Adventure, June 1911 — page 179: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Emerald Buddha these words thrilled me with a vague sense of alarm. There upon the table, before Sergeant McQuade, lay Miss Temple’s tele- gram. It was open, and I felt sure he had already read it. fused, my brain on fire. The Inspector turned to McQuade. ‘‘Sergeant,” he said, “vou have the handkerchief in question with you, I believe.” McQuade drew from his pocket the folded handkerchief and requested me to examine its. surface with a magnifying-glass. I did so, and observed that it was covered with minute particles of some green substance. “Do you see anything?” asked the In- spector. | “Yes,” I replied. ‘The handkerchief is full.of fine green specks, but I can not imagine what they are.” “They are bits of soap, Mr. Morgan.” “Ss oa ?”? “‘Exactly.”” The Inspector looked at me keenly. “Has.it.not occurred to you, Mr. Morgan, that it was first necessary to cut it in.two and hollow.out a space in the inte- rior?. - Is it not also quite evident that bits of ‘soap.-must.have been carefully collected upon some object, this handkerchief for instance, and subsequently thrown away, leaving the minute particles that you see still clinging to its surface?” “Yes,” I replied, dazed, “but who?” << ““ THAT, Mr. Morgan, is just what p>, we are trying to find out. It hardly * seems likely that Mr. Ashton would have gone to all this trouble, although it is possible, since he had reason, after his quar- rel with Major Temple, to fear an attempt to gain possession of the jewel. If he did, how does it happen that he used Miss Tem- ple’s handkerchief for the purpose? He may have found it upon the, floor and so utilized it, but it seems unlikely.” ‘What then, seems more likely?” I asked hotly. ‘‘ Would the murderer have gone to all that trouble to get the stone and then have left it behind?” . “Possibly, Mr. Morgan, to have been recovered at .leisure—as you, indeed, hap- pened to recover it. Such a jewel would not be a good thing to have in one’s posses- sion immediately after the murder!” “But it would have taken fifteen or twenty minutes,” I objected, “and we burst in the door within less than ten minutes from the time Mr. Ashton’s cry was heard.” My mind seemed con-. 365 “The alarm was given by you, Mr. Mor- gan. You alone heard Mr. Ashton’s cry. Whether you heard it at six o’clock, or five, or four rests upon your word alone. We do not accuse you, rernember—we are trying to arrive at the truth. The facts we have just stated, coupled with Miss Temple’s refusal to explain her early expedition from the house that morning, all point to something we do not yet understand. We are con- vinced of one thing: that the Chinaman did — not commit the murder, for he would have taken the stone along with him.” “T do not agree with you there,” I said. ‘“‘Mr. Ashton may have hidden the jewel himself, and then the Chinaman, after com- mitting the murder, may have been unable to find it. That would account for Li Min’s subsequent search of the room, and his confederates’ actions when they began to suspect that the emerald was hidden within it.” “You are right in what you say, Mr. Morgan, if Mr. Ashton hid the jewel him- self. But the subsequent actions of Li Min and his confederates are equally ex- plainable upon the theory that they had nothing to do with the murder whatever and were merely attempting to steal the jewel at the first opportunity.”’ I made no reply. They seemed to be weaving a net of circumstantial evidence about me that, try as I would, I did not seem able to break through. ‘““We now come to another curious fact,” continued the Inspector. “The weapon with which this murder was apparently committed was found this morning locked in a drawer in the room you occupied at Major Temple’s house. It was wrapped in a handkerchief marked with your initials. Can you tell us how it came to be there?” I turned to the Inspector with a bitter laugh. “TI can tell ycu,” I replied, “but I presume you will not believe me. I put the weapon, which was a brass-headed poker, there myself. I found it on the lawn out- side of Mr. Ashton’s window the day before yesterday.” “Why did you also conceal this important plece of evidence from Sergeant McQuade?” demanded the Inspector in a stern voice. I felt like a fool, and looked like one as well, I fear. ‘‘I forgot it,” I mumbled in confusion. “You forgot it! Can you expect a sane man to believe any such folly as that?” CoOMmicooOokS.sE©