Part 29 (1/2)
”I've no objection to answer your question, Mr Conway I quite expect you to take a strong interest in theof your whereabouts after you leave my premises I think you'll be wanted over this affair The party that seen the incendiary yesterday was Mr H----, of H---- Brothers”
”Mr Charles H----?” I inquired casually
”No; Mr Arthur H---- Very respectable ain the JP sipped his wine; and the girls' voices murmured, and the clocks ticked, and the hens clucked in the yard; also, the oon, and a couple of axes sounded faintly across the flat; and I even heard, through the open , the noise of soh a crop of hay on an adjacent farm ”Givehis glass ”Writing-material on the side table”
I wroteour departmental office in Sydney as a fine loose postal address, and laid the paper on the table beside the nate It re hiether, for ne'er had Alpine's son such need
”I've htfully
(This was perfectly true, though, in the urgency of the moment, I omitted to add thatlahich govern the manifold operations of Nature) ”I've ree with me that a successful criminal prosecution is a Pyrrhic victory at best At worst--that is, if you fail to prove your case; and, ainst a well-informed man by circumstantial evidence alone--if you fail to prove your case; then it's his turn, for malicious prosecution; and you can't expect any mercy from him When you think your case is coal point, that your opponent has been holding in reserve Now, you 're a gentleet for a man that has studied law”
I paused, for I noticed the Moor already changing with my poison
”By heaven! I'd like to have a shot at you for a thousand!”
I continued, eyeing hireedily
”One of the obstacles in a position likeyou just implied, Mr Connellan,” responded the ode, alht to be followed up, for the sake of the public weal As valuable as the stack was, I don't give that for it” And he snapped his finger and thumb
”You may be morally certain of the identity of the scoundrel, but your proofs require to be legally i houard ”I know a very respectableover a thousand in a case similar to this
The scoundrel was a deep subject; and he got at Johnson for false iet up an alibi, if they're clever
Excusein this case, Mr Q----, but you've interested ly
You have evidence that this suspected incendiary was seen somewhere down the river yesterday--or up the river was it?--and you saw hi Very well Would the two descriptions of dress and deportment tally exactly with each other, and with the appearance of the person whom, independently of that evidence, you know to be the perpetrator--Ifor an alibi there! You hold the incentive in reserve, I think you said?
Pardon me--is it a sufficient one?”
”It don't take abone without a shi+rt to his back” replied the ratepayer, suddenly boiling-over
”True,” I conceded; ”but, 'Seek whom the crime profits,' says Machiavelli
What profit would it be to such a scoundrel to do you an injury, Mr Q----?”
”The propertied classes is at the mercy of the thriftless classes,”
he remarked, with ed in modest protest ”Why, the whole country lives by the fary thehis point ”Possibly I won't trouble you any further over this affair Your business keeps you on theat the paper beside hiht be difficult to effect service
You want your dog Go into the kitchen; inquire for Miss Je And a very fine dog he is”
”Thank you, Mr Q---- Good day”
”Good day,” replied the boyard, acknowledging , but I had scored, after all You can't beat the pocket-stroke Passing through the kitchen, I raceful Jim
”Are you Miss Jemima?” I asked, in the tone you should always use towards women
A dimple stole into each beautiful cheek as she nodded assent
”Well, Mr Q---- authorises Miss Je”
”Coht flush of vexation on the girl's face now And, indeed, it was scarcely fair of Dogberry, when his own soft thing had fallen through, tocolour, she led the way to the stable, and opened a loose-box, disclosing Pup, crouched, sphynx-like, with a large bone between his paws The red collar was gone; and he was chained to the er by a hame-strap Of course, I did n't blame the franklin, nor do I bla and beautiful in the thought that respectability, at best, is merely poised--never hard ho like Pup throws himself into the other scale But I could feel the vicarious cri over Jim's forehead and ears as I unbuckled the ha my mind for some expression of thanks that would n't sound ironical A terrible tie of syoat and ether; and each felt that salvation awaited the one who spoke first, and to the point--or rather, from the point All honour to Jiirl girlishly ”He's a big pup”