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Page 16
"I should evince but poor appreciation," Gwen replied, "of the
ability you have already shown should I fail to follow your slightest
suggestion. It is all I can offer you by way of thanks for the
kind interest you have taken."
The return of Officer Barker, accompanied by three other men, now
changed the tide of conversation. Maitland advanced and shook hands
with one whom he introduced as Mr. Osborne, and this gentleman in
turn introduced his brother officer, a Mr. Allen, and M. Godin, a
special detective.
Osborne impressed me as a man of only mediocre ability, thoroughly
imbued with the idea that he is exceptionally clever. He spoke
loudly and, I thought, a bit ostentatiously, yet withal in a manner
so frank and hearty that I could not help liking the fellow.
M. Godin, on the contrary, seemed retiring almost to the point of
self-abnegation. He said but little, apparently preferring to keep
in the background, where he could record his own observations in
his note-book without too frequent interruption. His manner was
polished in the extreme, and so frank withal that he seemed to me
like a man of glass through whom every thought shone unhindered.
I wondered how one who seemed powerless to conceal his own emotions
should possess a detective's ability to thread his way through the
dark and hidden duplicity of crime. When he spoke it was in a low,
velvety, and soothing voice, that fell upon the ear with an
irresistible charm. When Osborne would make some thoughtless
remark fraught with bitterness for Gwen, such an expression of pain
would flit across M. Godin's fine face as one occasionally sees
in those highly organised and sympathetic natures,---usually found
among women if a doctor's experience may be trusted,--which catch
the throb of another's hurt, even as adjacent strings strive to
sing each other's songs.
M. Godin seemed to me more priest than detective. His clean-shaven
face, its beautifully chiselled features suffused with that peculiar
pallor which borrows the transparency of marble; the large, limpid
brown eyes and the delicate, kindly mouth--all these, combined with
a faultless manner and a carriage suggestive of power in reserve,
so fascinated me that I found myself watching him continually. I
remember saying to myself: "What a rival he would make in a woman's
affections!"
At just that time he was looking at Gwen with tender, solicitous
sympathy written in every feature, and that doubtless suggested my
thought.
Mr. Allen was even more ordinary than Mr. Osborne in manner and
appearance. I do not presume to judge his real merits, for I did
not notice him sufficiently to properly portray him to you, even
if I had the gift of description, which I think you will admit I
have not. He lives in my memory only as a something tall, spare,
coarse of texture, red, hairy, and redolent of poor tobacco.
How different men are! (Of course women are all alike!) While
Osborne, like a good-natured bumble-bee, was buzzing noisily about,
as though all the world were his clover-blossom; and Allen, so far
as I know, was doing nothing; M. Godin, alert and keen despite his
gentleness and a modesty which kept him for the most part
unobtrusively in the shadow of his chosen corner, was writing
rapidly in a note-book and speaking no word. It seemed as if
nothing escaped him. Clearly he was there to enlighten himself
rather than others. At length, pausing to make a measurement,
he noticed my gaze and said to me in an undertone, as he glanced
solicitously at Gwen lest she should hear:
"Pardon me, but did any of you observe anything, at or about the
time of Mr. Darrow's death, which impressed you as singular,--any
noise, any shadow, any draught or change of temperature, say a
rushing or I might say swishing sound,--anything, in fact, that
would seem to you as at all unusual?"
"Nothing whatever," I replied. "Everything seemed perfectly normal
and commonplace."
"Hum! Strange!" he said, and returned to his notes.
I felt sure M. Godin had had a theory and that my testimony had not
strengthened it, but he did not volunteer any information, neither
did he take part in the conversation of his companions, and so my
curiosity remained ungratified. It was clear that M. Godin's methods
were very different from those of Osborne and Allen.
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