The Rayner-Slade AmalgamationFletcher, J. S. (Joseph Smith)
General
The Rayner-Slade Amalgamation
Fletcher, J. S. (Joseph Smith)
Detective and mystery stories
And in a few minutes after that, Martindale
himself gave the parcel to the guard of the outgoing train."
Chettle paused for a moment, and took a reflective pull at his glass.
"Now, then," he went on, after an evident recollecting of his facts,
"Martindale, of course, never saw the gentleman again, and dismissed such
a very ordinary matter from his mind. Early next morning he went off on
his holiday--where he went, right away up in Sutherland, papers were few
and far between. He only heard mere bits of news about all this affair.
But when he got back he turned up the Hull newspapers, and became
convinced that the man who sent that parcel was--your cousin!"
"Aye!" said Allerdyke, nodding his head. "Aye! I expected that."
"He was sure it was your cousin," continued Chettle, "from the
description of him in the papers, and from one or two photos of him that
had appeared, though, as you know, Mr. Allerdyke, those were poor things.
But to make sure, I showed him the photo which is inside Lydenberg's
watch-case. 'That's the man!' he said at once. 'I should have known him
again anywhere--I'd a particularly good look at him.' Very well--that
established who the sender of the parcel was. Now then, the next thing
was--to whom was it sent. Well, this Martindale had copied down the name
and address from the station books, and he handed me the slip of paper.
Can you make any guess at it, Mr. Allerdyke?"
"Damn guess-work!" replied Allerdyke. "Speak out!"
Chettle leaned nearer, with an instinctive glance at the door. He
lowered his voice to a whisper.
"That parcel was addressed to Franklin Fullaway, Esq., The Waldorf Hotel,
Aldwych, London," he said. "There!"
Allerdyke slowly rose from his seat, stared at his visitor, half-moved
across the floor, as if he had some instinctive notion of going
somewhere--and then suddenly sat down again.
"Aye!" he said. "Aye!--but was it ever delivered?"
"I'm coming to that," replied Chettle. "That, of course, is the big
thing--the prime consideration. I heard all this young fellow Martindale
had to tell--nothing much more than that, except small details as to what
would be the likely progress of the parcel, and then I gave him strict
instructions to keep his own counsel until I saw him again--after which I
caught the afternoon train to town. Martindale had told me where the
parcel would be delivered from, so as soon as I arrived at King's Cross I
went to the proper place. I had to tell 'em, of course, who I was, and
what I was after, and to produce my credentials before they turned up
their books and papers to trace the delivery of the parcel. That, of
course, wasn't a long or difficult matter, as I had the exact date--May
13th. They soon put the delivery sheet of that particular morning before
me. And there it all was--"
"And--it was delivered to and received by--who?" broke in Allerdyke
eagerly. "Who, man?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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