Valentine Williams

“ She was now a wealthy woman. Hartley Parrish’s will had ensured that, he knew. But it was not the barrier of riches that Robin Greve feared. He had asked Mary Trevert to be his wife before there was any thought of her inheriting Parrish’s fortune. He derived a little consolation from that reflection. At least he could not appear as a fortune-hunter in her eyes. But, until he could clear himself of the suspicion lurking in Mary Trevert’s mind that he, Robin Greve, was in some way implicated in Hartley Parrish’s death, the dead man, he felt, would always stand between them. ”

“ But Robin, without paying the least attention either to the butler or to the sound of voices in the lounge, strode across the outer hall and disappeared through the glass door of the corridor leading to the great drawing-room and the library.
Bude stood an instant gazing after him in perplexity, then moved across the hall to the servants’ quarters.
In the meantime in the lounge the little doctor snapped the case of his watch and opined that he wanted his tea.
“Where on earth has everybody got to? What’s become of Lady Margaret? I haven’t seen her since lunch....” ”

“ At the same moment the car seemed to leap forward: he made a desperate effort to regain his balance, failed, and was whirled out head foremost on to the side of the road.
Fortunately for himself he fell soft. The road ran here through a little wood of young oak and beech which came right down to the edge of the chaussée. The ground was deep in withered leaves which, with the rain and the water draining from the road’s high camber, were soft and soggy. Robin went full length into this muss with a thud that shook every bone in his body. ”

“ Then in a little while Bude and Jay and two bucolic-looking policemen came to the library to move the body of the master of Harkings. Robin stood by and watched the little procession pass slowly with silent feet across the soft pile carpet and out into the corridor. But his thoughts were not with Parrish. He was haunted by the look which Mary Trevert had given him as she had stood for an instant at the library door, a look of fear, of suspicion. And it made his heart ache. ”

“ Bude stood for an instant irresolute. He glanced shrewdly at the young man.
“Go on,” said Robin quickly; “what are you waiting for, man? There’s no time to lose.”
Slowly the butler turned and tiptoed away, his ungainly body swaying about as he stole across the heavy pile carpet. He went out of the room, closing the door softly behind him. He left Greve sunk in a reverie at the desk, gazing with unseeing eyes upon the dead face of the master of Harkings. ”

“ But I was fast in the trap. Marbran explained to me in great detail and with the utmost candour the working of the Parrish syndicate. He let me know very plainly that I was as deeply implicated as Parrish and he. I was a shareholder; I had received and was receiving my share of the profits. In my distress and shame I threatened to expose the pair of them. Had I known the source of his money, I told him, I should never have accepted it. At that Marbran laughed contemptuously.
“You tell that yarn to the police,” he sneered, “and hear what they say!” ”

“ She and Robin, she recalled with a feeling of relief, had never discussed the matter. He, too, had understood and had sailed for France without seeking to take advantage of the circumstance.
Outside in the black night a car throbbed. Footsteps crunched the gravel beneath her window. The sounds brought her back to the present with a sudden pang. She began to think of Hartley Parrish. All her life she had been so very poor that, until she had met this big, vigorous, intensely vital man, she had never known what a lavish command of money meant. Hartley Parrish did things in a big way. ”

“ He was trying to fix a mental photograph of a letter—typewritten on paper of dark slatey blue—which he had seen on Hartley Parrish’s desk in the library at Harkings on the previous afternoon.
Prompted by Bruce Wright, he could now recall the heading clearly. “ELIAS VAN DER SPYCK & Co., GENERAL IMPORTERS, ROTTERDAM,” stood printed before his eyes as plainly as though he still held the typewritten sheet in front of him. But the mind plays curious tricks. Robin’s brain had registered the name; yet it recorded no impression of the contents of the letter. ”

“ This glittering Louis Seize environment seemed altogether too much for the homely Inspector. Whilst waiting for Mary Trevert to come to him, he tried several attitudes in turn. The empty hearth frightened him away from the mantelpiece, the fragile appearance of a gilt settee decided him against risking his sixteen stone weight on its silken cushions, and the vastness of the room overawed him when he took up his position in the centre of the Aubusson carpet. ”

“ They reverberated up the fine old oak staircase to the luxurious Louis XV bedroom, where Lady Margaret Trevert lay on her bed idly smiling through an amusing novel. They crashed through the thickly padded baize doors leading to the servants’ hall, where, at sixpence a hundred, Parrish’s man, Jay, was partnering Lady Margaret’s maid against Mrs. Heever, the housekeeper, and Robert, the chauffeur, at a friendly game of bridge. And they even boomed distantly into the far-away billiard-room and broke into the talk which Robin Greve was having with Mary Trevert. ”

“ Then Mary Trevert spoke.
“Robin,” she said gently, “I owe you an apology ...”
Robin Greve looked at her quickly. But Mary had her eyes fixed seaward in contemplation of a distant light that flared and died with persistent regularity.
“My dear,” he answered, “I’ve only myself to blame. When you told me you were going to marry Hartley Parrish, I should have known that you had your reasons and that those reasons were good. ”

“ Money meant freedom, freedom to live ... and to love.
She stretched her hands out to the blaze. Was she free to love? What had driven Hartley Parrish to suicide? Or who? She went over in her mind her interview with Robin Greve in the billiard-room. He had spoken of other women in connection with Hartley Parrish. Had he used that knowledge to threaten his rival? What had Robin done after he had left her that afternoon with his final taunt?
She felt the blood rise to her cheeks as she thought of it. Mary Trevert had all the pride of her ancient race. ”

“ If he wanted a thing he bought it, as he had bought Bude, as he had bought a car he had seen standing outside a Pall Mall club and admired. He had rooted the owner out, bade him name his price, and had paid it, there and then, by cheque, and driven Mary off to a lawn tennis tournament at Queen’s, hugely delighted by her bewilderment.
She did not love him. She could never have learnt to love him. ”

“ It was a vivid brown travelling ulster and on it lay a brown tweed cap.
Mary Trevert was no fool. She was, on the contrary, a remarkably quick-witted young person. The sight of that rather “loud” overcoat instantly recalled the stranger so strikingly resembling Mr. Jeekes who had disappeared down the lane as she was coming away from Mr. Schulz’s house. Mr. Jeekes was in Rotterdam then, and had, of course, been sent by her mother to look after her. What a fool she had been to allow Euan MacTavish to persuade her to tell her mother of her plans! ”

“ Manderton, “not so uncommon as you suppose, Mr. Bardy, sir. Hendriks, the Palmers Green poisoner, typed out his confession on cream inlaid paper before dosing himself. But let’s hear what the gentleman has to tell us....”
This was the last digression. Thenceforth Mr. Bardy read out the confession to the end without interruption.
For Miss Trevert:
Madam,
I slew, but I am not a murderer: I Killed, but without deliberation.
Victor Marbran has gone and left me to meet a shameful death. But I cannot face the scaffold. As men go, I do not believe I am a coward and I am not afraid to die. ”

“ THE LETTER
The great drawing-room of Harkings was ablaze with light. The cluster of lights in the heavy crystal chandelier and the green-shaded electric lamps in their gilt sconces on the plain white-panelled walls coldly lit up the formal, little-used room with its gilt furniture, painted piano, and huge marble fireplace. ”

“ When I have written what I have to write, I shall be hangman to myself. My pistol they have taken away.
Victor Marbran has abandoned me. He had prepared everything for his flight. Even if the law can indict him as the virtual murderer of Hartley Parrish, the law will never lay hands on him. Victor Marbran neglects no detail. He will never be caught. ”

“ Leaning forward, her hands clasped tightly in front of her, Mary Trevert raised her dark eyes to the little secretary’s face.
“Many men have a secret in their lives,” she said in a low voice. “Do you know of anything in Mr. Parrish’s life which an enemy might have made use of to drive him to his death?”
Her manner was so intense that Mr. Jeekes quite lost his self-composure. He clutched at his pince-nez and readjusted them upon his nose to cover his embarrassment. ”

“ But Mary Trevert held him fast.
“You didn’t finish what you were saying about Mr. Parrish, Mr. Jeekes,” she said impassively. The secretary made no sign. But he looked a trifle sullen.
“I don’t think you realize, Mr. Jeekes,” she said, “that other people besides myself are keenly interested in the motives for Mr. Parrish’s suicide. The police profess to be willing to accept the testimony of the specialists as satisfactory medical evidence about his state of mind. But I distrust that man, Manderton. He is not satisfied, Mr. Jeekes. He won’t rest until he knows the truth.” ”

“ Robin stopped to listen at the entrance to his chambers. As he stood there he heard a heavy tread on the stone steps within. He turned to face a solidly built swarthy-looking man who emerged from the building.
He favoured Robin with a leisurely, searching stare, then strode heavily across the courtyard to the little passage where he disappeared from view.
Robin looked after him. The man was a stranger: the occupants of the other chambers were all known to him. With a thoughtful expression on his face Robin entered the house and mounted to his rooms. ”

“ In the meantime, what makes you think that the murderer (to follow up your theory) was conversant with the lay of the land at Harkings?”
“Because,” answered Robin, “the murderer left no tracks on the grass or flower-beds. He stuck to the hard gravel path throughout. That path, which runs from the drive through the rosery to the gravel path round the house just under the library window, is precious hard to find in the dark, especially where it leaves the drive, as at the outset it is a mere thread between the rhododendron bushes. ”

“ It boomed out the hour, stroke by stroke, solemnly, inexorably, like a grim old judge summing up and driving home, point by point, an irrefutable charge. The heavy strokes broke in upon the fitful doze into which Robin Greve, stretched out in an armchair in his living-room, had dropped. ”

“ The girl looked up quickly.
“Will men ever understand women?” she cried, a new note in her voice. She stepped forward and, putting her two hands on the young man’s shoulders, swung him round to face her.
“I’m as poor as ever I was,” she said, “for Hartley Parrish’s money is not for me ...”
“Mary!” exclaimed the young man joyfully.
“Robin Greve,” cried the girl, “do you mean to tell me you’d stand there thinking I’d accept money made like that ...” ”

“ The muffled notes of the gong swelled out brazenly through the silent house. They echoed down the softly carpeted corridors to the library where the master of the house sat at his desk. For days he had been immersed in the figures of the new issue which Hornaway’s, the vast engineering business of his creation, was about to put on the market. ”

“ I can’t face a long engagement with no prospects except castles in Spain. I don’t mean to be callous, Robin, but I expect I am naturally hard. Hartley Parrish is a good sort. He’s very fond of me, and he will see that Mother lives comfortably for the rest of her life. I’ve promised to marry him because I like him and he’s a suitable match. And I don’t see by what right you try and run him down to me behind his back! If it’s jealousy, then it shows a very petty spirit!”
Robin Greve stepped close up to Mary Trevert. ”

“ Mary Trevert raised her eyes to his.
“Will you do something for me?” she said. “Tell Mr. Greve not to trust Manderton. He will know whom I mean. Tell him to be on his guard against that man. Say he means mischief. Tell him, above all things, to be careful. Make him go away ... go abroad until this thing has blown over ...”
She spoke with intense earnestness, her dark eyes fixed on Bruce Wright’s face. ”

“ But Euan MacTavish was halfway to the door.
“Wait there,” he commanded, “till I telephone the one man in the world who can help us.”
He vanished into the hall where Mary heard him at the instrument.
“We are going round to the Albany,” he said, “to see my friend, Ernest Dulkinghorn, of the War Office. He can help us if any one can. But, Mary, you must promise me one thing before we go ... you must agree to do what old Ernest tells you. You needn’t be afraid. He is the most unconventional of men, capable of even approving this madcap scheme of yours!” ”

“ The girl turned away, one slim shoe tapping restlessly against the brass rail of the fireplace.
“My dear,” her mother went on, “remember I have known Robin Greve all his life. His father, the Admiral, was a very old friend of mine. He was the very personification of honour. Robin is very fond of you ... no, he has told me nothing, but I know. Don’t you think it is rather hard on an old friend to turn him away just when you most want him?”
There was a heightened colour in the girl’s face as she turned and looked her mother in the face. ”