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Janet Arrives on the Scene · The Dalehouse Murder

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Chapter twelve of The Dale House Murder by Francis Everton. This Libertyvox recording is
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in the public domain. Read by yoganand The Dale House Murder, Chapter twelve.
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Janet arrives on the scene. A beauty gazes with a smile of pleasurable
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anticipation into some distorted mirror, to start back in horror from the grinning image
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that creates her so unexpectedly. But my little alport to gaze into a distorted
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mirror, what then, what unthinkable monstrosity might he not see depicted? And
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so it was with my dreams and the way they reflected my elderly, gruesome
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waking thoughts as they dreamed and woke intermittently through what reminded of that hot,
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airless night. If the day had seemed long, those few hours of dream
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disturbed sleep were like a slice of eternity itself, an eternity which I occupied
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in playing tennis at the club, serving through an interminable game, first with
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the baby flagon of Chinese poison, and then with my own severed hand,
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which Margaret handed to me on a racket like a ball, embracing frantically from
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room to room to find Ethel then the thundersh then each of the others in
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turn, lying dead on their backs with staring, bloodshot eyes, all dead,
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and myself alone with the dead, alone, and tearing desperately from one
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room to the next to finer sign of life, thumping madly on resounding doors,
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crouching, shrinking down outside them, opening them in fear, and banging
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them to again in terror. When I saw what there was, with him
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looking furtively behind me to see little Alpot standing there, grinning sardonically, leering
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at me, dangling a pair of bloodstained handcuffs before my starting eyes, and
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asking me in a way that left me gasping for breath if my initials were
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f h an eternity which I occupied in overhearing Ethel and the doctor callously plotting
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together to poison Kenneth, and in creeping on hands and knees down my long,
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dimly lighted corridors too, And from a succession of scenes of horror,
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finally I woke to see the sun shining in at my window, and to
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the dull realization that some of my dreams, at any rate, came uncomfortably
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near to the truth. Downstairs, I found the tundish unshaved and unabashed at
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one end of the breakfast table, with the medical journal propped up in front
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of him, and Kenneth and Ralph at the other, each with the morning
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paper. I saw the doctor's eyes twinkled with amusement as he took my seat
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next to him, and he told me that he had been called out of
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bed again at four and had only just returned. And what about the escort?
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Did he accompany you? Now? I rang up the police station yesterday
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evening, telling them that I expected the call, and they trustfully allowed me
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to go on parole. This fresh negligence on the part of the authorities seemed
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to rouse Kenneth's ere for he jumped up from his breakfast and rang up Inspector
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Brown, reporting the finding of the notice and the doings of the night in
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aggressive, carrying tones that we could none of us fail to hear. Apparently
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his news did not meet with quite the expected reception. For will you please
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les repeat what I've told you to mister Alport as soon as we can and
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ask him to let me know when this abominable farce is going to end?
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Where his final words, and he returned to his interrupted breakfast glaring offensively at
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the doctor, as much as to say, damn you, now you know
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what I think about it. Then Margaret came in and after a moment's obvious
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hessitation, which seemed to underline and emphasize a choice, she moved to the
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end of the table, away from the doctor and took a chair next to
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Kenneth and Ralph. Thus we started out on the second day after the murder
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alderly divided into opposing camps, the Tundish and I at one end of the
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table, Margaret and the two boys with the other, an uncomfortable, accusing
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gap between us, and in a different ways we each of us except the
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doctor, showed the embarrassment we felt. He conversed with me very much at
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his ease, stabbing the open journal in front of him with his expound to
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emphasize his possible remarks, decrying the sense of the anti vaccinationists and glibly labeling
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them as nothing but a gang of murderers, as though the word murder held
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no terrors and was a most natural in the world for him to use,
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when the chances were that a murderer sat at the table, and I alone
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of the four believed him anything else. I saw the three exchanged glances,
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and Margaret murmured murdered aloud, though what she meant by it exactly was not
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quite clear, but words held a fascination for Margaret, apart from any meaning
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they might convey. Had a pretty head been equipped with brains, she would
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surely have been a poet. Folding up his paper, the doctor rose from
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the table, asking has anyone seen anything of Ethel? Is she coming down
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for breakfast? I haven't heard a sound from her room, Margaret replied,
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still sleeping, I expect after a broken night, which is not surprising.
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I'll run up and find out how she is. We heard her knock twice
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and again. Then she came back and stood in the doorway. I can't
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make her hear, she told us, with a queer, little catch in
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her voice. Now, Ethel had been safe when we woke her in the
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middle of the night, and we had all heard a locker door when she
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returned to her room. But when Margaret made that simple statement had sent her
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thoughts back to yesterday's breakquest, when Ethel herself had come tumbling into the room
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with a white face to tell us that she couldn't waken stella. We looked
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at one another in dismay. Kenneth pushed back his chair and rose slowly to
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his feet. The doctor sprang to the door and raced up the stairs two
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at a time, and like an echo from the night before, we heard
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him hammering on her door. Then, to our infinite relief, we heard
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him asking, are you all right, Ethel? Would you like your breakfast
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sent upstairs? I saw Margaret's eyes brighten unnaturally, and a tear rolled on
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her cheek. Oh, how absurd of me, she said, and hurried
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away to hide her emotion. Kenneth and Ralph went out into the garden.
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The doctor returned and rang the bell for Annie, giving her instructions about Ethel's
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breakfast. Then he turned to me. So you've had a fright, have
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you, he asked quietly, And I felt myself redden under his penetrating gaze.
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I did too, he added, mopping his forehead. What a ruffian
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I must look, Jeff Cock. I must pathe and shave and get to
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work. Thank god, I've a busy dear heart. Yes, I agreed.
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You certainly have the advantage of his there, for we have nothing to
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do but sit about and jag one another's nerves. How an art are we
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going to get through another day of this? Possibly two or three? It
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may all end sooner than you expect, he answered enigmatically, and with that
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he left me and ran upstairs. How I say to get through the day?
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I wondered, sleep, smoke, write letters, slink about the garden,
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avoiding Ethel so that she should not learn of my ever increasing doubts about
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the doctor. But there were twelve weary hours to while away. I would
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have gone into the garden and adopted kipling skure for the hump dick, dig
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till you gently perspire, but I was doing that already. My thoughts traveled
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with longing to the tingling crystal air of Yorkshire's Moose. That was where I
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would like to be on such a day as this, off for a twenty
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mile tramp with my pipe for company. But that was not to be,
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and with a sigh of distaste, I collected writing materials and proceeded to the
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shape of the cedar to write some letters. Presently Ethel joined me. Her
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face was still swollen, the bruise beginning to blacken. She looked tired too,
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and I imagine had been crying, but her eyes lit up with something
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of her old smile as she came toward me a letter in her hand.
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Do listen to this, she cried, isn't it just like mother? She's
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sending us a visitor, a visitor now of all times, and some one
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we have never seen before. At that missus Hanson's incoherent hospitality was a family
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joke. Visitors she must have. She had no discrimination in the matter of
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individuals and occasions and the way they might char or mix. She would think
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nothing of bringing home a perfect stranger, August or otherwise, and feeding him
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on kindliness and cold mutton. And I will give her her credit for this.
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The visitor August ordinary, the cold mutton, the kindliness, and the
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occasion would generally mix to a pleasantly affable blunt my own friendship with the hands
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and stated, from one of these aphazard invitations, So I smiled at Ethel
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reminiscently as she stood by my side with a letter in her hand. A
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good thing too, perhaps, I said. We shall have to sit up,
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mind a manners and behave Tell me more about it. What is it
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to be rich man? Poor man, beggar man O thief? Ethel began
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to read me bits of the letter. You remember, we were expecting to
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see my cousin Bill Kenley when he got home from Rhodesia. We were to
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look out for him next week on the Channel boat. Well, rather to
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a surprise, he arrived this week yesterday in fact, and he surprised her
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still more by bringing with him a wife. They are on their honeymoon,
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Such a jolly girl. We both of us like her immensely, but poor
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things. While we were having lunch, a cable arrive for Bill, ordering
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his immediate return some native unrest, that the fear may develop into serious trouble,
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and he must be on the spot, so he sails back again to
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morrow. Meanwhile, what is his wife to do? She has no relatives
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here. I should have liked her to stay on here with us, but
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Dad takes all my time and he doesn't want to be bothered with anyone else.
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So it occurred to me, why not send it down to you.
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You need a chap on. You know, it's all very well while the
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whole lot of you are there together, but after the tournament you can't go
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on keeping house for the Tundish without the Manchester pussy's getting their close into you,
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so you may expect Janet that's a name soon after this letter. You'll
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be nice to you. I know, my family are really very good to
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me about backing up my wild invitations. But she's really very nice and you'll
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enjoy having her own account. Dad is steadily getting more like his old self.
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He tells me to say how sorry he is to missus Francis. I
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hope you are having a good Oh, well, that's all that matters.
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Ethel finished, sitting down and fanning herself with the letter. How am I
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to explain the situation to her Francis when she arrives. Just imagine coming to
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a strange house and finding yourself in the thick of all this. It chattely
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was rather a facer for Ethel, but I could not help seeing that the
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situation had its points. She sounds better than your Aunt Emmeline, anyhow,
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and that's what you would have had to come to, as your mother says,
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you can't go on indefinitely without some older woman, and your aunt is
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the obvious elder. Now. The said aunt Emmeline was a sister of Hansoon
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ten years as senior as spinster devoted to good works and most uncomfortably and obtrusively
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high church. When Aunt Emmeline fasted, the recording angel and the cook were
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not the only ones to know it, and she managed to cast a gloom
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like a London fog over even the cheerful dale House family. In short,
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she was one of those good women whose men folk make friends with the devil.
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Ethel began to smile. Yes, Francis, as you say, there
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may be something to be said for the idea, but I don't relish the
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job of explaining the explanations. Oh well, if she's a good sort,
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she'll see you need help. If she isn't, she'll help herself off,
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so it really doesn't matter. We left it at that, and after sitting
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with me for a while, Ethel went into the house to make ready for
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her guest. Apparently Margaret stayed indoors to help Ethel, for I hardly saw
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all the morning. Kenneth and Ralph paced slowly up and down in the shade
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at the side of the house. They paid very little attention to me,
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and I gathered from their manner that they were going over the facts of the
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case, much as I had done the night before they would stand talking earnestly
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together, and then resume their walking, only to stop and talk again a
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minute later. Once or twice they glanced in my direction. Then Ralph pulled
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a notebook out of his pocket, and they disappeared behind the garage. Kenneth
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was shaking his head emphatically as they went, and I could guess that he
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was deriding any suggestion of Ralph's that did not involve the doctor. I wondered
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if the two girls were carrying on a similar conversation, and thought how much
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happier we should be if the boys would behave more as Margaret did. She
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suspected the Tundish, and to a less extinct I think she suspected me,
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but like an ordinary reasonable mortal, she kept her suspicions to herself until they
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were confirmed. Rather shamefacedly, I got out my own notes and went over
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them again everything that had taken place in the compilation. I went to confirm
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the conclusion I had come to, and yet I was still unwilling. There
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was something fine about thee. I put my papers hurriedly away. The boys
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were coming from the garage. They stopped in front of my chair, and
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I told them of the unexpected addition to a party. Oh lord, said
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Ralph, and a bride too. She'll smirk and say my husband in every
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sentence. You needn't worry, Ralph. Was Kenneth's comment. The bride will
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remove herself at once when she realizes the awful company she is in. Meanwhile,
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well, it's a diversion anyway. And talking of diversions, Cheff Cox,
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would it outrage the proprieties? Do you think if we rigged up a
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badminton coat over there and had a knock or two we could telephone for shuttle
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cocks. Best thing you can do. I told them we can't sit about
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all day like this. We must do something, yes, Margaret, said
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Ralph. Come along, Margaret and help us to make a badminton net.
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You've got some old strawberry netting. Can a gentlewoman's hand accomplish the rest with
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the help of a bit of clothes line and a needle and thread? Right,
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said Margaret brief for once, and she retired to fetch a tackle.
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But just then the front door bell rang loudly through the open door and windows.
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We heard, plainly enough an authoritative voice alternating with a faintly protesting one.
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Evidently there was an argument between Annie and the owner of the commanding voice,
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the latter prevailing, for we heard it paring down on us, and
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we looked at one another in dismay. Good lord, it's a wheeler cartwright
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woman, Ralph said, aghast coming to be a mother to Ethel, and
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incidentally, to lap up all the scandal she can. The voice was upon
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us now, and we rose to greet the owner, whom I had reocnaced
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as the mother of a meek and depressed little girl I had met at the
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tennis club. I had seen the mother on previous occasions, too, Never
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once had I seen her silent. The irreverend called a missus chuggernaut outright behind
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her back. This is terrible, terrible, she breathed heavily. I only
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heard the news last night, and I felt I must come round as soon
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as I possibly could do, to express my sympathy with Ethel, poor dear
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girl, how she must be longing for a mother. And tell me is
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it really true that there is to be an inquest? I'm afraid it is,
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I murmured. But mister Jeffcock, what really has happened? The wireless
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and most disturbing rumors are flying about. Did the poor girl take an overdose
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of something? Surely, surely it wasn't It couldn't be suicide. The police
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are inquiring closely into the whole matter, and honestly, I can't tell you
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much about it, I parried, mister Jeffcock. She whispered, hostly,
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impressive and standing so close that I could feel the glow from a purple face.
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Is there any reason to suspect anything? Verse? Still, really I
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cannot tell you, I replied, in mimicking her pauses. The police are
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very reticent, and they have asked us to be equally so. And with
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that, I stared straight in the face. Missus Veilla Cartwright took a deep
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breath, and slowly her face ac quite a yet more fiery tinge. For
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obvious reasons, she had not adopted the more fashions she grew and spread.
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There was an ominous silence. I see, she boomed majestically. I see.
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Then it is as I feared. And now where is ethel? Where's
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a poor child? This is no place for a young and unpro She's resting,
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a believe, Kenneth interrupted, and she wants to sleep. I think
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he added hastily, as Missus Juggernaut turned and made for the back door with
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the obvious intention of proceeding forthwith to Ethel's room. She waddled and puffed like
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a tug on the Thames, and in a couple of strides Kenneth was ahead,
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barring the way. I'll tell you've called missus Wheeler. Cartwright was defeated,
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but she retired in good order. Good morning, then, gentlemen.
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I intended to ask Ethel to come and stay with me for a few days.
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A young girl alone people will talk, you know, whisper indecently,
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is what you mean? I said, my manners succumbing to my anger.
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But Ethel has a married cousin coming to stay with her to day, so
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that's a little pleasure they'll have to do without. I thought she was going
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to burst. Ralph escorted her to the door into Dalehouse Lane. Ethel came
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through the drawing room door and joined us heroes. She laughed, if she
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had caught me alone, I should have had about the chance of a sickly
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sardine doing battle with the whale. She'd have packed me things and carried me
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off to a purer spheres and now she's going the round, said Manchester.
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The old girl Kenneth, I noticed, had nothing to say to Ethel.
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She kept her face turned from him and ignored him completely. I felt intensely
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sorry for them both, a broken engagement, a building bird's nest, wantonly
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destroyed in all conscience and unhappy enough events. But in their case what added
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distresses and they were deprived of the solis of work and other grief killing outside
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interests. Margaret appeared with her work bag and retired with the two boys to
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the proposed badminton court. Ethel and I took refuge from the sun under the
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kindly cedar. She with the Times on her lap, I pretending to write
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Bessie Francis. She inquired presently, and I knew she was going to ask
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me the question I wished to avoid, no whily killing time, I answered
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grudgingly. But she did not take the hint. She threw down the paper
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and sat forward so that I could not see a face, her hands clasped
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around her knees. Francis, what do you think of it? Really?
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Honestly, you don't. You can't believe the Tundish capable of such a thing.
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I can't answer you, it's no and yes at once, I replied
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reluctantly, A dark head bent lower you against him too, she whispered,
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no, that I'm not. I find it desperately difficult to associate him with
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murder. An association, however, that I find equally improbable when I think
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of you or any of the rest of us who were in the house that
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night. That's a trouble, you tell. The evidence against the Tandish is
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so very much the strongest. I try not to believe that he did it.
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I know that I didn't, and that leaves and I can't make out
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a case against one. So a circle train on his dismal droun of repetitions.
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I come back ever to the doctor. The circumstantial evidence is pretty deadly.
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A prosecuting council would make a good deal of his previous acquaintance with Stella
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and his reticence on the subject. We know that he quarreled with the father.
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The prosecution would suggest that she had the knowledge of some disgraceful secret in
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his past, knowledge which have published my truein his career in this country,
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and that he took instant measures to silence her. Ethel said, a picture
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of limp dejection, with a dark head bowed her hair, falling forward a
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screen to hide a face. My suggestions roused no sign of quickening interest.
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And in spite of the conversation I had overheard at the club, I came
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to the conclusion that she knew no more of the doctor's quarreled with Stella's father.
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Then I did myself. And yet that conversation, what was it she
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had said? I certainly would not have offered to put her up if you
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hadn't suggested it to me, A statement that surely must be pertinent to or
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purnish his tangle. And if so, what tragic thoughts were filling that dark
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brown head. But surely, Francis, no one could suppose him to have
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done it so clumsily. A doctor could so easily if he wish to find
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a way that would not point so obviously to wilful murder. His own counsel
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would make the most of that point, of course. But anyhow, unless
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the real mud respond, he will be under a cloud for the rest of
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his life. It's horrible, simply horrible. Heathel shuddered, burying a face
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in her hands. To think that a man who has never willingly wronged.
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A soul can be put in the position he is in by nothing but chance
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and ill luck. I'm sorry if what I have said has made you feel
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still more unhappy. Ethel. Quite half the time I'm convinced that he had
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nothing whatever to do with it, and then at times my convictions failed me.
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There's just one thing, however, that strikes me as being in his
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favor. Has it ever occurred to you? I wonder, as it has
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to me, that he has just a tiny suspicion himself as to who did
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it. Ethel turned in a chair and stared at me. Do you mean
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that he suspects one of us in this house? You or me, or
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any of the others? What makes you think so? I can't tell you,
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I answered, A just an idea at the back of my head,
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perhaps so weak that I should not have mentioned it. I have the impression,
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though sometimes very strongly, that he could throw suspicion on someone else if
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he chose Somehow. I don't quite know why. I feel that he's waiting
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for something, biding his time. We sat awhile in silence. A light
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breeze had sprung up, A breeze laden with heat, and the sweet,
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overpowering scent of syringa. A mowing machine droned a garden or two away.
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The air was saturated with summer sense and sounds, and we sat nursing our
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unhappy thoughts, thoughts more in keeping with the rotting leaves and sodden undergrowth of
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some November wood. What time does missus Kenley arrive, I asked, after
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a prolonged pause. Mother doesn't say, but I've been looking up at the
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trains, and there's one getting in just before lunch. The next good one
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is not till after four, and I should think she will travel early,
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toward the worst of the heat. Anyhow, we can't go and meet her.
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Annie crossed the lawn to us Salver in hand. A telegram for you,
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miss Ethel, arriving one ten Manchester Jay Kay, she read, then,
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looking up at Annie, tell Cook that missus Kenley will be here in
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time for lunch. Annie departed. What are you going to do about telling
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her the state of affairs? Ethel? Are you going to tell her?
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Yes? I must, Oh, surely I must. I shall wait until
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the afternoon, though I think it might look as though I wanted to drive
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her away if I told her at once, but how I'm going, Oh,
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how I hate it all. Poor Ethel was on the words of another
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breakdown. I could see by the way she leaned back in a chair and
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turned her face away. I had wanted to ask her if she too had
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heard someone laughing in the waiting room before she came into the dispensary on the
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Monday morning, when she came down from the club to get some tape for
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the handle of a racket, and a question her regarding that intry making conversation
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of hers with the Tundish which had come to my ears so clearly across the
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courts. As I sat in the umpire's chair, I came to the conclusion,
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however, that she had enough to bear, and if she had answered
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me, I had by this time argued myself into such a condition of disbelief
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that any reply she might have made would only have given rise to additional skepticism
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in doubt. And so the unemployed and interminable morning bore on. I dozed
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in my chair and pretended to write. Ethel hardly stared in a chair at
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my side. The two boys played badminton, but after a time their voice
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had ceased, and I concluded that they were too overcome by the heat to
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continue their game. Margaret flitted past us several times, but she never once
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stayed to prattle in a usual way. She seemed preoccupied and buried. Shortly
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before one o'clock, the Tundish returned from his rounds. He joined us in
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the garden immediately and took a seat beside us. Ethel handed him the telegram
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She had proceed without comment. And who may I ask? Is j kay?
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There's to be another prison in mate? Ethel replied rather bitterly, and
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explained in a few sentences what missus Hanson had done. And what am I
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to say to her? She concluded, and what will she do when she
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finds out all this? The doctor considered for a few moments. When was
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the wire sent off? He asked, at length, ten thirty from London?
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Then she had had plenty of time to see the morning papers, if
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not before she left the hotel at Folkestone, at any rate, before she
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reached London. The papers, Ethel cried, Is it in the papers?
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Alreddy? The doctor pulled a folded sheet out of his pocket. Not in
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the Times, he said, But the penny papers have lost no time in
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getting hold of it. Look at this. He pointed out a paragraph to
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her. I read it over her shoulder. It was in the front page
23:45
and was headed sudden that the young tennis player. A sad event occurred yesterday
23:51
in the Old Cathedral city of Merchester, where the annual Lawntonness Tournament is in
23:56
progress. Misstella Palfreyman, a promising young player, died suddenly during the night
24:00
of the sixteenth. There's reason to suppose that her death was due to an
24:04
overdose of some narcotic medicine. Miss Palfreyman retired to bed in a usual health
24:10
at night and were sworn dead by a hostess in the morning. We understand
24:14
that the police inquiring into the matter. Ethel threw down the paper and shivered,
24:18
her eyes filling with tears. And tomorrow it'll be shouted and build all
24:22
over the place. I shall never be able to hold up my head in
24:26
Merchester again. Oh, I can't bear it. I simply can't bear it
24:30
any more. The tunders took her hand in his and held it while he
24:34
spoke his other hand affectionately on her shoulder. Ethel, you must not,
24:40
you must not give way like that. It's ridiculous. Hold up your head.
24:45
Indeed, what have you to be ashamed of? Come now, I
24:48
know how brave you can be, and we are all going to need all
24:52
the grit we have got in the next few days. Now about Missus Kenley.
24:56
She may be with us any minute. Here she is, I said,
25:00
As a door bell pealed. Ethel dabbed her eyes hastily and ran indoors,
25:04
And I heard, agreed the guest in a usual pretty way. She
25:08
took up stairs to her room, and I remember even then noticing the tones
25:11
of Missus Kenley's voice, and thinking of myself that they promised well. A
25:17
few moments later, Ethel was bringing her to us across the lawn. I
25:19
looked with interest to see what manner of person it was that fate had added
25:25
to our unhappy household. Would she be capable of rising to the situation,
25:30
or would she add yet another wrong note to a strident discoorch Missus Hanson had
25:34
spoken well of her in a letter. But Missus Hanson, I knew,
25:38
and I don't say it unkindly, would have frowned some traits to praise in
25:42
the devil himself. True, he did put the best silver sugar tongs in
25:47
his pocket, but with bought an air he had passed the sugar. I
25:51
was reassured. However, as Ethel brought a gust toward us, look I
25:56
liked her at once in a couple of hours. I was definitely impressed.
26:00
And but I'm going too fast now. I don't mind admitting that as a
26:04
general rule, and quite apart from any question of sexual attraction, I greatly
26:10
prefer girls to men. And there is a certain section of the sex astratum
26:14
and lying somewhere in between the fussy and the fast, that to me seems
26:18
to contain the salt of the earth. How clean they can be, these
26:22
gay, good girls, clean in the mind and body, their dainty clothes
26:26
barely hiding the intriguing beauty in a way that causes my forty year old heart
26:30
to thump and its cage to see. And why, I ask, should
26:33
the good and the beautiful be hid in a way? God bless their shapely
26:37
pink legs. How brave and bright they can be. Look at them in
26:41
the tram or the train on their way to work. Look at them coming
26:45
home again at night. Look at them, I say, And then look
26:49
at a crowd of unshaved, sheep faced men with their fusty, dust flogged,
26:55
hideous and idiotic cloths. Missus Kenley I could see at a glance neither
27:00
fussy nor fast. She was younger than I expected. Whether she had bought
27:04
a clothes from Paquin or through the weakened advertisement columns of the Daily Mail,
27:08
I do not know, but to my male inexperience, she seemed to be
27:12
beautifully fittingly dressed. I had an impression of a short skirt and slim gray
27:18
legs. Then a pair of gray and extraordinarily wide awake eyes held me mesmerized,
27:22
and I found myself being introduced. Was she beautiful at the time?
27:27
I'm sure I could not have answered that question, but I knew at once
27:30
that she was brave and true. The gong sounded before we had time for
27:36
conversation, and we went into lunch. Margaret and the boys followed and were
27:41
introduced. I sensed at once that the presence of a stranger went far to
27:45
lessen the feeling of awkward restraint that seemed to engulf us when we were all
27:48
together. No reference was made to the tragedy during the meal, and we
27:52
had asked, yet no idea, whether Missus Kenley knew of it or not.
27:56
I was dreading that she would ask some question about the tok. She
28:00
must have been rather surprised, I thought, to find us all at home
28:03
for lunch and not on a tennis kit. The pundish, however, seemed
28:07
to have anticipated the difficulty and guided the conversation with subtle skill to our life
28:11
in Rhodesia and the voyage through England. She told us that she was not
28:15
South African born and had spent most of her life in England. So the
28:19
meal passed pleasantly enough. When it was over, the doctor announced his intention
28:23
of taking, if possible, a couple of hours sleep, and he advised
28:27
us all to do the same. Ethel and Margaret retired to their rooms,
28:32
Kenneth and Ralph to the drawing room to play chess, and it fell to
28:34
my lot to entertain Missus Kenley, a fate which I welcomed with secret enthusiasm.
28:40
I took her to my favorite spot, the shade of the cedar,
28:42
and Annie brought us our coffee. There we smoked cigarettes and for a time
28:48
talked of nothing in particular. She was entirely at her ease, but I
28:51
still felt the disturbance of that first look that had passed between her eyes and
28:56
mind as Ethel had brought her to us across the lawn. While I regarded
29:00
her as closely as it could without appearing to be rude, I added little
29:03
to the conversation. She smoked a cigarette and pensive contentment, and I felt
29:08
to wondering why one look from a pair of clear gray eyes should have set
29:12
my blood ut tingling and made me wish for all manner of unpleasant happenings to
29:17
overtake the unoffending cousin Bob shortly, Missus Kenley was charming, but I had
29:22
met plenty of charming girls before. Margaret and Ethel were both that, and
29:26
they both looked you straight in the eye without these disturbing bristles. Disturbing,
29:32
but very refreshingly disturbing. And I think that for the first time since the
29:34
murderer, my thoughts wandered contentedly in pleasant places. Missus Kenley put down her
29:41
coffee cup on the grass by a chair, and hitching it round to face
29:44
me, most quietly asked me in a low pitched voice, Now, mister
29:47
Jeff Cork, will you please tell me all about this terrible affair. Of
29:51
course, I saw it in the papers on my way here this morning,
29:53
and one paper mentioned that miss Paulfreyman was staying with the doctor Hanson. I
29:59
can see that things so in a bad way here. You would naturally all
30:02
have gone home by now, if you could. So. I suppose it
30:06
means that you are being detained with the police. Is that so? I
30:10
nodded, and she continued. I wondered if I ought to change my plans
30:14
and go elsewhere, But I remembered that missus Hanson really seemed to want me
30:17
to come and chaperoned Ethel, and so I thought I would come on for
30:21
one night at any rate, to see how things are. Tell me,
30:23
now, honestly, what do you think I ought to do? I hope
30:27
you'll stop, Missus Kenley, I answered, promptly, it would be a
30:30
real kindness to Ethel if you will. I'm sure she will ask you to
30:34
stay when she gets a chance to have a talk with you. With that,
30:38
I told her about the whole miserable affair from beginning to end. Stell
30:42
asked tragic death, Ethel's rupture with Kenneth, the ugly suspicion that had fastened
30:48
on the tundish and more or less shadowed us all of the feeling of subtle
30:52
distress that seemed to fill the air, and all the wretched series of events
30:56
of the past two days. True, little Alport had instant to us to
31:00
be reticent, but Inspector Brown had surprisingly aquait a visitor, and if she
31:03
were going to stay in the house, there seemed nothing to lose by telling
31:07
her the facts, and little possibility of keeping them secret. I was glad
31:11
to have somebody to talk to, someone who, by no possible juggling with
31:15
keys and time and facts, could have had anything to do with Stella's death.
31:21
I was amazed at the ease with which she grasped the whole situation,
31:23
and at the pertinent questions she asked. At the end of an hour's talk.
31:27
She knew all that I could tell her of the murder, of other
31:32
matters, of how charming I thought her, Of how beautiful I thought the
31:37
curved arch of a pencil browse over those white gray eyes, Of the adorable
31:41
little trick she had of pushing out her dainty, but didtermine chin when she
31:45
wished to emphasize a point I could not tell her in so many words,
31:49
and whether she guessed anything of my feelings I do not know, but I
31:52
think that even then we both of us realized that the foundations of friendship had
31:57
been well and truly laid. We sat talking together until nearly four o'clock when
32:01
Ralph and Kenneth, the former, arrayed in a very rubby tennis shirt and
32:06
ancient flannel trosers dusters and a tin of polish in his hands, interrupted a
32:12
tete a tete, going to polish up the bus. Ralph explained, and
32:15
there are one or two little matters I want to look into as well.
32:19
Are you interested in mutoring Missus Kenley? Yes, I am. I used
32:22
to drive for the Woman's Legion during the war, really, and by you
32:27
in France at all, Kenneth asked, not for very long. I drove
32:30
an ambulance for a few months, and then I was drafted to London and
32:35
drove for the War Office. I could see that Missus Kenley was not over
32:38
anxious to talk about herself, and she made a move toward the garage as
32:43
though to close the conversation. But the boys were interested and pressed for details,
32:47
asking whom she had driven and whether she had had any interesting experiences.
32:52
No, nothing exciting at all, except just once. And then she paused
32:57
and smiled reminiscently. And then I hte a certain well known gentle in the
33:01
face. Did you really there? And why were you too? Shot?
33:06
At dawn? Ralph laughed, Please tell us about it? What did happen?
33:10
Oh, there's really nothing to tell. I wish I hadn't mentioned it.
33:15
He was a little drunk, and well, I suppose he took me
33:19
for some one else. I was in an awful trite next morning, because
33:22
I couldn't have fart to lose my job. But nothing happened all day and
33:25
at night. When I took the car home, I found a big bunch
33:29
of roses stucked away inside with a note of apology. He was a sportsman,
33:32
after all. What was his name? Ralph asked, but missus Kenley
33:37
merely laughed and shook her head that, mister Bennett, I am keeping for
33:40
my grandchildren. Now, please show me the car. I love to look
33:45
at new ones with all the latest tricks. We went to the garage,
33:49
and soon she and Ralph were deep in technicalities. The unwentlated garage was stifling
33:53
and not being interested in young Bennett's opulent car. I soon left them to
33:58
it. As they strod call back to the house, I heard a raucous
34:01
voice proceeding, apparently from one of the upper bedroom windows. It was Cook,
34:06
and Cook in no amiable mood. At first I could clearly hear every
34:10
word she said. Then just as it was getting really interested in what I
34:15
heard, she moved and I missed the rest. So I says to myself,
34:19
it may be all right, and maybe not, and i'd no reason,
34:22
and then' no reason as how it should be wrong. But seeing what
34:27
happened afterward, the police might like to know what I saw if I was
34:30
to tell them. But then I think to myself, it may be better
34:34
worth your while. Cook, I thinks to keep it to yourself and the
34:37
police they are no friends of yours. Cook, I says to myself.
34:42
Now, then what do you think about it? Cook? Gossip him with
34:45
Annie was my first conclusion. But Annie appeared with the tea tray before I
34:50
reached the house. I heard no more. Accepting a few slurred and indistinct
34:53
half sentences, I felt certain she was, if not drunk, not sober,
35:00
but not drunk or not, It was evident she had seen something of
35:04
which she had not told Alpot, intending to go round the corner of the
35:07
house and go to the door in the front garden wall to see if there
35:10
was a newsboy inside from whom I could purchase an evening paper. I approached
35:15
the house pondering a past time at which I was fast becoming adept, pondering
35:20
the question which of a party could Cook have been addressing with such drunken garrulity.
35:25
It certainly had not been Annie, and I had heard no answering voice.
35:31
Her words had been spoken with a half drunken lurching in consequence. Was
35:36
it just possible that she might have been talking to herself? Ethel, I'm
35:39
sure it's dangerous. There can't be any real difficulty in getting rid of her.
35:45
I'm sure we ought to take the risk. It was a doctor's voice,
35:47
and I walked full tilt into him and Ethel round the corner of the
35:52
house. My shoes were fitted with rubbers, which made no sound on the
35:55
hot plastic asphalt path. And though I had heard every word the doctor said,
36:00
it was obvious that they had not heard me. He was standing with
36:04
his back to the wall, She was facing him, and very close,
36:07
his hands on her shoulders, affectionately, hers holding of the lapels of his
36:12
coat, her dark bobbed head tilted back and looking up adoringly to meet his
36:16
downward case. I felt myself go hot with shame, yes and anger too,
36:23
the hussy the inconsiderates. Had they no sense at all of fitness or
36:29
time. Surely Ethel might have waited until Kenneth was out of the house,
36:32
even if her engagement to him had been a fundamental error. The Tundish a
36:37
real mate, and if a conduct struck me irreprehensible words will not describe the
36:44
sudden surge of indignation that I felt against the well balanced, placid doctor.
36:47
Ethel sprang from his embrace, flushed scarlet, then pale to a sickly white.
36:52
My own embarrassment almost equaled hers. The Tundish never moved a muscle or
36:58
turned a hair. He greeted me at once, please to see me,
37:00
Hello, Jeff Cork, You've just come in time to help us decide about
37:05
the dismissal of Cook. I am for prompt measures, Ethel for tomorrow and
37:09
delay. But but why should she go to night dundish? Ethel stammered,
37:15
slowly recovering from the shock of my sudden arrival. Your god, Jeff Cork,
37:20
What won't these women stand for the sake of having a thing labeled cook
37:23
in the house? Why should she go to night? Why? And you
37:28
can ask me that, after all, you have just been telling me.
37:31
She's near enough to being drunk, isn't she. And as they were saying,
37:35
I'm sure there's no risk of any row, Ethel said nothing a color
37:39
had written. But I thought she looked berivldered and confused. The doctor turned
37:44
to me explanatory, she's afraid that she might not consent to go without a
37:49
fuss, that we might get a crowd round the house if we had to
37:52
turn her out. Yes, oh, yes, I'm sure we should.
37:57
And I couldn't stand it. I can't stand any more. I can't stand
38:00
any more. Ethel cried hysterically and slipped past me round the corner of the
38:05
house. The doctor shrugged his shoulders. The sooner all this is over,
38:08
the better it will be for Ethel. About at the end of a tether,
38:13
he took me by the arm. I wished him anywhere else except with
38:16
me. Never had I liked him less or distrusted him more. I was
38:22
still feeling the awkwardness of my unfortunate intrusion, uncomfortable, half apologetic, wholly
38:28
angry and disturbed. But he not only had he hidden his feelings. I
38:32
began to wonder whether he had any feelings to hide a rock. Ethel had
38:37
called him an iceberg rather and like an iceberg, God alone knew what lay
38:43
hidden away below God, and perhaps some poor devil of a steamer that strikes
38:47
the cruel projections unawess. He went on talking to me, What did I
38:52
think of Missus Kenley? He would feel happier about Ethel now that she was
38:57
here. I barely heard him, but I did hear him say again,
39:00
we must get rid off her. There isn't any risk, And then poured
39:05
drunken cook. Standing at the bottom of the stairs, nodding ahead, grotusquely,
39:09
her greasy wisp of hair, waving to and fro. I knows what
39:14
I knows, Doctor Wallace. The gong sounded for tea. We had it
39:17
on the lawn under the cedar. Ethel port Ralph never spoke a word.
39:22
Throw out the meal, and for once Margaret was quiet. Missus Kenley and
39:27
the doctor did the talking and made the conversation. They played catch with it,
39:30
and Janet, missus Kenley was as good at the game as he was
39:36
lightning work. They made of it vivid, and Kenneth represented the thunder.
39:40
He glowered, and I felt like an invalid does when some friendly meanwhile stays
39:46
too long. I wish them both fugging me, Janet, But it really
39:51
did in well, say anywhere. It was a ghastly meal, a meal
39:55
to choke on the tundish relidus of his presence. As soon as tea was
40:00
over, the rest of us sat on. But the Ethel Kenneth rupture still
40:05
cast its gloom, and I think we all felt that Missus Kenley had been
40:08
a god scent. She was telling us of some of the golf courses she
40:13
had played on in South Africa, idly plodding the turf with the point of
40:16
her parasol, when she suddenly bent forward, peered closely at the grass,
40:21
then straightened herself, holding a tiny glittering fragment between finger and thumb. She
40:27
examined it carefully. Anyone lost her diamond. Margaret, who had sat so
40:31
listlessly inert that I had glanced at her curiously more than once, sprang to
40:36
her feet. It's mine, she cried, It's mine. I lost it
40:39
some time this morning, and I have been searching for it everywhere. But
40:43
what an extraordinary piece of luck to find it out here like that. Ralph
40:46
remarked, you might have gone over the lawn with a tooth comb a hundred
40:50
times and not have found it. Yes, but remember where I come from,
40:54
missus, Kenley laughed. Ethel, who had been into the house,
41:00
rejoined us at the moment, and Margaret ran to show the diamond to her
41:02
and tell her of its recovery. Why I didn't know even you had lost
41:07
it? Why ever didn't you let us know? We would have organized the
41:10
search party at once. I shouldn't have been so quiet about it. If
41:15
I had lost a stone Dutch size, I should have done that at any
41:17
time, my dear Margaret answered, But it seemed so petty to make a
41:22
fuss over the loss of a paltry diamond when things were so you know what
41:27
I mean. Well, I'm awfully glad you've found it, Athol said,
41:30
handing it back to her. And now, Janet, if you can spare
41:32
me a few minutes, I want to consult you about something. They went
41:37
indoors arm in arm, and the four of us were left. Kenneth suggested
41:40
bridge, and so we whiled away the time until dinner. That meal was
41:45
so abominably cooked that we left most of the dishes untouched, and satisfied a
41:50
hunger and bread and cheese, which Ethel, in high annoyance, told Annie
41:53
to fetch. What do you think of his janet? And only your first
41:58
night too? Oh, please don't distress yourself on my account. I prefer
42:02
bread and cheese to droast beef on a night like this. It's quite all
42:07
right, Ethel. Dear Margaret searched. They say you don't want so much
42:09
meat in hot weather, don't they? Doctor w Alice, Our dinner of
42:15
bread and cheese completed, the doctor bitook himself to the consulting room again,
42:19
and after a little maneuvering, I found myself alone with Missus Kenley in the
42:22
garden. As my doubts about the Tundish grew, I felt an increasing disinclination
42:27
for a conversation with Ethel, And on the other hand, I had no
42:30
wish to ally myself in any way with Kenneth and its open hostility Margaret,
42:36
I surely suspected, was more than half inclined to think that I might be
42:38
the criminal myself. And it seemed that to Missus Kenley alone could I look
42:44
for ordinary, unhampered conversation. But I had no sooner succeeded in my object
42:49
than Annie came to inform her that she was wanted on the telephone, and
42:52
she hurried away indoors. I waited with what patience I could, but she
42:58
did not return, and after a quarter of an hour or so I followed
43:00
in search. She was in none of the downstairs rooms, and I concluded
43:05
that she must have gone to her bedroom. The boys were playing chess in
43:07
the drawing room. Neither the girls nor the doctors were to be seen,
43:12
And after glancing through the evening papers, I went back to the garden and
43:15
its rapidly lengthening shadows. I was nearing the garage when I heard voices Ethel
43:21
and Margaret. I thought, at first, then I recognized Missus Kenley's pleasant,
43:25
low contralto, then that the other voice belonged to a man, a
43:30
deep mellow voice, a voice belonging neither to Kenneth nor Ralph nor the doctor.
43:37
But still half familiar. Surely not alport, I thought, But it
43:43
was as the rounded the end of the garage. There they were seated close
43:46
together on the little bench at the far side of it, in intimate and
43:51
earnest conversation. She was persuasive, leaning toward him very well, then,
43:55
Janet, I'll agree, but I am not at all happy about it,
43:59
I heard him reply. Then they looked up and saw me. Missus Kenley
44:04
blushed and withdrew a little along the seat. Then they whispered to each other,
44:07
and little alport Rose said good night, made a funny little grimace at
44:13
me, and hurried off through the garage gates and into a dale house lane.
44:16
I was taggered. Missus Kenley stood up, troubled, her gray eyes
44:22
full of concern, meeting mine unflinchingly. Has he been bothering you two?
44:27
Then I thundered, don't make such a noise. I've something to tell you,
44:31
mister jeff Cox, she said, ignoring my question. Come and sit
44:35
down't here where we shan't be overheard. I went and sat by her side
44:38
on the bench where only a moment before the ridiculous little man had sat.
44:43
And I perceived that while she had sat close to him. She kept a
44:45
distance from me. All my original animosity against the conceited little detective returned.
44:52
Missus Kenley continued to look at me oddly. I suppose you have guessed something
44:55
about it, she queried. I stared at her. An idea he was
45:00
beginning to form at the back of my head. But it seemed altogether too
45:02
fantastic. You know, Alport, I ventured at length. He sent me
45:07
here, he sent you. No, I don't quite, missus Hanson.
45:14
Missus Hanson has never seen me. Listen. It's like this, mister Alport
45:19
wanted further evidence which could only be obtained by someone staying in the house,
45:22
some one whom none of the rest of you could possibly suspect of having any
45:27
connection with the police. Then you're not the wife of Ethel's cousin Bob Kenley
45:30
at all. You're a Yes, I am ah, she said, quietly,
45:36
amused. But missus Hanson's letter did he forge it? Oh? No,
45:39
she wrote it right enough. But at his request, he went down
45:45
to Folkestone last night and sent me a wire before he started telling me to
45:47
hold myself in readiness. We came to Manchester together this morning and he gave
45:52
me full details in the way, but he couldn't have got to Folkestone last
45:57
night in time for missus Hanson to write. Oh yes he did, though
46:00
he went by aeroplane from here, explained the whole affair to missus Hanson and
46:05
persuaded her to write the letter. That was why he made you all promise
46:09
that you wouldn't write to any one mentioning the murder. He was afraid Ethel
46:14
and the doctor might think it peculiar if Missus Hanson didn't come back from Folkestone,
46:17
and he wanted you all to remain here just by yourselves, and no
46:21
further additions made to the household. I had to admit that Missus Kenley had
46:24
played a part to perfection, but somehow I didn't quite like the idea of
46:29
all being bottled up in dale House for her to play the spy on.
46:32
And I think she understood my feelings, for she turned to me with a
46:37
deprecating little gesture, I'm sorry, you do see that it was the only
46:40
thing to do. And as for me, well, I had to obey
46:45
my instructions. And now, why does mister Alport want me to know?
46:50
He didn't if you hadn't caught us together. We shouldn't have told you anything.
46:53
Though I'm not at all sure that it hasn't turned out for the best,
46:58
I may as well tell you that we are all in some danger.
47:00
Mister Alport wanted me to leave the house to night and to break up the
47:04
house parted right away, but I persuaded him to let me stay until tomorrow.
47:08
Why does he think the danger greater to night than it has been hitherto?
47:13
You know he took away the bottle of poison. Well, the analystis
47:15
wanted to be nothing but water water but stella. Yes, it was poisoned
47:22
then, But the trouble is where is the poison now? Was it thrown
47:27
away? And if not? Well? I could only stare at her stupefied,
47:32
and the doctor's birds to ethel about there being no risk in getting rid
47:36
of cook seemed more sinister than ever. Alport had no right to take such
47:39
a responsibility, I said, at last, it isn't quite so bad as
47:44
you might think at first. The poison has a bitter taste and a strong
47:47
smell. Miss poulfreyman, of course, took it unsuspectingly and would naturally think
47:52
nothing of it. If a medicine had an unfortunate taste. Besides, there's
47:57
no real reason, so far as we know, why the person who gave
48:00
it to her should harbor maderous designs against anyone else. I don't understand it
48:05
at all. It's a complete mystery. I never could see why anyone should
48:08
have murdered her, apart from the doctor, perhaps, I added, remembering
48:13
my own growing suspicions on his quarrel with her father. Well, I don't
48:16
think i'm justified in telling you any more. I wish to tell you just
48:21
as little as possible, But I'm very glad to have someone at hand to
48:23
help me at a moment's notice if an emergency should arise. I sat for
48:28
a time in thought to say that I was surprised that the revolution would be
48:31
to put it too mildly, I'd been pleased to imagine, this gray slip
48:35
of a girl at my side is clean and free, a breath of sweet
48:38
outside air, refreshing the exhausted atmosphere of some hot, unventilated room, A
48:45
ray of light piercing the shades of deceit and hypocrisy that seemed to have engulfed
48:49
us. And here she was, with one unknown exception, more involved in
48:53
the wretched affair than any of us. Never had I seen anyone less like
48:59
imaginations picture of a woman detective, neither hard eyed, brazen and tight lipped,
49:04
nor of the vampire siren type familiar to frequenters of the cinema. Well,
49:08
I think that you must be very brave, and I'll do my best
49:12
to help you if I can. But tell me, is this sort of
49:15
thing your regular work. No, I've done a good deal of it from
49:17
time to time, but I'm not officially attached to Scotland Yard. Mister Alport
49:22
lived next to us when we were children, and we grew up together.
49:24
I can see that he's not exactly popular with any of few here, but
49:28
in many ways he's very fine. I've seen the sight of him that you
49:31
have not. When my husband was killed just before the Armistice, he was
49:36
the best friend imaginable, and has helped me ever since. When I was
49:39
demobed, I went on the stage for a time. I wasn't much good,
49:44
had a pretty hard time. Mister Alport used to find me odd jobs
49:47
in connection with his detective work, not very often at first, but lately
49:51
I will help him quite a lot. We sat behind the garage, talking
49:54
together for some little time, and I learned that her real name was Janet
49:58
Player. She told me many things of Alport, always to his credit.
50:02
She was loud in the ugly little man's praises. And when I learned that
50:06
he was married and the father of a family, I trust they took after
50:08
the mother. I disguised my dislike, and, apart from actually admitting him
50:14
an adornus, agreed to most of what she said. The light was fading
50:17
when we rose to go indoors. The sun had scorched its way across the
50:22
sky and set, and now behind the house and over the northwest garden wall,
50:25
the air was aglow with its last refracted golden brace. In the east,
50:30
the cathedral seemed to have advanced by half its distance. So clear did
50:34
it stand with the paling green light behind it? Rooks were cowing their pleasant
50:38
rocous lella bee among the neighboring trees. The thrushes were at even song.
50:44
The cedar stood out in dark but shadowless enhanced relief against the dimming light.
50:49
Did the quiet beauty of the scene make your heart beat a little faster?
50:52
To Janet, I wondered, as we stood side by side, at the
50:55
top of the garden slope, looking down at the old Georgian house with its
51:00
wicked Borgian secret, this twilight half hour, How even the ten thousand repetitions
51:06
of experience failed to rob it of its mystery and subtle sense of calm bereavement.
51:10
They are dying night, engulfed. And were you wondering what the night
51:15
might bring, Janet, as you stood like some slim gray wraith at my
51:19
side, And did you vaguely guess that the man at your side, champion
51:22
sob stuff, sentimentalist that he is, was all asked, quickened by the
51:28
garden's evening beauty, by your calm, brave spirit, by the pity he
51:32
felt for you fighting alone in this dangerous house, and that Cupid was fitting
51:37
arrow to bow and preparing to shoot. We were half way down the slope
51:42
when she put her hand on my arm and stood intent. I thought I
51:45
heard someone, She whispered, someone in the lane, most likely No,
51:50
No, it was quite near, a rustling of leaves, like someone brushing
51:53
along against the hedge. We stood for a moment, a hand still on
51:58
my arm, but not a sound disturbed still air. There was no breath
52:01
of wind to stir a leaf. Janet shrugged her shoulders when he suggested that
52:06
it might have been a cat, and that we had spoken so low that
52:08
we could not have been overheard. And we walked across the lawn and went
52:13
back into the house together. We found Margaret, Kenneth, and Ralph sitting
52:16
in the drawing room. Ah here you are at last, Margaret greeted us.
52:22
Isn't the garden lovely in this light? Missus Kenley? Isn't ethel a
52:25
lucky girl to have such a beautiful home? Ralph urged a game of bridge.
52:30
There were five of us, and Janet stood out and letter to write
52:34
her excuse at a little table near the open doorway. We settled down to
52:37
a game, Ralph partnering Margaret against Kenneth and myself. Margaret had the most
52:43
astounding luck and backed it with good play. Twice they made grand Slam,
52:46
rarely less than three tricks. They registered rubber after rubber, never mind unlucky
52:52
at Cart's lucky in love. Margaret giggled. Kenneth scowled, but she seemed
52:58
to be blissfully unconscious of having the brick, and added sentimentally, I sometimes
53:02
wish that I wasn't so lucky at carts. I murmured something inane about there
53:07
being plenty of time for luck to change. Kenneth yawned openly and suggested bed.
53:13
Where can Ethel be all this time? Margaret asked, as we gathered
53:15
up the carts, the naughty girl hasn't been near us all the evening.
53:20
I should not have been surprised had she come out with best to be off
53:22
with the old love before you are on with the new. But that we
53:27
were spared, and having collected her knitting, she went off to the consulting
53:30
room, saying I shall scold doctor Wallie for keeping her so much to himself.
53:36
Janet came downstairs as we were going up to bed, and I took
53:39
time to cautioner to lock her room door. She nodded emphatically. I will.
53:45
And more than that, mister Alport has given me a bolt, a
53:46
set of screws, and the wherewithal to fix them. The end of chapter twelve,