Read "The Shadow of the Dead Hand" by Fred M. White online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
"Are you altogether serious?" Dwight asked.
"My dear chappie," Lantary drawled. "Even I have my serious moments, and I want you to believe that this is one of them. I am no friend of Mr. Murdstone's, but I have my own reasons for a certain, shall we say feminine curiosity regarding the career of the late Felix Murdstone. It is nothing whatever to do with this case, but I do happen to know that Murdstone has no relations that is, in the sense that he is one of those aloof persons who seemed to come into the world without anybody being responsible for his being. Call him a self-made man if you like, who didn't want the world to know that he came out of--well--the gutter, and say, for the sake of argument, that his name wasn't Murdstone at all. But, really, this has nothing to do with the case. Who his enemies may be, or why he has come to this end, I don't know more than you do, but I am aware of the fact that you will have the greatest difficulty in establishing the fact that the unfortunate Murdstone had any next-of-kin at all. And that is that."