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"Do you believe that some one out of wanton cruelty has stolen the body with no purpose beyond mere revenge?" "It looks like it, Sir Arthur. The body will probably be discovered presently. Possibly the thief will furnish you with a clue so that you may know he or she has taken revenge. I am afraid there is nothing to be done but to wait. I feel greatly for Lady Rusholm."
It was drawn as if he were in physical pain, and it was evident how keenly he felt his father's death. Lady Rusholm did not appear until the undertakers entered the house. She came down the wide stairs, a pathetic figure in her deep mourning, heavier than present-day fashion has made customary.
With a great effort she calmed herself and remained with her son, the doctor, and two or three guests while the coffin was unscrewed. The lid was lifted off, and for a moment no one spoke. "Empty!" the doctor cried. As he spoke Lady Rusholm swayed backwards, and would have fallen had not her son caught her. There were two masses of lead in the coffin. There was no body.
Sir Arthur Rusholm immediately communicated with Scotland Yard, and the utter confusion which followed this gruesome discovery had only partially subsided when I, Murray Wigan, entered the house to enquire into a mystery which was certainly amongst the most remarkable I have ever had to investigate.
Their disappointment must have been great, and if I could discover that Sir Grenville had an enemy amongst them some relation he had refused to help, for instance I should want to know all about him." "Yours is a very interesting idea," said Quarles. "Do you happen to know who Lady Rusholm was?" "The daughter of a tea planter in Ceylon. Her social success here has been very great, as you know."
It placed difficulties in the way of the rightful heir, It would help to throw a distinct doubt whether, in spite of all the evidence that might be forthcoming, Sir Grenville had committed fraud. There was even a possibility that the son might be left in possession after all. I daresay we shall learn more when we tackle Lady Rusholm and her son to-morrow."
He did not suspect Thompson, who came to England first. All this we heard from the son who for a short hour or two had called himself Sir Arthur Rusholm. He was able to prove quite conclusively that he was in entire ignorance of the fraud until Thompson's arrival. His mother confessed everything to him then. It was she who had planned how to get out of the difficulty.
Thompson was their only confidant. He could not be left out because he had known all about Rusholm. There was one other who knew, but they believed him to be dead. He was a wanderer, somewhat of a ne'er-do-well, and to Thompson's consternation, after twenty years, he had turned up in Calcutta very much alive. He was going to England to expose the fraud.
"Was the coffin a very elaborate one?" Quarles asked, after nodding an acquiescence to Zena's remark. "No, quite a plain one." "Has the drawing-room more than one door?" "Only one into the hall. There is a small room out of the drawing-room a small drawing-room in fact. Lady Rusholm does her correspondence there.
One with the body in it was removed, and another with lead in it was placed on the trestles in its stead. The plainer the coffin the easier it would be to duplicate it by description. The makers of the second coffin would not have the original before them to copy, you must remember." "But only Lady Rusholm and her son could possess the necessary knowledge to give such a duplicate order," I said.
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