The Lighted WayOppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
General
The Lighted Way
Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
Detective and mystery stories
"Then what in the name of goodness did you find to keep you occupied
all this time?" Mr. Weatherley demanded, pushing him through into
the office and closing the door behind them. "Did you see Mr.
Rosario? Did you give him the message?"
"I had no opportunity, sir," Arnold answered gravely.
"No opportunity? What do you mean? Didn't he come to the Milan?
Didn't you see him at all?"
"He came, sir," Arnold admitted, "but I was not able to see him in
time. I thought, perhaps," he added, "that you might have heard what
happened."
Mr. Weatherley had reached the limits of his patience. He struck the
table with his clenched fist. For a moment anger triumphed over his
state of nervous excitability.
"Heard?" he cried. "Heard what? What the devil should I hear down
here? If you've anything to tell, why don't you tell it me? Why do
you stand there looking like a--"
Mr. Weatherley was suddenly frightened. He understood from Arnold's
expression that something serious had happened.
"My God!" he exclaimed. "Mrs. Weatherley--my wife--"
"Mrs. Weatherley is quite well," Arnold assured him quickly. "It is
Mr. Rosario."
"What of him? What about Rosario?"
"He is dead," Arnold announced. "You will read all about it in the
evening papers. He was murdered--just as he was on the point of
entering the Milan Grill Room."
Mr. Weatherley began to shake. He looked like a man on the verge of
a collapse. He was still, however, able to ask a question.
"By whom?"
"The murderer was not caught," Arnold told him. "No one seems to
have seen him clearly, it all took place so quickly. He stole out of
some corner where he must have been hiding, and he was gone before
anyone had time to realize what was happening."
Mr. Weatherley had been standing up all this time, clutching
nervously at his desk. He suddenly collapsed into his easy-chair.
His face was gray, his mouth twitched as though he were about to
have a stroke.
"My God!" he murmured. "Rosario dead! They had him, after all!
They--killed him!"
"It was a great shock to every one," Arnold went on. "Mrs.
Weatherley arrived about a quarter of an hour before it occurred. I
understood that she was expecting to lunch with him, but when I told
her why I was there she came and sat at my table. She was sitting
there when it happened. She was very much upset indeed. I was
detained looking after her."
Mr. Weatherley looked at him narrowly.
"I am sorry that she was there," he said. "She is not strong. She
ought not to be subjected to such shocks."
"I left her with Mr. Starling," Arnold continued. "He was going to
take her home."
"Was Starling lunching there?" Mr. Weatherley asked.
"We saw him afterwards, coming up from the restaurant," Arnold
replied. "He did not seem to have been in the Grill Room at all."
Mr. Weatherley sat back in his chair and for several minutes he
remained silent. His eyes were fixed upon vacancy, his lips moved
once or twice, but he said nothing. He seemed, indeed, to have lost
the power of speech.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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