THE CLERGYMAN'S DAUGHTER
"I wish," said Tuppence, roaming moodily round the office, "that we
could befriend a clergyman's daughter."
"Why?" asked Tommy.
"You may have forgotten the fact, but I was once a clergyman's daughter
myself. I remember what it was like. Hence this altruistic urge--this
spirit of thoughtful consideration for others--this--"
"You are getting ready to be Roger Sheringham, I see," said Tommy. "If
you will allow me to make a criticism, you talk quite as much as he
does, but not nearly so well."
"On the contrary," said Tuppence, "there is a feminine subtlety about
my conversation, a _je ne sais quoi_, that no gross male could ever
attain to. I have, moreover, powers unknown to my prototype--do I mean
prototype? Words are such uncertain things, they so often sound well
but mean the opposite of what one thinks they do."
"Go on," said Tommy kindly.
"I was. I was only pausing to take breath. Touching these powers, it is
my wish to-day to assist a clergyman's daughter. You will see, Tommy,
the first person to enlist the aid of Blunt's Brilliant Detectives will
be a clergyman's daughter."
"I'll bet you it isn't," said Tommy.
"Done," said Tuppence. "Hist! To your typewriters, Oh! Israel. One
comes."
Mr. Blunt's office was humming with industry as Albert opened the door
and announced:
"Miss Monica Deane."
A slender brown haired girl, rather shabbily dressed, entered and stood
hesitating. Tommy came forward.
"Good morning, Miss Deane. Won't you sit down and tell us what we can
do for you? By the way, let me introduce my confidential secretary,
Miss Sheringham."
"I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Miss Deane," said Tuppence.
"Your father was in the Church, I think."
"Yes, he was. But how _did_ you know that?"
"Oh! we have our methods," said Tuppence. "You mustn't mind me rattling
on. Mr. Blunt likes to hear me talk. He always says it gives him ideas."
The girl stared at her. She was a slender creature, not beautiful,
but possessing a wistful prettiness. She had a quantity of soft
mouse-colored hair, and her eyes were dark blue and very lovely, though
the dark shadows round them spoke of trouble and anxiety.
"Will you tell me your story, Miss Deane?" said Tommy.
The girl turned to him gratefully.
"It's such a long, rambling story," said the girl. "My name is Monica
Deane. My father was the rector of Little Hampsley in Suffolk. He
died three years ago, and my mother and I were left very badly off.
I went out as a governess, but my mother became a confirmed invalid
and I had to come home to look after her. We were desperately poor,
but one day we received a lawyer's letter telling us that an aunt of
my father's had died and had left everything to me. I had often heard
of this aunt who had quarrelled with my father many years ago, and I
knew that she was very well off, so it really seemed that our troubles
were at an end. But matters did not turn out quite as well as we had
hoped. I inherited the house she had lived in, but after paying one or
two small legacies, there was no money left. I suppose she must have
lost it during the war, or perhaps she had been living on her capital.
Still, we had the house, and almost at once we had a chance of selling
it at quite an advantageous price. But, foolishly perhaps, I refused
the offer. We were in tiny, but expensive lodgings, and I thought it
would be much nicer to live in the Red House where my mother could have
comfortable rooms and take in paying guests to cover our expenses.
"I adhered to this plan, notwithstanding a further tempting offer from
the gentlemen who wanted to buy. We moved in, and I advertised for
paying guests. For a time, all went well, we had several answers to our
advertisement, my aunt's old servant remained on with us and she and
I between us did the work of the house. And then these unaccountable
things began to happen."
"What things?"
"The queerest things. The whole place seemed bewitched. Pictures fell
down, crockery flew across the room and broke, one morning we came down
to find all the furniture moved round. At first we thought someone
was playing a practical joke, but we had to give up that explanation.
Sometimes when we were all sitting down to dinner, a terrific crash
would be heard overhead. We would go up and find no one there, but a
piece of furniture thrown violently to the ground."
"A _poltergeist_," cried Tuppence, much interested.
"Yes, that's what Dr. O'Neill said--though I don't know what it means."
"It's a sort of evil spirit that plays tricks," explained Tuppence who
in reality knew very little of the subject, and was not even sure that
she had got the word _poltergeist_ right.
"Well, at any rate, the effect was disastrous. Our visitors were
frightened to death, and left as soon as possible. We got new ones,
and they too left hurriedly. I was in despair, and, to crown all, our
own tiny income ceased suddenly--the Company in which it was invested
failed."
"You poor dear," said Tuppence sympathetically. "What a time you have
had. Did you want Mr. Blunt to investigate this 'haunting' business?"
"Not exactly. You see, three days ago, a gentleman called upon us.
His name was Dr. O'Neill. He told us that he was a member of the
Society for Psychical Research, and that he had heard about the
curious manifestations that had taken place in our house and was much
interested. So much so, that he was prepared to buy it from us, and
conduct a series of experiments there."
"Well?"
"Of course, at first, I was overcome with joy. It seemed the way out of
all our difficulties. But--"
"Yes?"
"Perhaps you will think me fanciful. Perhaps I am. But--oh! I'm sure I
haven't made a mistake. It was the same man!"
"What same man?"
"The same man who wanted to buy it before. Oh! I'm sure I'm right."
"But why shouldn't it be?"
"You don't understand. The two men were quite different, different name
and everything. The first man was quite young, a spruce dark young man
of thirty odd. Dr. O'Neill is about fifty, he has a grey beard and
wears glasses and stoops. But when he talked I saw a gold tooth on one
side of his mouth. It only shows when he laughs. The other man had a
tooth in just the same position, and then I looked at his ears. I had
noticed the other man's ears, because they were a peculiar shape with
hardly any lobe. Dr. O'Neill's were just the same. Both things couldn't
be a coincidence, could they? I thought and thought and finally I wrote
and said I would let him know in a week. I had noticed Mr. Blunt's
advertisement some time ago--as a matter of fact in an old paper that
lined one of the kitchen drawers. I cut it out and came up to town."
"You were quite right," said Tuppence, nodding her head with vigor.
"This needs looking into."
"A very interesting case, Miss Deane," observed Tommy. "We shall be
pleased to look into this for you--eh, Miss Sheringham?"
"Rather," said Tuppence, "and we'll get to the bottom of it too."
"I understand, Miss Deane," went on Tommy, "that the household consists
of you and your mother and a servant. Can you give me any particulars
about the servant?"
"Her name is Crockett. She was with my aunt about eight or ten years.
She is an elderly woman, not very pleasant in manner, but a good
servant. She is inclined to give herself airs because her sister
married out of her station. Crockett has a nephew whom she is always
telling us is 'quite the gentleman.'"
"H'm," said Tommy, rather at a loss how to proceed.
Tuppence had been eyeing Monica keenly, now she spoke with sudden
decision.
"I think the best plan would be for Miss Deane to come out and lunch
with me. It's just on one o'clock. I can get full details from her."
"Certainly, Miss Sheringham," said Tommy. "An excellent plan."
"Look here," said Tuppence when they were comfortably ensconced at a
little table in a neighboring restaurant, "I want to know. Is there any
special reason why you want to find out about all this?"
Monica blushed.
"Well, you see--"
"Out with it," said Tuppence encouragingly.
"Well--there are two men who--who--want to marry me."
"The usual story, I suppose? One rich, one poor, and the poor one is
the one you like!"
"I don't know how you know all these things," murmured the girl.
"That's a sort of law of Nature," explained Tuppence. "It happens to
everybody. It happens to me."
"You see, even if I sell the house, it won't bring us enough to live
on. Gerald is a dear, but he's desperately poor--though he's a very
clever engineer and if only he had a little capital, his firm would
take him into partnership. The other, Mr. Partridge, is a very good
man, I am sure--and well off, and if I married him it would be an end
of all our troubles. But--but--"
"I know," said Tuppence sympathetically. "It isn't the same thing at
all. You can go on telling yourself how good and worthy he is, and
adding up his qualities as though they were an addition sum--and it all
has a simply refrigerating effect."
Monica nodded.
"Well," said Tuppence, "I think it would be as well if we went down
to the neighborhood and studied matters upon the spot. What is the
address?"
"The Red House, Stourton in the Marsh."
Tuppence wrote down the address in her note book.
"I didn't ask you," Monica began--"about terms--" she ended, blushing a
little.
"Our payments are strictly by results," said Tuppence gravely. "If the
secret of the Red House is a profitable one, as seems possible from the
anxiety displayed to acquire the property, we should expect a small
percentage, otherwise--nothing!"
"Thank you very much," said the girl gratefully.
"And now," said Tuppence, "don't worry. Everything's going to be all
right. Let's enjoy lunch and talk of interesting things."