“Mr. Errington was a friend of his wife.  He was a gentleman of means, and seemed to have a great deal of time at his command.  He himself did not particularly care about Mr. Errington, but he certainly had never made any observations to his wife on the subject.

“‘But who is Mr. Errington?’ repeated the coroner once more.  ’What does he do?  What is his business or profession?’

“’He has no business or profession.

“’What is his occupation, then?

“He has no special occupation.  He has ample private means.  But he has a great and very absorbing hobby.’

“‘What is that?’

“’He spends all his time in chemical experiments, and is, I believe, as an amateur, a very distinguished toxicologist.’”

CHAPTER XI

MR. ERRINGTON

“Did you ever see Mr. Errington, the gentleman so closely connected with the mysterious death on the Underground Railway?” asked the man in the corner as he placed one or two of his little snap-shot photos before Miss Polly Burton.

“There he is, to the very life.  Fairly good-looking, a pleasant face enough, but ordinary, absolutely ordinary.

“It was this absence of any peculiarity which very nearly, but not quite, placed the halter round Mr. Errington’s neck.

“But I am going too fast, and you will lose the thread.

“The public, of course, never heard how it actually came about that Mr. Errington, the wealthy bachelor of Albert Mansions, of the Grosvenor, and other young dandies’ clubs, one fine day found himself before the magistrates at Bow Street, charged with being concerned in the death of Mary Beatrice Hazeldene, late of No. 19, Addison Row.

“I can assure you both press and public were literally flabbergasted.  You see, Mr. Errington was a well-known and very popular member of a certain smart section of London society.  He was a constant visitor at the opera, the racecourse, the Park, and the Carlton, he had a great many friends, and there was consequently quite a large attendance at the police court that morning.

“What had transpired was this: 

“After the very scrappy bits of evidence which came to light at the inquest, two gentlemen bethought themselves that perhaps they had some duty to perform towards the State and the public generally.  Accordingly they had come forward, offering to throw what light they could upon the mysterious affair on the Underground Railway.

“The police naturally felt that their information, such as it was, came rather late in the day, but as it proved of paramount importance, and the two gentlemen, moreover, were of undoubtedly good position in the world, they were thankful for what they could get, and acted accordingly; they accordingly brought Mr. Errington up before the magistrate on a charge of murder.

“The accused looked pale and worried when I first caught sight of him in the court that day, which was not to be wondered at, considering the terrible position in which he found himself.