Rather to Wendovers surprise, Sir Clinton took the lead in the conversation as soon as the girl arrived.
Before we turn to business, Miss Eastcote, he said, Id like to tell you a little anecdote. It may be of use to you. May I?
Nurse Eastcote nodded politely and Wendover, looking her over, noticed a ring on her engagement finger which he had not seen on her last visit.
This is a case which came to my knowledge lately, Sir Clinton went on, and it resembles your own so closely that Im sure it will suggest something. A young man of twenty, in an almost dying state, was induced to enter a nursing home by the doctor in charge. If he lived to come of age, he could make a will and leave a very large fortune to anyone he choose: but it was the merest gamble whether he would live to come of age.
Nurse Eastcotes figure stiffened and her eyes widened at this beginning, but she merely nodded as though asking Sir Clinton to continue.
The boy fell in love with one of the nurses, who happened to be under the influence of the doctor, Sir Clinton went on. If he lived to make a will, there was little doubt that he would leave the fortune to the nurse. A considerable temptation for any girl, I think youll agree.
The boys birthday was very near, only a few days off; but it looked as though he would not live to see it. He was very far gone. He had no interest in the newspapers and he had long lapses of unconsciousness, so that he had no idea of what the actual date was. It was easy enough to tell him, on a given day, that he had come of age, though actually two days were still to run. Misled by the doctor, he imagined that he could make a valid will, being now twenty-one; and he wrote with his own hand a short document leaving everything to the nurse.
Miss Eastcote cleared her throat with an effort.
Yes? she said.
This fraudulent will, Sir Clinton continued, was witnessed by two waiters of the hotel to which the boy had been removed; and soon after, these waiters were packed off abroad and provided with some cash in addition to their fares. Then it occurred to the doctor that an extra bit of confirmatory evidence might be supplied. The boy had put the will into an envelope which he had addressed to the nurse. While the gum was still wet, the doctor opened the flap and took out the will, which he then folded smaller in order to get the paper into an ordinary business-size envelope. He then addressed this to the nurse and posted the will to her in it. The original large envelope, addressed by the boy, he retained. But in pulling it open, the doctor had slightly torn the inner side of the flap where the gum lies; and that little defect shows up when one exposes the envelope over a sheet of photographic paper. Heres an example of what I mean.
He passed over to Nurse Eastcote the print which he had shown Wendover and drew her attention to the spots on the St Andrews Cross.
As it chanced, the boy died next morning, a day before he came of age. The doctor concealed the death for a day, which was easy enough in the circumstances. Then, on the afternoon of the crucial datedid I mention that it was September 21st?he closed the empty envelope, stamped it, and put it into the post, thus securing a postmark of the proper date. Unfortunately for this plan, the defacement stamp of the post office came down hard enough to impress its image on both the sheets of the thin paper envelope, so that by opening up the envelope and photographing it by a sideways illumination the embossing of the stamp showed uplike this.
He handed the girl the second photograph.
Now if the will had been in that envelope, the will itself would have borne that stamp. But it did not; and that proves that the will was not in the envelope when it passed through the post. A clever woman like yourself, Miss Eastcote, will see the point at once.
And what happened after that? asked the girl huskily.
Its difficult to tell you, Sir Clinton pursued. If it had come before me officiallyIm Chief Constable of the county, you knowI should probably have had to prosecute that unfortunate nurse for attempted fraud; and Ive not the slightest doubt that wed have proved the case up to the hilt. It would have meant a year or two in gaol, I expect.
I forgot to mention that the nurse was secretly engaged to the doctor all this while. And, by the way, thats a very pretty ring youre wearing, Miss Eastcote. That, of course, accounted for the way in which the doctor managed to get her to play her part in the little scheme. I think, if I were you, Miss Eastcote, Id go back to France as soon as possible and tell Dr Prevost that well, it hasnt come off.
J. J. CONNINGTON
Stewart had begun writing novels in the 1920s, adopting the pseudonym J. J. Connington doubtless to distance what he saw as a hobby from his academic career. His first book, Nordenholts Millions (1923), dealt with a Wellesian apocalypse, brought about by scientific error and endedin the Clyde valleyby scientific genius. His second, Almighty Gold (1924), was a more prosaic tale of adventure and crime in the world of high finance. Both books sold well, and were well received critically, but this was the 1920s and what John Dickson Carr would later describe as the lure of detective fiction was too great. For his first detective story, Death at Swaythling Court (1926), Stewart wrote an entertaining village mystery in which a blackmailing butterfly collector is poisoned and stabbed. This was quickly followed by The Dangerfield Talisman (1926), an old dark house mystery with many characters and almost as many clues.