The Silver Tea-Shop

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16780, 24 April 1926, Page 14 (Supplement)

The Silver Tea-Shop

I THE STORYTELLER | ii . .!

.(Copyright.),

Published by- arrangement -witn the General Press, Ltd.

By EVELYN EVERETT-GREEN Anther of "Adventurous Anno," "The Temptation of Mary Lister," "Beflant Diana," &c, &o.

CHAPTER XVUI

Tho Inquest and After.

The verdict was not "Death from misadventure." After bearing all the evidence, and in particular that of the medical experts, the decision of the jury was that death had been caused by a shot from the deceased's own revolver, but that who bad fired the shot there was no evidence to prove. The witnesses bad been few. Mary Silver and Mr Urquhart's own business men testified to his perfect soundness of mind and to the cheerfulness of his disposition and the absence of any known causes of depression Tony, Jack and Jane gave evidence in turn as to having visited the deceased on the night of the tragedy, and each one testified to having found him in his usual health and spirits. Jack was the person most closely questioned. He was asked whether or not he was on good terms with the deceased, . and frankly owned that their friendship had been a little strained of late. Questioned further, he told of the thefts from the tearooms and his suspicion that Mr Urquhart had credited him with some blame in the matter, though he had never actually owned to this. But he had suggested his selling his interest in the business, offering himself as the purchaser, which offer had been refused. And Jack owned up to a certain feeling of annoyance. But, they met daily on friendly terms, and Jack had gone up to pay him a friendly visit, as had often been his custom in the past. He testified on oath that he left the deceased perfectly well, lifting in his big chair by the fire —the chair in which Jane Fossbury found him dead in the morning. But be bad not seen him after leaving him well and sound till he saw him crumpled up, as he was found, with a bullet through his head. Asked whether the house would be easy to enter at night, Jack opined not. Nor had any bolt or look been tampered with. He said that the deceased knew nothing about firearms that lie had a notably careless trick of lifting his right hand to his head, no matter what his hand held, and that most likely he ha-d done this with the revolver on full cock, and had inadvertently pulled the trigger. The medical evidence showed that, the bullet had entered the right temple, and had embedded itself in the bony structure of the skull below the left ear. Death must have been instantaneous. The wound' might have been self-inflicted, especially if the deceased had intended to take his own life. As an accident the affair was stranger. The revolver must have been fired at very close quarters, as some of the hair was singed. Such a -wound could have been inflicted by_ any person standing beside deceased' and holding the revolver, whether by intent or through a regrettable accident, it was impossible to speak with any certainty on the matter.

chap; but it had been his own doing—no mistake about that.'

At last the guests thinned out, and the business of the day came to an end. Mary was preparing herself to depart when Jane came to ask if she would see Mr Small before his departure as he had something to say to her, and in a few minutes he was ushered into her private room.

"My business will not detain you more than a few minutes," he told her. "I have been through all our client's papers here in search of a will. But there is no such document here. We have none in our office, though we were about to draft one. And so far as we know, Mr Urquhart had no near relatives, nor did our instructions contain the name of one such kinsman. As you and Mr Bretherton arc friends of long standing, perhaps you can give us some information on this point. For if he died intestate, as seems probable, his next-of-kin — however distant—must be sought for as inheriting what he had to leave, which is something considerable. I could wish that he had signed the will he has given us to draft; but naturally that matter was waiting for his anticipated marriage. And now no one will benefit by his estate, except his next-of-kin. And if you can give us any information as to such persons we would be very grateful, for we possess no information of any sort upon the matter."

' "I will ask my husband," answered Mary, "for he knew Mr Urquhart years before our marriage, and if there are relatives he may have some knowledge of them. I have only heard him call himself a very lonely man—a waif and stray, a rolling stone, and so forth; though he has done little rolling of laic years." "He has travelled a good deal in his time," Mr Small made answer, "and possibly he may have contracted ties which might lead to complications later if we had to advertise for next-of-kin " He stopped short, for the door had slowly opened, and Jane Fossbury stood framed in the aperture, her quiet face wearing an expression which instantly held the regard of the two persons she faced. "I beg your pardon for interrupting, but I was in the next room, and my ears arc quick. I heard what ydu were saying, sir, about the lack of a will and the lack of knowledge concerning Mr Urquhart's next-of-kin. You will not have to advertise for them. I can tell you who they are and where they arc to he found." Mary faced her servant with a look of the most extreme surprise in her eyes: "You, Jane! You!" The lawyer was . studying the woman's face with great attention. Jane's eyes were widely opened and very brilliant in expression. At that moment a step might have been heard upon the stairs if all the persons concerned had not been too much occupied to hear it, and as Jane advanced slowly into the room Tony Lockyer reached the landing, and, as Mary's room door now stood wideopen, he paused and looked in, not advancing further, but occupying the position there which Jane had just quitted. Mary just- saw him, signed to him that he could remain, and then turned her expectant gaze back upon Jane's face. There was a tense expectancy in the air which seemed almost to make it vibrate.

The verdict, therefore, \Vas an open one, giving opportunity for further police investigation if the authorities deemed this advisable. Mary Silver returned to her place of business with a heavy heart and a feeling of faint apprehension for which she was unable to account. Why could they not have brought it in "Accidental death?" Then the matter would have been at an end. She took Jane Possbury back with her in her taxi. Business seemed more inclined to boom than to slump with the excitement which the tragedy had occasioned. Mary knew she would have to face many curious inquiries and submit to a certain amount of sympathy. It was not generally known that Mr Urquhart was desirous of uniting himself in fresh bonds to the Bretherton family; but it was perfectly well understood that he was an old and tried friend, whose death would make a great blank in their immediate circle., . '; .''.

"Jane," said Mary to her faithful servant, "He must have shot- himself by accident. It could have been no T thing else." "That's what they should have brought it in, Ma'am," said Jane, in her quiet, level voice, "instead of trying to fasten it upon Mr Jack —who knows no more about it-than my girls do."

"Jane! You can't mean what you say! Fasten it upon Mr ..Jack I How; could they—how could they?" "Well, ma'am, they can't—because he's not done it: But it's what some of those pig-headed men will try todo, you'll see. But don't you begin to worry. They can't prove what never took place. I saw Mr Urquhart alive and well after Mr Jack had left him. And he didn't go' upstairs again that night—nor nobody didn't. For I didn't sleep myself that night. I never do when there's death in a house, whether I know it or not. And there's a stair thai, creakn when anybody stcpo en it. You may know that yourself, ma'am—just outside my door. Nobody couldn't have gone up to those roomy overhead that night and me not know it. Everything must have been over before 1 left the basement, when Mr Jack was .Hist going to bed. llo'd pot his coat off and all. Anrl he never went up again. So wiiat didn't happen can't bo proved—and don't yon worry any more about il. Miss Quconio isn't grieving for the loss of a love—that I'll take my oath of!" And Mary war. almost ashamed of a certain thrill of joy which shot through her in the lb ought that at least such an unnatural marriage could not now affect her child's life-story. It v/fts a busy-day at Ihc grill and tea shop. Curiosity ran high with regard to Mr Urquhart's untimely death, and the verdict was much, discussed. Everybody who know Mary well enough to invade her privacy marie excuse to do so. Some even askntl lo go upstairs to see the room where ihc tragedy had laken place. But Marywas able to give good reason for refusing to gratify this unhealthy wish. Mr Small, the lawyer, was in possession, going carefully through the papers of the deceased. There could be no admission lo strangers. As for Jack, he was besieged by questions, and talked freely of the matter. That tho old man bad shot himself was self-evident, in his opinion, ami. as he did net seem the kind to desire lo gtilr, well, most likely it had been done accidentally. Jack pooh-poohed Ihc suggestion of murder. Nobody eould have sot into the house, lie was convinced llnjiad patent, methods of his own, tor gTvW the alarm-if any attempt were made. He, was always experimenting in one way or another. It "was bad business, for the poor old

"Speak, Jane," said Mary. "Tell us what you know. Who are Mr Urquhart's next-of-kin?" "His next-of-kin, ma'm (now that he is dead I do not mind who knows it, but in his lifetime never should he have had any power over them whilst I lived to defend them—no, not though he were ten times a millionaire or could pour tho gold of the Indies at their feet. It is enough that he ruined the happiness of one yqung life; never shall he have the power to do the same with any others so long as I am able to stand be'twecn)." Coming to the end of this long parenthesis, Jane, Fossbury stopped dead. Not a sound broke the silence of the room. Three pair" of eyes were fixed upon her face with looks of utter amaze and stupefaction, and as she met these glances she took up the thread of her story and began her sentence afresh. . "His next-of-kin are his three young daughters, my dear sister's children and mv own nieces—Faith, Hope, and Charity." CHAPTER XIX. Astonishment. "Good lord!" whistled Tony, beneath bis breath. No other person spoke for a moment. Jane's statement had taken them go' completely aback. In the silence a light step was heard upon ihc stairs, and Jack appeared upon the scene in search of Tony, whom ho had seen enter the premises a few minutes earlier. Now something in the composition and attitude of tho little group struck him as so peculiar and significant that he paused to ask—"Do I intrude?"

"Come in. Jack," said Mary. "We arc all hearing a most astonishing thing from Jane. Has she ever loid it to you?"

Jack's eyes sought Jane's face, and it was she who replied—"No, ma'am; Mr Jack knows nothing. Not. a. word have I said of it lo any living creature. And if it had not been that he had died without a will I wasn't meaning lo speak now. But if Iho children have a right, to what ho leaves then T may not stand in their way. Bid whilst he was alive wild horses would not have dragged it from me. Hero is the certificate, sir. of tho marriage—Jessie Fosslmry and Henry Urquhart. You will find il in the register of the parish all right, and I've the blrlh cerliflcnles of the three children, and everything you ran see. There's no going against fnrls, and I've always taken rare lhal, these shall lie all clear. Not that T ever thought of such a thing as this; but il. was the children's right to have the proof that they were born in honest wedlock." "Jane, Jane, do you mean lo say that Mr Urquhart was'your brolhcr-in-law, and lhal. you never told me all these years?"

"Well, ma'am, I never looked on him as such. It was a marriage, such as. should not he. And il, failed—as such things do. He tired of her. ire would have gol, her without the wedding if he could. And she had her pride. When .she saw how it, was, and knew what, was coming she wont away from the place he had put her whilst he look a long journey she. did not know where, knew lie never meant, lo come hack lo her —and he, did not. I found out that much later, after she was dead and gone, leaving

the three children in my care. And that is the story In a nutshell. Jessie made a bad mistake, and it cost her her life. And the cause of it all was the. man who died here the other night."

"But, Jane, did he not know? Your name of Fossbury—did it, suggest nothing to him? Did he not recognise you here?" "That T have never been quite certain of, ma'am. When he came to our Cornish village on a holiday more than twenty years back I had been laid up with abscesses in the face, and I had got very thin, and went about with my face and head tied up. I only saw him a few times, for Jessie generally met him out-of-doors or in the parlour of the inn, as her great friend was the innkeeper's daughter. But for his name I should never have known him. I do not think he ever recognised me; but sometimes he used to ask me about my past, and if the girls were my brother's children, and a few things like that. He never let Jessie call herself Urquhart. They went, by the name of Mr and Mrs Fossbury in the place they lived together for a year. That did not look well for him, did it, sir?" She addressed the lawyer now. "And when he asked me questions I told him lies. I was not going to have those children claimed by the man who had deserted jnd betrayed their mother. So I think he soon ceased to think about it, and I was glad. Whether I did wrong or right, I was resolved to keep the children from him at all costs. But their father he was, and if they have a right to what he leaves let them have it. And thankful I am for Miss Queenie that she has escaped marriage with him. And I much misdoubt if he would ever ho able to find out whether he had the right to marry her or no. He used to try' and get from me information about any Fossburys I might be related to, but I never gave him a single clue. Ho never knew to the last that the waitresses at the Silver Tea Shop were his own daughters, and T never let any of them go near him if I could help it." "Holy Moses!" whistled Tony between his teeth. His eyes scanned the lawyer's face, but he could read nothing there. "Your information, Miss Fossbury, is of great importance," spoke the functionary, "and when the fads are verified will have a strong bearing upon the course of future events. In your conferences with the deceased did he ever speak of his past life? Did he ever drop a hint which might lead you to surmise that he had ever made enemies?"

"No, sir; never, lie would talk to you very pleasantly. But he never let anything out. If his life held other discreditable secrets—as I suppose it did—he never let drop a bint of it." "Why do you suppose that it did, may I ask?" "Because, sir, a man with a good record or a good heart could never have behaved as Mr Urquhart did to my poor sister. I've lived long enough in the world to know something about men. And my opinion 0/ him that's dead is that he's no loss lo the world." She spoke very quietly, without a trace of heat or violence; but Tony recalled the words he had heard about her, and he glanced at Jack, to whom he had repeated them, receiving in response a little significent gesture as of denial or repudiation.

"Was it not very painful to you lo live beneath the same roof as a man about whom you entertained these thoughts and suspicions?" "I got used to it soon. As long as he didn't know mo I could stand it well enough. It lie had begun to suspect, that would have been different. But I never traced that he did. And It would take a deal to drive me from Mrs Silver's service. As for the girls, I don't know what they will do if they have to leave the lea shop—not even to be well off themselves."

Jack walked a little way back,with Tony when he left. And the first words which the latter spoke gave something of his thought away—- " How's that, umpire?" "You don't mean to say you want to saddle it on old Jane?"

"It supplies a motive—of sorts, that's all." , "She eould not have known that he would die intestate."

"True; but plainly she hates the man bitterly." ■ "Well, I don't love him myself, if it comes to that, but that doesn't make me want to shoot him sitting." "And you remember what Ilolford said of her?"

"Oh. blow your, confounded specialists! I've known old Jane for above a year, and she's a real good sort. You don't think "

"Frankly, .lack, I'm convinced lhat the authorities are not satisfied. The verdict was an open. one. Investigation may still be going on—probably is. According to evidence so far there arc only two persons likely to come under suspicion—Jane and yourself." "Well, then, let them have a go at me, and let Jane alone." "Perhans they will do. I've been asked a lot of questions as it is about you by a Scotland Yard fellow. I don't think he's got anything out of me to help his dossier; but it seems to be known or suspected that you had no likin' for the old fellow "

"Not to put too fine a point upon it —I loathed him." "Exactly—and he tried to get you out of the house —that's also come out. I think you gave the fact away yourself."

"If Jane is there much longer to look after them." "Oh, Tony, what do you mean? You look so igrim." "Things begin to look a bit grim. Can't, you see,, Gracie, that this announcement of Jane's may make things perilous for her. She was the last person to see Urquhart alive. He had a loaded weapon beside him. .which she could, have snapped up, and he was the man. against, whom she had a long-seated grudge, and his death made heiresses of her three nieces. She could not have known lhat—so much is in her flavour, but I saw at once that this might spell danger for her, though perhaips less for Jack." "For Jack, Tony? Oh, tell me about that. Mother has "been so worried, for the last two days. A man from Scotland Yard came, and had a long talk with her. She simply hated it. For he made her tell about a talk with Jack, where he had spoken against Mr Urquhart. It must have been horrid. For mother could not tell a lie, and she knew that to hesitate and prevaricate would be worse than anything. Of course you know that Jack was angry with Mr Urquhart; but to ihink thai a few angry words to a friend like mother meant anything! But she has been very worried, about it. She pictured having to say it all over again in the witness box. Tony, it isn't going lo come to lhat, is it? There will never be a—a —criminal trial "

"I hope to goodness not. But, honour bright! I can't tell. Anyway, we needn't cross bridges before we come to them, and this new factor will bring the sleuth hounds to pause, it, •may only be a red-herring across the trail for them; but it will mean something probably." Tony's half-quizzical glance remained fixed on Grace's face as they discussed the possibilities of the situation, and when the talk had taken a somewhat lighter complexion ho spoke—- " Look here, Gracie, what are my orders now, please? As long as old Urquhart was trying to oust, Jack from Queenie Brcthorton's heart I was to try and shove in, lo sec if I could not put a spoke in lhat wheel, and I've been simply fascinatin' to Queenie ever since—you ask her! But now that the old fellow is no more—what's my role to be, eh ? For Jack's the lad for her, as leaps to the eyes. Only he's got this down upon her father—■ and he's the very deuce to move—begging your pardon for the word. So what am I to do now?" Grace had her pretty white hands in her lap, and tho man saw how she wrung them together, though her voice was quite steady still. "Tony—surely you arc very fond of Queenie!" "Tremendously! We're the best of good pals."

"Then, Tony, don't you want to—to —make her happy?" "Why, of course, lhat's my idea. Only, look here, Gracie, we must make a bargain about that, you and J". It's no good half doing the job. I'm a whole-hog kind of fellow. So it's just here. If I'm to take on the job of making Queenie happy you must do tho same by good old Jack —see? And when you've got him on a siring, as you can in about no time if you try, then we'll see if wo can pull the whole thing off .between us. That'll be what's called real truism in these days. Is that a bargain, Gracie?" "Oh Tony—how could I? You are only joking" "Not a bit of it! Never was more serious in my life! You see you've set me off on the benevolent track of healing a stricken heart. But example goes a long way farther than precept. You like Jack, and I like Queenie. We're not to troublo ourselves whether possibly we each of us like somebody else better. That's not playing the game of philan-throp-py, which we're out to do! Only a fellow new at it just wants a lead—see? Well that's where, you come in. You give me a lead, and 1-11 follow all right," and Tony got up with a wicked light in his eye, clasped Grace's hand for a moment, and strode away silently laughing, leaving her bewildered.

"Why not? It's the truth, and the trulh doesn't hurt."

"Doesn't ii? Well, a half truth often does. Honour bright, .lack, is there nothing between yon and that old man lhat you're kcepin' up your sleeve? Don't tell rnc what il is —" "1. won't—not yet. There is something all right, (inly I'm not going to sr.cak about it In anyone—unless I tell Mrs Silver first, and I've not made up my mind as lo that yet." "Well, if I were you I'd do it. Two heads are better than one, and she has the right lo your confidence. Would il let any light in on the'subject?" "It might supply a motive why he shot himself afterwards." "Then 1 think you ought to tell her without delay—even for old Jane's sake, don't you see?" "Well, Til sleep on it. and then decide," said Jack. "You going to Lady horkyor's? Then Til say la-la and scoot back. Perhaps Mrs Silver may he wauling me if she. hasn't, gone home," and .lack made off in the direction of the lea shop al, Lop speed, whilst Tony went leisurely along the square and disappeared into his aunt's house. Never on ceremony there, he marched into the drawing-room unannounced, lo find Grace there alone, silling over the lire, with a book. Her fare flushed and her eyes lighted al sight of him. "Tony, how nice of you lo come. I am all alone. Sil, down and lell me the news, and we'll, have up fresh lea and he cosy." His news was sufficiently startling. Grace heard it with the same astonishment as the others. Her eyes searched Tony's face.

"Tuny, how amazing! Fancy those three waitresses coming in for a big fortune I But .lane is so sensible. She will see Hint, they use il. sensibly, and not do wildly foolish things."