Selwood

“ Selwood hurried out of that restaurant as soon as he had paid his bill, but it was with small hopes of finding the man whose face had appeared at the glass panel for the fraction of a second. As well look for one snowflake in a drift as for one man in those crowded streets!—all the same, he spent half an hour in wandering round the neighbourhood, looking eagerly at every tall figure he met or passed. And at the end of that time he went off to Endsleigh Gardens and reported progress to Professor Cox-Raythwaite. ”

“ A man had come quietly into the room—a slightly-built, little man, grey-bearded, delicate-looking, whose eyes were obscured by a pair of dark-tinted spectacles. He moved gently and with an air of habitual shyness, and Selwood, who was naturally observant, saw that his lips and his hands were trembling slightly as he came towards them.
“Mr. Tertius,” said Peggie, “do you know anything about Uncle Jacob? He came in during the night—one o’clock—and now he’s disappeared. ”

“ Will you tell me all about it, Mr. Selwood?—it’ll be a real scoop for me—I’ll hustle down to the office with it at once, and we’ll have a special out in no time. And whether you know it or not, that’ll help the police. Give me the facts, Mr. Selwood!”
Selwood stared at the ardent collector of news; then he motioned him to follow, and led him into the hall to where Barthorpe Herapath was standing with the police-inspector.
“This is a newspaper man,” he said laconically, looking at Barthorpe. “Mr. Triffitt, of the Argus. He wants the facts of this affair.” ”

“ Is he caught?—that’s what I want to know.”
“No!” answered Selwood. “But never mind him—we’ve come here to see what we can do for you. That’s the important thing.”
“What can anybody do?” said Barthorpe, with a mirthless laugh. “You know all the evidence. It’s enough—they’ll hang me on it!”
“Barthorpe, you mustn’t!” expostulated Peggie. “That’s not the way to treat things. Tell him,” she went on, turning to Selwood, “tell him all that Professor Cox-Raythwaite said the other night.” ”

“ Such is Sunningdale—Christopher Selwood’s farm in the Umtirara Mountains. Nor was it inappropriately named.
Seated on the stoep aforesaid, under the cool shade of the verandah, are two young women—one busily engaged on a piece of needlework, the other reading, or, to be more accurate, pretending to read. Not less dissimilar in appearance are these two than in their present occupation. One tall, fair, grave; the Other of smaller build, dark, espiègle. One deliberate of speech and movement; the other all mirth and vivacity upon any or no provocation. ”

“ I’ll find out yet what the real nature of Jacob Herapath’s transaction with Dimambro was, if I have to track Dimambro all through Italy!” [Pg 271]
Selwood was glad enough to put everything out of his mind; it seemed to him a hopeless task to search for a man to whose identity they only had the very faintest clue. But before noon of the next day—Sunday—he was face to face with a new phase of the problem. Since her uncle’s death, Peggie had begun to show a quiet reliance on Selwood. ”

“ Selwood flinched, physically and mentally. He had no great love of the proposed rôle—private detective work did not appeal to him. And he suggested that Professor Cox-Raythwaite had far better apply to Scotland Yard.
“By no means,” answered the Professor calmly. “You are the man to do the work. We don’t want any police interference. This Hotel Ravenna is probably some café, restaurant, or saloon in Soho, frequented by foreigners—a place where, perhaps, a man can get a room for a night or two. ”

“ We found these pushed away under some loose papers on the desk. It looks as if he’d put them on the desk when he sat down, and had displaced them when he fell out of his chair. Of course, they’re his—perhaps you recognize them?”
“Yes,” answered Selwood, abruptly. “They’re his.”
“I want you to come with me while I open his private safe,” continued Barthorpe. “At junctures like these there are always things that have got to be done. Now, did you ever hear my uncle speak of his will—whether he’d made one, and, if so, where he’d put it? Hear anything?” ”

“ All the sheep and goats have died except about five hundred.”
“Poor chap!” said Selwood. “What an unlucky dog he is! He’d better have cleared out of that dried-up Bushmanland place long ago, even if he had to give it away for a song. Well, he’ll have to now, anyhow. Write and ask him to come down here when he does, Hilda. ”

“ Never in the whole course of his life had Christopher Selwood found himself in so difficult—so perplexing a situation.
Then he did the very worst thing he could have done. He resolved to take his wife into confidence in the matter at once. Bundling the whole heap of correspondence into his pocket again, he rose, and took his way to the sheep-kraals for the evening count-in. But it is to be feared that if Gomfana or old Jacob had carelessly left a sheep or two in the veldt that evening pro bono the jackals, their master was too uncertain in his count to be sure of it. ”

“ All you need is tact, caution, and readiness to adapt yourself to circumstances.”
Then, when they left Mr. Halfpenny’s office he took Selwood aside and gave him certain hints and instructions, and enlarged upon the advantages of finding Dimambro if he was to be found. The Professor himself was enthusiastic about these recent developments, and he succeeded in communicating some of his enthusiasm to Selwood. After all, thought Selwood, as he went to Portman Square to tell Peggie of the afternoon’s doings, whatever he did was being done for Peggie ”

“ In fact, though I’m not rich, I’ll join Miss Wynne in paying their price, so far as a thousand pounds is concerned. I would pay more, but I really haven’t got the money—I daren’t go beyond a thousand.”
Selwood felt himself impressed by this candid offer.
“Precisely what do they ask—what do they propose?” he asked.
“This. If you agree to pay them ten thousand pounds, you and Professor Cox-Raythwaite are to meet them tonight. They will then tell the true story, and they will further take you and the police to the man, the real murderer,” answered Mrs. Engledew. ”

“ I have visited every cattle ranch owned by a woman in the whole United States, it seems to me. I found seven in Texas, two in Montana, and more in Idaho. I have ridden this little chap thousands of miles, shipped him with me by rail thousands more. I knew it was cattle stuff from some of Arnold’s deals, but where they came from has been a mystery—until two months ago. Now you know what I am and why I’m on Cattle Kate’s trail like a nemesis. I think, if we work together, we’ll land her soon—and land her hard and fast where she belongs.”
“Amen to that,” said Selwood fervently. ”

“ It makes a man wild! I’ve done all a man could do, and I can’t put my finger on a thing.”
“I’ve heard about the disappearing cattle,” said the other, “and I’ve done a bit on my own hook. I may as well tell you now, that my name is not Smith, and that I’ve been in Blue Stone Cañon for nearly two months.”
Selwood looked at him in astonishment.
“No one knows it all, even about his own doorstep,” he said. “I thought you were just passing through.”
“If you will, I’d like you to ride up the cañon with me,” said Fair, “to where the right wall falls away beyond the mouth of Little Blue. ”

“ More than once I’ve suggested that he should make one, but like most men who are in good health and spirits, he always put it off. However, we must look over his papers both here and at Portman Square.”
Selwood made no comment. He silently followed [Pg 66] Barthorpe into the private room in which his late employer had so strangely met his death. The body had been removed by that time, and everything bore its usual aspect, save for the presence of the police inspector and the detective, who were peering about them in the mysterious fashion associated with their calling. ”

“ His is not a face easy to mistake.”
“He’s a daring fellow,” observed the Professor, musingly. “A very bold fellow! There’s a very good portrait of him on those bills that the police have put out and posted so freely, and he must know that every constable and detective in London is on the look-out for him, to say nothing of folk who would be glad of the reward. If that was Burchill—and I’ve no doubt of it, since you’re so certain—it suggests a good deal to me.” [Pg 264]
“What?” asked Selwood. ”

“ Now we know that’s not so, because no one ever brought any letter to the Safe Deposit people and nobody’s ever opened the safe. Halfpenny, too, believed, during the period of the police officials’ masterly silence, that that man had put himself in communication with them. Now we know that the police have never heard anything whatever of him, have never traced him. I’m convinced that if we could unearth that man we should learn something. But how to do it, I don’t know.”
“And the other point?” asked Selwood, after a pause during which everybody seemed to be ruminating deeply. ”

“ We’ll follow this hole straight to its——”
“If I might suggest,” cut in Fair, “I’d say we’ll back out now—even brush out our tracks—and begin a systematic picketing of the Cathrew bunch. The cattle are fat on the ranges—it’ll soon be time to drive. Don’t you think it likely that another big bunch might—disappear down Nameless River?”
“Say,” said Selwood smiling. “Mister, you just move in my house with me! You can think faster and straighter than any man I ever met. Let’s go right now.”
Fair laughed and turned away, leading Diamond back down the cañon. ”

“ Tertius. “I can’t have any doubt, Halfpenny! I saw Jacob sign it; I signed it myself; I saw young Burchill sign it; we all three saw each other sign. What more can one want?”
“I must see this Mr. Burchill,” remarked Mr. Halfpenny. “I must see him at once. Unfortunately, he left no address at the place we called at. He will have to be discovered.”
Peggie coloured slightly as she turned to Mr. Halfpenny.
“Is it really necessary to see Mr. Burchill personally?” she asked with a palpable nervousness which struck Selwood strangely. “Must he be found?” ”

“ From this point of view Selby is distinctly disappointing. The glorious Abbey, now the parish church, is all, and more than, one expects, and the superlatively cobble-stoned Market-place, painful to walk in, is picturesque to look at; but the rest is an effect of meanness. Mean old houses of no great age; mean new ones; mean and threadbare waterside industries; second-hand clothes-shops, coal-grit, muddy waters and foreshores of the slimy Ouse, shabby rope-walks, and dirty alleys: these are Selby. ”

“ Thus, Selby, although surrounded by pleasant unspoiled country, seems infected by the smoky towns a few miles to the west, and has black roads and the unsatisfactory suggestion of poverty everywhere. The great abbey church shows its long roof-line over dull houses, and does its best to make up for the deficiencies of the town. In this it is not very successful, having only a low central tower, and the severe character of the Norman and Early English work of the western half deprives the building of any outline which would relieve the monotonous appearance of the town. ”

“ Selwyn."
"Yes, I was talking with him," said Mr. King, "but excuse me, I was not bored. He is peculiar, but not at all common, and he has many good qualities as a man; and I like the boy immensely."
"How can you?" Mrs. Vanderburgh gave a little high-bred laugh. "They are so insufferably common, Mr. King, those Selwyns are."
"Excuse me," said Mr. King, "that was the Earl of Cavendish; it will do no harm to mention it now, as they have gone." ”

“ His unaffected manner delighted Selby. Then with a simplicity that won his heart, he presented him to half a dozen students of as many nationalities. Some were cordial, all were polite. Even the majestic creature who held the position of Massier, unbent enough to say: “My friend, when a man speaks French as well as you do, and is also a friend of Monsieur Clifford, he will have no trouble in this studio. You expect, of course, to fill the stove until the next new man comes?” ”

“ He came to Rod, eye stretched close.
"I have much to thank you for, my creation!" he said. "You have saved me considerable trouble. Did you think it your mind that set these miserable humans free? Fool! I gave you my idea long before you regained consciousness in my compartments. And your every action was the result of my initial impulse, even your pulling the false suspension switch upon my shell. I instilled it in your mind to kill every Capek if you could!"
The crowds had drawn away, shrunk back from the two machines. Ralph and Vee stood at the edge of the crowd, transfixed. ”

“ Next month he again expresses his wish to lord Carlisle that he may not leave office before the "occasion will happen to serve poor Warner." Alas, it was too late; the time had slipped away. But the doctor bore his misfortune like a man. "Poor Warner!" writes Selwyn in ten lines of English without a word of French "He is very cheerful and declares with great generosity of mind and justice to you [lord Carlisle] that he shall not complain of his lot; he is persuaded that if you could help him you would, and that there are disappointments which a man must reconcile himself to." ”

“ Mr. Jesse's anecdotes are generally well told, but their version is sometimes different from ours. Selwyn was one day walking up St James's Street with Lord Pembroke, when a couple of sweeps brushed against them. "Impudent rascals!" exclaimed Lord Pembroke. "The sovereignty of the people," said Selwyn. "But such dirty dogs," said Pembroke. "Full dress for the court of St Giles's," said Selwyn, with a bow to their sable majesties.
But Selwyn, with all his affability and pleasantry, had his dislikes, and among them was the celebrated Sheridan. ”