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Read Ebook: The Yellow Holly by Hume Fergus
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Ebook has 1347 lines and 45252 words, and 27 pages
try to find out."
"I want to know."
"That is apparent on the face of it. But you are not engaged to marry her, are you, Mr. Bawdsey?"
"No such luck," replied the detective, with a dismal face.
"Then I don't see what right you have to control her movements."
"Did she write and tell you where she was going?"
"No, and if she had done so I should not tell you," replied George, annoyed by the man's persistence.
"You may as well be civil to me, Mr. Brendon; you know that I am your friend."
"Oh, I've heard all that before! But people who talk much of friendship and gratitude are generally humbugs."
"That's my business. Leave it alone."
Bawdsey took up his hat. "Oh, very well! If you will not be civil I cannot help you to learn who killed your father."
"What!" George sprang from the table at which he was writing and seized the man's arm. "Do you know that?"
"We had better have a chat," said Bawdsey, and sat down. "But I wish to know where I stand. Lola loves you. Do you love her?"
"No," said Brendon, seeing that he would have to humor the man. "I am engaged to marry Miss Ward."
"Will you help me to marry Lola?"
"Oh, Lola can look after herself, Mr. Brendon. If she becomes my wife she will have the upper hand. But I am so deeply in love with her that I am willing to play second fiddle. Can't you dispossess her of this infatuation for you?"
George shook his head and groaned. "No. She won't listen to reason."
"Well," drawled Bawdsey, recurring to his American accent, "I don't blame her for that. She is in love, and love listens to no one and nothing. I wouldn't listen to reason, either, if it entailed giving up Lola."
"See here, Bawdsey, if you can persuade this woman to get over her liking for me, and to marry you, I shall be delighted. I do not know where she is just now, but it is my impression that she has gone away because she is afraid of me."
"Afraid of you? Oh, that's absurd!"
"No, it isn't. The other morning she saw Miss Ward, and there was a scene in the Park."
"And it was I who foolishly mentioned that Miss Ward sometimes took a walk in the morning--in the Park."
"Oh," said Bawdsey, "I mentioned that also."
"Did you wish Lola to see Miss Ward?" asked George, angrily.
"No. Nor did I intend to say anything about the walking in the early morning. I simply pointed her out in the box to Lola, so that Lola might see there was no chance of your marrying her."
"As if any woman would accept such an excuse," said Brendon, contemptuously. "Then she questioned you about the walk?"
"Yes. She mentioned something about what you had told her, and I was rather free with my tongue. I am not usually," said Bawdsey, penitently, "but there's something about Lola that makes me behave like a child. I'm wax in her hands. So she saw Miss Ward?"
"Yes. And she knows that I am angry. Of course Miss Ward sent to tell me at once, and I called on Lola to give her a talking to, but she was gone when I arrived."
"Would you have spoken harshly to her?"
"Certainly. She had no right to trouble Miss Ward. But now you know why I think she has left town. In a week she will come back thinking my anger is at an end."
"And will it be?" asked Bawdsey, doubtfully.
"It is at an end now. I am quite content not to see Lola again so long as she leaves Miss Ward alone."
"I will try and keep her away," said the detective, "but I have very little influence with her."
"Tell her I am angry and will be still more angry if she does not keep away from Curzon Street. Well, we have discussed this matter. I now want to hear what you meant by your reference to my father. Do you know who killed him?"
Bawdsey shook his head. "I can't say for certain, but I can tell you who might know."
"Who is that?"
"Mr. Roger Ireland."
George looked astonished. "But that is ridiculous," he said. "Mr. Ireland told me that he did not know."
"Oh, I don't say that he knows for certain. But he is better acquainted with the matter than you think."
"How did you come to know Mr. Ireland?"
"He called to see Miss Bull, and I dropped across him."
"How did you get talking of the case?"
"Well, you see," said Bawdsey, easily, "we naturally talked of Mrs. Jersey, and one thing led to another until I discovered that Ireland had been in San Remo when your father was murdered. I wished to find out who killed him, so I questioned Mr. Ireland."
"Why do you wish to know who killed my father?" asked George.
"How do you know that?"
"Don't I tell you I questioned Mr. Ireland?"
George looked sharply at the detective. "What magic did you use to make him talk? Mr. Ireland knows how to hold his tongue."
"Well, when he found that I was looking after the case of Mrs. Jersey he was good enough to tell me all he knew. He thought, as I did, that the murder in San Remo was connected with the crime of Amelia Square."
"Oh!" George wasn't at all satisfied, as he could not conceive how Bawdsey had induced Ireland to talk. However, he thought it wise to say no more, as he did not wish to make Bawdsey angry and thus run a chance of losing his explanation. "Go on."
"There is nothing more to say," said Bawdsey, rising. "Mr. Ireland declined to tell me who he thought was guilty, but he hinted that he had seen the lady in the blue domino unmasked."
"Did he recognize her?"
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