The Edinburgh Mystery: And Other Tales of Scottish Crime by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: British Library Publishing
Published: 2022-05-09T16:00:00+00:00

Mrs. Westmacott was very nervous at the concert—thoroughly disquieted about McNab. Of course, the recent events had upset everyone; but the soothing effect of classical music is well known, and perhaps that is why practically every passenger in the ship was present. Even Miss Silver came in before the interval, looking very pale and tired, leaning on the arm of Melhuish. Melhuish, after finding her a seat, left the saloon, returning with a wrap for her just before the interval. McNab, Mrs. Westmacott saw, was very fidgety. He kept looking at his watch, glancing keenly about him. When the interval came, most of the men seemed ready for a stimulant. She saw Colonel Baylis approach McNab with an invitation on his face; and she did not miss the curt refusal he received. The men began to filter towards the door. Captain York, who was acting as chairman, rose and tapped the table.

“Gentlemen,” he said, addressing those who were moving towards the door, “I regret very much that for the moment it will be impossible for anyone to leave this saloon. You are aware that a necklace, a very valuable necklace, has disappeared from the cabin of one of our lady passengers. A general search for it, which I am sure no honourable or innocent person here will resent, is now in progress. There are, unfortunately, black sheep in most ships of—”

Mrs. Westmacott saw McNab rise to his feet.

“Excuse me,” he said in calm, determined tones. “There is no need to detain these gentlemen, nor to disarrange their baggage. The necklace is in a leather collar-box in Mr. Hilary Harben’s cabin.”

A tense hush fell on the saloon—a moment’s breathless silence, and then Harben, pushing aside the men in his way, came towards the platform with blanched face and clenched fists.

“That is a lie!” he called out. “I’ll make you eat those words. How do you know what is, or what is not, in my cabin? Who are you?”

“I am the person who saw the man with the limp come out of Miss Silver’s cabin last night.”

An “Ah!” of astonishment ran round the saloon like a wave, and Mrs. Westmacott sparing a glance for Miss Silver, saw the girl sink in her chair with both hands covering her face. Melhuish, standing beside the captain, was, like most, eagerly intent on McNab.

“I was not that man, I swear it!” Harben cried out helplessly, as if he did not expect them to believe him. And certainly nobody seemed to. Mrs. Westmacott saw the gleam of gold as Melhuish smiled. In the tense, painful silence which ensued, the ship’s purser entered and handed up to Captain York the little leather collar-case. As he opened the thing and took out the necklace, the man whispered something to him, and it was evident to all from the way in which he stared at McNab, who was still on his feet that it had been found where McNab had said.

“I swear I had no hand in this—I never took it!” Harben cried passionately again.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.