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
Under a verandah in front of this warehouse were a number of trunks, a
few of which bore on their lids the names or initials, newly painted
in white, of the customers for whom they had been made. Two bore the
same name, Signor Corsi, and it was these which had the greatest
attraction for Dr. Vinsen. They were of large size and special make,
far superior to the ordinary travelling trunk. Entering the warehouse,
he came out presently accompanied by a man, either the proprietor or
one of his salesmen, who opened one of the trunks and pointed out its
exceptional features. It was of peculiar construction; the interior
was padded, and there were receptacles lined with soft material, in
which articles could be deposited with little fear of breakage. The
interest which Dr. Vinsen took in the trunks and the long conversation
between him and the salesman, whetted Gracie's curiosity, and she
burned to know the why and the wherefore; but being compelled to keep
at a safe distance, she could not hear a word that was spoken.
Finally, Dr. Vinsen entered the warehouse again, and did not make his
reappearance for twelve minutes by a clock in the shop near which she
was lingering. He and the salesman stood chattering at the door for
another minute or two, and it seemed to Gracie as if he had given an
order, for he made an entry in his pocketbook; then he turned his face
Kennington way and hailed a tramcar. Gracie scrambled up to the roof,
where she opened her paper and read the report of the inquest up to
the time of going to press. Folding the paper carefully, she put it in
the bosom of her frock.
Dr. Vinsen did not leave the tram till it had reached its terminus.
This part of London was new to Gracie, and they were now some miles
from Draper's Mews. "If he lives here," she thought, "it's a long way
for him to come to us." That he did live there was proved by his
stopping before a house of decent pretensions and opening the door
with his own private latchkey. There was a little brass plate attached
to the side of the door, and creeping past it Gracie read on it the
name, "Ezra Lynn," and beneath it in smaller letters the announcement,
"Sums of from £5 to £15,000 advanced at a low rate of interest on
promissory note alone, without any sureties or security whatever, and
without any beforehand charges. The strictest privacy and secrecy
observed." Gracie's eyes dilated at the magnitude of the sum, £15,000,
and for a moment her idea was that Dr. Vinsen had gone into the house
to borrow that amount; the next moment she fell to speculating upon
the strange circumstance that Dr. Vinsen should possess a private
latchkey to such an Aladdin's Cave. "I wonder!" she said to herself.
It was sufficiently expressive for her understanding, but it went no
farther in speech.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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