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Explanations and a Challenge · The Dalehouse Murder

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Chapter sixteen of The Dale House Murder by Francis Everton. This livery box recording
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is in the public domain. Read by Yoganan The Dale House Murder, Chapter
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sixteen, Explanations and a Challenge. A few hours later, the sad remainder
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of a little tennis party was gathered in the drawing room round one of the
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open windows. Channet and ethil comfortably on the sette. The Tundish and Mysail
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perched each in a corner of the broad window sill. Little I'll put lolling
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back at his ease in one of the large wicker chairs. It was both
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wide and deep, and entirely unconcerned as to his lack of inches. He
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sat well back, his legs stuck out straight in front of him, his
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diminutive feet barely projecting beyond the edge of the seat. During the evening hours
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a heavy haze it gathered to thicken later into definite cloud, and now a
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steady rain was falling. The air was heavy with sweet rainwater scents released from
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thirsty soil and reviving plants. The smoke from her pipes floated over our heads
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in swirls and snake like twists that showed a prey and blow. In the
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fading light through the open window, there came the welcome pattern of the rain.
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A thrush was singing his evening song. On Janet's lap lay the surviving
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taberquat, lazily indolent under a gentle carriaging hands. A sense of tranquility and
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brooding peace seemed to enfold us like some quieting bless peace on earth, sang
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the thrush in the tree, and courage and hope throbbed my heart and reply.
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Whenever I looked at Janet, she was facing the light, her eyes
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like two clear stars that no one again would shine into mind when the room
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and its occupants would fade away, leaving us alone together for a blessed brief
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eternity. She had not been really hurt by Margaret's ill treatment, and apart
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from the effects of the chloroform and a bruise here and there, she was
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none the worse for her experience. Cold bandages, a little brandy, and
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a couple of hours rest had enabled me to recover from my own collapse,
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which the attributed as much to shock as to the blow on my head.
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Margaret's headlong fall had broken a leg and had stunned her. She regained consciousness,
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but never her reason, and she had been taken to a neighboring asylumn,
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babbling incoherently of paraffin and vitrio. Kenneth and Ralph had returned to Sheffield
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together in the Daimler. I was lying down in my room when they left,
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and can tell you nothing of the manner of their going, or of
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how Kenneth and Ethel parted from each other. The Tundish had forbidden any reference
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to the day's evens until after dinner, And now Solomon said, but with
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feelings of unutterable relief, we sat waiting to hear what little Alport had to
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tell us. He finished his coffee at last, put the cup on a
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table beside him, relighted his pipe, and, with some hesitation at first,
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as he paused here and there for a word or of phrase, began
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to give us the explanations we were, each for our own special reasons,
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so curious to hear. First of all, doctor, he said, I
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think I'd better tell you what I'm able to bought your dispenser, Miss Summerson,
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for in a sense she has been the root cause both of Miss Paul
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Freyman's death, and of all your later troubles. Had you only been more
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robust in character, this week might have come and gone for all of you,
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like any of the among the annual fifty two. As you will know,
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missus Hanson Miss Summersons used to live in the row of little House,
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just beyond the end of the Hunter's garden, and unfortunately for Miss Summerson,
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the two girls struck up. I was going to say a friendship, but
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what a word for it. The old fable of the Wolf and the Lamb
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is a sweet little springtime idol compared with the tale of this comrade ship of
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theirs. It began by miss Hunter tricking the young girl into some petty,
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dishonorable act I won't specify it, and then persuading her to commit another to
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save herself from the fest The little man paused as though wondering how much he
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should tell, and I saw a picture of a garden border with a tall,
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frail flower in the clinging bindweat's de whitelicing grip. Miss Summerson has made
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a clean breast of everything to me, But I can only tell you that
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for the last two years she has been absolutely and completely in Miss Hunter's power,
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and mister jeff Cock here at any rate, may be able to appreciate
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what that might ultimately mean for a nervous girl. She was terrified out of
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all sense of safety and proportion. It was a tyranny complete. I remember
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the cruel laugh that I had heard in the waiting room on the morning of
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my arrival at Dale House, and how poor Miss Summerson had lied to the
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doctor about it. How many similar lives had she told, I wondered during
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the past two years, how many unhappy hours went in self recrimination. Ethel
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moved restlessly in a corner of the city. We were silent for a little
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while. Then Alford, clearing his throat, proceeded. The key of the
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poison cupboard was never lost at all. It was handed over to miss Hunter
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under threat of exposure to the man to whom Miss Summerson hoped to become engaged.
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She has told me, and I am inclined to believe her, that
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she thought that Miss Hunter wanted to help herself to some of the drugs,
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and that she had no idea that the poisons were to be tampered with or
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used, and very possibly there was no such INTI when the key was first
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secured, But why didn't she demand what she wanted instead of getting hold of
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the key and running the risk of being caught at the cupboard? If she
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had Miss Summerson in a pa and the way you have suggested, surely she
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could have asked for the trucks or anything else at any time she liked.
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Alport shook his head. No, doctor, If you think that, then
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you don't understand miss Hunter. I do not myself entirely. There are still
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certain points that I can't set down even a madwoman's reasons against. But I
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do understand her better than that. You see, above everything else, she
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was cruel. She knew well enough that Miss Summerson would be an agony of
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apprehension until the key was returned, and it was that which gave a pleasure.
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It was typical of a hundred other cruelties that Miss Summerson had suffered,
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some of them merely pity, many of them worse. The Thundish seemed to
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be content with the explanation. I too had questions. I wanted to ask,
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but I was too eager to hear the rest of his story to frame
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them, and the little Man continued without further interruption. Well, that's how
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miss Hunter secured the key. There was nothing actually criminal in the giving of
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it. But later Miss Summerson's reticence was of course a punishable offense. She
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had begged me to tell you, doctor that in spite of everything, she
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would have come forward had you been arrested. I have told you as I
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promised I would, and you must take it for what it is worth.
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However, if she endangered you all by the one act, she certainly saved
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your life, Janet. Over the matter of the vitriol. When she asked
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for the key, which according to promise, was already overdue, it was
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not forthcoming, and a bottle of vitriol was demanded against its return. Fortunately,
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and we all know now how very fortunate it was, they were interrupted
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before the exchange could be made, and it gave Miss Summerson an opportunity to
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decant the contents of an old sulfuric acid bottle and substitute medicinal paraffin for it.
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And now I want you to try to understand the difficulty of my position.
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On the morning after the murder, there was ample evidence to have warranted
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the arrest of the doctor here he made it the fatal draft. He knew
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all about and had access to the poison, and both he and Miss Paul
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Freeman had lived in Shanghai and had almost certainly been acquainted there. It was
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a possible motive after the inquiry, an obvious one. The key of the
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locked bedroom door was found in his pocket? What the Tunish exclaimed with unusual
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excitement, Yes, in the pocket of your indoor court doctor. I had
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my reasons for saying it was found elsewhere. One thing, I wanted to
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observe Miss Hunter when I made the statement, to see how she would take
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it. I wished now that I had thought of some other place in which
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to have said I had hidden it. But I could not have foreseen the
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consequences of my deception. But China, How could you have possibly known to
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your own tabled inquiry that I had lived in China and had met Miss Paul
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Freeman there, My dear doctor, The little man laughed complacently. We live
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on civilized times, times of telephones and medical directories. For instance, within
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five minutes of mister Jeff Coxe's call to the police station on Wednesday morning,
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I was asking Scotland Yard to look up your recording the directory and to find
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out if you were known by repute to any of the medical staff. Inspector
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Brown's superintendent knew exactly which players in the tournament were staying with doctor Hanson,
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and before we came to Deloo's inquiries with regard to mister Jeff Cox's antecedents and
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the rest of the party were already on foot. We did not know Miss
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Paul Freeman's address, but you kindly furnished us with that before we even had
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to ask you for it. It was not a difficult matter for Scotland y
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Ared to ascertain that Miss Paul Freeman's uncle had been for a time in Shanghai,
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that a father who was a government official had committed suicide there, and
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that you had lived there too, and were almost certainly acquainted with the all
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three of them. Yes, of course, how perfectly simple. But the
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quarrel, What about that? Neither the medical directory nor the girl at the
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telephone exchange could help you there? Now that miss Meely, an instance of
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the nasty suspicious turn of Detective's mind instinctively takes. I didn't know that there
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had been any quarrel, but I did assume for the time that you had
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murdered Miss Paul Freeman, and if you had done so, then surely it
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was only logical to make the assumption of a quarrel too. You did really
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suspect me then and leave me at large, surely that was a risk to
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take now, As you will later see, I did not altogether suspect you,
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but I did when I was questioning you at my inquiry. When you
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treat a patient doctor, you diagnose the disease, and then you treat him
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for it, and you work consistently on the assumption that your diagnosis has been
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correct until you find out definitely that you have made a mistake. You don't
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make up your medicine to suit two or three possible ailments on the off chance
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that one of them may be correct. Well, my own experience has taught
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me that at an inquiry like the one we had round the dining table on
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the Wednesday morning, the only possible way to obtain exact information is to assume
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that the questioning is guilty. It's no good making up your mind beforehand that
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X is guilty and allowing that to color all the questions you put to wine.
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I believe that my success as a detective is due to the fact that,
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for a time I can force myself into believing what I don't really believe.
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More than to anything else. I question each of you as Miss paul
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Freeman's murderer. As I questioned you, I was convinced of your guilt.
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Then when it was over, I was able to stop play acting and sift
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out the information I had secured. The conceited little fellow looked round brightly for
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approbation, after the manner of some small boy who knows he has said something
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rather smart, self satisfied little beggar, Just when I was beginning rather to
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like him too. The Tungush murmured something about a doctor's diagnosis not always being
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quite the pig headed business he had described, and Alport, filling up his
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pipe again, continued as he was explaining it was inevitable that my first suspicions
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should turn to the doctor, but there were several points that led me to
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think it might be a mistake to make an immediate arrest without further investigation.
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On the floor near the bedside table in Miss Paul Freeman's room, I had
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picked up a tiny fragment of splintered glass and a good sized diamond. The
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diamond had evidently fallen out of the sitting of a ring or a brooch.
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It might have belonged to any one, most likely to Miss Paul Freeman herself.
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But when we came to search the bedrooms we found no piece of jewelry
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from which a stone was missing. It struck me as being rather strange that
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its loss had not been advertised. Annie had heard nothing of it, and
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none of you had questioned about its loss. It was possible, of course,
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that the owner might not have noticed that it was missing, but then
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I should have expected to find a damage ring, either among Miss Paul Freeman's
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belongings or in one of the other bedrooms. Not very much to go on,
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perhaps, but I felt it to be unnatural that a diamond of such
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considerable value should be lost and nothing said. It was my turn to interrupt,
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and unlike his previous attitude, the little man seemed now almost to welcome
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the interruption. I could see that he was in the throes of an exquisite,
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and I must admit it thoroughly deserve enjoyment. He was like a child,
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I thought, sucking its favorite suite and making it last, I told
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him how I had caught Margaret searching the stairs for a sixpence that Annie found
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for her later on, and how my half awakened suspicions had been allayed by
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the find. Then the Tundish informed us that he too had seen us searching,
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but in his case on the floor of Postella's room. He had been
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mounting the stairs to the upper landing. The door of the room was half
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closed, and he had seen movements within, or had fancied that he had.
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But when he had pushed the door open to see what it was,
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he had found Margaret kneeling devoutly in prayer at the side of the bed.
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Once again, it was amazed at the placid doctor's powers of description. He
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was uncanny. He described little incident in the fewest possible simple words, but
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like the bold strokes of a master, they made the picture live. Margaret
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on hands and knees, half frantic, searching the floor for an incriminating diamond.
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Then a sudden creak on the stairs, and the doctor gently pushing open
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the door to find a kneeling in prayerful attitude at the side of Stella's bed,
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an attitude surely to make angels sweep and sapphire our jealous The little man
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smoked thoughtfully for a few minutes, rearranged the cushions at the back of his
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chair, and continued, Yes, it was very fortunate, very that,
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finding of the diamond on the bedroom floor, it might so easily have been
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trodden into the carpet. Luck was on the side of justice then, and
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again luck was with us, when, quite by accident, I found that
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the little splinter of glass came from the stop of the bottle of Chinese poison.
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Have you ever examined it? Carefully? Doctor? The Tunde shook his
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head. It is really wonderful piece of luck. The glass is very thin
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and fragile, and his double back underneath the curving irregular top, curling,
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in word, again close to the projection that fits the neck of the bottle
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itself. It was from this point that the tiny splinter was missing. By
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the merest chance, I happened to hold the bottle up to the light and
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look up underneath the stopper when we were in the dispensary together. Later I
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found that my little fragment fitted it exactly. I argued that had the doctor
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added the poison to the draft. The addition would have been made when it
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was prepared. Again, that bedroom key required explanation. You might just conceivably
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have writturned upstairs and have thrown the glass among the ivy on the roof,
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and having locked the door light. To mister jeff Cock about it. It
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was possible that you might have done that in order to throw suspicion on to
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some one else. But I could think of no satisfactory explanation that would account
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for your leaving that key in your own coat pocket. An oversight it might
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have been, but even at that early stage of her acquaintance, dropped bottle
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stoppers and glaring oversights did not seem to fit you. Doctor Anyhow, I
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decided that, in all the circumstances, I ought to give you the benefit
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of the doubt. But that was about all I had to go on.
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Where I secured a promise that you would submit to a voluntary confinement if I
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held my hand. It never occurred to me that I might be putting you
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all in danger. True, the key of the poison cupboard was still missing,
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but I had no reason to anticipate any gentle attempt to slow before the
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joint conference in the dining room, at which I succeeded in achieving such universal
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unpopularity. I became more than ever satisfied that my decision had been the right
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one, and the inquiry itself only added to my satisfaction. And if I
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had known what Miss paul Freeman's uncle has since told me, the inquiry would
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hardly have been necessary at all. The thundersh who had been sitting quietly in
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his corner of the window seat with his hands clasped round one knee, became
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suddenly alert, and it was hardly necessary for mister Crawford to discuss my affairs.
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I very much wished that he had not, Oh, come now,
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doctor a detective. His minries choke full of curiosity, and it was welly
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natural for anyone seated at that inquiry to wonder what it was that had caused
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Miss paul Freeman's father to commit suicide, and what part he imagined he had
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played in his disaster. All that mister Crawford told me when I pressed him
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for information was that now that his niece was dead, there was no longer
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any need for secrecy, that in his opinion, it had been up absurd
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in the circumstances to keep it secret at all, and that if matters went
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against you, he could and would give certain information that would throw a very
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different light on the affair. The Tundish hesitated for once, he looked disturbed
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and at a loss. Yes, it's quite true that everyone who could have
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been damaged by the story is dead, But even so I did not like
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giving explanations of my own conduct at their expense. However, as briefly as
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I can, and in the strictest confidence, I'll give you the outline of
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the unhappy story. Miss Paul Freeman's mother was a very beautiful and charming woman,
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and like all beautiful and charming women who were stationed at the world's out
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closed, she was subject to more than a share of temptation. She was
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soon the center of the English speaking colony in Shanghai. She got barely into
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debt and stole and sold some of her husband's official papers in order to save
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herself from catastrophe. But she might have saved herself the trouble and have taken
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her debt to a maker. For only a few days after the papers were
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missed her she was taken seriously ill of the complaint from which she died.
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My friend, her husband loved her. The papers were lost beyond recovery.
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Circumstances were such that though he suspected me of the theft, he could not
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make any open accusation, or hope to substantiate it if he did. The
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doctor paused for a few minutes, obviously pondering what further details he should give
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us. The light had nearly gone, and I could just make out the
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strong outline of his clear cut face from where I sat at the end of
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the window, still opposite to him. The wind was rising and the rain
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was beating against the window now, the drops collecting in little rivulets and streams
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that wriggled down the panes. Then he added, in his quiet, unemotional
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voice, I attended her in her last hours, and at death's door,
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she confessed what she had done. For the sake of her peace of mind
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and for the sake of my friend, I promised that her secret should be
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kept. I did not know until yesterday that she had previously made a similar
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confession to her brethren, writing well, that briefly is the story. That's
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why I could not be more explicit about the quarrel with Stella's father and a
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natural dislike for me, Ethel, what did you think, I wonder of
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the man of your choice as you sat there on the setty by Janet's side
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in the fast fading light. To me, it came in a sudden flash
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of enlightenment. The reason for the impressive power of the unemotional, unassuming man
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bed rock fundamental essential honesty was he one foundation of his quiet strength, a
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rock on which he stood diriding fear and all the petty evils that beset the
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half and alfur. I felt a flush of shame that I could have allowed
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my amateur as reasoning to besmerch my belief in such a one, my sheets
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of notes and my table of relative guilt, which I still carried in my
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pocket, scoffed at me aloud. But for you, Ethel, what a
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glow of happiness his words must have brought you. Of all of us,
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you alone had trusted him, through thick and through thin. You had overdrawn
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your account at the bank of blind belief, and your lover had met the
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debt and paid you back in full. No wonder your eyes were bright.
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There was another little postm in the thunders had finished speaking we None of us
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made any comment, and Alport again continued his explanations. As you already know,
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I found some burn papers in miss Hunter's bedroom. Great, but you
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did not know that there was one unburnt fragment among the rest. Quite unmistakably,
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it was a corner of a photograph, and fortunately it was a corner
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bearing the photographer's name. A little later in the drawing room, you un
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inspected brown were there, mister Jeff Cork. And once again, by the
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sheerest piece of good fortune, I caught sight of exactly the same name across
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the corner of a photograph of mister Bennett that stood on the top of the
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piano. It had been taken in Sheffield by Parbury, and the letters R
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B E R R Y had straggled across the corner of the bit I had
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found in the bedroom. Great and, allowing for the treatment it had received,
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the texture and quality of the heavy moans were both the same. I
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could not be certain that the photo Miss Hunter had burned was a duply of
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the one on the piano, but somehow I felt that it might be,
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and I decided to find out more about it if I could, and as
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far as I might the extent to which the two had been acquainted. I
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did find out a certain amount from my direct questions to miss Hunter, but
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it was to mister Bennett that I was chiefly indebted, though I put no
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questions to him. You will remember that one of the questions I asked you,
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Miss Hanson, was whether the doctor had ever shown any sign that he
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might perhaps be attracticed by Miss Paul Freeman. A quiet yes came from Ethel's
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corner of the city when I asked that question. Mister Bennett, quite unmistakably
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took a suddenly increased interest in the proceedings. I concluded that he had had
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a special interest in Miss Paul Freeman himself. But I felt that there might
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still be a motive if Miss Hunter had committed the crime and not the doctor.
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Please don't imagine that I actually arrived at my conclusions on such vague and
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shadowy material. I merely felt that the whole affair required further scrutiny. But
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even now I don't think I understand and why she burned the photo. Why
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did she do it? Ethel quitted she burned the photo because she didn't want
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to be found among her belongings. She would feel that it would be too
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patent that her old love affair with mister Bennett still survived so far as she
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was concerned, and that if it came to light that mister Bennett had been
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obviously attracted by Miss Paul Freeman, it might suggest a possible notive. But
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she knew that both doctor Wallis and I knew exactly how firm she has always
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been of Ralph. Ethel objected, she couldn't count on her not telling you.
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No, that's quite true, but I think that it was a reasonable
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action for her to take all the same, for her to bring a photo
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with her on a short visit was a complete admission of her feelings. It
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was definite. The mere fact that the finding of the unburnt corner did help
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to convince me that she was involved proves that she was right in what she
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did, if only she had taken more care. Ethel nodded her agreement.
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I was dissatisfied too, even then, Miss Summerson. I don't know whether
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it struck you in the same way, but to me there was something unnatural
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about her behavior when she told us she had lost the key. I was
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convinced that she was keeping information back, very much against the inspector's wishes.
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Then I had made up my mind before the inquiry that I would not immediately
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arrest the doctor. And after the inquiry, and in spite of what came
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out about the practical joke and the quarrel with Miss Poultryman's father, I saw
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no real reason to alter my decision. I quite made up my mind to
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leave you undivided, and to put an unknown agent into the house who could
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not be suspected of having any connection with the police. I saw my darling
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bend a graceful head lower over the cat. What made you change your mind?
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Then, Ethel asked, He didn't change his mind, Janet replied,
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I had almost forgotten that Ethel and the Tundish were, both of them unaware
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of Janet's connection with Alport, And even after they had spoken, they were
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a little time in grasping water. Words implied. It was a Tundish who
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tumbled to it first. Well, then, missus Kenley, he said,
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pleasantly, we are more indebted to you than ever you believed us of tacamada.
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Here in the chair, you saved us from Aunt Emmeline. You probably
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prevented us all from cutting one another's throat, and all the time you were
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solving the mystery that entangled us in its meshes. But I don't begin to
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understand you are Bob Kenley's wife, Aunt. You you must be because of
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mother's letter. Ethel was properly bewildered and took some convincing that Janet could be
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anything other than she had pretended, but ultimately always explained, and I was
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relieved to see that Janet had not in any way lost prestige by what had
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come to light. With missus Kenley safely installed in the house, he went
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over to Sheffield to make what inquiries I could. I was soon satisfied that
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there had been something in the nature of love affair between miss Hunter and mister
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Bennet. I also learned that she had been asked to resign from the school
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in which she taught. That was on the Thursday morning. In the evening,
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when I got back here, I was met with the disturbing information that
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the Chinese flagon had been found to contain nothing but water, and that the
24:06
poison itself was still in the murderer's private possession. You will see at once
24:11
that almost surely cut out the doctor, unless she was being very, very
24:15
clever and had removed it just to make me come to the conclusion I did.
24:18
I practically made up my mind to break up a party and rely on
24:21
obtaining further evidence in some other way. But Janet over persuaded me, and
24:26
we took mister jeff Cock partly into our confidence, so that she should have
24:29
some one always at hand in case of need. When I remembered how I
24:33
had caught them behind the garage, it amused me. His reference to taking
24:37
me into their confidence. I smiled to myself, and I thought that Janet
24:41
was equally amused, but I made no comment. This is what I imagine
24:45
actually happened. Mister Bennett's obvious attentions to Miss paul Freeman aroused Miss Hunter's jealousy.
24:52
Who knows what castles she had built on the foundation that they were staying
24:56
in the same house and playing in the same tournament together. What she may
25:00
not have had with regard to their reunion. Perhaps at the psychological moment,
25:04
she heard the doctor tell Miss Palfreeman that her medicine had been sent upstairs.
25:10
Perhaps she saw Annie taking it up the cupboard key she already had, and
25:15
in spite of what you have said, Doctor, she probably knew a good
25:18
deal about the poison, remember her connection with miss Summerson. I think that
25:22
the poison must have been taken from the cupboard and added to the draft some
25:25
time between six and seven on Tuesday. What made it decide to keep the
25:30
rest I can't explain, neither have I found out where she put it,
25:33
but it would be easy to hide. For instance, she could have put
25:37
it in one of her scent bottles and have it in it in the garden
25:40
on the Wednesday morning after the murder was discovered, she probably lost a nerve
25:44
to some extent and thought she might add to her safety by throwing away the
25:47
glass and putting the key to the bedroom door in the doctor's pocket. As
25:51
luck would have it, the doctor unfortunately drew particular attention to the fact that
25:55
he hadn't locked the door when mister Dane stated at the inquiry that the doctor
25:59
had laid unnatural stress on the fact that you all of you might have been
26:03
upstairs unknown to the rest, during the Tuesday evening. That probably decided her
26:07
later actions and explains the second note and the hiding of the newspaper in mister
26:11
Jeff COG's bedroom. That still puzzles me. I exclaimed, why on earth
26:17
didn't she ete the paper in the doctor's room. I think that she wanted
26:21
to spread the suspicion. Alport answered me after a pause. And it wasn't
26:25
a bad plan either. She had already put the medicine glass inside one of
26:29
your socks before she threw it out of the window among the ivy on the
26:32
roof. But for accidents such as the unburned corner of photograph, the splinter
26:37
of glass, and the diamond, we might have been sadly at sea.
26:41
And it may interest you to know, mister Jeff Corg, that for a
26:42
period you were the prime favorite of our good friend, Inspector Brown. But
26:48
why didn't you suspect me in the same way that you suspected Margaret? Just
26:52
at first, I mean ethel asked him there was the photograph for one thing,
26:56
And then as we sat round the dining room table, it was quite
27:00
obvious to me that, well, I think I shall leave the doctor to
27:03
find out what it was that was so obvious by himself, if he doesn't
27:07
know it already. The little man actually chuckled John, don't be such a
27:12
tease, Janet admonished, Alport was going up in my estimation again. But
27:18
I did not like his frequent Janet's nor Janet calling him John. Interested as
27:22
I had been in what he had told us. I wanted to get ahead
27:26
with that still greater mystery that concerned Janet and me alone, and already her
27:30
half formed plan of campaign was shaping in my head. I suppressed several questions
27:36
that I really wanted to ask, but the others were not so considerate.
27:41
Why did she attack missus Kenley? Came from the doctor and by the way,
27:45
Jeff Cock, he added, turning to me, I still owe you
27:48
an apology for my conduct in the box room. But poor Margaret came to
27:52
me in a great state and told me that she had just seen you drag
27:55
Missus Kenley along the attic passage and into the box room at the end of
27:59
it, locking the room behind you, and when he had broken the door
28:02
down, there you were, with the atmosphere ricking of chloroform. Your mistake
28:07
was both understandable and excusable. I assured him. As to why she attacked
28:11
me, I believe that she suspected me from the very beginning, Janet said,
28:15
picking up the cat and cuddling her up against her neck in the most
28:18
distracting fashion to start with, I'm almost sure that she overheard, or at
28:22
any rate saw me talking to you behind the garage, John, as mister
28:27
Jeff Cork and I came away someone i'm certain mood in the bushes nearby.
28:32
She probably coupled what she saw with the fact that it was I who had
28:36
discovered a diamond with such surprising ease in the grass in the lawn. When
28:40
she came to think about it, she would realize what a mistake she had
28:42
made in claiming it as hers. Didn't you really find the diamond there?
28:47
Then, Etherel questioned, No, of course I didn't. Mister Alport gave
28:51
it to me. Whether she may not also have seen me searching in one
28:55
of your bedrooms, I don't know. But she was very sly, and
28:57
she trapped me cleverly in the box room. Just after we finished tea in
29:02
the garden, she whispered to me that she wanted to show me something indoors.
29:06
I was suspicious, but I still had a sneaking feeling that you might
29:10
have been the culprit. After all, Doctor Wallace, the incident of the
29:12
bird bath had put me off the scent. It was odd that you should
29:17
have come up to the rose garden and have noticed that the bath had disappeared
29:19
so immediately after. Mister Jeff Cock and I had found the dead birds,
29:25
dead birds, whatever are you talking about? Yes, birds and a cat.
29:32
As Sint John told you of a sad little fine in the rose garden.
29:34
Just before you came to call us into breakfast this morning, we had
29:38
found that the poison had been emptied into the bird bath. There were dozens
29:41
of dead birds and one of the cats lying dead in the lawns. We
29:45
rang up for Inspector Brown and we had no sooner bundled him away. Then
29:48
you appeared on the scene and began to make inquiries about the missing bath.
29:52
Then too, I did not quite like your taking away the whiskey bottle in
29:56
the glass from the kitchen table the night before. I to find out if
30:00
they contained anything in addition to the whisky, and they did. The whisky
30:04
had been heavily drugged, yes we know it was. I took the tablecloth
30:10
on which some of it had been spilt, to the police station. Miss
30:14
Hunter had rug the whisky and then had turned on the gas after Cook had
30:18
succumbed to its effects. She made a bad mistake when she forgot to turn
30:21
on the lights as well. But as I was saying at the time,
30:25
it made me begin to wonder when I saw you go off with the bottle
30:27
and the glass. You see, I didn't appreciate that you suspected miss Hunter
30:32
too, and I thought that you were taking them to prevent anyone else from
30:34
knowing what they had contained. I was puzzled about it, And when she
30:38
showed me a slip from one of your memo pads with the words pasted over
30:42
it as though you had been making a trial to see what it would look
30:45
like, and a newspaper with odd words cut out of it. Well,
30:51
I followed her to the box room, eagerly and off, hoping that we
30:53
might find something else. I was leaning over a box on the floor when
30:57
she came up behind me and held a pat soaked in chloroform over my nose
31:00
and moth. I hadn't the ghost of a chance and couldn't utter a sound.
31:06
My darling finished her explanation, and I cried out, Oh, what
31:10
a fool I've been. What a blundering fool. I see it now,
31:14
And there I sat in the garden and left you without help. No,
31:18
no, indeed, it wasn't your fault at all. I ought never to
31:22
have gone with her. You couldn't have guessed anyone might have missed it.
31:26
Look, here are you too, talking some of the language. What's it
31:30
all about? Alport interrupted you not to tell him, mister jeff Cock.
31:34
She warned me that she thought she might be in danger as clearly as she
31:38
could an idiot that I am, I only just this minute understood. Then
31:44
I went on to tell them how Margaret had shown me her alleged box room
31:48
find behind the garage, and of how we had found Miss Summerson hiding in
31:52
the hedge, and what she had said. Yes, miss Summerson has told
31:57
me about that. Alport informed us when I had finished. Miss Hunter had
32:01
sent her there and had told her to hide in the hedge until she came
32:05
to her. Then she took you along with her, And Miss Summerson was
32:08
too frightened of a tormentor to explain. She was in complete subjection. But
32:13
it was I you heard a moving I told him, Oh, she would
32:16
have done it if you hadn't. And why did you want me to tell
32:20
her about dusting the doctor's room and that I had noticed that you hadn't any
32:22
duster, I asked, turning to Janet, I wanted to know what she
32:27
said? What did she say? By the way? I told her?
32:31
Oh, if only I had known that, she would never have got me
32:35
into that box room alone. But surely what she said was innocent and reasonable
32:39
enough. No, it was neither. You see, she and I had
32:44
dusted the doctor's room together directly after breakfast. It proved quite clearly that she
32:49
knew something of who I was, and that she suspected me. And she
32:52
would not have suspected me unless she had a guilty conscience. Knowing that she
32:58
had dusted the room with me was some most unnatural thing for her to say.
33:02
That was why I wanted you to tell her about it, Wally.
33:05
Unfortunately I never had the chance of asking you the result of the little trap
33:09
and cook? What about cook? Ethe last grace is a bad lot,
33:15
miss Hanson, and got no more than she deserved. Alport answered, I've
33:20
seen her in the hospital, and I've looked up a record which is almost
33:23
a record in itself. She told me that she actually saw miss Hunter coming
33:28
out of Miss poul Freeman's room on Tuesday evening, but that she didn't like
33:30
to say anything because of the family owner. You should have heard her attempt
33:36
at the old family return her touch. What she really meant was that she
33:39
hoped to do better for herself by blackmailing miss Hunter. I wonder why she
33:45
seemed to threaten you so on the landing that night. Then, doctor,
33:47
do you remember her? I knows what I knows, Doctor Wallice, I
33:52
asked, turning to the tunders. No, I can't quite understand that either,
33:57
he replied thoughtfully. It was silly if she was really trying to blackmail
34:00
Margaret. But after all, she was half fuddled with whisky and doubtless presented
34:06
made remarks about the dinner. I told him then how I had heard Cook's
34:10
threatening voice from one of the upper windows, and we concluded that it was
34:15
to Margaret she had been speaking. Then The pauses in her conversation were growing
34:19
longer. The thrush had finished her song and had gone to roost. Now
34:23
I could barely make out Janet's eyes, so dark had it become, though
34:28
I could still see the clear cut oval of her face, and the light
34:31
having gone, I could feast on water. Saw she should not leave Dale
34:36
House a resolve before I had made some real attempt to secure an early further
34:39
meeting. When did she get upstairs to throw away the glass? The tundation
34:44
asked, knocking the ashes out of his pipe and pulling the window to She
34:47
can have had very slight opportunity after breakfast. I can tell you that I
34:52
answered. When I stood at the telephone trying to get through to the police
34:55
station, Margaret came out of the dining room. I thought that she went
35:00
down to the kitchen, but she must have run up stairs. I didn't
35:02
hear her, but the call was difficult, and maybe I was shouting a
35:07
little later, I did think that I heard some one come down Wally,
35:10
I was too engrossed look round. Then I told them of the conversation I
35:15
had had with Margaret in the garden, and of how she had told me
35:19
that she had heard some one on the stairs and had thought it was me,
35:22
and had directly accused me of hiding the bedroom key. That's it.
35:27
Then Alport said, with satisfaction, she was pumping you to find out if
35:30
you had heard or seen anything that might have been dangerous to her. I
35:36
hate to think about her. What will happen to her? John Janet's low
35:39
voice was full of sympathy. It was a Tundish who replied, she will
35:45
never come out of Highield Asylum alive. Now she is neither living nor dead.
35:50
But I believe no more accountable for what has happened than any of us
35:52
here. You suspected her all the time, didn't you, I asked him,
35:58
Yes I did, But how could I say anything? What might not
36:01
al Potier have thought had I attempted to put forward such a facile solution,
36:07
and what would have been gained? Besides, I had nothing very much to
36:10
go on, and I could have proved on neither guilty nor insane. But
36:15
a family history alone was enough to make me wonder. You caught me looking
36:19
it up again in Hanson's case book That afternoon. Jeff Cork Hanson himself suspected
36:22
her of taking drugs, and it was I who persuaded Ethel to ask her
36:27
to stay here for the tournament. Ethel didn't want to because young Bennett was
36:30
coming and she knew that she'd still cared for him, and that unfortunately from
36:36
a point of view, he no longer cared for her, but I wanted
36:38
her to come because I was interested in her case. I felt certain from
36:43
the very first that it was she who had poisoned Tella. But I certainly
36:47
hadn't anything definite to back up suspicions, and at times they weakened. For
36:52
instance, when I caught you in the box room, Jeff Cork, I
36:55
only had little things to go on. You remember when I asked her and
36:59
you to witnessed me making up the medicine for Ethel. Well, you wouldn't
37:04
notice anything, but I was watching her closely. She was simply thrilled the
37:07
idea of another sleeping draft. The association was too strong for her to aid.
37:13
It was horrible. I dare not allow her to take it up to
37:16
Ethel. If you had been here, then, mister Alport, I should
37:21
have told you of what I suspected. I should have risked your possible misconstructions.
37:25
I was terrified lest there should be some further catastrophe. As you know,
37:30
they were very nearly too. But I felt that it would have been
37:32
quite useless for me to have made any statement to inspect A Brown. I
37:37
felt that he would have locked me up on the spot if I had made
37:39
any suggestions of the sort, and that until you arrived on the scene.
37:43
Again, it was better at lunch. I've been unhappy about Margaret Ethel ever
37:49
since the time your father ran over that dog about eighteen months ago, wasn't
37:52
it. The poor brute was an agony of pain when he got out of
37:55
the car, and unawares I caught a glimpse of Margaret's face. It bore
38:00
a look of no, there's no other word for it, a look of
38:05
simply hellish delight. In a flash was gone, and she was all womanly
38:09
sympathy and sorrow. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and I remember your mother's
38:14
saying, how tender hearted she was. Do you mean to tell us that
38:17
she has been mad form more than a year without any one being the wiser?
38:22
Alport queried, No, not mad, but she was abnormal, wildly
38:27
excitable, a bor a land case. Anything might have pushed her over the
38:30
line. There was insanity on both sides of the family. It was all
38:35
too ghastly for comment, and we were silent for a space. And now
38:38
I think it's time we made her way to bed. He added, I,
38:42
for one, have ar ears to make good and to morrow. I
38:45
suppose I must write posthaste for Aunt Emmeline. Ethel said with an uncomplimentary sigh,
38:52
couldn't I would you like me to stay on for a few days,
38:54
Janet asked in a sweet, low voice. I should be really glad to
38:59
if you'd for it. That's very kind of you, the Tundish said,
39:02
with his usual decision. But it will be neither you nor Aunt Emmeline.
39:07
I'm going to pack Heathelof to Folkestone by the first available train. I've already
39:12
arranged it all over the telephone with missus Hanson and Annie can look after me?
39:16
Now was my opportunity. I thought it was a preposterous suggestion to make
39:22
Alport I had only met for a few uncomfortable hours, and Janet I hadn't
39:27
even heard of three days ago. But the darkness hid my embarrassment, and
39:30
I plunged. I was wondering, mister Alport, whether you and missus Player
39:36
would care to come and spend the weekend with my sister and me at Millingham.
39:40
There was silence, and I felt uncomfortably sure that the darkness alone hid
39:45
the astonishment they felt. But the words were said irrevocable. That would be
39:51
very nice, but unfortunately I must report to Scotland Yard tomorrow morning. Janet
39:55
though is unofficial, and there's no reason I should love too. Janet interrupted.
40:01
We said our good nights and went upstairs to bed stairs. Did I
40:06
say there were no stairs? I floated up on air and the banisters were
40:12
wrought of pure gold. In the morning, I woke to find the curtains
40:15
plowing into the room and a refreshing sense of movement and stir in the air
40:20
that was invigorating after the stagnant heat of the previous days. Gray masses of
40:24
cloud were chasing across a watery sky, over the lawn that looked like some
40:29
sorten piece of toast. Add shriveled leaves were scurrying. It was a day
40:34
of action and dressing as quickly as I could. I went and fetched my
40:37
car from the inn before the others were down for breakfast. It had been
40:40
arranged that Ethel and Alport were to travel together as far as London, and
40:45
a meal was a hurried one as they wished to catch an early train.
40:49
I was on thorns lest Janet should receive some letter or something unforced, should
40:52
occur to prevent her from coming with me, But nothing so disastrous happened,
40:57
and soon after half past nine we were saying good bye to the solitary Tundish
41:01
who came into dale House Lane to see us off. The placid, inscrutable
41:06
Tundish. For that is how I shall think of him, always look just
41:10
the same steady Tundish of the previous days, and not one whit relieved to
41:15
find that his troubles had vanished. Good Bye Jeff Cork, he cried,
41:20
and with a merry twinkle in his eyes, good bye missus Kenley player.
41:23
Something makes me think that we shall meet again? Did he mean anything?
41:29
Had I given myself away so completely? There? Had Janet noticed? I
41:34
wondered? But I dared not look at Janet, so I slipped in the
41:37
clutch, and soon Dale House and Merchester were left behind things of the past,
41:43
the open country and the future lay ahead. Was ever air so fresh
41:49
and cool? Or country since so sweet? Was ever woman more perfect than
41:53
this, dear one, so demio and quiet at my side. The road
41:59
stretched straight and true head, and Janet and I were starting her journey together
42:04
under the tree where I had stopped on my way into Manchester. I drew
42:07
up again to take one last look at the cathedral, like a plain white
42:13
column some gigantic centerpa I thought it stood out against the bank of gray cloud
42:19
behind it. We were kneeling on the seat, looking over the back of
42:22
the car, and after a time I turned to find Janet looking at me
42:24
with a quiet little smile. A penny for your thoughts, she said,
42:30
She looked distractingly. Beverty. I had plunged when it asked her to come
42:34
to Millingham, and I made up my mind to plunge once more. My
42:37
thoughts were with a certain unhappy general. I prevaricated boldly, and I was
42:44
wondering whether you always treated your admirers. So there was a pause of a
42:49
hundred years, and then I dare you to try, she whispered from over
42:54
the hedge. An old red cow, chewing her cut contentedly gazed at her
43:00
with solemn ruminative eyes. A field or two away there was a steady chop,
43:05
chop, as some son of the soil chopped turnips for his sheep,
43:08
a hired of his. And again behind the road was deserted and clear.
43:14
I took my courage in my hands and accepted her challenge. The end of
43:20
chapter sixteen, the end of the dale House Murder