Part 6 (1/2)

For a moment she stood with her eyes fixed on Brennan.

”Oh, my G.o.d!” she cried as she flung up her arms and fell headlong to the floor.

CHAPTER IV

DURHAMS'S SURMISE

Eustace had disappeared as completely and mysteriously as the gold which had been in his keeping.

Every corner of the building from the roof to the bas.e.m.e.nt was examined.

Even the cupboards were inspected and the made-up beds pulled to pieces, lest he should have succeeded in secreting himself amongst the jam-pots or inside the covering of a pillow; but no trace of him could be found.

His hats hung on their accustomed pegs, so that if he had gone from the house he must have gone bareheaded. But the question which none could answer was how he had managed to go from the house at all.

At the time Mrs. Burke left the dining-room, Brennan was standing talking to Gale and Johnson in front of the private entrance. In the office Harding was waiting for his manager to come from the house. Thus two out of the three ordinary means of exit could not have been used without Eustace being seen. The third was the back door opening from the scullery, which, in turn, opened from the kitchen. Bessie was in the kitchen when the slamming of the dining-room door announced the departure of Mrs. Burke.

Both she and her mistress were insistent that Eustace did not pa.s.s through the kitchen. Each told the same story when interrogated. As soon as the signal of Mrs. Burke's departure was heard, Mrs. Eustace went to the door leading from the kitchen to the pa.s.sage and stood waiting for her husband to appear. When he did not do so, she went to the door of the office, knocked, and asked Harding if Eustace were there. She maintained that the door of the dining-room had not been opened after Mrs. Burke flounced out. Harding, who was listening in the office, also maintained it had not been opened.

The mystery of Eustace's disappearance was still agitating everyone when Sub-Inspector Durham rode up to the bank. Listening, without comment, to all Brennan had to report, he went through the premises with Harding and Brennan, saying nothing till he came to the back door.

Situated as it was, with only the bush behind and beyond it, the bank was thus free from being overlooked. A block of ground at the back was surrounded by a three-rail fence, but the cultivation was limited, a score of fowls occupying the far end and the remainder of the area consisting of a gra.s.s patch and a few indigenous shrubs left when the ground was fenced in from the bush.

Standing there, he waved his arm comprehensively towards the unoccupied land at the side and back of the building.

”Once outside, who was to see him clamber over that fence and make for the shelter of the bush?” he asked. ”While you were loitering at the front door, Brennan, your man was walking out at the back.”

Brennan gnawed his moustache in chagrin.

”But--how did he get out of the dining-room?” Harding exclaimed.

Durham turned slowly and looked steadily into Harding's eyes.

”He walked out, Mr. Harding, walked out through the door.”

”The door was shut.”

”When you saw it. It was probably closed as noiselessly as it was opened--his wife saw to that. Then, as soon as he had slipped out this way, she came to your office and threw dust in your eyes by asking where her husband was. Just the sort of thing a woman would do. What did he do with his keys--the bank keys, I mean?”

”He had them with him.”

”Oh, no, Mr. Harding. They would be no further use to him. He must have left them behind him. We shall find them somewhere. Let me have a look at the safes which were robbed.”

”Shall I send off a description of the man to the police in the neighbourhood, sir?” Brennan asked.

”Did you not do so at once?” Durham asked, swinging round sharply.

”I was preparing it when you arrived, sir.”