The Mystery at Stowe

by Vernon Loder

  ‘While the speed of the dart would not be great?’

  ‘That is of no moment. The darts themselves, unless received in the eyes, say, would not do much harm. The savage relies on the deadly poison with which the dart is tipped.’

  ‘So that a mere scratch would be fatal?’

  ‘If fresh poison was used in the case of curare.’

  ‘Then curare was not used on the darts in your possession?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Have you any idea what it was?’

  ‘No, it was one of the poisons I could not analyse.’

  ‘So that it might be dangerous even when not quite fresh?’

  ‘I thing so. I have heard that is so. I remember a boy, a native servant of mine, from that tribe, killed pacas with them, three months after we had left his tribe, though he had no means of getting a fresh supply of poison.’

  ‘You think it possible from your experience that a man could shoot, say from the lawn outside, and kill a lady in the house?’

  ‘Granting three things: a man who could use the blow-pipe, who saw Mrs Tollard at the window, and had a dart tipped with this particular venom.’

  ‘Thank you, Miss Gurdon. That is a help to us. The window was open. You might go out, Warren, and investigate that point. And you might give out a general warning that no one in the house, servants or guests, should cross the lawn, or walk on the path under that window.’

  The detective-inspector got up. ‘Very well, sir.’

  ‘Leave your notes with me.’

  Warren handed over the note-book, and went out.

  Fisher turned again to Elaine. ‘I suppose it is rare to find an English person who can use a blow-pipe?’

  ‘Yes. Some explorers can. Many don’t trouble to learn, or find it too difficult.’

  ‘Can you use one?’

  ‘Yes. I was showing them here lately how it was used. Of course I used harmless darts.’

  ‘Did anyone of your audience try a hand at it?’

  Elaine bit her lip. ‘One or two,’ she said. ‘Mr Haine tried, and Mr Tollard.’

  ‘Is that the dead lady’s husband?’

  ‘He went to town before this occurred,’ interrupted Mr Barley anxiously.

  Fisher frowned. ‘So he was not in the house last night?’

  ‘No. He went to town.’

  ‘Well, we shall see him later. But to return to this demonstration, Miss Gurdon, did Mr Haine or the other gentleman show any—er—proficiency?’

  Elaine reddened slightly. ‘Mr Haine couldn’t get it out at all. Mr Tollard sent the dart a fair distance, but without any certainty of aim.’

  ‘At least he could fire it?’

  ‘Yes, to that extent.’

  Fisher coughed.

  Mr Barley looked annoyed. ‘I have told you, superintendent, that Mr Tollard left for town.’

  ‘I understood you to say so, sir,’ replied the other blandly. ‘Well, Miss Gurdon, I have no further questions to ask you now. You have helped us considerably. Thank you.’

  ‘Who do you wish to see next?’ asked Mr Barley, as Elaine bowed silently, and went out.

  ‘I wish to ask you a few questions,’ said Fisher. ‘In the first place, have you any reason to believe that any of your guests had reason to dislike Mrs Tollard?’

  ‘No,’ said Mr Barley, setting his square jaw. ‘None.’

  ‘She was popular then?’

  ‘Not perhaps exactly popular. She was a very quiet woman, retiring in a way, or dignified, one or the other. She had artistic tastes, and was perhaps too languid by temperament to mix much with my other guests.’

  Fisher nodded. ‘Her face is of that type, sir. I quite see what you mean. Now, how about her husband. Had they been married long?’

  ‘Three years, I fancy.’

  ‘They got on well together? I mean to say they were, in your opinion, an average married couple?’

  ‘Granting a slight difference in temperament, they were. He is of a more sporting type.’

  Fisher thought for a few moments. ‘With a good many others in Elterham, sir, I attended Miss Gurdon’s lecture. I had read about her in the paper before, and I think there was, the other day, some reference to a gentleman who was backing her financially in her next expedition.’

  ‘Mr Tollard promised to make up any deficit, but that was pure good will on his part. I proposed to do the same thing myself, but had been forestalled.’

  ‘They are old friends?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Mr Barley was disturbed. He saw where this line of examination would eventually lead. He felt with Netta Gailey that it was not for him to magnify marital differences of a trifling kind, in a case where they might take on an exaggerated importance. But he was saved any further trouble at that time, by the reappearance of Elaine Gurdon with the quiver she had taken down from the wall that morning.

  ‘I think you ought to have these,’ she said, without apology, and handing the quiver to Fisher. ‘But be careful not to touch the points.’

  Fisher thanked her, drew a dart gingerly from the thing, and studied the end. ‘What is this? Cottonwool?’

  ‘That is to make the dart fit the blow-pipe. It is a fluff of silk-cotton.’

  ‘There was none of this on the dart which killed Mrs Tollard?’

  ‘No, it would not remain on the dart, as a feather does on an arrow.’

  ‘Thank you, Miss Gurdon,’ said he, replacing the venomous thing, and laying the quiver on the table. ‘Perhaps now you would ask Mrs Tollard’s maid to come here.’

  Mrs Tollard’s maid came in a few minutes later, alone. She was very nervous, and had been crying, but her evidence did not amount to anything. She had been with Mrs Tollard three months, had found her a good, if exacting, mistress. She believed her to be a healthy woman, in spite of her looks, had rarely known her even to suffer from headaches. She was sure her mistress did not take drugs. On the previous night she had left her in bed, professing violent neuralgia. She had been told not to trouble any more. That was all she knew.

  ‘So far as you are aware, she was happy with Mr Tollard?’

  She stared. Mrs Tollard had always looked melancholy, to her mind, but she did not know it had anything to do with Mr Tollard, who was always most attentive. Ladies were different somehow. You couldn’t always tell if they were happy.

  ‘Quite true,’ said Mr Barley when the girl had gone. ‘That poetical, artistic type always looks to me in despair, but I believe that is only a pose.’

  Fisher had been given a list of the guests, and now looked at it. He asked to see Mr Head first, and Mr Head came, with a countenance of protest, and an opening statement that he knew nothing about it. Fisher told him to sit down, and put a few questions quickly. Mr Head’s only contribution to the evidence was the remark that Mrs Tollard might not have been well. The last time she had played bridge she had seemed very distrait. He went, and Mrs Head came in. She had much the same kind of inconsequence to deliver, and was soon dismissed.

  ‘I think they will be of no further use to us,’ said the superintendent, privately wishing he hadn’t to waste his time on these bridge bores. ‘You may tell them so, sir. Now what about Mrs Minever?’

  Barley went for his elderly relation, hoping she would not put some silly interpretation on the event. Fortunately, he found her rather frightened by the prospect of examination, and determined to say as little as possible.

  ‘I really don’t know anything about any of them,’ she said decidedly. ‘They are Mr Barley’s guests. I know Mrs Tollard said she had a bad headache, and didn’t come down.’

  She left, and Fisher consulted the roll again. ‘Here’s a gentleman, Mr Ortho—is that right?’

  ‘Yes, Ortho Haine.’

  ‘He seems to have been the only other man on that side. We had better have him in.’

  Mr Barley went out, and Fisher scribbled rapidly. Haine came in, looking white and upset, but apparently determined to help the investigation in any way
he could. It was quite true that he had developed a youthful but quite harmless passion for the dead woman, and was inclined to regard her as a sort of modern martyr to matrimony, but he was sensible enough not to enlarge too much on things that might be misconstrued.

  ‘I heard nothing in the night, or early this morning,’ he said, in reply to a question. ‘But I am a very sound sleeper, and I was tired last night when I went to bed.’

  ‘Did you not even hear Miss Gurdon or Mr Barley go into the room?’

  ‘No. As a rule I do not wake until my tea is brought up. But there was none brought up this morning. I slept on until late. I did not hear Mrs Tollard was dead until this—until Mr Barley told us after breakfast.’

  ‘Do you know Mrs Tollard well?’

  ‘I have not met her very many times.’

  ‘Did she impress you as a happy woman?’

  Haine glanced at Mr Barley, and frowned. He hesitated for a moment, then spoke. ‘I don’t think she did. I may be mistaken. I should say on the whole that she—’

  ‘Just a moment, sir,’ said Fisher grimly. ‘Could you say definitely that she was unhappy, or had any reason to be so?’

  The word ‘definitely’ staggered Ortho. He was a conscientious fellow, and there was a world of difference between thinking that Mrs Tollard did not care for her husband’s association with Miss Gurdon, and declaring in so many words that she was unhappy as the result of it.

  ‘No, I couldn’t say so definitely,’ he remarked.

  ‘Very well. Speculations are not much good to us, sir,’ said the superintendent. ‘Can you tell me if any of the ladies in the house were friends of the late Mrs Tollard?’

  ‘They all knew her,’ was the reply. ‘Perhaps Mrs Gailey was most in sympathy with her.’

  ‘And Miss Sayers?’ asked Fisher, looking at his list.

  ‘They aren’t the same type,’ said Ortho, who was young enough to divide humanity into types.

  ‘Then I think I shall see Mrs Gailey next,’ said Fisher. ‘If you don’t mind, Mr Barley, I shall question this witness privately.’

  Barley started. ‘I hope I have not been in your way?’

  ‘Not at all,’ said Fisher dryly. ‘But please ask Mrs Gailey to come in. I have done with Mr Haine.’

  Ortho bolted, much relieved, but Mr Barley was thoughtful and anxious as he went in search of Netta Gailey. Was it possible that the superintendent suspected something? It was odd his asking to see Mrs Gailey alone. If that young ass Haine had only held his tongue this ridiculous nonsense about Margery Tollard’s unhappiness need never have come up.

  ‘The police will be sure to make a mountain of this molehill!’ he said to himself plaintively.

  CHAPTER VI

  FISHER LAYS A TRAP

  IT was certainly unfortunate that Ortho Haine had said even as much as he did. Superintendent Fisher had expected to hear that the dead lady had been a happy woman, but the earlier witnesses had not thought of saying so, and Haine had almost given him the impression that Mrs Tollard was unhappy in her married life.

  ‘There’s one thing certain,’ said Fisher, as he sat waiting for Mrs Gailey. ‘Mr Tollard left yesterday, so was not in the house last night. Mrs Tollard was most probably shot from outside. If that little fluff of silk-cotton had been detached in firing, as Miss Gurdon suggested, it ought to have been found. That is, if the criminal was indoors at the time. It might be possible, though, for someone to fire the dart through the keyhole of the communicating door. I must look into that. Come in!’

  The last words he spoke aloud, and Netta Gailey entered shyly.

  ‘You are Mrs Gailey?’ asked Fisher. ‘Good! Will you please sit down?’

  She sat down, and began to fidget. He added in a reassuring tone: ‘The questions I am going to put to you need not alarm you, Mrs Gailey.’

  She nodded nervously. ‘I don’t know much, I’m afraid.’

  ‘I gathered as much from Mr Barley. But I want to hear a little about the poor lady. I expect we shall find she was happy enough when alive, but some of the guests here have given me the impression that she was rather melancholy. Now, as another woman, and one more or less in sympathy with her, can you tell me your opinion?’

  Mrs Gailey had come determined to say nothing. But the superintendent seemed so mild, and so casual about it, that she was not so careful as she had intended to be.

  ‘Well, you see, she wasn’t a sporty type. She liked books and pictures and things, while Mr Tollard was fond of sports.’

  Fisher nodded indifferently. ‘We mustn’t let that influence us too much. Dozens of husbands and wives manage to rub along very nicely, even when they don’t think alike.’

  ‘Oh, of course,’ she replied, more brightly. ‘I don’t say for a minute that Ned Tollard made her unhappy.’

  ‘I don’t suppose he did,’ said Fisher, giving her a keen look. ‘No one has dared to suggest that, I hope.’

  ‘Not suggest it. Oh, no,’ she cried. ‘She was rather languid, you know, and had a rather melancholy face. You see, Mr Tollard was only giving money to this expedition. I never saw anything in it myself.’

  Fisher smiled inwardly. It was not for nothing that he had wished to see this lady in Mr Barley’s absence.

  ‘Too absurd to suggest it,’ he said. ‘With a big thing like that in view, there would be a lot to discuss and talk over?’

  ‘Miss Gurdon used to visit their house, with her maps and plans,’ she agreed. ‘I can assure you it was quite above-board. You do see that, don’t you?’

  ‘It seems hardly worth discussing,’ he said casually. ‘But let us leave that, and come back to Mr Tollard. He only left here yesterday. I presume you knew he was leaving?’

  She reflected. ‘No. That was rather a surprise. We were all going to picnic at Heber Castle, in the afternoon, and he had driven his wife over to Elterham to get some books in the morning. I saw them come back in the car, but did not speak to them. It was later we heard he had to go back to town on business.’

  ‘I hope the drive did her good—I mean to say, how did she seem when you saw her?’

  Netta Gailey gave a sudden start. Was it possible that this horrid man was pumping her? Had she said too much already?

  ‘Oh, all right,’ she said hastily.

  Fisher had been watching her face. ‘Do you mean happy?’

  She squirmed a little, and he saw that too. He came at her suddenly with a verbal thrust.

  ‘You thought not? You felt that she was not quite at her ease?’

  Netta gasped. ‘Oh, I don’t know. She seemed a bit upset, perhaps, but she had a bad head later, and perhaps she felt it coming on.’

  It had dawned on her that her conjecture was right. He had been drawing her on. She rose, much perturbed.

  He got up, and rang a bell. ‘Please sit down for a few moments,’ he said, and began to scribble in his note-book as she resumed her seat.

  Grover, the butler, came in. Fisher asked him to send in Miss Sayers, and went on writing. Miss Sayers appeared in a minute, and glanced woefully at Netta. The superintendent suddenly seemed to jump up, and be standing between them.

  ‘Thank you, Mrs Gailey, that will do,’ he said.

  Netta went out, without a chance to warn her friend. Fisher courteously asked Nelly Sayers to sit, and stood near her, his hands behind his back.

  ‘I am sorry to trouble you, Miss Sayers,’ he began, ‘but duty is duty even when it is not very pleasant. Mrs Gailey tells me that Mrs Tollard returned yesterday from a drive with her husband, looking rather upset. Between you and me, I am not disposed to lay much stress on Mr Tollard’s connection with this expedition, but I get the impression that Mrs Tollard, perhaps, did not quite like her husband’s interest in it.’

  Nelly Sayers was not vivacious, and quick, but she had at the back of her more common-sense than her friend Netta. The trouble was that she did not know what the latter had told the officer.

  ‘I think it’s rubbish,’ she cried. ‘She
had nothing to complain of.’

  ‘Unfortunately, people do not require to have grounds for complaint,’ he said shrewdly. ‘Did you see her return from this drive?’

  ‘Yes, I did.’

  ‘And you formed the same impression?’

  She bit her lip. ‘Women have their off-days. I have myself.’

  ‘That will do, thank you,’ said Fisher gently. ‘I shan’t need you more at present, Miss Sayers.’

  She went out, inwardly fulminating at Netta for being such a fool. When she had gone, the superintendent took up the quiver again, and was examining it, when the detective-inspector came in.

  ‘Not a sign, sir,’ he said. ‘I have made a careful search of the grounds within a radius of a hundred yards of that window, and I can see nothing. The ground is hard after the drought.’

  ‘Are there no beds, or shrubberies?’

  ‘Yes. I paid special attention to one that lies about thirty yards from the window. The shrubs are pretty thick, and could hide a man well, but no one seems to have walked on the soil under, or near, the bushes.’

  ‘It’s pretty still,’ said Fisher, giving a glance out of the window. ‘I don’t think there was any breeze during the night either. Have a careful look around again, see if you can trace a bit of fluffy stuff, like the silk-cotton on these darts. When you have done, come up to me. I shall be in the room next that occupied last night by the dead lady. The one with the door communicating.’

  ‘Where her husband slept the previous night?’

  ‘That’s it.’

  The Heads were driving away when the superintendent went upstairs. He met Mr Barley on the way, asked him if Mr Tollard had yet arrived, and continued his way.

  Mr Barley had been talking to Nelly Sayers and Mrs Gailey. He looked at them earnestly as Fisher disappeared.

  ‘I wish Tollard would come,’ he said, in an exasperated voice. ‘Are you sure the man believed he had something to do with it?’

  ‘Quite sure,’ said Nelly Sayers. ‘Netta made such an ass of herself. She let it out that there had been gossip about Elaine and Ned. When I went in, I didn’t know how much or how little she had told him. He suspects Ned, I am sure.’