sinners not bein’ saints, it’s not nattral as latch-keys should be made for ornament instead of use, and Mr. Fitzgerald bein’ one of the ‘andsomest men in Melbourne, it ain’t to be expected as ‘e should let ‘is latch-key git rusty, tho’ ‘avin’ a good moral character, ‘e uses it with moderation.”
“But I suppose you are seldom awake when he comes in really late,” said the detective.
“Not as a rule,” assented Mrs. Sampson; “bein’ a ‘eavy sleeper, and much disposed for bed, but I ‘ave ‘eard ‘im come in arter twelve, the last time bein’ Thursday week.”
“Ah!” Mr. Gorby drew a long breath, for Thursday week was the night upon which the murder was committed.
“Bein’ troubled with my ‘ead,” said Mrs. Sampson, “thro’ ‘avin’ been out in the sun all day a-washin’, I did not feel so partial to my bed that night as in general, so went down to the kitching with the intent of getting a linseed poultice to put at the back of my ‘ead, it being calculated to remove pain, as was told to me, when a nuss, by a doctor in the horspital, ‘e now bein’ in business for hisself, at Geelong, with a large family, ‘avin’ married early. Just as I was leavin’ the kitching I ‘eard Mr. Fitzgerald a-comin’ in, and, turnin’ round, looked at the clock, that ‘avin’ been my custom when my late ‘usband came in, in the early mornin’, I bein’ a-preparin’ ‘is meal.”
“And the time was?” asked Mr. Gorby, breathlessly.
“Five minutes to two o’clock,” replied Mrs. Sampson. Mr. Gorby thought for a moment.
“Cab was hailed at one o’clock—started for St. Kilda at about ten minutes past—reached Grammar School, say, at twenty-five minutes past—Fitzgerald talks five minutes to cabman, making it half-past—say, he waited ten minutes for other cab to turn up, makes it twenty minutes to two—it would take another twenty minutes to get to East Melbourne—and five minutes to walk up here—that makes it five minutes past two instead of before—confound it. ‘Was your clock in the kitchen right?’” he asked, aloud.
“Well, I think so,” answered Mrs. Sampson. “It does get a little slow sometimes, not ‘avin’ been cleaned for some time, which my nevy bein’ a watchmaker I allays ‘ands it over to ‘im.”
“Of course it was slow on that night,” said Gorby, triumphantly.
“He must have come in at five minutes past two—which makes it right.”
“Makes what right?” asked the landlady, sharply. “And ‘ow do you know my clock was ten minutes wrong?”
“Oh, it was, was it?” asked Gorby, eagerly.
“I’m not denyin’ of it,” replied Mrs. Sampson; “clocks ain’t allays to be relied on more than men an’ women—but it won’t be anythin’ agin ‘is insurance, will it, as in general ‘e’s in afore twelve?”
“Oh, all that will be quite safe,” answered the detective, delighted with the information he had obtained. “Is this Mr. Fitzgerald’s room?”
“Yes, it is,” replied the landlady; “but ‘e furnished it ‘imself, bein’ of a luxurus turn of mind, not but what ‘is taste is good, tho’ far be it from me to deny I ‘elped ‘im to select; but ‘avin’ another room of the same to let, any friends as you might ‘ave in search of a ‘ome ‘ud be well looked arter, my references bein’ very ‘igh, an’ my cookin’ tasty—an’ if—”
Here a ring at the front door bell called Mrs. Sampson away, so with a hurried word to Gorby she crackled downstairs. Left to himself, Mr. Gorby arose and looked round the room. It was excellently furnished, and the pictures were good. At one end of the room, by the window, there was a writing-table covered with papers.
“It’s no good looking for the papers he took out of Whyte’s pocket, I suppose,” said the detective to himself, as he turned over some letters, “as I don’t know what they are, and I couldn’t tell them if I saw them; but I’d like to find that missing glove and the bottle that held the chloroform—unless he’s done away with them. There doesn’t seem any sign of them here, so I’ll have a look in his bedroom.”
There was no time to lose, as Mrs. Sampson might return at any moment, so Mr. Gorby walked quickly into the bedroom, which opened off the sitting-room. The first thing that caught the detective’s eye was a large photograph, in a plush frame, of Madge Frettlby. It stood on the dressing-table, and was similar to that one which he had already seen in Whyte’s album. He took it up with a laugh.
“You’re a pretty girl,” he said, apostrophising the picture, “but you give your photograph to two young men, both in love with you, and both hot-tempered. The result is that one is dead, and the other won’t survive him long. That’s what you’ve done.”
He put it down again, and looking round the room, caught sight of a light covert coat hanging behind the door and also a soft hat.
“Ah,” said the detective, going up to the door, “here is the very coat you wore when you killed that poor fellow. Wonder what you have in the pockets,” and he plunged his hand into them in turn. There were an old theatre programme and a pair of brown gloves in one, but in the second pocket Mr. Gorby made a discovery—none other than that of the missing glove. There it was—a soiled white glove for the right hand, with black bands down the back; and the detective smiled in a gratified manner as he put it carefully in his pocket.
“My morning has not been wasted,” he said to himself. “I’ve found out that he came in at a time which corresponds to all his movements after one o’clock on Thursday night, and this is the missing glove, which clearly belonged to Whyte. If I could only get hold of the chloroform bottle I’d be satisfied.”
But the chloroform bottle was not to be found, though he searched most carefully for it. At last, hearing Mrs. Sampson coming upstairs again, he gave up the search, and came back to the sitting-room.
“Threw it away, I suspect,” he said, as he sat down in his, old place; “but it doesn’t matter. I think I can form a chain of evidence, from what I have discovered, which will be sufficient to convict him. Besides, I expect when he is arrested he will confess everything; he seems to feel remorse for what he has done.”
The door opened, and Mrs. Sampson entered the room in a state of indignation.
“One of them Chinese ‘awkers,” she explained, “‘e’s bin a-tryin’ to git the better of me over carrots—as if I didn’t know what carrots was—and ‘im a-talkin’ about a shillin’ in his gibberish, as if ‘e ‘adn’t been brought up in a place where they don’t know what a shillin’ is. But I never could abide furreigners ever since a Frenchman, as taught me ‘is language, made orf with my mother’s silver tea-pot, unbeknown to ‘er, it bein’ set out on the sideboard for company.”
Mr. Gorby interrupted these domestic reminiscences of Mrs. Sampson’s by stating that, now she had given him all necessary information, he would take his departure.
“An’ I ‘opes,” said Mrs. Sampson, as she opened the door for him, “as I’ll ‘ave the pleasure of seein’ you again should any business on be’alf of Mr. Fitzgerald require it.”
“Oh, I’ll see you again,” said Mr. Gorby, with heavy jocularity, “and in a way you won’t like, as you’ll be called
