Part 46 (2/2)
”Do you want me to be particular?”
”Be as particular as you can.”
”Will it do, if I say the present year?”
”Yes. Were your friend and the lady--at some time in the present year--traveling together in Scotland?”
”No.”
”Living together in Scotland?”
”No.”
”What _were_ they doing together in Scotland?”
”Well--they were meeting each other at an inn.”
”Oh? They were meeting each other at an inn. Which was first at the rendezvous?”
”The woman was first. Stop a bit! We are getting to it now.” He produced from his pocket the written memorandum of Arnold's proceedings at Craig Fernie, which he had taken down from Arnold's own lips. ”I've got a bit of note here,” he went on. ”Perhaps you'd like to have a look at it?”
Sir Patrick took the note--read it rapidly through to himself--then re-read it, sentence by sentence, to Geoffrey; using it as a text to speak from, in making further inquiries.
”'He asked for her by the name of his wife, at the door,'” read Sir Patrick. ”Meaning, I presume, the door of the inn? Had the lady previously given herself out as a married woman to the people of the inn?”
”Yes.”
”How long had she been at the inn before the gentleman joined her?”
”Only an hour or so.”
”Did she give a name?”
”I can't be quite sure--I should say not.”
”Did the gentleman give a name?”
”No. I'm certain _he_ didn't.”
Sir Patrick returned to the memorandum.
”'He said at dinner, before the landlady and the waiter, I take these rooms for my wife. He made _her_ say he was her husband, at the same time.' Was that done jocosely, Mr. Delamayn--either by the lady or the gentleman?”
”No. It was done in downright earnest.”
”You mean it was done to look like earnest, and so to deceive the landlady and the waiter?”
”Yes.”
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