England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Short stories, English
Next a lady came forward. She had travelled from Birmingham that
afternoon, the 19th of October, with her little nephew and niece. In the
same compartment, a first-class one, was another passenger, bearing,
both in attire and person, the description told of--a very pleasant,
gentlemanly young man, nice-looking, eyes dark blue. It was bitterly
cold: he seemed to feel it greatly, and said he had recently come from a
warmer climate. He also said that he ought to have got into Worcester by
an earlier train, but had been detained in Birmingham, through missing
his luggage, which he supposed must have been put out by mistake at some
intermediate station. He had with him a small black hand-bag; nothing
else that she saw. His great-coat was of a peculiar shade of grey; it
did not look like an English-made coat: his well-fitting kid gloves were
of fawn (or tan) colour, and appeared to be new. Once, when the high
wind seemed to shake the carriage, he remarked with a smile that one
might almost as well be at sea; upon which her little nephew said: "Have
you ever been to sea, sir?" "Yes, my little lad," he answered; "I landed
from it only yesterday."
The only other person to come forward was a farmer named Lockett, well
known to us all. He lived on the Evesham Road, close upon the turning,
or by-way, which led up from Dip Lane. On the night of the storm, the
19th of October, he went out about ten o'clock to visit a neighbour,
who had met with a bad accident. In passing by this turning, a man came
out of it, walking pretty sharply. He looked like a gentleman, seemed to
be muffled up round the neck, and carried something in his hand; whether
a black bag, or not, Mr. Lockett did not observe. "A wild night," said
the farmer to him in salutation. "It is that," answered the other. He
took the road to Evesham, and Mr. Lockett saw him no more.
St. George was delighted at this evidence. He could have hugged old
Lockett. "I knew that the truth would be corroborated sooner or later,"
he said, his eyes sparkling. "That was the man I put out of my gig in
Dip Lane."
"Stop a bit," cried Mr. Delorane, a doubt striking him. "If it was the
same man, what had he been doing to take two or three hours to get into
the Evesham Road? Did he bear any resemblance to William Brook,
Lockett?--you would have known Brook."
"None at all that I saw. As to knowing Brook, or any one else, I can't
answer for it on such a night as that," added the farmer after a pause.
"Brook would have known me, though, I take it, daylight or dark, seeing
me close to my own place, and all."
"It was the other man," affirmed St. George exultantly, "and now we will
find him."
An advertisement was next inserted in the local newspapers by Mr. St.
George, and also in the _Times_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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