An Eye for an Eye Part 11

"The same," I answered. "Fortunately I recognised her and kept her under observation."

Then, in response to his demand, I related to him the whole circ.u.mstance in detail.

"And her name?" he inquired, when I had concluded.

"Eva Glaslyn, daughter of Lady Glaslyn."

"Glaslyn!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "Good heavens! Surely it can't be the same!"

"Why the same?" I inquired.

"Oh, nothing!" he answered evasively, quickly seeking to allay my suspicions. "There was some mystery, or scandal, or something connected with that family once, if I recollect aright. I may, however, be mistaken in the name. At any rate, Mr. Urwin, you've acted with tact and discretion, and discovered a most important fact."

"What have you been doing?" I asked.

"Well," he answered in hesitation, "the fact is, I've had a somewhat exciting experience."

"Did you, then, discover the man?" I inquired anxiously.

"I met a man, but whether he was the one who made the appointment by telephone I don't yet know," he said. "I waited until a quarter to one, concealed behind some bushes, and presently saw a grey-haired old gentleman, well-dressed in frock coat, and silk hat, strolling in my direction. He was quite a dandy with well-pressed trousers, varnished boots, gold-headed care and single eyegla.s.s. His air was that of a lawyer or doctor. As if in search of some one he lingered in the vicinity, subsequently sitting upon a seat at the very end of the lake, the exact spot which had been indicated."

"And what did you do?"

"I waited and watched. There was no one near, yet from his sharp glances in all directions I saw that he was in fear lest some one might approach whom he didn't wish to see. He appeared violently agitated, and at last, when he was entirely alone, he placed his hand into his inner pocket, took out something, and rising from the seat with a swift movement cast the object far away into the water."

"Something he wanted to get rid of. Suspicious, wasn't it?"

"Of course," said the detective. "After that you may rest a.s.sured that I didn't lose sight of him. When the object he had thrown away had fallen into the lake he turned, and after glancing up and down in fear that his action might have been observed, he returned to his seat, and waited until Big Ben struck again. Then he rose and left the park, strolling airily along the Buckingham Palace Road, peering a good deal under the bonnets of the pretty women who were looking in the windows of the shops. He entered the bar of Victoria Station, drank a whisky-and-soda, and then continuing along to Ebury Street pa.s.sed twice or three times up and down in front of a house on the left-hand side.

There were a number of people in that street at the time, but the instant he thought himself un.o.bserved, he dived down the area of the house he kept pa.s.sing and repa.s.sing. In a moment I noted that the number was twenty-two, and having done so placed a watch upon the house, well satisfied that I had taken the first step towards unravelling the mystery."

"Remarkable," I said, "I wonder what it was he threw away?"

"That's impossible to tell without dragging the lake, and to do that at present would excite suspicion. He evidently went there in order to meet the a.s.sa.s.sin, but as the latter did not keep the appointment, this unknown object, which might prove convicting if found upon him, he resolved to get rid of, and no better place could there be than at the bottom of the lake. There's lots of pieces of evidence there, you bet."

"Then there must be some mysterious connexion between the appearance of Eva Glaslyn at that spot and this man who got rid of some evidence of the crime," I observed.

"Most certainly," the detective said. "It almost seems as though she came there for the purpose of meeting him, but he being late she grew impatient and left before his arrival. At every step we take the enigma becomes more complicated, more extraordinary, more bewildering."

CHAPTER EIGHT.

SOME REMARKABLE EVIDENCE.

Three days went by, days full of wonder and anxiety.

Many were the discussions between Patterson, d.i.c.k and myself regarding the extraordinary development of the mystery which had now resolved itself into as complete a puzzle as ever occupied the attention of Scotland Yard. In Ebury Street and at Hampton most careful observation was being carried on night and day, but according to Boyd absolutely nothing suspicious could be discovered. Lady Glaslyn was, according to Debrett, widow of a Sir Henry Glaslyn, a Scotch baronet who had died several years before, leaving no heir to continue the t.i.tle, and only one daughter, Eva.

In the meantime the bodies of the man and the woman had been removed to the mortuary secretly in the early hours of the morning in order not to arouse the suspicion of the neighbours, and a post-mortem had been held by two local doctors, with the result that it was found possible to hold the inquest on the afternoon of the third day. The Coroner held his inquiry in a small back room in the Kensington Town Hall, not far from the scene of the tragedy, and, in opening, made a short address to the jury, pointing out the necessity for preserving the utmost secrecy in the matter, and expressing a hope that no one present would defeat the ends of justice by giving any facts to the newspapers.

"Pardon me, sir," exclaimed the tradesman who had been elected foreman, "but I see two gentlemen of the Press present."

"Both have a.s.sisted us in our inquiries," Patterson briefly explained to the Coroner.

"Of course," the Coroner answered, "this is a public court, and therefore we cannot exclude any one. Yet I am confident the reporters will respect my wishes."

This we both promised to do, Cleugh, well-known to the Coroner, speaking first.

The Coroner, when the jury had returned from viewing the bodies, made a few further observations, pointing out to the jury that although the a flair was one of the most mysterious and inexplicable that had ever come beneath his notice in the course of his twenty years' experience as a London coroner, yet they were there to try and decide the cause of death alone. They had no concern with any other facts except the cause of death, and he trusted they would give the matter their undivided attention.

Patterson was the first witness. In terse language he gave an account of his discovery and of his second visit to the house in my company.

Then, when he had concluded, I was called and bore out his statement, relating how we had entered the laboratory and found the marvellous scientific apparatus, and how in the pocket of the dead man I had found a penny wrapped in paper. The cards with the strange devices which had been beneath the plates on the dining-table were handed round to the jury for their inspection, and then a statement which I made startled even the Coroner. It was how the body of the woman at present in the mortuary was not the same as the one we had at first discovered.

"Impossible!" exclaimed the Coroner, while the twelve jurymen stood aghast at my statement.

"That is quite true, sir," exclaimed Patterson, rising from his seat.

"The lady we first discovered was younger, with fair hair."

"Then there must have been a triple tragedy," observed the Coroner, astounded. "This is most extraordinary."

I was about to explain how I had recognised in the girl I met in St.

James's Park the identical woman whom we had discovered lifeless, but a sharp look from the inspector silenced me.

"We are making diligent inquiries," the officer went on, "and we have reason to believe that we shall be able to make a further statement later--at the adjourned inquiry."

The Coroner nodded, and turning to the jury, said--

"Of course, gentlemen, it would not be wise at this stage for the police to disclose any of the information in their possession. Their success in such matters as this mainly depends upon secrecy. I think we may now, perhaps, hear the medical evidence."

The jury stirred uneasily and settled themselves to listen intently as Dr. Lees Knowles, the police divisional surgeon, stepped forward and was sworn.

"I was called by the police to the house," he said, "and found there two deceased persons, a man and a woman, in the drawing-room on the first floor. The attire of the man was rather disarranged, as the police had already searched him, but there were no signs whatever of a struggle."

"You made a cursory examination, of course," suggested the Coroner.

"Yes. Life had been extinct sometime, and _rigor mortis_ had commenced.

There was, however, no external sign of foul play."

"And the post-rnortem?"

The Court was silent in anxious antic.i.p.ation of the doctor's response.

"a.s.sisted by Doctor Lynes I made a post-mortem, but found absolutely nothing to account for death. There was no mark of violence on either of the bodies, and no physical defect or slightest trace of disease.

Nevertheless, the position of the bodies when found makes it evident that both persons died with great suddenness, and without being able to obtain a.s.sistance."

"Was there nothing whatever to give any clue to the cause of death?"

asked the Coroner, himself a medical man.

"Nothing," responded the surgeon. "One thing, however, struck us as peculiar. On the inside of the right forearm of both the man and the woman were identical tattoo marks. The device, nearly an inch in diameter, represented a serpent with its tail in its mouth, the ancient emblem of eternity. The mark on the man had evidently been traced several years ago, but that on the woman is comparatively fresh, and could not have completely healed over more than a month ago. It is as though the mark on the man has been copied upon the woman."

"And what do you think is the signification of this mark?" inquired the Coroner, looking up from the blue foolscap whereon he had been writing down the depositions.