The Old Man in the CornerOrczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness
General
The Old Man in the Corner
Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness
Detective and mystery stories, English
"The plot thickened when from that day forth a complete change came over
the worthy caretaker of the Rubens Studios. While she appeared day after
day before the astonished gaze of the tenants and the scandalized looks
of the neighbours, attired in new and extravagant dresses, her work was
hopelessly neglected, and she was always 'out' when wanted.
"There was, of course, much talk and comment in various parts of the
Rubens Studios on the subject of Mrs. Owen's 'dissipations.' The tenants
began to put two and two together, and after a very little while the
general consensus of opinion became firmly established that the honest
caretaker's demoralisation coincided week for week, almost day for day,
with young Greenhill's establishment in No. 8 Studio.
"Every one had remarked that he stayed much later in the evening than
any one else, and yet no one presumed that he stayed for purposes of
work. Suspicions soon rose to certainty when Mrs. Owen and Arthur
Greenhill were seen by one of the glass workmen dining together at
Gambia's Restaurant in Tottenham Court Road.
"The workman, who was having a cup of tea at the counter, noticed
particularly that when the bill was paid the money came out of Mrs.
Owen's purse. The dinner had been sumptuous--veal cutlets, a cut from
the joint, dessert, coffee and liqueurs. Finally the pair left the
restaurant apparently very gay, young Greenhill smoking a choice cigar.
"Irregularities such as these were bound sooner or later to come to the
ears and eyes of Mr. Allman, the landlord of the Rubens Studios; and a
month after the New Year, without further warning, he gave her a week's
notice to quit his house.
"'Mrs. Owen did not seem the least bit upset when I gave her notice,'
Mr. Allman declared in his evidence at the inquest; 'on the contrary,
she told me that she had ample means, and had only worked latterly for
the sake of something to do. She added that she had plenty of friends
who would look after her, for she had a nice little pile to leave to any
one who would know how "to get the right side of her."'
"Nevertheless, in spite of this cheerful interview, Miss Bedford, the
tenant of No. 6 Studio, had stated that when she took her key to the
caretaker's room at 6.30 that afternoon she found Mrs. Owen in tears.
The caretaker refused to be comforted, nor would she speak of her
trouble to Miss Bedford.
"Twenty-four hours later she was found dead.
"The coroner's jury returned an open verdict, and Detective-Inspector
Jones was charged by the police to make some inquiries about young Mr.
Greenhill, whose intimacy with the unfortunate woman had been
universally commented upon.
"The detective, however, pushed his investigations as far as the
Birkbeck Bank. There he discovered that after her interview with Mr.
Allman, Mrs. Owen had withdrawn what money she had on deposit, some
£800, the result of twenty-five years' saving and thrift.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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