Part 32 (2/2)

”How did they come into your possession, then?” asked Mr.

Millington-Bywater. ”That is what we most earnestly desire to know. Let me impress upon you, sir, that this is the most serious and fateful question I can possibly put to you! How did you get them?”

”And--from whom?” said the magistrate. ”From whom?”

The witness shook his head.

”I can tell you exactly how I got them,” he answered. ”But I can't tell you from whom, for I don't know! What I can tell you is this: When I arrived at Tilbury from Melbourne, I asked a fellow-pa.s.senger with whom I came along to London if he could tell me of a quiet, good hotel in the neighbourhood of the parks--he recommended the Belfield, in Lancaster Gate. I went there and put myself up, and from it I went out and about a good deal, looking up old haunts. I also lunched and dined a good many times at some of the new restaurants which had sprung into being since I left London. I mention this to show you that I was where I could be seen and noticed, as I evidently was. One afternoon, while I was sitting in the smoking-room at my hotel, the page-boy came in with a letter on his tray, approached me, and said that it had been brought by a district messenger. It was addressed simply, 'Mr. Cave'--the name by which I had registered at the hotel--and was sealed; the inclosure, on a half-sheet of note-paper, was typewritten. I have it here,” continued the witness, producing a pocketbook and taking out an envelope. ”I will read its contents, and I shall be glad to let any one concerned see it. There is no address and no date, and it says this: 'If you wish to recover the papers and letters which were lost by you when you went into hospital at Wirra-Worra, Bendigo, thirty-two years ago, be at the Speke Monument in Kensington Gardens at five o'clock this afternoon.' There was no signature.”

Another murmur of intense and excited interest ran round the court as the witness handed the letter up to the magistrate, who, after looking it over, pa.s.sed it on to the counsel below. They, in their turn, showed it to Mr. Carless, Mr. Pawle and Lord Ellingham, Mr. Pawle, showing it to Viner, whispered in his ear:

”If this man's telling the truth,” he said, ”this is the most extraordinary story I ever heard in my life.”

”It seems to me that it is the truth!” muttered Viner. ”And I'm pretty certain that at last we're on the way-to finding out who killed Ashton.

But let's hear the end.”

Mr. Millington-Bywater handed the letter back with a polite bow--it was very obvious to more than one observer that he had by this time quite accepted the witness as what he claimed to be.

”You kept the appointment?” he asked.

”I did, indeed!” exclaimed the witness. ”As much out of greatly excited curiosity as anything! It seemed to me a most extraordinary thing that papers stolen from me in Australia thirty-two years ago should be returned to me in London! Yes, I walked down to the Speke Monument. I saw no one about there but a heavily veiled woman who walked about on one side of the obelisk while I patrolled the other. Eventually she approached me, and at once asked me if I had kept secret the receipt of the mysterious letter? I a.s.sured her that I had. She then told me that she was the amba.s.sadress of the people who had my letters and papers, and who had seen and recognized me in London and tracked me to my hotel. She was empowered to negotiate with me for the handing over of the papers.

There were stipulations. I was to give my solemn word of honour that I would not follow her, or cause her to be followed. I was not to ask questions. And I was to give a post-dated check on the bank at which I had opened an account in London, on receipt of the papers. The check was to be post-dated one month; it was to be made out to bearer, and the amount was ten thousand pounds. I agreed!”

”You really agreed!” exclaimed Mr. Millington-Bywater.

”I agreed! I wanted my papers. We parted, with an agreement that we were to meet two days later at the same place. I was there--so was the woman.

She handed me a parcel, and I immediately took it to an adjacent seat and examined it. Everything that I could remember was there, with two exceptions. The packet of letters from my mother, to which I referred just now, was missing; so was a certain locket, which had belonged to her, and of which I had taken great care since her death, up to the time of my accident in the mining-camp. I pointed out these omissions to the woman: she answered that the papers which she had handed over were all that had been in her princ.i.p.al's possession. Thereupon I gave her the check which had been agreed upon, and we parted.”

”And that is all you know of her?” asked Mr. Millington-Bywater.

”All!”

”Can you describe her?”

”A tallish, rather well-built woman, but so veiled that I could see nothing of her features; it was, moreover, nearly dark on both occasions.

From her speech and manner, she was, I should say, a woman of education and refinement.”

”Did you try to trace her, or her princ.i.p.als, through the district messenger who brought the letter?”

”Certainly not! I told you, just now, that I gave my word of honour: I couldn't.”

Mr. Millington-Bywater turned to the magistrate.

”I can, if Your Wors.h.i.+p desires it, put a witness in the box who can prove beyond doubt that the papers of which we have just heard this remarkable story, were recently in the possession of John Ashton,” he said. ”He is Mr. Cecil Perkwite, of the Middle Temple--a member of my own profession.”

But the magistrate, who appeared unusually thoughtful, shook his head.

”After what we have heard,” he said, ”I think we had better adjourn. The prisoner will be remanded--as before--for another week.”

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