The Jewel of Seven Stars - Bram Stoker (best 7 inch ereader .TXT) 📗
- Author: Bram Stoker
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gold is wrought over triple steel links; see where it is worn away. It
is manifestly not meant to be removed lightly; and it would need more
than an ordinary file to do it.”
The Superintendent bent his great body; but not getting close enough
that way knelt down by the sofa as the Doctor had done. He examined the
bangle minutely, turning it slowly round so that no particle of it
escaped observation. Then he stood up and handed the magnifying-glass to
me. “When you have examined it yourself,” he said, “let the lady look
at it if she will,” and she commenced to write at length in his
notebook.
I made a simple alteration in his suggestion. I held out the glass
toward Miss Trelawny, saying:
“Had you not better examine it first?” She drew back, slightly raising
her hand in disclaimer, as she said impulsively:
“Oh no! Father would doubtless have shown it to me had he wished me to
see it. I would not like to without his consent.” Then she added,
doubtless fearing lest her delicacy of view should give offence to the
rest of us:
“Of course it is right that you should see it. You have to examine and
consider everything; and indeed—indeed I am grateful to you…”
She turned away; I could see that she was crying quietly. It was
evident to me that even in the midst of her trouble and anxiety there
was a chagrin that she knew so little of her father; and that her
ignorance had to be shown at such a time and amongst so many strangers.
That they were all men did not make the shame more easy to bear, though
there was a certain relief in it. Trying to interpret her feelings I
could not but think that she must have been glad that no woman’s eyes—of
understanding greater than man’s—were upon her in that hour.
When I stood up from my examination, which verified to me that of the
Doctor, the latter resumed his place beside the couch and went on with
his ministrations. Superintendent Dolan said to me in a whisper:
“I think we are fortunate in our doctor!” I nodded, and was about to add
something in praise of his acumen, when there came a low tapping at the
door.
Superintendent Dolan went quietly to the door; by a sort of natural
understanding he had taken possession of affairs in the room. The rest
of us waited. He opened the door a little way; and then with a gesture
of manifest relief threw it wide, and a young man stepped in. A young
man clean-shaven, tall and slight; with an eagle face and bright, quick
eyes that seemed to take in everything around him at a glance. As he
came in, the Superintendent held out his hand; the two men shook hands
warmly.
“I came at once, sir, the moment I got your message. I am glad I still
have your confidence.”
“That you’ll always have,” said the Superintendent heartily. “I have
not forgotten our old Bow Street days, and I never shall!” Then,
without a word of preliminary, he began to tell everything he knew up to
the moment of the newcomer’s entry. Sergeant Daw asked a few questions—a
very few—when it was necessary for his understanding of circumstances or
the relative positions of persons; but as a rule Dolan, who knew his
work thoroughly, forestalled every query, and explained all necessary
matters as he went on. Sergeant Daw threw occasionally swift glances
round him; now at one of us; now at the room or some part of it; now at
the wounded man lying senseless on the sofa.
When the Superintendent had finished, the Sergeant turned to me and
said:
“Perhaps you remember me, sir. I was with you in that Hoxton case.”
“I remember you very well,” I said as I held out my hand. The
Superintendent spoke again:
“You understand, Sergeant Daw, that you are put in full charge of this
case.”
“Under you I hope, sir,” he interrupted. The other shook his head and
smiled as he said:
“It seems to me that this is a case that will take all a man’s time and
his brains. I have other work to do; but I shall be more than
interested, and if I can help in any possible way I shall be glad to do
so!”
“All right, sir,” said the other, accepting his responsibility with a
sort of modified salute; straightway he began his investigation.
First he came over to the Doctor and, having learned his name and
address, asked him to write a full report which he could use, and which
he could refer to headquarters if necessary. Doctor Winchester bowed
gravely as he promised. Then the Sergeant approached me and said sotto
voce:
“I like the look of your doctor. I think we can work together!”
Turning to Miss Trelawny he asked:
“Please let me know what you can of your Father; his ways of life, his
history—in fact of anything of whatsoever kind which interests him, or
in which he may be concerned.” I was about to interrupt to tell him
what she had already said of her ignorance in all matters of her father
and his ways, but her warning hand was raised to me pointedly and she
spoke herself.
“Alas! I know little or nothing. Superintendent Dolan and Mr. Ross
know already all I can say.”
“Well, ma’am, we must be content to do what we can,” said the officer
genially. “I’ll begin by making a minute examination. You say that you
were outside the door when you heard the noise?”
“I was in my room when I heard the queer sound—indeed it must have been
the early part of whatever it was which woke me. I came out of my room
at once. Father’s door was shut, and I could see the whole landing and
the upper slopes of the staircase. No one could have left by the door
unknown to me, if that is what you mean!”
“That is just what I do mean, miss. If every one who knows anything
will tell me as well as that, we shall soon get to the bottom of this.”
He then went over to the bed, looked at it carefully, and asked:
“Has the bed been touched?”
“Not to my knowledge,” said Miss Trelawny, “but I shall ask Mrs. Grant—
the housekeeper,” she added as she rang the bell. Mrs. Grant answered
it in person. “Come in,” said Miss Trelawny. “These gentlemen want to
know, Mrs. Grant, if the bed has been touched.”
“Not by me, ma’am.”
“Then,” said Miss Trelawny, turning to Sergeant Daw, “it cannot have
been touched by any one. Either Mrs. Grant or I myself was here all the
time, and I do not think any of the servants who came when I gave the
alarm were near the bed at all. You see, Father lay here just under the
great safe, and every one crowded round him. We sent them all away in a
very short time.” Daw, with a motion of his hand, asked us all to stay
at the other side of the room whilst with a magnifying-glass he examined
the bed, taking care as he moved each fold of the bedclothes to replace
it in exact position. Then he examined with his magnifying-glass the
floor beside it, taking especial pains where the blood had trickled over
the side of the bed, which was of heavy red wood handsomely carved.
Inch by inch, down on his knees, carefully avoiding any touch with the
stains on the floor, he followed the blood-marks over to the spot, close
under the great safe, where the body had lain. All around and about
this spot he went for a radius of some yards; but seemingly did not meet
with anything to arrest special attention. Then he examined the front
of the safe; round the lock, and along the bottom and top of the double
doors, more especially at the places of their touching in front.
Next he went to the windows, which were fastened down with the hasps.
“Were the shutters closed?” he asked Miss Trelawny in a casual way as
though he expected the negative answer, which came.
All this time Doctor Winchester was attending to his patient; now
dressing the wounds in the wrist or making minute examination all over
the head and throat, and over the heart. More than once he put his nose
to the mouth of the senseless man and sniffed. Each time he did so he
finished up by unconsciously looking round the room, as though in search
of something.
Then we heard the deep strong voice of the Detective:
“So far as I can see, the object was to bring that key to the lock of
the safe. There seems to be some secret in the mechanism that I am
unable to guess at, though I served a year in Chubb’s before I joined
the police. It is a combination lock of seven letters; but there seems
to be a way of locking even the combination. It is one of Chatwood’s; I
shall call at their place and find out something about it.” Then
turning to the Doctor, as though his own work were for the present done,
he said:
“Have you anything you can tell me at once, Doctor, which will not
interfere with your full report? If there is any doubt I can wait, but
the sooner I know something definite the better.” Doctor Winchester
answered at once:
“For my own part I see no reason in waiting. I shall make a full report
of course. But in the meantime I shall tell you all I know—which is
after all not very much, and all I think—which is less definite. There
is no wound on the head which could account for the state of stupor in
which the patient continues. I must, therefore, take it that either he
has been drugged or is under some hypnotic influence. So far as I can
judge, he has not been drugged—at least by means of any drug of whose
qualities I am aware. Of course, there is ordinarily in this room so
much of a mummy smell that it is difficult to be certain about anything
having a delicate aroma. I dare say that you have noticed the peculiar
Egyptians scents, bitumen, nard, aromatic gums and spices, and so forth.
It is quite possible that somewhere in this room, amongst the curios and
hidden by stronger scents, is some substance or liquid which may have
the effect we see. It is possible that the patient has taken some drug,
and that he may in some sleeping phase have injured himself. I do not
think this is likely; and circumstances, other than those which I have
myself been investigating, may prove that this surmise is not correct.
But in the meantime it is possible; and must, till it be disproved, be
kept within our purview.” Here Sergeant Daw interrupted:
“That may be, but if so, we should be able to find the instrument with
which the wrist was injured. There would be marks of blood somewhere.”
“Exactly so!” said the Doctor, fixing his glasses as though preparing
for an argument. “But if it be that the patient has used some strange
drug, it may be one that does not take effect at once. As we are as yet
ignorant of its potentialities—if, indeed, the whole surmise is correct
at all—we must be prepared at all points.”
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