Detective and mystery stories; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction; Police -- England -- Fiction
When La Touche returned to his rue de La Fayette hotel he found a
letter from Clifford. The police had made two discoveries. The first
La Touche had realised they were bound to make sooner or later. They
had learnt of Felix’s identity with the art school student who had
been in love with the late Mme. Boirac, and of the short-lived
engagement between the two. All the assistance which these facts gave
the prosecution was therefore now at the disposal of the authorities.
The second piece of information was that Inspector Burnley had found
the carter who had taken the cask from Waterloo on the Wednesday
morning of the fateful week and delivered it at Charing Cross next
morning, for, it seemed, both these jobs had been done by the same
man.
It appeared that about 7.30 on the Tuesday evening of that week a
dark, foreign-looking man with a pointed black beard had called at
the office of Messrs. Johnson, the large carting agents in Waterloo
Road, and had hired a dray and man for the two following days, as
well as the use of an empty shed for the same period. He had
instructed the carter to meet him at Waterloo Station at 10.00 next
morning, Wednesday. There, on the arrival of the Southampton boat
train, he had claimed the cask and had it loaded up on the dray, as
was already known. The vehicle had been taken to the shed, where it
had been left, the horse having been sent back to the stable. The
black-bearded man had told the driver he might take the remainder of
the day as a holiday, but that he wanted him to return on the
following morning, Thursday, take the cask to Charing Cross, and
there book it to Paris. He had handed him the amount of the freight
as well as ten shillings for himself. Upon the man asking where in
Paris the cask was to be sent, the other had told him he would leave
it properly addressed. This he had done, for next morning the cask
had a new label, bearing the name of Jaques de Belleville, Cloakroom,
Gare du Nord. The carter had then left the black-bearded man in the
shed with the cart and cask. Next morning he had booked the latter to
Paris.
Asked if he could identify the black-bearded man, the carter said he
believed he could. But he failed to do so. On being taken to see
Felix, he stated the artist was like the dark foreigner, but he would
not swear he was the same man.
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