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Page 26
That was not much--but it was of considerable importance.
Only two days before, said Mr. Chilstone--that was, on the day
previous to his death--Mr. John Braden had called at the
London & Colonies Bank, of which he, Mr. Chilstone, was
manager, and introducing himself as having just arrived in
England from Australia, where, he said, he had been living
for some years, had asked to be allowed to open an account.
He produced some references from agents of the London &
Colonies Bank, in Melbourne, which were highly satisfactory;
the account being opened, he paid into it a sum of ten
thousand pounds in a draft at sight drawn by one of those
agents. He drew nothing against this, remarking casually that
he had plenty of money in his pocket for the present: he did
not even take the cheque-book which was offered him, saying
that he would call for it later.
"He did not give us any address in London, nor in England,"
continued the witness. "He told me that he had only arrived
at Charing Cross that very morning, having travelled from
Paris during the night. He said that he should settle down
for a time at some residential hotel in London, and in the
meantime he had one or two calls, or visits, to make in the
country: when he returned from them, he said, he would call on
me again. He gave me very little information about himself:
it was not necessary, for his references from our agents in
Australia were quite satisfactory. But he did mention that he
had been out there for some years, and had speculated in
landed property--he also said that he was now going to settle
in England for good. That," concluded Mr. Chilstone, "is all
I can tell of my own knowledge. But," he added, drawing a
newspaper from his pocket, "here is an advertisement which I
noticed in this morning's Times as I came down. You will
observe," he said, as he passed it to the Coroner, "that it
has certainly been inserted by our unfortunate customer."
The Coroner glanced at a marked passage in the personal column
of the Times, and read it aloud:
"The advertisement is as follows," he announced. "'If this
meets the eye of old friend Marco, he will learn that Sticker
wishes to see him again. Write J. Braden, a/o London &
Colonies Bank, Threadneedle Street, London.'"
Bryce was keeping a quiet eye on Ransford. Was he mistaken in
believing that he saw him start; that he saw his cheek flush
as he heard the advertisement read out? He believed he was
not mistaken--but if he was right, Ransford the next instant
regained full control of himself and made no sign. And Bryce
turned again to Coroner and witness.
But the witness had no more to say--except to suggest that the
bank's Melbourne agents should be cabled to for information,
since it was unlikely that much more could be got in England.
And with that the middle stage of the proceedings ended--and
the last one came, watched by Bryce with increasing anxiety.
For it was soon evident, from certain remarks made by the
Coroner, that the theory which Archdale had put forward at the
club in Bryce's hearing the previous day had gained favour
with the authorities, and that the visit of the jurymen to the
scene of the disaster had been intended by the Coroner to
predispose them in behalf of it. And now Archdale himself, as
representing the architects who held a retaining fee in
connection with the Cathedral, was called to give his opinion
--and he gave it in almost the same words which Bryce had heard
him use twenty-four hours previously. After him came the
master-mason, expressing the same decided conviction--that the
real truth was that the pavement of the gallery had at that
particular place become so smooth, and was inclined towards
the open doorway at such a sharp angle, that the unfortunate
man had lost his footing on it, and before he could recover it
had been shot out of the arch and over the broken head of St.
Wrytha's Stair. And though, at a juryman's wish, Varner was
recalled, and stuck stoutly to his original story of having
seen a hand which, he protested, was certainly not that of the
dead man, it soon became plain that the jury shared the
Coroner's belief that Varner in his fright and excitement had
been mistaken, and no one was surprised when the foreman,
after a very brief consultation with his fellows, announced a
verdict of death by misadventure.
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