Vanishing Point

She knitted in silence for some moments, and then began to ask questions.

“Maggie worked for this Miss Cu

“For four hours every morning-eight to twelve.”

“And the nephew, Nicholas Cu

“Exactly.”

“And the other inmate of the house, Mr. Henry Cu

“He is engaged upon a book dealing with the local moths and butterflies.”

“Has he ever published anything?”

“Not that I know of. One of these dawdling dilettante kind of chaps, I should think, with enough of a hobby to give him an excuse for being idle.”

“He has been living there with his sister for how long?”

“For the last three years. The Security people have been over his whole dossier, and it all sounds harmless enough. A bit of a rolling stone, but nothing against him. During the war he was in a Japanese prison camp, and his family had given him up for dead. Then one day he walked in, and has been there ever since. Naturally he has been suspect number one, but none of the ends tie up. On the face of it he is just an elderly drifter, not in very good health and glad to come home and slip back into his place in the family. Well, what am I to say to the Chief? I’m being sent down myself to stay with a cousin. He’s got a job as architect on the new Melbury housing estate. Are you going to come down and hold my hand?”

Miss Silver knitted to the end of her row. Then she said,

“I will write to Marian Merridew tonight.”

CHAPTER 7

After twenty four hours of the Holly Tree, Craig Lester made up his mind to go no farther. The ostensible reason for his journey into these parts being a dutiful visit to a nonogenarian great-uncle, he felt that Uncle Rudd could be duly and daily inspected just as well from Hazel Green as from any hotel in Melbury. For a good many years now it had not been practicable to stay in the house, where everything went like clockwork and an elderly housekeeper and an elderly nurse united in a benevolent despotism. Uncle Rudd was beautifully looked after, and his visits were a matter of form, yet he paid them with regularity, and would do so to the end. They had not always been convenient, but at the moment they provided an admirable reason for his remaining in the neighbourhood.

On the third day of his visit he encountered Henry Cu

“I have to come down to these parts every now and then to see an old uncle of mine, and this time I thought I would stay here instead of in Melbury.”

In a quite detached ma

“An uncle-”

Craig Lester said, “Retired doctor. Used to have quite a practice in these parts-Dr. Rudd Lester. He’s in his nineties now, but quite spry.”

Henry Cu

“Well, well, well-always merry and bright! A pint of mild and bitter, Mr. Stubbs, if you please. How’s bugs, Mr. Cu

The hearty voice, the rubicund appearance, were in the strongest contrast to Henry Cu

“Newcomer here, aren’t you?… Oh, staying for a day or two? Well, nobody could make you more comfortable than Mrs. Stubbs-I’ll guarantee that. My name’s Selby-Fred Selby at your service. Hit on this cosy little village when I was looking for somewhere to retire to, and I’ve never regretted it. Nicest place you could find anywhere, and the nicest people. Used to be in business in London, and everyone said I’d find it too dull in the country-never stick it.” He laughed heartily, took a pull at his beer, and went on. “Well, I don’t say I don’t take a run up to town now and again, because I do. But as to going back to there to live-no, thank you, sir! Not if you were to offer me a fortune! Why, I used to have nerves, and where are they now? Suffered from insomnia-I give you my word I did. And now- well as often as not I don’t so much as turn over before the alarm goes off in my ear.”

“Early to bed and early to rise?”

“That’s the ticket! I’ve got a few dozen hens-just for a hobby, you know-and it makes all the difference if they get their hot mash in the morning. I tell you, three years ago I didn’t think I’d be getting up at half past six to cook breakfast for a lot of hens! I tell my wife she ought to take a hand, but she says she’s got enough to do without, and I suppose she has, though we’ve a girl comes in mornings and gives her a hand, which is more than she had in town.” He went on talking.

Presently Henry Cu

Next morning in his uncle’s bright, hot room Craig brought up the name.

“I met a chap called Cu

Old Dr. Lester was a good deal like a monkey. The neat black skull-cap which he wore added somehow to the resemblance, so did the red fla

“Cu

“1 believe so.”

The eyes brightened.

“Yes-yes-oh, dear me, yes! Henry Cu

“What about, sir?”

“Hazel Green you said. Come across any of the Crewes?”

“I’ve met Miss Lydia Crewe.”

“Then you’ve met the whole lot of ’em rolled into one. Know what I used to call her? Only to myself, you know-a doctor can’t afford to be witty about his patients. ‘Pride and Prejudice’, and it hit her off to a T!” He chuckled to himself and went on. “Lydia Crewe-and Crewe House-and no money. And her father sold the Dower House to the Cu

When Craig said, “What kind of talk?” he said in a falling voice,

“God bless my soul-I don’t know-it’s all too long ago… What were we talking about?”

“Henry Cu

Dr. Lester brightened.

“Made a lot of talk-a lot of talk. But there wasn’t any proof. Mrs. Maberly was a very careless woman-couldn’t go into a shop without leaving a bag or an umbrella-she probably left the ring somewhere when she went to wash her hands, and forgot all about it. I don’t suppose she had it on at all the day she said she missed it, and of course nothing was proved. But there was a great deal of talk-a great deal of talk-and when Henry went off like that, of course everyone believed the worst. Did you say he was back again now?”