LOOSE STRANDS
By business time next morning Brent had cast aside all thought of the
previous day's proceedings and of his defeat at the hands of the Old
Gang, and had turned to affairs which were now of far more importance.
He had three separate enterprises in hand; to be sure, they were all
related, but each had a distinctive character of its own. He specified
all three as he ate his breakfast at the _Chancellor_, where he was
still located. First, now that he had done with his electioneering--for
the time being--he was going to work harder than ever at the task of
discovering Wallingford's murderer. Secondly, he was going to marry
Queenie, and that speedily. Queenie and he had settled matters to their
mutual satisfaction as soon as the row with Uncle Simon Crood was over,
and they had already begun furnishing the house which Brent had bought
in order to constitute himself a full-fledged burgess of Hathelsborough.
Thirdly, he was going to put all he knew into the articles which he was
writing for the _Monitor_--two had already appeared; he was going on
writing them until public opinion, gradually educated, became too strong
for the reactionary forces that had beaten him yesterday but which he
would infallibly defeat to-morrow, or, if not to-morrow, the day after.
And first the murderer. He fetched Queenie from Mrs. Appleyard's that
morning, and, utterly careless of the sly looks that were cast on him
and her, marched her through the market-place to Hawthwaite's office at
the police station. To Hawthwaite, keenly interested, he detailed
particulars of Queenie's discovery about the typewritten letter and
produced her proofs. Hawthwaite took it all in silently.
"You'll have to go into that, you know," concluded Brent. "Now that I've
got through with that election I'm going to give more time to this
business. We've got to find out who killed my cousin, Hawthwaite,
somehow--it's not going to rest. I won't leave a stone unturned! And
there," he added, pointing to the sheet of paper on which Queenie had
made specimens of the broken type of Simon's antiquated machine, "is a
stone which needs examining on all four sides!"
Hawthwaite picked up the sheet of paper, twisted it in his big fingers,
and looked over it at the two young people with a quizzical smile.
"I understand that you and Miss Queenie there are contemplating
matrimony, Mr. Brent?" he remarked. "That so, sir?"
"That's so," replied Brent promptly. "As soon as we've got our house
furnished we'll be married."
"Then I can speak freely and in confidence before Mrs. Brent that's to
be," responded Hawthwaite, with another smile. "Well, now, what you've
just told me isn't exactly fresh news to me! I'll show you something."
He turned, drew out a drawer from a chest behind his chair, and finding
a paper in it took it out and handed it to his visitors. "Look at that,
now!" he said. "You see what it is?"
Brent saw at once. It was a half-sheet of notepaper, on which were
examples of faulty type, precisely similar to those on Queenie's bit of
evidence.
"Hello!" exclaimed Brent. "Somebody else been at the same game, eh?"
"I'll tell you," answered Hawthwaite, settling himself in his chair.
"It's a bit since--let us think, now--yes, it would be a day or two
after that facsimile appeared in the _Monitor_ that a young man came to
me here one evening: respectable artisan sort of chap. He told me that
he was in the employ of a typewriter company at Clothford, which, Mr.
Brent, as Miss Queenie there knows, is our big town, only a few miles
away. He said that he'd come to tell me something in confidence. The
previous day, he said, Mr. Crood, of Hathelsborough, had come to their
place in Clothford and had brought with him an old-fashioned typewriter
which, he told them, he had bought when such things first came out. He
wanted to know the thing being, he said, an old favourite--if they
couldn't do it up for him, go through its mechanism thoroughly, supply
new letters, and so on. They said they could. He left it to be done, and
it was handed over to this young man. Now then, this young man, my
informant, has some relations here in Hathelsborough; a day or so before
Simon Crood called with his machine, they sent him--the young man--a
copy of the _Monitor_ with this facsimile letter enclosed. Being
concerned with such things in his trade, he was naturally interested in
the facsimile, and of course, as an expert, he noticed the broken
letters. However, he didn't connect the facsimile with Crood's machine
at first. But, happening to look at that machine more narrowly, to see
exactly what had to be done to it, he--as he phrased it--ran off the
keys on a sheet of paper, and he then saw at once that he had before him
the identical machine on which the threatening letter to our late Mayor
had been typed! And so he came to me!"
"What have you done about it?" asked Brent.
Hawthwaite gave him a knowing look.
"Well, I'll tell you that too," he answered. "I've got the machine! It's
there--in that box in the corner. The Clothford firm will make an excuse
to Mr. Crood that they've had to send this machine away for repairs--eh?
Of course I'm not going to let it out of my possession until--well,
until we know more."
"There's no doubt he wrote that threatening letter," observed Brent.
"Oh, no doubt, no doubt whatever," agreed Hawthwaite.
"What about that handkerchief and the inquiry at the laundry?" asked
Brent.
Hawthwaite accompanied his reply with a nod and a wink.
"That's being followed up," he said. "Don't ask me any more now; we're
progressing, and, I believe, in the right direction this time. Do you
leave it to us, Mr. Brent; you'll be surprised before long and so will
some other folks. You go on with those articles you've started in the
_Monitor_. It doesn't do for me to say much, being an official," he
added, with another wink, "but you'll do some good in that way--there's
a lot under the surface in this old town, sir, that only needs exposing
to the light of day to ensure destruction! Public opinion, Mr. Brent,
public opinion! You stir it up, and leave this matter to me; I may be
slow, Mr. Brent, but I'll surely get there in the end!"
"Good! It's all I ask," said Brent. "Only get there!"
He took Queenie away, but before they had gone many steps from the
superintendent's office Hawthwaite called Brent back, and leading him
inside the room closed the door on him.
"Your young lady'll not mind waiting a minute or two," he said, with a
significant glance. "As she already knew about old Simon's typewriter, I
didn't mind telling that I knew, d'ye see? But there's another little
matter that I'd like to tell you about--between ourselves, and to go no
further, you understand?"
"Just so," agreed Brent.
"Well," continued Hawthwaite, "there may be nothing in it. But I've
always had a suspicion that there was nothing definite got out of either
Dr. Wellesley or Mrs. Saumarez about their--well, I won't say love
affairs, but relations. Anyway, that there was something mysterious
about the sort of three-cornered relations between her and Wellesley and
your cousin I'm as dead certain as that I see you! I've an idea too that
somehow or other those relations have something to do with your cousin's
murder. But now, this is it--you know, I dare say, that at the back of
Mrs. Saumarez's garden at the Abbey House, there's a quiet, narrow lane,
little used?"
"I know it," replied Brent. "Farthing Lane."
"Just so, and why so called none of our local antiquaries know," said
Hawthwaite. "Well, not so many nights ago I had some business in that
lane, at a late hour--I was watching for somebody, as a matter of fact,
though it came to nothing. I was in a secret place, just as it was
getting nicely dark. Now then, who should come along that lane but
Krevin Crood!"
"Krevin Crood!" exclaimed Brent. "Ay?"
"Krevin Crood," repeated Hawthwaite. "And thinks I to myself, 'What may
you be doing here, my lad, at this hour of the night?' For as you know
that lane, Mr. Brent, you'll know that on one side of it there's nothing
but the long wall of Mrs. Saumarez's garden and grounds, and on the
other a belt of trees that shuts off Robinson's market-garden and
orchards. I was safe hidden amongst those trees. Well, Krevin came
along--I recognized him well enough. He sort of loitered about,
evidently waiting for somebody. And just as the parish church clock
struck ten I heard the click of a latch, and the door in Mrs. Saumarez's
back garden opened, and a woman came out! I knew her too."
"Not Mrs. Saumarez?" suggested Brent.
"No," replied Hawthwaite. "Not Mrs. Saumarez. But that companion of
hers, Mrs. Elstrick. Tall, thin, very reserved woman; you may have
noticed that she goes about the town very quietly--never talks to
anybody."
"I've scarcely noticed her except when she was here in court with Mrs.
Saumarez," replied Brent. "But I know the woman you mean. So it was
she?"
"Just so--Mrs. Elstrick," said Hawthwaite. "And I saw, of course, that
this was a put-up job, an arranged meeting between her and Krevin. They
met, turned, walked up and down the lane together for a good ten
minutes, talking in whispers. They passed and repassed me several times,
and I'd have given a good deal to hear what they were talking about. But
I couldn't catch a word--they were on the opposite side of the lane, you
see, close to the garden wall."
"And eventually?" asked Brent.
"Oh, eventually they parted of course," replied Hawthwaite. "She slipped
back into the garden, and he went off down the lane. Now----"
"They're both tending to elderliness, I think," interrupted Brent, with
a cynical laugh, "but one's never surprised at anything nowadays. So,
did you see any love-making?"
"Oh, Lord save us, no!" exclaimed Hawthwaite. "Nothing of that sort!
They never even shook hands. Just talked--and very earnestly too."
Brent reflected for a while.
"Queer!" he said at last. "What did they want with each other?"
"Ay!" said Hawthwaite. "As I said just now, I'd have given a good deal
to know. But Krevin Crood is a deep, designing, secret sort of man, and
that woman, whoever she may be, looks just the same."
"Has she been with Mrs. Saumarez long?" asked Brent.
"Came with her, when Mrs. Saumarez first came and took the Abbey House,"
replied Hawthwaite. "Always been with her; went away with her when Mrs.
S. was in the South of France all last winter. Odd couple I call the two
of 'em, Mr. Brent; between you and myself."
"Why, exactly?" inquired Brent. "I've seen nothing particularly odd
about Mrs. Saumarez, except that she's evidently a highly-strung,
perhaps a bit excitable sort of woman, all nerves, I should say, and
possibly a bit emotional. Clever woman, I think, and pretty."
"Pretty enough--and clever enough," assented Hawthwaite dryly. "And I
dare say you're right about the rest. But I'll tell you why I used that
term; at least, in regard to her. When Mrs. Saumarez first came here, it
was understood that she was the widow of a naval officer of high rank.
Well, naturally, the big folk of the neighbourhood called on her when
she'd settled down--she furnished and fitted her house from local shops,
and it took her some time to get fixed up--expecting, of course, that
she'd return their calls. She never returned a single one! Not one,
sir!"
"That certainly sounds odd," admitted Brent.
"Ay, doesn't it?" said Hawthwaite. "You'd have thought that a young and
stylish woman, coming to live here as she did, would have been glad of
society. But, though some dozen or so ladies of the place called on her,
she never, as I say, returned a single call; in fact, it very soon
became evident that she didn't want any society of that sort. She used
to go out bicycling a good deal by herself in those early days--that, I
fancy, was how she got to know both Wellesley and your cousin. She was
fond enough of their society anyway!"
"Always?" asked Brent. He was learning things that he had never heard
of, and was already thinking deeply about them. "From the beginning?"
"Well, practically," replied Hawthwaite. "First it was the doctor; then
it was Wallingford. And," he added, with a wink, "there are folk in the
town who declare that she carried on with both, playing one off against
the other, till the very end! I don't know how that may be, but I do
know that at one time she and Wellesley were very thick, and that
afterwards your cousin was always running after her. Naturally, there
was talk, especially amongst the folk who'd called on her and whose
calls she didn't return. And, to tell you the plain truth, they said
things."
"What sort of things?" inquired Brent.
"Oh, well!" said Hawthwaite, with a laugh. "If you'd lived as long in
this town as I have, and been in my position, you'd know that it--like
all little places--is a hotbed of scandal and gossip. The women, of
course, seeing her partiality for men friends, said things and hinted
more. Then the Vicar's wife--parsons' ladies are great ones for
talk--found something out and made the most of it. I told you that when
Mrs. Saumarez first came here it was understood that she was the widow
of an officer of some high position in the Royal Navy. Well, our Vicar's
wife has a brother who's a big man in that profession, and she was a bit
curious to know about the new-comer's relation to it. She persisted in
calling on Mrs. Saumarez though her calls weren't returned--she could
make excuses, you see, about parish matters and charities and what not.
And one day she asked Mrs. Saumarez point-blank what ship her late
husband had last served on? Now _she_ says that Mrs. Saumarez snapped
her up short--anyway, Mrs. S. gave her an answer. 'My late husband,'
said Mrs. S., 'was not in the British service!' And of course that
wasn't in her favour with the people whom she'd already snubbed."
"Um!" said Brent. There were many things in this retailing of gossip
that he wanted to think about at leisure. "Well," he added, after a
pause, "I dare say all sorts of small items help towards a solution,
Hawthwaite. But you're already busy about it."
"I'm not only busy, but actively so," replied the superintendent.
"And--again between you and me and nobody else--I'm expecting some very
special professional and expert assistance within the next few days. Oh,
you leave this to me, Mr. Brent, I'll run down your cousin's murderer or
murderess yet! Go you on with your articles--they're helpful, for
they're rousing public interest."
Brent went away and followed Hawthwaite's advice. His articles came out
in the _Monitor_ twice a week. Peppermore printed them in big type,
leaded, and gave them the most prominent place in the paper. He himself
was as proud of these uncompromising attacks on the municipal government
of Hathelsborough as if he had written them himself; the proprietor of
the _Monitor_ was placidly agreeable about them, for the simple reason
that after the first two had appeared the circulation of his journal
doubled, and after the next three was at least four times what it had
ever been before. Everybody in their immediate neighbourhood read and
discussed the articles; extracts from them were given in the county
papers; some of the London dailies began to lift them. Eventually a
local Member of Parliament asked a question about them in the House of
Commons. And one day Peppermore came rushing to Brent in a state of high
excitement.
"The pen _is_ mightier than the sword, Mr. Brent, sir, that's a fact,"
he gasped, tumbling headlong into Brent's room. "Heard the news, sir?
All through your articles!"
"Heard nothing," replied Brent. "What is it?"
"I had it from the Town Clerk just now, so it's gospel truth," replied
Peppermore. "The Local Government Board, sir, is, at last, moved to
action! It's going to send down an inspector--a real full-fledged
inspector! The Town Clerk is in a worse state of righteous indignation
than I ever saw a man, and as for Mayor Simon Crood, I understand his
anger is beyond belief. Mr. Brent, you've done it!"
But Brent was not so sure. He had some experience of Government
officials, and of official methods, and knew more of red tape than
Peppermore did. As for Tansley, who came in soon after, he was cynically
scornful.
"Local Government Board Inspector!" he exclaimed scoffingly. "Pooh! some
old fossil who'll come here--I'll tell you how! He'll ask for the
responsible authorities. That's Simon Crood and Company. He'll hear all
they've got to say. They'll say what they like. He'll examine their
documents. The documents will be all ready for him. Everything will be
nice and proper and in strict order, and every man will say precisely
what he's been ordered to say--and there you are! The Inspector will
issue his report that he's carefully examined everything and found all
correct, and the comedy will conclude with the farce of votes of thanks
all round! That's the line, Brent."
"Maybe!" said Brent. "And only maybe!"
"You're in a pessimistic vein, Mr. Tansley, sir," declared Peppermore.
"Sir, we're going to clean out the Augean stable!"
"Or perish in the attempt, eh, Peppermore?" retorted Tansley
good-humouredly. "All right, my lad! But it'll take a lot more than
_Monitor_ articles and Local Government Board inquiries to uproot the
ancient and time-honoured customs of Hathelsborough. _Semper eadem_,
Peppermore, _semper eadem_, that's the motto of this high-principled,
respectably ruled borough. Always the same--and no change."
"Except from bad to worse!" said Peppermore. "All right, sir; but
something's going to happen, this time."
Something did happen immediately following on the official announcement
of the Local Government Board inquiry, and it was Tansley who told Brent
of it.
"I say," he said, coming up to Brent in the street, "here's a queer
business--I don't know if you've heard of it. Mrs. Mallett's run away
from her husband! Fact! She's cleared clean out, and let it be known
too. Odd--mysteries seem to be increasing, Brent. What do you make of
it?"
Brent could make nothing of it. There might be many reasons why Mrs.
Mallett should leave her husband. But had this sudden retreat anything
to do with Mrs. Mallett's evidence at the inquest. He was speculating on
this when he got a request from Hawthwaite to go round at once to his
office. He responded immediately, to find the superintendent closeted
with Dr. Wellesley.