The Middle of Things Read online

  CHAPTER XX

  SURPRISING READINESS

  Mr. Pawle made a gesture which seemed to denote a certain amount oftriumphant self-satisfaction.

  "I'm sure I'm right!" he exclaimed. "You'll find out that I'm right! Butthere's a tremendous lot to do, Carless. If only that unfortunate man,Ashton, had lived, he could have cleared this matter up at once. I feelconvinced that he possessed papers which would have proved this girl'sclaim beyond dispute. Those papers, of course--"

  "Now, what particular papers are you thinking of?" interrupted Mr.Carless.

  "Well," replied Mr. Pawle, "such papers as proofs of her father'smarriage, and of her own birth. According to what she told us just now,her father was married in Australia, and she herself was born there.There must be documentary proof of that."

  "Her father was probably married under his assumed name of Wickham,"observed Mr. Carless. "You'll have to prove that Wickham and LordMarketstoke were identical--were one and the same person. The fact is,Pawle, if this girl's claim is persisted in, there'll have to be a verysearching inquiry made in Australia. However much I may feel that yourtheory may be--probably is--right, I should have to advise my client,Lord Ellingham, to insist on the most complete investigation."

  "To be sure, to be sure!" assented Mr. Pawle. "That's absolutelynecessary. But my own impression is that as we get into the secret ofAshton's murder, as I make no doubt we shall, there will be more evidenceforthcoming. Now, as regards this man, whoever he is, who claims to bethe missing Lord Marketstoke--"

  At that moment a clerk entered the room and glanced at Mr. Carless.

  "Telephone message from Methley and Woodlesford, sir," he announced. "Mr.Methley's compliments, and if agreeable to you, he can bring his clienton to see you this afternoon--at once, if convenient."

  Mr. Carless looked at Mr. Pawle, and Mr. Pawle nodded a silent assent.

  "Tell Mr. Methley it's quite agreeable and convenient," answered Mr.Carless. "I shall be glad to see them both--at once. Um!" he mutteredwhen the clerk had withdrawn. "Somewhat sudden, eh, Pawle? You mightalmost call it suspicious alacrity. Evidently the gentleman has no fearof meeting us!"

  "You may be quite certain, Carless, if my theory about the whole thing isa sound theory, that the gentleman will have no fear of meeting anybody,not even a judge and jury!" answered Mr. Pawle sardonically. "If Iapprehend things rightly, he'll have been very carefully coached andprepared."

  "You think there's a secret conspiracy behind all this?" suggested Mr.Carless. "With this claimant as cat's-paw--well tutored to his task?"

  "I do!" affirmed Mr. Pawle. "Emphatically, I do!"

  "Aye, well!" said Mr. Carless. "Don't forget what I told you about themissing finger--middle finger of the right hand. And I'll have Driver inhere, and Portlethwaite, too; we'll see if he knows which is which of thethree of us. I'll go and prepare them."

  He returned presently with his partner, a quiet, elderly man; a fewminutes later Portlethwaite, evidently keenly interested, joined them.They and Mr. Pawle began to discuss certain legal matters connectedwith the immediate business, and Viner purposely withdrew to a cornerof the room, intent on silently watching whatever followed on thearrival of the visitors. A quarter of an hour later Methley was showninto the room, and the five men gathered there turned with one accordto look at his companion, a tall, fresh-coloured, slightly grey-hairedman of distinctly high-bred appearance, who, Viner saw at once, wasmuch more self-possessed and assured in manner than any of the men whorose to meet him.

  "My client, Mr. Cave, who claims to be Earl of Ellingham," said Methley,by way of introduction. "Mr. Car--"

  But the other man smiled quietly and immediately assumed a lead.

  "There is no need of introduction, Mr. Methley," he said. "I remember allthree gentlemen perfectly! Mr. Carless--Mr. Driver--and--yes, to be sure,Mr. Portlethwaite! I have a good memory for faces." He bowed to each manas he named him, and smiled again. "Whether these gentlemen remember meas well as I remember them," he remarked, "is another question!"

  "May I offer you a chair?" said Mr. Carless.

  The visitor bowed, sat down, and took off his gloves. And in the silencewhich followed, Viner saw that the eyes of Driver, Carless, Pawle andPortlethwaite were all steadily directed on the claimant's righthand--he himself turned to it, too, with no small interest. The nextinstant he was conscious that an atmosphere of astonishment and surprisehad been set up in that room. For the middle finger of the man's righthand was missing!

  Viner felt, rather than saw, that the three solicitors and the elderlyclerk were exchanging glances of amazement. And he fancied that Mr.Carless' voice, which had sounded cold and noncommittal as he offered thevisitor a seat, was somewhat uncertain when he turned to address him.

  "You claim, sir, to be the Lord Marketstoke who disappeared so many yearsago?" he asked, eyeing the claimant over.

  "I claim to be exactly what I am, Mr. Carless," answered the visitorwith another ready and pleasant smile. "I hope your memory will come toyour aid."

  "When a man has disappeared--absolutely--for something like thirty-fiveyears," remarked Mr. Carless, "those whom he has left behind may well beexcused if their memories don't readily respond to sudden demands. But Ishould like to ask you some questions? Did you see the advertisementswhich were issued, broadcast, at the time of the seventh Earl ofEllingham's death?"

  "Yes--in several English and Colonial papers," answered the claimant.

  "Why did you not reply to them?"

  "At that time I still persevered in my intention of never again havinganything to do with my old life. I had no desire--at all--to come forwardand claim my rights. So I took no notice of your advertisements."

  "And since then--of late, to be exact--you have changed your mind?"suggested Mr. Carless dryly.

  "To a certain extent only," replied the visitor, whose calm assurance wasevidently impressing the legal practitioners around him. "I have alreadytold Mr. Methley and his partner, Mr. Woodlesford, that I have no desireto assume my title nor to require possession of the estates which arecertainly mine. I have lived a free life too long to wish for--what Ishould come in for if I established my claim. But I have a right to ashare in the property which I quite willingly resign to my nephew--"

  "In plain language," said Mr. Carless, "if you are paid a certainconsiderable sum of money, you will vanish again into the obscurity fromwhence you came? Am I right in that supposition?"

  "I don't like your terminology, Mr. Carless," answered the visitor with aslight frown. "I have not lived in obscurity, and--"

  "If you are what you claim to be, sir, you are Earl of Ellingham," saidMr. Carless firmly, "and I may as well tell you at once that if you proveto us that you are, your nephew, who now holds title and estates, will atonce relinquish both. There will be no bargaining. It is all or nothing.Our client, whom we know as Earl of Ellingham, is not going to traffic.If you are what you claim to be, you are head of the family and must takeyour place."

  "We could have told you that once for all, if you had come to us in thefirst instance," remarked Mr. Driver. "Any other idea is out of thequestion. It seems to me most remarkable that such a notion as that whichyou suggest should ever enter your head, sir. If you are Earl ofEllingham, you are!"

  "And that reminds me," said Mr. Carless, "that there is anotherquestion I should like to ask. Why, knowing that we have been legaladvisers to your family for several generations, did you not comestraight to us, instead of going--Mr. Methley, I'm sure, will pardonme--to a firm of solicitors which, as far as I know, has never had anyconnection with it!"

  "I thought it best to employ absolutely independent advice," replied thevisitor. "And I still think I was right. For example, you evidently donot admit my claim?"

  "We certainly admit nothing, at present!" declared Mr. Carless with alaugh. "It would be absurd to expect it. The proofs which your solicitorsshowed us this morning are no proofs at all. That those papers belongedto the missing Lord Marketstoke there is
no doubt, but your possession ofthem at present does not prove that you are Lord Marketstoke or LordEllingham. They may have been stolen!"

  The claimant rose from his chair with a good deal of dignity. He glancedat Methley.

  "I do not see that any good can come of this interview, Mr. Methley," heremarked in quiet, level tones. "I am evidently to be treated as animpostor. In that case,"--he bowed ceremoniously to the men gatheredaround Mr. Carless' desk--"I think it best to withdraw."

  Therewith he walked out of the room; and Methley, after a quiet word withCarless, followed--to be stopped in the corridor, for a second time thatday, by Viner, who had hurried after him.

  "I'm not going to express any opinion on what we've just heard,"whispered Viner, drawing Methley aside, "but in view of what I told youthis morning, there's something I want you to do for me."

  "Yes!" said Methley. "What?"

  "That unlucky fellow Hyde, who is on remand, is to be brought before themagistrate tomorrow morning," answered Viner. "Get him--this claimantthere, to attend the court as a spectator--go with him! Use any argumentyou like, but get him there! I've a reason--which I'll explain later."

  "I'll do my best," promised Methley. "And I've an idea of what's on yourmind. You want to find out if Hyde can recognize him as the man whom hemet at the Markendale Square end of Lonsdale Passage?"

  "Well, that is my idea!" assented Viner. "So get him there."

  Methley nodded and turned away; then he turned back and pointed atCarless' room.

  "What do they really think in there?" he whispered. "Tell me--betweenourselves?"

  "That he is an impostor, and that there's a conspiracy," replied Viner.

  Methley nodded again, and Viner went back. The men whom he had left weretalking excitedly.

  "It was the only course to take!" Mr. Carless was declaring."Uncompromising hostility! We could do no other. You saw--quitewell--that he was all for money. I will engage that we could have settledwith him for one half of what he asked. But--who is he?"

  "The middle finger of his right hand is gone!" said Mr. Pawle, who hadbeen very quiet and thoughtful during the recent proceedings. "Rememberthat, Carless!"

  "A most extraordinary coincidence!" exclaimed Mr. Carless excitedly. "Idon't care twopence what anybody says--we all know that the mostsurprising coincidences do occur. Nothing but a coincidence! Iassert--what is it, Portlethwaite?"

  The elderly clerk had been manifesting a strong desire to get in a word,and he now rapped his senior employer's elbow.

  "Mr. Carless," he said earnestly, "you know that before I came to you,now nearly forty years ago, I was a medical student: you know, too, youand Mr. Driver, why I gave up medicine for the law. But--I haven'tforgotten all of that I learned in the medical schools and thehospitals."

  "Well, Portlethwaite," demanded Mr. Carless, "what is it? You'vesome idea?"

  "Gentlemen," answered the elderly clerk. "I was always particularlyinterested in anatomy in my medical student days. I've been lookingattentively at what I could see of that man's injured finger since he satdown at that desk. And I'll lay all I have that he lost the two joints ofthat finger within the last three months! The scar over the stump had notlong been healed. That's a fact!"

  Mr. Carless looked round with a triumphant smile.

  "There!" he exclaimed. "What did I tell you? Coincidence--nothing butcoincidence!"

  But Portlethwaite shook his head.

  "Why not say design, Mr. Carless?" he said meaningly. "Why not saydesign? If this man, or the people who are behind him, knew that the realLord Marketstoke had a finger missing, what easier--in view of the stakethey're playing for--than to remove one of this man's fingers? Design,sir, design. All part of the scheme!"

  The elderly clerk's listeners looked at each other.

  "I'll tell you what it is!" exclaimed Mr. Pawle with sudden emphasis."The more we see and hear of this affair, the more I'm convinced that itis, as Portlethwaite says, a conspiracy. You know, that fellow who hasjust been here was distinctly taken aback when you, Carless, informed himthat it was going to be a case of all or nothing. He--or the folk behindhim--evidently expected that they'd be able to effect a money settlement.Now, I should say that the real reason of his somewhat hasty retirementwas that he wanted to consult his principal or principals. Did you noticethat he was not really affronted by your remark? Not he! His personaldignity wasn't ruffled a bit. He was taken aback! He's gone off toconsult. Carless, you ought to have that man carefully shadowed, to seewhere and to whom he goes."

  "Good idea!" muttered Mr. Driver. "We might see to that."

  "I can put a splendid man on to him, at once, Mr. Carless," remarkedPortlethwaite. "If you could furnish me with his address--"

  "Methley and Woodlesford know it," said Mr. Carless. "Um--yes, that mightbe very useful. Ring Methley's up, Portlethwaite, and ask if they wouldoblige us with the name of Mr. Cave's hotel--some residential hotel inLancaster Gate, I believe."

  Mr. Pawle and Viner went away, ruminating over the recent events, andwalked to the old lawyer's offices in Bedford Row. Mr. Pawle's ownparticular clerk met them as they entered.

  "There's Mr. Roland Perkwite, of the Middle Temple, in your room, sir,"he said, addressing his master. "You may remember him, sir--we've briefedhim once or twice in some small cases. Mr. Perkwite wants to see youabout this Ashton affair--he says he's something to tell you."

  Mr. Pawle looked at Viner and beckoned him to follow.

  "Here a little, and there a little!" he whispered. "What are we going tohear this time?"