"We start with the assumption that Pendean is living and Robert
Redmayne dead. We next assume that Pendean, having laid out his
wife's uncle at Foggintor, gets into his clothes, puts on a red
mustache and a red wig and starts for Berry Head on Redmayne's motor
bicycle. The sack supposed to contain the body is found, and that is
all. His purpose is to indicate a hiding-place for the corpse and
lead search in a certain direction; but he is not going to trust the
sea; he is not going to stand the risk of Robert Redmayne's corpse
spoiling his game. No, his victim never left Foggintor and probably
Michael will presently tell us where to find the body.
"Meanwhile a false atmosphere is created under which he proceeds to
his engagement at 'Crow's Nest.' And then what happens? The first
clue--the forged letter, purporting to come from Robert Redmayne to
his brother. Who sent it? Jenny Pendean on her way through Plymouth
to her Uncle Bendigo's home. She and her husband are soon together
again--working for the next stroke. As I say, they were a pair who
ought to have been on the stage, where they would have made darned
sight bigger money than the Redmayne capital all told; but crime was
in their blood; they must have met like the blades of a scissors and
found themselves heart and soul in agreement. Evil was their good;
and no doubt, when they understood each other's lawless point of
view, both felt they must join forces. A tolerable bad dame, I'm
afraid, Mark; but she knew how to love all right; and nobody doubts
that bad women can love as well as good ones--often a great deal
better.
"They settle down and the supposed death of Michael Pendean blows
over. Jenny plays widow but spends as much time as she wants in her
husband's arms all the same; and together they plan to put out poor
Ben. He'd never seen Pendean, of course, which made the Doria
swindle possible. And a great point--that only Michael himself can
clear--is the intended order of his murders. That puzzled me a bit,
because before Robert Redmayne appeared at Princetown and the
reconciliation between him and his niece and her husband was
affected, he must already have got the appointment of motor boatman
to Bendigo and known that he was going there presently under a false
name and character. I incline to think that he meant to begin with
the old sailor and that, when Robert turned up unexpectedly on
Dartmoor, he altered his plans. That accident opened the way to his
first performance if I'm not wrong; but he'll throw light on that
assumption later and show what really did pass through his mind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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