Samuel Boyd of Catchpole Square: A Mystery
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Оглавление
Farjeon Benjamin Leopold. Samuel Boyd of Catchpole Square: A Mystery
CHAPTER I. ABEL DEATH AT WORK
CHAPTER II. SAMUEL BOYD SETS A TRAP FOR HIS DRUDGE
CHAPTER III. A LADY OF FASHION PAYS SAMUEL BOYD A VISIT
CHAPTER IV. SILENCE REIGNS
CHAPTER V. CONSTABLE APPLEBEE AND CONSTABLE POND FOREGATHER
CHAPTER VI. IT WAS GONE! THROUGH DEADMAN'S COURT
CHAPTER VII. IN BISHOP STREET POLICE STATION
CHAPTER VIII. AUNT ROB THINKS FLORENCE OUGHT TO MARRY A MARQUIS OR A PRINCE
CHAPTER IX. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ABEL DEATH
CHAPTER X. UNCLE ROB AND DICK ARGUE IT OUT
CHAPTER XI. DICK REMINGTON REVIEWS THE PAST
CHAPTER XII. DICK CONFESSES HOW HE BEHAVED HIMSELF IN THE SERVICE OF SAMUEL BOYD
CHAPTER XIII. A LIGHT IN THE HOUSE OF DR. PYE
CHAPTER XIV. THE LADY'S HANDKERCHIEF WHICH CONSTABLE POND PICKED UP IN CATCHPOLE SQUARE
CHAPTER XV. DICK COMES TO AN ARRANGEMENT WITH CONSTABLE POND
CHAPTER XVI. LETTERS FROM FLORENCE
CHAPTER XVII. THE LITTLE WASHERWOMAN
CHAPTER XVIII. DR. PYE'S FRIEND, OF THE NAME OF VINSEN
CHAPTER XIX. DICK PREPARES FOR A SIEGE AND COMMENCES SERIOUS OPERATIONS
CHAPTER XX. DICK MAKES A DISCOVERY
CHAPTER XXI. THE CHAMBER OF DEATH
CHAPTER XXII. DICK RELIEVES GRACIE'S FEELING BY ONE EXPRESSIVE WORD
CHAPTER XXIII. FLORENCE AND REGINALD
CHAPTER XXIV. DR. VINSEN TAKES AN INTEREST IN DICK
CHAPTER XXV. LADY WHARTON AT THE FOUNTAIN
CHAPTER XXVI "THE LITTLE BUSY BEE" GETS AHEAD OF ITS RIVALS
CHAPTER XXVII "THE LITTLE BUSY BEE" ENLIGHTENS THE PUBLIC
CHAPTER XXVIII. THE BURSTING OF THE CLOUD
CHAPTER XXIX. A MODERN KNIGHT OF CHIVALRY
CHAPTER XXX. REGINALD'S MAN OF BUSINESS
CHAPTER XXXI. SCENES IN CATCHPOLE SQUARE
CHAPTER XXXII "THE LITTLE BUSY BEE'S" REPORT OF THE INQUEST
CHAPTER XXXIII. SCENES IN COURT
CHAPTER XXXIV. GATHERING CLOUDS
CHAPTER XXXV. LADY WHARTON STARTLES THE COURT
CHAPTER XXXVI. THE CONTINUATION OF THE INQUEST
CHAPTER XXXVII. DR. PYE MAKES A STATEMENT
CHAPTER XXXVIII. DICK IS OF THE OPINION THAT THE MYSTERY SEEMS IMPENETRABLE, BUT IS STILL DETERMINED TO PIERCE IT
CHAPTER XXXIX. GRACIE MAKES A DISCOVERY
CHAPTER XL. THE SPECTRE IN THE FLASH-LIGHT
CHAPTER XLI. HOW A MURDERER MIGHT HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED
CHAPTER XLII. A FAMILY COUNCIL
CHAPTER XLIII. AUNT ROB PLAYS THE PART OF FAIRY GODMOTHER
CHAPTER XLIV. IN THE CAUSE OF JUSTICE
CHAPTER XLV. CROSS PURPOSES
CHAPTER XLVI "THE LITTLE BUSY BEE'S" REPORT OF THE CONTINUATION OF THE INQUEST
CHAPTER XLVII "THE LITTLE BUSY BEE" CONTINUES ITS REPORT OF THE INQUEST
CHAPTER XLVIII. THE CORONER'S SUMMING-UP
CHAPTER XLIX. LITTLE GRACIE DEATH ON THE TRAIL
CHAPTER L. EZRA LYNN, THE MONEY-LENDER
CHAPTER LI. A DEAD LOCK
CHAPTER LII. ARRESTED FOR MURDER
CHAPTER LIII. GRACIE RELATES THE STORY OF HER ADVENTURES
CHAPTER LIV. EXTRACTS FROM "THE LITTLE BUSY BEE" OF FRIDAY, THE 15TH OF MARCH, 1896
CHAPTER LV. CONSTABLE APPLEBEE ON THE WATCH
CHAPTER LVI. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF DAVID LAMBERT DETECTIVE OFFICER
CHAPTER LVII. DETECTIVE LAMBERT CONTINUES HIS DIARY
CHAPTER LVIII. THE DISCOVERY OF THE CRYPTOGRAM
CHAPTER LIX. CONSTABLE APPLEBEE DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF
CHAPTER LX. FROM THE DIARY OF DETECTIVE LAMBERT
CHAPTER LXI. FROM "THE LITTLE BUSY BEE" OF THURSDAY, MARCH, 21st
CHAPTER LXII. AT THE MAGISTRATE'S COURT
CHAPTER LXIII. CONTINUATION OF THE TRIAL
CHAPTER LXIV. A STARTLING DENOUEMENT
CHAPTER LXV. FROM "THE LITTLE BUSY BEE."
CHAPTER LXVI. JOY
Отрывок из книги
Abel Death experienced a feeling of relief when he heard the street door slammed in token that Mr. Reginald was gone. Whatever his thoughts may have been with reference to that young gentleman he did not give audible utterance to them, but an occasional shake of his head as he worked at the books, and an occasional pause during which he rested his chin upon the palm of his hand in reflection, were an evidence that though Mr. Reginald was out of sight he was not out of mind. At first he worked rapidly to make up for lost time, but at the end of an hour or so his pen travelled more slowly over the paper, his task being nearly completed. He had lighted two candles stuck in common tin candlesticks, and had pulled down the blind, for night was coming on. The feeble glimmer of these candles, which were long and thin, threw light only upon the desk at which he was working; the distant spaces in the room were in deep shadow, and an occasional shifting of a candle seemingly imbued many of the objects by which he was surrounded with a weird and fitful life. This was especially the case with the wax figure, which was that of a Chinaman who might have come straight from the Chamber of Horrors, so ghastly was its face in this dim light. Being not quite firm on its legs any hurried movement in its direction caused it to quiver as though it were set on wires; and once, when Abel Death threw a heavy ledger from his desk on to the table, the oscillation of the figure was sufficiently fantastic to have engendered the fancy that it was preparing to leap upon the living man and do him violence. Neither Mr. Samuel Boyd nor Abel Death could have informed a curious inquirer who the figure was intended to represent. It came from the house of a modeller in wax, to whom Mr. Boyd had lent a small sum of money, and who, when he was pressed for payment, himself brought it to Catchpole Square as the only asset he could offer in discharge of the debt. "It is all I possess," said the man mournfully, who had hoped to soften the heart of his creditor by his tale of distress. "Then I'll take it," said Mr. Samuel Boyd. "You'd take my blood, I believe," cried the man savagely. "I would," retorted Mr. Boyd, "if there was a market for it." "Keep it, then," said the man, flinging himself from the room. "It's brought me nothing but bad luck all the time I have been at work on it. May it bring the same to you!" Mr. Boyd laughed; he did not believe in omens, nor in sentiment, nor in mercy to any person in his debt. He believed only in Money.
The day's work over, Abel Death sat awhile so deep in thought and so still and quiet that he might have been taken for one of the inanimate objects in this strangely furnished apartment. He had removed the candles from the desk to the table, where they flickered in the draught of a broken window, into which some rags had been thrust to keep out the wind. Within the radius of the flickering light the shadows on the walls and ceiling grew more weird and grotesque, each gust of air creating insubstantial forms and shapes as monstrous as the fancies of a madman's brain. Catchpole Square was a blind thoroughfare-being, as has been elsewhere described, like a bottle with a very narrow neck to it-and was therefore undisturbed by the tumult of the city's streets; and the prevailing silence, in which there was something deathly, was broken only by the sobbing and moaning of the rising wind which, having got into the Square, was making despairing efforts to get out. These sounds were in unison with the spectral life within the house, which seemed to find interpretation in the mystic voices of the air. It might have been so in very truth, for what know we of the forces of the invisible world through which we move and play our parts in the march from the cradle to the grave? Unfathomable mystery encompasses and mocks us, and no man can foretell at what moment he may be struck down and all his castles overturned, and all his plans for good or evil destroyed.
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"Gratitude is no security," said Mr. Boyd, still with the sneering smile on his lips. "Prayers and heaven's blessing are no security. No business man would lend a shilling on them. They are not Property. You remarked a moment ago that I had never found you unfaithful. I will put it to the test. Let me see the slippers you have taken off."
"My slippers, sir!" stammered Abel Death.
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