"Orczy, Baroness - The Regent's Park Murder" - читать интересную книгу автора (Orczy Baroness)

who had quickly been informed of the tragedy, put an end to further discussion.
"The bell at No. 30 was rung, and the servants Ч all four of them women Ч were
asked to look at the body.
"Amidst tears of horror and screams of fright, they all recognized in the
murdered man their master, Mr. Aaron Cohen. He was therefore conveyed to his own
room pending the coroner's inquest.
"The police had a pretty difficult task, you will admit; there were so very few
indications to go by, and at first literally no clue.
"The inquest revealed practically nothing. Very little was known in the
neighbourhood about Mr. Aaron Cohen and his affairs. His female servants did not
even know the name or whereabouts of the various clubs he frequented.
"He had an office in Throgmorton Street and went to business every day. He dined
at home, and sometimes had friends to dinner. When he was alone he invariably
went to the club, where he stayed until the small hours of the morning.
"The night of the murder he had gone out at about nine o'clock. That was the
last his servants had seen of him. With regard to the revolver, all four
servants swore positively that they had never seen it before, and that, unless
Mr. Cohen had bought it that very day, it did not belong to their master.
"Beyond that, no trace whatever of the murderer had been found, but on the;
morning after the crime a couple of keys linked together by a short metal chain
were found close to a gate at the opposite end of the Square, that which
immediately faced Portland Place. These were proved to be, firstly, Mr. Cohen's
latchkey, and, secondly, his gate-key of the Square.
"It was therefore presumed that the murderer, having accomplished his fell
design and ransacked his victim's pockets, had found the keys and made good his
escape by slipping into the Square, cutting under the tunnel, and out again by
the further gate. He then took the precaution not to carry the keys with him any
further, but threw them away and disappeared in the fog.
"The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against some person or persons
unknown, and the police were put on their mettle to discover the unknown and
daring murderer. The result of their investigations, conducted with marvellous
skill by Mr. William Fisher, led, about a week after the crime, to the
sensational arrest of one of London's smartest young bucks.
"The case Mr. Fisher had got up against the accused briefly amounted to this:
"On the night of February 6th, soon after midnight, play began to run very high
at the Harewood Club, in Hanover Square. Mr. Aaron Cohen held the bank at
roulette against some twenty or thirty of his friends, mostly young fellows with
no wits and plenty of money. 'The Bank' was winning heavily, and it appears that
this was the third consecutive night on which Mr. Aaron Cohen had gone home
richer by several hundreds than he had been at the start of play.
"Young John Ashley, who is the son of a very worthy county gentleman who is
M.F.H. somewhere in the Midlands, was losing heavily, and in his case also it
appears that it was the third consecutive night that Fortune had turned her face
against him.
"Remember," continued the man in the corner, "that when I tell you all these
details and facts, I am giving you the combined evidence of several witnesses,
which it took many days to collect and to classify.
"It appears that young Mr. Ashley, though very popular in society, was generally
believed to be in what is vulgarly termed 'low water'; up to his eyes in debt,
and mortally afraid of his dad, whose younger son he was, and who had on one