`But I had to be careful. I didn't know the owner of the house; and he might know the value of this. If I offered the workmen money to let me have it, I must be careful not to offer too much, or they would grow suspicious and insist on more….'
Sir William smiled tightly. `I explained it was something of sentimental interest to a man who had lived here before. And I said, "Look here, I'll give you ten dollars for this." Even at that, they were suspicious; I think they had some idea of buried — treasure, or directions for finding it, or something. The ghost of Poe, would have enjoyed that.’ Again that chuckle behind the closed teeth. Sir William swept out his arm.
'But they looked over it, and saw that it was only — "a kind of a story, or some silly damn thing, with long words at the beginning." Finally they compromised at twenty dollars, and I took the manuscript away
`As you may know, the leading authorities on Poe are Professor Hervey. Allen of New York and Dr Robertson of Baltimore. I knew Robertson, and took my find to him. First I made him promise that, no, matter what I showed him, he would never mention it to anybody.’
Rampole was watching the chief inspector. During the recital Hadley had become — not precisely bored, but restive and impatient.
`But why, keep it a secret?' he demanded. `If there, was any trouble about your right, you were at least first claimant; you could have; bought it. And you'd made what you say, is a great discovery.'
Sir William stared at him, and then shook his head. `You don't understand,' he replied at length. `And I can't: explain. I wanted no trouble. I wanted this great thing, a secret between Poe and myself, for myself. For nobody else to see unless I chose.'
A sort of pale fierceness was in his face; the orator was at a loss for words to explain something powerful and intangible.
`At any rate, Robertson is a man of honour. He promised, and he will keep; his, promise, even though he urged me to do as you say, Hadley. But, naturally, 'I refused… Gentlemen, the manuscript was what I thought; it was even better.!
'And what was it?' Dr Fell asked, rather sharply.
Sir William opened his lips, and then hesitated.
`One moment, gentlemen. It is not that I do not — ah — trust you. Of course not. Ha! But so much I have told openly, to strangers. Excuse me. I prefer to keep my secret a bit longer. Well enough to tell you what it was when you have heard my story of the theft, and decide whether you can help me.'
There was a curious expression on Dr Fell's face; not contemptuous, not humorous, not bored, but a mixture of the three.
`Suppose, you tell us,' he suggested, `the facts of the theft, and whom you suspect!
'It was taken from my house in Berkeley Square at sometime between Saturday afternoon and Sunday — morning. Adjoining my bedroom upstairs I have a dressing-room which I use a good deal as a study. The greater part of my collection is, of course, downstairs in the library and my study there. I had been examining the manuscript in my upstairs study on Saturday afternoon.. '
`Was it locked up?' Hadley inquired.
`No. Nobody — at least, so I thought — knew of it, and I saw no reason for unusual precautions. It was merely in a drawer of my desk.'
`What about the members of your household? Did they know of it?'
Sir William jerked his head down in a sort of bow. 'I'm glad you asked that, Hadley. Don't think 'I shall take um brage at the suggestion; but I couldn't make it myself. At least — not immediately. Naturally I don't suspect them; ha!'
'Naturally,' said the inspector, placidly. `Well?'
'At the present, my household consists of my daughter Sheila, my brother Lester, and his wife. My nephew by marriage, Philip, has a flat of his own, but he generally eats Sunday dinner with us. That is all — with the exception of one guest, Mr Julius Arbor, the American collector.'
Sir William examined his finger nails. There was a pause.
`As to who knew about it,' he resumed, waving a careless hand; `my family knew that I had brought back a valuable manuscript with me, of course. But none of them is in the least interested in such matters, and the mere words, "another manuscript," was sufficient explanation.!
'And Mr Arbor?'
Sir William said, evenly: `I had intended to show it to him. He has a fine collection of Poe first editions. But I had not mentioned it.!
'Go on,' said Hadley, stolidly.
`As I have said, I was examining the manuscript on Saturday afternoon; fairly early. Later I went to the Tower of London…'
`To the Tower of London?'
`A very old friend of mine, General Mason, is deputy governor there. He and his secretary have done some very fine research into the Tower records. They wanted me to see a recently discovered record dealing with Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. I returned home, dined alone, and afterwards went to the theatre. I did not go into my study then, and after the theatre it was rather late; so I turned in immediately. I discovered the theft on Sunday morning. There was no attempt at burglarious entry at any time; all the windows were locked, and nothing else in the house had been touched.'
'Was the drawer locked?' Hadley asked. `No.'
`I see. What did you do then?'
`I summoned my valet,' Sir William's bony fingers rapped flatly on the table; he twisted his long neck, and several times started to speak before he resumed. `And I must confess, Hadley, that I was at first suspicious of him. He was a new man; he had been in my employ only a few months. He had the closest access to my rooms and could prowl as he liked without suspicion. But — well, he seemed too earnest, too dog-like, too thoroughly stupid at anything beyond his immediate duties. He was obviously upset and tongue-tied when I questioned him later, but that was a product of his natural dullness.!
'And his story?'
`He had no story,' Sir William said, irritably. `He had noticed nothing suspicious, seen nothing whatever. I had difficulty getting it through his head how important the thing was; even what I was looking for. It was the same thing with the rest of the servants. They had noticed nothing.'
`What about the members of the — household?'
`My daughter Sheila had been out all Saturday afternoon. When she returned, she was in the house only a short time, and then she went out to dinner with the chap she's engaged to.. General Mason's secretary, by the way. My brother Lester and his wife were visiting friends in the west of England; they only returned on Sunday evening. Philip -
Philip Driscoll, my nephew — comes to see us only on Sundays. Consequently, nobody noticed anything suspicious at the time the manuscript could have been stolen.'
`And this — Mr Arbor?' The other reflected, rubbing his dry hands together.
`A very fine chap,' he answered. `Reserved, scholarly, a trifle sardonic at times. Quite a young man, I should say scarcely more than forty — Ah, what were you asking? Mr Arbor, yes. Unfortunately, he was not in a position to observe. An American friend of his had invited him to the country for the week-end. He left on Saturday, and did not return until this morning… That's true, by the way,' he added, dropping into normal speech and almost leering across the table; `I phoned up about it.'
Hadley nodded. He seemed to be debating something.
`I've brought you in a consulting expert,' he said slowly; nodding towards the doctor. `Dr Fell has come some little distance as a favour to me. Hence I shall wash my hand: of the business, unless you should find the thief and want to prosecute. But I should like to ask a favour it return.'