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Page 63
"What?" demanded Bryce.
"This," replied Harker. "Why did he wish to see the Duke of
Saxonsteade? He certainly did want to see him--and as soon as
possible. You'll remember that his Grace was questioned about
that at the inquest and could give no explanation--he knew
nothing of Brake, and couldn't suggest any reason why Brake
should wish to have an interview with him. But--I can!"
"You?" exclaimed Bryce.
"I," answered Harker. "And it's this--I spoke just now of
that man Glassdale. Now you, of course; have no knowledge of
him, and as you don't keep yourself posted in criminal
history, you don't know what his offence was?"
"You said--forgery?" replied Bryce.
"Just so--forgery," assented Harker. "And the signature that
he forged was--the Duke of Saxonsteade's! As a matter of
fact, he was the Duke's London estate agent. He got wrong,
somehow, and he forged the Duke's name to a cheque. Now,
then, considering who Glassdale is, and that he was certainly
a fellow-convict of Brake's, and that I myself saw him here in
Wrychester on the day of Brake's death--what's the conclusion
to be drawn? That Brake wanted to see the Duke on some
business of Glassdale's! Without a doubt! It may have been
that he and Glassdale wanted to visit the Duke, together."
Bryce silently considered this suggestion for awhile.
"You said, just now, that Glassdale could be traced?" he
remarked at last.
"Traced--yes," replied Harker. "So long as he's in England."
"Why not set about it?" suggested Bryce.
"Not yet," said Harker. "There's things to do before that.
And the first thing is--let's get to know what the mystery of
that scrap of paper is. You say you've found Richard
Jenkins's tomb? Very well--then the thing to do is to find
out if anything is hidden there. Try it tomorrow night.
Better go by yourself--after dark. If you find anything, let
me know. And then--then we can decide on a next step. But
between now and then, there'll be the inquest on this man
Collishaw. And, about that--a word in your ear! Say as
little as ever you can!--after all, you know nothing beyond
what you saw. And--we mustn't meet and talk in public--after
you've done that bit of exploring in Paradise tomorrow night,
come round here and we'll consider matters."
There was little that Bryce could say or could be asked to say
at the inquest on the mason's labourer next morning. Public
interest and excitement was as keen about Collishaw's
mysterious death as about Braden's, for it was already
rumoured through the town that if Braden had not met with his
death when he came to Wrychester, Collishaw would still be
alive. The Coroner's court was once more packed; once more
there was the same atmosphere of mystery. But the proceedings
were of a very different nature to those which had attended
the inquest on Braden. The foreman under whose orders
Collishaw had been working gave particulars of the dead man's
work on the morning of his death. He had been instructed to
clear away an accumulation of rubbish which had gathered at
the foot of the south wall of the nave in consequence of some
recent repairs to the masonry--there was a full day's work
before him. All day he would be in and out of Paradise with
his barrow, wheeling away the rubbish he gathered up. The
foreman had looked in on him once or twice; he had seen him
just before noon, when he appeared to be in his usual health
--he had made no complaint, at any rate. Asked if he had
happened to notice where Collishaw had set down his dinner
basket and his tin bottle while he worked, he replied that it
so happened that he had--he remembered seeing both bottle and
basket and the man's jacket deposited on one of the box-tombs
under a certain yew-tree--which he could point out, if
necessary.
Bryce's account of his finding of Collishaw amounted to no
more than a bare recital of facts. Nor was much time spent in
questioning the two doctors who had conducted the post-mortem
examination. Their evidence, terse and particular, referred
solely to the cause of death. The man had been poisoned by a
dose of hydrocyanic acid, which, in their opinion, had been
taken only a few minutes before his body was discovered by Dr.
Bryce. It had probably been a dose which would cause
instantaneous death. There were no traces of the poison in
the remains of his dinner, nor in the liquid in his tin
bottle, which was old tea. But of the cause of his sudden
death there was no more doubt than of the effects.
Ransford had been in the court from the outset of the
proceedings, and when the medical evidence had been given he
was called. Bryce, watching him narrowly, saw that he was
suffering from repressed excitement--and that that excitement
was as much due to anger as to anything else. His face was
set and stern, and he looked at the Coroner with an expression
which portended something not precisely clear at that moment.
Bryce, trying to analyse it, said to himself that he shouldn't
be surprised if a scene followed--Ransford looked like a man
who is bursting to say something in no unmistakable fashion.
But at first he answered the questions put to him calmly and
decisively.
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