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Page 103
"The announcement at breakfast went well. After the
golfing-party had gone off, we had the morning in which to
complete our arrangements. What I was chiefly concerned about
was to establish as completely as possible the identity of
Robert. For this reason I suggested to Mark that, when dressed,
he should go out by the secret passage to the bowling-green, and
come back by the drive, taking care to enter into conversation
with the lodge-keeper. In this way I would have two more
witnesses of Robert's arrival--first the lodge-keeper, and
secondly one of the gardeners whom I would have working on the
front lawn. Mark, of course, was willing enough. He could
practise his Australian accent on the lodge-keeper. It was
really amusing to see how readily he fell into every suggestion
which I made. Never was a killing more carefully planned by its
victim.
"He changed into Robert's clothes in the office bedroom. This
was the safest way--for both of us. When he was ready, he called
me in, and I inspected him. It was extraordinary how well he
looked the part. I suppose that the signs of his dissipation had
already marked themselves on, his face, but had been concealed
hitherto by his moustache and beard; for now that he was
clean-shaven they lay open to the world from which we had so
carefully hidden them, and he was indeed the wastrel which he was
pretending to be.
"'By Jove, you're wonderful,' I said.
"He smirked, and called my attention to the various artistic
touches which I might have missed.
"'Wonderful,' I said to myself again. 'Nobody could possibly
guess.'
"I peered into the hall. It was empty. We hurried across to the
library; he got into the passage and made off. I went back to
the bedroom, collected all his discarded clothes, did them up in
a bundle and returned with them to the passage. Then I sat down
in the hall and waited.
"You heard the evidence of Stevens, the maid. As soon as she was
on her way to the Temple in search of Mark, I stepped into the
office. My hand was in my side-pocket, and in my hand was the
revolver.
"He began at once in his character of Robert--some rigmarole
about working his passage over from Australia; a little private
performance for my edification. Then in his natural voice,
gloating over his well-planned retaliation on Miss Norris, he
burst out, 'It's my turn now. You wait.' It was this which
Elsie heard. She had no business to be there and she might have
ruined everything, but as it turned out it was the luckiest thing
which could have happened. For it was the one piece of evidence
which I wanted; evidence, other than my own, that Mark and Robert
were in the room together.
"I said nothing. I was not going to take the risk of being heard
to speak in that room. I just smiled at the poor little fool,
and took out my revolver, and shot him. Then I went back into
the library and waited--just as I said in my evidence.
"Can you imagine, Mr. Gillingham, the shock which your sudden
appearance gave me? Can you imagine the feelings of a 'murderer'
who has (as he thinks) planned for every possibility, and is then
confronted suddenly with an utterly new problem? What difference
would your coming make? I didn't know. Perhaps none; perhaps
all. And I had forgotten to open the window!
"I don't know whether you will think my plan for killing Mark a
clever one. Perhaps not. But if I do deserve any praise in the
matter, I think I deserve it for the way I pulled myself together
in the face of the unexpected catastrophe of your arrival. Yes,
I got a window open, Mr. Gillingham, under your very nose; the
right window too, you were kind enough to say. And the keys
--yes, that was clever of you, but I think I was cleverer. I
deceived you over the keys, Mr. Gillingham, as I learnt when I
took the liberty of listening to a conversation on the
bowling-green between you and your friend Beverley. Where was I?
Ah, you must have a look for that secret passage, Mr. Gillingham.
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