The Red Redmaynes | Page 7

yet, Mr. Brendon; and that's what only
Robert Redmayne can tell us by the look of it."
The detective nodded. Then he sought No. 3, Station Cottages.
The little row of attached houses ran off at right angles to the high
street of Princetown. They faced northwest, and immediately in front of
them rose the great, tree-clad shoulder of North Hessory Tor. The
woods ascended steeply and a stone wall ran between them and the
dwellings beneath.
Brendon knocked at No. 3 and was admitted by a thin, grey-haired
woman who had evidently been shedding tears. He found himself in a
little hall decorated with many trophies of fox hunting. There were
masks and brushes and several specimens of large Dartmoor foxes, who
had run their last and now stood stuffed in cases hung upon the walls.
"Do I speak to Mrs. Pendean?" asked Brendon; but the old woman
shook her head.
"No, sir. I'm Mrs. Edward Gerry, widow of the famous Ned Gerry, for
twenty years Huntsman of the Dartmoor Foxhounds. Mr. and Mrs.
Pendean were--are--I mean she is my lodger."
"Is she ready to see me?"
"She's cruel hard hit, poor lady. What name, sir?"
"Mr. Mark Brendon."

"She hoped you'd come. But go gentle with her. 'Tis a fearful ordeal for
any innocent person to have to talk to you, sir."
Mrs. Gerry opened a door upon the right hand of the entrance.
"The great Mr. Brendon be here, Mrs. Pendean," she said; then
Brendon walked in and the widow shut the door behind him.
Jenny Pendean rose from her chair by the table where she was writing
letters and Brendon saw the auburn girl of the sunset.
CHAPTER II
THE PROBLEM STATED
The girl had evidently dressed that morning without thought or
care--perhaps unconsciously. Her wonderful hair was lifted and wound
carelessly upon her head; her beauty had been dimmed by tears. She
was, however, quite controlled and showed little emotion at their
meeting; but she looked very weary and every inflection of her pleasant,
clear voice revealed it. She spoke as one who had suffered much and
laboured under great loss of vitality. He found this to be indeed the case,
for it seemed that she had lost half herself.
As he entered she rose and saw in his face an astonishment which
seemed not much to surprise her, for she was used to admiration and
knew that her beauty startled men.
Brendon, though he felt his heart beat quicklier at his discovery, soon
had himself in hand. He spoke with tact and sympathy, feeling himself
already committed to serve her with all his wits and strength. Only a
fleeting regret shot through his mind that the case in all probability
would not prove such as to reveal his own strange powers. He
combined the regulation methods of criminal research with the more
modern deductive system, and his success, as he always pointed out,
was reached by the double method. Already he longed to distinguish
himself before this woman.

"Mrs. Pendean," he said, "I am very glad that you learned I was in
Princetown and it will be a privilege to serve you if I can. The worst
may not have happened, though from what I have heard, there is every
reason to fear it; but, believe me, I will do my best on your account. I
have communicated with headquarters and, being free at this moment,
can devote myself wholly to the problem."
"Perhaps it was selfish to ask you in your holidays," she said. "But,
somehow, I felt--"
"Think nothing whatever of that. I hope that what lies before us may
not take very long. And now I will listen to you. There is no need to tell
me anything about what has happened at Foggintor. I shall hear all
about that later in the day. You will do well now to let me know
everything bearing upon it that went before this sad affair; and if you
can throw the least light of a nature to guide me and help my inquiry,
so much the better."
"I can throw no light at all," she said. "It has come like a thunderbolt
and I still find my mind refusing to accept the story that they have
brought to me. I cannot think about it--I cannot bear to think about it;
and if I believed it, I should go mad. My husband is my life."
"Sit down and give me some account of yourself and Mr. Pendean. You
cannot have been married very long."
"Four years."
He showed astonishment.
"I am twenty-five," she explained, "though I'm told I do not look so
much as that."
"Indeed not; I should have guessed eighteen. Collect your thoughts now
and just give me what of your history and your