“Certainly, Mr. Nesbitt,” replied the Superintendent briskly. “Take
you with me.” He looked round the room with his penetrating blue eyes,
and added in an official voice: “Guy Nesbitt, Patrick Doyle, George
Howard, I arrest you on suspicion of being concerned in the murder of
the Crown Prince of Bosnogovina in this room on the night of the 10th
instant, either as principals or as accessories before and after the
fact, and I warn you that anything you say may be taken down and used
in evidence against you at your trial.”
“But good Heavens,” spluttered Mr. Doyle, “we’re not—not
Bosnogovinians, or whatever the place is.”
“No? But you speak the language, don’t you? You must remember that we
have our evidence. And the constable has already identified you,
without your knowledge, as the persons who removed the Crown Prince’s
body from this room.”
“But, my dear good man, we’ve _explained_ that. Don’t you see what a
colossal idiot you’re making of yourself?”
“That’s my affair,” retorted the Superintendent, unmoved. “By the way,
don’t attempt any funny business, any of you. The Colonel and I are
both armed.” He took a whistle from his pocket and blew it shrilly.
Two large men at once entered the French windows from the garden and
stood as if on guard just inside. Another, whom Dora recognised as the
man who had brought her down, came in from the passage outside.
This latter was not an imposing figure, even for a policeman in plain
clothes. He was short and rather round, he wore a neatly trimmed black
beard cut in a point and a pair of enormous horn-rimmed spectacles.
The same thought seemed to have occurred to Guy, for he nudged Mr.
Doyle, and remarked: “Cheer up, Pat, you’ll get a lot of copy out of
this. Look at that fellow, for instance. Did you ever hear of any one
like it outside a detective story? I never dreamed these chaps existed
in real life.”
It was a pity that the attention of Guy and Mr. Doyle was thus
engaged, because even the Superintendent’s lips twitched spasmodically
as his underling entered the room. The next minute, however, his face
was as stern as before as he threw this newcomer a brief nod and
remarked: “Carry on, Bateman.”
Bateman carried on. From the pocket of his large overcoat he produced,
with a slightly apologetic air, two pairs of handcuffs, one link of
each he proceeded to lock round either of Guy’s wrists. Unfortunately
Guy was so busy looking mockingly contemptuous that he quite failed to
notice the unusual clumsiness with which the operation was being
performed. In the same way neither did Mr. Doyle nor George when they
in turn were tethered each to one of Guy’s wrists. None of the three
offered any physical resistance, because they were not going to spoil
a good case by losing their heads; but Mr. Doyle suddenly found his
tongue, and with it several pithy things which he wished to say to
this dunderheaded Superintendent. He said them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account