Detective and mystery stories; England -- Fiction; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction
"Well, then, miss, Jane followed Sir Daniel when he went away last
night. The groom--Thomas--saw her. This morning he found her with her
jaws all over blood, footsore and weary, as though she had come a long
way. And she's been stabbed in the side with a penknife, miss, as the
wounds--three of them--are so small."
"Well? Well?" asked Clarice, impatiently, while Mrs. Rebson stopped
for sheer want of breath. "What has this to do with Sir Daniel?"
"What's it got to do with him?" screeched the housekeeper, sitting
down. "Why, miss, news has just come by a couple of labourers that the
body of Sir Daniel has been found on Barnes Common, fifteen miles
away, with his throat tore out, and the poor man as dead as a herring.
It is thought that the dog did it, since she hated him, and the police
are coming in an hour to make enquiries."
"It's impossible," said Clarice, hardly able to believe that Jane had
thus revenged herself on her enemy. "Sir Daniel went up to London by
the train."
"No, miss, he didn't, begging your pardon. Mrs. Dumps saw him at the
gate hesitating, and he really did walk towards the High Street, on
his way to the station, may be. But then he changed his mind and went
down the lane. She saw him pass, and Jane following him as good as
gold. No doubt he walked on to Barnes Common, and there Jane killed
him. Oh, ain't it dreadful?" cried Mrs. Rebson, again wringing her
wrinkled hands. "The Domestic Prophet never said anything like that."
Clarice did not reply. She wondered why Jerce had walked. He must have
seen the dog, who hated him, follow. But, perhaps, because Jane
limped--the doctor's own work--he did not think that she was
dangerous. And it might be that Jerce intended to kill himself in the
open instead of in his Harley Street house. But, be this as it may,
Jerce was dead, and Jane had killed him. No doubt she had followed
persistently all that long way, and, having been left behind, Jerce
had sat down to rest. Clarice could picture the grim yellow-eyed dog
stealing up in the dark night to the unsuspecting man, seated on some
dripping bench on the Common. She could picture the silent spring, the
closing of those long, white teeth on Jerce's fat throat. And then the
end, with the dead body lying on the soaking ground, and the dog
trailing home, weary but satisfied, with blood-stained jaws. Truly,
Jerce had not escaped punishment after all, and the gods had brought
home his crime to him in a terrible way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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