The Madman's Room

Hurst adopted the air of false modesty which amused his friend so much, and continued:

‘To cut it short, I went with him.’ He looked pensive for a moment. ‘A case out of the ordinary? Not really, because it was obviously suicide. We arrived on the scene in the middle of the day. The body of Harris Thorne had been discovered shortly before half past nine the previous night….. ’ Taking a notebook out of his pocket, he added: ‘I suppose I’d better begin at the beginning.’

So saying, the inspector retraced the events of the fatal evening, up to the testimony of Brian Thorne:

‘…and now we come to the last person to have seen Harris Thorne alive — Brian, his brother. I took down his deposition in full, because it seemed interesting,’ said Hurst, with a smile loaded with ulterior motives. ‘Here it is: “As soon as I saw my sister-in-law come back into the salon, obviously on the brink of a nervous breakdown, I got up to meet Harris who had just returned as well. I followed him to the stairs, asking him to listen to me for a few moments, but he didn’t even look round. At the corner of the corridor, I saw him go into his study, slamming the door behind him. He was in a towering rage. Realising I was fighting a losing battle, I was on the point of retracing my steps, but then changed my mind: the incessant quarrels with Sarah couldn’t go on, he had to listen to me. I knocked on his door and, despite the silence, I went in anyway. He was leaning out of the window, taking deep breaths of the night air, clearly beside himself. I tried to talk to him, but in vain. I knew that when he was in such a mood, any discussion would be better postponed to the next day. I left the room and went back to my own, which I didn’t leave until the moment his body was discovered…”

‘It was about ten to nine,’ continued Hurst, ‘when Brian left Harris. And at twenty past nine, Mrs. Thorne, Dr. Meadows and his fiancée found the study empty. It was only five minutes later that the body was discovered but, given the circumstances, we can conclude that it was already lying under the window at that moment. According to Meadows, he’d been dead for about half an hour, a diagnosis confirmed by the medical examiner. As for the cause of death, everything seems to point to defenestration. A few bruises due to the fall and a wound on the temple which we can reasonably attribute to one of the rocks in the rock garden where he was found. On top of that, the autopsy established that it was the wound that killed him and there were no other suspicious traces.’

In the silence which followed, barely affected by the increased traffic in the street outside, Dr. Twist lit his pipe and spoke:

‘So, Harris Thorne is a man quick to lose his temper and very jealous. And it’s jealousy — whether justified or not, it doesn’t matter — which is the source of their frequent quarrels. During the climax of one such outburst, he’s seen, for the last time, leaning out of one of the windows of his study. His body is found below the same window. There’s not much to say: a suicide by defenestration whose motives and exact time of death are known. Although… I have trouble imagining a man like that throwing himself out of a window, at least under those circumstances. A height of less than twenty feet, thick tufts of rock plants and a gravel path below are hardly a guarantee of certain death. But stranger suicides have been known.’

‘I’m with you,’ agreed Hurst. ‘But that’s not the most bizarre aspect of the case. I need to tell you about that room’s strange past and the no less strange individual who inhabited it.’

So saying, Hurst related Harvey Thorne’s sinister predictions, the circumstances of his death, and the sealing of the room which followed.

‘The madman’s room…,’ observed Dr. Twist dreamily when he finished.

‘…And now we come to the case of Brian, who — according to several testimonies — also appears to possess the gift of prediction. Dr. Meadows and his fiancée both certified that he’d “seen” their love one day before it blossomed. But there’s a more serious one: he also predicted the death of his brother after he took the decision to reopen the famous room… A prophecy made in front of several witnesses this time. Just luck, would you say? I would tend to agree with you, but for the case of the ancestor. And that’s where the plot thickens: he died from a heart attack following frenzied convulsions due to a fit of madness, according to witnesses… or extreme fear! And on the sill of the open door! Exactly the spot where Mrs. Thorne, terrified, lost consciousness after looking into that room where there was nothing, and staring at the wet patch on the carpet — exactly as in the case of great-uncle Harvey!

‘First of all, I have to make it clear that Mrs. Thorne’s fainting was genuine. Meadows is formal on that score. She regained consciousness at about the time the medical examiner arrived and he also confirmed it had been genuine.