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33 chapters
Chapter I
Chapter I
Return to Table of Contents “Mr. David Hume.” Reginald Brett, barrister-detective, twisted round in his easy-chair to permit the light to fall clearly on the card handed to him by his man-servant. “What does Mr. David Hume look like, Smith?” he asked. “A gentleman, sir.” Well-trained servants never make a mistake when they give such a description of a visitor. Brett was satisfied. “Produce him.” Then he examined the card. “It is odd,” he thought. “Mr. David Hume gives no address, and writes his
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Chapter II
Chapter II
Return to Table of Contents Brett closed the book with a snap. “What good purpose can it serve at this time to reopen the miserable story?” he asked. Curiously enough, Hume paid no heed to the question. His lips quivered, his nostrils twitched, and his eyes shot strange gleams. He caught the back of his chair with both hands in a grasp that tried to squeeze the tough oak. “What else have you written there?” he said, and Brett could not help but admire his forced composure. “Nothing of any materi
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Chapter III
Chapter III
Return to Table of Contents “Thank you,” was the quiet answer. “You hinted at some supernatural influence in relation to this crime. What did you mean?” “Ah, that is the unpublished part of the affair. We are a Scots family, as our name implies. The first Sir Alan Frazer became a baronet owing to his services to King George during the ’45 Rebellion. There was some trouble about a sequestered estate—now our place in Scotland—which belonged to his wife’s brother, a Hume and a rebel. Anyhow, in 176
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Chapter IV
Chapter IV
Return to Table of Contents Hume did not send a telegram to the Sleagill Rectory. He explained that, owing to the attitude adopted by the Rev. Wilberforce Layton, Helen avoided friction with her father by receiving his (Hume’s) letters under cover to Mrs. Eastham. The younger man was quick to note that Brett did not like this arrangement. He smilingly protested that there was no deception in the matter. “Helen would never consent to anything that savoured of subterfuge,” he explained. “Her fathe
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Chapter V
Chapter V
Return to Table of Contents The man’s swarthy rage added force to the taunt. David Hume leaped up, but Brett anticipated him, gripping his arm firmly, and without ostentation. Margaret, too, had risen. She appeared to be battling with some powerful emotion, choking back a fierce impulse. For an instant the situation was electrical. Then the woman’s clear tones rang through the room. “I am mistress here,” she cried, “Giovanni, remain silent or leave us. How dare you, of all men, speak thus to my
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Chapter VI
Chapter VI
Return to Table of Contents Helen was very much upset by the painful scene which had just been enacted. Its vulgarity appalled her. In a little old-world hamlet like Sleagill, a riotous cow or frightened horse supplied sensation for a week. What would happen when it became known that the rector’s daughter had been attacked by the Squire of Beechcroft in the park meadow, and saved from his embraces only after a vigorous struggle, in which her defender was David Hume-Frazer, concerning whom the vi
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Chapter VII
Chapter VII
Return to Table of Contents Brett did not hurry on his way to the Hall. Already things were in a whirl, and the confusion was so great that he was momentarily unable to map out a definite line of action. The relations between Capella and his wife were evidently strained almost to breaking point, and it was this very fact which caused him the greatest perplexity. They had been married little more than six months. They were an extraordinarily handsome couple, apparently well suited to each other b
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Chapter VIII
Chapter VIII
Return to Table of Contents Hume and Winter did not meet on terms that might be strictly described as cordial. Brett, on quitting the Hall, had surrendered himself to a spell of vacant bewilderment. He haled the unwilling Hume from Helen’s society, and picked up the detective at the Wheat Sheaf Inn. Then the barrister, from sheer need of mental relief, determined to have some fun with them. “You two ought to know each other,” he said good-humouredly. “At one time you took keen interest in matter
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Chapter IX
Chapter IX
Return to Table of Contents Thinking aloud, rather than addressing his companions, Brett began again:— “The man must have had some place in which to change his clothes, for he would not court attention by walking about in evening dress by broad daylight He met and spoke with Alan Hume-Frazer that afternoon. The result was unsatisfactory. The stranger resolved to visit him again at night—the night of the ball. In a country village on such an occasion, a swallow-tailed coat was a passe-partout , a
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Chapter X
Chapter X
Return to Table of Contents Winter, who had never seen Capella, was so well posted by Brett as to his personal appearance that he experienced no difficulty in picking out the Italian when he alighted from the train at Liverpool Street Station next morning. Capella did not conduct himself like a furtive villain. He jumped into a hansom. His valet followed in a four-wheeler with the luggage. In each instance the address given to the driver was that of a well-known West End hotel. The detective’s c
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Chapter XI
Chapter XI
Return to Table of Contents In fifteen minutes Brett was bowling along Knightsbridge in a hansom, having left Hume with a strict injunction to rack his brains for any further undiscovered facts bearing upon the inquiry, and turn up promptly at ten o’clock next morning. Although the hour was late for calling upon a complete stranger, the barrister could not rest until he had inspected the Jiro ménage. No. 17 was a long way from the ground level. Indeed, the cats of Kensington, if sufficiently ent
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Chapter XII
Chapter XII
Return to Table of Contents The number of type-writer exchanges in London is not large. Impressing the services of Smith and his wife as amanuenses, Brett despatched the requisite letters before he retired for the night. He was up betimes and out before breakfast, surprising the domestics of his club by an early visit to the library. The Etona contained a great many service members, and made a feature of its complete editions of Army and Navy lists. In one of the latter, eight years old, Brett f
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Chapter XIII
Chapter XIII
Return to Table of Contents The surprising information given by the stationmaster impressed the barrister as so much unexpected trover which would assert its value in the progress of events. He certainly did not anticipate the discovery of three David Humes, though he had hoped to find traces of two. Before he reached his hotel he experienced a spasm of doubt. Was his client telling the truth about his movements on that memorable Christmas Eve? David’s story was fully corroborated by the railway
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Chapter XIV
Chapter XIV
Return to Table of Contents During the drive the presence of servants rendered conversation impossible on the one topic that engrossed their thoughts. The barrister, therefore, had an opportunity to display the other side of his engaging personality, his singular knowledge of the world, his acquaintance with the latest developments in literature and the arts, and so much of London’s vie intime as was suited to the ears of polite society. Once he amused the ladies greatly by a trivial instance of
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Chapter XV
Chapter XV
Return to Table of Contents A clock in the church tower chimed the half-hour. “We dine at seven,” said Mrs. Capella. “Let us return to the house. I told the housekeeper to prepare a room for you. Would you care to remain for the night? One of the grooms can bring from Stowmarket any articles you may need.” Brett declined the invitation, pleading a certain amount of work to be done before he retired to rest, and his expectation of finding letters or telegrams at the hotel. They walked more rapidl
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Chapter XVI
Chapter XVI
Return to Table of Contents Brett was the only person present who kept his senses. Margaret was too shocked, the lovers too amazed, to speak coherently. “Mr. Hume-Frazer has allowed himself to become run down,” said the barrister, with the nonchalance of one who discussed the prospects of to-morrow’s weather. “What he needs at the moment is some soup and a few biscuits. You, Mrs. Capella, might procure these without bringing the servants here, especially if Miss Layton were to help you.” Without
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Chapter XVII
Chapter XVII
Return to Table of Contents The three men drove to Stowmarket in the same vehicle, the grooms returning in the second dog-cart. On the way Robert Frazer—who may be designated by his second surname to distinguish him from his cousin—was anxious to learn what had caused the present recrudescence of inquiry into Alan’s death. This was easily explained by David, and Brett took care to confine the conversation to general details. Frazer was naturally keen to discover how the barrister came to be so w
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Chapter XVIII
Chapter XVIII
Return to Table of Contents Brett devoted half an hour to Frazer’s business affairs next morning. David was present, and the result of the conclave is shown by the following excerpt from a letter the barrister sent by them to Mrs. Capella, incidentally excusing his personal attendance at the Hall: “In my opinion, your cousin David and you should guarantee the payment of the land-tax on Mr. Frazer’s estate—£650 per annum—for five years. You should give him a reasonable sum to rehabilitate his war
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Chapter XIX
Chapter XIX
Return to Table of Contents The Rev. Wilberforce Layton raised no objection to his daughter’s excursion to London with Mrs. Capella. Indeed, he promised to meet them in Whitby a week later, and remain there during August. Mrs. Eastham pleaded age and the school treat. It was, therefore, a comparatively youthful party which Brett joined at dinner in one of the great hotels in Northumberland Avenue. Someone had exercised rare discretion in ordering a special meal; the wines were good, and two at l
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Chapter XX
Chapter XX
Return to Table of Contents Standing on the steps of the hotel, Brett cast a searching glance along the line of waiting hansoms. He wanted a strong, sure-footed horse, one of those marvellous animals, found only in the streets of London, which trots like a dog, slides down Savoy Street on its hind legs, slips in and out among the traffic like an eel, and covers a steady eight miles an hour for a seemingly indefinite period. “Shall I whistle for a cab, sir?” said the hall-porter. “No. You whistle
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Chapter XXI
Chapter XXI
Return to Table of Contents The detective cooled off by the time they reached Brett’s flat. On the dining-room tables they found two telegrams and a Remington type-writer. The messages were from Holden, Naples. The first: “Johnson arrived here this morning.” The second: “Johnson’s proceedings refer to poorhouse and church registers.” “Johnson is Capella,” explained Winter. “I forgot to tell you we had arranged that.” Brett surveyed the second telegram so intently that the detective inquired: “Ho
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Chapter XXII
Chapter XXII
Return to Table of Contents Mrs. Smith was accustomed to her master’s occasional freaks in the matter of dinner. Her husband, aided by long experience, knew whether Brett’s “immediately” meant one minute, or five, or even fifteen. This time he gave his wife the longest limit, so, in addition to the chicken, a bird whose unhappy attribute is a facility for being devoured with the utmost speed, a mixed grill of cutlets, bacon, and French sausages appeared on the table. The diners were hungry and t
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Chapter XXIII
Chapter XXIII
Return to Table of Contents The waiter managed to remove the most obvious traces of Brett’s escapade in the gutter, and incidentally cleaned the stick. It was a light, tough ashplant, with a silver band around the handle. The barrister held it under a gas jet and examined it closely. Nothing escaped him. After scrutinising the band for some time, he looked at the ferrule, and roughly estimated that the owner had used it two or three years. Finally, when quite satisfied, he handed it to Winter. “
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Chapter XXIV
Chapter XXIV
Return to Table of Contents “There!” he said to himself, as he passed downstairs, “I am just as big a fool as she is. She followed me to make a clean breast of everything, and I send her back with a request to keep her lips sealed. Yet I am angry with her for the risk she is taking!” He reached the hall and was about to cross the foyer when he caught the words, “Gentleman thrown out of a cab,” uttered by a handsome girl, cheaply but gaudily attired, who was making some inquiry at the bureau. He
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Chapter XXV
Chapter XXV
Return to Table of Contents In the Kennington Park Road he hailed hansom and drove home. Winter awaited him, for Smith now admitted the detective without demur should his master be absent. The barrister walked to a sideboard, produced a decanter of brandy, and helped himself to a stiff dose. “Ah,” he said pleasantly, “our American cousins call it a ‘corpse reviver,’ but a corpse could not do that, could he, Winter?” “I know a few corpses that would like to try. But what is up, sir? I have not of
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Chapter XXVI
Chapter XXVI
Return to Table of Contents He kept his word. Early next morning, after despatching a message to David Hume, and receiving an answer—an acknowledgment of his address in case of need—he took train to London-by-the-Sea, and for thirty-six hours flung mysteries and intrigues to the winds. He came back prepared for the approaching climax. In such matters he was a human barometer. The affairs of the family in whose interests he had become so suddenly involved were rapidly reaching an acute stage. Som
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Chapter XXVII
Chapter XXVII
Return to Table of Contents The long-nosed ex-sergeant entered. His sallow face was browned after his long journeys and exposure to the Italian sun in midsummer. He was soiled and travel-stained. “Excuse my appearance,” he said. “I have had no time for even a wash since this morning. On board the boat I thought it best to keep a constant watch on Capella and his companions.” “Who are they?” demanded Brett. Mr. Holden looked at the barrister with an injured air. “I am a man of few words, sir,” he
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Chapter XXVIII
Chapter XXVIII
Return to Table of Contents Chance, at times, tangles the threads on which human lives depend, and creates such a net of knots and meshes that intelligent foresight is rendered powerless, and plans that ought to succeed are doomed to utter failure. It was so during the three days succeeding Capella’s return from Italy. Reviewing events in the lights of accomplished facts, Brett subsequently saw many opportunities where his intervention would have altered the fortunes of the men and women in whom
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Chapter XXIX
Chapter XXIX
Return to Table of Contents At his chambers Brett found Holden awaiting him, with the tidings that Capella had gone to Whitby. The Italian’s agents, Messrs. Matchem & Smith, had evidently ferreted out Margaret’s whereabouts. Her husband, full of vengeful thoughts and base schemings, hastened after her, rejoicing in the knowledge that her cousins and Miss Layton would also be present. “As I knew exactly where he was going, and assumed his object to be a domestic quarrel, I did not think i
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Chapter XXX
Chapter XXX
Return to Table of Contents The Italian was glaring out of a window when they entered the room. He turned instantly, with a waspish ferocity. “So, madam.” he cried, “not content with deceiving me from the first moment we met, you have left your home in company with your lover!” Margaret looked at Robert beseechingly. The sailor’s face was like granite. Only his eyes flashed a warning that Capella might have noted were he less blinded by passion. “Do not attempt to shield yourself by the presence
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Chapter XXXI
Chapter XXXI
Return to Table of Contents Thenceforth, as the French say, events marched. Robert Frazer faithfully recounted Margaret’s statement to the barrister and the detective. The “documents,” copies of which Ooma sent to the ill-fated woman whose sudden accession to wealth had proved so unlucky for her, were evidently those stolen from the drawer in the writing-desk at Beechcroft. Here, at last, was the motive of the murder laid bare. The Japanese, by some inscrutable means, became aware that the young
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Chapter XXXII
Chapter XXXII
Return to Table of Contents It was almost dark by the time they reached the lodge gates. Brett, moved by impulse, stopped the carriage in the main road. The others alighted after him. Mrs. Crowe, the lodge-keeper’s wife, opened the gates, and evidently wondered why the carriage did not enter. “Good evening, Mrs. Crowe,” said Brett, advancing. “Have you seen a telegraph messenger recently?” “Lawk, sir,” she cried, “I didn’t recognise you in the gloom! No, sir, there’s been no messenger, only—” Th
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The Last Note in Brett’s Diary
The Last Note in Brett’s Diary
Return to Table of Contents Winter and Holden were invaluable during the trying hours that followed. Acting in conjunction with the local police, they caused a search to be made for Capella’s body. It was found easily enough. Only once did the line cross such a place as that described by Ooma, and a bruised and battered corpse was taken out of the boulder-strewn stream beneath the viaduct. Meanwhile Winter, writing from Brett’s dictation, drew up a complete statement of all the facts retailed by
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