THE VANISHING MAN
A Detective Romance
BY R. AUSTIN FREEMAN
1911
TO MY FRIEND
A.E.B.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I THE VANISHING MAN II THE EAVESDROPPER III JOHN THORNDYKE IV LEGAL COMPLICATIONS AND A JACKAL V THE WATERCRESS-BED VI SIDELIGHTS VII JOHN BELLINGHAM'S WILL VIII A MUSEUM IDYLL IX THE SPHINX OF LINCOLN'S INN X THE NEW ALLIANCE XI THE EVIDENCE REVIEWED XII A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY XIII THE CROWNER'S QUEST XIV WHICH CARRIES THE READER INTO THE PROBATE COURT XV CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE XVI "O! ARTEMIDORUS, FAREWELL!" XVII THE ACCUSING FINGERXVIII JOHN BELLINGHAM XIX A STRANGE SYMPOSIUM XX THE END OF THE CASE
CHAPTER I
THE VANISHING MAN
The school of St. Margaret's Hospital was fortunate in its lecturer onMedical Jurisprudence, or Forensic Medicine, as it is sometimesdescribed. At some schools the lecturer on this subject is appointedapparently for the reason that he lacks the qualifications to lecture onany other. But with us it was very different: John Thorndyke was notonly an enthusiast, a man of profound learning and great reputation, buthe was an exceptional teacher, lively and fascinating in style and ofendless resources. Every remarkable case that had ever been recorded heappeared to have at his fingers' ends; every fact--chemical, physical,biological, or even historical--that could in any way be twisted into amedico-legal significance, was pressed into his service; and his ownvaried and curious experiences seemed as inexhaustible as the widow'scruse. One of his favourite devices for giving life and interest to arather dry subject was that of analysing and commenting uponcontemporary cases as reported in the papers (always, of course, with adue regard to the legal and social proprieties); and it was in this waythat I first became introduced to the astonishing series of events thatwas destined to exercise so great an influence on my own life.
The lecture which had just been concluded had dealt with the ratherunsatisfactory subject of survivorship. Most of the students had leftthe theatre, and the remainder had gathered round the lecturer's tableto listen to the informal comments that Dr. Thorndyke was wont todeliver on these occasions in an easy, conversational manner, leaningagainst the edge of the table and apparently addressing his remarks to astick of blackboard chalk that he held in his fingers.
"The problem of survivorship," he was saying, in reply to a question putby one of the students, "ordinarily occurs in cases where the bodies ofthe parties are producible, or where, at any rate, the occurrence ofdeath and its approximate time are actually known. But an analogousdifficulty may arise in a case where the body of one of the parties isnot forthcoming, and the fact of death may have to be assumed oncollateral evidence.
"Here, of course, the vital question to be settled is, what is thelatest instant at which it is certain that this person was alive? Andthe settlement of that question may turn on some circumstance of themost trivial and insignificant kind. There is a case in this morning'spaper which illustrates this. A gentleman has disappeared rathermysteriously. He was last seen by the servant of a relative at whosehouse he had called. Now, if this gentleman should never reappear, deador alive, the question as to what was the latest moment at which he wascertainly alive will turn upon the further question: 'Was he or was henot wearing a particular article of jewellery when he called at thatrelative's house?'"
He paused with a reflective eye bent upon the stump of chalk that hestill held; then, noting the expectant interest with which we wereregarding him, he resumed:
"The circumstances in this case are very curious; in fact, they arehighly mysterious; and if any legal issues should arise in respect ofthem, they are likely to yield some very remarkable complications. Thegentleman who has disappeared, Mr. John Bellingham, is a man well knownin archaeological circles. He recently returned from Egypt, bringingwith him a very fine collection of antiquities--some of which, by theway, he has presented to the British Museum, where they are now onview--and having made this presentation, he appears to have gone toParis on business. I may mention that the gift consisted of a very finemummy and a complete set of tomb-furniture. The latter, however, had notarrived from Egypt at the time when the missing man left for Paris, butthe mummy was inspected on the fourteenth of October at Mr. Bellingham'shouse by Dr. Norbury of the British Museum, in the presence of the donorand his solicitor, and the latter was authorised to hand over thecomplete collection to the British Museum authorities when thetomb-furniture arrived; which he has since done.
"From Paris he seems to have returned on the twenty-third of November,and to have gone direct from Charing Cross to the house of a relative, aMr. Hurst, who is a bachelor and lives at Eltham. He appeared at thehouse at twenty minutes past five, and as Mr. Hurst had not yet comedown from town and was not expected until a quarter to six, he explainedwho he was and said he would wait in the study and write some letters.The housemaid accordingly showed him into the study, furnished him withwriting materials, and left him.
"At a quarter to six Mr. Hurst let himself in with his latchkey, andbefore the housemaid had time to speak to him he had passed through intothe study and shut the door.
"At six o'clock, when the dinner bell was rung, Mr. Hurst entered thedining-room alone, and, observing that the table was laid for two, askedthe reason.
"'I thought Mr. Bellingham was staying to dinner, sir,' was 'Thehousemaid's' reply.
"'Mr. Bellingham!' exclaimed the astonished host. 'I didn't know he washere. Why was I not told?'
"'I thought he was in the study with you, sir,' said the housemaid.
"On this a search was made for the visitor, with the result that he wasnowhere to be found. He had disappeared without leaving a trace, andwhat made the incident more odd was that the housemaid was certain thathe had not gone out by the front door. For since neither she nor thecook was acquainted with Mr. John Bellingham, she had remained the wholetime either in the kitchen, which commanded a view of the front gate, orin the dining-room, which opened into the hall opposite the study door.The study itself has a French window opening on a narrow grass plot,across which is a side gate that opens into an alley; and it appearsthat Mr. Bellingham must have made his exit by this rather eccentricroute. At any rate--and this is the important fact--he was not in thehouse, and no one had seen him leave it.
"After a hasty meal Mr. Hurst returned to town and called at the officeof Mr. Bellingham's solicitor and confidential agent, a Mr. Jellicoe,and mentioned the matter to him. Mr. Jellicoe knew nothing of hisclient's return from Paris, and the two men at once took the train downto Woodford, where the missing man's brother, Mr. Godfrey Bellingham,lives. The servant who admitted them said that Mr. Godfrey was not athome, but that his daughter was in the library, which is a detachedbuilding situated in a shrubbery beyond the garden at the back of thehouse. Here the two men found, not only Miss Bellingham, but also herfather, who had come in by the back gate.
"Mr. Godfrey and his daughter listened to Mr. Hurst's story with thegreatest surprise, and assured him that they had neither seen nor heardanything of John Bellingham.
"Presently the party left the library to walk up to the house; but onlya few feet from the library door Mr. Jellicoe noticed an object lying inthe grass and pointed it out to Mr. Godfrey.
"The latter picked it up, and they all recognised it as a scarab whichMr. John Bellingham had been accustomed to wear suspended from hiswatch-chain. There was no mistaking it. It was a very fine scarab of theeighteenth dynasty fashioned of lapis lazuli and engraved with thecartouche of Amenhotep III. It had been suspended by a gold ringfastened to a wire which passed through the suspension hole, and thering, though broken, was still in position.
"This discovery, of course, only added to the mystery, whi
ch was stillfurther increased when, on inquiry, a suit-case bearing the initialsJ.B. was found to be lying unclaimed in the cloak-room at Charing Cross.Reference to the counterfoil of the ticket-book showed that it had beendeposited about the time of arrival of the Continental express on thetwenty-third of November, so that its owner must have gone straight onto Eltham.
"That is how the affair stands at present, and, should the missing mannever reappear or should his body never be found, the question, as yousee, which will be required to be settled is, 'What is the exact timeand place, when and where, he was last known to be alive?' As to theplace, the importance of the issues involved in that question areobvious and we need not consider them. But the question of time hasanother kind of significance. Cases have occurred, as I pointed out inthe lecture, in which proof of survivorship by less than a minute hassecured succession to property. Now, the missing man was last seen aliveat Mr. Hurst's house at twenty minutes past five on the twenty-third ofNovember. But he appears to have visited his brother's house atWoodford, and, since nobody saw him at that house, it is at presentuncertain whether he went there before or after calling on Mr. Hurst. Ifhe went there first, then twenty minutes past five on the evening of thetwenty-third is the latest moment at which he is known to have beenalive; but if he went there after, there would have to be added to thistime the shortest possible time in which he could travel from the onehouse to the other.
"But the question as to which house he visited first hinges on thescarab. If he was wearing the scarab when he arrived at Mr. Hurst'shouse, it would be certain that he went there first; but if it was notthen on his watch-chain, a probability would be established that hewent first to Woodford. Thus, you see, a question which may conceivablybecome of the most vital moment in determining the succession ofproperty turns on the observation or non-observation by this housemaidof an apparently trivial and insignificant fact."
"Has the servant made any statement on the subject, sir?" I ventured toinquire.
"Apparently not," replied Dr. Thorndyke; "at any rate, there is noreference to any such statement in the newspaper report, though,otherwise, the case is reported in great detail; indeed, the wealth ofdetail, including plans of the two houses, is quite remarkable and wellworth noting as being in itself a fact of considerable interest."
"In what respect, sir, is it of interest?" one of the students asked.
"Ah!" replied Dr. Thorndyke, "I think I must leave you to consider thatquestion yourself. This is an untried case, and we mustn't make freewith the actions and motives of individuals."
"Does the paper give any description of the missing man, sir?" I asked.
"Yes; quite an exhaustive description. Indeed, it is exhaustive to theverge of impropriety, considering that the man may possibly turn upalive and well at any moment. It seems that he has an old Pott'sfracture of the left ankle, a linear, longitudinal scar on eachknee--origin not stated, but easily guessed at--and that he has tattooedon his chest in vermilion a very finely and distinctly executedrepresentation of the symbolical Eye of Osiris--or Horus or Ra, as thedifferent authorities have it. There certainly ought to be nodifficulty in identifying the body. But we will hope that it won't cometo that.
"And now I must really be running away, and so must you; but I wouldadvise you all to get copies of the paper and file them when you haveread the remarkably full details. It is a most curious case, and it ishighly probable that we shall hear of it again. Good afternoon,gentlemen."
Dr. Thorndyke's advice appealed to all who heard it, for medicaljurisprudence was a live subject at St. Margaret's and all of us werekeenly interested in it. As a result, we sallied forth in a body to thenearest newsvendor's, and, having each provided himself with a copy ofthe _Daily Telegraph_, adjourned together to the Common Room to devourthe report and thereafter to discuss the bearings of the case,unhampered by those considerations of delicacy that afflicted our moresqueamish and scrupulous teacher.