CHAPTER XXVI
"We have solved the mystery of Godfrey Pavely's death!"
Such were the words with which Sir Angus Kinross greeted Lord St. Amant,when the latter, arriving at his rooms, found the Commissioner of Policealready there.
"D'you mean that you've run Fernando Apra to earth?"
The speaker felt relieved, and at the same time rather discomfited. Hehad not associated the Commissioner of Police's summons with that nowhalf-forgotten, painful story. Godfrey Pavely had vanished out of hismind, as he had vanished out of every one else's mind in theneighbourhood of Pewsbury, and in the last few months when Sir Angus andLord St. Amant had met they had seldom alluded to the strange occurrencewhich had first made them become friends.
But now, seeing that the other looked at him with a singular look ofhesitation, there came a slight feeling of apprehension over St. Angus'shost.
"Have you actually got the man here, in England? If so, I suppose poorMrs. Pavely is bound to have a certain amount of fresh trouble inconnection with the affair?"
"We have not got the man who called himself Fernando Apra, and we arenever likely to have him. In fact, I regard it as certain that we shallnot even be able to connect him directly with the murder--for murder itcertainly was, St. Amant."
"Murder?"
Lord St. Amant repeated the word reluctantly, doubtfully. He wasbeginning to feel more and more apprehensive. There was something sostrange and so sombre in the glance with which the Commissioner ofPolice accompanied his words.
During that fortnight when they had so constantly seen one another lastyear, Sir Angus had never once looked surprised, annoyed--or even putout! There had been about him a certain imperturbability, both of temperand of manner. He now looked infinitely more disturbed than he had doneeven at the moment when he had first seen Godfrey Pavely's dead bodysitting up in Fernando Apra's sinister-looking office.
"Yes," he went on in a low, incisive voice, "it was murder right enough!And we already hold a warrant, which will be executed the day afterto-morrow, this next Friday----"
He waited a moment, then uttered very deliberately the words: "It is awarrant for the arrest of Mr. Oliver Tropenell on the charge of havingmurdered Mr. Godfrey Pavely on or about the 5th of last January."
"I--I don't understand what you mean! Surely Oliver Tropenell was notmasquerading as Fernando Apra?" exclaimed Lord St. Amant. "If one canbelieve a mass of quite disinterested evidence, the two men were utterlyunlike!"
"That is so, and there was of course a man who masqueraded, andmasqueraded most successfully, both in Paris and in London, as FernandoApra. That man, St. Amant, was----"
Lord St. Amant bent forward eagerly while his mind, his still vigorous,intelligent, acute mind, darted this way and that. What name--whosename--was Sir Angus going to utter?
He was not long left in suspense.
"That man," said Sir Angus slowly, impressively, "was Mrs. Pavely'sbrother, a certain Gilbert Baynton, who is, we are informed, thebusiness partner of Mr. Tropenell in Mexico. It was _he_ who masqueradedas Fernando Apra. But it was not he who actually fired the pistol shotwhich killed Godfrey Pavely----"
When he had heard the name Gilbert Baynton, it was as if a great lighthad suddenly burst in on Lord St. Amant's brain. In spite of everythinghe felt a sharp thrill of relief.
"Good God!" he exclaimed. "There's been a terrible mistake--but it's onethat I can set right in a very few minutes. Believe me, you're on thewrong track altogether! If murder there was--murder, and notmanslaughter, which I venture to think much more probable--then GilbertBaynton was Godfrey Pavely's murderer. The two men hated one another. Itall comes back to me--not only had they a quarrel years ago, but thatsame quarrel was renewed not long before Godfrey Pavely's disappearance.Nothing--_nothing_--would induce me to believe that Oliver Tropenell isa murderer!"
"I'm afraid you'll soon be brought round to believe it," said Sir Angusruefully. "I am of course well aware of what you say concerning GilbertBaynton's relations to his brother-in-law. We've already found all thatout, especially as we had a willing witness close to our hand.Unfortunately--I say unfortunately, St. Amant, for of course I know heis a thorough bad hat--we have irrefutable evidence that this manBaynton did _not_ commit the murder. He was certainly in Paris at thetime when Godfrey Pavely was killed in London."
Sir Angus took a turn up and down the room--then he came back to wherethe other man was sitting.
"You can take it from me, St. Amant, that there has never been, in thewhole history of criminal jurisprudence, so far as I am acquainted withit, any crime planned out with such infinite care, ingenuity,and--and--well, yes, I must say it, a kind of almost diabolical cunning.So true is that that----" He took another turn up and down the room, andthen once more he came and stood before his friend: "Well, I considerthe murderer has a very good sporting chance of getting off--scot free!He will be able to command the best legal advice as well as the bestintellects at the Criminal Bar--that he himself has no mean intellect hehas proved over this business. Yes, I shouldn't be in the leastsurprised if he managed to scrape through! More fortunate than most ofhis kind, he has a new country to which he will be able to retire withthe widow of the man he murdered--if she can be brought to believe inhim. And, mind you, women can be brought to believe _anything_ of thosethey love, or at any rate, they can be brought to _seem_ to believeanything!"
He waited a moment, and then added abruptly, "I formed the opinion thatMrs. Pavely was a very unusual woman, St. Amant."
"But you don't think--surely you don't think----"
"No, no----" Sir Angus was very decided. "I certainly don't think Mrs.Pavely was in any way concerned in this appalling plot. And mindyou--ill as I think of him, I must admit that Oliver Tropenell's a braveman. He did the job himself--even if he was helped by his friend."
He waited a moment. Somehow St. Amant was taking the news far more toheart than he had expected.
"I'll tell you everything in time, but it's a long, complicated story;and of course I'm trusting entirely to your honour in the matter. What Itell you now must never go beyond these four walls."
Sir Angus sat down, and Lord St. Amant listened, half of his brainacutely, sensitively alive to the story that was being told him--theother half in a kind of stupor of grief, of shame, and of horror. Thatsecond half of his brain was dominated by one name, one thought, oneheart-beat--Letty, the dear, the beloved woman who had just promised tomarry him, to bring him the solace of her care and companionship in theevening of his days....
* * * * *
"Apart from certain most cleverly devised breaks in the story--to whichI shall make allusion presently--Oliver Tropenell's best chance lies inthe absence of adequate motive. Why should this millionaire wish tomurder a man who, as he will easily be able to prove, was not only anintimate friend, but also a connection of his own? Our answer to thatquestion will be to put in these two anonymous letters."
Sir Angus took out of his pocket the two letters which had caused poorGodfrey Pavely such acute discomfort just a year before.
Lord St. Amant read them through, carefully, in silence.
"Still, as I daresay you know, judges look very much askance atanonymous letters, and especially in a trial for murder. Also theseprove so _very_ little--the more so that there seems to have been notalk at all about Tropenell and Mrs. Pavely in the neighbourhood. Shebears, and has always borne, a very high character. As for theseletters, they were evidently written by a woman--and by an educatedwoman. Any one familiar with disguised handwriting could tell you _that_much. Of course I have my own theory as to who wrote them."
Lord St. Amant nodded. "Yes, so have I."
"Still, I'm not bound to give my theory to either side, am I? I foreseethat very probably these letters will remain anonymous. A great manypeople who think themselves clever will put them down to some dismissedservant.
"The fact that Mr. Tropenell left England for Mexico so soon after thediscovery
of Mr. Pavely's body is a good point on his side. The judgewill argue, above all the jury will argue, that if he had been in lovewith Mrs. Pavely--if he had loved her, that is, with a guiltypassion--he would not have left her just after she had become a widow.Nothing compelled him to do so. It has been suggested, but from a personwho does not intend to go into the witness-box if she can help it, thatTropenell and Mrs. Pavely are now secretly engaged. My answer to thatis--why shouldn't they be? Many a man has married his best friend'swidow without any one supposing that he committed murder in order toattain that satisfaction!"
"Have you proof--irrefutable proof--pointing to the guilt of OliverTropenell?"
"What is irrefutable proof? It can be proved that Oliver Tropenell spentmany weeks on the Continent in the company of the man who undoubtedlymasqueraded as Fernando Apra, and that for a certain portion of thattime the two men exchanged identities. Nothing can shake that portion ofthe evidence. But there is no record of the two having met, later, inLondon--I mean during the time when the net was certainly being drawnround Godfrey Pavely. And, as I said before, Gilbert Baynton--_alias_Fernando Apra--has an absolute alibi. He was certainly in Paris on theday when all trace of Pavely was lost. There seems no doubt at all thatthe evidence of the London hotel manager was most artfully arranged for.The man's story was given in good faith, but the incident occurred afull week before Mr. Pavely was done to death."
"But where does Tropenell come in?"
"As to the movements of Mr. Oliver Tropenell, we have not been quite sofortunate in tracing them. But even so, we have evidence that during thefateful three days on one of which the murder was certainly committed,he was staying in London, having just arrived from the Continent. Ipersonally have no doubt at all that it was on Thursday, January the5th, that, lured by a cleverly concocted letter signed 'Fernando Apra,'the hapless Pavely went to Duke House to find Tropenell lying in waitfor him. The two men may have had words--they probably _did_ havewords. But whatever passed--and look at it as you may, St. Amant--it wasdeliberate murder."
Lord St. Amant stood up. His turn had come to astound the Commissionerof Police.
"Yes," he said, "yes, if your theory is correct, Kinross, it wasdeliberate murder--to me far the more terrible fact, because themurderer will soon be my stepson. I am to be married to Mrs. Tropenellby special licence next week."
And as the Commissioner of Police, transfixed with surprise, remainedsilent, the other went on, speaking rather quietly and coldly, "It isonly fair on my part to tell you this. Indeed, perhaps I ought to havetold you at once--I mean when I first gathered the purport of what youwished to say to me."
Sir Angus shook his head. He was filled with a great pity, as well as agreat admiration, for the man--who now looked such an old man--standingthere facing him.
"Look here," he said slowly. "I oughtn't perhaps to make such asuggestion to you--but we've become friends, St. Amant. That is why Iventure to advise you that before this next Friday you should get thesetwo unfortunate ladies, Mrs. Tropenell and Mrs. Pavely, out of thecountry. Take them away--hide them away--in France or in Spain! If youdo that they will be spared a fathomless measure of anguish and ofshame. The presence of neither of them is essential to the course ofjustice, and if they remain in England they will certainly each becalled as witnesses, in which case Mrs. Pavely will go through--well, Ican only describe it as _hell_. It is not as if the presence of eitherof them would be really beneficial to Oliver Tropenell."
"Can you say that quite truly about his mother?" asked Lord St. Amantsearchingly.
Sir Angus looked up with a very troubled expression of face.
"No, I fear I can't," he answered, frankly, "for if Mrs. Tropenell canbring herself to believe her son absolutely innocent, then, in the handsof a skilful counsel, I have to admit that her evidence might be ofgreat sentimental value to Tropenell. But the same cannot be said ofMrs. Pavely's presence in the witness-box. Whichever way you look at it,Mrs. Pavely's presence is bound to be, in a judicial sense, detrimentalto the man in the dock. She is, if I may say so, St. Amant, a singularlyattractive woman, and ten out of every twelve of the men in Court wouldprobably regard her as providing a very adequate 'motive'!"
There was a pause, and then Sir Angus began again:
"What would you say to our persuading Mrs. Pavely to leave England for awhile, leaving only Mrs. Tropenell to face the music?"
"Mrs. Pavely," said Lord St. Amant thoughtfully, "would probably refuseto leave England. I think, I fear, that she loves OliverTropenell--passionately."
He added abruptly, "Are you having him watched?"
Sir Angus cleared his throat. "Well, no, not exactly _watched_. We areof course aware that he has been staying with you for the past week, andthat he is going back to Freshley Manor--is it to-morrow, or the dayafter to-morrow? I take it that he would probably prefer to be arrestedin his mother's house."
A feeling of sick horror came over the other man's heart. "I--I supposeso," he muttered.
And then Sir Angus Kinross dropped his voice: "You really know this manand I don't. Do you think it advisable that he should be prepared forwhat is coming--that _you_, for instance, St. Amant----"
"Do you mean," exclaimed Lord St. Amant, "that I may--warn him?"
The other nodded. "Yes, that is what I suggest that you should do. Itake it that we can be quite sure that he will do nothing mad orfoolish--that he will not try to get away, for instance? It would bequite useless, and I need hardly point out that it would ruin hischances--later. I think you are at liberty to tell him, as from yourselfof course, that you have reason to think he has a sporting chance, St.Amant. But I am trusting, not only to your honour, but to your secrecyand--and discretion."
The other nodded gravely. "Tropenell's not the sort of man to run away."
"No, I don't think he is--once he knows the game is up," answered theCommissioner of Police a trifle grimly.