The Lady from Nowhere: A Detective StoryHume, Fergus
Philosophy
The Lady from Nowhere: A Detective Story
Hume, Fergus
Detective and mystery stories; England -- Fiction; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction
"In the Yellow Room. It was sewn into the hangings, between the satin
and the lining, and, but for the particular minute search I made,
would never have been discovered. I dare say Ellen Gilmar hid it thus
safely so that she might not be accused of the crime in her lifetime;
but no doubt when dying she intended to indicate its hiding-place, so
that I might be set free and my character cleared, after she was safe
from the punishment of man."
"As she is," observed Ferris, bitterly.
"Leave her to God," said Dean, slowly. "As she has sown, so shall she
reap, and I wish her no worse fate. Well," continued he, "you will
understand that as soon as I discovered this proof of my innocence I
was bent upon clearing myself. But this was not so easy to do. I had
escaped from gaol, and were I discovered would be at once taken back,
when, as I fancied, the confession might go astray or prove useless.
It was towards the end of July last that I found it, and I consulted
Mr. Alder, who came down about the same time to visit Edith."
"Yes," said Edith, colouring. "He came to ask me again to marry him."
"Alder advised me to place the confession in the hands of Basson, and
offered to take it up to him. But at the moment I was unwilling to let
this proof of my innocence leave my hands, and I determined to go up
to London myself and see Basson. But, thinking I might be discovered,
I feared to do so--or at all events to go to Basson's office. I wrote
and told Alder this, so he suggested that I should go to Grangebury,
where Mr. Basson was giving a lecture, on the twenty-fourth of July,
and he said I could come up late and see Mr. Basson before the
lecture, place the confession in his hands with instructions what to
do, and then return by a late train to Norminster. Thus, he said in
his letter, I should be exposed to less risk of discovery. The advice
seemed good to me, and I adopted it."
"But where did you get the money to visit London?" asked Edith. "For I
never gave you any."
"I borrowed it from Mrs. Grix, and told her I was visiting a friend,"
explained Dean. "Also I asked her to tell you that I had gone into
Norminster, in case you missed me."
"I didn't miss you at all, and there was no need for Mrs. Grix to say
anything," said Miss Wedderburn. "All the same," she added
reproachfully, "you might have trusted me."
"And me also," interposed Ferris. "I should have had the confession,
not Basson."
"You are right," replied his father, with a sigh. "I behaved
foolishly, I admit; but I acted, as I thought, for the best. On the
twenty-fourth of July, by the five o'clock train, I went up to
Grangebury."
"Did you know that Miss Gilmar was there?" asked Gebb, with a glance
at Edith.
"No, I did not," answered Dean. "Why do you ask?"
"Because Miss Wedderburn knew of Miss Gilmar's whereabouts."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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