Detective and mystery stories, English; English fiction -- 20th century; Short stories, English
"'I don't know, sir,' the old man concluded. 'I went to bed and I
never seed the Captain again, nor yet Mr. 'Enery--not from that day
to this, sir. No, not again, sir.' And Rose once more shook his
head in the same doleful manner. Of course the police were very down
on him for keeping back this valuable piece of information, and they
were even inclined to look with suspicion upon the man. They wanted
to know something about his antecedents and why he seemed so
frightened of facing the police authorities. Fortunately for him,
however, Miss Shillington could give them all the information they
wanted. She said that James Rose had been for years in the service
of a Mrs. O'Shea, who was a great friend of Mrs. Shillington's. When
Mrs. O'Shea died she left him a hundred pounds. But the poor thing
had never been very strong, and he was nothing to look at, he
couldn't get another place, and the hundred pounds vanished bit by
bit. About a month ago Mrs. Shillington, who was requiring a
man-servant, advertised for one in the _Daily Mail_. Rose answered
the advertisement, and though the poor thing in the meanwhile had
gone terribly downhill physically, Mrs. Shillington, remembering how
honest and respectable he had always been when he was in Mrs.
O'Shea's service, engaged him out of compassion and for the sake of
old times. Miss Shillington gave him an excellent character and the
police were satisfied.
"I think," the Old Man in the Corner said, amorously contemplating a
marvellously intricate knot, which he had just made in his bit of
string, "I think that the police were mainly satisfied because at
last they felt that 'they had made out a case.' From that moment the
detectives and inspectors in charge became absolutely convinced that
Henry Buckley had enticed Captain Denver Shillington to some place of
evil fame close to the river and there, in collusion probably with
other disreputable characters, had robbed and murdered him. To say
the least, the case looked black enough against Buckley. His fast
living, his mountain of debt, the absence in him of moral rectitude
as proved by his fraudulent bankruptcy, all told against him; and now
it was definitely proved that he had sought out and actually been in
the company of Captain Shillington the night that the latter
disappeared. A light grey overcoat similar to the one described by
Rugger and by the chauffeur as worn by the gentleman who was loafing
in Somerset Street was found to be a part of his wardrobe; no one
could swear, however, as to the scarf, but it turned out that he
never went out in the evening without wearing a large, white
carnation in his button-hole.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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