Part 36 (1/2)
Giles shook his head gloomily. ”He did, but circ.u.mstances have happened which have led him to change his opinion. He believes now that she is guilty. But he would never have told you.”
”Well, I suppose that is natural. After all she is his niece, and although he hates his brother Walter, he must have some love for Anne, or he would scarcely have taken her in. So she has gone away. Can you tell me where she is to be found?”
”Is it likely that I should?”
Morley laughed in his cheery manner. ”No,” he replied bluntly, ”for I know she has gone to London, and that you are following her.”
”Quite so. But London is a large place. You will not find her.”
”I could if I followed you,” said Morley promptly.
”I should not let you do that.”
”Perhaps not. But if I chose I could circ.u.mvent you. All I have to do is to wire your description to Scotland Yard and you would be shadowed by a detective from the moment you left the Liverpool Street Station. But you need not be afraid. I don't want to harm Miss Denham. If she crosses my path I'll have her arrested, but I won't go hunting for her.”
”I don't trust you, Morley,” said Ware quietly.
”You ought to. I have put you on your guard against myself. If my intentions were bad, I should not have told you. But my detective days are over, and Miss Denham can go scot-free for me. But I'll tell you one thing, Ware. She will never be your wife.”
”How can you prophesy that?” asked Giles sharply.
”Because you will never be able to prove her innocence. I believe her to be guilty myself, and if she is not, the task of removing the suspicion is an impossible one. I have had many mysterious cases in my day, but this is one of the most difficult.”
”I don't agree with you,” said Ware promptly. ”The case is perfectly simple. Her blackguard of a father killed Daisy and afterwards intended to kill his brother George and thus get possession of the money. Anne saved him the first time, and to save him now from the hatred of George she has taken his guilt on her own shoulders.”
”Who told you all this?”
”It's my theory. And I'll prove the truth of it, Morley, by hunting everywhere for Walter Franklin. When I find him I'll wring a confession out of him.”
”I hope you will succeed,” said Morley admiringly, ”and you ought to for your pluck. So far as I am concerned, I wash my hands of the whole affair. You need not think I'll hunt down Miss Denham. Besides,” added Morley, nodding, ”I am going away.”
”What!” Giles was astonished. ”Are you leaving The Elms?”
”In a month's time,” replied the little man. ”My wife's doing, not mine.
She has never got over a certain horror of the house since the murder of that poor girl. I shall sell every stick of furniture and take Mrs.
Morley and the children to the United States. She wants to get away from the old life and begin a new one. So do I. Rather a late beginning at my age, eh, Ware?”
”What about your finances?”
”Oh, that's all right,” said Morley, jubilantly. ”I have settled everything. An old aunt of mine has died and left me a couple of thousand a year. I have paid every debt, and shall leave England without leaving a single creditor behind me. Then Mrs. Morley has her own money.
We shall do very well in the States, Ware. I am thinking of living in Was.h.i.+ngton. A very pleasant city, I hear.”
”I've never been there,” replied Giles, making for the door, ”but I am glad to hear that your affairs are settled. There is no chance of trouble with Asher now.”
Morley shook his head with a jolly laugh. ”They won't send down another Walter Franklin, if that is what you mean,” said he.
”They did not send him down. He came himself.”
”Yes. I only spoke generally. Well, I'll be sorry to go, for I have made some pleasant friends in Rickwell--yourself amongst the number. But my wife insists, so I must humor her. There's Franklin. I shall be sorry to leave him.”