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“According to Florrie he accused her of having written them.”
“Not quite in that way, I think, Randal. What she put in her statement was that Colonel Repton had received one of the anonymous letters, and that it had accused Mrs. Repton of having been unfaithful to him. She then continued, ‘Mrs. Repton said it was all lies, and the Colonel said it was a filthy letter about a filthy thing, and he knew who wrote it. And Mrs. Repton said who was it then? And the Colonel said wouldn’t she like to know, and perhaps she had done it herself, because that would be one way of breaking off Miss Valentine’s marriage and getting out of her own.’ You see, it was more of a taunt than a direct accusation, and he did not repeat it to his sister.”
“I don’t know that that proves anything. His personal reaction to her infidelity could very well have been uppermost in his mind, with the anonymous letters a good deal in the background. And if it wasn’t Scilla Repton who poisoned him, who was it?”
She said soberly, “We were talking of Mr. Barton and Miss Eccles, both of whom are to some extent linked with the deaths of Co
“Barton?” His tone was one of surprise. “Well, he certainly saw Repton within a very short time of his death, but he was, according to Florrie, received on the friendliest terms, and there is no evidence of a quarrel or of any other motive. He had every reason to feel grateful to Repton, who had been a very good friend to him. I believe he was devoted to him. I saw him after I left here last night, and I am sure that the news of Repton’s death was a severe shock. And what possible co
“None, unless he was the writer of the anonymous letters. A very strong one if he was. And there is this slight co
Randal smiled.
“It is scarely evidence.”
She continued to knit.
“I do not advance it as such. I have mentioned it because I do not wish to keep anything back. I think, however, that with regard to Mr. Barton you have by no means told me all you know about him.”
He nodded.
“No, I haven’t. And I am in two minds whether to tell you now. If I were not a good deal more sure of your discretion than I am of my own, I would hold my tongue. As it is, I am going to tell you. Barton isn’t the chap’s real name. There isn’t any need to tell you what it is, but you will probably remember the case. I think we’ll just go on calling him Barton. He got a commission from the ranks of the battalion in which Repton was. A year or two later they were on foreign service in the Far East, a gruelling sort of job. Barton got a nasty face wound which left him badly scarred. Then he had sunstroke and was invalided home. He found his wife living with another man, and he killed them both-pitched the man out of the window and strangled the woman. There is no doubt that he was not sane at the time. They sent him to the Criminal Asylum at Broadmoor, and after some years he was released. Repton let him have this cottage at a peppercorn rent and has befriended him in every way. He could have no reason to destroy his benefactor.”
Miss Silver regarded him in a ma
“Where there is a history of insanity it is possible that there may be a recurrence. The writing of what are commonly called poison-pen letters points to a mind not truly in balance. In the case of a man who has had so serious a breakdown as you described, and who has for years been living the life of a complete recluse, is there not at least the possibility that, deprived of all normal companionship, he might seek this abnormal means of contact with his neighbours? It is generally attributed to some form of frustration, and few lives can have been more painfully frustrated than that of this unfortunate man.”
March’s mind went back with discomfort to the date which had presented itself during his interview with James Barton. He said in a lowered voice,
“When I asked him why he had gone to see Repton in the afternoon instead of waiting as he usually did till after dark, he said, ‘I’d been thinking of things, and they had got to a point where they didn’t bear thinking about, so it came to me that I’d go up and see him.’ And when he said that, it came up in my mind that it was somewhere about the middle of October that he had come home and found his wife with the other man. And I think it was on the thirteenth-in fact I’m pretty sure about that. I read up the case in the file of the Times when I came here, because I had it passed on to me that the chap was living here under the name of Barton. The date stuck, because I remember thinking it had been an unlucky thirteenth for him.”
There was silence between them for a little before he spoke again.
“I suppose you are right, and that he might have done it. If he had been sitting there brooding over the old tragedy, and then came up here to find himself taxed with the writing of those anonymous letters, I suppose he might have gone off the deep end. Only if it was like that-where did he get the cyanide? It’s not the sort of stuff you have knocking about in your pockets. No, if Barton was going to do anyone in, I should expect something more on the lines of the previous affair-a blow, or an attempt to strangle. There is a noticeable tendency amongst the insane to stick to a pattern of murder.”
Miss Silver inclined her head.
“That is very true, Randal. There is also another point in Mr. Barton’s favour. As you say, if it was he who poisoned Colonel Repton, he must have gone there provided with the means of doing so. Florrie’s story must have reached him, and he must therefore have been aware that Colonel Repton had said he knew who had written the letters. But how did the story reach him? He went nowhere, and he saw no one. He did not go to the George, and his door was locked against everyone. It is difficult to see how he can have heard what was common gossip to everyone else in Tilling Green, and unless he knew that he was suspected he would not have gone to the Manor provided with the means of poisoning Colonel Repton. I do not wish you to think that I suspect Mr. Barton of the crime. I only feel that he ca
“Which brings us to Mettie Eccles. And what have you got to say about her? Everyone says she was devoted to Repton.”
“Yes, that is undoubtedly true. She was in an agony of distress after she had found his body, and she immediately accused Mrs. Repton of having killed him. In neither case was she acting a part. But consider for a moment. Jealousy and jealous resentment are amongst the most frequent causes of violent crime. Miss Eccles had always cared deeply for this distant cousin. She undoubtedly hoped to marry him. And then he comes back suddenly with the least suitable wife in the world. There is a complete disparity of age, of breeding, of tastes. The marriage took place two years ago. About a year later the poison-pen letters began. As we have agreed, this sort of thing almost invariably springs from some painful frustration. But in this case Miss Eccles continued to be the centre of all the village activities. She played the organ, she visited the sick, she was active in the Village Institute. She would not seem to have had much time for the morbid brooding which must have preceded the production of those letters. But as to opportunity, it is she who, in both cases, had enough of it and to spare. She could have gone all the way home with Co