"Here is the visible sign of our engagement."
"A strange ring, but very charming," p.r.o.nounced Miss Which.e.l.lo, examining the jewel. "But does the bishop know?"
"I intend to tell him when I come back next week" said George, promptly.
"At present he is too upset with this murder to pay much attention to my love affairs."
"Upset with this murder!" cried the little lady, dropping into a chair.
"I don"t wonder at it. I am quite ill with the news."
"I"m sure I don"t see why, aunty. This Jentham tramp wasn"t a relative, you know."
Miss Which.e.l.lo shuddered, and, if possible, turned paler. "He was a human being, Mab," she said, in a low voice, "and it is terrible to think that the poor wretch, however evil he may have been, should have come to so miserable an end. Is it known who shot him, Captain Pendle?"
"No; there are all sorts of rumours, of course, but none of them very reliable. It"s a pity, too," added George, reflectively, "for if I had only been a little earlier in leaving Mother Jael I might have heard the shot and captured the murderer."
"What do you mean, Captain Pendle?" cried Miss Which.e.l.lo, with a start.
"Why, didn"t I tell you? No, of course I didn"t; it was Mab I told."
"What did you tell her?" questioned the old lady, with some impatience.
"That I was on Southberry Heath last night."
"What were you doing there?"
"Seeing after that gipsy ring for Mab," explained George, pulling his moustache. "I bought it of Mother Jael, and had to ride out to the camp to make the bargain. As I am going back into harness to-day, there wasn"t much time to lose, so I went off last night after dinner, between eight and nine o"clock, and the old jade kept me so long fixing up the business that I didn"t reach home until eleven. By Jove! I got a jolly ducking; looked like an insane river G.o.d dripping with wet."
"Did you see anything of the murder, Captain Pendle?"
"No; didn"t even hear the shot, though that wasn"t to be wondered at, considering the row made by rain and thunder."
"Where was the body found?"
"Somewhere in a ditch near the high road, I believe. At all events, it wasn"t in the way, or my gee would have tumbled across it."
Miss Which.e.l.lo reflected. "The bishop was over at Southberry yesterday, was he not?" she asked.
"Yes, at a confirmation service. He rode back across the common, and reached the palace just before I did--about half an hour or so."
"Did he hear or see anything?"
"Not to my knowledge; but the truth is, I haven"t had an opportunity of asking questions. He is so annoyed at the disgrace to the diocese by the committal of this crime that he"s quite beside himself. I was just telling Mab about it when you came in. Six o"clock!" cried Captain George, starting up as the chimes rang out. "I must be off. If I"m late at barracks my colonel will parade me to-morrow, and go down my throat, spurs, boots and all."
"Wait a moment, Captain Pendle, and I"ll come with you."
"But your headache, aunty?" remonstrated Mab.
"My dear, a walk in the fresh air will do me good. I shall go with Captain Pendle to the station. Make your adieux, young people, while I put on my bonnet and cloak."
When Miss Which.e.l.lo left the room, Mab, who had been admiring her ring during the foregoing conversation, was so impressed with its quaint beauty that she again thanked George for having given it to her. This piece of politeness led to an exhibition of tenderness on the part of the departing lover, and during the dragon"s absence this foolish young couple talked the charming nonsense which people in their condition particularly affect. Realism is a very good thing in its own way, but to set down an actual love conversation would be carrying it to excess.
Only the exaggerated exaltation of mind attendant on love-making can enable lovers to endure the transcendentalism with which they bore one another. And then the look which makes an arrow of the most trifling phrase, the caress which gives the merest glance a most eloquent meaning--how can prosaic pen and ink and paper report these fittingly?
The sympathetic reader must guess what George and Mab said to one another. He must fancy how they said it, and he or she must see in his or her mind"s eye how young and beautiful and glowing they looked when Miss Which.e.l.lo, as the prose of their poetry, walked into the room. The dear old lady smiled approvingly when she saw their bright faces, for she too had lived in Arcady, although the envious G.o.ds had turned her out of it long since.
"Now, Captain Pendle, when you have done talking nonsense with that child I"m ready."
"Do call me George, Miss Which.e.l.lo," entreated the captain.
"No, sir; not until your father gives this engagement his episcopalian blessing. No nonsense. Come along."
But Miss Which.e.l.lo"s bark was worse than her bite, for she discreetly left the room, so that the love-birds could take a tender leave of each other, and Captain Pendle found her standing on the steps outside with a broad smile on her face.
"You are sure you have not forgotten your gloves, Captain Pendle?" she asked smilingly.
"No," replied George, innocently, "I have them with me."
"Oh!" exclaimed Miss Which.e.l.lo, marching down the steps like a toy soldier, "in my youth young men in your condition _always_ forgot their gloves."
"By Jove! I have left something behind me, though."
"Your heart, probably. Never mind, it is in safe keeping. None of your tricks, sir. Come, come!" and Miss Which.e.l.lo marched the captain off with a twinkle in her bright eyes. The little old lady was one of those loved by the G.o.ds, for she would undoubtedly die young in heart.
Still, as she walked with Captain Pendle to the station in the gathering darkness, she looked worried and white. George could not see her face in the dusk, and moreover was too much taken up with his late charming interview to notice his companion"s preoccupation. In spite of her sympathy, Miss Which.e.l.lo grew weary of a monologue on the part of George, in which the name of "Mab" occurred fifty times and more. She was glad when the train steamed off with this too happy lover, and promised to deliver all kinds of unnecessary messages to the girl George had left behind him.
"But let them be happy while they can," murmured Miss Which.e.l.lo, as she tripped back through the town. "Poor souls, if they only knew what I know."
As Miss Which.e.l.lo had the meaning of this enigmatic speech in her mind, she did not think it was necessary to put it into words, but, silent and pensive, walked along the crowded pavement. Shortly she turned down a side street which led to the police-station, and there paused in a quiet corner to pin a veil round her head--a veil so thick that her features could hardly be distinguished through it. The poor lady adopted this as a kind of disguise, forgetting that her old-fashioned poke bonnet and quaint silk cloak were as well known to the inhabitants of Beorminster as the cathedral itself. That early century garb was as familiar to the rascality of the slums as to the richer citizens; even the police knew it well, for they had often seen its charitable wearer by the bedsides of dying paupers. It thus happened that, when Miss Which.e.l.lo presented herself at the police-station to Inspector Tinkler, he knew her at once, in spite of her foolish little veil. Moreover, in greeting her he p.r.o.nounced her name.
"Hush, hush, Mr Inspector," whispered Miss Which.e.l.lo, with a mysterious glance around. "I do not wish it to be known that I called here."
"You can depend upon my discretion, Miss Which.e.l.lo, ma"am," said the inspector, who was a bluff and tyrannical ex-sergeant. "And what can I do for you?"
Miss Which.e.l.lo looked round again. "I wish, Mr Inspector," said she, in a very small voice, "to be taken by you to the dead-house."
"To the dead-house, Miss Which.e.l.lo, ma"am!" said the iron Tinkler, hardly able to conceal his astonishment, although it was against his disciplinarian ideas to show emotion.
"There is a dead man in there, Mr Inspector, whom I knew under very different circ.u.mstances more than twenty years ago."
"Answers to the name of Jentham, perhaps?" suggested Mr Inspector.
"Yes, he called himself Jentham, I believe. I--I--I wish to see his body;" and the little old lady looked anxiously into Tinkler"s purple face.
"Miss Which.e.l.lo, ma"am," said the ex-sergeant with an official air, "this request requires reflection. Do you know the party in question?"
"I knew him, as I told you, more than twenty years ago. He was then a very talented violinist, and I heard him play frequently in London."
"What was his name, Miss Which.e.l.lo, ma"am?"
"His name then, Mr Inspector, was Amaru!"