lose sight of Lavender for the rest of the day.
"'He went and had dinner at The Black Swan,' he explained, 'and I, after I had
had a bite myself, waited outside till I saw him come out. At about ten o'clock
I was rewarded for my trouble. He told the hall porter to get him a fly and he
jumped into it. I could not hear what direction he gave the driver, but the fly
certainly drove off towards the racecourse.
"'Now, I was interested in this little affair,' continued the witness, 'and I
couldn't afford a fly. I started to run. Of course I couldn't keep up with it,
but I thought I knew which way my gentleman had gone. I made straight for the
racecourse, and for the hedge at the bottom of Lord Arthur Skelmerton's grounds.
"'It was rather a dark night and there was a slight drizzle. I couldn't see more
than about a hundred yards before me. All at once it seemed to me as if I heard
Lavender's voice talking loudly in the distance. I hurried forward, and suddenly
saw a group of two figures?mere blurs in the darkness?for one instant, at a
distance of about fifty yards from where I was.
"'The next moment, one figure had fallen forward and the other had disappeared.
I ran to the spot, only to find the body of the murdered man lying on the
ground. I stooped to see if I could be of any use to him, and immediately I was
collared from behind by Lord Arthur himself.'
"You may imagine," said the man in the corner, "how keen was the excitement of
that moment in court. Coroner and jury alike literally hung breathless on every
word that shabby, vulgar individual uttered. You see, by itself his evidence
would have been worth very little, but coming on the top of that given by James
Terry, its significance?more, its truth?had become glaringly apparent. Closely
cross-examined, he adhered strictly to his statement; and having finished his
evidence, George Higgins remained in charge of the constables, and the next
witness of importance was called up.
"This was Mr. Chipps, the senior footman in the employment of Lord Arthur
Skelmerton. He deposed that at about 10.30 on the Friday evening a 'party' drove
up to 'The Elms' in a fly, and asked to see Lord Arthur. On being told that his
lordship had company he seemed terribly put out.
"'I hasked the party to give me 'is card,' continued Mr. Chipps, 'as I didn't
know, perhaps, that 'is lordship might wish to see 'im, but I kept 'im standing
at the 'all door, as I didn't altogether like his looks. I took the card in. His
lordship and the gentlemen was playin' cards in the smoking-room, and as soon as
I could do so without disturbing 'is lordship, I give him the party's card.'
"'What name was there on the card?' here interrupted the coroner.
"'I couldn't say now, sir,' replied Mr. Chipps; 'I don't really remember. It was
a name I had never seen before. But I see so many visiting cards one way and the
other in 'is lordship's 'all that I can't remember all the names.'
"'Then, after a few minutes' waiting, you gave his lordship the card? What
happened then?'
"''Is lordship didn't seem at all pleased,' said Mr. Chipps with much guarded
dignity; 'but finally he said: "Show him into the library, Chipps, I'll see
him," and he got up from the card table, saying to the gentlemen: "Go on without
me; I'll be back in a minute or two."
"'I was about to open the door for 'is lordship when my lady came into the room,
and then his lordship suddenly changed his mind like, and said to me: "Tell that
man I'm busy and can't see him," and 'e sat down again at the card table. I went
back to the 'all, and told the party 'is lordship wouldn't see 'im. 'E said:
"Oh! it doesn't matter," and went away quite quiet like.'
"'Do you recollect at all at what time that was?' asked one of the jury.
"'Yes, sir, while I was waiting to speak to 'is lordship I looked at the clock,
sir; it was twenty past ten, sir.'
"There was one more significant fact in connection with the case, which tended
still more to excite the curiosity of the public at the time, and still further
to bewilder the police later on, and that fact was mentioned by Chipps in his
evidence. The knife, namely, with which Charles Lavender had been stabbed, and
which, remember, had been left in the wound, was now produced in court. After a
little hesitation Chipps identified it as the property of his master, Lord
Arthur Skelmerton.
"Can you wonder, then, that the jury absolutely refused to bring in a verdict
against George Higgins? There was really, beyond Lord Arthur Skelmerton's
testimony, not one particle of evidence against him, whilst, as the day wore on
and witness after witness was called up, suspicion ripened in the minds of all
those present that the murderer could be no other than Lord Arthur Skelmerton
himself.
"The knife was, of course, the strongest piece of circumstantial evidence, and
no doubt the police hoped to collect a great deal more now that they held a clue
in their hands. Directly after the verdict, therefore, which was guardedly
directed against some person unknown, the police obtained a warrant and later on
arrested Lord Arthur in his own house."
"The sensation, of course, was tremendous. Hours before he was brought up before
the magistrate the approach to the court was thronged. His friends, mostly
ladies, were all eager, you see, to watch the dashing society man in so terrible
a position. There was universal sympathy for Lady Arthur, who was in a very
precarious state of health. Her worship of her worthless husband was well known;
small wonder that his final and awful misdeed had practically broken her heart.
The latest bulletin issued just after his arrest stated that her ladyship was
not expected to live. She was then in a comatose condition, and all hope had
perforce to be abandoned.
"At last the prisoner was brought in. He looked very pale, perhaps, but
otherwise kept up the bearing of a high-bred gentleman. He was accompanied by
his solicitor, Sir Marmaduke Ingersoll, who was evidently talking to him in
quiet, reassuring tones.
"Mr. Buchanan prosecuted for the Treasury, and certainly his indictment was
terrific. According to him but one decision could be arrived at, namely, that
the accused in the dock had, in a moment of passion, and perhaps of fear, killed
the blackmailer who threatened him with disclosures which might for ever have
ruined him socially, and, having committed the deed and fearing its
consequences, probably realizing that the patrolling constables might catch
sight of his retreating figure, he had availed himself of George Higgins's
presence on the spot to loudly accuse him of the murder.
"Having concluded his able speech, Mr. Buchanan called his witnesses, and the
evidence, which on second hearing seemed more damning than ever, was all gone
through again.
"Sir Marmaduke had no question to ask of the witnesses for the prosecution; he
stared at them placidly through his gold-rimmed spectacles. Then he was ready to
call his own for the defence. Colonel McIntosh, R.A., was the first. He was
present at
the bachelors' party given by Lord Arthur the night of the murder.
His evidence tended at first to corroborate that of Chipps the footman with
regard to Lord Arthur's orders to show the visitor into the library, and his
counter-order as soon as his wife came into the room.
"'Did you not think it strange, Colonel?' asked Mr. Buchanan, 'that Lord Arthur
should so suddenly have changed his mind about seeing his visitor?'
"'Well, not exactly strange,' said the Colonel, a fine, manly, soldierly figure
who looked curiously out of his element in the witness-box. 'I don't think that
it is a very rare occurrence for racing men to have certain acquaintances whom
they would not wish their wives to know anything about.'
"'Then it did not strike you that Lord Arthur Skelmerton had some reason for not
wishing his wife to know of that particular visitor's presence in his house?'
"'I don't think that I gave the matter the slightest serious consideration,' was
the Colonel's guarded reply.
"Mr. Buchanan did not press the point, and allowed the witness to conclude his
statements.
"'I had finished my turn at bridge,' he said, 'and went out into the garden to
smoke a cigar. Lord Arthur Skelmerton joined me a few minutes later, and we were
sitting in the pavilion when I heard a loud and, as I thought, threatening voice
from the other side of the hedge.
"'I did not catch the words, but Lord Arthur said to me: "There seems to be a
row down there. I'll go and have a look and see what it is." I tried to dissuade
him, and certainly made no attempt to follow him, but not more than half a
minute could have elapsed before I heard a cry and a groan, then Lord Arthur's
footsteps hurrying down the wooden stairs which lead on to the racecourse.'
"You may imagine," said the man in the corner, "what severe cross-examination
the gallant Colonel had to undergo in order that his assertions might in some
way be shaken by the prosecution, but with military precision and frigid calm he
repeated his important statements amidst a general silence, through which you
could have heard the proverbial pin.
"He had heard the threatening voice while sitting with Lord Arthur Skelmerton;
then came the cry and groan, and, after that, Lord Arthur's steps down the
stairs. He himself thought of following to see what had happened, but it was a
very dark night and he did not know the grounds very well. While trying to find
his way to the garden steps he heard Lord Arthur's cry for help, the tramp of
the patrolling constables' horses, and subsequently the whole scene between Lord
Arthur, the man Higgins, and the constables. When he finally found his way to
the stairs, Lord Arthur was returning in order to send a groom for police
assistance.
"The witness stuck to his points as he had to his guns at Beckfontein a year
ago; nothing could shake him, and Sir Marmaduke looked triumphantly across at
his opposing colleague.
"With the gallant Colonel's statements the edifice of the prosecution certainly
began to collapse. You see, there was not a particle of evidence to show that
the accused had met and spoken to the deceased after the latter's visit at the
front door of 'The Elms.' He told Chipps that he wouldn't see the visitor, and
Chipps went into the hall directly and showed Lavender out the way he came. No
assignation could have been made, no hint could have been given by the murdered
man to Lord Arthur that he would go round to the back entrance and wished to see
him there.
"Two other guests of Lord Arthur's swore positively that after Chipps had
announced the visitor, their host stayed at the card-table until a quarter to
eleven, when evidently he went out to join Colonel McIntosh in the garden. Sir
Marmaduke's speech was clever in the extreme. Bit by bit he demolished that
tower of strength, the case against the accused, basing his defence entirely
upon the evidence of Lord Arthur Skelmerton's guests that night.
"Until 10.46 Lord Arthur was playing cards; a quarter of an hour later the
police were on the scene, and the murder had been committed. In the meanwhile
Colonel McIntosh's evidence proved conclusively that the accused had been
sitting with him, smoking a cigar. It was obvious, therefore, clear as daylight,
concluded the great lawyer, that his client was entitled to a full discharge;
nay, more, he thought that the police should have been more careful before they
harrowed up public feeling by arresting a high-born gentleman on such
insufficient evidence as they had brought forward.
"The question of the knife remained certainly, but Sir Marmaduke passed over it
with guarded eloquence, placing that strange question in the category of those
inexplicable coincidences which tend to puzzle the ablest detective, and cause
them to commit such unpardonable blunders as the present one had been. After
all, the footman may have been mistaken. The pattern of that knife was not an
exclusive one, and he, on behalf of his client, flatly denied that it had ever
belonged to him.
"Well," continued the man in the corner, with the chuckle peculiar to him in
moments of excitement, "the noble prisoner was discharged. Perhaps it would be
invidious to say that he left the court without a stain on his character, for I
daresay you know from experience that the crime known as the York Mystery has
never been satisfactorily cleared up.
"Many people shook their heads dubiously when they remembered that, after all,
Charles Lavender was killed with a knife which one witness had sworn belonged to
Lord Arthur; others, again, reverted to the original theory that George Higgins
was the murderer, that he and James Terry had concocted the story of Lavender's
attempt at blackmail on Lord Arthur, and that the murder had been committed for
the sole purpose of robbery.
"Be that as it may, the police have not so far been able to collect sufficient
evidence against Higgins or Terry, and the crime has been classed by press and
public alike in the category of so-called impenetrable mysteries."
CHAPTER IX. A BROKEN-HEARTED WOMAN
THE man in the corner called for another glass of milk, and drank it down slowly
before he resumed:
"Now Lord Arthur lives mostly abroad," he said. "His poor, suffering wife died
the day after he was liberated by the magistrate. She never recovered
consciousness even sufficiently to hear the joyful news that the man she loved
so well was innocent after all.!
"Mystery!" he added as if in answer to Polly's own thoughts. "The murder of that
man was never a mystery to me. I cannot understand how the police could have
been so blind when every one of the witnesses, both for the prosecution and
defence, practically pointed all the time to the one guilty person. What do you
think of it all yourself?"
"I think the whole case so bewildering," she replied "that I do not see one
single clear point in it."
"You don't?" he said excitedly, while the bony fingers fidgeted again with that
inevitable bit of string. "You don't see that there is one point clear w
hich to
me was the key of the whole thing?
"Lavender was murdered, wasn't he? Lord Arthur did not kill him. He had, at
least, in Colonel McIntosh an unimpeachable witness to prove that he could not
have committed that murder?and yet," he added with slow, excited emphasis,
marking each sentence with a knot, "and yet he deliberately tries to throw the
guilt upon a man who obviously was also innocent. Now why?"
"He may have thought him guilty."
"Or wished to shield or cover the retreat of one he knew to be guilty."
"I don't understand."
"Think of someone," he said excitedly, "someone whose desire would be as great
as that of Lord Arthur to silence a scandal round that gentleman's name. Someone
who, unknown perhaps to Lord Arthur, had overheard the same conversation which
George Higgins related to the police and the magistrate, someone who, whilst
Chipps was taking Lavender's card in to his master, had a few minutes' time
wherein to make an assignation with Lavender, promising him money, no doubt, in
exchange for the compromising bills."
"Surely you don't mean??" gasped Polly.
"Point number one," he interrupted quietly, "utterly missed by the police.
George Higgins in his deposition stated that at the most animated stage of
Lavender's conversation with Lord Arthur, and when the bookmaker's tone of voice
became loud and threatening, a voice from the top of the steps interrupted that
conversation, saying: 'Your tea is getting cold.'"
"Yes?but??" she argued.
"Wait a moment, for there is point number two. That voice was a lady's voice.
Now, I did exactly what the police should have done, but did not do. I went to
have a look from the racecourse side at those garden steps which to my mind are
such important factors in the discovery of this crime. I found only about a
dozen rather low steps; anyone standing on the top must have heard every word
Charles Lavender uttered the moment he raised his voice."
"Even then??'
"Very well, you grant that," he said excitedly. "Then there was the great, the
all-important point which, oddly enough, the prosecution never for a moment took
into consideration. When Chipps, the footman, first told Lavender that Lord
Arthur could not see him the bookmaker was terribly put out; Chipps then goes to
speak to his master; a few minutes elapse, and when the footman once again tells
Lavender that his lordship won't see him. the latter says 'Very well,' and seems
to treat the matter with complete indifference.
"Obviously, therefore, something must have happened in between to alter the
bookmaker's frame of mind. Well! What had happened? Think over all the evidence,
and you will see that one thing only had occurred in the interval, namely, Lady
Arthur's advent into the room.
"In order to go into the smoking-room she must have crossed the hall; she must
have seen Lavender. In that brief interval she must have realized that the man
was persistent, and therefore a living danger to her husband. Remember, women
have done strange things; they are a far greater puzzle to the student of human
nature than the sterner, less complex sex has ever been. As I argued before?as
the police should have argued all along?why did Lord Arthur deliberately accuse
an innocent man of murder if not to shield the guilty one?
"Remember, Lady Arthur may have been discovered; the man, George Higgins, may
have caught sight of her before she had time to make good her retreat. His
attention, as well as that of the constables, had to be diverted. Lord Arthur
acted on the blind impulse of saving his wife at any cost."
"She may have been met by Colonel McIntosh," argued Polly.
"Perhaps she was," he said. "Who knows? The gallant colonel had to swear to his
friend's innocence. He could do that in all conscience?after that his duty was
accomplished. No innocent man was suffering for the guilty. The knife which had
belonged to Lord Arthur would always save George Higgins. For a time it had