The Third Man.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 50, 10 March 1894, Page 13

The Third Man.

Storyteller.

y J. G. Bethune, author of “ The Hye of Hercules,” “ The Cypher F,” etc.)

[all eights reserved.]

CHAPTER IV,

A LEFT-HAND KD MAN. Ishton Walmsley felt that there 3 one person whom he must treat .fidentially in this businesss ; that 3 Dr. Gardner. Circumstances •tiffed this departure from his rule, more properly made it necessary, .ugh not beyond a certain point, 'was Gardner who discovered the me, and who could give to him jrmation that was obtainable from other source. On two of his calls at the doctor’s ce, he was out. Before he could i it again, the physician went round his quarters, late one evening, en he hoped no person would be onsiderate enough to apply for services. We have been thinking of the ne Thing,” said the medical man, ,er the introductory words. “ and I fge have reached a similar consion.” ‘ That is one of those inexplainable tters we were discussing the other ■ht ? Well, at present it has that peafance.” “ And is therefore the more attracti to you P” ‘ It is ; whether I shall strike the olanation or not is doubtful. You pw that a .large part, if not a qority, of such crimes are never iced. There is as much brains \ayed on the side of wrong as of •lit, and sad to say they win as en as they fail.” Have you learned nothing ?” “Nothing of moment; I made an xmination of the house and surmdings, and found traces of a rson having entered and left by e of the windows, which was selfident, and therefore required no restigation.” “ It has been proven that neither bbery nor a baser motive induced j crime. What was it ?” I have asked myself whether it ild have been an insane person, t —ah, you do not agree with me ?” d the detective, observing the

repression of the doctor’s lips and » shaking - of his head. It was no insane person, for there none in the neighbourhood. The arest asylum is at Vernon, and that corty miles away. I have made quiry there, which establishes that i patient has escaped from the irritation or been absent without an tendant for more than two months.” “ But all insane persons ax - e not in ylums.” “ They are so far as we are conrned. I have lived and practised in ay ton and neighbourhood, for thirty ;ars. There isn’t a family within a dius of thirty miles that I don’t

OW. Down in Wild Cat Hollow, -■lit miles to the sonth, is an insane (man, or rather a harmless imbecile bo wouldn’t hurt a cat ; a little rther to the east at Burrtown is i imbecile, but he is an old man so ckly that he never ventures more xan a few rods from home in pleasant eather,” “ Could not the criminal have been irking in the neighbourhood for 3veral days V” “ During that time he would have £en obliged to eat and drink. He light have got the water but not the sod without detection. Do yrnt QsiJect a cra/.y person had anything p do with it, Walmsley ?” i “ I am satisfied that no such pei - on had ; I merely advanced the theory o hear you attack it ; you have

demolished it; I will now feel my way toward another.” The doctor showed his deep interest by flinging his cigar away, shoving his hands into his trousers pockets, crossing his legs, leaning back in his chair, and fixing his gaze on his friend. “ I noticed that when I rushed into the room behind the judge and you pointed to the imprints on the unfortunate lady’s neck, the finger marks were on her right side, as she lay, while the mark of the thumb was on the left.” “ What do you make of that P” “ That the murderer was lefthanded.”

“ Or ambidextrous,” suggested the physician, his face flushing slightly, for a startling thought was suggested by the words of the detective. “ There are no ambidextrous persons,; we can educate ourselves, as Charles Eeade maintained, so as to become almost as clever with one hand as the other, but every person is born either right or left-handed, and, no matter how well-trained he may be, the predilection will show in moments of excitement. The man who strangled Mrs Hollywood may have been ambidextrous, as the word goes, but when he needed all the power of one arm for the quick, resistless act, nature directed the one to employ.” “ Might he not have used his left hand, even though right-handed, with the purpose of misleading discovery ?” “ He might, but he didn’t.” “ Why not P ” “ He never would have thought of it ; he took no chances of failure ; even if he had determined to do so, while stealing through the window and across the floor, he changed his mind, or forgot it at the critical moment.” “ But,” insisted the doctor, weighing and testing his friend’s theory in turn, “he might have been righthanded and left the marks as they were.” "" “ How ?” “ By reversing his hand ; that is, by turning it over, so that the palm was away from him, thus ” And the held out his right hand and turned the thumb downward in the position described.

“ The man would have been an idiot to do that; but there is proof that he did not.” “ I do not understand you.” “ If he had reversed the right hand and used it in that manner it would have placed the finger marks on the right side of the woman’s neck ; but the longest imprint would have been second from the bottom, whereas it was second from the top, so that the hand was used in the most natural way.” “ Well, I declare ! ” exclaimed Dr. Gardner, admiringly. “ I never would have thought of that; you have got the matter down pretty fine, Walmsley, and I give you credit. How ” He stopped, and the two men looked silently and fixedly into each other’s eyes for several seconds. They held the same fearful thought, and .both knew it. A faint, mirthless smile came toYhe face of Walmsley, as he said in an undertone; “ You may as well speak it, Doctor ; I know what it is, and no ope but me will hear you.” “ Judge Solly-wood is left-handed- “ So much so that he has never been able to teach himself to use his right hand in handling a pen; but such people are too numerous in the community to excite remark, and that fact alone would not bear a feather’s weight against him.” “ I am glad to hear you say that, but now that a starting point has been fixed, push your theory to the end. I will raise the objections, and you may sweep them aside if you can. In the first place, what about the marks on the roof and the tree ?”

“ Any person contemplating the crime would have made them for the purpose of diverting suspicion: they may have been several days .•old.” “ When did, heucofamit th'e deed ?” “ When he excused himself at his

wife’s call, while talking* with us in the library.” “ What meant those hurried steps that first attracted our notice P”

“They were made by Mrs Hollywood in going to the window, but not to raise it, for we would have heard her do that.”

“Why was the crime not committed earlier in the evening ?”

“ If it had been he would have sent for you, and his risk would have greater; but when he entered the room 1 heard her voice in reply to him.” “ Might he not have simulated it to mislead you ?” “Such a thing would not have occurred to him, besides there was nothing - to suggest that. When he came down jmu noticed he was agitated. He walked to the window of the library and stood there several minutes, as if admiring the night, when his object was to cool his nerves.”

“Then he came back,” said the doctor, confident that he had tripped his sagacious friend, “and we heard a chair’ fall.” “ That chair was balanced so delicately at the side of the bed that a breath of air would have overturned it. He placed it there with that hope; bj r and by the breath of air came through the window and it toppled over ; imstead of rushing up stairs, as any husband would do to his wife, he sent you. He wanted you to discover the crime, and he was so anxious while you were there that he hardly breathed ; he would not suffer me to speak : he must have been in torture lest the crime was not completed and his wife had recovered.”

“ My God !” gasped the doctor, showing more agitation than his friend had ever seen him display; “ your testimony would hang Judge Hollywood.’’ “ It wouldn’t harm a hair of his head, fo'r it is not testimony, but theory, speculation, guesswork. One of the most misleading things of this ( world is a theory—it has ruined mtjrC detective Work than 'blundering and stupidity ; though a false theory is of itself a blunder, and therefore stupid. Form a theory and you are astonished and confirmed in your belief by the amazing way in which j every clue seems to fit it. When it is invulnerable you discover that you have been wrong 1 from the beginning, and your theory is a rope of sand. Now, I ha/e at your request shown how it is possible that the judge is the guilty one, and yet it is as improbable as that you or I did it.” “Yes, for you have left out the mainspring of it all —the motive.” “ That I might say, remains to be found ; and, when it is, it will be proved that it is a woman, for she is at the bottom of most of the mischief in the world.” CHAPTER V. ; THE FORM UNDER THE TREES. “ Aside from the total absence of motive,” remarked the doctor, “ 1 see other obstacles against the truth of your theory.” “ Name them.” “ When the wretch had completed his w.ork he must have hurried out of the window, and we, that were listening so closely, would have heard his footsteps.” “Not necessarily, for we did not hear him enter.” “ We were not listening.” “But he would have used extreme care in both eases, and we would not detected his footfalls had w r e been in the next room. Besides we did not hear you all the time, when we rvere listening as closely as possible.” ;“ How can jmu know that p” “ You walked into the judge’s room aid turned on a light or two, but neither he nor I learned it through tie sense of Rearing.” “ How, then, do you know I did s> ?” said the surprised doctor.” ; “ First answer me whether you did <r did not do so ?” I “ I did ; now tell me how you tamed it. r | j “I never knew it until this 1 jioment; I inferred it as the most

natural thing a man of your cooltemperament would do.” The doctor laughed. “ 1 believe you will get at the bottom of the mystery, but I do hope, Walmsley, that the trail will not lead to the door of Judge Hollywood.”

“ You cannot wish that morefervently than I do.” “ But the idea of his being mixed; up in any woman case is too absurd for consideration.”

“ Are you sure of that ? Have not you and I lived long enough to know that the prettiest woman can make a fool of the wisest man that ever lived,, especially if he is in middle life or: old age P”

“ Yes; I have seen strange examples, of that truth ; I have known men who seemed to be devotedly religious, devoted to their families, and models of what good husbands should be, t<i become infatuated with some adventuress, with a pretty face or figure,, and they have gone rapidly to the bad in spite of eveiy restraining influence. But remember that the judge has always led a moral and upright life- “ Qualify it by adding, ‘ so far as we know.’ ” “ Have it so ; I have been intimately associated with him sinje his elevation to the bench, fifteen years ago. I was his groomsman at his first marriage and his family physician before that. Holding that position 1 also hold professional secrets which of course I can never reveal. I may say to you, however, that I am as certain as I am that 1 am sitting here, that he led a strictly moral life, consistent with his profession of religion : that there was never a harsh word between him and bis first wife - that he was irreproachable during his widowerhood, which lasted ten years, and that he idolised his second wife, who in turn worshipped him. How, to say that after a few months of such happiness, he should strangle her —- — “ Who has said it ?” interrupted Walmsley with'a smile. “ Your theory.” “ But I have abandoned that .as untenable.” “ Then we will drop it,” returned the doctor with a sigh of relief. “ I confess that one thing surprised me,” said the detective after a moment’s silence. “ When I called on the judge and expxessed my purpose of trying to run down the assassin, he discouraged it.” “ For what reason P” “He feared it would create a scandal (though I cannot see in what way, provided I succeed), and wound the widowed mother of his late wife.” “ I presume he believed your efforts must reveal tke facts of her murder. I can understand how averse he would he to that, fearing the criminal could not be brought to book.” “ But I pledged him that I would guard against discovery until success was assured, and, by that time, the widow would have become so resigned to her grief that little, if any, additional pang’ would be caused.” “ How did be accept your proposition ?”

“He told me to do ~a s T~~plcased, but ifc was plain that lie looked upon my purpose with disfavour.” “How do you account for that ?”

“At his time of life one dislikes turmoil, excitement, and mental disturbance. In his captclty as judge he has sentenced more than one culprit to be hanged, but that has become a matter of of comparative indifference to him, as suffering’ and death have to you. How however, he shrinks, from tearing open the wound, as you. would shrink when you saw the hand of affliction laid on a member of your family.”

“ Then the surprise you felt on first learning his feelings has been dissipated by reflection ?” “We may -consider the judge, therefore, eliminated from the problem you have set yourself to solve?” “ We may.”

The conversation continued a halfhour longer without anything’ of note

Hieing said, and tlien the doctor rose id go. Walmsley accompanied him to the door, bade him good-night, and returning to his room lit his merschaum, and seating himself, muttered : “Dr Gardner is suspicious of me ; Tie is trying to screen the judge ; he has not revealed everything. He discovered something when he spent some minutes with the dead which he will not tell.”

fo go. Walmsley accompanied him to the door, bade him good-night, and returning to his room lit his merschaum, and seating himself, muttered : “Dr Gardner is suspicious of me ; Tie is trying to screen the judge ; he has not revealed everything. He discovered something when he spent some minutes with the dead which he will not tell.” In returning to his home, which is bn the outskirts of the town, the doctor went in the direction of Judg’e Hollywood’s residence, which stood a short distance beyond. The hour was so late that few, if any, people were astir. The scattered street lamps, lit with oil, gave out a sickly Tight that rendered the gloom deeper. The moon did not lise till past low twelve, but the . cool autumn night was clear and the stars were shining. The doctor’s profession made him a night hawk at times, and there were few houses in Clayton which he had not visited at very late hours. He never carried weapons, for he was known to everybody, and was the last person in the world that was likely to suffer violence. "He had lit a cigar, buttoned up bis tbin overcoat, and with his hands thrust in its pockets, was walking thoughtfully along, meditating over what had been said by the detective, when he became aware that a man was moving in the same direction ahead of him. He wore a cap, with bis coat collar drawn up about bis ears, and his head bent as if seeking to escape recognition. “ I wonder who he can be that is 'Out so late,” thought the doctor. “ He ought not to be afraid of me ; I’ll make him show his colours.” Less than one hundred yards separated them, and the physician immediately hastened his j>ace, his feet sounding distinctly on the plank-walk. To. his surprise the figure in front did the same, so that the intervening space was not diminished. “That’s" odd ; ho seems unsocial. If I didn’t like to force myself upon Him, I would give him a race.” As it was, he was half inclined to break into a run, confident that he could, beat the fellow, for the doctor was a noted sprinter when at college, and a glimpse which he caught of the man’s hair, despite the turned-up coat collar, showed that it was grey. But there was something undignified in chasing a stranger, to whom he could make poor excuse if brought to task. He was hopeful the fellow, would turn his head, so as to give a sight of His face. He did look round, but he took care when he did so it was between the lamps, where Ins features were unrecognisable. There could be mo question that he knew the man that was following - him. Stepping off the planks upon the grass at the side the doctor hurried forward, expecting to slip up near to the stranger befor e he expected it ; but he wars disappointed, for the man suspected the artifice and maintained a pace which could be surpassed only by running, and the physician would not descend to that. The distance to his own homo was mot great. The lamp in front of Ids gate was kept burning the night through, for the benefit of late callers, so that when the physician turned up the walk he was in plain sight-of the stranger ahead, if he chose to look around, which there was little doubt He did. Since the fellow was so persistent in avoiding sight, the doctor was piqued to that extent that he resol ced on a little strategy, which might possibly aid him. He walked briskly over the gravel, skipped up the steps in his usual boyish style, opened the door and closed it; 'but, instead of entering, he slipped round the corner of the building, where he stood in the shadow of the trees and vines and peered out, hoping the individual would return.

The doctor did not miscalculate. By and by he heard the guarded footfalls on 'the plank, the steps being short, slow, and more hesitating as

the man neared the glare of the latnp. “ He wants to assure himself that I have gone in the house,” concluded the watcher, stealthily peeping through the vines. By and by he Svas able to distinguish the shadowy outlines of a form, which halted just far enough away to prevent his countenance being seen. Standing motionless under the trees for a few minutes, he advanced a dozen steps, pausing finally where the light fell on his face. And then, with amazement beyond expression, the doctor recognised the person as Judge Hollywood. CHAPTER VI. T r K X E D T 0 ASHES. Dr Gardner was transfixed. In all his speculation as to the identity of the person who so persistently eluded identification, he never once suspected Judge Hollywood. But there he stood, under the trees which shadowed the plank walk, but far enough {advanced in the circle of the light thrown out by the street lamp to reveal his face plainly. /-The doctor saw that he was looking up at the window of his office, in which the light was low. “ I ought to have gone upstairs and turned on the gas, that his suspicions might be removed. The judge is playing- a part to-night to which he is unaccustomed and which fits him ill.” For five ininutes.the jurist held his position, as motionless as the tree trunks beside him. Then he burned about, and walked slowly toward his own home. The impulse was strong with the doctor to hurry after him, and, making known what he had seen, ask for his full confidence. “He has been one of my truest friends, and there is nothing in my

-power that I would not do for him. He is afraid he cannot trust me.” The stillness was so absolute that the watcher heard the footsteps of the gentleman long after he was beyond sight. He distinguished them when he turned into his own grounds, pas'sncl lelT' walk, and then stepped upon his broad porch. The closing of the door was no louder than ordinary, but it was clearly audible; and when a minute later, the light in his library flared up, the movements of the judge were as traceable as if he had been in the field of vision from the first. All the members of the doctor’s family were asleep. His profession compelling him to keep irregular hours, his going and coming were ; unquestioned and unnoticed by anyone who chanced to be awake. He ascended to his office, and, after turning up the gas, sat down in his easy chair, surrounded by his cases of medicines, his books, and the various paraphernalia of a village practitioner. A

(JlluCx J. 11l liic >\ tio U 111 IJ] Hi*, Li.l Uli 11/ ■was only moderately cooi, and everything- was comfortable and inviting-. A glance at the little timepiece on the mantel showed that it lacked ]but a few minutes of one o’clock. He had had no call since eight that evening, and experience told him that he should woo sleep while the chance was his, for there was no saying when the jingle of the bell would announce a demand for his professional.services. But he felt no disposition to sleep. Leaning back in his chair, he heaved a deep sigh, in keeping with the worn expression on his face. “ The judge has been on the watch,” he murmured, “he mistrusts me ( he mistrusts Walmsley, for he knows what a bloodhound that fellow is when on the trail of crime ; he saw me go to his house ; he knew it was . not a professional ca.ll; but'Walmsley and I are the only persons besiles himself (and perhaps one'other iridiviclual) who can tell how his wife dipt!; the judge suspected the truth—tlujt I had gone there 'o talk it over with him ; during the two and more hours that I sat in Walmsley’s room, she judge stood outside under the tree&on the watch. What -would he not gve to learn w'hat w r as said ? Whei: I came down he started, homeward, hit he is tco much an amateur in tils strange business to defeat anotler amateur like myself.”

TLe physician sat for a few minutes in deep reverie, for cold and indifferent as he was believed to be in the presence of suffering, be was now stirred to the profoundest depths of his nature.

“ I know Walmsley better than he thinks ; lie tried to give me the impression that he does not suspect the judge, but he does ; he pretended that he had abandoned all theories that could lead to his door, but the very ingenuity of the one he set up for me to demolish, and which he claimed-I did demolish, indicates the bent of his mind. “ He will never abandon the trail, even if he knows that it will bring’ Judge Hollywood to the gallows. They call me unfeeling, and I believe I have never shed a tear since childhood, but I am not quite equal to that /”

The eyes of the physician snapped, ano he compressed his thin lips like one moved by resentful anger. “ I will keep the track of Walmsley if lean ; 1 will make him tell me all he learns, if I can ; and when the trail becomes hot, I will make him abandon it, if I can.” The doctor sprang from his chair, and, striding to the door, turned the key in the lock. Then he pulled down the curtains and glanced around. No mortal eye must witness what he was doing.

As stealthily as a thief in the night, he moved, to his large desk, inserted a small key which he always carried in the lock of one of the lower drawers, and slid it back. It contained but one article, a photograph several inches square ; he drew it out tenderly as if afraid it would fall apart, and then, sitting under the drojjlight, scrutinised it with painful interest. “ I got it from the kodak on the day after her death,” he mused, “ and no living person dreams that it has an existence. It was on my tongue to tell Walmsley, but I’m glad I did not. It has been developed as fully as,, .possible. i,t is hard to take a picture by electric light, and this is a wretched one; the face is blurred and indistinct, but it is better than I dared hope. It is a confused presentment of the last face on which Mrs Hollywood ever looked. The features are dim, and no photographer would ever allow such a specimen of his work to leave his place; but the shape of the head, the fringe of scant whiskers in front of the ears, the long thin hair, all these and more are shown so unmistakably that, had Walmsley seen them, he would have cried out ‘ The case is closed !’ ” “ But Mr Ashton Walmsley has never seen that negative, and never shall !” Deliberately he tore the pasteboard lengthwise, crosswise, end through and through. Then, when a dozen small pieces were in his hands, he stooped to the grate and flung all upon the live coals, where they flashed up and soon became ashes. “Would to Heaven that thus I might destroy every shred of evidence against him ! What .marvellous secret in his life could hgve nerved him to this deed P What gaunt spectre of the past has beckoned him on with resistless . power P What seeming necessity can exist for this unpardonable crime P Alas, it is as the judge himself said on that night, there is nothing’ in nature that we can understand ; and what are apparently the simplest things areas much incomprehensible mysteries as eternity itself. How could he hold his emotions in such ’wonderful control, when he talked, told anecdotes, and laughed ; while the awful shadow was upon him P Why did he do it ? (To be continued)