"And on the top of all that came the growing conviction that the son never would return and that he had been foully murdered for the sake of Lady Angela's pearls, which he so foolishly was carrying in his pocket that night. No wonder, then, that his sister Marion felt bitter against the people who were the original cause of all these disasters; no wonder that she threw herself heart and soul into the search for evidence against the man whom she sincerely believed to be guilty of a most hideous crime.
"It was mainly due to her that the police came on the track of William Rugger, the night-watchman, and through the latter that the driver of the taxi-cab was advertised for, because Rugger remembered seeing the gentleman alight from a taxi outside Mexfield House. But Miss Shillington's valuable assistance in the matter of investigation went even further than that. She at last prevailed upon the old man-servant at Mexfield House to come forward like a man and to speak the truth. He was a poor creature, not really old, probably not more than fifty, but timid and almost abject. He had at first declined to make any statement whatever, declaring that he had nothing to say. To every question put to him by the police, he gave the one answer, 'I saw nothing, sir, I 'eard nothing. I went to bed as usual on the Friday night. The Captain 'e never expected me to sit up for 'im when 'e was out to parties, and I never 'ear 'im come in, as I sleep at the top of the 'ouse. No, sir, I didn't 'ear nothing that night. The last I seed of the Captain was at nine o'clock, when 'e got into the car and said good-night to me.' When he was shown the blood-stained hat, he burst out crying, and said, 'Yes, sir! Yes, sir! That is the Captain's 'at. My Lord! What 'as become of 'im?' He also failed to identify the scarf as being his master's property.
"Then one day Miss Shillington, still suffering from a cold in the head, but otherwise very business-like and brisk, arrived at Scotland Yard with the man—James Rose was his name—in tow. By what means she had persuaded him to speak the truth at last no one ever knew, but in a tremulous voice and shaken with nervousness, he did tell what he swore to be the truth. 'I must 'ave dropped to sleep in the dining-room,' he said. 'I was very tired that evening, and I remember after I 'ad cleared supper away I just felt as 'ow I couldn't stand on my legs any longer, and I sat down in an armchair and must 'ave dozed off. What woke me was the front-door bell which rings in the 'all as well as in the basement. I looked at the clock, it was past midnight. Captain forgot 'is key, that's what I thought. Lucky I 'adn't gone to bed, or I should never 'ave 'eard 'im. Funny 'is forgetting 'is key, I thought. Never done such a thing before, I thought, and went to open the door for 'im. But it wasn't the Captain,' Rose went on, his voice getting more and more husky as no doubt he realised the deadly importance of what he was about to say. 'No, it wasn't the Captain,' he reiterated, and shook his head in a doleful manner.
"'Who was it?' the Inspector demanded.
"'The young gentleman who sometimes came to the 'ouse,' Rose repeated under his breath. 'Mr. 'Enery Buckley it was, sir. Yes, Mr. 'Enery, that's 'oo it was.'
"'What did he say?' Rose was asked.
"''E asked if the Captain was in, and I said no, not as I knew, but I would go and see. So up I went to the Captain's room and saw 'e wasn't there. Not yet. And I told Mr. 'Enery so when I came down again.'
"'Then what happened?'
"'Mr. 'Enery 'e told me that 'e wouldn't wait and that I was to tell the Captain 'e 'ad called, and that 'e would call again in 'arf an hour. I said that I was going to bed and I wouldn't probably see the Captain. 'E might be ever so late. Then Mr. 'Enery 'e just said, "Very good," and "Never mind," and "Good-night, Rose," 'e said, and then I let 'im out.'
"'Well? And what happened after that?'