The Markenmore MysteryFletcher, J. S. (Joseph Smith)
General
The Markenmore Mystery
Fletcher, J. S. (Joseph Smith)
Detective and mystery stories; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction
“Two business letters, of recent date, referring to some ordinary
share transactions. A receipted bill for a lunch for two persons at
the Carlton Hotel, in London; date, April 3rd last. One letter of a
private nature; an invitation to dinner. Two receipts from Bond
Street tradesmen—one, a jeweller, the other a bookseller. And, in an
inner compartment, a letter in its original envelope, addressed to
Guy Markenmore, Markenmore Court, Selcaster, and signed John
Harborough.”
“Is that letter in the case now, there, before you?”
“It is.”
“Has it been shown to any one since you found it?”
“It has not been seen by any one but myself and the Chief Constable.”
The barrister raised his hand and pointed to the ledge of the
witness-box.
“Take that letter from the case,” he said peremptorily. “Hand it to
the Coroner.”
There was a tense silence in the room as the Coroner, handed the
letter, slowly drew forth a sheet of folded note-paper from its
envelope, and adjusting his spectacles, read the contents. All eyes
were now bent upon him—and they were all quick to see the start
which the old gentleman gave as he read, and the shade of annoyed
surprise that came over his face. Being human, he was unable to
repress a little, smothered exclamation. It was drowned by the sharp
accents of the barrister.
“I must ask you, sir, to read that letter to the jury,” he said.
The Coroner looked round on Mr. Fransemmery and his eleven
companions. Clearly, he had no relish for the task which his duties
imposed. But he braced himself—with another look which took in the
whole scene before him.
“This letter, gentlemen,” he said, turning again to the jury, “is
written on a sheet of note-paper, on which is engraved the address
Greycloister, Selcaster, and it is dated December 8th, 1905. It runs
as follows:
‘GUY MARKENMORE,
The next time I meet you, wherever it is, and whenever it is, whether
tomorrow, or a year hence, or five years hence, or ten years hence, I
shall shoot you dead like the dog you are.
JOHN HARBOROUGH.’”
The Coroner laid the letter on his desk, took off his spectacles,
leaned back in his chair, and looked round him with the air of a man
whom something has suddenly wearied. Just as suddenly he leaned
forward again, picked up the letter, and passed it to Mr.
Fransemmery. As it went from hand to hand amongst the jurymen, the
barrister glanced at the detective and nodded. Blick vanished from
the witness-box, and the barrister, catching an inclination of the
head from the Coroner, turned to the latter’s officer.
“Call John Harborough,” he said in a low voice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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