A week or so later I began to 会合，会う the Herr Kapit舅 here and there at 昼食 or at dinner. I suppose that he had his 秘かに調査するs poking their noses and their sharp ears into all sorts of places. Anyway, at one house, where I had been losing a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 of money, he took me aside for a drink and talked. It was absurd that there should be any 敵意 between the two countries. In fact, they could now help each other very かなり without 妥協ing each other's independence. Each country stood まず第一に／本来 for itself—that was （疑いを）晴らす. But; apart from that （疑いを）晴らす 原則, there were many smaller 適切な時期s of 相互の help. "For instance..." he began, and broke off as others approached us. He talked for a few minutes, and then said he must be off, for he had a busy day in 前線 of him. "I must get myself shaved, today," he said with a laugh as he smoothed his chin, and away he went. He had made an 任命 with me. That's what it （機の）カム to I had long since made up my mind that the barber's shop was a letter-box in which 秘かに調査するs could 地位，任命する their letters. But it was more than that. It was a house of assignation, and I felt that it was a 義務 to discover what the Herr Kapit舅 was up to.

But he wouldn't know my 動機 and it was like his impertinence to 推定する／予想する me. A curtain covered the doorway of Mr. Straws' 設立. It led into a passage at the 味方する of the shop, and a man was waiting in the passage. He marched off to the 支援する of the house without a word and, in a room too mean and undistinguished for a design so 広大な, a 提案 was made to me. The 破壊 of a race. The death of Egypt. Not by 爆撃するs or 爆弾s or 解雇する／砲火／射撃 but by subtler 武器s. ヘロイン, コカイン, hashish! Children would not be born, work would not be done, 餓死 would follow, and a decadent people would make place for the legions of the North.

I was dazzled. England would 株, of course, and England, in 与える／捧げるing the Dagger Line, could pull an oar. It was a nightmare turned into an idea. It was colossal. It was a prairie 解雇する／砲火／射撃 with its rolling smoke, its roar and its crackle and its glare, eating up the dead 乾燥した，日照りの grass. I walked out with a good fat cheque in my pocket and my 長，率いる up.

It wasn't so difficult. We had 貨物船s 同様に as 乗客 ships. I had served in both the South American and the Eastern 貿易（する）, and knew the 決まりきった仕事 of the ports. We shipped a good 取引，協定 of furniture, most of it sound, of course, but, betwixt and between, pieces which held a fortune. We had help, too. A 領事 would want a new 領事の outfit—not that he, good man, was ever aware of it. But the outfit would arrive all 権利 in a 罰金 big trunk and would be collected on the quay by a dragoman (of sorts) who could pass his stuff through the Customs without examination. いつかs it was a 事例／患者 of 調書をとる／予約するs, which never reached the library of the 大臣 who didn't 推定する／予想する it. We 選ぶd the 貨物 up in our small 貨物船s from surprising places. Sofia gave us—when I say gave, there was no giving in that 貿易（する）—a good 取引，協定 at ports in the east of Europe. But, of course, 公式文書，認めるs had to be written, かかわり合いs 定評のある, 領収書s sent. The 貿易（する）ing 法案s were all Sir Garnet, of course. But, keeping pace with those 法案s, there were more intimate acknowledgments to be made. My Herr Kapit舅 saw to that.

I don't think that I was careless. There was once a letter which I wrote in Pevensey 三日月 and which I thought that I had 地位，任命するd. I had a new servant just about then. There was another which was not received, a little too frank about some freight from Sofia which we were to 選ぶ up at Salonika. Those two letters worried me a little, and I got rid of my servant, thinking that the carelessness was his. Until one morning a message （機の）カム over the telephone from Horbury. It （機の）カム to Pevensey 三日月. He said that he had two 利益／興味ing 文書s upon which he would be honoured if I would give him my advice. I was alarmed. I didn't, know Horbury, but I knew that ゆすり，恐喝 was his 商売／仕事, and the fact that I was comfortably 支払う／賃金ing off my 負債s may 井戸／弁護士席 have attracted his attention. But I did know Olivia. I had met her at supper parties and at dances more than once. I couldn't believe that she had married that pigeon-toed old beetle for anything but his money. She was always 平易な to look at and she had moments of 広大な／多数の／重要な beauty. I had nursed an idea that one day, when I had a bit more time, we might see a good 取引，協定 more of one another. So I thought that it might be 慎重な if I 調査（する）d her a little before I answered Daniel.

So I called on her in her ormulu flat in Park 小道／航路 that afternoon. As a 支配する with women I have been 公正に／かなり astute. I have made my approaches with discretion and, on the whole, I have not been unfortunate. But this time I was out of breath, as it were, and I 急ぐd my 盗品故買者s.

She was difficult. I stammered a few love passages and she 供給（する）d with a kindly smile the words for which, in my passion, I was supposed to be at a loss. Disconcerting! I gave her my 私的な telephone number at the office and I told her that I gave it to very few, She wrote it 負かす／撃墜する carefully in a little 調書をとる／予約する, 説, "Harem, I suppose, is the operative word."

I asked her casually whether Daniel had spoken to her about me, and she replied "Oh, no," as if I were not nearly grown up enough to 利益／興味 Daniel. Then she gave me a cup of 中国 tea and a cucumber 挟む and sent me away. I せねばならない have left in a 激怒（する）, but I felt like a cat. If you say "Puss, puss, puss, lovely pussie," it just walks away, but if you pull its tail and turn your 支援する on it, it rubs itself against your 脚s. I began, in fact, to （犯罪の）一味 her up on my 私的な line.

But I had, にもかかわらず, to make an 任命 with Daniel. He had the 領収書 and the 詳細（に述べる）s of the 貨物 at Salonika, and there was no getting 一連の会議、交渉／完成する them. Horbury was formal and 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な. As a 立法議員, he had his 義務 to do. I must see that. He せねばならない send these papers straight to the Public 検察官，検事. But he had no wish to be hard, and if he sent them to Septimus, the 害（を与える） would be stopped, and I should escape a long 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 of penal servitude.

"'Why not say a stretch?" I 問い合わせd, foolishly disdainful.

"Because a stretch is only a year, and I couldn't 約束 you that," he answered.

"Boys will be boys," was his next line, "but happily you can't sin without 支払い（額）, or civilisation would be 負かす／撃墜する the drain." Oh, Daniel Horbury knew his stuff, and I left his office a slave. What I got from Herr Kapit舅 Peter I had to 支払う／賃金 to 立法議員 Paul, and the more the better. But that wasn't the worst of it...

Here Maltby 解除するd his 注目する，もくろむs from his manuscript.

"We can realise, without reading of it, the perpetual terror which George Crottle 耐えるd. So I come at once to his account of the Thursday night when he obeyed Horbury's 召喚するs and paid his first visit to White Barn."

Hanaud sat 今後 on the 辛勝する／優位 of his 議長，司会を務める; his perplexities were to be 解決するd. Mr. Ricardo saw the gulls 急襲するing and wheeling over Battersea 橋（渡しをする） on the sunlit morning when he drove out of London to Lordship 小道／航路. Maltby turned over a couple of typewritten pages of lamentations and 再開するd his tale.

CHAPTER 31

THE GRIM WORD

I didn't ーするつもりである 殺人. I had played with the grim word いつかs during the last months, no 疑問; and I had the blue-扱うd knife. I bought it a long time ago in Uruguay, and, 存在 at the age when what you want to do you want to do one 加える, I got proficient in throwing it. It had lain in an old box, but I got it out. Did you ever notice how many ありふれたs there are の近くに to London with small 支持を得ようと努めるd on them where you can wander most of the day and never 会合，会う a soul? I had 推論する／理由 to, for I acquired a greater proficiency than I had ever had. I could pin a （土地などの）細長い一片 of white paper 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the trunk of a tree, walk away with my knife in its sheath within my breast pocket, turn, and it seemed that as I flashed my 手渡す the white paper 分裂（する） and the knife was quivering in the bark. I carried it about with me always. But that was not because I definitely meant to use it, but because the 所有／入手 of it, the sense of it against my ribs, made me feel いっそう少なく paltry.

Of course the idea must have been in my mind. I had, in fact, 用意が出来ている a hidey-穴を開ける for myself in the West Country in 事例／患者 it should be necessary. But I had never 明確に表すd a time or a place or a 限定された point of the 対話 which I should reach before—before the collar of white paper 分裂（する）. Certainly I did not on this Thursday evening. For I took Preedy with me. Preedy was a smart, quick, sedulous small-職業 弁護士／代理人／検事 who had been very useful in resisting （人命などを）奪う，主張するs when I was in trouble and in settling them when I was better off. I had managed, in return, to slip him into the company's 事件／事情／状勢s. A few small 事例／患者s which he 扱うd very 井戸／弁護士席 did his 評判 a world of good. He was 充てるd to me, and I certainly should not have taken him to White Barn had I definitely meant to turn the grim word into fact. Indeed, he was so angry that I had 許すd myself to be ゆすり，恐喝d without 協議するing him, that I seldom について言及するd Horbury to him at all.

There's only one answer to the blackmailer—no answer. A lagging, like God's sunlight, hots it up for the blackmailer as 井戸／弁護士席 as the ゆすり，恐喝d, and the blackmailer knows it.

But this particular 召喚するs, made, of course, over the telephone to Pevensey 三日月, hinted at 相互の 利益s and a 解決／入植地. Preedy 手配中の，お尋ね者 to go first and look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する before I （機の）カム. We had neither of us visited White Barn before, but Horbury had given me the bearings so 正確に that a mistake could hardly be made. Preedy arrived in his small car a few minutes after half-past nine. A small garage stood on the left-手渡す 味方する of the house, but the door was locked and the little 中庭 was empty. A light, however, was 燃やすing in the hall and Preedy, leaving his car on the 権利 of the yard, rang the bell. The lock, he noticed, was of the Yale 肉親，親類d. A man who was undoubtedly, to Preedy's thinking, Horbury, opened the door and silently 熟視する／熟考するd a stranger.

"This is Mr. Horbury's house?" asked Preedy.

"But there's no fishing," said Daniel, and he began to の近くに the door.

"George has not arrived?" Preedy asked again quickly.

"No," said Horbury, "but we are 推定する／予想するing the Dragon along at any moment," and he の近くにd the door a little more.

"I am on the staff of the Dagger Line," Preedy hurried to explain, "and I am George Crottle's 私的な solicitor."

For a moment Daniel Horbury was 乱すd. Then his 直面する （疑いを）晴らすd and 分裂（する） with a grin.

"Upon my word," he said heartily, "in George's place I should have brought my solicitor with me, too. 一方／合間, come in and 会合，会う the wife."

Mr. Alan Preedy looked and looked again, and drew a 深い breath. Olivia laughed and blushed.

"I must apologise, Mrs. Horbury," said Preedy. "For the most honest compliment I have ever received," and then Preedy says, to the surprise of them both, he 解除するd up a finger.

"Crottle's here," he said 静かに, and with so much certainty that, after a moment of stupor, they began to peer into the corners of the room. Preedy smiled.

"He has just crossed the Turnpike Road into the 小道／航路."

"Has he now?" cried Horbury, suddenly, as he thought, 宙返り／暴落するing to the joke. He listened and nodded "He's wearing shoes with cr麪e 単独のs."

"He's 運動ing an Austin twelve," Preedy 訂正するd, and suddenly a small car drove into the 中庭 a stopped.

"My word!" said Horbury. He saw vistas of high service done for him by Alan Preedy. The man might hear the most 価値のある conversations from impossible distances. "You and I must have a talk, Mr. Preedy, one of these days," and, as if to 強調 the wish, the 前線-door bell rang はっきりと.

It was I who rang. The season was the season of 十分な moon, and a silver light, daylight almost without its harshness, made the world suave and nearly 肉親，親類d. Preedy's car stood to the 権利 of White Barn, and there was room for me to park 地雷 between his car and the door.

Horbury （機の）カム to the 前線 door. He did not 申し込む／申し出 to shake my 手渡す, but his 発言する／表明する cooed: "Your first visit to my 避難, Mr. Crottle? You'll hope, no 疑問, that it will be the last." He opened a cupboard by the 味方する of the 前線 door and I saw his light brown overcoat hanging on a peg. "What, no overcoat? You boys! Your friend Preedy's just the same. Wish I could 危険 it."

"So Preedy's before me?" I said as I hung my hat next to Horbury's overcoat.

"Yes, he's talking to Olivia in the garden-room."

I stood, a little startled. "Mrs. Horbury is here, too?"

Horbury nodded his 長，率いる. "She knows nothing of our little secret and there'll be no necessity to go into 詳細（に述べる）s. But I'm no chauffeur, and the より小数の people who know of our 会合 here, the better. Olivia drove me 負かす／撃墜する. Romantic, eh? 支援する to the old house in the 郊外s! We shall sleep here to-night after you have gone. Just the two of us in the empty house. Beautiful!" And he reached up and snapped the light off in the hall. Horbury's little speech was 法外なd in malice and the grin on his 直面する was impish. He stood very still in the 黒人／ボイコット hall, listening to me breathing and no 疑問 savouring it with enjoyment. Playing with 解雇する／砲火／射撃? No, but with a long, 激しい, blue-扱うd knife. No 疑問 it was very tempting.

"Might I hear what you have to say to me?" I said 静かに. "The nut, after all, can't be 推定する／予想するd to enjoy the 割れ目s of the crackers, even if they are wisecracks."

Horbury threw open the door of the lighted garden room.

"Beautiful, you know Mr. George Crottle, don't you," said Horbury with a chuckle. "Isn't it a 不名誉 to me that you thought of this wonderful 指名する for Olivia before I did?"

He knelt 負かす／撃墜する by the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and warmed his 手渡すs. "Chilly, these nights," he said as he stood up again. I didn't answer. On the 床に打ち倒す, by the 味方する of a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, a small chart was pinned on a board. But I wasn't curious about that. I saw Olivia come 今後 from her corner. She was dressed in a 黒人／ボイコット gown of satin with a short coat of white ermine which, as the room grew warm, she had thrown open. Against the background of fur, the slender white neck and throat rose from the 黒人／ボイコット gown, too slender, it seemed, for even that small 長，率いる with its 激しい coronal of hair. She was as delicate to the 注目する，もくろむ as 磁器, rose-white, with the velvet of the crimson rose upon her lips, a creature of health and 解雇する／砲火／射撃. And I hated her. So they've made a joke of me! Robbed me and laughed at me. A harlequin on a string—that's what I am; and やめる slowly I slid my left 手渡す 負かす／撃墜する the breast of my jacket. The 慰安ing hard feel! Beautiful? Yes, she was at that moment, with a look of 関心 upon her 直面する and question in her 注目する，もくろむs. Very likely she knew nothing of this ゆすり，恐喝ing 商売／仕事, knew only that I made love to her and laughed at me for my 苦痛s. I think that I began to hate her at that moment.

"You go over there, Beautiful," said Horbury, "and smoke a cigarette whilst I have a word or two with these gentlemen."

Olivia moved away to a cushioned 議長，司会を務める at the corner of the 塀で囲む. Horbury 招待するd me to a seat on the divan and sat himself on a 議長，司会を務める with its 支援する to the 塀で囲む and with the little （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in 前線 of him with a blotting-調書をとる／予約する upon it—a lady's blotting-調書をとる／予約する from a 郊外の 製図／抽選 room. Buhl and mother-of-pearl. Preedy—you have to take 公式文書，認める of him, if you please—he 設立する a 議長，司会を務める with 武器 like the 議長，司会を務める at Horbury's （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, a good 議長，司会を務める of Chinese Chippendale with a seat of crimson brocade, and moved it a little so that he sat with his 支援する to the 塀で囲む on the 味方する of the fireplace opposite to Horbury. Thus all three, Preedy, Horbury and Olivia, were sitting in a 平行の, 直面するing the garden windows. I alone sat with my 支援する to them. Not that that 事柄d, for the blinds were pulled 負かす／撃墜する and the curtains drawn across them. Horbury, Preedy and I, on the other 手渡す, made an isosceles triangle, of which I was the apex, Preedy and Horbury the angles at the base.

Horbury then told us the story of Bryan Devisher, which Preedy, with his lawyer's 注目する，もくろむ for facts, condensed into a few 宣告，判決s.

"There was a lady with a very rich husband in a very big house in the Bayswater Road. She loved the graceful Bryan, and he pinched her pearls, lovely pearls, milk and moonlight. This, remember, was before the Japs had taught the oyster their barbarous efficiency. He sold the pearls to a French jeweller. I think he tried the usual trick of 代用品，人ing a lump of coal, but it didn't work. Where the cash went, it is, perhaps, not necessary to 明言する／公表する."

"And how do you know all this?" Horbury exclaimed, startled.

"The lady who loved so unwisely brought her secrets to me in the Gray's Inn Road," Preedy returned.

"And you advised her.."

"To make a clean breast of it to her husband." He smiled idiotically. "A happy metaphor, what?"

"You mean, you advised her to 自白する to her husband that she had loved and been robbed?"

"I did," said Preedy, and I blew a long whistle of derision.

"I hope," he said with dignity, "that I should give the same 訂正する advice to erring wives on all occasions. But I am bound to 収容する／認める that there were special 推論する／理由s in this 事例／患者. Devisher had been spirited away; and although strong 疑惑s pointed to 確かな people, there wasn't actual 証拠."

"And she took your advice?" I asked.

"She did. There was the usual uproar. The police were called in. The husband was going to have a 離婚, a resonant, 粉々にするing 離婚. Wasn't he just? Then it died 負かす／撃墜する. The pearls （機の）カム 支援する, you see. The French jeweller had to give them up, since that's the 法律. Then the husband recollected that he had run out of the course once or twice himself and that he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to get into 議会 and reckoned that it wouldn't help to let the electors see what his wife thought of him. Finally （機の）カム an evening when he had a good dinner, and a successful game of 橋（渡しをする）, when his wife looked her best in her prettiest frock, and we （犯罪の）一味 負かす／撃墜する the curtain on a 国内の scene."

"And what has all this to do with me?" I cried.

"Wait, sir, if you please," said Preedy, and then, "Ah!" as Horbury stooped and 選ぶd up the chart from the 床に打ち倒す.

Horbury ちらりと見ることd again at Alan Preedy in surprise. "Then you know of this, too?' he asked, （電話線からの）盗聴 the ebony board.

"Yes."

"How?"

"Hanaud, the French 探偵，刑事, called on me at five-thirty this afternoon. He （機の）カム straight from Victoria 駅／配置する. But continue, please! My friend's impatient?"

Daniel Horbury 述べるd the 旅行 of El Rey. "I 示すd on this chart, from Lloyd's 報告（する）／憶測s, the harbours at which the ship 発射する／解雇するd its 望ましくないs. It signalled Prawle Point at six this morning and will 発射する／解雇する her English （製品，工事材料の）一回分 at Gravesend to-morrow morning. One of that （製品，工事材料の）一回分 is Bryan Devisher."

He stood up and, laying the flat of his left 手渡す upon the blotting-調書をとる／予約する as if he needed its support, took from the mantelshelf a thin little dark blue 調書をとる／予約する. When he sat 負かす／撃墜する again he was aware of a change in the room, a 緊張, a greater depth in the silence. He looked はっきりと に向かって me and saw that my 注目する，もくろむs were 直す／買収する，八百長をするd with more than a little 関心 upon Preedy. He had been sitting up straight and 公正に／かなり stiff against the 塀で囲む, but was, now stiffer than ever and 孤立した into some 孤独 of his own. His 直面する was shuttered, his 注目する，もくろむs blank, he gave me the impression of some lonely lighted house in the country which has suddenly gone 黒人／ボイコット at the distant wail of a 警告.

"You weren't listening to me?" cried Horbury 概略で.

He 明白に liked to be listened to, as a Member of 議会 should be. Preedy's 注目する，もくろむs—I can't say opened—for they were open before, but they lived again and a smile took the severity from his 直面する and 深くするd the wrinkles at the corners of his mouth.

"Believe me, I was listening," said Preedy. "You are 提案するing a 取引，協定, I think?"

Horbury leaned 支援する in his 議長，司会を務める. "You are quick, Mr. Preedy."

"We have to be in the Gray's Inn Road." he retorted. "You want a cabin."

"Yes."

"On the Dagger Line."

"Yes."

"For Bryan Devisher?"

"As soon as can be."

"Whither?"

"I don't mind as long as it's far away and there's a 職業 for him at the end of it," said Horbury.

"On the Company's staff?"

"That would be 望ましい," said Daniel Horbury.

"And what do you 申し込む／申し出 in return?"

Horbury's replies had been thought out, but they were no quicker than Preedy's questions, which （機の）カム 動揺させるing on the answers like the sharp bursts of a machine-gun. Horbury relaxed now, smiling contentedly. "Ah There we are!" he said.

"Are we?"

"To be sure."

Daniel had no 疑問s. If there was no 切望 in Preedy's 直面する, there was enough of it in 地雷.

"I 提案する that a couple of letters which, if I had 厳密に regarded my 義務 to my country, I should have sent to the Public 検察官，検事, but which I have 演説（する）／住所d to Mr. Septimus Crottle, should be 手渡すd over for 配達／演説／出産 to Mr. George Crottle."

I interrupted here with a good 取引，協定 too much fervour to please my solicitor Preedy.

"We have a ship the 郡保安官, sailing from Southampton at five o'clock to-morrow afternoon. We have a cabin or two 解放する／自由な. One of the 会社／堅い usually goes to Southampton to see the 会社／堅い's ship off, and it's my turn to-morrow."

No 疑問 I was a little too ready to agree. I was indeed ready to 招待する the unknown Devisher, to travel in my car to Southampton, when Preedy 反対するd: "Even so, he'll want a new パスポート, won't he?"

Daniel Horbury 手渡すd him the small blue 調書をとる／予約する. Preedy turned it over and opened it.

"The photograph was taken more than six years ago," agreed Horbury.

"When you sent him gun-running to Venezuela," Preedy replied. He turned to the page with the photograph and nodded his 長，率いる.

"Yes, I 推定する／予想する that that will get him on board, 特に if he モーターs with you."

He gave me a nod and a smile. There was, after all, very little which got by Alan Preedy. But he had, にもかかわらず, not done with his difficulties. "But will he go? There's no 事例／患者 against him. The pearls are 支援する, the wife and husband reconciled."

"But he doesn't know that," said Horbury. "Besides, the Frenchman's here, you said."

"Yes."

"事実上の／代理 for Gravot of the Place Vend?e."

Again Preedy grinned at Horbury. "I see you know the 指名する all 権利. Curious, isn't it?" But Horbury was not the sort of man to be 感情を害する／違反するd by a little sarcasm. He didn't even blush, and Preedy continued. "Hanaud says Gravot has 冷静な／正味のd 負かす／撃墜する, too. He doesn't want any 国外逃亡犯人の引渡し. He wants his cash 支援する."

"But Devisher doesn't know that either. Besides, he probably hasn't got a farthing, and a pleasant 巡航する on a tip-最高の，を越す liner with a comfortable 平易な 職業 at the end of it—not too bad," Horbury explained anxiously. "その上の," and he looked 負かす／撃墜する at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and 追加するd with a hard 公式文書，認める in his 発言する／表明する, "he's obnoxious to me."

Preedy laughed.

"Obnoxious is an excellent word. A dandy of a word. All 権利! When you を引き渡す to me the letter to Septimus Crottle..."

"On the quay-味方する."

"I see."

Preedy tucked the パスポート away in his pocket. "You'll go 負かす／撃墜する by yourself?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll go in George's car and を引き渡す the パスポート to Devisher as you 手渡す the letter to George."

Horbury beamed. "Good!" he cried. He sprang up from his 議長，司会を務める and, still supporting himself with the flat of his left 手渡す, took a cigar from the mantelshelf and bit off the end.

"The ship is the 郡保安官," I said, and I gave the number of the quay at which she 寝台／地位d.

Horbury took a pen from his waistcoat pocket, 解除するd a tiny corner of the blotting-調書をとる／予約する and wrote the 指名する 郡保安官 upon it. Then he put the pen away in his pocket, lit the cigar and blew a （犯罪の）一味 of smoke into the 空気／公表する.

"There!" he said, a man conscious of a rather virtuous day's work. "Now it's all Sir Garnet."

I suppose that since I have already used it, I got that old phrase from him. Anyway, he 倍のd his fat 武器 across his chest and concentrated on blowing 正確に／まさに 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd （犯罪の）一味s of smoke into the 空気／公表する. I 推定する／予想する that he was wondering why we didn't get up from our 議長，司会を務めるs, say "Until to-morrow, by the 郡保安官," and take our leave. I was wondering that, too, but, after all, if you bring a solicitor with you, you're a 襲う，襲って強奪する if you don't use him. I watched Preedy. He sat stiff and straight against the 塀で囲む and looked as if he didn't mean to move until the Day of Judgment. He was puzzled, too, and annoyed. Finally he seemed to ゆらめく up.

"What I don't understand, Mr. Horbury, is why all the flummery? Why all the pretence? Surely we can 直す／買収する，八百長をする everything now and have done with it?"

"My dear fellow!" cried Horbury. "My dear fellow!" and even to me, Preedy at that moment seemed a daunting 人物／姿／数字. He sat up so inhumanly straight, he spoke with so impersonal a トン, he gazed with so unwinking a 星／主役にする across the room. One of the gods or kings from the Old Nile come 支援する to sit in judgment.

"My dear fellow, I wouldn't of course bring those letters here, no, not I!" And the way in which he held tightly 圧力（をかける）d against each other the covers of his blotting-調書をとる／予約する 証明するd to me that there was a good 取引，協定 more than the word '郡保安官' between the leaves.

I couldn't help wondering for a moment whether, for all his 有効性, I had been wise to bring Preedy. If Horbury and I had been alone, those infernal letters might already have been in the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and an order for a cabin on the 郡保安官 in Horbury's pocket. But we were two men against one, and the 支配するs of the game which we were playing 除外するd neither 暴力／激しさ nor any 肉親，親類d of treachery.

"They are 安全に locked away where they can't be 設立する," he exclaimed with a slobbering sort of laugh, and Preedy 削減（する） in across his words very 静かに now.

"I wasn't thinking of your bits of paper," he said.

He moved at last. It was curiously startling to see. His 長，率いる turned 一連の会議、交渉／完成する until he 直面するd Horbury and he asked, with the annoyance most people feel when they see someone 複雑にするing a perfectly simple question: "Why on earth don't you let him in?"

In reply to Horbury's look of bewilderment, he stretched out an arm with his forefinger pointed に向かって the curtained windows across the room. Even then no one except Olivia at once understood. She had been sitting not far away, forgotten in the 緊急 of our 取引，協定, but 警報 to each step of it and to the three characters who were 行為／行うing it. She rose from her 議長，司会を務める and turned に向かって us. Was there something 保護の in her 態度? In her mere rising from her 議長，司会を務める? Something which （疑いを）晴らすd the 霧 from Daniel's brain? His 注目する，もくろむs followed the line of Preedy's arm, straight as a 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 to the finger's end.

"Let who in?"

"Devisher."

Horbury tried to scoff. "Rubbish!" he cried, and laughed, but the laugh was more of a sob of 苦悩 than a laugh. "Devisher is at this moment 宙返り／暴落するing up and 負かす／撃墜する in an old アイロンをかける ship off Beachy 長，率いる" and then in an 控訴，上告 for 確定／確認, "Isn't that true?"

Preedy's answer （機の）カム at once, not to be 否定するd; and the very gentleness of his 発言する／表明する made it more than ever implacable. "I have heard the footsteps of a man for the last half-hour. I could almost draw a 地図／計画する of your garden from the sound of them."

No other words could have so 影響する／感情d Horbury. They were the 減少（する）s in the 研究室／実験室 phial which change in a second the red to blue. Terror swept over him. He saw a panther slinking, padding his garden paths, waiting for the guests to go—Devisher. It was one thing to send an スパイ／執行官 to Gravesend who would 約束 補償（金）, （人命などを）奪う，主張する El Rey's 乗客 as his friend, 包む him in the favour of a Member of 議会 and bring him along to King Street, St. James's, in 幅の広い daylight. It was やめる another thing to find him hiding in this 静かな garden for a 独房監禁 interview with him in an empty house. Horbury uttered a little screech and his 直面する turned yellow. The whole 事例／患者ing of the man 崩壊（する）d, his small mouth dropped open—it looked horrid, obscene, and his 注目する，もくろむs could not turn from the curtains.

There was no 疑問 why he was afraid. He had sent Devisher out of the country and then betrayed him to that soft-hearted man, the 独裁者 of Venezuela. He had imagined himself 解放する／自由な of him until the Judgment Day and here he was in the moonlit garden of White Barn with six years of the Castillo del Libertador behind him. I had never seen so much 恐れる made 明白な. And I enjoyed it! My word, how I enjoyed it!

"You are afraid, Mr Daniel Horbury," I said with a chuckle of 楽しみ "You don't mind 直面するing a 団体／死体 of 株主s かわきing for your 血. A mellifluous 発言する／表明する and silky-smooth words, and they want to give you what you've left them. But one man with a 汚い account to settle, waiting in a lonely garden—that's やめる a different 事件／事情／状勢."

And 静かに, just as 静かに as Preedy talked, Olivia （機の）カム across the room to Horbury's 味方する.

"持つ／拘留する your tongue," she said to me.

Why couldn't she stay in her corner? It wasn't her 商売／仕事 we were discussing. She had been told to stay there. But he was throwing out his left 手渡す to her and she took it and held it and willed him to 抵抗.

"井戸／弁護士席, if he is here—I don't see how he can be—yes, we had better get him in," he quavered, "whilst we're all together. Then, when we've settled everything, Mr. Preedy, perhaps, will take him 支援する to town."

Nobody said a word. Nobody 疑問d that somehow, translated from the moonlit Channel, Devisher was waiting in the moonlit garden. Olivia put an end to the 緊張. She uttered a little cry of 反乱. "I can't 耐える it!"

Preedy's arm fell straight to his 味方する—a 決定／判定勝ち（する） given and not to be gainsaid. Olivia moved—did she ever walk?—across the room to the curtains.

"Let us make やめる sure first," Horbury quavered.

"You must put out the lights, then."

"Oh, no," Horbury wailed, but no one took any notice of him at all.

There was but the one switch to 支配（する）／統制する all the lights in the room, although, here and there, the 塀で囲むs were plugged for 基準 lamps, and that switch was at the 味方する of the door into the hall. I stood up and, after turning 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, walked to the door. It was 始める，決める in the 塀で囲む at a 権利-angle to the garden 塀で囲む. I turned. Preedy still sat stiff against his 塀で囲む like the effigy of a god. Horbury had been smoking a cigar when the 警告 of Devisher's presence had stunned him. The cigar had fallen from his mouth and bounced upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. He had put it into his mouth again and, just in order to do something, was 製図／抽選 upon it, though only the tiniest grey spirals of vapour curled up from an 辛勝する／優位 and the end was as 黒人／ボイコット as that ebony board on which the chart was 直す／買収する，八百長をするd.

Olivia stood by the curtains. "Wait! The 解雇する／砲火／射撃," she said.

"It is out," I answered, but the grate was obscured from me by the 支援する of the divan.

"Then go!" Olivia ordered, and I turned 負かす／撃墜する the switch. But I had been wrong about the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. As the 不明瞭 fell, one of the スピードを出す／記録につけるs sent 前へ／外へ a little spurt of 炎上 which 強化するd into a flickering 炎 and gleamed upon the white 天井 and sparkled in every polished パネル盤 in the room. I heard a small gasp of 救済 from Horbury—how he was petrified by this ordeal!—and though I took no 在庫／株 of it, I noticed that the spiral of smoke from his 黒人／ボイコット cigar was a trifle heavier.

The スピードを出す／記録につける moved in the grate, the spurt of 炎上 died altogether, the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 was out and the last glimpse of Daniel Horbury was gone.

"Now," Olivia whispered.

Without letting one （犯罪の）一味 動揺させる upon the 政治家, she drew the curtains apart so that one パネル盤 of the long glass door was exposed from the lintel to the ground. A thin curtain of brown linen hung over it and the moon made of it a sheet of silver and dappled the 床に打ち倒す about its 辛勝する／優位s with pools of silver, but left the hollow of the room 黒人／ボイコット with the depth of a Rembrandt.

Except for the 影をつくる／尾行するs of some boughs of the oak trees in the meadow beyond the garden, the 審査する was blank. Yet so 完全に had Preedy taken the mastery of our minds that no one 持つ／拘留するing his breath in the 不明瞭 of the room 疑問d that he had only to wait ーするために see it 占領するd.

One could not see or hear Olivia move, but a sharp click rang like a ピストル 発射 through the 不明瞭. She had 打ち明けるd the glass door. Again one could not see or hear Olivia move, but I know now that without touching 議長，司会を務める or （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する she slipped 支援する to her seat in the corner of the room. I remained by the light switch at the angle, and suddenly a 人物／姿／数字 was on the blind, to me at all events it looked gigantic and grotesque. Daniel Horbury yelped—there is no other word for the sharp, queer cry of 苦痛 which broke from him. But the 人物／姿／数字 前進するd and the nearer it （機の）カム, the いっそう少なく formidably supernatural it became. It was now no more than a 抱擁する man, clumsy but dangerous still, for it lurched this way and that, a night bird scouting for a 犠牲者. And now, as he 前進するd yet nearer, he was slender as a 青年 and his twistings mere hesitation and timidity. He wore a felt hat and, since his 支援する was に向かって the moon, it was impossible to distinguish his features. As if he were tired of waiting for the cars in the 法廷，裁判所 yard to take their 出発, he （機の）カム 今後 on tiptoe across a gravel path and laid his ear against the glass pane of the door. 満足させるd, 明らかに, that the room was empty, he tried the 扱う and the glass door swung open at his touch. He stepped over the threshold silently and easily into—of course—an empty room.

"Who's there?"

This wasn't the challenge of the buccaneer. His 発言する／表明する was a whisper, his question an 控訴，上告.

"Devisher!" cried Horbury.

No one answered him. But Bryan Devisher had not spent six years in the dungeons of the Castillo del Libertador for nothing. He knew his mistake as soon as he had made it. There were others in the room besides Horbury. He sprang to one 味方する out of that picture でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる of moonlight.

"This is a 罠（にかける）, what?"

And, by the most wondrous luck, Horbury's cigar glowed red. He had puffed and drawn the 黒人／ボイコット thing into life, unaware of what he was doing. Devisher flung the curtains across the glass door. There was no 警告を与える about the （犯罪の）一味s on the 政治家 this time. They 動揺させるd like all the clogs on the French market 石／投石するs. His 発言する／表明する changed to 怒り／怒る.

"A 罠（にかける）!" he repeated.

Oh, it was Devisher—and my 広大な／多数の／重要な moment. Never did I deserve it. He dashed for the door, の近くに at my 味方する, stopped, searched for the 扱う, breathing hard. And 正確に then, with one movement, as I had been taught, I tore the knife from its sheath and flung it. It sped true, true, true, with a hiss. For the fraction of a second I saw it by the light of Horbury's cigar curve 負かす／撃墜する and inwards and take him by the throat. I heard a horrible gurgle, a 激しい 落ちる of a 激しい 団体／死体 upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, a jet like a fountain bursting, and a 燃やすing cigar 述べるd a circle in the 空気／公表する. But I had my own to do. Devisher was dragging and scuffling at the door. He had forgotten, in his absence of more than six years the 高さ of the 扱う from the ground and whether the door opened inwards or outwards. I grappled with him, the 血 殺到するing in every vein. I was 解放する／自由な from the old rogue with the lovely 発言する／表明する and the silky-smooth words and the cruelty of a cat.

"No, you don't!" I cried. "You don't get away like that! No, sir!"

But I 設立する the 扱う for him nonetheless, and tore open the door. He had shaken me off and flung himself through the doorway in a trice. I didn't make it very difficult for him. He was as panic-stricken as old dead Demosthenes Junior had been, but he kept his wits and, once he was out in the hall, he slammed the door hard and locked us all in. In the sudden silence, 減少（する）-減少（する）-減少（する）, 手段d like the 減少（する）s from a 薬／医学 瓶／封じ込める, pattered on the 床に打ち倒す. Olivia's 発言する／表明する rose in a 叫び声をあげる.

"Lights! Lights! Lights!"

Never did Hamlet's uncle call for them so 熱望して. I turned the switch and the room sprang to light.

Preedy stooped, 選ぶd up a 燃やすing cigar from the mat and 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd it into the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. So far as I remember, that was the third movement he had made during that evening.

CHAPTER 32

COUNTERPLOTS

Olivia was 近づく to the centre of the room when the lights were turned on. Horbury's 甚だしい／１２ダース 団体／死体 had fallen 今後 over the blotting-調書をとる／予約する and the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, but in his panic he had drawn its 脚s so tightly to him as a defence that he was wedged in his 議長，司会を務める. His 長，率いる was turned に向かって me, so that she could not see the 負傷させる at his throat. But the pool of 血 upon the 床に打ち倒す and the blue-扱うd knife amongst it could have left her in no 疑問 of his death. She did not touch him but she covered her 直面する with her 手渡すs, and then, taking them away, said in a pitiful 静かな 発言する／表明する: "Daniel! Oh, Daniel!"

I was 傷つける by her 控訴，上告. You may think that unimportant, but I was. It sounded as if a child were complaining of some 不正 and asking for it to be explained to her; and explained by the one man who would never explain anything any more—not even to an 議会 of 株主s in the 大砲 Street Hotel who 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know where their （株主への）配当s had gone to. Did I utter some sort of cry? I don't know, but I felt that her 直面する turned suddenly に向かって me. In a fluster I 動揺させるd the 扱う of the door.

"He has locked us in."

As I spoke I heard the whirr of an engine starting. And a car turned to the left out of the 中庭 and raced 負かす／撃墜する to the Turnpike Road, the noise of the engine dwindling as it went.

"He has locked us all in together," she said, and it seemed to me that a cruel, bitter little smile for a second on her lips. "There has been 殺人 done. We must （犯罪の）一味 up the police."

She was walking 支援する に向かって the telephone on the long （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する の近くに to the corner in which she had been sitting, when once more Preedy took 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金.

"Wait, please, Mrs. Horbury!"

Olivia stopped and turned. "Why? There has been 殺人 done."

Again she looked straight at me. Did she know? Yes, but by nothing she had seen or heard. Perhaps her soul had （人命などを）奪う，主張するd the truth from me and 地雷 had been 軍隊d to answer. My secret was hers, too, I felt やめる sure, and fortunately Preedy was there to stand between us.

"殺人, if you will," he said 明確に. "He has stolen one of our cars, Crottle's or 地雷." There was a look of bewilderment in Olivia's 注目する，もくろむs "This man, Devisher, Bryan Devisher," Preedy explained. "But he can't get far. If you telephone now, he may very likely be caught within the hour. And then, of course, nothing could save him. He had 苦しむd damnably—I am sorry to say it here and now—at Horbury's 手渡すs. If ever a man had a 動機 to take the 法律 into his 手渡すs, Bryan Devisher had."

"Bryan Devisher?" she repeated thoughtfully.

"He has come straight from South America. I suppose that he had planned somehow to arrive a day before his time. He waits in the garden of a house he knew, no 疑問 井戸／弁護士席, in olden days, until he thinks the coast is （疑いを）晴らす. He uses a South American way of adjusting his wrongs and, as you said, locks us all in together and bolts."

"Bryan Devisher?" Olivia repeated. When she used the 指名する before she had been bewildered. Now she was realising how 正確に／まさに he fitted the niche which was 存在 built for him—Bryan Devisher, 殺害者.

"Yes, no 疑問 he can be caught, tried, hanged. It is as you will."

Olivia looked at Preedy. She transferred her thoughts to him. He was now the antagonist, not I.

"You see," he went on, speaking reasonably, "Crottle and I are here. We are the 証言，証人／目撃するs. We saw Horbury in a panic. We saw Devisher come into the room with the moonlight behind him. We heard the swish of the knife, the struggle of George Crottle to 逮捕（する） him, the slamming of the door, and the 重要な turned in the lock."

How could she fight all this 証拠? But she stood where she was, giving no ground.

"But why were we here?" he 再開するd. "George Crottle and Preedy, his lawyer. What were we doing at White Barn on this night? We shall be asked. And we shall have to answer."

"What will you answer?"

The question was stubborn and resentful. It matched her white, still 直面する, the upright 反抗 of her 姿勢.

"The truth," answered Preedy. "We were ゆすり，恐喝d. The wickedest 罪，犯罪 in the Calendar of 司法（官）. Worse than 殺人, 裁判官s say. More cruel, more"—and his 発言する／表明する dropped a little out of consideration for her, but lost 非，不，無 of its 決意—"more mean."

Her 長，率いる flashed up in 反乱 against the word and dropped again.

"If it's not 殺人, then, what is it?" she asked.

"自殺."

It was a hard choice and Preedy left it so. The 決定／判定勝ち（する） must be hers. She stood and 転換d a foot, に引き続いて the pattern of the carpet whilst she made it, She might 告発する／非難する me, of course. I could see the thought in her mind as she 解除するd a 反抗的な 直面する に向かって me. But, if I had planned 殺人, should I have brought my lawyer with me to see it done? Devisher was so much the more obvious 犯罪の and usually the obvious 犯罪の is the 権利 犯罪の. Moreover, she wouldn't want the wrong man to go to the scaffold and she wouldn't want to listen to a true story of ゆすり，恐喝 by Daniel and the 裁判官's comments upon it. She suddenly sat 負かす／撃墜する upon a 議長，司会を務める as though her 膝s failed her.

"He was very good to me," she said in a whisper, her 長，率いる 屈服するd, her 手渡すs clasped together. And the 戦う／戦い was over.

"We must have the door 打ち明けるd," said Preedy briskly. "Perhaps Mrs. Horbury will do it, since you have a 重要な."

Olivia looked blank until Preedy pointed out that she would have to go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する by the garden and let herself in at the 前線 door.

"Oh, yes."

She fetched her handbag from the 議長，司会を務める in the corner and took from it a bunch of 重要なs. She thrust the curtain aside and the moonlit garden seemed to be waiting for her.

"There was once a tree spoiling all the prospect," she said with a little break in her 発言する／表明する. "Oh, not a beech tree, but just a ごくわずかの Scotch モミ, and I had it 削減（する） 負かす／撃墜する, so that the 注目する，もくろむs travel without 疲労，（軍の）雑役 across the lawn to a sunk 盗品故買者 and beyond that over the long meadow to the Turnpike Road. I had a curious sense of freedom when the tree had gone."

She stood looking out and behind her the 血 from Horbury's throat which had splashed upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する began again to slip from its polished surface. Again it fell slowly and horribly, one and one and one. The sound seemed to hush all the world so that it might be heard the better. Olivia's 直面する was 新たな展開d with 苦痛. She turned and flung the words at Preedy.

"Do you hear? You with the quick ears? Doesn't each 減少（する） cry aloud for vengeance?"

"I'm thinking of the cost of vengeance," he replied, "to all of us. To you. And even to him."

Olivia turned 支援する to the window. I think that she saw Horbury alive and in the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる, 宣告，判決d. For she whispered, more to herself than to either of us: "Day after endless day. The 見通し—this—" and she reached out her 手渡す に向かって the meadows and the trees, "狭くするing with each year until it 消えるd."

She spoke as if you could punish a dead 団体／死体. Then she did the last thing I 手配中の，お尋ね者 her to do. She took the 重要な of the door from the small （犯罪の）一味 of 重要なs which she held. She 申し込む／申し出d it, 向こうずねing in the palm of her 手渡す, to Preedy.

"One of you. I stay with my man."

There was a gleam of 賞賛 of her in Preedy's 注目する，もくろむs, and when he 屈服するd to her, as he did, it was, I think, as much to 隠す a little smile of 敗北・負かす as to 認める her words with 尊敬（する）・点.

"You, George," he said to me, and Olivia turned her 手渡す above an 時折の （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. As she walked away from it に向かって her dead husband's 味方する, the 重要な tinkled on the mahogany surface.

I took it, went out by the garden door and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する by a little path to the 前線 of the house. I noticed that it was my small car, the one nearest to the 前線 door, which Devisher had taken. Then I let myself in. But I didn't すぐに return to the garden-room. One Yale latch-重要な is like another, and I had in my pocket one which fitted the drawer of my desk. I compared the pair by the hall lamp, but it would not do to 交流 them. Olivia's 重要な was 示すd by three scratches at intervals, 地雷 had no 手がかり（を与える）s to 所有権 at all. I put my own 重要な 支援する in my pocket. The cupboard door stood open. My hat hung on a peg next to Horbury's coat. I took the sheath of the knife from my coat breast pocket and, after wiping it clean, put it into the pocket of Horbury's coat. On 打ち明けるing the door of the garden-room I saw Preedy busily polishing the furniture でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるs and the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs.

"You sat at the corner of that divan all the time," he said to me.

"Yes."

He began to enumerate the places where 指紋s might have been 設立する of others besides Horbury and Olivia—the garden-door and the door into the hall for instance.

"There's the outside of the door into the hall," he said. "Devisher will have left the palm of his 手渡す upon the パネル盤s."

"Yes."

I had a picture of Devisher slamming the door and locking us in. I turned に向かって it, and Olivia said: "You will leave my 重要な, please."

I dropped her latchkey on the same （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する which she had used. ポーランドの（人）ing the outer パネル盤s with the door half open, I saw her identify her 重要な and 取って代わる it on its （犯罪の）一味. I drew a breath of 救済 that I had not tried to 代用品，人 a 重要な of my own for hers.

"There, I think that will do. Now it remains—a rather gruesome 商売／仕事, I am afraid—to make a tableau which the police can 再建する in the morning."

Olivia drew 支援する with a shiver. "Oh, no!"

"Must!" cried Preedy, and for the first time 概略で. "It's getting late. We can't go on 前進するing and 退却／保養地ing. We are not dancing the Lancers."

He approached her impatiently, almost threateningly. I suppose that from the other 味方する I の近くにd in upon her. For she looked at me はっきりと and then 支援する again at the 始める，決める and 静かな features of Preedy. 静かな they were, but there was now a menace in the room, a 冷気／寒がらせる.

"There have been 協定／条約s, 港／避難所't there?" said Preedy.

"協定／条約s?"

She was really bewildered.

"Don't ask me to take you for a fool. You understand 井戸／弁護士席 enough. 協定／条約s. The 検死官s' 法廷，裁判所s are 十分な of them."

Her 注目する，もくろむs opened wide. She looked at Preedy. She looked at me. I think that we must both by now have been standing やめる の近くに to her.

"自殺 協定／条約s," she said with a little 滞る in her 発言する／表明する. But she didn't move, not a foot, not a 手渡す. I don't think it would have been lucky for her if she had. We were all three as motionless as effigies. All three might move as sedately or as violently as the 陰謀（を企てる） 需要・要求するd, but not one alone. No, indeed. But I believed, I still believe, that if she had been 絶対 確かな that I and not the innocent Devisher would be 罪人／有罪を宣告するd of the 殺人, she would have taken her 危険s of us and let Horbury's ゆすり，恐喝ing be exposed. But she had no such certainty. Whatever she might say, the 証拠 pointed to Devisher and not to me.

"Then that's settled," said Preedy. "We all three have the same secret to hide. Will you bring the little （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する—yes, the one from which you took your 重要な, and 始める，決める it between the corner of the divan and—井戸／弁護士席, here?"

He pointed to Horbury.

"Now, please sit on the divan, your 手渡す perhaps on the end so as to leave your prints."

He then asked her where the シャンペン酒, the famous Pommery '06, was kept. He left us together, and I can't remember a period more embarrassing. But, in truth, he worked quickly. He （機の）カム 支援する with two goblets of thin glass which Horbury 影響する／感情d. One was half 十分な, and that he placed on the 時折の （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する by Olivia. The other he 始める，決める on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する over which Horbury lay. There was just room for it. He had a cloth in his 手渡す and he wiped away from the glasses all traces of his own 扱うing of them.

"Will you touch that with your fingers and your lips," he said, pointing to the half-filled glass in 前線 of her. But she nodded to the glass on Horbury's （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"That one first."

Preedy 手渡すd it to her and she drank it with a little nod and a small wistful smile に向かって the horror sprawled over the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. She drank it to the last 減少（する）, partly as a 尊敬の印 to a good many pleasant hours spent with her ogre at White Barn, partly because she was as 近づく exhaustion as a woman 井戸／弁護士席 could be. A little colour rose into her 直面する as she 手渡すd 支援する the empty glass to him. Preedy balanced it once more on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and then with a 押し進める 倒れるd it off on to the ground, where the thin glass 粉砕するd into 後援s.

"We were sitting here?" she asked. "Just the pair of us?"

"Yes. Then you left him and went up to bed."

"And fell asleep?"

"Yes. You heard nothing until your servant 叫び声をあげるd in the morning."

"And I waked," she said sardonically, and so paused and shivered, "to find the door 打ち明けるd?"

She thought upon the endless hours of 不明瞭 during which she must 嘘（をつく） and listen, and perhaps hear that dead man struggling to rise from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. Where she had shivered, she now shuddered so that her teeth 動揺させるd.

"'What if the 徹夜—for that it must be—説得するd no one?" she asked.

Preedy 始める，決める out his argument. Men like Horbury had always troubles which were secret. He had 天候d 嵐／襲撃するs, no 疑問, but men lose heart at the last. "And so, sitting up here alone at night, and, if things were 井戸／弁護士席 with him, perhaps thinking that he was, after all, doing his best for you, he sought this way out. There is one more thing to be done, 式のs!"

On the 床に打ち倒す, まっただ中に the congealing 血, lay the long, thin-bladed knife with its gay blue 扱う. Preedy knelt, took his handkerchief from his pocket, and stooped.

"No!"

The cry broke from Olivia Horbury passionately. Her 注目する，もくろむs were 燃えて, her arm stretched out with, a pointing finger as 安定した as 司法（官） itself. Preedy sat 支援する on his heels.

"His fingers held that knife!"

That one fact swept all the arguments for our 決定／判定勝ち（する） out of her mind.

"Yes," answered Preedy.

"His fingers were the last to 持つ／拘留する it."

"Yes."

"The 殺害者's."

Proof was there lying in that red pool—proof which would hang.

"Yes."

I expostulated. Who knew but that some unlucky chance might send us a 訪問者 who would know us again—a stranger asking his way, a 運転者 who had run short of 石油, a 隣人 with sickness in the house whose telephone was under 修理. Preedy waited with his 注目する，もくろむs on Olivia.

"There must be other ways by which 犯罪 comes home," she said. "Let me, please, do what must be done."

She knelt in Preedy's place. He 手渡すd her a clean handkerchief and, taking up the 激しい knife by its blade delicately from the congealing 血 in which it lay, she wiped the 扱う. Then, 解除するing it to Horbury's out-thrown 手渡す, she placed it in his palm and の近くにd his fingers about it. She opened them again. It needed now some 成果／努力, but she made it and, still 持つ／拘留するing it by the blade under the handkerchief, she 取って代わるd it 正確に／まさに where it had lain.

"That is all?"

"Yes. We can go."

"Wait!"

She rose to her feet and with such a look of horror upon her 直面する as neither of us had ever seen. She tore the curtain aside from the glass door and passed into the garden. Heaven knows what her thoughts were, but they did not 持つ／拘留する her long. Long enough, however, to give me the chance of which I had begun to despair. A steel chain ran from Horbury's waist into his trouser pocket and the pocket gaped. At the end of the chain a （犯罪の）一味 of 重要なs hung by a spring hook. I had the time to 解放（する） the （犯罪の）一味 from the spring hook, 取って代わる the chain and thrust the 重要なs into my pocket, when the garden door was slammed 急速な／放蕩な and locked. Olivia （機の）カム 支援する into the room and drew the curtains again so carefully that not a 倍の was disarranged, not a thread of light shone out upon the lawn.

I took up the ebony board with the chart pinned upon it. Preedy was looking about the room, touching a 議長，司会を務める here and there with his handkerchief.

"We せねばならない have left the prints of the woman who cleans the room," he said, "but we couldn't." He turned to me. "You turned on the lights."

"Yes."

He dusted the switch with the white handkerchief and I noticed that a faint blue stain had been left upon the cambric by the 扱う of the knife.

"You will leave the lights on, of course," he said to Olivia who was に引き続いて us. In the hall she latched the door and locked it. Preedy stopped at once.

"I am afraid not," he said gently. "In the morning the door must be 設立する 打ち明けるd."

Olivia 屈服するd her 長，率いる and 打ち明けるd it. Then she held open the 前線 door of the house. A small breath of 勝利，勝つd was rustling amongst the boughs of the trees.

"There was much that was sordid—worse, if you will—in my husband's life," said Olivia. "You were 権利. I would not wish his story to be known to the world, just so that a man called Devisher might be hanged. No!" and she 追加するd, after a pause, "there would have to be a much better 推論する／理由 than that." Though her 発言する／表明する was low, her 注目する，もくろむs were 猛烈な／残忍な, her 直面する やめる haggard and all its beauty gone. "Yes, a much stronger 推論する／理由."

And upon the two men who listened to her a sense of new danger rolled like a tide.

CHAPTER 33

GEORGE RETURNS

We rolled Preedy's car out on to the road, although there was really no 推論する／理由 for such secrecy. Preedy was in an excellent mood, one moment whistling a tune, another 保証するing me in answer to some anxious question, that it was all Sir Garnet. Certainly he was 訂正する in one particular. The problem of Devisher was solved.

We 設立する my car outside the gardens of Pevensey 三日月 and Devisher inside it. He knew the truth and, at the same time, his own danger. He 手配中の，お尋ね者 no trouble any more. He had already 耐えるd his life-time's 株 and, knowing as much as he did, he 適用するd with some 信用／信任 for the 適切な時期 of an 平易な life in some 静かな corner of the world. This took place over a whisky-and-soda in my parlour.

"What about Cairo?" I asked a little too 敏速に to please Preedy.

"All that has got to stop," he said. "I am going up to the Caledonian Market myself to see about it."

"But there are 貨物s arranged and some on the way."

"They will be the last," said Preedy, and he looked at Devisher. "井戸／弁護士席, for the moment, Cairo. Then what about Ceylon, where every prospect pleases? They tell me that as you approach that island a delightful aroma of spices floats out to you across the sea."

"Either place will be A.1. for me," Devisher agreed with 救済.

It was arranged there and then. I was not 推定する／予想するd at the office the next morning. I was to start in my car with Devisher at half-past eight. There would be traffic already on the roads and I must never 越える the 速度(を上げる） 限界 or in any way attract attention. I was to 運動 to Southampton through Camberley and Hartley 列／漕ぐ／騒動. At Basingstoke and Winchester I was to buy some ready-made 着せる／賦与するs, shirts, flannels, under 着せる／賦与するs and shoes. Devisher would have his new パスポート. Since I was 井戸／弁護士席-known to the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる 公式の／役人s, there would be no trouble at the gates. I was to make him out a ticket in the Southampton office of the Line and see him off with the ship. I had the 居住（者） staff part of the Line under my 支配（する）／統制する and could arrange by a 電報電信 for his arrival at Port Said to be 推定する／予想するd. Then Preedy took him away for the night.

I had, however, already taken Horbury's 重要なs from his pocket and I meant to use them that night. I remembered that whenever Horbury had risen from his 議長，司会を務める, he had kept a solid 手渡す upon his blotting-調書をとる／予約する, and that when he had written in it the 指名する of the ship 郡保安官, he had 解除するd the stiff cover only just enough to use a corner of the blotting-paper. That precious letter to Septimus was between the covers of buhl and mother-of-pearl. Horbury had brought it to White Barn, had meant to 手渡す it over, but I suppose lost his 信用／信任 in us at the last minute. I meant to get it before the police did. I don't think that Preedy had noticed me 解除するing Horbury's 重要なs. He had been too busy polishing away 指紋s and I hadn't 協議するd him. This, the last 業績／成就 of the night, I 提案するd to carry out alone.

Instead of 支援 the car into the little garage at the 味方する of my house, I drove it away to Battersea. I would keep within the 速度(を上げる）-限界 all the way to Southampton, but there was no 推論する／理由 why I should follow that good advice to-night. Night, I say, but it was half-past two in the morning when I left the car under the trees at the 味方する of the road. A 危険? Yes, but I had to take it. The choice lay between 運動ing into the 中庭 and very likely 誘発するing Olivia's attention, or leaving the car beyond the reach of her ears The chances of a policeman discovering it were about fifty-fifty.

There was no one whom I could see or hear. The moon was still 有望な and the world asleep. I crept up to the house and let myself in with Horbury's 重要な, taking the bunch with me as soon as the hall door was open. I 直す／買収する，八百長をするd up the latch so that I could get away quickly if it became necessary and I stood still for a few moments in the 黒人／ボイコット hall, listening, until the silence itself began to roar in my ears I moved like a ghost to the garden-room door and noiselessly turn the 扱う with my fingers wrapped in my handkerchief The lights were 燃やすing. Horbury was sprawled across his （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する; but there was a change in the room since last I had seen it—a change which caught me by the heart and stopped the 血 in my veins. The blotting-調書をとる／予約する was on its 辛勝する／優位s on the 床に打ち倒す now instead of lying flat under the 負わせる of Horbury's 団体／死体.

As soon as I 回復するd my breath, I crossed the room on tiptoe and stooped over it. It stood half-open, the 支援する uppermost. There was no letter under it, 非，不，無 between the leaves. No danger from the woman upstairs! Oh, wasn't there? She had come 支援する to this room when she was alone. She had 押し進めるd the blotting-調書をとる／予約する from under Horbury's 団体／死体. I could hear the buttons of his waistcoat scratching across the metal cover. She had taken the letter to Septimus out of it and then she had 倒れるd it on to the 辛勝する／優位 of the congealing 血 on the 床に打ち倒す. What a damnable woman! I was wondering what I should do when the telephone rang on the long （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する against the 塀で囲む. It wasn't possible! I stood up stiff as a tombstone. No, it wasn't possible! Who should be （犯罪の）一味ing up White Barn at half-past in the morning? The Love-Nest? No! But there the bell was, one, two, pause, one, two, pause. It had got to be stopped. It wasn't until I 解除するd the receiver from its cradle that I realised that I had 定評のある the call. Someone was in the house then, more, was in the room where a man had committed 自殺 three to four hours before and where he still lay sprawled across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. I heard a 発言する／表明する calling Horbury. It seemed to come out of my 手渡す. I looked 負かす／撃墜する and saw that my 手渡す was 明らかにする. I was not going to answer the call—not I! The noise of （犯罪の）一味ing had 中止するd—that was one good thing. I took my handkerchief from my breast-pocket with my left 手渡す and carefully wiped the 扱う between the ear and the mouthpiece. Then I 取って代わるd it on its cradle. The sound: was not 新たにするd at all events. The 報知係 had 中止するd to call.

I rubbed the sweat off my forehead. I was streaming with it. I was thinking that, whatever happened, never in all my life could I be so startled again. And the next moment the thought was disproved. The last horror of that night capped all. Somewhere, above my 長，率いる, a 重要な was turned in a lock and someone fell. I didn't stay after that. I 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd Horbury's （犯罪の）一味 of 重要なs on to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する by the 器具. Then I fled. Oh, yes, even in my panic, I pulled to the door of the garden-room and opened the 前線-door of the house with my handkerchief about my 手渡す. I did it without 反映するing, for I was incapable of reflection. I ran 負かす／撃墜する the 小道／航路. It was still 砂漠d. To put the proper finish on the night, I should have 設立する that some どろぼう had run away with my car. But, beyond 期待, it was there where I had left it. I drove 支援する to London. My word, the lighted streets! I 緩和するd the car very gently into its garage and went to bed.

Mistakes, of course, were made. Preedy made one on this night. He cleaned the garden-room of 指紋s so 完全に that the absence of them became 怪しげな. I don't see how that could have been helped, however, and I don't count that as his mistake. Where he really went wrong was in the 事柄 of a 瓶／封じ込める of Pommery '06. He opened it in the pantry without leaving 示すs on it, but, having filled two glasses, he stoppered the 瓶／封じ込める again and put it 支援する amongst the others. There is not very much to be said for Daniel Horbury, but he never opened a 瓶／封じ込める of Pommery '06 without making sure that the very last 減少（する） was going to be squeezed out of it.

I, however, erred more 完全に. I should never have taken Horbury's 重要なs from his pocket and returned to White Barn. I should never have taken up the telephone receiver from its cradle. I should have slipped Daniel's （犯罪の）一味 of 重要なs once more upon his spring lock. But all these errors are nothing compared with the folly I was 有罪の of in letting myself go when old Sept broke 負かす／撃墜する over the 捕らわれた of the young Dauphin! It is said that I sighed! I let out a 広大な／多数の／重要な big 'O' of delight. For the first time I had 設立する a weak 位置／汚点／見つけ出す in the chain-mail of the old boy's 当局. My hide-out became a 刑務所，拘置所. The Barnishes wouldn't be sorry to have Captain Septimus under their 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 for a little. Captain Septimus had 解雇（する）d Fred Barnish at five minutes' notice. A few weeks of Arkwright's Farm for Septimus and I saw myself Chairman and Managing Director of the Dagger Line. And then all's spoilt because a 巡査 walks into the farm because he 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うs that Barnish is keeping a dog without having a dog licence! 井戸／弁護士席, I ask you!

However, even so, I might perhaps have got through but for the idiot Ricardo and the preposterous Nosey Parker from Paris.

* * * * *

Maltby was caught off his guard by the final 宣告，判決. He had meant to leave it out altogether, but discovered himself floundering amongst the 開始 words. He was then 軍隊d to read it without the omission of a word. Mr. Ricardo 紅潮／摘発するd with shame, but Hanaud jabbed him in the ribs with his 肘.

"Without Mr. Ricardo," he cried, "where should I be? Like the good George, I ask you. I should still be 運動ing over the 橋（渡しをする） of Battersea amongst the seagulls. As for mistakes, it is possible that once or twice in my life I make one," he said dreamily. "I do not know."

CHAPTER 34

THE LAST

At 昼食 the conversation was desultory, but a few 新規加入s were made, 主として by Maltby, to 完全にする the pattern of the story. For instance, 確かな changes were taking place in the staff of a foreign 大使館 and a barber's shop on the 辛勝する／優位 of the Caledonian Market had been の近くにd 負かす／撃墜する. The presence of Mordaunt, as an officer in the Egyptian Coastguard Service, had 原因（となる）d one more 激変 to the unfortunate Bryan Devisher, He had been moved on, 夜通し, as it were, to Delagoa Bay, where a small 貿易（する） had been carried on by the Dagger Line. He was now 解任するd from that service altogether and was working as 調書をとる／予約する-keeper in a Portuguese 蓄える／店. It would be for the Egyptian 政府 to ask for his 国外逃亡犯人の引渡し if it thought it 価値（がある） while, but it probably would not.

"And now," said Maltby, "there is one question which we all wish to ask, Monsieur Hanaud."

昼食 was over. Coffee smoked upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and a cigar, a 麻薬を吸う, a cigarette smoked in the 空気／公表する, dimming the 有望な 面 of the Thames.

Monsieur Hanaud beamed.

"Ask!" he answered with 簡単.

"Where was the Crottle letter hidden?"

"And how did you find out?"

The questions were 解雇する／砲火／射撃d at him from 権利 and left.

"It was not so difficult to find out, but it was amusing all the same. Maltby, with Bryan Devisher and the Dagger Line and the Caledonian Market all on his shoulders at once, he leaves that little problem to me! Listen! The letter was in the blotting-調書をとる／予約する. Horbury had come to make a 取引. It was not in nature that he should not have with him his 証拠 that there was a 取引 to be made. That was （疑いを）晴らす the next day when in the secret drawer in Horbury's office the letter was no longer to be 設立する. But I was sure of it in the morning. I could not see how, in 落ちるing 今後, Horbury had 押し進めるd that 調書をとる／予約する with its 激しい cover off the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. It seemed to me to have been worked from under him by someone else. The 調書をとる／予約する was empty. Who, then, had the letter? Someone had come 支援する for it. Someone who heard the telephone （犯罪の）一味 hours after Horbury was dead? Had he 設立する it? I thought not. I thought that the lady who 直面するd us in the dining-room would have had the courage to 安全な・保証する that 武器 for herself as soon as she was left alone. 井戸／弁護士席, then, where was it? The police went through the house with a toothbrush..."

"徹底的に捜す," said Mr. Ricardo.

"As I said," Hanaud continued imperturbably, "and they did not find it. Therefore it was not in the house. But it was 近づく."

"In Olivia Horbury's handbag," Ricardo 示唆するd.

"Not 安全な enough," replied Maltby.

"And too bulky for her dress," Hanaud 確認するd. "So I smoke a cigarette and I 反映する. The garden?—with a gardener one day a week, that's what it looked like. Yes?"

"Yes," said Ricardo; and Maltby, looking out on his own patch of carefully tended flowers, nodded vigorously.

"But there was a 罰金 thing in that garden which was tended with all the loving care it 長所d."

"The holly hedge," cried Maltby.

"Yes. It stood twenty feet high. It was clipped. It was smooth as a イチイ hedge. I wondered. Then, when I called on that 肉親，親類d lady for the money for my 患者 Gravot of the Place Vend?e, I 賞賛する the 罰金 hedge and her 直面する lights up. Always in the old days when they were poor, she had clipped it on a ladder and looked after it herself, and still 信用d it to no one. Then, a little quickly, she 追加するs that it 要求するs little attention now. 'Once a year. I clipped it in the autumn,' and, rather red in the 直面する, she wished me good morning. So I have it! Carefully wrapped in waterproof rubber, it is, when it is advisable to hide it, hidden in the hedge. Then I make pictures. It will be high, yes. We will need the ladder. It will be at the end 近づく the road. No, no. Then I get from Maltby a description of her bedroom. There are two windows 開始 on to meadows and one window opposite the holly hedge. I do not need to 捜し出す more. On a level with the window, whence it could just be seen, thrust into the hedge out of reach."

At this moment, Monsieur Hanaud looked at his watch and leaped to his feet.

"My dear friends, I have to 飛行機で行く. I have 約束d to say good-bye to a young lady at the boat train on the Victoria 駅／配置する at five o'clock."

"Oh, you Frenchmen! Ha! ha!" roared Maltby, shaking with delight.

"No, no!" replied Hanaud, catching up his hat and his gloves and his stick. "The days of the wink and the gay twinkle in the 注目する，もくろむs are past for me. I say good-bye in all 尊敬（する）・点 to a lady who returns to her 義務s in Cairo as the 長官 of a famous archaeologist."

"Oh!" cried Ricardo, to whom this 告示 was news. "Mrs. Rosalind Leete."

"Mrs Leete," Hanaud agreed with a smile "It is pleasant to see the young so 充てるd to such serious topics as Neferti and the mummies of dead kings. But I do not think that her 義務s will be 長引かせるd."

"And how is that?" asked Maltby, who had no liking for allusions.

"I gather from a word dropped here and there that the excellent Mordaunt will be on the quay at Port Said."

Mordaunt and Rosalind Yes, you have got to have it, you know... 井戸／弁護士席, perhaps you needn't. We can more 都合よく 完全にする the pattern of this story with the few words which passed between the two ありそうもない friends the next morning at the corner house and Hanaud's 出発 for the Continent.

For the end of the holiday so often 延期するd had really come. At two o'clock in the afternoon, Hanaud was to take the train to Folkestone. 一方／合間, over his cigarette after breakfast, he looked backwards to the morning at the end of August when, with seagulls 急襲するing over the river, he had driven with Ricardo across Battersea 橋（渡しをする）.

"Until you told me the story of Devisher's 救助（する）, I was ready to 受託する the theory of Horbury's 自殺. But that made a difference, eh? Here was a man, 解放する／自由な as any stranger in London, with as 黒人／ボイコット a 得点する／非難する／２０ against Horbury as a man could have. Also he knew White Barn as Horbury's home. Someone was at White Barn 突然に that night. さもなければ all the usual, natural 指紋s wouldn't have been 除去するd. Some one was too anxious. But, if Devisher had broken in and exacted his 復讐, what was he doing in the house three and a half to four hours after he had committed his 殺人? And why did Olivia Horbury 保護する him?"

Ricardo nodded his 長，率いる very wisely.

"So I began to wonder whether there was not, besides Devisher, someone else in the garden-room. And I was puzzled by that word '郡保安官' written on the corner of the blotting-pad. Yes, I was very puzzled. Could there perhaps be something else which explained Mrs. Horbury's silence, the 解除するing of the telephone receiver, the locked door, the 郡保安官 everything?"

"That afternoon Septimus Crottle swung into the picture," said Ricardo.

"The 指名する of Crottle brought Maltby to help us. Why was it that this man without money, without friends, Bryan Devisher, could not be 設立する? Because, on Friday afternoon, the steamship 郡保安官 of the Dagger Line sailed with a last-minute 乗客 whom George Crottle had モーターd that morning to Southampton. The beautiful 決まりきった仕事 work, my friend, of the British police!"

Hanaud and Mr. Ricardo said good-bye a few hours later on the 壇・綱領・公約 at Victoria 駅／配置する, Mr. Ricardo all friendship and 悔いる, Monsieur Hanaud a little lost, as though he had forgotten something important to remember. But, as the whistle blew and, the train started, his 直面する （疑いを）晴らすd. He stood in the doorway of the coach, beaming.

"You are やめる yourself, eh?" cried the anxious Ricardo.

Hanaud nodded. He had remembered. He laughed. He answered: "I am all Sir Garnet."

THE END

This 場所／位置 is 十分な of FREE ebooks - 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg Australia