Bathurst, Anthony (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Detective and mystery stories; England -- Fiction
“Come in and close the door quietly,” said Anthony, “and now you’re
in, sit down and make yourself comfortable—you’re going to stay in
here some little time.” Peter found himself wondering what was coming.
“I’m going to speak very quietly, Daventry, because something sinister
is going on in this house—and as events have already shown—the persons
concerned stick at nothing. I am particularly anxious not to be
overheard or even overlooked. So we’ll pretend, as far as we are able,
to be indulging in just an ordinary conversation. Remember how careful
I was first thing after breakfast this morning.”
“Bank on me,” came Peter’s reply. This sort of thing rather appealed
to him, it served to put him on his mettle.
“You will remember also,” commenced Anthony, “that my rest was
disturbed last night, or to be precise, this morning, by a gentleman
who was indulging in a little walking exercise past my bedroom door
and down the corridor to his own! You and I know that gentleman, my
dear Daventry, as a Mr. Morgan Llewellyn. I formed the opinion that it
must be a fairly strong motive that lures a man from his bed to
promenade the house at night—what do you think, Daventry?”
“Absolutely,” said Peter decisively, “I know it would have to be for
me.”
“We’ll proceed then”—Anthony lit a cigarette and tossed his case to
Peter. “From other symptoms that very quickly manifested themselves, I
concluded that the gentleman in question was seeking something that he
had dropped—or left by mistake, possibly—in this room—he was annoyed,
you will remember, that he found his entrance barred by Clegg’s
arrangements. And he was so annoyed that he was indiscreet enough to
_express_ his annoyance. Of course I ought to mention that there’s
just one other possibility”—here Anthony glanced slyly at the
attentive Daventry—“Mr. Llewellyn _may_ have been worried about
something that somebody else had left in here.” He blew a cloud of
smoke from his nostrils. “A lady’s handkerchief, for example. What do
you say to that—impossible?”
“I suppose it’s possible,” conceded Peter grudgingly, “I’ll grant you
that much.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account