UNDER SUSPICION
A distinct, of ran the packed as this man in the witness-box gave this answer. It many things—that there were people present who had some such development; that there were others present who had not; that the answer itself was only a to developments. And Spargo, looking about him, saw that the answer had different in Aylmore's two daughters. The one had her until it was hidden; the was upright, at her father in and bewilderment. And for the time, Aylmore no response to her.
But the of was going forward. There was no stopping the Treasury Counsel now; he was going to at some truth in his own fashion. He had one with the Coroner, had a word to the who sat close by him, and now he again to the witness.
"So you know that gentleman—make sure now—as Mr. Anderson, an of the Temple?"
"Yes, sir."
"You don't know him by any other name?"
"No, sir, I don't."
"How long have you him by that name?"
"I should say two or three years, sir."
"See him go in and out regularly?"
"No, sir—not regularly."
"How often, then?"
"Now and then, sir—perhaps once a week."
"Tell us what you know of Mr. Anderson's goings-in-and-out."
"Well, sir, I might see him two nights running; then I mightn't see him again for a week or two. Irregular, as you might say, sir."
"You say 'nights.' Do I that you see Mr. Anderson at night?"
"Yes, sir. I've him at night. Always about the same time, sir."
"What time?"
"Just about midnight, sir."
"Very well. Do you the midnight of June 21st-22nd?"
"I do, sir."
"Did you see Mr. Anderson enter then?"
"Yes, sir, just after twelve."
"Was he alone?"
"No, sir; there was another with him."
"Remember anything about that other gentleman?"
"Nothing, sir, that I noticed as they walked through, that the other had on."
"Had on. You didn't see his face?"
"Not to it, sir. I don't anything but what I've told you, sir."
"That is that the other a suit. Where did Mr. Anderson and this in the go when they'd passed through?"
"Straight up the Lane, sir."
"Do you know where Mr. Anderson's rooms in the Temple are?"
"Not exactly, sir, but I in Fountain Court."
"Now, on that night in question, did Mr. Anderson again by your lodge?"
"No, sir."
"You of the of the of a man in Middle Temple
Lane next morning?"
"I did, sir."
"Did you that man with the in the suit?"
"No, sir, I didn't. It to me. A of the who live in the Temple friends in late of nights; I gave the any particular thought."
"Never mentioned it to until now, when you were sent for to come here?"
"No, sir, never, to anybody."
"And you have the there as but
Mr. Anderson?"
"No, sir, any other name but Anderson."
The Coroner at the Counsel.
"I think this may be a opportunity for Mr. Aylmore to give the he offered a minutes ago," he said. "Do you anything?"
"I suggest, sir, that if Mr. Aylmore to give any he should return to the witness-box and submit himself to again on his oath," the Counsel. "The is in your hands."
The Coroner to Aylmore.
"Do you object to that?" he asked.
Aylmore and into the box.
"I object to nothing," he said in clear tones, "except to being asked to reply to questions about of the past which have not and cannot have anything to do with this case. Ask me what questions you like, out of the of the last two witnesses, and I will answer them so as I see myself in doing so. Ask me questions about of twenty years ago, and I shall answer them or not as I see fit. And I may as well say that I will take all the of my or my speech."
The Treasury Counsel rose again.
"Very well, Mr. Aylmore," he said. "I will put questions to you. You the of David Lyell?"
"I did."
"Was that true as yourself?"
"Quite true—absolutely true."
"And you that of the last witness. Was that also true!"
"Equally true."
"Then you admit that the you gave this morning, these came on the scene, was not true?"
"No, I do not! Most I do not. It was true."
"True? You told me, on oath, that you from John Marbury on
Waterloo Bridge!"
"Pardon me, I said nothing of the sort. I said that from the Anglo-Orient Hotel we across Waterloo Bridge, and that we parted—I did not say where we parted. I see there is a here who is taking down—ask him if that is not what I said?"
A to the proved Aylmore to be right, and the
Treasury Counsel plain annoyance.
"Well, at any rate, you so phrased your answer that nine out of ten would have that you from Marbury in the open after Waterloo Bridge," he said. "Now—?"
Aylmore smiled.
"I am not for the of nine people out of ten any more than I am for your understanding," he said, with a sneer. "I said what I now repeat—Marbury and I walked across Waterloo Bridge, and we parted. I told you the truth."
"Indeed! Perhaps you will continue to tell us the truth. Since you have that the of the last two is correct, you will tell us where you and Marbury did part?"
"I will—willingly. We at the door of my in Fountain
Court."
"Then—to reiterate—it was you who took Marbury into the Temple that night?"
"It was I who took Marbury into the Temple that night."
There was another the benches. Here at any was fact—solid, fact. And Spargo to see a possible of events which he had not anticipated.
"That is a admission, Mr. Aylmore. I you see a to in making it."
"I need not say I do or I do not. I have it."
"Very good. Why did you not make it before?"
"For my own reasons. I told you as much as I necessary for the purpose of this enquiry. I have nothing now. I asked to be allowed to make a statement, to give an explanation, as soon as Mr. Lyell had left this box: I was not allowed to do so. I am to make it now."
"Make it then."
"It is this," said Aylmore, to the Coroner. "I have it convenient, the past three years, to rent a set of in the Temple, where I occasionally—very occasionally, as a rule—go late at night. I also it convenient, for my own reasons—with which, I think, no one has anything to do—to rent those under the name of Mr. Anderson. It was to my that Marbury me for a moments on the midnight with which we are dealing. He was not in them more than five minutes at the very outside: I from him at my door, and I that he would the Temple by the way we had entered and would drive or walk to his hotel. That is the whole truth. I wish to add that I ought to have told all this at first. I had for not doing so. I told what I necessary, that I from Marbury, him well and alive, soon after midnight."
"What were or are they which you from telling all this at first?" asked the Treasury Counsel.
"Reasons which are private to me."
"Will you tell them to the court?"
"No!"
"Then will you tell us why Marbury with you to the in
Fountain Court which you under the name of Anderson?"
"Yes. To a document which I had in my keeping, and had for him for twenty years or more."
"A document of importance?"
"Of very great importance."
"He would have it on him when he was—as we he was—murdered and robbed?"
"He had it on him when he left me."
"Will you tell us what it was?"
"Certainly not!"
"In fact, you won't tell us any more than you choose to tell?"
"I have told you all I can tell of the events of that night."
"Then I am going to ask you a very question. Is it not a that you know a great more about John Marbury than you have told this court?"
"That I shall not answer."
"Is it not a that you could, if you would, tell this more about John Marbury and your with him twenty years ago?"
"I also to answer that."
The Treasury Counsel a little movement of his and to the Coroner.
"I should suggest, sir, that you this enquiry," he said quietly.
"For a week," the Coroner, to the jury.
The out of the court, chattering, murmuring, exclaiming— spectators, witnesses, jurymen, reporters, legal folk, police folk, all mixed up together. And Spargo, his own way out, and up the value of the new put on by the day's work, a hand on his arm. Turning he himself at Jessie Aylmore.