The Stowmarket Mystery

lack

Table of

rsonal appearance that he experienced no difficulty in picking out the Itali

nsom. His valet followed in a four-wheeler with the luggage. In each instan

and along the Embankment. At the Mansion House, and again at Blackfriars, they halted side b

Hume?" for Brett had given his professional confrère a synopsis of all that happened befo

to the barrister when he

Alan, but if I am mistaken in this respect, it is impossible to suppose that he can dream of clearing his path

u come to the

set out I want to discuss Mr. Okasaki

is eyes are like tiny slits in a water melon, an

ou with such a fund of picturesque

alike, to my thinking, but if I heard him

o some village, river, street, or mountain, and there may be thousands of Okasakis. Then, again, it was the custom some years ago for a man to be called one name at birth, another when he came of age, a third when he ob

the detective. "And if I

ld be 'Top Dog' or s

rmation with a profound thankfulness that

terested in Mr. Ok

by another. Why was he so i

d to be interested in the crime itself. But now I come

did

ll the informati

ctly. Let us go

ded here. It contains, in glass cases, or hanging on the walls, a weird collection of articles famous in the annals of cr

pride in some of them, but his comp

a depress

what

intelligence in the average. A bludge

han that in a g

rgot the

e Ko-Katana," sai

not more deadly than a paper-knife in

been clean

r the doctor withdrew it from t

ht he could distinguish some Japanese characters in the quaint pictorial

ully focussed it. Then he produced a note-book and

uiet agony. He had never

ou what these scratches mea

did not

ur

so quickly, but what possible purpose can it serve to find out the meaning

tupid of me, I admit, but I

finding of Okasa

ing explained. At present we have so little o

what that

roduced by a man like David Hume, whom 'Rabbit Ja

ok his hea

e first thing you would endeavour to determine would be the calibre an

fty years in Glen Tochan. Its hi

this motto signify? If you wanted to kill a man would y

uestions leaves m

. The sword is intended for suicidal purposes, the Ko-Ka

his heels, thereby upsetting Ch

ct Okasaki

rer is five feet ten inches in height. Japanese are clever peo

ways make capital out o

imited. Let us go. The moral a

to pay some long-neglected calls, Winter to hunt up Ca

chambers at five o'clock, in

cried, when Smith admitted him to the barr

d? Naught but the gravest considerations would take him so far

s fact?" asked Brett, awa

of gentlemen's valets are keen sports. Barbers and hot

rister

name is-with him. I told them I had backed the first winner to-day, an eight to one chance, and that started them. I offered to put them on a certainty next week, and William's face fell. 'It's a beastly nuisanc

t Naples in person. For one thing, he did not speak Italian. But Ca

an Italian, or better still, an Italian-speaking E

r?" replied the detective, who seemed

appe

find a gentleman named Holden," said

that Mr. Holden was an ex-police sergeant, retained for many years at headquarters on accoun

ould telegraph the fact of the Italian's departure according to programme. Holden was not to spare expense in

that all the money he had in his possess

oduced a

ed. "I did back the first winner, and, wh

as he completed the financial transaction, and Mr. Holden took

o'clock H

e to lunch. He approves of my project, and will pray for my suc

his study immediately a

ntly. "Has anything impo

s. A chance allusion to Sir Alan

d I were very much alike, you know, and I have brought

his two cousins, and of the older Sir Alan and

r examined t

uring our last visit to London. Poor chap! He never saw th

iderably. He compared the pictures one wit

in my notes that at the time of the murder you were twenty

pectively in January, October, and December.

ere two years and nine

es

on't l

t the same size as boys, but he m

d were you when th

on the lawn at Beechcroft. There were eig

refl

and Christmas time. Seventeen al

sin Margaret

es

y tall, well-devel

m an early age. We boys used to call h

very much alike. This is the

her and

ell me there is another

ge or a little older, for the youngest of the three bro

photograph dow

n to comprehend this business in its entirety? How

st, Hume endeavoured

hought-" h

tch your memory for five minutes from Miss Layton, and tell me a

what

-arrived cousin

South America. I have never heard of him since. I know very little about my younger uncle's household. Indeed, the occasion recorded by the photograph was the last time the old men met in friendship. There was

ousin Robert? Did he

e of its male line. That is readily demonstrated by the family portraits. You have not been

himself in

ed. "A nice school for a '

his cigarette-case when Smith entered wi

from

iro, so you were right, as usual. He and Mrs. J