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Roy Glashan's Library
Non sibi sed omnibus
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LORD PRIORTON—a perfect replica of the stage nobleman—rose from the desk and advanced to meet Callaghan. His face was long, lean, distinguished; his drooping but well-trimmed grey moustache gave him the appearance, Callaghan thought of an unhappy seal.
He said: 'Sit down please, Mr Callaghan.' He opened a silver box of cigarettes, handed it to Callaghan. He went on: 'Like most other people of my class, Mr Callaghan, I've very little money. In fact I've nothing except this house, my cottage in the country, and, when I've paid my taxes, a few hundreds a year to live on. But I have one thing—my pride. And I'm afraid it has received a severe shock.'
Callaghan said: 'That's too bad! And you think I can do something to help about it?'
The peer nodded. 'It's not only a matter of pride, but of reputation,' he said, 'and also—' he paused for a second—'of some money.'
'I see,' said Callaghan. 'Supposing you tell me about it.'
Priorton said: 'As you probably know, Mr Callaghan, I used to be a great gambler. Well, I still gamble a little. From time to time I have a few friends in here, give them dinner and we play cards. Such a party was held here last week.' He sighed. 'Little did I realize when I arranged it,' he went on, 'what the results were to be.'
Callaghan said: 'So the results weren't so good, hey? I suppose you knew the people you were playing cards with?'
Lord Priorton nodded. 'I know them all very well,' he said. 'The party consisted of two men, a woman and myself. We were playing poker. One of the men was a rich American—George Vandeler—who is over here on business; the other man—a young man of thirty—Eustace Willhaven, the eldest son of my old friend Hubert Willhaven; the lady, a charming widow—Mrs Melody Vazeley—is the sister of another good friend of mine, Charles Venning. Last, there was, of course, myself. In other words,' continued the peer gloomily, 'there was no one who is not very well known to me. You understand?'
'I understand perfectly,' said Callaghan. 'Go on, Lord Priorton. And who did what to who?'
The other nodded. He said: 'Exactly! You've put it very succinctly, Mr Callaghan. Who did what to whom? To cut a long story short, I was very lucky, and when the settlement came I had won just over three thousand pounds. The upshot of it was that Eustace Willhaven owed me three thousand five hundred—a very nice sum.'
'Did he mind losing the money?' asked Callaghan.
'Good heavens, no,' said Priorton. 'Anyway, he knew his father would pay—his father always does pay. He's a rich man and even if he does keep Eustace short of money he's only too glad to settle his gambling debts when he loses and even more delighted when his son wins.'
Callaghan asked: 'And did Eustace settle?'
'Not then,' said Priorton. 'He said laughingly that he couldn't give me a cheque on his own bank because he'd only a few pounds in his account, but that if I wouldn't mind he would arrange things with his father and send a cheque round to me in the course of the next day. Well... he did so.'
'I see. And what happened?' asked Callaghan.
Priorton took a cigarette from the silver box on the table. He lit it. Callaghan noticed that the hand that held the lighter was shaking a little.
Priorton said: 'The cheque was an open cheque. I went round to Eustace's bank to cash it. Well, they wouldn't cash it. They marked it "Orders not to pay" and gave it back to me.'
Callaghan nodded. 'Not so good,' he said. 'So Eustace Willhaven had stopped payment of the cheque. Why?'
Priorton shook his head. 'I don't know,' he said gloomily.
Callaghan asked: 'I suppose Eustace's father—Hubert Willhaven—isn't hard up?'
Priorton smiled. 'Don't worry about that,' he said. 'Willhaven is practically a millionaire. Three thousand five hundred means nothing to him. That's what I can't understand.'
Callaghan said: 'I see. You mean that Eustace must have a really serious reason for stopping payment of this cheque?'
'Precisely,' said Priorton.
Callaghan drew on his cigarette. He said: 'It's odd, isn't it? I suppose Willhaven knew his son had been playing cards here?'
'Good heavens, yes,' said Priorton. 'Young Willhaven plays here at least once a month. Several times his father's been here and played with him, or stood by and watched the game.'
Callaghan said: 'What do you want me to do?'
'First of all,' said the peer. 'I'm fearfully worried about Willhaven having stopped that cheque. Quite obviously, he or his father must think they've got a good reason for doing so. They may think that I'm going to tell people that Eustace stopped payment of a cheque for a debt of honour, and he'll naturally want to defend himself against such an accusation. He may say things that will react against my character.
'Secondly, I want the money, Mr Callaghan. Three thousand five hundred pounds is a lot to me.'
Callaghan asked casually: 'Lord Priorton, did it ever occur to you to ring up Eustace Willhaven and ask him why he'd stopped payment of that cheque?'
Priorton nodded his head. 'It did occur to me,' he said. 'I rang up Eustace, and he said that he was fearfully sorry about it, but that he did it because his father ordered him to stop payment—he didn't know why.'
'I see,' said Callaghan. 'You didn't speak to the father?'
'No,' said Priorton. 'I think it's his business to explain his action to me.'
Callaghan said: 'You're quite right.' He got up. 'Well, I'll do my best,' he said.
Priorton asked: 'What are you going to do, Mr Callaghan?'
Callaghan grinned. He said: 'Perhaps it would be better if I didn't tell you. What people don't know can't hurt 'em.'
Priorton nodded. He said: 'About your fee. You know I'm pretty hard up.'
Callaghan said: 'I'll take a chance on you, Lord Priorton. I think you've told me the truth. If I get that cheque paid, I'll take the odd five hundred. If I don't, I'll charge you nothing. How's that?'
'Very sportin'!' said the peer.
CALLAGHAN stopped Eustace Willhaven on his way out of the
Berkeley Buttery. He said: 'Excuse me, Mr Willhaven, my name's
Callaghan. I'm a private detective. I'm trying to clear up a
small point that's worrying a client of mine—Lord Priorton.
It's about that cheque you gave him in settlement of your
gambling losses.'
Eustace Willhaven said: 'Well, really! Do you think this is a good place to discuss it?'
'It's as good as any other, isn't it?' retorted Callaghan. 'Do you know why your father told you to stop that cheque?'
Willhaven adjusted his eyeglass. He looked seriously at Callaghan. He said: 'To tell you the truth, Mr Callaghan, I don't. I don't know why my father told me to stop that cheque. But if you knew anything about my father, you'd know he's not likely to do a thing like that without good reason. Good-day to you!'
HUBERT WILLHAVEN—tall, distinguished, ascetic
looking—listened attentively to what Callaghan had to say.
When the detective had finished talking, Willhaven smoked
silently for a few seconds. Then he said: 'What you have to say
interests me very much, Mr Callaghan. And I appreciate your
explanation as to why Lord Priorton should have employed you to
try and settle this matter.'
Callaghan said: 'Let's not become confused about the issues at stake, Mr Willhaven. The position, to my mind, is quite simple.'
Willhaven raised his eyebrows. 'Is it?' he queried.
Callaghan said: 'To my mind, yes. A settlement was arrived at when this poker game was over—a general settlement. On this general settlement your son had to pay three thousand five hundred pounds to Lord Priorton. Quite obviously, when he left that house he intended to pay that debt. The proof of that is that he asked you for the money. The fact that you thought he owed it is proved by you having given him the money to put into his bank so that he could send a cheque to Lord Priorton.' Callaghan grinned. 'After that, of course,' he said, 'there's a snag.'
Willhaven smiled. He thought that Callaghan's grin was infectious.
'The snag being that I told Eustace to stop the cheque. Perhaps you can tell me something about that too, Mr Callaghan,' he suggested.
Callaghan said: 'I think I can. To my mind there is only one reason why you should have done that. There could only be one reason; that is that one of the other people who took part in that game besides Lord Priorton and your son have influenced you to have the payment of that cheque stopped. Lord Priorton wanted to receive the money. You intended it should be paid. Something made you alter your mind. My guess is, it was one of those two other people, and I'm going to find out. Either you tell me or I'll find some means of making them talk.'
Willhaven said: 'They might not want to talk, Mr Callaghan.'
Callaghan said: 'Whenever I want somebody to talk I find a means of making 'em talk.' He grinned. 'You'd be surprised,' he said.
Willhaven said: 'I probably shouldn't be. But I'll save them the inconvenience. You're quite right in your supposition, because one of the other parties who took part in that game gave me some information which merited the payment being stopped.'
Callaghan said: 'One of the other parties? That would be Mr Vandeler or Mrs Vazeley.'
'Exactly,' said Willhaven. 'Mrs Vazeley wrote me a note and informed me that in her opinion the game had been crooked from start to finish.'
Callaghan said: 'Do you know Mrs Vazeley well?'
Willhaven shook his had. 'Not very well,' he said. 'I've met her.'
Callaghan nodded. 'You were prepared to accept this accusation from a woman who is merely an acquaintance, against the reputation of a man—Lord Priorton—whom you've known for years?'
Willhaven said: 'The point doesn't arise, Mr Callaghan. She was able to prove what she said!'
MRS VAZELEY was a delightful woman of about thirty-eight. Her
clothes were simple but marvellous. She had chic and an
extraordinary allure. Callaghan thought he could fall for Mrs
Vazeley very easily.
He said: 'You know, Mrs Vazeley, you're in rather a jam.'
She said airily: 'Am I, Mr Callaghan? How exciting! My life is so uneventful that the idea of being in a jam almost appeals to me. Another thing, I ought to tell you that I'm absolutely thrilled at meeting a private detective. Please have a cigarette. And would you like a drink?'
Callaghan said he would. Whilst he was drinking the brandy and soda, she said:
'Do tell me about the jam I'm in. I think I ought to know, don't you?'
Callaghan said: 'You wrote a note to Hubert Willhaven, and you afterwards talked to him, either personally or on the telephone, and told him that the poker game at Lord Priorton's house was crooked. Quite obviously, as Willhaven told his son to stop payment of the cheque after that conversation with you, the suggestion was that Lord Priorton was the crook. Have you ever heard of the law of libel and slander, Mrs Vazeley? If you can't prove that Lord Priorton was responsible for that game being crooked you will be in a jam, and it might cost you a lot of money.'
She said: 'I know. I knew that when I told Mr Willhaven. But what else could I do? You see I knew that game was crooked, Mr Callaghan.'
Callaghan said: 'May I know how you knew?'
She said: 'It's fearfully simple. I had no reason to complain about the game. I won about fifty pounds. I won fifty pounds from Mr Vandeler, and he settled that in bank-notes before the general settlement was made between the others. So you'll agree that I've no cause for complaint.'
Callaghan said: That's agreed. But how can you prove that that game was crooked and that Priorton was responsible?'
She said: 'I'll tell you. I was rather elated at winning fifty pounds, and when the game broke up I left my cigarette case behind. It's rather a valuable case. I'd left it on a little table by the side of my chair whilst I was playing. Next morning I had a very early appointment to leave London for Bangor on a train at seven-twenty, and I thought that on my way to the station I'd call in at Lord Priorton's house—I thought that possibly the servants would be up—and get my cigarette case. When I arrived at the house, the boot-boy let me in. I told him what I wanted and he said he'd go and look for my cigarette case. He seemed a rather stupid boy, so I told him not to bother but to go on with his work and I'd go and get the cigarette case because I knew exactly where it was. So I went up to the room on the first floor where we'd played, and there was my cigarette case. I picked it up. The card table was just as we'd left it the night before with the cards still lying on the table.
'The early morning sunlight was coming through the windows. It reflected on the glazed backs of the cards, and I saw something that gave me rather a shock.'
Callaghan asked: 'What did you see?'
'Every one of those cards was marked,' said Mrs Vazeley. 'They'd been beautifully marked—cleverly marked—with a pin. Once you knew where to look you could see the little tiny pin-points, and if you were dealing you could tell the value of the card by the touch. Needless to say I was shocked. But I wanted to make quite certain. I examined all the cards. They were all marked. I took three or four of them and I showed them to Mr Willhaven when I talked to him about it. If that isn't proof, what is?'
Callaghan said: 'It looks as if there isn't a great deal of argument.' He picked up his hat. 'I'm afraid you won't have to worry about that action for slander.'
She said: 'No, I didn't think I should. Must you be going, Mr Callaghan?
HUBERT WILLHAVEN put down his newspaper as Callaghan was shown
into the room. He said: 'Good morning, Mr Callaghan. What can I
do for you?'
Callaghan lit a cigarette. He said casually: 'I think the easiest thing for you to do, Willhaven, would be to give me a cheque for three thousand five hundred pounds, and we'll call this business quits.'
Willhaven said: 'You're being funny, aren't you? I'm not in a frame of mind for humour this morning.'
Callaghan said: 'I'm not being funny. Just listen to me for a moment. When I'm handling a case I never look for clues. I leave that to the detectives in fiction. Usually I'm only interested in people. If I can find that somebody in a case has done something that seems to me incongruous, I wonder why.' Callaghan grinned. 'It usually gets me somewhere,' he said.
Willhaven said: 'It would have to be a hell of an incongruity to get you three thousand five hundred pounds from me, Callaghan.'
'I'll get it all right,' said Callaghan. 'Because it was a hell of an incongruity. Listen. I wondered why it was that Mrs Vazeley had to telephone you and tell you that that game was crooked. Why didn't she telephone your son? She knows him. He's a man. He's thirty years of age. The obvious thing for her to have done was to have telephoned to him. She didn't do it.'
Willhaven said: 'I don't see the point.'
'Of course you don't,' said Callaghan. 'I'll tell you what the point was. It was necessary for the success of your son's little plot that there should seem to be no connection between Mrs Vazeley and himself. That's why she telephoned you.'
Willhaven said: 'Are you suggesting that this is a put-up job between my son and Mrs Vazeley?'
'I'm not suggesting anything. I'm telling you,' said Callaghan. 'Lord Priorton told me that you'd paid your son's gambling debts before. You're a rich man and you aren't going to have people saying that his debts of honour are unpaid. But quite obviously your son is often short of money—you keep him so because of his extravagance—otherwise he wouldn't have to go to you to pay money into his bank in order to give a cheque that would be met for a gambling debt.' He grinned. 'Not only has he been doing it on the people that he and Mrs Vazeley have played cards with, but he's also been doing it on you.'
Willhaven said: 'I think you're talking nonsense. I still don't understand what you mean.'
Callaghan said: 'I'll tell you what I mean. Your son and Mrs Vazeley went into that poker game at Lord Priorton's as partners. If they both won, it was going to be all right, but on this occasion Mrs Vazeley won fifty pounds, and your son dropped three thousand five hundred. So Mrs Vazeley leaves her cigarette case behind. The next morning, before anybody's up, she goes round to the house, rings the bell and asks for her cigarette case. She says she knows where she's left it. She probably tells the boot-boy to get on with his business and not bother to take her upstairs. While she was up there she very quickly marked the cards with a pin. That was easy. She's used to doing it, and it would take her five or six minutes. Then she went off, taking four or five of the cards with her. She rang you up. She knew you'd tell your son; that he'd stop the cheque. And she also knew, as he knew, that you wouldn't ask him to return the three thousand five hundred pounds. Get it?'
Willhaven said: 'I see. You might be wrong, mightn't you?'
Callaghan said: 'I might be. But unfortunately for herself Mrs Vazeley told me that she got up early that morning in order to catch a train for Bangor in North Wales—the seven-twenty. Well, there wasn't a seven-twenty. That substantiates it a little bit, doesn't it?'
Willhaven nodded.
'The other thing is this,' said Callaghan, 'I understand from Lord Priorton that the last person to shuffle and deal the cards was your son. Therefore his thumb-prints should have been superimposed on practically every card in the pack. But that wasn't so. The most recent thumb-prints on every card in the pack were Mrs Vazeley's.' Callaghan grinned. 'I think that clinches it, don't you?' he said.
Willhaven said: 'I'm not going to argue. Anyway, I'll give you the cheque.'
He went to the desk, got his cheque book.
LORD PRIORTON handed Callaghan a large whisky and soda. He
said: 'Very nice work, Mr Callaghan. I shall be delighted to pay
you your fee. I congratulate you on your brilliant idea of
checking the finger-prints on the back of the cards. I didn't
know you had done that. That really was first class.'
Callaghan said: 'You can save your congratulations. I didn't check any fingerprints on any cards. I had a hunch and I played it.'
Roy Glashan's Library
Non sibi sed omnibus
Go to Home Page
This work is out of copyright in countries with a copyright
period of 70 years or less, after the year of the author's death.
If it is under copyright in your country of residence,
do not download or redistribute this file.
Original content added by RGL (e.g., introductions, notes,
RGL covers) is proprietary and protected by copyright.