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
"Yes, we found her lying on her father's grave, dead; a knife-thrust
under the left shoulder-blade. She must have died almost
instantaneously."
"Dead!" muttered Morley, ghastly white. And he approached to take the
handkerchief from the dead face. "Dead!" he repeated, replacing it. Then
he looked at the haggard face of Ware, at the silent group of men and
the startled women standing in the doorway, where the rector was keeping
them back.
"Where is her murderess?" he asked sharply.
"Murderess!" repeated Giles angrily. "What do you mean?"
"Mean? Why, that Miss Denham has done this, and----"
"You are mad to say such a thing."
"I'll tax her with it to her face. Where is she? Not at home, for I have
been waiting to see her."
"She's run way on Mr. Ware's motor-car," volunteered Trim, only to be
clutched violently by his master.
"Don't say that, you fool. You can't be sure of that, Mr. Morley," he
added, turning to the scared man. "Make no remark about this until we
can have a quiet talk about it."
"But I say----"
"You can say it to the police officer in the morning."
"She'll have escaped by that time," whispered Trim to his master.
Giles saw the danger of Anne--supposing her to be guilty, as the groom
thought her--and made up his mind at once.
"Go home, Trim, and saddle a couple of horses. We'll follow the track of
the car, and when we find it----"
"You'll never find it," put in Morley, who had been listening with all
his ears. "The falling snow must have obliterated any wheel-marks by
this time. When did this occur?"
"I don't know," replied Giles coldly. "And instead of chattering there,
you had better have the--the--" he stammered, "the body taken into some
room and attended to. Poor Daisy," he sighed, "what an end to your
bright young life!"
Here Mr. Drake, the rector, thought it necessary to assert himself, and
waved aside the throng.
"All you men and women, go to your homes," he said. "Nothing can be done
to-night, and----"
"The car might be followed," said a voice.
"And the car will be followed," said Giles, pushing his way to the door.
"Come, Trim, we'll ride at once. Did no one see the car pass out of the
village?"
No one had seen it, as most of the villagers had been inside the church
and the rest in their homes.
There was some talk and suggestions, but Ware, with a nod to Morley,
took a hasty departure and disappeared into the stormy night.
"He might track the car," said the rector.
"He won't," replied Morley bitterly; "he'll lead Trim on a wrong scent.
He liked Miss Denham too well to let her drop into the hands of the
police."
"Then you really think she did it?" asked Drake, horrified.
"I am perfectly certain," was the reply. "Come into the library, and
I'll show you what evidence I have."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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