The Search Party/Chapter 18

FTER a delay of about five minutes Wilkins opened the door of the library again.

"Miss Farquharson, Mrs. Sanders, and Mrs. Dick," he announced, giving the names in the order in which he had received them from Miss Farquharson, who had taken command of the party.

She entered the room first. Her face was pale with anxiety. Her manner and expression were those of a woman who was very much in earnest. Her hat, a severe garment of grey felt adorned with a single bow of black ribbon, was pushed to one side of her head. Her hair, hurriedly pinned into place early in the morning, was untidy. She looked as if she had been working so hard as to have had scant leisure for attention to the details of her toilet. Mrs. Dick followed her. She was tremulous and showed signs of having wept frequently and bitterly during the earlier part of the day. Mrs. Sanders, a sallow, lean woman of about five and thirty, seemed frightened and bewildered.

"I hope," said Miss Farquharson, "that we are not intruding on you. Our business is really very important. That must be our excuse."

"Not in the least," said Lord Manton. "We are delighted to see you. As a matter of fact, you couldn't have come at a more appropriate moment. Miss Blow is just—but won't you sit down? You'll be much more comfortable sitting down."

He pulled a chair forward towards Mrs. Dick, who collapsed into it and took out her pocket-handkerchief. Mrs. Sanders perched herself uncomfortably on a corner of the sofa. Miss Farquharson sat upright in the writing-chair which stood in front of Lord Manton's desk."

"Miss Blow," said Lord Manton, "is just going to tell us the name of the man who has murdered your husbands."

Mrs. Dick gave a queer cry, half wail, half whoop, a loud cry, ending in a gasp.

"Murdered;" she cried. "Murdered! Oh, no, no, not murdered!"

"Certainly not murdered," said Lord Manton. "That's only what Miss Blow says. I don't believe they're murdered. Neither does Mr. Goddard, and if anybody knows the ins and outs of this unfortunate business it's Mr. Goddard. He's a policeman, the chief policeman of this district. It stands to reason that he must know. Don't be the least uneasy, ladies. There's no necessity for tears. Nobody is murdered."

Mrs. Dick allowed herself to be a little comforted by this strong assurance. She stopped making any very loud noise and let her crying subside into a subdued and inoffensive whimper. On the other hand, Miss Blow was evidently enraged by Lord Manton's scepticism. Her voice, when she spoke, sounded defiant and extremely angry.

"I denounce the inhabitants of the house called Rosivera," she said, "especially the man Red. I denounce them as the murderers of Dr. O'Grady, Patrick Devlin, and of the husbands of these ladies."

"Go," said Lord Manton to Mr. Goddard, "and arrest the man Red at once."

He liked the phrase "the man Red." It sounded as if it came out of a newspaper report of a criminal trial. It was evident that Miss Blow had a feeling for appropriate expression.

"Arrest the man Red," repeated Lord Manton, seeing that Mr. Goddard had not moved.

He was perfectly willing that Mr. Red should be arrested, tried, imprisoned, hanged; or arrested, imprisoned, and hanged without a trial, on a charge of murder or any other charge. The really important thing was not to obtain justice for Mr. Red or anybody else, but to get Miss Blow out of his house.

"Do go and arrest the man Red, Goddard," he said again. "I can't," said Mr. Goddard. "How can I possibly go and arrest a man without a single scrap of evidence against him?"

"You hear what he says," said Lord Manton to Miss Blow. "He won't act without evidence. Why don't you produce your evidence? You have evidence, of course."

"You shall hear the evidence," said Miss Blow. "I have evidence that four, if not five abominable murders have been committed by this man and his confederates."

"There now, Goddard," said Lord Manton, "what more can you want? Good gracious, what's that?"

It was Mrs. Dick. Miss Blow's last words had been too much for her. She was uttering a series of wild shrieks. Mrs. Sanders was sobbing convulsively on the sofa.

"We'll have to go into another room," said Lord Manton, "to hear the evidence."

"No," said Miss Farquharson. "Now we are here we'll stay here. I am anxious to hear what this lady has to say."

"But," said Lord Manton, "we can't possibly hear anything while"

Miss Farquharson approached Mrs. Dick, grasped her two hands, and spoke sternly to her. She repeated the treatment with her niece. It was most efficacious. Both the younger ladies seemed to be afraid of Miss Farquharson. They had a cowed, terrified look when she left them; but they had stopped making a noise.

"Thank you," said Lord Manton. "Now, Miss Blow."

"I begin," said Miss Blow, " with the two latest cases. These gentlemen, Members of Parliament, as I understand, set out on their bicycles, to ride to Pool-a-donagh. They did not arrive there. They were seen in safety three miles out of Clonmore by a man who was carting turf."

"How do you know that?" said Mr. Goddard.

"The hotel-keeper told me," said Miss Blow.

"Oh, Jimmy O'Loughlin! I see. I wouldn't take every word he says for gospel if I were you, Miss Blow."

"I don't see," said Miss Blow, "that there's much difference between him and the rest of you. I haven't heard six consecutive words of truth since I came to Clonmore."

"There you are now, Goddard," said Lord Manton. "That's what you get by interrupting. Don't mind him, Miss Blow. Please go on. What you say is most interesting."

"There is just one house between the spot at which they were seen and Pool-a-donagh," said Miss Blow. "The hotel-keeper told me that too."

"I think that's true," said Miss Farquharson. "I noticed that there were very few houses while we drove along yesterday."

"Therefore," said Miss Blow, "they were murdered in that house."

Mr. Goddard started violently. The sequence of Miss Blow's reasoning had the effect of a strong electric shock on him. He would have protested if Mrs. Dick had not begun to wail again. When she was pacified by Miss Farquharson's scowls, Lord Manton began to speak.

"Perhaps" he said.

"I know what you're going to say," said Miss Blow. "You are going to suggest that they are not murdered, but that they have deserted their wives." She glanced at Miss Farquharson as she spoke.

"I wish you wouldn't talk of us as if we were all their wives," said Miss Farquharson. "I am not a married woman. I am Mr. Sanders' aunt. That is his wife."

She pointed to the pale Mrs. Sanders, leaving Miss Blow to infer that the lady who shrieked was the wife of the other Member of Parliament.

"That they have deserted these ladies," said Miss Blow, accepting the correction, "because they wear red dressing-gowns, and"

"But I don't," wailed Mrs. Dick; "I've never had a red dressing-gown. Richard always liked me in blue. He couldn't bear red. He used to say Oh, poor Richard!"

"There!" said Lord Manton, with an air of triumph; "what did I tell you, Miss Blow? You see for yourself now that the man had the strongest possible objection to a red dressing-gown."

"And," said Miss Blow firmly, ignoring the interruptions, "because they washed their teeth."

"I never in my life," said Miss Farquharson, "heard such a pack of nonsense. Are you all mad, or am I? What on earth have red dressing-gowns or that unfortunate little Mrs. Dick's teeth got to do with the disappearance of my nephew and Mr. Dick?"

"Shall I ring for some tea?" said Lord Manton. "I think we'd all be the better for a cup of tea. Then we could go on. We'd be much better able to understand each other afterwards."

"I pass on to the next case," said Miss Blow calmly; "that of Patrick Devlin. He is, I am informed"

"Jimmy O'Loughlin again," said Mr. Goddard.

"By others as well as the hotel-keeper," said Miss Blow, showing that she placed no implicit trust in Jimmy O'Loughlin's statements. "I am informed that he is a blacksmith. He was, it appears, collecting money for some local sports."

"Grand Annual Regatta and Horse Races," said Lord Manton. "I'm a member of the committee, and so I know. Please excuse me interrupting you, Miss Blow, but in a case like this it's as well to be perfectly accurate."

"He informed the hotel-keeper in Clonmore" said Miss Blow.

"I propose," said Mr. Goddard, "that we send down for Jimmy O'Loughlin, and let him give his evidence himself."

"That he intended to call on Lord Manton for a subscription and then go on to Rosivera to see what he could get from the man Red. Did he call here?"

"Certainly," said Lord Manton. "I gave him a sovereign."

"After that," said Miss Blow, "he was seen no more. It seems to me perfectly obvious that he went on to Rosivera and was there murdered."

Poor Mrs. Dick wailed again, and was again suppressed, this time very rapidly, by Miss Farquharson.

"There remains," said Miss Blow, "the case of Dr. O'Grady; but before I go into that I have to inform you that there is another man missing."

"My goodness! " said Lord Manton. "The thing is becoming a perfect epidemic. Who is it now?"

"Jimmy O'Loughlin, I hope and trust," said Mr. Goddard. "He's been dragged into this business by everybody that has said anything. It's always Jimmy O'Loughlin told me this or Jimmy O'Loughlin told me that. If he's gone off himself now it serves him jolly well right."

"It's not Mr. O'Loughlin," said Miss Blow, "but the man Red's own servant, an Englishman. This man used to drive the motor car into Clonmore to do the marketing for the party at Rosivera."

"At Jimmy O'Loughlin's shop, of course," said Mr. Goddard. "He did so for the last time the day before Dr. O'Grady's disappearance. The inference is perfectly plain. The man was mortally wounded. Dr. O'Grady was decoyed to Rosivera because his services as a medical man were required. Then he too, to secure his silence, was foully murdered."

Mr. Goddard gasped. For the second time Miss Blow's logic took away his breath. He tried to speak, but failed. Three times he got as far as uttering the word "but" and then stuck fast. Lord Manton, who remained comparatively calm, offered a mild criticism.

"There is just one point," he said, "in the course of your extremely able and lucid statement, on which I should like to have a word of explanation. I have no doubt that you have thought the matter out carefully, and will be able to meet my difficulty at once. You say—and of course I don't contradict you—that Mr. Red, I mean the man Red, of course, first tried to murder his own servant and then sent for Dr. O'Grady to cure him. Now, why should a man get a doctor for the person he's trying to kill? Wouldn't it have been simpler—I mean to say, do murderers generally summon medical assistance for their victims?"

"I am not concerned with his reasons for acting as he did," said Miss Blow. "I am dealing simply with what has occurred, with plain facts. Now, perhaps, you will do your duty, Mr. Goddard, and arrest the murderers."

"But," said Mr. Goddard, "you haven't given us any evidence at all. You've spun out a lot of wild hypotheses, supported by information given you by Jimmy O'Loughlin, who is the biggest liar in Connacht. It's perfectly absurd to suppose"

"I join with this lady," said Miss Farquharson, "with this lady whose name, as I understand, is Miss Blow, in demanding the arrest of the suspected persons."

"Oh, no, no," wailed Mrs. Dick. "Don't arrest them. Let us forgive them; but bring Richard back to me. It's cruel, cruel. I can't live—oh, I can't"

Her voice died away to a whisper. Miss Farquharson was gazing at her with a very stern expression.

"I can't," said Mr. Goddard, "and won't allow myself to be hustled into a perfectly illegal act. The thing's"

"You'll have to do it sooner or later," said Lord Manton. "Why not do it at once? After all, what does it matter about the man Red? It won't do him any harm to be arrested. If he doesn't deserve it for murdering Dr. O'Grady and the rest of them, he's sure to deserve it for something else that we know nothing about."

"I'm not thinking about Mr. Red's feelings in the matter. I don't care if he's hanged, drawn, and quartered, so long as Miss Blow does it herself. But I'm not going to be dragged into a"

"Look here," said Lord Manton in a whisper, "you must do it, Goddard. If you don't, I shall never get these ladies out of the house."

"Very well," said Mr. Goddard, "I'll do it; but I'll do it on your authority. Make out a warrant in proper form and sign it. Then I'll go and arrest Red."

"Certainly," said Lord Manton. "I haven't got the—ah—the necessary papers here, you know. I don't keep them in the house. Go down to the Clerk of Petty Sessions, Miss Blow. You'll find him in his office. Get him to fill the form in the proper way. He'll understand. Then send it up to me by one of the police. I'll sign it and hand it on to Mr. Goddard. I think that will be the most satisfactory arrangement we can make. Don't you?"

He appealed to Miss Farquharson, carefully avoiding Miss Blow's eye.

"Certainly," said Miss Farquharson. "Everything ought to be done in a strictly legal manner."

"Then I suppose," said Lord Manton, "that our interview is at an end. Shall I order the carriage, Miss Blow, to take you down to Clonmore? It will save time."

"It would be very kind of you to do so," said Miss Farquharson. "I am quite able and willing to walk, but my niece and Mrs. Dick are upset and greatly tired."

"I shall stay here," said Miss Blow; "I shall not let Lord Manton out of my sight till the warrant is signed."

Miss Farquharson started. This expression of want of faith in the good will of a peer shocked her. She expostulated with Miss Blow, but without effect.

"I shall then go with Mr. Goddard," said Miss Blow, "and see that he executes the warrant."

"Really," said Miss Farquharson, "I don't understand—I altogether refuse to associate myself with this discourteous language."

"I know these gentlemen," said Miss Blow, "and you don't. I've had some experience of the way they keep their promises."

"I dissociate myself entirely " said Miss Farquharson.

"I appreciate Miss Blow's feeling," said Lord Manton. "I quite understand it. I even sympathize with it. There has been a good deal in Mr. Goddard's conduct during the last few days which justifies her suspicions. I"

"And in your own conduct," said Miss Blow.

"And in my own conduct, of course," said Lord Manton. "Didn't I say that? I meant to. We have acted for the best. You, at least, will believe that, Miss Farquharson. If Miss Blow has not fully realized our difficulties, that is not her fault. I don't in the least blame her for the attitude she has taken up. Nor does Mr. Goddard."

Mr. Goddard looked as if he did blame her, but he said nothing. The swift glances of appeal which Lord Manton shot at him were sufficient to keep him silent.

"What I propose now," said Lord Manton, "is that Mr. Goddard and I should accompany you to the village, so that Miss Blow shall have the opportunity of seeing with her own eyes that her wish with regard to the man Red is carried out." "That will be giving you far too much trouble," said Miss Farquharson.

"Not at all," said Lord Manton. "I'm delighted to do it. Mr. Goddard, the bell is just beside you; will you be so good as to ring it? I shall order the waggonette to take us down. And I think you must allow me to offer you some tea. You can drink it while the horses are being harnessed, and so waste no time."

"It's very kind of you," said Miss Farquharson, "most kind; we shall be very glad"

"I shall neither eat nor drink in this house," said Miss Blow.

"I quite understand your feeling," said Lord Manton. "There was a prophet once who said the same thing. As well as I recollect, a lion ate him afterwards; but of course that won't happen in your case, Miss Blow. There aren't any lions in Connacht."

"I,' said Miss Farquharson, with strong emphasis on the pronoun, "shall be very pleased to accept Lord Manton's hospitality in the spirit in which it is offered." "Thank you," said Lord Manton. "And I'm sure Miss Blow won't have the least objection to your doing so. She holds her own opinions, as we all do; but from what I know of her I'm convinced that she doesn't want to force them upon other people."

"It is understood," said Miss Blow, "that I accompany Mr. Goddard when he goes to arrest the murderers."

"He may not go himself," said Lord Manton. "You will understand, Miss Blow, that it is not usual for a man in Mr. Goddard's position, for an officer, to make arrests in person. It is probable that he will send Sergeant Farrelly and perhaps one of the constables."

"I shall accompany the sergeant, then," said Miss Blow.