An Experiment in Treason Read Online Free PDF Page A

should not take long,” said the magistrate.
    “Well, let’s get on with it.”
    Nevertheless, Sir John was not to be rushed. Yet finally did he speak up: “This room has been described to me as being in a great state of confusion. Have you any notion who might have visited this upon you?”
    “None at all. But then I have not many burglars or suchlike criminals in my circle of acquaintances.”
    “I suppose you do not. But you might have one or two who were so eager to have something of yours that they would hire men of that sort to get it for them. Now, I realize that it will take you quite some time to go through the contents of this desk — which, as I am told, are littered over the floor. Nevertheless, you may be aware of something in your keeping which is important to keep secret. You may have gone immediately to the place where it was hid just to see if it were still there.”
    “There was no such secret document or documents,” said Lord Hillsborough, “and therefore no hiding place.”
    “Nothing of a personal nature?”
    “No, nothing.”
    “Nothing that might be used to embarrass you? Or extort money from you? “
    “Nothing at all, I tell you!”
    “Well and good, well and good,” said Sir John in the manner of a peacemaker.
    “There is another matter, however. I know that you are a member of His Majesty’s government.”
    “That is correct.”
    “I fear, however, that I know not which position you hold. Could you perhaps inform me in that matter?”
    “I am secretary of state for the American colonies.”
    “Is that it indeed? Why, you must be kept busy these days, what with all of the trouble caused by the more quarrelsome of those colonists.”
    “That is so,” said Lord Hillsborough.
    “Could you then have had something in your possession to do with these colonial matters? Something, that is, which might invite a burglary such as this?”
    “For the last time, I know of nothing that is missing. If, in making my inventory of the contents of the desk, I discover something missing, I shall notify you immediately.”
    “Please do. And Lord Hillsborough?”
    A deep sigh, then: “Yes? What is it?”
    “One last question: How did you learn of the burglary? I take it you were asleep?”
    “Yes, I was. The butler, Carruthers, woke me to tell me.”
    “And how did he learn of it?”
    “That you will have to ask him.”
    “Thank-you. That will be all I require of you for the time being.”
    And at that, Lord Hillsborough stamped out the door of the study, making no effort to disguise his annoyance at Sir John’s rather direct interrogation.
    Mr. Benjamin Bailey, as chief constable, had visited many such scenes as this one in the company of Sir John. And, having made his own investigations and asked a few questions, was ready and waiting with the butler, Carruthers, who had admitted the party from Bow Street; there was also another man, big and burly, who looked to be a footman, as well as he on the floor in the study.
    Sir John and Clarissa went into the hall to talk with these men, and at that time the magistrate requested that the study be closed until the body therein could be delivered to the medical examiner for the City of Westminster (i.e., Gabriel Donnelly). The butler told them that he had learned of the burglary and the murder from the second footman, whose name was Will Lambert, waiting to be interviewed. It was the butler who sent word to Number A Bow Street to report the matter to Sir John. But that was about all that the butler told them. He had behaved well in an emergency, and he had done what needed to be done.
    Mr. Lambert, however, had a good deal of significance to tell. It was he, after all, who had discovered the body of Albert Calder on the floor of the study and noted the chaos left behind by the burglars. It seems that Calder and Lambert had been charged with guarding the interior of the house each night for the past month; they were to be specially watchful round