The Mystery of the Clasped Hands: A NovelBoothby, Guy
General
The Mystery of the Clasped Hands: A Novel
Boothby, Guy
Detective and mystery stories; Fiction
“That,” said Mr. Rolland, “proves conclusively that the witness in
question has committed wilful and corrupt perjury, inasmuch as that he
was in England a month before he stated in his evidence.”
Every eye in Court was riveted on Victor Fensden, whose face turned as
pale as the paper upon which I am writing.
“I shall now call James Tidmarsh,” said Mr. Rolland, and in response to
the summons a small boy climbed into the witness-box.
His name, he stated, was James Tidmarsh, and he called himself an errand
boy, though as a rule he spent his time hanging about the vicinity of
Euston Station. He remembered distinctly on the night of Friday, the
16th, meeting a gentleman about eight o’clock outside the station who
carried a small wooden box in his hand. That gentleman stopped him and
asked him if he would care to earn half a sovereign. Upon his eagerly
answering in the affirmative, the stranger gave him the box in question
with the sum of fifteen shillings. “Take it to the station,” he said,
“and hand it in at the parcel-office to be despatched to the address
written on the label. It won’t cost more than a couple of shillings or
half-a-crown, and you can keep the change for yourself. I’ll wait here
until you return to tell me it’s all right.”
The boy then declared that he started off, handed the box in at the
parcel-office and paid the money. In taking the money the clerk had
_sauced_ him and he had retaliated to the best of his ability. The
result was that the policeman on the platform gave him a good shaking
and turned him out of the building. He informed the gentleman that he
had sent the parcel off, and he had not seen him since that moment until
he came into Court and had heard the witness Fensden give his evidence.
He, the witness to whom he alluded, was, without a shadow of doubt, the
gentleman who had handed him the box to send to Detwich Hall.
The excitement in Court by this time may be better imagined than
described. The colour of Fensden’s face was a dirty gray, and he seemed
to gasp for breath. The counsel for the prosecution seemed uneasy, and
even the judge leaned farther forward than usual, as if he were afraid
of losing a word of what was said.
The clerk in the parcel-office was next called, and stated that he
remembered the incident in question. The box was a foreign one, and as
he had placed it on the floor he had remarked, “Another made in
Germany.”
The policeman who had turned the boy out of the station followed him. He
had seen the boy deposit a small box upon the counter and heard him say
something cheeky to the clerk. He thereupon bundled him out of the
station.
When this witness had finished his tale Mr. Rolland said: “Call Jacob
Burrell.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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