CHAPTER LXVI.
THE FOREIGN BLUDGEON.
In the meantime Madame Goesler, having accomplished the journey fromPrague in considerably less than a week, reached London with theblacksmith, the attorney's clerk, and the model of the key. The trialhad been adjourned on Wednesday, the 24th of June, and it had beensuggested that the jury should be again put into their box on thatday week. All manner of inconvenience was to be endured by variousmembers of the legal profession, and sundry irregularities were ofnecessity sanctioned on this great occasion. The sitting of the Courtshould have been concluded, and everybody concerned should have beensomewhere else, but the matter was sufficient to justify almost anydeparture from routine. A member of the House of Commons was incustody, and it had already been suggested that some action shouldbe taken by the House as to his speedy deliverance. Unless a jurycould find him guilty, let him be at once restored to his duties andhis privileges. The case was involved in difficulties, but in themeantime the jury, who had been taken down by train every day to havea walk in the country in the company of two sheriff's officers, andwho had been allowed to dine at Greenwich one day and at Richmond onanother in the hope that whitebait with lamb and salad might in somedegree console them for their loss of liberty, were informed thatthey would be once again put into their box on Wednesday. But MadameGoesler reached London on the Sunday morning, and on the Monday thewhole affair respecting the key was unravelled in the presence of theAttorney-General, and with the personal assistance of our old friend,Major Mackintosh. Without a doubt the man Mealyus had caused to bemade for him in Prague a key which would open the door of the housein Northumberland Street. A key was made in London from the model nowbrought which did open the door. The Attorney-General seemed to thinkthat it would be his duty to ask the judge to call upon the jury toacquit Phineas Finn, and that then the matter must rest for ever,unless further evidence could be obtained against Yosef Mealyus.It would not be possible to hang a man for a murder simply becausehe had fabricated a key,--even though he might possibly haveobtained the use of a grey coat for a few hours. There was no tittleof evidence to show that he had ever had the great coat on hisshoulders, or that he had been out of the house on that night. LordFawn, to his infinite disgust, was taken to the prison in whichMealyus was detained, and was confronted with the man, but he couldsay nothing. Mealyus, at his own suggestion, put on the coat, andstalked about the room in it. But Lord Fawn would not say a word. Theperson whom he now saw might have been the man in the street, or Mr.Finn might have been the man, or any other man might have been theman. Lord Fawn was very dignified, very reserved, and very unhappy.To his thinking he was the great martyr of this trial. Phineas Finnwas becoming a hero. Against the twelve jurymen the finger of scornwould never be pointed. But his sufferings must endure for hislife--might probably embitter his life to the very end. Looking intohis own future from his present point of view he did not see howhe could ever again appear before the eye of the public. And yetwith what persistency of conscience had he struggled to be true andhonest! On the present occasion he would say nothing. He had seena man in a grey coat, and for the future would confine himself tothat. "You did not see me, my lord," said Mr. Emilius with touchingsimplicity.
So the matter stood on the Monday afternoon, and the jury hadalready been told that they might be released on the followingTuesday,--might at any rate hear the judge's charge on thatday,--when another discovery was made more wonderful than that of thekey. And this was made without any journey to Prague, and might, nodoubt, have been made on any day since the murder had been committed.And it was a discovery for not having made which the police forcegenerally was subjected to heavy censure. A beautiful little boy wasseen playing in one of those gardens through which the passage runswith a short loaded bludgeon in his hand. He came into the house withthe weapon, the maid who was with him having asked the little lord noquestion on the subject. But luckily it attracted attention, and hislittle lordship took two gardeners and a coachman and all the nursesto the very spot at which he found it. Before an hour was over he wasstanding at his father's knee, detailing the fact with great openeyes to two policemen, having by this time become immensely proud ofhis adventure. This occurred late on the Monday afternoon, when thenoble family were at dinner, and the noble family was considerablydisturbed, and at the same time very much interested, by theoccurrence. But on the Tuesday morning there was the additional factestablished that a bludgeon loaded with lead had been found among thethick grass and undergrowth of shrubs in a spot to which it mighteasily have been thrown by any one attempting to pitch it over thewall. The news flew about the town like wildfire, and it was nowconsidered certain that the real murderer would be discovered.
The boy who found the bludgeon.]
But the renewal of the trial was again postponed till the Wednesday,as it was necessary that an entire day should be devoted to thebludgeon. The instrument was submitted to the eyes and hands ofpersons experienced in such matters, and it was declared on all sidesthat the thing was not of English manufacture. It was about a footlong, with a leathern thong to the handle, with something of a springin the shaft, and with the oval loaded knot at the end cased withleathern thongs very minutely and skilfully cut. They who understoodmodern work in leather gave it as their opinion that the weapon hadbeen made in Paris. It was considered that Mealyus had brought itwith him, and concealed it in preparation for this occasion. If thepolice could succeed in tracing the bludgeon into his hands, or inproving that he had purchased any such instrument, then,--so it wasthought,--there would be evidence to justify a police magistrate insending Mr. Emilius to occupy the place so lately and so long heldby poor Phineas Finn. But till that had been done, there could benothing to connect the preacher with the murder. All who had heardthe circumstances of the case were convinced that Mr. Bonteen hadbeen murdered by the weapon lately discovered, and not by that whichPhineas had carried in his pocket,--but no one could adduce proofthat it was so. This second bludgeon would no doubt help to removethe difficulty in regard to Phineas, but would not give atonement tothe shade of Mr. Bonteen.
Mealyus was confronted with the weapon in the presence of MajorMackintosh, and was told its story;--how it was found in thenobleman's garden by the little boy. At the first moment, withinstant readiness, he took the thing in his hand, and looked at itwith feigned curiosity. He must have studied his conduct so as tohave it ready for such an occasion, thinking that it might someday occur. But with all his presence of mind he could not keep thetell-tale blood from mounting.
"You don't know anything about it, Mr. Mealyus?" said one of thepolicemen present, looking closely into his face. "Of course you neednot criminate yourself."
"What should I know about it? No;--I know nothing about the stick. Inever had such a stick, or, as I believe, saw one before." He did itvery well, but he could not keep the blood from rising to his cheeks.The policemen were sure that he was the murderer,--but what couldthey do?
"You saved his life, certainly," said the Duchess to her friend onthe Sunday afternoon. That had been before the bludgeon was found.
"I do not believe that they could have touched a hair of his head,"said Madame Goesler.
"Would they not? Everybody felt sure that he would be hung. Wouldit not have been awful? I do not see how you are to help becomingman and wife now, for all the world are talking about you." MadameGoesler smiled, and said that she was quite indifferent to theworld's talk. On the Tuesday after the bludgeon was found, the twoladies met again. "Now it was known that it was the clergyman," saidthe Duchess.
"I never doubted it."
"He must have been a brave man for a foreigner,--to have attacked Mr.Bonteen all alone in the street, when any one might have seen him.I don't feel to hate him so very much after all. As for that littlewife of his, she has got no more than she deserved."
"Mr. Finn will surely be acquitted now."
"Of course he'll be acquitted. Nobody doubts about it. That is allsettled, and it is a shame that he sh
ould be kept in prison evenover to-day. I should think they'll make him a peer, and give him apension,--or at the very least appoint him secretary to something.I do wish Plantagenet hadn't been in such a hurry about that nastyBoard of Trade, and then he might have gone there. He couldn't verywell be Privy Seal, unless they do make him a peer. You wouldn'tmind,--would you, my dear?"
"I think you'll find that they will console Mr. Finn with somethingless gorgeous than that. You have succeeded in seeing him, ofcourse?"
"Plantagenet wouldn't let me, but I know who did."
"Some lady?"
"Oh, yes,--a lady. Half the men about the clubs went to him, Ibelieve."
"Who was she?"
"You won't be ill-natured?"
"I'll endeavour at any rate to keep my temper, Duchess."
"It was Lady Laura."
"I supposed so."
"They say she is frantic about him, my dear."
"I never believe those things. Women do not get frantic about menin these days. They have been very old friends, and have known eachother for many years. Her brother, Lord Chiltern, was his particularfriend. I do not wonder that she should have seen him."
"Of course you know that she is a widow."
"Oh, yes;--Mr. Kennedy had died long before I left England."
"And she is very rich. She has got all Loughlinter for her life, andher own fortune back again. I will bet you anything you like that sheoffers to share it with him."
"It may be so," said Madame Goesler, while the slightest blush in theworld suffused her cheek.
"And I'll make you another bet, and give you any odds."
"What is that?"
"That he refuses her. It is quite a common thing nowadays for ladiesto make the offer, and for gentlemen to refuse. Indeed, it was feltto be so inconvenient while it was thought that gentlemen had not thealternative, that some men became afraid of going into society. It isbetter understood now."
"Such things have been done, I do not doubt," said Madame Goesler,who had contrived to avert her face without making the motionapparent to her friend.
"When this is all over we'll get him down to Matching, and managebetter than that. I should think they'll hardly go on with theSession, as nobody has done anything since the arrest. While Mr. Finnhas been in prison legislation has come to a standstill altogether.Even Plantagenet doesn't work above twelve hours a day, and I'mtold that poor Lord Fawn hasn't been near his office for the lastfortnight. When the excitement is over they'll never be able to getback to their business before the grouse. There'll be a few dinnersof course, just as a compliment to the great man,--but London willbreak up after that, I should think. You won't come in for so muchof the glory as you would have done if they hadn't found the stick.Little Lord Frederick must have his share, you know."
"It's the most singular case I ever knew," said Sir Simon Slope thatnight to one of his friends. "We certainly should have hanged him butfor the two accidents, and yet neither of them brings us a bit nearerto hanging any one else."
"What a pity!"
"It shows the danger of circumstantial evidence,--and yet without itone never could get at any murder. I'm very glad, you know, that thekey and the stick did turn up. I never thought much about the coat."