CHAPTER XXIX
It was arranged between Lord St. Amant and the coroner--who was hislordship's own medical attendant (when he required a medical attendant,which was seldom)--that the inquest should be held at Freshley Manor.
The body had been placed in Mrs. Tropenell's own room, that is, in thevery room, as the cook, who had been in the house close on thirty-fiveyears, explained to some of the members of the jury, where poor Mr.Oliver had been born.
So it was there, in that peaceful, old-fashioned, lady's bedchamber,that the twelve good men and true of Pewsbury had to view the body. Itwas remembered afterwards that the expression on the dead man's faceshowed how completely he had been taken by surprise: it bore anexpression of absolute serenity--almost as if he had died in his sleep.
Rather to the disapproval of some of the Pewsbury people, but with thesympathetic understanding of others, Mrs. Tropenell, by her own desire,was present at the inquest; and, supporting her on the painful occasion,was her nearest neighbour and almost daughter, Mrs. Pavely.
The chief witness was Mr. Robert Buckhurst, the gentleman who had beenhost to the ill-fated shooting party.
His evidence was quite simple and straightforward--indeed, there wasnothing at all strange or mysterious about the sad affair.
"Lord St. Amant shot a bird," he said, "and we hunted for it for sometime. We were engaged in beating up the next field, when some one said,'Where is Tropenell?' Just at that moment I heard a shot." He waited amoment, and then went on: "It sounded as if it were fifty yards away."
Again the witness paused, and then he continued gravely: "I said injest, 'I hope he has not shot himself!' And Lord St. Amant said, 'Holdmy gun, Buckhurst, and I'll walk along behind the hedge, and see if Ican find him.' He got through a gap, and he could only have gone a veryfew yards before we heard him call out. 'Come at once! He's shot!' Withthis we got through a gap, and ten paces on we saw Mr. Oliver Tropenelllying on his back, parallel with the hedge. The gun was lying across hisbody, the muzzle towards the hedge. At first we could not find thewound, but soon we discovered that he had been shot through the heart."
In reply to various questions, the witness explained how he raised Mr.Oliver Tropenell's left hand, fancying he could detect a slight flutterof the pulse. He called out for Dr. Turner, who happened to be a memberof the party. That gentleman came up, and after a brief examination,said that Mr. Tropenell was certainly dead. The charge had gone throughthe heart, and death must have been practically instantaneous. Some one,probably the keeper, opened the breech of Mr. Tropenell's gun, and foundthat the cartridge in the right-hand chamber had been exploded.
At this point, in answer to a word from a juryman, Mr. Buckhurst saidvery decidedly that there could be no doubt at all that the shot hadbeen fired by Mr. Tropenell's own gun. If he might venture to give aninformal opinion, it was perfectly plain what had happened. The groundwas rough just there, and twilight was falling. Without doubt Mr.Tropenell, on getting through the hedge, had stumbled heavily, the gunhad fallen forward, and then had occurred one of those accidents whichoccasionally do happen out shooting, and which no amount of care orexperience can prevent.
There was some little doubt as to what had been the exact position ofthe body, and while this was being discussed every one felt particularlysorry for the dead man's mother.
Following Mr. Buckhurst, Lord St. Amant went into the witness-box, andthen some inquisitive juryman asked his lordship a question as to themental condition of the deceased. In answer to that question, Lord St.Amant explained, with a good deal of emotion, that just before he andMr. Tropenell had started out on their fatal expedition they had had apleasant little talk together, during which Mr. Tropenell had seemedparticularly well and cheerful. Further, the witness threw in, as anafter-thought, the statement that the deceased gentleman had expressedconsiderable gratification at the fact that his mother, Mrs. Tropenell,and he, Lord St. Amant, had just entered together into an engagement ofmarriage.
This announcement of a forthcoming alliance which so closely touched thewhole neighbourhood naturally overshadowed the rest of the purely formalmedical evidence at the inquest. Very soon there remained nothing forthe jury to do but to return a verdict of "death by misadventure," andto express the deepest sympathy with Mr. Tropenell's mother.
A great deal of deep, unaffected sympathy, more sincere in this caseperhaps than a great deal of the sympathy which is lavished on thebereaved in this world, was felt for Mrs. Tropenell.
Her son had not only been the most devoted and excellent of sons, but hehad been such a success, such a man to be proud of! It was alsoremembered that he had done many a kindly turn to the good folk ofPewsbury in the last eighteen months or so, since he had come home tomake the first long stay he had made in their neighbourhood for over tenyears. His manner, if reserved, was always kindly and pleasant, withoutany touch of that patronage which is sometimes irritating in gentlemenof his sort. The townspeople recalled, too, the dead man's intimacy withthe late Mr. Godfrey Pavely, and the more sober among them did not failto remind one another how curious it was that in under a year those twomen, still both young as youth is counted nowadays, had been gathered totheir fathers.
And then, before Pewsbury had had time to recover from the excitement ofpoor Oliver Tropenell's tragic end, and from the announcement, givenunder such painful and dramatic circumstances, of his mother'sforthcoming marriage to Lord St. Amant, yet another thrilling sensationwas provided for the inhabitants of the little town. This was thesurprising news that Mrs. Winslow had married again!
The fortunate man was, it seemed, a certain Mr. Greville Howard, one ofthe largest subscribers to the Prince of Wales's Hospital Fund, agentleman, therefore, of evident social standing and wealth.
The ceremony had taken place at St. James's, Piccadilly, in the presenceof a few friends of the bridegroom, and the happy pair had gone straightoff to Mr. Howard's villa in the South of France. There Harber, Mrs.Winslow's faithful factotum, was to join her mistress as soon as she hadmade the necessary arrangements for the disposal, by auction, of thefurniture at Rosedean. Of that furniture two objects were at the lastmoment withdrawn from the sale--one was a china cabinet, and the other arather curious-looking old chandelier, both associated, so it wasunderstood, with the new Mrs. Greville Howard's youth.
The auctioneer regretted these omissions from the catalogue, for by badluck they were the only objects in the house which a big London dealerhad come specially down to see, and for which he had intimated that hewas prepared to give a very good price.
THE END
Transcriber's Notes:
Repeated part titles have been deleted.
Obsolete spellings and alternate spellings of words (e.g., dulness) havebeen retained.
Passages in italics were indicated by _underscores_.
On page 36, the [oe] ligature was replaced with "oe".
On page 137, "Bayton" was replaced with "Baynton".
On page 148, a period was added after "drew a piece of notepaper towardshim".
On page 159, "kindess" was replaced with "kindness".
On page 160, "contributary" was replaced with "contributory".
On page 239, "wainting" was replaced with "waiting".
On page 279, "lov" was replaced with "love".
On page 300, "affectionte" was replaced with "affectionate".
On page 329, "whispred" was replaced with "whispered".
On page 352, "Olive" was replaced with "Oliver".
On page 355, "a great deal as as" was replaced with "a great deal as".
On page 361, "expresson" was replaced with "expression".
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