"No," Kelson replied with a laugh of annoyance; "and you can't be
expected to enter into my feelings on the subject. But I think you might
be a little less grudging of your sympathy."
"You quite mistake me, Harry," Gifford replied warmly. "It is only in
your own interest that I counsel you not to be in a hurry."
"But why? What, in heaven's name, do you mean?" Kelson demanded, vaguely
apprehensive.
"It is a mistake to rush things, that is all," was the
unsatisfactory answer.
"If I saw the slightest chance of danger I would not hesitate to take
your advice," Kelson said. "But I don't. Nor do you. Since when have you
become so cautious?"
Gifford forced a laugh. "It is coming on with age."
Kelson clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't encourage it, my dear Hugh. It
will spoil all the enjoyment in your life, and in other people's too, if
you force the note. I promise you I won't hurry on the wedding more than
is absolutely necessary."
"Very well," Gifford responded, and the subject dropped.
They had finished dinner, at which the absorbing subject of the tragedy
at Wynford Place was the main topic of their conversation, when the
landlord came in to say that Mr. Gervase Henshaw, who was staying at the
hotel, would like to see them if they were disengaged.
Kelson looked across at his friend. "Shall we see him?"
Gifford nodded. "We had better hear what he has to say. We don't want him
worrying Morriston."
"Ask Mr. Henshaw up," Kelson said to the landlord, and in a minute he was
ushered in.
With a quick, decisive movement Henshaw took the seat to which Kelson
invited him.
"I trust you won't think me intrusive, gentlemen," he began in his sharp
mode of speaking, "but you will understand I am very much upset and
horribly perplexed by the terrible fate which has overtaken my poor
brother. I am setting myself to search for a clue, if ever so slight, to
the mystery, the double mystery, I may say, and it occurred to me that
perhaps a talk with you gentlemen who are, so far, the last known
persons who spoke with him, might possibly give me a hint."
"I'm afraid there is very little we can tell you," Gifford replied. "But
we are at your service."
"Thank you." It seemed the first civil word of acknowledgment they had
heard him utter. "First of all," he proceeded, falling back to his dry,
lawyer-like tone, "I have been to see the medical man who was summoned to
look at the body, Dr. Page. He tells me that, so far as his cursory
examination went, the position of the wound hardly suggests that it was
self-inflicted."
"Is he sure of it?" Kelson asked.
"He won't be positive till he has made the autopsy," Henshaw answered.
"He merely suggests that it was a very awkward and altogether unlikely
place for a man to wound himself. Anyhow that guarded opinion is enough
to strengthen my inclination to scout the idea of suicide."
"Then," said Kelson, "we are faced by the difficulty of the locked door."
Henshaw made a gesture of indifference.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account