CHAPTER VI
THE PRIMA DONNA'S PORTRAIT
Marshall Allerdyke's sharp eyes were quick to see that his new visitorhad something of importance to communicate and wished to give his news inprivate. Dr. Orwin glanced inquiringly at the American as he took theseat which Allerdyke drew forward, and the cock of his eyes indicated astrong desire to know who the stranger was.
"Friend of my late cousin," said Allerdyke brusquely. "Mr. FranklinFullaway, of London--just as anxious as I am to hear what you have totell us, doctor. You've come to tell something, of course?"
The doctor inclined his head towards Fullaway, and added a grave bow inanswer to Allerdyke's question.
"The autopsy has been made," he replied. "By Dr. Lydenberg, Dr. Quillet,who is one of the police-surgeons here, and myself. We made a verycareful and particular examination."
"And--the result?" asked Allerdyke eagerly. "Is it what you anticipatedfrom your first glance at him--here?"
The doctor's face became a shade graver; his voice assumed anoracular tone.
"My two colleagues," he said, "agreed that your cousin's death resultedfrom heart failure which arose from what we may call ordinary causes.There is no need for me to go into details--it is quite sufficient to saythat they are abundantly justified in coming to the conclusion at whichthey have arrived: it is quite certain that your cousin's heart hadrecently become seriously affected. But as regards myself"--here hepaused, and looking narrowly from one to the other of his two hearers, hesank his voice to a lower, more confidential tone--"as regards myself, Iam not quite so certain as Dr. Lydenberg and Dr. Quillet appear to be.The fact of the case is, I think it very possible that Mr. JamesAllerdyke was--poisoned."
Neither of the two who listened so intently made any reply to thissignificant announcement. Instead they kept their eyes intently fixed onthe doctor's grave face; then they slowly turned from him to each other,exchanging glances. And after a pause the doctor went on, speaking inmeasured and solemn accents.
"There is no need, either, at present--only at present--that I shouldtell you why I think that," he continued. "I may be wrong--my twocolleagues are inclined to think I am wrong. But they quite agree with methat it will be proper to preserve certain organs--you understand?--forfurther examination by, say, the Home Office analyst, who is always, ofcourse, a famous pathological expert. That will be done--in fact, we havealready sealed up what we wish to be further examined. But"--he pausedagain, shaking his head more solemnly than ever--"the truth is,gentlemen," he went on at last, "I am doubtful if even that analysis andexamination will reveal anything. If my suspicions are correct--andperhaps I ought to call them mere notions, theories, ideas, rather thansuspicions--but, at any rate, if there is anything in the vague thoughtswhich I have, no trace of any poison will be found--and yet your cousinmay have been poisoned, all the same."
"Secretly!" exclaimed Fullaway.
Dr. Orwin gave the American a sharp glance which indicated that herealized Fullaway's understanding of what he had just said.
"Precisely," he answered. "There are poisons--known to experts--whichwill destroy life almost to a given minute, and of which the most skilfulpathologist and expert will not be able to find a single trace. Now,please, understand my position--I say, it is quite possible, quitelikely, quite in accordance with what I have seen, that this unfortunategentleman died of heart failure brought about by even such an ordinaryexertion as his stooping forward to untie his shoe-lace, but--I alsothink it likely that his death resulted from poison, subtly and cunninglyadministered, probably not very long before his death took place. And ifI only knew--"
He paused at that, and looked searchingly and meaningly at MarshallAllerdyke before he continued. And Allerdyke looked back with the sameintentness and nodded.
"Yes--yes!" he said. "If you only knew--? Say it, doctor!"
"If I only knew if there was any reason why any person wished to takethis man's life," responded Dr. Orwin, slowly and deliberately. "If Iknew that somebody wanted to get him out of the way, for instance--"
Allerdyke jumped to his feet and tapped Fullaway on the shoulder.
"Come in here a minute," he said, motioning towards the door of hisbedroom. "Excuse us, doctor--I want to have a word with this gentleman.Look here," he continued, when he had led the American into the bedroomand had closed the door. "You hear what he says? Shall we tell him? Orshall we keep it all dark for a while? Which--what?"
"Tell him under promise of secrecy," replied Fullaway after a moment'sconsideration. "Medical men are all right--yes, tell him. He may suggestsomething. And I'm inclined to think his theory is correct, eh?"
"Correct!" exclaimed Allerdyke, with a grim laugh. "You bet it's correct!Come on, then--we'll tell him all. Now, doctor," he went on, leading theway back into the sitting-room, "we're going to give you our confidence.You'll treat it as a strict confidence, a secret between us, for thepresent. The truth is that when my cousin came to this hotel last nighthe was in possession--that is, we have the very strongest grounds forbelieving him to have been in possession--of certain extremely valuableproperty---jewels worth a large amount--which he was carrying,safeguarding, from a lady in Russia to this gentleman in London. When Isearched his body and luggage, these valuables were missing. Mr. Fullawayand myself haven't the least doubt that he was robbed. So yourtheory--eh?"
Dr. Orwin had listened to this with deep attention, and he now put twoquick questions.
"The value of these things was great?"
"Relatively, very great," answered Allerdyke.
"Enough to engage, the attention of a clever gang of thieves?"
"Quite!"
"Then," said the doctor, "I am quite of opinion that my ideas arecorrect. These, people probably tracked your cousin to this place,contrived to administer a subtle and deadly poison to him last night, andentered his room after the time at which they knew it would take effect.Have you any clue--even a slight one?"
"Only this," answered Allerdyke, and proceeded to narrate the story ofthe shoe-buckle, adding Fullaway's theory to it. "That's not much, eh?"
"You must find that woman and produce her at the inquest," said thedoctor. "I take it that Mr. Fullaway's idea is a correct one. Your cousinprobably did invite Miss Lennard into his room to show her thesejewels--that, of course, would prove that he had them in his possessionat some certain hour last night. Now, about that inquest. It is fixed forten o'clock to-morrow morning. Let me advise you as to your own course ofprocedure, having an eye on what you have told me. Your object should beto make the proceedings to-morrow merely formal, so that the Coroner canissue his order for interment, and then adjourn for further evidence. Itwill be sufficient if you give evidence identifying the body, if evidenceis given of the autopsy, and an adjournment asked for until a furtherexamination of the reserved organs and viscera can be made. For thepresent, I should keep back the matter of the supposed robbery until youcan find this Miss Lennard. At the adjourned inquest--say in a week orten days hence--everything pertinent can be brought out. But you willneed legal help--I am rather trespassing on legal preserves in tellingyou so much."
"Deeply obliged to you, doctor--and you can add to our obigations bygiving us the name of a good man to go to," said Allerdyke. "We'll seehim at once and fix things up for to-morrow morning."
Dr. Orwin wrote down the name and address of a well-known solicitor, andpresently went away. When he had gone, Allerdyke turned to Fullaway.
"Now, then," he said, "you and I'll do one or two things. We'll callon this lawyer. Then we'll cable to the Princess. But how shall we gether address!"
"There's sure to be a Russian Consul in the town," suggested Fullaway.
"Good idea! And I'm going to telephone to this Miss Lennard's addressin London," continued Allerdyke. "She evidently set off from here toEdinburgh; but, anyway, the address she gave in that wire to themanager is a London one, and I'm going to try it. Now let's get out andbe at work."
The ensuing conversation between thes
e two and a deeply interested andmuch-impressed solicitor resulted in the dispatch of a lengthy cablegramto St. Petersburg, a conversation over the telephone with the housekeeperof Miss Celia Lennard's London flat, and the interviewing of the captainand stewards of the steamship on which James Allerdyke had crossed fromChristiania. The net result of this varied inquiry was small, andproduced little that could throw additional light on the matter inquestion. The _Perisco_ officials had not seen anything suspicious in theconduct or personality of any of their passengers. They had observedJames Allerdyke in casual conversation with some of them--they had seenhim talking to Miss Lennard, to Dr. Lydenberg, to others, ladies andgentlemen who subsequently put up at the Station Hotel for the night.Nothing that they could tell suggested anything out of the common. MissLennard's housekeeper gave no other information than that her mistresswas at present in Edinburgh, and was expected to remain there for atleast a week. And towards night came a message from the PrincessNastirsevitch confirming Fullaway's conviction that James Allerdyke wasin possession of her jewels and announcing that she was leaving forEngland at once, and should travel straight, via Berlin and Calais, tomeet Mr. Franklin Fullaway at his hotel in London.
The solicitor agreed with Dr. Orwin's suggestions as to the course to befollowed with regard to the inquest; it would be wise, he said, to keepmatters quiet for at any rate a few days, until they were in a positionto bring forward more facts. Consequently, the few people who werepresent at the Coroner's court next morning gained no idea of the realimportance of the inquiry which was then opened. Even the solitaryreporter who took a perfunctory note of the proceedings for his newspapergathered no more from what he heard than that a gentleman had diedsuddenly at the Station Hotel, that it had been necessary to hold aninquest, that there was some little doubt as to the precise cause of hisdeath, and that the inquest was accordingly adjourned until the medicalmen could tell something of a more definite nature. Nothing sensationalcrept out into the town; no bold-lettered headlines ornamented theafternoon editions. An hour before noon Marshall Allerdyke entrusted hiscousin's body to the care of certain kinsfolk who had come over fromBradford to take charge of it; by noon he and Fullaway were slipping outof Hull on their way to Edinburgh--to search for a witness, who, if andwhen they found her, might be able to tell them--what?
"Seems something like a wild-goose chase," said Allerdyke as the trainsteamed on across country towards York and the North. "How do we knowwhere to find this woman in Edinburgh? Her housekeeper didn't know whathotel she was at--I suppose we'll have to try every one in the place tillwe come across her!"
"Edinburgh is not a very big town," remarked Fullaway. "I reckon to runher down--if she's still there--within a couple of hours. It's our firstduty, anyway. If she--as I guess she did--saw those jewels, then we knowthat James Allerdyke had them on him when he reached Hull, dead sure."
"And supposing she can tell that?" said Allerdyke. "What then? How doesthat help? The devils who got 'em have already had thirty-six hours'start of us!"
The American produced a bulky cigar-case, found a green cigar, andlighted it with a deliberation which was in marked contrast to his usualnervous movements.
"Seems to me," he said presently, "seems very much to me that this hasbeen a great thing! I figure it out like this--somehow, somebody has gotto know of what the Princess and your cousin were up to--that he wasgoing to carry those valuable jewels with him to England. He must havebeen tracked all the way, unless--does any unless strike you, now?"
"Not at the moment," replied Allerdyke. "So unless what?"
"Unless the thieves--and murderers--were waiting there in Hull for hisarrival," said Fullaway quietly. "That's possible!"
"Strikes me a good many possibilities are knocking around," remarkedAllerdyke, with more than his usual dryness. "As for me, I'll want toknow a lot about these valuables and their consignment before I make upmy mind in any way. I tell you frankly. I'm not running after them--I'mwanting to find the folk who killed my cousin, and I only hope this youngwoman'll be able to give me a hand. And the sooner we get to the bottleof hay and begin prospecting for the needle the better!"
But the search for Miss Celia Lennard to which Allerdyke alluded sogloomily was not destined to be either difficult or lengthy. As he andhis companion walked along one of the platforms in the Waverley Stationin Edinburgh that evening, on their way to a cab, Allerdyke suddenlyuttered a sharp exclamation and seized the American by the elbow,twisting him round in front of a big poster which displayed the portraitof a very beautiful woman.
"Good Lord!" he exclaimed. "There she is! See? That's the woman. Manalive, we've hit it at once! Look!"
Fullaway turned and stared, not so much at the portrait as at the biglettering above and beneath it:
ZELIE DE LONGARDE, THE WORLD-FAMED SOPRANO. RECENTLY RETURNED FROM MOSCOW AND ST. PETERSBURG. Only Visit to Edinburgh this Year. TO-NIGHT AT 8.
The Rayner-Slade Amalgamation Page 6