Collected works of j s f.., p.401
Collected Works of J S Fletcher, page 401
Then Melky looked around more narrowly, and suddenly espied the legal-looking man who was talking to the police. He dug his elbow into Lauriston.
“Mister!” he whispered. “You be careful what you say when you get into that there witness-box. See that man there, a-talking to the detectives? — him with the gold nippers on his blooming sharp nose? That’s Mr. Parminter! — I knows him, well enough. He’s a lawyer chap, what the police gets when there’s a case o’ this sort, to ask questions of the witnesses, d’ye see? Watch him, Mr. Lauriston, if he starts a-questioning you! — he’s the sort that can get a tale out of a dead cod-fish — s’elp me, he is! He’s a terror, he is! — the Coroner ain’t in it with him — he’s a good sort, the Coroner, but Parminter — Lord love us! ain’t I heard him turn witnesses inside out — not half! And here is the Coroner.”
Lauriston almost forgot that he was an important witness, and was tempted to consider himself nothing but a spectator as he sat and witnessed the formal opening of the Court, the swearing-in of the twelve jurymen, all looking intensely bored, and the preliminaries which prefaced the actual setting-to-work of the morning’s business. But at last, after some opening remarks from the Coroner, who said that the late Mr. Daniel Multenius was a well-known and much respected tradesman of the neighbourhood, that they were all sorry to hear of his sudden death, and that there were circumstances about it which necessitated a careful investigation, the business began — and Lauriston, who, for professional purposes, had heard a good many legal cases, saw, almost at once, that the police, through the redoubtable Mr. Parminter, now seated with his clerk at the table, had carefully arranged the presenting of evidence on a plan and system of their own, all of which, so it became apparent to him, was intended to either incriminate himself, or throw considerable suspicion upon him. His interest began to assume a personal complexion.
The story of the circumstances of Daniel Multenius’s death, as unfolded in the witness-box into which one person went after another, appeared to be the fairly plain one — looked at from one point of view: there was a certain fascination in its unfolding. It began with Melky, who was first called — to identify the deceased, to answer a few general questions about him, and to state that when he last saw him, a few hours before his death, he was in his usual good health: as good, at any rate, as a man of his years — seventy-five — who was certainly growing feeble, could expect to be in. Nothing much was asked of Melky, and nothing beyond bare facts volunteered by him: the astute Mr. Parminter left him alone. A more important witness was the police-surgeon, who testified that the deceased had been dead twenty minutes when he was called to him, that he had without doubt been violently assaulted, having been savagely seized by the throat and by the left arm, on both of which significant marks were plainly visible, and that the cause of death was shock following immediately on this undoubted violence. It was evident, said this witness, that the old man was feeble, and that he suffered from a weak heart: such an attack as that which he had described would be sufficient to cause death, almost instantly.
“So it is a case of murder!” muttered Melky, who had gone back to sit by Lauriston. “That’s what the police is leading up to. Be careful, mister!”
But there were three witnesses to call before Lauriston was called upon. It was becoming a mystery to him that his evidence was kept back so long — he had been the first person to find the old man’s dead body, and it seemed, to his thinking, that he ought to have been called at a very early stage of the proceedings. He was about to whisper his convictions on this point to Melky, when a door was opened and Zillah was escorted in by Ayscough, and led to the witness-box.
Zillah had already assumed the garments of mourning for her grandfather. She was obviously distressed at being called to give evidence, and the Coroner made her task as brief as possible. It was — at that stage — little that he wanted to know. And Zillah told little. She had gone out to do some shopping, at half-past-four on the previous afternoon. She left her grandfather alone. He was then quite well. He was in the front shop, doing nothing in particular. She was away about an hour, when she returned to find Detective-Sergeant Ayscough, whom she knew, and Mr. Lauriston, whom she also knew, in the shop, and her grandfather dead in the parlour behind. At this stage of her evidence, the Coroner remarked that he did not wish to ask Zillah any further questions just then, but he asked her to remain in court. Mrs. Goldmark had followed her, and she and Zillah sat down near Melky and Lauriston — and Lauriston half believed that his own turn would now come.
But Ayscough was next called — to give a brief, bald, matter-of-fact statement of what he knew. He had gone to see Mr. Multenius on a business affair — he was making enquiries about a stolen article which was believed to have been pledged in the Edgware Road district. He told how Lauriston ran into him as he entered the shop; what Lauriston said to him; what he himself saw and observed; what happened afterwards. It was a plain and practical account, with no indication of surprise, bias, or theory — and nobody asked the detective any questions arising out of it.
“Ain’t nobody but you to call, now, mister,” whispered Melky. “Mind your p’s and q’s about them blooming rings — and watch that Parminter!”
But Melky was mistaken — the official eye did not turn upon Lauriston but, upon the public benches of the court, as if it were seeking some person there.
“There is a witness who has volunteered a statement to the police,” said the Coroner. “I understand it is highly important. We had better hear him at this point. Benjamin Hollinshaw!”
Melky uttered a curious groan, and glanced at Lauriston.
“Fellow what has a shop right opposite!” he whispered. “S’elp me! — what’s he got to say about it?”
Benjamin Hollinshaw came forward. He was a rather young, rather self-confident, self-important sort of person, who strode up to the witness-box as if he had been doing things of importance and moment all his life, and was taking it quite as a matter of course that he should do another. He took the oath and faced the court with something of an air, as much as to imply that upon what he was about to say more depended than any one could conceive. Invited to tell what he knew, he told his story, obviously enjoying the telling of it. He was a tradesman in Praed Street: a dealer in second-hand clothing, to be exact; been there many years, in succession to his father. He remembered yesterday afternoon, of course. About half-past-five o’clock he was standing at the door of his shop. It was directly facing Daniel Multenius’s shop door. The darkness had already come on, and there was also a bit of a fog in the street: not much, but hazy, as it were. Daniel Multenius’s window was lighted, but the light was confined to a couple of gas-jets. There was a light in the projecting sign over the side entrance to the pawnshop, down the passage. For the first few minutes while he stood at his door, looking across to Multenius’s, he did not see any one enter or leave that establishment. But he then saw a young man come along, from the Edgware Road direction, whose conduct rather struck him. The young man, after sauntering past Multenius’s shop, paused, turned, and proceeded to peer in through the top panel of the front door. He looked in once or twice in that way. Then he went to the far end of the window and looked inside in the same prying fashion, as if he wanted to find out who was within. He went to various parts of the window, as if endeavouring to look inside. Finally, he stepped down the side-passage and entered the door which led to the compartments into which people turned who took things to pledge. He, Hollinshaw, remained at his shop door for some minutes after that — in fact, until the last witness came along. He saw Ayscough enter Multenius’s front door and immediately pause — then the door was shut, and he himself went back into his own shop, his wife just then calling him to tea.
“You saw the young man you speak of quite clearly?” asked the Coroner.
“As clearly as I see you, sir,” replied the witness.
“Do you see him here?”
Hollinshaw turned instantly and pointed to Lauriston.
“That’s the young man, sir,” he answered, with confidence.
Amidst a general craning of necks, Melky whispered to Lauriston.
“You’d ought to ha’ had a lawyer, mister!” he said. “S’elp me, I’m a blooming fool for not thinking of it! Be careful — the Coroner’s a-looking at you!”
As a matter of fact, every person in the court was staring at Lauriston, and presently the Coroner addressed him.
“Do you wish to ask this witness any questions?” he enquired.
Lauriston rose to his feet.
“No!” he replied. “What he says is quite correct. That is, as regards myself.”
The Coroner hesitated a moment; then he motioned to Hollinshaw to leave the box, and once more turned to Lauriston.
“We will have your evidence now,” he said. “And — let me warn you that there is no obligation on you to say anything which would seem to incriminate you.”
CHAPTER NINE
WHOSE WERE THOSE RINGS?
PAYING NO ATTENTION to another attempted murmur of advice from Melky, who seemed to be on pins and needles, Lauriston at once jumped to his feet and strode to the witness-box. The women in the public seats glanced at him with admiring interest — such a fine-looking young fellow, whispered one sentimental lady to another, to have set about a poor old gentleman like Mr. Multenius! And everybody else, from the Coroner to the newspaper reporter — who was beginning to think he would get some good copy, after all, that morning — regarded him with attention. Here, at any rate, was the one witness who had actually found the pawnbroker’s dead body.
Lauriston, his colour heightened a little under all this attention, answered the preliminary questions readily enough. His name was Andrew Carruthers Lauriston. His age — nearly twenty-two. He was a native of Peebles, in Scotland — the only son of the late Andrew Lauriston. His father was a minister of the Free Church. His mother was dead, too. He himself had come to London about two years ago — just after his mother’s death. For the past few weeks he had lodged with Mrs. Flitwick, in Star Street — that was his present address. He was a writer of fiction — stories and novels. He had heard all the evidence already given, including that of the last witness, Hollinshaw. All that Hollinshaw had said was quite true. It was quite true that he had gone to Multenius’s pawnshop about five-thirty of the previous afternoon, on his own business. He had looked in through both doors and window before entering the side-door: he wanted to know who was in the shop — whether it was Mr. Multenius, or his grand-daughter. He wanted to know that for a simple reason — he had never done business with Mr. Multenius, never even seen him that he remembered, but he had had one transaction with Miss Wildrose, and he wished, if possible, to do his business with her. As a matter of fact he saw nobody inside the shop when he looked in through the front door and the window — so he went round to the side-entrance.
All this had come in answer to questions put by the Coroner — who now paused and looked at Lauriston not unkindly.
“I daresay you are already aware that there is, or may be, some amount of suspicious circumstances attaching to your visit to this place yesterday afternoon,” he said. “Do you care to tell the court — in your own way — precisely what took place, what you discovered, after you entered the pawnshop?”
“That’s exactly what I wish to do,” answered Lauriston, readily. “I’ve already told it, more than once, to the police and Mr. Multenius’s relatives — I’ll tell it again, as plainly and briefly as I can. I went into one of the compartments just within the side-door of the place. I saw no one, and heard no one. I rapped on the counter — nobody came. So I looked round the partition into the front shop. There was no one there. Then I looked round the other partition into the back parlour, the door of which was wide open. I at once saw an old man whom I took to be Mr. Multenius. He was lying on the floor — his feet were towards the open door, and his head on the hearth-rug, near the fender. I immediately jumped over the counter, and went into the parlour. I saw at once that he was dead — and almost immediately I hurried to the front door, to summon assistance. At the door I ran into Mr. Ayscough, who was entering as I opened the door. I at once told him of what I had found. That is the plain truth as to all I know of the matter.”
“You heard nothing of any person in or about the shop when you entered?” asked the Coroner.
“Nothing!” replied Lauriston. “It was all perfectly quiet.”
“What had you gone there to do?”
“To borrow some money — on two rings.”
“Your own property?”
“My own property!”
“Had you been there before, on any errand of that sort?”
“Only once.”
“When was that?”
“Last week,” answered Lauriston. “I pawned my watch there.”
“You have, in fact, been short of money?”
“Yes. But only temporarily — I was expecting money.”
“I hope it has since arrived,” said the Coroner.
“Mr. Ayscough was with me when it did arrive,” replied Lauriston, glancing at the detective. “We found it — two letters — at my lodgings when he walked round there with me after what I have just told you of.”
“You had done your business on that previous occasion with the grand-daughter?” asked the Coroner. “You had not seen the old man, then?”
“I never to my knowledge saw Mr. Multenius till I found him lying dead in his own parlour,” answered Lauriston.
The Coroner turned from the witness, and glanced towards the table at which Mr. Parminter and the police officials sat. And Mr. Parminter slowly rose and looked at Lauriston, and put his first question — in a quiet, almost suave voice, as if he and the witness were going to have a pleasant and friendly little talk together.
“So your ambition is to be a writer of fiction?” he asked.
“I am a writer of fiction!” replied Lauriston.
Mr. Parminter pulled out a snuff-box and helped himself to a pinch.
“Have you published much?” he enquired, drily.
“Two or three stories — short stories.”
“Did they bring in much money?”
“Five pounds each.”
“Have you done anything else for a living but that since you came to London two years ago?”
“No, I haven’t!”
“How much have you earned by your pen since you came, now?”
“About thirty pounds.”
“Thirty pounds in two years. What have you lived on, then?”
“I had money of my own,” replied Lauriston. “I had two hundred pounds when I left home.”
“And that gave out — when?” demanded Mr. Parminter.
“Last week.”
“And so — you took your watch to the pawnshop. And — yesterday — your expected money not having arrived, you were obliged to visit the pawnshop again? Taking with you, you said just now, two rings — your own property. Am I correct?”
“Quite correct — two rings — my own property.”
Mr. Parminter turned and spoke to a police official, who, lifting aside a sheet of brown paper which lay before him, revealed the tray of rings which Lauriston and Ayscough had found on the table in Multenius’s parlour. At the same time, Mr. Parminter, lifting his papers, revealed Lauriston’s rings. He picked them up, laid them on the palm of his hand, and held them towards the witness.
“Are these the rings you took to the pawnshop?” he asked.
“Yes!” replied Lauriston. “They were my mother’s.”
Mr. Parminter indicated the tray.
“Did you see this tray lying in the parlour in which you found the dead man?” he enquired.
“I did.”
“Did it strike you that your own rings were remarkably like the rings in this tray?”
“No, it did not,” answered Lauriston. “I know nothing about rings.”
Mr. Parminter quietly passed the tray of rings to the Coroner, with Lauriston’s rings lying on a sheet of paper.
“Perhaps you will examine these things and direct the attention of the jurymen to them?” he said, and turned to the witness-box again. “I want to ask you a very particular question,” he continued. “You had better consider it well before answering it — it is more important — to you — than may appear at first hearing. Can you bring any satisfactory proof that those two rings which you claim to be yours, really are yours?”
There followed on that a dead silence in court. People had been coming in since the proceedings had opened, and the place was now packed to the door. Every eye was turned on Lauriston as he stood in the witness-box, evidently thinking deeply. And in two pairs of eyes there was deep anxiety: Melky was nervous and fidgety; Zillah was palpably greatly concerned. But Lauriston looked at neither — and he finally turned to Mr. Parminter with a candid glance.
“The rings are mine,” he answered. “But — I don’t know how I can prove that they are!”
A suppressed murmur ran round the court — in the middle of it, the Coroner handed the rings to a police official and motioned him to show them to the jurymen. And Mr. Parminter’s suave voice was heard again.
“You can’t prove that they are yours.”
“May I explain?” asked Lauriston. “Very well — there may be people, old friends, who have seen those two rings in my mother’s possession. But I don’t know where to find such people. If it’s necessary, I can try.”
“I should certainly try, if I were you,” observed Mr. Parminter, drily. “Now, when did those two rings come into your possession?”
“When my mother died,” replied Lauriston.
“Where have you kept them?”
“Locked up in my trunk.”
“Have you ever, at any time, or any occasion, shown them to any person? Think!”
“No,” answered Lauriston. “I can’t say that I ever have.”
