The First R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK ®. R. Austin Freeman

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СКАЧАТЬ the opening which it had occupied was filled by a sheet of plain glass, evidently placed there as a precaution to prevent any person from walking through from one closet into the other, and so discovering the trick.

      “It’s all very puzzling,” said Mr. Brodribb; “I don’t clearly understand it now.”

      “Let us finish here,” replied Thorndyke, “and then I will explain. Notice this black curtain. When I pull the second cord, it slides across the closet and cuts off the light. The mirror now reflects nothing into the other closet; it simply appears dark. And now I pull the third cord.”

      He did so, and the mirror swung noiselessly back into its place.

      “There is only one other thing to observe before we go out,” said Thorndyke, “and that is this other mirror standing with its face to the wall. This, of course, is the one that Fred Calverley originally saw at the end of the closet; it has since been removed, and the larger swinging glass put in its place. And now,” he continued, when we came out into the room, “let me explain the mechanism in detail. It was obvious to me, when I heard poor Fred Calverley’s story, that the mirror was ‘faked,’ and I drew a diagram of the probable arrangement, which turns out to be correct. Here it is.” He took a sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it to the lawyer. “There are two sketches. Sketch 1 shows the mirror in its ordinary position, closing the end of the closet. A person standing at A, of course, sees his reflection facing him at, apparently, A 1. Sketch 2 shows the mirror swung across. Now a person standing at A does not see his own reflection at all; but if some other person is standing in the other closet at B, A sees the reflection of B apparently at B 1—that is, in the identical position that his own reflection occupied when the mirror was straight across.”

      “I see now,” said Brodribb; “but who set up this apparatus, and why was it done?”

      “Let me ask you a question,” said Thorndyke. “Is Alfred Calverley the next-of-kin?”

      “No; there is Fred’s younger brother. But I may say that Fred has made a will quite recently very much in Alfred’s favour.”

      “There is the explanation, then,” said Thorndyke. “These two scoundrels have conspired to drive the poor fellow to suicide, and Raggerton was clearly the leading spirit. He was evidently concocting some story with which to work on poor Fred’s superstitions when the mention of the Chinaman on the steamer gave him his cue. He then invented the very picturesque story of the murdered mandarin and the stolen pearl. You remember that these ‘visitations’ did not begin until after that story had been told, and Fred had been absent from the house on a visit. Evidently, during his absence, Raggerton took down the original mirror, and substituted this swinging arrangement; and at the same time procured the Chinaman’s dress and mask from the theatrical property dealers. No doubt he reckoned on being able quietly to remove the swinging glass and other properties and replace the original mirror before the inquest.”

      “By God!” exclaimed Mr. Brodribb, “it’s the most infamous, cowardly plot I have ever heard of. They shall go to gaol for it, the villains, as sure as I am alive.”

      But in this Mr. Brodribb was mistaken; for immediately on finding themselves detected, the two conspirators had left the house, and by nightfall were safely across the Channel; and the only satisfaction that the lawyer obtained was the setting aside of the will on facts disclosed at the inquest.

      As to Thorndyke, he has never to this day forgiven himself for having allowed Fred Calverley to go home to his death.

      THE ALUMINIUM DAGGER (1909)

      The “urgent call”—the instant, peremptory summons to professional duty—is an experience that appertains to the medical rather than the legal practitioner, and I had supposed, when I abandoned the clinical side of my profession in favour of the forensic, that henceforth I should know it no more; that the interrupted meal, the broken leisure, and the jangle of the night-bell, were things of the past; but in practice it was otherwise. The medical jurist is, so to speak, on the borderland of the two professions, and exposed to the vicissitudes of each calling, and so it happened from time to time that the professional services of my colleague or myself were demanded at a moment’s notice. And thus it was in the case that I am about to relate.

      The sacred rite of the “tub” had been duly performed, and the freshly-dried person of the present narrator was about to be insinuated into the first instalment of clothing, when a hurried step was heard upon the stair, and the voice of our laboratory assistant, Polton, arose at my colleague’s door.

      “There’s a gentleman downstairs, sir, who says he must see you instantly on most urgent business. He seems to be in a rare twitter, sir—”

      Polton was proceeding to descriptive particulars, when a second and more hurried step became audible, and a strange voice addressed Thorndyke.

      “I have come to beg your immediate assistance, sir; a most dreadful thing has happened. A horrible murder has been committed. Can you come with me now?”

      “I will be with you almost immediately,” said Thorndyke. “Is the victim quite dead?”

      “Quite. Cold and stiff. The police think—”

      “Do the police know that you have come for me?” interrupted Thorndyke.

      “Yes. Nothing is to be done until you arrive.”

      “Very well. I will be ready in a few minutes.”

      “And if you would wait downstairs, sir,” Polton added persuasively, “I could help the doctor to get ready.”

      With this crafty appeal, he lured the intruder back to the sitting-room, and shortly after stole softly up the stairs with a small breakfast tray, the contents of which he deposited firmly in our respective rooms, with a few timely words on the folly of “undertaking murders on an empty stomach.” Thorndyke and I had meanwhile clothed ourselves with a celerity known only to medical practitioners and quick-change artists, and in a few minutes descended the stairs together, calling in at the laboratory for a few appliances that Thorndyke usually took with him on a visit of investigation.

      As we entered the sitting-room, our visitor, who was feverishly pacing up and down, seized his hat with a gasp of relief. “You are ready to come?” he asked. “My carriage is at the door;” and, without waiting for an answer, he hurried out, and rapidly preceded us down the stairs.

      The carriage was a roomy brougham, which fortunately accommodated the three of us, and as soon as we had entered and shut the door, the coachman whipped up his horse and drove off at a smart trot.

      “I had better give you some account of the circumstances, as we go,” said our agitated friend. “In the first place, my name is Curtis, Henry Curtis; here is my card. Ah! And here is another card, which I should have given you before. My solicitor, Mr. Marchmont, was with me when I made this dreadful discovery, and he sent me to you. He remained in the rooms to see that nothing is disturbed until you arrive.”

      “That was wise of him,” said Thorndyke. “But now tell us exactly what has occurred.”

      “I will,” said Mr. Curtis. “The murdered man was my brother-in-law, Alfred Hartridge, and I am sorry to say he was—well, he was a bad man. It grieves me to speak of him thus—de mortuis, you know—but, still, we must deal with the facts, even though they be painful.”

      “Undoubtedly,” agreed Thorndyke.

      “I СКАЧАТЬ