Frank Danby

“ Sir Audley left the box as if a long array of ancestors were behind him and he was leading them.
The coroner leaned forward and said a few words to his officer.
"Idiot!" commented Keightley to his mother. "He has told the man not to lose sight of him!"
Dr. Ince was the next witness called.
"Now watch," said Keightley excitedly. "See him practise the art of suppressio veri. I coached him myself. He mustn't fail me."
Keightley's excitement was manifest, culminating.
"After Ince it will be my turn. Watch, mater: watch, listen! "
Dr. Ince, duly sworn, proved comparatively uninteresting. ”

“ Family pride, and then the horrid fear of excessive counsels' fees."
"The differences between your cousin and her husband would not have been in everyone's mouth: his temper or her humours."
"Ince had missed everything."
"You gave him no time. You were so anxious to mountebank at the inquest, to have your dramatic moment, to be in the public eye, that you considered no one's feelings. You say there is always a story behind a verdict. Shall I tell you the real story behind this verdict? It is a three-volume one, and the end is not yet. It is the story of Keightley Wilbur's vanity." ”

“ You would avoid an inquest, if possible?"
"Of course I would have done all I could, but an inquest is inevitable, whatever the result."
"You know what my cousin—what Lady Seddon-Battye has in her mind?"
"She is very hysterical: not really recovered from her lying-in. She is not fully accountable for anything she may say."
"All the more reason ..."
"One cannot hush up a thing like this." Now Dr. Ince was even sympathetic. "The household, the tradespeople—everybody knows what she said in her hysteria; that the child has been suffocated. ”

“ Veda's mass of black hair was all he could see of her, and the heaving bedclothes.
Circe was the great blue Persian cat, a prize-winner, and before baby came Veda's great interest in life—Circe and her perennial kittens. She was lying even now at the foot of the bed. Keightley rubbed her fur up the wrong way, and she rose to her feet, hunched her back and spat at him.
"I'll fetch Audley. Don't make him more of a scene than you can help."
"He won't come, I know he won't come. He'll never speak to me again. He doesn't care for me any more. ..." ”

“ Wilbur's voice dropped—"the baby was dead! He had been suffocated. ..."
"The pillows, bedclothes?"
"His dear little face was clear of them all."
Keightley would not let her cry, he put a consoling hand on her shoulder. "Buck up, mater. Tell me some more. How about the nurse?"
"Trustworthy, reliable."
"Who had been in the nursery?"
"Veda, perhaps Audley. No one else. Veda cannot bear the thought of an inquest. Can't you see Dr. Ince and persuade him to give a certificate? He is under an obligation to you. You never said anything of what you found out from that dreadful Dr. Boyne." ”

“ I wouldn't listen, I wouldn't hear. She thinks, she suspects—it is such an awful thing to say——"
"Why, you are quite pale, I believe you are frightened."
"I can't help it, I am frightened. She says the last person to go into the nursery was her husband!"
"But he was prouder than anyone on earth has ever been before at having a son, an heir. He gave it sixteen names, I know, because they cost two shillings each to emblazon on that bowl we bought."
"Keightley, be absolutely serious for a moment. I can't say it, you must try and understand without words. ”

“ Has she found out what an ineffable prig he is?"
"Audley is a man of the strongest rectitude, the highest moral character."
"I know. A dull dog all the same! But I thought they were devoted to each other."
"They were. But something has come between them. Keightley, you have taken up crime as a hobby, become interested in it. What do you make of this? You were right that I have been crying. I feel very distressed and useless. Veda tried to tell me something. ”

“ I'm no good as a blackmailer. I shall have to take lessons."
In Eaton Square the blinds were down and everyone trod softly. Keightley asked for his mother and was told she was with her ladyship, that Sir Audley was still in the library, and would see no one. Mrs. Wilbur appeared at the top of the stairs while Keightley was talking to the butler, and he went up to her, two steps at a time.
"No! I can't say I've exactly succeeded," he replied to a hurriedly whispered question. "I expect there will have to be some sort of an inquiry. I want to see Veda. Can I go in?" ”

“ And as for being an actor, you played tragedy as if it were comedy, or farce. I don't believe you even remembered that it was tragedy, you were so occupied in thinking of yourself, in posing for publicity. Don't you think it is time you gave up this child's play of being 'Sherlock Holmes' and settled down again? You have obviously little or no qualification for the game. ”

“ I saw it seven minutes after the nurse's screams aroused the household, and it was lying on its back, clear of all obstruction. It had been dead about a quarter of an hour, rigor mortis had not yet set in. I've not had time to make a complete examination. I'm going back there."
"You must find a way to avoid an inquest, any public inquiry."
"I have told you it is impossible."
"Nothing is impossible. You'll have to discover a natural cause. Convulsion, clot on the brain? You must devise something."
Dr. Ince became a little irritable and impatient with Keightley's persistence. ”

“ Oh! my hobby, yes. I asked him if he thought it would be more appropriate for me to play golf."
"Keightley, listen. I don't know what to do. It isn't only that the baby is dead. Of course, that is very sad; they had waited a long time. But it isn't that; the way of his death is so dreadful. Nobody quite knows how it came about I am afraid, we are all afraid, there will have to be an inquest." The tone of the last sentence was tragic.
"An inquest?"
"Yes. Unless you can help."
"I?"
"I told Veda I would speak to you, that you knew Dr. Ince."
"Ince?" ”

“ You are keeping the court waiting."
"Very well. You will have only yourself to blame if——"
Every face was turned to him in hushed expectancy; tense. He addressed, not the coroner, but the whole court, the small public and the constables, the reporters and loutish twelve in the jury box.
"I will tell you who suffocated this baby, who committed this murder! This murder," he spoke with contempt and sarcastic coolness, "of which you, sir, dared to suspect my cousin, Sir Audley Seddon-Battye." ”

“ I may want to see Audley. Don't lose your courage, nor let Veda. Audley wears ready-made ties, but it would be too far fetched to let him be hanged on that account. What bad psychologists you all are! Audley would never commit a murder, the thought of the funeral expenses would keep him from it! What I have to do is to shut Ince's mouth while I find out who did kill the little beggar. What a good thing it is, after all, that I have taken up crime, whatever Devenish may say about it. Tell Veda not to fret. I'll pull her through."
Keightley received a good impression of Dr. ”

“ Ince. They were closeted together for nearly an hour. But Dr. Ince was able to bring her the reassuring news that her son was recovering from a bad attack of migraine and that there was not the slightest cause for uneasiness. True enough, Keightley reappeared at dinner practically normal.
"Poor old mater! I hope you haven't been worrying about me. What it is to have a genius for a son!" ”