The Postmasters Daughter | Page 6

sort I find it best to take a line, and stick to it."
His tone was respectful but firm. Evidently, P.C. Robinson was not one
to be trifled with. Moreover, for a sleuth whose maximum achievement
hitherto had been the successful prosecution of a poultry thief, it was
significant that the unconscious irony of "a case of this sort" should
have been lost on him.

"Do you really insist on conducting your investigation while the body
is lying here?" demanded Grant, deliberately turning his back on the
girl in the distant cottage.
"Not that, sir--not altogether--but I must really ask you to clear up one
or two points now."
"For goodness' sake, what are they?"
"Well, sir, in the first place, how did you come to find the body?"
"I walked out into the garden after finishing breakfast a few minutes
ago, and noticed the rope attached to the staple, just as you see it now."
"Did you walk straight here?"
"No. Not exactly. I was--er--curious about the face I saw, or thought I
saw, last night, and looked into the room through the same window. By
doing so I scared Mrs. Bates, who was clearing the table, and she
screamed--"
"Her would, too," put in Bates. "Her'd take 'ee for Owd Ben's ghost."
"You shut up, Bates," said the policeman. "Don't interrupt Mr. Grant."
Grant was conscious of an undercurrent of suspicion in the constable's
manner. He was wroth with the man, but recognized that he had to deal
with narrow-minded self-importance, so contrived again to curb his
temper.
"I am not acquainted with old Ben or his ghost," he said quietly. "I can
only tell you that I went inside to reassure Mrs. Bates, and then strolled
slowly to this very spot. Naturally, I could not miss the rope and the
staple. To my mind, it was not intended that I or anyone else should
miss them. I regarded them as so peculiar that I shouted for Bates. He
came at once, and drew the body out of the water."
"And you recognized the dead woman as the one you saw last night?"

"Yes."
"At about ten minutes to eleven?"
"Yes."
"Is it likely, sir, that any other person saw her in these grounds a bit
earlier?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, sir, I can't put it much plainer. Could anybody else have seen her
here, say about 10.15?"
Grant met the policeman's inquiring glance squarely before he
answered.
"It is possible, of course," he said, "but most unlikely."
"Were you alone here at that hour?"
Again Grant sought and held that inquisitive gaze, held it until
Robinson affected to consult his notes. There was a moment of tense
silence. Then the reply came with an icy stubbornness that was not to
be denied.
"I decline absolutely to be cross-examined about my movements. If you
are unable or unwilling to order the removal of the body, I'll telegraph
to the chief of police at Knolesworth, and ask him to act. Further, I
shall request Dr. Foxton to examine the poor lady's injuries. It strikes
me as a monstrous proceeding that you should attempt to record my
evidence at this moment, and I refuse to become a party to it."
"Now, then, Robinson, stop yer Sherlock Holmes work, an' help me to
lift this poor woman on to the stretcher," said Bates gruffly.
The policeman's red face grew a shade deeper with annoyance, but he
had the sense to avoid a scene. He was not popular in the village, and
was well aware that the two rustics pressed into service as

stretcher-bearers would joyfully retail the fact that he had been "set
down a peg or two by Mr. Grant."
"I'll do all that's necessary in that way, sir," he said stiffly. "I suppose
you have no objection to my askin' if you noticed any strange footprints
on the ground hereabouts?"
"That was the first thing I looked for, both here and outside the
window--the latter, of course, for another reason. I found none. These
stones would show no signs. The ground is so dry that even the five
men now present leave no traces, but I remember seeing in the bed of
the stream certain marks which, unfortunately, were obliterated when
Bates hauled the body ashore. They were valueless, however--shapeless
indentations in the mud and sand."
"Were they wide apart or close together, sir?"
"Quite irregular. No one could judge by the length of the stride whether
they were made by the feet of a man or a woman, if that is what you
have in mind ... but, really--"
Grant's impatient motion was not to be misunderstood. Robinson
stooped, removed the rug, and unfastened the rope, after noting
carefully how it was tied, a point which he called on the