The Mystery of the Boule Cabinet | Page 9

while he was waiting, he suddenly gave the thing up and
killed himself. The address has no bearing whatever, that I can see, on
the question of suicide. And I'll say this, Mr. Lester, if this isn't suicide,
it's the strangest case I ever had anything to do with."
"Yes," I agreed, "if it isn't suicide, we come to a blank wall right
away."
"That's it," and Goldberger nodded emphatically. "Here's the
ambulance," he added, as the bell rang.
The bearers entered with the stretcher, placed the body on it, and
carried it away. Goldberger paused to gather up the articles he had

taken from the dead man's pockets.
"You gentlemen will have to give your testimony at the inquest," he
said. "So will Parks and Rogers. It will be day after to-morrow,
probably at ten o'clock, but I'll notify you of the hour."
"Very well," I said; "we'll be there," and Goldberger bade us good-bye,
and left the house. "And now," I added, to Vantine, "I must be getting
back to the office. They'll be asking the police to look for me next. Man
alive!" and I glanced at my watch, "it's after four o'clock."
"Too late for the office," said Vantine. "Better come upstairs and have a
drink. Besides, I want to talk with you."
"At least, I'll let them know I'm still alive," I said, and I called up the
office and allayed any anxiety that may have been felt there concerning
me. I must admit that it did not seem acute.
"I feel the need of a bracer after all this excitement," Vantine remarked,
as he opened the cellarette. "Help yourself. I dare say you're used to
this sort of thing--"
"Finding dead men lying around?" I queried, with a smile. "No--it's not
so common as you seem to think."
"Tell me, Lester," and he looked at me earnestly, "do you think that
poor devil came in here just to get a chance to kill himself quietly?"
"No, I don't," I said.
"Then what did he come in for?"
"I think Goldberger's theory a pretty good one--that he had heard of
you as a generous fellow and came in here to ask help; and while he
was waiting, suddenly gave it up--"
"And killed himself?" Vantine completed.
I hesitated. I was astonished to find, at the back of my mind, a growing

doubt.
"See here, Lester," Vantine demanded, "if he didn't kill himself, what
happened to him?"
"Heaven only knows," I answered, in despair. "I've been asking myself
the same question, without finding a reasonable answer to it. As I said
to Goldberger, it's a blank wall. But if anybody can see through it, Jim
Godfrey can."
Vantine seemed deeply perturbed. He took a turn or two up and down
the room, then stopped in front of me and looked me earnestly in the
eye.
"Tell me, Lester," he said, "do you believe that theory of Godfrey's
--that that insignificant wound on the hand caused death?"
"It seems absurd, doesn't it? But Godfrey is a sort of genius at divining
such things."
"Then you do believe it?"
I asked myself the same question before I answered.
"Yes, I do," I said, finally.
Vantine walked up and down the room again, his eyes on the floor, his
brows contracted.
"Lester," he said, at last, "I have a queer feeling that the business which
brought this man here in some way concerned the Boule cabinet I was
telling you about. Perhaps it belonged to him."
"Hardly," I protested, recalling his shabby appearance.
"At any rate, I remember, as I was looking at his card, that some such
thought occurred to me. It was for that reason I told Parks to ask him to
wait."

"It's possible, of course," I admitted. "But that wouldn't explain his
excitement. And that reminds me," I added, "I haven't sent off that
cable."
"Any time to-night will do. It will be delivered in the morning. But you
haven't seen the cabinet yet. Come down and look at it."
He led the way down the stair. Parks met us in the lower hall.
"There's a delegation of reporters outside, sir," he said. "They say
they've got to see you."
Vantine made a movement of impatience.
"Tell them," he said, "that I positively refuse to see them or to allow my
servants to see them. Let them get their information from the police."
"Very well, sir," said Parks, and turned away grinning.
Vantine passed on through the ante-room in which we had found the
body of the unfortunate Frenchman, and into the room beyond. Five or
six pieces of furniture, evidently just unpacked, stood there, but,
ignorant as I am of such things, he did not have to point out to me the
Boule cabinet. It dominated the