The Old Man in the Corner - Baroness Orczy
"Among Lord Arthur Skelmerton's many expensive tastes there was
certainly that for horseflesh and cards. After some successful betting
at the beginning of his married life, he had started a racing-stable
which it was generally believed--as he was very lucky--was a regular
source of income to him.
"Peppercorn, however, after his brilliant performances at Newmarket did
not continue to fulfil his master's expectations. His collapse at York
was attributed to the hardness of the course and to various other
causes, but its immediate effect was to put Lord Arthur Skelmerton in
what is popularly called a tight place, for he had backed his horse for
all he was worth, and must have stood to lose considerably over L5000 on
that one day.
"The collapse of the favourite and the grand victory of King Cole, a
rank outsider, on the other hand, had proved a golden harvest for the
bookmakers, and all the York hotels were busy with dinners and suppers
given by the confraternity of the Turf to celebrate the happy occasion.
The next day was Friday, one of few important racing events, after which
the brilliant and the shady throng which had flocked into the venerable
city for the week would fly to more congenial climes, and leave it, with
its fine old Minster and its ancient walls, as sleepy, as quiet as
before.
"Lord Arthur Skelmerton also intended to leave York on the Saturday, and
on the Friday night he gave a farewell bachelor dinner party at 'The
Elms,' at which Lady Arthur did not appear. After dinner the gentlemen
settled down to bridge, with pretty stiff points, you may be sure. It
had just struck eleven at the Minster Tower, when constables McNaught
and Murphy, who were patrolling the racecourse, were startled by loud
cries of 'murder' and 'police.'
"Quickly ascertaining whence these cries proceeded, they hurried on at a
gallop, and came up--quite close to the boundary of Lord Arthur
Skelmerton's grounds--upon a group of three men, two of whom seemed to
be wrestling vigorously with one another, whilst the third was lying
face downwards on the ground. As soon as the constables drew near, one
of the wrestlers shouted more vigorously, and with a certain tone of
authority:
"'Here, you fellows, hurry up, sharp; the brute is giving me the slip!'
"But the brute did not seem inclined to do anything of the sort; he
certainly extricated himself with a violent jerk from his assailant's
grasp, but made no attempt to run away. The constables had quickly
dismounted, whilst he who had shouted for help originally added more
quietly:
"'My name is Skelmerton. This is the boundary of my property. I was
smoking a cigar at the pavilion over there with a friend when I heard
loud voices, followed by a cry and a groan. I hurried down the steps,
and saw this poor fellow lying on the ground, with a knife sticking
between his shoulder-blades, and his murderer,' he added, pointing to
the man who stood quietly by with Constable McNaught's firm grip upon
his shoulder, 'still stooping over the body of his victim. I was too
late, I fear, to save the latter, but just in time to grapple with the
assassin--"
"'It's a lie!' here interrupted the man hoarsely. 'I didn't do it,
constable; I swear I didn't do it. I saw him fall--I was coming along a
couple of hundred yards away, and I tried to see if the poor fellow was
dead. I swear I didn't do it.'
"'You'll have to explain that to the inspector presently, my man,' was
Constable McNaught's quiet comment, and, still vigorously protesting his
innocence, the accused allowed himself to be led away, and the body was
conveyed to the station, pending fuller identification.
"The next morning the papers were full of the tragedy; a column and a
half of the _York Herald_ was devoted to an account of Lord Arthur
Skelmerton's plucky capture of the assassin. The latter had continued to
declare his innocence, but had remarked, it appears, with grim humour,
that he quite saw he was in a tight place, out of which, however, he
would find it easy to extricate himself. He had stated to the police
that the deceased's name was Charles Lavender, a well-known bookmaker,
which fact was soon verified, for many of the murdered man's 'pals'
were still in the city.
"So far the most pushing of newspaper reporters had been unable to glean
further information from the police; no one doubted, however, but that
the man in charge, who gave his name as George Higgins, had killed the
bookmaker for purposes of robbery. The inquest had been fixed for the
Tuesday after the murder.
"Lord Arthur had been obliged to stay in York a few days, as his
evidence would be needed. That fact gave the case, perhaps, a certain
amount of interest as far as York and London 'society' were concerned.
Charles Lavender, moreover, was well known on the turf; but no bombshell
exploding beneath the walls of the ancient cathedral city could more
have astonished its inhabitants than the news which, at about five in
the afternoon on the day of the inquest, spread like wildfire throughout
the town. That news was that the inquest had concluded at three o'clock
with a verdict of 'Wilful murder against some person or persons
unknown,' and that two hours later the police had arrested Lord Arthur
Skelmerton at his private residence, 'The Elms,' and charged him on a
warrant with the murder of Charles Lavender, the bookmaker."
CHAPTER VIII
THE CAPITAL CHARGE
"The police, it appears, instinctively feeling that some mystery lurked
round the death of the bookmaker and his supposed murderer's quiet
protestations of innocence, had taken a very considerable amount of
trouble in collecting all the evidence they could for the inquest which
might throw some light upon Charles Lavender's life, previous to his
tragic end. Thus it was that a very large array of witnesses was brought
before the coroner, chief among whom was, of course, Lord Arthur
Skelmerton.
"The first witnesses called were the two constables, who deposed that,
just as the church clocks in the neighbourhood were striking eleven,
they had heard the cries for help, had ridden to the spot whence the
sounds proceeded, and had found the prisoner in the tight grasp of Lord
Arthur Skelmerton, who at once accused the man of murder, and gave him
in charge. Both constables gave the same version of the incident, and
both were positive as to the time when it occurred.
"Medical evidence went to prove that the deceased had been stabbed from
behind between the shoulder-blades whilst he was walking, that the wound
was inflicted by a large hunting knife, which was produced, and which
had been left sticking in the wound.
"Lord Arthur Skelmerton was then called and substantially repeated what
he had already told the constables. He stated, namely, that on the night
in question he had some gentlemen friends to dinner, and afterwards
bridge was played. He himself was not playing much, and at a few minutes
before eleven he strolled out with a cigar as far as the pavilion at the
end of his garden; he then heard the voices, the cry and the groan
previously described by him, and managed to hold the murderer down until
the arrival of the constables.
"At this point the police proposed to call a witness, James Terry by
name and a bookmaker by profession, who had been chiefly instrumental in
identifying the deceased, a 'pal' of his. It was his evidence which
first introduced that element of sensation into the case which
culminated in the wildly exciting arrest of a Duke's son upon a capital
charge.
"It appears that on the evening after the Ebor, Terry and Lavender were
in the bar of the Black Swan Hotel having drinks.
"'I had done pretty well over Peppercorn's fiasco,' he explained, 'but
poor old Lavender was very much down in the dumps; he had held only a
few very small bets against the favourite, and the rest of the day had
been a poor one with him. I asked him if he had any bets with the owner
of Peppercorn, and he told me that he only held one for less than L500.
"'I laughed and said that if he held one for L5000 it would make no
difference, as from what I had heard from the other fellows, Lord Arthur
Skelmerton must be about stumped. Lavender seemed terribly put out at
this, and swore he would get that L500 out of Lord Arthur, if no one
else got another penny from him.
"'It's the only money I've made to-day,' he says to me. 'I mean to get
it.'
"'You won't,' I says.
"'I will,' he says.
"'You will have to look pretty sharp about it then,' I says, 'for every
one will be wanting to get something, and first come first served.'
"'Oh! He'll serve me right enough, never you mind!' says Lavender to me
with a laugh. 'If he don't pay up willingly, I've got that in my pocket
which will make him sit up and open my lady's eyes and Sir John Etty's
too about their precious noble lord.'
"'Then he seemed to think he had gone too far, and wouldn't say anything
more to me about that affair. I saw him on the course the next day. I
asked him if he had got his L500. He said: "No, but I shall get it
to-day."'
"Lord Arthur Skelmerton, after having given his own evidence, had left
the court; it was therefore impossible to know how he would take this
account, which threw so serious a light upon an association with the
dead man, of which he himself had said nothing.
"Nothing could shake James Terry's account of the facts he had placed
before the jury, and when the police informed the coroner that they
proposed to place George Higgins himself in the witness-box, as his
evidence would prove, as it were, a complement and corollary of that of
Terry, the jury very eagerly assented.
"If James Terry, the bookmaker, loud, florid, vulgar, was an
unprepossessing individual, certainly George Higgins, who was still
under the accusation of murder, was ten thousand times more so.
"None too clean, slouchy, obsequious yet insolent, he was the very
personification of the cad who haunts the racecourse and who lives not
so much by his own wits as by the lack of them in others. He described
himself as a turf commission agent, whatever that may be.
"He stated that at about six o'clock on the Friday afternoon, when the
racecourse was still full of people, all hurrying after the day's
excitements, he himself happened to be standing close to the hedge which
marks the boundary of Lord Arthur Skelmerton's grounds. There is a
pavilion there at the end of the garden, he explained, on slightly
elevated ground, and he could hear and see a group of ladies and
gentlemen having tea. Some steps lead down a little to the left of the
garden on to the course, and presently he noticed at the bottom of these
steps Lord Arthur Skelmerton and Charles Lavender standing talking
together. He knew both gentlemen by sight, but he could not see them
very well as they were both partly hidden by the hedge. He was quite
sure that the gentlemen had not seen him, and he could not help
overhearing some of their conversation.
"'That's my last word, Lavender,' Lord Arthur was saying very quietly.
'I haven't got the money and I can't pay you now. You'll have to wait.'
"'Wait? I can't wait,' said old Lavender in reply. 'I've got my
engagements to meet, same as you. I'm not going to risk being posted up
as a defaulter while you hold L500 of my money. You'd better give it me
now or--'
"But Lord Arthur interrupted him very quietly, and said:
"'Yes, my good man.... or?'
"'Or I'll let Sir John have a good look at that little bill I had of
yours a couple of years ago. If you'll remember, my lord, it has got at
the bottom of it Sir John's signature in _your_ handwriting. Perhaps
Sir John, or perhaps my lady, would pay me something for that little
bill. If not, the police can have a squint at it. I've held my tongue
long enough, and--'
"'Look here, Lavender,' said Lord Arthur, 'do you know what this little
game of yours is called in law?'
"'Yes, and I don't care,' says Lavender. 'If I don't have that L500 I am
a ruined man. If you ruin me I'll do for you, and we shall be quits.
That's my last word.'
"He was talking very loudly, and I thought some of Lord Arthur's friends
up in the pavilion must have heard. He thought so, too, I think, for he
said quickly:
"'If you don't hold your confounded tongue, I'll give you in charge for
blackmail this instant.'
"'You wouldn't dare,' says Lavender, and he began to laugh. But just
then a lady from the top of the steps said: 'Your tea is getting cold,'
and Lord Arthur turned to go; but just before he went Lavender says to
him: 'I'll come back to-night. You'll have the money then.'
"George Higgins, it appears, after he had heard this interesting
conversation, pondered as to whether he could not turn what he knew into
some sort of profit. Being a gentleman who lives entirely by his wits,
this type of knowledge forms his chief source of income. As a
preliminary to future moves, he decided not to lose sight of Lavender
for the rest of the day.
"'Lavender went and had dinner at The Black Swan,' explained Mr. George
Higgins, 'and I, after I had had a bite myself, waited outside till I
saw him come out. At about ten o'clock I was rewarded for my trouble. He
told the hall porter to get him a fly and he jumped into it. I could not
hear what direction he gave the driver, but the fly certainly drove off
towards the racecourse.
"'Now, I was interested in this little affair,' continued the witness,
'and I couldn't afford a fly. I started to run. Of course, I couldn't
keep up with it, but I thought I knew which way my gentleman had gone. I
made straight for the racecourse, and for the hedge at the bottom of
Lord Arthur Skelmerton's grounds.
"'It was rather a dark night and there was a slight drizzle. I couldn't
see more than about a hundred yards before me. All at once it seemed to
me as if I heard Lavender's voice talking loudly in the distance. I
hurried forward, and suddenly saw a group of two figures--mere blurs in
the darkness--for one instant, at a distance of about fifty yards from
where I was.
"'The next moment one figure had fallen forward and the other had
disappeared. I ran to the spot, only to find the body of the murdered
man lying on the ground. I stooped to see if I could be of any use to
him, and immediately I was collared from behind by Lord Arthur
himself.'
"You may imagine," said the man in the corner, "how keen was the
excitement of that moment in court. Coroner and jury alike literally
hung breathless on every word that shabby, vulgar individual uttered.
You see, by itself his evidence would have been worth very little, but
coming on the top of that given by James Terry, its significance--more,
its truth--had become glaringly apparent. Closely cross-examined, he
adhered strictly to his statement; and having finished his evidence,
George Higgins remained in charge of the constables, and the next
witness of importance was called up.
"This was Mr. Chipps, the senior footman in the employment of Lord
Arthur Skelmerton. He deposed that at about 10.30 on the Friday evening
a 'party' drove up to 'The Elms' in a fly, and asked to see Lord Arthur.
On being told that his lordship had company he seemed terribly put out.
"'I hasked the party to give me 'is card,' continued Mr. Chipps, 'as I
didn't know, perhaps, that 'is lordship might wish to see 'im, but I
kept 'im standing at the 'all door, as I didn't altogether like his
looks. I took the card in. His lordship and the gentlemen was playin'
cards in the smoking-room, and as soon as I could do so without
disturbing 'is lordship, I give him the party's card.'
"'What name was there on the card?' here interrupted the coroner.
"'I couldn't say now, sir,' replied Mr. Chipps; 'I don't really
remember. It was a name I had never seen before. But I see so many
visiting cards one way and the other in 'is lordship's 'all that I can't
remember all the names.'
"'Then, after a few minutes' waiting, you gave his lordship the card?
What happened then?'
"''Is lordship didn't seem at all pleased,' said Mr. Chipps with much
guarded dignity; 'but finally he said: "Show him into the library,
Chipps, I'll see him," and he got up from the card table, saying to the
gentlemen: "Go on without me; I'll be back in a minute or two."
"'I was about to open the door for 'is lordship when my lady came into
the room, and then his lordship suddenly changed his mind like, and said
to me: "Tell that man I'm busy and can't see him," and 'e sat down again
at the card table. I went back to the 'all, and told the party 'is
lordship wouldn't see 'im. 'E said: "Oh! it doesn't matter," and went
away quite quiet like.'
"'Do you recollect at all at what time that was?' asked one of the jury.
"'Yes, sir, while I was waiting to speak to 'is lordship I looked at
the clock, sir; it was twenty past ten, sir.'
"There was one more significant fact in connection with the case, which
tended still more to excite the curiosity of the public at the time, and
still further to bewilder the police later on, and that fact was
mentioned by Chipps in his evidence. The knife, namely, with which
Charles Lavender had been stabbed, and which, remember, had been left in
the wound, was now produced in court. After a little hesitation Chipps
identified it as the property of his master, Lord Arthur Skelmerton.
"Can you wonder, then, that the jury absolutely refused to bring in a
verdict against George Higgins? There was really, beyond Lord Arthur
Skelmerton's testimony, not one particle of evidence against him,
whilst, as the day wore on and witness after witness was called up,
suspicion ripened in the minds of all those present that the murderer
could be no other than Lord Arthur Skelmerton himself.
"The knife was, of course, the strongest piece of circumstantial
evidence, and no doubt the police hoped to collect a great deal more now
that they held a clue in their hands. Directly after the verdict,
therefore, which was guardedly directed against some person unknown, the
police obtained a warrant and later on arrested Lord Arthur in his own
house."
"The sensation, of course, was tremendous. Hours before he was brought
up before the magistrate the approach to the court was thronged. His
friends, mostly ladies, were all eager, you see, to watch the dashing
society man in so terrible a position. There was universal sympathy for
Lady Arthur, who was in a very precarious state of health. Her worship
of her worthless husband was well known; small wonder that his final and
awful misdeed had practically broken her heart. The latest bulletin
issued just after his arrest stated that her ladyship was not expected
to live. She was then in a comatose condition, and all hope had perforce
to be abandoned.
"At last the prisoner was brought in. He looked very pale, perhaps, but
otherwise kept up the bearing of a high-bred gentleman. He was
accompanied by his solicitor, Sir Marmaduke Ingersoll, who was evidently
talking to him in quiet, reassuring tones.
"Mr. Buchanan prosecuted for the Treasury, and certainly his indictment
was terrific. According to him but one decision could be arrived at,
namely, that the accused in the dock had, in a moment of passion, and
perhaps of fear, killed the blackmailer who threatened him with
disclosures which might for ever have ruined him socially, and, having
committed the deed and fearing its consequences, probably realizing that
the patrolling constables might catch sight of his retreating figure,
he had availed himself of George Higgins's presence on the spot to
loudly accuse him of the murder.
"Having concluded his able speech, Mr. Buchanan called his witnesses,
and the evidence, which on second hearing seemed more damning than ever,
was all gone through again.
"Sir Marmaduke had no question to ask of the witnesses for the
prosecution; he stared at them placidly through his gold-rimmed
spectacles. Then he was ready to call his own for the defence. Colonel
McIntosh, R.A., was the first. He was present at the bachelors' party
given by Lord Arthur the night of the murder. His evidence tended at
first to corroborate that of Chipps the footman with regard to Lord
Arthur's orders to show the visitor into the library, and his
counter-order as soon as his wife came into the room.
"'Did you not think it strange, Colonel?' asked Mr. Buchanan, 'that Lord
Arthur should so suddenly have changed his mind about seeing his
visitor?'
"'Well, not exactly strange,' said the Colonel, a fine, manly, soldierly
figure who looked curiously out of his element in the witness-box. 'I
don't think that it is a very rare occurrence for racing men to have
certain acquaintances whom they would not wish their wives to know
anything about.'
"'Then it did not strike you that Lord Arthur Skelmerton had some
reason for not wishing his wife to know of that particular visitor's
presence in his house?'
"'I don't think that I gave the matter the slightest serious
consideration,' was the Colonel's guarded reply.
"Mr. Buchanan did not press the point, and allowed the witness to
conclude his statements.
"'I had finished my turn at bridge,' he said, 'and went out into the
garden to smoke a cigar. Lord Arthur Skelmerton joined me a few minutes
later, and we were sitting in the pavilion when I heard a loud and, as I
thought, threatening voice from the other side of the hedge.
"'I did not catch the words, but Lord Arthur said to me: "There seems to
be a row down there. I'll go and have a look and see what it is." I
tried to dissuade him, and certainly made no attempt to follow him, but
not more than half a minute could have elapsed before I heard a cry and
a groan, then Lord Arthur's footsteps hurrying down the wooden stairs
which lead on to the racecourse.'
"You may imagine," said the man in the corner, "what severe
cross-examination the gallant Colonel had to undergo in order that his
assertions might in some way be shaken by the prosecution, but with
military precision and frigid calm he repeated his important statements
amidst a general silence, through which you could have heard the
proverbial pin.
"He had heard the threatening voice _while_ sitting with Lord Arthur
Skelmerton; then came the cry and groan, and, _after that_, Lord
Arthur's steps down the stairs. He himself thought of following to see
what had happened, but it was a very dark night and he did not know the
grounds very well. While trying to find his way to the garden steps he
heard Lord Arthur's cry for help, the tramp of the patrolling
constables' horses, and subsequently the whole scene between Lord
Arthur, the man Higgins, and the constables. When he finally found his
way to the stairs, Lord Arthur was returning in order to send a groom
for police assistance.
"The witness stuck to his points as he had to his guns at Beckfontein a
year ago; nothing could shake him, and Sir Marmaduke looked triumphantly
across at his opposing colleague.
"With the gallant Colonel's statements the edifice of the prosecution
certainly began to collapse. You see, there was not a particle of
evidence to show that the accused had met and spoken to the deceased
after the latter's visit at the front door of 'The Elms.' He told Chipps
that he wouldn't see the visitor, and Chipps went into the hall directly
and showed Lavender out the way he came. No assignation could have been
made, no hint could have been given by the murdered man to Lord Arthur
that he would go round to the back entrance and wished to see him there.
"Two other guests of Lord Arthur's swore positively that after Chipps
had announced the visitor, their host stayed at the card-table until a
quarter to eleven, when evidently he went out to join Colonel McIntosh
in the garden. Sir Marmaduke's speech was clever in the extreme. Bit by
bit he demolished that tower of strength, the case against the accused,
basing his defence entirely upon the evidence of Lord Arthur
Skelmerton's guests that night.
"Until 10.45 Lord Arthur was playing cards; a quarter of an hour later
the police were on the scene, and the murder had been committed. In the
meanwhile Colonel McIntosh's evidence proved conclusively that the
accused had been sitting with him, smoking a cigar. It was obvious,
therefore, clear as daylight, concluded the great lawyer, that his
client was entitled to a full discharge; nay, more, he thought that the
police should have been more careful before they harrowed up public
feeling by arresting a high-born gentleman on such insufficient evidence
as they had brought forward.
"The question of the knife remained certainly, but Sir Marmaduke passed
over it with guarded eloquence, placing that strange question in the
category of those inexplicable coincidences which tend to puzzle the
ablest detectives, and cause them to commit such unpardonable blunders
as the present one had been. After all, the footman may have been
mistaken. The pattern of that knife was not an exclusive one, and he, on
behalf of his client, flatly denied that it had ever belonged to him.
"Well," continued the man in the corner, with the chuckle peculiar to
him in moments of excitement, "the noble prisoner was discharged.
Perhaps it would be invidious to say that he left the court without a
stain on his character, for I daresay you know from experience that the
crime known as the York Mystery has never been satisfactorily cleared
up.