human
You must have been surprised to hear me give my name to the young lady you saw at the station,
gpt
Yes, sir.
human
Her story is a very sad one.
gpt
Yes, sir.
human
I don't feel at liberty to repeat what she told me. You understand that, don't you?
gpt
Certainly, sir,
human
So all I can tell you is that she was escaping from a brute who horribly ill-treated her. Of course I offered to help her.
gpt
Of course,
human
Unfortunately she was taken ill before she had told me her name or who the friends were with whom she was seeking refuge. What was I to do? If the police heard that a young girl had been found unconscious on the train, the fact would have been advertised far and wide so as to enable them to establish her identity, in which case the person from whom she was hiding would have taken possession of her, which he has a legal right to do--so she gave me to understand. Crichton paused quite out of breath. He was doing beautifully. Peter was swallowing his tale unquestionably--and really, you know, for an inexperienced liar that was a reasonably probable story.
gpt
So you see, he continued,
human
Begging your pardon, sir, but I should 'ave thought that Smith or Jones would 'ave done just as well.
gpt
Certainly not. The authorities would have wanted further particulars and would at once have detected the fraud. No one will ever know that I lent an unfortunate woman for a few hours the protection of my name, and there is no one who has the right to object to my having done so--except the young lady herself.
human
Yes, sir, quite so.
gpt
On the other hand, on account of the position I am in at present, it is most important that I should do nothing which could by any possibility be misconstrued.
human
Yes, sir, certainly, sir.
gpt
And so I told the doctor that the young lady had better not be called by my name while she is at the home and so--and so--well--in fact--I gave her yours. I hope you don't mind?
human
My name?
gpt
Yes, you see you haven't got a wife, have you?
human
Certainly not, sir!
gpt
So there couldn't be any possible complications in your case.
human
One never can tell, sir--a name's a name and females are sometimes not over-particular.
gpt
Don't be an ass! Why, you ought to feel proud to be able to be of use to a charming lady. Where's your chivalry, Peter?
human
I don't know, sir, but I do 'ope she's respectable,
gpt
Of course she is. Don't you know a lady when you see one?
human
I'm sorry you feel like that about it, said Crichton.
gpt
It never occurred to me you would mind, and I haven't yet told you all. I not only gave the young lady your name but took it myself.
human
Took my name!
gpt
Yes. At the nursing home I am known as Mr. Peter Thompkins. Pray that I don't disgrace you, Peter.
human
Oh, sir, a false name! If you get found out, they'll never believe you are hinnocent when you've done a thing like that. Of course, a gentleman like you hought to know his own business best, but it do seem to me most awful risky.
gpt
Well, it's a risk that had to be taken. It was a choice of evils, I grant you. Hah! I sniff breakfast; the bacon and eggs of my country await me. I am famishing, and I say, Peter, do try to take a more cheerful view of this business.
human
I'll try, sir.
gpt
Guy Campbell!
human
Hullo, old chap, glad to see you, cried the newcomer, pounding Cyril affectionately on the back.
gpt
How goes it? I say, your telephone message gave me quite a turn. What's up? Have you got into a scrape? You look as calm as possible.
human
If I look calm, my looks belie me. I assure you I never felt less calm in my life.
gpt
What on earth is the matter?
human
You won't have some breakfast?
gpt
Breakfast at half-past eleven! No thank you.
human
Well, then, take a cigarette, pull up that chair to the fire, and listen--and don't play the fool; this is serious.
gpt
Fire away.
human
I want your legal advice, Guy, though I suppose you'll tell me I need a solicitor, not a barrister. I wish to get a divorce.
gpt
A divorce? Why, Cyril, I am awfully sorry. I had heard that your marriage hadn't turned out any too well, but I had no idea it was as bad as that. You have proof, I suppose.
human
Ample.
gpt
Tell me the particulars. I never have heard anything against your wife's character.
human
You mean that you have never heard that she was unfaithful to me. Bah, it makes me sick the way people talk, as if infidelity were the only vice that damned a woman's character. Guy, her character was rotten through and through. Her infidelity was simply a minor, though culminating, expression of it.
gpt
But how did you come to marry such a person?
human
You know she was the Chalmerses' governess?
gpt
Yes.
human
I had been spending a few weeks with them. Jack, the oldest son, was a friend of mine and she was the daughter of a brother officer of old Chalmers's who had died in India, and consequently her position in the household was different from that of an ordinary governess. I soon got quite friendly with Amy and her two charges, and we used to rag about together a good deal. I liked her, but upon my honour I hadn't a thought of making love to her. Then one day there was an awful row. They accused her of carrying on a clandestine love affair with Freddy, the second son, and with drinking on the sly. They had found empty bottles hidden in her bedroom. She posed as injured innocence--the victim of a vile plot to get her out of the house--had no money, no friends, no hope of another situation. I was young; she was pretty. I was dreadfully sorry for her and so--well, I married her. As the regiment had just been ordered to South Africa, we went there immediately. We had not been married a year, however, when I discovered that she was a confirmed drunkard. I think only the fear of losing her position had kept her within certain bounds. That necessity removed, she seemed unable to put any restraint on herself. I doubt if she even tried to do so.
gpt
Poor Cyril!
human
Later on I found out that she was taking drugs as well as stimulants. She would drink herself into a frenzy and then stupefy herself with opiates. But it is not only weakness I am accusing her of. She was inherently deceitful and cruel--ah, what is the use of talking about it! I have been through Hell.
gpt
You haven't been living together lately, have you?
human
Well, you see, she was disgracing not only herself but the regiment, and so it became a question of either leaving the army or getting her to live somewhere else. So I brought her back to Europe, took a small villa near Pau, and engaged an efficient nurse-companion to look after her. I spent my leave with her, but that was all. Last spring, however, she got so bad that her companion cabled for me. For a few weeks she was desperately ill, and when she partially recovered, the doctor persuaded me to send her to a sanitarium for treatment. Charleroi was recommended to me. It was chiefly celebrated as a lunatic asylum, but it has an annex where dipsomaniacs and drug fiends are cared for. At first, the doctor's reports were very discouraging, but lately her improvement is said to have been quite astonishing, so much so that it was decided that I should take her away for a little trip. I was on my way to Charleroi, when the news reached me that Amy had escaped. We soon discovered that she had fled with a M. de Brissac, who had been discharged as cured the day before my wife's disappearance. We traced them to within a few miles of Paris, but there lost track of them. I have, however, engaged a detective to furnish me with further particulars. I fancy the Frenchman is keeping out of the way for fear I shall kill him. Bah! Why, I pity him, that is all! He'll soon find out what that woman is like. He has given me freedom! Oh, you can't realise what that means to me. I only wish my father were alive to know that I have this chance of beginning life over again.
gpt
I was so sorry to hear of his death. He was always so kind to us boys when we stayed at Lingwood. I wrote you when I heard the sad news, but you never answered any of my letters.
human
I know, old chap, but you must forgive me. I have been too miserable--too ashamed. I only wanted to creep away and to be forgotten.
gpt
Your father died in Paris, didn't he?
human
Yes, luckily I was with him. It was just after I had taken Amy to Charleroi. He was a broken-hearted man. He never got over the mess I had made of my life and Wilmersley's marriage was the last straw. He brooded over it continually.
gpt
Why had your father been so sure that Lord Wilmersley would never marry? He was an old bachelor, but not so very old after all. He can't be more than fifty now.
human
Well, you see, Wilmersley has a bee in his bonnet. His mother was a Spanish ballet dancer whom my uncle married when he was a mere boy. She was a dreadful old creature. I remember her distinctly, a great, fat woman with a big, white face and enormous, glassy, black eyes. I was awfully afraid of her. She died when Wilmersley was about twenty and my uncle followed her a few months later. His funeral was hardly over when my cousin left Geralton and nothing definite was heard of him for almost twenty-five years. He was supposed to be travelling in the far East, and from time to time some pretty queer rumours drifted back about him. Whether they were true or not, I have never known. One day he returned to Geralton as unexpectedly as he had left it. He sent for me at once. He has immense family pride--the ballet dancer, I fancy, rankles--and having decided for some reason or other not to marry, he wished his heir to cut a dash. He offered me an allowance of £4000 a year, told me to marry as soon as possible, and sent me home.
gpt
Well, that was pretty decent of him. You don't seem very grateful.
human
I can't bear him. He's a most repulsive-looking chap, a thorough Spaniard, with no trace of his father's blood that I can see. And as I married soon afterwards and my marriage was not to his liking, he stopped my allowance and swore I should never succeed him if he could help it. So you see I haven't much reason to be grateful to him.
gpt
Beastly shame! He married Miss Mannering, Lady Upton's granddaughter, didn't he?
human
Yes.
gpt
She is a little queer, I believe.
human
Really? I didn't know that. I have never seen her, but I hear she is very pretty. Well, I'm sorry for her, brought up by that old curmudgeon of a grandmother and married out of the schoolroom to Wilmersley. She has never had much of a chance, has she?
gpt
There are no children as yet?
human
No.
gpt
So that now that your father is dead, you are the immediate heir.
human
Oh, sir, it's come at last! I always felt it would!
gpt
What on earth is the matter with you?
human
I beg pardon, sir, but I am that hovercome! I heard them crying 'hextras,' so I went out and gets one--just casual-like. Little did I think what would be in it--and there it was.
gpt
There was what?
human
That Lord Wilmersley is dead; and so, my lord, I wish you much joy and a long life.
gpt
This is very sudden, gasped Crichton.
human
I hadn't heard he was ill. What did he die of?
gpt
When, how, who did it? cried Cyril incoherently.
human
Give me the paper.
gpt
Murder of Lord Wilmersley--disappearance of Lady Wilmersley, he read.
human
Disappearance of Lady Wilmersley,
gpt
Here, get your master some whiskey; the shock has been too much for him, said Camp bell.
human
Mysterious disappearance of Lady Wilmersley,
gpt
Here, drink this, old man; you'll be all right in a moment,
human
The deuce take it!
gpt
Shall I read you the particulars?
human
It's too horrible! I can't think,
gpt
I don't believe Lady Wilmersley was murdered, said Campbell.
human
Why should a murderer have troubled to remove one body and not the other? Mark my words, it was his wife who killed Wilmersley and opened the safe.
gpt
I don't believe it! I won't believe it! cried Cyril.
human
Besides, how could she have got away without a dress or hat? Remember they make a point of the fact that none of her clothes are missing.
gpt
In the first place, you can't believe everything you read in a newspaper; but even granting the correctness of that statement, what was there to prevent her having borrowed a dress from one of her maids? She must have had one, you know.
human
No--no! It can't be, I tell you; I--
gpt
What's the matter with you? You look as guilty as though you had killed him yourself. I can't for the life of me see why you take the thing so terribly to heart. You didn't like your cousin and from what you yourself tell me, I fancy he is no great loss to any one, and you don't know his wife--widow, I mean.
human
It is such a shock,
gpt
Of course it's a shock, but you ought to think of your new duties. You will have to go to Geralton at once?
human
Yes, I suppose it will be expected of me, Cyril assented gloomily.
gpt
Peter, pack my things and find out when the next train leaves.
human
Very well, my lord.
gpt
And Guy, you will come with me, won't you? I really can't face this business alone. Besides, your legal knowledge may come in useful.
human
I am awfully sorry, but I really can't come to-day. I've got to be in court this afternoon; but I'll come as soon as I can, if you really want me.
gpt
Do!
human
Of course I want to be of use if I can, but a detective is really what you need.
gpt
A detective?
human
Well, why not? Don't look as if I had suggested your hiring a camel!
gpt
Yes, of course not--I mean a detective is--would be--in fact--very useful,
human
Why not get one and take him down with you?
gpt
Oh, no! Cyril hurriedly objected,
human
I don't think I had better do that. They may have one already. Shouldn't like to begin by hurting local feeling and--and all that, you know.
gpt
Rot!
human
At any rate, I'm not going to engage any one till I've looked into the matter myself, said Cyril.
gpt
If I find I need a man, I'll wire.