CHAPTER XXV.
Leaving Mr. Tims to meditate for half an hour, and then to call his clerk, in order to proceed with business of various kinds, we must follow Cousins, the officer, along the passage, down the six steps at the end, up the six steps opposite, and thence into another room, larger and more handsomely furnished, in a different part of the house. As he entered, the whole demeanor of the officer was as completely changed as it is possible to imagine; and instead of the easy and nonchalant, perhaps somewhat listless air, which had overspread him in the presence of the attorney, he entered the chamber to which he had been summoned, with a look of brisk activity, mingled with respect, which strangely altered his whole appearance. The character of the persons before whom he now presented himself might easily account for the change; for the officer was too well acquainted with all ranks and stations of men, and too much accustomed to suit his conduct to his company, not to make the most marked difference in his demeanor toward a low attorney, and toward two men of so much respectability as Dr. Wilton and Mr. Egerton. Neither of those two gentlemen, it is true, could be considered as so wealthy as Mr. Tims had lately become; but, thank God! wealth--notwithstanding all its efforts to confound itself with respectability, has not yet been able to do so entirely, even in the eyes of the vulgar.
The two magistrates were sitting together after dinner; but glasses and decanters had been removed, a clerk called in, and each had his bundle of notes before him. Cousins bowed respectfully, and advanced to the end of the table, but no farther; while Dr. Wilton--who, as the reader may have remarked, had been quite bewildered and overcome during the examination of William Delaware--having now resumed all that quick and active intelligence which was the ordinary characteristic of his mind, proceeded to question the officer as to the result of his investigation during the morning.
"Well, Cousins," he said, "you went to Ryebury, of course? Did you examine accurately the footmarks that I mentioned to you?"
"Not those in the garden, sir," replied the officer, with a countenance now full of quick intelligence; "because you see, sir, it was very evident that such a number of people had been there since the murder, that there was no use; for we could not have distinguished one from the other; but I went up into the room where it had been done, and there the matter was clear enough."
"Ha!" said Mr. Egerton. "And what did you make out there? I saw nothing but a pool of blood flowing from the dead body."
"I beg your worship's pardon," answered the officer; "but you are mistaken there. As far as I could make out, it must have been done by two men--I don't mean to say, mind that there were not three; but if there were, the other never stepped in the blood; but two there were certainly, for I got the tread of one very near whole--that is to say the round of his boot heel and more than three inches of the toe from the tip, backward--so that one of them had a remarkably long foot. There is the measure and shape of it, as far as I could get it--more than twelve inches, you see, sir."
"And the other!" said Dr. Wilton--"the other man's foot--what was the length of it?"
"Ah, sir, that I could not get at!" replied the officer. "There was nothing but about five inches of the fore-part of the sole; but that I got twice; and it is as different a foot, you see, from the other as one would wish to find--twice as broad, and square toed. And then I got the mark of a hand, too, which must have been at the poor old devil's throat when they were cutting it, for it was all blood. It had rested on the cornice of the dado; and the fellow, whoever he was, wanted part of the third finger of his left hand."
"Ha, that is a good fact!" said Dr. Wilton, eagerly; "but how did you make that out Cousins?"
"Why, sir, because it marked all the way up, but left off suddenly before it got to the end," answered the officer.
"But might not that finger have been bent?" said Mr. Egerton.
"Not unless it bent in the middle of the second joint," replied Cousins; "but the matter was quite clear, sir; and one has nothing to do but look at it to satisfy oneself that a part of the finger was wanting; and what is oddest of all, that it has not been taken off at the joint. All I saw besides was, that the fellow who cut the old man's throat must have gone away with his pantaloons very bloody; for he did it kneeling, and there is just a clear spot where his knee and part of his leg kept the blood from going over the floor."
"Indeed, that may serve some purpose, too!" said Dr. Wilton; "but did you find no more steps or marks of any other person?"
"Oh, plenty of steps, sir!" replied the officer. "There were all the dirty feet of the coroner's inquest. But I think--though I'm not quite so sure of that--that there must have been somebody left below to keep watch, while the others went up to do the job. You see, sir, there is in one place of the passage floor a fresh deal, and I can trace upon that deal the marks of a shoe with large nails in it, going backward and forward the matter of twenty times. Now, I hear that the deal was put in not a week ago, and all the folks here agree, that the old man never let a person with nails in his shoes twenty times into his house in all his life; so it looks like as if that were the only time and way in which it could get so often marked."
The two magistrates looked at each other, and Mr. Egerton answered, "Your suspicion is a shrewd one, Cousins; but now, tell us sincerely, from all that you have seen and heard, do you think that Captain Delaware has been one of those concerned?"
"Why, really, sir, I can not say!" answered the officer; "but to tell the truth--though there is no knowing, after all--nevertheless--not to speak for a certainty, you know--but still, I should think not."
"You are now speaking to us in confidence, you know, Cousins," said Doctor Wilton; "and indeed, we are altogether acting extra-officially in regard to the murder, though we think it may connect itself with the other affair. Tell us, therefore, why you judge it was not Captain Delaware."
"Why, sir, that is difficult to say," replied the officer. "But first and foremost, do you see, it strikes me that the job was done by as knowing a hand as ever was on the lay--one that has had a regular apprenticeship like. Well, as far as I can hear, that does not match the captain. Then, next, whoever did it, has got in upon the sly by means of the girl, whether she be an accessory or not. At all events, she has gone off with her 'complices. She's never murdered--never a bit of her, take my word for that! Then you see, sir, when I had done with Ryebury, I went away to Emberton Park House; and though there was a mighty fuss to get in, all the family being gone, yet I managed it at last, and got a whole heap of the captain's old boots and shoes, and measured them with the footmarks, and on oath I could prove that none of them--neither those up, nor those down stairs--the marks I mean--ever came off his foot."
"Why, it would seem to me, that what you have said would go very far to exculpate him altogether," said Dr. Wilton.
"Ay, sir! but that is a mighty rum story about the notes," answered the officer. "It would make a queer case for the 'sizes, any how. Nevertheless, I don't think him guilty; and if he would explain about the money, all would be clear enough--but that story of his won't go; and if he sticks to it and is caught, he'll be hanged if Judge ---- tries him. He'll get off if it come before Sir ----. He did well enough to slip his head out of the collar, any way."
"But do you think that Ruthven will catch him then demanded Dr. Wilton, with no small anxiety.
"Why, not so easy as if he were an old thief," replied the officer; "for you see, sir, we know all their haunts, and where they'll take to in a minute, while this young chap may go Lord knows where!"
Both the magistrates paused thoughtfully for a minute or two, and at length Dr. Wilton went on: "You see, Cousins, the fact is this, that the coroner having issued his warrant against Captain Delaware, our straightforward duty as magistrates is to use all means to put the warrant in execution; and we are neither called upon, nor have we perhaps a strict legal right, after a verdict has been pronounced, to seek for evidence in favor of the person against whom that verdict has been given. At the same time, we are blamed for not committing the prisoner at once; and the coroner is blamed for not sending him off to the county jail the moment the verdict was given, though it was then night. It is also a part of our clearest duty to do all in our power to bring the guilty to punishment, an to prepare the case, in a certain degree, for the officers of the crown; consequently, without any great stretch of interpretation, we may consider ourselves justified in using every means to satisfy ourselves who are innocent, and who are guilty. You think that Captain Delaware is not the culprit; and you think that three persons have, at all events, been concerned in the murder. Some suspicion of this kind must also have been in the minds of the coroner's jury, when they returned a verdict against Captain William Delaware, and some person or persons unknown. It is our next business, therefore, to search for those persons unknown, by every means in our power."
"Why, as to the captain, sir," answered Cousins, "the business would be soon settled, if we could find out how he came by the money."
"It is the most extraordinary thing in the world," said Dr. Wilton, "that Mr. Beauchamp can not be found any where--I am really beginning to be apprehensive concerning him. He left me in a very low and depressed state; and if his servant, Harding, were not with him--which, as he is not to be heard of either, it would seem he is--I should be afraid that his mind had given way."
"Harding! Harding!" said Cousins, thoughtfully; "I wonder if that could be the Harding who was a sort of valet and secretary to ---- the banker, and who pocketed a good deal of his cash when he failed. He had well nigh been hanged, or at least taken a swim across the pond--but the lawyer let him off for some disclosures be made, and got him a new place too, they say! I have lost sight of that chap for a long time. But, however, sir, you were speaking about the persons unknown. Now I think, do you see, that I have got the end of a clew that may lead to one of them; and if we get one we can not fail to get all."
"Who, then, do you think it is," demanded Mr. Egerton. "Let no means be spared to find out even one of the ruffians."
"Why, sir, you see, I don't mind telling you, because it will go no farther; but I think it had better be alone," and he looked significantly at the clerk, who was instantly ordered to withdraw.
"Beg pardon, gentlemen," said Cousins, more freely, when the other had left the room; "but I have known some of these country clerks that were the arrantest gossips in the whole neighborhood. However, the matter is, I hit upon what I think is the head of the right nail, when I was after the other business, do you see. You told me to inquire about the burning of the lady's house, and the silver plate that had disappeared; so, among other things, I went to the coach office, and examined the books, and just about that time I found that there had been two parcels sent up to Amos Jacobs, Esq., to be left till called for. Now, thinks I, who can Amos Jacobs be, but the old Jew of the Scuttlehole, as they call him. He receives stolen goods, gentlemen, and is as great a blind as ever swung. Well, I asked the book-keeper if he had noticed those two parcels, and he said yes, because they were so small, and yet so heavy. So then I asked him who brought them, and he said a gentleman who had been lodging three doors down the street for six weeks or so. So away I went, and looking up at the house I saw, 'Lodgings to Let' stuck up, and in I walked."
"Mr. Beauchamp's lodgings, I dare say," said Dr. Wilton, smiling.
"No, no, sir!" replied Cousins, "I knew those before. They lie a good bit farther down. But an old woman came to show me the lodgings, thinking I was going to take them; so I asked her who had been in them before, and she up and told me all about it. A very nice gentleman, she said, he was, who was a great chemist, she believed; for he was always puddling about over a fire, making experiments, as he told her--but bless you, gentlemen! he was just making white soup of the lady's plate--that was what he was doing. So then I asked his name, and she told me it was Mr. Anthony Smithson. So then the whole matter came upon me at once. Your worships must understand that, as far as I know of or remember, there is only one man upon the lay in London who has lost a bit of his finger, and not having seen him for some time, I had forgot all about him. His name is Tony Thomson--but sometimes people call him Billy Winter--and at times he took the name of Johnson--and Perkins too, I have heard him called--but the name he went by generally, a good while ago, was Tony Smithson."
"But if the lodgings were to be let, he must of course be gone," cried Dr. Wilton; "and we are as far off from the facts as ever."
"Oh! he is gone, sure enough!" answered the officer. "That was the first thing I asked the old woman, and she told me that he went the very day before the terrible murder, and that he would be so sorry to hear it, for he used often to walk up that way, and asked her many questions about Mr. Tims, poor old man. Well, when I heard this, and had got a good deal more out of her, I thought I might as well look through the place, for these sort of folks generally are in too great a hurry not to leave something behind them; and I opened all the drawers and places--and the old woman thought it very strange, till I told her who I was. He had cleared all away, however, except this gold thimble, which had fallen half way down between the drawers and the wall. It has got 'J. D.' upon it, which, I take it, means 'Something Darlington.' So it must have been prigged at the time of the fire."
Dr. Wilton and Mr. Egerton both looked at the thimble, and felt convinced that it belonged to Mrs. Darlington. At all events, the information which Cousins had obtained, was of course most important, as it rendered it more than probable that one at least of the persons who had robbed, if not fired the house upon the hill, had been also a principal in the murder of the miser. Both the magistrates, therefore, joined in giving high commendations to the officer, and particular directions were added for prosecuting the investigation. Cousins, however, had already anticipated several of the orders he now received.
"I tried all I could, sir," he replied, "to find out some of the fellow's stray boots or shoes but he had left none behind. I then went to all the different shoemakers and cobblers to see if any of them could give me his measure; but he had been too cunning for that. The stage coachman, however, remembered taking him up here for London, and setting him down, by his own desire, at a little public-house four miles off; so that we have got upon the right scent, beyond doubt; and if you will give me permission, gentlemen, I will go out this evening, and find out whom he most kept company with in this place, before the matter gets blown. I have had a good pumping to-night already; but it would not do."
"And pray, who took the trouble of pumping you, Cousins!" asked Mr. Egerton. "Though this is the most gossiping town in Europe, I should have thought there was roguery enough in it also, to keep the inhabitants from meddling unnecessarily with a police officer."
"Oh, it was none of the people of the place, sir!" replied Cousins. "They only stared at me. This was the Mr. Tims who gave the captain in charge, I hear. He seems a sharp hand, and he has a great good will to prove the captain guilty, though I don't see, just yet, what good it could do him either."
Dr. Wilton asked several questions concerning the lawyer, and the examination to which he had subjected the officer; and then--after shaking his head, and observing that he believed Mr. Peter Tims to be a great rogue--he dismissed Cousins to pursue his inquiries in the town.
It must be here remarked that Mr. Egerton, although he knew William Delaware personally, and did not think him at all a person to commit the crime with which he was charged, had never felt that assured confidence in his innocence which Dr. Wilton had always experienced. It was not, indeed, that Mr. Egerton thought worse of Captain Delaware individually than the clergyman did, but he thought worse of the whole human race. Gradually, however, he had been coming over to Dr. Wilton's opinion; and his conversation that night with the officer had completely made a convert of him, by showing him that, notwithstanding the one extraordinary circumstance which remained yet to be explained, every new fact that was elicited tended more and more to prove that the murder had been committed by persons of a very different class and habits from the supposed delinquent. Feeling, therefore, that in some degree he had done the unfortunate gentleman injustice, he now determined to redouble his exertions to apprehend the real culprits, in the hope and expectation of clearing the character of Captain Delaware. With this view, he resolved to remain at Emberton that night, contrary to his former plans; and he proposed to Dr. Wilton to visit the old miser's house at Ryebury the next morning, in order to verify the footmarks, as measured by Cousins, lest the new proprietor might think fit, after the funeral, which was to take place at four that day, to have all traces of the horrid scene effaced, which he might do for more reasons than one, if the malevolence Captain Delaware charged him with were really his motive.
"Why, the truth is," replied Dr. Wilton, in answer to this proposal, "that I intended to go very early to-morrow to Mrs. Darlington's, to see poor Blanche Delaware, and try to discover whether she can give any clew by which Henry Beauchamp can be found."
"Is it likely that she should possess any?" said Mr. Egerton, laughing.
"Why, they are cousins, you know," answered Dr. Wilton, with a smile which served to contradict the reason that his words seemed to assign for the knowledge of her cousin's movements which he attributed to Miss Delaware. "They are cousins, you know, and I have heard it reported that there was something more--but, at all events, I am anxious about the lad, and do not choose to leave any chance of discovering him untried."
"But, by the way, I forgot," said Mr. Egerton, "I heard an hour or two ago that Sir Sidney and Miss Delaware had left Mrs. Darlington's, and had gone to some watering-place, I think the people said."
"Oh, no, impossible!" said Dr. Wilton. "Impossible! they would have let me hear, as a matter of course." Nevertheless, he rose and rang the bell, although, so convinced was he of the truth of what he asserted, that, ere the waiter appeared, he had proceeded to arrange with Mr. Egerton, that while that gentleman went to Ryebury, and verified the traces which Cousins had observed, he would drive to Mrs. Darlington's, and make the inquiries he proposed.
"Pray, have you heard any thing of Sir Sidney Delaware having left Mrs. Darlington's new house?" demanded Dr. Wilton, when the waiter appeared.
"Oh, dear, yes, sir!" replied the man. "Mr. Tims--Lawyer Tims, sir--who was there this morning, could find none of them, and has been inquiring all over the place to make out where they are gone to. But nobody can tell, sir, and every one says they have run away."
"Nonsense!" said Mr. Egerton; "that will do!" and the waiter retired.
"This is very extraordinary!" said Dr. Wilton. "Every one seems to be disappearing one after the other. Nevertheless, I will go up and inquire of Mrs. Darlington, and will come and join you at Ryebury afterward."
The meeting was accordingly arranged, and shortly after, Cousins returned, bringing a vast store of fresh information. Mr. Anthony Smithson, alias Thomson, alias Perkins, alias Johnson, alias Winter, fully described and particularized, so as to leave no doubt whatever of his identity with crushfingered Billy Winter, a notorious London flashman, had been remarked, by all the wondermongers of Emberton, for his intimacy with Mr. Harding, Mr. Burrel's servant. He had been also observed to have a peculiar predilection for the lanes and fields about the house at Ryebury. This information had led the officers to fresh inquiries concerning the philosophical Harding himself, who had been accurately described by the investigating and observing people of Emberton; and, on his return, Cousins expressed his fullest conviction, that he was the identical Harding who had, as he before described, got off in a serious criminal case, solely by the connivance of an attorney. Who that attorney was, need hardly be explained; and indeed, to do so, would only lead us into the details of a previous affair, totally unconnected with this history. Suffice it, that no sooner did Cousins hear that Harding had been with his master, at the house of Mrs. Darlington, on the day of the fire, than he at once declared himself to be perfectly certain that his hands, and no others, had kindled the flame. He added also, that he did not doubt that Smithson and Harding--whether they had exactly fixed upon any precise object or not--had come down to Emberton, with the intention of acting in concert; and he added, that it would not at all surprise him to find that they were the two who committed the murder itself, especially as the people had particularly described to him the valet's long foot.
While he was speaking, Dr. Wilton rapidly turned over his notes of the examination of Captain Delaware, and the servants at Emberton Park, and at length lighted upon the declaration of the man-servant, who stated, that in returning from some errand in that direction, he had seen the valet Harding at the back of the park, the lanes surrounding which led directly toward Ryebury.
"If I could think of any reason for his putting the money in the captain's room," said Cousins, as the clergyman read this passage, "I should think that Harding had done it himself, on purpose to hang him."
"May he not have been instigated to do it by others?" said Mr. Egerton.
"If one could find out any reason for it," replied the officer.
"Why, Captain Delaware suspected something of the kind himself," replied the magistrate, and he read a part of the young fugitive's letter, watching from time to time, as he did so, the effect it produced upon the countenance of a man who, like Cousins, was accustomed to trace and encounter crime in every form. The officer closed one eye, put his tongue slightly into his cheek, and ended by a half whistle.
"You had better look to it, gentleman." he said; "you had better look to it--such things have been done before now--so you had better look to it!"
"We will!" answered Dr. Wilton; "we will! let us see you to-morrow about nine, Cousins."
The officer took the hint, and withdrew.