everard myatt — or catherton hunt — was lost again. martin hewitt had been wholly successful, for he had recovered mr. bell’s missing bonds; but the police caught neither of the conspirators. investigation at henning’s lodgings showed that careful preparations must have been made for an immediate flight if it should become necessary, and the flight had taken place. the man in the hospital, who had been knocked down in carrying from one to the other the extraordinary message that hewitt deciphered, remained insensible for a few days, and could not be questioned till some time later still. then he professed to have forgotten all about the message on which he was going when he met his accident, and the medical men in attendance informed the police that it was quite possible that the fellow’s statement was true. he said that he did carry messages sometimes, when he could get a job, but he could remember nothing of the message of the key, nor of who had sent him, nor where he was to go. nevertheless, the police, although they professed to accept his statement, kept a wary eye on him after his discharge from the hospital, for they had a very great suspicion that he knew more than he chose to tell. but nothing more was heard of the accomplices till another case of martin hewitt’s brought the news, and that in a manner strange enough.
the matter began, as so many matters of hewitt’s did, with the receipt of a telegram, followed immediately by another. for the first having been handed in at a country office not very long before eight the previous evening, it was not delivered at hewitt’s office till the morning, in accordance with the ancient manners and customs observed in the telegraphic system of this country. it had been despatched from throckham, in middlesex, and it was simply a very urgently worded request to hewitt to come at once, signed “claire peytral.” the second telegram, which came even as hewitt was reading the first, on his arrival at his office, ran thus:—
“did you receive telegram? see newspapers. matter life or death. would come personally but cannot leave mother. pray answer. — peytral.”
the answer went instantly that hewitt would come by the next train, for he had seen the morning paper and from that knew the urgency of the case. but a consultation of the railway guide showed that trains to throckham were fewer than one might suppose, considering the proximity of the village to london, and that the next would leave in about an hour and a quarter; so that i saw hewitt before he started. he came up to my rooms, in fact, as i was beginning to breakfast.
“see here,” he said, “i am sent for in the throckham case. have you seen the report?”
as a leader writer, i had little business with the news side of my paper, and indeed i had no more than a vague recollection of some such heading as: “tragedy in a barn,” in one evening paper of the day before, and “murder at throckham” in another. so i could claim no very exact knowledge of the affair.
“here you have a paper, i see,” hewitt said, reaching for it. “perhaps their report is fuller than that in mine.” he gave me his own newspaper and began searching in the other. “no,” he said presently, “much the same. news agency report to both papers, no doubt.”
the report which i read ran as follows:—
“singular tragedy. — an extraordinary occurrence is reported from throckham, a small village within fifteen miles of london, involving a tragic fatality that has led to a charge of murder. on thursday evening an old barn, for some time disused, was discovered to be on fire, and it was only by extraordinary exertions on the part of the villagers that the fire was extinguished. upon an examination of the place yesterday morning the body of mr. victor peytral, a gentleman who had lived in the neighbourhood for some time, and who had been missing since shortly before the discovery of the fire, was found in the ruins. the body was burnt almost beyond recognition, but not so much as to conceal the fact that the unfortunate gentleman had not perished in the fire, but had been the victim of foul play. the throat was very deeply cut, and there can be no doubt that the murderer must have fired the barn with the object of destroying all traces of the crime. the police have arrested mr. percy bowmore, a frequent visitor at the house of the deceased.”
“my telegram,” said hewitt, “is plainly from a relative of this mr. peytral who is dead — perhaps a daughter, since she speaks of being unable to leave her mother. in that case, probably an only child, since there is no other to leave.”
“unless the others are too young,” i suggested.
“just so,” hewitt replied. “well, brett,” he added, “to-day is saturday.”
saturday was, of course, my “off” day, and i understood hewitt to hint that if i pleased i might accompany him to throckham. “saturday it is,” i said, “and i have no engagements. would you care for me to come?”
“as you please, of course. i can guess very little of the case as yet, naturally, beyond what i have read in the paper; but the subtle sense of my experience tells me that there is all the chance of an interesting case in this. that’s your temptation. as for myself, i don’t mind admitting that — especially in these country cases, where the resources of civilisation are not always close at hand — i’m never loth to have a friend with me who isn’t too proud to be made use of. that’s my temptation!”
no persuasion was needed, and in due time we set out together.
