FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91  
92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   >>   >|  
uble you--do you know that the housekeeper, Mrs. Carswell, has disappeared? You heard what that girl said this morning? Well, she hasn't come back, and----" "No concern of mine, Mr. Police-Superintendent!" interrupted Gabriel. "Nothing of this is any concern of mine. I shall be obliged to you if you'll confine your very unnecessary operations to the interior of the house, and not stand about this outer hall, or keep this door open between outer and inner halls--I don't want my customers interfered with as they come and go." With that the senior partner passed on, and Starmidge smiled at his companion. "I'm glad he interrupted you, all the same, Mr. Polke," he said. "I was afraid you were going to say that you knew this woman had gone, in a hurry, to Ecclesborough." "No, I wasn't," replied Polke. "I told him what I did--because I wanted to know what he'd say." "Well--you heard!" said Starmidge. "And what's to be done, now? That woman's conduct is very suspicious. I think, if I were you, Mr. Polke, I should get in touch with the Ecclesborough police. Why not? No harm done. Why not call them up, give them a description of her, and ask them to keep their eyes open. She mayn't have left Ecclesborough--mayn't intend leaving. For--look here--!" he drew Polke further away from the two doors between which they were standing, and lowered his voice to a whisper--"Supposing," he went on, "supposing there is any secret understanding between this Mrs. Carswell and Joseph Chestermarke (and it looks like it, if she went off immediately after a conversation with him), she may have gone to Ecclesborough simply so that they could meet there, safely, later on. Eh?" "Good notion!" agreed Polke. "Well--we can watch him." "I'm beginning to think we must watch him--thought so for the last two hours," said Starmidge. "But in the meantime, why not put the Ecclesborough police on to keeping their eyes open for her? Can you give them a good description?" "Know her as well as I know my own wife--by sight," answered Polke. "And her style of dressing, too. All right--I'll go and do it, now. Well, there'll be Mr. Batterley coming along in a few minutes--Jones has gone for him. If he can show you any of their secret places he talked about----" "He's here," said Starmidge, as the old antiquary and the constable entered the hall. "All right--I'll attend to him." But when Polke had gone, and Batterley had been conducted into the st
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91  
92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Ecclesborough

 

Starmidge

 
description
 

secret

 

Batterley

 

police

 
Carswell
 
interrupted
 

concern

 
disappeared

notion

 
Joseph
 

understanding

 

agreed

 

meantime

 

morning

 

thought

 
beginning
 

immediately

 
simply

safely

 

Chestermarke

 

conversation

 

talked

 

places

 

minutes

 

antiquary

 

constable

 

conducted

 
entered

attend
 

keeping

 

housekeeper

 

coming

 

dressing

 
answered
 

lowered

 

replied

 
operations
 
unnecessary

interior

 

wanted

 

customers

 

smiled

 

interfered

 

passed

 

senior

 

partner

 

companion

 

afraid