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
"And couldn't mind her own business. I know Martha James. Go on."
"After a few minutes Miss Kent seemed to grow faint, and slipped out of
the church. Another witness--Samuel Gibbs--says that as she brushed past
him she murmured that she felt unwell. However, she went out."
"And the tall man also?"
"No. He remained for another ten minutes. Martha James watched him,
because she could not think why he did not follow Miss Kent after giving
her the paper."
"Of course, Martha thought of something bad," sniffed Mrs. Parry; "no
doubt she believed that the two had arranged to meet. So the tall man
went out ten minutes afterwards. What about Anne?"
"She was a few pews behind, and apparently inattentive, but a small girl
called Cissy Jinks----"
"A most precocious child," interpolated the lady.
"She is smart," admitted Steel. "Well, she declares that Miss Denham was
watching the tall man all the time. Whether she saw him give the paper
to Miss Kent no one seems to know; I think myself she must have done so,
if she was as watchful as Cissy Jinks declares. Moreover, she followed
the tall man when he went out."
"Immediately?"
"Five minutes afterwards."
"Ha! Then it was a quarter of an hour before she followed Daisy. Humph!
Didn't Trim see them come out of the church?"
"The groom? No, he was at the lych-gate with the car, and the snow was
falling fast; besides, the night was so dark that he could see nothing.
The first intimation he had of Miss Denham was when she came through the
lych-gate to tell him that his master was with Miss Kent on the way to
The Elms and wished to see him. Trim followed, and left her in charge of
the car. When he was gone she went off, leaving the body of the girl
behind her. The case is dead against her."
"As you make it out, it certainly is," said Mrs. Parry scathingly. "But
what about the tall man--what became of him?"
"He has vanished, and no one seems to know anything about him."
"Ha!" said the old lady, with satisfaction; "well, I can enlighten you
on that point. He was the man who called to see Mr. Morley, and who left
just before Anne entered the library."
"Are you sure Morley said nothing about that?"
"Morley can hold his tongue when necessary," said the old lady dryly.
"Yes, that was the man. The footman at The Elms told me that Mr.
Morley's visitor wore a great-coat and a white scarf."
"The same dress," murmured Steel, "and the man was afterwards in church.
He passed a note and went out apparently to see Miss Kent. I must
question Mr. Morley about him. I wonder if he went away in the motor
also."
"Of course he did," replied Mrs. Parry calmly. "Anne was watching him,
according to Cissy Jinks, and she followed him five minutes later. It
would seem that she knew him, and after he killed Daisy helped him to
escape."
"What do you say," asked Steel, wrinkling his brows, "that this man
killed Miss Kent?"
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