"Do you take me for a fool," cried Mrs. Pelgrin, her sallow face
becoming a fiery red; "am I not telling you again and again that Mrs.
Jarsell never went to see your rubbishy race. She came here to get
some eggs from me, and sat in this very room at nine o'clock, or a
little after. You take me for a liar, you--you--oh, I'll best see to
the dinner, or I'll lose my temper," and the sharp-tongued woman,
having already lost it, bounced out of the room.
"Mrs. Jarsell was here at nine o'clock, or a little after," repeated
Dan, in a wondering tone, "then she could not have been in London. All
the same, I swear I saw her on that cinematograph." Here he opened his
bag and took out an "A.B.C.," to see the trains from Thawley to
London.
An examination showed him that, even if Mrs. Jarsell had left Thawley
Station at nine o'clock exactly, she would not have reached St.
Pancras until twelve-five. This would scarcely give her time to arrive
at Blackheath. The aeroplanes had started in the race at one o'clock,
and, according to the evidence at the inquest, the people had been
looking at them flying northward at the moment Durwin was stabbed.
Mrs. Jarsell could not have arrived on the ground by one o'clock if
she only got to St. Pancras at mid-day. And then, to do that, she
would have been obliged to leave Thawley at nine o'clock. According to
George she had not been near the station on that day, and if Mrs.
Pelgrin was to be believed, she was in the very room he now occupied
at the hour when the express departed. It was clearly impossible that
she could have got to Thawley for the nine o'clock train, let alone it
being impossible that had she caught the express she could have
arrived in London to execute the crime by one o'clock, or a trifle
later. Yet, on the other hand, was the evidence of Mrs. Pelgrin and
her nephew, while on the other hand was the evidence of the
cinematograph. One or the other must assuredly be wrong. Of course the
landlady and George might be telling lies, but on the face of it there
was no need for them to do so. Moreover, as Dan had sprung his
questions on them unexpectedly, they could not have been ready with
false answers.
"She must have used a motor-car," thought Halliday, restoring the
"A.B.C." to his bag, "yet even so, she was here at nine o'clock, and
could not have reached town in the three hours and odd minutes.
D---- it!"