CHAPTER VII
The innkeeper answered the bell in person, and was ordered by the chiefconstable to take a seat and tell everything he knew about the previousnight's events, without equivocation or reserve. He took a chair at thetable, his bright bird's glance wandering from one to the other of thefaces opposite him as he smoothed with one claw-like hand the thatch ofiron-grey hair which hung down over his forehead almost to his eyes.
"Where shall I begin?" he asked.
"You had better start by telling us how this young man Ronald came toyour house yesterday afternoon, and then give us an account of thesubsequent events, so far as you know them," said the chief constable.
"I was down near the breakwater yesterday evening, setting someeel-lines in the canal, when he arrived," commenced the innkeeper. "WhenI came in, Charles--that's the waiter--told me there was a younggentleman in the bar parlour waiting to see me. I went into the parlour,and saw the young man sitting near the door. He looked very tired andweary, and said he wished to stay at the inn for the night."
"How was he dressed?" asked Superintendent Galloway, looking up from hisnote-book.
"In a grey Norfolk suit, with knickerbockers, and a soft felt hat."
"Had you ever seen him before?"
"No, sir. He was a complete stranger to me. I could see he was agentleman. I told him I could not take him in, as the inn was only apoor rough place, with no accommodation for gentlefolk at the best oftimes, let alone war-time. The young gentleman said he was very tiredand would sleep anywhere, and was not particular about food. He told mehe had lost his way on the marshes, and a fisherman had directed him tothe inn."
"Did he say where he had come from?" asked the chief constable.
"No, sir, and I didn't think to ask him. I might have done so, but Mr.Glenthorpe walked into the parlour just then, carrying some partridgesin his hand. He didn't see the young gentleman at first--he was sittingin the corner behind the door--but told me to have one of the partridgescooked for his dinner. They had just been given to him, he said, by thefarmer whose land he was going to excavate next week. As he turned to goout he saw the young gentleman sitting in the corner, and he said, inhis hearty way: 'Good evening, sir; it is not often that we have anysociety in these parts.' The young gentleman told him what he had toldme--how he had wandered away from Durrington and got lost, and had cometo the inn in the hopes of getting a bed for the night. 'Glad to see acivilised human being in these parts,' said Mr. Glenthorpe. 'I hopeyou'll give me the pleasure of your company at dinner. Benson, tell Annto cook another partridge.' 'I don't know whether the innkeeper willallow me that pleasure,' replied the young gentleman. 'He says he cannotput me up for the night.' 'Of course he'll put you up,' said Mr.Glenthorpe. 'Not even a Norfolk innkeeper would turn you out on to theNorth Sea marshes at this time of year.' That settled the question,because I couldn't afford to offend Mr. Glenthorpe, and besides, hisproviding the dinner helped me out of a difficulty. So I went out togive orders about the dinner, leaving Mr. Glenthorpe and him sittingtogether talking."
"Did you get him to fill in a registration form?" asked SuperintendentGalloway.
"I forgot to ask him, sir," replied the innkeeper.
"That is gross and inexcusable carelessness on your part, Benson," saidGalloway sternly. "I shall have to report it."
"I do not understand much about these things, sir," replied theinnkeeper apologetically. "It is so rarely that we have a visitor to theplace."
"The authorities will hold you responsible. You are supposed to know thelaw, and help to carry it out. What's the use of devising regulationsfor the security of the country if they are not carried out? Youinnkeepers and hotel-keepers are really very careless. Go on with yourstory, Benson."
"He and Mr. Glenthorpe had dinner together in the little upstairssitting room which Mr. Glenthorpe kept for his own private use. He didhis writing in it, and the flints and fossils he discovered in hisexcavations were stored in the cupboards. His meals were always taken upthere, and last night he ordered the dinner to be taken up there asusual, and the table to be laid for two. Charles waited at table, but Iwas up there twice--first time with some sherry, and the second time wasabout an hour afterwards, when the gentlemen had finished dinner. I tookup a bottle of some old brandy that the inn used to be famous for--it'sthe same that you gentlemen have been drinking. When I knocked at thedoor with the brandy it was Mr. Glenthorpe who called 'Come in!' He wasstanding in front of the fire, with a fossil in his hand, and he wastelling the young man about how he came to discover it. I put thebrandy on the table and left the room.
"That was the last time I saw him alive. Charles came down with thedinner things about half-past nine, and said he was not wanted upstairsany more. Charles went to bed shortly afterwards--he sleeps in one ofthe two rooms off the kitchen. I went to my own bedroom before ten,after first telling Ann, the servant, who was doing some ironing in thekitchen, to turn off the gas at the meter if the gentlemen retiredbefore she finished, but not to bother if they were still sitting up. Ithad been decided that the young gentleman should occupy the bedroom nextto Mr. Glenthorpe, and Ann was a bit late with her ordinary work becauseit had taken her some time to get his room ready. The room had not beenoccupied for some time, and she'd had to air the bed-clothes and makethe bed afresh.
"The next morning I was a bit late getting down--there's nothing to openthe inn for in the mornings--and Ann told me as soon as I got down thatthe young gentleman had left nearly an hour before. She had taken him upan early cup of tea at seven o'clock, and he opened the door to herknock, and took it from her. He was fully dressed, except for his boots,which he had in his hand, and he asked her to clean them, as he wantedto leave at once. She was walking away with the boots, when he calledher back and took them from her, saying that it didn't matter aboutcleaning them, as he was in a hurry. When she gave him the boots he puta note into her hand, and said that was to pay for his bill.
"It was the key in the outside of Mr. Glenthorpe's room which led to usfinding out that he was not in the room. As I told you upstairs, sir, heused to always lock his door when he went to bed and put the key underthe pillow. Ann noticed the key in the outside of the door when shewent up with his breakfast tray--he never took early morning tea but healways breakfasted in his room. That would be about eight o'clock. Shethought it strange to see the key in the door, and as she could get noanswer to her knock she tried the door, found it unlocked and the roomempty. She came downstairs and told me. I thought at first that Mr.Glenthorpe might have got up early to go and look at his excavations,but I went up to his room and saw the signs of a struggle andblood-stains on the bed-clothes, and I knew that something must havehappened to him. I went into the village and told Constable Queensmead.He came to the inn, and made a search inside and outside and found thefootprints leading to the pit on the rise. One of Mr. Glenthorpe's menwho had been down the pit for flints was lowered by a rope, and broughtup the body."
The innkeeper took a leather wallet from his pocket and produced from ita Treasury L1 note. "This is the note the young gentleman left behindwith Ann to pay his bill," he explained, pushing it across the table tothe chief constable.
"I would draw your attention, sir, to the fact that this Treasury noteis one of the first issue--printed in black on white paper," remarkedSuperintendent Galloway to his superior officer. "Constable Queensmeadhas ascertained that the L300 which Mr. Glenthorpe drew out of the bankyesterday was all in L1 notes of the first issue. That money is missingfrom the dead man's effects."
The chief constable looked thoughtfully at the note through his glasses,and then passed it to Colwyn, who examined it closely, and took a noteof the number, and held it up to the light to see the watermark.
"Did you or the servant find any weapon in Mr. Glenthorpe's room?" askedthe chief constable.
"No, sir."
"You have missed a knife though, have you not?" asked SuperintendentGalloway.
"Yes, sir."
"What sort of
a knife?"
"A table-knife."
"Was it one of the knives sent up to the sitting-room last night?"
"Yes, sir. At least Charles says so. He has charge of the cutlery."
"Then Charles had better tell us about it," interposed the chiefconstable. "You say you went to bed before ten o'clock, Benson. Did youhear anything in the night?"
"No, sir, I fell asleep almost immediately. My room is a good distancefrom Mr. Glenthorpe's room."
"I do not think we have any more questions to ask you, Benson."
"Pardon the curiosity of a medical man, Mr. Cromering," remarked SirHenry, "but would it be possible to ask the innkeeper whether he noticedanything peculiar about Mr. Ronald's demeanour, when he arrived at theinn, or when he saw him at dinner subsequently?"
"You hear that question, Benson?" said the chief constable. "Did younotice anything strange about Mr. Ronald's conduct when first he came tothe inn or at any time?"
"I cannot say I did, sir. I thought he looked very tired when he firstcame into the inn, and his eyes were heavy as though with want ofsleep."
"He seemed quite sane and rational?"
"Quite, sir."
"Did you notice any symptoms of mental disturbance or irritability abouthim at any time?" struck in Sir Henry Durwood.
"No, sir. He was a little bit angry at first when I said I couldn't takehim in, but he struck me as quite cool and collected."
Sir Henry looked a little disappointed at this reply. He asked no morequestions, but entered a note in a small note-book which he took fromhis waistcoat pocket. Mr. Cromering intimated to the innkeeper that hehad finished questioning him, and would like to examine the waiter,Charles.
"If you wouldn't mind pulling the bell-rope behind you, sir," hinted theinnkeeper.
In response to a pull at the old-fashioned bell-rope, the stout countryservant, who had been washing greens in the kitchen, entered the room.
"Where is Charles, Ann?" asked the innkeeper.
"He's in the kitchen," replied the woman nervously.
"Then tell him he is wanted here immediately."
"You run your inn in a queer sort of way, Benson," remarkedSuperintendent Galloway, in his loud voice, as the woman went away onher errand. "Why couldn't Charles have answered the bell himself, if heis in the kitchen? What does he wait on, if not the bar parlour?"
"Charles is stone deaf, sir," replied the innkeeper.
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