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Page 34
This is what Collingwood read as he sat, coffee-cup in one hand,
newspaper in the other--staring at the lines of unleaded type:
TRAGIC FATE OF YOUNG YORKSHIRE SQUIRE
"A fatal accident, of a particularly sad and disturbing nature,
occurred near Barford, Yorkshire, on Saturday. About four
o'clock on Saturday afternoon, Mr. Linford Pratt, managing clerk
to Messrs. Eldrick & Pascoe, Solicitors, of Barford, who was
crossing the grounds of Normandale Grange on his way to a
business appointment, discovered the dead body of Mr. H. J.
Mallathorpe, the owner of the Normandale Estate, lying in a
roadway which at that point is spanned, forty feet above, by a
narrow foot-bridge. The latter is an ancient construction of
wood, and there is no doubt that it was in extremely bad repair,
and had given way when the unfortunate young gentleman, who was
out shooting in his park, stepped upon it. Mr. Mallathorpe, who
was only twenty-four years of age, succeeded to the Normandale
estates, one of the finest properties in the neighbourhood of
Barford, about two years ago, under somewhat romantic--and also
tragic--circumstances, their previous owner, his uncle, Mr. John
Mallathorpe, a well-known Barford manufacturer, meeting a sudden
death by the falling of his mill chimney--a catastrophe which
also caused the deaths of several of his employees. Mr. John
Mallathorpe died intestate, and the estate at Normandale passed
to the young gentleman who met such a sad fate on Saturday
afternoon. Mr. H.J. Mallathorpe was unmarried, and it is
understood that Normandale (which includes the village of that
name, the advowson of the living, and about four thousand acres
of land) now becomes the property of his sister, Miss Nesta
Mallathorpe."
Collingwood set down his cup, and dropped the newspaper. He was but half
way through his breakfast, but all his appetite had vanished. All that
he was conscious of was that here was trouble and grief for a girl in
whom--it was useless to deny it--he had already begun to take a warm
interest. And suddenly he started from his chair and snatched up a
railway guide. As he turned over its pages, he thought rapidly. The
preparations for his journey to India were almost finished--what was not
done he could do in a few hours. He had no further appointment with Sir
John Standridge until nine o'clock on Thursday morning, when he was to
meet him at the train for Dover and Paris. Monday--Tuesday--Wednesday--he
had three days--ample time to hurry down to Normandale, to do what he
could to help there, and to get back in time to make his own last
arrangements. He glanced at his watch--he had forty minutes in which to
catch an express from King's Cross to Barford. Without further delay he
picked up a suit-case which was already packed and set out for the
station.
He was in Barford soon after two o'clock--in Eldrick's office by
half-past two. Eldrick shook his head at sight of him.
"I can guess what's brought you down, Collingwood," he said. "Good of
you, of course--I don't think they've many friends out there."
"I can scarcely call myself that--yet," answered Collingwood. "But--I
thought I might be of some use. I'll drive out there presently. But
first--how was it?"
Eldrick shook his head.
"Don't know much more than what the papers say," he answered. "There's
an old foot-bridge there that spans a road in the park--road cut through
a ravine. They say it was absolutely rotten, and the poor chap's weight
was evidently too much for it. And there was a drop of forty feet into a
hard road. Extraordinary thing that nobody on the estate seems to have
known of the dangerous condition of that bridge!--but they say it was
little used--simply a link between one plantation and another.
However;--it's done, now. Our clerk--Pratt, you know--found the body.
Hadn't been dead five minutes, Pratt says."
"What was Pratt doing there?" asked Collingwood.
"Oh, business of his own," replied Eldrick. "Not ours. There was an
advertisement in Saturday's papers which set out that a steward was
wanted for the Normandale estate, and Pratt mentioned it to me in the
morning that he thought of applying for the job if we'd give him a good
testimonial. I suppose he'd gone out there to see about the
preliminaries. Anyway, he was walking through the park when he found
young Mallathorpe's body. I understand he made himself very useful, too,
and I've sent him out there again today, to do anything he can--smart
chap, Pratt!"
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