Foe-Farrell | Page 3

to this pool of light,
smoothed it and read:
"'Thames-side Mystery
"'A Coroner's jury at C--, a 'village' on the south bank of the Thames,
not a hundred miles below Gravesend--'"
"Seems a lot of mystery about it already," observed Polkinghorne.
"Don't they give the name of the village?"
"No; they just call it 'C--,' and, what's more, they put 'village' into
inverted commas. Don't know why: but there's a hint at the end."
"Proceed."
Sammy proceeded.
"'--Was engaged yesterday in holding an inquest on the body of an
unknown man, found lying at highwater mark in a creek some way
below the village. A local constable had discovered the body: but
neither the officer who attended nor the river police could afford any
clue to the deceased's identity. Medical evidence proved that death was
due to drowning, although the corpse had not been long immersed: but
a sensation was caused when the evidence further disclosed that it bore
an incised wound over the left breast, in itself sufficient to cause death
had not suffocation quickly supervened.
"'The body was further described, in the police evidence, as that of a
middle-aged man, presumably a gentleman. It was clad in a black
'evening-dress' suit, and two pearl studs of some value remained in the
limp shirt-front; from which, however, a third and fellow stud was
missing. The Police Inspector--who asked for an open verdict, pending
further inquiry--added that the linen, and the clothing generally, bore
no mark leading to identification. Further, if a crime had been
committed, the motive had not been robbery. The trousers-pockets
contained a sovereign, and eighteen shillings in silver. In the waistcoat
was a gold watch (which had stopped at 10.55), with a chain and a

sovereign-purse containing two sovereigns and a half-sovereign: in the
left-hand breast pocket of the dinner-jacket a handkerchief, unmarked:
in the right-hand pocket a bundle of notes and a worn bean-shaped case
for a pair of eyeglasses. The glasses were missing. The Police had
carefully dried the notes and separated them. They were nine one
pound notes; all numbered, of course. Beyond this and the number on
the watch there was nothing to afford a clue.'--"
Here Barham paused for a glance up at the roof of the dug-out, as two
explosions sounded pretty near at hand. "Huns saying good-night," he
interpolated. "Can't have spotted us. Nothing doing aloft these three
days."
Polkinghorne looked across the light at the C.O., who sat
unaccountably silent, his face inscrutable in the penumbra. Taking
silence for "yes," Polkinghorne arose and put his head outside for a
look around.
"Queer story, you'll admit, sir?" put in Sammy Barham during this
pause. "Shall I go on, or wait for the rollicking Polly to hear it out?--for
the queerest part is to come."
"I know," said Otway, after some two or three seconds' silence.
"Eh? . . . But it's just here, sir, the thing of a sudden gets mysteriouser
and mysteriouser--"
Polkinghorne came back. "Nerves," he reported. "They're potting all
over the place. . . . Here, Sammy, pass over that scrap of paper if you've
finished reading. I want to hear the end."
"It hasn't any," said Otway from the shadow.
"But, sir, when I was just warning you--"
"Dashed good beginning, anyway," said Polkinghorne; "something like
Our Mutual Friend."

"Who's he?" asked Sammy.
"Ingenuous youth, continue," Otway commanded. "Polky wants to hear
the rest of the paragraph, and so do I."
"It goes on just like a detective story," promised Sammy. "Just you
listen to this:--
"'An incident which may eventually throw some light on the mystery
interrupted the Coroner's summing up and caused something of a
sensation. This was the appearance of an individual, evidently
labouring under strong excitement, who, having thrust his way past the
police, advanced to the Coroner's table and demanded to have sight of
the body. The man's gestures were wild, and on being asked his name
he answered incoherently. His manner seriously affected one of the jury,
who swooned and had to be removed from Court.
"'While restoratives were being applied at the 'Plume and Feathers' Inn
(adjacent to the building in which the inquest was held), the Coroner
held consultation with Police and Foreman of the Jury, and eventually
adjourned for a second inspection of the body, the stranger
accompanying them. From this inspection, as from the first,
representatives of the Press were excluded.
"'Returning to Court at the expiration of forty minutes--by which time
the absent juror had recovered sufficiently to take his seat--the Coroner
directed an open verdict to be entered and the inquiry closed.
"'The intrusive visitor did not reappear. We understand that he was
found to be suffering from acute mental derangement and is at present
under medical treatment as well as under supervision of the