The Argosy — page 222: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A Mystery. 205 suppose. St. George started for home earlier than he had meant to start, and this may have been the reason: though “e says it was _ be- cause he saw it was going to be so wild a night. Why they should not have gone in company to the Hare-and-Hounds, and started thence in the gig together, is another question.” ‘Unless Brook, being done up, wished not to show himself at Wor- cester that day—to get on at once to Timberdale.” Darbyshire nodded : the thought, I am sure, was not strange to him. ‘“The most weighty question of all remains yet, lad: If St. George took up Brook in his gig, what did he do with him? Ye would not want to be put down in Dip Lane to walk to Evesham.” He caught up his churchwarden pipe, relighted it at the fire, and puffed away in silence. Presently I spoke again. ‘Mr. Darbyshire, I do not like St. George. I never did. You may not believe me, perhaps, but the first time I ever saw his face— I was a little fellow—I drew back startled. ‘There was something in its expression which frightened me.” “One of your unreasonable dislikes, Johnny?” *‘ Are they unreasonable? But I have not taken many such dis- likes in my life as that one was. Perhaps I might say azy such.” **St. George was liked by most people.” ‘‘T know he was. Anyway, my dislike remained with me I never spoke of it ; no, not even to Tod.” Liking him or disliking him has nothing to do with the main ques- tion—what became of Brook. ‘There were the letters too, sent by the traveller in answer to St. George’s advertisements.” ‘“‘'Yes, there were the letters. But—did it ever occur to you to notice that not one word was said in those letters, or one new fact given, that we had not heard before? ‘They bore out St. George’s statement, but they afforded no proof that his statement was true.” “That is, Mr. Johnny, you would insinuate, putting it genteelly, that St. George fabricated the answers himself.” “No, not that he did, only that there was nothing in the letters to render it impossible that he did.” After having fabricated the pretty little tale that it was a stranger he picked up, and what the stranger said to him, and all the rest of it, eh, Johnny P” ‘“ Well ”—I hesitated—“ as to the letters, 1t seemed to me to be an unaccountable thing that the traveller could not let even one person see him in private, to hear his personal testimony: say Mr. Delorane, ora member of the Brook family. The Squire went hot over it: he asked St. George whether the fellow thought men of honour carried handcuffs in their pockets. Again, the stranger said he should be at liberty to come forward later, but he never has come.” Darbyshire smoked on. ‘I'd give this full of gold,” he broke the silence with, touching the big bowl of the clay pipe, “to know where Brook vanished to.” CoOnniclooolks (SO)