The Ashiel mystery : $b a detective storyBryce, Marion
General
The Ashiel mystery : $b a detective story
Bryce, Marion
Detective and mystery stories; Fiction
"Yes, no doubt, that would be the reason," he murmured, lighting a fresh
cigarette, and throwing himself down in an easy-chair, with his hands
clasped behind his head. "No, I haven't found any will, and there's not
a corner left that I haven't turned inside out. I suppose he never really
made it. Just talked about it, probably, as people are so fond of doing.
And now I'm at a loose end; all alone in this big house with no one to
speak to and nothing to do with myself. It's a beast of a day, or I
should go out and try for a salmon, in self-defence. To-morrow I shall go
South. And you, have you found out anything new about the murder yet?"
"I have found out one thing which you will be glad to hear," said
Gimblet, "and that is the place where the missing will is concealed."
"What!" cried Mark, leaping to his feet. "Where is it? What does it say?
Give it to me!"
"I haven't got it," Gimblet told him. "I don't know what it says, but I
know where to look for it. It is in the statue your uncle put up on the
track known as the Green Way. I have found a memorandum of his which sets
the matter beyond a doubt."
And he related at length the story of the half-sheet of paper with the
mysterious writing, and of how he had learnt by accident of the manner in
which the statue fitted in with the obscure directions, omitting nothing
except the fact that he had already acted on the information so far as to
make certain of the actual existence of the tin box, and saying that he
should prefer the papers to be brought to light in the presence of a
magistrate.
"I believe there are other documents there besides the will," he said,
without troubling to explain what excellent reasons he had for such a
belief. "I understood from your uncle that there might be some of an
almost international importance. In case any dispute should subsequently
arise about them, I wish to have more than one reliable witness to their
being found. Can you send a man over to the lodge at Glenkliquart, and
ask General Tenby to come back with him. I am told that he is a
magistrate."
Gimblet did not think it necessary to relate how he had obtained
possession of the sheet of paper bearing the injunction to "face
curiosity." His adventures on that night savoured too strongly of
house-breaking to be drawn attention to.
"Your uncle must have posted it to me in London the day before he died,"
he said mendaciously. "It was forwarded here, and at first I could make
neither head nor tail of it."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Mark asked impatiently. "And yet," he added
reflecting, "I might not have seen to what it referred. Yes, of course I
will send over for General Tenby. He can't come for three or four hours,
though, which will make it rather late. Are you sure we had not better
open the thing sooner? The bull's horn at the south-east corner turns
like a key, you say? Suppose some one else finds that out and makes off
with whatever may be hidden there."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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