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Page 17
"Exactly."
"So you don't really know whether he had been merely wild or--or
wicked?"
"No. Old Mr. Ablett was a clergyman," added Cayley. "Perhaps
what might seem wicked to a clergyman might seem only wild to a
man of the world."
"I daresay, Mr. Cayley," smiled the Inspector. "Anyhow, it was
more convenient to have him in Australia?"
"Yes."
"Mark Ablett never talked about him?"
"Hardly ever. He was very much ashamed of him, and--well, very
glad he was in Australia."
"Did he write Mark sometimes?"
"Occasionally. Perhaps three or four times in the last five
years."
"Asking for money?"
"Something of the sort. I don't think Mark always answered them.
As far as I know, he never sent any money."
"Now your own private opinion, Mr. Cayley. Do you think that
Mark was unfair to his brother? Unduly hard on him?"
"They'd never liked each other as boys. There was never any
affection between them. I don't know whose fault it was in the
first place--if anybody's."
"Still, Mark might have given him a hand?"
"I understand," said Cayley, "that Robert spent his whole life
asking for hands."
The inspector nodded.
"I know that sort. Well, now, we'll go on to this morning. This
letter that Mark got--did you see it?"
"Not at the time. He showed it to me afterwards."
"Any address?"
"No. A half-sheet of rather dirty paper."
"Where is it now?"
"I don't know. In Mark's pocket, I expect."
"Ah!" He pulled at his beard. "Well, we'll come to that. Can
you remember what it said?"
"As far as I remember, something like this: 'Mark, your loving
brother is coming to see you to-morrow, all the way from
Australia. I give you warning so that you will be able to conceal
your surprise, but not I hope, your pleasure. Expect him at
three, or thereabouts.'"
"Ah!" The inspector copied it down carefully. "Did you notice
the postmark?"
"London."
"And what was Mark's attitude?"
"Annoyance, disgust--" Cayley hesitated.
"Apprehension?"
"N-no, not exactly. Or, rather, apprehension of an unpleasant
interview, not of any unpleasant outcome for himself."
"You mean that he wasn't afraid of violence, or blackmail, or
anything of that sort?"
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