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Page 29
"My son, Mr. Sackville Bonham," said Mrs. Folliot, "tells me
that yesterday Miss Bewery came into Gardales' and spent a
sovereign--actually a sovereign!--on a wreath, which, she told
Sackville, she was about to carry, at her guardian's desire,
to this strange man's grave. Sackville, who is a warm-hearted
boy, was touched--he, too, bought flowers and accompanied Miss
Bewery. Most extraordinary! A perfect stranger! Dear me
--why, nobody knows who the man was!"
"Except his bank-manager," remarked Bryce, "who says he's
holding ten thousand pounds of his."
"That," admitted Mrs. Folliot gravely, "is certainly a
consideration. But then, who knows?--the money may have been
stolen. Now, really, did you ever hear of a quite respectable
man who hadn't even a visiting-card or a letter upon him? And
from Australia, too!--where all the people that are wanted run
away to! I have actually been tempted to wonder, Dr. Bryce,
if Dr. Ransford knew this man--in years gone by? He might
have, you know, he might have--certainly! And that, of
course, would explain the flowers."
"There is a great deal in the matter that requires
explanation, Mrs. Folliot," said Bryce. He was wondering if
it would be wise to instil some minute drop of poison into the
lady's mind, there to increase in potency and in due course to
spread. "I--of course, I may have been mistaken--I certainly
thought Dr. Ransford seemed unusually agitated by this affair
--it appeared to upset him greatly."
"So I have heard--from others who were at the inquest,"
responded Mrs. Folliot. "In my opinion our Coroner--a worthy
man otherwise--is not sufficiently particular. I said to Mr.
Folliot this morning, on reading the newspaper, that in my
view that inquest should have been adjourned for further
particulars. Now I know of one particular that was never
mentioned at the inquest!"
"Oh?" said Bryce. "And what?"
"Mrs. Deramore, who lives, as you know, next to Dr. Ransford,"
replied Mrs. Folliot, "told me this morning that on the
morning of the accident, happening to look out of one of her
upper windows, she saw a man whom, from the description given
in the newspapers, was, Mrs. Deramore feels assured, was the
mysterious stranger, crossing the Close towards the Cathedral
in, Mrs. Deramore is positive, a dead straight line from Dr.
Ransford's garden--as if he had been there. Dr. Bryce!--a
direct question should have been asked of Dr. Ransford--had he
ever seen that man before?"
"Ah, but you see, Mrs. Folliot, the Coroner didn't know what
Mrs. Deramore saw, so he couldn't ask such a question, nor
could any one else," remarked Bryce, who was wondering how
long Mrs. Deramore remained at her upper window and if she saw
him follow Braden. "But there are circumstances, no doubt,
which ought to be inquired into. And it's certainly very
curious that Dr. Ransford should send a wreath to the grave
of--a stranger."
He went away convinced that Mrs. Folliot's inquisitiveness had
been aroused, and that her tongue would not be idle: Mrs.
Folliot, left to herself, had the gift of creating an
atmosphere, and if she once got it into her head that there
was some mysterious connection between Dr. Ransford and the
dead man, she would never rest until she had spread her
suspicions. But as for Bryce himself, he wanted more than
suspicions--he wanted facts, particulars, data. And once more
he began to go over the sum of evidence which had accrued.
The question of the scrap of paper found in Braden's purse,
and of the exact whereabouts of Richard Jenkins's grave in
Paradise, be left for the time being. What was now
interesting him chiefly was the advertisement in the Times to
which the bank-manager from London had drawn attention. He
had made haste to, buy a copy of the Times and to cut out the
advertisement. There it was--old friend Marco was wanted by
(presumably old friend) Sticker, and whoever Sticker might be
he could certainly be found under care of J. Braden. It had
never been in doubt a moment, in Bryce's mind, that Sticker
was J. Braden himself. Who, now, was Marco? Who--a million
to one on it!--but Ransford, whose Christian name was Mark?
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