The Stowmarket Mystery

wmarket

Table of

David

in his easy-chair to permit the light to fall cle

id Hume look like,

tleman

stake when they give such a descripti

duce

examined

ives no address, and writes his own cards.

and exposure. His expression was pleasing and attractive. In repose his features were regular, and marked with lines of thought. A short, well-trimmed be

sen, instantly felt that his visitor was one of those people

aps half an hour, to permit of full ex

u will find it comfortable. Do you smoke? Yes. Well,

ated himself as requested, in the best light obtainable in a nor

," he an

es

slope near

You int

two months ago. I suppose you got t

ur, Make it an hour. You have touch

use of the Sultan's household. To attempt to export them means the bastinado and banishment, at t

uring this short colloquy. Suddenly his eyes sparkled. He

right, Mr. Davi

r sprang to his feet, nor gasped in amazement

ou kn

es

previously met you to my know

me-y

stinguished c

a judge of tobacco a

eighteen months I feel hopeful. Do you know, I passed dozens of acquaintances in the street

e same if you spo

if you

ve you dropped par

nn, heard of your achievements in the cases of Lady Lyle an

lly, you have li

d cause to lose faith. My case defies an

ntil he was able to reach a bookcase, fro

t was highly sensational, perplexing-a blend of romance and Japanese knives-

e tokens of excitement in face and voice as he watched Brett turning over the leaves of th

-a word, by the way, often misapplied. Where do you find strang

s. There were comments, long reports, and not a few n

he evidently restrained his fe

bled a little, "surely you could not hav

ce. I watched your face for many hours whilst you stood in the dock. Professional business to

o

not t

hom,

nd Yard man who had charge of the

estrain

could see no reason why yo

believed

saw there the glistening terror of a tortured soul. Somehow

here, Mr. Hume?" he

are the one man in the world able to clear my

man holds dear. He did not plead. He only demanded his rights. Born

f tobacco, you will not think that the cowardly murderer who struck down my cousin would c

or's masterful manner annoyed him. Hume, metaphorically speaking, took him by the throat and compelled his service

re beginning at the end. I may not be

guage. Their thoughts may be fiery as bottled vitriol, but they keep the cork in. The barrister

vidence. I will read it to you. Do not interrupt. Follow the deta

canic, but he took

you are angry, your judgm

g statement, prepared by

ath on the hunting-field. His horse blundered at a brook and the rider was impaled on a hidden stake, placed in the strea

￡1,000 per annum for the daughter. As he was a very wealthy man, almost a millionaire, the provision for his daughter was niggardly, which might be accounted for by the fact that the girl, sever

ued this allowance, but the brother and sister continued to live apart, he devoted to travel and sport, she to music a

the young Sir Alan went for a protracted tour round the world. Meanwhile his first cousin, Mr. David Hume-Frazer, lived at Beechcroft durin

ister paused, expecting him to say something. Bu

r than death or c

onti

lled away on family business, but returned for a New Year's Eve ball, given by Mrs. Eastham, a lady of some local importance.

-a handsomely inlaid Japanese sword, with a small dagger inserted in a sheath near the top of the scabbard. David reached Beechcroft on the day of the ball. Relations between the cousins

ing with Miss Layton. They were in the conservatory when the young lady burst into tears, hurried to find David, and asked him to take he

tage of his (Alan's) absence to win her affections. This was absolutely untrue. It was denied by the two most concerned, and by Mrs. Eastham, w

om the lodge a straight yew-shaded drive led to the librar

e young gentlemen would probably enter the house that way. David did, in fact, do so. The footman quitted the room, and a

man agree

ed over a silly mistake. I have made up my mind not to sleep on it, s

that the matter wa

er, 'but as things are, it is simply a wretched mistak

brought the w

ume-Frazer was curled up in an arm-chair asleep, or rather dozing, for he stirr

of the house, and angrily protesting something. Unfortunately he could not catch

her sounds, he walked round to the library windows, t

e of the drive, thirty feet from the house. He rushed into the library, w

g has happened to Sir Alan. He is lying on the g

razer sprang to hi

s not a dream.

estio

d to be too much for his hearer's nerves. Hume stood up. The man was

cried i

, but a foul murder.