The Skeleton Key | by Bernard Capes
The detective or mystery tale, in which this last book is an experiment, involves in itself a problem for the artist, as odd as any of the problems which it puts to the policeman. A detective story might well be in a special sense a spiritual tragedy; since it is a story in which even the moral sympathies may be in doubt
| Title | The Skeleton Key |
| Author | Bernard Capes |
| Publisher | Glasgow; W. Collins Sons And Co. Ltd. |
| Year | 1919 |
| Copyright | 1919, Glasgow; W. Collins Sons And Co. Ltd. |
| Amazon | The Skeleton Key |
Introduction- To introduce the last book by the late Bernard Capes is a sad sort of honour in more ways than one; for not only was his death untimely and unexpected, but he had a mind of that fertile type which mus...
- Chapter I. My First Meeting With The Baron
- Some few years ago, in the month of September, I happened to be kicking my heels in Paris, awaiting the arrival there of my friend Hugo Kennett. We had both been due from the south, I from Vaucluse an...
- Chapter II. My Second Meeting With The Baron
- It might have been somewhere near the anniversary of my first meeting with the Baron when I came upon him again--in London this time. I had been lunch-, ing at Simpson's in the Strand, and, my meal fi...
- Chapter III. Wildshott
- Wildshott, the Hampshire seat of the Kennetts, stands off the Winton-Sarum road, at a distance of some six miles from the former, and some three and a half from the sporting town of Longbridge, on the...
- Wildshott. Continued
- Kennett laughed, and then frowned, and turned away to chalk his cue. The two men were in the billiard-room, playing a hundred up before dinner. ' Well,' he said, stooping to a losing hazard,' I hop...
- Chapter IV. I Am Interested In The Baron
- I seemed conscious somehow, at dinner on the night of our arrival, of a feeling of electricity in the domestic atmosphere, Having no clue, such as the later course of events came to supply, to its ori...
- I Am Interested In The Baron. Continued
- ' Instance, M. le Baron,' I ventured to put in. 'Why,' said Le Sage good-humouredly, 'a dozen may well present themselves to a man of average inventive intelligence. Direct murder, for example- how...
- Chapter V. The Baron Continues To Interest Me
- We were three guns--Hugo, myself, and a young local landowner, Sir Francis Orsden, of Audley, whom I had met before and liked. He was a good fellow, though considered effeminate by a sporting squirear...
- Chapter VI. That Thunders In The Index
- Le Sage, in the course of a pleasant little drive with Audrey, asked innumerable questions and answered none. This idiosyncrasy of his greatly amused the young lady, who was by disposition frankly out...
- That Thunders In The Index. Part 2
- He was out in the road, to the dancing relief of the governess-cart springs, and waved au revoir to his companion. She nodded, and drove on, while he turned to go back to the wicket. He hummed as he w...
- That Thunders In The Index. Part 3
- He and the Baron were very fond of devising problems, which they would send up for solution to the Morning Post. They set to elaborating a tough one now, a very difficult changed-mate two-mover, which...
- Chapter VII. The Baron Visits The Scene Of The Crime
- I confess that the man's communication, coming on the top of my concern for my friend, fairly, in the first moment of it, took me aghast. The state in which I had found Hugh, that disquieting business...
- The Baron Visits The Scene Of The Crime. Part 2
- I was present during the whole, I think, of this examination, and for the following reason. It happened that I and the Baron, on his way to the study, met in the hall, when he attacked me, I thought r...
- The Baron Visits The Scene Of The Crime. Part 3
- 'You wanted to speak with me, sir?' 'Just a few words,' he answered. 'This young woman's name, Mrs Bingley--?' 'Was Annie Evans, sir'. 'And her age?' 'She was just, by her own statement, t...
- Chapter VIII. An Entr'acte
- Jake was a boy of imagination, though one would never have thought it to look at his jolly rubicund face and small sturdy form. The very gaiters on his stout calves, spruce and workmanlike, would have...
- Chapter IX. The Inquest
- The Bit and Halter was seething with excitement. Its landlord, Joe Harris, selected foreman of the jury about to sit on the poor remains of that which, five days earlier, had been the living entity kn...
- The Inquest. Part 2
- Mr Hugo Kennett was the first witness called. He gave his evidence quietly and clearly, though with some signs of emotion when he referred to his discovery of the dead body. His relation of the event ...
- The Inquest. Part 3
- Q. Would you mind telling us what was the subject of your brief conversation with the deceased? A. I asked her what she was doing there. Q. Just so. And she answered, Mr Kennett? A. O ! what ...
- The Inquest. Part 4
- Q. And when did the prisoner return? A. It may have been five o'clock when I saw him come in. Q. Did his manner then show any signs of agitation or disturbance? A. No, sir, I can't say it did...
- The Inquest. Part 5
- A. No, it didn't. I didn't think about it. Mr Cleghorn, he might have stopped to rest himself, or to tie a bootlace, or anything. Q. After seeing the figure did you return to the bar? A. No. I w...
- The Inquest. Part 6
- Q. During the time you were sweeping in the drive, did you hear the sound of a shot ? A. A'many, sir. The gentlemen was out with their guns. Q. Did any one shot sound to you nearer than the othe...
- The Inquest. Part 7
- Q. Indeed? (Counsel was evidently a little taken aback over the frankness of this admission.) Would you inform me on what subject? A. I had been accidental witness the night before of the scrimmage...
- Chapter X. Afterwards
- The Inquest was over, the provisional verdict delivered, and all that remained for the time being was to put the poor subject of it straightway to rest under the leafless trees in Leigh way churchyard...
- Chapter XI. The Baron Drives
- On the day following the Inquest, the plot thickened. It became really entertaining. One did not know whether to appear the more scandalised or amused. On the one hand there was a certain satisfaction...
- The Baron Drives. Continued
- 'O, if you put it in that way'-he began. ' I do put it in that way,' I said, 'and I don't take it very friendly of you that you should talk of denying me a privilege which you were ready enough to ...
- Chapter XII. The Baron Walks
- I was still in this resolved mood, when something happened one night which confirmed my worst suspicions, showing me how faithfully I had weighed and measured the character of the man posing as a bene...
- Chapter XIII. Accumulating Evidence
- Wednesday of the third week following the Inquest was appointed for the magisterial inquiry, and during the interval Sergeant Ridgway was busily occupied, presumably in accumulating and piecing togeth...
- Accumulating Evidence. Continued
- Are you one of the right sort of people, Sergeant ?' ' I won't go so far as to say that, sir, but I will go so far as to say that, if J owned this property, I'd come to feast my eyes on it here m...
- Chapter XIV. The Explosion
- The Magistrates assembled to hear the case were four in number, two of them being local magnates and personal friends of Sir Calvin, who was accorded a seat on the Bench. They took their places at ele...
- The Explosion. Part 2
- Mr Fyler began by reconstructing, so far as was possible, the history of the crime from the evidence already adduced, into the particulars of which it is unnecessary to follow him. In summarising the ...
- The Explosion. Part 3
- A. Yes, it did. Q. What was that? A. The sound of a gun going off. Q. From what direction? A. From down among the trees near the road. Q. Quite so. Now will you tell the Bench exactly w...
- The Explosion. Part 4
- Q. You are on very intimate terms, I believe, Mr Bickerdike, with Sir Calvin and his family? A. With Sir Calvin's permission, I think I may say yes. Q. You have seen the prisoner before? A. M...
- The Explosion. Part 5
- Q. Will you tell the Bench what was this unimportant something that happened at the shoot? A. (With emotion.) It was nothing-probably my fancy--and he denied it utterly. Q. Now, Mr Bickerdike, i...
- The Explosion. Part 6
- Q. We will judge of that. You say the meeting was none of your seeking ? A. I do say it. Q. Now, please attend to me. You were on your way back, when you met deceased, from the shooting party wh...
- Chapter XV. The Face On The Wall
- The morning of the inquiry found M. le Baron in Paris, in his old rooms at the Montesquieu. He was in very good spirits, smiling and buoyant, and not at all conscience-smitten over Tiis desertion of h...
- Chapter XVI. The Baron Finds A Champion
- Who that was present at that scene could ever forget its anguish and pathos ? Its fierce dramatic intensity will remain for all time indelibly seared on my soul. Could I believe in my friend's guilt? ...
- The Baron Finds A Champion. Part 2
- Now, not this overwhelming business itself had been enough to dismiss wholly from my mind its haunting suspicions regarding the Baron. So secret, so subtle, so inexplicable, could it still be possible...
- The Baron Finds A Champion. Part 3
- He paused a moment, his head leaned down on his hands, which held on to the bars. I did not speak. His allusion to the ' tricky business' he had surprised the girl over was haunting my mind. How did i...
- Chapter XVII. And Audrey
- Audrey had been starting for a walk when detained by the interview recorded in the last chapter. She left it burning with indignation and passionate resentment. That this man could call himself a frie...
- Chapter XVIII. The Baron Returns
- I had a long and interesting interview with Sir Calvin's lawyers, when I used the occasion to unburden my mind of some of the misgivings which had been disturbing it. I spoke theoretically, of course,...
- The Baron Returns. Continued
- It was the collapse of my life. I will own to it fairly, and save my credit at least for a sense of humour. To think that all this time I had been building such a structure on such a foundation ! I wa...
- Chapter XIX. The Dark Horse
- Sergeant Ridgway, turning up punctually to his appointment, was shown into Sir Calvin's study, where he found, not his former employer, but the Baron Le Sage, seated alone. Characteristically, the det...
- Chapter XX. The Baron Lays His Cards On The Table
- Sir Francis Orsden and the Baron Le Sage walked slowly up the kitchen garden together. It was a windless autumn morning, such serene and gracious weather as had prevailed now for some days, and the pr...
- The Baron Lays His Cards On The Table. Part 2
- ' Not at all. I am all eagerness to hear'. 'Well, it occurs to me that you have a leading title to the information, if you care to claim it, since it was in your company that I found my first clue ...
- The Baron Lays His Cards On The Table. Part 3
- ' So much Jean told me, omitting only the father's name, which he withheld, he queerly stated, from a feeling of jealous pride for the honour of that which was his own honour, but which was presently ...
- The Baron Lays His Cards On The Table. Part 4
- ' It was quite conceivable, and quite true, for that, as appeared by degrees, was actually the case. But why was this John Ridgway - interested in the recovery of those papers ? We shall see. 'In t...
- The Baron Lays His Cards On The Table. Part 5
- ' But meanwhile, there was the murder committed in that instant of madness. Probably he had not much hope at the time of escaping its consequences; probably, in his desperate state, with all his schem...
- The Baron Lays His Cards On The Table. Part 6
- 'But, if Daniel Groome was wrong, it followed of necessity that Henstridge must be wrong also--as of course he was. He had been simply got at by the detective, and officially bullied and threatened in...
- The Baron Lays His Cards On The Table. Part 7
- 'I had found out what I wanted-and more. I had discovered that the two John Ridgways were step-brothers, and light and still light broadened on the path before me. I got Ribault to part with the photo...
- The Baron Lays His Cards On The Table. Part 8
- 'I am quite prepared to believe that George Ridgway made his wife a good husband during the few years which remained to them in company, for he did not very long survive his marriage. Moreover, Sir Ca...
- The Baron Lays His Cards On The Table. Part 9
- ' So the conspiracy was hatched. Ivy Mellor was to be the means, the condition of her success the bestowal of her spotless hand upon the rightful heii of Wildshott--a splendid dream, a transpontine me...
- Chapter XXI. A Last Word
- Miss Kennett, still in process of qualifying herseli for a musician, was at work on Czerny's fifth exercise^ which, like the pons asinorum of an earlier strategist, could present an insuperable proble...
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- Historical Romances Adventures Of The Comte De La Muette Our Lady Of Darkness A Castle In Spain Diana Please A Jay Of Italy A Rogue's Tragedy The Pot Of Basil Moll Davis His...
