Part 29 (2/2)

PETTIFER'S PLAN

On the Sat.u.r.day morning Mr. Hazlewood drove over early to Great Beeding.

His impatience had so grown during the last few days that his very sleep was broken at night and in the daytime he could not keep still. The news of d.i.c.k's engagement to Stella Ballantyne was now known throughout the countryside and the blame for it was laid upon Harold Hazlewood's shoulders. For blame was the general note, blame and chagrin. A few bold and kindly spirits went at once to see Stella; a good many more seriously and at great length debated over their tea-tables whether they should call after the marriage. But on the whole the verdict was an indignant No. Disgrace was being brought upon the neighbourhood. Little Beeding would be impossible. d.i.c.k Hazlewood only laughed at the constraint of his acquaintances, and when three of them crossed the road hurriedly in Great Beeding to avoid Stella and himself he said good-humouredly:

”They are like an ill-trained company of bad soldiers. Let one of them break from the ranks and they'll all stream away so as not to be left behind. You'll see, Stella. One of them will come and the rest will tumble over one another to get into your drawing-room.”

How much he believed of what he said Stella did not inquire. She had a gift of silence. She just walked a little nearer to him and smiled, lest any should think she had noticed the slight. The one man, in a word, who showed signs of wear and tear was Mr. Hazlewood himself. So keen was his distress that he had no fear of his sister's sarcasms.

”I--think of it!” he exclaimed in a piteous bewilderment, ”actually I have become sensitive to public opinion,” and Mrs. Pettifer forbore from the comments which she very much longed to make. She was in the study when Harold Hazlewood was shown in, and Pettifer had bidden her to stay.

”Margaret knows that I have been reading these reports,” he said. ”Sit down, Hazlewood, and I'll tell you what I think.”

Mr. Hazlewood took a seat facing the garden with its old red brick wall, on which a purple clematis was growing.

”You have formed an opinion then, Robert?”

”One.”

”What is it?” he asked eagerly.

Robert Pettifer clapped the palm of his hand down upon the cuttings from the newspapers which lay before him on his desk.

”This--no other verdict could possibly have been given by the jury. On the evidence produced at the trial in Bombay Mrs. Ballantyne was properly and inevitably acquitted.”

”Robert!” exclaimed his wife. She too had been hoping for the contrary opinion. As for Hazlewood himself the sunlight seemed to die off that garden. He drew his hand across his forehead. He half rose to go when again Robert Pettifer spoke.

”And yet,” he said slowly, ”I am not satisfied.”

Harold Hazlewood sat down again. Mrs. Pettifer drew a breath of relief.

”The chief witness for the defence, the witness whose evidence made the acquittal certain, was a man I know--a barrister called Thresk.”

”Yes,” interrupted Hazlewood. ”I have been puzzled about that man ever since you mentioned him before. His name I am somehow familiar with.”

”I'll explain that to you in a minute,” said Pettifer, and his wife leaned forward suddenly in her chair. She did not interrupt but she sat with a look of keen expectancy upon her face. She did not know whither Pettifer was leading them but she was now sure that it was to some carefully pondered goal.

”I have more than once briefed Thresk myself. He's a man of the highest reputation at the Bar, straightforward, honest; he enjoys a great practice, he is in Parliament with a great future in Parliament. In a word he is a man with everything to lose if he lied as a witness in a trial. And yet--I am not satisfied.”

Mr. Pettifer's voice sank to a low murmur. He sat at his desk staring out in front of him through the window.

”Why?” asked Hazlewood. But Pettifer did not answer him. He seemed not to hear the question. He went on in the low quiet voice he had used before, rather like one talking to himself than to a companion.

”I should very much like to put a question or two to Mr. Thresk.”

”Then why don't you?” exclaimed Mrs. Pettifer. ”You know him.”

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