THE MYSTERY
Brendon followed Halfyard into the apartment destined to be the
kitchen of Michael Pendean's bungalow, and the inspector lifted some
tarpaulins that had been thrown upon a corner of the room. In the
midst stood a carpenter's bench, and the floor, the boards of which
had already been laid, was littered with shavings and tools. Under
the tarpaulin a great red stain soaked to the walls, where much
blood had flowed. It was still wet in places and upon it lay
shavings partially ensanguined. At the edge of the central stain
were smears and, among them, half the impress of a big, nail-studded
boot.
"Have the workmen been in here this morning?" asked Brendon, and
Inspector Halfyard answered that they had not.
"Two constables were here last night after one o'clock--the men I
sent from Princetown when Mrs. Pendean gave the alarm," he said.
"They looked round with an electric torch and found the blood. One
came back; the other stopped on the spot all night. I was out here
myself before the masons and carpenters came to work, and I forbade
them to touch anything till we'd made our examination. Mr. Pendean
was in the habit of doing a bit himself after hours."
"Can the men say if anything was done last night--in the way of
work on the bungalow?"
"No doubt they'd know."
Brendon sent for a mason and a carpenter; and while the latter
alleged that nothing had been added to the last work of himself and
his mate, the mason, pointing to a wall which was destined to
inclose the garden, declared that some heavy stones had been lifted
and mortared into place since he left on the previous evening at
five o 'clock.
"Pull down all the new work," directed Brendon.
Then he turned to examine the kitchen more closely. A very careful
survey produced no results and he could find nothing that the
carpenters were not able to account for. There was no evidence of
any struggle. A sheep might as easily have been killed in the
chamber as a man; but he judged the blood to be human and Halfyard
had made one discovery of possible importance. The timbers of the
kitchen door were already set up and they had received a preliminary
coat of white paint. This was smeared at the height of a man's
shoulder with blood.
Brendon then examined the ground immediately outside the kitchen
door. It was rough and trampled with many feet of the workmen but
gave no special imprints or other indications of the least value.
For twenty yards he scrutinized every inch of the ground and
presently found indications of a motor bicycle. It had stood
here--ten yards from the bungalow--and the marks of the wheels and
the rest lowered to support it were clear enough in the peat. He
traced the impressions as the machine was wheeled away and observed
that at one soft place they had pressed very deeply into the earth.
The pattern of the tyre was familiar to him, a Dunlop. Half an hour
later one of the constables approached, saluted Mark, and made a
statement.
"They've pulled down the wall, sir, and found nothing there; but
Fulford, the mason, says that a sack is missing. It was a big sack,
in the corner of the shed out there, and the cement that it
contained is all poured out; but the sack has gone."
The detective visited the spot and turned over the pile of cement,
which revealed nothing. Then, having himself searched the workmen's
shed without discovering any clue, he strolled in the immediate
neighbourhood of the bungalow and examined the adjacent entrance to
the quarries. Not the least spark of light rewarded the search. He
came back presently out of the rain which had now begun to fall
steadily--but not before he had strolled as far as the fishing pools
and seen clear marks of naked, adult feet on the sandy brink.
Inspector Halfyard, who had remained in the bungalow, joined him
while he examined the other five chambers with close attention. In
the apartment destined for a sitting-room, which faced out upon the
great view to the southwest, Brendon found a cigar half smoked. It
had evidently been flung down alight and had smouldered for some
time, scorching the wooden floor before it went out. He found also
the end of a broken, brown boot lace with a brass tag. The lace had
evidently frayed away and probably had broken when being tied. But
he attached not the least importance to either fragment. Nothing
that he regarded as of value resulted from inspection of the
remaining rooms and Brendon presently decided that he would return
to Princetown. He showed Halfyard the footprints by the water and
had them protected with a tarpaulin.
"Something tells me that this is a pretty simple business all the
same," he said. "We need waste no more time here, inspector--at any
rate until we have got back to the telephone and heard the latest."
"What's your idea?"
"I should say we have to do with an unfortunate man who's gone mad,"
replied the detective; "and a madman doesn't take long to find as a
rule. I think it's murder right enough and I believe we shall find
that this soldier, who's had shell shock, turned on Pendean and cut
his throat, then, fondly hoping to hide the crime, got away with the
body. Why I judge him to be mad is because Mrs. Pendean, who has
told me the full story of the past, was able to assure me that the
men had become exceedingly friendly, and that certain differences,
which existed between them at the outbreak of the war, were entirely
composed. And even granting that they quarrelled again, the quarrel
must have suddenly sprung up. That seems improbable and one can't
easily imagine a sudden row so tremendous that it ends in murder.
"Redmayne was a big, powerful man and he may have struck without
intention to kill; but this mess means more than a blow with a fist.
I think that he was a homicidal maniac and probably plotted the job
beforehand with a madman's limited cunning; and if that is so,
there's pretty sure to be news waiting for us at Princetown. Before
dark we ought to know where are both the dead and the living man.
These footprints mean a bather, or perhaps two. We'll study them
later and drag the pond, if necessary."
The correctness of Brendon's deduction was made manifest within an
hour, and the operations of Robert Redmayne defined up to a point. A
man was waiting at the police station--George French, ostler at Two
Bridges Hotel, on West Dart.
"I knew Captain Redmayne," he said, "because he'd been down once or
twice of late to tea at Two Bridges. Last night, at half after ten,
I was crossing the road from the garage and suddenly, without
warning, a motor bike came over the bridge. I heard the rush of it
and only got out of the way by a yard. There was no light showing
but the man went through the beam thrown from the open door of the
hotel and I saw it was the captain by his great mustache and his red
waistcoat.
"He didn't see me, because it was taking him all his time to look
after himself, and he'd just let her go, to rush the stiff hill that
rises out of Two Bridges. He was gone like a puff of smoke and must
have been running terrible fast--fifty mile an hour I dare say. We
heard as there was trouble at Princetown and master sent me up over
to report what I'd seen."
"Which way did he go after he had passed, Mr. French?" asked
Brendon, who knew the Dartmoor country well. "The road forks above
Two Bridges. Did he take the right hand for Dartmeet, or the left
for Post Bridge and Moreton?"
But George could not say.
"'Twas like a thunder planet flashing by," he told Mark, "and I
don't know from Adam which way he went after he'd got up on top."
"Was anybody with him?"
"No, sir. I'd have seen that much; but he carried a big sack behind
the saddle--that I can swear to."
There had been several telephone calls for Inspector Halfyard during
his absence; and now three separate statements from different
districts awaited him. These were already written out by a
constable, and he took them one by one, read them, and handed them
to Brendon. The first came from the post office at Post Bridge, and
the post-mistress reported that a man, one Samuel White, had seen a
motor bicycle run at great speed without lights up the steep hill
northward of that village on the previous night. He gave the time as
between half past ten and eleven o'clock.
"We should have heard of him from Moreton next," said Halfyard;
"but, no. He must have branched under Hameldown and gone south, for
the next news is from Ashburton."
The second message told how a garage keeper was knocked up at
Ashburton, just after midnight, in order that petrol might be
obtained for a motor bicycle. The description of the purchaser
corresponded to Redmayne and the message added that the bicycle had
a large sack tied behind it. The rider was in no hurry; he smoked a
cigarette, swore because he could not get a drink, lighted his
lamps, and then proceeded by the Totnes road which wound through the
valley of the Dart southward.
The third communication came from the police station at Brixham and
was somewhat lengthy. It ran thus:
"At ten minutes after two o'clock last night P.C. Widgery, on
night duty at Brixham, saw a man on a motor bicycle with a
large parcel behind him run through the town square. He
proceeded down the main street and was gone for the best part
of an hour; but, before three o'clock, Widgery saw him return
without his parcel. He went fast up the hill out of Brixham,
the way he came. Inquiries to-day show that he passed the
Brixham coast-guard station about a quarter after two o'clock,
and he must have lifted his machine over the barrier at the end
of the coast-guard road, because he was seen by a boy, from
Berry Head lighthouse, pushing it up the steep path that runs
to the downs. The boy was going for a doctor, because his
father, one of the lighthouse watchers, had been taken ill. The
boy says the motor bicyclist was a big man and he was blowing,
because the machine was heavy and the road just there very
steep and rough. He saw no more of him on returning from the
doctor. We are searching the Head and cliffs round about."
Inspector Halfyard waited until Brendon had read the messages and
put them down.
"About as easy as shelling peas--eh?" he asked.
"I expected an arrest," answered the detective. "It can't be long
delayed."
As though to confirm him the telephone bell rang and Halfyard rose
and entered the box to receive the latest information.
"Paignton speaking," said the message. "We have just called at
address of Captain Redmayne--No. 7 Marine Terrace. He was expected
last night--had wired yesterday to say he'd be home. They left
supper for him, as usual when he is expected, and went to bed.
Didn't hear him return, but found on going down house next morning
that he had come--supper eaten, motor bike in tool house in back
yard, where he keeps it. They called him at ten o'clock--no answer.
They went in his room. Not there and bed not slept in and his
clothes not changed. He's not been seen since."
"Hold on. Mark Brendon's here and has the case. He'll speak."
Inspector Halfyard reported the statement and Brendon picked up the
mouthpiece.
"Detective Brendon speaking. Who is it?"
"Inspector Reece, Paignton."
"Let me hear at five o'clock if arrest has been made. Failing arrest
I will motor down to you after that hour."
"Very good, sir. I expect to hear he's taken any minute."
"Nothing from Berry Head?"
"We've got a lot of men there and all round under the cliffs, but
nothing yet."
"All right, inspector. I'll come down if I don't hear to the
contrary by five."
He hung up the receiver.
"All over bar shouting, I reckon," said Halfyard.
"It looks like it. He's mad, poor devil."
"It's the dead man I'm sorry for."
Brendon considered, having first looked at his watch. Personal
thoughts would thrust themselves upon him, though he felt both
surprise and shame that they could do so. Certain realities were
clear enough to his mind, however future details might develop. And
the overmastering fact was that Jenny Pendean had lost her husband.
If she were, indeed, a widow--
He shook his head impatiently and turned to Halfyard.
"Should Robert Redmayne not be taken to-day, one or two things must
be done," he said. "You'd better have some of that blood collected
and the fact proved that it is human. And keep the cigar and boot
lace here for the minute, though I attach no importance to either.
Now I'll go and get some food and see Mrs. Pendean. Then I'll come
back. I'll take the police car for Paignton at half past five if we
hear nothing to alter my plans."
"You will. This isn't going to spoil your holiday, after all."
"What is it going to do, I wonder?" thought Brendon. But he said no
more and prepared to go on his way. It was now three o'clock.
Suddenly he turned and asked Halfyard a question.
"What do you think of Mrs. Pendean, inspector?"
"I think two things about her," answered the elder. "I think she's
such a lovely piece that it's hard to believe she's just flesh and
blood, like other women; and I think I never saw such worship for a
man as she had for her husband. This will knock her right bang out."
These opinions made the detective melancholy; but he had not yet
begun to reflect on how the passing of a dearly loved husband would
change the life of Mrs. Pendean. He suddenly felt himself thrust out
of the situation forever, yet resented his own conviction as
irrational.
"What sort of a man was he?"
"A friendly fashion of chap--Cornish--a pacifist at heart I reckon;
but we never talked war politics."
"What was his age?"
"Couldn't tell you--doubtful--might have been anything between
twenty-five and thirty-five. A man with weak eyes and a brown beard.
He wore double eye-glasses for close work, but his long sight he
said was good."
After a meal Brendon went again to Mrs. Pendean; but many rumours
had reached her through the morning and she already knew most of
what he had to tell. A change had come over her; she was very silent
and very pale. Mark knew that she had grasped the truth and knew
that her husband must probably be dead.
She was, however, anxious to learn if Brendon could explain what
had happened.
"Have you ever met with any such thing before?" she asked.
"No case is quite like another. They all have their differences. I
think that Captain Redmayne, who has suffered from shell shock, must
have been overtaken by loss of reason. Shell shock often produces
dementia of varying degrees--some lasting, some fleeting. I'm afraid
your uncle went out of his mind and, in a moment of madness, may
have done a dreadful thing. Then he set out, while he was still
insane, to cover up his action. So far as we can judge, he took away
his victim and meant apparently to throw him into the sea. I feel
only too sure that your husband has lost his life, Mrs. Pendean. You
must be prepared to accept that unspeakable misfortune."
"It is hard to accept," she answered, "because they were good
friends again."
"Something of which you do not know may have cropped up between them
to upset Redmayne. When he comes to his senses, he will probably
think the whole thing an evil dream. Have you a portrait of your
husband?"
She left the room and returned in a few moments with a photograph.
It presented a man of meditative countenance, wide forehead, and
steadfast eyes. He wore a beard, mustache and whiskers, and his hair
was rather long.
"Is that like him?"
"Yes; but it does not show his expression. It is not quite
natural--he was more animated than that."
"How old was he?"
"Not thirty, Mr. Brendon, but he looked considerably older."
Brendon studied the photograph.
"You can take it with you if you wish to do so. I have another
copy," said Mrs. Pendean.
"I shall remember very accurately," answered Brendon. "I am
tolerably certain that poor Mr. Pendean's body was thrown into the
sea and may already be recovered. That appears to have been Captain
Redmayne's purpose. Can you tell me anything about the lady to whom
your uncle is engaged?"
"I can give you her name and address. But I have never seen her."
"Had your husband seen her?"
"Not to my knowledge. Indeed I can say certainly that he never had.
She is a Miss Flora Reed and she is stopping with her mother and
father at the Singer Hotel, Paignton. Her brother, my uncle's friend
in France, is also there I believe."
"Thank you very much. If I hear nothing further, I go to Paignton
this evening."
"Why?"
"To pursue my inquiry and see all those who know your uncle. It has
puzzled me a little that he has not already been found, because a
man suffering from such an upset of mind could make no successful
attempt to evade a professional search for long. Nor, so far as we
know, has he apparently attempted to escape. After going to Berry
Head early this morning, he returned to his lodgings, ate a meal,
left his motor bicycle, and then went out again--still in his tweed
suit with the red waistcoat."
"You'll see Flora Reed?"
"If necessary; but I shall not go if Robert Redmayne has been
found."
"You think it is all very simple and straight-forward, then?"
"So it appears. The best that one can hope is that the unfortunate
man may come back to his senses and give a clear account of
everything. And may I ask what you design to do and if it is in my
power to serve you personally in any way?"
Jenny Pendean showed surprise at this question. She lifted her face
to Brendon's and a slight warmth touched its pallor.
"That is kind of you," she said. "I will not forget. But when we
know more, I shall probably leave here. If my husband has indeed
lost his life, the bungalow will not be finished by me. I shall go,
of course."
"May I hope that you have friends who are coming forward?"
She shook her head.
"As a matter of fact I am much alone in the world. My husband was
everything--everything. And I was everything to him also. You know
my story--I told you all there was to tell this morning. There
remain to me only my father's two brothers--Uncle Bendigo in
England, and Uncle Albert in Italy. I wrote them both to-day."
Mark rose.
"You shall hear from me to-morrow," he said, "and if I do not go to
Paignton, I will see you again to-night."
"Thank you--you are very kind."
"Let me ask you to consider yourself and your own health under this
great strain. People can endure anything, but often they find
afterwards that they have put too heavy a call on nature, when it
comes to pay the bill. Would you care to see a medical man?"
"No, Mr. Brendon--that is not necessary. If my husband should be--as
we think, then my own life has no further interest for me. I may end
it."
"For God's sake don't allow yourself to speak in that way," said
Brendon. "Look forward. If we can no longer be happy in the world,
that is not to deny us the power and privilege of being useful in
it. Think what your husband would have wished you to do and how he
would have expected you to face any great tragedy, or grief."
"You are a good man," said Mrs. Pendean quietly. "I appreciate what
you have said. You will see me again."
She took his hand and pressed it. Then he left her, bewildered by
the subtle atmosphere that seemed to surround her. He did not fear
her threat. There was a vitality and self-command about Mrs. Pendean
that seemed to shut out any likelihood of self-destruction. She was
young and time could be trusted to do its inevitable work. But he
perceived the quality of her love for the man who was too certainly
destroyed. She might face life, proceed with her own existence, and
bring happiness into other lives; but it did not follow that she
would ever forget her husband or consent to wed another.
He returned to the police station and was astonished to find that
Robert Redmayne continued at large. No news concerning him had been
reported; but there came a minor item of information from the
searchers at Berry Head. The cement sack had been found in the mouth
of a rabbit hole to the west of the Head above a precipice. The sack
was bloodstained and contained some small tufts of hair and the dust
of cement.
An hour later Mark Brendon had packed a bag and started in a police
motor car for Paignton; but there was no more to be learned when he
arrived. Inspector Reece shared Brendon's surprise that Redmayne had
not been arrested. He explained that fishermen and coast guards were
dragging the sea, as far as it was possible to do so, beneath the
cliff on which the sack had been found; but the tide ran strongly
here and local men suspected the current might well have carried a
body out to sea. They judged that the corpse would be found floating
within a mile or two of the Head in a week's time, if no means had
been taken to anchor it at the bottom.
Brendon called at Robert Redmayne's lodgings after he had eaten some
supper at the Singer Hotel. There he had taken a room, that he
might see and hear something of the vanished man's future wife and
her family. At No. 7 Marine Terrace the landlady, a Mrs. Medway,
could say little. Captain Redmayne was a genial, kind-hearted, but
hot-headed gentleman, she told Mark. He was irregular in his hours
and they never expected him until they saw him. He often thus
returned from excursions after the household was gone to bed. She
did not know at what hour he had come back on the previous night, or
at what hour he had gone out again; but he had not changed his
clothes or apparently taken anything away with him.
Brendon examined the motor bicycle with meticulous care. There was a
rest behind the saddle made of light iron bars, and here he detected
stains of blood. A fragment of tough string tied to the rest was
also stained. It had been cut--no doubt when Redmayne cast his
burden loose on reaching the cliffs. Nothing offered any difficulty
in the chain of circumstantial evidence, nor did another morning
furnish further problems save the supreme and sustained mystery of
Robert Redmayne's continued disappearance.
Brendon visited Berry Head before breakfast on the following day and
examined the cliff. It fell in broad scales of limestone, whereon
grew thistles and the white rock-rose, sea pinks and furze. Rabbits
dwelt here and the bloodstained sack had been discovered by a dog.
It was thrust into a hole, but the terrier had easily reached it and
dragged it into light.
Immediately beneath the spot, the cliffs fell starkly into the
sea--a drop of three hundred feet. Beneath was deep water and only
an occasional cleft or cranny broke the face of the shining
precipice, where green things made shift to live and the gulls built
their rough nests with scurvy grass. No sign marked the cliff edge,
but beneath, on the green sea, were boats from which fishermen still
dredged for the dead. This work, long continued, had yielded no
results whatever.
Later in the day Brendon returned to his hotel and introduced
himself to Miss Reed and her family to find that her brother, Robert
Redmayne's friend, had returned to London. She and her parents were
sitting together in the lounge when he joined them. All three
appeared to be much shocked and painfully mystified. None could
throw any light. Mr. and Mrs. Reed were quiet, elderly people who
kept a draper shop in London; their daughter revealed more
character. She was a head taller than her father and cast in a
generous mould. She exhibited a good deal of manner and less actual
sorrow than might have been expected; but Brendon discovered that
she had only known Robert Redmayne for half a year and their actual
engagement was not of much more than a month's duration. Miss Reed
was dark, animated, and commonplace of mind. Her ambition had been
to go upon the stage and she had acted on tour in the country; but
she declared that theatrical life wearied her and she had promised
her future husband to abandon the art.
"Did you ever hear Captain Redmayne speak of his niece and her
husband?" Brendon inquired, and Flora Reed answered:
"He did; and he always said that Michael Pendean was a 'shirker' and
a coward. He also assured me that he had done with his niece and
should never forgive her for marrying her husband. But that was
before Bob went to Princetown, six days ago. From there he wrote
quite a different story. He had met them by chance and he found that
Mr. Pendean had not shirked but done good work in the war and got
the O.B.E. After that discovery, Bob changed and he was certainly on
the best of terms with the Pendeans before this awful thing
happened. He had already made them promise to come here for the
regattas."
"You have neither seen nor heard of the captain since?"
"Indeed, no. My last letter, which you can see, came three days ago.
In it he merely said he would be back yesterday and meet me to bathe
as usual. I went to bathe and looked out for him, but of course he
didn't come."
"Tell me a little about him, Miss Reed," said Mark. "It is good of
you to give me this interview, for we are up against a curious
problem and the situation, as it appears at present, may be illusive
and quite unlike the real facts. Captain Redmayne, I hear, had
suffered from shell shock and a breath of poison gas also. Did you
ever notice any signs that these troubles had left any mark upon
him?"
"Yes," she answered. "We all did. My mother was the first to point
out that Bob often repeated himself. He was a man of great good
temper, but the war had made him rough and cynical in some respects.
He was impatient, yet, after he quarrelled or had a difference with
anybody, he would be quickly sorry; and he was never ashamed to
apologize."
"Did he quarrel often?"
"He was very opinionated and, of course, he had seen a good deal of
actual war. It had made him a little callous and he would sometimes
say things that shocked civilians. Then they would protest and make
him angry."
"You cared much for him? Forgive the question."
"I admired him and I had a good influence over him. There were fine
things in him--great bravery and honesty. Yes, I loved him and was
proud of him. I think he would have become calmer and less excitable
and impatient in time. Doctors had told him that he would outgrow
all effects of his shock."
"Was he a man you can conceive of as capable of striking or killing
a fellow creature?"
The lady hesitated.
"I only want to help him," she answered. "Therefore I say that,
given sufficient provocation, I can imagine Bob's temper flaring
out, and I can see that it would have been possible to him, in a
moment of passion, to strike down a man. He had seen much death and
was himself absolutely indifferent to danger. Yes, I can imagine him
doing an enemy, or fancied enemy, a hurt; but what I cannot imagine
him doing is what he is supposed to have done afterwards--evade the
consequence of a mistaken act."
"And yet we have the strongest testimony that he has tried to
conceal a murder--whether committed by himself, or somebody else, we
cannot yet say."
"I only hope and pray, for all our sakes, that you will find him,"
she replied, "but if, indeed, he has been betrayed into such an
awful crime, I do not think you will find him."
"Why not, Miss Reed? But I think I know. What is in your mind has
already passed through my own. The thought of suicide."
She nodded and put her handkerchief to her eyes.
"Yes; if poor Bob lost himself and then found himself and discovered
that he had killed an innocent man in a moment of passion, he would,
if I know him, do one of two things--either give himself up
instantly and explain all that had happened, or else destroy himself
as quickly as he could."
"Motive is not always adequate," Brendon told them. "A swift,
passing storm of temper has often destroyed a life with no more evil
intent than a flash of lightning. In this case, only such a storm
seems to be the explanation. But how a man of the Pendean type could
have provoked such a storm I have yet to learn. So far the testimony
of Mrs. Pendean and the assurances of Inspector Halfyard at
Princetown indicate an amiable and quiet person, slow to anger.
Inspector Halfyard knew him quite well at the Moss Depôt, where he
worked through two years of the war. He was apparently not a man to
have infuriated Captain Redmayne or anybody else."
Mark then related his own brief personal experience of Redmayne on
the occasion of their meeting by the quarry pools. For some reason
this personal anecdote touched Flora Reed and the detective observed
that she was genuinely moved by it.
Indeed she began to weep and presently rose and left them. Her
parents were able to speak more freely upon her departure.
Mr. Reed indeed, from being somewhat silent and indifferent, grew
voluble.
"I think it right to tell you," he said, "that my wife and I never
cared much for this engagement. Redmayne meant well and had a good
heart I believe. He was free-handed and exceedingly enamoured of
Flora. He made violent love from the first and his affection was
returned. But I never could see him a steady, married man. He was a
rover and the war had made him--not exactly inhuman, but apparently
unconscious of his own obligations to society and his own duty, as a
reasonable being, to help build up the broken organization of social
life. He only lived for pleasure and sport or spending money; and
though I do not suggest he would have been a bad husband, I did not
see the makings of a stable home in his ideas of the future. He had
inherited some forty thousand pounds, but he was very ignorant of
the value of money and he showed no particular good sense on the
subject of his coming responsibilities."
Mark Brendon thanked them for their information and repeated his
growing conviction that the subject of their speech had probably
committed suicide.
"Every hour which fails to account for him increases my fear," he
said. "Indeed it may be a good thing to happen; for the alternative
can at best be Broadmoor; and it is a hateful thought that a man who
has fought for his country, and fought well, should end his days in
a criminal lunatic asylum."
For two days the detective remained at Paignton and devoted all his
energy, invention, and experience to the task of discovering the
vanished men. But, neither alive nor dead, did either appear, and
not a particle of information came from Princetown or elsewhere.
Portraits of Robert Redmayne were printed and soon hung on the
notice board of every police station in the west and south; but one
or two mistaken arrests alone resulted from this publicity. A tramp
with a big red mustache was detained in North Devon and a recruit
arrested at Devonport. This man resembled the photograph and had
joined a line regiment twenty-four hours after the disappearance of
Redmayne. Both, however, could give a full account of themselves.
Then Brendon prepared to return to Princetown. He wrote his
intention to Mrs. Pendean and informed her that he would visit
Station Cottages on the following evening. It happened, however,
that his letter crossed another and his plans were altered, for
Jenny Pendean had already left Princetown and joined Mr. Bendigo
Redmayne at his house, "Crow's Nest," beyond Dartmouth. She wrote:
"My uncle has begged me to come and I was thankful to do so. I
have to tell you that Uncle Bendigo received a letter yesterday
from his brother, Robert. I begged him to let me send it to you
instantly, but he declines. Uncle Bendigo is on Captain
Redmayne's side I can see. He would not, I am sure, do anything
to interfere with the law, but he is convinced that we do not
know all there is to be told about this terrible thing. The
motor boat from 'Crow's Nest' will be at Kingswear Ferry to
meet the train reaching there at two o'clock to-morrow and I
hope you may still be at Paignton and able to come here for a
few hours."
She added a word of thanks to him and a regret that his holiday was
being spoiled by her tragedy.
Whereupon the man's thoughts turned to her entirely and he forgot
for a while the significance of her letter. He had expected to see
her that night at Princetown. Instead he would find her far nearer,
in the house on the cliffs beyond Dartmouth.
He telegraphed presently that he would meet the launch. Then he had
leisure to be annoyed that the letter from Robert Redmayne was thus
delayed. He speculated on Bendigo Redmayne.
"A brother is a brother," he thought, "and no doubt this old
sailor's home would offer a very efficient hiding-place for any
vanished man."