The Case of the Registered Letter
Page 4
was discovered that hehad been stealing money from the banker in whose house he was servingas private tutor to the latter's sons. A large sum of money was missing,and every evidence pointed to young Bellmann as the thief. He deniedstrenuously that he was guilty, but the District Judge (it was thepresent Prosecuting Attorney Schmidt in G------) sentenced him. He spenteight months in prison, during which time his mother died of grief atthe disgrace. There must have been something good in the boy, for hehad never forgotten that it was his guilt that struck down his onlyrelative, the mother who had worked so hard for him. He had atoned forthis crime of his youth, and during the years that have passed sincethen, he had been an honest, upright man."
Graumann paused a moment and pressed his hand to his heart again. Hisvoice had grown weaker, and he breathed hard. Finally he continued: "Icommanded my ward to break off her engagement, as I could not allow herto marry a man who was a freed convict. Siders sold his propertysome few weeks after that and moved to G------. Eleonora acquiesced in mycommands, but she was very unhappy and allowed me to see very little ofher. Then came the events of the evening of September 23rd, the eventswhich have turned out so terribly. I will try to tell you the story justas it happened, so far as I am concerned. I had seen nothing of Johnsince he left this town. He had made several attempts before hisdeparture for G-------- to change my opinion, and my decision as to hismarriage to my ward. But I let him see plainly that it was impossiblefor him to enter our family with such a past behind him. He assertedhis innocence of the charges against him, and declared that he had beenunjustly accused and imprisoned. I am afraid that I was hard towardshim. I begin to understand now, as I never thought I should, what itmeans to be accused of crime. I begin to realise that it is possible forevery evidence to point to a man who is absolutely innocent of the deedin question. I begin to think now that John may have been right, thatpossibly he also may have been accused and sentenced on circumstantialevidence alone. I have thought much, and I have learned much in theseterrible days."
The prisoner paused again and sat brooding, his eyes looking out intospace. Muller respected his suffering and sat in equal silence, untilGraumann raised his eyes to his again. "Then came the evening of the23rd of September?"
"Yes, that evening--it's all like a dream to me." Graumann began again."John wrote me a letter asking me to come to see him on that evening. Itore up the letter and threw it away--or perhaps, yes, I remember now, Idid not wish Eleonora to see that he had written me. He asked me to cometo see him, as he had something to say to me, something of the greatestimportance for us both. He asked me not to mention to any one that I wasto see him, as it would be wiser no one should know that we werestill in communication with each other. There was a strain of nervousexcitement visible in his letter. I thought it better to go and seehim as he requested; I felt that I owed him some little reparation forhaving denied him the great wish of his heart. It was my duty to make upto him in other ways for what I had felt obliged to do. I knew him fora nervous, high-strung man, overwrought by brooding for years on what hecalled his wrongs, and I did not know what he might do if I refused hisrequest. It was not of myself I thought in this connection, but of thegirl at home who looked to me for protection.
"I had no fear for myself; it never occurred to me to think of taking aweapon with me. How my revolver--and it is undoubtedly my revolver, forthere was a peculiar break in the silver ornamentation on the handlewhich is easily recognisable--how this revolver of mine got into hisroom, is more than I can say. Until the Police Commissioner showed it tome two or three days ago, I had no idea that it was not in the box inmy study where it is ordinarily kept." Graumann paused again and lookedabout him as if searching for something. He rose and poured himself outa glass of water. "Let me put some of this in it," said Muller. "It willdo you good." From a flask in his pocket he poured a few drops of brandyinto the water. Graumann drank it and nodded gratefully. Then he took uphis story again.
"I never discovered why Siders had sent for me. When I arrived at theappointed time I found the door of the house closed. I was obliged toring several times before an old servant opened the door. She seemedsurprised that it had been locked. She said that the door was alwaysunlatched, and that Mr. Siders himself must have closed it, contrary toall custom, for she had not done it, and there was no one else in thehouse but the two of them. Siders was waiting for me at the top of thestairs, calling down a noisy welcome.
"When I asked him finally what it was so important that he wanted tosay to me, he evaded me and continued to chatter on about commonplacethings. Finally I insisted upon knowing why he had wanted me to come,and he replied that the reason for it had already been fulfilled, thathe had nothing more to say, and that I could go as soon as I wanted to.He appeared quite calm, but he must have been very nervous. For as Istood by the desk, telling him what I thought of his actions, he movedhis hand hastily among the papers there and upset the ink stand. Ijumped back, but not before I had received several large spots of ink onmy trousers. He was profuse in his apologies for the accident, and triedto take out the spots with blotting paper. Then at last, when I insistedupon going, he looked out to see whether there was still a light on thestairs, and led me down to the door himself, standing there for sometime looking after me.
"I was slightly alarmed as well as angry at his actions. I believethat he could not have been quite in his right mind, that the strain ofnervousness which was apparent in his nature had really made him ill.For I remember several peculiar incidents of my visit to him. Oneof these was that he almost insisted upon my taking away with me,ostensibly to take care of them, several valuable pieces of jewelrywhich he possessed. He seemed almost offended when I refused to doanything of the kind. Then, as I parted from him at the door, not in avery good humour I will acknowledge, he said to me: 'You will think ofme very often in the future--more often than you would believe now!'
"This is all the truth, and nothing but the truth, about my visit toJohn Siders on the evening of September 23rd. As it had been his wishI said nothing to the ladies at home, or to any one else about theoccurrence. And as I have told you, I destroyed his letter asking me tocome to him.
"The following day about noon, the Commissioner of Police from G--------called at my office in the factory, and informed me bluntly that JohnSiders had been found shot dead in his lodgings that morning. I wasnaturally shocked, as one would be at such news, in spite of the factthat I had parted from the man in anger, and that I had no reason tobe particularly fond of him. What shocked me most of all was the suddenthought that John had taken his own life. It was a perfectly naturalthought when I considered his nervousness, and his peculiar actions ofthe evening before. I believe I exclaimed, 'It was a suicide!' almostwithout realising that I was doing so. The commissioner looked at mesharply and said that suicide was out of the question, that it was anevident case of murder. He questioned me as to Siders' affairs, of whichI told only what every one here in the village knew. I did not considerit incumbent upon me to disclose to the police the disgrace of the man'searly life. I had been obliged to hurt him cruelly enough because ofthat, and I saw no necessity for blackening his name, now that he wasdead. Also, as according to what the commissioner said, it was a caseof murder for robbery, I did not wish to go into any details of ourconnection with Siders that would cause the name of my ward to bementioned. After a few more questions the commissioner left me. I wasbusy all the afternoon, and did not return to my home until later thanusual. I found my aunt somewhat worried because Miss Roemer had left thehouse immediately after our early dinner, and had not yet returned. Weboth knew the girl to be still grieving over her broken engagement,and we dreaded the effect this last dreadful news might have on her.We supposed, however, that she had gone to spend the afternoon with afriend, and were rather glad to be spared the necessity of telling herat once what had happened. I had scarcely finished my supper, whenthe door bell rang, and to my astonishment the Mayor of Grunau wasannounced, accompanied by the same Police Commissioner who had vi
sitedme in my office that morning. The Mayor was an old friend of mine andhis deeply grave face showed me that something serious had occurred. Itwas indeed serious! and for some minutes I could not grasp the meaningof the commissioner's questions. Finally I realised with a tremendousshock that I--I myself was under suspicion of the murder of John Siders.The description given by the old servant of the man who had visitedSiders the evening before, the very clothes that I wore, my hat and thetrousers spotted by the purple ink, led to my identification as thismysterious visitor. The servant had let me in but she had not seen me goout.
"Then I discovered--when confronted suddenly with my own revolver whichhad been found on the floor of the room, some distance from the body ofthe dead man, that this same revolver had been identified as mine by myward, Eleonora Roemer, who had been to the