Fergus Hume

“ Now, Parge declares that Dean is guilty."
"Well, Mr. Gebb, perhaps he is."
"Indeed!" sneered Gebb, who was growing irritated. "Last time I saw you, Mr. Prain, you denied his guilt."
"And I do so now!" cried Prain, warmly. "I believe, as you do, Gebb, that Dean is innocent of both crimes. He killed neither Kirkstone nor Miss Gilmar. I don't know what Miss Wedderburn's reasons are, but she is right to defend Dean. Still," added Prain with a shrug, "I don't deny that many people look on the man as a murderer."
"Does Mr. Alder believe in Dean's guilt--in his double guilt?" ”

“ Mrs. Grix smiled in a cunning and significant manner. "Oh, I ain't afraid of Martin, sir; no one as knows him fears him."
"And why?" asked Gebb, sharply.
This question Mrs. Grix did not choose to hear; but mumbling and shaking her old head, hobbled along the passages in the direction of the Yellow Room. She ushered Gebb into this with a chuckle, and threw open the shutters to let the sunlight shine on the faded and time-worn decorations of the room.
"I s'pose you'll want to see this first," said Mrs. Grix; "most folks likes to see a room as a murder's been done in. ”

“ Old Dean can't live long, and he wants to see the pair man and wife before he leaves this very unjust world."
"Unjust world!" echoed Simon, incredulously. "Dean has been pardoned, has he not, Absalom?"
"Of course; pardoned by the State for a crime he never committed, after passing nearly twenty years in gaol for Miss Gilmar's sake. I don't wonder the old fellow is dying. He is worn out with trouble and a sense of harsh injustice. He has one foot in the grave now, and I expect he'll drop into it as soon as his son marries Edith Wedderburn." ”

“ Gebb did not know about the friendship, but he was well aware that Ferris was Alder's favoured rival with Edith Wedderburn, so wondered at the tender-heartedness of the man who was distressed over the removal of an obstacle to his wooing.
"Why are you disturbed?" asked Gebb, rather sceptically. "What makes you worry over Ferris?"
"Because I am sure he is innocent of this murder," replied Alder. "Oh, I heard all about his arrest and committal for trial from Prain, who has gone round to see him. So I thought I would come and tell you that I am convinced of his innocence." ”

“ You wish to learn who killed Miss Gilmar, sir? I tell you I do not know! Mr. Dean, in my opinion, is innocent; but on the face of it, I admit that appearances are against him. Perhaps if you find the man and question him you may arrive at the truth."
"It is not improbable," replied Gebb, coolly; "but we must catch him first. Still, Miss Wedderburn, your opinion of Dean's guilt or innocence does not explain your recent conduct. ”

“ If you see a man with a mark like that when he's in a rage, Absalom, just you nab him, for that's Dean."
"Stuff!" said Gebb, impatiently. "Lots of men wrinkle up into lines when they get out of temper. I've seen foreheads like Clapham Junction for lines."
"Not so deep," answered Parge, shaking his head, "and not straight down between the eyes. Most men frown in lines which run across the forehead when they raise their eyebrows like; but Dean draws everything up to a deep mark as dips just between the eyebrows and on to the nose. ”

“ Dean innocent?" he asked suddenly.
"God and His saints know that he had no hand in it!" cried Martin, with a remarkably sane look on his face. "A woman ruined one, a woman slew the other; and the poor soul lies in chains--in chains." And he fell to weeping, as though his heart would break with sorrow and pain.
"I wonder if this is the truth," thought Gebb. "Perhaps, after all, Laura did murder her brother, and Miss Gilmar to save her denounced Dean. ”

“ The frowning mark between the eyes, by which the detective had known him, was smoothed away, and there was no expression on the blank countenance, no movement in the slack limbs. Gebb, however, knew that this apparent death was only a temporary faintness, and whipping out his brandy-flask, forced some drops of the fiery liquid between the white lips of his prisoner. While engaged in this kindly office, the labourers who had joined in the pursuit came up with much amazement expressed on their honest, sunburnt faces. ”

“ I know he does!" cried Prain, in despair. "God bless my soul, what a case this is! The more we talk about it the more confused does it become. I tell you what, Gebb, your only chance of arriving at the truth lies in either forcing Ferris to confess where he got the necklace, or in hunting down Dean."
"I'll try the first of your suggestions at once," said Gebb, putting on his hat. "And if Ferris won't confess to me, I'll write and ask Miss Wedderburn to come to town."
"What good can she do?"
"She can make him confess the truth. What the man won't do for justice he may do for love. ”

“ Dean?"
"Yes, Dean or Martin--whichever you like to call him."
"Do you mean to say that Mad Martin, the gardener, is really Mr. Dean?" said Edith, making a final attempt to baffle Gebb.
"Yes, Miss Wedderburn, I do; and why should you or Mr. Ferris there pretend ignorance of what you know to be true? I recognized Dean myself from a description given by Parge. No one can mistake that mark between the eyes when he frowns--which mark, I see, Mr. Ferris has at this moment. And to make sure that Martin is Dean, I have the evidence of Mrs. Grix." ”

“ If any one knows where Dean is to be found, Parge is the man. Yes, I'll see Parge."
"You may see Parge," said Basson, in a tone of contempt, "but it's doubtful if you'll ever see Dean. He has vanished so completely, that I should not be at all surprised to learn that he is dead. If he was alive and in hiding, surely the police would have found him out before now."
"The police only perform miracles in novels," replied Gebb, dryly, and went off to see Parge. ”

“ Gebb, that in every way chance played into Alder's hands."
"'The wicked flourish like a green bay tree'; but not for long," said Gebb, grimly. "But tell me. Why was Alder so kind to Ferris?"
"Oh, that was his deceit," said Basson, with a sigh. "He fancied that when Dean was accused of this second murder Edith would never marry Ferris, as being the son of such a man. He was kind to him because he wanted to ingratiate himself with Edith: so that she might marry him after parting, as he thought she would, with Ferris." ”

“ When he came close to Gebb he stopped his song and dance suddenly, and looked inquiringly at the detective with his head on one side. "What do you want?" he croaked. "There is nothing here but death and misery."
"I've come to look at the house, Martin. Can you show me over it?"
"No, no," said the gardener, shaking his head. "I don't walk through the valley of dry bones. If you sit in the Yellow Room you hear the dead tell secrets." ”

“ And I can't say as I care to work with a man as doesn't know when his friend is doing him a good turn. You say another word, Simon Parge, and I'll reduce your reward to twenty-five pounds."
If Parge had been able to move he would no doubt have fallen on Gebb; but chained as he was to his chair, he could do nothing but glare at his junior with a fierce eye and a very red face. He knew very well that Gebb was acting in the most generous manner in offering to share the reward, so, fearful of losing all by opening his mouth too wide, he sulkily signified that half a loaf was better than none. ”

“ No wonder he had come forward to defend Ferris: for bad as he was, the man had some conscience, and did not wish to see a guiltless person hanged for his crime, even though that person was his rival in love. What Gebb could not understand was, why Alder had been so kind to Dean; and it was to ascertain this, amongst other things, that he left Parge as soon as he was able, and went off to Alder's rooms. The man was dying; and for the clearance of all persons concerned in the matter, it was absolutely necessary that he should make a confession of his guilt, even at the eleventh hour. ”

“ What about Ferris?"
"Ferris!" repeated Prain, in no wise astonished at this abrupt question. "Well, he is an artist, and a bit of a scamp, with whom Edith Wedderburn is in love. I don't know why; perhaps because he is a scamp. Women seem to like scamps, for some reason best known to themselves." ”

“ When you turn up the ace of spades you know it's time to order your coffin."
"Rubbish!" said Gebb. "Humbug!" roared the inspector; and they both shrugged their shoulders to show their contempt for such superstition.
Mrs. Presk shook her head gloomily. "Talk won't alter the matter!" she said, pointing to the card. "There's the death-token, and there's the corpse; what do you make of that?"
"I make this," said Gebb, dryly; "that the murderer must be a person of imagination."
"He ought to be shot, the blackguard," growled Lackland, "play-acting with a corpse. ”

“ But you must not forget that we had much that was dangerous to ourselves to conceal. If we had told you about the necklace, you might have suspected us of the crime, and it was dread of such danger which kept us silent."
"I know that you are both innocent," said Gebb, coldly. "But about Dean?"
"We did not speak of Dean--of my father--for the same reason," struck in Arthur, earnestly. "He was imprisoned for a crime which he did not commit, and you would not have had me--his own son--betray him."
"Perhaps not; it is a hard thing to ask," responded the detective. ”

“ The room was of no great size, with a window looking out on to the street, and two doors, one leading in from a narrow passage, the other giving admittance into an inner apartment, evidently a bedroom. The walls were draped with rich hangings of satin, yellow as a buttercup in hue, and a tent-like roof of the same tint and material was drawn in many folds to a dome-like centre, whence depended by a brass chain an Arabian lantern studded with knobs of yellow glass, which, illuminated from within, shone like pale topaz stones. ”

“ If not them, who is guilty?"
"Well, Dean must be the criminal."
"I don't believe it," replied Gebb, obstinately. "And if he is, he'll not be hanged; for old Nick himself couldn't hunt him out. By the way, Simon, what kind of a man was he to look at--to the naked eye, so to speak?"
"I don't know what he'll be like now," replied Parge, briskly; "but he was uncommonly good-looking in the dock, I can tell you. Just the man to take a woman's fancy: tall, and dark and smiling." ”

“ A baby could tell him by it."
"Hum!" said Gebb, who had been thinking. "Now you come to talk of it, Simon, that young Ferris has a mark like that, but not very deep."
"He's young yet, Absalom; but I dare say he takes after his father. Well, all I say is that there's no other way in which you'll spot Dean. He may grow old, and white, and shaky, or he may disguise himself in all kinds of ways, but he can't rub out that brand of Cain as Nature has set on him. ”

“ At the present moment he was conversing with Lackland about a recent Anarchist conspiracy, and therefore happened to be in the Grangebury Police Office when the zealous policeman appeared with his terrified prisoner. She cried out when she was thrust into the room, and, confronted by inspector and detective, covered her face with her hands.
"Hey! What!" said Lackland, in his rasping voice. "What's all this about?"
"Case of murder, sir," jerked out the policeman, pushing forward the prisoner. "Paradise Row! Woman strangled!"
"Murder?" cried Gebb, pricking up his ears at the ominous word. ”

“ The diamond necklace," said Lackland, slowly.
"You don't say so!" cried Gebb, excitedly. "Was it sold--pawned----?"
"Pawned!" interrupted the inspector. "Aaron and Nathan's, Harold Street, City. It came into their possession the day after the murder."
"The devil! Our assassinating friend lost no time. Who pawned it?"
"A young man who called himself James Brown."
"James Fiddlesticks," said Gebb, contemptuously--"a false name. What was he like?"
"Tall, dark, handsome," said Lackland, with military brevity. "Aaron said that he put the necklace up the spout as cool as a cucumber. ”

“ Every one's got a frown," said Gebb, in a disgusted tone.
"Not of his sort," was Parge's answer. "Since sitting here, Absalom, I've been reading a heap of books I never read before. Amongst others one called 'Redgauntlet,' by a baronet, Sir Walter Scott. Know it?"
"No, I don't. What has it got to do with Dean?"
"There was a fellow in it," said Parge, following his own reflections, "as had a horseshoe mark over his nose when he frowned. Quite queer it was."
"Must have been," said Gebb, derisively. "And has Dean a horseshoe?" ”

“ Presk is doing. Question her; question the servant who---- By the way, what is the servant's name?"
"Matilda Crane; but she knows nothing."
"It's as well to ask her, however," warned Parge. "The people who seem to know least usually know most. Now go away, Absalom, and don't be so long in looking me up again. I'm anxious to get to the bottom of this case."
"You can't be more anxious than I am," replied Gebb, disconsolately. ”

“ However, I'll see him at once. Justice will make the first attempt--Love the second."
"And both will fail!" cried Prain. "You'd better catch Dean, my good man."
"That's easier said than done," retorted Gebb; and the two parted, each more or less exasperated. And very naturally, for the perplexities of the Grangebury murder case were enough to anger the mildest natures, and those of Prain and Gebb were rather the reverse.
Irritated and puzzled by the complexion of affairs, Gebb did not let the grass grow under his feet, but at once visited the prison in which Arthur Ferris was confined. ”

“ Then there is the dead woman's dress, and the landlady's queer conduct. Oh, you can bet, inspector, there's a jolly lot more in these things than meets the eye, and I'm the man to find out what they all mean."
"You can blow your own trumpet, I see!" said Lackland, dryly.
Gebb laughed, in nowise embarrassed. "My trumpeter's dead from over-work," he replied coolly. "If I don't praise myself no one else will. However, I'll see to-morrow if the big wigs will let me run this show in my own way. Now you go and look round the house, Lackland, and leave me here to examine the room." ”