Detective and mystery stories; England -- Fiction; Inheritance and succession -- Fiction; Nobility -- Fiction; Romanies -- Fiction
AN AMAZING ACCUSATION.
"Beng in tutes bukko!" swore Chaldea in good Romany, meaning that she
wished the devil was in some one's body. And she heartily meant what she
said, and cared little which of the two men's interior was occupied by
the enemy of mankind, since she hated both. The girl was disappointed to
think that Lambert should escape from her snare, and enraged that
Garvington's production of one revolver and his confession that Silver
had the other tended to this end. "May the pair of you burn in hell,"
she cried, taking to English, so that they could understand the insult.
"Ashes may you be in the Crooked One's furnace."
Lambert shrugged his shoulders, as he quite understood her feelings, and
did not intend to lower himself by correcting her. He addressed himself
to his cousin and turned his back on the gypsy. "Silver shot Hubert
Pine," he repeated, with his eyes on Garvington's craven face.
"It's impossible--impossible!" returned the other hurriedly. "Silver was
shut up in the house with the rest. I saw to the windows and doors
myself, along with the butler and footmen. At the inquest--"
"Never mind about the inquest. I know what you said there, and I am now
beginning to see why you said it."
"What the devil do you mean?"
"I mean," stated the other, staring hard at him, "that you knew Silver
was guilty when the inquest took place, and screened him for some
reason."
"I didn't know; I swear I didn't know!" stuttered Garvington, wiping his
heated face, and with his lower lip trembling.
"You must have done so," replied Lambert relentlessly. "This bullet will
fit both the revolvers I gave you, and as you passed on one to Silver--"
"Rubbish! Bosh! Nonsense!" babbled the little man incoherently. "Until
you brought the bullet I never knew that it would fit the revolver."
This was true, as Lambert admitted. However, he saw that Garvington was
afraid for some reason, and pressed his advantage. "Now that you see how
it fits, you must be aware that it could only have been fired from the
revolver which you gave Silver."
"I don't see that," protested Garvington. "That bullet may fit many
revolvers."
Lambert shook his head. "I don't think so. I had that brace of revolvers
especially manufactured, and the make is peculiar. I am quite prepared
to swear that the bullet would fit no other weapon. And--and"--he
hesitated, then faced the girl, who lingered, sullen and disappointed.
"You can go, Chaldea," said Lambert, pointing to the French window of
the library, which was wide open.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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