The Mystery Queen | Page 7

at the heavy swollen body of his
late guardian, who, only a few hours back, had been in perfect health.
The three men glanced at one another as he said the name, and even the
policeman on guard at the door looked interested. The individual in
uniform spoke with his cold eyes on Dan's agitated face. "What do you
know of Mrs. Brown, Mr. Halliday?" he demanded abruptly.
"Don't you know that a woman of that name called here?"
"Yes. The secretary, Mr. Penn, told us that Miss Moon induced her
father to see a certain Mrs. Brown, who claimed that her son had been
drowned while working on one of the steamers owned by Sir Charles.
You saw her also I believe?"
"I was in the hall when Miss Moon went to induce her father to see the
poor woman. That was about a quarter past eight o'clock."
"And Mrs. Brown--as we have found from inquiry--left the house at a
quarter to nine. Do you think she is guilty?"
"I can't say. Didn't the footman see the body--that is, if Mrs. Brown
committed the crime--when he came to show her out? Sir Charles

would naturally ring his bell when the interview was over, and the
footman would come to conduct her to the door."
"Sir Charles never rang his bell!" said the officer, drily. "Mrs. Brown
passed through the entrance hall at a quarter to nine o'clock, and
mentioned to the footman--quite unnecessarily, I think--that Sir Charles
had given her money. He let her out of the house. Naturally, the
footman, not hearing any bell, did not enter this room, nor--so far as
any one else is concerned--did a single person. Only when Mr.
Durwin--"
"I came at nine o'clock," interrupted the bald-headed man imperiously,
"to keep my appointment. The footman told Mr. Penn, who took me to
Sir Charles. He knocked but there was no answer, so he opened the
door and we saw this." He again waved his hand towards the body.
"Does Mr. Penn know nothing?" asked Halliday, doubtfully.
"No," answered the other. "Inspector Tenson has questioned him
carefully in my presence. Mr. Penn says that he brought Sir Charles his
spectacles from the dining-room before you left for the theatre with the
two ladies, and then was sent to his own room by his employer to write
the usual letters. He remained there until nine o'clock when he was
called out to receive me, and we know that Mr. Penn speaks truly, for
the typewriting girl who was typing Sir Charles's letters to Mr. Penn's
dictation, says that he did not leave the room all the time."
"May I look at the body?" asked Dan approaching the desk, and on
receiving an affirmative reply from Durwin, bent over the dead.
The corpse was much swollen, the face indeed being greatly bloated,
while the deep scratch on the nape of the neck looked venomous and
angry. Yet it was a slight wound to bring about so great a catastrophe,
and the poison must have been very deadly and swift; deadly because
apparently Sir Charles had no time to move before it did its work, and
swift because he could not even have called for assistance, which he
surely would have done had he been able to keep his senses. Dan
mentioned this to the watchful doctor, who nodded.

"I can't say for certain," he remarked cautiously, "but I fancy that
snake-poison has been used. That will be seen to, when the
post-mortem is made."
"And this fly?" Halliday pointed to an insect which was just behind the
left ear of the dead man.
"Fly!" echoed Inspector Tenson in surprise, and hastily advancing to
look. "A fly in November. Impossible! Yet it is a fly, and dead. If not,"
he swept the neck of the corpse with his curved hand, "it would get
away. H'm! Now I wonder what this means? Get me a magnifying
glass."
There was not much difficulty in procuring one, as such an article lay
on the desk itself; being used, no doubt, by Sir Charles to aid his failing
sight when he examined important documents. Tenson inspected the fly
and removed it--took it to a near electric light and examined it. Then he
came back and examined the place behind the left ear whence he had
removed it.
"It's been gummed on," he declared in surprise--a surprise which was
also visible in the faces of the other men; "you can see the glistening
spot on the skin, and the fly's legs are sticky." He balanced the fly on
his little finger as he spoke. "I am sure they are sticky, although it is
hard to say with such a small insect. However," he carefully put away
the fly in a silver match-box, "we'll have