Part 4 (1/2)
”You heard no sound of doors opening or being shut, nor of any conveyance coming to the door?”
”No, sir, nothing at all.”
”Well, one or two more questions, Hanc.o.c.k. You didn't go into the room after first catching sight of the body? Just so--but you'd notice things, even in a hurried glance. Did you notice any sign of a struggle--overturned chair or anything?”
”No, sir. I did notice that Mr. Herapath's elbow chair, that he always sat in at his desk, was pushed back a bit, and was a bit on one side as it were. That was all.”
”And the light--the electric light? Was that on?”
”No, sir.”
”Then all you can tell us comes to this--that you never heard anything, and had no notion of what was happening, or had happened, until you came down in the morning?”
”Just so, sir. If I'd known what was going on, or had gone on, I should have been down at once.”
Barthorpe nodded and turned to the coachman.
”Now, Mountain,” he said. ”We want to hear your story. Be careful about your facts--what you can tell us is probably of the utmost importance.”
CHAPTER IV
THE PRESSMAN
The coachman, thus admonished, unconsciously edged his chair a little nearer to the table at which Barthorpe Herapath sat, and looked anxiously at his interrogator. He was a little, shrewd-eyed fellow, and it seemed to Selwood, who had watched him carefully during the informal examination to which Barthorpe had subjected the caretaker, that he had begun to think deeply over some new presentiment of this mystery which was slowly shaping itself in his mind.
”I understand, Mountain, that you fetched Mr. Herapath from the House of Commons last night?” began Barthorpe. ”You fetched him in the brougham, I believe?”
”Yes, sir,” answered the coachman. ”Mr. Herapath always had the brougham at night--and most times, too, sir. Never took kindly to the motor, sir.”
”Where did you meet him, Mountain?”
”Usual place, sir--in Palace Yard--just outside the Hall.”
”What time was that?”
”Quarter past eleven, exactly, sir--the clock was just chiming the quarter as he came out.”
”Was Mr. Herapath alone when he came out?”
”No sir. He came out with another gentleman--a stranger to me, sir. The two of 'em stood talking a bit a yard or two away from the brougham.”
”Did you hear anything they said?”
”Just a word or two from Mr. Herapath, sir, as him and the other gentleman parted.”
”What were they?--tell us the words, as near as you can remember.”
”Mr. Herapath said, 'Have it ready for me tomorrow, and I'll look in at your place about noon.' That's all, sir.”