The Middle Temple Murder Read online

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  UNDER SUSPICION

  A distinct, uncontrollable murmur of surprise ran round the packedcourt as this man in the witness-box gave this answer. It signifiedmany things--that there were people present who had expected some suchdramatic development; that there were others present who had not; thatthe answer itself was only a prelude to further developments. AndSpargo, looking narrowly about him, saw that the answer had arouseddifferent feelings in Aylmore's two daughters. The elder one haddropped her face until it was quite hidden; the younger was sittingbolt upright, staring at her father in utter and genuine bewilderment.And for the first time, Aylmore made no response to her.

  But the course of things was going steadily forward. There was nostopping the Treasury Counsel now; he was going to get at some truth inhis own merciless fashion. He had exchanged one glance with theCoroner, had whispered a word to the solicitor who sat close by him,and now he turned again to the witness.

  "So you know that gentleman--make sure now--as Mr. Anderson, an inmateof the Temple?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "You don't know him by any other name?"

  "No, sir, I don't."

  "How long have you known him by that name?"

  "I should say two or three years, sir."

  "See him go in and out regularly?"

  "No, sir--not regularly."

  "How often, then?"

  "Now and then, sir--perhaps once a week."

  "Tell us what you know of Mr. Anderson's goings-in-and-out."

  "Well, sir, I might see him two nights running; then I mightn't see himagain for perhaps a week or two. Irregular, as you might say, sir."

  "You say 'nights.' Do I understand that you never see Mr. Andersonexcept at night?"

  "Yes, sir. I've never seen him except at night. Always about the sametime, sir."

  "What time?"

  "Just about midnight, sir."

  "Very well. Do you remember the midnight of June 21st-22nd?"

  "I do, sir."

  "Did you see Mr. Anderson enter then?"

  "Yes, sir, just after twelve."

  "Was he alone?"

  "No, sir; there was another gentleman with him."

  "Remember anything about that other gentleman?"

  "Nothing, sir, except that I noticed as they walked through, that theother gentleman had grey clothes on."

  "Had grey clothes on. You didn't see his face?"

  "Not to remember it, sir. I don't remember anything but what I've toldyou, sir."

  "That is that the other gentleman wore a grey suit. Where did Mr.Anderson and this gentleman in the grey suit go when they'd passedthrough?"

  "Straight up the Lane, sir."

  "Do you know where Mr. Anderson's rooms in the Temple are?"

  "Not exactly, sir, but I understood in Fountain Court."

  "Now, on that night in question, did Mr. Anderson leave again by yourlodge?"

  "No, sir."

  "You heard of the discovery of the body of a dead man in Middle TempleLane next morning?"

  "I did, sir."

  "Did you connect that man with the gentleman in the grey suit?"

  "No, sir, I didn't. It never occurred to me. A lot of the gentlemen wholive in the Temple bring friends in late of nights; I never gave thematter any particular thought."

  "Never mentioned it to anybody until now, when you were sent for tocome here?"

  "No, sir, never, to anybody."

  "And you have never known the gentleman standing there as anybody butMr. Anderson?"

  "No, sir, never heard any other name but Anderson."

  The Coroner glanced at the Counsel.

  "I think this may be a convenient opportunity for Mr. Aylmore to givethe explanation he offered a few minutes ago," he said. "Do you suggestanything?"

  "I suggest, sir, that if Mr. Aylmore desires to give any explanation heshould return to the witness-box and submit himself to examinationagain on his oath," replied the Counsel. "The matter is in your hands."

  The Coroner turned to Aylmore.

  "Do you object to that?" he asked.

  Aylmore stepped boldly forward and into the box.

  "I object to nothing," he said in clear tones, "except to being askedto reply to questions about matters of the past which have not andcannot have anything to do with this case. Ask me what questions youlike, arising out of the evidence of the last two witnesses, and I willanswer them so far as I see myself justified in doing so. Ask mequestions about matters of twenty years ago, and I shall answer them ornot as I see fit. And I may as well say that I will take all theconsequences of my silence or my speech."

  The Treasury Counsel rose again.

  "Very well, Mr. Aylmore," he said. "I will put certain questions toyou. You heard the evidence of David Lyell?"

  "I did."

  "Was that quite true as regards yourself?"

  "Quite true--absolutely true."

  "And you heard that of the last witness. Was that also true!"

  "Equally true."

  "Then you admit that the evidence you gave this morning, before thesewitnesses came on the scene, was not true?"

  "No, I do not! Most emphatically I do not. It was true."

  "True? You told me, on oath, that you parted from John Marbury onWaterloo Bridge!"

  "Pardon me, I said nothing of the sort. I said that from theAnglo-Orient Hotel we strolled across Waterloo Bridge, and that shortlyafterwards we parted--I did not say where we parted. I see there is ashorthand writer here who is taking everything down--ask him if that isnot exactly what I said?"

  A reference to the stenographer proved Aylmore to be right, and theTreasury Counsel showed plain annoyance.

  "Well, at any rate, you so phrased your answer that nine persons out often would have understood that you parted from Marbury in the openstreets after crossing Waterloo Bridge," he said. "Now--?"

  Aylmore smiled.

  "I am not responsible for the understanding of nine people out of tenany more than I am for your understanding," he said, with a sneer. "Isaid what I now repeat--Marbury and I walked across Waterloo Bridge,and shortly afterwards we parted. I told you the truth."

  "Indeed! Perhaps you will continue to tell us the truth. Since you haveadmitted that the evidence of the last two witnesses is absolutelycorrect, perhaps you will tell us exactly where you and Marbury didpart?"

  "I will--willingly. We parted at the door of my chambers in FountainCourt."

  "Then--to reiterate--it was you who took Marbury into the Temple thatnight?"

  "It was certainly I who took Marbury into the Temple that night."

  There was another murmur amongst the crowded benches. Here at any ratewas fact--solid, substantial fact. And Spargo began to see a possiblecourse of events which he had not anticipated.

  "That is a candid admission, Mr. Aylmore. I suppose you see a certaindanger to yourself in making it."

  "I need not say whether I do or I do not. I have made it."

  "Very good. Why did you not make it before?"

  "For my own reasons. I told you as much as I considered necessary forthe purpose of this enquiry. I have virtually altered nothing now. Iasked to be allowed to make a statement, to give an explanation, assoon as Mr. Lyell had left this box: I was not allowed to do so. I amwilling to make it now."

  "Make it then."

  "It is simply this," said Aylmore, turning to the Coroner. "I havefound it convenient, during the past three years, to rent a simple setof chambers in the Temple, where I could occasionally--veryoccasionally, as a rule--go late at night. I also found it convenient,for my own reasons--with which, I think, no one has anything to do--torent those chambers under the name of Mr. Anderson. It was to mychambers that Marbury accompanied me for a few moments on the midnightwith which we are dealing. He was not in them more than five minutes atthe very outside: I parted from him at my outer door, and I understoodthat he would leave the Temple by the way we had entered and woulddrive or walk straight back to his
hotel. That is the whole truth. Iwish to add that I ought perhaps to have told all this at first. I hadreasons for not doing so. I told what I considered necessary, that Iparted from Marbury, leaving him well and alive, soon after midnight."

  "What reasons were or are they which prevented you from telling allthis at first?" asked the Treasury Counsel.

  "Reasons which are private to me."

  "Will you tell them to the court?"

  "No!"

  "Then will you tell us why Marbury went with you to the chambers inFountain Court which you tenant under the name of Anderson?"

  "Yes. To fetch a document which I had in my keeping, and had kept forhim for twenty years or more."

  "A document of importance?"

  "Of very great importance."

  "He would have it on him when he was--as we believe he was--murderedand robbed?"

  "He had it on him when he left me."

  "Will you tell us what it was?"

  "Certainly not!"

  "In fact, you won't tell us any more than you choose to tell?"

  "I have told you all I can tell of the events of that night."

  "Then I am going to ask you a very pertinent question. Is it not a factthat you know a great deal more about John Marbury than you have toldthis court?"

  "That I shall not answer."

  "Is it not a fact that you could, if you would, tell this court moreabout John Marbury and your acquaintanceship with him twenty yearsago?"

  "I also decline to answer that."

  The Treasury Counsel made a little movement of his shoulders and turnedto the Coroner.

  "I should suggest, sir, that you adjourn this enquiry," he saidquietly.

  "For a week," assented the Coroner, turning to the jury.

  The crowd surged out of the court, chattering, murmuring, exclaiming--spectators, witnesses, jurymen, reporters, legal folk, police folk, allmixed up together. And Spargo, elbowing his own way out, and busilyreckoning up the value of the new complexions put on everything by theday's work, suddenly felt a hand laid on his arm. Turning he foundhimself gazing at Jessie Aylmore.