Samuel Boyd of Catchpole Square: A MysteryFarjeon, B. L. (Benjamin Leopold)
General
Samuel Boyd of Catchpole Square: A Mystery
Farjeon, B. L. (Benjamin Leopold)
Detective and mystery stories; London (England) -- Fiction
Reginald: "I questioned the correctness of these accounts, and my
father said he was ready to prove their correctness in a court of law.
Such a course was repugnant to my feelings, and we parted, my resolve
being to carve out a path for myself. I was not fortunate, and on the
day I visited my father I was practically penniless. I was then
married, and I desired to make a home for my wife, which in my then
circumstances was not possible. It was this which drove me to making
another appeal to my father to restore money which I believed was
rightfully mine. On the occasion of my afternoon visit I remained only
a short time with Mr. Abel Death, and before I left I informed him of
my intention to come again at night. I paid my second visit at about
ten o'clock, which I thought was the best time to find my father
alone. I knocked at the door, and he came down and asked who was
there. He recognised my voice when I answered him, and he refused to
admit me. I told him from without that I was determined to see him, if
not that night, the next day or night, and if not then, that I would
continue my efforts until I succeeded. Upon that he unlocked and
unbolted the door, and I entered and followed him upstairs into the
office, where I explained the motive for my visit. I informed him that
I was married, and that it was necessary I should provide for my wife.
We were together half an hour or so, and he refused to assist me, and
denied that any money was due to me. I offered to accept a small sum,
and to sign a full quittance, but he turned a deaf ear to all my
appeals, and at length I left him. Mr. Coroner, I am aware that in
this disclosure I have touched upon matters which do not come strictly
within the scope of your inquiry. I have done so because I wish to
avoid the suspicion of any reluctance on my part to make known to you
and the jury all my proceedings with respect to my father. Private
matters have already been introduced which affect me closely, and
while I dispute the justice of the direction which this inquiry has
taken I recognise that more mischief may be done by silence than by a
frank and open confession."
The Coroner: "Your statement is a voluntary one, and much of it is not
pertinent to the inquiry. You say that you visited your father at
about ten o'clock?"
"At about that hour."
"You left the house before eleven o'clock?"
"Certainly before that hour."
"Were you and your father quite alone?"
"Quite alone."
"Did any one apply for admission while you were with him?"
"No one."
"There was no other person except yourselves in the house?"
"Not to my knowledge."
"Did your father accompany you to the street door?"
"I do not think he did."
"Cannot you say with certainty?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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