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A Bird-Bath and an Inquest · The Dalehouse Murder

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Chapter fourteen of The dale House Murder by Francis Everton. This Liberyvox recording is
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in the public domain. Read by yoganand The dale House Murder, Chapter fourteen,
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A bird bath and an Inquest. In spite of my succession of broken
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nights, I awoke shortly after seven, and I got up as soon as
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Annie knocked at my door. No one was about when I made my way
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to the bathroom. The cans of hot water were still doing sentry duty outside
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the bedroom doats. I bathed and shaved at leisure, and sauntered downstairs to
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find the breakfast table being set. Annie, hurrying to and fro. She
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spoke to me at once about the accident to Cook. Have you heard what's
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been happening in the night, sir? The doctor left a note on the
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table to say as how Cook's been taken ill and has had to be sent
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to the hospital. Such coins on the must have been the kitchen windows smashed
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and the door standing wide open when I came down this morning. I don't
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know what we are all coming to. I'm sure do you know what it
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is all about? Sir Ah? You must sleep very soundly, Annie,
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I answered, tell me now, what was Cook doing when he went upstairs
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to bed last night? Me, Sir, I'm sure I couldn't tell you,
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Sir. I kept away from the kitchen, I did. There's all
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my washing up to do yet, But I wasn't going near Cook as she
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was last night, if I could help it. And when I had cleared
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away, I went and sat by myself in the work room. And where
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was Cook? Then? Annie? She was in the kitchen, Sir.
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I locked the back door and fastened all the windows except the kitchen window before
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I went to bed. But I never heard her come up stairs at all.
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What was it broke the window? Sir? She never went to bed
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at all. Annie, She must have been too far gone to get up
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stairs. And apparently she turned on the gas at the stove and then forgot
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to light it and nearly paid the penalty. I told her exactly what had
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taken place during the early hours of the morning, but I could get no
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useful information. In Briturn, Annie had not gone into the kitchen and could
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not tell me anything of Cook's condition when she went upstairs to bed. My
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goodness, Sir, we might all have been explored up and up breads.
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I told Miss Ethel. It wasn't safe to have her about the house,
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was Annie's comment, and she added rather maliciously, she won't get none of
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her whiskey in the hospital. No, Annie, you may be quite certain
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of that. And my kitchen isn't half in a mess with broken glass all
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over the floor. You don't know what became of the tablecloth, to you,
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sir, the tablecloth, Annie, Yes, sir, I can't find
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it nowhere this morning. Now, I remembered quite definitely that the cloth I
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read one was on the table when Janet and I had left the kitchen in
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the early hours of the morning. I remember the large bit patch where the
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whiskey had been upset. The Tundish had taken away the bottle and the glass
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and had left us too talking alone together. The cloth was there then,
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and now only a few hours later it had disappeared. Clearly, either the
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doctor must have come back and next it, or the police had taken advantage
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of the open windows to return after we had gone to bed. It occurred
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to me that it had been a rather strange suggestion to make that we should
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leave the window open. In either case, it was interesting and made me
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begin to wonder whether the accident to Cook had been an accident at all.
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Poor bestorted Cook sitting drinking alone in the dark basement kitchen, slowly drinking herself
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to death, while all the time that no rapid, certain death that was
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swirling round her in the poisoned air. I pictured her pitching forward in the
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dark. In the dark, it suddenly struck me how strange it was that
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she should have been sitting there alone, without any light, and my doubt
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about it being an accident became a certainty that it was not. You are
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sure that it isn't there, Annie, You have looked everywhere. I suppose
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it isn't neither the kitchen nor the scullery, Sir. I was puzzled and
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decided to tell Janet about it at the first opportunity. Breakfast was not yet
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ready and no one was down, so I sauntered out into the garden.
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I was just in time to see Janet coming through the little door that leads
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into Dalehouse Lane. I was standing on the far side of the lawn,
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leveled with the end of the doctor's wing, and somehow, from the way
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she looked about her, perhaps I could guess that she had been out on
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some errant in connection with our mystery. To every pair of lovers, I
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suppose they must come some time when they quite suddenly realized that the word friendship
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can no longer express their growing interest in each other. And I know that
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it was as Janet knew the few short paces across the end of the surgery
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wing that I realized that I was head over heels in love. She looked
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so solemn and reliable as she came in through the door, so utterly dependable
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and brave. She scanned the garden toward the garage, apparently to make sure
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that her writurn had been unobserved, a little smile flickering across a serious face,
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as though half amused at her own precaution. It was not until she
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reached the corner of the wing that she saw me, And it was then
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at that instant that I knew with an absolute assurance, that she was the
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one and only woman in the world for me. Had an angel with wings
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sailed down from the cathedral tower and led her to me, saying, mister
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Jeff Cock, allow me to introduce you to your wife. I could not
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have been more sure about the matter, laughing that she had not seen me
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before she came forward to greet me, and my uneasy thoughts of whiskey stain
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red tablecloths that mysteriously vanished in the night vanished too, And I could have
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cried out aloud, oh you darling, you darling, what have you done?
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But instead I stood awkward and silent, thrilled with the realization of her
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nearness. And a morning beauty. You have caught me, she laughed,
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have I, I whispered back. And I think that she must have felt
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that my words might hold some double meaning, for we stood looking at each
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other, our eyes meeting mine, unflinching, uprising a level brows, a
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little arched, puzzled, and wholly adorable. Please don't tell any one,
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it shall be our special secret, I replied. She turned and ran to
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the house, and I lounged out the sunny garden, my pulses pleasantly,
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a throb drinking in the morning freshness that seemed to reflected and emphasized the joy
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of my uplifting discovery. At the far end, and in the corner,
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away from the garage, there's a little rose garden, enclosed on two sides
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by a sturdy hedge of wild white rose. And on two by the mellow
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red brick walls, a diminutive but formal square of lawn with a rose bed
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in each corner, a little place of peace and sanctuary to which I naturally
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turned. An archway gives entry through the white rose hedge, and I passed
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through it, musing happily, Yes, happily, in spite of all the
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horrors of the week, for it seemed that for me the darkness might lift
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to a golden dawn. In one of the corner beds grew a lovely,
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large white rose, and I stooped to examine one of the butts I think
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of perfect beauty, the outer petal scurling back to show the heart layer on
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layer of closely folded purity. Then just behind me, I heard a tiny
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splash When I turned quickly to learn the course. I'd been looking at beauty
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and thinking of love, while behind me the lawn was a place of broken
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hopes and death. Tad birds lay scattered over the little square rose mostly,
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but a robin with its vivid breast and a corked blackbird with its cape orange
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beak were there as well, and they all lay stiffly on their backs with
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their little claws pathetically extended for all the world, as though they had been
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taken from some taxidermists showcase, and scattered both grass Under the hedge lay Ethel's
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tabby top, dark and stiff, a half eaten sparrow between his outstretched pass.
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In the center of the squire there stood an old painted iron table on
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which Ethel kept a shallow dish of red pottery, filled with water for the
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birds in times of drought. A thrush was in the middle of it,
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lying on its back, and it made one last dying flutter. As I
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stood taking in the tragic little scene. A second thrush, its mate,
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a guest, flew down from the garden wall as he watched, and perched
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on the edge of the dish. Then, catching sight of me, it
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gave one long, sorrowful, flute like note and flew away. I crossed
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over to the cat and turned him over with my foot. His eyes were
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wide, and when I saw them, I felt the hair go creeping across
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my scalp, for there was a yellow slit of iris, and the rest
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was an angry bread. I started back in horror and ran to the house
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for Janet. She was coming down the stairs as they entered the hall,
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and I beckoned to her to come into the garden with me. What is
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it, she queried, Is anything the matter? Yes, come and see
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what I fot. We hurried back to the rose garden. Oh, the
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poor DearS, the poor tears. Oh, how horrible, she cried when
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I pointed to the birds, her sweet low voice vibrating with the tenderness,
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that it made my heart ache to hear. Yes, it's a poison,
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she agreed, when he showed her Athol's cat. How horribly, Oh,
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how wantonly cruel? Run in quickly, please, and telephone to inspect a
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Braun before the others get downstairs. Ask him to come in by the side
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door and straight to me here at once, not to go to the house.
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I know he's at the station. If Annie's a boat, send her
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to me here out of the way before you speak. If any of the
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others are about, come back to me at once, and we must hide
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them away without showing the inspector, then numbers forty seven. I'll be thinking
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for some excuse for wanting Annie. There was no one about but Annie,
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And when I had sent her to Janet, I got my message through to
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the inspector without any interruption for once the telephoned. Working according to plan,
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He promised to be with us in a few minutes, and I hurried back
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to find Janet walking up and down the path behind the garage. What excuse
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she made for a talk with Annie? I forgot to ask, but it
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was satisfactory for Annie met me, smiling broadly. Janet was angry. Now
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that I know so well, I can better estimate how angry and disturbed she
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was. It's so stupidly cruel, She almost sobbed to put it there where
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the birds come to drink. It seems an unsympathetic thing to say, But
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come out rises me more than the murder itself. Don't you think we had
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better tell the doctor, I asked her. He'll be able to say more
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definitely if it's the poison, the Chinese poison, I mean. She shook
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her head emphatically and looked at me rather queerly. I almost fancied too.
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No, no, she said, there's nothing to be gained by telling any
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one else. Never tell any one anything. That's Johnny Alport's golden rule for
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Detective Bug. At her suggestion, we went back to the Rose Garden,
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to await the inspector and to prevent any more birds from drinking the poison water.
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He left to take them away with him. She said, did you
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tell him anything? No, I replied, once I obeyed the golden rule.
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Well, we ought to be looking for something to put them in.
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Do you think you can get a cloth's basket or something without Annie seeing you?
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In a bottle or can for the water. I returned to the house
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once more to try him luck. But Annie was in the hall, and
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though I racked my brains, I could think of no reasonable excuse for getting
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her out of the way. Then my eyes happened to light on the garage
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key that hung on a hoop in the hall, and I remembered having seen
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an old wooden box that I thought might serve a purpose. It was there,
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but I could find nothing for the water. So I took what I
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had found across to Janet, hoping that she might be able to make some
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other suggestion. But she had already solved the problem by finding the watering cairn,
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and to my dismay, I returned to find her tipping the contents of
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the bird bath into it. I hated to see her handle the deadly stuff,
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remembering the doctor's alarm when I had only touched the outside of the baby
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flagon. It's all right, she replied, cheerfully to my protest, I
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haven't touched a drop, and I promised to disinfect. Then, very gingerly,
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she picked up the birds one by one and put them in the box,
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leaving one bird and the care so that the inspector might see exactly how
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they had lain. When he arrived, he was with us before we had
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completed our task, more gigantic and phlegmatic than ever I thought he looked in
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the little formal garden. Janet quickly explained the situation and bustled him away with
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the competence that only went to increase my admiration for her. But we were
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not to be left alone, as I half hoped we might. She would
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have none of it, but insisted that we ought to get back to the
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house at once, that braked quest must be ready, and that we should
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be missed, and that the less we were seen together the better. Though
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I did my best to persuade her to stay. Idiotic of me, perhaps,
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but it was no. I can't explain it. If you who read
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need explanations, then you are beyond me. I was in love. I
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had never been in love before, and here was my darling, alone among
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the roses. I wanted to stay with her and keep her to myself,
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not share her with the rest. But it was not to be, for
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up the garden path came the Thundish, whistling the massier, his chin stuck
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out in a way that he had when he whistled and felt jolly, or
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rather, I should say, when he was willing that others should know he
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was feeling jolly. For only once had I seen him really depressed, and
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that was the time when I had caught him frowning over Hanson's case book.
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He was amazing the Tundish, and the more I saw of him, the
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more my amazement grew. Here we were at the morning of the inquest,
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and he could whistle away lightheartedly, just like any boy at home from school
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on the first day of the holidays. If I was amazed, Janet was
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alert your knife quickly, mister jeff Cock, and she was cutting grocers and
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asking me about their names, of which I knew exactly nothing, Even as
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the doctor stood smiling happily under the arch hallo breakfast ready she greeted him.
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Yes, he was looking at little table on which the bird bath had stood.
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Where's the bird bath gone too? Janet looked at him hard, and
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I looked at Janet. It has gone to be clean, doctor Wallace,
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she replied, cleaned. Oh, Itthell's taken it has she? I came
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to see if it wanted filling, Come along and breakfast. The others were
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seated at the table when we got back to the house, and although Janet
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said very little, and I could see that her thoughts were busy with her
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discovery, her presence again seemed to break down the restraint of some of her
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former meals. Neither Ethel, Margaret, nor the boys had heard of Cook's
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experience, and their natural curiosity kept the conversation going and helped us to avoid
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those appalling periods of silence that I was beginning to associate not only with our
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meals, but even with dear old Dale House itself. Silences they were that
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seemed beyond control, Silences that seemed to close down on us from outside while
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we sat with averted eyes, each busy with his own suspicious thoughts. What
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a night you must have had, was Ethel's comment. I see now that
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I ought to have given way and have allowed you to turn her out last
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night as you wanted to do, thundersh then you would all have been spared.
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No, it was my fault, and I blame myself entirely for what
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happened, he replied. I ought to have looked round myself before I went
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to bed, knowing the state she was in. I'm only glad that the
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rest of you were not disturbed, especially you two girls. It was no
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pretty sight, I can assure you. I'm thankful I didn't wake Margaret.
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I shouldn't have slipped another wink all night. It makes me feel quite faint
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even to think of it now. The doctor smiled broadly, rather unkindly too.
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I fancied, well, if that's what he look like when you feel
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faint, we all of us laughed, for never had she looked more pink
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and white and golden, more full of vitality, and less like a fainting
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lady. Both Ethel whose bruise was still in evidence, and Janet looked pallid
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and worn by comparison. As we were finishing breakfast, a note came behind
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for the doctor. Ralph had just said apropos of the accident to cook that
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the house seemed faded, and that, without meaning to be rude, he
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would be very glad to be back at work. The Tundish looked up from
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his note with a smile, as happy a smile as he could wish to
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see. Well, you'll be able to gratify your wish. This is from
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the inspector. The inquests fixed eleven o'clock, and we are all to be
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there. He's sending cars to fetch us moreover. Our little pocket Hercules will
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be with us at And so you see, Ralph, you'll be able to
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leave this evening. But whether I shall be here to see your office,
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I imagine more uncertain. He got up to leave the room as he spoke,
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but turned with his hand on the door knob by the way. Ethel,
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what have you done with the bird bath from the rose garden? I'll
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fill it up before I go. The bird bath, yes, haven't you
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heard it? It's missing from the table now. I filled it up yesterday
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morning, and I'm afraid I haven't touched it since. Ethel looked round the
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table to see if we could give her information, but we none of us
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spoke, and the Tundish left the room. When he had gone, Margaret
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offered to take out another bowl of waters, saying the poor little things would
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be patched. And there was a discussion as to the household duties, during
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which the two boys went off to the garden and I out into the hall,
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where I pretended to be brushing my clothes. I wanted to waylay Janet.
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She came out at last, and I persuaded her to join me in
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the garden as soon as she could get away, And after an interminable half
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hour she came to me. There just for two minutes, she said,
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uncompromisingly, but with a smile. I had grown to look for and to
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love so much. What do you want? I want to know what you
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make of it? All? I asked her. Wasn't it just little odd
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that the doctor should have come to look for the bird barth? Then I
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don't know, and I can't tell you what I make of it. You
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mean you won't you don't want to tell me? No, it's not that
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I do want to tell you, but I can't. Where did you go
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before breakfast? To the police station? What for? I can't tell you?
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I'm rather a poor sort of confided reate. Then I'm afraid if you
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won't let me know what you're doing. You're not a confiderate, You're a
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protector should the need rise. Honestly, I can't help it, mister jeff
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Cock. It isn't my doing. Johnny. I'll put is my superior officer.
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And I was to tell you nothing except who I was and that I
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might possibly require your help. And that was only because you caught us together.
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I see a sort of sob to keep me cut. I was feeling
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childishly hurt. We had been walking up and down the strip of lawn that
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lay between the house and the boundary wall, and at the end of one
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of her century goes, she turned and faced me, the sun lighting up
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her dear face so that I could see the tiny, cold brown hairs that
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straggled across the bridge of a delectable little nurse. I wanted to help her,
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and felt absurdly that I had the right to do. I wanted endless
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consultations. Here we were within an hour of the inquest, with the mystery
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that had bid avil the Dalehouse atmosphere from cellar to attic as far from solution
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as ever. And while yesterday my head had been full of such thoughts as
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if he did this, then why did he go and do that? Now
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this morning I could think of nothing but Janet and how I might keep her
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near me. To please be sensible, she smiled, But how can I
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help you if I am all in the dark. It helps me just to
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know you are there at hand. Now I must really go. She turned
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to go back to the house. The two boys were sitting out of year
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short under the cedar tree. I say, do sit next to me at
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the inquest, I called after her gently. She laughed outright, certainly,
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sir, she said, Wally, I'm not going. She was gone,
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leaving me uncertain as to whether I was annoyed or pleased about what she had
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said. And I only remembered afterward that I had told her nothing of Annie's
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missing tablecloth. Two police cars came for us at a quarter before the hour,
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backing into Dale House Lane, where we got into them without attracting the
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attention I had rather feared. Two men only observed us, and I heard
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one say to the other in passing, Aye, that's sin goes about the
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town as bold as press, a remark which made me appreciate the doctor's bravery
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or Uffrontree in continuing to attend his patience. I had never seen an inquest
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before, and the only thing that really impressed me was the brevity of the
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whole proceeding. A room behind the mortuary was used for the purpose. A
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long room it was, with a plain deal table running nearly the length of
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it, and with the whitewashed walls that made the most of the rather inadequate
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light. The jurors were all assembled when we arrived, a solemn, uninteresting
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dozen, with so far as he could judge, not one man of any
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personality among them. They were seated round the table. We were given seats
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against the wall, and the coroner, a very much younger man than he
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had expected, came in as we took our places. He was business itself.
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He asked the inspector to take the jury to view the body, filling
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up an official looking form pending their return, and he then asked Ethel to
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explain to the jury exactly how she had found miss Palfrey men On the Wednesday
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morning. There was no witness box, and she was sworn and made a
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statement standing in front of a chair at the side of the room. She
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spoke clearly and well. The doctor made a similarly brief statement and was continuing
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to describe how he had prepared a draft for Stella the evening before when the
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coroner pulled him up. Just at the moment, I'm only asking you to
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tell the jury how you phoned miss Paul Freeman when he went upstairs at Miss
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Hanson's request. I have nothing more to add. Then, the doctor replied,
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you are of the opinion that her death was not from any natural cause
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and decided that the police should be informed. Yes. Inspector Brown next described
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how he had been called and went to Dalehouse along with the Detective Inspector Alport
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and the police surgeon, and he concluded his few short sentences by asking that
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the inquest might be immediately adjourned while the police secured further evidence. How long
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do you want, Inspector, I suggest Tuesday of next week, sir.
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At the same time, yes, very well done, gentlemen. The inquest
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was adjourned, and I'm sorry to have to ask you to attend here again
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next Tuesday. At the same time, a formal reminder will be posted to
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you. I understand that there have been rumors in the city with regard to
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this unfortunate affair, and there have been one or two most improper references in
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the press. It's your play in duty to shut both your ears and your
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eyes until we meet again, and to take care that you come to the
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adjourning question with your minds a blank. There's been talk of full play.
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We shall know nothing of that the unfortunate girl met a death in circumstances that
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require further investigation. That's the sum of a knowledge at present. We shall
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meet again on Tuesday to consider the full evidence that will be put before us,
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and under my guidance, you will then decide together what was the cause
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of a death? Thank you. A tall, gray haired, full faced
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man whom I hadn't noticed before Cayman, stood at the end of the table
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facing the coroner. I have a statement, sir, that I think it's
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my duty to make. Excuse me, the coroner interrupted, But whoever you
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are, I can allow no statement whatever to be made. My name is
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Crawford, and I am uncle to the deceased, and what I have to
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say may I think. I'm sorry, mister Crawford, but I really cannot
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allow any statement whatever to be made. Theory must hear all the evidence in
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proper order and at the proper time. If you have any information you feel
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you ought to impart immediately, then it's your duty to report it to the
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police, can't I No, really, you can't. The florid faced uncle
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retired. I like the look of the man, jolly, I thought,
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and I wondered what it was that he wanted to say. Then, to
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my surprise, just as the coroner was gathering up his papers and the jurors
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were pushing back their chairs, Kenneth jumped to his feet. May I ask,
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sir, how much longer we are to be detained? The Coronel looked
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up in some surprise. We detained. I don't think I understand you.
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Who are you and to whom do you refer? My name is Dane,
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sir, and I referred to my friends and myself and a detention at their
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house. The inspector stepped forward and whispered in the coroner's ear. The Coronel
23:52
nodded his head emphatically, and then he turned to Kenneth. No warrant has
23:56
been issued for anyone's detention. I understand that you and your friends made a
24:00
perfectly voluntary arrangement with Inspector Alport and if that is so, I think that
24:04
your application is in very bad taste. Indeed, neither I nor the police
24:10
have any right to detain any one at present, and you are at liberty
24:12
to go when and where you like. But you will be wanted at the
24:15
inquest on Tuesday, and a proper notice will be served. Kenneth reddened and
24:21
sat down. Inspector Brown came forward and told us that the cars were available
24:25
for our return, and we filed out into the dazzling sun. The dreaded
24:30
inquest was over, but I realized that the next would be a far more
24:33
trying affair. At the door stood mister Crawford talking to the police surgeon,
24:37
and he came forward and spoke a few words to Ethel in the kindest possible
24:41
way, and then, to my surprise, he button oled the doctor,
24:45
drawing him a few paces apart. They held a brief, earnest little conversation,
24:49
at the close of which mister Crawford handed the tunditional letter, which he
24:52
put carefully away in his pocketbook. They shook hands amicably, and the doctor
24:57
rejoined us. Help my curiosity and I wondered what Steller's uncle could have to
25:03
say and to give to the doctor and whether he had lived in China too,
25:07
and they had met before. There was nothing to be gleaned from the
25:11
doctor's face, however, He was neither pleased nor perturbbed, but just the
25:15
same, equable and placid Tundish, as inscrutable as ever. We were back
25:21
at Dale House before twelve o'clock, and my first concern was to look for
25:23
Janet. She was not in the downstairs rooms, and I went up to
25:27
change my coat for a blazer prior to making a search in the garden.
25:30
The Thundish and I happened to go up the stairs together, he to his
25:34
room and I to mine. They were next door to each other, and
25:37
as he opened his door, out came Janet, obviously a little astonished.
25:42
He stood to one side to allow it to pass. Sorry, doctor,
25:45
I was finishing off some dusting for Ethel and didn't expect you back so soon,
25:49
she apologized. He made some conventional remark and she went on downstairs.
25:55
But I noticed, and I wondered whether the doctor noticed it too, that
25:57
she had no duster she had been searching his room. I felt convinced,
26:03
and I hated the whole business and Janet's part in it, in particular,
26:07
as I had never hated it before. Lunch passed without incident. Janet did
26:11
not look at me once, but afterward, as we were leaving the dining
26:15
room, with a whispered take this, she added me a folded note.
26:18
I went upstairs to my bedroom at once to read it. Dear mister jeff
26:22
Cock, it ran I'm going out this afternoon and shall not be back until
26:26
four o'clock. If an opportunity occurs, will you please tell miss Hunter that
26:32
you saw me coming out of the doctor's bedroom before lunch, that you heard
26:36
me tell him that I had been dusting, and yet you noticed that I
26:38
hadn't any duster. Just tell her that you thought it rather curious. I
26:44
don't want to tell her myself, but I do want her to guess that
26:47
I have been searching the doctor's room. Please burn this. It was no
26:52
signature, and I folded it up and put it carefully away in my pocket
26:55
book in spite of her request. It was my first ever letter from Janet,
26:59
and water its contents. It should be preserved. As for its contents,
27:03
I could not understand them at all, think as I would, and
27:07
I sat on the edge of my bed for a full quarter of an hour,
27:08
thinking as hard as the sweltering heat would let me, I could read
27:14
neither sense nor reason into her request. If for some reason or other she
27:18
wanted Margaret to know that she was working with Alport, why could she not
27:22
tell her write out instead of adopting this roundabout device. If, on the
27:27
other hand, she still decided to keep a true identity hidden from the rest,
27:32
why should she tell even Margaret that she had been searching the doctor's room.
27:37
After a time, I gave up my attempt to follow the reasoning that
27:40
led to the writing of the letter, and concentrated my attention on trying to
27:44
carry out the instructions it contained. The two boys had been reduced to their
27:48
chests again and were playing in the drawing room. In neither the house nor
27:52
the garden could I find Margaret, and I concluded that she had gone to
27:56
a room to lie on. So I had perfused to amuse myself as best
28:00
I might, by reading the paper and by watching the two at the funereal
28:03
game. Three o'clock came, and then half past three, and I was
28:07
beginning to think that I should be unable to do as Janet wished when Margaret
28:11
joined us and surprisingly asked me to go into the garden with her. Come
28:17
up behind the garage. She said, I want to show you something.
28:19
Full of curiosity, and wondering whether what she had got to show might not
28:23
have some bearing on Janet's strange request, I followed up the garden and we
28:29
sat down on the bench behind the garage, where I had caught Alport talking
28:32
to Janet. You remember that newspaper that was spooned in the chest of drawers
28:36
in your bedroom, Margaret began, yes, Well, you know I always
28:41
felt somehow that you might have put it there yourself. After all, fergin
28:45
me for saying, sir, and that it might have been you who put
28:48
up the second notice over the switch. You see, you found it and
28:52
had such a chance to put You have no business to make any suggestions,
28:56
I interrupted angrily, as soon as I could concer my first astonishment. Oh
29:00
please, don't be cross. You know what a way I have of blurting
29:03
out whatever comes into my head. And after all, it must be one
29:07
of us, We must each of us be guessing and thinking these awful things
29:11
about the rest. It is all very well and natural too, perhaps of
29:15
the doctor to warn us against it, but it really isn't human natured not
29:18
to. However, it doesn't matter now, for just look here what I've
29:22
stumbled across. She put her hand down inside the top of a jumper and
29:27
pulled out a sheet of newspaper, handing it over from my inspection, like
29:32
the one that had been found in my chest of drawers, odd words and
29:34
letters had been cut out here and there. And I gazed at it,
29:37
astonished. And look at this, she added, passing me a smaller piece
29:41
of paper. I recognized it for what it was at once. It was
29:47
a sheet torn from the memo tablet that stood on the doctor's desk. On
29:51
it there were some almost illegible pencil notes about a prescription. I gathered in
29:56
the tundishes characteristic writing, and right across the middle of it, and pasted
30:00
partly over the penciled words had been stuck letters cut from a newspaper, forming
30:04
the first portion of the identical message that I had found in the card above
30:07
the landing switch. Dark deeds are done in tea. Where or earth did
30:15
you find this? I asked her. In the box room, up among
30:18
the attics, I went up just not to look for a cardboard box to
30:21
send some things away in, and he told me they were a lot stowed
30:25
away up there. And the first one I came to had a lot of
30:26
rubbish and odd bits of papers in it, and when I emptied them out
30:32
this he pointed to the memos, slip fell face upward on the floor.
30:36
Then I found the sheet of newspaper when I searched among the rest. I
30:38
can't make it out? Can you who could have put it there? It
30:42
looks fishy to me, she said, Kenneth spit of fish. She added
30:47
pensively, after a pause, you mean you think that doctor Wallas is responsible
30:52
for this? Well it does point that way, in to say the least
30:56
of it. I'm sure that his writing of the pas and listen. I
31:02
went to Annie with the box to ask her if she thought I might take
31:03
it, and this is what she told me. Oh, yes, miss
31:07
It was a waste paper basket in the dispensary this morning, where the doctor
31:11
always puts anything that he wants us to throw away. But it seems such
31:15
a nice box, and he took it upstairs instead. Now what do you
31:18
make of that? I argue that he must have been trying what it would
31:22
look like when he was interrupted or something, and that he might have thrown
31:26
them into the basket or onto the floor by mistake. The basket may have
31:30
been full, perhaps, and then when Annie went to clean out, she
31:34
would naturally sweep them up into the box. Yes, Annie would think that
31:38
they had been burnt, and wouldn't like to make any inquiries when he missed
31:42
them later on. Yes, I suppose that's a possibility, I replied meditatively.
31:49
But it doesn't sound very characteristic of the doctor, does it. No,
31:53
it doesn't, But I can't think of anything more likely. We sat
31:57
on the bench and thought for a little time, and then I gave her
32:00
the information Janet had asked me to do in a little note. I could
32:05
have had no better opportunity. How very strange was Margaret's comment. She sat
32:10
frowning in thought, and then she turned to me. Her eyebrows arched.
32:15
And so you suspect the doctor after all? Do you? Or else?
32:20
Why do you think that missus Kenley, of all unlikely people, might have
32:23
been searching his room? Come now, isn't it more natural to suppose that
32:28
she left the duster in the room. I think you're almost as bad as
32:31
I am. Mister Jeff Cork, Well, one can't help wondering. I
32:35
excuse myself lamely enough, but what are you going to do with these?
32:39
Give them to the police. I suppose it's no use showing them to Kenneth
32:44
Ralph combination, and it would be unkind to say anything to Ethil. I
32:46
think I should just keep them to myself until mister Alport comes. I think
32:52
we ought to ring up the inspector at once. Oh, show them to
32:55
missus Kenley. I ventured she, at any rate, is impartial, no
33:00
bias. You think her tremendously clever, don't you? Perhaps I will.
33:06
We got up to return to the house. My brain awhirled with fresh conjecture.
33:09
But as we drew level with the end of the garage and were approaching
33:14
the little rose garden, I could have sworn that I heard movements in the
33:16
hedge. Did you hear that? I asked, holding Margaret back, Now
33:22
what I'm certain I hurt someone moving in the rose garden. We went forward
33:27
through the archway, piercing the hedges as he spoke. At first we could
33:30
see nothing, and we were just coming away when Margaret grabbed me by the
33:34
shoulder and pointed to the end of the hedge, Right at the end of
33:37
it, where it met the garden wall. Someone was standing, pressed well
33:42
back between the hedge and the wall itself, apparently trying to hide. We
33:45
went to see who it could be. It was Miss Summerson. What's the
33:51
matter? What are you doing? She came a little forward out of the
33:53
hedge and stood before us, a face scarlet, her breast heaving, like
33:58
a woman in a crisis in a picture play, obviously on the edge of
34:00
tears, a pitiable object. There we stood, the three of us,
34:06
Margaret and I, exchanging glances of surprise. Miss Summerson, looking first at
34:09
one of us and then at the other, and then at the ground,
34:14
a study and furtive indecision. At length, she stammered, I was trying
34:19
to reach a rose in the hedge. I stepped forward to get it for
34:22
her, pressing into the hedge where it grew thickly against the wall, and
34:25
where we had seen her standing, But no rose at all. Could I
34:29
see whereabouts was the one you were after? I asked, looking back over
34:34
my shoulder to where she and Margaret stood. Oh, I'm I'm not so
34:40
sure that there was one, really, She stammered, looking at me beseechingly
34:45
out of her timid, tearful eyes. I must really go now, And
34:49
before we could say another word, she ran away through the arch, leaving
34:52
us alone with the astonishment. Well, and what are we expected to make
34:57
of that I acqueried? You know? I wonder whether she really did lose
35:01
the poison cupboard key? Was Margaret's rather irrelevant reply. But what is I
35:08
don't see the connection. Oh, none, no connection exactly. But her
35:14
behavior was square, wasn't it? And I always thought she looked a little
35:17
underhand. You see, if she did really poisons, tell her that it
35:22
would be quite a good plan to lose a key a little before the event,
35:24
say, on the afternoon before, and in time for some one else
35:27
to have possibly found it. Oh, I say, how could she?
35:30
Though she wasn't even in the house. She could She could have gotten through
35:36
the bedroom window while we were at supper. She may easily have known of
35:39
the medicine there ready for stella and handy for the poison. In spite of
35:43
what he said, the doctor may have made it up before she left,
35:46
or he may have told her about it, or he may have written himself
35:50
a reminder on his spad. Oh oh, I can think of several ways
35:53
in which she might have got to know about the draft, But why should
35:58
she have done it? Oh? You men, how blind you are?
36:01
Do you seriously mean to tell me that you haven't noticed that she worships the
36:06
ground he treats on? Why she can't keep her eyes away from him when
36:09
they are in the room together. But even so, that's surely no reason
36:14
why she should murder one of Ethel's guests, Blockhead, She laughed. She
36:17
was jealous, and I'm not sure sure that she hadn't good reason to be
36:22
too. Oh why did mister Alport ask Ethel about it in the way he
36:24
did? But my dear miss Hunter, the girl is really just engaged another
36:29
man. You heard it? Tell us so yourself, and my dear mister
36:32
jeff Cock, she mocked. It's quite quite possible to be engaged to one
36:37
man and in love with another all the time. Even quite quite nice girls
36:42
may find themselves in that position. If you doubt it, I can give
36:45
you a case near at hand, can't I? Now I had to admit
36:50
to myself that she could. But our conversation was interrupted by the cathedral clock,
36:53
which boomed out the hour of four, Margaret seemed absurdly. I was
36:58
going to say, put out, I think alarmed is more the word that
37:00
it should be so late. Why that's four o'clock, she whispered. Mister
37:06
Alpot expected to be here by then, didn't tea. I must go,
37:08
I must really go. I'd no idea it was so late. We hurried
37:14
off down the garden together. A shuttle change seemed to have come over.
37:16
Margaret in the rose garden and behind the garage, friendly and anxious to exchange
37:21
ideas and confidences with mine, now suddenly reticent and disturbed. I could hear
37:25
a whispering to herself as we hurried along the path, how late it is,
37:30
How late it is. I had no idea it was so late.
37:36
It somehow brought a picture of the white rabbit hurrying off to the Duchess's tea
37:38
party before my mind. I say, they're going to have tea in the
37:43
garden, and it's ready now. Mister Alport may be here before we finish,
37:45
she said aloud in an agitated voice. Well, and why not,
37:50
I voiced my surprise, But I wanted to see missus Kenley before he came
37:53
to show the paper I found in the attic, you know. And now
37:57
I shall have to wait and laughter tea, and he may be here before
37:59
we finish. The doctor was still away on his afternoon round, but Janet
38:04
had returned, and the others were seated under the cedar having tea. It
38:07
was a hurried, agitated, unhappy little meal. Ethel obviously nervous and on
38:13
edge. Margaret anxious to finish and buttonhole my Janet hardly ate anything at all.
38:17
Janet absorbed, and I fancied a little worried. Kenneth morose, with
38:22
Ralph as usual, a sort of sympathetic shadow, myself thinking, thinking,
38:30
thinking of Margaret's latest find and Miss Summerson's odd behavior. And all the time
38:35
as we sat under the cedars shade, with the sun splashed lawn before us,
38:38
and the rogues cawing dreamily overhead, we each had an year alert and
38:43
listening for the front door bell and alport and the breaking of the storm.
38:46
No wonder that we finished rather quickly, and that Annie for once had alwaystimated
38:52
a requirements in the matter of bread and butter. The two boys went off
38:55
to the garage to make Ralph's belved an expensive car ready for the anticipated journey
39:00
back to Sheffield. As soon as Alport would arrive and release them from their
39:04
perol. Ethel went indoors to aid the overworked Annie and I think to escape
39:09
from the rest of us. I saw Margaret turn and whisper to Janet as
39:13
soon as Ethel had gone. They were seated next to each other, Janet
39:16
next to me, Margaret in the chair beyond. And it just happened that
39:21
I was looking at Janet's hand as it rested on the arm of a wicker
39:23
chair. When Margaret began to whisper. I was thinking how characteristic those hands
39:29
of hers were rather large, were a woman, strong and gentle at once,
39:32
with fingers that tapered away like a dream, hands that were both manly
39:37
and womanly at once. And then, to my astonishment, I noticed that
39:40
the vicar of the chair arm was bending beneath a grip. She rose to
39:45
her feet as I glanced at her in surprise, surprise which increased when I
39:50
felt to tap my foot with hers as she said, I don't suppose that
39:52
I should be gone for more than five minutes, mister jeff Cock. About
39:57
five minutes, mister Jeff Cock for all the world, as though we had
40:00
had some definite arrangement together, and she was making some excuse, but she
40:06
took Margaret by the arm and walked away before I could question her about it.
40:09
They went into the house together the end of chapter fourteen.