Part 19 (1/2)
”Her--her husband!” Mr. Slotman seemed to be choking.
”You seem surprised,” said Lady Linden. ”Well, so was I, but it is the truth. If you are interested in Miss Meredyth, the proper person to make enquiries of is Mr. Hugh Alston, of Hurst Dormer, Suss.e.x. Now you know.
Is there anything else I can do for you?”
Slotman pa.s.sed his hand across his forehead. This was unexpected, a blow that staggered him.
”You--you mean, your ladys.h.i.+p means that Miss Meredyth is recently married.”
”Her ladys.h.i.+p means nothing of the kind,” said Lady Linden tartly. ”I mean that Miss Meredyth has for some very considerable time been Mrs.
Hugh Alston. They were married, if you want to know--and I don't see why it should any longer be kept a secret--three years ago, in June, nineteen eighteen at Marlbury, Dorset, where my niece was at school with Miss Meredyth. Now you know all I know, and if you want any further information, apply to the husband.”
”But--but,” Slotman said, ”I--” He was thinking. He was trying to reconcile what he had heard in his own office when he had spied on Hugh Alston and Joan, when on that occasion he had heard Hugh offer marriage to the girl as an act of atonement. How could he offer marriage if they were already married? There was something wrong, some mistake!
”But what?” snapped her ladys.h.i.+p, who had taken an exceeding dislike to the perspiring Mr. Slotman.
”Is your ladys.h.i.+p certain that they were married? I mean--” he fumbled and stammered.
Lady Linden pointed to the door. ”Good afternoon!” she said. ”I don't know what business it is of yours, and I don't care. All I know is that if Hugh Alston is a fool, he is not a knave, so you have my permission to retire.”
Mr. Slotman retired, but it was not till some hours had pa.s.sed that he finally left the neighbourhood of Cornbridge. He had been making discreet enquiries, and he found on every side that her ladys.h.i.+p's story was corroborated.
For Lady Linden talked, and it was asking too much of any lady who was fond of a chat to expect her to keep silent on a matter of such interest. Lady Linden had discussed Hugh Alston's marriage with Mrs.
Pontifex, the Rector's wife, who in turn had discussed it with others.
So, little by little, the story had leaked out, and all Cornbridge knew it, and Mr. Slotman found ample corroboration of Lady Linden's story.
Not till he was in the train did Mr. Slotman begin to gather together all the threads of evidence. ”I should not describe Lady Linden as a pleasant person,” he decided, ”still, her information will prove of the utmost value to me. On the whole I am glad I went.” He felt satisfied; he had discovered all that was discoverable, so far as Cornbridge was concerned.
”Married in eighteen, June of eighteen,” he muttered, ”at Marlbury, Dorset. I'll bet she wasn't! She may have said she was, but she wasn't!”
He chuckled grimly. He was beginning to see through it. ”I suppose she told that tale, and then it got about, and then the fellow came and offered her marriage as the only possible way out. I'd like to choke the brute!”
Slotman slept that night in London, and early the following morning he was on his way to Marlbury. He found it a little quiet country town, where information was to be had readily enough. It took him but a few minutes to discover that there was a school for young ladies, a school of repute, kept by a Miss Skinner. It was the only ladies' school in or near the town, and so Mr. Slotman made his way in that direction, and in a little time was ushered into the presence of the headmistress.
”I must apologise,” he said, ”for this intrusion.”
Miss Skinner bowed. She was tall and thin, angular and severe, a typical headmistress, stern and unyielding.
”I am,” Slotman lied, ”a solicitor from London, and I am interested in a young lady who a matter of three years ago was, I believe, a pupil in this school.”
”Indeed?”
”Miss Joan Meredyth,” said Slotman.
”Miss Meredyth was a pupil here at the time you mention, three years ago. It was three years ago that she left.”
”In June?” Slotman asked.