Men -- Societies and clubs -- Fiction; Storytelling -- Fiction
“Now that was the situation,” he continued, “when I went to bed. My room
was almost opposite Lady Granger’s, and at the end of the passage, which
was a cul-de-sac, was the door leading into Granger’s study. I hadn’t
started to undress when I heard him come past my room and go along the
passage to his study. And I was still thinking over the situation about
ten minutes later when Lady Granger’s door opened. I knew it was hers
because I heard her speak to her maid, telling her to go to bed. The
girl said ‘Good night,’ and something—I don’t quite know what—made me
look through the keyhole of my door. I was feeling uneasy and alarmed; I
suppose the scene downstairs had unsettled me. And sure enough, as soon
as the maid’s footsteps had died away, I saw through my spy-hole Ruth
Granger go down the passage towards her husband’s study. For a moment I
hesitated; an outsider’s position is always awkward between husband and
wife. But one thing was very certain, those two were in no condition to
have another—and this time a private—interview. I opened my door
noiselessly and peered out. It struck me that if I heard things getting
too heated I should have to intervene. She was just opening the door of
his study as I looked along the passage, and then in a flash the whole
thing seemed to happen. The door shut behind her; there was a pause of
one—perhaps two seconds—and a revolver shot rang out, followed by the
sound of a heavy fall. For a moment I was stunned; then I raced along
the passage as hard as I could, and flung open the door of the study.
“On the floor lay Henry Granger, doubled up and sprawling, while in the
middle of the room stood his wife staring at him speechlessly. At her
feet on the carpet was a revolver, an automatic Colt. I stood there by
the door staring foolishly, and after a while she spoke.
“‘There’s been an accident,’ she whispered. ‘Is he dead?’
“I went up to the body and turned it over. Through the shirt front was a
small hole; underneath the left shoulder blade was another. Henry
Granger had been shot through the heart from point-blank range; death
must have been absolutely instantaneous.
“‘My God, Ruth!’ I muttered. ‘How did it happen?’
“‘Happen?’ she answered vaguely. ‘There was a man . . . the window.’
“And then she fainted. The butler, with a couple of footmen, by this
time had appeared at the door, and I pulled myself together.
“‘Her ladyship’s maid at once,’ I said. ‘Sir Henry has been shot. Ring
up a doctor, and ask him to come round immediately.’
“The butler rushed off, but I kept the two footmen.
“‘Wait a moment,’ I cried, picking up the revolver. ‘A man did it. Pull
back the two curtains by the window, and I’ll cover him.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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