A Mysterious Disappearance by Louis Tracy (read a book .txt) đ
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âWell, sir, this yer lydy was a-missinâ early in November. She tykes a ticket at Victoria Station on the District for Richmond; she gives it up to me at Sloane Square, arsks a newsboy the wây to Raleigh Mansions, for âe tellâd me so after youâd bin to see me, anâ from what you sây, âas bin swallered up ever since.â
âThe Lord Chief couldnât state the case more simply.â
âThatâs the first two. Now, for the second two, anâ you wonât forgit as I knew nothink about the lydy beinâ dead, or I should âave opened my mouth long afore this.â
âGo on. No one can blame you.â
âThereâs an old chapâFoxey they calls âim, but I donât know âis right nymeâwho drives a four-wheeler around Chelsea, anâ âe âad tyken a fare from the Square to the City. It might be four oâclock or it might be five, but âe was on âis wây back from Cornhill when a gent, a tall, good-looking gent, a youngish, military chap, âails âim and says: âCabby, drive me to Sloane Square. Thereâs no âurry, but tyke care, because itâs foggy.â Old Foxey nearly jumped out of âis skin at this bit of good luck. âE was pretty full then, for âeâs a regular beer-barrel, âe is, but âe made up âis mind to âave a fair old skinful that night. Well, Foxey drives âim all right to the Square. The gent gives âim five bob and says: âWite âere for me, cabby. You can drive me âome in about an hourâs time.â This was at 5.30. Foxey drew up near the stytion, tells me all about it, anâ stanâs me two beers, âe was that pleased with âisself. âE goes to give âis âoss the nose-bag, in comes the Richmond train, and out pops the lydy with the Richmond ticket. Dâye follow me?â
âEvery word.â
âAnâ you see now âow it is I can fix the dây?â
âPerfectly.â
âWell, I sees no more of Foxey. I missed âim about the Square, so one dây I axes at the rank,ââWhereâs Foxey?â Anâ where dâye think âe was?â
âI can not tell.â
âIn quod.â
âIn jail. Why?â
âThatâs hit. Thatâs number two of the twos. Pardon me, but Iâm gettinâ a bit mixed. Well, it seems that that very night, cominâ back from Putney as drunk as a lord, old Foxey runs over a barrer. âE anâ the coster âas a fight. The police come, and Foxey dots one bobby in the blinkers and another on the boko. You wouldnât think it was in âim. âE must âave bin paralytic.â
âSo he was locked up?â
âLocked up! âE was dragged there by the âeels. Next morninâ âe comes before the beak. âWe was all drunk together, your wurshup,â âe says. âI took a fare from the City to Sloane Square, anâ âe left me for moreân an hour. âE comes back excited likeâbin boozinâ âard, I supposeâbrings my keb up to a âouse, carries in a lydy who was that âtoxicated she couldnât stand, anâ tells me to drive to Putney. We gits there, anâ I says âyouâve nearly killed my âoss, guvânor.â With that âe tips me a fiverâa five-pun note, your wurshup.â âWhat has that got to do with the charge?â says the beak. âWot?â says Foxey. âIf a chap give you a fiver for drivinâ âim to Putney wouldnât you get drunk?â With that the magistrate gives âim three months for assaulting the police, and fines âim the balance of the fiver for beinâ drunk in charge of a âoss and keb.â
The ticket collector took a long drink after this recital.
âI hope you will not follow Foxeyâs example,â said Bruce, rising.
ââOw do you mean, sir?â
âBecause I am going to keep my word. Here are the four sovereigns I owe you. In your case your two and two have made five.â
âThank you, sir. Youâre a brick. No fear of me meltinâ this little lot. The missus will be on âem like a bird wâen I tell her.â And the man spat upon the coins with evident relish as he handled them.
âOne word more,â said Bruce. âWhere was this man tried?â
âAt the West London Police Court.â
âYou can get me his real name and post it to me?â
âSure, sir. Anyway, Iâll try.â
âI am greatly obliged to you.â
âAnâ âas my yarn bin of any use to you, sir?â
âThe greatest. It has solved a puzzle. However, I will see you again. Good-bye. Donât forget to write.â
âCornhill is the direct line from Leadenhall Street,â mused Claude, when he was alone. âAny one coming to Sloane Square from Dodge & Co.âs office would pass through it. Upon my word, things look very black against Mensmore. Yet I cannot believe it.â
CHAPTER XVII A POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONBruce now had several lines of inquiry open.
Apart from the main and vital question as to the exact method of Lady Dykeâs death, and the identity of the person responsible for it, a number of important matters required attention.
Why had Jane Harding quitted her situation so suddenly?
Whence did she obtain the money that enabled her to blossom forth as Marie le Marchant?
Who was Sydney H. Corbett?
Why did Mensmore adopt a false name; and, in any case, why adopt the name of Corbett?
Why did Mrs. Hillmer exhibit such sudden terror lest her brother might be guilty?
Whom did Mrs. Hillmer marry? Was her husband alive or dead?
Was the man who conveyed Lady Dykeâs body from Raleigh Mansions to Putney responsible also for her death?
Finally, why did he select that particular portion of the Thames banks for the bestowal of his terrible burden?
Many other minor features suggested themselves for careful attention, but the barrister knew that if he elucidated some of the major questions the rest would answer themselves.
The last query promised to yield a good crop of information should it be satisfactorily dealt with. Turning to his notes, he found that the former owner of the Putney house was a tutor or preparatory schoolmaster, named the Rev. Septimus Childe.
Could it be that this was the school in which both Sir Charles Dyke and Mensmore were fellow-students? If so, Bruce failed to see why he should not forthwith place the whole of the facts in his possession at the service of the police, and allow the law to take its course.
On this supposition, the case against Mensmore was very black; not, indeed, incapable of explanationâfor circumstantial evidence occasionally plays strange pranks with logicâbut of such a grave nature that no private individual would be justified in keeping his knowledge to himself.
The deduction was intensely disagreeable; but Bruce resolved to coerce his thoughts, and do that which was right, irrespective of consequences.
He did not possess a Clergy List. No letter came from Mrs. Hillmer, so he walked across the Park to his club in Pall Mall to consult the appropriately bound black and white volume which gives reference to the many degrees of the Church of England.
Septimus Childe was a distinctive, though simple, name. And it was not there. There was not a Childe with a final âeâ in the whole book. Without that important letter, as his informant might be mistaken, there were several. Close scrutiny of each manâs designation and duties convinced him that though any of these might be one of the particular Childeâs children, none answered to the description of the gentleman he sought.
Of course, he could always apply to Sir Charles Dyke, but he dreaded approaching the grief-stricken baronet on this matter. Now there was no help for it. The barrister was beginning to feel impatient at the constant difficulties which barred progress in each direction. After all, it was a small thing merely to ask his friend if he ever knew a reverend gentleman named Childe.
Bruce was sure that Sir Charles would not be acquainted with Mr. Childe, and also with the fact that the Putney house had served as his school, for it would be strange beyond credence if it were so that he had not mentioned it.
The weather was still clear and cold, and a wintry sun made walking pleasant. Claude, on quitting his club, set out again on foot. He crossed St. Jamesâs Square, Jermyn Street, and Piccadilly, and made his way to Oxford Street up New Bond Street.
Not often did he frequent these fashionable thoroughfares, and he had an excellent reason. When walking, he was given to abstraction, and seldom saw his acquaintances if he encountered them in unusual quarters. He would thus cut dead a woman at whose house he had dined the previous evening, or, when he was in practice at the Bar, fail to notice the salutation of his own leader.
To Claude himself this short-coming was intolerable; consciousness of it when in the West made him the most alert man in the crowd to note anybody whom he knew, except on the rare occasions when he forgot his failing.
This morning Bond Street was pleasantly full. People were beginning to return to town. Parliament re-assembled in a few days, and he passed many who were on his visiting list.
Outside a well-known costumerâs he saw a brougham, into which a lady had just been assisted by the commissionaire.
It is no uncommon thing to recognize an acquaintance by the color of his horse, or the peculiar cut of the coachmanâs whiskers. This time Bruce knew the driver as well as the equipage, but the lady was not Mrs. Hillmer.
Instantly he was at the door, with his hat lifted; he assumed an expression of polite regret as he saw Dobson, the maid, in her mistressâs place.
âSorry,â he said, âI knew the carriage, and thought that Mrs. Hillmer was inside. She is well, I trust.â
âNot very, sir,â answered the maid with an angry pout.
âIndeed, what is the matter?â
âMadame is going away, and has put us all on board wages.â
Dobson had some of the privileges of a companion, and resented this relegation to the servantsâ hall.
âGoing away?â cried Bruce. âA sudden departure, eh?â
The girl was arranging some parcels on the seat in front of her. She was not disinclined for a conversation with this good-looking gentleman, so she smiled archly, as she said: âDidnât you know, sir? I thought you would know all about it.â
What he might have ascertained by a longer chat the barrister could not tell, for an interruption occurred. The coachman was more loyal to his mistress than the maid.
âBeg pardon, sir,â he cried, âbut the missus told us to hurryâ; and he whipped his steed into the passing stream of carriages.
âMore complications,â murmured Claude. âMrs. Hillmer contemplates a bolt. Shall I pay her another visit and surprise her? No, confound it, I will not. Let her go, and let things take their course.â
Not in the most amiable frame of mind at this discovery, he pursued his walk to Portman Square.
Sir Charles Dyke was at home. He always was, now.
âFor goodnessâ sake, Mr. Bruce,â whispered Thompson in the hall, âtry to persuade Sir Charles to quit smokinâ, and readinâ, and thinkinâ. He sits all day in the library and âardly has anything to eat.â
Claude reproached himself for having neglected his resolution to stir his friend into something like animation. He was wondering what he should do in the matter, when the baronet rose at his entrance, saying, with a weary smile:
âWell, old fellow, what news?â
The other suddenly decided to throw all questioning to the winds for the moment. âI have come to bring you out. I wonât hear of a refusal. Let us walk to the club and have lunch and a game of billiards.â
Sir Charles protested. He had slept badly and was tired.
âAll the more reason that you should sleep well to-night. Come, now, be advised. You will allow yourself to become a hopeless invalid if you go on in this way.â
Dyke unwillingly consented, and they left the house. The older man brightened up considerably amidst the bustle
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