Detection by Gaslight Read online

  The circumstances demanded a guarded answer. “Indeed I will,” said Poignand. “It is not my custom to give a definite opinion till I have had an opportunity to look into a case, but I shall go down to Beechfield presently—it is only an hour’s run, I think—and I will call upon you later in the day. I trust by then to be able to report progress.”

  At his request, Miss Lascelles added a few particulars about the persons living at Bradstock Hall on the day of the death—besides Lord Bradstock and his two sons, there were only the servants—and took her leave, being anxious to catch the next train home. Poignand waited till her cab wheels sounded in the street below, then rose hastily, and, having first closed the sliding panel, passed into the room beyond. He looked thoughtful and worried, for he could not, rack his brains as he would, see any other solution to the puzzle than the one he was called upon to refute. It was true that the details of which he was so far in possession were of the broadest, but every one of them pointed to Harry Furnival—the admittedly secret purchaser of the capsule—as the only person who could have given them their deadly attributes. And then, to back up that admission, there loomed up, in the way of a successful issue, the damning supplement of a powerful motive, The tenant of the back room, he fully expected, would confirm his own impression—that they were called on to champion a lost cause.

  There was nothing at first sight as he entered the plainly furnished apartment either to reassure or to dash his hopes. Kala Persad despised the two chairs that had been provided for his accommodation, and spent most of his time squatting or reclining on the Indian charpoy which had been unearthed for him from some East-end opium den. He was sitting on the edge of it now, with his skinny brown hands stretched out to the warmth of a glowing fire, for Miss Lascelles’ story had kept him at the panel long enough to induce shivering; and if there was one thing that made him repent his bargain, it was the cold of an English winter. At his feet, like-minded with their owner, the cobras squirmed and twisted in the basket which had first excited Poignand’s curiosity on the midnight solitudes of the Sholapur road.

  “Well?” said Poignand; “do you know enough English by this time to have understood what the lady said, or must I repeat it?”

  The old man raised his filmy eyes, and regarded the other with a puckering of the leathery brows that might have meant anything from contempt to deep reverence.

  “Words—seprit words—tell Kala Persad nothing, Sahib,” he said. “All words together—what you call one burra jumble—help Kala Persad to pick kernel from the nut. Mem Sahib ishpoke many things no use, but I understand enough to read secret. Why!”—with infinite scorn—“the secret read itself.”

  Poignand’s heart sank within him.

  “I was afraid it was rather too clear a case for us to be of any use,” he said.

  The snake-charmer, as though he had not heard, went on to recapitulate the heads of the story in little snappy jerks. “One old burra Lord Sahib, big estates; two son, one very sick. First one hakim (doctor) try to cure—no use. Then other hakim; no use too—sick man die. Other son bring physic, poison physic, give him brother. Servant man find poison after dead. Old lord angry, says his son common budmash murderer; but missee Mem Sahib, betrothed of Harry, she say no, and come buy wisdom of Kala Persad. You not think that plain enough, sahib?”

  “Uncommonly so,” said Poignand dejectedly. “It is pretty clear that the Mem Sahib, as you call her, wants us to undertake a job not exactly in our line of business. If we are to satisfy her, we shall have to prove that a guilty man is innocent.”

  “Yah! Yah-ah-ah-ah!” Kala Persad drawled, hugging himself, and rocking to and fro in delight. And before Poignand could divine his intention, he had leaped from the charpoy to hiss with his betel-stained lips an emphatic sentence into the ear of his employer, who first started back in astonishment, then listened gravely. Having thus unburdened himself, Kala Persad returned to the warmth of the fire, nodding and mouthing and muttering, much as when his wizened face had peered from among the bushes in Major Merwood’s garden. The old man was excited; the jungle-instinct of pursuit was strong upon him, and he began to croon weird noises to his cobras.

  Poignand looked at the red-turbaned, huddled figure almost in awe; then went slowly back into his own room.

  “It is marvellous,” he muttered to himself. “As usual! the solution is the very last thing one would have thought of, and yet when once presented in shape is distinctly possible. It is on the cards that he may be wrong, but I will fight it out on that line.”

  Early in the afternoon of the same day there was some commotion at the Beechfield railway station, on the arrival of a London train, through the station-master being called to a first-class compartment in which a gentleman had been taken suddenly ill. The passenger, who was booked through to the North, was, at his own request, removed from the train to the adjacent Railway Hotel, where he was deposited, weak and shivering all over with ague, in the landlord’s private room at the back of the bar. The administration of some very potent brown brandy caused him to recover sufficiently to give some account of himself, and to inquire if medical skill was within the capabilities of Beechfield. He was an officer in the army, it appeared—Captain Hawke, of the 24th Lancers—and was home on sick leave from India, where he had contracted the intermittent fever that was his present trouble.

  “I ought to have known better than to travel on one of the days when this infernal scourge was due,” he said; “but having done so, I must make the best of it. Are there any doctors in the place who are not absolute duffers?”

  The landlord, anxious for the medical credit of Beechfield, informed his guest that there was a choice of two qualified practitioners. “Dr. Youle is the old-established man, sir, and accounted clever by some. Dr. Lucas is younger, and lately set up, though he is getting on better since his lordship took him up at the Hall.”

  “I don’t care who took him up,” replied Captain Hawke irascibly. “Which was the last to lose a patient? that will be as good a test as anything.”

  “Well, sir, I suppose, in a manner of speaking, Dr. Lucas was,” said the landlord, “seeing that the Honourable Leonard died under his care; but people are saying that Mr. Harry—”

  “That will do,” interposed the invalid, with military testiness; “don’t worry me with your Toms and Harrys. Send for the other man—Youle, or whatever his name is.”

  The subservient landlord, much impressed with the captain’s imperious petulance, which bespoke an ability and willingness to pay for the best, went out to execute the errand in person. The moment his broad back had disappeared into the outer regions, Captain Hawke, doubtless under the influence of the brown brandy, grew so much better that he sat up and looked about him. The bar-parlour in which he found himself was partly separated from the private bar by a glass partition, having a movable window that had been left open. The customers were thus both audible and visible to the belated traveller, who, strangely enough for a dapper young captain of Lancers, evinced a furtive interest in their personality and conversation. The first was chiefly of the country tradesman type, while the latter consisted of the “’E done it, sure enough” style of argument, usual in such places when rustic stolidity is startled by the commission of some serious crime.

  “There was two ‘tecs from Scotland Yard watching the Hall all night. ’Tain’t no use his trying to bolt,” said the local butcher.

  “They do say as how the warrant’s made out already,” put in another; “only they won’t lock him up till to-morrow, owing to wanting his evidence at the inquest. Terrible hard on his lordship, ain’t it?”

  “That be so,” added a third worthy; “the old lord was always partial to Leonard—natural like, perhaps, seeing as he was the heir. But whatever ailed Master Harry to go and do such a thing licks me. He was always a nice-spoken lad, and open as the day, to my thinking.”

  “These rustics have got hold of a foregone conclusion, apparently,” said the sufferer from ague to hi
mself, as footsteps sounded in the passage, and he sank wearily down on the sofa again.

  The next moment the landlord re-entered, accompanied by a stout and rather tall man, whom he introduced as Dr. Youle. The doctor’s age might have been forty-five, and his figure, just tending to middle-aged stoutness, was encased in the regulation black frock-coat of his profession. There was nothing about him to suggest even a remote connection with the tragedy that was engrossing the town. In fact, the expression of his broad face, taken as a whole, was that of one on good terms with himself and with all the world; though it is a question whether the large, not to say “hungry” mouth, if studied separately, did not discount the value of its perpetual smile. He entered with the mingled air of importance and genial respect which the occasion demanded.

  The captain’s manner to the doctor differed from his manner to the landlord. Leaving medical skill out of the question, he recognised that he had a gentleman and a man of some local position to deal with, and he modified his petulance accordingly. The landlord had already told the doctor the history of his arrival, so that it only remained to describe his sensations and the nature of his ailment. The latter, indeed, was more or less apparent; for the shivering was still sufficiently violent to shake the horse-hair sofa on which he lay.

  “The surgeon of my regiment used to give me some stuff that relieved this horrid trembling instantly,” said the captain; “but I never could get him to part with the prescription. However, I daresay, doctor, that you know of something equally efficacious.”

  “Yes, I flatter myself that I can improve matters in that direction,” was the reply. “My house is quite close, and I will run over and fetch you a draught. You are, of course, aware that the ague is of an intermittent character, recurring every other day till it subsides?”

  “I know it only too well,” replied Captain Hawke. “I shall be as fit as a fiddle to-morrow, probably only to relapse the next day into another of these attacks. I do not know how you are situated domestically, doctor; but I was wondering whether you could take me in, and look after me for a few days till I get over this bout. I am nervous about myself, and, without any disparagement to the hospitality of our friend here, I should feel happier under medical supervision.”

  Dr. Youle’s hungry mouth showed by its eager twitching that the prospect of a resident patient, even for a day or two, was by no means distasteful to him. “I shall be only too pleased to look after you,” he said. “I shall be much occupied to-morrow—rather unpleasantly employed as a witness at an inquest; but, as you say, you will most likely be feeling better then, and not so much in need of my services. If you really wish the arrangement, you had better have a closed fly and come over at once. I will run on ahead, and prepare a draught for you.”

  The landlord, not best pleased with the abstraction of his guest, went to order a carriage, and a quarter of an hour later Captain Hawke, with his luggage, was driven to the doctor’s residence—a prim, red-brick house in the middle of the sleepy High Street. Dr. Youle was waiting on the doorstep to receive his patient, and at once conducted him to a small back room on the ground floor, evidently the surgery.

  “Drink this,” he said, handing the invalid a glass of foaming liquid, “and then if you will sit quietly in the easy chair while I see about your things, I don’t doubt that I shall find you better. The effect is almost instantaneous.”

  But the doctor himself could hardly have foreseen with what rapidity his words were to be verified. He had no sooner closed the door than Captain Hawke sprang to his feet, all traces of shivering gone, and applied himself to the task of searching the room. One wall was fitted with shelves laden with bottles containing liquids, and these obtained the eccentric invalid’s first attention. Rapidly scanning the labels, he passed along the shelves apparently without satisfying his quest, for he came to the end without putting his hand to bottle or jar. Pausing for a moment to listen to the doctor’s voice in the distance directing the flyman with the luggage, he recommenced his search by examining a range of drawers that formed a back to the mixing dresser, and which, also systematically labelled, were found to contain dry drugs. Here again nothing held his attention, and he was turning away with vexed impatience on his face, when, at the very end of the row, and lower than the others, he espied a drawer ticketted “Miscellaneous.” Pulling it open, he saw that it was three parts filled with medicine corks, scarlet string, and sealing wax, all heaped together in such confusion that it was impossible to take in the details of the medley at a glance. Removing the string and sealing wax, the inquisitive captain ran his fingers lightly through the bulk of the corks, till they closed on some hard substance hidden from view. When he withdrew his hand it held a small package, which, after one flash of eager scrutiny, he transferred to his pocket.

  Even now, however, though he drew a long breath of relief, it seemed that the search was not yet complete; for, after carefully rearranging and closing the drawer, he tried the door of a corner cupboard, only to find it locked. He had just drawn a bunch of peculiar-looking keys from his pocket, when the voice of the doctor bidding the flyman a cheery “Good-day!” caused him to glide quietly back to the armchair. The next moment his host entered, rubbing his hands, and smiling professionally.

  “Your mixture has done wonders, doctor,” the captain said. “I am another man already, and my experience tells me that I am safe for another forty-eight hours. By the way, I was so seedy when they hauled me out of the train that I don’t even know where I am. What place is this?”

  “This is Beechfield in Buckinghamshire, about an hour from town,” said the doctor. “An old-fashioned country centre, you know.”

  “Beechfield, by Jove!” exclaimed Captain Hawke, with an air of mingled surprise and pleasure. “Well, that is a curious coincidence, for an old friend of my father’s lives, or lived, somewhere about here, I believe—General Lascelles—do you know him?”

  “Yes, I know the General,” replied Dr. Youle, a little absently: then added, “He has a nice little place, called The Elms, a hundred yards or so beyond the top of the High Street.”

  “Well, I feel so much better that I will stroll out and see the General,” said Hawke. “I will take care to be back in time to have the pleasure of dining with you—at half-past seven, I think you said?”

  “Yes, that is the hour,” replied the doctor thoughtfully; “but are you sure you are wise in venturing out? Besides, you will find the General and his daughter in some distress. They are interested—”

  “All the more reason that I go and cheer them up. What is wrong with them?” snapped the patient.

  “They are interested in the inquest on poor young Furnival, which I told you was to be held to-morrow. It is possible that you may hear me spoken of in connection with the case, though their view of it ought to be identical with mine—that death was due to natural causes. I believe the whole thing is a cock-and-bull story, got up by an impudent young practitioner here to account for his losing his patient, as I knew he would from the first. The wonder is that the Home Office analysts should back him up in pretending to discern a poison about which hardly anything is known.”

  The captain had risen, his face wearing a look of infinite boredom. “My dear doctor,” he said, “you can’t expect me to concern myself with the matter; I’ve quite enough to do to worry about my own ailments. I only want to see the General to chat about old times, not about local inquests. Will you kindly show me your front door, and point out the direction I should take to reach The Elms?”

  Dr. Youle smiled, with perhaps a shade of relief at the invalid’s self-absorption, and led the way out of the room. The captain followed him into the passage for a few paces, then, with an exclamation about a forgotten handkerchief, darted back into the surgery, and, quick as lightning, undid the catch that fastened the window, being at his host’s heels again almost before the latter had noticed his absence. In another minute, duly instructed in the route, he started walking swiftly through the shadows o
f the early winter twilight towards the end of the town.

  But apparently the immediate desire to visit his “father’s old friend” had passed away. Taking the first by-way that ran at right angles to the High Street, he passed thence into a lane that brought him to the back of Dr. Youle’s house, where he disappeared among the foliage of the garden. It was a long three-quarters of an hour before he crept cautiously into the lane again, and even then The Elms was not his first destination. Not till he had paid two other rather lengthy visits—one of them to the Beechfield chemist—did he find himself ushered into the presence of General and Miss Lascelles. A distinguished-looking young man, dressed, like father and daughter, in deep mourning, was with them in the fire-lit library, and evinced an equal agitation on the entrance of Dr. Youle’s resident patient. The conversation, however, did not turn on bygone associations and mutual reminiscences. Miss Lascelles sprang forward with outstretched hands and glistening eyes,—

  “Oh, Mr. Poignand!” she cried; “I can see that you have news for us—good news, too, I think?”

  “Yes,” was the reply; “I hold the real murderer of Leonard Furnival in the hollow of my hand, which means, of course, that the other absurd charge is demolished.”

  Dr. Youle, who was a bachelor, had ordered his cook to prepare a dainty little repast in honour of the guest, and as the dinner hour approached, and “the captain” had not returned, he began to get anxious about the fish. On the stroke of seven, however, the front door bell rang, and the laggard was admitted, looking so flushed and heated that, when they were seated in the cosy dining-room, the doctor ventured on a remonstrance.