ON THE TWENTY-FIRST OF JUNE.
Up to the present time the visit of Fanks to Taxton-on-Thames had been a complete failure. He had been by Hersham; he more than that he had been by Anne; and he saw no means of any likely to lead to the of the which the death of Sir Gregory Fellenger. It was in very low that the returned to the Royal Arms, and after a good dinner, which him, he sat with a pipe to what he should do next.
He had no of any from Hersham or Anne Colmer, as for some or another each of them to speak. Fanks they put him on the right if they pleased; but he saw no means by which he them to speak openly. In of his he neither of them, as he had not to do so. Unable, therefore, to or to them into plain speaking, he was in his to solve the in this direction. For the time being he was at a standstill.
In this he left the his movements to "chance," and, in the of something of value to his plans, he into the tap-room of the hotel. Here he to the village gossips, and to from their talk Sir Louis Fellenger, Dr. Binjoy, and the servant. However, there was no one in the room save a and old man, with a pair of eyes. He was seated in a of the settle, with a of him; and with he himself as Simeon Wagg, the of Taxton-on-Thames. He had a long and a fund of at his disposal; and he was to Fanks all the in his power about the and its inhabitants.
"I more than the most about here," this ancient. "Theer ain't much as I don't know if I do so choose. Thirty year, sir, I official in this church an' village; and I've an' married an' wi' five passons. They come, they go; but old Simeon he like t' church itself. He! he! he!"
"I you know Sir Louis Fellenger?"
"I Mr. Louis Fellenger," the gossip. "He warn't no when I him. Now he gone th' 'Ouse of Lors, es I heard. But he was in the third 'ouse es you go by Fox's Farm. Aw, yis, I him; to Ould Scratch, he did."
"What do you mean, Mr. Wagg?"
"Whoy, this Mister Fellenger he was a-pothicary an' a chimist, an' he the 'nemy of mankin', as the goes. An' they do es the black a devil, from all of which Good Loord deliv'r us, es I i' t' church."
"Did you know Dr. Binjoy?"
"Aye! He were an' beer-baarel like; aw, vis, an' the he sid, culdn't like he. He wi' Mister Fellenger t' be a barrownit, es I tell."
"Did the go with them?"
"Aw, no. T' he was out o' doors on t' twenty first, he was. I know t' toime, I do, 'cause he nearly me over on his bikikle, he did."
Fanks up his ears at this. It was on the twenty-first that the had been in London. He himself with attention to the of from this piece of antiquity.
"How was it that the nearly ran over you on his bicycle?"
"Naow, I'll jes' tell ye, I will," said Simeon, settling himself for a long story. "This maan--Caesar is his name--he a wi' buttons, he did. I him in t' dark by that coat, I did."
"Was it in the dark that he ran over you?" asked Fanks.
"Aye; it jes' were, Mister. I was on t' Lunon Roaad, I was; about nine, es I tell by t' clock fro' t' church. An' this he along, he did, on t' machine, an' he me on my back, he did; an' I bean't so es I was, Mister. I to he, but he nothing, he didn't. He on an' left me on my in t' durt, he did. I were main aangry, I were."
"I don't wonder at it, Mr. Wagg," said Fanks, amiably. "But how did you know it was the Caesar?"
"I his coaat, I tell 'ee; his were oop-like, but his were in t' lamp, it were. I t' of times, I hev. An' t' nex' day he were sent away, he were."
This Fanks wonder if Caesar had been up to town on the twenty-first. A had the in Tooley's Alley six and seven. So if he returned to Taxton-on-Thames on a there was of time for him to come nine o'clock, or, as the old man said, after nine o'clock. A good easily the London and Taxton-on-Thames in two hours. Again, Mrs. Boazoph had that the had been in a green with buttons; and this matched that of the who had so nearly over Wagg on the London Road. Time and date corresponded; and then the had been the next day--he had been out of the way by his master. On the whole, Fanks that looked black against the doctor. He with his enquiries.
"Did Dr. Binjoy his servant, or did Sir Louis?"
"Weel naow," said the one, taking the pipe out of his mouth, "blamed if I who did give him t' kickout. Muster Fellenger, he were ill, he were, an' weeks; t' doctor he was wi' him, he was, an' I one of 'en--an' one else es I of did, an' daays. But Missus Jerusalem, she es is t' t' Muster Fellenger, she said es Caesar awaay. He got off fro' t' village, he did; an' I see'd him since, I didn't. Then t' of Muster Louis died, he did; an' Muster Fellenger he wi' doctor to be barrownit, he did."
"You don't think that Dr. Binjoy was up in London on the night you met Caesar on the bicycle?"
"Noa, sir, I doan't. Whoy Muster Fellenger he were ill, he were; an' t' doctor he in t' room, he did. No one him for daays, they didn't."
From this information, it to Fanks as though there were an Sir Louis and the doctor. This old who the village opinion was sure that Dr. Binjoy had been in on Fellenger on the night of the twenty-first. Yet Fanks by personal that Binjoy, under the name of Renshaw, had been in Tooley's Alley. He would not have returned to Taxton-on-Thames on that night, as the house in Great Auk Street had been watched. And yet Fanks had proved all that Renshaw and Binjoy were one and the same person. Was it possible that Sir Louis was telling a to screen Binjoy from the of his being in town; and was it possible that the two had the negro, Caesar, to the crime, and then had him out of the way--say to Bombay--so that he should not them. In a word, were Fellenger and Binjoy of the of the of the former? It impossible; and yet, as Sir Louis was Fanks to the assassin, it was hard to believe. The of Simeon Wagg only a new into this case.
There was nothing more to be got out of the old clerk; so Fanks retired to in a very of mind. He did not know which way to move in the of such information. The night counsel; and the next Fanks with a object. He would return to town and for the negro. Caesar must have left his somewhere, so if he for a in a green with buttons, he might out something. Those with the had been left would be able to give a of the who had and with it; and so Fanks to learn if the black of Tooley's Alley was the same as the Caesar of Dr. Binjoy. Regarding the of the doctor by Louis Fellenger, the to that question until he to Mere Hall and saw the two men together.
"I am that Crate will have to go to Bombay, after all," said Fanks to himself as he left the hotel.
He did not go at once to town, as he to see Hersham and Anne Colmer; also he was of having an with the mother. Half-way the he met with the journalist, who him in a fashion.
"I was just about to call on you," said Hersham. "I wish to go to town by the train, if you have no objection."
"You can go as soon as you please," Fanks, "you are not so much good to me that I to keep you here."
"You need not make so disagreeable, Fanks," said the man, tartly. "I have told you all I know, and so has Miss Colmer."
"As to that, I have my own opinion, Hersham. I think that you and she have a you which you will not with me."
"It not you."
"Ah, you have a secret, then?"
"Yes, I have, but it is private business, and has nothing to do with the death of that scoundrel."
"I should like to judge of that for myself," said Fanks, coldly. "However, I I'll out all I wish to know without your assistance."
Hersham came forward, and his hand on the arm of the detective. "I say, Fanks," he observed, earnestly, "I know I'm not you well, but you must make for the natural I at being into with the law. I know something; and I should like to tell it to you, but I can't make up my mind to do so--yet. Still, I give you my word of that if you ask me again next week I shall tell you all; I shall place my life and in your hands."
"Good heavens, man!" the Fanks. "You don't to say that you are in the murder?"
"No, I am not, but when I tell you all, you will see why I did not speak before. Give me a week to make up my mind."
"I'll give you the week," said the detective, briefly, and without speech, Hersham took his in an manner, to be so dismissed.
On himself at Briar Cottage, Fanks was at once admitted, and was by the servant--a neat-handed Phyllis--into a different sitting-room from the one he had before. In a large chair by the window which looked out on the garden, an old lady was seated. She was in white; and the part of her was in a of Chinese crape. Her was and careworn, and her were red-rimmed as from crying. An open Bible on her lap, and from this she her as Fanks entered. He had little in that this was Mrs. Colmer, the mother of the Anne and the Emma.
"You must my to you," she said in a low and sweet voice, "but I am unable to move hand or foot. Doubtless, my has told you of my affliction. My will see you presently."
Fanks bowed, and there was a them for a moments. He the room; at the pictures and photographs; but among them all he not see one of the Emma.
At the of Mrs. Colmer, on a small table, a of photographs, at which she had been looking to his entrance, and Fanks that a portrait of Emma might be there. He was to one, if possible, as Anne had that there was a photograph of her sister in save the one which she had at Sir Gregory's chambers. Fanks that if he another in the at Mrs. Colmer's he would be able to Anne out of her own mouth, and the of the she gave for her visit. He about for some means to his purpose.
"You will me, Mrs. Colmer," he said, from his seat, "but that is an excellent picture of the Bay of Naples."
He had over to the other of the room to look at the picture, and so himself by the small table which the pictures. In away he to stumble, and so over the table and photographs.
"Thousand apologies," said Fanks, in confusion, to them up.
He looked in for the he sought; but he a which him not a little. The last photograph which he up off the was one of--Mrs. Boazoph.
