Frank Danby

“ It is only Cabinet Ministers who can afford to know stockbrokers."
It was late in the evening of the day before the adjourned inquest that Keightley and Roger, supping together, saw not only that clean-shaven young barrister, Mr. Marcus Colvin, but also his client, Mr. Guy Dacre, at a well-filled round table in the grill room of the Savoy.
"Now is your chance," said Roger. "Can't you join them? Do you recognise any of the ladies?"
Keightley's spirits had fluctuated very much in the interval. But Roger shrewdly suspected that the more he talked of suicide the less he contemplated it. ”

“ She was not called as a witness, but she says the young man was shot before he entered the house. That she saw you and your Japanese valet supporting him."
Keightley's thin and expressive face became merely obstinate.
"She should have come forward at the time," he said coldly. "It's too late now."
"She will never come forward; that is not the question. It is no question of evidence or outside interference. Wilbur, this is between you and me. And words are unnecessary, too many words. We know who killed Harry Maingaye; we suspect, or perhaps you know, who killed Stanley Dacre. ”

“ Roger Macphail was not nearly as surprised as he pretended when, before he got to the end of the street, he felt a hand upon his arm.
"So you did not go after all?" was what he said.
"Yes, I did," Keightley answered. "I went as far as Paris. Got back last night. Fact is, I met Willie Kirsch, Mrs. Mott's publisher, and he could talk of nothing but this case and the Comtesse de Brissac, who, by the way, he called 'Inez.' He had a book of hers in the press at the moment, which he says he shall withdraw. 'Every man who has called at that flat or visited her at any time will be a marked man. ”

“ Keightley paled.
"Than I?" he said mechanically. "Shall I fill your glass again?"
"Than you or me. Thanks, yes. Dacre would never even have been suspected if he had not told so many lies. No! Dacre is in no danger." He tossed off his glass. "Fact is, we've as good as got the man."
"Good God!" Marcus Colvin was pleased with the effect he was making.
"The man of whom Stanley was jealous, for whom he was watching, the man who shot him ... I say, one can see you're not used to these hours; you've gone the colour of a candle." ”

“ Guy Dacre was in a very ugly position. Nobody believed he had not recognised his brother. The story of the man who had been seen getting over the garden wall—whom he had described as young and fair, in a dark tweed suit and cap, and Mrs. Mott as dark, dressed in a light overcoat and Monte Carlo hat—was equally, if not more, incredible. ”

“ But how am I to account for my mother's share in the matter?"
"She did it for you."
"We should have to find a jury of altruists to believe the truth, and then they wouldn't. The very moment she sees my name in the papers she will rush back ..."
"Mrs. Mott's identification will go for nothing if Guy Dacre persists in his."
"The more brilliant a fellow is the greater the danger of his eclipsing his own path."
Keightley, although gloomy, was better when he began to make phrases, and Roger got a little reassured about him. ”

“ Roger, his palette on his thumb, was walking backwards and forwards, studying his subject, roughing it on the canvas, posing and altering the position. Roger did not know any other way of making Keightley keep even approximately still.
"Colvin is the best man for you to see—Marcus Colvin, Guy Dacre's lawyer; he is often at the Savoy. You might be able to pump him as to Dacre's position: pretend he is a friend or acquaintance of yours. As soon as you know that Dacre is in no danger you can think exclusively of your mother, and incidentally of yourself. ”

“ Marcus Colvin rather shut up when he was approached so directly as that, and Keightley had to alter his tactics. They talked of the weather and the difficulty of finding a taxi. Mr. Colvin, it appeared, lived in Hampstead. He extolled the air of that salubrious suburb, but admitted the difficulty of getting to it.
"If you can walk as far as Carlton House Terrace with me, I'll knock up my chauffeur, and he will run you home in no time."
One expands more easily to a young man who lives in Carlton House Terrace and puts a motor at your disposal, than to one you meet casually in a night house. ”

“ The witness understood the shock in question was the death of Mr. Harry Maingaye.
"She asked several times for Mr. Guy Dacre, and when she was told he was detained at the police station became intensely agitated.
"Mr. Colvin, for Guy Dacre, who was next called, said his client was not in court, and he had advised him at this stage of the case to decline to give evidence. Mr. Dacre had been detained at the police-station, his house and his office had been searched, and he himself shadowed. ”

“ Then everything seemed to happen at once. Mrs. Mott went into hysterics and began screaming. A doctor arrived and a whole posse of policemen. I asked the inspector if he would want me any more. When he said 'Yes,' I went upstairs again. I spoke to Mrs. Mott and tried to soothe her—said it was probably a frustrated attempt at a burglary. I did not know then that the man was dead. It was getting late, so I went down again and told Sergeant Ferris I could not stay. ”

“ Mott would have been able to correct or explain this discrepancy. She was understood in the court to say she thought she recognised the man, who, possibly, was also an habitué of the flat. Unfortunately——"
When the coroner said "unfortunately," and paused, the blood flowed slowly back into Keightley's face, and Roger felt the relaxation of his strained attention.
"——Unfortunately, Mrs. Mott never recovered consciousness after she left the court. She can add nothing to her evidence. The information has just been brought me that she passed away at an early hour this morning." ”

“ A big fair man had the croupier's seat at the long green-covered table and there were already a few punters. The big fair man was introduced as Captain Biddell, but which branch of His Majesty's Service he represented was not stated. ”

“ Keightley Wilbur's successful play, According to Cocker. Mr. Stanley Dacre, who played the title rôle, was the last person to see Harry Maingaye alive. The affair made a great sensation at the time, and the most extraordinary rumours were afloat; rumours which the present tragic affair will certainly revive. The police followed every possible trail, but up to now without any satisfactory result."
The third extract was a report of the opening of the inquest:
"At the Battersea Coroner's Court yesterday Mr. ”