The Middle of Things Read online

  CHAPTER XV

  THE PRESENT HOLDER

  Mr. Pawle turned sharply on his companion as Viner pulled him up. He sawthe direction of Viner's suddenly arrested gaze and looked from him tothe two men who had now walked down the steps of the house and wereadvancing towards them.

  "What is it?" he asked. "Those fellows are coming away from LordEllingham's house. You seem to know them?"

  "One of them," murmured Viner. "The clean-shaven man. Look at him!"

  The two men came on in close, evidently absorbed conversation, passed Mr.Pawle and Viner without as much as a glance at them, and went along inthe direction of Park Lane.

  "Well?" demanded Mr. Pawle.

  "The clean-shaven man is the man I told you of--the man who was inconversation with Ashton at that tavern in Notting Hill the night Ashtonwas murdered," answered Viner. "The other man I don't know."

  Mr. Pawle turned and looked after the retreating figures.

  "You're sure of that?" he asked.

  "Certain!" replied Viner. "I should know him anywhere."

  Mr. Pawle came to another halt, glancing first at the two men, now wellup the street, and then at the somewhat sombre front of Ellingham House.

  "Now, this is an extraordinary thing, Viner!" he exclaimed. "There's theman who, you say, was with Ashton not very long before he came to hisend, and we find him coming away--presumably--from Lord Ellingham,certainly from Lord Ellingham's house! What on earth does it mean? And Iwonder who the man is?"

  "What I'd like to know," said Viner, "is--who is the other man? But asyou say, it is certainly a very curious thing that we should find thefirst man evidently in touch with Lord Ellingham--considering our recentdiscoveries. But--what are you going to do?"

  "Going in here," affirmed Mr. Pawle, "to the fountain-head. We may get toknow something. Have you a card?"

  The footman who took the cards looked doubtfully at them and theirpresenters.

  "His Lordship is just going out," he said, glancing over his shoulder. "Idon't know--"

  Mr. Pawle pointed to the name of his firm at the corner of his card.

  "I think Lord Ellingham will see me," he said. "Tell his lordship I shallnot detain him many minutes if he will be kind enough to give me aninterview."

  The man went away--to return in a few minutes and to lead the callersinto a room at the rear of the hall, wherein, his back to the fire, hislook and attitude one of puzzled surprise, stood a very young man,dressed in the height of fashion, who, as his servant had said, wasobviously just ready to go out. Viner, remembering what had brought himand Mr. Pawle there, looked at Lord Ellingham closely--he seemed to befrank, ingenuous, and decidedly youthful. But there was somethingdecidedly practical and business-like in his greeting of his visitors.

  "I'm afraid I can't give you very long, Mr. Pawle," he said, glancinginstinctively at the old lawyer. "I've a most important engagement inhalf an hour, and it won't be put off. But I can give you ten minutes."

  "I am deeply obliged to your lordship," answered Mr. Pawle. "As yourlordship will have seen from my card, I am one of the partners in Crawle,Pawle and Rattenbury--a firm not at all unknown, I think. Allow me tointroduce my friend Mr. Viner, a gentlemen who is deeply concerned andinterested in the matter I want to mention to your lordship."

  Lord Ellingham responded politely to Viner's bow and drew twochairs forward.

  "Sit down, Mr. Pawle; sit down, Mr. Viner," he said. He dropped into achair near a desk which stood in the centre of the room and lookedinterrogatively at his elder visitor. "Have you some business to discuss,Mr. Pawle?" he asked.

  "Some business, my lord, which, I confess at once, is of extraordinarynature," answered the old lawyer. "I will go straight to it. Yourlordship has doubtless read in the newspapers of the murder of a mannamed Ashton in Lonsdale Passage, in the Bayswater district?"

  Lord Ellingham glanced at a pile of newspapers which lay on aside-table.

  "Yes," he answered, "I have. I've been much interested in it--as amurder. A curious and mysterious case, don't you think?"

  "We," replied Mr. Pawle, waving a hand toward Viner, "know it to be amuch more mysterious case than anybody could gather from the newspaperaccounts, for they know little who have written them, and we, who arebehind the scenes, know a great deal. Now, your lordship will have seenthat a young man, an actor named Langton Hyde, has been arrested andcharged, and is on remand. This unfortunate fellow was an old schoolmateof Mr. Viner--they were at Rugby together; and Mr. Viner--and I may say Imyself also--is convinced beyond doubt of his entire innocence, and wewant to clear him; we are doing all we can to clear him. And it isbecause of this that we have ventured to call on your lordship."

  "Oh!" exclaimed Lord Ellingham. "But--what can I do! How do I come in?"

  "My lord," said Mr. Pawle in his most solemn manner, "I will go straightto this point also. We have reason to feel sure, from undoubted evidence,that Mr. John Ashton, a very wealthy man, who had recently come fromAustralia, where he had lived for a great many years, to settle here inLondon, had in his possession when he was murdered certain highlyimportant papers relating to your lordship's family, and that he wasmurdered for the sake of them!"

  The puzzled expression which Viner had noted in Lord Ellingham's boyishface when they entered the room grew more and more marked as Mr. Pawleproceeded, and he turned on the old lawyer at the end with a stare ofamazement.

  "You really think that!" he exclaimed.

  "I shall be very much surprised if I'm not right!" declared Mr. Pawle.

  "But what papers?" asked Lord Ellingham. "And what--how could this Mr.Ashton, who, you say, came from Australia, be in possession of papersrelating to my family? I never heard of him."

  "Your lordship," said Mr. Pawle, "is doubtless well aware that some yearsago there was a very strange--shall we call it romance?--in your family.A very remarkable episode, anyway, a most unusual--"

  "You mean the strange disappearance of my uncle--this Lord Marketstoke?"interrupted Lord Ellingham with a smile. "Oh, of course, I know allabout that."

  "Very well, my lord," continued Mr. Pawle. "Then your lordship isaware that Lord Marketstoke was believed to have gone to theColonies--Australia or New Zealand--and was--lost there. His death waspresumed. Now, Ashton came from Australia, and as I say, we believe himto have brought with him certain highly important papers relative to LordMarketstoke, whom we think to have been well known to him at one time.Indeed, we felt sure that Ashton knew Lord Marketstoke's secret. Now, mylord, we are also confident that whoever killed John Ashton did so inorder to get hold of certain papers which, I feel certain, Ashton made ahabit of carrying on his person--papers relating to his friend LordMarketstoke's identity."

  Lord Ellingham remained silent for a moment, looking from one visitor toanother. It was very clear to Viner that some train of thought had beenaroused in him and that he was closely pursuing it. He fixed his gaze atlast on the old lawyer.

  "Mr. Pawle," he said quietly, "have you any proof--undoubted proof--thatMr. Ashton did possess papers relating to my long-missing uncle?"

  "Yes," answered Mr. Pawle, "I have!" He pulled out the bundle of letterswhich he and Viner had unearthed from the Japanese cabinet. "This! It isa packet of letters written by the seventh Countess of Ellingham to herelder son, the Lord Marketstoke we are talking of, when he was a boy atEton. Your Lordship will probably recognize your grandmother'shandwriting."

  Lord Ellingham bent over the letter which Mr. Pawle spread before him.

  "Yes," he said, "I know the writing quite well. And--these were in Mr.Ashton's possession?"

  "We have just found them--Mr. Viner and I--in a cabinet in his house,"replied Mr. Pawle. "They are the only papers we have so far been able tobring to light. But as I have said, we are convinced there wereothers--much more important ones!--in his possession, probably in hispocketbook."

  Lord Ellingham handed the letters back.

  "You think that this Mr. Ashton was in possession of a secret relating
tothe missing man--my uncle, Lord Marketstoke?" he asked.

  "I am convinced of it!" declared Mr. Pawle.

  Lord Ellingham glanced shrewdly at his visitors.

  "I should like to know what it was!" he said.

  "Your lordship feels as I do," remarked Mr. Pawle. "But now I shouldlike to ask a question which arises out of this visit. As we approachedyour lordship's door, just now, we saw, leaving it, two men. One ofthem, my friend Mr. Viner immediately recognized. He does not know whothe man is--"

  "Which of the two men do you mean!" interrupted Lord Ellingham. "I may aswell say that they had just left me."

  "The clean-shaven man," answered Viner.

  "Whom Mr. Viner knows for a fact," continued Mr. Pawle, "to have been inAshton's company only an hour or so before Ashton's murder!"

  Lord Ellingham looked at Viner in obvious surprise.

  "But you do not know who he is?" he exclaimed.

  "No," replied Viner, "I don't. But there is no doubt of the truth of whatMr. Pawle has just said. This man was certainly with Mr. Ashton at atavern in Notting Hill from about nine-thirty to ten-thirty on theevening of Ashton's death. In fact, they left the tavern together."

  The young nobleman suddenly pulled open a drawer in his desk, produced abox of cigarettes and silently offered it to his visitors. He lighted acigarette himself, and for a moment smoked in silence--it seemed to Vinerthat his youthful face had grown unusually grave and thoughtful.

  "Mr. Pawle," he said at last, "I'm immensely surprised by what you'vetold me, and all the more so because this is the second surprise I've hadthis afternoon. I may as well tell you that the two gentlemen whom yousaw going away just now brought me some very astonishing news--yourscomes right on top of it! And, if you please, I'd rather not say anymore about it, just now, but I'm going to make a proposal to you. Willyou--and Mr. Viner, if he'll be so good--meet me tomorrow morning, say atnoon, at my solicitors' offices?"

  "With pleasure!" responded Mr. Pawle. "Your lordship's solicitors are--"

  "Carless and Driver, Lincoln's Inn Fields," answered Lord Ellingham.

  "Friends of ours," said Mr. Pawle. "We will meet your lordship there attwelve o 'clock to the minute."

  "And--you'll bring that with you?" suggested Lord Ellingham, pointing tothe packet of letters which Mr. Pawle held in his hand.

  "Just so, my lord," assented Mr. Pawle. "And we'll be ready to tell allwe know--for there are further details."

  Outside the house the old lawyer gripped Viner's elbow.

  "That boy knows something!" he said with a meaning smile. "He's astuteenough for his age--smart youngster! But--what does he know? Those twomen have told him something. Viner, we must find out who that clean-shavenman is. I have some idea that I have seen him before--I shouldn't be atall surprised if he's a solicitor, may have seen him in some court orother. But in that case I wonder he didn't recognize me."

  "He didn't look at you," replied Viner. "He and the other man were toomuch absorbed in whatever it was they were talking about. I have beenwondering since I first saw him at the tavern," he continued, "if Iought not to tell the police what I know about him--I mean, that hewas certainly in Ashton's company on the evening of the murder. Whatdo you think?"

  "I think not, at present," replied Mr. Pawle. "It seems evident--unless,indeed, it was all a piece of bluff, and it may have been--that this manis, or was when you saw him, just as ignorant as the landlord of thatplace was that the man who used to drop in there and Ashton were one andthe same person. No, let the police go on their own lines--we're onothers. We shall hear of this man again, whoever he is. Now I must getback to my office--come there at half-past eleven tomorrow morning,Viner, and we'll go on to Carless and Driver's."

  Viner went thoughtfully homeward, ruminating over the events of the day,and entered his house to find his two guests, the sisters of the unluckyHyde, in floods of tears, and Miss Penkridge looking unusually grave. Theelder Miss Hyde sprang up at sight of him and held a tear-soakedhandkerchief towards him in pantomimic appeal.

  "Oh, Mr. Viner," she exclaimed, "you are so kind, and so clever. I'm sureyou'll see a way out of this! It looks, oh, so very black, and so verymuch against him; but oh, dear Mr. Viner, there must be someexplanation!"

  "But what is it?" asked Viner, looking from one to the other. "What hashappened! Has any one been here?"

  Miss Penkridge silently handed to her nephew an early edition of one ofthe evening newspapers and pointed to a paragraph in large type. AndViner rapidly read it over, to the accompaniment of the younger MissHyde's sobs.

  A sensational discovery in connection with the recent murder of Mr.Ashton in Lonsdale Passage, Bayswater, was made in the early hours ofthis morning. Charles Fisher, a greengrocer, carrying on business in theHarrow Road, found in his woodshed, concealed in a nook in the wall, aparcel containing Mr. Ashton's gold watch and chain and a diamond ring.He immediately communicated with the police, and these valuables are nowin their possession. It will be remembered that Langton Hyde, the youngactor who is charged with the crime, and who is now on remand, stated atthe coroner's inquest that he passed the night on which the crime wascommitted in a shed in this neighbourhood.

  Viner read this news twice over. Then a sudden idea occurred to him, andhe turned to leave the room.

  "I don't think you need be particularly alarmed about this," he saidto the weeping sisters. "Cheer up, till I return--I am going round tothe police."