Henderson daily dispatch., 1938-03-07
CHAPTER 40

"ONLY ONE rope had been
found" Monsignor Smith was
saying. eff it had happened as I
thought there must be two. I
hoped, as I thrust my hand into
the tank, that there would be
nothing in it but water. The
crime as it appeared to me then
seemed too vile. But not was
there. Two ropes had been used.
"You see, this butler here was
very wicked and very clever
man. He had been a butler for 20
years or more, and as he said, he
had excellent references. But
imagine what had gone to the
making Of those references, what
linnumerable subservient humil-
titles, what civil grins, what con-
,cealment of personal emotion!
He was a man given to hatred and
jealousy, who had been forced for
two decades to show complai-
sance and satisfaction.
"At last he is employed by
woman who thinks she can trick
her servants into loyalty. But
loyalty comes with trial, not with
trickery. A man may call a June
evening New Years Eve, but we
shan't sing Aud Lang Syne. A
man may put a crown upon his
head, but we shan't sing God Save
the King. A woman may make q
will, but we shan't sing For She's
a Jolly Good Fellow. And when
Mrs. Thurston signed this will she
was not securing for herself any
service except unfortunately the
burial service. It was her death
warrant.
"For the wicked and clever man
of whom we are speaking was too
wicked and not quite clever
enough for success. He was
wicked enough to see that if he
could get Mrs. Thurston murdered
he would inherit her money, but
not clever enough to know that
there was no money to inherit.
He was wicked enough to plan her
murder, but not clever enough to
find out that she had only a life
interest in her first husbands
money. So that the trick has
worked twice--on the murderer
as well as on the murdered
woman.
HE saw way of escaping from
all service, of achieving what all
his life he had most ardent1y
craved- independence. If he
scould eliminate this woman he
would not only leave the house,
from which he had already been
dismissed by her husband, without
danger of the blackmail he had
practiced being discovered, but he
would also inherit his share of her
money. He would be COMPARE
lively well off for the rest of his
life, for we may presume that he
had already saved a certain sum.
But how? He had not even
the courage necessary to murder
this woman. But what he lacked
IN courage he had in guile. He
looked about him for someone to
do the thing for him. And it was
probably not for some time that
he found this agent in the I'M
likeliest place-the local vicar
age. Something like a sardonic
smile must have come to him
when he first thought of that. For
who would look for violence in
a vicarage? Who would expect
to find murderer in a manse ?'
"Stall sang bass in the choir
and made himself useful to the
vicar. At first, while the veal,
brain of the latter had still enough
health to ape normality, he was
satisfied with that. But gradual.
ly he came to exert more anf
more influence over the wretchec
man, until he had only to SUCCESS
something to the poor lunati,
brain of the other, and he coult
persuade him to take any cours,
of action that he chose-alwav
providing, of course, that tn
vicar was convinced that it wa
his duty. Quite early in thei
sinister relationship. Stall mus
have learned that this was hi
easiest way to ac<:ession-he ha