J. S. Fletcher

“ It is seven years since I came to this place as borough accountant. I found that, under an ancient charter, the whole of the financial business of the borough was in the hands of a small body known as the town trustees, three only in number. It is marvelous that such a body should be allowed to exist in these days. The town trustees are responsible to nobody. They elect themselves. That is to say, if one dies, the surviving two elect his successor. They are not bound to render accounts to any one. ”

“ But it was the belief of Mallett, and of Coppinger, and of my brother Simon, that Wallingford's way could be barred. How? Well, all three believed that Wallingford could be bought off. They believed that Wallingford had his price; that he could be got at; that he could be squared. All three of them are men who believe that every man has his price. I believe that myself, and I'm not ashamed of voicing my belief. Every man can be bought, if you can only agree on a price with him. Now, the town trustees knew that Wallingford had ambitions. ”

“ To save time and needless explanations, let me begin by saying that as far as it went, all the evidence your worships have heard, from the police, from Louisa Speck, from Dr. Pellery, from Spizey and his wife, from everybody, I think, is substantially correct—entirely correct, I might say, for I don't remember anything that I could contradict. The whole point is—what does it lead up to? In the opinion of the police, to identifying me with the actual murder of John Wallingford, and my brother there with being accessory to the crime. The police, as usual, are absolutely and entirely at fault. ”

“ As he ran along the lane, and as his mental faculties regained their normality, Brent himself did some piecing together. Every word of Krevin Crood's statement had bitten itself into his intelligence. Now he could reconstruct. He visualized the mayor's parlor on that fateful evening. An angry, disillusioned, nerve-racked man, sore and restive under the fancy—or, rather, the realization—of deceit, saying bitter and contemptuous words; a desperate, defeated woman, cornered like a rat ”

“ His brain was not yet fully recovered from the shock of Krevin Crood's last words, and it was obsessed by a single idea—that of gaining the garden entrance of the Abbey House and confronting the woman whom Krevin had formally denounced as the murderer of Wallingford.
As he hurried along, he found himself saying certain words over and over again, and still again:
“I'm not going to see a woman hang! I'm not going to see a woman hang! ”

“ XXVIII That the appearance of Louisa Speck in the witness box came as something more than an intense surprise to at any rate two particular persons in that court was evident at once to Brent's watchful eye. Mrs. Mallett, a close observer of what was going on, started as her parlor maid's name was called, and, lifting her eyeglass, surveyed the girl with a wondering stare of prolonged inspection. In the dock, Krevin Crood also let a start of astonishment escape him. ”

“ The mayor was lying across his desk, still, quiet. I touched his shoulder, and got blood on my fingers. I knew then what had happened—the woman had snatched up the rapier and run him through. I pulled out my handkerchief—the handkerchief I had taken from Mallett's drawer—wiped my hand, and threw the handkerchief in the fire. Then I took up a mass of papers and a memorandum book which Wallingford had laid down, and went away by the passage. That is the plain truth. I should never have told it if I hadn't been arrested. I care nothing at all that Wallingford was killed by this woman—not I! ”

“ The reason is that there aren't twenty people in Hathelsborough who would buy such a book. Hathelsborough people don't care twopence about the history of their old town. All they care about is money. This case is a proof!”
“I think we'll get back to the case,” said Meeking, amid a ripple of laughter. “Well, we may consider you as the greatest living expert on Hathelsborough, Dr. Pellery, and eminently fitted to give us some very important evidence. Do you know the ancient church of St. Laurence, at the back of this Moot Hall?” ”

“ Laurence and the Moot Hall. I saw no reason for building an arch at that point. Certainly it had not been built as a support, for the masonry of the tower and of the hall is unusually solid. I got the idea that that wall had originally been built as a means of communication between tower and hall; that it was hollow, and that at each extremity there was a secret means of entrance and exit. I knew from experience that this sort of thing was common in Hathelsborough. The older part of the town is a veritable rabbit warren. ”

“ What we may call the war between Wallingford, as leader of the reform party, and the town trustees, as representatives of the old system, had come to a definite stage, and Mallett, Coppinger, and my brother Simon realized that it was high time to open negotiations with the enemy. ”

“ There now arose a murmur in court which the chairman and officials found it difficult to suppress; but curiosity prevailed over excitement, and the silence was deep enough when Meeking got in his next question:
“You affirm all this in face of the recent inquiry?”
“I do—and strongly. The accounts shown at the recent inquiry were all carefully manipulated and arranged by the town trustees. I had nothing to do with them. They were prepared by the town trustees—chiefly, I imagine, by Mallett and Coppinger, with Crood's approval and consent. They were never shown to me. ”

“ No? Then I will recall Superintendent Hawthwaite for a moment. Superintendent, you have just heard of a certain pocketbook which belonged to the late mayor. Was it found on his dead body, or on his desk, or anywhere, after the murder? No? Not after the most careful and thorough search? Completely disappeared? Very good! Now let us have Louisa Speck.”
A smartly dressed, self-possessed young woman came forward. Tansley, nudging Brent, whispered that this was Mallett's parlor maid, and that things were getting deuced interesting. ”

“ No one had ever heard of it, and there were no signs of entrance to it either in the tower or in the Moot Hall. However, I discovered it, by careful and patient investigation of the paneling in the chamber I have mentioned. The paneling is divided, on each wall of the chamber, into seven compartments. The fourth compartment on the outer wall slides back, and gives access to a passage cut through the arch across St. Laurence Lane and so to the Moot Hall.”
“There's one man here who knows all this!” whispered Tansley in Brent's ear. “Look at Krevin Crood!” ”

“ A woman—yet a murderess—the murderess of his cousin, whose death he had vowed to avenge. Of course it was so. Brent saw many things now. The anxiety to get the letters—the dread of publicity expressed to Peppermore—the mystery spread over many things and actions—now this affair with Mallett—there was no reason to doubt Krevin Crood's accusation. ”

“ Wallingford ascertained this beyond all doubt, and that it had gone on ever since Krevin Crood's retirement from his official position. There are other men in the borough, hangers-on and supporters of the town trustees, who benefit by public money in the shape of pensions, grants, or doles. In every case the actual amount paid is much more than the amount set down in such accounts as are shown. Wallingford meant to sweep all this jobbery clean away.”
“How?”
“By getting the financial affairs of the town into the full and absolute control of the mayor and the town council. ”

“ There is scarcely a house in the Market Place, for instance, in which there is not a double staircase, the inner one being very cleverly concealed. I know of several secret ways and passages, entered on one side of a street, and terminating far off on another. ”

“ Simon nodded sullenly, as if he comprehended; and from that point forward he kept his small eyes firmly fixed on the witness.
Tansley, too, noticed these things, and bent toward his companion with a meaning glance.
“This young woman knows something,” he muttered; “and those two chaps in the dock know what it is!”
The young woman upon whom all eyes were fixed was perhaps the most self-possessed person present. She answered the preliminary questions as coolly as if she had been giving evidence in murder cases as a regular thing. Louisa Speck—twenty-six years of age—been in the employ of Mrs. ”