That Affair Next Door | Page 9

a shrewd man, and thus not
likely to thoughtlessly commit himself.
I now know he was right; my pretensions dating from the moment I
found that this affair, at first glance so simple, and at the next so
complicated, had aroused in me a fever of investigation which no
reasoning could allay. Though I had other and more personal matters
on my mind, my thoughts would rest nowhere but on the details of this
tragedy; and having, as I thought, noticed some few facts in connection
with it, from which conclusions might be drawn, I amused myself with
jotting them down on the back of a disputed grocer's bill I happened to
find in my pocket.
Valueless as explaining this tragedy, being founded upon insufficient
evidence, they may be interesting as showing the workings of my mind
even at this early stage of the matter. They were drawn up under three
heads.
First, was the death of this young woman an accident?
Second, was it a suicide?
Third, was it a murder?
Under the first head I wrote:
My reasons for not thinking it an accident.

1. If it had been an accident and she had pulled the cabinet over upon
herself, she would have been found with her feet pointing towards the
wall where the cabinet had stood.
(But her feet were towards the door and her head under the cabinet.)
2. The decent, even precise, arrangement of the clothing about her feet,
which precludes any theory involving accident.
Under the second:
Reason for not thinking it suicide.
She could not have been found in the position observed without having
lain down on the floor while living and then pulled the shelves down
upon herself.
(A theory obviously too improbable to be considered.)
Under the third:
Reason for not thinking it murder.
She would need to have been held down on the floor while the cabinet
was being pulled over on her; something which the quiet aspect of the
hands and feet made appear impossible.
To this I added:
Reasons for accepting the theory of murder.
1. The fact that she did not go into the house alone; that a man entered
with her, remained ten minutes, and then came out again and
disappeared up the street with every appearance of haste and an anxious
desire to leave the spot.
2. The front door, which he had unlocked on entering, was not locked
by him on his departure, the catch doing the locking. Yet, though he
could have re-entered so easily, he had shown no disposition to return.

3. The arrangement of the skirts, which show the touch of a careful
hand after death.
Nothing clear, you see. I was doubtful of all; and yet my suspicions
tended most toward murder.
I had eaten my luncheon before interfering in this matter, which was
fortunate for me, as it was three o'clock before I was summoned to
meet the Coroner, of whose arrival I had been conscious some time
before.
He was in the front parlor where the dead girl lay, and as I took my way
thither I felt the same sensations of faintness which had so nearly
overcome me on the previous occasion. But I mastered them, and was
quite myself before I crossed the threshold.
There were several gentlemen present, but of them all I only noticed
two, one of whom I took to be the Coroner, while the other was my late
interlocutor, Mr. Gryce. From the animation observable in the latter, I
gathered that the case was growing in interest from the detective
standpoint.
"Ah, and is this the witness?" asked the Coroner, as I stepped into the
room.
"I am Miss Butterworth," was my calm reply. "Amelia Butterworth.
Living next door and present at the discovery of this poor murdered
body."
"Murdered," he repeated. "Why do you say murdered?"
For reply I drew from my pocket the bill on which I had scribbled my
conclusions in regard to this matter.
"Read this," said I.
Evidently astonished, he took the paper from my hand, and, after some
curious glances in my direction, condescended to do as I requested. The

result was an odd but grudging look of admiration directed towards
myself and a quick passing over of the paper to the detective.
The latter, who had exchanged his bit of broken china for a very much
used and tooth-marked lead-pencil, frowned with a whimsical air at the
latter before he put it in his pocket. Then he read my hurried scrawl.
"Two Richmonds in the field!" commented the Coroner, with a sly
chuckle. "I am afraid I shall have to yield to their allied forces. Miss
Butterworth, the cabinet is about to be raised; do you feel as if you
could endure the sight?"
"I can stand anything