Samuel Boyd of Catchpole Square: A Mystery

by B. L. Farjeon

"And here let me offer my tribute of praise and admiration for the courage, the patience, I may say the heroism he displayed during this long vigil, this arduous and almost sleepless watch, undertaken out of affection for the family to which he is related, and to prove the innocence of a man falsely accused of a horrible crime.

"On Monday night, or rather at about two o'clock on Tuesday morning, his patience was rewarded. He heard sounds in the passage below which, faint as they were, denoted that he was not now alone in the house. He had already assumed his disguise and removed the wax figure of the Chinaman from the chair. All he had to do was to take its place. The back of the hooded chair being towards the door he could not see who entered when it was softly opened. Nor could he distinguish the voices of the men, for they spoke in whispers. They moved about the room in their stocking feet, and from the few words that reached his ears he gathered that they had come once more to search for the jewels which Lady Wharton had given Mr. Samuel Boyd on the night of her visit to him. Now, I call your attention to the last words of the document written by the unfortunate man on that fatal night--'Notation 2647.' Mr. Remington did not dare to turn his head to watch the movements of the men as they moved about the room. Disappointed in their search one of the men, in his passion, shook the hooded chair so violently that the cane in the hand of the supposed wax figure--which Mr. Remington also held, in order to completely carry out the deception--slipped from his grasp to the ground. The man who picked it up pressed, by accident, one of the raised letters in the knob of the cane. This pressure caused the figure 2 to spring up. In a state of intense excitement the man drew his companion's attention to the circumstance, and made a reference to the notation, thus proving that he was familiar with it. He had pressed the letter B, the second in the alphabet, and it had released the figure 2. He pressed the sixth letter, F, and the figure 6 was released, the fourth letter, D, and the figure 4 was released, and the seventh letter, G, releasing the figure 7, the notation was complete, 2647. Mr. Remington, his sense of hearing preternaturally sharpened, heard the whispered comments of the men as figure after figure was released, and heard the click of the silver knob as it sprang up and revealed to the delighted eyes of the conspirators the jewels which had been concealed in the hollow of the cane. Thanks to Mr. Remington's prompt action their delight was short-lived. You will recollect that at this hour on Monday night a storm was raging, and that the lightning was very vivid. What followed was the work of a moment. Mr. Remington started to his feet, and as he did so a flash of lightning illumined the scene. One of the conspirators held in his hand a lighted candle, the other the cane containing the treasure. He seized the cane, and dashed the lighted candle to the ground, thereby plunging the room in darkness, all the blacker because of the lightning flash that had passed through it, and flew into the passage and out of the house, to fall into the hands of Constable Applebee. It is unfortunate that in that brief moment of rapid and resolute action he did not see the faces of the conspirators, but he has his suspicions who they were, and has communicated them to me. Before these proceedings are ended we may see those suspicions verified. I have now related the true story of Mr. Remington's adventures, with all its strange and remarkable episodes, and with the trite remark that truth is stranger than fiction I will call the witnesses for the defence."

The first witness was the costumier in Covent Garden, who testified to Dick's purchase of the Chinese mask and costume. He thought they were for the stage. Such purchases were made of him every day.

The next witness was Mrs. Abel Death, who, despite her distress, gave her evidence of the disappearance of her husband and her search for him in a fairly clear manner. When she was questioned as to the disappearance of her daughter Gracie, the counsel for the prosecution intervened, and contended that these private domestic matters had nothing to do with the case. Mr. Pallaret, answering that before he was done he would show that they had a direct bearing upon it, was allowed to proceed.

"Now, Mrs. Death, on the day on which you made your application in this Court respecting your husband's disappearance you were visited by a person who introduced himself as a doctor. What name did he give?"

"Dr. Vinsen, sir."

"He spoke of Dr. Pye as his intimate friend?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do you see Dr. Vinsen in Court at the present moment?"

"Yes, sir, I see him."