Detective and mystery stories; London (England) -- Fiction; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction
"Probably, so far as the bank was concerned," replied Torry
thoughtfully, "but in his own house?"
"Oh, I can explain that," said Vass, easily.
"Mr. Grent had chambers in town. Probably he took leave of his wife on
Friday, and purposed to stay at his chambers until he left for the
South. I dare say Donna Inez thinks that her husband is in Milan by
now."
"Where are these chambers?"
"In Duke-street, St. James's, Mr. Grent lived there by himself, so
there is no one likely to be alarmed at his absence."
"Had he not a valet?"
"No; the butler who kept the house attended to him, and as Mr. Grent
came and went as the fit seized him, the man would think nothing of
his not coming back to his rooms."
"H'm," said Torry, "I quite see all that. Did Mr. Grent take much
money with him?"
"He drew a cheque for twenty pounds for immediate expenses, but when
abroad he always used his cheque-book as more convenient than circular
notes."
Torry was disappointed with the result of his inquiries. Certainly he
had learnt a great deal relative to the social position and daily
habit of the dead man, but he had discovered nothing likely to throw
light on the mystery of the crime. He was to dismiss Vass with some
discontent, when Darrel rose to his feet, and, for reasons of his own,
produced the image of the Mummy. This he held towards Vass.
"Perhaps you can explain this?" he said imperatively.
To the surprise of both men the secretary gasped and turned pale, then
quietly fainted away.
CHAPTER VII.
EVIDENCE AT THE INQUEST
As may be guessed, the double tragedy caused a great sensation in
London. That a respected banker should be murdered by an unknown
woman, and she in her turn should be assassinated by an unknown man,
was such an unusual occurrence that for quite a week nothing else was
talked of. The newspapers had leading articles on the subject pointing
out how negligent the police must be, when such terrible events could
happen in the heart of the most civilised capital in the world. People
of the busy-body type wrote letters to different editors suggesting
various courses to be adopted to discover and capture the unknown
assassin; and in street, drawing-room and club, discussion on the same
subject waxed hot and furious. However, nothing tangible resulted from
this storm in the teapot. "Words, words, words!" Hamlet's remark
applies peculiarly to newspapers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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