Lady Molly of Scotland YardOrczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness
General
Lady Molly of Scotland Yard
Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness
Detective and mystery stories; Police -- Great Britain -- Fiction
The handkerchief was produced, also the knife. The former was a
bright-coloured one, stated to be the property of the deceased. The
latter was a foreign, old-fashioned hunting-knife, one of a panoply of
small arms and other weapons which adorned a corner of the hall. It
had been found by Detective Elliott in a clump of gorse on the
adjoining golf links. There could be no question that it had been used
by the murderer for his fell purpose, since at the time it was found
it still bore traces of blood.
Captain Jack was the next witness called. He had very little to say,
as he merely saw the body from across the room, and immediately closed
the door again and, having begged his cousin to compose herself,
called his own valet and sent him off for the doctor.
Some of the staff of Fordwych Castle were called, all of whom
testified to the Indian woman’s curious taciturnity, which left her
quite isolated among her fellow-servants. Miss Henriette’s maid,
however, Jane Partlett, had one or two more interesting facts to
record. She seems to have been more intimate with the deceased woman
than anyone else, and on one occasion, at least, had quite a
confidential talk with her.
“She talked chiefly about her mistress,” said Jane, in answer to a
question from the coroner, “to whom she was most devoted. She told me
that she loved her so, she would readily die for her. Of course, I
thought that silly like, and just mad, foreign talk, but Roonah was
very angry when I laughed at her, and then she undid her dress in
front, and showed me some papers which were sown in the lining of her
dress. ‘All these papers my little missee’s fortune,’ she said to me.
‘Roonah guard these with her life. Someone must kill Roonah before
taking them from her!’
“This was about six weeks ago,” continued Jane, whilst a strange
feeling of awe seemed to descend upon all those present whilst the
girl spoke. “Lately she became much more silent, and, on my once
referring to the papers, she turned on me savage like and told me to
hold my tongue.”
Asked if she had mentioned the incident of the papers to anyone, Jane
replied in the negative.
“Except to Miss Henriette, of course,” she added, after a slight
moment of hesitation.
Throughout all these preliminary examinations Lady d’Alboukirk,
sitting between her cousin Captain Jack and her niece Henriette, had
remained quite silent in an erect attitude expressive of haughty
indifference. Henriette, on the other hand, looked distinctly bored.
Once or twice she had yawned audibly, which caused quite a feeling of
anger against her among the spectators. Such callousness in the midst
of so mysterious a tragedy, and when her own sister was obviously in
such deep sorrow, impressed everyone very unfavourably. It was well
known that the young lady had had a fencing lesson just before the
inquest in the room immediately below that where Roonah lay dead, and
that within an hour of the discovery of the tragedy she was calmly
playing golf.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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