Fergus Hume

“ The Greek, anxious to know how matters were proceeding, had made an appointment with Jasher at a Soho restaurant after the theatre, and was now at the supper-table looking more haggard and lean than ever with his blazing eyes and funereal looks. Disappointed at being deprived of Mrs. Brand's fortune, Bocaros--as Laura surmised rightly--was angry with Arnold for having obtained it. The remarks he had made in the young man's presence were mere fault-finding words, as he had no reason, on the face of it, to suspect him of being connected with the crime. ”

“ The miserable man sprang to his feet with a shrill cry. "No! no! I will kill myself first. You shall not--you shall not"; and he glared at them with dishevelled hair and bloodshot eyes, his face white, his lips grey in an extremity of fear. Calvert took no notice but turned to the American.
"I am unwilling to do that," he said. "After all I am to marry Laura, and there is her sister to be considered. Should the whole truth be made public, Mrs. Fane will suffer. She is not this man's wife. I must think of her and the child, Tracey." ”

“ This time Calvert coloured a trifle, and shifted his rather direct gaze. "Yes," he answered; "though I do not know by what right you ask me such a question."
"I am your cousin----"
"Even that does not entitle you to take such a liberty."
"Bocaros looked annoyed. I am the last man to take a liberty with any one," said he coldly, while Jasher's twinkling eyes watched his face and the face of Calvert alternately; "but Flora, when I saw her a week before she was murdered, told me that she had made a will in my favour. ”

“ The inexplicable murder in Troy is one of those crimes which at once startle and shock the public. That a woman should be done to death in this manner is bad enough, but that with our wonderful police organisation, her identity should remain a mystery is nothing less than a scandal and a shame. If the houses of law-abiding citizens are to be made the shambles for unknown assassins, the sooner the police force is reorganised the better. ”

“ Laura rose to embrace him. "I believe in your innocence. We will find out who killed the woman. Do you suspect any one?"
"No," said Arnold after a pause, and with an effort; "how can I suspect any one? I know very little of my cousin. But now that I have the money, I intend to learn the truth. Laura, Professor Bocaros seems to suspect me. I can't say why he should. He cannot possibly know I was at the villa on that night. He brought Jasher to me, and to avert all suspicion, I engaged Jasher to hunt for the assassin." ”

“ I am poor--yes, I am very poor, but I do not want money. Spend what you would give me in paying Jasher to discover the assassin."
"Is this why you bring Mr. Jasher to me?" asked Arnold.
"What else?" said Bocaros. "I only saw Flora twice, but I liked her--she was good to me. I want to know who killed her."
"All the world wants to know that, professor."
"Pardon me," said Jasher, in his unctuous voice. "I do not think the world in general cares very much, Mr. Calvert. The world has grown tired of its nine days' wonder, and now is occupying itself in other matters. ”

“ And, indeed, she did not look unlike a magnificent white cat, sleek and feline and treacherous. Bocaros, hard as he was, winced at the regard of her narrow eyes. Well, then, Baron Bocaros," said Mrs. Fane in her low sweet voice, "I will be plain with you. I said that the dagger was mine, to shield Mr. Calvert----"
"I know. You are in love with him," burst out the professor.
"What do you mean, sir?" demanded the woman, a tide of crimson flushing her face. "I detest the man." ”

“ Fane made no attempt to defend himself. He did not even state that he had been at Westcliff-on-Sea on the night, and at the very time of the murder. He simply lay there crushed, and in spite of the horror of the cold-blooded crime he had committed, in spite of his cowardliness, the two men pitied a human being who could fall so low, and behave so basely. Even the courage of a rogue can be admired, but there was nothing worthy of admiration in the conduct of the man who had thus been caught. ”

“ But once you are the Baroness Bocaros, you will be above suspicion. Play me false, soil my name, and I'll kill you."
"You look just the sort to kill a woman," said Miss Doon, wrenching her hand away. "For all I know, you killed that cousin of yours to get the money."
The professor shook her hard. "How dare you say that!" he exclaimed furiously. "I do not know who killed my cousin. But I more than suspect Arnold Calvert. I spoke to your mistress. She can prove much, and she will. The money--the money----" Bocaros convulsively opened and shut his hand. "I must have that money." ”

“ While he was thus occupied, Calvert touched the man on the shoulder. Fane, who had again sunk into the chair, trembling and white, looked up. "Take the brandy," said Calvert quietly, "and then tell us your story. Until I am absolutely convinced of your guilt, I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt."
"Oh bless you--bless you!" Fane seized Arnold's hand, and tried to kiss it, but the young man drew it away, with an ejaculation of disgust, and wiped it.
"Be a man," he said angrily. "If you had nerve enough to kill poor Flora in that brutal manner, surely you can face the result." ”

“ Baldwin, casting apprehensive glances at the door and window, and still grasping the pistol; "where is he?"
"Not here," said Tracey, and strove to take the pistol away. But Mrs. Baldwin resisted.
"He will come," she said, "and I must be ready," and with that she replaced the pistol under the pillow.
"What does she mean?" asked Calvert in a whisper.
"Never mind," returned the American much discomposed, "ask her about the locket. She's queer, that's all."
"The locket--the locket," murmured Mrs. Baldwin, beginning to weep; "I gave it to Rufus when I thought he wasn't a brute. ”

“ If I wanted to be at ease, it was necessary that I should marry a rich woman. I wanted to leave a way of escape."
"I see," said Tracey, in a tone of disgust. "You intended to marry Flora under your false name, so that should occasion offer, you might marry a wealthy woman under your real one."
"Yes," said Fane calmly; "that was my intention. But I did not intend to marry Flora at all at first. Then I fell so deeply in love with her that I decided to ask her to be my wife. She told me of the money she expected from Brand in Australia, and of course that made me eager to marry her." ”

“ Had he been a bully in addition, she would doubtless have adored him.
"I don't like it, Arnold," said Laura, starting to her feet when the door closed. "Professor Bocaros, in spite of his looks and poverty, is a gentleman. Why should he take notice of Emily, who is merely a servant? And she is here--oh, what does it mean?"
Arnold, amazed by this outburst, looked at her in surprise. "My dear, what does it matter?" he said, pressing her to resume her seat. "I don't care if Bocaros marries a laundress. He has nothing to do with me."
"He is a dangerous man, and you are in his way." ”

“ The woman is mad with fear, and she'll get him out of her life somehow. I say, Calvert, don't say anything to any one of the rubbish she talks."
"No I won't--not if she shoots Jasher. And if he's the murderer, it would be about the best thing that could happen. For the sake of Mrs. Fane and the child, for Laura's sake, I want things hushed up."
"Same here," assented Tracey, "for the sake of Gerty and the kids. And for Momma Baldwin's sake also," he added; "I'm real sorry for her. She's a good sort, and will sleep better when Jasher's caught." ”

“ Baldwin. "Lovers will be lovers; eh, Mrs. Fane?"
"It would seem so," said Julia serenely. "I dislike demonstrative affection myself. But what did this professor say?"
"Professor Bocaros is his name," said Mrs. Baldwin, who would tell her story in her own slow way. "He told me that Mr. Calvert had come into a fortune."
"Into a fortune?" gasped Laura, turning even paler than she was.
"Of course, my dear, you know all about it," said Mrs. Baldwin playfully. "He told you that this poor woman who was killed here was his cousin."
Laura uttered an ejaculation and stared, but Julia interposed. ”

“ Fane seems to be a gentleman with an original turn for furnishing to possess such a room, and the crime adds to its romance. And the secret of this murder will never be discovered. Why the woman should be stabbed, why she should have been lured to that strange room to be killed, how the assassins obtained possession of the latch-key--these things must remain for ever a mystery. But we are convinced that the crime was committed by a man and a woman, and we have given our reason. ”

“ Only the strong man looking down at that still corpse, only the blackness of her dress; the redness of her life-blood soaking into the white bearskin, and all around the wan desolation of that white, mysterious room, Arctic and silent. ”

“ He acknowledged his introduction to Bocaros with a slight and supercilious nod.
"You work too hard," said Jasher, when Mr. Hart was engaged in eating.
"It's hard work hanging round the theatre waiting for a chance," said the other.
"You have got one," said the detective; "ain't you engaged at the Frivolity Theatre?"
"Only as Calvert's understudy," said the discontented youth. "I have to be at the theatre waiting for my chance should he fall ill. He's too clever to let me go on, and he can't act a bit. I could make a magnificent part of the one he spoils." ”

“ Would any man be such a fool as to act this way in his own house? Had he known this woman, had he desired to get rid of her, he would have taken her to the other end of London, as far away from our home as possible."
"I can see that. And, madame, I ask your pardon for my unjust suspicions. You are innocent." And he bent to kiss her hand.
Mrs. Fane snatched it away fiercely. "Innocent,--of course I am. I can prove that I was at the Liverpool Street Station all that evening. I was in the ladies' waiting-room. You can understand how the phonograph deceived the police. ”

“ It was a pleasant, rambling old mansion in a quiet street, and here she lived very comfortably on her five hundred a year.
"Do you remember Gerty Harrow with whom we were at school?" wrote Laura Mason to an old friend. "She lives here, near the place of my brother-in-law, and is now about twenty-two years of age. Such a nice girl--pretty and clever, and engaged to a most amusing American called Luther Tracey. He manufactures motor-cars, and Gerty Baldwin drives them. Whenever a car is sold, Gerty goes down and stops for a week or so with the people who buy it, to show them how it works. ”

“ Tracey. The American was fair and handsome, active in his movements and compact in his frame. He wore fashionable evening-dress, and looked a shrewd, pleasant man of the world, who had travelled much and had his wits about him. The mention he made of arrest showed Derrick that the man was innocent. Not even a Yankee's passion for advertising his goods would hurry a man into the grip of the law if he were in any way guilty. The inspector, however, did not think it wise to lose sight of Tracey, and being diplomatic he behaved towards him in quite an affable way. ”

“ It was lucky that things were as they were, for Fane was the last man in the world to take the initiative. He always required to be governed and guided, scolded and petted. The slack character of the man could be seen from his mouth, which was constantly half-open. A pleasant, handsome, kindhearted man was Fane, but his very good qualities added to his weakness. His languid good-nature was always getting him into trouble, and he was kindly not so much from a genuine feeling of the sort as from a desire not to be troubled. It is much easier to be yielding in this world than to hold one's own. ”

“ I remained a time in the Hampstead house, and I suppose while I was there Flora, under the direction of Bocaros, managed to take an impression of my key. I always wore my latch-key on a chain, but Flora could easily have taken an impression while I was asleep. Then I went away for the last time, thinking that her jealous fears were at rest. She told me about the money, and I was enraged to think how I was done out of it. Julia has not ten thousand a year," said Fane sadly, "or anything like it. I would have done better to stick to Flora." ”

“ Occupied in knitting a fleecy shawl, she scarcely lifted her eyes as she spoke, but continued to work placidly, never dropping a single stitch. There never was a woman who had herself so much under control as Mrs. Fane. Laura often wondered how she came to marry an excitable, vivacious man like Walter. But perhaps the exception to the law that like draws to like drew them together, and Mrs. Fane found in her husband, whose nature was so totally opposed to her own, the complement of herself. ”

“ Had you not led this double life the tragedy would never have happened."
"Well, it has happened and everything's at an end," said Fane, sitting up sullenly. "Calvert has stifled all inquiry. Nothing will ever be known, unless you give the thing away."
"What do you take me for?" cried Mrs. Fane, turning on him. "Do you think I am going to pose as a disgraced woman with your friends and mine? I made you confess something of this when you came back to Southend. I shielded you in my interview with Bocaros, so that you should not be suspected. ”

“ How do I know but what your police may accuse me of killing Flora?"
"They'll have to prove how you got into the house first," said the American, rather ashamed of his momentary suspicions, since the man looked at the matter in this fashion. "You lie low, professor. You're all right, I guess. There's a long difference between inheriting a large fortune and killing the person to get it." ”