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

positive bomb-shell in the stronghold of the prosecution. The most accomplished
criminal could not possibly be in two places at once, and though the Ashton Club
transgresses in many ways against the gambling laws of our very moral country,
yet its members belong to the best, most unimpeachable classes of society. Mr.
Ashley had been seen and spoken to at the very moment of the crime by at least a
dozen gentlemen whose testimony was absolutely above suspicion.
"Mr. John Ashley's conduct throughout this astonishing phase of the inquiry
remained perfectly calm and correct. It was no doubt the consciousness of being
able to prove his innocence with such absolute conclusion that had steadied his
nerves throughout the proceedings.
"His answers to the magistrate were clear and simple, even on the ticklish
subject of the revolver.
"'I left the club, sir,' he explained, 'fully determined to speak with Mr. Cohen
alone in order to ask him for a delay in the settlement of my debt to him. You
will understand that I should not care to do this in the presence of other
gentlemen. I went home for a minute or two Ч not in order to fetch a revolver,
as the police assert, for I always carry a revolver about with me in foggy
weather Ч but in order to see if a very important business letter had come for
me in my absence.
"'Then I went out again, and met Mr. Aaron Cohen not far from the Harewood Club,
I walked the greater part of the way with him, and our conversation was of the
most amiable character. We parted at the top of Portland Place, near the gate of
the Square, where; the policeman saw us. Mr. Cohen then had, the intention of
cutting across the Square, as being a shorter way to his own house. I thought
the Square looked dark and dangerous in the fog, especially as Mr. Cohen was
carrying a large sum of money.
"'We had a short discussion on the subject, and finally I persuaded him to take
my revolver, as I was going home only through very frequented streets, and
moreover carried nothing that was worth stealing. After a little demur Mr. Cohen
accepted the loan of my revolver, and that is how it came to be found on the
actual scene of the crime; finally I parted from Mr. Cohen a very few minutes
after I had heard the church clock striking a quarter before three. I was at the
Oxford Street end of Great Portland Street at five minutes to three, and it
takes at least ten minutes to walk from where I was to the Ashton Club.'
"This explanation was all the more credible, mind you, because the question of
the revolver had never been very satisfactorily explained by the prosecution. A
man who has effectually strangled his victim would not discharge two shots of
his revolver for, apparently, no other purpose than that of rousing the
attention of the nearest passer-by. It was far more likely that it was Mr. Cohen
who shot Ч perhaps wildly into the air, when suddenly attacked from behind. Mr.
Ashley's explanation therefore was not only plausible, it was the only possible
one.
"You will understand therefore how it was that, after nearly half an hour's
examination, the magistrate, the police, and the public were alike pleased to
proclaim that the accused left the court without a stain upon his character."
CHAPTER XXX. FRIENDS
"YES," interrupted Polly eagerly, since, for once, her acumen had been at least
as sharp as his," but suspicion of that horrible crime only shifted its taint
from one friend to another, and, of course, I know ЧЧ"
"But that's just it," he quietly interrupted, "you don't know Ч Mr. Walter