Detective and mystery stories; England -- Fiction; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction
When in the street, Craver turned over in his mind what the girl had
said relative to the hint given by her father. Undoubtedly Lemby had a
superlatively bad temper, and undoubtedly he had been in the house
when the crime was committed. Adding to this the fact that Wyke
disliked Claudia's father and had a bitter tongue, it did not seem
impossible that the pirate might have struck the blow in a moment of
anger. Before the arrival of the postman, and while Mrs. Vence was in
the kitchen, Lemby might have slipped down from the upstairs
drawing-room to commit the crime and then have slipped up again. But
against this was to be placed the fact that a second visitor was not
only in the house, but in the company of the baronet. Lemby could
scarcely have used the knife while the other man was present. On the
whole, Craver was perplexed by the situation, and wondered what he
should do. If Lemby took his daughter to Australia, Craver felt sure
that he would never see her again, as he himself was unable to leave
England. And Lemby, if implicated in the death of his proposed
son-in-law, would certainly return to his native land to escape
possible arrest. For quite ten minutes Craver stood by the Underground
Station at Earl's Court considering how be act. Finally, he made up
his mind as to his next step, and took a ticket to Blackfriars.
When in the train the young man reflected on the conclusion he had
arrived at. This was to follow Lemby to Mr. Sandal's office, and
frankly offer his assistance in extricating the pirate from his
dilemma on condition that Claudia should be allowed to marry him. It
was difficult to see how he could help the pirate since he knew so
little. Two heads are always better than one, and Craver believed that
Lemby would consent to the marriage in order to gain a friend while in
trouble. Craver alighted on the Blackfriars platform with the
conviction that he was going on a wild-goose chase. Nevertheless,
failing all else, he believed it was worth while to act as he
intended.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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