The Red House MysteryMilne, A. A. (Alan Alexander)
General
The Red House Mystery
Milne, A. A. (Alan Alexander)
Detective and mystery stories; England -- Fiction
He pressed his hand over his eyes and thought. It wasn’t anything which
he had heard, but something which he had seen. He tried desperately
hard to see it again.... He saw Cayley getting up, opening the door
from the office, leaving it open and walking into the passage, turning
to the door on the right, opening it, going in, and then—What did his
eyes see after that? If they would only tell him again!
Suddenly he jumped up, his face alight. “Bill, I’ve got it!” he cried.
“What?”
“The shadow on the wall! I was looking at the shadow on the wall. Oh,
ass, and ten times ass!”
Bill looked uncomprehendingly at him. Antony took his arm and pointed
to the wall of the passage.
“Look at the sunlight on it,” he said. “That’s because you’ve left the
door of that room open. The sun comes straight in through the windows.
Now, I’m going to shut the door. Look! D’you see how the shadow moves
across? That’s what I saw—the shadow moving across as the door shut
behind him. Bill, go in and shut the door behind you—quite naturally.
Quick!”
Bill went out and Antony knelt, watching eagerly.
“I thought so!” he cried. “I knew it couldn’t have been that.”
“What happened?” said Bill, coming back.
“Just what you would expect. The sunlight came, and the shadow moved
back again—all in one movement.”
“And what happened yesterday?”
“The sunlight stayed there; and then the shadow came very slowly back,
and there was no noise of the door being shut.”
Bill looked at him with startled eyes.
“By Jove! You mean that Cayley closed the door afterwards as an
afterthought—and very quietly—so that you couldn’t hear?”
Antony nodded.
“Yes. That explains why I was surprised afterwards when I went into the
room to find the door open behind me. You know how those doors with
springs on them close?”
“The sort which old gentlemen have to keep out draughts?”
“Yes. Just at first they hardly move at all, and then very, very slowly
they swing to— well, that was the way the shadow moved, and
subconsciously I must have associated it with the movement of that sort
of door. By Jove!” He got up, and dusted his knees. “Now, Bill, just to
make sure, go in and close the door like that. As an afterthought, you
know; and very quietly, so that I don’t hear the click of it.”
Bill did as he was told, and then put his head out eagerly to hear what
had happened.
“That was it,” said Antony, with absolute conviction. “That was just
what I saw yesterday.” He came out of the office, and joined Bill in
the little room.
“And now,” he said, “let’s try and find out what it was that Mr. Cayley
was doing in here, and why he had to be so very careful that his friend
Mr. Gillingham didn’t overhear him.”
CHAPTER XIII.
The Open Window
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account