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肩書を与える: The 罪，犯罪 at Tattenham Corner
Author: Annie Haynes
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Language: English
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The 罪，犯罪 at Tattenham Corner

by

Annie Haynes

Published 1929

Contents

一時期／支部 1
一時期／支部 2
一時期／支部 3
一時期／支部 4
一時期／支部 5
一時期／支部 6
一時期／支部 7
一時期／支部 8
一時期／支部 9
一時期／支部 10
一時期／支部 11
一時期／支部 12
一時期／支部 13
一時期／支部 14
一時期／支部 15
一時期／支部 16
一時期／支部 17
一時期／支部 18
一時期／支部 19
一時期／支部 20
一時期／支部 21
一時期／支部 22
一時期／支部 23
一時期／支部 24
一時期／支部 25
一時期／支部 26
一時期／支部 27

CHAPTER 1

The big clock outside struck 7.30. 早期に as it was, 視察官 Stoddart was already in his room at Scotland Yard.

He looked up impatiently as his most 信用d subordinate, Alfred Harbord, entered after a sharp 予選 tap.

"Yes, sir. You sent for me?"

The 視察官 nodded. "You are 詳細（に述べる）d for special 義務 at once. We are starting in the runabout すぐに, so if you want to send a message—" He nodded at the telephone.

Harbord grinned. "My people are pretty 井戸／弁護士席 used to my 不規律な habits, thank you, sir."

The 視察官 rose. "The sooner we are off the better, then." He 手渡すd Harbord a typewritten paper. "Wired up," he said laconically, "from the 負かす／撃墜するs."

Mysterious death at an 早期に hour this morning. Some platelayers on their way to work in the cutting beyond Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd, not far from Tattenham Corner, 設立する the 団体／死体 of a man of middle age in a 溝へはまらせる／不時着する. He is evidently of the better class and supposed to be a stranger in the 地区. The 団体／死体 lay 直面する downwards in a foot of water at the 底（に届く） of the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する or dyke. Up to the 現在の it has not been identified. But a card was 設立する in the pocket with the 指名する of—

The corner of the paper had been torn off, evidently on 目的. Harbord read it over.

"Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd," he repeated. "I seem to know the 指名する. But I can't think where the place is."

"Not a 広大な／多数の／重要な many miles from Epsom," the 視察官 said, as he locked his desk and dropped the 重要なs into his pocket. "Centuries ago, Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd used to stretch all 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and over that part of the 負かす／撃墜するs, but it has dwindled to a few trees 近づく Hughlin's village. These trees go by the 指名する of Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd still. I can tell you the 残り／休憩（する） as we go along."

Harbord followed him in silence to the little two-seater in which the 視察官 was wont to dash about the country. He was an 専門家 driver, but it needed all his attention to steer his car の中で the whirl of traffic over Westminster 橋（渡しをする）, passing Waterloo and Lambeth.

The 視察官 ちらりと見ることd at "The Horns" as they glided by it. "We will lunch there on the way 支援する, Harbord."

He put on 速度(を上げる） as they got on the Brixton Road and, passing Kennington Church, tore along through Streatham and Sydenham, and across country until they could feel the fresh 空気／公表する of the 負かす／撃墜するs in their 直面するs. Then the 視察官 slackened 速度(を上げる） and for the first time looked at his companion.

"What do you make of it?"

"What can I make of it?" Harbord 盗品故買者d. "Except that you would not be going 負かす／撃墜する unless there was more in the 召喚するs than 会合，会うs the 注目する，もくろむ."

Stoddart nodded.

"The 団体／死体 was 設立する 直面する downwards in the 沈滞した water of a 溝へはまらせる／不時着する, but the 原因（となる） of death was a 弾丸 負傷させる in the 長，率いる. The man had been thrown into the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する almost すぐに after death. In the pocket have been 設立する a card and a couple of envelopes 耐えるing the 指名する of a man high in the 財政上の world. The 場内取引員／株価s on the linen, etc., correspond. I know this man 公正に／かなり 井戸／弁護士席 by sight. Therefore I am going 負かす／撃墜する to see whether I can identify the remains. See those 負かす／撃墜するs—"

Harbord looked where he pointed at the 広大な, billowy expanse around them, then he looked 支援する inquiringly.

"Yes, sir."

Stoddart waved his 手渡す to the north 味方する. "Over there 嘘（をつく） Matt Harker's stables. He has turned out more 勝利者s of the classics than any other trainer. His gees get their morning gallops over the 負かす／撃墜するs."

Harbord's 表現 changed. "And you connect this dead man at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd with Harker's stables?"

Stoddart looked at him. "I will tell you that in an hour or so."

As he spoke he turned the car 速く to the 権利, and dashing 負かす／撃墜する the road, which was little more than a 跡をつける, they 設立する themselves at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd, with Hughlin's village in the 即座の foreground.

Harbord thought he had seldom seen a more desolate looking 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, or a more appropriate setting for the 罪，犯罪 they had come to 調査／捜査する. A few stark, upstanding pines, growing in rough, stubbly grass, were all that was left of the once mighty 支持を得ようと努めるd; a long, straggly hedge ran between them and the road that led to Hughlin's village. It stood in a cleft in the hill which ran along to the 底（に届く） of the 負かす／撃墜するs. There was a curious 反対／詐欺-like hill just above the 支持を得ようと努めるd. Harbord learned later that it went by the 指名する of Hughlin's Tomb, and was supposed to 含む／封じ込める the remains of a 巨大（な） 指名するd Hughlin, from whom the 支持を得ようと努めるd derived its 指名する. On the opposite 味方する of the road was some barren pasture-land, and a little 支援する from the 跡をつける stood a small hut or barn.

By the 支持を得ようと努めるd, 明らかに, the whole of the little 全住民 of Hughlin's village was gathered. A policeman was keeping every one 支援する from the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する.

The （人が）群がる scattered as the car （機の）カム in sight. Stoddart slowed 負かす／撃墜する and he and Harbord sprang out.

Inside the space which was 存在 kept 解放する／自由な two men were standing. One was easily 認めるd by his uniform as a superintendent of police. The other, a tall, clean-shaven man of 軍の 外見, Harbord identified as Major Vincent, the 長，指導者 constable of the 郡.

Major Vincent （機の）カム to 会合，会う them. "Glad to see you, 視察官 Stoddart. I hardly hoped that you could be here so soon."

Stoddart jerked his 長，率いる at his run-about. "She is a tidy sort of little bus, sir. This is a terrible 職業!"

"It is," Major Vincent assented. "This is where the 団体／死体 was 設立する—was flung, I should say—just over here."

The 視察官 walked 今後 and ちらりと見ることd 負かす／撃墜する into the rather 深い 溝へはまらせる／不時着する. Long grasses fringed the 辛勝する／優位s, broken 負かす／撃墜する and trampled upon now; the 底（に届く） was 十分な of evil-smelling water.

Stoddart's quick, ちらりと見ることing 注目する，もくろむs looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. "Anything 設立する here?"

The superintendent answered:

"Not so far, but we have made no very vigorous search. We waited till you （機の）カム."

Stoddart nodded. "やめる 権利. The 団体／死体?"

"Over there." The superintendent pointed to the barn in the field opposite. "一時的な 霊安室," he explained. "The 検死 will be opened tomorrow at the 栄冠を与える Inn 負かす／撃墜する in the village. In the 合間—"

"The 団体／死体 is here, I understand," the 視察官 finished. "We will have a look at that first, please, sir."

He made an imperceptible 調印する to Harbord as he ちらりと見ることd at Major Vincent.

"Any more 証拠 as to 身元?" he questioned, as they walked across the rough grass together.

Major Vincent shook his 長，率いる. "You will be able to help us about that, I understand, 視察官."

"I may be able to. I せねばならない be if your 疑惑s are 井戸／弁護士席 設立するd," the 視察官 answered. "You rang up the house, of course."

"Of course! Answer, 'Not at home.' Said then we were afraid Sir John had met with an 事故. His valet is coming 負かす／撃墜する, should be here any minute now."

"Good!" the 視察官 said approvingly.

The Major opened the door of the barn. "I will stop out here, and have a cigarette, if you don't mind," he said apologetically. "I have been in two or three times already and it has pretty 井戸／弁護士席 done for me. It is a 恐ろしい sight."

Stoddart's ちらりと見ること spoke his comprehension as he went inside; the doctor and the superintendent followed with Harbord.

Inside was, as Major Vincent had said, "a 恐ろしい sight." The light was 薄暗い, little filtering through, except what （機の）カム from the open door. The place was evidently used for cattle fodder. The 床に打ち倒す was strewn with straw, trodden 負かす／撃墜する and begrimed. The dead man lay on a あわてて improvised 担架 of 障害物s raised on a couple of others in the middle of the barn.

Stoddart and Harbord instinctively stepped 今後 softly. The superintendent took off the covering some kindly 手渡す had laid over the distorted 直面する. Then, used though they were to scenes of horror, both Stoddart and Harbord with difficulty repressed an exclamation, so terrible was the sight. A momentary ちらりと見ること was enough to show that the man had been 発射 through the lower part of the 直面する. The 長，率いる had lain in the water of the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する for some time 直面する downwards. It was swollen and livid and grazed, but was not impossible of 承認. Yet, as Stoddart gazed on the 人物／姿／数字, still in evening-dress, over the strong-looking 手渡すs with their manicured almond nails that had made 示すs on the palms as they clenched in the death agony, a 確かな look that Harbord 井戸／弁護士席 knew （機の）カム into the 視察官's 注目する，もくろむs. He held out his 手渡す. "The card—'Sir John Burslem,'" he read aloud. He looked at the dead man's wrist-watch, turned it over and looked at the monogram, ちらりと見ることd at a letter that was peeping out of the pocket—

"Sir John Burslem, 15 Porthwick Square."

The postmark was that of the previous morning.

The superintendent watched him in silence for a few minutes. At last he said:

"井戸／弁護士席, 視察官, what do you say—is it Sir John Burslem?"

"I believe so," the 視察官 said without hesitation. "It is Sir John Burslem, I 堅固に believe. But I only had a casual 知識 with him."

And, 常習的な though he was, Stoddart turned aside and blew his nose as his mind ちらりと見ることd from the 新たな展開d, broken thing before him to the 繁栄する 財政上の 有力者／大事業家 of whom he 保持するd so vivid a recollection. He 取って代わるd the covering over the 粉々にするd 長，率いる and looked at his watch.

"The valet should be here 直接／まっすぐに. It seems to me we must を待つ more 肯定的な 身元確認，身分証明 from him. Until he comes, I should like a few words with you, doctor. How long had death taken place when you first saw the 団体／死体?"

The doctor coughed. "It is difficult to say with precision. I reached here about half-past seven this morning. I should say the man had been dead at least five hours when I saw him, かもしれない more, certainly not いっそう少なく."

"The 原因（となる） of death?"

"Evidently the man had been 発射 through the lower part of the 直面する. For anything more we must wait for the 地位，任命する-mortem." He 追加するd a few technical 詳細（に述べる）s.

Harbord waited outside with Major Vincent and the superintendent.

"Sir John Burslem," he repeated thoughtfully. "A financier, you say. I seem to remember this 指名する in some other 関係."

"He was a big gun in what is called high 財政／金融," Major Vincent told him. "It is said that no international 取引，協定, no 広大な／多数の／重要な 計画／陰謀 of 政府 在庫／株 was 開始する，打ち上げるd without his advice. For himself, he was 長，率いる of the 広大な／多数の／重要な 会社／堅い of Burslem & Latimer, the アイロンをかける and jute merchants, Wellmorton Street, and of Burslem & Co., diamond merchants of South Africa, besides 存在 director of Heaven knows how many companies. Sir John Burslem's 指名する spelt success to any 請け負うing."

"And will this"—Harbord jerked his 長，率いる backward—"mean 失敗?"

The major shrugged his shoulders. "Heaven knows! One's imagination fails to picture the world of 憶測 without Jack Burslem, as he was 一般に known. But here's the valet, Ellerby, I 推定する／予想する," as a car stopped.

An 年輩の man got out and （機の）カム に向かって them. He was looking white and shaken.

"Gentlemen," he began in a 地震ing 発言する／表明する as he got 近づく them, "they say that he—that Sir John has had an 事故. He—he can't be—dead!"

"That is what we have brought you here to ascertain, Mr. Ellerby," Major Vincent said, a touch of pity in his トン as he thought of the ordeal that lay before the man. "You will be able to tell us definitely. The 着せる／賦与するs at any 率 you will be able to 認める. The 直面する has been—in the water for some time and is terribly swollen."

The man looked at him, his mouth twitching. "I should know Sir John anywhere, sir," he said, his manner becoming more composed. "I couldn't be deceived about him. It is an impossibility."

Stoddart went in with him. Harbord stood with the other three at the door. They heard a cry of horror, then a hoarse sob, and Ellerby's 発言する／表明する, broken now:

"Oh, it is Sir John, sure enough! Oh, yes, his poor 直面する is all swollen, but I could 断言する to him anywhere. There is the dress coat I put on him yesterday evening, and his shoes, and his eyeglass on his cord, and his wrist-watch. Oh, it is Sir John 安全な enough. And what are we going to do without him? And her poor young ladyship—and 行方不明になる Pamela?"

He （機の）カム out wiping his 注目する，もくろむs 率直に.

"You identify the 団体／死体 前向きに／確かに as that of Sir John Burslem?" Major Vincent questioned authoritatively.

"Oh, yes, sir, there is not no 疑問 possible." Ellerby's careful, rather 正確な grammar was forgotten now in his excitement and his own real grief. "I could tell without looking at his 直面する," he went on, "for there's just the things I put out for him last night, little thinking. And her poor ladyship with a big party today going to the races!"

"The races—by Jove!" Stoddart looked at his watch and then at Harbord. "Of course that accounts for all the traffic on the road; it's Derby Day!"

"You are 権利, sir."

The valet put away his handkerchief and 安定したd his 発言する／表明する. "It seems but the other day that poor Sir John was telling us to put our shirts on Peep o' Day—'Best colt Matt Harker ever trained,' he says, 'and a dead cert for the Derby; maybe the last we'll have before the こども comes in,' Sir John said, 'so get the best you can beforehand.' And we did, all of us, at Sir John's own bucket shop."

Stoddart's 直面する altered indefinably. "I hope you didn't build on the colt winning, Mr. Ellerby."

"That I have, sir." The man looked at him half fearfully. "All my own 貯金 and my wife's I have put on, and I borrowed my sister's too. It is a tidy lot I stand to 勝利，勝つ when Peep o' Day passes the winning-地位，任命する! Though poor Sir John will never lead her in now."

"Nor anyone else as the 勝利者 of the Derby," Stoddart said 厳粛に. "Don't you realize what that"—with a nod at the barn—"means to all of you who have put your money on Peep o' Day?"

Ellerby began to tremble. "No, sir, I don't. But we got our money on 権利 enough. Sir John, he said it was as 安全な as if it was in the bank."

"So he may have thought, though in a 賭事 there is often a slip betwixt the cup and the lip," Stoddart said dryly. "But don't you know that an owner's death （判決などを）下すs 無効の all his horses' 指名／任命s and 入ること／参加（者）s. Peep o' Day is automatically scratched. If Sir John Burslem had died one minute before the race was run, and, not knowing, Peep o' Day's number had gone up, he would be disqualified. Today will be a grand day for the bookies. The favourite scratched at the last minute. You get your money 支援する though, but we must wire at once for the sake of the poor devils who are putting on, on the course. Harker's the trainer, you said."

"Yes, sir," Ellerby stammered, his 直面する working painfully. "Matt Harker said that Peep o' Day was the best three-year-old he had ever had in training. He carried all the stable money."

"井戸／弁護士席, it is to be hoped Harker hedged a bit," Stoddart said slowly. "For Peep o' Day won't run to-day. And I wonder, I wonder—"

CHAPTER 2

Surely, surely, no hour had ever been so long! Sophie Burslem 新たな展開d herself 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in bed once more. It was morning. Of course it was morning. The sun was streaming through her open window. She could hear the pleasant, familiar sounds of everyday life, but the sound for which she was waiting and watching did not come. At last she caught the echo of 発言する／表明するs, distant at first, then nearer. One of the gardeners was talking on the terrace beneath the window.

"Ay! if Peep o' Day brings it off and I ain't no manner of 疑問 that he will, seeing Sir John himself he said to me, 'You like a bit of a 賭事 いつかs, I know, Germain. 井戸／弁護士席, you will have the safest 賭事 of your life if you put your shirt on Peep o' Day. Best colt I've ever had,' Sir John said. 井戸／弁護士席, my missus and me we drawed our nest-egg out o' the 地位，任命する office, an' we put it on Peep o' Day, months ago, and we got 100 to 8 then. I reckon we will be made folks tomorrow."

"I am wishing I had done the same," another 発言する／表明する chimed in, "but I thought there's many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip, and so I waited until this morning, and now I'll only get starting price, and they're 説 it will be 半端物s on. So 'tain't any good 支援 Perlyon for a place as I had reckoned on doing. 'Tis sure to be place betting."

"Ay, ay," the first （衆議院の）議長 assented. "I had a tip for Perlyon myself, but—"

The 発言する／表明するs died away in the distance. As Sophie Burslem lay for a moment perfectly still on her pillow, two 涙／ほころびs 井戸／弁護士席d up in her 注目する，もくろむs and rolled miserably 負かす／撃墜する her cheeks. Peep o' Day! Peep o' Day! Those poor men had put their 貯金 on Peep o' Day. And now Peep o' Day would never 勝利，勝つ the Derby!

A minute more and there （機の）カム the sound for which she had been waiting—a tap at the door. She pulled the lever that raised the latch and her maid （機の）カム in with her tea. She 始める，決める it on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する beside the bed.

"It's a lovely morning, my lady. And Sir John was 説 yesterday that 罰金 天候 was all that Peep o' Day 手配中の，お尋ね者. He likes to hear his hoofs 動揺させる, Sir John said. And if it had been 激しい going it would have been all against him."

"Yes," said Sophie Burslem faintly.

She was stretching herself lazily while from beneath her half-の近くにd eyelids her 注目する，もくろむs were 熱心に watching every moment of the maid's. Had she not been called a good amateur actress in the days that were gone? She would have to 行為／法令／行動する today if she had never 行為／法令／行動するd in her life before.

"I have put all my 貯金 on Peep o' Day," the maid went on. "My young man, he has done the same. We shall have something to talk about tonight, I 推定する／予想する, my lady."

Beneath the silken counterpane Sophie Burslem's 手渡すs were 新たな展開ing themselves together in an agony. Then （機の）カム another of the sounds she was dreading. In the 隣接するing room some one was moving about 開始 and shutting drawers; then （機の）カム silence; then a loud knocking at the door of her room. She made herself speak 静かに:

"What is that, Forbes? Just see, will you?" Then she waited again in that blank, awful 見込み. There was a murmured colloquy at the door; 緊張する her ears as she might she could only catch a word or two.

At last Forbes （機の）カム 支援する. "It is James, my lady; he wants to know if you can tell him where Sir John is?"

"Sir John! I don't know. Has he gone out?"

"I suppose so, my lady. Somebody wants to see him on important 商売／仕事, and he is not in his room. They are 説 he has not slept there, my lady."

"What?" Sophie Burslem raised herself on one 肘. Then she laughed. "Nonsense! Really for a moment you やめる 脅すd me, Forbes. I 推定する／予想する Sir John has gone out to put a little more on Peep o' Day. He went over to Oxley last night, you know. Mr. Harker said he had never had a colt he felt so 確信して about. He is a beauty, Forbes!"

"Yes, my lady."

But the maid still hesitated. Was she really watching her furtively, Sophie wondered, or was it just her own fancy? Was she always going to be fanciful now?

"James says—please what is he to say to the man on the phone, my lady? He has rung up twice before this morning, James says, and it's from Scotland Yard, my lady."

"Scotland Yard!" For one moment Sophie Burslem's heart seemed to stop （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing; then went on again with 広大な／多数の／重要な 窒息させるing throbs. This time she was sure that her laugh did her credit. So had she laughed on the 行う／開催する／段階 in the old days at Elmhurst. "Poor Forbes! You really look やめる 脅すd. Don't you know that 探偵，刑事s are 負かす／撃墜する at Oxley watching Peep o' Day? It is something to do with that, of course. But why is James up here? Where is Ellerby?"

"I don't know, my lady. He went out ever so 早期に this morning; we are wondering when he will be 支援する, my lady."

"Rather an 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の 訴訟／進行 on Ellerby's part," Sophie commented dryly. "Get my bath ready, please, Forbes, and tell James Sir John will be in 直接／まっすぐに, I 推定する／予想する."

She slipped on the 味方する of the bed as she spoke and sat there watching Forbes as she went into the bathroom and turned on the tap.

Sophie Burslem looked very young this morning—too young to be Sir John's wife. She was a dainty 見通し in her soft, silken night-式服, with her pretty 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd neck and 武器 明らかにする. Her shingled, chestnut hair was ruffled, it needed no 永久の waving. The pink and white 肌 was as （疑いを）晴らす as ever, only the 広大な／多数の／重要な, 控訴，上告ing brown 注目する，もくろむs had altered indefinably. In the big pier-glass opposite she fancied that others could see the terrible 恐れる that lurked in them, the dark circles 一連の会議、交渉／完成する them. Long ago some one used to tell her that she had laughing 注目する，もくろむs. Would anybody ever say that again? she asked herself. Just now they seemed to move of their own volition, ちらりと見ることing here and there into every corner fearfully. Suddenly they were caught by a 宙返り／暴落するd heap of white by the sofa 近づく the window. It was the frock she had worn last night just as she had thrown it 負かす／撃墜する. She 星／主役にするd at it in a 種類 of fascinated horror. Surely she was not mistaken. Across one 倍の there was an ugly, dark stain!

She got up and went over to it, her 明らかにする feet pattering over the polished boards between.

Forbes （機の）カム 支援する. "My lady, my lady, your slippers."

Sophie turned 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and stood before the heap on the 床に打ち倒す, her 手渡すs behind her, her breath coming quick and 急速な／放蕩な.

"Nonsense! I don't want slippers. You can go, Forbes. I will （犯罪の）一味 when I am ready."

Thus 解任するd the maid had no choice but to 出発／死. When the door had の近くにd behind her, Sophie turned, and 速く, noiselessly, almost threw herself on the 宙返り／暴落するd white frock! Yes, she had made no mistake. 権利 in 前線, just where the silver girdle was caught up by a buckle of brilliants, a 赤みを帯びた brown stain ran almost 負かす／撃墜する to the hem. She put out one finger and touched it—it was 乾燥した，日照りの, やめる 乾燥した，日照りの. But there wasn't one minute to lose. At all hazards that 恐ろしい stain must be done away with. She tore at it with her small, strong 手渡すs, but though the silk was soft it was 堅い, and she could make no impression on it. She caught up a pair of nail-scissors and 削減（する） and jagged ruthlessly. Then when she held the long, ragged （土地などの）細長い一片 in her 手渡す, she gazed at the remains of what had been one of her prettiest gowns, in despair.

What on earth would Forbes say? But there was no time to think of that now. She caught up the remains of the frock and running into her dressing-room thrust it 深い 負かす／撃墜する into the 井戸／弁護士席 of the 広大な／多数の／重要な wardrobe that took up all one 味方する of the room. Then she crammed other things on the 最高の，を越す and shut the door 堅固に. Later on she must think of something to tell Forbes, for now there was nothing to be done but to go on as usual until—She went into her bathroom, 鎮圧するing up the piece of silk she had torn off in her 手渡す.

She splashed in and out of the warm, scented water, then, when she had rubbed herself 負かす／撃墜する, she lighted a match and tried to 始める，決める the silk on 解雇する／砲火／射撃. In vain, it would do nothing but smoulder and make a pungent, acrid smell of 燃やすing. What in Heaven's 指名する was she to do? She dashed open the windows as far as they would go; she unstoppered one of the 広大な／多数の／重要な 瓶／封じ込めるs of scent on the dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and flung the contents about bathroom and bedroom. Then a sudden inspiration （機の）カム to her.

Inside the dressing-事例／患者, with its wonderful gold and jewelled fittings, which had been one of her husband's wedding 現在のs, there was a secret drawer. She ran across, put the silk in the drawer, fastening it with a catch of which she alone knew the secret.

She rang for Forbes. The maid （機の）カム in, wrinkling up her nose.

"Such a smell of 燃やすing, my lady!" Her beadlike, inquisitive 注目する，もくろむs ちらりと見ることd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the room.

"I don't notice it," said Sophie. "Perhaps the gardeners are 燃やすing 少しのd outside. Give me my things quickly, Forbes; I must not be late for breakfast. Sir John means to start 早期に."

The maid said nothing, but her 匂いをかぐ became accentuated as she went on with her mistress's 洗面所, 始める，決める the soft shingled hair, and finally brought out the gown of grey marocain which Lady Burslem had decided to wear for the races.

Sophie let herself be dressed as if she had been a lay 人物／姿／数字. All the while she was listening, listening. At last she was dressed, and her maid clasped a short string of pearls 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her neck in place of the long necklace she 一般に wore.

She ちらりと見ることd at her reflection in the mirror. So she had seen herself look a hundred times—and yet would not the first person she met see the horror 影をつくる／尾行するing her 注目する，もくろむs?

She went 負かす／撃墜する to the breakfast-room. Everything was just as usual. A pile of letters lay beside her plate. Sir John's letters and The Times, 倍のd as he liked it, lay by his. She went 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and sat 負かす／撃墜する. The very 整然とした, everyday 面 of the room held something 悪意のある, some suggestion of evil to her jaundiced mind.

Though she drank a cup of tea feverishly and played with an omelette, she could not really eat anything. Presently she heard a knock and a （犯罪の）一味 at the 前線 door.

She caught the echo of a 発言する／表明する in the hall. It sounded like that of her sister Clare—Mrs. Aubrey イルカ. She was going with them to the races, of course, but She listened again. Another moment Clare （機の）カム quickly into the room. With a word to the manservant she の近くにd the door behind her. One look at her 直面する told Lady Burslem that the 最高の moment for which she had been waiting was here at last.

Clare （機の）カム 速く across the room and caught her sister in her 武器.

"Sophie, darling, I bring you terrible news. You must be 勇敢に立ち向かう, dear, for all our sakes."

Sophie tried to 解放する／自由な herself from the encircling 武器. "What is it?" she questioned hoarsely. "Not Dad!"

Mrs. イルカ would not let her go.

"No, no, my darling. It is John—"

"John—"

If there had been one 減少（する） of colour left in Sophie's 直面する it was all drained away now.

"Ill," （機の）カム slowly from between her 強化するing lips. "Ill, Clare, not—not—"

"Ah, dearest, he would want you to be 勇敢に立ち向かう for his sake. He—he met with a terrible 事故 last night, Sophie, dear. And, you see, he was not やめる a young man, he could not 決起大会／結集させる—"

"Why did they not send for me?" Sophie gasped.

"Dear, there was not time. He—he died before they could do anything!"

"He died—John died—"

This time all Mrs. イルカ's strength could not 持つ／拘留する her sister up. A dead 負わせる, Lady Burslem sank through her 武器 and 崩壊（する）d in a heap on the 床に打ち倒す.

* * * * *

一方／合間 from all parts of England a 広大な／多数の／重要な （人が）群がる was making its way to Epsom. It was the people's holiday and the people were bent on making the most of it. All night long, gipsies and parties of nomads had picnicked 近づく the course. This morning the tipsters were busy. For threepence you could learn the 勝利者 of every race. Not of the Derby itself. Nobody 手配中の，お尋ね者 a tip for that! It was Peep o' Day's Derby. Had not owner and trainer and (v)策を弄する／(n)騎手 all agreed that Peep o' Day could not lose the Derby?

Peep o' Day! Peep o' Day! You heard it on all 味方するs. Peep o' Day, the most popular favourite since the war! Peep o' Day! the （人が）群がる exulted.

And over by Peep o' Day's box his trainer, Matt Harker, was standing with 屈服するd shoulders, and Howard Williams leaning up against the door would not have been ashamed to 自白する that there were 涙／ほころびs in his 注目する，もくろむs. 支持する／優勝者 (v)策を弄する／(n)騎手 though he was, he had never yet ridden a Derby 勝利者; Matt Harker, though all the other classics had been taken by his stable, had never yet trained a Derby 勝利者! All of them had been 確信して that today their ambitions would be realized.

And now Peep o' Day was scratched for the Derby!

CHAPTER 3

The 検死 on the 団体／死体 of Sir John Burslem had been opened at the 栄冠を与える Inn at Hughlin's village, but only formal 証拠 of 身元 and 医療の 証拠 had been taken, and it had been 延期，休会するd until the に引き続いて week, so that the police might have time for その上の 調査. Stoddart and Harbord （機の）カム out last. Stoddart's brows were drawn together in a 激しい frown. Looking at him, his assistant felt sure that the 事例／患者 was troubling him more than he would have cared to 自白する. Somewhat curtly he 拒絶する／低下するd the 地元の superintendent's 申し込む／申し出 of 歓待, and 動議d! Harbord into the run-about.

He did not speak until they had left Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd far behind, and were 速く 近づくing London. Then he 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd an envelope over to Harbord.

"Think that can throw any light on the mystery?" Harbord opened the envelope and took out the contents. They consisted of さまざまな cuttings from newspapers. He read the first:

"Burslem, Sir John, first baronet, born 18—, eldest son of John 勝利者 Burslem; married first Emma, daughter of Robert Somerville, by whom he had 問題／発行する one daughter—Pamela Mary; married secondly the Honourable Sophie Charlotte Ann, younger daughter of the fourth Viscount Carlford. 住居s: Greystone Hall, Meadshire, and 15 Porthwick Square. Clubs: Carlton Junior; Arts; St. James's."

Harbord put this 支援する in the envelope and took out the smaller one; this was 示すd "From the Morning 先触れ（する）":

"A marriage has been arranged, and will すぐに take place between Captain Charles Stanyard, second son of Sir William Stanyard of Wilton Hall, and Sophie Charlotte Ann, youngest daughter of Viscount Carlford."

Clipped with this was another:

"The marriage arranged between Captain Charles Stanyard and 行方不明になる Sophie Carlford will not take place."

As Harbord put these 支援する in the envelope he saw that there was yet one more. He 選ぶd it out: "A marriage has been arranged between Sir John Burslem, the 井戸／弁護士席-known financier and racehorse owner, and the Honourable Sophie Charlotte Ann Carlford, younger daughter of Viscount Carlford. The marriage will take place 早期に next month at St. Margaret's Westminster."

Harbord put it with the other and gave them to Stoddart.

The 視察官 looked at him. "You read a story there?"

"Yes and no," Harbord said slowly. "You don't mean—"

"I mean nothing, I think nothing," the 視察官 interrupted him. "How often am I to tell you that. It is my 商売／仕事 to look for facts and to find them. Did you hear what won the Derby yesterday?"

Used as he was to the 早い workings of his superior's mind, Harbord looked his surprise at this change of 支配する.

"I don't take much 利益／興味 in racing, sir, except that I have been 審理，公聴会 of nothing but Peep o' Day since we （機の）カム here yesterday. But I did hear last night—yes, wasn't this Derby won by Perlyon, the second favourite. I thought I heard folks say he would not have stood a chance against Peep o' Day had he run."

"That's as it may be," the 視察官 観察するd sententiously. "I have known these hot-マリファナs run nowhere more than once. But do you know who owns Perlyon?"

Harbord shook his 長，率いる. "港／避難所't the slightest idea."

The 視察官 looked at him. "Sir Charles Stanyard, Captain Charles Stanyard—the 冒険的な baronet, they call him. He （機の）カム into the 肩書を与える on his father's death last year. His 年上の brother was killed a few months before in the 追跡（する）ing-field."

Neither of the men spoke again for a few minutes; at last Harbord said:

"Peep o' Day's scratching must have meant a good 取引，協定 to him. But—"

"Thousands," said the 視察官 laconically. "Heard there was a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 between two men at Wilton's the other night?"

"No. I was hard at work at the Barber-Astley 事例／患者," Harbord answered, his 利益／興味 growing.

"井戸／弁護士席, there was a jolly 列／漕ぐ／騒動," Stoddart 知らせるd him. "And the two men who had it were Sir John Burslem and Sir Charles Stanyard, the 冒険的な baronet. 表面上は the quarrel was over the 長所s of their 各々の racehorses—Peep o' Day and Perlyon. In reality, rumour has whispered that the 原因（となる） was very different. Therefore there are two things we must do to-day. First, we must ascertain, if we can, something of Sir Charles Stanyard's movements on the night of June 2nd and the 早期に morning of June 3rd. Secondly, we must see Lady Burslem and hear what she can tell us of that night's 悲劇; or perhaps we had better 逆転する the 訴訟／進行s and see the lady first. We will 運動 straight to Porthwick Square."

He did not speak again as he steered the car carefully through the （人が）群がるd roads as they entered London and made their way with all 速度(を上げる） to Porthwick Square.

Drawn blinds shrouded the inhabitants of No. 15 from the public 注目する，もくろむ, but the 視察官 frowned as he saw the （人が）群がる outside. That the police were moving people on 明らかに made no difference. They 単に went 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and walked 支援する another way.

The butler （機の）カム 今後 when the door was open.

"Lady Burslem has 約束d us an interview this afternoon," Stoddart said, entering and beckoning to Harbord.

"Yes, her ladyship is 推定する／予想するing you, 視察官," the butler said at once. "I was to take you to her 直接／まっすぐに you （機の）カム. But I heard nothing of this—this—"

He ちらりと見ることd at Harbord as though hesitating as to what description must 適用する to him.

"That is やめる 権利—I am 責任のある," the 視察官 said すぐに. "Please to 知らせる Lady Burslem that we are here."

The butler 出発／死d, looking as though the 創立／基礎s of the earth must indeed be shaken when he had to take orders from a mere policeman. He returned すぐに.

"Will you come this way, please."

He led them to a small room on the first 床に打ち倒す.

Lady Burslem （機の）カム to them at once. She walked very slowly; her わずかな／ほっそりした shoulders were bent as if under an intolerable 重荷（を負わせる） of grief. There was not one touch of colour in her 直面する—cheeks and lips were alike ashen. There were 広大な／多数の／重要な blue half-circles beneath her 注目する，もくろむs, and her 注目する，もくろむs themselves looked only about half their usual size. The eyelids were swollen, and drooped as though the young 未亡人 had cried until she did not know how to open them.

There was a 広大な／多数の／重要な pity in the 視察官's 注目する，もくろむs as he watched her. He drew 今後 one of the big 平易な 議長，司会を務めるs and she sank into it wearily. Was it 軍隊 of habit that made him place her so that the light fell on her 直面する, Harbord wondered.

"You—you 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see me?" she said, her 注目する，もくろむs not looking at him but wandering to the window which looked on to the Square garden and so was without the 隠すing blind.

"If you please, Lady Burslem."

The 視察官 went over and stood by the mantel piece, one arm 残り／休憩（する）ing on the shelf. Harbord waited; nearer the door.

"You will understand that, while we are anxious to spare you in every possible way, it is 絶対 necessary that we should hear all that you can tell us of what took place the night before last."

"Yes, of course?"

Lady Burslem looked at him with wistful, 悲劇の 注目する，もくろむs. "Only there is so little I can tell you," she said, feverishly. "I can't understand it, and wonder and wonder until I think my brain will turn and that the mystery of it will 運動 me mad."

Her words, slow at first, began to come faster, her breathing grew more 早い; she 新たな展開d her 手渡すs together.

"I understand," the 視察官 said soothingly. "And that is where we want to help you. Now, if you would just tell us when you saw Sir John last!"

"Why, when we （機の）カム home," Sophie Burslem said quickly. "We—we had been over to Oxley, you know. It was a lovely night and we had nothing particular on. At least, we had dances and 歓迎会s and things, but we made up our minds to go over to Oxley in the two-seater and see how Peep o' Day was getting on. So—so—"

Her 発言する／表明する failed. She fumbled in her 捕らえる、獲得する, bringing out a small handkerchief, and began to dab her 注目する，もくろむs.

"Yes?" the 視察官 誘発するd, after a pause. "Matt Harker has told us about your Oxley visit. You 設立する Peep o' Day at the 最高の，を越す of his form, I think? 'Fit as a fiddle,' Harker said."

"Yes, he was," Lady Burslem assented, 明らかに controlling her 発言する／表明する by a 最高の 成果／努力. "Sir John was so proud of him. He used to say that when Peep o' Day won the Derby his greatest ambition would be realized. Now—now—"

The 視察官 coughed. "When you left Oxley, where did you go?"

"Why, we （機の）カム straight home," Sophie said 簡単に. "It was late, of course. We had stayed so long at Oxley, but we had told Ellerby and Forbes, my husband's man and my maid, not to sit up for us. We were never people who 手配中の，お尋ね者 a lot of waiting on. We always liked to do things for ourselves."

"What time was it?"

"I do not know—正確に／まさに." Sophie hesitated. "I should think it was between one and two. I know Sir John 手配中の，お尋ね者 James, the second footman, who sat up for us to 調印する some paper and he said it must be 時代遅れの June 3rd."

"To 調印する a paper?" For once the 視察官 was betrayed into showing some surprise. "What sort of a paper?"

"Oh, I don't know." Lady Burslem let her 手渡すs 減少（する） helplessly on her （競技場の）トラック一周. "He 調印するd it too—Sir John. Then he gave it to me and told me to take care of it."

The 視察官 did not speak for a minute. He took out his notebook and made a hieroglyphic 入ること／参加（者）.

Lady Burslem leaned 支援する in her 議長，司会を務める motionless, her 手渡すs lying very still before her. And yet the 視察官 had an 半端物 fancy that from beneath the 激しい, swollen lids the brown 注目する，もくろむs were furtively watching him.

At last he spoke:

"Could we see the paper, Lady Burslem? It might help us—might throw some light on the mystery."

"You can't see it just now," Lady Burslem said apathetically, "because I have not got it here. Mr. Weldon, the lawyer, （機の）カム in this morning and took it away with him. He said it might be important."

The 視察官 drew his brows together. "I must see Mr. Weldon. In the 合間, when the paper was 調印するd what did Sir John do?"

"As I told you, he gave me the paper," Lady Burslem said tonelessly. "Then we went into the library and we both had some of the things they had put ready for us. Then—then"—the 涙／ほころびs sounded vibrant in the 甘い 発言する／表明する—"he—Sir John—went out to take the car to the garage. I thought he would be only a few minutes; but now I shall never see him again."

"Why did Sir John take the car to the garage himself, instead of sending one of the men?" the 視察官 問い合わせd brusquely.

For a moment he fancied that a faint smile 微光d on the pale lips.

"He—he would not have 信用d any of them. He was so proud of the two-seater. It had all the 最新の 改良s. He would not let anyone 運動 it but himself."

The 視察官 nodded. That there were men and women too who would not let anyone else 運動 their car, as there were people who would not 許す their pet horse, their bicycle to be ridden by anyone else, he knew. But it seemed to him rather a curious fancy on the part of a millionaire, like Sir John Burslem, to 主張する on taking the car to the garage himself.

"But he did not take it to the garage," he said, rather as if he were answering his own thoughts. "He never went 近づく the garage. The car has been 設立する, you know, Lady Burslem."

"No, I did not," Lady Burslem said, with a momentary 即位 of 利益／興味. "I never heard anything about it. Where was it? Where—where he was?"

"No," the 視察官 answered bluntly. "It was 設立する on a piece of waste ground on the other 味方する of the river that is used as a parking ground いつかs."

"How did it get there?" Lady Burslem's 発言する／表明する dropped almost to a whisper.

"That," said the 視察官 grimly, "I should very much like to find out."

He opened his notebook again. "Has Sir John any enemies?" he asked, 直す／買収する，八百長をするing a piercing ちらりと見ること on Lady Burslem.

"No, I am sure he had not," she said 堅固に. "Everybody liked him. He was a general favourite. He was so 肉親，親類d to every one."

"He had had no quarrel with anyone." The 視察官's 注目する，もくろむs were still watching closely.

"Certainly not!"

"Then," said the 視察官 very 静かに, "you did not hear that a week ago he and Sir Charles Stanyard had a violent quarrel at Wilton's—so violent that the 事柄 was to have been brought before the next 委員会?"

The pallid 直面する before him went suddenly scarlet, then 速く white again.

"Oh, I knew that. Sir John told me there had been some sort of 論争. It was about their horses. I thought nothing of it."

"自然に you would not," the 視察官 said in the characterless 発言する／表明する of his which Harbord knew meant that he was getting dangerous.

"But did Sir John tell you that the quarrel was about the racehorses?"

"Yes, yes; he said it was about their horses. Sir Charles owned Perlyon, you know, and he said he would （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 Peep o' Day, and Sir John knew—knew he could not."

"And that was all?"

Again there was one of those very long pauses.

"Had Sir John and Sir Charles met since, Lady Burslem?"

"I don't know," Lady Burslem said listlessly. "I don't suppose I should have heard if they had."

"And yet Sir Charles was an old friend of yours—a 隣人 of yours in the country," Stoddart 示唆するd.

Again there was that momentary flood of crimson.

"I had not seen Sir Charles Stanyard for ages—until a few weeks ago, when we met accidentally at a dance. I danced with him then. I have not spoken to him since."

"Sir John made no 反対 to your dancing with him?"

"Certainly not!" There was a touch of hauteur now in the chilly トン. "I am perfectly ready to answer any questions that may help you to find out the 原因（となる） of Sir John's death, 視察官, but really I fail to see—"

"Be 保証するd that I shall ask you no questions that are without some 耐えるing on that 支配する, Lady Burslem."

The 視察官's 発言する／表明する had a new 公式文書，認める of sternness in it now.

"Then I am to understand that the last you saw of Sir John was when he left you 表面上は to take the car to the garage?"

"絶対 the last!" Sophie Burslem assented, her fingers plucking restlessly at the handkerchief she still held, her brown 注目する，もくろむs not looking up now, but mechanically に引き続いて out the pattern of the carpet.

"And he said nothing to you of any 意向 to return to Oxley or any visit to Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd?"

"On the contrary, he said he should be only a few minutes away; the garage was only 負かす／撃墜する the mews at the 支援する of the house."

The 視察官 nodded. "And you, what did you do?"

"I went straight to bed." Lady Burslem looked straight at him now. "I was very tired and I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be fresh for the races the next day. I went to sleep at once, and did not wake until my maid brought my tea."

"やめる natural," the 視察官 said. "Just one more point, and then I will not trouble you any more today. Sir John's 親族s—I believe he had a brother and a daughter?"

"Both," Lady Burslem agreed. "The daughter—his, not 地雷—is abroad travelling in Italy with friends. The brother—you must have heard of him, the explorer—he is 追跡（する）ing about for buried cities or something in Tibet just now. We have cabled to his last known 演説（する）／住所 and wired to 行方不明になる Burslem. She is on her way home."

"And the brother?"

"I am sure he will come when he gets the message," Lady Burslem said at once. "He is very charming, I know, though really I have seen very little of him. He was at my wedding. That is the only time I have seen him. The relations were rather 緊張するd between the two brothers: James married a variety actress, and although he did not get on very 井戸／弁護士席 with her himself he never forgave my husband for 反対するing to the marriage. So that was why we did not see so much of him as we さもなければ should."

"Thank you, Lady Burslem." The 視察官 took his 肘 off the mantelpiece and straightened himself. "Just one thing more—could you give me the 指名する of Sir John's dentist?"

Sophie bit her lip. "No, really I couldn't. I have never had anything to do with dentists, but Ellerby would know." She rang the bell as she spoke and ordered the valet to come to them.

He did not keep them waiting.

"Ellerby—" she began at once.

The 視察官 stopped her.

"If you please, Lady Burslem."

He put the question to Ellerby.

Ellerby frowned. "I am sure I couldn't; Sir John never went to one here that I heard of. He went to one when he was over in the 明言する／公表するs, but I don't know where. He told me American dentists could knock 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs off the English ones. It is all I know, 視察官."

"Thank you. Then that is all this morning and I hope I may not need to trouble you again," turning 支援する to Lady Burslem.

"Thank you, 視察官!" Lady Burslem did not raise her 注目する，もくろむs. Was it possible that he had not seen the terror in them? she asked herself.

Harbord followed his superior out of the house. Outside the （人が）群がる had 増加するd. It needed all the 成果／努力s of the police to keep it moving. Stoddart gave a few sharp orders to a man in plain 着せる／賦与するs; then he and Harbord got into the run-about in silence. When they were （疑いを）晴らす of the traffic and had got into a 静かな street, Stoddart ちらりと見ることd at Harbord.

"What do you think of her ladyship?"

Harbord 盗品故買者d. "What do you?"

The 視察官 did not look at him. "A pretty woman, a very pretty woman. For the 残り／休憩（する）, I shall be able to tell you more about her when I have seen the paper that Sir John 調印するd that last night, and that Mr. Weldon 持つ／拘留するs."

CHAPTER 4

"I rang Sir Charles Stanyard up an hour ago, but he is not in town."

視察官 Stoddart was the （衆議院の）議長. He had been out for some time and had just returned. He was sitting before his desk in his room at Scotland Yard, and as he looked up at Harbord his 表現 was worried, troubled.

Harbord had also been out since 早期に morning, 追求するing a different line of 調査. He carried a small brown 小包, which he laid upon the 視察官's desk. Stoddart did not take it up. Instead he sat 支援する in his 議長，司会を務める and drummed absently on the open flap of his desk as he looked up at Harbord.

"This 事例／患者 does not get any easier, Alfred."

"It does not, sir," his subordinate agreed with 強調.

"I have just come from the lawyers, Weldon & Furnival of Spencer's Inn," Stoddart went on almost as if he were talking to himself, his 注目する，もくろむs not looking at Harbord now, but 星／主役にするing straight in 前線 of him at a 地図／計画する of Old London pasted on the 塀で囲む opposite.

Harbord waited.

"Weldon & Furnival were Sir John's lawyers," Stoddart continued. "Weldon transacted most of the 商売／仕事. I went to get the paper Lady Burslem said Sir John 調印するd when they （機の）カム home, which he told her to take care of and which she had given to Mr. Weldon. 井戸／弁護士席, I had some trouble in 説得するing Mr. Weldon even to let me see it. He utterly 拒絶する／低下するd to let me bring it away."

"But could he 辞退する?" Harbord questioned doubtfully.

"Not 最終的に, of course. Still, he can put a good many difficulties in our way, as he did. But the point of the whole 事柄 is this"—the 視察官 paused a moment, and then went on impressively—"that paper was a short will, drawn up 明らかに in Sir John's own handwriting, leaving everything of which he died 所有するd to his wife, 任命するing her 単独の executor and residuary legatee. His daughter—his only child—is not even について言及するd."

"What an 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の thing!" Harbord exclaimed. "Why on earth should he make a new will at that time of night? Did he know he was in some danger?"

Stoddart nodded. "正確に／まさに the questions I have been putting to myself, but I can find no answer to them. More 特に as he had already made one will since his marriage with 行方不明になる Carlford. This former one was drawn up by Mr. Weldon. It left Lady Burslem and his daughter 井戸／弁護士席 供給するd for, but the 本体，大部分／ばら積みの of his fortune was to be held in 信用 for any son that might be born to him. Only in the 事例／患者 of his second marriage, like his first, failing to 供給する him with an 相続人, was his 所有物／資産／財産 to be divided 平等に between Lady Burslem and his daughter Pamela and any other daughters he might have. It appears to be, on the 直面する of it, a far more 満足な 協定, and the questions one cannot help asking oneself are: Why did he want to make a hurried fresh will in that last moment? And had he any 推論する／理由 to suppose that it was his last moment?"

"Could it have been a duel?" Harbord said in a puzzled トン.

"Hardly!" The 視察官 laughed satirically. "The duellist does not throw his dead 対抗者 in a 溝へはまらせる／不時着する and go off with his car. Besides, who would fight a duel in these days?

"I don't know," Harbord said in a befogged トン. Then, brightening up, "I beg your 容赦, sir. Of course it was an idiotic suggestion. But this 事例／患者 so bristles with impossibilities that goodness knows what we shall come to before we have finished with it."

"I hope at any 率 we shall keep our 長，率いるs," the 視察官 said dryly. "This last will is 証言，証人／目撃するd by James, the second footman, and Ellerby, Sir John's man."

"It is a queer 事件／事情／状勢 altogether," Harbord 結論するd, "and I'm afraid a little 発見 I made 負かす／撃墜する at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd this morning will not throw any 付加 light on the 事柄."

The 視察官 pricked up his ears. "発見! What was it?"

"井戸／弁護士席, I proceeded on the lines you 示唆するd," Harbord went on, "and I have 設立する a man who saw two cars, both two-seaters, coming from Oxley at a 広大な／多数の／重要な pace に向かって Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd. Each of them had two occupants, a man and a woman. But he did not notice numbers or anything else that would help us to identify either of them. At last I began to think he had taken something that had made him see 二塁打. Finding I could make nothing more of him, I thought I would take another look at the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する and its surroundings. On the other 味方する of the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する from the road, behind one of those old trees, I 設立する this."

He took up the 小包 he had brought in and carefully unwrapping it held up the contents.

The 視察官 星／主役にするd. "What's that?"

"One of those wretched little handbags that women carry about and are always leaving behind them," Harbord explained. "And it has just got the usual rubbish they put in them, lip-stick, 砕く-puff, and what-not. But one thing that most of them 港／避難所't got is this."

He held out a betting slip—on it was scrawled in pencil:

"Put me a fiver on Peep o' Day, fiver each way on Perlyon."

"She wouldn't want to make bets after the race was run, would she? 特に as Peep o' Day was scratched."

The 視察官 did not look impressed.

"No, but that might have been written out beforehand and forgotten."

"Of course it might," Harbord agreed with a crest-fallen 空気／公表する. "But nobody has had the chance to lay the 捕らえる、獲得する where it was 設立する since the 殺人. And the boys from the Beacon School had been playing rounders の中で the trees on that very afternoon of June 2nd. A couple of masters were with them, and both masters and boys agreed there was no 捕らえる、獲得する there then. They say they could not have helped seeing it if there had been, as that particular tree was one of their goals."

The 視察官 shrugged his shoulders. "Umph! Pretty strong 証拠 that some woman was there on the evening or night of June 2nd. But it does not take us any その上の."

"No, perhaps not. But what do you make of this?"

Harbord dived into the 捕らえる、獲得する again and brought out another bit of paper.

On it was scrawled in what looked like the same 令状ing as that on the other: "Will probably leave Oxley a little after twelve. Should reach the 支持を得ようと努めるd in ten minutes."

Stoddart knit his brows. "As I said before, it seems strong 証拠 that some person was lurking there on the night of the 悲劇. But I suppose you don't 示唆する that the owner of this thing"—giving the 捕らえる、獲得する a contemptuous flick—"waited there under the trees and took a マリファナ-発射 at Sir John Burslem as he passed in his car, then pulled him out and flung him into a 溝へはまらせる／不時着する. Besides, you are forgetting when Sir John left Oxley soon after twelve he had his wife with him. He drove her home, drew up and 調印するd his will after that. It was not until he went out again for some inexplicable 推論する／理由 and drove to Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd a second time that he met his death. But the owner of this 捕らえる、獲得する must be traced. It is やめる possible that she 証言，証人／目撃するd the 殺人, or at any 率 knows something of the events that led up to it. The question is, How is this woman to be 設立する? She must have heard of Sir John Burslem's death—the papers are 十分な of nothing else—and she hasn't come 今後. The inference is that she has some 推論する／理由 for her silence, and one can scarcely conceive that it is an innocent one."

"Hardly," Harbord assented. He waited silently while Stoddart stood up, took a 麻薬を吸う from the mantelpiece, filled it deliberately and then sat 負かす／撃墜する while he lighted a match.

"There's no 疑問 a 麻薬を吸う does （疑いを）晴らす one's brain in a way that this rubbish you younger ones smoke doesn't touch," he said, throwing a cigarette-事例／患者 over to Harbord. "Help yourself. They are 皇室の Regent, やめる a new brand, and not bad. So far as I can see, a 旅行 to Oxley is the first thing 示すd and a few 調査s as to any strangers who were seen in the neighbourhood that day, or who had made 調査s about Sir John Burslem or his 事業／計画（する）d visit. Somebody must have given the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） away."

"正確に. But—"

A tap at the door interrupted Harbord before he could finish his 宣告，判決. A man in undress uniform opened the door. "A young lady is asking to see the 公式の／役人s in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the Burslem 事例／患者, sir."

"A young lady?" the 視察官 需要・要求するd はっきりと. "What young lady? What 指名する did she give?"

"I asked her, sir. But she said you did not know her."

"Ask her again."

The man saluted and 出発／死d. Stoddart looked across at Harbord.

"Is this your mysterious lady of the 支持を得ようと努めるd and the handbag?"

As he spoke the door opened. "行方不明になる Burslem, sir—行方不明になる Pamela Burslem."

"Sir John's daughter! Show her in at once," the 視察官 ordered. He drew in his lips as he looked across at Harbord.

行方不明になる Burslem was 勧めるd in in a moment—a tall, わずかな／ほっそりした girl, in a short skirt and with the shingled hair of the period. She looked essentially modern. She ちらりと見ることd at Stoddart, who had risen and put his 麻薬を吸う 負かす／撃墜する, and from him to Harbord.

"Which of you is in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the 事例／患者?" she 問い合わせd 突然の. "The 事例／患者 of my father's 殺人 I mean?"

"I am," Stoddart answered. "And Mr. Harbord," with a wave of his 手渡す at the young man, "is my very 有能な and tried assistant."

"Oh!"

行方不明になる Burslem took the 議長，司会を務める nearest her. "Have you 設立する out who is 有罪の?" she 需要・要求するd 無作法に.

"Not yet," the 視察官 said. "I understood that you were in Italy, さもなければ—"

"So I was in Italy," 行方不明になる Burslem said 突然の. "You didn't 推定する／予想する me to stay there 静かに when my father was 殺人d, I suppose?"

"No, but I was afraid that you might not have got home in time—"

"We are not living in the days of 行う／開催する／段階-coaches and sailing boats," the girl said scornfully. "I flew, of course. Reached Croydon this morning and モーターd straight on."

It was evident to the 視察官 at a ちらりと見ること that the girl was tired and overwrought. Unlike her stepmother, she did not look as if she had been crying. Instead, her grey 注目する，もくろむs were 有望な, hard and tearless.

"But I will not 残り／休憩（する） until my father's 殺害者 is punished," she cried impatiently, "and I can tell you who he is—Sir Charles Stanyard, and if my stepmother would speak the truth—"

"Hush! Hush! my dear young lady," the 視察官 said in real alarm. "Do you know that you might bring 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な trouble upon yourself by making such a 声明?"

"You mean that Stanyard might bring a 名誉き損 against me?" 行方不明になる Burslem said more 静かに. "Now, I am not going to turn hysterical on your 手渡すs. Don't be afraid. But"—she 圧力（をかける）d her lips together and looked at him squarely in the 直面する before she continued—"I mean my father's 殺害者 to be 設立する and brought to 司法（官） if I spend every penny I 所有する. That is why I （機の）カム to you at once, as soon as I arrived. Don't think of expense; I am going to 申し込む／申し出 a reward—oh, a very big reward—the biggest perhaps that has ever been 申し込む／申し出d, to bring the 犯罪 home—"

The 視察官 held up his 手渡す. "行方不明になる Burslem, everything will be done that can be done. As for money"—he shrugged his shoulders—"that will make no difference. ありふれた 司法（官） for the rich 同様に as for the poor 需要・要求するs that Sir John's 殺害者 should be 設立する and punished. With regard to 申し込む／申し出ing a reward, it may be useful. But I must tell you that no member of the police 軍隊 is 許すd to take it."

"井戸／弁護士席, if you stand for British 司法（官）—" retorted 行方不明になる Burslem more equably. "Can't you see the whole thing? Lady Burslem was engaged to Sir Charles Stanyard when they never thought he would come in to the 肩書を与える and the 広い地所s. Then she met my father, who fell foolishly, madly in love with her. She threw over Captain Stanyard and married my father. Do you know that she was twenty-one and he was forty-two when she married him? Is it likely that she would care for him?" with the 罰金 軽蔑（する） of 青年 for middle age. "And my father's death meant heaps of money for Sir Charles Stanyard. It meant that Perlyon won the Derby instead of Peep o' Day, and they say he was on his colt to any 量. Oh, he knew Peep o' Day wouldn't run!"

"My dear young lady, do you think a man in Sir Charles Stanyard's position would willingly put his neck in a noose for the sake of a few thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs?" Stoddart questioned impressively. "And there is another question: What would your father have said if he heard you bring such a 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金?"

"I don't know!"

For one moment Pamela's composure 脅すd to give way. They could see her throat twitching painfully.

"I 港／避難所't seen so much of my father lately," she 自白するd. "Before his second marriage I was always with him. But since"—forlornly—"I don't think he has 手配中の，お尋ね者 me—much." She got up. "井戸／弁護士席, that is all. I want to put you on the 権利 跡をつける, to tell you to 申し込む／申し出 the biggest reward that has ever been 申し込む／申し出d for the 発見 of the 殺害者."

After a moment's hesitation, she held out her 手渡す to the 視察官.

He took it in his for a moment.

"We will let you know when it is 望ましい to 申し込む／申し出 a reward, 行方不明になる Burslem. And in the 合間 let me advise you to put all these lamentable ideas out of your 長，率いる. Believe me, things will not turn out as you 推定する／予想する."

He opened the door and 護衛するd her out of the building.

When he （機の）カム 支援する he looked at Harbord.

"Nice sort of young person, eh?"

Harbord waited a minute.

"井戸／弁護士席, poor girl!" he said at last, "she is evidently overwrought and overstrained, but she has managed to pitch on the obvious 手がかり（を与える）, hasn't she?"

"She has, but to my mind the obvious 手がかり（を与える） is 一般に the wrong one," the 視察官 観察するd sententiously.

一方／合間 Pamela had 解任するd her car; she felt that she must be alone to think—to try to realize this awful thing that had befallen her. She went to the 堤防 and for a while stood watching the 不振の moving waters of the Thames, then almost without knowing what she was doing she turned to the 権利 and in a few minutes 設立する herself in St. James's Park. She was buried 深い in thought when, just as she was about to cross one of the 橋（渡しをする）s, she suddenly 衝突する／食い違うd with a young man coming along quickly from the opposite direction.

He raised his hat with a murmured 陳謝; then stopped short with a sharp exclamation:

"You!"

Pamela 星／主役にするd at him.

"You!" she exclaimed blankly. "What are you doing here?"

The man laughed. He was a tall, fair young man, immaculately garbed and groomed.

"I live 近づく here, don't you know, in Aldwyn Mansions. I am on my way home now. I have just come 支援する from Epsom—looked out for you there, hoped I might see you—and now I 会合，会う you on my own doorstep as it were. I should like you to have seen the Derby this year."

"The Derby—don't talk of it!" Pamela's 注目する，もくろむs filled with 涙／ほころびs. "And Perlyon, I hate Perlyon; I would have done anything—anything to stop him winning."

"You would have liked to have stopped Perlyon winning? Why?"

Pamela did not （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 about the bush. "Because Perlyon belongs to the man I dislike most on earth—Charles Stanyard."

The man laughed, his 注目する，もくろむs dwelling on the fair, girlish 直面する that had haunted his dreams for the past month.

"Why do you dislike Stanyard, poor beggar?"

"He is not a poor beggar at all," Pamela said decidedly. "He is a terrible man. He has taken care he is not poor. He has destroyed people's lives and happiness to make himself rich—" Her 発言する／表明する broke.

"What?" The man started violently. "Charles Stanyard has—You are getting at me. Do you know him?"

"No, and I don't mean to," Pamela returned uncompromisingly. "Do you?"

"Yes, I know him rather 井戸／弁護士席," the man said after a moment's pause. "He is not up to much, I 収容する／認める, but I don't see why you should hate him. I should have said he was a 害のない sort of chap."

"Perhaps you would not say he was a 害のない sort of chap if he had 殺人d your father!" Pamela retorted.

"Good Lord! 殺人d your father!" the man ejaculated. "What sort of a story have you got 持つ／拘留する of? I know Charles Stanyard pretty 井戸／弁護士席 all through, and, whatever his sins may be, I can 保証する you he is no 殺害者."

"井戸／弁護士席, I think he is, you see," Pamela returned icily. "Perhaps if it were your father he had killed it would make a difference?"

"But why on earth should Charles Stanyard kill your father?"

"井戸／弁護士席, some people would tell you because Peep o' Day—"

"What! You don't mean that you are Sir John Burslem's daughter?"

"I am Pamela Burslem," returned the girl with a little 空気／公表する of dignity. "Ah, now you see why I say Sir Charles Stanyard killed my father!"

"On the contrary," the man said with a 確かな 有罪の判決 in his トン, "I am やめる 肯定的な that he did not!"

"井戸／弁護士席, you can stick to your opinions and I can stick to 地雷!" Pamela finished. "Good-bye. I must go home, only"—with a quiver of her lower lip—"it is not home any longer." She turned away for a moment.

In a couple of strides the man had caught her up. "I cannot let you go like this. You don't know how I have thought of you—longed to 会合，会う you again ever since that night I danced with you. May I 令状 to you?"

Just the faintest 疑惑 of one of Pamela's old dimples peeped out. "You forget that I don't know your 指名する. I should not know who the letter （機の）カム from."

"You don't know my 指名する?" the man repeated in a dazed トン. "No, I was forgetting. My 指名する is Richard Leyton—刑事 my friends call me."

CHAPTER 5

"It is a wicked will; an 悪名高い will!" Old General Percival was the （衆議院の）議長. "I cannot understand my friend, John Burslem, making such a will."

Sir John Burslem's funeral had taken place that morning. By his own wish he had been buried by the 味方する of his first wife in the 広大な／多数の／重要な 共同墓地 in North London. Neither his second wife nor his daughter had been 現在の and there had been no flowers, by request.

There had been no communication from his brother, the explorer, and it was doubtful whether the 電報電信 had reached him. Lord Carlford and his son, Alan, had been the 長，指導者 会葬者s; there had been a 広大な／多数の／重要な に引き続いて of friends and 知識s, of those who had been connected with the dead man, either in the 財政上の or in the racing world. （人が）群がるs, 十分な of morbid curiosity, had lined the roads and had filled the 共同墓地.

There had been no formal reading of the will, but a few of Sir John's oldest friends had returned with Lord Carlford; and then Mr. Weldon had 公表する／暴露するd the 処分 of his 所有物／資産／財産, made by Sir John on the night of his death.

General Percival had been the first to break the silence that followed, and as he finished a low murmur of assent ran 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the room.

At the same moment Lady Burslem and her stepdaughter, with Lady Carlford and Mrs. イルカ, entered the room. They seated themselves at the 最高の，を越す of the long library （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

General Percival was not to be daunted. When the little 混乱 原因（となる）d by the 入り口 of the new arrivals had 沈下するd, he began again:

"It is an 悪名高い will! You were good enough to tell me that I was one of the executors, Mr. Weldon—I shall 辞退する to 行為／法令／行動する! If 行方不明になる Burslem takes my advice she will contest the will."

"I beg your 容赦, general," Mr. Weldon interrupted; "I said that you were one of the executors of the will made by Sir John Burslem 直接／まっすぐに after his second marriage. This one, drawn up by Sir John himself on the last day of his life, leaves everything to Lady Burslem, and 任命するs her 単独の executrix and residuary legatee."

"Disgraceful!" frowned the general. "I wonder you were not ashamed to make such a will, Mr. Weldon, or to produce it now."

"I had nothing to do with the making of it," Mr. Weldon exclaimed. "I thought I had made it plain, general, that the whole of this will is in Sir John's own 令状ing. Whatever our opinion of it may be, it appears to me there is no possible ground for contesting."

"I do not want to contest it," Pamela said, her cheeks and her 注目する，もくろむs flashing. "Daddy was やめる 権利 to leave his money as he liked. I do not want it; I have plenty of my own."

There was an uncomfortable silence. Mr. Weldon fidgeted with his papers and coughed.

Pamela ちらりと見ることd at him. "港／避難所't I?" she questioned.

Mr. Weldon looked unhappy.

"井戸／弁護士席, my dear 行方不明になる Burslem, under your mother's 解決／入植地—you must remember that Sir John was a comparatively poor man in those days—you come into a sum of three thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs when you are twenty-one. Until then you will have an allowance of course, but—"

Pamela turned from white to red, 支援する again to white.

"You do not mean that I have no money of my own that I can use now? But I want a lot at once; I want to engage a smart 探偵，刑事 to find out—"

Her 発言する／表明する broke in a strangled sob.

Lady Burslem leaned 今後 and touched her arm.

"It shall make no difference, Pam, not a bit of difference, dear—"

With a gesture of loathing Pamela shook off the caressing 手渡す and turned away. Then like a small 激流 of grief she 急ぐd out of the room.

Lord Carlford, a gentleman of the old school, rose and took his daughter's 手渡す.

"Come, my dear, you have heard all that is necessary," with a ちらりと見ること at his wife and 年上の daughter.

When they had gone Mr. Weldon looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. "There is no more to be said, gentlemen; this is a very sad 事件／事情／状勢. Nothing can be 伸び（る）d by discussing it. I am sure all our sympathy goes out to Lady Burslem and her stepdaughter in their 悲劇の bereavement."

General Percival 匂いをかぐd audibly. "I am 極端に sorry for 行方不明になる Burslem," he said pointedly; "this will is a crying スキャンダル. When this Lady Burslem marries again—as of course she will—Burslem's fortune will be spent on her second husband, and Burslem's girl, who used to be the apple of his 注目する，もくろむ, will not get a penny."

"It is scarcely decent to talk of Lady Burslem's second husband when her first is only this day buried," Mr. Weldon said expressively.

"Decent! I dare say it is not!" the general growled. "Precious few natural things are! But it is what the 未亡人s mostly think of, let me tell you that. Not the one they put 地下組織の, but the one they hope to find on 最高の，を越す."

一方／合間 the 未亡人d Lady Burslem had walked past the 製図／抽選-room, resisting her father's gesture に向かって them.

"No, you all go in there and have tea and things; I am going 支援する to my room. I must be alone to think."

"井戸／弁護士席, I shall see you in, anyhow," Mrs. イルカ said restlessly, linking her arm in her sister's. "Don't be an ass, Sophie; of course I am coming in to make you comfortable. I'm not too fond of that maid of yours: she seems to me to be always watching you."

"I don't care much about her, either," said Sophie listlessly. "I don't think I shall keep her. I think I shall go abroad in a week or two, and I should prefer some one who speaks Italian."

The door into her room stood open. Forbes was 近づく the window, 明らかに 持つ／拘留するing something up to the light. She turned as the sisters entered, and for a moment Sophie fancied she looked discomposed. She 回復するd herself すぐに, however, and （機の）カム 今後.

"You look tired, my lady, やめる worn out. A little sal volatile and a 残り／休憩（する） in your favourite 議長，司会を務める—"

She drew one up to the open window as she spoke.

Her トン was 同情的な, but Clare イルカ, watching her, saw a look of 勝利 gleam for a moment in her 注目する，もくろむs.

Sophie lay 支援する in her 議長，司会を務める and submitted to her maid's ministrations without the 抗議する her sister had half 推定する／予想するd. Presently she looked up.

"I am all 権利 now, Clare. Forbes will look after me. And then I must be alone. It seems to me that I have not had a moment to think since John—"

Mrs. イルカ did not look やめる pleased. "Oh, very 井戸／弁護士席, then, if you don't want me I will go home. Goodness knows, I have plenty to do. But I didn't like the idea of your 存在 alone."

"You are very 肉親，親類d." Sophie received her sister's kisses passively, rather than returned them. "But—but, you see, there is so much that I shall have to do alone now."

"Oh, 井戸／弁護士席, I will come in again some time this evening, just to see how you are."

She shut the door with a decided jerk as she went out.

Sophie sat up. Her languor had momentarily disappeared. "What was that you were looking at when we （機の）カム in, Forbes?"

Forbes hesitated.

"井戸／弁護士席, I had just 設立する your frock, my lady. The one you wore for dinner on June 2nd. I 設立する it all 鎮圧するd together at the 底（に届く） of the wardrobe. It is in a fearful 明言する／公表する, my lady. The 前線 breadth is 権利 out."

She shook the dilapidated 衣料品 before Sophie's unwilling 注目する，もくろむs as she spoke. One ちらりと見ること was enough to show its hopeless 条件—dirty, covered with mud-stains. There were still a few ominous dark stains left on the bodice, and the 前線 breadth hung literally in rags.

"What am I to do with it, my lady? I really can hardly touch it."

"It is in a terrible 明言する／公表する," Sophie said, 星／主役にするing at it with fascinated 注目する，もくろむs. "I knew it was in a mess, but I had no idea that it was as bad as this. Of course I wore it when I went to Oxley. That, and my purple coat with the beaver collar over it. And of course we did a lot of walking in and out. They—they 手配中の，お尋ね者 me to see everything. Earlier in the day it had been raining."

"Yes, of course, my lady." But the maid was not 満足させるd. "Just look at the 前線, my lady, all in rags!"

Sophie gazed at it in silence for a minute. "It—there are lots of thorn bushes 近づく the stables, and we left the car a little way away. I suppose I got my frock caught on the bushes going 支援する."

"It looks as if it had been 削減（する）, my lady, as if some one had taken a knife and 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスd at it," the maid 反対するd, 持つ／拘留するing out one 味方する.

Lady Burslem sat 支援する and の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs. "井戸／弁護士席, I am sure I do not know what has happened to it. Put it in the rag-捕らえる、獲得する, please, Forbes, or wherever you put such things. I don't care what becomes of it. I do not suppose I shall ever wear white again. You can take that white and gilt frock of 地雷 that you f liked so much when it （機の）カム home last week. It will do for you when you go to a dance with your young man."

"Oh, my lady, and you have never had it on. It does seem a shame. I shall love to have it. Not that I shall be going to any dances now. Tom and me, we lost too much over Peep o' Day."

"Ah! I must have a talk with you about that later on, Forbes." Lady Burslem's 即位 of energy left her suddenly. "I will have some more sal volatile, and—and then I will see you again later."

When at last the maid had retired Sophie sat up and looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her 慎重に. Her cheeks were 燃やすing now and her 注目する，もくろむs were fever 有望な. She went across to the door and locked it. Then she （機の）カム slowly 支援する, her 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on her dressing-事例／患者.

"I must!" she whispered to herself. "I must make sure."

She opened the 事例／患者. Everything looked just as usual. She felt for the spring that opened the secret drawer. Was it her fancy, or did it work more stiffly than usual? It moved with a sort of creak that she did not seem to have noticed before. And then she uttered an exclamation of horror and 狼狽. She had put that long （土地などの）細長い一片 of satin with its ugly, brown stain in the drawer. Yes, there was—there could be—no mistake about that. And now the drawer was empty!

Frantically she pulled it out. She shook it. She turned it topsy-turvy and felt behind it.

In vain—no silk was there!

CHAPTER 6

"Sir Charles Stanyard?" 視察官 Stoddart said inquiringly.

"He is 推定する／予想するing you, sir."

The manservant に先行するd Stoddart and Harbord along the passage, and opened the door at the end.

They saw a comfortable-looking room, 明らかに furnished as a 熟考する／考慮する, and a pleasant-looking, fair, young man sitting at the 最高の，を越す of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. He looked up as they entered.

"Good morning, 視察官 Stoddart; you 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see me?"

"I did, Sir Charles. I am in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the Burslem 事例／患者."

Stanyard raised his eyebrows. "Indeed, I fail to see the connexion. Unless, as somebody said to me plainly the other day, you imagine that I 発射 Sir John Burslem, so that my horse might 勝利，勝つ the Derby."

"If I thought that I should hardly be here," Stoddart said 厳粛に. "But because it is my 義務 to trace every 手がかり（を与える）, even the very slenderest 手がかり（を与える） that may help to elucidate the mystery of Sir John Burslem's death, I must ask you to give me some account of your movements on the night of June 2nd."

"On June 2nd." Sir Charles Stanyard frowned, as if the 成果／努力 to remember was too strenuous for him. "井戸／弁護士席, I went over to Epsom in the afternoon. I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see how Perlyon was after his 旅行. Epsom is rather a long way from Maybank, you know, and old Tom Burton, best trainer in the world, brought Perlyon across country in a sort of glorified horse-box, wired to me that the colt was a bit nervous, so I went 負かす／撃墜する to see him. I was 拘留するd on the way, so I did not get there till after six. I 設立する Perlyon in first-率 削減する, 静かなd 負かす／撃墜する wonderfully, and as fresh as paint. 自然に I was a bit bucked, and when Tom Burton asked me to have a bit of dinner with him, and then go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and see what news we could 選ぶ up about the other gee-gees, 特に Peep o' Day, 井戸／弁護士席, I stopped."

"Ah!" Stoddart looked at him closely. "Did you see Sir John Burslem?"

"No, I did not!" Stanyard said emphatically. "And I may tell you, 視察官, that even if I had 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 勝利，勝つ the Derby 不正に enough to 危険 my neck for it, there was no need for me to kill Sir John Burslem. Perlyon is a real first-class colt, 井戸／弁護士席 bred on both 味方するs by 栄冠を与える 王室の out of Irish Pearl. He could have licked Peep o' Day hollow, given him ten 続けざまに猛撃するs and beaten him. I hope they may 会合，会う as four-year-olds next year, and then you will see."

"井戸／弁護士席, I was only told that Peep o' Day was the favourite," the 視察官 returned phlegmatically. "What I know about horseflesh might be written on a threepenny bit. Beyond putting a trifle on the Derby, like everybody else, I never do any betting. May I ask what you did after your walk 一連の会議、交渉／完成する with Mr. Burton, Sir Charles?"

"Can't say I did much—there was not much to be done," Stanyard 答える／応じるd. "Stood about, don't you know, talked about Perlyon and Peep o' Day and made up our minds, me and old Tom, to put the shirts off our 支援するs on Perlyon."

"What time did you start 支援する?"

Stanyard got up and, standing before the empty fireplace, leaned against the high 木造の shelf.

"井戸／弁護士席, really, do you know, I couldn't say 前向きに／確かに—about twelve, or a little after, I should think. The beastly old bus broke 負かす／撃墜する a mile or two out, and I had to spend a good half-hour tinkering at it."

"Did Sir John Burslem's car pass you?"

"Shouldn't have been any the wiser if it had," Stanyard retorted. "I shouldn't have 認めるd Burslem passing quickly in a car. I might have made a 発射 at him if he had been walking, but just jigging by in a car what chance should I have? Besides, most of the time my old bus was on 最高の，を越す of me, and I was poking at her inside; should not have seen Peep o' Day himself, let alone Burslem."

"But Lady Burslem was with Sir John. You would have known her?"

Stanyard turned his 長，率いる away, and catching up an ivory ornament from the mantelshelf began to turn it about in his fingers.

"Now you are talking! And I know what you are getting at. Because I was a silly ass about Sophie Carlford in my salad days, you think I am keen enough after all this time to do old Burslem in so that I can marry her myself. As if when a chap had been chucked over once he is dotty enough to go on hankering after the girl. If he is—井戸／弁護士席, his 指名する will not be Charles Stanyard, and that is all there is to that!"

"You were dancing with Lady Burslem at the Ruthwyn Club a week or two ago."

"Now, how did you 宙返り／暴落する to that?" Sir Charles 問い合わせd, 星／主役にするing at him. "Yes, I just （機の）カム across her by chance talking to a friend of 地雷. I had nothing against her. Never do 耐える malice, you know, so I said, 'Let's have a turn for the sake of old times.' So we did, and that's all there is about that."

"Thank you for 存在 so frank, Sir Charles." Stoddart waited a moment as if considering some point, then said:

"And about the 列／漕ぐ／騒動 at the Wilton Club a week before Sir John's death?"

Stanyard opened his 注目する，もくろむs wider than ever. "I say, you have been pokin' 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, 港／避難所't you? 井戸／弁護士席, it was a bit of a ramp—seemed as if the old chap was trying to get me. It was something I said about Peep o' Day and old Matt Harker, and Burslem overheard and （機の）カム for me. Bad-tempered sort of chap, I should say. But, bless your life, it meant nothing. Should have got over it and been good friends later on, I dare say."

"井戸／弁護士席, you might," Stoddart said doubtfully. "Now, what about this, Sir Charles?"

He drew a little packet carefully wrapped up in tissue paper from his pocket; he threw off the paper and 公表する／暴露するd a silver cigarette-事例／患者 with a monogram on the 味方する.

"Is this yours?"

"Why, yes it is," Stanyard said, taking it from him. "I was wonderin' this morning what had become of the bloomin' thing. How did you come across it, 視察官?"

"It was 設立する in Sir John's run-about the day after his death," the 視察官 said 静かに.

The ivory ornament in Stanyard's 手渡す 割れ目d suddenly. "Oh, I say, that's impossible! How could it have got there?"

"That," said the 視察官 very softly, "I thought you could explain, Sir Charles."

"井戸／弁護士席, then, I can't," said Sir Charles, setting 負かす／撃墜する the broken ornament with a snap and putting the cigarette-事例／患者 beside it. "I know no more about it than the man in the moon or yourself, 視察官; not so much I 推定する／予想する. So that's that! Hadn't you better 逮捕（する） me and save yourself the trouble of lookin' after me. There's a dirty sort of dodger always at my heels; I guess he's one of your lot."

The 視察官 made no answer to this sally. "Then there is nothing more to be done now, Sir Charles," he said 厳粛に.

When they had left the Mansions and were walking across the Green Park, Stoddart ちらりと見ることd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する at his assistant.

"What do you think of that young man, Harbord?"

"I really don't know." Harbord hesitated. "I thought he was all やめる straight and above-board at first; but I didn't やめる like his manner over the cigarette-事例／患者. He wasn't やめる frank about that, I am 確かな . But he doesn't look like a 殺害者."

"殺害者s never do. If they did they wouldn't get the chance to 殺人 anybody," the 視察官 観察するd sententiously.

"When was the cigarette-事例／患者 discovered?" Harbord 問い合わせd.

"The day after the 殺人, as I said—that is to say, on June 4th. The car was 設立する at the parking place in South London, you remember; at least, the car is said to have been 設立する there. A man who hangs about the parking ground looking for 半端物 職業s said he 設立する it in the car afterwards identified as Sir John Burslem's. His account is that when he saw it he took it out, thinking it would be stolen if left there, and that the owner, when he （機の）カム 支援する, would reward him. Sir John, of course, did not return, and in the hue and cry about the car, and Sir John's mysterious death, he forgot all about the 事例／患者, until yesterday morning, when he suddenly remembered it and brought it to the Yard."

"A queer tale, isn't it, sir?" Harbord said doubtfully. "What sort of chap is this man?"

"Oh, William Dawson, his 指名する is—a good character in the neighbourhood, as far as I can make out. さもなければ, of course, he wouldn't be 許すd on the parking ground. And I 推定する／予想する his tale is 大幅に true, but of course it's impossible of 立証."

"How in the world did it get there?" cogitated Harbord. "I don't see—"

"Nor I," Stoddart agreed. "Take it all in all, I never met with an 事件／事情／状勢 that bristled with such difficulties as this Burslem 事例／患者. 認めるd that Stanyard's 事例／患者 was 設立する in the car, and that, in spite of his 否定, Sir Charles Stanyard had been in the Burslem car that night, Sir John himself took the car to the parking ground, so he was alive and 井戸／弁護士席 after Stanyard lost the 事例／患者."

"That seems one point at which our 調査s might begin," Harbord said, wrinkling his brows. "Suppose it was not Sir John himself but his 殺害者 who took the car to the garage, the whole 事件／事情／状勢 becomes more simple."

"Yes. But unfortunately the 事例／患者 does not 落ちる into line with our ideas," the 視察官 観察するd sarcastically. "Dawson's description of Sir John is 公正に／かなり 正確な. He 選ぶd his photograph out from a dozen others. The only thing that strikes me as 半端物 is that a woman drove on to the ground almost すぐに after Sir John and 範囲d her car beside the other. He did not take particular notice of her, he said, but he saw her stooping over the car. Then she almost ran off the parking ground and hurried away in the same direction as Sir John Burslem, who had turned to the 権利. But they didn't appear to know one another, Dawson says. They met when Sir John was going out and she was coming in, and they didn't speak. I don't think it helps us much. It is やめる likely that the woman has nothing to do with the 事例／患者."

"On the other 手渡す," Harbord 示唆するd, "suppose this was the woman who watched の中で the trees at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd?"

"Was there such a woman?" the 視察官 questioned. "I must 自白する I'm rather 懐疑的な."

"The 捕らえる、獲得する seems to me pretty strong 証拠," Harbord 固執するd.

The 視察官 thought the 事柄 over for a minute or two. At last he said:

"Are you working on the theory that this unknown woman was the murderess? Because against that there is this fact that, whether Burslem was 発射 in the car or out of it, no woman could have 解除するd up a man of his 本体，大部分／ばら積みの and build and pitched him into that 溝へはまらせる／不時着する."

"No, sir, I am not working on that theory or any other," Harbord answered in an 負傷させるd トン. "As you have so often impressed upon me, it is 致命的な to start with a preconceived theory. Besides, so far as I can see, no theory that I can form in any way fits the 事例／患者. Why should Sir John bring his wife home hurriedly, draw up a will, 急ぐ his car to that parking place, and then 涙／ほころび 支援する to Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd and get himself 殺人d? It sounds やめる mad, and yet I suppose it is what really happened."

"Suppose!" the 視察官 echoed, looking at his young subordinate 熱心に. "Not much supposition about it. We know it happened. What bee have you got in your bonnet?"

"井戸／弁護士席, I 推定する／予想する you will say it is worse than that." Harbord dropped his 発言する／表明する, looking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する for possible eavesdroppers. "This 事例／患者 intrigues me more than I can say. I think of it all day and 嘘（をつく） awake at night trying to think of some possible 解答. Last night, like an inspiration, it flashed across me—impersonation. Has that occurred to you, sir?"

"No, I cannot say that it has," said the 視察官 in the same low トン. "At least, to be やめる candid, I have had such a thought and I have 解任するd it as untenable."

"I suppose it is," Harbord said reluctantly. "And yet I cannot help 説 to myself"—his 発言する／表明する becoming a mere whisper—"supposing an 任命 was made for that night of June 2nd at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd. And supposing—just supposing for argument's sake—that the 殺害者 assumed his 犠牲者's 身元, drove the car 支援する to town, (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進むd the new will, and left the car in the parking place. On that theory alone can we explain 確かな happenings."

"Can we explain them on that theory?" the 視察官 questioned, his 直面する very 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な. "Be careful, Harbord; do you realize what your words 暗示する?"

"I think so," Harbord answered, his 直面する distinctly whiter, but his 注目する，もくろむs like steel as he 直面するd his superior squarely.

"A man's nearest and dearest have conspired to get him out of the way before now; also a 殺害者 has passed as his 犠牲者. You remember that 事例／患者 a couple of years ago when a lawyer was 殺人d in the Crow's Inn?"

"Perfectly," the 視察官 assented. "But the two 事例／患者s are not on all fours. In the Crow's Inn 事例／患者 no one who knew the 犠牲者 saw the 殺害者. In this, if there were any 創立／基礎 for your theory, there must not only be the complicity of the wife, the 運動 支援する to town, but the 黙認 of the servants who 調印するd the will—which the 専門家s say, though showing 調印するs of 存在 hurriedly written, is undoubtedly in Sir John's 令状ing and on his own notepaper—and the 証言 of Dawson, who 選ぶd out Sir John's photograph from a 量 of others."

"I am assuming the complicity of the first—I must," Harbord said, his トン troubled. "As for the others—井戸／弁護士席, people can be made up to look like anybody. Fat people can be made to look thin and thin people fat."

"かもしれない," the 視察官 said doubtfully. "But I must remind you that there were 調印するs of a struggle at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd and also in the 明言する／公表する of Sir John's 着せる／賦与するing. No make-up would stand it!"

"Does not the assumed complicity rather settle that?" Harbord questioned.

"How about the servants? The footman who 認める them, and Ellerby, the valet, who 証言，証人／目撃するd the will?"

"Would it be possible to 診察する these two with a 見解（をとる） to my possible theory?" Harbord asked 試験的に. "Their 証拠 at the 検死 was 純粋に formal, and we have had no 適切な時期."

"検死!" the 視察官 broke out irritably. "The ジュース, what's the good of an 検死 anyway. Just to 許す folks to make a nuisance of themselves, to 敗北・負かす the ends of 司法（官）. Even if you do manage to give the 検死官 a hint and he takes it some damned juryman is sure to jump up and ask the very question you want to 避ける answering, and that gives the whole show away. Tell you what, Harbord, we will just take a taxi to Porthwick Square, interview these two men and see what support we can get for this previous theory of yours."

He put up his 手渡す as he spoke and caught a passing taxi. It was only a few minutes 運動 to Porthwick Square, and the 視察官 did not speak. But ちらりと見ることing at his knit brows, Harbord knew that he was 回転するing some of the knotty problems 現在のd by this new theory.

In Porthwick Square the door was opened by James, the second footman. The butler （機の）カム 今後.

"Mr. Ellerby?" the 視察官 said inquiringly. "I must see him with as little 延期する as possible."

The butler opened the library door. "Her ladyship said that this room was to be at your service whenever you 手配中の，お尋ね者 it, 視察官."

"Very 肉親，親類d of Lady Burslem," Stoddart said as they went in. "Oh, by the way, I should like a word with the young man who 認める us—James, isn't he called? Would you send him in first, please?" The second footman did not, from his 外見, 示唆する unusual 知能. As he （機の）カム into the library he looked 完全に 脅すd.

The 視察官 took the 議長，司会を務める at the 最高の，を越す of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and 動議d James to stand so that the light fell upon his 直面する.

"Just a question or two about the night of June 2nd, or rather the morning of June 3rd. I believe that you opened the door for Sir John and Lady Burslem when they returned?"

"Yes, sir. I did."

"What was Sir John wearing?"

"Just a cap, pulled 負かす／撃墜する pretty 井戸／弁護士席 over his ears, a lightish sort of overcoat—it was a warm night, and Mr. Ellerby made the 発言／述べる that it was too hot for his usual モーターing coat. I noticed that he had on a sort of white muffler, though, when he （機の）カム 支援する."

"Just tell us in your own words what Sir John did after he （機の）カム in?"

James fidgeted about from one 脚 to the other. "He didn't do anything, sir, not that I saw. He （機の）カム into this room, where we are now, and her ladyship with him. She （機の）カム out again in a minute—her ladyship—and she says, 'James, you must call Ellerby. Sir John told him not to sit up, but finds he must have him now.' So I went and called Mr. Ellerby. Pretty cross he was too, to be roused up at that time of night. But he was not long in coming, and then Sir John called us both into the library and he 調印するd some paper and we both 調印するd after him."

"What did you do next?" Stoddart questioned.

"井戸／弁護士席, sir, I （機の）カム out and waited about, not knowing whether I should be 手配中の，お尋ね者 again. But before long Sir John （機の）カム out and went out to the car that was standing before the door."

"'You can go to bed, James,' he called out. 'I shall not be long and I can let myself in.'"

"Where was Mr. Ellerby?" Stoddart was looking at his 公式文書，認めるs.

James hesitated. "井戸／弁護士席, I don't know, sir. I didn't see him come out of the library again. But then I didn't take much notice, 存在 too sleepy to think of much but going to bed."

The 視察官 scribbled something in his notebook. "Were you always the one to sit up for Sir John?"

"Oh, no, sir. Henry, the first footman, he 一般に did the sitting-up. Not that Sir John 手配中の，お尋ね者 much, 存在 an 独立した・無所属 sort of gentleman."

"How long have you been in the 状況／情勢?"

"Just over three months, sir."

"Did you see much of Sir John?"

"Oh, yes, sir. Waiting and that, and valeting him いつかs when Mr. Ellerby was out."

"I suppose," the 視察官 said, keeping his 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on the young man, "you are やめる 確かな that it was Sir John who （機の）カム into the house that night—who 調印するd that paper?"

"確かな it was Sir John!" the man echoed. "Why, of course it was Sir John. Who else could it be? Didn't her ladyship and Mr. Ellerby and all see him?"

"We will leave her ladyship and Mr. Ellerby out of it for a moment," the 視察官 said 静かに. "Are you of your own knowledge 用意が出来ている to 断言する it was Sir John Burslem you saw the night of his death?"

The man 星／主役にするd at him. "Why, of course I am 用意が出来ている to 断言する that it was Sir John."

"You saw his 直面する plainly?"

"Yes, sir! At least"—James hesitated and began to stammer—"not so very plainly perhaps, for he kept his モーター cap on all the time, which I thought it was rather queer of him to do. And he wore a white choker thing 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his neck, muffled up like, because he was going out again. But of course it was Sir John 権利 enough!"

"井戸／弁護士席, I think that is all today, my man," the 視察官 結論するd. "Ask Mr. Ellerby to step this way, please."

James's 直面する had a bewildered 表現 as he went out.

They had not long to wait for Ellerby, who was evidently 推定する／予想するing the 召喚するs. As he entered the 視察官 was struck by the indefinable change that had come over him. He looked years older than the man who had come 負かす／撃墜する to Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd to identify his dead master.

"Good morning, Mr. Ellerby," the 視察官 began genially. "I am sorry to trouble you, but there are a few little things that are worrying me, and I thought it might make 事柄s clearer if we had a little talk together—you and I and Mr. Harbord. Shall we sit 負かす／撃墜する to it, Mr. Ellerby?"

He drew a 議長，司会を務める into position carefully. It did not escape Harbord's keen 注目する，もくろむs that the valet, without moving it, 新たな展開d himself 一連の会議、交渉／完成する so that he had his 支援する to the light.

"I am sorry to see you are not looking 井戸／弁護士席, Mr. Ellerby," the 探偵，刑事 went on sympathetically. "But I am sure you have gone through enough lately to try the strongest man."

"Yes, that I have, sir," the valet agreed. "Nobody knows what the 緊張する of this—this dreadful thing has been but those that have gone through it. Sir John, he was as dear to me as if he had been my own son. And to see him like that—"

His 発言する／表明する failed. He drew out his handkerchief and blew his nose vigorously.

"It must have been terrible for you." The 視察官 looked the other way for a minute. "Such a shock too, for you had seen Sir John only a few hours before, hadn't you?"

"Of course I had, Mr. Stoddart, and looking no more like death than you or I do today."

"Yes, that is a true 説—'In the 中央 of life we are in death,'" the 視察官 観察するd sententiously. "I wish you would tell me the story of that night, or rather the 早期に morning of the third of June. I would not trouble you, Mr. Ellerby, but I know you are as anxious as we are to find out Sir John Burslem's 殺害者."

"As anxious? My God! I would give my life to have saved him, to avenge him!" Ellerby choked again.

"Take your time, take your time!" the 視察官 encouraged. "Tell us about that last interview with Sir John and about your 調印 the paper, in your own words, please."

"井戸／弁護士席, it was like this, although I am sure you have heard it again and again," Ellerby began in a shaking 発言する／表明する. "Sir John had told me that he and her ladyship were going to Oxley, and he said I need not wait up for him—he often did. A most considerate master was Sir John; we shall never have another like him. So I was rather surprised when James （機の）カム to tell me that Sir John 手配中の，お尋ね者 me. About one o'clock, I suppose it would be. I dressed as quickly as I could and went to the library. Sir John and her ladyship were both there. Sir John was 令状ing at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and her ladyship stood at the door. 'Come in, Ellerby,' she says. 'Sir John wants you to 証言，証人／目撃する his 署名.' Then she called to James and we went in together. Sir John 調印するd the paper—the will as we know it was now—and I and James 調印するd after him."

"What did you do next?"

Ellerby looked a little surprised at the question. "Nothing, sir, there was nothing to be done. Sir John, he told me to go to bed and he went off to take the car to the garage—he wouldn't let anybody touch her but himself, and me and James went to bed. That is all, 視察官."

"Yes." The 視察官 turned over two or three pages of his notebook 速く. "There are two questions I must put to you, Mr. Ellerby. The first is—are you 確かな that it was Sir John Burslem himself who 調印するd the will?"

Ellerby looked thunderstruck. "Am I sure that it was Sir John himself who 調印するd the will? Why, of course I am sure, 視察官. I could 断言する to it in any 法廷，裁判所 of 法律 in the land."

"You don't think you can have been deceived by a clever impersonation—that somebody might have dressed up to look like him?"

Ellerby shook his 長，率いる; a 恐ろしい smile played momentarily 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his thin lips.

"There's nobody on earth could have dressed up to deceive me, 視察官. It was Sir John himself that 調印するd that will. There can't be any question of that!"

"Oh, 井戸／弁護士席, thank you, that seems pretty conclusive."

"Now for my second question," the 視察官 went on. "Did you go straight to bed when you had 調印するd as a 証言，証人／目撃する of the will?"

"Straight to bed?" Ellerby echoed in an amazed トン. "Why, of course I did, when Sir John said he should not want me again. Pretty tired I was and slept like a スピードを出す／記録につける until I was awakened by the phone message just before seven o'clock."

"That is all then, thank you, Mr. Ellerby." The 視察官 の近くにd his notebook and fastened an elastic 一連の会議、交渉／完成する it with a snap. "I am much 強いるd to you." He got up as he spoke.

Ellerby got up too. "I wish I could do something to help you, 視察官. Anything to find poor Sir John's—" His 発言する／表明する 追跡するd off to a whisper as he 護衛するd them to the hall.

The two 探偵，刑事s walked to the end of the Square before they managed to 選ぶ up a taxi. When they were 安全に ensconced in it, Stoddart looked at Harbord with a smile.

"Your theory does not seem to 持つ／拘留する water, my lad."

"I don't know," Harbord said slowly. "I do not like Ellerby: he is keeping something 支援する."

"I could have told you that on the 3rd of June," the 視察官 said at once. "The question is: What is it?"

CHAPTER 7

"I thought you said you were going abroad, Sophie."

Mrs. Aubrey イルカ was the （衆議院の）議長. She looked curiously at her sister. The two were in Lady Burslem's sitting-room, a room that had been 特に done up by Sir John in the delicate 色合いs that best ふさわしい his young wife's colouring. The 塀で囲むs were grey, and panelled in the very faintest blue. A long （土地などの）細長い一片 of wonderful tapestry hung between the windows. Only the old rose in the Aubusson carpet gave a touch of colour. The 議長，司会を務めるs and sofa were covered in grey silk damask. The cushions matched save that pink and 黒人／ボイコット curves and lines ran 暴動 over them. A couple of Chippendale 議長，司会を務めるs and a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する stood 近づく the window. There were no pictures or photographs or ornaments except an impressionist sketch of Sir John Burslem that hung over the mantelpiece, and a big 巡査 bowl of roses on the 令状ing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"I did think of going abroad," Lady Burslem said wearily. "I thought perhaps when everything was different I might forget. But it seems I can't go until this dreadful 検死 is over. They say my 証言 may be 手配中の，お尋ね者 any time. And—and there is any 量 of 商売／仕事 that I must do myself. That 地雷 in South Africa—I must see the 経営者／支配人."

"Sophie! What on earth do you know about 地雷s in South Africa or anywhere else?"

"Oh, John has taught me a lot since we were married," Sophie said, her lips trembling. "He—he often told me I was the aptest pupil he ever had."

"I should have said you were one of the most unbusiness-like people in the world," Mrs. イルカ 発言／述べるd politely. "However, one never knows. There was a poisonous looking woman asking for you in the hall just now, Sophie. They were trying to get rid of her."

"I am not seeing anyone," Sophie said in an uninterested fashion. "No one but my own people, that is to say. I should be inundated with 報知係s if I 許すd myself to be 明白な."

There was a tap at the door and Forbes appeared. "My lady, there is a person asking for you in the hall. Henry says they can't get rid of her anyhow."

"They must tell her to go," Lady Burslem said impatiently. "Say I am seeing no one."

"Yes, my lady." Forbes hesitated. "Only Henry said, your ladyship said no one but the family, and this lady said—said her 指名する was Burslem—Mrs. James Burslem. And while he was telling her that it was impossible for her to see your ladyship, 行方不明になる Burslem （機の）カム in, and—and the lady introduced herself to her, and 行方不明になる Burslem took her into the library."

"Mrs. James Burslem!" Sophie repeated, her white cheeks suddenly 紅潮／摘発するing crimson. "Oh, I think I must see her. After all, she is my sister-in-法律."

"A sister-in-法律 your husband took care to keep at a distance," Mrs. イルカ said contemptuously. "Don't be an ass, Sophie. Of course you need not be interviewed by this woman because she married your husband's brother. A nice time he has had with her, I should imagine, from the look of her. But, if you feel she is 存在 不正に 扱う／治療するd, I will ascertain for you what she wants."

"No," Lady Burslem said 堅固に, "I must see her myself." She got up as she spoke. "No, Clare, I would rather go alone, really. I don't suppose I shall be very long. You stay here—"

"Certainly not!" said Mrs. イルカ in a トン as decided as her sister's. "I shall not leave you alone to 直面する the brazen-looking creature I saw downstairs."

Lady Burslem still looked inclined to 反対する, but Clare イルカ settled the 事柄 by taking her arm and marching her downstairs.

The library door was ajar and they could hear 発言する／表明するs inside the room, Pamela's and another's, loud, and with a pronounced cockney twang. As she heard it, Sophie Burslem shivered.

Mrs. James Burslem was standing on the hearthrug with one arm 一連の会議、交渉／完成する Pamela, who in her sombre 黒人／ボイコット looked an 半端物 contrast to her stepmother in her loose, white kimono.

Mrs. James Burslem dropped her 持つ／拘留する of Pamela and （機の）カム across the room to 迎える／歓迎する Sophie. She took Lady Burslem in her 武器, the big fur coat she wore, warm though the day was, flopping and seeming to envelop Lady Burslem altogether.

"You poor darling! What you must have gone through! My heart has bled for you!" she said in a loud, raucous トン. "I was just telling Pamela here that I have thought of nothing else since I saw the terrible news in the paper. You had my letter, of course?"

With some difficulty Sophie extricated herself from the voluminous embrace. "Yes, I think so," she said, putting her 手渡す to her 長，率いる. The 紅潮／摘発する that had been called up by the news of Mrs. James's arrival had faded now, leaving her by contrast more 恐ろしい looking than ever.

"Just to explain how it was Jimmy couldn't come to the funeral, you know," Mrs. James went on. "Now just you sit 負かす／撃墜する, you poor dear," giving Lady Burslem a 押し進める into the nearest 議長，司会を務める. "I went to the church, of course, and I thought maybe you would have asked me to come 支援する after; but of course you were not there or anybody that knew me. You 推定する／予想するd Jimmy, 自然に."

"No, I didn't 推定する／予想する anybody," Sophie returned faintly.

"Then I am sure you would not be disappointed," Mrs. Jimmy returned with a loud laugh that 始める，決める her sister-in-法律's teeth on 辛勝する／優位.

"井戸／弁護士席, I should have liked to have seen you then, of course. But today I 簡単に had to come. I have a message for you—a special message."

Lady Burslem did not look 特に 利益／興味d. "I have such heaps of letters and messages every day."

"Ah!" Mrs. Jimmy's raddled 直面する assumed a portentous look. "But not this sort of message. You don't know much about me, Sophie, or you would know that I am 所有するd of 広大な／多数の／重要な psychic 力／強力にするs. Now, my friend, Winnie Margetson, is 簡単に the most wonderful medium in the world. We had a s饌nce the other day with the most marvellous results. A message （機の）カム through to you—I 約束d to 配達する it myself. It is really why I am here today, and I must give it to you alone."

"Why?" Lady Burslem 問い合わせd in a lifeless トン. "Was it anything important?"

"井戸／弁護士席, it depends on what you call important," Mrs. James said, with a ちらりと見ること at Mrs. イルカ, which that lady, rightly 解釈する／通訳するing as a 願望（する） to 解任する her, 静かに ignored. "It is a message from your husband."

"My husband!" There was no mistaking the 影響 of the words on Lady Burslem. She sprang up in her 議長，司会を務める as if electrified, 紅潮／摘発するing hotly red. "You couldn't!"

"Now don't get excited," Mrs. Jimmy returned, with the accent on the first syllable. "The message （機の）カム through 権利 enough and I was to give it to you when you were alone. I have one for you too, Pamela."

"Oh, what is it?" The girl caught her aunt's arm.

That lady 静かに 除去するd it.

"井戸／弁護士席, first he said that you were not to fret about him. That he was in a beautiful garden and that he was happier than he had ever been on earth."

"Oh, did he say so, really? Do tell me—"

"Don't be so silly, Sophie," Mrs. イルカ burst out. "I beg your 容赦, Mrs. Burslem, but I have not one 原子 of 約束 in Spiritualism. As for John Burslem, if he says he is happy in a beautiful garden, his tastes have altered. I can imagine him happy on a racecourse, or reading the 在庫／株 交流 報告（する）／憶測s, but in a beautiful garden—no."

"Ah, his 注目する，もくろむs are open now. Some day yours will be," Mrs. Jimmy retorted.

As she spoke she threw off her coat and stood with her ample 割合s 明らかにする／漏らすd in what looked remarkably like a 黒人／ボイコット satin chemise. It was very short and 極端に skimpy, and Mrs. James Burslem's 人物／姿／数字 was not of the 肉親，親類d to look 井戸／弁護士席 in short, skimpy 衣料品s. Her fleshy 武器 were 明らかにする to the shoulder, her neck betrayed a 傾向 to 嘘（をつく） in rolls of fat. Her hair, 明白に 借りがあるing its colour to peroxide, had been shingled and lay in a 流行の／上流の curl on each cheek. Her complexion might almost have been 捨てるd off with a spoon, and the scarlet lips, like those of most of her fellows, 借りがあるd their colour to the 全世界の／万国共通の lip-stick. Her teeth were her own undoubtedly by 権利 of 購入（する）, and Mrs. Burslem was proud of them and showed them very frequently in an expansive smile. Her 注目する，もくろむs were big and 目だつ and of a very light blue.

Mrs. イルカ, watching her, 観察するd that, though the 十分な lips smiled, the blue 注目する，もくろむs never lost their greedy, rapacious look.

"Everybody seems to have a lot of bother in this world," she went on. "I am sure that while my heart has been bleeding for you, I have been that worried I have scarcely known whether my 指名する was Kitty Burslem or not. Oh, Sophie!—I may call you Sophie, I suppose?"

"Oh, yes, of course," Lady Burslem assented. Her colour had died away now. She was very pale. "I am sorry to hear you have had a lot of worry. I hope it is nothing serious."

"Oh, 井戸／弁護士席, it depends what you call serious," Mrs. Jimmy said with a loud, grating laugh. "You don't ask me to sit 負かす／撃墜する, Sophie. But I suppose I may, even if Pam and this other lady stand."

She dropped into a 議長，司会を務める opposite Lady Burslem as she spoke. "It is about Jimmy. You see, I know where he is, but it is jolly difficult to get at him or to get any money out of him. It always is when he is in Tibet or さらに先に away. And I don't know whether he told you, but poor John always made me an allowance. He was good in that way, though I don't say he was as friendly as I should have liked, but if I was in any difficulty, or Jimmy either, he was always ready with his purse."

"Yes, I know," Lady Burslem said with more warmth than she had yet shown. "He—my husband would have wished me to help you, I am sure. He always made you an allowance when you were alone. We will have a talk about it presently."

"You are very good," Mrs. Jimmy said gratefully. "I must say I thought you would be. 'She has just lost her husband,' I said to myself. 'That will open her heart to all 未亡人s, grass, or さもなければ.' This little talk about—基金s now, when can we have it?" Her ちらりと見ること at Mrs. イルカ and Pamela plainly showed her 願望（する） for their absence. But neither of them moved.

"Yes," Sophie said feverishly. "Of course we must have it now. Clare, Pam, do you mind—"

"Certainly not," Mrs. イルカ said in a huffy トン. "Come, Pamela."

But Pamela looked distinctly unwilling to move.

"I suppose if I go away now I shall see you again, Aunt Kitty?"

"You bet!" Aunt Kitty replied in トンs that were an 半端物 contrast to the girl's. "But I don't know about today. I 推定する／予想する I shall have to get on when I have had my little talk with your stepma. So I think I will say good-bye now."

She got up and laying a 手渡す on each of Pamela's shoulders kissed her heartily on both cheeks.

"And, mind, you must come soon to 支払う／賃金 me that little visit you spoke of, but I shall be in another day before long and we will 直す／買収する，八百長をする it up then. I am sure you would be happy in my house, and I should love to have a girl with me. I would take you to a s饌nce." She turned her niece 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to the door.

"Now this is nice and real friendly of you, Sophie," they heard Mrs. Jimmy say before they の近くにd the door.

"井戸／弁護士席"—Clare イルカ drew a long breath—"what an appalling woman! I think both you and Sophie must have taken leave of your senses, Pam, to make this fuss of her!"

"I have not," Pam said coldly. "You forget that she is my uncle's wife, and he is my only living 親族 now that Dad—is dead!" her breath catching in a sob.

"I always understood that James Burslem went 調査するing to get rid of his wife," Mrs. イルカ returned. "Now I have seen her I am not surprised. If you want any more 親族s like that—"

"I never look 負かす／撃墜する upon people because they have not much money," Pamela said with dignity.

"Neither do I," Mrs. イルカ returned equably. "I have precious little myself, but I do not fraternize with people of Mrs. James Burslem's stamp. However, every man to his taste. At least I hope that neither you nor Sophie will be silly enough to go to these s饌nces she 会談 about."

"I want to go to one above all things," Pamela said perversely. "And now that we can get into communication with Daddy—"

"Rubbish! But I have no time to waste talking about Mrs. James Burslem. I just 手配中の，お尋ね者 to speak to Ellerby. I suppose we might ask for him."

"Of course." Pamela rang the bell. "Please send Mr. Ellerby here," she said to the man who answered it.

"Yes, 行方不明になる." The man looked at her rather oddly. "We can't find Mr. Ellerby, 行方不明になる."

"Can't find Mr. Ellerby?" Pamela echoed. "What do you mean?"

"井戸／弁護士席, 行方不明になる, he isn't anywhere in the house as far as we know. We can't make it out, 非，不，無 of us.

"But of course he must be in the house," Mrs. イルカ interrupted. "He was here last night, I suppose?"

"Yes, ma'am," James said, turning 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to her. "Henry saw him at twelve. But when he did not appear this morning at his usual time, I went to see if he was ill or anything. It looked as if he had just jumped out of bed and gone off!"

"驚くべき／特命の／臨時の! What on earth should he go out for?" Mrs. イルカ questioned blankly. Then, after a moment's cogitation, "Stay! did I not hear her ladyship say Ellerby was a married man with a wife living 近づく?"

"Yes, ma'am, married he is, and his wife lives somewhere 負かす／撃墜する Battersea way, and lets rooms to 選び出す／独身 gentlemen."

"That is where Ellerby is, you may depend upon it," Clare イルカ said with an 空気／公表する of 救済.

"Perhaps he did not feel 井戸／弁護士席 after he had gone to his room, and he thought he would go home for his wife to look after him. It is やめる natural, but of course he せねばならない have let some one know. Perhaps he has, or some letter or message has miscarried."

"Beg your 容赦, ma'am, but I do not think that is so," James dissented. "Henry rang up Mrs. Ellerby just now, and she said she knew nothing of Ellerby. She hasn't seen him since last Friday ma'am."

"Oh, dear! Is that really so? Where can he be?" Mrs. イルカ caught Pamela's arm. "Surely no more dreadful mysteries! Misfortune seems to dog this house lately."

CHAPTER 8

Two policemen were walking backwards and 今後s before the place where Sir John Burslem's 団体／死体 was 設立する. A couple of men stood 近づく; one of them held a short scythe, the other had some sort of dredging apparatus beside him. A group of 利益／興味d 観客s stood a little way off. 視察官 Stoddart （機の）カム up from Hughlin village at a sharp pace.

"All 権利, my men. Now we will 始める，決める to work at once, and first we will have all this rough growth of grass fringing the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する mown off, as の近くに to the ground as you can get it, for a couple of hundred yards or so above and below the place where the 団体／死体 was 設立する."

"Ay, sir." The man with the scythe looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する ばく然と. "It won't be such an 平易な 職業; the grass and the creepers is all grown together and mauled about like."

"You will manage it, I fancy. There is nothing like a scythe for cutting grass. I put it before these new-fashioned 切断機，沿岸警備艇s any day."

"You are about 権利, sir." In his obvious 楽しみ at the compliment the man spat on his 手渡すs, しっかり掴むd his scythe 扱う and 始める，決める to work at once.

He with the dredger did not look inclined to follow his fellow's example.

The 視察官 stood for a minute or two looking up the road and 手段ing the distance with his 注目する，もくろむ. Presently he turned 支援する.

"Come, my man, start your dredging and 捨てる 権利 through the mud at the 底（に届く）, mind."

"I ha' 貯蔵所 through this place, mud an' all a dozen times and 設立する nothin'. Don't believe there is anything to find."

"始める，決める to work at once. （疑いを）晴らす out all the mud 権利 up to here, and the same distance nearer the village."

The man obeyed sulkily. Stoddart went to 会合，会う Harbord, who was coming up from Hughlin village.

"Any success?"

"I can't find any trace of my woman—the one who was behind the tree."

"Your hypothetical woman," Stoddart 訂正するd.

"On the other 手渡す, I met with a man, a sort of hanger-on at the stables at Epsom, who knows Sir Charles Stanyard やめる 井戸／弁護士席 by sight, and of course had him impressed on his memory as the owner of Perlyon, and this chap had stopped on at the stable doing さまざまな little 職業s that would 刈る up on the eve of the Derby. On his way home he （機の）カム across Stanyard, whose car had 明らかに broken 負かす／撃墜する, tinkering away at it, and beside him, bending 負かす／撃墜する, 明らかに giving advice, was a woman."

"What sort of a woman?" Stoddart questioned 突然の.

"Unfortunately, my man does not seem to be able to give any coherent description. によれば him she was neither 特に short nor 特に tall; says he didn't see enough of her to know whether she was young or old; but she was plumpish-like, he thinks, and maybe she was wrapped up like for モーターing, for the night was not so warm as it might have been."

"H'm! Not very helpful," the 視察官 commented, "but it is curious that Stanyard should have said he was alone at the time."

"Another curious thing is," Harbord went on as they watched the men casting up the evil-smelling, 黒人／ボイコット mud, "that he did notice that this woman was 持つ／拘留するing a 捕らえる、獲得する, a bigger one than most folks carry, he said."

"Funny he should notice that, if he did not notice what the woman herself was like," the 視察官 発言／述べるd, turning up the road.

"The yokel mind is strangely 構成するd—and this man is just a country yokel, taken on at the stable at a busy time, curiously observant and curiously unobservant. Anyway, now we have something 限定された to connect Stanyard with the woman, or rather a woman."

The 視察官 nodded. "Can't say any more than that last."

"I say, what is that?" as there （機の）カム a shout from the man turning up the mud.

He was looking at an oblong, mud-encased 反対する that had been brought up by the dredger.

"'Tis something sure enough," he 観察するd intelligently, stirring his find with his foot.

The 視察官 looked at it. "A revolver, by Jove!"

Harbord 選ぶd it up gingerly, covering his 手渡すs with mud. "Looks as if it had lain there some time."

"Wouldn't make much difference after it had lain there a week," said the 視察官, taking out a sheet of newspaper to wipe the mud away. "Go on, my man," to the dredger, who appeared to be inclined to 残り／休憩（する） on his laurels and watch 操作／手術s.

A minute later the 視察官 uttered a sharp exclamation:

"What's this?"

Harbord looking at the butt end of the revolver, perceived in the middle of the space the 視察官 had cleaned, the 初期のs intertwined, J.B.

"Sir John's revolver. What on earth was he doing with it? Did he bring it knowing he was going into danger, and did his 暗殺者 turn it upon him?"

"If there is anything more 無益な than another it is asking riddles," said the 視察官, scrubbing away at his muddy ピストル. "Somebody 解雇する／砲火／射撃d the 致命的な 発射 and threw the revolver in here; so much is selfevident. For the 残り／休憩（する）, the only thing that strikes me is that here we are about fifteen yards from the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where the 団体／死体 was 設立する. That is just about the 限界 of a man's throw—outside that of any woman that I know. Besides, a woman never can throw straight. I 始める，決める the dredger to work on the 仮定／引き受けること that the 暗殺者 would 自然に try to get rid of the revolver, and that the likeliest hiding-place would be this 溝へはまらせる／不時着する. I reckoned too that he would throw it as far as he could, either one way or the other. And you see we have 設立する it just where I 推定する／予想するd. Still, that does not 証明する that my 仮定／引き受けること was 権利. The thing might have got there in a hundred different ways. Now I think I shall leave you to superintend the dredging while I get 支援する to the Yard and find out what we can from this toy."

Throwing away the dirty sheet of paper, he wrapped the revolver carefully in a clean one and dropped it into his pocket. Then he walked はっきりと to his run-about.

Harbord 設立する the watching of the dredging rather tedious when he was left alone. Nothing その上の turned up for some time, and the man had nearly reached the 限界 始める，決める by the 視察官 when, with an exclamation of contempt, he threw on the road a small 反対する that made a clinking sound as it fell.

Harbord 選ぶd it up: a man's watch and chain of the old-fashioned type, discarded now by most men in favour of the wrist-watch.

Harbord took out his handkerchief and rubbed it as clean as he could, 公式文書，認めるing one 重要な fact, that the watch had stopped at 12.30. But, when he got all the mud off that was possible, he was disappointed to find no monogram, nothing 明らかに by which the watch could be identified.

It was getting late in the afternoon when the work that the 視察官 had ordered was finished, with no その上の result, and Harbord was just beginning to think that for him it would be かもしれない a 事例／患者 of sleeping at the 栄冠を与える Inn—since the nearest 駅／配置する was やめる out of walking distance and there was no car to be had in Hughlin—when Stoddart in the run-about （機の）カム speedily 負かす／撃墜する the 跡をつける from the 負かす／撃墜するs and dashed across to the 支持を得ようと努めるd. He stopped the car by Harbord and sprang out.

"Ready?" he asked はっきりと. "We must get 支援する at once. There is 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な news from Porthwick Square. Jump in!"

Still 持つ／拘留するing the watch, Harbord swung himself over the 味方する of the car. The very sound of Stoddart's 発言する／表明する was enough to show that he was 本気で perturbed. But he did not speak until they had left Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd far behind. His lips were 堅固に compressed, and Harbord knew him too 井戸／弁護士席 to be the first to speak. At last, however, they reached a level stretch of ground and he said:

"Ellerby has disappeared!"

"What!" Harbord looked at him in amazement. "How do you mean disappeared—run away?"

"I don't know," Stoddart answered はっきりと. "All that I can tell you is that he has disappeared from 15 Porthwick Square, 明らかに in the middle of the night."

"Last night?" Harbord's bewilderment was 増加するing.

"Last night, of course!" The 視察官 nodded. "And the fools never thought to 知らせる me of the fact until this afternoon. So that whatever has happened we are twelve hours late on the scene."

"H'm!" Harbord drew in his lips. "Perhaps there was 知恵 in this folly. But I thought that 15 Porthwick Square and its inhabitants were all under 観察, and that the latter were all 影をつくる／尾行するd."

"So they are! Flaxman had got the 職業 with as many plain-着せる／賦与するs men as he liked to ask for," the 視察官 assented. "But their watch does not seem to have been very successful. At any 率, Ellerby has got out, or has been got out of the house without Flaxman and his 衛星s 存在 any the wiser."

"I can't understand—" Harbord was beginning.

"Don't say that again!" the 視察官 interrupted him irritably. "I should like to know who does understand any thing about this damned Burslem 事例／患者. All I can tell you is that Ellerby went to bed as usual, that this morning he was not there and that nobody knows where he is."

"He may only have gone out somewhere on 商売／仕事," Harbord 示唆するd. "If he only went this morning—"

"He 明らかに went without any 着せる／賦与するs," the 視察官 said grimly, as they 近づくd the 郊外s. "It is no use 推測するing, Harbord. That is all there is to know at 現在の. What there may be behind we have got to find out. We are going straight to Porthwick Square now. I went there at once and locked up Ellerby's box. When we have done we will have a bit of supper at a decent little pub I know of in the mews 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the corner. The landlord is by way of 存在 a friend of 地雷, and he will let us have a room to ourselves and we can discuss some 計画（する） of 活動／戦闘."

"The watch!" Harbord hazarded 試験的に.

"It isn't Sir John's, anyhow," Stoddart said in the same snappy トンs. "He had his wrist-watch on. The revolver I have left at Lowson's, the gunsmith's, together with the 弾丸. I せねばならない get the 報告（する）／憶測 いつか this evening."

They were getting into more traffic now and the 視察官 had to give all his attention to his steering.

It was seven o'clock when they reached Porthwick Square. The door was opened to them すぐに by the butler himself—a fact that spoke 容積／容量s for the disorganization of the 世帯.

"Any news?" the 視察官 questioned はっきりと.

The butler only shook his 長，率いる. He was looking oddly white and discomposed.

"We will go to the bedroom first and see what we can ascertain from it. Of course the housemaid had put it tidy, as she calls it, before I heard anything of the 見えなくなる."

"She would have," Harbord nodded as the two turned に向かって the rooms, the butler 単に looking after them in silence.

When they reached the door, Stoddart took out a 重要な and 打ち明けるd it.

"Whatever 手がかり（を与える） there may be after the tidying, which my experience of housemaids tells me is not usually 広範囲にわたる, is still 損なわれていない."

Ellerby's room was やめる a good-sized, comfortable-looking apartment, and the style in which it was furnished was a 調印する of the esteem in which he was held in the Burslem 世帯.

As Stoddart had said, the housemaid's tidying up had not been 広範囲にわたる. Harbord looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. The bed had been made. さもなければ probably the room was much as Ellerby had left it. His underclothes, neatly 倍のd up, were on a 議長，司会を務める 近づく the bed. A coat and waistcoat were laid on 最高の，を越す of the drawers. The trousers were thrown over a 議長，司会を務める 近づく the cupboard.

Stoddart rang the bell. The housemaid appeared with a celerity that showed she had been の近くに at 手渡す. Ordinarily a 有望な, rosy girl, she was pale and nervous-looking.

"Your 指名する, I understand, is Simmonds," the 視察官 began.

"Yes, sir," the girl said in a 脅すd トン. "It is—it is Annie Simmonds!"

"井戸／弁護士席, 行方不明になる Simmonds, will you come over here?" Stoddart went on, going across to the window. "I understand you usually …に出席する to this room."

The girl looked up at him with big, 脅すd 注目する，もくろむs. "Yes, sir!"

"井戸／弁護士席, now, don't look alarmed"—the 視察官 gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder—"we are not going to 傷つける you. All I want you to do is to answer a few questions. Now, take a good look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the room and tell us if everything this morning was just as you were accustomed to see it when Ellerby had left it."

"Yes, sir, I think so."

The girl looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する ばく然と until her ちらりと見ること 残り／休憩（する）d on the bed.

"Except—" She 滞るd and stopped.

The 視察官 pricked up his ears.

"Except—" he 誘発するd.

"Except that I didn't see Mr. Ellerby's pyjamas when I did his bed, sir," the maid 滞るd. "Mr. Ellerby, he 一般に leaves them on that 議長，司会を務める," pointing to the one that now held the underclothing. "And then I put them on 最高の，を越す of the pillow when I made the bed. But this morning they were not on the 議長，司会を務める, nor on the bed, nor anvwhere."

"Umph!" The 視察官 went over to the chest of drawers and took up the coat. "This is the one he wore yesterday?"

"I—I think so." The girl hesitated. "It is the one he 一般に did wear most days—leastways, he has since Sir John died."

The 視察官 threw open the cupboard door.

"Now, can you tell us whether anything has gone from here—any 着せる／賦与するs, I mean?"

The girl shook her 長，率いる. "It doesn't look as if there had, sir, but I couldn't say rightly. Perhaps James might know more."

"No boots!" the 視察官 went on, pointing to a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 that stood in the 底（に届く） of the cupboard, each pair on its own trees.

"It doesn't look as if any had gone," the maid said, scrutinizing them.

"And the bed was just as usual, not 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd about, nor the bedclothes on the 床に打ち倒す or anything?"

"It all looked just the same, sir, just as if Mr. Ellerby had just got out of it."

"Nothing 乱すd?" the 視察官 queried.

"Yes, sir—no, sir." Simmonds hesitated. "Oh, I just call to mind that over that 味方する"—pointing to the door—"the rug was 宙返り／暴落するd and 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd in a heap like, almost under the bed."

"And you don't 行方不明になる anything?" the 視察官 went on again, going over to the 味方する of the bed she had 示すd, and looking 負かす／撃墜する at the carpet on the 床に打ち倒す.

The girl ちらりと見ることd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する again. "No, sir, I don't. Mr. Ellerby, he never was one to have many things about."

The 視察官 解除するd the lid of a trunk standing 近づく the window.

"Locked!" he said laconically. "Ever seen it locked before?"

"Mr. Ellerby always kept it locked, sir. At least I believe so. Of course I am not in the habit of trying it," she said primly.

"Of course not!" the 視察官 assented. "Now, 行方不明になる Simmonds, I should like a word or two with James. How can I get him here?"

"I will send him, sir." The girl stepped あわてて to the door, 明白に delighted at this chance of escape.

In a few minutes James appeared. Like the butler, he was looking 脅すd and worried.

"Come in, Mr. Plowman," the 視察官 said genially. "We shall not keep you long. Just to give us a little bit of help. Now, I want you first of all to look at this coat. Can you tell me if it is the one Ellerby wore yesterday?" the 視察官 began, taking up the coat and 手渡すing it to the man.

James looked at it. "Oh, yes, sir, I can tell that at once. It's the coat he wore yesterday. And the trousers on that 議長，司会を務める."

"Now I want you to look in the cupboard, at the 控訴s on the 棚上げにするs, and the boots—and see if you think anything is 行方不明の."

James took his time about 従うing with this request. He went to the cupboard and spent some ten minutes 明らかに 診察するing the 衣料品s with meticulous care. At last he 現れるd かなり redder in the 直面する from his exertions.

"There is nothing 行方不明の that I can see, sir. Boots, I am sure that they are not. That pair at the end, they were outside the door as usual this morning. They had been cleaned and brought up when I （機の）カム to see whether there was anything wrong this morning."

The 視察官 frowned. "Could you tell us anything about the underclothing in the chest of drawers?" James shook his 長，率いる. "No, sir, I don't know anything about it."

"Then," the 視察官 said slowly, "so far as you can tell, Ellerby went out of the room in his pyjamas."

"I can't see anything else for it," James said, 星／主役にするing 一連の会議、交渉／完成する him. "I believe that there are 非，不，無 of his 着せる／賦与するs gone. We can't make it out, 非，不，無 of us."

"I am not surprised at that," the 視察官 said blandly. "Where do you sleep?"

"Sleep?" the man echoed stupidly. "Oh, I see what you mean—at night. Downstairs in the 地階, sir."

"Now, last night, try and remember whether you heard any unusual sound during the night."

"I am sure I didn't. Nobody in the house did. That is what is puzzling us all."

"I suppose you would hear if the 前線 door opened or shut?"

"I don't see how I could help 審理，公聴会 it, sir. Not but what I am a sound sleeper," he 追加するd with an obvious 願望（する） to be 絶対 正確な.

"Then that is all we can do just now, thank you," the 視察官 said politely. "I may want you a few minutes later on."

When the man had gone the 視察官 took a curious looking bit of steel out of his pocket.

"I think we must see what there is in this box of Ellerby's."

"Whatever there is is 極端に light," Harbord 観察するd, 攻撃するing up the 辛勝する／優位.

The 視察官's 骸骨／概要-重要な opened the lock at once. Then as he flung the lid 支援する both men uttered an exclamation of surprise. Inside was nothing but brown paper, several large sheets, all of which had evidently been used for wrapping up 小包s. The 視察官's 有能な fingers turned them over quickly.

"Now, it is a curious thing that 非，不，無 of these papers have anything on them—no label with a shop's 指名する or anything of that 肉親，親類d."

"Is it curious?" Harbord questioned dryly. As he spoke he 選ぶd up a small tie-on label from the 底（に届く） of the box, from underneath a piece of paper that the 視察官 had not taken out. "Look at this, 視察官."

Stoddart read the 指名する printed at the 最高の，を越す—"'Vidame & Green, General Outfitters, Passmore Street, Westminster.'"

"Ah, we must look up Messrs. Vidame & Green."

"Yes, it was a mistake to overlook that," commented Harbord 静かに.

The 視察官 smiled. "It is pretty obvious that a man could not have been overpowered in this room and taken downstairs without anyone in the 世帯 審理，公聴会 or knowing."

"やめる. The impersonation theory 脅すd him, I fancy." Harbord was 診察するing every 捨てる of paper with meticulous care.

"It seems probable," the 視察官 agreed. "And yet there are so many wheels within wheels in this 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の 事例／患者. Ellerby might have been in the way. He might have been got rid of with the 黙認 of some one in the 世帯. We must not overlook this 可能性, remote though it seems. But, even if he were drugged or dead, a man of his 負わせる could not have been got downstairs without anyone 審理，公聴会."

"Certainly not," Stoddart agreed. "But I am not overlooking the 可能性 of Ellerby's walking downstairs, and then 存在 overpowered in one of the rooms."

"His 着せる／賦与するs?" Harbord 示唆するd.

Stoddart shrugged his shoulders. "I should say it is 絶対 impossible for one person to be 確かな about the 明言する／公表する of his wardrobe. Nothing was 行方不明の that James remembers having seen. That, I think, is as far as his 証言 takes us."

He went over to the 狭くする bed and stripped it, carefully feeling it all over, even smelling the bed 着せる／賦与するs and pillow-事例／患者s.

"If 行方不明になる Annie Simmonds had kindly left the bed alone we might have known more. As it is, one can only say that there is not the faintest smell of any 麻薬s, no slightest 調印する of any struggle. The carpet may have been 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd 支援する, but there are no scratches on the paint beneath. No; I feel we may be pretty 確かな that Ellerby walked out of this room."

"But what happened to him afterwards?"

"We cannot search the house tonight," Harbord said doubtfully.

The 視察官 drew in his lips. "Plenty of time to get rid of anything that anybody 手配中の，お尋ね者 to get rid of, and was able to get rid of, before we （機の）カム on the scene. Of course now the whole house is under the most rigorous 観察 and everybody, even the kitchen-maid, is 影をつくる／尾行するd every time they leave the house. But when the steed is gone, you know. At the 現在の my inner man 警告するs me that supper must be the next thing. First thing to-morrow a visit to Vidame & Green is 示すd."

CHAPTER 9

The 視察官 （機の）カム into his room at Scotland Yard and threw 負かす／撃墜する his hat with an exclamation of impatience.

Harbord, who had followed him in, looked at him in surprise. It was not often that Stoddart was betrayed into showing any irritation.

"That ピストル that was 設立する in the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd was not the one with which Burslem was 発射."

"Not! But I understood that the 弾丸 fitted."

"So it did—so it does." Stoddart sat 負かす／撃墜する and frowned ひどく. "But this new system that they have discovered lately, of 診察するing the 弾丸 through a powerful microscope, which discovers small, almost invisible lines on the 弾丸, 証明するs 前向きに／確かに whether a 弾丸 has been 解雇する／砲火／射撃d from a 確かな revolver or not, though one 発射 had been 解雇する／砲火／射撃d from the revolver, mind you, says in this 事例／患者 definitely not. Now we have to begin our search for the 武器 used in the Burslem 事例／患者 all over again."

"How then did that revolver with the 初期のs 'J.B.' come in the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する?" cogitated Harbord. "It must have been Burslem's."

"It may have been—most probably it was," Stoddart 訂正するd. "But so far we have not been able to 証明する it. 非，不，無 of the men at Porthwick Square identify it; the butler goes so far as to say that he feels sure it is not Sir John's; Ellerby alone could have been 確かな , and Ellerby has 消えるd. It is the same with the watch. Henry and James, both of whom occasionally valeted Sir John, do not 認める it. The 最大の that I have been able to ascertain from them is that Sir John often wore a watch of that 肉親，親類d, not caring much for a wrist-watch. But the one they both remember is in its 事例／患者 in Sir John's room. Both of them say that they have no recollection of ever seeing the one 設立する in the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する. So that is as far as our 発見s of yesterday carry us. Heaven knows it is not very far!"

Harbord sat 負かす／撃墜する ひどく and leaning his 肘s on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する 残り／休憩（する）d his 長，率いる on his 手渡すs.

"It is like a maze," he groaned. "You get what you think is a 手がかり（を与える） only to find when you begin to follow it that it leads nowhere. To 再建する the 罪，犯罪 seemed 公正に／かなり 平易な. The revolver drawn by Sir John to defend himself, 掴むd by the 暗殺者, and turned against its owner, then flung away into the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する."

"再建するing 罪，犯罪 is 平易な enough, but it is a game in which it is possible to make a good many mistakes," the 視察官 commented dryly.

"And why did that watch stop at 12.30 if it was Sir John's, when he must have been alive until after two o'clock?" Harbord 追求するd, ignoring Stoddart's interjection.

The 視察官 stood up suddenly. "I am not here to answer conundrums. You have just come in time to 補助装置 me at an interview which may be of 利益／興味 to both. Harbord, a lady is anxious to （人命などを）奪う，主張する the reward."

"What lady?" Harbord 問い合わせd 熱望して.

The 視察官 shook his 長，率いる. "I know no more than you. All I can tell you is that I was rung up half an hour ago, and a 発言する／表明する, unmistakably a feminine one, 問い合わせd if the （衆議院の）議長 could see the gentleman who 申し込む／申し出d the reward for the 発見 of Sir John Burslem's 暗殺者. I told her to come here, and if her （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） was 価値（がある） anything the reward would be hers. She replied that she would be 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 直接／まっすぐに, and I am 推定する／予想するing her any minute."

"Where did the call come from?" Harbord 問い合わせd.

"Public office," the 視察官 answered laconically. "Oh, there are not many 飛行機で行くs on William Stoddart, my friend. Here she is!" as there was a knock at the door.

A constable in plain 着せる／賦与するs 勧めるd in a young woman dressed plainly in 黒人／ボイコット, carrying a fair-sized 小包 done up in brown paper.

Both men looked at her with a strange sense of familiarity. Then Stoddart exclaimed:

"It is Lady Burslem's maid!"

The woman's dark 注目する，もくろむs ちらりと見ることd at him in an 半端物, sidelong fashion.

"Yes, I am Lady Burslem's maid, certainly. But my 指名する is Forbes—Eleanor Forbes."

"I am much 強いるd to you, 行方不明になる Forbes," said the 視察官 setting a 議長，司会を務める for her.

Harbord knew by the トン of his 発言する／表明する and the look on his 直面する that much was 推定する／予想するd of the coming interview.

"I have come about this reward that is 申し込む／申し出d," Forbes began. "Who 申し込む／申し出s it?"

The 視察官 smiled. "That we are not at liberty to say."

"井戸／弁護士席, if you don't tell me that I do not know that it is much use my going on," the maid said in an aggrieved fashion.

The 視察官 made no reply. He stood looking 負かす／撃墜する at her with an inscrutable 表現 on his dark 直面する.

Forbes half rose, then sat 負かす／撃墜する again. "井戸／弁護士席, perhaps you will answer these two questions—is the reward 申し込む／申し出d by Lady Burslem?"

The 視察官 thought things over for a minute. "No," he said, at last, "it is not."

"Is it 安全な?" Forbes proceeded. "I mean, suppose I give you the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） that leads to the 発見 of the 殺害者 of Sir John Burslem, shall I be sure to get the thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs 申し込む／申し出d?"

"確かな ," Stoddart 保証するd her. "You need have no 疑問 about the bona fides of the person 申し込む／申し出ing the reward, 行方不明になる Forbes. If your （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） is 価値（がある） it, you will get the money 安全な enough."

"That is all I want to know," the maid proceeded. "井戸／弁護士席, then, I should like to show you something, but when you have seen it I shall have given the best part of my story away, and you—"

"You will have to 信用 us," the 視察官 said more 堅固に. "The police are not 許すd to take rewards, you know, so you have no 競争 to 恐れる from us."

"Oh, 井戸／弁護士席, that is all 権利 then."

Forbes untied the string of her 小包. Then she looked up.

"I am going to show you the frock that Lady Burslem wore on the evening of June 2nd, when she went to Oxley with Sir John."

She tore off the enveloping wrapper and held up to the astonished 注目する，もくろむs of the two men the crumpled, stained, torn rag that had once been Sophie Burslem's evening frock.

The 視察官 put on the glasses he used for 診察するing 反対するs closely.

"You are sure?"

The maid 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd her 長，率いる. "Of course I am, or I should not have made a fool of myself coming here. There's lots of others that can identify it 同様に as me if you come to that. I couldn't find it in the morning of June 3rd. And when we heard what had happened to Sir John it sort of took my breath away and then I remembered and began to look for it. At last I 設立する it all crumpled up together, 権利 負かす／撃墜する at the 底（に届く） of the 井戸／弁護士席 of the wardrobe and a lot of other things on 最高の，を越す of it. I shook it out"—控訴ing the 活動／戦闘 to the word—"and I saw the 前線 breadth had been all torn out, or 削減（する） out, I should say."

"削減（する）?" the 視察官 said, bending over it.

"There is no 疑問 about that. Anybody can see it has been 削減（する）," Forbes said scornfully, "but when I showed it to her ladyship, she said there were a lot of thorns about at Oxley and she must have torn it on them. Pretty green she must have thought me. I racked my brains to think what she had done with the piece she had 削減（する） out. Then all at once I remembered that on the morning of June 3rd, when I （機の）カム to dress her after her bath, she was doing something at her dressing-事例／患者, and shut it up very quickly. There is a secret drawer in it, at least she calls it a secret drawer, but the secret of it is not difficult to discover, and of course I opened it, and there I 設立する this."

She took out a small packet that had lain under the frock and unrolled its contents—the long, jagged piece of satin that had once been white, and was now stained, almost all over, an ugly 赤みを帯びた brown.

The 視察官 took it from her, and placing the frock on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する fitted the （土地などの）細長い一片 into it. Then he ちらりと見ることd at Harbord.

Forbes looked at them both. "井戸／弁護士席, can I have the thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs?" she 需要・要求するd.

The 視察官 smiled. "Not やめる so 急速な／放蕩な, 行方不明になる Forbes. This 証拠 of yours may probably be of 広大な／多数の／重要な 援助 to us, and, if we 最終的に trace the 殺害者 through your 機関, you may rely upon it the reward will be yours. Is this all you can show us?"

"I should have thought it would have been やめる enough," Forbes said. "Can't you see that her ladyship and Sir Charles—"

"No, no!" The 視察官 interrupted her. "What you may think and what I may surmise is one thing, and a 限定された proof is another. And you must remember that there is such a thing as a 名誉き損 活動／戦闘, 行方不明になる Forbes. Of course what you say here is 特権d; but if you について言及する 指名するs outside—"

"I am not such a fool!" Forbes 観察するd すぐに. "And I do not speak without the 調書をとる／予約する as I am going to show you."

The 視察官 looked at her. "Ah, now you are talking. If you have any その上の proof—"

"That her ladyship has been carrying on with Sir Charles Stanyard?" the maid said tartly. "What do you think of this?"

She produced another packet from の中で the 倍のs of brown paper on her 膝s and unwrapped it. Inside was another packet, of old letters labelled from "C.S." and a photograph: an old photograph, but easily recognizable as that of Stanyard.

The 視察官 took the packet of letters and ちらりと見ることd at it, turning 支援する the envelopes without untying the string that bound them together.

"These may be from Sir Charles Stanyard, but they were all written before Lady Burslem's marriage. They are 演説（する）／住所d to 行方不明になる Sophie Carlford."

"Anyway, this was not written before she was married." Forbes brandished a piece of paper from her handbag. "I 設立する this in her ladyship's blotter the other day when Mr. Weldon and Lord Carlford （機の）カム in and 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see her at once, so she went 負かす／撃墜する and left it."

The 視察官 held out his 手渡す.

Forbes did not look inclined to 降伏する her find. "I せねばならない get good money for this. Her ladyship or Sir Charles—"

"ゆすり，恐喝!" the 視察官 snapped. "Better stick to the reward, 行方不明になる Forbes."

"Um! 井戸／弁護士席, if I get it," the maid said, putting the paper in his 手渡す with obvious 不本意.

The 視察官 held it up to the light and beckoned to Harbord. The paper was good, but unstamped and undated.

"My own dearest,"

the letter began in the big, rather childish-looking 令状ing with which the 視察官 had taken care to familiarize himself with of late as that of Lady Burslem.

"I shall hope to see you before long in the place we know. Everything is going on 井戸／弁護士席. There is no 疑惑, and the only danger I really 恐れる is that Ellerby may—"

There it broke off suddenly. The 視察官 turned it 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and looked at it this way and that; but there was nothing その上の to be gleaned from it.

"井戸／弁護士席," Forbes said impatiently, "what do you say now?"

The 視察官 went over to his 令状ing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and sitting 負かす／撃墜する made an 入ること／参加（者） in his big 調書をとる／予約する of 公式文書，認めるs. Then he put the piece of notepaper in one of his drawers and shut it up.

"What can I say but that these 発見s of yours will probably be of the greatest 援助 to us. As soon as anything 限定された can be settled I will let you know."

"And the reward?" the maid said blankly.

The 視察官 looked at her. "事柄s are hardly 今後 enough for us to think of that yet. When they are, 井戸／弁護士席, you may be sure that we will 耐える you in mind."

"I thought you would give it to me today."

The 視察官 nearly laughed. "You are rather 心配するing 事柄s, 行方不明になる Forbes. There is a good 取引，協定 to be done yet before Sir John Burslem's 殺害者 is 設立する."

Forbes got up with a jerk. "Then I don't see that I have done much good by coming. It seems to me that I might have taken my goods to a better market."

"Oh, come, come!" the 視察官 said soothingly. "You have done the very best thing you could, 行方不明になる Forbes. And you will find that 事柄s will be all 権利 in the end. Only you ladies always do want to hurry 事柄s, don't you? You 信用 everything to me."

Forbes looked mollified. "Oh, 井戸／弁護士席, if you put it that way—"

"That is the only way to put it," the 視察官 再結合させるd. "And you may be sure that I shall do my best for you. I should for any lady, but, 行方不明になる Forbes, for you—" He stopped a minute. "Now I wonder whether you could help me a bit about something else?"

"井戸／弁護士席, if there is anything I can do—"

"I suppose in the 演習 of your 義務s you saw a good 取引，協定 of Ellerby, in your position and his in the Burslem 世帯?"

"Yes, of course I saw a good 取引，協定 of him. In the housekeeper's room, and so on. But he was a man who kept himself to himself."

"Was he really? I had got the idea, but I dare say I was wrong—" The 視察官 looked at his 調書をとる／予約する again. "Did it occur to you that Ellerby was the sort of man to have—井戸／弁護士席, shall we say a friendship for any woman other than his wife?"

"My hat! I should think not. I should not think that any woman would look at him if he had. 乾燥した，日照りのd up old 化石! I wonder he ever got married at all. Only I suppose any man can 選ぶ up somebody."

"Dear me, do you think so, 行方不明になる Forbes? Then there is hope for us all," the 視察官 発言／述べるd politely. "Then I may take it you do not think Ellerby has gone off with any woman? I wonder what you do think has become of him?"

A curiously 脅すd 表現 crept into Eleanor Forbes's 注目する，もくろむs. "I—I don't know. We don't know what to think, any of us."

"If he died in 15 Porthwick Square, his 団体／死体 must be there," the 視察官 said thoughtfully.

The maid shivered. "Oh, however can you talk like that? I am sure I shall be 脅すd to go upstairs tonight. There's 非，不，無 of us going to sleep alone. I shall have the 長，率いる housemaid with me. Nobody will be alone—except her ladyship, and she says she is not 脅すd at anything. Perhaps she has her 推論する／理由s," she finished 意味ありげに.

"I should have thought that perhaps 行方不明になる Burslem—"

"行方不明になる Pamela—not much! She hates her stepmother like 毒（薬）. She will have her own maid with her."

"You saw and heard nothing the night before last?"

"Nothing—nothing at all. I wish I had," Forbes 保証するd him.

"井戸／弁護士席, then, perhaps I had better think things over," the 視察官 said, standing up. "But I shall want another long talk with you very soon, 行方不明になる Forbes, for more 推論する／理由s than one."

Harbord smiled to himself as he saw how the woman bridled under the 視察官's gaze as he 護衛するd her politely to the door.

Stoddart （機の）カム 支援する when he had seen her 安全に off the 前提s.

"井戸／弁護士席, what do you think of 行方不明になる Forbes?"

"Not much of her 本人自身で, but of her story a good 取引，協定," Harbord said at once. "She has 確認するd me in my—I will not say belief, but my very strong feeling that Sir John Burslem never returned to 15 Porthwick Square—that it was his 殺害者 made up to impersonate him who （機の）カム 支援する with Lady Burslem and (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進むd the will."

"Ah, the will is a 汚い 行き詰まり，妨げる in your theory. 専門家s say it is in Sir John Burslem's 令状ing—hurried, carelessly written, but his unmistakably."

"Don't believe 'em!" Harbord said bluntly. "No, sir, I shall stick to my theory until I 攻撃する，衝突する on a better. いつかs I have thought you have—"

He looked searchingly at the 視察官.

Stoddart frowned. "Theories are no use. If いつかs a faint gossamery 疑惑 has 夜明けd upon me—井戸／弁護士席, I don't know that 行方不明になる Forbes's 発見s help me much."

CHAPTER 10

"We will go 権利 through the Park. I like to have a look at the swells いつかs," Mrs. James Burslem 発言／述べるd as she said "Home" to the chauffeur.

Pamela was going to 支払う／賃金 her 約束d visit to her aunt by marriage. Somewhat to her surprise her stepmother had made no 反対 to the 計画（する）, and the girl was now on her way to spend the week-end in Mrs. Jimmy's house in Kensington.

The s饌nce, the 主要な／長／主犯 attraction 申し込む／申し出d to Pamela, was to come off that afternoon. A friend of Mrs. Jimmy's, Winnie Margetson, was to be the medium, and Pamela was in a terrible 明言する／公表する of excitement at the prospect of getting into touch with her much-loved father. This had been definitely 約束d to her by Mrs. Jimmy, who had bidden the girl 準備する a 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of questions which would be a 実験（する） of the reality of the communication 設立するd with the other world. This Pamela had done, and she now clutched the paper feverishly in her 手渡す as she sat in the car beside her aunt. In the Park, Mrs. Jimmy directed the man to draw up under the trees 近づく Hyde Park Corner.

"Now, I 推定する／予想する we shall soon come across some of your 罰金 friends," she 発言／述べるd to Pamela.

"I don't know. I have very few friends in town now." Pamela looked inclined to be restive. She was anxious to get on to the s饌nce with as little 延期する as possible, and at the 底（に届く） of her heart she was conscious, in spite of her 表明するd affection for her new-設立する 親族, of a 縮むing from the attention that lady's たびたび（訪れる） laugh and loud speech attracted. Rather to Mrs. Jimmy's 失望, as Pamela could not help 認めるing, no 知識 of the girl's passed for some time, and Mrs. Jimmy was reluctantly agreeing to make a start when a man who had been leaning against the railings lower 負かす／撃墜する raised himself and （機の）カム に向かって them. His 直面する brightened as he caught sight of the pair in the car, and he quickened his steps.

"井戸／弁護士席, this is luck!" he exclaimed, as he shook 手渡すs with Pamela and the girl introduced him as Mr. Richard Leyton to her aunt.

Mrs. Jimmy 調査するd him in a puzzled fashion.

"Can we give you a 解除する?" she 問い合わせd at last. "We are on our way to the other 味方する of the Park." The man hesitated and began to 辞退する; then, catching sight of the pretty, flickering colour of Pamela's cheeks, he 速く changed his mind, got into the car and seated himself opposite.

"We are on our way to a s饌nce," Pamela said with an excited thrill in her 発言する／表明する.

"A s饌nce!" the man repeated. "What on earth for?"

"I want to get through to my father," Pamela told him. "I want him to tell us who 殺人d him. And where Ellerby is, and—and several other things."

A pitying look （機の）カム in the man's 注目する，もくろむs.

"I have never known any useful （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） given at those s饌nces."

"Oh, 港／避難所't you?" Mrs. Jimmy interrupted, turning her 長，率いる. "井戸／弁護士席, I can tell you I have. I got some messages through for Lady Burslem, the other day, that surprised her, didn't I, Pam?"

"She—she said so. But I did not hear what they were," the girl said in an unwilling トン.

"Ah, 井戸／弁護士席! Perhaps they were secret," Mrs. Jimmy said with an 半端物 smile. "But I think we shall get something for you today, Pam. I told my friend to concentrate on you."

Pamela clasped her 手渡すs. "Oh, how 甘い of you, Aunt Kitty!"

The man said nothing as he ちらりと見ることd from one to the other.

He knew a little of Mrs. James Burslem's 評判, and also knew that her husband was popularly supposed to have deliberately chosen 廃虚 追跡（する）ing in Tibet to the lady's society. He had gathered too from the gossip of the day, which of late had 大いに 関心d itself with the Burslems and their 事件／事情／状勢s, that Sir John Burslem and his wife had had little to do with Mrs. Jimmy. It was distinctly a surprise therefore to 会合，会う Pamela in the society of, and 明らかに on such intimate 条件 with, her aunt. Mrs. Jimmy looked perturbed and puzzled and there could be no 疑問 that her 表現 was one of 救済 when Mr. Leyton 表明するd a 願望（する） to be 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する 近づく the 幅の広い Walk. She turned when the car had started again and looked after the young man's tall 人物／姿／数字 as he strode along Bayswater Road.

"井戸／弁護士席!" she exclaimed, as she threw herself 支援する in her corner. "You seem to know him very 井戸／弁護士席, and you call him Richard Leyton, but if it had not been for you I should have said his 指名する was—"

"What?" Pamela 問い合わせd curiously as her aunt stopped.

"Something やめる different," that lady answered, の近くにing her mouth with a snap.

They made their way along （人が）群がるd Notting Hill Gate and Church Street and so to the 王室の Borough. Mrs. Jimmy's house was some distance from any of the main streets, in one of those little backwaters which are a 生き残り from the days when Kensington stood miles from the metropolis.

Outside, with its little garden gate, the fastidiously cleaned steps and the green door with its 有望な 厚かましさ／高級将校連 knocker, there was a conventual 空気／公表する strangely incongruous taken in connexion with Mrs. Jimmy. But inside, as Pamela soon 設立する, everything was やめる different. The small lounge into which the door opened was strewn with cushions and papers, 破片 of all description covered the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, a 逸脱する cup and saucer stood on the sofa.

In the 中央 of it all a flashy-looking maid appeared to be trying to 回復する some 外見 of order.

"行方不明になる Margetson come yet, Marian?" Mrs. Jimmy 問い合わせd.

The maid 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd her 長，率いる.

"Yes, madam. She has, and making herself at home in the 製図／抽選-room. Altering the furniture just when I had arranged it. And shutting the windows when I should have thought she would have liked a little fresh 空気／公表する."

"Ah, 井戸／弁護士席, I know what that means." Mrs. Jimmy looked mysterious. "It is all 権利, Marian. Come along, Pamela." She opened the door at the left.

There was very little light in the 製図／抽選-room. Middle of the afternoon though it was, not only were the windows の近くにd as the maid had said, but the dark blinds were closely drawn, and 行方不明になる Margetson appeared to be arranging some その上の sort of covering. She was a small, thin woman with closely cropped hair which evidently 借りがあるd its blackness to art.

Mrs. Jimmy switched on the light.

"井戸／弁護士席, you are doing it all 権利—適切に," she said admiringly.

All the superfluous furniture, of which the room 含む／封じ込めるd a good 取引，協定, had been 押し進めるd aside, most of it into the 支援する part, which was separated from the 前線 by 倍のing doors and which evidently served the 目的 of a dining-room. In the space thus （疑いを）晴らすd in the 前線 room five 木造の 議長，司会を務めるs were standing in の近くに proximity to a small 一連の会議、交渉／完成する （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"Yes. I guess we are about ready. When are your guests going to arrive?" 行方不明になる Margetson 問い合わせd, in a 発言する／表明する to which Pamela took an instant dislike.

It was a soft, purring, 誤った 発言する／表明する, the girl said to herself, and there was a decided American accent. She had been looking 今後 to seeing the medium to whom such marvellous 力／強力にするs had been vouchsafed; but now, as Winifred Margetson smiled and shook 手渡すs, Pamela felt only a 際立った thrill of 失望. She had seldom seen a 直面する that repelled her more than the medium's. It was sallow and wrinkled, the dark 肌 everywhere crossed by a 網状組織 of tiny lines. The mouth, the widest Pamela had ever noticed, was so thin-lipped that lips might have been said to be absent altogether; the even 列／漕ぐ／騒動s of teeth were 明白に 誤った and ill-fitting, and probably 借りがあるing to this fact the corners of the mouth drooped to an extent that gave the whole 直面する an extraordinarily crafty 表現. The 注目する，もくろむs were big and 星／主役にするing. かもしれない open to things not of this earth, they appeared to see nothing の近くに at 手渡す. The sleek, dyed hair was 小衝突d 支援する and 削減（する） short, except that a bushy curl was trained over each large ear. The bustless, hipless, waistless 人物／姿／数字 looked as if two boards had been joined together and 着せる／賦与するd in the preposterous 衣料品s of the 現在の day.

Winifred Margetson was not the sort of woman in whom Pamela could imagine her fastidious father taking the smallest 利益／興味. The thought passed through her mind somewhat profanely that his tastes must have altered in the other world if he made his wishes known through the medium of 行方不明になる Margetson.

But the bell outside was tinkling. There were more arrivals.

"Lady Fanyard, 行方不明になる Fanyard, Mrs. de Conroy," the pert maid 発表するd.

Mrs. Jimmy introduced Pamela with a wave of her 手渡す.

"My niece, Pamela Burslem." The sound of her 指名する did not excite the 利益／興味 Pamela had half 推定する／予想するd. The new-comers turned 欠如（する）-lustre 注目する，もくろむs upon her; if they had ever heard of the Burslem 事例／患者 it had 完全に disappeared from their memory. All three were 井戸／弁護士席 dressed and evidently belonged to the moneyed class, but 非，不，無 of them looked 特に intelligent; their chins by one 同意 appeared to be absent.

行方不明になる Margetson retired 明らかに to make some last 準備s, and after a minute Mrs. Jimmy followed her.

Lady Fanyard turned to Pamela, her 注目する，もくろむs 上昇傾向d, her 手渡すs clasped in an ecstasy.

"Isn't she wonderful—our dear 行方不明になる Margetson?"

"I dare say she may be, but I do not know anything about her," Pamela said candidly.

"Ah! You are not 納得させるd? You are only an inquirer?" Lady Fanyard brought her 注目する，もくろむs 負かす／撃墜する to Pamela's 直面する. "But I could tell you the most marvellous things. Winifred has made life a different thing for me."

She was stopped by the return of Mrs. Jimmy with the wonderful Winifred, 覆う？ now in a flowing 衣料品 of filmy 黒人／ボイコット, and with something of the 表現 of the mystic in her 広大な／多数の／重要な, dark 注目する，もくろむs and her small, wrinkled 直面する. She glided to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and seating herself leaned 支援する and raised her 注目する，もくろむs 上向きs as if lost in ecstasy.

Mrs. Jimmy beckoned to them to sit 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, the 訪問者s having 除去するd their hats and gloves. She placed Pamela 正確に／まさに opposite the medium; then she bade them all place their 手渡すs on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, not touching one another but to spread out every finger 分かれて.

Then suddenly she switched off the light and the room was in 絶対の pitch 不明瞭. Pamela 設立する out afterwards that there were shutters behind the blinds, which Mrs. Jimmy had managed to の近くに noiselessly. For a minute or two there was silence—silence so dead that Pamela could almost hear herself breathe.

Then the 発言する／表明する of the medium.

"There is a beautiful hymn—'Lead, kindly light.' That is the first line. We will sing it while the spirits are on their way to us to make our 不明瞭 and gloom the perfect light of the next sphere." She stopped.

Then in a quavering 発言する／表明する somebody started the first line of Newman's hymn. The others joined in, more or いっそう少なく distinctly. When the last 公式文書，認めるs had died away there was silence again.

Then, Pamela told herself that it must be her fancy, but it really did seem to the girl that the 不明瞭 was 十分な of moving things. Once she could have fancied a bat-like 形態／調整 was skimming over the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する before her. At last, 明らかに from a distance, there （機の）カム a small shrill 発言する／表明する:

"I am Fan-Fan. I want to see—to see—"

"Ah, yes, yes!" the medium spoke, and now her 発言する／表明する had lost some of its purring 公式文書，認める; it sounded tired and limp. "Yes, yes, Fan-Fan, who have you come to see?"

"A new lady. Somebody who wants to know." The 発言する／表明する was getting clearer, nearer. "And I bring with me some one who is trying to get to her. He says she must have patience—he is coming—but it is not long since he crossed. He is not sure—it is difficult—but he is trying."

Pamela drew a 深い breath. She did not 疑問—how could she?—that the words referred to her. She waited, her whole 存在 concentrated in the longing to receive some 調印する from her father.

Then Fan-Fan spoke again; now her 発言する／表明する had 弱めるd again.

"He is here! But it has been difficult—very difficult! In a minute he will speak. But it cannot be for long. The lady must have patience."

"Yes, yes!" Pamela was beginning, but a low, shocked hush ran 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the room.

Then in the silence that followed there （機の）カム in a man's 深い 発言する／表明する the girl's 指名する.

"Pam—child, are you here?"

It sounded like a man's 発言する／表明する, but though the 表現 "Pam—child" was Sir John's usual way of 演説（する）／住所ing his daughter, Pamela could not 認める any トン of her father's.

"Yes, I am here," she hesitated. "But, dad—"

"You 手配中の，お尋ね者 me—I have come, but it has not been 平易な and you must not keep me," the 発言する／表明する went on. "Be quick, Pam."

"Yes, yes!" the girl said again. It was not 平易な to speak with all these strangers 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, and the 発言する／表明する—the 発言する／表明する that was not her father's 発言する／表明する though it used her father's words—seemingly floating in the 空気／公表する. She felt half 脅すd, half doubtful. Yet the much-longed-for 適切な時期 was here. She told herself that she must—she must avail herself of it.

"Are you happy, dad?" she asked in a 発言する／表明する that would quiver in spite of her best 成果／努力s.

"It was too soon. They were too quick for me. My work was not done and I want you and Sophie."

Somehow the use of her stepmother's Christian 指名する seemed more 納得させるing to Pamela than anything else.

"Oh, dad," she burst out, "tell me who did it—who 発射 you."

"No, no! I can't. It is not 許すd," the 発言する／表明する began to grow fainter as if the （衆議院の）議長 were getting さらに先に away.

"And where is Ellerby?" the girl questioned 猛烈に.

"I don't know. But he is happy—he is helping those he loves." There was another pause, then the 発言する／表明する went on. "I—I must go. They are calling me away. Be good, Pam—child. Sophie will help you, and be 肉親，親類d to Aunt Kitty. She has done more for me than anyone since I （機の）カム over."

"I will, I will!" the girl 約束d. "But—but, dad, can't you help me—tell me—"

"No, not now. I cannot stay. Only remember I am watching you, Pam. Good-bye!" There was a sound as if some one was blowing a kiss, then silence.

"Oh, dad, come 支援する!" Pam cried 猛烈に.

But there （機の）カム no answer—only that dense, impenetrable 不明瞭.

CHAPTER 11

"Vidame and Green! Here we are!"

視察官 Stoddart was the （衆議院の）議長. He and Harbord got out of a bus at Victoria and had walked 負かす／撃墜する Witwick Street. Vidame & Green's was やめる a small shop; a 在庫／株 of hosiery in the windows looked as though it was seldom altered.

にもかかわらず it was 明白に 公正に／かなり 井戸／弁護士席 たびたび（訪れる）d, and there were several 顧客s in the shop when the 探偵，刑事s entered. Two assistants were serving, and a dapper-looking little man in spectacles （機の）カム 今後.

"Mr. Vidame?" the 視察官 said inquiringly.

The little man coughed. "There is no Mr. Vidame, sir. My 指名する is Mercier. I married Mr. Green's daughter, and I am the only 代表者／国会議員 of the 会社／堅い in the 商売／仕事, though I am glad to say Mr. Green is still living at Hampstead. But anything I can do for you, gentlemen? I may say that our goods are の中で the most reliable in London."

視察官 Stoddart 手渡すd him a card. "If you could spare me a few minutes, Mr Mercier—"

Mr. Mercier's colour visibly altered as he saw the 指名する.

"Certainly, 視察官. Will you come to my office?" He led the way to a small room at the 後部 of the shop. "Now, gentlemen, I am at your service, though I am at a loss to understand—"

Stoddart took out of his pocket the tie-on label that had been 設立する in Ellerby's room at Porthwick Square and which had on it Messrs. Vidame & Green's 指名する. He 手渡すd it to Mr. Mercier.

"I 推定する this had been used for some 購入（する） made in your shop? The 人物／姿／数字s 25/6/2 代表する no 疑問 the date when the article, whatever it was, was bought. This number on the other 味方する—5—I take it 言及するs to the assistant who served your 顧客?"

"正確に／まさに, 視察官," Mr. Mercier said. "These labels are put on every 小包 which is made up on the 前提s. I 主張する on it, as in the 事例／患者 of any 不満 it is necessary to know all the 詳細（に述べる）s."

"Can we see the assistant who made up the 小包 to which this label was 大（公）使館員d?"

"Certainly you can." Mr. Mercier took up the speaking-tube which stood on his desk and spoke 負かす／撃墜する it. Then he went to the door and returned with a tall, reedy-looking 青年. "This is our Mr. Thompson, 視察官. I am sure that any （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） he can give you—"

"Our Mr. Thompson" looked distinctly 脅すd as he turned his 目だつ, light 注目する，もくろむs on the 探偵，刑事s.

Mr. Mercier held out the label. "You served this 顧客?"

Mr. Thompson looked at the label, rather as if he thought it might bite. "Yes, sir, I did."

"You can remember the 処理／取引?"

There was a pause while Mr. Thompson 試験的に touched the label and 明らかに racked his brains, then he said:

"Yes, sir. I do. More 特に as the 顧客 made several 購入（する）s and I had seen him in the shop before."

"Have you seen him in the shop since?" Stoddart 問い合わせd.

Mr. Thompson began to look worried. "I can't call to mind that I have, sir. I have not seen him this last week, I am sure. But then I might not have noticed him if one of the other assistants had been …に出席するing to him."

The 視察官 took out his notebook. "Now, can you give me any sort of description of this 顧客 of yours?"

"I do not know that I could, sir." Mr. Thompson hesitated and stammered. "He was not, so to speak, anything particular to look at."

"Old or young?" the 視察官 questioned.

"Oh, not to say old, sir. Nor yet young. Oh, not young by any means."

"Middle-老年の, perhaps you would say," Stoddart 示唆するd.

Mr. Thompson looked relieved. "Yes, sir. That's 権利. Middle-老年の I should call him."

"Now about his hair, was he fair or dark?" the 視察官 追求するd.

Mr. Thompson's bewilderment 明らかに 増加するd.

"I am sure I couldn't say, sir. I can't call to mind that I ever saw his hair. He was clean-shaven, I know."

"Should you 認める him if you saw him again?"

"Oh, yes, sir!" This time Mr. Thompson had no 疑問s.

The 視察官 took a 事例／患者 from his pocket and held out the photograph it 含む／封じ込めるd.

"Is this like your 顧客?"

Mr. Thompson took the card in his 手渡す gingerly. He 星／主役にするd at it, he held it in different positions, and 明らかに 熟考する／考慮するd it with meticulous care. At last he looked up at the 視察官.

"I don't know. I couldn't say. I never saw him laughing like that—and without his hat," he said despairingly. "It might be him and then again it might not."

"Um! Not very illuminating," the 視察官 said, retrieving the photograph and 取って代わるing it in its 事例／患者. "井戸／弁護士席, Mr. Thompson, with regard to this 顧客 of yours, can you tell us how many times you served him—だいたい, of course—and anything with regard to his 購入（する）s?"

The assistant took a notebook from his pocket and ちらりと見ることd at it, then his 直面する brightened.

"Yes, sir, I can. I remember perfectly now. I have served this same gentleman on three occasions. And each time the 購入（する） has been the same—a dozen day shirts and three pyjama 控訴s. The thing that has struck me as peculiar about it, and that has 直す／買収する，八百長をするd it in my mind, is that each time the gentleman について言及するd the fact that they were for himself, and yet each time they were different sizes."

"Different sizes!" echoed the 視察官. "That seems curious. I could understand a man making a mistake once—got a little thinner or a little stouter, maybe—but it seems 半端物 he should do it twice."

"Perhaps he was not so much thinner or stouter as he had 推定する／予想するd," Harbord 示唆するd. "He did not ask you to change them, then"—returning to Mr. Thompson—"or I take it for 認めるd you would have done so."

"Certainly, sir. No, he never made any such suggestion."

"And he never had 小包s sent to his 演説（する）／住所, I suppose?"

Mr. Thompson shook his 長，率いる. "Not when I served him. I 申し込む／申し出d to send them, of course; they made such a big 小包 for him to carry. But he 辞退するd. He had not far to go, he said, and he always preferred to be 独立した・無所属. But once I noticed he got into a taxi outside."

"I can understand that," Harbord murmured. "What sort of class—social class, I mean—should you say this 顧客 of yours belonged, Mr. Thompson? Seeing as many people as you do, I take it you would size up a man pretty quickly."

Mr. Thompson looked flattered. "As quickly as most, sir. I should say this 顧客—井戸／弁護士席, he would not belong to the real higher classes, so to speak, though he was a 井戸／弁護士席-spoken chap. But I should have taken him for a tradesman, or it might be a gentleman's servant."

"Ah!" the 視察官 drew a long breath. "You are a man of 観察, Mr. Thompson. 井戸／弁護士席, we may have to see you again later, but that is all for today, I think."

With a word of thanks to Mr. Mercier, they 出発／死d, leaving that gentleman and his assistant looking after them with wondering and somewhat discomfited 直面するs.

Outside Harbord looked at his superior. "井戸／弁護士席, we are not much さらに先に, sir."

"Don't you think so?" the 視察官 questioned, a far-away look in his 注目する，もくろむs. "井戸／弁護士席, perhaps not. But it all fits in—it all fits in."

"And yet I suppose in one way we are," Harbord went on dreamily. "For I think Ellerby's 購入（する）s make it 確かな he did a bunk—that no 害（を与える） happened to him."

"Do you think so?" the 視察官 coughed. "井戸／弁護士席, the room had been carefully 行う／開催する／段階-managed, I 収容する／認める. From the first moment I entered it I felt 確かな that Ellerby walked out of it, probably alone, certainly of his own 解放する／自由な-will. But afterwards—I would give a good 取引，協定 to know what happened afterwards."

"But what could happen afterwards?" Harbord cogitated.

The 視察官 shrugged his shoulders.

"How can one tell? The only thing we know is that he was in some one's way. You remember that letter. All was going 井戸／弁護士席. The only danger to be 恐れるd was from Ellerby."

"Lady Burslem's letter. Yes, I remember," Harbord said thoughtfully. "But she—"

"The fragment of a letter that Forbes brought in," Stoddart 訂正するd. "It looked like Lady Burslem's 令状ing certainly. But—"

Harbord looked surprised. "You think it is not."

"I don't think," the 視察官 returned mendaciously. "But if that あわてて written will was not really in Sir John's 令状ing this also may be a 偽造—to put us off the scent."

"At any 率," Harbord went on, "as far as I can see there is no 疑問 that Lady Burslem is in it up to the hilt."

"No 疑問," the 視察官 assented. Then after a pause, "No 疑問 at all that she is in it up to the hilt, as you say, or that some one is trying—has been trying all along—to make us think she is." He smiled as he saw the mystified 表現 on Harbord's 直面する. Then he hurried 今後. "Here, from this corner we can get a bus to Battersea. There is one coming now."

"To Battersea!" Harbord repeated reflectively. "You mean—"

"I think it is time we had a look at Mrs. Ellerby's abode," the 視察官 said as they got in. "The corner of Vine Street will be our nearest stopping place, I think."

From Vine Street to Dorrimer Street, where Mrs. Ellerby's house was 据えるd, was but a step, as the 視察官 発言／述べるd.

The street was one of those melancholy ones beloved of the modern 建設業者, in which every house is a facsimile of its fellows. No. 80 only 異なるd from the others in that instead of an aspidistra in its 前線 window the place of honour was 占領するd by a small （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する on which at the 現在の moment a large 黒人／ボイコット cat was lying, blinking lazily at the passers-by as it basked in the sun.

The 視察官 rang the bell and sounded the 厚かましさ／高級将校連 knocker.

The door was opened almost すぐに by a tall, faded-looking 年輩の woman in a 黒人／ボイコット dress and wearing a large, white apron.

"Mrs. Ellerby?" the 視察官 said inquiringly.

"Yes, sir. But if it is about rooms, I have 非，不，無 to let just now."

"I am glad to hear that," the 視察官 said politely. "It shows that 商売／仕事 is good. But I have not come about rooms. It is just on a 事柄 of 商売／仕事 that I want a few words with you, if you will 許す me." He 手渡すd her his card. "I rang you up this morning you remember—from Scotland Yard."

"From Scotland Yard! Oh!" A very 脅すd look flashed into the woman's faded 注目する，もくろむs. "But I 港／避難所't anything to tell you, gentlemen. I told you over the phone I had not. I know no more than the dead—"

"I think we will come in just for a minute にもかかわらず, if you will 許す us," the 視察官 said, stepping 今後.

Mrs. Ellerby perforce gave way and silently 押し進めるd open the door of the 前線 room. Stoddart and Harbord walked in.

"As I said, Mrs. Ellerby," the 視察官 began, "we shall not keep you long. And it is really in your own 利益／興味s that I want you to answer a few questions. I am sure that you are as anxious as we are that your husband, Mr. Robert Ellerby, should be 設立する and—"

"As anxious!" Mrs. Ellerby interrupted him. "As anxious—my God! What can your 苦悩 be to 地雷? Day or night I 港／避難所't 残り／休憩（する）d since I heard he couldn't be 設立する. Your 苦悩? What is that to 地雷—his wife's?"

"What indeed?" the 視察官 echoed, his keen 注目する，もくろむs roving 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the room. "I suppose I may take it for 認めるd that you have heard nothing of your husband since the night before last when he left 15 Porthwick Square?"

"Left Porthwick Square?" the woman echoed. "Is that what you like to call it? Since he was 殺人d, like Sir John before him—because he knew too much, I should say."

"殺人d in 15 Porthwick Square?" the 視察官 said 厳粛に, regarding her fixedly. "Do you realize the serious nature of the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 you are making, Mrs. Ellerby?"

The woman nodded, 製図／抽選 her thin, 無血の lips together.

"I know. And I do not mind telling you what is the talk of London today—that, if it had been in a poor woman's house that my husband had been made away with, something would have been 設立する out before now. It is money—money, that is making the Burslem Mystery, as they call it. Not much of a mystery either. Ask her ladyship who 調印するd the will they call Sir John's that left poor 行方不明になる Pamela without a penny. It was not Sir John that would have 扱う／治療するd his own flesh and 血 like that. And ask her ladyship what she was doing wandering about the house, night before last, when all decent people were abed. Oh, there is no 疑問 that Ellerby knew too much for them."

The 視察官 vainly tried to 茎・取り除く the 激流 of words.

"Mrs. Ellerby," he said, when at last he could get a word in, "you're making very serious 告訴，告発s without, so far as I can see, one iota of proof in support of them."

"Proof—ugh!" Mrs. Ellerby's sallow cheeks were dyed a dusky red now. "There's plenty of proof to be had by those that know where to look for it," she 観察するd enigmatically. "Ask Elsie Spencer what she saw in 15 Porthwick Square the night before last."

A look that Harbord knew 井戸／弁護士席 夜明けd in Stoddart's 注目する，もくろむs.

"Elsie Spencer!" he repeated. "Ah, one of the maids, isn't she?"

"Yes. She is one of the maids," Mrs. Ellerby mimicked. "She is the second housemaid. And if she keeps her wits about her she will not be a housemaid much longer, I say."

The 視察官 raised his eyebrows. "When did you last see your husband, Mrs. Ellerby?"

"Alive, do you mean?" The woman's lips began to quiver, some of the fury which had upheld her had 出発／死d.

"Alive, certainly," the 視察官 assented. "Do you mean that you—"

"He was here the afternoon before they did him in. I had written to ask him to come, for I had had trouble with one of my lodgers—I couldn't get the money for my 支援する rent and I was short of the ready, for I was let 負かす／撃墜する pretty 不正に over Peep o' Day. So Robert he （機の）カム over and gave my lodger a talking to and left me a bit that I was to put in the bank if I didn't want it. Which I did—put it in the bank I mean, for Ellerby had put the 恐れる of God into my lodger and he paid up."

"How much did your husband give you?" Stoddart questioned.

For a moment Mrs. Ellerby looked mutinous, then something in the inflexible 直面する of the man before her compelled obedience.

"It was fifty 続けざまに猛撃するs," she said sulkily.

The 視察官 raised his eyebrows. "Doesn't that look to you as if your husband knew he would be away some time? Fifty 続けざまに猛撃するs is a large sum, you know."

"I know it doesn't go far in these days," Mrs. Ellerby said defiantly. "You would know that if you had to see to a houseful of lodgers and meals to 供給する and getting the money from them as bad as pulling their teeth. Your wife would—"

"港／避難所't got one," the 視察官 said すぐに. "Now, Mrs. Ellerby, I want a look at the room in which your husband 一般に sat when he was at home."

"And that would be difficult to show you," Mrs. Ellerby went on in the same 負傷させるd トン. "It just depended on what rooms were let. When we had one empty Ellerby and I would sit there and he would read his paper. But it wasn't often we did sit 負かす／撃墜する, either of us, we had too much to do. Ellerby often didn't do more, for weeks together, than just look in and pass the time of day. Perhaps he'd have a bit of a 軽食 if there was anything going, and that was all I would see of him. Might just 同様に not have had a husband I used to say."

"Yet I understood from the servants in Porthwick Square that Ellerby always slept at home once a week, and frequently more often."

"That's 権利," the woman 定評のある grudgingly.

"But it was late when he （機の）カム 一般に—time for bed when he had had his supper—and up again 早期に in the morning to get 支援する in time for Sir John."

"I see." The 視察官 nodded. "Now, Mrs. Ellerby, I want to have a look at your husband's bedroom."

"Which is 地雷, too. We do not go in for any newfangled ways," Mrs. Ellerby 発言／述べるd scathingly. "Not that that makes any difference. My rooms are always so that anyone can go in them. I may not be grand but I am clean."

"I am sure of that, Mrs. Ellerby," the 視察官 agreed politely. "Now, if you please—"

Mrs. Ellerby led the way upstairs to a fair-sized apartment on the third 床に打ち倒す. The big, 木造の bedstead in the middle took up most of the room, but there was a wardrobe and a chest of drawers, that 明らかに did 義務 as a dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and a large washstand. Over this hung three photographs, one of Sir John Burslem, one of Pamela as a child with long hair, and one of a woman of middle age with a happy, smiling 直面する. Mrs. Ellerby pointed to this last.

"Sir John's first wife, and a good 取引，協定 better-looking than his second, if you ask me."

"井戸／弁護士席, I am inclined to agree with you there, Mrs. Ellerby," the 視察官 said 外交上. "Or shall we put it that Sir John had a pretty taste in wives?"

Mrs. Ellerby 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd her 長，率いる. "I am sure I don't know. Pretty is as pretty does, I say. 井戸／弁護士席, I will leave you to look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する if you feel like it, gentlemen. Not that you will find anything. I am sure of that. The 最高の，を越す drawer is Ellerby's and the left-手渡す little one. But there is not much in them."

"One moment," said the 視察官, 拘留するing her. "Had your husband any 親族s that he was friendly with?"

"He had a brother, William, in Cumberland that he used to stay with in the holidays. But William doesn't know anything of him now. I wired at once and got his answer."

"I should like to see it," the 視察官 said.

"井戸／弁護士席, you can't," Mrs. Ellerby said snappily, "for I put it straight in the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. And that is the only 肉親，親類 that Ellerby had that I know of except a sister that went wrong years ago and lives somewhere in the East End."

"I should like her 演説（する）／住所."

Mrs. Ellerby 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd her 長，率いる. "I don't know it. And I don't believe Ellerby did, either. She was not the sort we should care to keep up with—either of us. So if that is all—"

"Only one more question," the 視察官 said with a ちらりと見ること at Harbord. "Can you give me the 指名する of any tradesman with whom your husband dealt? Tailor or outfitter?"

Mrs. Ellerby shook her 長，率いる.

"I don't know that he went anywhere 正規の／正選手. 選ぶd things up where he fancied them I should say."

"Vidame & Green's?" the 視察官 示唆するd.

"I don't know. He may have done," Mrs. Ellerby said carelessly. "I seem to have heard the 指名する."

"Shop 負かす／撃墜する Victoria way," the 視察官 told her.

But she made no その上の 発言／述べる as she banged 負かす／撃墜する a bunch of 重要なs on the washing-stand.

"There, you will be able to get into everything with them."

"Thank you." The 視察官 looked at Harbord when she had gone. "Nice sort of lady. Ellerby would be 正当化するd in keeping out of her way."

Harbord shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't make one feel in love with matrimony—some of the wives one 会合，会うs. I wonder whether she knows more than she says, sir."

The 視察官 had opened the wardrobe and was going over the contents carefully. For the most part they seemed to be 衣料品s of Mrs. Ellerby's, but an old 控訴 of Ellerby's, neatly 倍のd, was on one of the 棚上げにするs and a hat-box held a 井戸／弁護士席 小衝突d silk hat. But there did not seem to be much to help them with their 調査, and at the end of the first half hour the 探偵，刑事s were about to 自白する themselves beaten when the 視察官's quick 注目する，もくろむs caught sight of a small box 押し進めるd 権利 up against the 塀で囲む beneath the chest of drawers. It was made of 淡褐色 cardboard, almost the same colour as the painted skirting-board against which it stood. The 視察官 went 負かす／撃墜する on his 膝s and managed to poke it out with the 扱う of an umbrella he 設立する in the wardrobe.

It held some curious-looking articles, Harbord thought, as he took off the lid, and together they looked at the contents of the box. Tubes, lumps of what looked like coloured chalks, and 黒人／ボイコット and coloured pencils—what 観察 in restaurants and omnibuses had taught both 探偵，刑事s to 認める as lip-stick and boxes of 砕く, white, red and brown. さまざまな dirty bits of rag were tucked about and の中で them. Then at the 底（に届く） were tiny tweezers, and different 形態／調整d knives. The 視察官 took up one or two of the tubes and squeezed them gingerly, smelt the contents, smeared them on his 手渡す and then wiped the 示す off again. At last he ちらりと見ることd at Harbord.

"What do you make of this?"

Harbord's 表現 was very doubtful. "井戸／弁護士席, I suppose it is a paintbox. Though I never heard that Ellerby was anything of an artist."

"I am beginning to think he is an artist of a 肉親，親類d," the 視察官 said with a curious smile. "I see you do not realize the significance of this, Alfred," （電話線からの）盗聴 the box as he spoke. "These are grease paints. Part of an actor's （不足などを）補う. Our friend Ellerby may have used them or he may not. But I think we will say nothing of our 発見 to the dear lady downstairs for the 現在の."

He 取って代わるd the contents as much as possible as they were and 押し進めるd the box 支援する against the 塀で囲む.

CHAPTER 12

It was Elsie Spencer's day out. She was looking very forlorn and 哀れな as she stood at the corner of the street waiting for her bus. She was going 負かす／撃墜する to Stoke Newington to see her sister, but she was not feeling 特に happy. Her young man had given her the chuck, as she phrased it, the week before, and going 負かす／撃墜する to tea at Stoke Newington without a young man was a dull 事件／事情／状勢 indeed in pretty Elsie's opinion.

For Elsie was a very pretty girl looked at either way—with the dimples peeping out and her little white teeth showing, or, as today, with the corners of her mouth drooping pathetically and her big blue 注目する，もくろむs looking as if she had been crying for hours. She was 井戸／弁護士席-dressed too. Her 砕く-blue frock barely reached her 膝s and her grey silk stockings and suede shoes, 同様に as the little pull-on hat that matched her frock had been recommended by Lady Duff Gordon in the Daily Graphic, so that Elsie knew that her 衣料品s at any 率 were unexceptionable. She was just thinking that her bus was a long time coming when a young man who seemed to be waiting for the same bus looked at her rather closely.

His 直面する seemed faintly familiar to Elsie. She 紅潮／摘発するd red as he raised his hat.

"行方不明になる Elsie Spencer?"

"Yes, that's 権利," the girl said shyly. "But I don't know—"

The man smiled.

"You have forgotten. My 指名する is Harbord, and I saw you when I （機の）カム to 15 Porthwick Square."

"Ah, the 探偵，刑事!" Elsie's pretty colour faded and a 脅すd look （機の）カム in her 注目する，もくろむs.

"Yes, the junior 探偵，刑事," the man 確認するd. "But 探偵，刑事s have 注目する，もくろむs like other men, 行方不明になる Spencer. And 審理，公聴会 it was your day out, and such a lovely day too, I wondered if I could 説得する you to come for a 運動 with me 負かす／撃墜する to Richmond or somewhere. Then we could have a cup of tea and 運動 home by moonlight. What do you say?"

Elsie thought it sounded very attractive. She was not やめる sure that she せねばならない 受託する. But she told herself that it was not as if she knew nothing of Harbord, and the feeling of naughtiness would lend a spice of adventure to it all.

While she was hesitating Harbord beckoned to a passing taxi.

"We will have it open," he said to the driver. "Come, 行方不明になる Spencer, it will be ever so much nicer than the 最高の，を越す of the bus this dusty day."

Elsie thought it would too as she let him help her in.

But Harbord 設立する as they bowled off に向かって Richmond that he would have his work 削減（する） out for him. Elsie was not one of those talkative girls from whom it is 平易な to 抽出する （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）. She was very 静かな and shy, and sheered off at once from any について言及する of 15 Porthwick Square or its mysteries. He told himself that he must wait and see whether tea would 緩和する her tongue, and 充てるd himself during the 運動 to trying to make her feel at home with him. In this he was so far successful that by the time they reached Richmond the dimples were in 十分な play again and Elsie was beginning to chatter.

They put up at an old-fashioned hostelry that Harbord had discovered rather off the main 跡をつける, and had tea in a pretty, quaint, little pleasance sloping 負かす／撃墜する to the river. Harbord ordered a luxurious tea, 挟むs of さまざまな 肉親，親類d, dainty little cakes and fruit, and they both did 司法（官） to it after their 運動. Then Harbord produced cigarettes and Elsie 自白するd to a 証拠不十分 for a good smoke.

By now they felt almost like old friends. Harbord talked of his work and its difficulties and, in some 事例／患者s, dangers. Elsie listened with 増加するing 利益／興味, and when at last he managed to introduce the Burslem Mystery, though he fancied she grew a shade paler, she made no 試みる／企てる to check him. For a few moments he 限定するd himself to Sir John Burslem's death and to the tremendous loss to small punters 原因（となる）d by the scratching of Peep o' Day. Elsie 定評のある to having put most of her 貯金 on the colt, and also to having 説得するd her young man to do the same, thus laying the 創立／基礎 of the estrangement between them.

Harbord listened and sympathized. Then he skilfully turned the conversation to Ellerby and his 見えなくなる. Here Elsie was inclined to become restive, but Harbord seemed so unconscious of any disinclination on her part and talked on so placidly that she soon 静かなd 負かす／撃墜する.

"I have often 発言／述べるd to a friend of 地雷," the young 探偵，刑事 said at last, "that I thought it was uncommonly 勇敢な of young girls like yourself to remain in 15 Porthwick Square after all that has happened, or is said to have happened, there."

There was no mistaking Elsie's pallor now.

"Oh, I wish I need not," she breathed, clasping her 手渡すs. "But we were all told that wherever we went we had to keep the police 知らせるd of our どの辺に and 持つ／拘留する ourselves in 準備完了 to obey any 召喚するs at any time. I couldn't get another 職業, not a good one, if I told folks that, and I can't afford to live at home. So I just stay on at 15 Porthwick Square until things are settled up, and then I shall be jolly glad to get away—jolly glad."

"I am sure you will," Harbord's 発言する／表明する was very 同情的な. "I don't know that I should care to stay in the house myself—I don't believe I should sleep at night."

"That is just how I feel," Elsie breathed. "I used to sleep that sound I was off the moment my 長，率いる touched the pillow. But now I 嘘（をつく） awake and think and wonder. It has been dreadful, dreadful—ever since Mr. Ellerby went away. There's 非，不，無 of us will sleep alone."

"I don't wonder at that. And you may 井戸／弁護士席 say went away. I wonder where he did go," Harbord said speculatively. "I wonder whether you have any notion, 行方不明になる Spencer?"

"Me—any notion?" repeated Elsie, shuddering. "I should think I have not. Do you think he did go—out of the house, Mr. Harbord?"

Harbord shook his 長，率いる. "I would give a good 取引，協定 to be able to answer that question. There's only one thing I do think—and that is that some one in the house must have known what has become of Ellerby and how he went—if go he did."

"I don't believe there is anybody that knows anything about it—not on the staff, anyhow," Elsie 否定するd. "If anyone does—it is her ladyship."

"Now I wonder why you should say that?" Harbord questioned. "Though I have heard the theory put 今後 before, mind you. But how should Lady Burslem know anything of the valet's 見えなくなる? I cannot imagine. What makes you say so anyhow?"

Elsie shivered. "I don't suppose it is anything really, and—of course it isn't. But—but her ladyship was walking about the house that night."

"She was!" Harbord could not 妨げる a 公式文書，認める of 勝利 from creeping into his 発言する／表明する. "But how do you know, 行方不明になる Spencer?"

Elsie began to look 完全に 脅すd. "I wish I hadn't said anything about it. But you—you wheedled it out of me somehow. And now—I don't know what to do." Her blue 注目する，もくろむs were swimming in 涙／ほころびs.

Harbord just touched her 手渡す.

"Now don't you trouble yourself, 行方不明になる Spencer. You have done the wisest thing in 信用ing me. What you tell me goes no さらに先に. And you must tell somebody. I can see it is making you やめる ill, the keeping it to yourself."

"Yes, that's 権利!" Elsie said tearfully. "井戸／弁護士席, I will tell you. If it gets me into trouble, I can't help it. It will be a 慰安 to have it off my chest." She stopped and gazed 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. "There's nobody can hear us here, can they?" pointing to a couple at a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する on a line with them.

"Not a bit of it!" Harbord said reassuringly. "Now put the 事柄 in a nutshell. How do you know that Lady Burslem was up and about the house on the night of Ellerby's 見えなくなる?"

"Because I saw her," Elsie said in a whisper.

Harbord drew a 深い breath.

"I 推定する／予想するd as much. Now just tell me 正確に／まさに what you saw and heard."

"It—it wasn't much anyway," Elsie said, 涙／ほころびs vibrating in her 発言する／表明する. "But I was sleeping with Clara Hill, the kitchenmaid, in a room at the 支援する of the house on the third 床に打ち倒す. And I got the toothache something cruel. I had some very good stuff for toothache that my sister gave me and I had lent it to Mary Clarke, the 長，率いる housemaid. She sleeps in a room at the end of our passage, so I made up my mind I would go along and get it. Clara Hill was awake too, and she （機の）カム with me. I wouldn't have dared to go by myself since Sir John died—we 非，不，無 of us would. 井戸／弁護士席, 権利 at the end of the passage there is a green baize swing-door that opens on to the 回廊（地帯） that runs along the 前線 of the house. Just as we got up to Mary's room we saw a streak of light under the green baize door. We wondered whether it had been forgotten, for when Sir John was alive he was most particular about all the lights 存在 out, and then we thought of 夜盗，押し込み強盗s and got real 脅すd. At last we just 押し進めるd the door very gently and peeped through. Some one—a woman—was coming 負かす／撃墜する the passage carrying an electric たいまつ in one 手渡す and a 小包—a good-sized 小包—in the other. We couldn't make out at first who it was, then as she （機の）カム nearer we saw that it was her ladyship."

"You are sure?" Harbord questioned half incredulously.

The girl nodded emphatically. "確かな ! We saw her 直面する やめる plain—me and Clara both. At first we thought she was walking in her sleep, but then she would not have brought the たいまつ or the 小包, would she?"

Harbord shook his 長，率いる. "No, I should say that is out of the question. What else did you see, 行方不明になる Spencer? Where did she go?"

"I—I think downstairs," Elsie 滞るd. "But we didn't wait any longer, me and Clara. We were too much afraid of getting into trouble if we were caught,' so we just hurried 支援する to bed, and I never got the toothache mixture after all; for the seeing her ladyship put everything else out of my 長，率いる. And the tooth stopped aching just as if by 魔法. So I kept it warm in bed till morning."

"Ah, I have heard that a fright often takes toothache away," Harbord said thoughtfully. "What time was this, should you say?"

"Just before three," said Elsie. "For I heard it strike 直接／まっすぐに after I got 支援する into bed. Clara made the 発言／述べる that she wondered what her ladyship could be doing. Then the next day we heard that Mr. Ellerby could not be 設立する, and we have wondered and wondered did the one who was about the house see anything, or know anything, or—or do anything," her 発言する／表明する dropping to the merest whisper. Harbord had to lean 今後 to catch it. His 直面する was 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な as he sat still, his 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd upon the tiny ripples on the river's surface. He did not speak.

After one ちらりと見ること at him, big 涙／ほころびs 井戸／弁護士席d up in Elsie's 注目する，もくろむs, and rolled miserably 負かす／撃墜する her cheeks.

"We have been too 脅すd even to speak of it to one another. I did just say a word to Mrs. Ellerby when she （機の）カム to ask about her husband, and I have been sorry ever since I spoke," she said, her 発言する／表明する shaking. "And now I have been and told you all about it. And—and I don't suppose I shall ever hear the last of it. Clara will never 許す me."

"There is no need she should know anything about it that I see," Harbord said, rousing himself. "Or anyone else for that 事柄. What you saw does not 影響する／感情 the Burslem Mystery one way or the other, as far as I can 裁判官, unless it 追加するs a minor one. You I say her ladyship was alone?"

"Oh, yes. There was nobody else about then."

"How was she dressed? I mean, for going out, or in indoor things."

"Oh, indoor," Elsie said quickly. "I mean she looked as if she had just thrown on some sort of loose, dark dressing-gown. She hadn't got a hat or anything on her 長，率いる, for her hair just caught the torchlight as she （機の）カム along."

"It is a strange thing, and I don't see what she could be doing. Was she helping Ellerby get away or was she—"

"Trying to 妨げる him getting away?" Elsie whispered. "Mrs. Ellerby she makes sure she was—she might be afraid he would talk, Mrs. Ellerby says. And—and we don't know how much he knew or—or guessed."

Harbord could not forbear a slight smile.

"My dear 行方不明になる Spencer, with the best will in the world, I don't think a slight, rather delicate woman like Lady Burslem could do away with a strong man like Ellerby, or even 妨げる him getting away from the house, for that 事柄."

"He—he might have been 発射 or—or 毒（薬）d," Elsie said in the same 脅すd whisper.

"What became of the 団体／死体, then?" Harbord questioned, his smile 深くするing.

Elsie was not looking at him now.

"She—she was carrying a 小包. I have asked myself いつかs what could have been in it."

"井戸／弁護士席, hardly Ellerby, dead or alive, I 推定する." A hint of amusement Harbord could not help feeling was creeping into his 発言する／表明する now.

"No, of course not!" Elsie began indignantly; then the 脅すd 公式文書，認める （機の）カム into her 発言する／表明する again. "Not—not whole," she whispered.

This time Harbord really could not repress a laugh. "Oh, my dear girl, what have you been doing? Having a course of the 'Mysteries of the Rue Morgue' or something of that 肉親，親類d? Come, I am going to take you for a walk by the river. And then we will have a 運動 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and home. That will sweep all the cobwebs away. And you will be all the better for having spoken of your 恐れるs to somebody—somebody who is やめる 安全な, moreover. And, believe me, you can put all those same 恐れるs away—you are conjuring up an impossibility."

CHAPTER 13

We understand that Peep o' Day, the late Sir John Burslem's wonder colt, who was scratched for the Derby at the last moment 借りがあるing to the owner's lamented death, has finished his racing career. He has been sold by Lady Burslem to Se?r Ramon da Villistara, one of the biggest 子孫を作る人s in Argentina, for ｣45,000. Peep o' Day will leave by an 早期に boat and on reaching La Plata will proceed at once to the Ramon da Villistara stud-farm, which with the 隣接する estancia stands some distance north of Rosario da Santa Fe. It is rumoured that Se?r da Villistara has decided that Peep o' Day shall serve only his home 損なうs. Enormous 料金s are said to have been 申し込む／申し出d by other owners and to have been 辞退するd by the Se?r, who 所有するs some of the finest brood 損なうs in the world. The 産む／飼育するing of Argentine racehorses is Se?r Ramon da Villistara's 広大な／多数の／重要な hobby, and it is for the furtherance of this and the introduction of the best English 緊張する that Peep o' Day has been 購入（する）d.

"Is there any truth in this paragraph?" 問い合わせd Mrs. Aubrey イルカ, （電話線からの）盗聴 the Daily Wire smartly with the cigarette she was about to light.

The two sisters—she and Lady Burslem—were sitting in the latter's sitting-room at 15 Porthwick Square. To the general surprise Sophie Burslem had 固執するd in staying in town all through the summer, even when the exigencies of the 検死 would have 許すd of a visit to the country.

For the 検死 had 正式に 結論するd now, in a very unsatisfactory fashion, since the 判決 that Sir John Burslem had been 発射 but that by whom the 発射 had been 解雇する／砲火／射撃d there was no 証拠 to show.

"Most unsatisfactory 判決," the public called it and raised a 広大な／多数の／重要な 激しい抗議 about the supineness of the police and the 欠陥／不足s of the C.I.D. These 感情s were coupled with 逆の comments on the 非，不，無-発見 of Sir John Burslem's 殺害者 and scornful 調査s as to what had become of his valet, Robert Ellerby. It spoke 容積／容量s for the 失敗 of our police system that a house and its inmates should be under police 観察 and that a man should 絶対 disappear from that house and that the C.I.D. should find no trace of him, dead or alive.

But these scathing comments of the public, like the police 調査s, produced no result, and the どの辺に of Robert Ellerby, like the question of the 殺害者 of Sir John Burslem, remained a mystery.

The 未亡人d Lady Burslem remained in seclusion and grew thinner and more shadowy looking day by day. The 悲劇の look in her 注目する，もくろむs went to the hearts of those who loved her. But she spoke of her excellent health and 招待するd no sympathy. So far as 視察官 Stoddart had been able to ascertain, there had been no 試みる／企てる at communication either on her 味方する or Sir Charles Stanyard's. And the 視察官's thoughts were more often busy with the person to whom the half letter of Lady Burslem's that Forbes had brought to him had been 演説（する）／住所d than he would have cared to 自白する.

Mrs. イルカ rapped the paper again and repeated her question:

"Is there any truth in this paragraph?"

Lady Burslem ちらりと見ることd at the paper listlessly.

"About Peep o' Day? Oh, yes, he is sold to Villistara."

"You got a good price for him," Mrs. イルカ 発言／述べるd. "But I wonder whether Sir John would have liked him to go to Argentina? He was so proud of Peep o' Day, and so anxious that English racing should 栄える always."

"Ah, he やめる 認可するd," Lady Burslem said at once. "He—you know I get into communication with him through Kitty, Mrs. Jimmy Burslem. She has s饌nces at her house nearly every week, and they almost always manage to get through to him."

"Really, Sophie." Mrs. イルカ sat 支援する in her I 議長，司会を務める and crossing her 脚s gazed at her sister in amazement as she lighted her cigarette—"how you can talk such arrant nonsense amazes me! Is it likely that John, who detested Mrs. Jimmy in his life, should spend his time in communication with her after his death?"

Lady Burslem's lips quivered わずかに. "Death alters everything. Heaven forbid that we should take our 敵意s and dislikes into the next world. And John lets me know his wishes through Mrs. Jimmy."

"I 推定する／予想する his wishes mostly 関心 Mrs. Jimmy's," said Mrs. イルカ sceptically. "Give poor Kitty a tenner or something of that sort, probably. I suppose you will be told to give her a good piece of Peep o' 'Day's price."

"I don't think so," Lady Burslem dissented. "A good 取引，協定 of that will be 投資するd in Argentina. John had a 広大な／多数の／重要な belief in the 未来 lying before that country when its 資源s are fully developed."

"Had he really?" Clare イルカ's トン was not 納得させるd. "Did he say so in his lifetime? Or did he communicate this belief of his through Mrs. Jimmy?"

"Oh, I have heard him say so heaps of times," Lady Burslem said decidedly. "And I don't think you should scoff at communication with the dead, Clare. Look at all the clever people who do believe in it: Oliver 宿泊する and—and heaps of others."

"I was not scoffing at communication with the dead," Clare イルカ said, regarding her sister with pitying 注目する，もくろむs. "Heaven forbid that I should. But I don't imagine that Sir Oliver 宿泊する has much to do with Mrs. Jimmy's little game. What I 反対する to is her 開発／利用 of you for her own ends."

Lady Burslem drew her lips together in an obstinate line with which her sister was only too familiar. "I don't agree with you at all. I am getting やめる fond of her. She has done everything she could to help me since John's death."

"And that is precious little, I 推定する／予想する," Mrs. イルカ 発言／述べるd. "井戸／弁護士席, Sophie, I am sorry you have taken this やめる 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の liking to Mrs. Jimmy. But we cannot all think alike. I want to know where you are going abroad and when. Now that this tiresome 商売／仕事 is over I suppose you can go when you like."

"I suppose so," Sophie said languidly. "Oh, yes, of course I can. But there is a lot of 商売／仕事 to be done in connexion with John's 事件／事情／状勢s. Still I must have a change. Forbes is going next week and I have engaged a new maid, an Italian. So I think I shall go to the Italian lakes first, then work 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to Biarritz and perhaps go on to Madrid. I have always 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see the Escorial."

"I don't think that is at all the 肉親，親類d of change you want," Clare イルカ said decidedly. "Racing about like that! And who are you going to take with you, may I ask? I am sure you are not fit to go by yourself, and I could not かもしれない manage it. I must go to Scotland with Aubrey. He will not hear of anything else. If you would come with us—"

Lady Burslem shook her 長，率いる. "You are very 肉親，親類d, but I couldn't," she said decidedly. "I was there, you know, last year, with him—John. I must go somewhere I have never been before—somewhere I can try to forget."

Mrs. イルカ shrugged her shoulders. "井戸／弁護士席, if that is how you feel I can do nothing. But you will take Pam."

Sophie smiled faintly. "How we should both hate it! No, Pam will go to her friends, the Stanmore-Greens, probably ヨットing. I shall be all 権利."

"You cannot go with only a maid—a strange maid too!" Mrs. イルカ's 注目する，もくろむs were wide with amazement.

Lady Burslem's smile 深くするd, though there was little enough of real amusement in her 注目する，もくろむs.

"Why not? You seem to forget that I shall be alone—always—now." Her 発言する／表明する dropped to a whisper.

"Do not be a sentimental idiot, Sophie!" reproved her sister, delicately flicking her cigarette ash into the tray. "You have had your time of 嘆く／悼むing for John Burslem—やめる long enough in my opinion—and now it is your 義務 for your own sake and that of your 親族s to pull yourself together and buck up. And as for 存在 alone always—rot! You may have been fond of your husband, no 疑問 you were—a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 fonder than I ever gave you credit for 存在, for that 事柄—but you are young, you have your life before you. As for 存在 alone always—井戸／弁護士席, I 推定する／予想する you will tell a very different tale this time next year. Of course you will marry again and have children of your own, and—"

"Clare!" Lady Burslem sat up, her cheeks 紅潮／摘発するing, her 注目する，もくろむs sparkling with 怒り／怒る. "Once for all, I shall never marry again. Please to understand that. It is wicked of you—wicked to 示唆する such a thing." Mrs. イルカ regarded her sister with unmixed amazement.

"Very 井戸／弁護士席. Do not excite yourself, my dear girl. For the 未来 the 支配する shall be 厳密に タブー. But we shall see."

Two little vertical lines that were new, and yet were 速く becoming habitual to Sophie's brow, 深くするd now.

"You certainly will," she said coldly. "But now, Clare, I have to see Mr. Burrows on 緊急の 商売／仕事. He rang me up just before you （機の）カム."

"And who in the world is Mr. Burrows?" Clare イルカ 問い合わせd, 星／主役にするing at her sister.

"The 経営者／支配人 in the City," Sophie said 静かに. "At least the 経営者／支配人 of one of the departments. John himself was his own general 経営者／支配人 of course. And he gave me so many lessons that so far I have got on 公正に／かなり 井戸／弁護士席. But I shall have to look out for another 経営者／支配人 soon. It is almost too much for me."

Clare イルカ drew a long breath.

"I should jolly 井戸／弁護士席 think it was. I am sorry for John's 商売／仕事 if you are going to have much to do with it. I remember what a mess you always made of your accounts when we were girls and had to manage our own allowances."

"This is a very different 事柄," Lady Burslem said listlessly. "John always said I was the best pupil he ever had, and I have had the most 複雑にするd papers いつかs to go through. They say 負かす／撃墜する at the office I am やめる wonderful."

"So I should imagine!" her sister said dryly. "I wonder how many more surprises you have in 蓄える／店 for us, Sophie."

"I don't know," Sophie said carelessly. "But I must see Mr. Burrows. You can stay in the room if you like. It is something about some minerals that are only to be 設立する in the Urals. We must get the 単独の 権利s if it is possible to come to any 永久の 協定 with the ロシアの Soviet 政府." Clare イルカ's 注目する，もくろむs opened wider than ever.

"I shall certainly stay in the room and hear your conversation with this Mr. Burrows," she said decidedly. "Urals—and minerals and Soviet 政府s! I shall find it most intriguing, I am sure."

They waited a few minutes in silence until Mr. Burrows was shown in. He carried a 大臣の地位 of papers and looked what he was, a 繁栄する 商売／仕事 man. Lady Burslem introduced him to her sister and then drew her 議長，司会を務める up to a small （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. Mr. Burrows placed his papers upon it and began to make his explanations in a low 発言する／表明する. To Mrs. イルカ all that she could hear appeared to be so much Greek. She was amazed to find her sister, though speaking little, making her few 観察s in a 完全に 有能な, intelligent fashion, evidently 会合 with Mr. Burrows's entire 是認.

At last he rose and gathered his papers together. Lady Burslem laid her 手渡す upon them.

"You must leave them with me for a few days, Mr. Burrows. I never seem to しっかり掴む things until I have gone into them by myself."

Mr. Burrows 屈服するd. "It is, of course, important that you should perfectly understand both what we want and the 譲歩s and 安全s that we are 用意が出来ている to 申し込む／申し出, and to 受託する from the Soviet 政府. You will see—"

Clare イルカ could 含む／封じ込める herself no longer.

"Really, Sophie, how did you get to know anything of the Soviet 政府 or—or 譲歩s or anything?" she burst out.

"I told you John taught me," Lady Burslem said 簡単に.

The 経営者／支配人 turned to Mrs. イルカ. "Lady Burslem is a marvellous woman. Her 支配する and insight into 商売／仕事 事件／事情／状勢s is 簡単に wonderful. And when it comes to international 複雑化s Sir John himself could not have had a clearer 見通し. Really, I say いつかs it is like what they say in the Bible—the mantle of Elijah hath fallen upon Elisha. Certainly the spirit of Sir John seems to speak through Lady Burslem. She makes rough 公式文書，認めるs on the 利ざや that might have been written by Sir John himself. いつかs it seems to me that even her 令状ing is getting like his. Last time when the 行為 （機の）カム 支援する, if I had not known, I should have said one of the 味方する 公式文書，認めるs had been written by Sir John himself. It was just his turn of the 's'."

"H'm! 井戸／弁護士席, it becomes more and more astonishing," said Mrs. イルカ, getting up. "She never could 令状 for nuts. You know the awful scrawl you used to （罪などを）犯す, Sophie."

CHAPTER 14

"Now," said 視察官 Stoddart, "we shall have things our own way, and if there is anything to be 設立する in 15 Porthwick Square we shall find it." He rang a loud peal at the door of Sir John Burslem's town house as he spoke.

Lady Burslem had been as good as her word. She had 出発／死d for Italy with only her maid and a 特使. The 世帯 staff had been given an 不明確な／無期限の holiday with 給料 and board 給料. And though, as Elsie Spencer had said, all the servants had been 警告するd that they must keep in touch with the police, they had 出発／死d to their several 目的地s 井戸／弁護士席 pleased at the prospect of leaving 15 Porthwick Square and its gruesome secrets behind. The house was now in the 手渡すs of 管理人s. Rumour had it that before long it would be put up for sale, as Lady Burslem had been heard to say that she could not stand the prospect of living in it alone. As soon as the inhabitants were 井戸／弁護士席 out of the way 視察官 Stoddart had 適用するd for a search-令状 and 得るd it, and he and Harbord were now on their way to put it into 死刑執行.

The door was opened after a 延期する which raised the 視察官's 怒らせる, and a woman in a rusty 黒人／ボイコット gown appeared. 視察官 Stoddart 認めるd her at once as of the old-fashioned 管理人 type. He stepped inside, Harbord に引き続いて.

"It is our 義務 to go through this house. We shall 乱す you as little as possible."

The woman looked 完全に taken aback and tried to put herself in the way.

"It is more than my place is 価値（がある）, sir, to let you in. It is her ladyship's orders that no strangers are to be 許すd in the house at all while she is away." 視察官 Stoddart held out his card.

"視察官 Stoddart of Scotland Yard, and we 持つ／拘留する a search-令状 for this house. You have no choice but to stand aside; you cannot 妨害する the police in the 発射する／解雇する of their 義務."

The woman 星／主役にするd at him for a moment, then with an 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の sound between a howl and a sob she threw her apron over her 直面する.

"I wish I hadn't come here," she wailed. "If I hadn't heard that all the fuss with the police about Sir John was over I wouldn't. But it was good money and my husband said we could not afford to 辞退する. But now—now—"

"Now, no 害（を与える） will come to you if you are a sensible woman and keep a still tongue in your 長，率いる," the 視察官 told her. "Now, I think we will begin with one of the rooms on the first 床に打ち倒す." He looked at Harbord. "And then we will have a look at the 地階. I shall want all the 重要なs of the kitchens and the cellars, please."

The 管理人 threw out her 手渡すs. "I 港／避難所't got them. You don't think that their grand butler would 信用 me with his 重要なs."

"I am sure they could not have been in better 手渡すs," the 視察官 said politely. "But we shall manage without them, I dare say."

He stepped はっきりと across the hall and up the stair-事例／患者, followed by Harbord and 追求するd by a ボレー of exclamations from the 管理人.

"Here we are," he said, turning to Lady Burslem's sitting-room. The door was 打ち明けるd. The 視察官 raised his eyebrows. "We shall not find much here. They will have taken care of that. But one never knows what may have been overlooked or"—he paused a moment—"put ready for us to find."

Lady Burslem's delicate furniture was all enshrouded in brown holland; the curtains and the tapestry had been taken 負かす／撃墜する, and the carpet rolled up. The 令状ing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and the bookcase alone were 暴露するd. The 視察官 went over to the former and tried the drawer, pinching in his lips as though about to whistle when he 設立する it open. Inside there was nothing but a mother-of-pearl blotter. He opened it and held it out to Harbord with a slight smile. The blotting-paper was clean and untouched.

"Knows a thing or two, doesn't she?"

Harbord made some inarticulate answer. He was on his 膝s before the small bookshelf taking out each 調書をとる／予約する and shaking it in turn. Presently he spoke:

"There are several 調書をとる／予約するs here about Argentina and its 輸出（する）s and 輸入するs. One about South America, taken more as a whole; another on 狙撃 in the southern Andes and—yes, still another about Santa Fe. What can they have been 手配中の，お尋ね者 for?"

"Ah, there you are!" There was a curious 表現 on the 視察官's 直面する as he gazed at his young confrere. "Peep o' Day was sold to an Argentine, you must remember," he 追加するd.

"Yes. But these 調書をとる／予約するs will not give much （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） about Peep o' Day." Harbord fetched one of them out and opened it. "Pretty 井戸／弁護士席 read too, I should say."

The 視察官 took it from him.

"Yes. 井戸／弁護士席, Argentina is a good place to start from, if you want a hiding-place."

"They fetched Jabez Balfour 支援する," Harbord reminded him.

"I said to start from," the 視察官 発言／述べるd, turning over the pages of the 調書をとる／予約する he held. "Chili and Peru and Bolivia. Lots of little places, scarcely heard of here, in Brazil, and the Pampas themselves give plenty of 範囲. This fits in very 井戸／弁護士席 with a little 発見 I made the other day. Lady Burslem is 徐々に 投資するing large sums of money in different South American 安全s."

"The price of Peep o' Day," Harbord 示唆するd.

"Pish!" the 視察官 said contemptuously. "Peep o' Day's price would be a flea-bite to what I have heard. Even if Se?r da Villistara has paid up yet, which I 疑問—Spaniards are 悪名高くも dilatory. Ma?na is probably all Peep o' Day has brought in at 現在の."

"H'm!"

Harbord again 適用するd himself to his 仕事 of shaking 調書をとる／予約するs, and the 視察官 strolled 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the room. Presently he turned to the door.

"We shall not find anything more here, I think. We will go to the cellars now. They have intrigued me かなり ever since Ellerby—went away."

"You do not think—" Harbord began; then he checked himself and followed his superior in silence.

権利 at the 支援する of the 入り口 hall a green baize swing-door opened into a wide passage. The 視察官 looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. To the 権利 the passage evidently ran by the dining-room, with the kitchens beyond. To the left lay the housekeeper's room and the butler's pantry, then past the servants' hall the passage 狭くするd and they （機の）カム to a low, nail-studded door. The 視察官 tried it.

"Ah! Locked, of course. Now we shall see."

He took a curious looking steel 器具／実施する from his pocket and with a few dexterous 巧みな操作s the door swung 支援する. The short flight of steps before them led 負かす／撃墜する to what was evidently the ワイン-cellar, the one probably in general use.

"Makes one feel thirsty to look at the 瓶／封じ込めるs," Stoddart 発言／述べるd jocularly as he unfastened the door at the さらに先に end. "Curious, rambling cellars these houses in Porthwick Square have. And some of them are very old." And then he said what in Harbord's ears had an 半端物 and very 悪意のある significance, "I should not ask for a better hiding-place."

The second cellar was pretty much like the first, save that 負かす／撃墜する one 味方する ran long, brick thralls with 抱擁する バーレル／樽s on them held in place by 木造の スピードを出す／記録につけるs, and その上の, in some 事例／患者s, chained to 中心的要素s in the 塀で囲む behind.

The 視察官 tapped one of them. "Empty! Umph! 井戸／弁護士席, we shall have to try them all. And maybe find out what is in some of them."

The first two cellars had been lighted dimly enough by gratings high in the 塀で囲む, probably communicating in some way with the old 覆うd 法廷，裁判所 at the 支援する of the house. The next one into which they 侵入するd was pitch-dark; yet that there was some sort of 開始 was 証明するd by the fact that the 空気／公表する was not vitiated beyond endurance.

The 視察官 turned on his electric たいまつ. This cellar was rather smaller than the 先行する ones and seemed to 含む／封じ込める nothing of importance—a few 瓶／封じ込めるs, a 樽 standing on one end in the corner. There were two small, arched doors at one 味方する. The 視察官's sharp 注目する，もくろむs turned to them at once.

"Notice anything particular about these cellars, Harbord?"

"丸天井s, I should call 'em," his subordinate answered, 匂いをかぐing about him. "井戸／弁護士席, first I notice that they are not as stuffy as they might be. Secondly, 訪問者s have been here before us."

"And how do you deduce that?"

"井戸／弁護士席, there are some cobwebs about," Harbord said thoughtfully, "but not as many as there would have been if some one had not been in in the last few months. Then the dust of the 床に打ち倒す has been 乱すd."

"The butler may have come in, you know," Stoddart 安心させるd him. "やめる in the way of 合法的 商売／仕事."

"H'm! Yes, he might," Harbord acquiesced. "But this was not the butler. It was a woman."

"How do you know that?" 問い合わせd the 視察官. "Not"—with a grin—"from her skirts 追跡するing on the ground, I 推定する?"

Harbord grinned responsively. "Hardly! A fool of a woman told me the other day her staircase was haunted. She always felt her skirts caught by unseen 手渡すs when she went up it. 'My dear girl,' I said, 'it must be a clever spook to get 持つ／拘留する of your skirts!'"

"やめる!" the 視察官 agreed. "But what made you feel sure it was a woman, then?"

"The 足跡s. The shoes that made them were small and 狭くする-単独のd and pointed, with high heels."

"井戸／弁護士席 done," was the 視察官's comment. "You have your 長，率いる screwed on the 権利 way, Alfred. I will say that for you. Now did you notice anything else?"

"No, I can't say I did," Harbord answered, looking at him. "Was there anything else?"

"井戸／弁護士席, in the second cellar something had been dragged or laid 負かす／撃墜する. There was a big, 混乱させるd 示す 近づく the 塀で囲む on which the 樽s were chained. Still, as I said a moment ago, it may have been done by the butler, though 裁判官ing from the 明言する／公表する of things I should not think that worthy 支払う／賃金s these さらに先に cellars many visits. Now for those two small doors. As far as I can 裁判官 from the look of them, they have not been opened for years. But 外見s are deceptive so here goes." He 適用するd himself to the lock of the nearest, which was very stiff and was moved with 広大な／多数の／重要な difficulty. "Heard once of a place like this," the 視察官 said as he 押し進めるd the door open. "New servants going into the house 設立する a 量 of bones supposed to belong to the 骸骨／概要 of a young woman. The last tenant was an old lady who had lived there for fifty years. They never 設立する anything out about the 骸骨／概要."

"井戸／弁護士席, there is nothing of that 肉親，親類d here," Harbord 観察するd as the electric たいまつ 公表する／暴露するd a small, vaultlike apartment 明らかに やめる empty and with the 床に打ち倒す 深い in dust, which looked as if it had lain undisturbed for centuries.

"Not to be 設立する at sight," the 視察官 said, as he went on to the second door.

This was not so difficult to open as the first, and inside, though there were no very 際立った footmarks, it did look as if the dust had been 乱すd in some way; さもなければ the small, rather damp-smelling apartment was a facsimile of the first.

The 視察官 rubbed his nose reflectively. "Now, where shall we begin? Every bit of these 床に打ち倒すs will have to be sounded. But we 港／避難所't got the wherewithal to-day."

"The dust is a pretty good 保証（人） that the 床に打ち倒すs have not been troubled," Harbord 発言／述べるd.

"In these last two it is," the 視察官 assented. "But in the first three it is not. One can see that somebody has been in, and that is about all. And I am not taking any 危険s. We are up against no ありふれた 犯罪の, you must remember. The scattering of dust or the laying of 誤った 追跡するs is no very difficult 事柄. But I think—I think, for to-day, we will begin with the second cellar, the one with the 樽s. I have a feeling, a very strong feeling that if we find anything it will be there."

They went 支援する, leaving the doors open, and taking care not to 乱す any traces of other 訪問者s.

The second cellar, the one upon which the 視察官's 疑惑 had 直す／買収する，八百長をするd, was やめる as large as the first, and 異なるd from it only in having the brick thralls on the one 味方する. In 前線 of the big chained バーレル／樽s there was a 量 of dust mixed with sawdust, and it was here that the traces of 騒動 were most 明らかな.

The 視察官 attacked the バーレル／樽s first. He tapped them, 診察するd them through his glass, even managed with Harbord's help to move them a little.

At last he gave a 不満な grunt. "Nothing there! The バーレル／樽s have not been 干渉するd with. I scarcely 推定する／予想するd to find that they had."

Harbord began to poke about under the thrall.

"Plenty of room beneath here," he said as he passed one of the supports. "And, by Jove, there is something!"

The 視察官 knelt 負かす／撃墜する beside him, turning on his electric たいまつ as he did so.

"You are 権利," he said 静かに. "But it looks like a roll of dark cloth or something of that 肉親，親類d."

"You remember the 小包 Lady Burslem carried on the night of Ellerby's 見えなくなる," Harbord 示唆するd.

The 視察官 nodded. "She never （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する here by herself that night, though. She could not have got the 重要なs and come 負かす／撃墜する here without 存在 heard."

"Perhaps those who heard kept their own counsel," Harbord 観察するd 意味ありげに, poking more energetically with a stick he had brought 負かす／撃墜する. "It is coming now, sir. There, if you could catch that end—"

The 視察官 caught and pulled. The thing, whatever it was, was closely wedged up at the 支援する of the thrall. A short, rather 厚い bale of 淡褐色 cloth, very dirty, it looked to be as the 視察官 pulled it 今後.

"What on earth—" he began, as he started to unroll it. Then he uttered a sharp exclamation as he held up a man's light overcoat—an overcoat that, crumpled and begrimed though it was, plainly showed large, ominous, dark stains 負かす／撃墜する the 前線. The 視察官 touched them with his finger; he smelt them. Then he ちらりと見ることd at Harbord. "Don't want a microscope to say what they are."

"No," Harbord assented. He looked at the collar. "One of the best tailors in Savile 列／漕ぐ／騒動," he said. "The pockets, sir?"

The 視察官 was already feeling in them. He held up a 罰金, white handkerchief also with those 悪意のある stains upon it, and pointed first to that and then to the 初期のs at the corner—J.V.B. He put in his 手渡す again and brought out a crocodile cigarette-事例／患者 機動力のある in gold and enamelled with a monogram—J.V.B.

The 視察官 stood up and shook the coat.

"Nothing more. But enough for our 目的 perhaps. Do you realize what this is, Harbord?"

"It is, I should say, one of Sir John Burslem's coats," the younger 探偵，刑事 答える／応じるd.

"権利! But it is more than that," the 視察官 said 静かに as he felt the lining over. "It is the one in which he started out on that 致命的な 2nd of June, which he carried over his arm when he （機の）カム 支援する with Lady Burslem; and which we have never been able to trace since; for you remember the attendant at the parking ground said the man who brought in Sir John Burslem's car, and whom he identified from a photograph as Sir John Burslem himself, wore a dark overcoat."

Harbord had been poking again under the thrall. He got up now and dusted his trousers 負かす／撃墜する.

"How in the world did that coat get here after he was 殺人d?"

"Yes," said the 視察官. "That's the puzzle."

CHAPTER 15

Amelia Burslem was staying with the Stanmore-Greens at their place in Perthshire. The Stanmore-Greens were very rich, at least Mrs. Stanmore-Green was. She was an American, the daughter of Woodruffe B. Larnack, いつかs 引用するd as の中で the six greatest multi-millionaires of the world. She was very young, very pretty and very smart, and had taken an instant fancy to Pamela Burslem when she had met her as the schoolgirl friend of her younger sister. The liking had been 相互の. A long visit to the Stanmore-Greens' Highland home had been 借りがあるing since the 先行する year, and the Burslem Mystery had given Pamela an 追加するd charm in Mrs. Stanmore-Green's 注目する，もくろむs.

Pamela had decided weeks ago that nothing should induce her to go abroad with her stepmother. にもかかわらず she had been conscious of a 際立った feeling of pique when it became 明らかな that Lady Burslem in no wise 願望（する）d her society. The only point upon which Lady Burslem had 主張するd was that Pamela should take with her Wilmer, who had been maid to the first Lady Burslem, and after her death Pamela's personal attendant.

Fond as Pamela was of Wilmer, she was inclined to think that the woman was old-fashioned, and that she would have preferred some one more modern as her maid at the Stanmore-Greens'. Lady Burslem, however, had been 毅然とした on the point, and Pamela had been compelled to 産する／生じる. And now that she was at Fallock 城, as the Stanmore-Greens' place was called, after a day の中で a big house-party every member of which was 完全に unknown to her, Pamela was conscious of a feeling of warmth and gladness when she 設立する Wilmer waiting for her, all her things laid out just as she liked them, and the maid anxious to pet and cosset her just as she had done in her childish days.

But Pamela had been a week at Fallock now, and she was beginning to feel やめる at home. To-night Mrs. Green was giving what she called a small dance, but which seemed to 含む not only everybody in the 即座の neighbourhood but everybody within モーターing distance. Pamela was looking 今後 to it enormously. Her 楽しみs had やむを得ず been circumscribed since her father's terrible death. She had all a healthy young girl's love of dancing and 楽しみ, and the natural reaction from the long period of 疑問 and 恐れる through which she had passed in 15 Porthwick Square.

She was wearing a lovely frock to-night, one that she had chosen at a 広大な／多数の／重要な man dressmaker's just before leaving town. It was of white crepe covered almost all over with the most exquisite embroidery in seed pearls and silver. It （機の）カム just below her 膝; white silk stockings had 取って代わるd the nude, and the silver shoes had buckles of real diamonds. Her silver girdle was caught up on one 味方する with a bunch of silver flowers and in the heart of each one, like a dewdrop, there was 始める，決める a tiny brilliant. Her only ornament was a 広大な／多数の／重要な rope of pearls which had been her father's last birthday 現在の.

Wilmer had 始める，決める her shingled hair perfectly; and one of Pamela's charms was the beautiful 宙に浮く of her small 長，率いる on her long neck like the 茎・取り除く of a flower. It would not have been in a girl's nature not to feel a touch of gratification as, on entering the ballroom, she caught sight of her 十分な-length reflection in a long mirror in the 塀で囲む opposite.

Mrs. Green caught her 手渡す.

"I am a little worried—how 甘い you look, darling!—but the most ぎこちない contretemps has happened. Do tell me you won't mind."

Pamela laughed. "I am sure I shall not," she said gaily. "Don't look so upset, Sadie dear. What has happened?"

"Just the last thing in the world I should have thought possible," Mrs. Green 宣言するd 劇的な. "You know I asked the Mackintoshes to bring their house party to-night?"

"Yes, I think so," Pamela said doubtfully. "You have told me such a lot of people were coming, you know, Sadie darling, that I am a little muddled. Do you mean that the Mackintoshes have cried off?"

"Cried off! No, indeed, I wish they had! You—you really won't mind, Pam?" Mrs. Green caught Pamela's 手渡す and gazed up in her 直面する, with an imploring 表現 that made the girl laugh. "It is some one they are bringing with them."

"Of course I shall not mind," Pamela said comfortingly. "Do you mean that they are bringing someone who is not やめる—やめる—"

"Oh, heavens, no! It isn't that. What should I care—what would anybody care about that? And it is not a her—or a she—I don't know which you call it at all. It is a man."

"A man!" Pamela's 直面する was a blank. "Why should I mind 会合 a man? What has he done—broken the seventh commandment or the tenth?"

"No, no. It is worse than that. It is—"

Mrs. Stanmore-Green paused and gazed 一連の会議、交渉／完成する as if for inspiration. "It is no use （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing about the bush," she said at last. "It is Sir Charles Stanyard. There it is out, and you can say what you like to me."

"I don't want to say anything," Pamela turned rather white. "It is unfortunate, for us both. But it cannot be helped. And of course it is not your fault. I 推定する／予想する I was bound to 会合，会う him some day. Now that I know he will be here I can keep out of his way."

They had no time for more. Mr. Stanmore-Green was （人命などを）奪う，主張するing his wife's attention and their guests were beginning to arrive.

Pamela was （人命などを）奪う，主張するd for the first dance by Tom Murray, a young man staying in the house with whom she had struck up a 広大な／多数の／重要な friendship. Large as the ballroom was it was soon 十分な, for Mrs. Green had been 普遍的な in her 招待 and the neighbourhood was やめる ready for a little gaiety.

More than once Pamela looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, wondering whether her arch-enemy, as she called Sir Charles Stanyard to herself, was 現在の. She had no idea what he was like, but after some 疑問 she pitched upon a tall, thin young man with a dark, saturnine 直面する as 存在 the most like her idea of Stanyard. Young Murray 設立する her distraite and almost dull, やめる unlike his previous experience of her. He began to chaff her upon her inattention, but got little 返答, and was almost regretting his choice of a partner when the 禁止（する）d struck up "Paul Jones", and for a minute they were separated.

As Pamela danced 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in the circle she saw that the dark, saturnine man was getting やめる 近づく her, and made up her mind that at all hazards she must be 妨げるd from 落ちるing to his lot. Then she ちらりと見ることd さらに先に on, and she almost stood still in her amazement. Surely it was 刑事 Leyton dancing 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and almost 明白に trying to manoeuvre himself opposite her. 喜んで Pamela did her little best to help, and was rewarded by finding herself in his 武器 for the waltz.

But the circle was going 一連の会議、交渉／完成する again and the moment with Leyton was over. Pamela's pallor had gone.

She had not the faintest idea as yet what the feeling was that dyed her cheeks red and made her 注目する，もくろむs 有望な and 向こうずねing, and she told herself it was only because she was anxious to 失望させる Stanyard's designs that she 決定するd to find herself opposite Leyton again. When the 禁止（する）d stopped he smiled 負かす／撃墜する at her.

"Luck has favoured me enormously to-night."

"Has it?" Pamela was suddenly tongue-tied.

"Has it?" he mimicked. "I should rather think it has. Now, how many dances are you going to give me? The next?"

"No. I am engaged," Pamela murmured. "I—I am engaged for all the dances."

"Then we will have some extras and you shall give them all to me," he said audaciously. "But first of all I have a 自白 to make to you. Will you 約束 me absolution beforehand?"

"Yes, I think I will. I don't fancy you would do anything very bad," Pamela said with an adorable 上向き smile.

His 直面する suddenly became 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な.

"What will you say when I tell you that I am 脅すd, very 脅すd?"

Pamela's smile 深くするd. "I shall say—"

She was interrupted by the dark, saturnine man who had come up to them and was shaking 手渡すs with her companion.

"Stanyard, my dear fellow, will you introduce me?"

"Stanyard!" Pamela 星／主役にするd at her 護衛する, whose 直面する had distinctly 深くするd in hue beneath its tan. Her newly 伸び（る）d colour faded.

"You—you are Sir Charles Stanyard!" she gasped. "Not—not him?"

"Not me, certainly," said the dark one cheerfully. "I shouldn't mind if I was Stanyard at the 現在の moment."

"I think you would be rather sorry for yourself if you were," the real Charles Stanyard said grimly. "行方不明になる Burslem, this is Lord Corder, the greatest ass I know. Now, be off with you, Corder! You have done as much 害（を与える） as you can for one evening." He turned Lord Corder 一連の会議、交渉／完成する as he spoke.

That young man extricated himself from Stanyard's しっかり掴む with an 負傷させるd 空気／公表する.

"I 港／避難所't a notion what you are talking about, old thing. I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to ask 行方不明になる Burslem to give me a dance. I thought—"

"井戸／弁護士席, you can't. So be off and ask some one else," Stanyard said with a sudden 即位 of heat, as Pamela began to show 際立った 調印するs of 試みる／企てるing to escape from them both. "Can't you see when you are not 手配中の，お尋ね者, you fool?"

"I beg your 容赦." Lord Corder disappeared with an 空気／公表する of 感情を害する／違反するd dignity.

Stanyard turned to Pamela. "Will you ever 許す me—now that you know?"

"Why did you tell me your 指名する was Leyton?"

Pamela 問い合わせd icily. "Not"—with a contemptuous laugh—"that I am surprised that you do not want to own to 存在 Sir Charles Stanyard. I think in your place I should be ashamed of it too.''

"I am not in the least ashamed of it," the man 宣言するd, 持つ／拘留するing his 長，率いる high. "And my 指名する is Richard Leyton. Charles Richard Leyton Stanyard. You must let me tell you how it was. I did not know your 指名する either that morning we met in the Park. But I was just about to tell you 地雷 when you suddenly blurted out that Charles Stanyard was the man you hated most on earth. Then, I must own it to you, I was a coward. I thought I would try and make you like me before I told you I was Stanyard. You don't know how much I had thought and dreamed of you since our first 会合. And I felt sure that if I told you I was Charles Stanyard then you would turn me 負かす／撃墜する—you would have no more to do with me. And—and I could not 直面する that."

"You need not have told me lies," Pamela said coldly. "But still it is of no consequence; it does not 事柄 a bit. Only I don't think I want to talk to you any more—you—you who—I cannot 耐える it." Her 発言する／表明する quivered and she turned away.

In a second Stanyard was beside her.

"You cannot go like this, Pam," he said hoarsely. "The worst 犯罪のs have a 権利 to be heard in their own defence. Give me five minutes—no more. Let me tell you my story myself."

Pamela 常習的な her heart against the anxious 悲惨 in his 注目する，もくろむs, the pleading in his 発言する／表明する. She was shaking from 長，率いる to foot with 怒り／怒る; her 注目する，もくろむs were 炎ing with wrath as she 直面するd him defiantly.

"What do you want to tell me—how you 殺人d my father?"

"No!" the man 雷鳴d. He caught her 手渡すs and 鎮圧するd them in his しっかり掴む. "Now, by Heaven, you shall listen to me. I never 傷つける a hair of your father's 長，率いる—Heaven knows I am a poor sort of a chap and I have never done any particular good in the world; but I have drawn the line at 殺人. Now, do you 受託する my word?"

Pamela hesitated; but her own heart was playing the 反逆者. Her 手渡すs that had been struggling ひどく 静かなd 負かす／撃墜する and lay quivering in his.

"You 手配中の，お尋ね者 Perlyon to 勝利，勝つ the Derby."

In spite of his 怒り／怒る Stanyard laughed aloud.

"Much good it would have done me, if I had been hanged for 殺人ing your father! Besides, anyhow Perlyon would have won the Derby. The colt could have given Peep o' Day 続けざまに猛撃するs and won. No, Perlyon was the certainty. I know it and his trainer knew it."

Pamela's 決意／決議 was fading under the 影響（力） of Stanyard's smile, his words.

"My stepmother," she 滞るd.

"Ah, yes, I dare say. I believe that people were good enough to hint that I 殺人d Sir John Burslem ーするために marry his 未亡人. As if I should be such a fool, as if any johnny would be such a blinkin' fool as to hang about after a girl that had given him the chuck once. And Sophie Burslem would be about the last woman I should want to marry. People must take me for a darned ass. But you know better, Pam"—持つ／拘留するing her 手渡すs 堅固に in his he 圧力（をかける）d them to his heart—"you know what woman I want to marry, don't you?"

With a sudden wrench Pamela tore her 手渡すs away. "No, I don't. How should I?"

Stanyard gave her a little 押し進める that sent her into the seat behind.

"Let me tell you, Pam. You shall listen—"

"No, I will not!" The girl put her fingers in her ears. "I will not listen to anything. I will not think of anything until my father's 殺害者 is 設立する."

"Poor little girl!" The man looked 負かす／撃墜する at her with 注目する，もくろむs that were now only 厳粛に compassionate. "Is that how you feel? But suppose the secret remains a secret to the end? Isn't it better for you to think of your father as at 残り／休憩（する） than to waste your young life dreaming of a 復讐 that perhaps he would not wish you to take?"

Pamela looked at him. "You know who is 有罪の?"

"Indeed I do not!"

Something in his トン carried 有罪の判決 to Pamela, but her 注目する，もくろむs were still 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on his 直面する.

"Then—then you 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う?"

Now the man looked away and there was a subtle change in his トン. "I have no 推論する／理由 to 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う anyone. And if a vague, formless fancy does cross my mind いつかs—why, it counts for nothing, it means nothing."

"You were there at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd—that night," Pamela 追求するd, her 注目する，もくろむs searching his 直面する as though they would read his very soul. "You passed when he was—there."

"If I did, I didn't know it," Stanyard said 刻々と. "I spoke to no one after I left Epsom until I got 支援する to town, except a woman who spoke to me when I was lying under my old bus tinkering away at her. How my handkerchief got in Sir John's car, or how his cigarette-事例／患者 got in 地雷 I have no more idea than the dead."

He was interrupted, the door was opened and Mrs. Green's pretty 長，率いる was poked in.

"Pamela! I have been looking for you everywhere. Your partner is distracted. Sir Charles Stanyard!"

CHAPTER 16

A smart-looking car had stopped before the door of Mrs. Jimmy's house. That lady looked out. She was seated at the window of her small lounge. She was dressed for walking and at the moment 占領するd with a letter that had just arrived from Scotland.

A man who had got out of the car, and was 占領するing himself momentarily with looking over one of the ブレーキs, turned to the door. Mrs. Jimmy's 注目する，もくろむs grew 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. She uttered an exclamation.

"My! Who would have thought of this?"

At the same moment the man （機の）カム up the steps and sounded the bell and knocker. He was a man of middle size garbed in a 井戸／弁護士席-fitting モーターing 控訴. To 始めるd 注目する，もくろむs, in spite of the difference in dress and a 確かな indefinable change that seemed to have passed over the 直面する, he would have borne a 際立った resemblance to 視察官 Stoddart.

Mrs. Jimmy hurried to the door and opened it.

"井戸／弁護士席, to think of seeing you again," she exclaimed as the man raised his hat with a 有望な smile.

He held out a small 小包 carefully done up in tissue paper.

"I have come to 回復する some of your 所有物／資産／財産. Won't you ask me in?"

"Why, of course I will," Mrs. Jimmy 答える／応じるd, throwing the door hospitably open. "I shall be real glad to see some one to talk to, for all my friends are out of town just now."

"Then that is a pretty かなりの 一打／打撃 of luck for me," the man said as he stepped inside and looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the lounge, a little tidier now than when Pamela saw it. "You have a real, cosy-looking little nest here, Mrs. Burslem; a sight to make the mouth of a 孤独な bachelor like myself water. But, after all, it is only what I 推定する／予想するd. A man knows a real home-製造者 when he sees one."

Mrs. Jimmy was almost purring under this flattery and, seating herself on the sofa, 招待するd her 訪問者 to take a seat 近づく. Then she ちらりと見ることd at the 小包 she still held.

"Oh, my Indian vanity 捕らえる、獲得する that poor Jimmy gave me! I thought it had gone west. I rang up the box-office first thing this morning to see if I had left it at the theatre, and they said it hadn't been brought in, so I had given it up."

The man smiled, 直す／買収する，八百長をするing his 注目する，もくろむs boldly on Mrs. Jimmy's 直面する. Here was a woman who would swallow any 量 of flattery, he told himself. Aloud he said:

"Ah, I am to 非難する for that. But, when I saw this pretty trifle lying on the 床に打ち倒す just where you had been sitting, I 産する／生じるd to the 誘惑 to 選ぶ it up and put it in my pocket. It will at least give me a chance of seeing her again, I thought to myself."

Mrs. Jimmy smiled, 井戸／弁護士席 pleased, while she 目的（とする）d a playful blow at his arm with a paper that lay beside her.

"You are a very naughty man, I am afraid. But how did you know where to find me? The 捕らえる、獲得する did not tell you that."

The man's smile broadened into a laugh, then he pretended to flinch from her feigned wrath. "It is to be a real 自白 then. I looked in the 捕らえる、獲得する and 設立する a card-事例／患者; I 投機・賭けるd a little その上の and 設立する a card with your 指名する and this 演説（する）／住所. Then it was all plain sailing. I couldn't want a better excuse than I had got. So you see I （機の）カム along the first minute I had."

"I don't know what to say to you," Mrs. Jimmy said, ちらりと見ることing at him coyly. "You deserve a good scolding, you know."

"I shall not mind that if you give it me," the man said daringly. "But now, Mrs. Burslem, I have a favour to ask you."

"井戸／弁護士席, I don't say I shall 認める it," Mrs. Jimmy said, bridling. "But first, you have got an 不公平な advantage; you call me Mrs. Burslem and Mrs. Jimmy as pat, as you please, but I 港／避難所't got a notion what your 指名する is."

"My 指名する," said the man, "why, William, called by my friends Billy—or いつかs 甘い William. You can take your choice."

"Now! Now!" Mrs. Jimmy 目的（とする）d another blow at his arm. "This is worse than ever. You know what I mean 権利 enough. Your surname of course."

"And that is William too," the man said, laughing. "Leastways, Williams. William Evan Williams is my 指名する, to be exact. Welsh, my mother was, though I am English enough, 存在 born in Camden Town. Still I always say 'Good old むちの跡s.' Many a pleasant holiday I have spent at Harlech, which is just の近くに to my mother's old home."

"That is real 利益／興味ing," Mrs. Jimmy 発言／述べるd, without 明らかに having any 意向 of 報いるing these autobiographical 詳細（に述べる）s. "But now, Mr. Williams, I feel that you deserve some reward for bringing my 捕らえる、獲得する 支援する. It would have broken my heart to lose it. What do you say to a cocktail?"

"A cocktail is never 容認できない," Mr. Williams said accommodatingly. "Not that I want any reward. At least I have got all the reward I want." His ちらりと見ること pointed his words.

Mrs. Jimmy would have blushed had such a feat been possible. She got up and rang the bell. A maid appeared—not the one who had been there on Pamela's visit. Mrs. Jimmy never kept her 国内のs long. She brought in a tray with two long, 狭くする tumblers, a dish of ice and seltzer-water siphon. Evidently Mrs. Jimmy 所有するd the morning cocktail habit. From a little cupboard 含む／封じ込めるing a tantalus she produced the other 成分s.

"Do you like to take your drinks through a straw?" she asked 突然の. "I hate it myself—making a fool of your mouth I call it—but lots of folks seem to like it."

Mr. Williams 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd off the contents of his glass at a swallow.

"I agree with you, Mrs. Burslem. That was something like a cocktail! You are the sort that knows how to make a man comfortable. A real home-製造者, that's what you are. And do you know what you are beginning to make me do?"

Mrs. Jimmy shook her 長，率いる. "Unless you want another cocktail?" she 示唆するd.

"井戸／弁護士席, no! My 長，率いる won't stand too many, and that's a fact. No, Mrs. Burslem, what you are making me do is break the tenth commandment!"

"The tenth commandment—I wonder what that is," Mrs. Jimmy said with a 幅の広い smile that 陳列する，発揮するd all her 購入（する）d teeth. "I believe I learnt all the commandments when I was a kiddie, but I have forgotten all about them now. And it is no good looking them up, for they tell me everything will be altered in the new 祈り 調書をとる／予約する."

"井戸／弁護士席, you look this up anyhow. The tenth, don't you forget. And if they do alter it I can tell you I shall not mind," Mr. Williams said daringly. "Is that a portrait of Mr. Burslem I see over there?" pointing to a large photograph in a でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる of beaten 巡査 that stood on the mantelshelf.

Mrs. Jimmy nodded. "Though it isn't much like him as he has been of late years. That was taken about the time we were married."

"Was it now?" Mr. Williams got up and looked at it more closely. "A good-looking young man too. Not much like his brother Sir John, was he? Though there is a 確かな resemblance."

"Did you know Sir John?" Mrs. Jimmy 問い合わせd with a slight change of トン.

"Lord bless you, no!" Mr. Williams said easily. "But the papers were 十分な of likenesses of him a little time 支援する. Terrible thing that was—I little thought what an 利益／興味 I should be taking before long in one member of the family when I was reading about the Burslem 事例／患者 in the papers."

Mrs. Jimmy smiled, then her 直面する clouded over.

"I was hoping folks were beginning to forget that. There has not been anything about it for so long."

"Everybody 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd Lady Burslem knew more than she said," Mr. Williams 再結合させるd. "But some people went rather beyond the 限界 in hinting at her. At least so it seemed to me."

"It was disgraceful!" Mrs. Jimmy said, 製図／抽選 herself up. "Poor Sophie! She had nothing to do with her husband's death, I am 確かな . She is the only one of the family I like, to tell the truth."

"Oh, 井戸／弁護士席, if you like her, then I am sure I should," Mr. Williams said. "But, if she doesn't know anything about her husband's death, who does?"

Mrs. Jimmy 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd her 長，率いる. "I don't know, and, what's more, I don't care. I never liked John Burslem, and he is not much loss anyway. But if you want to talk about John Burslem and his death you mustn't come to me, Mr. Williams. You will understand it is not a 支配する that we Burslems are fond of discussing."

"Me want to discuss it!" exclaimed Mr. Williams. "Bless you! 殺人s and such-like do not 利益／興味 me a bit. It was only to hear you talk that I について言及するd the 支配する. Anything else would do as 井戸／弁護士席 as long as you took to it. And all the while I was only putting off time ーするために gather up my courage, for above all things I want to ask you to do me a favour."

"井戸／弁護士席, you may be sure I will if I can." Mrs. Jimmy settled herself 支援する in her seat and crossed her 脚s, 展示（する）ing a generous 量 of nude silk 在庫／株ing, 着せる／賦与するing a pair of remarkably 厚い 脚s and two fat 膝s. "I shouldn't have taken you to be the sort of man who would be backward at asking for what you 手配中の，お尋ね者," she 追加するd with a coy ちらりと見ること as she drew her cigarette-事例／患者 to him. "Help yourself."

"Thanks!" He took one and held it unlighted in his 手渡す. "No, I suppose you wouldn't call me a shy man 自然に. But when one thinks one may lose even the little one has got by asking for more, why, it is enough to make any man pause."

"Bless my life, what is the man 目的（とする）ing at?" ejaculated Mrs. Jimmy, taking her cigarette out of her mouth and 星／主役にするing at him. "What is it you want—a subscription? Because if it is, get it off your chest and be done with it. I hate hints!"

"Subscription!" echoed Mr. Williams scornfully. "Do I look like the sort of man who would come and ask you for a subscription? No, the favour I want you to 認める is this. I have bought a new car—there she is outside. Now, I want you to come and look at her. You told me the other night you were 利益／興味d in cars—then if you think 井戸／弁護士席 enough of her, I want you to come for a spin in her and have lunch somewhere in the country. I can't tell you how 感謝する I should be if you would."

"Why, of course I will, and jolly glad to get the chance," said Mrs. Jimmy jumping up. "Give me a minute and I'll be ready. Go on with the cigarettes and there is the Daily Wire to look at while I am away."

"Oh, I shall not want that," Mr. Williams 再結合させるd, with a knowing ちらりと見ること. "I shall have plenty to think about."

井戸／弁護士席 pleased, Mrs. Jimmy waved her 手渡す to him as she hurried across to the stairs. She was distinctly too canny to go out to look at the car without a hat. Hair, however carefully 扱う／治療するd, was apt to show traces of its 治療 in the sunlight, she knew.

Left alone, Mr. Williams's demeanour underwent a remarkable change. He hurried over to the portrait of James Burslem and gazed at it intently. Then he turned 速く to the 製図／抽選-room, of which he could catch a glimpse through the half-open door. Untidy it was, as Mrs. Jimmy's 製図／抽選-room was sure to be; the quick 注目する，もくろむ of the man looking in wandered over the disorder, ちらりと見ることd はっきりと at the さまざまな knick-knacks scattered about everywhere, finally 焦点（を合わせる）d themselves on a でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd photograph standing on a distant （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. In a couple of strides he was across the room and had caught up the photograph; that of a couple—a very smiling man and woman, both from their 提起する／ポーズをとる and 表現 示唆するing the idea that they were accustomed to 直面するing the camera.

"Mr. and Mrs. James Burslem photographed on their wedding morn," he murmured.

Then he slipped the photograph, でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる and all, into his pocket and tiptoed hurriedly 支援する to the hall, where sounds of Mrs. Jimmy on the 上陸 above could plainly be heard now. He went to the door and opened it. The fresh morning 空気／公表する and the warm 日光 were a welcome change after the scented, vitiated atmosphere of Mrs. Jimmy's rooms. But the lady was coming downstairs now and he turned to 会合，会う her.

"Now, what do you think of my car?" he said as they went 負かす／撃墜する the steps. "I don't pretend to be an 専門家 運転者 like yourself, but I think she is a real beauty."

Truth to tell, Mrs. Jimmy's opinion of the car was by no means as high as its owner's; but she was inclined to think a few rides in it with that same owner would be very pleasant, so she temporized.

"One cannot tell much about it until one has really tried it," she said. "I should like to 運動 it myself."

"So you shall when once we are out of the traffic," the man 約束d her. "But I can't let you touch the wheel until we are 井戸／弁護士席 out of London. Precious things must be taken care of, you know." He ちらりと見ることd at her in almost an affectionate manner as he helped her in and settled the rug 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her. "It is a bit 冷淡な when we 会合，会う the 勝利，勝つd," he 発言／述べるd, as he deftly transferred the purloined photograph to the 支援する locker.

Mrs. Jimmy laughed as he got in beside her. Mr. Williams was an adept at the style of conversation she understood and enjoyed. She had put on her fur coat and a 黒人／ボイコット pull-on hat which （機の）カム low 負かす／撃墜する over her forehead, but on the small 部分 of her countenance which could be seen she had bestowed a 自由主義の 部分 of paint and 砕く. Mr. Williams 設立する her in an 融通するing mood. They took a long 運動 into Kent, lunching at an old inn on the 国境s of Sussex, and when at last they turned homeward they were chatting together like old friends.

"At last!" Mrs. Jimmy said as they drove up to her door. "My maid will have been thinking I am lost."

"I wish you were—with me," Mr. Williams said tenderly. "To-day has been just like a bit of heaven to me. I am a lonesome sort of man and don't make friends easily. When will you take pity on me and come out with me again?"

"Oh, any day you like," Mrs. Jimmy said carelessly. "We have had a ripping time. And you talk of 存在 lonely—what about me, a poor little grass 未亡人?"

"A grass 未亡人!" Mr. Williams echoed. "You will be cross with me if I say what is in my mind, Mrs. Burslem. But I think I shall 危険 it."

"I should," said Mrs. Jimmy comfortingly. "It would take a 取引，協定 to make me angry with you—after to-day."

"It is this, then," Mr. Williams said boldly, "I wish there was not that little word 'grass' before the 未亡人."

Mrs. Jimmy grew very red. "What is the good of wishing that?"

"No good at all!" the man said, in a disconsolate トン. "That is the worst of it."

CHAPTER 17

"This looks just the sort of place for lunch," Charles 基準 said, slowing 負かす／撃墜する. "What do you think now?"

"Ripping," Pamela said laconically.

She was looking her best to-day in a long モーターing coat over a petunia two-piece frock, and with a smart hat of the same colour pulled low over her 注目する，もくろむs, her sunny hair just peeped out at the 味方するs, and her 有望な colour, 高めるd by the 勝利，勝つd, flickered under Stanyard's ardent gaze.

The two were 広大な／多数の／重要な friends. Amongst their own 即座の circle their 約束／交戦 was an 定評のある fact, but Pamela had 辞退するd to 許す it to be 発表するd until at least six months after her father's death. It was but a very few weeks to wait now; Stanyard, however, had a very 広大な／多数の／重要な difficulty in 隠すing his impatience. Lady Burslem was still abroad, Pamela had written to her, to 知らせる her of her 差し迫った 約束／交戦, not to ask her 同意, since the girl 絶対 辞退するd to 認める her 当局 as 後見人. She had received a ばく然と worded 公式文書，認める in reply 表明するing neither 是認 nor 悔いる, but speaking of the 約束／交戦 as a thing that must stand over until the writer returned to England and had time to look into things.

Anything better calculated to make Pamela take the 事柄 into her own 手渡すs could hardly have been 工夫するd. The girl, with' Wilmer as her maid, was staying in Harker Place with some old friends of her father's—the Hetherington Smiths.

Mr. Hetherington Smith was in some sense a partner in Burslem's, since he had a small 利益／興味 in the 地雷 in South Africa, which had laid the 創立／基礎 of Sir John Burslem's fortune. Mrs. Hetherington Smith was Pamela's godmother, and since her father's second marriage the girl had spent much of her time with her. 存在 豊富な and childless Mrs. Hetherington Smith had become almost as fond of the girl as if she had been her own child, and she had 熱望して welcomed the prospect of a long visit from Pamela while Lady Burslem was recuperating abroad.

Mrs. Hetherington Smith had not, however, reckoned on Sir Charles Stanyard's almost constant presence in her house, and had at first been inclined to resent his friendship with Pamela. But her prejudice, born of gossip and the ありふれた feeling against Stanyard, had melted under the 影響（力） of the young man's charm and pleasant manners. Her 約束 in Stanyard's entire innocence of any complicity in Sir John Burslem's death was now as strong as Pamela's own, and she was looking 今後 to the 告示 of their 約束／交戦 almost as 熱望して as the young couple themselves.

One thing Pamela had never been able to bring herself to do, and that was even to ふりをする an 利益／興味 in Stanyard's racing-stable. She shrank from even the について言及する of Perlyon. Stanyard, for his part, was very 患者 with her. He never について言及するd his stables or his horses to her, and only through the papers did she learn that he had a couple of "leppers" in training for the Grand 国家の.

Pamela never 棒 now, but she had developed a passion for モーターing. She was looking out for a car of her own, and in the 合間 Stanyard was giving her lessons. To-day they had been for a long 運動 into Berkshire, keeping, as far as possible, from the beaten 跡をつける. Stanyard had seen an old, 黒人／ボイコット-raftered farmhouse 支援する from the road. A card on the gate had borne the legend, "Meals for 運転者s—Parking Ground." Inside, it did not やめる come up to their 期待s. The rooms were charmingly arranged, but it was evidently more of a 正規の／正選手 訴える手段／行楽地 for 運転者s than Stanyard had imagined. However, he managed to get a 私的な room on the first 床に打ち倒す with a little balcony overlooking the veranda, on which a party was already ensconced eating with 広大な／多数の／重要な relish enormous platefuls of ham and eggs.

Stanyard ordered omelettes and coffee, with cream and whatever fruit was 利用できる. While she was waiting, Pamela took a 議長，司会を務める by the open window and lighted a cigarette. 負かす／撃墜する below some of the party were smoking too. 捨てるs of their conversation floated up to the girl above. At first Pamela took little notice. The long 運動 in the keen 空気／公表する had tired her, and Stanyard, after ordering their meal, had gone 支援する to the car to look at a screw that he fancied was 欠陥のある. Suddenly the sound of her own 指名する roused the girl's attention.

"Pamela Burslem! She must be a queer sort of girl. They say she is as good as engaged to Stanyard, the 冒険的な baronet, and goodness knows how much he had to do with her father's death."

"That may be all talk!" The second （衆議院の）議長 was a man. "I thought Stanyard was in love with Lady Burslem and that that was supposed to be the 動機—"

"Oh, that's all off!" the first （衆議院の）議長 再結合させるd. "The Gwenders have been staying in Spain and they were モーターing from Madrid to some place far away の中で the mountains, when their car broke 負かす／撃墜する and they had to put up in some little, unknown hostelry. There, to their amazement, they （機の）カム across Lady Burslem, who was staying there with her maid and 長官. They knew her 公正に／かなり 井戸／弁護士席, 会合 her in society and so on, so they made 跡をつけるs for her at once. But her ladyship was not having any. She showed them plainly enough that she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be alone. But the point of this is, that the people there all thought she was going to marry the 長官."

"Good Lord!" the man interjected. "Do you suppose she knew him before, or has she 選ぶd him up over there?"

"That is just what the Gwenders wondered. He was a foreigner, they said. Couldn't speak a word of English. An Argentine, they thought. Jolly outside sort of rotter, old Gwender said. Anyway, I'm surprised at Sophie Burslem's taste."

"Never was over particular I should say, chucking over a decent chap like Stanyard."

"Oh, 井戸／弁護士席, it was Burslem's money she was after. Jolly sick she must have been of the old beggar too. But if she helped him off for the sake of this 古代の Argentine, I should say it will be a 事例／患者 of out of the frying-pan into the 解雇する／砲火／射撃."

"I say, old thing, you will have to be careful or you will be getting pulled up for 名誉き損," the man's 発言する／表明する said jokingly, yet with a 公式文書，認める of 警告 in it.

The woman laughed carelessly. "Not a bit of it. I guess Sophie Burslem would have something to do if she brought 名誉き損 活動／戦闘s against everybody who 会談 about her. Besides, I'm only telling you what Olga Gwender told me. It was taken as an 受託するd thing の中で the people with whom they were staying. She said that the landlady at the hotel told her that the pretty English senora, who was a 異端者, was going to marry the big, ugly Argentino, who was an atheist."

"Is that so? Oh. By Jove! I suppose it is just my fancy, because we have been talking about him, but I really thought I saw Stanyard coming up that way from the parking ground just then."

"What is that you say?" a third 発言する／表明する interrupted. "Thought you saw Stanyard. Dare say you did. He and 行方不明になる Burslem drove up half an hour ago; I believe they are lunching in the room over this."

"I hope they have not got the window open or we shall be in the soup," the first （衆議院の）議長 発言／述べるd.

Dead silence followed for a moment. Then the 捨てるing of 議長，司会を務めるs and a hubbub of conversation showed that the party was breaking up.

The fact that she had overheard a conversation evidently not ーするつもりであるd for her did not trouble Pamela much. The 実体 of it amazed her too much. True, she had always 推定する／予想するd that her stepmother would marry again, but that such an event should be talked about already （機の）カム upon her as a shock. She was astonished, too, by the について言及する of the man 明らかに chosen as her father's 後継者. She had been amazed at the sale of Peep o' Day to the Argentine; it seemed to her now that there must be some link between this and her stepmother's Argentine 長官, but it was not 平易な to find.

She was still puzzling over the problem when Stanyard entered the room. He noticed the 調印するs of perturbation on her 直面する at once.

"What's the 事柄, Pam? Anybody been here?"

"No." The girl hesitated a moment. Hitherto, she had 避けるd the について言及する of her stepmother to Stanyard, but to-day it seemed 必然的な. She 注ぐd out the story she had overheard to him.

Stanyard's 直面する was 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な as he listened. He hesitated a minute or two before he spoke. He was 井戸／弁護士席 aware of the general opinion that Lady Burslem had in some mysterious fashion managed to rid herself of her 年輩の husband ーするために marry some secret lover. Only too 井戸／弁護士席 was he aware also that at one time his own 指名する had been 自由に について言及するd in this connexion. But this was the first he had heard of the Argentine, and, like the 残り／休憩（する） of the world, he had marvelled at the sale of Peep o' Day, and, like Pamela, he was inclined to think there must be some connexion between this and the foreign 長官.

"Asses those johnnies must be to talk where anybody could overhear what they said," he 発言／述べるd at last. "But I should not take any notice of the footlin' sort of stuff they talked, Pam. Sophie Carlford was always a little duffer at writin', and that sort of thing. I suppose she has 選ぶd up this blighter because he was the only chap at 手渡す, and she havin' a lot of writin' to do, bein' executrix to your father, and all that."

"But Lady Burslem isn't by any means a duffer at 令状ing," Pamela said, 星／主役にするing at him. "And she has had an awful lot to do since Dad died. Mr. Hetherington Smith says she's やめる wonderful."

"井戸／弁護士席, if she had any 長，率いる for 人物／姿／数字s she kept it dark when I knew her. She was a jolly, good-lookin' girl, Sophie. And I was a fool about her at the time. But it was a bit of calf love on both 味方するs, I fancy. Anyhow, she soon gave me the chuck when your father （機の）カム along."

"Oh, yes, for the sake of his money," Pamela said scornfully.

"No, there I think you wrong her," Stanyard said thoughtfully. "I always fancied myself that, though the money might have somethin' to do with it—gilding the gingerbread so to speak—Sophie took a bit of a fancy to Sir John. Makes me feel small when I look 支援する, but there you are."

"I don't believe she did," Pamela said obstinately. "Anyhow, if ever she liked Dad she got over it pretty soon to help on his—his—"

"Now don't say it, Pam," Stanyard advised with a touch of real feeling in his 発言する／表明する. "I knew Sophie Carlford pretty 井戸／弁護士席 all through, and there was nothin' of that sort about her. Give you my word—Sophie don't know anythin' about your father's death."

"Then who does?" Pamela 問い合わせd, her mouth setting in grim lines.

"I don't know," Stanyard 自白するd. "I think about it いつかs till I can't get to sleep or anythin', don't you know. Till I could almost fancy I did it myself so that Perlyon should 勝利，勝つ the Derby."

"I don't believe Dad had an enemy," Pamela cogitated. "Do you think it might be Ellerby?"

"No, I don't," Stanyard said sturdily. "Decent sort of a chap, Ellerby. Though what made the old chap do a bunk like that, or how he managed to get away with it I can't think."

"Lots of people think he has been 殺人d too," Pamela went on.

"Lots of people think all sorts of footlin' things," Stanyard said. "Stands to sense, dear thing, that a man couldn't be killed and his 団体／死体 done away with in a house that was 存在 watched by the police, as 15 Porthwick Square was. No, Ellerby scooted 権利 enough. Though why he did it and where he has got to only Heaven knows."

A 転換 was 原因（となる）d now by the 入ること／参加（者） of a waiter with their lunch.

"Ah, this is the sort of thing I want," Stanyard said approvingly. "Light as love, those omelettes, and I have been telling the landlord how I like my coffee made, like I used to have it in my student days. I have taught my man; he is a dab 手渡す at it. Come, Pam, let us begin before those things have a chance of gettin' stale."

Pamela 設立する that she was really very hungry when she began to eat, and Stanyard 後継するd in 説得するing her to eat a good meal, and also in コースを変えるing her thoughts from the mysteries of Porthwick Square.

He was thankful that, so far, no hint of the 最新の rumour had reached her, for he knew that it had been 自由に bruited about that some strange 発見 had been made by the police in searching the house after Lady Burslem's 出発. As to what it was, public opinion was divided, but it was 一般に taken for 認めるd that it was something that showed definitely that Sophie Burslem had some 有罪の knowledge of her husband's death. Stanyard himself was inclined to think that the 発見 had been 誇張するd if not invented, and that the gossip would soon die out if nothing occurred to 生き返らせる it.

He was the more disappointed therefore when, on their arrival at Hothmar Place, they were met in the hall by Mr. Hetherington Smith, with the 告示:

"Your stepmother is in town!"

"Lady Burslem!" Pamela 星／主役にするd at him. "She can't be. I passed through Porthwick Square this morning and the house was not opened up."

"Oh, she isn't there!" Mr. Hetherington Smith said 静かに. "She is staying with her maid at Stormount's. She rung me up just now. She told me to ask you to go there either to dinner or later on this evening and to take Wilmer with you, as she has some news for her too."

"Dear me! How frightfully 早期に Victorian I shall look, taking a maid with me. But I had better （犯罪の）一味 her up," Pamela said, turning to the telephone. "Stormount's, please. What in the world has brought her 支援する?"

"商売／仕事!" Mr. Hetherington Smith answered すぐに. "This Bolivian 譲歩 is not going through as it was hoped it would. And Lady Burslem had to be on the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. She couldn't pull the wires from Spain."

"Nor in town, I should say," Stanyard laughed. "I don't fancy it makes much difference where her ladyship is."

"Oh, but indeed it does," Mr. Hetherington Smith 訂正するd. "Lady Burslem has one of the clearest 長，率いるs and is one of the best 商売／仕事 women I know."

"井戸／弁護士席, then, she has altered since the days when she couldn't make her 橋（渡しをする） 得点する／非難する／２０ 一致する with anyone else's," Charles Stanyard 再結合させるd.

CHAPTER 18

Tormount's was perhaps the largest of England's palatial hotels. It was managed on American lines with a staff that was distinctly cosmopolitan. Pamela was not a shy person, but she felt やめる small and lonely when she entered the 広大な lounge, which looked big enough to house a small army. に引き続いて her 指示／教授／教育s, she had brought Wilmer with her. As she ちらりと見ることd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, to her surprise the first person she saw was Mrs. Jimmy coming across to 会合，会う her in a fearsome evening frock of voyant mauve.

"Hallo, Pam!" she began in her cheerful strident トンs. "How are you? Here you are! I told Sophie I would come and 会合，会う you. I thought you might be shy without your young man." She linked her arm in the girl's with a laugh that made every one within 審理，公聴会 turn and look at them.

"Sophie is doing it in style, you know," she went on. "Got a 私的な 控訴 of rooms; no dining at the public （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs for her, if you please."

"Are you staying here with her?" Pamela questioned as they got in the 解除する.

"Me! Bless your young life, no! She rang me up this afternoon and I just dropped in to see her. And then as she was rather 圧力（をかける）ing I stayed to dinner with her and the 長官 man, Se?r Jaime da Dominiguez."

The 解除する had stopped now and they got out. As they walked 負かす／撃墜する the luxuriously carpeted 回廊（地帯）, Mrs. Jimmy, who had not loosed her 持つ／拘留する of the girl's arm, gave it a pinch.

"I hope you are 用意が出来ている for something happening there. Pam, you will be having a step-papa before you know where you are."

Pamela 解放する／自由なd her arm with a jerk. "I 簡単に could not have such a 親族, Aunt Kitty. If Lady Burslem marries again, her second husband will be no connexion of 地雷. But I can hardly believe, even of her, that she is thinking of 取って代わるing my father so soon, and by such a man."

"Why, you have not seen him yet," Mrs. Jimmy said, her 発言する／表明する a little subdued as they stopped and she sounded an electric bell, and a smartly dressed maid appeared. "Just like a 私的な flat, isn't it?" she whispered, as they were 行為／行うd to Lady Burslem's sitting-room.

Sophie was alone, sitting at a little （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する 近づく the fireplace, a couple of 広大な／多数の／重要な ledger-like looking 容積／容量s open before her, into which she was 速く making 事務的な looking 入ること／参加（者）s from a small notebook at her 味方する. Of Se?r Jaime da Dominiguez there was no 調印する.

Lady Burslem got up as they （機の）カム in. "Oh, Pam, I am glad to see you!" she cried, kissing the girl's cheek.

Pamela did not 答える／応じる in any way. "I was amazed to hear that you were in town again," she said stiffly. "You didn't even について言及する coming home when you wrote."

Lady Burslem's arm, which she had placed affectionately on the girl's shoulder, dropped by her 味方する. She stood やめる still, her 注目する，もくろむs, in which there lay now a hint of 悲劇, gazing at Pamela's 直面する mournfully. "I had no thought of returning when I wrote. It was this Bolivian trouble that compelled me to come. I don't 推定する／予想する to be in town more than a few days. But I hoped you would have been a little glad to see me, Pam."

Pamela ignored the 試みる／企てる at 調停. "Mr. Hetherington Smith said you 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see me 特に, so I （機の）カム!"

"I see you did," Lady Burslem said in a tired 発言する／表明する. "I thought I should like to talk things over with you. But if you would rather not—井戸／弁護士席, they can be left a little longer."

"As far as I know there is nothing to talk over," Pamela said coolly.

Lady Burslem sighed. "井戸／弁護士席, if you feel like that. But I asked you to bring Wilmer; I have some good news for her. Where is she?"

"She walked up. She is always so 脅すd at 解除するs. But of course she would wait outside," Pamela said, looking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

Lady Burslem turned to the door. "Poor Wilmer: I 推定する／予想する my maid has taken her to my dressing-room. She 一般に does her sewing there. Shall we go and find her? Kitty, will you come too. I 推定する／予想する Marie has been looking out those patterns you 手配中の，お尋ね者."

"I am sure I hope she has," 答える／応じるd Mrs. Jimmy. "I will come at once, of course. I should like to see Wilmer too. I have heard a lot about her."

"Aunt Kitty," Pamela said suddenly, "hasn't Uncle James come home yet?"

"井戸／弁護士席, no, he hasn't, and that's a fact," Mrs. Jimmy said cheerfully.

"Do you know when he will come?" Pamela 追求するd.

"No, that I don't. I never know when he will do anything. But I have heard on good 当局 that he will turn up when I least 推定する／予想する him. Isn't that so, Sophie?" with a playful pinch of the arm.

Lady Burslem's 直面する was white. She shook off Mrs. Jimmy's 手渡す with a shiver. "I suppose so—I mean, I don't know anything about it."

"井戸／弁護士席, we 非，不，無 of us do, if you come to that. Jimmy is rather an unknown 量, 特に lately," Mrs. Jimmy 発言／述べるd with a jolly laugh. "Come along, Pam. They have given Sophie an awfully decent bedroom, don't you think so. And she has a bathroom of her own, silver taps and all 完全にする."

"やめる decent," Pamela echoed, without a ちらりと見ること in the direction in which Mrs. Jimmy was pointing. "Don't you think it is strange that Uncle James has not written to me since Dad died, Aunt Kitty?"

"No, I don't," said Mrs. Jimmy bluntly. "And you wouldn't if you knew the sort of place he is in. They 港／避難所't 地位，任命する offices 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the corner. Besides, he has really seen very little of you. And he didn't get on with your father, you know."

"Still, he was his only brother," Pamela argued. "One would have thought—"

"Oh, Pam, you give me the hump worrying about Jimmy." Mrs. Jimmy turned her shoulder deliberately to the girl. "I suppose he will 令状 when he wants to and gets the chance."

Pamela looked 負傷させるd. "井戸／弁護士席, I think it is very strange of him," she 固執するd. "And Mr. Hetherington Smith told me a friend of his said he felt sure he saw Uncle James in town some time after Dad's funeral."

"井戸／弁護士席, if he was, he didn't let me know," Mrs. Jimmy said すぐに. "And I don't believe he was, either. But do やめる talking of Jimmy, Pam. He isn't a 支配する I'm fond of, and I want to have a gossip about frocks to-day. Come along, child." Lady Burslem had already passed into the dressing-room. They could hear her talking to Wilmer.

"It was just a memorandum in Sir John's 令状ing, Wilmer," they heard her say. "But it showed he meant to leave you an annuity of ｣80 a year. His wishes are sacred to me, so I am taking steps to buy an annuity in one of the 広大な／多数の／重要な 認可するd benevolent societies for you. Then you will be やめる 安全な."

"Oh, my lady, it is too much. I don't know what to say." And indeed poor Wilmer looked やめる 打ち勝つ.

Mrs. Jimmy went on to the maid, who was busy mending some old lace. "Got my patterns, Marie? I want to get the frocks in 手渡す."

The maid, a diminutive looking Frenchwoman, got up.

"But yes, my lady—yes, madame. They are all やめる ready and I have 削減（する） them to Madame's size."

"That is a good thing," Mrs. Jimmy smiled. "For I guess it would not be much good me trying to get into her ladyship's."

The maid smiled too. "No, madame, I think that also."

Mrs. Jimmy took up an end of the lace shawl the maid held. "How beautifully you are doing this. Look, Pam, isn't it wonderful?"

"It is really," the girl said admiringly. "Her ladyship has such a lot of lace too, she will be glad to have some one to keep it in order. But I 推定する／予想する you know all about that, Marie."

"But no," the girl said, 解除するing her 手渡すs in energetic 抗議する; "for two days I have had time to do very little. For it is only one day in フラン that I come to Milady and one day here. That is not much."

"Of course it is not," Pamela assented. "I やめる thought you had been with Milady all the time she was away."

"Ah, no, mademoiselle. Only the one day. It is a sad story—"

"What is a sad story?" Lady Burslem 問い合わせd. "What are you telling Mademoiselle, Marie?"

"Only that I come to Milady only a day or two before she come home. And Mademoiselle she is やめる surprised. She tink I have been wiz Milady many months."

"Ah, yes! Didn't I tell you, Pam?" Lady Burslem turned to her stepdaughter. "Emilia was taken ill and I had to send her to a clinic. I was very fortunate in 存在 able to 取って代わる her so quickly; and Marie is very 有能な."

Lady Burslem spoke easily enough. But Pamela wondered whether it was only her fancy or did her stepmother look for one moment discomposed. Another fancy of hers, that Lady Burslem ちらりと見ることd quickly as if for help to Mrs. Jimmy, Pamela 解任するd as absurd.

"Milady, it was the good fortune for me—"

Marie was beginning when there （機の）カム a cry from Wilmer:

"行方不明になる Pamela, you had your pearls on when we started. And now they are gone!"

"Gone?" Pamela put her 手渡すs to her throat. "They—they have dropped off." She thrust her 手渡す into the 前線 of her frock. "No, they have not dropped 負かす／撃墜する. What can have become of them. Dad's last 現在の to me!"

"I told you I thought the snap was a bit 欠陥のある when you were putting them on yesterday, 行方不明になる Pamela," Wilmer said, her 注目する，もくろむs searching 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, "But you wouldn't let me have them."

"No, I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to wear them. But I meant to call at Laycock's and get it seen to."

"Never mind, they can't be far away if you had them on when you started," Lady Burslem said sensibly. "They must be either in the hotel or the car. The 半端物s are a million to one against your dropping them when you crossed the pavement, either getting in at the Smiths' or out here."

Pamela 急ぐd into the bedroom. "If they dropped off in the lounge they mightn't be much safer than in the street. I must go 負かす／撃墜する and ask about them." She hurried off. Lady Burslem and Mrs. Jimmy followed her. The two maids were left alone.

"Ah, but she is careless, this mademoiselle," Marie said, as she shook out the lace. "She does not know where she has lost her pearls. Dey may be in de 解除する or outside in what you call de 回廊（地帯）. But we too must find."

Downstairs Pamela 設立する the 管理／経営 極端に anxious to 回復する the pearls, but やめる evidently displeased at the insinuation that they must be in the hotel, and very much inclined to say that 行方不明になる Burslem must have lost them on the way there. At this suggestion Pamela rang up the Smiths to 問い合わせ if anything had been heard of them, and to ask if they would send the carriage 支援する at once in 事例／患者 they had fallen off into the rug.

Then it suddenly occurred to her that when she threw off her cloak in her stepmother's sitting-room the pearls might have caught in the lining.

Leaving Lady Burslem and Mrs. Jimmy to superintend 操作／手術s downstairs, she hurried 支援する to the former's 控訴.

The 解除する 申し込む／申し出d no 適切な時期 of concealment if she had lost them there, but the 解除する-boy told her that he had gone over the 内部の インチ by インチ.

As they entered Lady Burslem's 控訴, to her amazement, Pamela caught the sound of a woman sobbing. It seemed to come from the sitting-room. She 押し進めるd open the door and looked in.

Wilmer was sitting on a 議長，司会を務める in the middle of the room, 明らかに in violent hysterics. Over her the French maid was bending, evidently trying to console her.

Pamela went up and laid her 手渡す on one of those that were trembling so pitifully. "What in the world is the 事柄, Wilmer? Surely you aren't worrying yourself to this extent about the pearls. It was my own fault, you know—not the least little bit of it yours."

Wilmer raised her 直面する. It was 絶対 white. Every bit of colour seemed to have been washed out of it by the 涙／ほころびs that were rolling miserably 負かす／撃墜する her cheeks.

"It isn't the pearls, 行方不明になる Pamela. It is that I have seen what I never thought to see while I am a living, breathing woman."

"Zat is it," the French maid interposed; "zat is what she say all the time she have seen a revenant—a spirit."

"I have seen a ghost, 行方不明になる Pamela. A ghost Heaven help us all. Ah, Heaven, I wish I had died before this day."

"A ghost!" Pamela felt 過度に 刺激するd.

"Don't be so foolish, Wilmer," she rebuked. "I thought you had more sense! Whose ghost, pray?" Wilmer burst into something like a howl. "Heaven help me, I don't know—I can't tell you. 行方不明になる Pamela."

"Hoity-toity! What's all this about?" Mrs. Jimmy had come up behind them unobserved. "What is that you say, Wilmer—seen a ghost! 井戸／弁護士席, there is nothing to make such a 騒動 about if you have. The dead will not 傷つける you. If you lived in constant communion with them as I do—"

"A—h! I would rather die," Wilmer sobbed.

"Then you would be a bally ghost yourself!" Mrs. Jimmy 知らせるd her breezily. "Don't be a fool, Wilmer. Probably it was one of her ladyship's frocks hanging on a 議長，司会を務める, or something of that 肉親，親類d you saw. You took it for a ghost. I have done the same thing myself. We have 設立する your pearls, Pam."

"Oh, where, Aunt Kitty?" Pamela cried, while

Wilmer kept up a sort of chorus. "Oh, no! It wasn't that! It wasn't that."

"In the car," Mrs. Jimmy went on, "the likeliest place of all. They couldn't be seen until we shook the fur rug. However, all's 井戸／弁護士席 that ends 井戸／弁護士席!"

CHAPTER 19

"Just in time. I am 推定する／予想するing a 訪問者 this morning," 視察官 Stoddart said, as Harbord entered his room at Scotland Yard. "Mr. Gregg of Gregg & Cook, pawnbrokers of East Foreham Street, 屈服する. Some things of Sir John Burslem's, 顕著に a brown coat, have been put in pawn with them. I heard from them last night. Here is the letter." He 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd a typewritten sheet over to his subordinate. Harbord 選ぶd it up.

"To the Director of 犯罪の 調査, New Scotland Yard"

was typed across; Messrs. Gregg and Cook's 演説（する）／住所 beneath.

Then the 公式文書，認める began:

SIR,

It is my 義務 to 知らせる you that a coat which appears to have belonged to the late Sir John Burslem （機の）カム into our 手渡すs in the way of 商売／仕事 last week. I 急いで to let you know in 事例／患者 you should consider the 事柄 of any importance. を待つing the favour of your reply,

I remain, Sir

Your obedient servant,
J. W. GREGG.

(For Messrs. Gregg & Cook)

"On 領収書 of this letter by first 地位，任命する this morning, I rang up Gregg & Cook," the 視察官 追求するd, "and requested that the coat should be sent to us without 延期する. In reply, Gregg volunteered to bring it up himself. He may be here any minute now."

"A coat that appears to have belonged to the late Sir John Burslem," Harbord cogitated. "I wonder what that means 正確に／まさに. Was it 示すd? And I don't see what possible 耐えるing this coat of Sir John's can have on the Burslem mystery. He was wearing his dress 着せる／賦与するs."

"No." The 視察官 一打／打撃d his chin, 注目する，もくろむing Harbord's puzzled 直面する thoughtfully the while. "There are two mysteries you must remember," he went on at last—"the 殺人 of Sir John Burslem and the 見えなくなる of Ellerby. If this coat has no 耐えるing upon one it may have upon the other."

Harbord's bewilderment 明らかに 増加するd. "I don't see how—"

"井戸／弁護士席, we must ascertain when and by whom the coat was pawned," the 視察官 said. "A discarded coat would 自然に become the valet's perquisite. Should he have pawned it after the date of his 見えなくなる from Porthwick Square it would show us that the worst of the 恐れるs with regard to his 運命／宿命 was without 創立／基礎. Anyhow, we shall soon know something about it, for, if I am not mistaken, here comes our friend, Mr. Gregg," as there was a knock at the door.

The 視察官 got up and answered it in person.

"Mr. J. W. Gregg, I 推定する," he said to a smooth-直面するd, pleasant-looking, little man, 護衛するd by a constable in plain 着せる／賦与するs.

The little man 屈服するd. "At your service, sir. I have brought the coat, as you requested."

As he spoke he put 負かす／撃墜する the brown paper 小包 he carried on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する beside the 視察官.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Gregg. We will have a look at it 直接／まっすぐに; but first sit 負かす／撃墜する and tell us how this （機の）カム into your 所有／入手."

The 視察官 put a 議長，司会を務める 今後 and Mr. Gregg sat 負かす／撃墜する, breathing rather ひどく as he put one 手渡す on each 膝.

"It was brought to us, 視察官, by a man 指名するd Halliday, whom we may call a pretty 正規の／正選手 顧客 of ours. Leastways, he is 一連の会議、交渉／完成する with something or other most weeks."

"Oh, by a man you know?" The 視察官's 直面する betrayed some of the 失望 he was feeling.

"井戸／弁護士席, just in the way of 商売／仕事," Mr. Gregg qualified, with what appeared to be a favourite phrase of his.

"What is he like?" the 視察官 questioned 突然の.

"Like? Halliday?" Mr. Gregg said ばく然と. "井戸／弁護士席, he is an oldish man and perhaps one would say middle-sized. He has 赤みを帯びた hair, what there is of it, and a ragged, 赤みを帯びた moustache."

"At all like this?" The 視察官 produced his snapshot of Ellerby.

Mr. Gregg just ちらりと見ることd at it. "Oh, Lord, no! About as unlike that as he 井戸／弁護士席 could be, I should think."

"井戸／弁護士席, let us have a look at the coat."' The 視察官 returned Ellerby's portrait to the pigeonhole in his desk.

Mr. Gregg, economically untying the string of his 小包, held up a short, brown coat.

"We lent five shillings on it. It is good stuff and not in a bad 条件."

The 視察官 took it from him and looked for the 製造者's 指名する. It had been neatly 削減（する） out. Then he turned it over.

"I am wondering how you （機の）カム to the 結論 that this was Sir John Burslem's coat."

Mr. Gregg smiled. "They were 削減（する） enough to take the 製造者's 指名する out, 視察官, but they overlooked this."

From his own pocket he drew a small gold pencil 事例／患者 with an amethyst 始める，決める in the 最高の，を越す forming a 調印（する）. He pointed to the 味方するs of the pencil—"John Burslem, 15 Porthwick Square." It was engraved in tiny characters on a 保護物，者.

The 視察官 took it and 診察するd it minutely. "Yes, that is Burslem's 権利 enough. Where was this 設立する, Mr. Gregg?"

"There was a bit of the seam in the 権利-手渡す pocket that had come undone; this pencil must have slipped through. When the coat was hanging up I caught it in passing, felt the pencil and then discovered the 欠陥のある lining. It really might have been done on 目的, 視察官."

"Yes, and overlooked on 目的." the 視察官 assented. "It is really 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の how things of this 肉親，親類d happen. 井戸／弁護士席, now we must see Halliday with as little 延期する as possible. You have his 演説（する）／住所, of course, Mr. Gregg?"

"We have an 演説（する）／住所, of course," the pawnbroker said slowly. "But you know, 視察官, how very often it turns out that the 演説（する）／住所 in the 調書をとる／予約するs is a 純粋に fictitious one."

The 視察官 nodded. "Still, we must 危険 it. Did you bring it with you?"

"Yes." Mr. Gregg pulled out a piece of paper from his waistcoat pocket. "And I left directions that if Halliday （機の）カム in he was to be 拘留するd as you told me on the phone. This is the 演説（する）／住所. He has always given the same as far as I remember, Barford Street, 屈服する, and the street is a real one, so perhaps we shall find the gentleman."

"We will have a good try, anyhow," the 視察官 said, getting up. "I am much 強いるd to you, Mr. Gregg, for your promptness and 儀礼. You may have helped us more than any of us realize at 現在の."

"All in the way of 商売／仕事—it is all in the way of 商売／仕事, 視察官."

As the sound of his footsteps on the 石／投石する-覆うd passage died away, Harbord looked at the 視察官.

"井戸／弁護士席, sir, what next?"

"What next?" the 視察官 echoed. "井戸／弁護士席, the next thing I think is to interview Mr. Halliday and see what we can ascertain from him with regard to this coat. Let us see—屈服する. We can get a bus most of the way, and a blow on the 最高の，を越す, if we can find an 暴露するd one, will take our cobwebs away."

Harbord was rather silent as they made their way to Charing Cross, but a ちらりと見ること at his 直面する with its knit brow told the 視察官 that his mind was busy with the many 複雑にするd problems of the Burslem 事例／患者.

They were fortunate enough to get an 暴露するd omnibus and also to 得る a 前線 seat. Then at last Harbord ちらりと見ることd at the 視察官.

"I see you have formed some theory, sir."

The 視察官 shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing so 限定された. From the very first a vague 疑惑 has been floating hazily in my mind. Utterly 正統化できない, you would have said—anybody would have said. And, yet, いつかs it seems to me that, as straws show which way the 勝利，勝つd blows, so さまざまな trifling bits of 証拠 do point to my shadowy fancy 存在 権利. Still, nothing is 確かな except that it is always the 予期しない that happens. A few more steps 今後, which may be taken to-day, and we shall know everything."

Harbord pondered over the 視察官's words without speaking for a few minutes, then he ちらりと見ることd 熱心に at his superior officer's inscrutable 直面する.

"Even if Ellerby is only in hiding, sir, it is impossible that it could be he who 発射 Sir John Burslem. It stands on the 証言 of the other men that he went to bed rather earlier than usual and that one of the footmen, Henry, I think, saw him there."

"Did he stay in his room when he got there?" the 視察官 questioned with a curious, sidelong look.

Harbord paused. "He was there, at any 率, when the other man went to call him to 証言，証人／目撃する Sir John's will."

"自然に he was," the 視察官 assented.

"Then, he could not have impersonated Sir John."

"I never imagined for one moment that he had!" There was an 半端物 公式文書，認める in the 視察官's 発言する／表明する that was puzzling Harbord, as nothing about the 視察官 had ever puzzled him before.

"Think it over, my boy," Stoddart went on. "If some day you つまずくd on the same idea as I have done, I shall know that I am 正当化するd."

Barford Road, 屈服する, 証明するd to be one of those melancholy 味方する-streets that, once respectable and 居住の, have now sunk to the level of the tenement house. No. 39 was in no way superior to its 隣人s. The 地階 held a 量 of broken 瓶／封じ込めるs, a small 黒人／ボイコット cat, a mangy looking terrier, a fat baby sitting on a rag heap in the middle and crowing alternately at the kitten and the passers-by who looked over the railings, while brandishing in one 手渡す the neck of a broken whisky 瓶／封じ込める.

"No 1 地階," the 視察官 read out. "井戸／弁護士席, there is nothing for it but the area steps. Come along, Harbord."

The chuckling 幼児 gazed at them in open-注目する，もくろむd amazement. Evidently it was not used to 訪問者s, and for a moment they thought it was going to howl; then it changed its mind and broke into a wide smile, 持つ／拘留するing its 瓶／封じ込める-neck out to them in the friendliest fashion.

"That kid will give itself a bad 削減（する） in a minute. The glass thing せねばならない be taken from it," said Harbord, turning to the child to put his words into 活動／戦闘.

As if divining his 意向, the baby clutched its plaything in both 手渡すs and 始める，決める up an ear-piercing yell. At the same moment a young woman appeared at the open door; her sleeves were rolled up and she was wiping the soap-suds from her 武器 with her 解雇（する）ing apron.

"Why, whatever's the 事柄?" she began. "Oh what can I do for you, gentlemen?" as she became aware of the two strangers.

Stoddart stepped 今後, 除去するing his hat politely.

"We are looking for a Mr. Halliday, ma'am, I think he lives here."

"That's 権利!" said the woman, making a 得る，とらえる at the baby and throwing its dangerous plaything on the ground. "That's enough, Mary Ann!" she said warningly. "You be 静かな or your mammy will give you a spanking!"

Young as the child was, it seemed to understand, and 沈下するd into silence. Its mother looked at the 探偵，刑事s.

"Halliday, that's Father, sir. He's somewhere about if you will just step into the kitchen."

The kitchen was 公正に／かなり 有望な and tidy for a London slum. The window was clean enough to 許す the light to pass through, the 床に打ち倒す looked as if it was, at any 率, occasionally scrubbed, and on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, 近づく the window, at a zinc bath, the lady with the baby was evidently engaged in 成し遂げるing 操作／手術s on the family washing. She moved 今後 two 陳謝s for 議長，司会を務めるs, one with a broken 支援する, the other with the seat 洞穴d in.

"If you will sit 負かす／撃墜する, gentlemen, I will look for Dad."

After one ちらりと見ること at the 議長，司会を務めるs both men decided that they preferred standing. They had not long to wait. In a couple of minutes the mother of Mary Ann returned with an undersized man, with a ginger moustache and a bald 長，率いる, に引き続いて in her wake.

He touched his forehead awkwardly to the 探偵，刑事s. "If there should be any work you want doing, gentlemen, I'll bet 刑事 Halliday will do your 職業 as quickly and as cheaply as anyone else."

"It isn't work 正確に／まさに that we have come about, though it may lead to it," the 視察官 said 外交上. "It's about this coat," 開始 the 小包 out on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and 陳列する，発揮するing the brown coat. "I have received this"—（電話線からの）盗聴 it with his forefinger—"from Messrs Gregg & Cook of East Foreham Street, 屈服する. I believe that it was taken there by you." Halliday's 直面する fell. "Yes, it was. But that is my 商売／仕事 and nobody else's," he said truculently.

"Not 正確に／まさに," the 視察官 異なるd, and his トン was 穏やかな. "We have 推論する／理由 to think that this coat belonged to Sir John Burslem."

Mr. Halliday looked at them and scratched his 長，率いる. "Don't know nothin' about him," he said sullenly. "Not unless"—a gleam of 活気／アニメーション lighting up his 激しい 直面する—"you mean the bloke what was done in—him as Peep o' Day belonged to."

The 視察官 nodded. "That's the man. And, if you can tell us where you got that coat, you may help to catch the scoundrel that 殺人d Sir John and stopped Peep o' Day running."

"That's 権利, guv'nor. I would do a good lot to get 持つ／拘留する of him, 爆破 him, but I don't know as I—" he paused reflectively—"can do anything," he finished. "That there coat was given to my missus, and when I felt 負かす／撃墜する in the mouth and 手配中の，お尋ね者 a drink I took it 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to Gregg & Cook's. Five shillin' was all they would 許す on it. But they give that and I had a good glass of spirits before I come home."

The 視察官 was not inclined to 疑問 the truth of this 声明.

"The 残り／休憩（する） of it, what there was over, I brought home to Liz here," Mr. Halliday 追求するd. "But about this 'ere Burslem, I don't know nuffin'. Nor yet my missus didn't. 'Twas she that give me that coat; 'It'll keep you warm in the winter, Tom,' she says. But I've had a lot of expense and it had to go. Maybe I should have got it 支援する, though."

"I 推定する／予想する you would," the 視察官 agreed politely. "But have you no idea where Mrs. Halliday got this coat from?"

"井戸／弁護士席, I have and I 港／避難所't." Mr. Halliday took a good 星／主役にする 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. "I know as she must have got it from one of her places. She hadn't a 正規の／正選手 職業, if you understand, but there was a good many ladies as she 強いるd at times. It was one of them gave it to her. I mind when she come in she says 'Tom,' she says, 'Mrs. Somebody-or-Other gave me this.' But the 指名する, what it was, 'as clean gone. I never gave it another thought, you might say."

"No," the 視察官 said slowly. "I'm afraid that I must see Mrs. Halliday herself, though. When should I find her at home?"

"You won't find her here no more," Mr. Halliday said, pulling out a grimy rag of a handkerchief and blowing his nose noisily. "She's gone for good, she 'as."

The 視察官 looked rather blank. This was somewhat of a facer. "井戸／弁護士席, if she has gone away perhaps you could give me some （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） that would enable me to trace her," he said at last.

Halliday shook his 長，率いる. "No, that I can't, nor nobody else," he said 概略で. "She's a wearin' a white gown and singing up above now—leastways that's what they used to teach me in the Sunday School I went to when I was a kid. Or, as she never thought much of music, and never could keep her aprons clean anyhow, maybe it's the other place she has gone to. Anyway, wherever she is I 'opes I shall go to the same. She was a good wife to me."

"Dead!" The 視察官 設立する himself up against an 予期しない 行き詰まる now. This contingency had never occurred to him. "I am very sorry to hear this," he said truthfully.

Mr. Halliday wagged his 長，率いる from 味方する to 味方する like a reflective 蜜柑.

"Ay, that's what I said myself. Took with the 'flu she were and gone in a twinkling, as you might say."

"But perhaps you could give me a 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of the places where she used to work," the 視察官 went on.

"No, that's just what I can't," Halliday went on. "She 'adn't got 非，不，無 as I know of."

"But surely she put 負かす／撃墜する the 演説（する）／住所s on something when she went out," the 視察官 argued, "in 事例／患者 any of you were ill or anything."

"Yes, maybe she did いつかs," Mr. Halliday 定評のある. "I've seen her stick a bit of paper on the mantelpiece over there with some 令状ing on it. But I never looked to read it. She were a 取引，協定 better scholard than me—poor wife was."

"Would your daughter know more perhaps?" the 視察官 示唆するd.

"Dunno, I'm sure." Mr. Halliday went to the door. Liz and her offspring had retired to the area. He called out, "Liz, these here gents want to know about them places where your poor Ma went to 強いる."

Liz looked amazed. "Which places?"

"That is the ぎこちない part of it," the 視察官 explained, stepping 今後. "What we really want to discover is where this brown coat （機の）カム from. Did you by any chance hear your mother say?"

"That brown coat," Liz repeated, 星／主役にするing at it as it lay on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. "Why Mother brought it home last day but one she went out. She said—Let's see who did she say had given it to her?"

"Ah, now, if you could remember that, we might be able to do something," the 視察官 said ばく然と.

"It was her day for Fountain Street," Liz said thoughtfully.

She wrinkled up her brows and stuck her fingers in her mouth. From outside （機の）カム the delighted cries of Mary Ann, and a low growl from the puppy whom she had 逮捕（する）d by his tail. At last Liz said slowly:

"She had three or four places as she went to—Mother had. I can't say as I mind them all, but I think, I do think she said Mrs. Hall gave her that coat, or was it Mrs. Beach? I can't be sure which, but I think it was one of them two. If not, it was some one in Fountain Street. That I'm pretty sure of. She didn't go anywhere else that day. Fountain Street day she used to call it, Friday. Three or four of 'em she used to do and come home as tired as a dog."

The 視察官 was scribbling something hurriedly in his notebook. "Hall, or Beach, I think you said the 指名する was. 井戸／弁護士席, we must toddle along there and see what we can find. I am much 強いるd to you, and to you, Mr. Halliday. And it may be that I shall have a 職業 in a day or two's time. If so, I will think of you."

"Thank you, sir. A 職業, that would put fresh heart into me—that would."

"You shall have the first that comes, anyway," the 視察官 約束d.

He stepped outside, politely raising his hat to Liz as he did so. In the area he stopped to slip half a 栄冠を与える into Mary Anne's 手渡す. The friendly baby received it with a chuckle and 試みる／企てるd to swallow it, a 訴訟／進行 that Liz had to 失望させる.

Arrived on the street level once more, the 視察官 took off his hat and stood bareheaded for a minute or two in the road taking 深い breaths.

"How these poor folks in London live and 後部 their families in these dismal 地下組織の dungeons （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域s me. And Halliday's is a mansion compared with some of them. 井戸／弁護士席, now for Fountain Street. It is a ten minutes' walk from here, and there doesn't seem to be any bus that would help us. So we shall have to foot it, for I should imagine that taxis are an unattainable 高級な here. This will be our best way, I think."

The 視察官 dived 負かす／撃墜する a 狭くする street on the opposite 味方する to the Hallidays'.

"I fancy we 削減（する） off a bit this way," he said. "But I have an 任命 at the Yard in half an hour's time"—as a clock の近くに at 手渡す struck the hour—"and that does not leave me much 利ざや. I think I shall have to leave the 調査s in Fountain Street to you for to-day, Harbord. It isn't a difficult place to find. The third turning on the left takes you into Broadmoor Road, and then you just keep straight on until you come to a 地位，任命する office. Turn 負かす／撃墜する by that, and the second on the 権利 is Fountain Street.

"Hall, or Beach, is the 指名する, she thinks, Nos. 14 or 16. If they both 否定する any knowledge of the brown coat, then you will have to go 負かす／撃墜する the street till you find the 権利 one by the 過程 of 排除／予選."

"Yes, sir. But that will be a longish 職業." Harbord looked at his watch. "I 疑問 whether I shall manage it to-day. For they don't welcome you very 温かく in this sort of place when the menfolk come home from work."

"井戸／弁護士席, do all you can, and leave the 残り／休憩（する） until to-morrow," the 視察官 said, catching sight of a passing taxi and あられ／賞賛するing it.

CHAPTER 20

"Ready, Mrs. Jimmy? If there is one 質 I like better than another, it is punctuality. And you never keep a man waiting—you are always ready on the tick."

Mr. William Williams was the （衆議院の）議長. He had just driven up to Mrs. Jimmy's house in a most luxuriously 任命するd car, to find her waiting for him in the hall. He ちらりと見ることd admiringly at her as he spoke.

Mrs. Jimmy was in evening dress—a new frock that had been sent home that very day from Madame Benoine. It was fashioned of white （犯罪の）一味 velvet in the 最新の style—that is to say there was as little of it as possible, sleeveless and 事実上 backless, it appeared to be slung from her shoulders by two strings of 水晶 beads. It was very short; when she was standing it almost reached her fat 膝s; seated they were unashamedly 明白な. The white silk stockings and the satin shoes with their 水晶 buckles were all that fashion 需要・要求するd. But magnificent as the gown undoubtedly was, anything いっそう少なく becoming to Mrs. Jimmy's ample form could hardly have been 工夫するd. The pure white, too, showed up her brick-red 肌 and the make-up which she had been indulging in very 自由に.

Mr. Williams took her white evening cloak from her arm and wrapped it 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her reverentially. Then he 護衛するd her to the waiting car and helped her in with a tender deference that she 設立する very attractive.

"I have the chauffeur to-night," he said as he got in and seated himself beside her. "I thought it would be more convenient—leave my 手渡すs 解放する／自由な," with an arch ちらりと見ること that was not lost on Mrs. Jimmy.

She gave him a playful blow on the arm—a blow that left a streak of white 砕く.

"I am ashamed of you. I hope you are going to behave this evening."

Mr. Williams heaved a mock sigh. "It is so difficult to behave when I am in your company. Mrs.—No, may it not be Kitty for this one evening?" he said imploringly.

Mrs. Jimmy shook her fat forefinger at him.

"You know you will do what you like whether I say yes or no."

"No, that is 名誉き損，中傷," Mr. Williams said, regarding her affectionately. "I would not do anything to annoy you for the world—Kitty."

"There, what did I say?" Mrs. Jimmy said archly. "I knew you wouldn't wait till I said you might."

Mr. Williams squeezed himself as 近づく her as the car 許すd.

"Would you ever have said I might?"

Mrs. Jimmy did not 身を引く herself.

"井戸／弁護士席, perhaps some time. I am a bit of a fool where you are 関心d."

Mr. Williams bit his lip. The lady was distinctly 来たるべき to-night, but his 客観的な was far from 存在 達成するd. He had to persevere.

"You don't know how happy it makes me to hear you say that." He lowered his 発言する／表明する to a caressing whisper. "Ah, if only there were no Mr. Jimmy!"

"井戸／弁護士席!" Her 直面する wore やめる a different 表現 now as far as the man could see it by the uncertain light of the car. Her 注目する，もくろむs looked 決定するd, 反抗的な; yet, as she ちらりと見ることd at him, her lips quivered into a smile. "Perhaps—there—isn't," she said slowly.

Mr. Williams 星／主役にするd at her.

"Perhaps there isn't—what?"

Mrs. Jimmy hesitated a moment.

"井戸／弁護士席 I had 私的な （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） some time ago that my husband had died—had been killed in—"

"In Tibet, was it?" the man asked, his 発言する／表明する 厳粛に 同情的な now.

"In Tibet," she 確認するd, her eyelids flickering for one instant. "It—it isn't 確かな yet, Mr. Williams, you know, and perhaps it never may be, but there it is—"

"But that is awfully hard on you," the man exclaimed. "You will be wasting your 青年 and your sweetness on the—on the 砂漠 空気／公表する."

No flattery was too much for Mrs. Jimmy. "Oh, but I shall not," she exclaimed. "No 砂漠 空気／公表する for me, thank you. If I don't hear from Jimmy in a reasonable time—井戸／弁護士席, isn't there such a thing as 推定するing your husband's death? I'm sure I have heard of it."

"Yes, I believe I have," Mr. Williams said slowly. "But—but that would be a bit risky, wouldn't it?"

Mrs. Jimmy pouted. "I never thought you would say that. I fancied you would have said you would have taken any—"

"Me?" Mr. Williams opened his 注目する，もくろむs as far as they would go. "Bless my life! You can't imagine I was thinking of myself! It was you that was first in my thoughts, as you always are." He placed his を引き渡す hers. "It was the 危険 for you I was thinking of. But I think we will chance it. What do you say, Kitty?"

As he said the last word, the car stopped before the Langford, the 流行の／上流の restaurant at which he was entertaining Mrs. Jimmy at dinner. She gave him a coy ちらりと見ること as the commissionaire opened the door.

"Now, you will not be able to talk any more nonsense for a bit."

"Shan't I?" Mr. Williams's laughter shone in his 注目する，もくろむs as he sprang out. "I have arranged with the 長，率いる waiter, who is a bit of a pal of 地雷, to have a nice little （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in an alcove. There won't be anybody within ear-発射. I have seen to that."

"井戸／弁護士席, upon my word, you are a 警告を与える!" Mrs. Jimmy said with a giggle as he helped her out. "I never know where I am with you."

"You will some day," Mr. Williams 再結合させるd enigmatically.

The Langford was very smart—so smart that there was little chance of Mr. Williams or Mrs. Jimmy 認めるing any 知識s.

But the 長，率いる waiter had been as good as his word. A small 一連の会議、交渉／完成する （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する for two had been arranged in an alcove that 命令（する）d a good 見解（をとる） of the room and of the dancing, while those who sat at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する could 身を引く themselves from sight as much as they wished.

Mrs. Jimmy looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する with 是認. "This is a real tip-最高の，を越す place and no mistake. The 禁止（する）d is first-率."

"Yes. It is a pity I am no ダンサー," Mr. Williams said 残念に.

"Ah, 井戸／弁護士席, I am not frightfully keen about it, and I don't care about mixing it with my dinner."

"After dinner sit a while," Mr. Williams 引用するd. "井戸／弁護士席, to go 支援する to what we were talking about. I hear Lady Burslem is 報告（する）／憶測d to be going to 始める，決める you a good example. And 行方不明になる Pamela too."

A slight shade of uneasiness crept into Mrs. Jimmy's 発言する／表明する.

"Who is going to 始める，決める me a good example, Lady Burslem or Pam? I don't やめる understand."

"Both of 'em are," the man told her succinctly. "行方不明になる Pamela is going to marry Stanyard—that is an open secret. And isn't it pretty much the same about Lady Burslem? She is going to marry her foreign 長官, isn't she?" He watched Mrs. Jimmy's 直面する 熱心に as he spoke.

She fidgeted under his gaze. "What an old gossip you are! And don't believe everything you hear about Sophie Burslem, you take it from me. She is a real good sort, is Sophie."

"I am sure she is if you say so," Mr. Williams 答える／応じるd with his usual gallantry. "But does that mean that what they are 説 isn't true?"

Mrs. Jimmy 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd her 長，率いる. "I don't know whether it is true or not. If it is, I suppose I shall hear of it from Sophie in good time. And let me tell you, Mr. Williams, if she does get married again, I shall 支援する her up for all I'm 価値（がある）. Guess she was pretty 井戸／弁護士席 いじめ（る）d and kept under the first time. The Burslems are like that. And why shouldn't she please herself the second time? That 長官 is a decent sort of fellow—for a foreigner. So that's that! And, as for Pam, if she likes to marry Stanyard it is nobody else's 商売／仕事. I never believed he killed her father. Why should he? He didn't want to marry Sophie, as he has shown plainly enough. And, as for Perlyon and Peep o' Day, from all I can make out his colt was as good as the other. Besides, a man don't get hanged to 勝利，勝つ the Derby. Anything else you want to know, Mr. Inquisitive?" Her 注目する，もくろむs were sparkling and her トン was not altogether pleasant.

Mr. Williams leaned 今後, his arm on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, his 手渡す hovering 危険に 近づく Mrs. Jimmy's.

"Do I care who Lady Burslem marries or her stepdaughter either? I have enough to do, hoping and planning that I shall be able to 説得する one of the family to marry me."

Mrs. Jimmy would have blushed if the 明言する／公表する of her 肌 would have 許すd it.

"Oh, you want to know too much!"

A waiter was standing at Mr. Williams's 肘. That gentleman looked at Mrs. Jimmy.

"Will you choose, or shall I order for you?"

"Oh, I leave it to you. You 支払う／賃金 the piper so you must call the

"You know how to do yourself 井戸／弁護士席," Mrs. Jimmy laughed as the man 出発／死d.

"自然に I want to do my best when you honour me," Mr. Williams 答える／応じるd. "Now, how soon will you be 用意が出来ている to 危険 it?"

"To 危険 what?" she 問い合わせd innocently.

Mr. Williams's 注目する，もくろむs smiled 負かす／撃墜する at her. "You know—Kitty. 危険 what you have just told me 存在 true, and marry me."

Mrs. Jimmy gave an 影響する／感情d little shriek. "Here now, what are you talking about? I 港／避難所't even thought of such a thing! And you say when am I going to do it! I 宣言する you are a 冷静な／正味の 顧客!"

"I don't know about that. But when I want a thing I do not mean to lose it for the sake of asking," Mr. Williams 答える／応じるd as the cocktails arrived. "Now, when you have had one of these, maybe you will feel a little more kindly 性質の／したい気がして に向かって your humble servant. You may be willing to take a 確かな 量 of 危険. After all, nobody can get death 証明書s from Tibet!"

"井戸／弁護士席, not when folks die 権利 in the 内部の," Mrs. Jimmy qualified, wrinkling up her brow. "I don't think there is much 危険 in taking it for 認めるd that poor Jimmy is gone. The first I heard of it was at a s饌nce, you know."

"A s饌nce! Oh, good Lord!" Mr. Williams's 狼狽 was almost ludicrous. "You don't mean that that is all you have to go upon?"

"Of course not! I had 私的な （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） from some fellow-explorers." Mrs. Jimmy finished her cocktail and sat 支援する. "They sent me two or three of his personal 所持品—things that I know Jimmy would not have parted with if he had been alive."

"That sounds more like," Mr. Williams commented as their dinner arrived. "We shall have to be careful, though. For though I don't mind taking any 危険s for myself—glory in them, for your sake—I shouldn't be willing to put you in any danger. It isn't nice 罰 for bigamy."

Mrs. Jimmy shivered. "No, no! I shan't run any 危険 of that. My proof of Jimmy's death is too 限定された. He will never come 支援する to trouble me, Mr. Williams."

"Mr. Williams! There you go! I have a Christian 指名する 同様に as you. It will sound like music from your lips."

"Oh, dear! What a man it is!" She sighed, 公式文書，認めるing with satisfaction that her glass was filled to the brim. "Now, how am I to know what your 指名する is?"

"Oh, you know 井戸／弁護士席 enough," Mr. Williams said 情愛深く. "William it is—called Billy by some. One friend I had, gone now, used to call me Willie. I have a fancy I should like to hear you do the same."

"井戸／弁護士席, perhaps you shall—some day," Mrs. Jimmy 答える／応じるd, with a would-be girlish giggle. "If you are good, that is to say."

"I always am good," Mr. Williams 保証するd her. "特に to-night, so you can begin 権利 away, Kitty."

Mrs. Jimmy was a bit of a gourmand. She 完全に enjoyed her dinner, and に向かって the end began to wax affectionate; but, communicative as she seemed, Mr. Williams 設立する that she sheered off at any その上の について言及する of her sister-in-法律 and her 熟視する／熟考するd second marriage. With regard to the 可能性 of her own, she was distinctly more communicative, but Mr. Williams failed to 抽出する any more than a vague 約束 to show him her proof "some day."

By the end of dinner the man was getting a little tired. His 尊敬（する）・点 for Mrs. Jimmy's 力／強力にするs of conversational 盗品故買者ing grew and 強化するd. He began to feel that 事柄s must be left for a time at any 率. He made an imperceptible 調印する to a passing waiter, and presently the man 再現するd with a 電報電信 on a salver.

With a murmured 陳謝 Mr. Williams opened it. Then he uttered a sharp exclamation.

"Who was to think of this coming to-night?"

"What is it?" she questioned, her トン somewhat alarmed.

"It—it 関心s an 投資 I made a few weeks ago. I was a little uncertain about it at the time," Mr. Williams said, his 注目する，もくろむs still 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on the 電報電信. "地雷s are always risky in my opinion. And now it seems water has got into it from an old working. Will you 許す me? This must be seen to without 延期する."

"Of course it must," Mrs. Jimmy assented amiably. "You just see me to a taxi, and then you can go off about it as soon as ever you like."

"I do like a woman that sees 推論する／理由," Mr. Williams said with an 空気／公表する of 救済. "The car shall take you 支援する, and I will take a taxi. Yes, I 主張する. We might 直す／買収する，八百長をする up a theatre for to-morrow perhaps if I can get this 商売／仕事 of the 地雷 finished. Anyway, I will （犯罪の）一味 you up first thing in the morning."

When he had seen Mrs. Jimmy 安全に off in the car he went 支援する to 支払う／賃金 his 法案, casting a rueful ちらりと見ること at the total. Then he went out and boarded a passing omnibus that was bound for Highbury 駅／配置する. From there it was but a couple of minutes' walk to his rooms. He let himself in with his latchkey, and turned into the 前線 room to the 権利 of the door. Somewhat to his surprise Harbord sat by the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する 令状ing busily. Before him lay the brown coat, 解放する／自由なd from its encasing brown paper.

Harbord jumped up.

"I thought I had better 令状 in 事例／患者 you were not 支援する before I had to go. But what a swell you are, sir!" with an amused ちらりと見ること at the other's evening 着せる／賦与するs.

Stoddart 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd off his light overcoat. "I have been 法廷，裁判所ing, and it is hard work," he said grimly. "And thirsty work. I think a long drink is 示すd." He went to the rather rickety looking sideboard and produced a 瓶／封じ込める of whisky and a siphon of soda-water.

"Help yourself," he said as he 始める，決める a couple of glasses on the tray.

Harbord 拒絶する／低下するd. "I have had a couple of pegs already to-day," he 観察するd. "And that is more than my usual allowance."

"I don't go in for allowances," the 視察官 grinned as he 注ぐd himself out a 自由主義の こども. "And I'm pretty 井戸／弁護士席 pumped out to-day. However, everything comes to an end いつか and this Burslem 事例／患者 isn't going to be any exception."

"Isn't it?" Harbord questioned dubiously. "Don't see any way out of the 絡まる myself."

"にもかかわらず there are 指示，表示する物s." Stoddart took a long pull at his whisky and soda, then he pointed to the brown coat. "Have you 設立する out anything?"

"井戸／弁護士席, I have not been altogether 不成功の," Harbord said with modest pride. "I worked Fountain Street and Mrs. Halliday for all I was 価値（がある）, beginning at Mrs. Hall and Mrs. Beach, as you advised. Both of them disclaimed any knowledge of the brown coat. At last by the 過程 of 排除／予選 I arrived at a 確かな Mrs. Johnson. She swore she hadn't seen the coat and knew nothing about it. Mrs. Halliday had only worked for her just lately and she hadn't given her any 現在のs she 公約するd. She had just done a few days' 半端物 職業s and that was all she knew of Mrs. Halliday. But I didn't take to Mrs. Johnson from the first. There was something fishy about her I thought. She had asked me into the sitting-room before she knew my 商売／仕事, and I took the 適切な時期 of looking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. Then, suddenly there （機の）カム a knock at the 前線 door. Mrs. Johnson looked 脅すd as if she was 推定する／予想するing bad news and thought it had come. I heard her talking to some one in the hall, but, try as I would, I couldn't make out what it was about. At last they went upstairs and I caught sight of a waste-paper basket poked away under a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. I went over to it; there were several bits of paper there and I was rewarded by finding の中で them—this."

He held out an empty envelope that had been through the 地位，任命する. It was 演説（する）／住所d to "Mr. Ellerby, 56 Lorraine St., Northlands Square, 屈服する, E."

The 視察官 raised his eyebrows as he read it.

"A find, indeed. You have done 井戸／弁護士席, Harbord."

"Wait a bit, sir, I am all at sea still," his subordinate 観察するd. "I was just looking about to see what else there was to be seen when an untidy little slavey （機の）カム in and said her missus was very sorry but that she would not be able to spare me any more time, and she did not know nothin' about the brown coat. I thought this was a bit of 予期しない luck, so I showed her the envelope. 'Is this gentleman here now?' 'No, he hasn't been here for ever so long, but the missus she keeps taking his letters in. He is her brother, you see.' 井戸／弁護士席, that did give me a start, I must say, but I hadn't much time to spare, so I just showed her the brown coat. 'Ever seen this before, 行方不明になる?' I said. Her 注目する，もくろむs grew 一連の会議、交渉／完成する with amazement. 'Why—I believe—I do believe it is one as used to hang in Mrs. Ellerby's room, but I never saw him wearing it.' 'When did you last see Mr. Ellerby himself?' I said. She looked at me. 'I come here in middle of August. He were 'ere いつか after that. Beginning of September it would be when he went away I should think.' 'Where did he go?' I asked her. She fidgeted with the corner of her apron. 'I dunno. Missus, I heard her say somethink about foreign parts, but I don't rightly know where.'"

"井戸／弁護士席 done, Harbord! Now we really have something to go upon." The very sound of the 視察官's 発言する／表明する told that he was 井戸／弁護士席 pleased. "Ellerby disappeared from 15 Porthwick Square on June 30th. If he was staying with his sister in Fountain Street in September, that at any 率 makes it 確かな that no 害（を与える） happened to him—that he 単に ran away. And why—that is what we want to know. We must 始める，決める all our wits to work to find Ellerby and make him explain himself."

"Yes, sir. But it isn't all such plain sailing as it sounds," Harbord said slowly. "I thought of the snapshot of Ellerby that we both have. Of course I had 地雷 in my pocket. I fetched it out and showed it to her. 'Is this a good likeness of Mr. Ellerby?' I asked her. She 星／主役にするd at it. 'No! That it ain't. So 'elp me, I never saw anybody like this gent.' Rather a facer, wasn't it, sir?"

"It was undoubtedly." Stoddart's 直面する had altered. He was frowning, biting the end of the pencil with which he had been making 公式文書，認めるs of what Harbord told him. "Did you ask her any more?"

"Yes. I questioned her as to what the Mr. Ellerby who had stayed there was like. But I didn't get much out of her. She said he looked older than the Ellerby of the photograph, older and whiter—not a bit like him anyway."

"Older and whiter," the 視察官 repeated 星／主役にするing at Harbord in a puzzled fashion. "Still, people do alter, you know."

"But the girl was very 肯定的な that this was not, could not have been, their Ellerby, whom she 述べるd as more or いっそう少なく of an 無効の, rarely going out."

"Did she really?" the 視察官 drummed with his fingers on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. "井戸／弁護士席, I think I will have another こども while I think 事柄s over. Can you get 持つ／拘留する of this child again?"

Harbord smiled. "I thought of that. She is only a day girl, but she has to be at Mrs. Johnson's by eight o'clock in the morning and she stays there till eight o'clock or after at night. She gets an hour or two off on a Sunday afternoon, and that is her only recreation, poor kid."

The 視察官 rose and took a turn or two up and 負かす／撃墜する.

"井戸／弁護士席, there is nothing else to be done; you will have to 会合，会う this girl going to work to-morrow morning."

"To-morrow morning? That won't be losing much time."

"No, and there isn't much to be lost," the 視察官 said with a curious ちらりと見ること at the young man's 直面する. "I will give you another photograph and you must see whether she can 認める it."

"She was so very 限定された about this one that really I don't think it is much use trying her with another," Harbord said doubtfully.

"No," assented the 視察官. "But suppose—just suppose—that it is not a photograph of the same man!"

CHAPTER 21

"It is 必然的な!" 視察官 Stoddart said, and there was no faintest 影をつくる／尾行する of 産する／生じるing in his トン.

The 経営者／支配人 of Stormount's stood a minute 星／主役にするing at the 視察官's card. At last he looked up.

"It is 極端に ぎこちない. I don't see how it is to be managed in the circumstances."

"It must be managed," the 視察官 said emphatically. "Surely you frequently engage fresh waiters?"

"自然に. But our waiters don't get much chance of seeing Se?r Jaime da Dominiguez. His meals are served in the dining-room of Lady Burslem's 控訴; and he, 同様に as Lady Burslem when she takes her meals there, is waited upon by Lady Burslem's own maid."

"Isn't that rather 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の?" Stoddart questioned.

The 経営者／支配人 shrugged his shoulders.

"It may be; we are used to all sorts of eccentricities on the part of our guests. I don't know that I have given it a second thought."

"Lady Burslem herself dines downstairs in the public room, I think you said?"

"いつかs—not always. I made 調査s, as you 願望（する）d, and find that Lady Burslem has not dined out since coming to the hotel. Either she has remained in her own rooms or dined at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する d'hote. She has received no 訪問者s that I have been able to trace, except her father Lord Carlford, 行方不明になる Burslem, Mrs. Aubrey イルカ twice, and Mrs. James Burslem. The last-指名するd lady comes most days. Of course there have been other people connected with the late Sir John's 商売／仕事."

"And Lady Burslem does not go out." Stoddart frowned.

"Her ladyship's 指示／教授／教育s when she （機の）カム were that she was only in town for a few days on important 商売／仕事, and that nobody was to be 認める to her without an 任命. Every day of course, as you probably know, she goes 負かす／撃墜する to Sir John's 商売／仕事 place."

The 視察官 pricked up his ears.

"What time does she go?"

"Almost always, but not invariably, in the morning. Occasionally she goes 負かす／撃墜する after lunch 同様に."

"And the 長官 remains upstairs, 取引，協定ing with her correspondence?" the 視察官 said incredulously.

"He remains upstairs certainly," the 経営者／支配人 assented. "によれば her ladyship's maid, 'He 令状—令状 all day.' This piece of （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） she gave to one of the chambermaids and I happened やめる accidentally to overhear it."

The 視察官 thought for a moment. "As far as I can see the waiter is the best 計画（する） I can think of. He must make a mistake and get into the room."

The 経営者／支配人 looked distinctly …に反対するd to this suggestion.

"I really don't think I can 許す—"

The 視察官 held up his 手渡す. "The 責任／義務 is 地雷, not yours. As for not 許すing, that card"—pointing to the one in the 経営者／支配人's 手渡す—"is your 当局."

The other man took a few steps up and 負かす／撃墜する as far as the 狭くする 限定するs of his office would 許す.

"I understand that fully, and also that I have no choice in the 事柄. But this and 類似の hotels in Paris and Brussels are the 所有物／資産／財産 of a 企業連合（する）. I hope you will speak for me should my 行為／行う come up before my 委員会."

"I don't think it is likely to do so," Stoddart 観察するd comfortingly. "But, should anything be said to me, I will of course 耐える 証言 to your 完全にする innocence in the 事柄."

The 経営者／支配人 did not look 満足させるd, but he perforce had to remain silent.

The 視察官 took his leave with a 約束 to return in the morning—a 約束 which the 経営者／支配人 received with a 抑えるd groan.

The 残り／休憩（する） of the evening passed in making a few changes in the 視察官's 外見 and in a 雑談（する） with Harbord, who called for the photograph he was to show to Mrs. Johnson's slavey in the morning.

The 視察官 made him sit 負かす／撃墜する. There was a light of 抑えるd 勝利 in his 注目する，もくろむs that his subordinates knew 井戸／弁護士席.

"I fancy I shall want you to-morrow for special 義務. 報告（する）／憶測 at the Yard on your return from Fountain Street, and wait there until you receive my 指示／教授／教育s."

Harbord looked surprised and 極端に curious.

"Any fresh 発見s, sir?"

"Nothing but trifles 確認するing what I have 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd all along," the 視察官 said slowly. "Straws that show how the 勝利，勝つd blows."

Harbord sat up, his 倍のd 武器 on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and gazed at his superior. The 視察官 looked 支援する at him, the suggestion of a smile on his closely 倍のd lips.

"I have always felt that you had some very 限定された 疑惑 with regard to the 殺害者 in the Burslem 事例／患者," Harbord said at last. "But though the Burslem Mystery has intrigued me more than any 事例／患者 I have ever heard of, though I have puzzled over it by day and dreamed of it by night, I 港／避難所't been able to think of any explanation that seems at once natural and feasible."

"No, I suppose not." The 視察官 sat 支援する in his 議長，司会を務める and leaned his 長，率いる on the 最高の，を越す, his 肘s supported on the 武器 of his 議長，司会を務める, his fingers joined together at the tips. "Have you ever gone over the data on which you had to work 権利 from the beginning, putting each fact in its proper place and giving each happening, however small, its own significance?"

"井戸／弁護士席, I don't know," Harbord said, his gaze still 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on the 視察官. "Put like that, perhaps I 港／避難所't. Not in words anyhow. Though, upon my word, I don't see how the veriest trifle can have escaped me. The only theory I have ever formed is that of impersonation, and that you—"

"Meaning?" the 視察官 interjected. "Put it into words, lad."

Harbord hesitated a moment.

"井戸／弁護士席, 概略で speaking, I have asked myself whether it could be possible that some man, some lover of Lady Burslem's—not, I think, Stanyard—met the Burslem car by 協定 with Lady Burslem at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd, that Sir John was 発射 and thrown into the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する, and that his 殺害者, who had 以前 been made up to 似ている his 犠牲者, （機の）カム 支援する with Lady Burslem, 調印するd the will, or produced one already 調印するd, managed to deceive the servants and then かもしれない thinking that at the garage he might be 認めるd and asked inconvenient questions took the car to that parking ground 近づく the river.

"What became of him afterwards?" the 視察官 questioned 突然の.

Harbord shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I suppose—the only thing I can think of is that he is keeping dark until a decent interval has elapsed and he can marry the 未亡人."

"And Ellerby?" Stoddart snapped out.

"I suppose he knew too much and was got rid of," Harbord hazarded.

There followed a pause. Both men sat silent for a minute or two. Then Stoddart leaned 今後 and clapped Harbord on the shoulder.

"Good for you, my boy! But utterly untenable from start to finish. In the first place, the most rigorous 調査 has failed to discover the slightest trace of any old lover of Lady Burslem's except Stanyard. And he was not disguised when he left Epsom. I should say it would have to be a very clever chap who could so disguise himself—sitting in his car—that he could deceive Sir John's servants, even his 信用d valet Ellerby."

"But don't you see that that is the point?" Harbord interrupted. "I don't think Ellerby was deceived. I fancy he either pretended to be just at the time or else he was in the 陰謀（を企てる） at the beginning."

"Wrong, wrong all through. Though, mind you, the theory is 井戸／弁護士席 推論する／理由d out, and does you credit. But, now, let us look at the facts." The 視察官 fidgeted about の中で his notebooks. "We will begin with what we know—surmises can follow later. Sir John and Lady Burslem, to all 外見s the best of friends, start out after dinner in a two-seater driven by Sir John himself to Epsom, to Harker's stables to see Sir John's colt Peep o' Day, which is 推定する／予想するd to 勝利，勝つ the Derby the next day. They leave the car some little distance from the stables, why, I don't know, and appear to have met several 知識s and talked to them. They leave Epsom about half-past twelve, and we know nothing more 限定された about their movements until they reach 15 Porthwick Square just after two o'clock.

"They leave the car outside, and come into the house, Sir John carrying his light overcoat over his arm. James is sent to 召喚する Ellerby, finding him in his room, you 観察する. The two men then 証言，証人／目撃する Sir John's 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の will. Sir John goes out to the car and now wears a dark overcoat. Her ladyship, によれば James, remains in the library with Ellerby. James himself goes to bed. But Sir John doesn't take the car to the garage. Instead he, or some one singularly like him, 運動s it to a parking ground in South London. Another car driven by a woman is brought on next. This woman is 観察するd by the parking ground attendant suspiciously 近づく the Burslem car, and she then bustles away after Sir John. Nothing more is known of Sir John or his movements. But about 7.30 a message is received at 15 Porthwick Square 説 that Sir John is believed to have met with an 事故 at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd. I am also 召喚するd, 存在 知らせるd that a 団体／死体 believed to be that of Sir John Burslem has been 設立する in a 溝へはまらせる／不時着する at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd.

"We are on the scene before Ellerby, and I identify the dead man as, to the best of my belief, Sir John Burslem, with whom I am わずかに 熟知させるd. Ellerby's 身元確認，身分証明 is more 肯定的な and is followed by that of Sir John's doctor and solicitor. The 団体／死体 is in evening-dress, everything 示すd with Sir John's 初期のs, but the 団体／死体, 示す this, wears no overcoat, and at the time no trace of either dark or light overcoat can be 設立する. Two questions 直面する us now: what made Sir John go 支援する to Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd, and who put the light overcoat, stained with 血, under the thrall in the cellar at 15 Porthwick Square?"

"It seems to me that both questions are answered by my theory of impersonation," Harbord broke in 熱望して. "If Sir John had been 殺人d and his impersonator returned to Porthwick Square carrying his overcoat and after he had gone, finding it 示すd with 血, it was hidden where we 設立する it later, by Lady Burslem or the impersonator."

The 視察官 got up, and leaning against the mantelpiece regarded Harbord fixedly for a minute or two. Then he said:

"Good for you, my lad. But remember this—nothing is more 致命的な than a preconceived theory. You will find yourself trying to make every happening fit into it; instead, take your happenings and form your theory to fit them. For instance, that will of Sir John's was written in his own handwriting, as is 証言するd to by his solicitor, his friends and, last but not least, the 専門家s. The 令状ing may be a little hurried, but さもなければ it is in his handwriting. That is a bit of a 行き詰まり，妨げる for you, Alfred."

Harbord looked crest-fallen, but he was not inclined to give way at once.

"Handwriting may be (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進むd," he said 静かに.

The 視察官 raised his eyebrows. "Your impersonator must be a pretty 冷静な／正味の 顧客 if after having committed a 特に 冷淡な-血d 殺人 he could make himself up to 代表する his 犠牲者, 運動 支援する to town and then have his 手渡す 安定した enough to (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進む that will. Not only the 署名, mind, but the 団体／死体 of the will was all in the same 令状ing."

"I know," Harbord said, his トン growing more mystified. "But if I had any idea what you were working on, sir—"

"You shall have very soon," the 視察官 約束d. "Shall I tell you something, Harbord? To-morrow—yes, I think I may say to-morrow afternoon I shall want your help to 逮捕（する） the 殺害者 in the Burslem 事例／患者."

"The—the 殺害者?" Harbord stammered. "視察官, I have no idea who—"

Stoddart put his 手渡す on the younger man's shoulder.

"I know you have not, my boy, and I know you feel aggrieved that I have not taken you into my 信用／信任 before; but it is one of those 事例／患者s in which the veriest breath may blow away in a moment everything one has been trying to build up. Even now tomorrow's 逮捕（する） is only a 可能性, not a certainty. A 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 depends upon you."

"Upon me!" Harbord echoed in amazed accents.

"Upon you," Stoddart 確認するd. He took a 調印（する）d envelope from his breast pocket and 手渡すd it to his subordinate. "Take that with you to Fountain Street when you go to 会合，会う your slavey friend tomorrow. I 信用 to your honour not to break the 調印（する） until then. You will find that it 含む／封じ込めるs the photograph I 約束d you. Just ask her whether it is a photograph of the man she knew as Mr. Ellerby, Mrs. Johnson's brother."

Harbord drew a long breath as he put the photograph carefully in his pocket-調書をとる／予約する.

"Yes, sir. And then—"

"And then," said the 視察官 with his slight, curious smile, "make your way 支援する to the Yard as soon as you can and wait for me and for 開発s."

CHAPTER 22

The new waiter at Stormount's was a smartlooking man. The 長，率いる waiter gazed at him curiously as he 報告（する）／憶測d after breakfast. But the new-comer appeared to be in no way anxious to 避ける his 義務s and 証明するd himself やめる an adept in the art of （疑いを）晴らすing away, balancing trays and plates and dishes with the 技術 of a professional juggler. He was making remarkably good 進歩 from the waiter's point of 見解（をとる）, when the 経営者／支配人 made an 予期しない 外見. He did not ちらりと見ること at any of the astonished 直面するs as he passed, but stopped momentarily beside the new man.

"The car is ordered in a ４半期/4分の1 of an hour to take her ladyship to the city."

"権利, sir." The man went on with his （疑いを）晴らすing up, but in a minute or two he slipped 静かに and unobtrusively away, and one of the others, looking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する for the new waiter, 星／主役にするd in bewilderment when he 設立する that he had 明らかに disappeared.

Stoddart went upstairs in the 解除する and reached the 回廊（地帯） into which Lady Burslem's 控訴 opened, just as she （機の）カム out. He stood aside with an 絶対 impassive 直面する and she passed him without a ちらりと見ること.

He waited until she had entered the 解除する and then went on and tried the door. It opened at once, but as he stepped in the French maid （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する the passage dangling the 重要な in her 手渡す.

"Vot are you doing 'ere?" she began. "Milady, she is all of most particular zat no one shall come in her apartments wizout sounding ze bell. And 'ere I find you walking as if vot is it you say—all de place belong to you."

Marie's dark grey 注目する，もくろむs made very 効果的な play under her 黒人／ボイコット 攻撃するs as she spoke.

The 視察官 gazed at her admiringly.

"Her ladyship could not keep your admirers out if they knew you were here."

"My admirers!" Marie repeated with a giggle. "But I 'ave not such t'ings—me!"

The 視察官 laid his 手渡す on his heart. "You have one anyway." he said gallantly. "But you will get me into trouble with the 経営者／支配人, mademoiselle, if your beautiful 注目する，もくろむs keep me from my work. The 経営者／支配人 has sent me—"

"My beautiful 注目する，もくろむs!" interjected Marie. "But you are ze bad man, monsieur."

"It is you that are making me so then," the waiter 答える／応じるd. "But now, mademoiselle, there is something wrong with the electric light. I have got to 実験（する） all the switches and so I must be getting on. See you again when I come out, mademoiselle."

"Oh, vell, I do not know," Marie said with a pout as he passed her. "I do not wait 注ぐ les messieurs—moi." She 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd her 長，率いる as she went on and locked the door. "Now you will 'ave to say to me ven you want to go out," she said apostrophizing Stoddart's 支援する as he went into Lady Burslem's sitting-room. "He is not young, zat one," she said to herself, "but he is 勇敢に立ち向かう homme and he has ze gay 'eart—ze very gay 'eart."

一方／合間 Stoddart 設立する Lady Burslem's sitting-room empty, but there was a door on the opposite 味方する by which he entered, and he knew that it opened into the room Lady Burslem used for her work and where she gave 指示／教授／教育s to her 長官. He turned the 扱う. The door was latched, but not locked or bolted.

He 押し進めるd it open and entered, then stopped as if surprised when he saw the room was tenanted. A dark, foreign-looking man was sitting at the 令状ing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する すぐに opposite the door. He looked up as he heard the sound.

"This room is 私的な," he said 静かに. "No one at all is 許すd to come in."

"I am very sorry, sare." And now it was noticeable that the new waiter spoke with a distinctly foreign accent. But his keen 注目する，もくろむs were taking in every 詳細（に述べる） of the foreign 長官's 外見—the dark, abundant hair, the dark 注目する，もくろむs of which he got just one glimpse before Se?r da Dominiguez put on a pair of horn-rimmed spectacles that were lying on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する beside him, the dark 耐えるd streaked with grey and the 正規の／正選手 features that looked as if they had been 精製するd and pointed by illness.

"It ees ze 経営者／支配人 zat is to 非難する," the 侵入者 went on volubly. "It ees he who sent me, de lights"—pointing to the electric globes—"went all what you call wrong last night. And because dat ees what you call my 職業, I have to go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する every room in ze hotel, and see dat it ees 権利."

"It is やめる 権利 here," the 長官 said, regarding the waiter fixedly. "That is all, I 推定する. Have you seen what you want?" with a wave of his 手渡す to the open door.

"Yes, sare. Thank you, sare." The new waiter retired, 屈服するing and muttering 混乱させるd, inaudible thanks.

He did not 試みる／企てる to look at the electric light in the other room, not even that in which Marie was 熱望して を待つing him, but using his 重要なs he opened the door into the 回廊（地帯）, and turning away from the 解除する he spoke a few hurried words to a man, 明らかに a workman, who was engaged in …に出席するing to the sashline of the nearest window.

Downstairs Stoddart went straight to the 経営者／支配人's room, where he 設立する that functionary を待つing him, anxious, perturbed and more than a little wrathful.

"I hope you are 満足させるd, 視察官?" he began.

Stoddart looked him 厳粛に in the 直面する.

"満足させるd that 事柄s are as I thought. I understand that her ladyship will be home to lunch?"

"Usually she is, not invariably."

The 経営者／支配人's 直面する had whitened visibly.

"井戸／弁護士席, we must have patience an hour or two longer if she is not. You have seen to it that the 私的な telephone is disconnected. And the men will be 駅／配置するd as I have directed. All of them will show my red check."

"Yes, yes. All your 指示／教授／教育s will be carried out. But, once more, I must 控訴，上告 to you. Is it really necessary that this—this"—he paused as if searching for a word—"this 事件／事情／状勢 should take place here?"

The 視察官 looked at him.

"絶対. Can't you see for yourself that no other course is possible? I must （犯罪の）一味 up the Yard without 延期する; but perhaps I had better go to a public office. In the 合間, no one but Lady Burslem and anybody with her is to enter her rooms. Should any 報知係s come, they all—含むing Mrs. James Burslem and 行方不明になる Burslem—are to be told that Lady Burslem is not receiving to-day. After Lady Burslem has returned no one is to be 許すd to leave her 控訴 until you hear from me. My men will see to this, but it will be necessary for you to give the orders to your own staff. You understand that the hotel is surrounded and every 出口 guarded. The 前線 door into the lounge is the only one through which 訪問者s will be 許すd to pass unquestioned. So it will probably be 同様に to make 確かな that the others are not used."

The 経営者／支配人 groaned. "It is terrible, terrible. I rely upon you, 視察官, to carry the whole 事件／事情／状勢 out as 静かに and as expeditiously as possible."

"You may rely upon me," the 視察官 told him.

He waited for no more, but went quickly to the nearest call office and rang up his own department at Scotland Yard. Then he asked for Harbord.

"I have decided that I must stay here," he said, when he got on. "Join me at once and ask for Miles Rashton."

He went 支援する to Stormount's and waited, his sharp 注目する，もくろむs scanning the 直面するs of the （人が）群がる of guests. Then when he thought Harbord was about 予定, he went outside and walked up and 負かす／撃墜する on the opposite 味方する of the street, keeping 一方／合間 a sharp look-out on all who went in and out of the hotel and on one of his own men who was 占領するd 明らかに on a little 職業 at the street lamp. He had timed Harbord 井戸／弁護士席. He had not been out five minutes when a taxi drove up with his assistant. Harbord's usually pale 直面する was 紅潮／摘発するd this morning. His 注目する，もくろむs were 有望な and excited as he sprang out and joined the 視察官.

"I met the slavey, sir, and showed her the photograph. She thinks it is that of Mr. Ellerby."

The 視察官 looked a trifle disappointed. "She is not sure?"

"井戸／弁護士席, she did not seem やめる 確かな , sir. She said it was like him, but that when he was with Mrs. Johnson he was growing a 耐えるd and his 直面する always looked rough. And he was whiter than the man in that photograph."

"Oh!" The 視察官 ちらりと見ることd at him. "Did you see it yourself?"

"Yes.'' Harbord nodded, 注目する，もくろむing his superior 熱心に.

"Did you 認める it?"

"I think so, though there were a good many—alterations."

"And you were surprised?"

"I was never so amazed in my life."

"And the Burslem Mystery is a mystery no longer to you?" the 視察官 went on.

"I would not say that, sir," Harbord dissented. "In some ways it seems to me more mysterious than ever. But this main fact is so stupendous, so 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の that—that—井戸／弁護士席, I hardly seem to have しっかり掴むd that yet. How did you discover it, sir?"

"Really, I hardly know." The 視察官 looked even a little puzzled himself. "I think the vaguest 疑惑 of it flashed across my mind in that first minute at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd. I really think it must have been intuition. Then a succession of the veriest trifles seemed to 確認する my theory. Straws which show which way the 勝利，勝つd blows, you know."

Harbord coughed. "I wish they had shown me which way it was blowing."

"井戸／弁護士席, my lad, you can't be 権利 every time," the 視察官 観察するd comfortingly. "Remember that North Withers 事例／患者. You were perfectly marvellous there. And you have done some real good spade-work in this Burslem 事件／事情／状勢. I would sooner have you at my 味方する than any man I know."

"You are very good, sir." And Harbord looked intensely gratified at this 尊敬の印 from his 長，指導者. "I suppose the—the 逮捕（する） is to be made this morning. I heard at the Yard that some of our best men were 詳細（に述べる）d for special 義務 to-day."

"The 逮捕（する） or 逮捕（する）s may be made any minute now," the 視察官 said, his 注目する，もくろむs never relaxing their watch over the 入り口 to the hotel. "I am 単に waiting for her ladyship to return from 商売／仕事. I had to let her go before I was 確かな of my facts, but I thought she would have been 支援する again before this. I only hope nothing has occurred to 警告する her. Of course we might have followed her to the City. But, as I could not be in two places at once, I thought it better to wait here and get the whole thing over at one fell 急襲する. Oh, by Jove, there she is, and the last woman on earth I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see with her!"

To Harbord's amusement he 素早い行動d out of sight behind a waiting taxi and watched as a car drove up with Lady Burslem inside, and Mrs. Jimmy sitting next her in luxurious 緩和する.

The car drew up at the lounge 入り口 and both ladies got out. The commissionaire threw open the glass swing doors and they passed in. The 視察官 rubbed his handkerchief across his heated brows.

"My hat! Who would have thought of this? There'll be the devil to 支払う／賃金! Just find out what they are doing, Alfred—whether they are staying in the lounge."

Harbord went to 調査／捜査する and returned with the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） that neither of the ladies was to be seen, and that having interviewed the 解除する man he was able to 報告（する）／憶測 that both had gone up to Lady Burslem's rooms.

The 視察官 drew a 深い breath.

"井戸／弁護士席, 井戸／弁護士席, it can't be helped. We must put a bold 直面する upon it. Come along, Alfred. You have the darbies, of course?"

By way of answer Harbord put his 手渡す in his over-coat pocket and just let the 視察官 catch the gleam of 有望な metal. Then he dropped his 手渡す with a clink of chains.

CHAPTER 23

The 探偵，刑事s passed in through the lounge. And it was noticeable as they got in the 解除する that a couple of men who had been taking a cup of coffee together 近づく the door followed them, while two others went quickly up the stairs at the 味方する.

For a moment the 経営者／支配人 appeared under the archway that was the 入り口 to the larger dining room. His 直面する was white, his 注目する，もくろむs were dark with 恐れる as he looked after them. Altogether he might have stood for a 悲劇の 人物／姿／数字 of despair.

Two men in plain 着せる／賦与するs were standing in the passage 主要な to Lady Burslem's rooms. As the 視察官 knocked at the door the two who had walked upstairs joined them breathlessly.

The door was opened 公正に／かなり quickly by the French maid. Her 直面する brightened as she saw the 視察官.

"Ah! It ees you," she began, then, as she caught sight of the men behind him, she broke off; her smiles 消えるd. "But it ees impossible dat you can come in now. Milady, she 'as just come in and she is ver' angry dat I let you look at de electric before. She say she will have no workmen in her rooms at all. And she is going to 令状 to ze 経営者／支配人."

"やめる the best thing she can do," the 視察官 said equably. "But I am not after 修理s this time, mademoiselle. I must see her ladyship at once and also Se?r Jaime da Dominiguez."

"You cannot see Milady. I have told you dat she will not 'ave me let you in. Also de Se?r. Nevaire, nevaire will he see anyone or go out. You cannot come in, monsieur," giving the door a little angry shake in an endeavour to shut it as the 視察官 put his foot inside.

"No use, mademoiselle," the 視察官 said 堅固に.

He took her 手渡す from the door, and 押し進めるd it wide, then beckoned to Harbord and two of the other men to follow. Marie 星／主役にするd at them with wide-open 注目する，もくろむs.

In the first room he （機の）カム to, he heard the sound of 発言する／表明するs, both of them familiar—Lady Burslem's and Mrs. Jimmy's. He heard the echo of the latter's loud laugh. He hesitated 近づく the door for a moment, then 調印するd to the two men behind to （問題を）取り上げる their position outside it, while he and Harbord went on to the next. He tried the 扱う, but the door was locked. Then he knocked loudly on the パネル盤 with his 明らかにする knuckles. There was silence for a minute, then a man's 深い 発言する／表明する with a Spanish accent, the one the 視察官 had heard earlier in the day, said in （疑いを）晴らす トンs:

"Who's there? No one can come in here."

The 視察官's answer was to knock again louder than before.

"Open at once!" he ordered. "Or we break 負かす／撃墜する the door."

Another silence, then footsteps were heard crossing the room, the door was 打ち明けるd and a tall, gaunt man stood 直面するing them, his 支援する to the light.

"What is the meaning of this 侵入占拠? Who are you?" he asked; and it was noticeable that there was no trace of any foreign accent; the 発言する／表明する was 完全に English now.

"I am 探偵，刑事 視察官 Stoddart of Scotland Yard," the 視察官 began, then he drew a paper from his pocket.

"I thought as much," the man in the doorway said 静かに. "The man to …に出席する to the electric light too, are you not? I have been 推定する／予想するing this visit. Will you come in?" He moved away from the door.

The 視察官 and Harbord stepped inside.

"You know my errand. I 逮捕（する） you, John 勝利者 Burslem, 偽名，通称 Jaime da Dominiguez, for the 殺人 of your brother James Burslem on June 3rd last at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd. And it is my 義務 to 警告する you that anything you say in answer to the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 will be taken 負かす／撃墜する and may be used in 証拠 against you."

He made an almost imperceptible 調印する to Harbord, and in another moment the younger man with the dexterity of long practice had snapped the 手錠s on the 長官's thin wrists.

"Was this necessary?" the 囚人 said reproachfully. "I shall not 試みる／企てる to escape."

"I think it is necessary," the 視察官 returned grimly. "As for the 残り／休憩（する）, there is more than one way of escape, you know, Sir John."

There was a faint smile on Sir John's 直面する.

"I know. But I shall not try them, 視察官. I wonder whether you will believe me when I tell you that I am rather glad to see you to-day? Life has been intolerable since—since that 3rd of June. I should have given myself up long ago, but for my dear wife's sake."

As the last word left his lips the door on the opposite 味方する opened and Lady Burslem looked in.

"Are you there, Se?r da Dominiguez? There is some copying to be done about that 移転. And I want you to—"

"Not to do any more 令状ing, I hope, my dear," Sir John said with the same sad smile. "Sophie dear, this is the end. You have done everything that a woman could and more than I せねばならない have let you. Be 勇敢に立ち向かう for a few weeks longer, and then your life can be lived in the open again."

Lady Burslem stood like a statue during this speech. Every 減少（する） of colour ebbed slowly from cheeks and lips. Then like an avenging fury she sprang between her husband and his captors.

"You shall not! You shall not! I tell you—"

"Sophie!" Sir John made a 動議 as though he would have caught her in his 武器 but for his manacled wrists. "We can do nothing but 服従させる／提出する to the 必然的な." Then he turned to Stoddart again.

"Take me away, please. This is getting more than either of us can stand."

ちらりと見ることing at Harbord, Stoddart made a 調印する to the door behind. With one last ぐずぐず残る look at his wife, Sir John Burslem went with his captors.

"The 味方する-door. You will 会合，会う no one. I have arranged for that," Stoddart said 静かに, as they passed.

Lady Burslem did not speak. She had slipped 支援する against the 塀で囲む, 星／主役にするing at the 探偵，刑事.

Stoddart looked at her with pity.

"I do not suppose you will believe me, Lady Burslem; but I am more sorry to do what I have to do now than I can say."

Lady Burslem made no reply though her 注目する，もくろむs followed the 探偵，刑事's every movement. He （機の）カム 近づく her and spoke in a slow, gentle 発言する／表明する.

"Sophie Charlotte Ann Burslem, I 逮捕（する） you as an 従犯者 after the fact to the 殺人 of his brother James Burslem by your husband John 勝利者 Burslem. And it is my 義務 to tell you that anything you say will be taken 負かす／撃墜する in 令状ing and may be used in 証拠 against you."

Lady Burslem made no reply. Her 注目する，もくろむs looked straight at him with a glassy, unnatural 星／主役にする.

The 視察官 waited awhile then he touched the electric bell. When the maid appeared he said:

"Will you put just a few things such as her ladyship will need for one night in a 控訴-事例／患者, please, mademoiselle."

The maid 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd her 長，率いる, her cheeks were red, and her 注目する，もくろむs looked 支援する at him defiantly.

"Ees it zat you tink I take orders from you, monsieur?"

Then at last Lady Burslem spoke:

"Please put the things together. I shall need enough for a week-end visit, Marie. Later I will send for them, and for now I shall take just the things I shall need for the night, as monsieur says."

"Oui, milady." Marie looked at her, pointedly turning her 支援する to Stoddart. "And for me, milady, do I come wiz you?"

"Certainly not!" Lady Burslem was pulling herself together now. Her 発言する／表明する was so 抑制するd and 冷静な／正味の that the 視察官 ちらりと見ることd at her with 是認. "Bring me my 黒人／ボイコット pull-on hat and my 黒人／ボイコット marocain coat, now. And then—you can go on with the lace you are mending. You will find another piece that wants doing on the shelf in the wardrobe."

Marie disappeared in search of the 要求するd 衣料品s and very soon 再現するd with them. As soon as she had put them on her mistress and 手渡すd her her gloves and fur stole, she burst out:

"And me, milady, when you are gone and Se?r da Dominiguez, what am I to do?"

"Stay here," Lady Burslem said decidedly. "I will let you know when I make any fresh 計画（する）s, and where you can join me. Now, 視察官, I am ready."

"I have a 私的な car at a 味方する-door, if you will kindly come this way. I thought you would prefer it."

The 視察官 led the way to the 権利 to the same 入り口 by which Sir John and Harbord had already left.

As they reached the door of the 解除する there （機の）カム a 悲劇の interruption—a loud 発言する／表明する for once （判決などを）下すd unsteady by 涙／ほころびs.

"Where are you going, Sophie? Where is this—man—this brute taking you?"

"To 刑務所，拘置所," Lady Burslem said 静かに. "He—he says I helped to 殺人 your husband. Never mind, Kitty. It does not 事柄. Nothing 事柄s now."

"Indeed, it does 事柄," Mrs. Jimmy 否定するd noisily. "It is a vile thing—a wicked thing. You that are as innocent as a child unborn. And you, sir"—turning with a vicious fury to Stoddart—"what sort of a man do you call yourself? A cheat—a coward—a—a—"

The 視察官's 注目する，もくろむs fell shamefacedly before hers. But he touched the bell for the 解除する.

"I am sorry, but I have no time for more this morning."

"You will hear some more, though," Mrs. Jimmy raved as the 解除する （機の）カム up.

The 視察官 moved aside to let Lady Burslem pass in and stepped in after her. Then he 閉めだした the 入り口 with his arm until the door was の近くにd.

"I cannot 許す anyone else to come in. Later on, you will be 許すd to see Lady Burslem if she wishes it."

"Yes, yes! I will see you later," Lady Burslem said feverishly. "You have been very 肉親，親類d, Kitty. I shall not forget."

CHAPTER 24

It was the room in which 囚人s were 許すd to see their friends, a long （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する ran 負かす／撃墜する the middle and at each end stood a warder. At one 味方する Pamela Burslem was sitting on a 訪問者s' 議長，司会を務める, her 長，率いる bent on her 手渡すs, her shoulders shaken by 乾燥した，日照りの, bitter sobs. Her small, piquant 直面する was disfigured by 示すs of 最近の weeping, but she was not crying now. Instead, her 注目する，もくろむs were hard and 有望な, though her whole でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる was shaken by those hard, tearless sobs. On the other 味方する of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する of 分割 Sir John Burslem was standing, that tall, gaunt 人物／姿／数字 of a man with the thin, yellowing 直面する that was like and yet so unlike the father Pamela had known and loved all her life.

"Pam, my child, you must be 勇敢に立ち向かう," he was 説 in the 発言する／表明する that was the one thing that seemed unaltered to Pamela.

Pamela made a desperate 試みる／企てる to 安定した herself, but those racking sobs still shook her.

"Can you ever 許す me? Never—never shall I 許す—never can I forget—"

"許す you, child?" Sir John put out his 手渡す as though to lay it on her 長，率いる; then with a ちらりと見ること at the warders drew it 支援する. "It is I who should ask your forgiveness, dear," he said gently. "When I think of all the worry and the 苦しむing I have brought upon you and Sophie, I feel as if I should never 許す myself." Then Pamela raised her 長，率いる. "Was it fair, dad? You let—her—know, and you let me go on thinking—" Another of those sobs choked her utterance.

"My dear child." Her father's 注目する，もくろむs were 十分な of pity; his 発言する／表明する was very gentle. "It was not a question of my letting Sophie know. 運命／宿命—運命／宿命 brought her into my terrible secret. But you—you were too young. I could not 影をつくる／尾行する your young life. I thought—I hoped you might never know it. It was too appalling a 重荷（を負わせる） to be 株d by a young girl—a child almost."

"Lady Burslem is not very much older," Pamela murmured resentfully.

"My poor Sophie—no!" Sir John said tenderly. "Pam, remember that whatever happens you must be good to Sophie. She has been faithful to me, 充てるd to me, as I 堅固に believe no other woman on earth would have been or ever has been to the man she loved. For my sake she has given up the world. I leave her as a sacred 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 to you, Pam."

Pamela looked at him for a minute in silence. Then, as some sense of his meaning 夜明けd upon her, every 減少（する） of colour drained slowly from her 直面する.

"Dad, oh, dad! You can't—it can't—"

The 長，率いる warder, who in pity had been looking away from the girl's agonized 直面する, now made a 調印する to Sir John.

"Time is up, sir."

Sir John looked almost relieved, though the 悲しみ in his 注目する，もくろむs was ever 深くするing. "Go now, my dear child. You shall see me again before long. And 許す your most unhappy father. Good-bye, my little Pam."

Two warders moved に向かって him. One stood 支援する and held the door open for Pamela. But the girl waited, looking after Sir John, a world of longing in her 注目する，もくろむs.

"Dad!" she whispered brokenly.

Then groping for the 塀で囲む and the door like a blind woman, she helped herself along to the passage outside where Stanyard and Wilmer were waiting for her. Stanyard took her bodily in his 武器 and half carried her to the waiting car.

The Burslem Mystery was the talk of London. In the first place, it had excited the popular imagination as no 殺人 事例／患者 of 最近の years had done. Ellerby's 見えなくなる had intrigued the public and had 強めるd the horror of the 殺人, and 最近の 開発s had raised popular excitement to fever 高さ. The daily papers were 十分な of it. 版 after 版 was sold out and the wildest rumours were 現在の. When Sir John and Lady Burslem had appeared at the police 法廷，裁判所, not only was the 法廷，裁判所 thronged, so that even standing-room was impossible, but the enormous （人が）群がる that had gathered outside was larger than anything ever seen in that part of London.

Nothing but formal 証拠 of 逮捕（する） was taken that first time, and the 事例／患者 was 延期，休会するd for a week to give the police time to 完全にする their 調査s and the Burslems time to 準備する their defence. In the 合間 the public was 心配するing the 広げるing of a story as 劇の, as 吸収するing in its human 利益／興味 as anything that had ever appeared upon the boards.

視察官 Stoddart had been 温かく congratulated by his superiors on his successful 扱うing of the 事例／患者. This evening, however, as he sat in his 私的な office there was no 勝利 in his 直面する, only a 広大な／多数の／重要な sadness. Harbord, sitting opposite, had just come in to 表明する his 賞賛 for his superior's acumen and was surprised and puzzled by his 歓迎会.

"When I think of that poor, little woman's pluck and her devotion to her husband, how she has planned and 計画／陰謀d to guard and save him, and then remember how I have 追跡（する）d her, I do not feel proud. I can only think of her despair."

"But, after all, you have to think of the other man," Harbord 反対するd. "From all accounts he was much 利益／興味d in his life and his 調査するing work. Why should his brother shoot him? And then there is Mrs. James to consider."

"Pwf!" The 視察官 snapped his fingers. "That is all that Mrs. James would care. But now Sir John has made a 声明 in which he says that his brother, who had evidently been waiting for him, stopped his car at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd and attacked him, reproaching him with having advised the sale of some 株 which, low then, went up enormously later. And he had discovered that Sir John had bought the 株 himself and その為に made what to James Burslem would have been やめる a fortune. He had professed himself 不満な with his brother's advice on several occasions before, and this seemed to have put the lid on it. He had always been a man of violent temper, and he 急ぐd at Sir John, stick in 手渡す, and violently 強襲，強姦d him. Sir John defended himself. Then James Burslem produced a ピストル; Sir John tried to snatch it and managed to get 持つ／拘留する of it.

"He 宣言するs that he had not the slightest 意向 of using it against his brother, that he did not even know it was 負担d, but in the scuffle it went off, and James Burslem fell 支援する dead. Sir John was horrified, at what he had done and tried this best to 回復する his brother—in vain. Both he and Lady Burslem got 完全に panicky. Of course he was a perfect fool. He せねばならない have gone at once to the police and given himself up that night—probably would have 減ずるd the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 to 過失致死, though the 株 商売／仕事 was a 汚い 行き詰まり，妨げる.

"The idea of impersonating his brother （機の）カム to Lady Burslem first. She got it out of a French novel, she says. The two brothers had always been alike. The change of the contents of the pockets was soon made, and Sir John and Lady Burslem got in their car and drove 支援する to 15 Porthwick Square. There, as we know, Sir John hurriedly made that 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の will, giving 単独の 支配（する）／統制する of his 広大な／多数の／重要な 財政上の 企業s to his wife. And of course you see the idea—ーするつもりであるing for the 未来 to direct them through her."

Harbord looked thoughtful. He had listened with 吸収するd attention to the story as 関係のある by his superior. "Why did he throw his brother's 団体／死体 into the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する? That looked pretty bad, and would not have worked in 井戸／弁護士席 with the 嘆願 of 過失致死?"

"It would not," the 視察官 agreed. "かもしれない Sir John sees that, for he 断言するs that he left the 団体／死体 lying by the 味方する of the road, やめる 近づく the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する, but certainly not in it."

"How did it get in, then?" Harbord asked 突然の.

"Ask me another. Lady Burslem told me that the horrible idea had occurred to her several times that かもしれない James Burslem was not dead when they left him, and receiving consciousness and turning over in his weak 条件 managed to roll into the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する and was 溺死するd."

"The 医療の 証拠 puts the stopper on that," Harbord said after a pause.

The 視察官 nodded. "正確に／まさに. James Burslem had been dead some little time before he was put into the water."

"Then this only 複雑にするs 事柄s," Harbord 発言／述べるd.

"I am afraid it will not be regarded as much of a 複雑化 at the 裁判，公判," the 視察官 said.

Harbord drummed his fingers on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. "What do you think of Burslem's chances of getting off, sir?"

The 視察官 shrugged his shoulders. "As far as I can see of the 事例／患者 he does not stand an earthly. But 陪審／陪審員団s are curious things and いつかs take very curious 見解（をとる）s. If Lady Burslem is put in the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる with Sir John, 感情 may 勝利 over ありふれた sense."

"I cannot even now make out how you got to the 底（に届く） of it all," Harbord 発言／述べるd in a puzzled fashion.

"I think it was something in Ellerby's manner when he made the 身元確認，身分証明 that did not seem to （犯罪の）一味 true. Then I had the teeth 診察するd, and, though the two brothers had good teeth, all the 証拠 went to show that Sir John had had a gold-filled tooth on the 最高の，を越す jaw which was absent from that of the 死体 設立する in the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する. Nowhere have I been able to find the dentist who put it in, and of course both Ellerby and Lady Burslem 保証するd me that Sir John had broken it off and neglected to have another put on. However, 独立した・無所属 dental 証言 did not 確認する this. There was no stump left in the mouth that showed any 証拠 of having been stopped or 栄冠を与えるd with gold. Of course that was not conclusive, but it 確認するd my previous opinion. Also I felt 確かな from his manner that Ellerby was 深い in the 陰謀（を企てる）."

"By the way, what has become of Ellerby?" Harbord interrupted.

"Sir John 単に said he did not know where he was, which I feel 確かな is a 嘘（をつく）. Ellerby is やめる 安全な, though; I always felt 確かな of that. He managed to do a bunk that night from 15 Porthwick Square. Probably he went to Sir John, who was then lying perdu at Mrs. Johnson's in Lorraine Street, passing as Mrs. Johnson's brother. How the pair of them managed to get out of this country I cannot imagine. いつかs I think they must have flown over to Spain. For undoubtedly Sir John has been there, and Lady Burslem too. Had this 危機 in Sir John's 財政上の 事件／事情／状勢s not brought them 支援する to England, since Sir John could not 耐える the thought of the 広大な／多数の／重要な 企業s he had built up with such indefatigable 技術 存在 brought to nothing, there is no 疑問 that he at any 率 would be 安全な in the Argentine by now; for that was what the sale of Peep o' Day meant. Sir John ーするつもりであるd to take as many of his home 利益／興味s as he could over to South America. Later, of course, Lady Burslem would have joined him and they would have lived in some out-of-the-way 位置／汚点／見つけ出す and hoped never to have been discovered."

"Would they have 後継するd—in escaping （犯罪，病気などの）発見, I mean?" Harbord asked.

The 視察官 shook his 長，率いる.

"No. For the simple 推論する／理由 that we were already on the 追跡する. Their 発見 could have been only a 事柄 of time."

"There are a lot of minor puzzles though," Harbord said gloomily. "How did Stanyard's cigarette-事例／患者 get into Sir John's car, and the handkerchief into his?"

"Don't know," the 視察官 said すぐに. "It may be that I have my own ideas, but ideas are not proof."

"And the woman in the 事例／患者—or I should say the women," Harbord 追求するd, "the one who watched behind the trees at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd and the one who drove into the parking ground after Sir John on that 致命的な night. The one, too, who was seen talking to Stanyard a little way from Epsom."

The 視察官 stretched out his 手渡す and 所有するing himself of a box of cigarettes placed it between them.

"Help yourself. Now I am going to ask you a question, Alfred. If you can answer that it may help you with the answers to yours. How did James Burslem get to Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd that night?"

"I don't know," said Harbord, 星／主役にするing at him.

"Have you forgotten the second car?" the 視察官 said 静かに. "The one that was seen before Sir John's with a man and a woman in it?"

"N—o!" Harbord hesitated. "I have always taken it for 認めるd that it was Stanyard's car and that かもしれない he had brought some one 負かす／撃墜する from town."

"To watch him commit a 殺人?" the 視察官 questioned dryly. "No, that idea won't wash, Alfred. As I see it now, Stanyard had nothing to do with the 事例／患者 at all. He does not come into Sir John's story. Nor does he fit into it, anyhow as far as I can see. Somebody else does, though."

Harbord looked at him 刻々と. "Who is that, sir?"

"Mrs. Jimmy," the 視察官 said すぐに. "She knew her husband was dead 権利 enough. And this sudden friendship between her and Lady Burslem meant only one thing—ゆすり，恐喝. As I 再建する the events of that night, I imagine that James Burslem, who was furious with his brother over the 株, took his wife into his 信用／信任, and probably she excited him still more. I should say they were 近づく Epsom, and かもしれない saw Sir John, and finding it out of the question to 得る an interview with him there, discovered the time he would be likely to start 支援する from Epsom somehow. You remember the paper in the 捕らえる、獲得する. They drove 負かす／撃墜する to Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd and, parking the car, （機の）カム on to the 支持を得ようと努めるd to wait for Sir John. James Burslem on the road, Mrs. Jimmy behind the trees. My own idea is that her husband did not know she was there, but that she waited within ear-発射, meaning, if her husband 得るd any large sum of money from his brother, to know how much it was and （人命などを）奪う，主張する her 株. Instead of that she 証言，証人／目撃するd her husband's death and conceived the idea of making use of her knowledge to 得る a 相当な 新規加入 to her income."

"Could she have been the woman with Sir Charles Stanyard just outside Epsom?" Harbord 審議d.

"And the one who followed Sir John into the parking ground in town?"

Stoddart hunched up his shoulders. "Who can tell? That would have given her time to 工場／植物 the cigarette-事例／患者 and the handkerchief where they were 設立する. But so far we have no 証拠 to go upon."

CHAPTER 25

The Old Bailey was 行う／開催する／段階d for the 裁判，公判 of Sir John and Lady Burslem, the most talked-of 殺人 裁判，公判 of 最近の times. It had been decided by the 起訴 not to put them in the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる together. Sir John was to be tried first. Then his wife was to be 起訴するd as an 従犯者 after the 罪，犯罪.

That Sir John would be 設立する 有罪の was 確かな , in the opinion of the public. But with regard to Lady Burslem people were divided, some 持つ／拘留するing that she was little いっそう少なく 有罪の than Sir John, others opining that she had only done her 義務 in standing by her husband as a loyal wife should.

An enormous （人が）群がる had 組み立てる／集結するd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the Old Bailey long before the 裁判，公判 was timed to begin. Inside the 法廷，裁判所 itself there was not standing—scarcely even breathing—room. の中で the sea of 直面するs turned to the 入り口 to the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる might be 認めるd many of Sir John's confreres in the 財政上の world, and actors and actresses in search of thrills, writers of 探偵，刑事 novels looking for copy.

Mr. 司法（官） Gower was the 裁判官 and there was a 広大な／多数の／重要な array of counsel for and against the 囚人. Sir William Howse, the Solicitor-General, led for the 栄冠を与える. With him were Sir Francis （死傷者）数 Spencer, K.C., and Robert Earle.

Sir Douglas Ames, considered the greatest crossexaminer of his day, was for Sir John Burslem. With him were James Denton and Thomas Mayson, and Sir Frederick Skinner held a watching 簡潔な／要約する for Sir Charles Stanyard.

The 裁判，公判 was 直す／買収する，八百長をするd to begin at ten o'clock. の直前に that time the 陪審／陪審員団 とじ込み／提出するd into the box, nine men and three women. A minute later an 勧める drew 支援する a curtain behind the （法廷の）裁判, and the 裁判官 entered, a stately 人物／姿／数字 in scarlet and ermine. After 屈服するing to the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 he took his seat.

Then every 長，率いる was craned 今後 as a door, 明らかに into some subterranean 地域s, was thrown open, and Sir John Burslem entered in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the warders.

But those who had known Sir John Burslem in the old days rubbed their 注目する，もくろむs and looked again. Could this tall, emaciated 人物／姿／数字 with the thin, white 直面する and the 燃やすing 注目する，もくろむs really belong to the stout, 繁栄する-looking Sir John Burslem with whom they were familiar.

The 陪審／陪審員団 was sworn. Called upon to 嘆願d, Sir John Burslem said "Not 有罪の" in a （疑いを）晴らす, 会社／堅い 発言する／表明する. Then while the Solicitor-General 輪郭（を描く）d the 事例／患者 for the 栄冠を与える the 囚人 sat 支援する in a 議長，司会を務める that had been placed in the 前線 of the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる. With 倍のd 武器 and bent 長，率いる he listened to the 起訴，告発 put 前へ／外へ by Sir William Howse.

In studiously temperate トンs the 囚人 was made to feel how terribly it all told against him.

The Solicitor-General, Sir William Howse, began by sketching the 商売／仕事 relations between the two brothers. 明らかに these had never been 満足な. James Burslem seemed to have been singularly unfortunate in his 憶測s, whether advised by his 年上の brother or not. He seemed to have brooded over his 財政上の troubles, and this last 事件／事情／状勢 of the 株 bought by Sir John and their その後の rise was evidently the 最高潮に達するing point.

Several 証言，証人／目撃するs would 証言する to having heard the explorer 宣言する his 意向 of making his brother disgorge what he regarded as his ill-gotten 伸び（る）. Then had followed the lying in wait at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd, and the attack on Sir John. 強調する／ストレス was laid on the fact that though Sir John 明言する／公表するd that his brother was the first to produce the ピストル, and that it was 解雇する／砲火／射撃d in the struggle, the 弾丸 that killed James Burslem was not 解雇する／砲火／射撃d from his own ピストル, the one afterwards 設立する in the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd. Of the ピストル from which the actual 弾丸 had been 解雇する／砲火／射撃d, the most rigorous search had failed to find a trace. But if the 弾丸 were 解雇する／砲火／射撃d in the course of the struggle, belonging as it might to either brother, how did Sir John Burslem behave? Seeing his brother lying on the ground 明らかに in the last extremity, would not his first thought have been, had he been an innocent man, to 召喚する 援助, and having ascertained that his brother was dead one would have 推定する／予想するd him to 報告（する）／憶測 the 事件／事情／状勢 to the police-駅／配置する and to give himself up for having 原因（となる）d James Burslem's 偶発の death.

Instead of this straightforward course, James Burslem, having had transferred to his pockets his brother's （犯罪の）一味 and watch and さまざまな small 所持品 was 宙返り／暴落するd 直面する downwards into the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する, and Sir John and his wife drove 支援する to 15 Porthwick Square, where the new will was 遂行する／発効させるd which would enable Sir John still to manage his many 企業s through the 機関 of his wife. Then Sir John took his car to the South London parking ground and did everything in his 力／強力にする to make it appear that it was he who had been killed, not his brother. While every newspaper in the land was publishing 詳細（に述べる）s of the mysterious 殺人 of Sir John Burslem, the real Sir John remained perdu in 暗い／優うつな lodgings in Lorraine Street, in the house of a Mrs. Johnson who is the sister of his valet Ellerby. From there by means which had not yet been discovered he made his way into Spain. There, later, Lady Burslem joined him.

Then （機の）カム the 広大な／多数の／重要な period of 強調する／ストレス with regard to some of the biggest 企業s in the Burslem group. From the particulars sent out to Lady Burslem, Sir John no 疑問 saw that only his 手渡す at the 舵輪／支配 could save them. And it was then that the 計画／陰謀 was 工夫するd of which the results were seen to-day. Sir John returned to England disguised as his wife's 長官. （犯罪，病気などの）発見 was only a 事柄 of time. From （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） received the police were already 怪しげな of Lady Burslem and were keeping a careful watch upon her movements. Altered as the 長官's 外見 was, he was soon 認めるd as the 恐らく 消滅した／死んだ Sir John Burslem.

Not a muscle of Sir John's 直面する stirred as he listened; his countenance might have been carved out of ivory so 絶対 expressionless and motionless was it.

The 証言，証人／目撃するs called by the 栄冠を与える were comparatively few. The 医療の 証言 was taken first; then that of the men who 設立する the 団体／死体; after them those who had identified it as that of Sir John Burslem, 目だつ の中で them 視察官 Stoddart. Very few questions were asked these 証言，証人／目撃するs; their 身元確認，身分証明s had evidently been made in good 約束, and it was 明らかな to the world that they had been mistaken. The attendant at the parking ground identified Sir John as the man who brought his car in and gave さまざまな 詳細（に述べる）s of the 外見 of the woman who had followed him in, but without helping materially to 設立する her 身元.

After him （機の）カム the gunnery 専門家, who swore that the 弾丸 which killed James Burslem was not the one 解雇する／砲火／射撃d from the ピストル 設立する in the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する. Other 証言，証人／目撃するs 証言するd to きれいにする Sir John's car and finding Stanyard's cigarette-事例／患者 in it. Harbord swore to finding the stained overcoat under the thrall in the second ワイン-cellar in 15 Porthwick Square.

When the 事例／患者 for the 起訴 ended it was felt on all 味方するs that it left scarcely a （法などの）抜け穴 of escape for the 囚人.

Then （機の）カム the 開始 of the defence. Sir Douglas Ames looked fully aware of the gravity and the difficulty of the 事例／患者 when he rose. やめる 簡潔に he 輪郭（を描く）d Sir John's story, dwelling on the fact that it had been put in 証拠 by the 起訴 that James Burslem's feeling against his brother had been very bitter 借りがあるing to the unsatisfactory 明言する／公表する of his 財政／金融s; that he had sworn to have it out with him in the 審理，公聴会 of several 証言，証人／目撃するs. It would be 証明するd that earlier in the afternoon of June 2nd James Burslem 雇うd a car at a garage where he was unknown, and that the car was 認めるd at several different places on the way to Epsom. The only point on which there was any 相違 of opinion in 証言 was on the question of whether James Burslem was alone or not; some 証言，証人／目撃するs were 用意が出来ている to say that there was only one man in the car, others were 平等に 肯定的な that it had two occupants, a man and a woman; other 証言，証人／目撃するs would 証明する that the ピストル 設立する in the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する was James Burslem's, and that the 弾丸 that killed him must have been 解雇する／砲火／射撃d from one very 類似の. The 場内取引員／株価 on the 弾丸 theory was 論争d by some gunnery 専門家s, and altogether the 陪審／陪審員団 was left in a befogged 条件 on this point.

Sir Douglas made the most of his （弁護士の）依頼人's 明言する／公表する of panic on discovering that his brother was dead, and of his certainty that he would be （刑事）被告 of having 殺人d him ーするために 妨げる the truth of the 財政上の 処理／取引s between them from coming to light. That the slightest breath of スキャンダル against Sir John Burslem, the faintest 疑惑 of his probity, would have meant 廃虚 to thousands who had ゆだねるd their money to him was made the most of. Then the tremendous 誘惑 that had 攻撃する，非難するd him was 輪郭（を描く）d. Sir John Burslem was a 井戸／弁護士席-known, in some senses a public, man. His brother, 広大な／多数の／重要な explorer though he might be, was comparatively unknown to the man in the street. Let it be supposed that Sir John Burslem was killed at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd, James Burslem might never be 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd of the 殺人, and Sir John might escape while the real 暗殺者 was 存在 searched for. Then followed the 劇の account of Sir John's return to 15 Porthwick Square, his 調印 of the will, deposit of his car in the South London parking ground, and 出発 into hiding. Told by a counsel with Sir Douglas Ames's 法廷の 技術, the story was one 井戸／弁護士席 calculated to 誘発する sympathy for his （弁護士の）依頼人. Several women in 法廷，裁判所 were in 涙／ほころびs when he finished, and public opinion, ever fickle, began to veer 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in Sir John's favour.

Sir Douglas had 発表するd his 意向 of putting Sir John in the 証言，証人／目撃する-box, and when the counsel sat 負かす／撃墜する John 勝利者 Burslem was called. Guarded by warders he took his stand and the 誓い, then, 製図／抽選 himself to his 十分な 高さ, he 直面するd the 陪審／陪審員団.

His story as elicited by Sir Douglas Ames 異なるd in no way from that told by his counsel, and very little from that of the 起訴. But when Sir William Howse rose to cross-診察する the excitement in 法廷，裁判所 became 激しい.

"You say that you 発射 your brother with his own ピストル," the Solicitor-General began.

"He was 発射 by his own ピストル by 事故 in the course of a struggle—a struggle 軍隊d upon me by his attack," Sir John replied in a （疑いを）晴らす, 会社／堅い 発言する／表明する.

"Are you aware that 専門家 証拠 shows that the 弾丸 that killed your brother was not 解雇する／砲火／射撃d from his own ピストル?"

Sir John made a gesture of bewilderment.

"I can only say that they are—they must be—mistaken. I had no ピストル. There was no ピストル there but my brother's. I felt and heard it go off when I was struggling to take it from him."

"Are you also aware that the 医療の 当局 say the ピストル was not 解雇する／砲火／射撃d の近くに at 手渡す, as would have been the 事例／患者 if it had gone off during a struggle?"

Sir John shrugged his shoulders. "It went off when I tried to ひったくる it from him. I can say no more."

"How do you account for there 存在 no blackening of the 肌 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 穴を開ける by which the 弾丸 entered?"

"I do not account for it—I cannot account for it," Sir John replied, with a puzzled 空気／公表する. "I can only 再確認する that the facts are 正確に／まさに as I have 明言する／公表するd."

"Then you say that the 医療の 証言 and the gunnery 専門家 証拠 are not true?"

"Are mistaken," Sir John 訂正するd. "That is the only 結論 I can come to."

"Then we will leave it at that. A mistake," the Solicitor-General said 厳しく. "Now, Sir John, 事柄s 存在 as you have 明言する／公表するd, your brother having been accidentally 発射 in a scuffle brought about by himself, why did you not take the straightforward course and at once 召喚する 援助?"

Sir John gulped 負かす／撃墜する something in his throat.

"It would have been no use. I have seen death in too many forms not to know that."

"Then why did you not 運動 straight to the police-駅／配置する and say what had happened?"

"Because I was a fool and a coward," Sir John said 激しく. "I felt sure I should be （刑事）被告 of 殺人ing my brother, as is happening now, and I could not 直面する it. It seemed to me that, if the 団体／死体 was supposed to be 地雷, I should be able to escape altogether, and I 産する／生じるd to the 誘惑. My life since has been one long 悲惨 and repentance."

"Please 限定する yourself to answering the questions, Sir John Burslem." Sir William Howse pulled up his gown on his shoulder. "How did your brother's 団体／死体 come to be in the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する?"

"I do not know; I cannot imagine," Sir John passed his 手渡す wearily over his brow. "When I left it, it was lying by the road-味方する やめる 近づく the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する, but certainly not in it."

"And the ピストル?" the Solicitor-General rapped out. "Did you leave that by the 道端 too?"

"No, I threw it away as far as I could and I heard it splash into the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する."

At this juncture a messenger with a 公式文書，認める in his 手渡す was 観察するd making his way through the （人が）群がる, after gazing 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in a moonstruck fashion. He 新たな展開d himself in and out until he reached 視察官 Stoddart. The 視察官 opened the 公式文書，認める, read it, and after a word to Harbord, who was seated beside him, followed the boy to the door.

Sir William Howse frowned as he continued his cross-examination.

"You yourself drove your car to the parking ground?"

"I did."

"Who was this woman about whom we have heard so much who followed you in?"

"I have not the slightest idea. I saw no woman. That she was に引き続いて me was I imagine a flight of fancy on the man's part."

"Did you 推定する／予想する to 会合，会う your brother at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd that night?"

"Certainly not. I had no idea he was in England even."

"Had he any real 推論する／理由 to be 不満な with your 管理／経営 of his 財政／金融s?"

Sir John did not answer for a minute, then he spoke slowly:

"When we 乗る，着手するd on any 処理／取引 together we were singularly unfortunate. When I gave him any advice it had an 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の knack of turning out 不正に. I meant, however, to have straightened out his 事件／事情／状勢s, and returned his 株 in the Guayazil 地雷 if he had given me time, but he would not listen to a word. He seemed mad with 激怒（する）."

The Solicitor-General looked at him 厳しく.

"You are still 用意が出来ている to 断言する that you had nothing to do with placing the 団体／死体 in the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する?"

Sir John held up his 手渡す. "絶対. So help me God!"

"Can you tell us who did?"

Sir John shook his 長，率いる. "I have no idea. Nothing about the 事例／患者 has puzzled me so much as this question." With another of those 侵入するing ちらりと見ることs of his the Solicitor-General sat 負かす／撃墜する and intimated that his cross-examination of the 証言，証人／目撃する was over.

At this moment 視察官 Stoddart re-entered the 法廷，裁判所, a white paper in his 手渡す. After a momentary hesitation he turned to Sir William and 手渡すd it to him. He in his turn waited a minute and conferred with Sir Douglas Ames; then he hurriedly scribbled a line or two and beckoning to an 勧める passed it up to the 裁判官.

Mr. 司法（官） Gower read it without one muscle of his stiff, parchment-like 直面する altering. He made an almost imperceptible 調印する to the Solicitor-General.

Sir William Howse rose.

"May I make an 使用／適用, my lord? May I move the 調整／景気後退 of this 事例／患者 until to-morrow?"

The 裁判官 looked at him over the 最高の，を越す of his spectacles.

"On what ground do you make this 使用／適用, Sir William?"

The Solicitor-General looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する from the 陪審／陪審員団 to the 囚人s, then he said slowly, every syllable 落ちるing with startling distinctness on the listening ears:

"Because I 持つ／拘留する in my 手渡す what 趣旨s to be the 自白 of the real 犯罪の, my lord."

CHAPTER 26

"The 自白 of the real 犯罪の." Sir John Burslem looked thunderstruck. At a touch from one of his warders he あわてて disappeared 負かす／撃墜する the stairs from the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる. The 裁判官 passed out by the door at the 支援する of the （法廷の）裁判. The Solicitor-General and Sir Douglas Ames went over to a 味方する-door together. With a 調印する to Harbord, 視察官 Stoddart followed them. The general public 注ぐd out wonderingly, puzzling, 論争ing, only to 会合，会う a more amazed （人が）群がる outside.

Harbord looked at the 視察官. "What does this mean, sir?"

"The woman in the 事例／患者," Stoddart said 簡潔に. "A few hours ago Mrs. Jimmy was 運動ing herself to the 法廷，裁判所 in her Ford when a runaway butcher's cart got into the way. She lost her 神経, tried to turn, swerved 不正に, and （機の）カム into 衝突／不一致 with a bus, and got a bad 粉砕する. She was pinned 負かす／撃墜する by some of the 機械／機構, and when they got her out it was obvious that she was fatally 負傷させるd. She was taken at once to St. Jude's Hospital. At first it was thought that an 操作／手術 might be 試みる／企てるd, but it was soon seen that she was too far gone. For some time she did not realize how serious her 条件 was. And the hospital 当局, for their part, did not find out her 指名する or her connexion with this 事例／患者.

"But when she was asked if she had any 親族s she wished to see, Mrs. Jimmy realized the 状況／情勢 and 願望（する）d that a priest, and later a lawyer might be sent for. In his presence and that of the necessary 証言，証人／目撃するs she made a 声明 that she, and not her brother-in-法律, Sir John Burslem, 発射 her husband at Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd."

Harbord 星／主役にするd and rubbed his 注目する，もくろむs. "But how could such a thing be? Sir John himself says that in the struggle his brother's revolver went off and 発射 him."

The 視察官 gave that faint, inscrutable smile of his. "The revolver went off, no 疑問, but it did not shoot James Burslem. You remember the 医療の and 専門家 gunnery 証言, that the 弾丸 that was 宿泊するd in the base of the skull was not 解雇する／砲火／射撃d from the revolver 設立する in the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する, nor at the の近くに ４半期/4分の1s 示すd by Sir John's account of the struggle."

Harbord nodded. "Both points have always puzzled me. Still, short as has been my career in the C.I.D., I have already discovered that 専門家 証拠 is いつかs mistaken."

"This wasn't," 視察官 Stoddart said すぐに. After a pause he went on, "The 弾丸 that killed James Burslem was 解雇する／砲火／射撃d from the opposite 味方する of the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する from that 位置／汚点／見つけ出す の中で the trees where you 設立する the handbag, Alfred. And it was 解雇する／砲火／射撃d from a revolver, the fellow to the one 設立する in the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する. And it was 解雇する／砲火／射撃d 故意に to kill James Burslem by Mrs. James."

Harbord uttered an incredulous sound. "You are 確かな that she was not delirious, sir?"

"絶対!" the 視察官 said finally. "Before the 事例／患者 was 現在のd to the Solicitor-General, 視察官 Wilkins was sent to Mrs. James's house and 設立する the ピストル 正確に where her 自白 示すd."

"That seems to be pretty conclusive," Harbord assented. "But I suppose the 場内取引員／株価s have not been 診察するd yet?"

"Hasn't been time. But I don't think there is any 疑問 as to the 正確 of the 自白. Mrs. James knew that death was 切迫した; she was a Roman カトリック教徒 and she had to （疑いを）晴らす her 良心 before she died. She began her 自白 by 明言する／公表するing やめる 率直に that she was 完全に tired of James Burslem. Most of her time she was a grass 未亡人, and she 設立する him either sickeningly demonstrative when he returned or boringly tiresome with his grievance against his brother. その上に, his 探検隊／遠征隊s 吸収するd most of his income, and she was always kept short of money, a serious grievance to Mrs. James. He appears to have been 特に tiresome in the few days after his return from Tibet on this last occasion, and she 設立する his temper, his fulminations against his brother, and his meanness alike irritating.

"A violent quarrel took place between the pair on the morning of the 2nd of June, and, though a sort of 仲直り was patched up, she 認める that her 怒り／怒る against her husband was still very 広大な／多数の／重要な. James Burslem remained in his house all the afternoon, 明らかに brooding over his grievances and keeping her with him, all of which 追加するd 燃料 to her smouldering wrath. Between six and seven o'clock knowing that his brother would be 確かな to go 負かす／撃墜する and have a look at Peep o' Day, he 発表するd his 意向 of going 負かす／撃墜する after him and having it out with him. They dined together at a foreign restaurant in Soho, James's already violent temper 存在 悪化させるd by the ワイン he drank, and his wrath against his brother 増加するing. When at last they started for Epsom he produced two ピストルs and told her that he should challenge his brother to a duel. She managed to abstract one of them when he was not looking, but was unable to get the other.

"A little way outside Epsom he stopped and ordered Mrs. James to go on and ascertain whether Sir John was at Harker's stables as he 推定する／予想するd, and if possible to find out, at any 率 だいたい, what time Sir John would leave.

"She did her best, as is shown by the 公式文書，認める you discovered in the handbag. Then the pair drove off to Hughlin's 支持を得ようと努めるd. This was the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す chosen by James Burslem for the 遭遇（する）, as the sharp bend would 強いる the car to slow 負かす／撃墜する. He parked the car by the wayside and Mrs. James with it, and went off to the 支持を得ようと努めるd. But she was not minded to be left behind. She followed him, carefully keeping out of sight, and watched the 遭遇（する） between the brothers from behind the tree 近づく which you 設立する the handbag. She still held the ピストル she had taken from him. Then, when she saw the two men struggling together a sudden 誘惑 攻撃する，非難するd her. She was 完全に sick of Jimmy Burslem, and made up her mind to rid herself of him once and for all. She 解雇する／砲火／射撃d, and at the same moment heard the 割れ目 of the other ピストル."

"Then, as a 事柄 of fact, she does not know which of them 発射 her husband," Harbord interjected.

The 視察官 permitted himself a faint smile. "She had no 疑問. Don't you remember she was the 割れ目 発射 at the Marble Pavilion—couldn't have 行方不明になるd her man at that distance. She says she was puzzled by Sir John and Lady Burslem's 行為／行う afterwards. She could not make out what they were doing, and when they had driven off she （機の）カム out to 調査／捜査する. She was amazed to see Sir John's signet （犯罪の）一味 on her dead husband's little finger. It was she who 宙返り／暴落するd the 団体／死体 into the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する."

"What! His wife! The brute!" Harbord ejaculated.

The 視察官 moved his 手渡す impatiently. "Not so bad as 殺人，大当り him, was it? She says also she had to get his 重要なs from his pocket, and, turning him over on the 権利 味方する to do this, he was so の近くに to the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する that he slipped in. You can believe as much of that as you like."

"That will not be one word!" Harbord 保証するd him.

"Then she drove off in the wake of the others to 15 Porthwick Square, on the way passing Stanyard, with whose 外見 and car she was やめる familiar, and who was 明らかに in difficulties. She stopped and 申し込む／申し出d help, which was 辞退するd. Then the brilliant idea of trying to 巻き込む Stanyard occurred to her. She had 選ぶd up a handkerchief of Sir John's from the grass. Getting out to see what was the 事柄 with Stanyard's car, while he was 占領するd with the 機械／機構 underneath, she stuffed the handkerchief 負かす／撃墜する between the cushions and 掴むd Stanyard's cigarette-事例／患者 that lay on the seat. Then she drove quickly to Porthwick Square. Just as she got 近づく, Sir John ran 負かす／撃墜する the steps of No. 15, got into his car and started off. Impelled by curiosity, she followed to the parking ground, parked her car beside his, and after putting Stanyard's cigarette-事例／患者 where it was 設立する, made off after Sir John, as the man told us. She failed, however, to keep up with him, and at last lost sight of him altogether. Henceforth it was a 事例／患者 of ゆすり，恐喝ing poor Lady Burslem. She and her blessed spirits were 単に a cloak for 抽出するing money from her. Occasionally, too, when the police watch became very rigorous, by means of her s饌nces she 伝えるd messages between husband and wife."

"A nice sort of lady, upon my word!" Harbord commented. "It strikes me that hanging is too good for Mrs. James Burslem."

"井戸／弁護士席, she will not get it anyway," Stoddart said 厳粛に. "She died just as I entered the hospital this afternoon; without a friend 近づく her, for, though she 繰り返して asked for Sophie, of course Lady Burslem was not 許すd to go. 井戸／弁護士席, 井戸／弁護士席, poor thing, after all she was her own worst enemy!"

And that was the best that could be said for Mrs. Jimmy!

CHAPTER 27

The second day of the 裁判，公判 of Sir John Burslem will not soon be forgotten by any of those in 法廷，裁判所. Enormous as had been the （人が）群がるs attracted the first day, the rumours that had spread through London like wildfire the night before had almost 二塁打d them on the second. People struggled and fought even for standing room in the street outside the Old Bailey. Inside the 法廷，裁判所, crammed to suffocation though it was, there was an 空気／公表する of briskness, of 見込み that had altogether been wanting when the 事例／患者 began.

Sir John Burslem stepped into the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる looking as if a 重荷（を負わせる） had slipped off his shoulders, seeming indeed to those who knew him like a 影をつくる／尾行する of his former self. A 劇の surprise を待つd the 観客s when the 事例／患者 opened.

"Call Robert Ellerby!" Sir Douglas Ames directed. Robert Ellerby was called loudly by the 勧める. Those in 法廷，裁判所 who had known Ellerby 星／主役にするd and rubbed their 注目する，もくろむs as a 静かな looking, 年輩の man in a 井戸／弁護士席-削減（する） lounge 控訴 rose and made his way to the 証言，証人／目撃する-box. The Robert Ellerby they had known with his clean-shaven 直面する, his somewhat smug 表現, had always looked so essentially a gentleman's servant. This man, with the thin, bronzed 直面する and the grey moustache looked more like the 植民地の rancher, or an explorer. Scarcely a trace of the Robert Ellerby they had known could they discern in him.

にもかかわらず, when he had taken the 誓い in 返答 to Sir Douglas Ames, and began to make his 声明, they 認めるd the 静かな, subdued 発言する／表明する, the respectful manner.

It would have been almost possible to hear the proverbial pin 減少（する） in the （人が）群がるd 法廷，裁判所. For so long had Ellerby been looked upon as dead, and 憶測 ever been rife as to the 処分 of his remains, that to see him there before them, to hear him giving his 証拠 in this 静める, unemotional manner, seemed nothing いっそう少なく than a 奇蹟.

In 返答 to Sir Douglas Ames he 明言する／公表するd that when Sir John started for Epsom on the evening of that 2nd of June he told Ellerby that he need not sit up for him. Therefore he was, of course, in bed when the car returned and he was awakened by James, the footman. When he had dressed and had come downstairs and with James had 証言，証人／目撃するd Sir John's will, he was taken by Sir John and Lady Burslem into their 信用／信任 with regard to that evening's happenings. Questioned by Sir Douglas, he said that he had pleaded with Sir John to give up his mad 計画／陰謀, and to go at once to the police, but without 影響. Nothing then remained, 証言，証人／目撃する 追加するd 簡単に, but to help Sir John by every means in his 力／強力にする.

"Why did you not go to the police yourself?" Sir Douglas asked.

"Because I could not go against Sir John," the 証言，証人／目撃する answered. "We were boys together. He had been good to me all my life, and I cared for him more than anything on earth."

There was a faint 動かす in the 法廷，裁判所, sounding almost like 賞賛. It was 即時に 抑えるd by the 勧めるs, and Sir Douglas proceeded:

"Did Sir John take a revolver with him that night?"

"I am やめる sure that he did not," Ellerby said with 強調. "Sir John had only one revolver in the world. It was kept in a 事例／患者 in his dressing-room, and I saw it there the next day. It was not 負担d. I 疑問 whether it had ever been 負担d. I feel 確かな that Sir John had never 解雇する／砲火／射撃d it. It was a 現在の to him from a Mr. Leadfield. Sir John's 初期のs were on the 事例／患者 and also on the ピストル itself, J.V.B. I knew that, when Sir John said his brother's death was an 事故, 予定 to his own revolver going off, he was speaking the truth."

"And this made you 決定するd to help him by every means in your 力／強力にする."

"It 保証するd me of his innocence, but, innocent or 有罪の, I should have done everything in my 力／強力にする to help Sir John," Ellerby said 刻々と.

審理，公聴会 this, the 囚人 in the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる 発射 a quick ちらりと見ること of 感謝 to the 証言，証人／目撃する.

Sir Douglas Ames went on:

"And when you disappeared from 15 Porthwick Square, you went to join Sir John?"

The 証言，証人／目撃する bent his 長，率いる. "正確に／まさに," he said. "In Spain."

"Why did you leave Porthwick Square in such secrecy? There was no 令状 out then for your 逮捕（する）?''

"Because I should have been followed, and so Sir John would have been discovered."

"You and Lady Burslem 隠すd Sir John's overcoat under the thrall in the second cellar?"

"I 隠すd it there," the 証言，証人／目撃する said with 強調. "Her ladyship （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する to me because she was unable to believe the hiding-place I had chosen was really 安全な."

That ended Sir Douglas Ames's examination.

The Solicitor-General 明言する／公表するd that he did not ーするつもりである to cross-診察する.

A minute later Mrs. Jimmy's 自白 was put into 法廷，裁判所 and read aloud in breathless silence. It was then 手渡すd to the 陪審／陪審員団, who perused it with 吸収するd attention.

After another interval, police 証拠 was given to show that the ピストル was 設立する in the place in Mrs. Jimmy's house in which she had directed them to look. Then followed the gunnery 専門家s who 証明するd by their new system of microscopic レンズs that the 罰金 場内取引員／株価s on the 弾丸 証明するd that it had been 解雇する／砲火／射撃d from her ピストル.

The 医療の 証言，証人／目撃する re-entered the box, and repeated that the 致命的な 発射 had been 解雇する／砲火／射撃d from a distance, certainly not in the course of a 手渡す-to-手渡す struggle. One of them had even given twenty yards as his opinion as the nearest distance at which the ピストル had been 解雇する／砲火／射撃d, and this 事実上 covered the ground between the tree where the handbag was 設立する and the 溝へはまらせる／不時着する.

Again the Solicitor-General intimated that he would not cross-診察する, and that it was not the 意向 of the 栄冠を与える to proceed any その上の with the 事例／患者 against Sir John Burslem.

Mr. 司法（官） Gower 申し込む／申し出d no (a)手の込んだ／(v)詳述する summing-up. Very 簡潔に he told the 陪審／陪審員団 that if they believed Mrs. James Burslem's 自白, 確認するd as it was by the 医療の 専門家 and the 専門家 gunnery 証拠, it would be their 義務 to return a 判決 of Not 有罪の against Sir John Burslem.

At the 結論 of his speech the 陪審／陪審員団 簡潔に conferred together in their box, and, as was 推定する／予想するd, returned a 判決 in 一致 with the 裁判官's direction, and Sir John left the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる a 解放する／自由な man. He was すぐに surrounded by a （人が）群がる of his old friends and new sympathizers.

But the 訴訟／進行s were not over yet. 起訴するd as an 従犯者 after the fact, Lady Burslem was placed in the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる. Her father and brothers stood at each 味方する of her and Sir John 安定したd himself by one 手渡す on the 議長，司会を務める that was given her, Mrs. イルカ and her husband standing behind.

When asked to 嘆願d, she said, "Not 有罪の" in a （疑いを）晴らす, low 発言する／表明する.

Sir William Howse said it was not 提案するd to 申し込む／申し出 any 証拠 against her, and the 陪審／陪審員団 returned their formal 判決 at once.

With tremendous difficulty the police 成し遂げるd the Herculean 仕事 of （疑いを）晴らすing the way for the Burslems and their party through the 法廷，裁判所 to the 回廊（地帯）, on the other 味方する of which a room had been placed at their 処分. Sir John had his wife on one 味方する, his daughter 粘着するing to his arm. Behind them （機の）カム Lord Carlford and his son, with Mrs. イルカ, Sir Charles Stanyard and Ellerby, debonair and happy looking, Aubrey イルカ bringing up the 後部. Even here there 侵入するd a loud, concentrated 元気づける from the （人が）群がる in the street.

As a racehorse owner, one whose horses invariably ran straight, Sir John had always been popular. Sir John's 指名する, too, had been associated with almost every charitable 企業 in the country, and it had been rumoured that his 私的な charities far 越えるd his public ones, and that his purse was always open to any real 嘆願 for help. Everything therefore 連合させるd to make his 無罪放免 popular with the 集まりs.

But as Sir John entered the room he waved every one 支援する, and 手渡すd Pamela gently to Stanyard.

Then when he had の近くにd the door he took his wife in his 武器 and laid his 直面する on hers.

"How can I thank you, truest of women, most loyal of comrades!"

"Thank me? Thank me?" Sophie echoed, 粘着するing to him. "How silly you are, John! You are my husband! Helping you is just my 職業!"

THE END

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