A Coin of Edward VII: A Detective StoryHume, Fergus
Philosophy
A Coin of Edward VII: A Detective Story
Hume, Fergus
Detective and mystery stories; Fiction
"He was too clever for me," said Denham, shifting his position, and
sighing with the pain of his leg. However, with iron resolution he
continued. "But I'll punish him yet. Well, to make a long story short,
Morley retired from the force and married a widow. She had money. He
spent all she had. He got his percentage from our society, and spent
that also. He was always gambling, and took runs up to town to lose his
money in a private hell he knew of. Afterwards he got into difficulties,
and began to yearn for the Powell money. It was because Daisy Kent was
to inherit it that he induced her father to appoint him her guardian."
"And for that reason he settled in Rickwell."
"Yes. Kent had known Mrs. Morley for many years, and it was she who was
the guardian. When he married Mrs. Morley our friend settled in
Rickwell, so that his wife might renew her friendship with Kent and get
the girl. It all came about as he designed, and Daisy Kent lived at The
Elms. Morley thought he would sell me, and when the girl got the money,
by using his influence to induce her to give it to him, I believe he was
capable of killing his wife and of marrying Daisy. But that scheme was
stopped by the fact that Daisy was engaged to you, Ware."
"I am thankful that she was," said Giles, wiping his face. "What a devil
the man is!"
"He is a clever man," replied Denham coolly, "but he was not
sufficiently clever to get the better of Daisy Kent. What she found
out, or how he treated her, I don't know; but she took a violent hatred
to him. He knew she would not give him the money when she got it, and
so----"
"Stop!" cried Ware. "Do you mean to say Morley killed the girl?"
"No. I wish I could say so. But he was in his house all the time. He is
innocent enough. I'll tell you about that later. At present let me go on
with the story. I heard by cable from Australia that Powell was dead,
and then I feigned death to get rid of Anne. I came to England, and, as
Wilson, heard about the will, and afterwards served the summons."
"Why did you serve the summons?"
"I simply wanted to see Morley without suspicion being excited. I saw
him in the library. He told me that he had ordered the yacht to anchor
off Gravesend and that Dane was coming to tell him when it was there. He
then asked me to kill Daisy Kent, saying I could get the fortune when
she was dead."
Denham paused, and wiped his face.
"I don't pretend to be a good man," he said, "but I declined to murder
the girl. While we were arguing Anne entered. When she saw me she nearly
fainted, as she thought I was dead. She recognized me."
"Yes," put in Giles, "but she said she didn't speak to you."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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