The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume (autobiographies to read txt) 📕

Calton, carelessly; “come in—come in!”

Kilsip closed the door softly, and gliding along in his usual velvet-footed manner, sat down in a chair near Calton’s, and placing his hat on the ground, looked keenly at the barrister.

“Well, Kilsip,” said Calton, with a yawn, playing with his, watch chain, “any good news to tell me?”

“Well, nothing particularly new,” purred the detective, rubbing his hands together.

“Nothing new, and nothing true, and no matter,” said Calton, quoting Emerson. “And what have you come to see me about?”

“The Hansom Cab Murder,” replied the other quietly.

“The deuce!” cried Calton, startled out of his professional dignity. “And have you found out who did it?”

“No!” answered Kilsip, rather dismally; “but I have, an idea.”

“So had Gorby,” retorted Calton, dryly, “an idea that ended in smoke. Have you any practical proofs?”

“Not yet.”

“That means you are going to get some?”

“If possible.”

“Much virtue in ‘if,’” quoted Calton, picking up a pencil, and scribbling idly on his blotting paper. “And to whom does your suspicion point?”

“Aha!” said Mr. Kilsip, cautiously.

“Don’t know him,” answered the other, coolly; “family name Humbug, I presume. Bosh! Whom do you suspect?”

Kilsip looked round cautiously, as if to make sure they were alone, and then said, in a stage whisper—

“Roger Moreland!”

“That was the young man that gave evidence as to how Whyte got drunk?”

Kilsip nodded.

“Well, and how do you connect him with the murder?”

“Do you remember in the evidence given by the cabmen, Royston and Rankin, they both swore that the man who was with Whyte on that night wore a diamond ring on the forefinger of the right hand?”

“What of that? Nearly every second man in Melbourne wears a diamond ring?”

“But not on the forefinger of the right hand.”

“Oh! And Moreland wears a ring in that way?”

“Yes!”

“Merely a coincidence. Is that all your proof?”

“All I can obtain at present.”

“It’s very weak,” said Calton, scornfully.

“The weakest proofs may form a chain to hang a man,” observed Kilsip, sententiously.

“Moreland gave his evidence clearly enough,” said Calton, rising, and pacing the room. “He met Whyte; they got drunk together. Whyte went out of the hotel, and shortly afterwards Moreland followed with the coat, which was left behind by Whyte, and then someone snatched it from him.”

“Ah, did they?” interrupted Kilsip, quickly.

“So Moreland says,” said Calton, stopping short. “I understand; you think Moreland was not so drunk as he would make out, and that after following Whyte outside, he put on his coat, and got into the cab with him.”

“That is my theory.”

“It’s ingenious enough,” said the barrister; “but why should Moreland murder Whyte? What motive had he?”

“Those papers—”

“Pshaw! another idea of Gorby’s,” said Calton, angrily. “How do you know there were any papers?”

The fact is, Calton did not intend Kilsip to know that Whyte really had papers until he heard what Fitzgerald had to tell him.

“And another thing,” said Calton, resuming his walk, “if your theory is correct, which I don’t think it is, what became of Whyte’s coat? Has Moreland got it?”

“No, he has not,” answered the detective, decisively.

“You seem very positive about it,” said the lawyer, after a moment’s pause. “Did you ask Moreland about it?”

A reproachful look came into Kilsip’s white face.

“Not quite so green,” he said, forcing a smile. “I thought you’d a better opinion of me than that, Mr. Calton. Ask him?—no.”

“Then how did you find out?”

“The fact is, Moreland is employed as a barman in the Kangaroo Hotel.”

“A barman!” echoed Calton; “and he came out here as a gentleman of independent fortune. Why, hang it, man, that in itself is sufficient to prove that he had no motive to murder Whyte. Moreland pretty well lived on Whyte, so what could have induced him to kill his golden goose, and become a barman—pshaw! the idea is absurd.”

“Well, you may be right about the matter,” said Kilsip, rather angrily; “and if Gorby makes mistakes I don’t pretend to be infallible. But, at all events, when I saw Moreland in the bar he wore a silver ring on the forefinger of his right hand.”

“Silver isn’t a diamond.”

“No; but it shows that was the finger he was accustomed to wear his ring on. When I saw that, I determined to search his room. I managed to do so while he was out, and found—”

“A mare’s nest?”

Kilsip nodded.

“And so your castle of cards falls to the ground,” said Calton, jestingly. “Your idea is absurd. Moreland no more committed the murder than I did. Why, he was too drunk on that night to do anything.”

“Humph—so he says.”

“Well, men don’t calumniate themselves for nothing.”

“It was a lesser danger to avert a greater one,” replied Kilsip, coolly. “I am sure that Moreland was not drunk on that night. He only said so to escape awkward questions as to his movements. Depend upon it he knows more than he lets out.”

“Well, and how do you intend to set about the matter?”

“I shall start looking for the coat first.”

“Ah I you think he has hidden it?”

“I am sure of it. My theory is this. When Moreland got out of the cab at Powlett Street—”

“But he didn’t,” interrupted Calton, angrily.

“Let us suppose, for the sake of argument, that he did,” said Kilsip, quietly. “I say when he left the cab he walked up Powlett Street, turned to the left down George Street, and walked back to town through the Fitzroy Gardens, then, knowing that the coat was noticeable, he threw it away, or rather, hid it, and walked out of the Gardens through the town—”

“In evening dress—more noticeable than the coat.”

“He wasn’t in evening dress,” said Kilsip, quietly.

“No, neither was he,” observed Calton, eagerly, recalling the evidence at the trial. “Another blow to your theory. The murderer was in evening dress—the cabman said so.”

“Yes; because he had seen Mr. Fitzgerald in evening dress a few minutes before, and thought that he was the same man who got into the cab with Whyte.”

“Well, what of that?”

“If you remember, the second man had his coat buttoned up. Moreland wore dark trousers—at least, I suppose so—and, with the coat buttoned up, it was easy for the cabman to make the mistake, believing, as he did, that it was Mr. Fitzgerald.”

“That sounds better,” said Calton, thoughtfully. “And what are you going to do?”

“Look for the coat in the Fitzroy Gardens.”

“Pshaw! a wild goose chase.”

“Possibly,” said Kilsip, as he arose to go.

“And when shall I see you again?” said Calton.

“Oh, tonight,” said Kilsip, pausing at, the door. “I had nearly forgotten, Mother Guttersnipe wants to see you.”

“Why? What’s up?”

“She’s dying, and wants to tell you some secret.”

“Rosanna Moore, by Jove!” said Calton. “She’ll tell me something about her. I’ll get to the bottom of this yet. All right, I’ll be here at eight o’clock.”

“Very well, sir!” and the detective glided out.

“I wonder if that old woman knows anything?” said Calton to himself, as he, resumed his seat. “She may have overheard some conversation between Whyte and his mistress, and intends to divulge it. Well, I’m afraid when Fitzgerald does confess, I shall know all about it beforehand.”

 

CHAPTER XXVII.

 

MOTHER GUTTERSNIPE JOINS THE MAJORITY.

 

Punctual to his appointment, Kilsip called at Calton’s office at eight o’clock, in order to guide him through the squalid labyrinths of the slums. He found the barrister waiting impatiently for him. The fact is, Calton had got it into his head that Rosanna Moore was at the bottom of the whole mystery, and every new piece of evidence he discovered went to confirm this belief. When Rosanna Moore was dying, she might have confessed something to Mother Guttersnipe, which would hint at the name of the murderer, and he had a strong suspicion that the old hag had received hush-money in order to keep quiet. Several times before Calton had been on the point of going to her and trying to get the secret out of her—that is, if she knew it; but now fate appeared to be playing into his hands, and a voluntary confession was much more likely to be true than one dragged piecemeal from unwilling lips.

By the time Kilsip made his appearance Calton was in a high state of excitement.

“I suppose we’d better go at once,” he said to Kilsip, as he lit a cigar. “That old hag may go off at any moment.”

“She might,” assented Kilsip, doubtfully; “but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if she pulled through. Some of these old women have nine lives like a cat.”

“Not improbable,” retorted Calton, as they passed into the brilliantly-lighted street; “her nature seemed to me to be essentially feline. But tell me,” he went on, “what’s the matter with her—old age?”

“Partly; drink also, I think,” answered Kilsip. “Besides, her surroundings are not very healthy, and her dissipated habits have pretty well settled her.”

“It isn’t anything catching, I hope,” cried the barrister, with a shudder, as they passed into the crowd of Bourke Street.

“Don’t know, sir, not being a doctor,” answered the detective, stolidly.

“Oh!” ejaculated Calton, in dismay.

“It will be all right, sir,” said Kilsip, reassuringly; “I’ve been there dozens of times, and I’m all right.”

“I dare say,” retorted the barrister; “but I may go there once and catch it, whatever it is.”

“Take my word, sir, it’s nothing worse than old age and drink.”

“Has she a doctor?”

“Won’t let one come near her—prescribes for herself.”

“Gin, I suppose? Humph! Much more unpleasant than the usual run of medicines.”

In a short time they found themselves in Little Bourke Street, and after traversing a few dark and narrow lanes—by this time they were more or less familiar to Calton—they found themselves before Mother Guttersnipe’s den.

They climbed the rickety stairs, which groaned and creaked beneath their weight, and found Mother Guttersnipe lying on the bed in the corner. The elfish black-haired child was playing cards with a slatternly-looking girl at a deal table by the faint light of a tallow candle.

They both sprang to their feet as the strangers entered, and the elfish child pushed a broken chair in a sullen manner towards Mr. Calton, while the other girl shuffled into a far corner of the room, and crouched down there like a dog. The noise of their entry awoke the hag from an uneasy slumber into which she had fallen. Sitting up in bed, she huddled the clothes round her. She presented such a gruesome spectacle that involuntarily Calton recoiled. Her white hair was unbound, and hung in tangled masses over her shoulders in snowy profusion. Her face, parched and wrinkled, with the hooked nose, and beady black eyes, like those of a mouse, was poked forward, and her skinny arms, bare to the shoulder, were waving wildly about as she grasped at the bedclothes with her claw-like hands. The square bottle and the broken cup lay beside her, and filling herself a dram, she lapped it up greedily.

The irritant brought on a paroxysm of coughing which lasted until the elfish child shook her well, and took the cup from her.

“Greedy old beast,” muttered this amiable infant, peering into the cup, “ye’d drink the Yarrer dry, I b’lieve.”

“Yah!” muttered the old woman feebly. “Who’s they, Lizer?” she said, shading her eyes with one trembling hand, while she looked at Calton and the detective.

“The perlice cove an’ the swell,” said Lizer, suddenly. “Come to see yer turn up your toes.”

“I ain’t dead yet, ye whelp,” snarled the hag with sudden energy; “an’ if I gits up I’ll turn up yer toes, cuss ye.”

Lizer gave a