The Lady Sleuths MEGAPACK TM(227)

                “Some other motives may be at work in his mind, consideration for old servants, the wish to avoid a scandal in the house.”

                “Quite so. The fact, taken by itself, would give no ground for suspicion, but certainly looks ugly if taken in connection with another fact which I have since ascertained, namely, that during her husband’s absence from home, Mrs. Turner paid off certain debts contracted by her in Brighton before the marriage, and amounting to nearly £500. Paid them off, too, in gold. I think I mentioned to you that the gentleman who presented the stolen cheque at the Bank preferred payment in gold.”



                             “You are supposing not only a confederate, but also a vast amount of cunning as well as of simplicity on the lady’s part.”

                “Quite so. Three parts cunning to one of simplicity is precisely what lady criminals are composed of. And it is, as a rule, that one part of simplicity that betrays them and leads to their detection.”

                “What sort of woman is Mrs. Turner in other respects?”

                “She is young, handsome and of good birth, but is scarcely suited for the position of vicar’s wife in a country parish. She has lived a good deal in society and is fond of gaiety, and, in addition, is a Roman Catholic, and, I am told, utterly ignores her husband’s church and drives every Sunday to Brighton to attend mass.”

                “What about the servants in the house? Do they seem steady-going and respectable?”

                “There was nothing on the surface to excite suspicion against any one of them. But it is precisely in that quarter than your services would be invaluable. It will, however, be impossible to get you inside the vicarage walls. Mr. Turner, I am confident, would never open his doors to you.”

                “What do you suggest?”

                “I can suggest nothing better than the house of the village schoolmistress, or, rather, of the village schoolmistress’s mother, Mrs. Brown. It is only a stone’s throw from the vicarage; in fact, its windows overlook the vicarage grounds. It is a four-roomed cottage, and Mrs. Brown, who is a very respectable person, turns over a little money in the summer by receiving lady lodgers desirous of a breath of country air. There would be no difficulty in getting you in there; her spare bedroom is empty now.”

                “I should have preferred being at the vicarage, but if it cannot be, I must make the most of my stay at Mrs. Brown’s. How do we get there?’”

                “I drove from East Downes here in a trap I hired at the village inn where I put up last night, and where I shall stay to-night. I will drive you, if you will allow me; it is only seven miles off. It’s a lovely day for a drive; breezy and not too much dust. Could you be ready in about half an hour’s time, say?”



                             But this, Loveday said, would be an impossibility. She had a special engagement that afternoon; there was a religious service in the town that she particularly wished to attend. It would not be over until three o’clock, and, consequently, not until half-past three would she be ready for the drive to East Downes.

                Although Mr. Clampe looked unutterable astonishment at the claims of a religious service being set before those of professional duty, he made no demur to the arrangement, and accordingly half-past three saw Loveday and the inspector in a high-wheeled dog-cart rattling along the Marina in the direction of East Downes.

                Loveday made no further allusion to her ghost story, so Mr. Clampe, out of politeness, felt compelled to refer to it.

                “I heard all about the Fountain Lane ghost yesterday, before I started for East Downes,” he said; “and it seemed to me, with all deference to you, Miss Brooke, an every-day sort of affair, the sort of thing to be explained by a heavy supper or an extra glass of beer.”