Lady Molly of Scotland Yard - Chapter 9 - The Man In The Inverness Cape

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Initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. Nine. The Man in the Inverness Cape.

I've heard many people say, people too, mind you, who read their daily paper regularly, that it is quite impossible for anyone to disappear

within the confines of the British Isles. At the same time, these wise people invariably admit one great exception to their otherwise unimpeachable theory.

And that is the case of Mr. Leonard Marvel, who, as you know, walked out one afternoon from the Scotia Hotel in Cromwell Road and has never been seen or heard of since.

Information had originally been given to the police by Mr. Marvel's sister, Olive, a Scotchwoman of the usual accepted type, tall, bony, with sandy-colored hair,

and a somewhat melancholy expression in her blue-gray eyes. Her brother, she said, had gone out on a rather foggy afternoon. I think it was the 3rd of February, just about a year ago. His intention had been to go and consult a solicitor in the city

whose address had been given him recently by a friend about some private business of his own. Mr. Marvel had told his sister that he would get a train at South Kensington Station to Moorgate Street

and walk thence to Finsbury Square. She was to expect him home by dinnertime. As he was, however, very irregular in his habits, being fond of spending his evenings at restaurants and music halls,

the sister did not feel the least anxious when he did not return home at the appointed time. She had had her dinner in the room and went to bed soon after ten. She and her brother occupied two bedrooms and a sitting room

on the second floor of the little private hotel. Miss Marvel, moreover, had a maid always with her, as she was somewhat of an invalid. This girl, Rosie Campbell, a nice-looking Scotch lassie,

slept on the top floor. It was only on the following morning, when Mr. Leonard did not put in an appearance at breakfast, that Miss Marvel began to feel anxious. According to her own account, she sent Rosie in to see if

anything was the matter, and the girl, wide-eyed and not a little frightened, came back with the news that Mr. Marvel was not in his room and that his bed had not been slept in that night. With characteristic Scottish reserve, Miss Olive said nothing about the matter at the time to anyone, nor did she give information to the police until two days later, when she herself had

exhausted every means in her power to discover her brother's whereabouts. She had seen the lawyer, to whose office Leonard Marvel had intended going that afternoon, but Mr. Statham, the solicitor in question, had seen nothing of the missing man. With great adroitness, Rosie, the maid, had made inquiries at South Kensington and Moorgate

Street stations. At the former, the booking clerk, who knew Mr. Marvel by sight, distinctly remembered selling him a first-class ticket to one of the city stations in the early part of the afternoon. But at Moorgate Street, which is a very busy station,

no one recollected seeing a tall, red-haired Scotchman in an Inverness cape. Such was the description given of the missing man. By that time, the fall could become very thick in the city,

traffic was disorganized, and everyone felt fussy, ill-tempered, and self-centered. these in substance were the details which miss marvel gave to the police on the subject of her brother's strange disappearance at first she did not appear very anxious she seemed to have great

faith in mr marvel's power to look after himself moreover she declared positively that her brother had neither valuables nor money about his person when he went out that afternoon but as day succeeded a day and no trace of the missing man had yet been found, matters became more serious, and the search instituted by our fellows at the yard waxed more keen.

A description of Mr. Leonard Marvel was published in the leading London and provincial dailies. Unfortunately, there was no good photograph of him extent, and descriptions are apt to prove vague. Very little was known about the man beyond his disappearance, which had rendered him famous.

He and his sister had arrived at the Scotia Hotel about a month previously, and subsequently they were joined by the maid Campbell. Scotch people are far too preserved ever to speak of themselves or their affairs to strangers. Brother and sister spoke very little to anyone at the hotel.

They had their meals in their sitting room, waited on by the maid, who messed with the staff. But in face of the present terrible calamity, Miss Marvel's frigidity relaxed before the police inspector to whom she gave what information she could about her brother. He was like a son to me, she explained, with scarcely restrained tears,

for we lost our parents early in life, and as we were left very, very badly off, our relations took but little notice of us. My brother was years younger than I am, and though he was a little wild and fond of pleasure, he was as good as gold to me, and has supported us both for years by journalistic work.

We came to London from Glasgow about a month ago, because Leonard got a very good appointment on the staff of the Daily Post. All this, of course, was soon proved to be true, and although on minute inquiries being instituted in Glasgow,

but little seemed to be known about Mr. Leonard Marvel in that city. There seemed no doubt that he had done some reporting for the Courier, and that latterly, in response to an advertisement, he'd applied for and obtained regular employment on the Daily Post.