The Case of the Registered Letter | Page 9

of September 23rd. As it had been his wish I said
nothing to the ladies at home, or to any one else about the occurrence.
And as I have told you, I destroyed his letter asking me to come to him.
"The following day about noon, the Commissioner of Police from G--

called at my office in the factory, and informed me bluntly that John
Siders had been found shot dead in his lodgings that morning. I was
naturally shocked, as one would be at such news, in spite of the fact
that I had parted from the man in anger, and that I had no reason to be
particularly fond of him. What shocked me most of all was the sudden
thought that John had taken his own life. It was a perfectly natural
thought when I considered his nervousness, and his peculiar actions of
the evening before. I believe I exclaimed, 'It was a suicide!' almost
without realising that I was doing so. The commissioner looked at me
sharply and said that suicide was out of the question, that it was an
evident case of murder. He questioned me as to Siders' affairs, of which
I told only what every one here in the village knew. I did not consider it
incumbent upon me to disclose to the police the disgrace of the man's
early life. I had been obliged to hurt him cruelly enough because of that,
and I saw no necessity for blackening his name, now that he was dead.
Also, as according to what the commissioner said, it was a case of
murder for robbery, I did not wish to go into any details of our
connection with Siders that would cause the name of my ward to be
mentioned. After a few more questions the commissioner left me. I was
busy all the afternoon, and did not return to my home until later than
usual. I found my aunt somewhat worried because Miss Roemer had
left the house immediately after our early dinner, and had not yet
returned. We both knew the girl to be still grieving over her broken
engagement, and we dreaded the effect this last dreadful news might
have on her. We supposed, however, that she had gone to spend the
afternoon with a friend, and were rather glad to be spared the necessity
of telling her at once what had happened. I had scarcely finished my
supper, when the door bell rang, and to my astonishment the Mayor of
Grunau was announced, accompanied by the same Police
Commissioner who had visited me in my office that morning. The
Mayor was an old friend of mine and his deeply grave face showed me
that something serious had occurred. It was indeed serious! and for
some minutes I could not grasp the meaning of the commissioner's
questions. Finally I realised with a tremendous shock that I--I myself
was under suspicion of the murder of John Siders. The description
given by the old servant of the man who had visited Siders the evening
before, the very clothes that I wore, my hat and the trousers spotted by

the purple ink, led to my identification as this mysterious visitor. The
servant had let me in but she had not seen me go out.
"Then I discovered--when confronted suddenly with my own revolver
which had been found on the floor of the room, some distance from the
body of the dead man, that this same revolver had been identified as
mine by my ward, Eleonora Roemer, who had been to the police station
at G-- in the early afternoon hours. Some impulse of loyalty to her dead
lover, some foolish feminine fear that I might have spoken against him
in my earlier interviews with the commissioner had driven the girl to
this step. A few questions sufficed to draw from her the story of her
secret engagement, of its ending, and of my quarrel with John. I will
say for her that I am certain she did not realise that all these things were
calculated to cast suspicion on me. The poor girl is too unused to the
ways of police courts, to the devious ways of the law, to realise what
she was doing. The sight of my revolver broke her down completely
and she acknowledged that it was mine. That is all. Except that I was
arrested and brought here as you see. I told the commissioner the story
of my visit to John Siders exactly as I told it to you, but it was plain to
be seen that he did not believe me. It is plain to be seen also, that he is
firmly convinced of my guilt and that he is greatly satisfied with
himself at having traced the criminal so soon."