Clevedon

“ I have always thought ill of Adam for that—for telling, I mean. It’s not the sort of thing a real man would have blurted out. But for all that it was true—it was true then and it has been true ever since. Women—”
“And as you say,” I interrupted gently, “it would be a woman’s hatpin.”
“Oh, yes, it would be a woman’s hatpin. Sir Philip Clevedon didn’t wear them—not that I ever heard. And we have identified it, you know. It belongs to Lady Clevedon and, as far as I can make out, Miss Kitty Clevedon borrowed it when she went to see the housekeeper earlier that evening. ”

“ Then, doubtless, he would prove an alibi and I should eliminate him.”
“Billy might have hit him over the head with a stick,” Lady Clevedon went on, “but he wouldn’t poison a man nor would he dig a hatpin into him.”
“Oh, you never know,” I replied cheerfully. “Who is Billy?”
p. 125“Sir William Clevedon—the new baronet—Kitty’s brother,” the old lady explained. “But he never poisoned Philip. They weren’t friends, certainly, but then, Philip had no friends. And they had quarrelled; though for that matter Philip had quarrelled with Ronald Thoyne, as you heard at the inquest. Philip was that way. ”

“ Do we work together?”
“Why, yes, certainly,” Pepster said. “Since both Kelham and the Chief insist on it I should be a fool to stand out.”
We strode along in silence for a few minutes.
“Of course,” Pepster remarked, “there are a few matters that haven’t—come out.”
“There always are,” I replied, thinking of Kitty Clevedon’s midnight visit regarding p. 115which, at present, at all events, I intended to say nothing.
“For example, that valet, John Tulmin,” Pepster went on. “Why should Sir Philip Clevedon have given him a cheque for £500 the day before he was—before he died?” ”

“ The old fossil took the alarm at once. ‘Rumours? he asked sharply. What rumours?’ He glared at me as if I were in some way responsible. ‘Oh, nothing definite,’ I said, ‘just rumours, p. 184mere talk.’ And then he opened out and let go, said he would like to ask my advice and so on. In short, they didn’t know where Billy Clevedon was, none of them knew, not even his sister. And there it is. He will turn up in good time—if he hasn’t some reason for stopping away. ”

“ No,” she said. “Why should I murder him?”
“Then if you are quite sure of that,” I returned, “you have all the world to go at. I may have done it, or Miss Clevedon may have done it, or Tulmin may—”
“May, may, may—you tire me to death with your may’s. I don’t want to know who may have done it, but who did. I suppose it is a case of the needle in the haystack.”
“Even the needle in the haystack could be found, given the necessary time and labour,” I observed.
“I wish you would talk sense,” the old lady rejoined tartly. “I have had that fat man Peppermint, Peppercorn—”
“Pepster,” I suggested. ”

“ No doubt Thoyne and Kitty had explained to them my part in the story. As they became more and more immersed in their plans for refurnishing White Towers and in various social p. 240activities, the mystery dropped more and more into the background. That was all the better for me. The necessity of consulting other folk and especially of explaining, or of concealing, because it more frequently amounts to that, is always something of a nuisance when one is engaged in delicate investigations.
But I had a little passage with Lady Clevedon the elder that was not entirely without entertainment. ”

“ Miss Clevedon returned a little wearily. “I don’t know why they should.”
The old lady rose from her seat and strode towards a little bureau in one corner of the room from which she took a bundle of newspaper cuttings.
“Yes, here is the report,” she said, and she began to read an extract from Mrs. Halfleet’s evidence in a loud, rather strident voice.
“I heard Sir Philip say, ‘You are talking nonsense. I cannot compel her to marry me against her will. The decision rests with her.’ He was not exactly shouting but was speaking a little more loudly than usual. Mr. Thoyne seemed angry. ”

“ Anyway, I am looking for a job as confidential man—valet, secretary—something soft and clean and well-paid. I am tired of being a ‘crook.’”
What Tulmin actually would have done, or even could have done had Clevedon bluffed it out, I don’t know. But apparently the latter funked the risk and the end of it was that Tulmin was installed at White Towers as Sir Philip Clevedon’s confidential valet. That, in brief, was the story Stillman told me, nor was it difficult to supply the missing lines. ”

“ I turned suddenly on Kitty Clevedon and rapped out the question with the abruptness of a pistol shot. She started a little, then shook her head.
“Not since I was a child,” she replied.
“Can we get out of this without returning by that passage?” I asked.
“Yes, through that door is a flight of stone steps leading to what used to be the kitchen of the old White Abbey.”
“We’ll go that way,” I decided. ”

“ Abraham Pepster was chief of the detective force at Peakborough, the county town, and one may judge to some extent his prevailing characteristic by the fact that his nickname among disrespectful subordinates was “Gimlet-eyes.” It was, however, Sergeant Gamley who opened the conversation on this particular occasion.
p. 26“We have called, Mr. Holt,” he said, “with regard to the tragedy at White Towers. Sir Philip Clevedon—”
“A tragedy—of what nature?” I interrupted. “I have heard nothing of it. ”

“ But it would at least be useful to learn all I could regarding Clevedon’s past. Stillman’s story had opened new possibilities. If Tulmin could recognise Clevedon as Calcott, others might have done so. It might easily be that one would have to go back into those dead years to solve the mystery of the p. 250Clevedon tragedy. And among those possibilities was Thoyne. He may have known Clevedon in America and have had good reason, quite apart from their rivalry for Kitty Clevedon’s affections, to desire his death. ”

“ Later I learnt that the house was one in which Tulmin had lodged when he first came over from America and before he went to Cartordale.”
“America?” I interposed. “Did Thoyne know him in America?”
“That is the story,” Stillman replied, with a quiet grin. “Thoyne—Clevedon—Tulmin—all from America. Tulmin had some money of his own, but Thoyne was making him a fairly generous allowance, is still, for that matter. But to begin at the beginning. When Sir Philip Clevedon—er—died, Mr. Thoyne offered Tulmin a job as steward on his yacht.” ”

“ Sentiment does not attach itself to the satirist, who, in the odd moments when he, too, sentimentalises, is apt to be suspected, quite wrongly, of insincerity. It is for its Tennyson associations that Clevedon Court is sought by most tourists.
45 CHAPTER VI
YATTON—CONGRESBURY—WICK ST. LAWRENCE The main road from Clevedon to Kingston Seymour trends sharply inland, passing the little village of Kenn. Seaward the flat and featureless lands spread to an oozy shore; Kenn itself, an insignificant village, standing beside a sluggish runnel of the same name. ”

“ Dr. Crawford murmured.
“Ah, yes, Pepster—thinks I did the murder. Where did I last see my hatpin? Did I leave it at White Towers? ‘My good man,’ I said, ‘I haven’t been in White Towers for three years.’ Wasn’t I friendly with Sir Philip? p. 72Had I quarrelled with him? when did I last see him? Of course I had quarrelled with him. Philip Clevedon was always quarrelling with somebody. He was—but there, he’s dead now.”
She paused again and began to draw on her glove.
“The late baronet wasn’t exactly popular—?” I began.
“Popular!” the old lady cried explosively. “Popular!” ”

“ He is certainly wealthy and gives generously, which is perhaps one reason why he is popular round p. 69here. He is bluff and hearty, but rather too ready with his fists to fit our modern notions of law and order. A good man to avoid a quarrel with, I should imagine. He is very strong on the war and indignant with his own country for holding off as long as she did. That is about as near a character-sketch as I can give you.”
“Good. I must make his acquaintance. Is he very friendly with Miss Kitty Clevedon?”
“Well, there have been rumours—matrimonial—but nothing definite. ”

“ Alas, repose was not made for man, nor man for repose! Mr. Coleridge at this time little thought of the joys and sorrows, the vicissitudes of life, and revolutions of feeling, with which he was ordained ere long to contend! Inconveniences connected with his residence at Clevedon, not at first taken into the calculation, now gradually unfolded themselves. The place was too far from Bristol. ”

“ Mackaluce. I remember hearing about you from Dr. Crawford. Well, thanks for your help. Now, Kitty, come along. Good bye, Mr. Holt.”
“Can you find your way back all right?” I said, turning to Nora Lepley, who had stood silent during the conversation and whom the old lady had not thanked.
“But I live here,” she replied, with a quick laugh, “and I don’t always come home by daylight. Good night, Mr. Holt.”
Old Lady Clevedon had amused me hugely. She was evidently what the country people p. 44would call “a character” whose acquaintance might be worth cultivating. ”

“ Thoyne returned.
“Yes, I dare say he would be. At his age one is. But I mean any special lady?”
But they could give me no help in that.
p. 205CHAPTER XVIII
THE ANONYMOUS LETTERS
The first thing I had to settle was as regards the entrance to White Towers of which Kitty Clevedon had spoken. We had to pick up Billy Clevedon’s tracks after he left Midlington, and if he really had gone to White Towers, it would probably be by that route. At all events there was absolutely no evidence he had been seen at any of the usual entrances. ”

“ Man was intended by Nature to carry every burden save one and that the heaviest of the lot. From my housekeeper to whom I first applied I learnt little. She had heard stories but had never known Billy Clevedon personally. I applied to both Dr. Crawford and the Vicar, but with hardly more success. They, too, had the usual legends off by heart, but Billy had p. 127never been ill and had no reputation for piety and seemed to have kept out of the way of both doctor and parson. Tim Dallott could tell me a little more but it consisted chiefly of reminiscences of Sunday rat-hunts and fishing. ”

“ How he lived or what he did in the unemployed intervals I cannot say and never inquired. A lack of curiosity is often a form of wisdom.
I had placed Tulmin in his hands. “This man,” I said, “has been blackmailing the late Sir Philip Clevedon and I want to know why.”
And there I left it. Stillman, I knew, would sooner or later bring me the information I required.
“I went down to Ilbay,” Stillman said, “but I could not get on board the yacht. But chance helped me there. Mr. Thoyne came off the ship bringing Tulmin with him. ”

“ It could hardly be supposed, that in the element of so much excitement, the spirit of inspiration should remain slumbering. On my next seeing Mr. C. he read me, with more than his accustomed enthusiasm, those tenderly affectionate lines to his "Sara," beginning
"My pensive Sara, thy soft cheek reclined." &c,
Mr. Coleridge now began to console himself with the suspicion, not only that felicity might be found on this side the Atlantic, but that Clevedon concentrated the sum of all that Earth had to bestow. ”

“ It was a lengthy process and it was wasted time, because, as we neared the car, we saw Hartrey standing by it, looking from left to right into the darkness, evidently with rather dismal forebodings.
“He’s there!” Miss Kitty Clevedon cried in accents of relief, but the tone in which her ladyship echoed the phrase was quite otherwise. The latter approached the car and demanded to know what Hartrey meant by leaving her alone there on the high road and why p. 43he had not gone to the farm to deliver her message.
“I lost my way, my lady, in the darkness,” the man replied. ”

“ Our governess encouraged our natural tastes, and the children’s pennies were often expended in purchasing the landscape stones and Bristol diamonds offered for sale on Clifton Down. In still another direction, the ‘Brook,’ leading through pleasant fields to the distant Beaufort woods, had a never-ending charm. Daily, and often twice a day, the group of children with their governess wandered to these pleasant spots. In the summer time Weston-super-Mare and Clevedon gave endless seaside delights, and furnished a charming picture-gallery through all the subsequent wanderings of later life. ”

“ And then I gave Stillman another mission—Grainger, Mary Grainger, Nora Lepley.
“Anything particular?” Stillman asked.
“No,” I said. “Everything. I don’t know what it will lead to. It is absolutely new ground.”
I told him all I knew and left him to it.
When Tulmin came in Stillman introduced me as a friend of his named Spencer and for a time we talked on all sorts of topics until Stillman mentioned quite casually that Tulmin had come from Cartordale.
“Did you know Sir Philip Clevedon?” I asked, “the man who was poisoned? A cousin of mine was housekeeper there, name of Halfleet.” ”

“ A pity, indeed, if a dozen men cannot order a parcel of beer-swilling clowns, who would scuttle to their burrows fast enough at the snapping of a pistol. But who the devil have we here?”
I looked up quickly at the words. We were approaching the steps in a body when the door of the inn suddenly opened and a man came hastily out.
He was dressed in riding costume, and as he halted in surprise at sight of us, I saw that it was the young baronet, my lady’s cousin.
“Permit me, colonel,” I said, stepping forward, “to bring to your acquaintance Sir Rupert Courtenay, of Clevedon Hall.” ”