The Notting Hill Mystery Read online

  1.--_Memorandum by Mr. Henderson._

  In the following certificate[1] you will perceive that the lady isdescribed as of "Acacia Cottage, Kensington." The identity of the namewith that given by both Julie and Leopoldo, as the proper designationof the Baron's "medium," confirmed my suspicion that it was in factto the girl Rosalie that the Baron was married under that name,notwithstanding the strong opinion of Julie as to the impossibilityof such being the case. Still, however, it was possible that thismight, after all, be a mere coincidence; and I therefore proceeded tomake such inquiries as seemed most likely to elucidate the point. Ihad considerable difficulty in finding the house, which two or threeyears back was included in the regular numbering of the row of similartenements in which it stands; but I at last succeeded in identifyingit. I found the landlady a very deaf old person, whose memory wasevidently failing, and was at first unable to extract from her any kindof information on the subject, except that "she had had a great manylodgers, and couldn't be expected to know all about all of them." Inthe course of a second visit, however, I succeeded in persuading herto favour me with a sight of her books, and looking back to Octoberand November, 1854, I found the sum of 2_l_. 5_s_., entered as paymentfrom Miss C. Brown of three weeks' rent, from the 18th October to the8th November.[2] On further examining the books, I found that at thistime, while the other lodger was charged sundry sums for fire, MissBrown, though occupying the principal sitting-room, had no fire atall during the whole time of her tenancy, though the commencement ofNovember in that year was unusually cold. There were also sundry otherlittle charges invariable in the other cases, but omitted in the caseof Miss Brown; and at length, on these things being pointed out to her,the old lady managed to remember that the rooms had been taken by agentleman for a lady who was to give lessons in drawing. The gentlemanhad paid the three weeks' rent in advance, and had specially requestedthat they might be kept vacant for her, as the time of her arrival wasuncertain. He had also begged that any letters or messages received forher should be sent to a certain address immediately. After a great dealof searching, this address was at length found, and proved to be thesquare glazed card which I enclose.

  2. _Letters or messages for Miss Brown to be forwarded immediately tocare of._

  Baron R**,_Post Office, Notting Hill._

  The old lady further stated that she never saw the gentleman again,and that she had never seen the lady at all. In fact, after paymentof the money, nothing further had been heard of either of the partiesconcerned; and as no inquiries had been made for Miss Brown, thesubject had altogether passed from her mind.

  Being thus pretty well satisfied of the identity of Madame R**, my nextcare was to trace the proceedings of the Baron between the time of hismarriage and the death of his wife, which took place, as you are aware,in London, about two years and a half subsequently; the insuranceshaving, as you well know, been effected at about the middle of thisperiod. The information afforded me by Dr. Jones, the medical man whosigned the certificate to your office in connection with the policy onthe life of Madame R**, first gave me the required clue, and you will,I think, find in the depositions immediately following, sufficient, atall events, to justify, if not entirely to corroborate, the suspicionswhich first gave rise to my inquiries. It is certainly unfortunate thathere, too--as in the case of Mr. Aldridge, whose letter first arousedthese suspicions--the witness on whose evidence the principal stressmust be laid, is not one whose testimony would probably carry muchweight with a jury. Such, however, as it is, I have felt it my duty tolay it before you; and I will now leave it, with such other as I havebeen able to collect, to tell its own tale.

  3._--Statement of Mrs. Whitworth._

  My name is Jane Whitworth. I am a widow, and gain my living by lettingfurnished apartments at Bognor, Sussex. The principal season at Bognoris during the Goodwood races, and there are very few visitors there inthe autumn and winter. On the 6th October, 1854, I let the whole upperpart of my house to a lady and gentleman, who arrived there late thatevening. They gave some foreign name; I forget what. It was some longGerman name. They did not give the name at first. Not till I askedfor it. I don't know that the gentleman was particularly unwilling.I said I wanted it for my bill; and he laughed, and said it did notmatter,--anything would do. Then I said, if letters came, and hesaid:--"Oh! there won't be any letters," and went on reading the paper.I went down stairs, and as I was going down he rang, and I went back,and he told me of his own accord. That was at the end of the first weekwhen I was making out my bill. They said they intended remaining forsome weeks. It was the gentleman who said this. The lady took no partin the business, and seemed out of spirits, and very much afraid of herhusband. He settled with me to take the apartments at thirty shillingsa week. He was to remain as long as he liked. Not beyond the next raceweek, of course. We never let over the race week. He also made anagreement with me about board. I was to find for him and the lady, andthe servant, for 2_l_. 15_s_. a week. That was without wine, beer, orspirits. It is not a usual arrangement. We do it sometimes--not often.The gentleman said it was because his wife was not well, and couldnot be troubled. The servant was his. It was a maid. She did not comewith them. The gentleman hired her at Brighton. That is not a usualarrangement. Certainly not. I never made such a one before, and I toldhim so. He said it was because he was so particular about his servants.He said he never would live where the servants were not under his ownhand--where he could not turn them away. I said I did not like it, itwas not the custom. He said he was sorry, but he could not take theapartments without it, and then I gave way. Afterwards he followed medown stairs, and gave me to understand it was something about his wife.At first, I thought she was not quite right in her head. That was fromwhat he told me. I said I should be afraid to have her in the house,but he laughed, and said it was not that. I then supposed it must betemper. He was very pleasant about it. He was always very pleasant tome. I don't know what he may have been to other people. I always hadmy money to the day, and he was always pleasant. I can't say betterthan that. He got a servant a few days after they came. I did not turnaway my own. I had none at the time. The season being over, it was agreat chance whether I let again, and I sent my servant away, and didfor myself. A charwoman did for the gentleman till he got a servant.He got one from Brighton. I recommended two or three in Bognor, butthey did not suit. The one he got was a girl about twenty. Her namewas Sarah Something. I did not think much of her. I used sometimesto think my tea and sugar went very fast. I never caught her takinganything. She was very quiet and civil-spoken. She stayed with thegentleman about a month; not quite. She was sent away for giving thelady a dose of physic in her arrow-root to make her sick. The lady wasvery bad indeed. We thought she would have died. She was dreadfullysick, and had the cholera awfully bad. This was the 9th of December.[3]I know it from my books. The gentleman sent out for brandy and severalthings, and they are down in my book. On the following morning he sentfor some stuff from the chemist.[4] Before that he had given her somemedicine himself. I don't know what it was. He had a lot of chemicalsand things. He kept them in a back room. The lady had a doctor. Not atfirst. Not till the Monday after she was ill. I asked him to send forone, but he said he was a doctor himself. She continued very ill, andon the Sunday night I asked him again. He said if she was not betternext morning, he would. I wanted him to send for Dr. Pesketh or Dr.Thompson, but he would not. He said they were no good. I have alwaysheard them very highly spoken of. Dr. Pesketh I have always heard ofas a first-rate doctor. He is since dead. Dr. Thompson is a very gooddoctor, too; but Dr. Pesketh, perhaps, had most practice. I don't thinkthe gentleman knew anything about either of them. He sent for a DoctorJones, who was in lodgings in the Steyne. I believe he lived in London.He prescribed for the lady while he stayed in Bognor. He went awaythe week after. He was only there a fortnight. The gentleman heard ofhim through a friend of mine in the Steyne. He asked me to find outwhether there was no London doctor in the place. He would not have anyone who belonged to the place.
He said country doctors were no good.The lady got better, but very slowly. She was ill several weeks. Whenshe was strong enough they went away. He was very attentive to her.Never left her alone for a minute hardly. She did not seem very fondof him. I think she was afraid of him, but I don't know why. He wasvery kind to her, and always particularly civil. Sometimes she seemedquite put out like by his civility. I thought sometimes she would haveflown out at him. She never did fly out. He always seemed able to stopher. I don't know how he did it. He never said anything; only lookedat her; but it was quite enough. I thought she must have been doingsomething wrong, and he had brought her to Bognor to be out of the way.I do not know exactly what made me think so. It was the way they wenton, and what he said to me. He never told me so. It was from things hesaid. I did not talk much to the lady. I thought her very ungratefulwhen he was so kind. Then she was hardly ever alone. Only once whenthe gentleman went out for something. Then she was left about an hour.She was writing part of the time. She borrowed writing materials ofme. There were none in the sitting-room. There usually were, but thegentleman had sent the inkstand downstairs. He said it was sure to beupset. I lent the lady the things, and she gave me two letters forthe post. She did not say anything to me; only asked me to post themimmediately. One was addressed to Notting Hill. I noticed that becauseI have a sister living there; the other was to some theatre. I forgetwhere. It struck me, because I thought it odd that a lady should writeto a theatre. I didn't think it was right. I would rather not say whatI thought. Well, it was that she was connected with some one there.Improperly, of course. The letter was not addressed to a man. It was"Miss Somebody," but that might be a blind. I thought this mightaccount for her behaviour to her husband. I was very angry. A woman hasno business to go on so. It is particularly bad when she has such agood husband. I did not say this to her. I did not notice the addresstill I got down-stairs. I kept the letters, and told the gentleman whenhe came in. He seemed very much vexed. He took the letters, and wasvery much obliged to me. He put the letter to the theatre into the firewithout opening it. The other he said he would post himself. I don'tknow whether he did post it, or not. I suppose so, of course. I thinkhe spoke to the lady about it. I am sure he did, for that night whenI went up, I could see she had been crying, and she would never speakto me again. She spoke English quite well. The letters were addressedin English. When she spoke to the gentleman it was generally in someforeign language, but she could speak English perfectly. I do not knowwhat became of the girl, Sarah. I think she went into service againat Brighton. I know the gentleman gave her a character. He was verykind to her. He was always very kind. He was the pleasantest and mostcivil-spoken gentleman I ever met, and I think his wife behaved verybad to him.

  4. _Statement of Dr. Jones, of Gower Street, Bedford Square._[5]

  I am a physician, residing in Gower Street, Bedford Square. In thebeginning of December, 1854, I was suffering from a severe cold, andbeing unable to shake it off, went for a fortnight to the sea forchange of air. I selected Bognor, because I had been in the habitof spending my holidays there for two or three years. I was lodgingin the Steyne. Some few days after my arrival, I received a messagerequesting me to call and see a lady who was dangerously ill at alodging in another part of the town. At first I declined to go, notwishing to interfere with the established practitioners of the place. Agentleman then called upon me, who gave the name of the Baron R**. Heinformed me that the lady in question was his wife, and that she wasdangerously ill from the effects of a considerable quantity of emetictartar, administered to her by the maid. He was very urgent with meto attend, saying that he was in the greatest anxiety about his wife,and that he could not in such a case sufficiently rely upon the skillof any country doctor. He pressed me so strongly, that I at lengthconsented to accompany him to his lodgings. I found the patient in avery exhausted condition, and evidently suffering from the effects ofsome irritant poison. From what the Baron told me, the symptoms weremuch abated, but the purging still continued, accompanied with severegriping pains and profuse perspirations. I learned from the Baronthat, being himself a good amateur chemist, and having accidentallydiscovered at the outset the origin of his wife's illness, he had sofar treated her himself, rather than trust to the chance of a countryphysician. He described his treatment, which appeared to me perfectlycorrect. On becoming satisfied of the cause of the disturbance, hefirst promoted vomiting as much as possible by the exhibition oftepid water, and afterwards of warm water, with a small quantity ofmustard. When no more food appeared to be left in the stomach, hethen administered large quantities of a saturated infusion of greentea, of which he had a few pounds at hand for his own drinking, and,finally, at the time of my arrival was exhibiting considerable dosesof decoction of Peruvian bark: both which remedies are recommendedby Professor Taylor in cases of antimonial poisoning. Their actionleft no doubt on my mind as to the origin of the symptoms; but bydesire of the Baron I proceeded to analyse with him portions of thevomited and excreted matter, as also a portion of the arrow-root inwhich the tartarised antimony was supposed to have been administered.To all of these we together applied the usual tests,--viz., nitricacid, ferrocyanide of potassium, and hydrosulphuret of ammonia,--andsucceeded in ascertaining beyond doubt the presence of antimony inall three. The quantity, however, appears to have been small. So faras we could ascertain, there could not have been more than one, or atthe most two grains of tartarised antimony in the arrow-root, of whichnot much more than three parts was eaten. I cannot account for theviolent action of so small a quantity. I have frequently administeredmuch larger doses in cases of inflammation of the lungs without illeffect. Two grains is by no means an unusual dose when intended to actas an emetic; but the action of antimony varies greatly with differentconstitutions. Having certified ourselves of the presence of thesuspected poison, the question was, as to the person by whom it hadbeen administered. The Baron said he had no doubt that it was a trickon the part of the servant maid, between whom and her mistress therehad been some dispute a few days since. We therefore determined ontaxing her with it; but before doing so, proceeded to examine a bottleof prepared tartar emetic, which, as the Baron informed me, he keptfor his own use, being subject to digestive derangement. He was, Ibelieve, addicted to the pleasures of the table, and was in the habitof taking an occasional emetic. The bottle was not in its usual place,but was standing on the table at the side of the dressing-case in whichit was usually kept. It was labelled, "The emetic. One tea-spoonful tobe taken as directed." I remarked that it should be labelled "poison,"and the Baron quite agreed with me, and immediately wrote the word inlarge characters on a piece of paper and gummed it round the bottle.We then weighed the contents of the bottle, from which three dosesonly had been taken by the Baron, and, on comparing the results, wefound that a quantity equivalent to about one grain and a-half of thetartarised antimony had been abstracted in excess of this amount. Theservant maid was the only person besides the Baron who usually hadaccess to the apartment; and we at once sent for her and taxed herwith having administered it to Madame R** in the arrow-root beforementioned. My own counsel was to give her immediately in charge, butthe Baron pointed out, very justly, that there was nothing to show thegirl that she was doing anything that could possibly affect life; andthat, in the absence of any motive for such a crime, it was only fairto conclude that nothing was intended beyond a foolish practical joke.He said the same to the girl, and spoke to her very kindly indeed. Atfirst she altogether denied it, and pretended to be quite astonishedat such an imputation. The Baron, however, looked steadily at herand said, "Take care, Sarah! Remember what I said to you only threedays ago." She did not attempt then to deny it any longer, but saidshe was very sorry, but she hoped the Baron would forgive her. TheBaron said he could not possibly retain her in his service, and shethen begged of him not to send her away without a character. At thistime I interfered, and said he would be very wrong to send her intoany other family after playing such a trick. She again protested shehad meant no harm,
and the subject then dropped, the Baron saying hewould take time to consider of it. From that time I attended MadameR** until my return to London, when she was clearly recovering. I didnot enter into any conversation with her, as she seemed very reservedand of an unsociable disposition. The Baron seemed an unusuallyattentive husband. Talking over the subject of the seizure a day ortwo afterwards, he informed me that the death of his wife would alsohave been a severe loss in a pecuniary point of view, as if she livedshe would inherit a considerable fortune. I asked him why he did notinsure her life, and he said he should now certainly do so, but hadnot before thought of it. He called upon me about two months later, inpassing through town, and informed me that he intended to travel abroadfor some months. I recommended the German baths, and on his objectingto the crowds of English there, suggested Griesbach or Rippoldsau, inthe Black Forest, where Englishmen are rarely to be encountered. It wastoo early for either place at that time, and I recommended the southof France until the season was sufficiently advanced. I did not seehim again till October, 1855, when he again called upon me with MadameR**, who seemed perfectly restored, and of whom I had no difficulty inreporting most favourably to the ---- Life Assurance Association, asalso some weeks later to the ---- Life Office of Dublin, when appliedto for my professional opinion. I think Madame R**'s was an excellentlife, and there could be no better proof of it than her entire recoveryin the course of a very few months, or indeed weeks, from so severean illness. The sensitiveness to antimony would not affect thisopinion. Indeed Professor Taylor, in his work on poisons, points outdistinctly the "idiosyncratic" action of antimony and other medicinalson certain constitutions, as "conferring on an ordinary medicinal dosea poisonous instead of a curative action." I have a copy of his worknow before me, in which he says that "daily experience teaches us thatsome persons are more powerfully affected than others by an ordinarydose of opium, arsenic, _antimony_, and other substances;" and again,in considering the probable amount of the "fatal dose," he speaks of"that ever-varying condition of idiosyncracy, in which, as it is wellknown, there is a state of constitution more liable to be affected byantimonial compounds than other individuals apparently in the sameconditions as to health, age," &c. I did not, therefore, nor do Inow, consider the sensitiveness of Madame R**'s constitution to thatmedicine any objection to her life, especially in view of the immensevitality shown by her recovery. With regard to the sleep-walking,I have had no hint from the Baron of such a propensity on the partof Madame R**. Certainly it was never suggested that she could havepoisoned herself in that way. Indeed the servant girl admitted theact. The mode of Madame R**'s death does not in any degree shake myconfidence in my former opinion, as such an occurrence might havehappened, though by no means likely to do so, to any one in the habitof walking in their sleep, a propensity which in Madame R**'s case Ihad no means of ascertaining. I have been enabled to be thus precisein my statement, from the fact that the interesting nature of the caseled me to make a special memorandum of it in my diary, from which theabove is taken. I shall therefore have no difficulty in confirming anyportion of it upon oath.