lepers. And there was nothing more that they could do. They thought of libel, and the thing went to Lake Rodgers, K. C., for an opinion. His opinion was that the article had been so carefully written that it contained no libel, and the opinion ended with the friendly hint that a failure to obtain a verdict would probably be more damaging under the circumstances than inaction. [82] [83] CHAPTER IV The summer of 1902 slowly slipped away. Twenty years had now passed since Ashley Tempest had hung up the miniature of the dead Dolores in his chambers—to him twenty busy and eventful years. He was by now one of the leading members of his profession—the busiest junior at the bar. The courts had risen for the vacation which Tempest was to spend with the Shifnals. Securing his seat in the train at Euston, he had bought the evening papers and pitched them in a heap in the corner he had appropriated, and after doing so was standing in the fresh air until the last moment, smoking one of his perpetual cigarettes. The As the doors were being noisily slammed along the train, he jumped in and soon was smoothly gliding towards his destination.[84] He heaved a sigh of relief, for with the start from London he felt his holiday had begun, and he could put the worries of his work behind him. Opening a copy of the Globe his attention was caught by the leaded capitals announcing a “Sensational Tragedy.” The report that followed was not very lengthy: [84] “A gruesome discovery has been made this afternoon at the Charing Cross Hotel. A chambermaid, on entering one of the bedrooms in the annexe which had not been let and which was supposed to be unoccupied, was horror-struck to find lying upon the bed the dead and nude body of a young woman. On the table by the bedside was an opened half-bottle of champagne and a glass, evidently that from which the wine had been drunk. We are informed that the victim of this tragedy, the facts of which plainly point to suicide, was of surpassing beauty, but is unknown in the[85] hotel. No one can identify the body, and all the staff of the hotel emphatically declare the lady was not registered there as a visitor. Life had only been extinct for a short time, as the body, when found, was still warm.” [85] Tempest read the account with amazement, for in every detail it
Prev.
Back
Top