Phineas Redux

  CHAPTER XLIX.

  SHOWING WHAT MRS. BUNCE SAID TO THE POLICEMAN.

  "We have left Adelaide Palliser down at the Hall. We are up hereonly for a couple of days to see Laura, and try to find out what hadbetter be done about Kennedy." This was said to Phineas Finn in hisown room in Great Marlborough Street by Lord Chiltern, on the morningafter the murder, between ten and eleven o'clock. Phineas had notas yet heard of the death of the man with whom he had quarrelled.Lord Chiltern had now come to him with some proposition which he asyet did not understand, and which Lord Chiltern certainly did notknow how to explain. Looked at simply, the proposition was one forproviding Phineas Finn with an income out of the wealth belonging,or that would belong, to the Standish family. Lady Laura's fortunewould, it was thought, soon be at her own disposal. They who actedfor her husband had assured the Earl that the yearly interest of themoney should be at her ladyship's command as soon as the law wouldallow them so to plan it. Of Robert Kennedy's inability to act forhimself there was no longer any doubt whatever, and there was, theysaid, no desire to embarrass the estate with so small a disputedmatter as the income derived from L40,000. There was great prideof purse in the manner in which the information was conveyed;--butnot the less on that account was it satisfactory to the Earl. LadyLaura's first thought about it referred to the imminent wants ofPhineas Finn. How might it be possible for her to place a portion ofher income at the command of the man she loved so that he should notfeel disgraced by receiving it from her hand? She conceived some planas to a loan to be made nominally by her brother,--a plan as to whichit may at once be said that it could not be made to hold water for aminute. But she did succeed in inducing her brother to undertake theembassy, with the view of explaining to Phineas that there would bemoney for him when he wanted it. "If I make it over to Papa, Papa canleave it him in his will; and if he wants it at once there can be noharm in your advancing to him what he must have at Papa's death."Her brother had frowned angrily and had shaken his head. "Think howhe has been thrown over by all the party," said Lady Laura. LordChiltern had disliked the whole affair,--had felt with dismay thathis sister's name would become subject to reproach if it should beknown that this young man was supported by her bounty. She, however,had persisted, and he had consented to see the young man, feelingsure that Phineas would refuse to bear the burden of the obligation.

  But he had not touched the disagreeable subject when they wereinterrupted. A knocking of the door had been heard, and now Mrs.Bunce came upstairs, bringing Mr. Low with her. Mrs. Bunce hadnot heard of the tragedy, but she had at once perceived from thebarrister's manner that there was some serious matter forward,--somematter that was probably not only serious, but also calamitous. Theexpression of her countenance announced as much to the two men, andthe countenance of Mr. Low when he followed her into the room toldthe same story still more plainly. "Is anything the matter?" saidPhineas, jumping up.

  "Indeed, yes," said Mr. Low, who then looked at Lord Chiltern and wassilent.

  "Shall I go?" said Lord Chiltern. Mr. Low did not know him, and ofcourse was still silent.

  "This is my friend, Mr. Low. This is my friend, Lord Chiltern," saidPhineas, aware that each was well acquainted with the other's name."I do not know of any reason why you should go. What is it, Low?"

  Lord Chiltern had come there about money, and it occurred to himthat the impecunious young barrister might already be in some scrapeon that head. In nineteen cases out of twenty, when a man is in ascrape, he simply wants money. "Perhaps I can be of help," he said.

  "Have you heard, my Lord, what happened last night?" said Mr. Low,with his eyes fixed on Phineas Finn.

  "I have heard nothing," said Lord Chiltern.

  "What has happened?" asked Phineas, looking aghast. He knew Mr. Lowwell enough to be sure that the thing referred to was of great anddistressing moment.

  "You, too, have heard nothing?"

  "Not a word--that I know of."

  "You were at The Universe last night?"

  "Certainly I was."

  "Did anything occur?"

  "The Prince was there."

  "Nothing has happened to the Prince?" said Chiltern.

  "His name has not been mentioned to me," said Mr. Low. "Was there nota quarrel?"

  "Yes;"--said Phineas. "I quarrelled with Mr. Bonteen."

  "What then?"

  "He behaved like a brute;--as he always does. Thrashing a brutehardly answers nowadays, but if ever a man deserved a thrashing hedoes."

  "He has been murdered," said Mr. Low.

  "He has been murdered," said Mr. Low.]

  The reader need hardly be told that, as regards this great offence,Phineas Finn was as white as snow. The maintenance of any doubt onthat matter,--were it even desirable to maintain a doubt,--would bealtogether beyond the power of the present writer. The reader hasprobably perceived, from the first moment of the discovery of thebody on the steps at the end of the passage, that Mr. Bonteen hadbeen killed by that ingenious gentleman, the Rev. Mr. Emilius, whofound it to be worth his while to take the step with the view ofsuppressing his enemy's evidence as to his former marriage. But Mr.Low, when he entered the room, had been inclined to think that hisfriend had done the deed. Laurence Fitzgibbon, who had been one ofthe first to hear the story, and who had summoned Erle to go with himand Major Mackintosh to Downing Street, had, in the first place, goneto the house in Carey Street, in which Bunce was wont to work, andhad sent him to Mr. Low. He, Fitzgibbon, had not thought it safe thathe himself should warn his countryman, but he could not bear to thinkthat the hare should be knocked over on its form, or that his friendshould be taken by policemen without notice. So he had sent Bunce toMr. Low, and Mr. Low had now come with his tidings.

  "Murdered!" exclaimed Phineas.

  "Who has murdered him?" said Lord Chiltern, looking first at Mr. Lowand then at Phineas.

  "That is what the police are now endeavouring to find out." Thenthere was a pause, and Phineas stood up with his hand on hisforehead, looking savagely from one to the other. A glimmer of anidea of the truth was beginning to cross his brain. Mr. Low was therewith the object of asking him whether he had murdered the man! "Mr.Fitzgibbon was with you last night," continued Mr. Low.

  "Of course he was."

  "It was he who has sent me to you."

  "What does it all mean?" asked Lord Chiltern. "I suppose they do notintend to say that--our friend, here--murdered the man."

  "I begin to suppose that is what they intend to say," rejoinedPhineas, scornfully.

  Mr. Low had entered the room, doubting indeed, but still inclinedto believe,--as Bunce had very clearly believed,--that the hands ofPhineas Finn were red with the blood of this man who had been killed.And, had he been questioned on such a matter, when no special casewas before his mind, he would have declared of himself that a fewtones from the voice, or a few glances from the eye, of a suspectedman would certainly not suffice to eradicate suspicion. But now hewas quite sure,--almost quite sure,--that Phineas was as innocent ashimself. To Lord Chiltern, who had heard none of the details, thesuspicion was so monstrous as to fill him with wrath. "You don't meanto tell us, Mr. Low, that any one says that Finn killed the man?"

  "I have come as his friend," said Low, "to put him on his guard. Theaccusation will be made against him."

  To Phineas, not clearly looking at it, not knowing very accuratelywhat had happened, not being in truth quite sure that Mr. Bonteen wasactually dead, this seemed to be a continuation of the persecutionwhich he believed himself to have suffered from that man's hand. "Ican believe anything from that quarter," he said.

  "From what quarter?" asked Lord Chiltern. "We had better let Mr. Lowtell us what really has happened."

  Then Mr. Low told the story, as well as he knew it, describing thespot on which the body had been found. "Often as I go to the club,"said Phineas, "I never was through that passage in my life." Mr. Lowwent on with his tale, telling how the man had been killed with someshort bludgeon. "I had that in my po
cket," said Finn, producing thelife-preserver. "I have almost always had something of the kind whenI have been in London, since that affair of Kennedy's." Mr. Low castone glance at it,--to see whether it had been washed or scraped, orin any way cleansed. Phineas saw the glance, and was angry. "There itis, as it is. You can make the most of it. I shall not touch it againtill the policeman comes. Don't put your hand on it, Chiltern. Leaveit there." And the instrument was left lying on the table, untouched.Mr. Low went on with his story. He had heard nothing of Yosef Mealyusas connected with the murder, but some indistinct reference to LordFawn and the top-coat had been made to him. "There is the coat, too,"said Phineas, taking it from the sofa on which he had flung it whenhe came home the previous night. It was a very light coat,--fittedfor May use,--lined with silk, and by no means suited for envelopingthe face or person. But it had a collar which might be made to standup. "That at any rate was the coat I wore," said Finn, in answer tosome observation from the barrister. "The man that Lord Fawn saw,"said Mr. Low, "was, as I understand, enveloped in a heavy greatcoat." "So Fawn has got his finger in the pie!" said Lord Chiltern.

  Mr. Low had been there an hour, Lord Chiltern remaining also inthe room, when there came three men belonging to the police,--asuperintendent and with him two constables. When the men were shownup into the room neither the bludgeon or the coat had been movedfrom the small table as Phineas had himself placed them there. BothPhineas and Chiltern had lit cigars, and they were all there sittingin silence. Phineas had entertained the idea that Mr. Low believedthe charge, and that the barrister was therefore an enemy. Mr. Lowhad perceived this, but had not felt it to be his duty to declare hisopinion of his friend's innocence. What he could do for his friendhe would do; but, as he thought, he could serve him better now bysilent observation than by protestation. Lord Chiltern, who hadbeen implored by Phineas not to leave him, continued to pour forthunabating execrations on the monstrous malignity of the accusers."I do not know that there are any accusers," said Mr. Low, "exceptthe circumstances which the police must, of course, investigate."Then the men came, and the nature of their duty was soon explained.They must request Mr. Finn to go with them to Bow Street. They tookpossession of many articles besides the two which had been preparedfor them,--the dress coat and shirt which Phineas had worn, and theboots. He had gone out to dinner with a Gibus hat, and they tookthat. They took his umbrella and his latch-key. They asked, even, asto his purse and money;--but abstained from taking the purse whenMr. Low suggested that they could have no concern with that. As ithappened, Phineas was at the moment wearing the shirt in which hehad dined out on the previous day, and the men asked him whetherhe had any objection to change it in their presence,--as it mightbe necessary, after the examination, that it should be detainedas evidence. He did so, in the presence of all the men assembled;but the humiliation of doing it almost broke his heart. Then theysearched among his linen, clean and dirty, and asked questions ofMrs. Bunce in audible whispers behind the door. Whatever Mrs. Buncecould do to injure the cause of her favourite lodger by severityof manner, snubbing the policeman, and determination to give noinformation, she did do. "Had a shirt washed? How do you suppose agentleman's shirts are washed? You were brought up near enough toa washtub yourself to know more than I can tell you!" But the veryrespectable constable did not seem to be in the least annoyed by thelandlady's amenities.

  He was taken to Bow Street, going thither in a cab with the twopolicemen, and the superintendent followed them with Lord Chilternand Mr. Low. "You don't mean to say that you believe it?" said LordChiltern to the officer. "We never believe and we never disbelieveanything, my Lord," replied the man. Nevertheless, the superintendentdid most firmly believe that Phineas Finn had murdered Mr. Bonteen.

  At the police-office Phineas was met by Lord Cantrip and BarringtonErle, and soon became aware that both Lord Fawn and Fitzgibbon werepresent. It seemed that everything else was made to give way to thisinquiry, as he was at once confronted by the magistrate. Everybodywas personally very civil to him, and he was asked whether he wouldnot wish to have professional advice while the charge was being madeagainst him. But this he declined. He would tell the magistrate,he said, all he knew, but, at any rate for the present, he wouldhave no need of advice. He was, at last, allowed to tell his ownstory,--after repeated cautions. There had been some words betweenhim and Mr. Bonteen in the club; after which, standing at the door ofthe club with his friends, Mr. Erle and Mr. Fitzgibbon, who were nowin court, he had seen Mr. Bonteen walk away towards Berkeley Square.He had soon followed, but had never overtaken Mr. Bonteen. Whenreaching the Square he had crossed over to the fountain standingthere on the south side, and from thence had taken the shortest wayup Bruton Street. He had seen Mr. Bonteen for the last time dimly,by the gaslight, at the corner of the Square. As far as he couldremember, he himself had at the moment passed the fountain. He hadnot heard the sound of any struggle, or of words, round the cornertowards Piccadilly. By the time that Mr. Bonteen would have reachedthe head of the steps leading into the passage, he would have beennear Bruton Street, with his back completely turned to the scene ofthe murder. He had walked faster than Mr. Bonteen, having graduallydrawn near to him; but he had determined in his own mind that hewould not pass the man, or get so near him as to attract attention.Nor had he done so. He had certainly worn the grey coat which wasnow produced. The collar of it had not been turned up. The coat wasnearly new, and to the best of his belief the collar had never beenturned up. He had carried the life-preserver now produced with himbecause it had once before been necessary for him to attack garottersin the street. The life-preserver had never been used, and, as ithappened, was quite new. It had been bought about a month since,--inconsequence of some commotion about garotters which had just thentaken place. But before the purchase of the life-preserver he hadbeen accustomed to carry some stick or bludgeon at night. Undoubtedlyhe had quarrelled with Mr. Bonteen before this occasion, and hadbought this instrument since the commencement of the quarrel. He hadnot seen any one on his way from the Square to his own house withsufficient observation to enable him to describe such person. Hecould not remember that he had passed a policeman on his way home.

  This took place after the hearing of such evidence as was then given.The statements made both by Erle and Fitzgibbon as to what had takenplace in the club, and afterwards at the door, tallied exactly withthat afterwards given by Phineas. An accurate measurement of thestreets and ways concerned was already furnished. Taking the durationof time as surmised by Erle and Fitzgibbon to have passed after theyhad turned their back upon Phineas, a constable proved that theprisoner would have had time to hurry back to the corner of thestreet he had passed, and to be in the place where Lord Fawn saw theman,--supposing that Lord Fawn had walked at the rate of three milesan hour, and that Phineas had walked or run at twice that pace. LordFawn stated that he was walking very slow,--less he thought thanthree miles an hour, and that the man was hurrying very fast,--notabsolutely running, but going as he thought at quite double his ownpace. The two coats were shown to his lordship. Finn knew nothingof the other coat,--which had, in truth, been taken from the Rev.Mr. Emilius,--a rough, thick, brown coat, which had belonged to thepreacher for the last two years. Finn's coat was grey in colour. LordFawn looked at the coats very attentively, and then said that the manhe had seen had certainly not worn the brown coat. The night had beendark, but still he was sure that the coat had been grey. The collarhad certainly been turned up. Then a tailor was produced who gave itas his opinion that Finn's coat had been lately worn with the collarraised.

  It was considered that the evidence given was sufficient to make aremand imperative, and Phineas Finn was committed to Newgate. He wasassured that every attention should be paid to his comfort, and wastreated with great consideration. Lord Cantrip, who still believed inhim, discussed the subject both with the magistrate and with MajorMackintosh. Of course the strictest search would be made for a secondlife-preserver, or any such weapon as might have been used. Searchhad already be
en made, and no such weapon had been as yet found.Emilius had never been seen with any such weapon. No one about CurzonStreet or Mayfair could be found who had seen the man with thequick step and raised collar, who doubtless had been the murderer,except Lord Fawn,--so that no evidence was forthcoming tending toshow that Phineas Finn could not have been that man. The evidenceadduced to prove that Mr. Emilius,--or Mealyus, as he was henceforthcalled,--could not have been on the spot was so very strong, that themagistrate told the constables that that man must be released on thenext examination unless something could be adduced against him.

  The magistrate, with the profoundest regret, was unable to agreewith Lord Cantrip in his opinion that the evidence adduced was notsufficient to demand the temporary committal of Mr. Finn.