Evening star., 1925-06-28

- EBRIGHT of Scotland Yard sat
In our office.
Unpleasant business round
~ the foreign office this morning.
Q. O." he remarked. II sup
pose you've heard?"
Q. Q. raised his eyebrows.
No" he said. What's the
trouble?"
"Arbuthnot shot himself"
.tArbuthnot,- Shot himself?" The
chiefs voice was at once startled and
tncredulous.
MY dear Sebright." he said, in a
tone that made that gentleman look
up. ARE you quite Sure?"
Sebright nodded again, this time
more emphatically.
NO doubt about 1t. One of his
clerks was passing along the corridor
heard u detonation in his room
ooeEed the door and rushed in-and
there was Arbuthnot collapsed In his
chair at his desk-bullet wound
through the side of his head-his own
revolver lying on the floor. just as
it had fallen from his hand. The
clerk gave the alarm at once, of
course. 1 was sent for-found nothing
had been touched-clear case of sui
eide. The coroners inquest may
throw some light on the motive-no
"On which side of the head was
the death wound. Sebright?"
The right-hand side, of course"
You're certain of that"
Quite. You know his room-When
you come in from the corridor, his
desk is just to the left Of you, and
he sits with his back to the door. fac
ing the window. The wound was on
the side of the head visible as you
coma I'M rep1ep1bar Saeipp If at
once, and accidentally kicking with
my foot the revolver lying on the
floor. 1t was the normal right-hand
side. right enough"
HIM" @. @. grunted. But not
normal for Arbuthnot. He happened
to be left-handed. 1t didn't occur to
YOU to make inquiries on that point.
I suppose?'
''Of course 1t didn't. People aren't
usually left-handed." Sebright stared.
startled at Mr.. Quayne as he made
the admission. why, you are not
suggesting"
Murder" @. Q. uttered the word
with a grimly succint finality.
But why
My dear Sebright, %. Q.'s tight
lips twisted in a faint smile-"only
yesterday Arbuthnot sat in that chair.
He had come to see me-privately
troubled. He was convinced that
there was leakage Of secret infor1na-
ton from his department. Arbuthnot
was queer old fellow, as you know.
His one hobby, I believe, was the
solution of acrostics and ciphers. He
used to read solemnly through the
agony column Of the Times and puzzle
out the code messages Of all who
communicate through that medium.
"a hafn 1,a % he
had had shock. One of the messages
he decoded conveyed to some one un-
known a piece of highly secret in.
formation that could only have ema.
mated from his department. The poor
old boy was in a terrible state-he
did not want to go to his chief with
the news until he could at the same
time indicate the culprit-he was, of
course, like most civil servants in a
senior position. extremely sensitive
to the honor Of his department. He
came to me for advice. He was to
have called again today
"Phew" exclaimed Sebright, thor.
oughly perturbed. This makes every.
thing look different. I wish to heaven
he had come to see me about it at
once! I hate these stories at second
hand-I'd give a lot to hear him tell
me all about it himself"
Q. @. smiled quietly. rose from his
chair.
He shall tell you. my dear, Sebright.
You shall hear, in his own voice. ev-
erything he told me-and we'll see
what you make of it, He went
across to a cabinet on the farther wall
opened a drawer, returned with long
black cylinder. when a case is
brought to me 1 not infrequently allow
my informant, unknown to himself, to
+a1I ;a{.
time. 1 have found, more than once,
a help to elucidation in listening to
it repeated. precisely as It was orig.
inally told, when / am sitting here
undistracted by his personal presence.
One can have the vital points reiterat.
ed over and over again ad libitum."
x x x
He slipped the cylinder into a con.
l. Il cealed slot. There was a faint
whir of a mechanism started into ac.
tivity, and then:
"One of my clerks must somehow
have taken an impression of my
key"
Q. Q. bent down to the cylinder.
The needle wasn't quite at the com
mencement," he said. We'll let him
tell his story again from the begin
ming" He made the necessary adjust
1t was indeed uncanny-even to me
accustomed to hear such repetitions
from the dictaphone 20. Q. did not use
the usual earpieces; he had installed
a loudspeaker to which he could listen
while he paced up and down the
room|-to listen to that dead mans
voice repeated with lifelike accuracy III
that still room. And that voice had
told the story all over again precisely
as I had heard it the day before from
the mans living presence. just as
q. Q. had summarized it to Sebright
The record concluded on the ener
getically uttered phra Sc: HE shall
confess, Mr.. Quayne-I am determined
on it,
We'll, Sebright.' remarked Q. O., as
he stopped the mechanism. what dc
YOU make of it? You have heard Ar
buthnots own voice"
Sebright was thoughtful for a mo
ment.
"Of course" he said, "Arbuthnot
might still have committed suicide-ir
the distress, the sense of disgrace tC
his department, caused by his discov
cry
DO left-handed men usually shoot
themselves on the right-hand side OF
the head, Sebright?" asked Q. Q. quiet
". II am prepared to ask that ques
ton at the coroner's inquest"