The Strand Magazine, Vol. 07, Issue 39, March 1894: An Illustrated MonthlyVarious
General
The Strand Magazine, Vol. 07, Issue 39, March 1894: An Illustrated Monthly
Various
English literature -- Periodicals; Short stories, English -- Periodicals
Hewitt stood before the dressing-table. "Then this is the used match,"
he observed, "exactly where it was found?"
"Yes."
"Where was the brooch?"
"I should say almost on the very same spot. Certainly no more than a
very few inches away."
[Illustration: "HEWITT STOOD BEFORE THE DRESSING TABLE."]
Hewitt examined the match closely. "It is burnt very little," he
remarked. "It would appear to have gone out at once. Could you hear it
struck?"
"I heard nothing whatever; absolutely nothing."
"If you will step into Miss Norris's room now for a moment," Hewitt
suggested, "we will try an experiment. Tell me if you hear matches
struck, and how many. Where is the match-stand?"
The match-stand proved to be empty, but matches were found in Miss
Norris's room, and the test was made. Each striking could be heard
distinctly, even with one of the doors pushed to.
"Both your own door and Miss Norris's were open, I understand; the
window shut and fastened inside as it is now, and nothing but the
brooch was disturbed?"
"Yes, that was so."
"Thank you, Mrs. Cazenove. I don't think I need trouble you any further
just at present. I think, Sir James," Hewitt added, turning to the
baronet, who was standing by the door--"I think we will see the other
room and take a walk outside the house, if you please. I suppose,
by-the-bye, that there is no getting at the matches left behind on the
first and second occasions?"
"No," Sir James answered. "Certainly not here. The Scotland Yard man
may have kept his."
The room that Mrs. Armitage had occupied presented no peculiar
feature. A few feet below the window the roof of the billiard-room was
visible, consisting largely of skylight. Hewitt glanced casually about
the walls, ascertained that the furniture and hangings had not been
materially changed since the second robbery, and expressed his desire
to see the windows from the outside. Before leaving the room, however,
he wished to know the names of any persons who were known to have been
about the house on the occasions of all three robberies.
"Just carry your mind back, Sir James," he said. "Begin with yourself,
for instance. Where were you at these times?"
"When Mrs. Heath lost her bracelet I was in Tagley Wood all the
afternoon. When Mrs. Armitage was robbed, I believe I was somewhere
about the place most of the time she was out. Yesterday I was down at
the farm." Sir James's face broadened. "I don't know whether you call
those suspicious movements?" he added, and laughed.
"Not at all; I only asked you so that, remembering your own movements,
you might the better recall those of the rest of the household. Was
anybody, to your knowledge--_anybody_, mind--in the house on all three
occasions?"
"Well, you know, it's quite impossible to answer for all the servants.
You'll only get that by direct questioning--I can't possibly remember
things of that sort. As to the family and visitors--why, you don't
suspect any of them, do you?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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