“I don’t know where to begin, Viner,” he said at last. “You see, you’ve never met me since we left school. I went in for medicine—I was at Bart’s for a time, but—well, I was no good, somehow. And then I went in for the stage—I’ve had some fairly decent engagements, both here and in the States, now and then. But you know what a precarious business that is. And some time ago I struck a real bad patch, and I’ve been out of a job for months. And lately it’s gone from bad to worse—you know, or rather I suppose you don’t know, because you’ve never been in that fix—pawning everything, and so on, until—well, I haven’t had a penny in my pockets for days now!”
“Your relations?” questioned Viner.
“Didn’t want them to know,” answered Hyde. “The fact is, I haven’t been on good terms with them for a long time, and I’ve got some pride left—or I had, until yesterday. But here’s the truth: I had to clear out of my lodgings—which was nothing but an attic, three days since, and I’ve been wandering about, literally hungry and homeless, since that. If it hadn’t been for that, I should never have been in this hole! And that’s due to circumstances that beat me, for I tell you again, I don’t know anything about this man’s murder—at least, not about it actually.”
“What do you know?” asked Viner. “Tell us plainly.”
“I’m going to,” responded Hyde. “I was hanging about the Park and around Kensington Gardens most of yesterday. Then, at night, I got wandering about this part—didn’t seem to matter much where I went. You don’t know, either of you, what it means to wander round, starving. You get into a sort of comatose state—you just go on and on. Well, last night I was walking, in that way, in and out about these Bayswater squares. I got into Markendale Square. As I was going along the top side of it, I noticed a passage and turned into it—as I’ve said, when a man’s in the state I was in, it doesn’t matter where he slouches—anywhere! I turned into that passage, I tell you, just aimlessly, as a man came walking out. Viner, look for that man! Find him! He’s the fellow these police want! If there’s been murder—”
“Keep calm, Hyde!” said Viner. “Go on, quietly.”
“This man passed me and went on into the square,” continued Hyde. “I went up the passage. It was very dark, except in the middle, where there’s an old-fashioned lamp. And then I saw another man, who was lying across the flags. I don’t know that I’d any impression about him—I was too sick and weary. I believe I thought he was drunk, or ill or something. But you see, at the same instant that I saw him, I saw something else which drove him clean out of my mind. In fact, as soon as I’d seen it, I never thought about him any more, nor looked at him again.”
“What was it?” demanded Viner, certain of what the answer would be.
“A diamond ring,” replied Hyde. “It was lying on the flags close by the man. The light from the lamp fell full on it. And I snatched it up, thrust it into my pocket and ran up the passage. I ran into somebody at the far end—it turns out to have been you. Well, you saw me hurry off—I got as far away as I could, lest you or somebody else should follow. I wandered round Westbourne Grove, and then up into the Harrow Road, and in a sort of back street there I sneaked into a shanty in a yard, and stopped in it the rest of the night. And this morning I tried to pawn the ring.”
“Having no idea of its value,” suggested Viner, with a glance at Drillford, who was listening to everything with an immovable countenance.
“I thought it might be worth thirty or forty pounds,” answered Hyde. “Of course, I’d no idea that it was worth what’s been said. You see, I’m fairly presentable, and I thought I could tell a satisfactory story if I was asked anything at the pawnshop. I didn’t anticipate any difficulty about pawning the ring—I don’t think there’d have been any if it hadn’t been for its value. A thousand pounds! of course, I’d no idea of that!”
“And that’s the whole truth?” asked Viner.
“It’s the whole truth as far as I’m concerned,” answered Hyde. “I certainly picked up that ring in that passage, close by this man who was lying there. But I didn’t know he was dead; I didn’t know he’d been murdered. All I know is that I was absolutely famishing, desperate, in no condition to think clearly about anything. I guess I should do the same thing again, under the circumstances. I only wish—”
He paused and began muttering to himself, and the two listeners glanced at each other. “You only wish what, Hyde?” asked Viner.
“I wish it had been a half-crown instead of that ring!” said Hyde with a queer flashing glance at his audience. “I could have got a bed for fourpence, and have lived for three days on the rest. And now—”
Viner made no remark; and Drillford, who was leaning against his desk, watching his prisoner closely, tapped Hyde on the shoulder.
“Can you describe the man who came out of the passage as you entered it?” he asked. “Be accurate, now!”
Hyde’s face brightened a little, and his eyes became more intelligent.
“Yes!” he answered. “You know—or you don’t know—how your mental faculties get sharpened by hunger. I was dull enough, in one way, but alert enough in another. I can describe the man—as much as I saw of him. A tall man—neither broad nor slender—half-and-half. Dressed in black from top to toe. A silk hat—patent leather boots—and muffled to the eyes in a white silk handkerchief.”
“Could you see his face?” asked Drillford. “Was he
