Fergus Hume

“ Also, admitting any motive for revenge on the part of these men—say the one you suggest—what has Mrs. Jerr to do with the affair?” Dick, warming to his subject, spoke volubly. “Then there is Miss Danby to be considered. Why should the body of her enemy be found in her grounds to implicate a woman, for whom these men had no ill-feeling? Indeed, Rackham asserted that Miss Danby did her best to nurse young More back to health. If your theory of revenge is a feasible one, Miss Danby must be included as a victim as well as Slanton. No, Trant. It is Mrs. Jerr!” ”

“ Jerr rented the bungalow. Also on several occasions I caught sight of Wu Ti in the lane, after dark. He was on the prowl while you were calling on the old lady if you remember, Mr. Hustings. Finally, although everyone else was scared, he wasn’t, she wasn’t. So I made sure that it was a trick. I don’t know how it was managed,” mourned the boy, disconsolately, “in spite of my searching everywhere. Yes! In the trees, up the banks, along the banks, even in the mud.”
“The Voice has ceased since Chane arrived,” suggested Dick, using the name most familiar to the lad. ”

“ Jerr as being responsible for the business. But her reason?”
“Now we come to theories,” Jimmy shrugged his shoulders; “mine is, that Slanton being a Spiritualist, the trick was put about to lure him to Wessbury. Consider, gentlemen! Of all the many ghost-hunters who came, he was the only one who never went away. When you mentioned his name, Mr. Hustings, and, from Miss More’s description, recognized the scarf-pin, I immediately connected Mrs. Jerr with the matter. And for that reason I did not say anything about Rackham being Wu Ti, until now. ”

“ Trant looked up with a gleam of hope.
“Because a sane man usually has a motive for his actions, even the maddest. But More—what motive could he possibly have to kill Slanton? I ask you?”
“He did not do that. Slanton was killed at Fryfeld.”
“True. But More, indirectly, brought about the man’s death.”
“No! No! Mrs. Jerr, if you like.”
“Or Rackham, who disguised himself to serve Mrs. Jerr. In either case, More is implicated, and deeply. He must be at the bottom of the trouble.”
“Might be!” Trant flicked an irritable thumb against his teeth. “The motive! H’m! ”

“ Left to himself, he could have, and would have, strained a point to protect the old man to whom he owed so much. But, as things were, the case was not now wholly in his hands. Camp, representing central authority, would assuredly not permit the hushing up of a felony upon sentimental grounds; so it was extremely probable that More would have to face the worst. ”