The Middle Temple Murder - J. S. Fletcher (reading women .TXT) 📗

purse in your presence, now?”

“Yes,” answered the landlady, with promptitude. “He came into the bar for a drink after he’d been up to his room. He pulled out a handful of gold when he paid for it⁠—a whole handful. There must have been some thirty to forty sovereigns and half-sovereigns.”

“And he hadn’t a penny piece on him⁠—when found,” muttered Rathbury.

“I noticed another thing, too,” remarked the landlady. “He was wearing a very fine gold watch and chain, and had a splendid ring on his left hand⁠—little finger⁠—gold, with a big diamond in it.”

“Yes,” said the detective, thoughtfully, “I noticed that he’d worn a ring, and that it had been a bit tight for him. Well⁠—now there’s only one thing to ask about. Did your chambermaid notice if he left any torn paper around⁠—tore any letters up, or anything like that?”

But the chambermaid, produced, had not noticed anything of the sort; on the contrary, the gentleman of Number 20 had left his room very tidy indeed. So Rathbury intimated that he had no more to ask, and nothing further to say, just then, and he bade the landlord and landlady of the Anglo-Orient Hotel good morning, and went away, followed by the two young men.

“What next?” asked Spargo, as they gained the street.

“The next thing,” answered Rathbury, “is to find the man with whom Marbury left this hotel last night.”

“And how’s that to be done?” asked Spargo.

“At present,” replied Rathbury, “I don’t know.”

And with a careless nod, he walked off, apparently desirous of being alone.

V Spargo Wishes to Specialize

The barrister and the journalist, left thus unceremoniously on a crowded pavement, looked at each other. Breton laughed.

“We don’t seem to have gained much information,” he remarked. “I’m about as wise as ever.”

“No⁠—wiser,” said Spargo. “At any rate, I am. I know now that this dead man called himself John Marbury; that he came from Australia; that he only landed at Southampton yesterday morning, and that he was in the company last night of a man whom we have had described to us⁠—a tall, grey-bearded, well-dressed man, presumably a gentleman.”

Breton shrugged his shoulders.

“I should say that description would fit a hundred thousand men in London,” he remarked.

“Exactly⁠—so it would,” answered Spargo. “But we know that it was one of the hundred thousand, or half-million, if you like. The thing is to find that one⁠—the one.”

“And you think you can do it?”

“I think I’m going to have a big try at it.”

Breton shrugged his shoulders again.

“What?⁠—by going up to every man who answers the description, and saying ‘Sir, are you the man who accompanied John Marbury to the Anglo⁠—’ ”

Spargo suddenly interrupted him.

“Look here!” he said. “Didn’t you say that you knew a man who lives in that block in the entry of which Marbury was found?”

“No, I didn’t,” answered Breton. “It was Mr. Elphick who said that. All the same, I do know that man⁠—he’s Mr. Cardlestone, another barrister. He and Mr. Elphick are friends⁠—they’re both enthusiastic philatelists⁠—stamp collectors, you know⁠—and I dare say Mr. Elphick was round there last night examining something new Cardlestone’s got hold of. Why?”

“I’d like to go round there and make some enquiries,” replied Spargo. “If you’d be kind enough to⁠—”

“Oh, I’ll go with you!” responded Breton, with alacrity. “I’m just as keen about this business as you are, Spargo! I want to know who this man Marbury is, and how he came to have my name and address on him. Now, if I had been a well-known man in my profession, you know, why⁠—”

“Yes,” said Spargo, as they got into a cab, “yes, that would have explained a lot. It seems to me that we’ll get at the murderer through that scrap of paper a lot quicker than through Rathbury’s line. Yes, that’s what I think.”

Breton looked at his companion with interest.

“But⁠—you don’t know what Rathbury’s line is,” he remarked.

“Yes, I do,” said Spargo. “Rathbury’s gone off to discover who the man is with whom Marbury left the Anglo-Orient Hotel last night. That’s his line.”

“And you want⁠—?”

“I want to find out the full significance of that bit of paper, and who wrote it,” answered Spargo. “I want to know why that old man was coming to you when he was murdered.”

Breton started.

“By Jove!” he exclaimed. “I⁠—I never thought of that. You⁠—you really think he was coming to me when he was struck down?”

“Certain. Hadn’t he got an address in the Temple? Wasn’t he in the Temple? Of course, he was trying to find you.”

“But⁠—the late hour?”

“No matter. How else can you explain his presence in the Temple? I think he was asking his way. That’s why I want to make some enquiries in this block.”

It appeared to Spargo that a considerable number of people, chiefly of the office-boy variety, were desirous of making enquiries about the dead man. Being luncheon-hour, that bit of Middle Temple Lane where the body was found, was thick with the inquisitive and the sensation-seeker, for the news of the murder had spread, and though there was nothing to see but the bare stones on which the body had lain, there were more open mouths and staring eyes around the entry than Spargo had seen for many a day. And the nuisance had become so great that the occupants of the adjacent chambers had sent for a policeman to move the curious away, and when Spargo and his companion presented themselves at the entry this policeman was being lectured as to his duties by a little weazen-faced gentleman, in very snuffy and old-fashioned garments, and an ancient silk hat, who was obviously greatly exercised by the unwonted commotion.

“Drive them all out into the street!” exclaimed this personage. “Drive them all away, constable⁠—into Fleet Street or upon the Embankment⁠—anywhere, so long as you rid this place of them. This is a disgrace, and an inconvenience, a nuisance, a⁠—”

“That’s old Cardlestone,” whispered Breton. “He’s always irascible, and I don’t suppose we’ll get anything out of him. Mr. Cardlestone,” he continued, making his way up to