The Old Man in the Corner
CHAPTER XXIX
THE MOTIVE
"Now at first sight the murder in the Regent's Park appeared both topolice and public as one of those silly, clumsy crimes, obviously thework of a novice, and absolutely purposeless, seeing that it could butinevitably lead its perpetrators, without any difficulty, to thegallows.
"You see, a motive had been established. 'Seek him whom the crimebenefits,' say our French _confreres_. But there was something more thanthat.
"Constable James Funnell, on his beat, turned from Portland Place intoPark Crescent a few minutes after he had heard the clock at Holy TrinityChurch, Marylebone, strike half-past two. The fog at that moment wasperhaps not quite so dense as it was later on in the morning, and thepoliceman saw two gentlemen in overcoats and top-hats leaning arm in armagainst the railings of the Square, close to the gate. He could not, ofcourse, distinguish their faces because of the fog, but he heard one ofthem saying to the other:
"'It is but a question of time, Mr. Cohen. I know my father will paythe money for me, and you will lose nothing by waiting.'
"To this the other apparently made no reply, and the constable passedon; when he returned to the same spot, after having walked over hisbeat, the two gentlemen had gone, but later on it was near this verygate that the two keys referred to at the inquest had been found.
"Another interesting fact," added the man in the corner, with one ofthose sarcastic smiles of his which Polly could not quite explain, "wasthe finding of the revolver upon the scene of the crime. That revolver,shown to Mr. Ashley's valet, was sworn to by him as being the propertyof his master.
"All these facts made, of course, a very remarkable, so far quiteunbroken, chain of circumstantial evidence against Mr. John Ashley. Nowonder, therefore, that the police, thoroughly satisfied with Mr.Fisher's work and their own, applied for a warrant against the youngman, and arrested him in his rooms in Clarges Street exactly a weekafter the committal of the crime.
"As a matter of fact, you know, experience has invariably taught me thatwhen a murderer seems particularly foolish and clumsy, and proofsagainst him seem particularly damning, that is the time when the policeshould be most guarded against pitfalls.
"Now in this case, if John Ashley had indeed committed the murder inRegent's Park in the manner suggested by the police, he would have beena criminal in more senses than one, for idiocy of that kind is to mymind worse than many crimes.
"The prosecution brought its witnesses up in triumphal array one afteranother. There were the members of the Harewood Club--who had seen theprisoner's excited condition after his heavy gambling losses to Mr.Aaron Cohen; there was Mr. Hatherell, who, in spite of his friendshipfor Ashley, was bound to admit that he had parted from him at the cornerof Bond Street at twenty minutes to two, and had not seen him again tillhis return home at five a.m.
"Then came the evidence of Arthur Chipps, John Ashley's valet. It provedof a very sensational character.
"He deposed that on the night in question his master came home at aboutten minutes to two. Chipps had then not yet gone to bed. Five minuteslater Mr. Ashley went out again, telling the valet not to sit up forhim. Chipps could not say at what time either of the young gentlemen hadcome home.
"That short visit home--presumably to fetch the revolver--was thought tobe very important, and Mr. John Ashley's friends felt that his case waspractically hopeless.
"The valet's evidence and that of James Funnell, the constable, who hadoverheard the conversation near the park railings, were certainly thetwo most damning proofs against the accused. I assure you I was having arare old time that day. There were two faces in court to watch which wasthe greatest treat I had had for many a day. One of these was Mr. JohnAshley's.
"Here's his photo--short, dark, dapper, a little 'racy' in style, butotherwise he looks a son of a well-to-do farmer. He was very quiet andplacid in court, and addressed a few words now and again to hissolicitor. He listened gravely, and with an occasional shrug of theshoulders, to the recital of the crime, such as the police hadreconstructed it, before an excited and horrified audience.
"Mr. John Ashley, driven to madness and frenzy by terrible financialdifficulties, had first of all gone home in search of a weapon, thenwaylaid Mr. Aaron Cohen somewhere on that gentleman's way home. Theyoung man had begged for delay. Mr. Cohen perhaps was obdurate; butAshley followed him with his importunities almost to his door.
"There, seeing his creditor determined at last to cut short the painfulinterview, he had seized the unfortunate man at an unguarded moment frombehind, and strangled him; then, fearing that his dastardly work was notfully accomplished, he had shot twice at the already dead body, missingit both times from sheer nervous excitement. The murderer then must haveemptied his victim's pockets, and, finding the key of the garden,thought that it would be a safe way of evading capture by cutting acrossthe squares, under the tunnel, and so through the more distant gatewhich faced Portland Place.
"The loss of the revolver was one of those unforeseen accidents which aretributive Providence places in the path of the miscreant, deliveringhim by his own act of folly into the hands of human justice.
"Mr. John Ashley, however, did not appear the least bit impressed by therecital of his crime. He had not engaged the services of one of the mosteminent lawyers, expert at extracting contradictions from witnesses byskilful cross-examinations--oh, dear me, no! he had been contented withthose of a dull, prosy, very second-rate limb of the law, who, as hecalled his witnesses, was completely innocent of any desire to create asensation.
"He rose quietly from his seat, and, amidst breathless silence, calledthe first of three witnesses on behalf of his client. He calledthree--but he could have produced twelve--gentlemen, members of theAshton Club in Great Portland Street, all of whom swore that at threeo'clock on the morning of February 6th, that is to say, at the verymoment when the cries of 'Murder' roused the inhabitants of Park SquareWest, and the crime was being committed, Mr. John Ashley was sittingquietly in the club-rooms of the Ashton playing bridge with the threewitnesses. He had come in a few minutes before three--as the hall porterof the Club testified--and stayed for about an hour and a half.
"I need not tell you that this undoubted, this fully proved, _alibi_ wasa positive bombshell in the stronghold of the prosecution. The mostaccomplished criminal could not possibly be in two places at once, andthough the Ashton Club transgresses in many ways against the gamblinglaws of our very moral country, yet its members belong to the best, mostunimpeachable classes of society. Mr. Ashley had been seen and spoken toat the very moment of the crime by at least a dozen gentlemen whosetestimony was absolutely above suspicion.
"Mr. John Ashley's conduct throughout this astonishing phase of theinquiry remained perfectly calm and correct. It was no doubt theconsciousness of being able to prove his innocence with such absoluteconclusion that had steadied his nerves throughout the proceedings.
"His answers to the magistrate were clear and simple, even on theticklish subject of the revolver.
"'I left the club, sir,' he explained, 'fully determined to speak withMr. Cohen alone in order to ask him for a delay in the settlement of mydebt to him. You will understand that I should not care to do this inthe presence of other gentlemen. I went home for a minute or two--not inorder to fetch a revolver, as the police assert, for I always carry arevolver about with me in foggy weather--but in order to see if a veryimportant business letter had come for me in my absence.
"'Then I went out again, and met Mr. Aaron Cohen not far from theHarewood Club. I walked the greater part of the way with him, and ourconversation was of the most amicable character. We parted at the top ofPortland Place, near the gate of the Square, where the policeman saw us.Mr. Cohen then had the intention of cutting across the Square, as beinga shorter way to his own house. I thought the Square looked dark anddangerous in the fog, especially as Mr. Cohen was carrying a large sumof money.
"'We had a short discussion on the subject, and finally I persuaded himto take
my revolver, as I was going home only through very frequentedstreets, and moreover carried nothing that was worth stealing. After alittle demur Mr. Cohen accepted the loan of my revolver, and that ishow it came to be found on the actual scene of the crime; finally Iparted from Mr. Cohen a very few minutes after I had heard the churchclock striking a quarter before three. I was at the Oxford Street end ofGreat Portland Street at five minutes to three, and it takes at leastten minutes to walk from where I was to the Ashton Club.'
"This explanation was all the more credible, mind you, because thequestion of the revolver had never been very satisfactorily explained bythe prosecution. A man who has effectually strangled his victim wouldnot discharge two shots of his revolver for, apparently, no otherpurpose than that of rousing the attention of the nearest passer-by. Itwas far more likely that it was Mr. Cohen who shot--perhaps wildly intothe air, when suddenly attacked from behind. Mr. Ashley's explanationtherefore was not only plausible, it was the only possible one.
"You will understand therefore how it was that, after nearly half anhour's examination, the magistrate, the police, and the public werealike pleased to proclaim that the accused left the court without astain upon his character."