The Moseley Mystery,

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 17, Issue 59, 27 July 1906, Page 7

The Moseley Mystery,

/ (Copyright.)

AS TOLD BY A LADY EX-DETECTIVE.

•|| By John K. Leys, {p^f hor of “Dark Doings," “The iilack Terror," “The Lindsays,” “The Sign of the Golden Horn," &c., &c.

PART 12. CHAPTER XXXIV.

'.JY SISTER IS FOUND. At six o’clock that winter’s morning Hugh Lister and I stood on the platform of the railway station at Berwick.on-Tweed. We were not the only passengers who alighted, could sec that Mr. Benjamin and Alice Troup had left their carriage, and that they and another person who had also come from London joined a group of three men who were standing together on the platform. They all, left the station, and presently one of them came back and

walked up to us. He peered curiously into my face, and at my companion. It was the respectably-dreSsed, elderly man who had twice brought me p, note. —

Touching his hat ho said, “Is this gentleman with you, ma’am ?’’ Mr. Lister answered for me, ,T Tell your master that this lady cannot go a step unless I accompany her.” The man walked away. I supposed that he went to ask for further instructions. In a few minutes he returned,, and requested that .we would follow him. At the door of the station two vehicles were standing—both roomy, old-fashioned carriages. In the foremost of these carnages was seated Mr. Benjamin “So the young lady does not care to trust herself alore with me,” said the old man. “Humph ! Well, sir, jump in !” I had already taken ray scat beside Mr. Benjamin. Mr. Lister followed me. “Have you brought with you any letters from Gibbon ?” Mr. Benjamin whispered in my ear. For reply I pulled out the three, the only three I had received from my persecutor, and put them into the old man’s hand/ As daylight began to glimmer over the wide expanse around us, I could see that our- conductor was growing nervous. More than once he let down the window, and called to the driver to make haste. Bu» the snow was deeper as -We advanced ; and the horses were beginning to get tired.

For some time T "st I had noticed that the road ran parallel to the sea The ground on the right seemed to fall away, not far from the That, I imagined, must be the face of the'clift.

At last, when the sun had fairly risen in the ea a t, .... carriage stopped abruptly at the !x of , a deep ravine, running lowu through the cliff to the sea. . i ell alighted ; and looking T —k, we could see tlm.t the* second carriage van not L.r behind. Mr. Benjamin and hia servant agoily scrutmaw the ax>w whichjov.red a narrow path, loadinr down the ravine. It was fresh, and unmarked by a single footprint. A gleam of satisfaction came into the old man’s eyes. “Stay where you are !” he shouted to the occupants of the other carriage. But Scroope whispered in his ear, and then fetched one of the mm from the second vehicle. When he came up saw that he was a constable. Mr. Benjamin now took hia valet’s arm and began to descend the path which led down the ravine, moving rapidly in spite of his years. Mr. Lister and I and the constable brought up the rear. At the foot of the ravine, only a jtone’s throw from the waves, we found a substantial stone cottage. Hurrying up to the door, Mr. Benjamin knocked loudly again and again. But there was no answering voice or sound. The door was forced in, but the milage was empty. Then, without many words we ascended to the carriages and drove away at a good t- 3c, guided, it seemed, by the footas in the snow. In a quarter of

hour we had reached a hamlet, and could see a small railway statka. We also heard the whistle of an approaching train. Urging on his horses with whip and voice, our driver dashed forward and we turned into the station yard while the train was still a few yards distant. The moment the horses stopped, I jumped out. Breaking away from the others I rushed forward—and I saw her !

I saw her standing on the platform vhil© Harvey Gibbon, and a stout, niddle-aged woman stood at her Ide, watching the approaching train. I tried ty speak,- to scream, but I u)£ rut*. ; my limbs refused to rj bdc further, H'M Hwgh hand was on my n - kind vote* in my oar. ' Dor t cbwT move, as you ih;*- your nitsu r'« h*i said. ■slrr/t**:nb“jr »L-,t «bv believes yon are lord " / i in* mined by a cumtiHi’ib.'n, vbi> h*:i come In the PfCou,! o,*r**;«yy, r.wihud pa*L me. I siw Uinri it- ep N*hvnd Gibbon. A ,v«v »rX: *>3 shoulder, and vp* pc**e*ful men seized K b.- cristi* There was a it »»m soon over ; and v*s*i> iV« "jA'x* Jf which he had hopfx: in •>*» wwape steamed into «K e ulakiit.:, Harvey Gibbon w/ae handcuffed between his if KvzTvh*** Mr. Benjamin had trr&T) nw into the waiting room, a f»w minutes Scroope came [to. by HIM Troup,

’’"Bit down,” said the old man'to” her and read these.” With that he put into her hand two of the three letters which I had given him. "You cannot possibly escape,” he said to her. "The evidence against you is complete ; but we will do our best to get you a lighter sentence if you will make a clean breast of it.” Glancing through the window, I could see that Hugh Lister had drawn Nora aside, and was talking earnestly to ' her. As her back was turned .towards the waiting room, I slipped out and softly drew near them. "But he is my cousin,” I heard the dear child say. "I am glad to say he is not," answered Lister. "He lied when he said it, and he deceived you when he took you to that funeral. It was not your sister who had died." "Not my sister ! Who was it then and when did Janie die ?” "Can you boar very good news, Nora?” "Good news? What do you :noan‘?” "Your sister—she has been very ill but there is some hope that you may yet see her alive." "Alive ! Oh !” She threw up lier arms with a scream. _ rushed forward and clasped her to my breast ! 1 * * * * When I was able to look round I saw Gibbon still standing between the two constables.. The train had come and gone, and only the station master and a porter were near us on the platform. When Mr. Benjamin, looking older and more haggard now that his work was done, and the excitement which had sustained him was ebbing away, came out of the waiting room. He walked up to the Tittle group ; and Gibbon, turning round suddenly, saw him. A hoarse, inarticulate cry burst from the lips of the arch-plotter. His face turned as white as the that lay xound him. Had not the policeman at his side, held him up, he would have fallen where he stood. - f CHAPTER XXXV. in the magistrate; S ROOM. The two constables procured a dogcart, and in, it they placed their prisoner, to convey him to Hopekirk House, the seat of Sir John llopokirk, the sheriff of the county. Miss Troup was placed in one of the carriages, under the care of Scoope ; while Mr. Benjamin, Edward Lister, Nora and I s entered the other, %nd we all followed the direction which the dog-cart had take. . The j istk 3 room at Hopekirk Hduse was a long, barely furnished apartment, with " table and a large easy chair for the sheriff at orr, end. A smaller table, close to it, accomodated his clerk.

Chairs were brought in for us, and the sheriff proceeded to hear the evidence which might be offered against the p~isoners, and determine whether it w"s sufficient to warrant him in sending them to London for trial. Both the prisoners were charged with attempting to murder Frank Moseley and Gibbon was also accused of abducting Nora. I now understood the reason why Mr. Benjamin had deemed it to be necessary that I should accompany him to Scotland. The first witness was the old penderrac himself ; and the oath was administered to him in the solemn fDobion peculiar to Scotch courts of j-stice. The first words spoken by the witness gdve me a start of surprise. “My name is Benjamin Moseley,” said the old man. “I am a citizen of the United States. I emigrated to that country when I was quite a 'young man, on account of a quarrel I had with my family. Some months ago, seeing that I was well advanced in years, I determined to find out who was my heir-at-law, or next of kin, before I died, for I had amassed —well, a pretty big pile of dollars.”

“Are you the Mr. Moseley, the great financier ?” asked the sheriff, involuntariy.

“I am, sir. Well I sent my secretary, HarVey Gibbon, to the old country, to look up my people. At that time I had full confidence in his integrity. But after he left the States for London some things came to light ”

“Never mind that. Confine yourself to the offences with the prisoner, you say, has committed,” interrupted the sheriff.

“Things were discovered which made me doubtful of him,” pursued the old gentleman, ignoring the interruption. “And what was more, the reports I had from him, and from a lawyer named Humphrey, whom he had employed to help him in tracing out my relations, were not satisfactory. They seemed to be making no progress ; so I came over here, taking the name of Benjamin, and carefully concealing both from Gibbon and Humphrey, the fact that I was in their country.” “I see that you ask for a warrant' for the crime of attempting a murder,” said John. “Is Humphrey also to be charged with that ?” “No. I made inquiries on my own account, and found that most of my relatives had died. My nearest relatives were not very closely related to me. I could only discover one who bore my own name—Frank Moseley." “The person whose life was attempted.” "The same. Besides him I discovered that I had two other relations—Jane and Nora Hambley.” “Nora Hambley,” repeated the sheriff —“the young lady whom the prisoner is charged with abducting?” “Exactly, I found, also that Gibbon, whom I caused to be watched, was paying attentions privately to two young ladies at the same time. One of these was Alice Troup, the other ”

"Slop !" cried the sheriff. “That is not evidence, unless you saw them together.” "The other,” continued Mr. Moseley, "was a young lady who afterwards turned out to be my own grand-niece, Miss Jane Hambley. In order to satisfy myself whether Frank Moseley was the sort of man 1 should care to make my heir. I took;

H seT'oTTooms inTthe house where he lived, and made his acquaintance under the name of Benjamin. “I had afterwards reasons to believe," continued Mr. Moseley, "that Humphrey, the lawyer, and .Gibbon had a sort of agreement to turn the investigation into a sort of profit to themselves; but they mutually distrusted each other." “Really, this is very far from being evidence," murmured Sir John, softly, to himself. "At any. rate, I saw an advertisement one day asking Prank Moseley to call on Humphrey. That, I believe was inserted by the lawyer, who wanted to find out whether Gibbon had told Frank Moseley of the good fortune that was awaiting him On the evening of the day when that advertisement appeared, Frank Moseley was brought home ab r 'it eleven o’clock in a dying condition. He had been, apparently, struck by paralysis. The symptoms were so peculiar that I sent for the eminent physician, Dr. Fraser. After he had seen the patient, I had a long conversation with him ; and in consequence of what he said to me, we searched Frank Moseley’s pockets. We found in the breast-pocket of his overcoat a new cigar-case of darkgreen Russian leather, containing two cigars. They had a slight, but quite perceptible and peculiar smell. "I kept the other. It is here." And with these words Mr. drew a small sealed packet from his inner pocket. "I said to myself that the poisoners would try to recover the cigar-case,- so I put two of my own cigars of the same size as the poisoned ones into the case, and put it back where I found it. The very next day Alice Troup came, and I overheard her tell the landlady that she had given Prank Moseley the cigar-case that night as a birthday gift,” said the old man, emphatically.

’ "I have here the analyst’s report, to the truth of which he has oworn an affidavit,” said Mr. Moseley. Mr. Benjamin Moseley glanced at me, and seemed about to speak, when Alice Troup’s voice was heard, its quiet tones penetrating every corner of the room.

"It was-1 who gave those cigars to Frank Moseley," she said, “at the request of Harvey Gibbor.”

I feared that I should now have to give an accm'nt of what I had heard in the garden of the square ; but the magistrate’s clerk came to my rescue He suggested that for the present purpose it would be enough to take evidence against Gibbon on the less serious charge of abduction, which might be more easily proved ; and then, when he was brought before the magistrate in London, the graver charge might be investigated. This course was adopted ; and a few questions put to Nora and myself, coupled with the fact that Nora had been found in the prisoner’s custody was sufficient to justify, the sheriff in signing a warrant for Harvey Gibbon’s removal to London. “As for Alice Troup, we have Mr. Moseley’s evidence that he heard her tell the landlady that she had'given the cigar-case to Frank Moseley. That is enough, I think, to enable us to send her to London too.”

This being done, the prisoners were removed ; and the hospitable sheriff took care that they, as well as ourselves, should be furnished with breakfast. In the meanwhile the horses had been fed ; and we all returned to the wayside station we had just loft. There wfe caught a train for Berwick where we joined the express for London ; the two prisoners travelling in the same train in custody of a policeofficer.

When the train, stopped at Darlington, Hugh Lister left the carriage to go to the refreshment room. Almost immediately he came back, his face looking white and troubled. “What has happened ?”■ cried my uncle.

“Gibbon has leaped from the train,” he said. “The doors of the carriage he was travelling in have handles inside as well as outside. So he managed, handcuffed as he was to open the door next to him, and leaped out. They are sending men back along the line to look for him” “Jump in, sir—going on !” cried the guard ; and in another minute the express was on its way south. At York we heard by telegram that Harvey Gibbon had been found at the side of the line—dead.

When ! reached London I thought I might venture to take Nora with me to Lady Farrell’s for the night, since I-could not endure the idea of parting with her so soon, even for a few hours. Lady Farrell welcomed us both with more demonstrations of joy and satisfaction than I had ever before seen her exhibit.

In the hall hung a little rack in which letters delivered by post were placed. In it I found a note addressed to me. The handwriting on the envelope was that of Hugh Lister. For a moment I felt confused, puzzled ; and then I remembered that if Mr. Lister had' posted a letter to me on the preceding evening it could only be delivered after I left London But it was odd that he should have thought of writing to me the night before, when he was going to see me at dinner that evening. Perhaps, I thought, he had something private to say, and felt doubtful that there would be an opportunity for a tete-a-tete after dinner. So far, my guess was a correct one ; but the contents of the letter were none the less a complete surprise to me. I shall not copy a line of that letter, though I remember every word it contained. It is enough to say that Hugh Lister told me he loved me, and asked for a return of his love. I find it* difficult to say more on this subject ; but I have always felt glad that Hugh happened to write what he did, before the great change in my fortunes became known to us. He told mo next day that he would have spoken to me long ago, but I seemed to be in such grief on ray sister’s, account that he refrained. The persistent attempts of Harvey Gibbon to se, .e my hand alarmed him, .however ; and he resolved to protect me at once, if be could,

it was not fated that the course of pur love should run quite smoothly. My great.‘uncle chose to think that he could find a more suitable match to me than a gentleman whose hair was beginning to turn grey, and who was not particularly rich, nor particularly clever, nor distinguished in any way. Indeed, Tie went so far as to forbid me peremptorily to have anything more to do with Hugh Lister.

It was to Mrs. Fraser’s tact and kindness that I owed it that a cloud did not rest on the first years of my married life. She persuaded her husband to ask Mr. Moseley to his house, and then, I believe, she found an opportunity of speaking her mind to him. What she said to him,-I do not know, but the result was twofold. My uncle sent for Hugh Lister, and after an interview with him, solemnly , gave his consent to the marriage. And ever afterwards the old gentleman seemed- at a loss to find words in which to express the admiration he felt for the doctor’s wife.

CHAPTER XXXVI.; FINIS. When Alice Troup was brought before a London magistrate on the charge of having attempted Frank Moseley’s life, the magistrate refused to send the case for trial, saying, truly enough that there was no evidence that when she gave her lover the cigars she knew they had been poisoned. He believed, and he had no doubt the jury believed, that she had been used merely as a tool by Harvey Gibbon. Gibbon, imagining that I would be willing to marry him wished Frank Moseley out of the way in order that I, and he himself as my husband, might inherit my grand-uncle’s wealth. But there was nothing to sh®w that the prisoner had any motive in injuring her lover.

I knew better. I knew that Alice Troup had good reason for wishing Frank Moseley dead, for I knew he held a secret which, if mentioned to Lady Farrell, would prove her rum. She knew that his attention had been directed to the fact that the envelope which had contained the altered cheque had been addressed in her handwriting, thus showing that she herself had opened Lady .Farrell’s note rn,’ taken out the cheque. Miss Troup know that Frank had not mentioned this to his aunt, for I had overheard her questioning him on this very point. She had no idea that I knew anything of the matter; therefore she' wished to make sure that Frank would never bo able to reveal that she had opened Lady Farrell’s letter. Thus she was a willing tool in Gibbon’s hands. But when I considered the pain it would cause Frank to have the woman’s treachery and his relations with her, canvassed in every newspaper, I judged it best to hold my tongue. I was . the more inclined to , take this course as I knew that Alice Troup was about to be prosecuted on the charge of having altered Lady Farrell’s cheque, and this helping to defraud her of three thousand pounds In the guilty woman’s luggage was found a bundle of bank-notes, which it was proved had been paid her in cashing a cheqaie of Barton’s for one thousand pounds. This, clearly, had been her share of the spoil. There was also found in her trunk a letter to her from Barton, suggesting that as it might be dangerous for him to write to her at Lady Farrell’s, he would correspond with her by cipher messages inserted in the “Standard” one of which—the one warning her to flee—J had discovered amt read. The file of the newspapers was searched, and several messages, enough to make the whole plot clear, were found and interpreted.

It thus appeared that- Barton and Alice Troup were members of the same lawless gang. Barton kept a gaming saloon ; and two of his confederates had played with Frank and cheated him, appearing to win from him four thousand pounds. The poor lad was in despair, looking upon this as a debt of honour, and not knowing how to pay it, when Barton offered to lend him the money, to be repaid when Frank should get the amount from his aunt.

Miss Troup, of course, knew everything that happened from Barton, who pressed her to get Lady Farrell to send her nephew four thouia d pounds, promising her a fourth of the spoil as her share.

-When Lady Farrell, not Iv owing tlm Extent of her nephew’s wants, sig a cheque for one thousand pounds only, Miss Troup became aware of the fact immediately by seeing the amount marked on the counterfoil ; lor, ic win ue reineiuuemi in..., nicer writing out tne cnequc, Lady Farrell had nunued her cneque boox to Miss Troup tliat she .mignt add up, from the counterfoils, tne various sums for which she had written cheques. When Alice Troup saw that her employer wr.'i only dicing one thou- | sand to Frank Mocniey, she ' under' ood t'—t v :ry little, if any of it, would co m e to her. She therefore resolved to get the cheque and a''nr it. By t’m I-' I ** of a little bird lime and a piece of string, she had drawn Lady Farrell's i tter out of the letter-box in the mill, opced it, altered the cheque, *so I a i. ran, “Pay Frank Moseley or c'Pdc;’ four thousand pounds,” and sent m on to Frank, addressing tf . fresh en dope herself. As she often address. J L-my Farrell's letters • for her, Fit thought nothing of t’ is cit —ee till i refreshed his memory by consulting him on the subject. Frank Moseley, supposing that his aunt had meant him to have the whole four thousand pounds, handed the cheque over ho Barton to repay the sum lent hint to pay the money out of which Barton’s confederates had swindled him ; and after some trouble Alice Troup had got, as her share of the booty, the thousand pounds found by the 'police in her trunk.

Barton and his accomplices, as well as Alice Troup, were placed on their trial, convicted and sentenced to various terms of penal servitude. As Barton was a wealthy man, he was forced to refund the rest of the stolen money. Glbfcon, who had made love to Alice Troup simply that he might use her as his tool, as a useful spy op Frank w*® wyseM?/""*3 a.

worse criminal than any or those who were convicted ; but he had already gone to his account, * # * * Hugh Lister and I were married in April, on a sweet, spring day—one of those days on which heaven and earth seem to be rejoicing together, with a silent, tremulous joy, over the glory of the coming summer. My uncle devotes himself chiefly to Cousin Frank. No doubt Frank will inherit' the bulk of the old gentleman’s wealth, and there is every prospect that he will be able to enjoy it, at least to a considerable degree. Already he can talk pretty fluently, and walk about with the help .of a stick, and ( thc doctors hope that eventually he will be restored to health and strength. I may add here that Frank Moseley never knew that he had been almost murdered by the woman he had loved.

Nora has her home with us. I long hesitated about sending her to school for another year or two, but the idea was so distasteful to her that I yielded the point. After a good deal of trouble, my husband and I found a delightful old house in the country, yet near enough to London to enable my husband to go to town every day. For although my uncle's generosity- has placed us beyond the reach of want, Hugh has no desire to lead an idld life. As yet very few briefs have come in his way, but we live in the hope that some day the fraternity of solicitors may appreciate his merits as a lawyer and an advocate ! (1002.) THE END.