. The Smithsons--mother and daughter--had at once
supplied the detective in charge of the case with proofs as to that.
"It seems that as soon as the unfortunate Prince had become engaged
to Louisa, he asked that the marriage should take place without
delay. He explained that his dearest friend, Mr. Schumann, the great
international financier, had offered him shares in one of the
greatest post-war undertakings which had ever been floated in Europe,
and which would bring in to the fortunate shareholders a net income
of not less than ten thousand pounds yearly for every ten thousand
pounds invested; Mr. Schumann himself owned one-half of all the
shares, and had, by a most wonderful act of disinterested generosity,
allowed his bosom friend, Prince Orsoff, to have a few--a concession,
by the way, which he had only granted to two other favoured
personages, one being the Prince of Wales and the other the President
of the French Republic. Of course to receive ten thousand pounds
yearly for every ten thousand pounds invested, was too wonderful for
words; the President of the French Republic had been so delighted
with this chance of securing a fortune that he had put two million
francs into the concern, and the Prince of Wales had put in five
hundred thousand pounds.
"And it was so wonderfully secure, as otherwise the British
Government would not have allowed the Prince of Wales to invest such
a sum of money if the business was only speculative. Security and
fortune beyond the dreams of thrift! It was positively dazzling.
"No wonder that this vision of untold riches made poor Mrs.
Smithson's mouth water, the more so as she was quite shrewd enough to
realise that, at the rate she was going, her share in the fifteen
thousand pounds left by the late worthy grocer would soon fade into
nothingness. In the past few months she and Louisa had spent
considerably over four thousand pounds between them, and once her
daughter was married to a quasi-royal personage, good old Mrs.
Smithson did not see herself retiring into comparative obscurity on a
few hundreds a year to be jeered at by all her friends.
"So she and Louisa talked the matter over together, and then they
talked it over with Prince Orsoff on the occasion of his visit about
ten days before the wedding. The Prince at first was very doubtful
if the great Mr. Schumann would be willing to make a further
sacrifice in the cause of friendship. He was an international
financier accustomed to deal in millions; he would not look
favourably--the Prince feared--at a few thousands. Mrs. Smithson's
entire fortune now only consisted of about five thousand pounds; this
she was unwilling to admit to the wealthy and aristocratic future
son-in-law. So the two ladies decided to pool their capital and then
they begged that Prince Orsoff should ask the great Mr. Schumann
whether he would condescend to receive ten thousand pounds for
investment in Mrs. Smithson's name in his great undertaking.
"Fortunately the great financier did condescend to do this--he really
was more a philanthropist than a business man--but, of course, he
could not be kept waiting, the money must reach him in Paris not
later than May twentieth, which was the very day fixed for the
wedding.
"It was all terribly difficult; and Mrs. Smithson was at first in
despair as she feared she could not arrange to sell out her
securities in time, and the difficulties were increased an
hundredfold because, as Prince Orsoff explained to her, Mr. Schumann
would even at the eleventh hour refuse to allow her to participate in
the huge fortune if he found that she had talked about the affair
over in England. The business had to be kept a profound secret for
international reasons, in fact, if any detail relating to the
business and to Mr. Schumann's participation in it were to become
known, the whole of Europe would once more be plunged into war.