As he went along that noble avenue with its elms in their winter dress,
the moon shining through their branches wrought a fantastic tracery, on
the smooth asphalte. And on either side Gorby could see the dim white
forms of the old Greek gods and goddesses--Venus Victrix, with the
apple in her hand (which Mr. Gorby, in his happy ignorance of heathen
mythology, took for Eve offering Adam the forbidden fruit); Diana, with
the hound at her feet, and Bacchus and Ariadne (which the detective
imagined were the Babes in the Wood). He knew that each of the statues
had queer names, but thought they were merely allegorical. Passing over
the bridge, with the water rippling quietly underneath, Brian went up
the smooth yellow path to where the statue of Hebe, holding the cup,
seems instinct with life; and turning down the path to the right, he
left the gardens by the end gate, near which stands the statue of the
Dancing Faun, with the great bush of scarlet geranium burning like an
altar before it. Then he went along the Wellington Parade, and turned
up Powlett Street, where he stopped at a house near Cairns' Memorial
Church, much to Mr. Gorby's relief, who, being like Hamlet, "fat and
scant of breath," found himself rather exhausted. He kept well in the
shadow, however, and saw Fitzgerald give one final look round before he
disappeared into the house. Then Mr. Gorby, like the Robber Captain in
Ali Baba, took careful stock of the house, and fixed its locality and
appearance well in his mind, as he intended to call at it on the morrow.
"What I'm going to do," he said, as he walked slowly back to Melbourne,
"is to see his landlady when he's out, and find out what time he came
in on the night of the murder. If it fits into the time he got out of
Rankin's cab, I'll get out a warrant, and arrest him straight off."
CHAPTER IX.
MR. GORBY IS SATISFIED AT LAST.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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