“He said not to tell. He said I’d be all right then. He said
he’d kill me if I told . in a jokey sort of way . like he always had. ” He shook his head, smiling. I could see that the Major had charmed him, too.
“Tell us what happened on that day. Harry,” I said.
“You sure … ?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“The Major knows I know. So it’s all right for you to talk.”
“You sure … ?” he said again.
“Oh yes … quite sure.”
“I want to be left alone.”
“You will be … when you’ve told us.”
“I didn’t do it.”
“I know you didn’t and nobody said you did.”
“They asked questions.”
“And they released you. They knew you didn’t do it.”
“I didn’t tell them what I see.”
“No. But you’re going to tell us.”
Harry scratched his head.
“I mind that day … never forget it. Dream about it sometimes. It was being ‘ere when it happened. Can’t get it out of me ‘cad.”
“Yes, of course.”
“I was ‘ere. I didn’t know when they was coming in to measure an’ all that. But there was always time when I heard ‘em come in to slip down the back staircase to the back door and out.”
“And you heard Mr. Cosmo come in.”
“No, it weren’t Mr. Cosmo who come first. It was the Major. That’s why I didn’t get right away. I thought it was one of them coming to measure up. I didn’t expect to see the Major.”
“What did he do?”
“Well … he came in and went over to the door what leads down to the basement. He opened it and went in. I wondered what ‘e were doing in the basement. But he didn’t go down … couldn’t have. He was just waiting behind the door. Then Mr. Cosmo came in. There wasn’t a word spoke.
I saw the basement door open. The Major stood there. He lifted the gun and shot Mr. Cosmo. “
“Then what happened?”
“Mr. Cosmo fell to the floor and the Major came out and he put the gun right down by Mr. Cosmo. I was on the landing, wondering what to do when Mr. Simon come in. The Major had gone then … and Mr. Simon picks up the gun just as Mr. Tristan comes in and finds ‘im standing there with the gun in his hand. Mr. Tristan was very upset so was Mr. Simon. Mr. Tristan starts shouting and says Mr. Simon’s killed his brother … and Simon says Mr. Cosmo was dead when he come in … and I thought it was time I got out. So I went out… down the back staircase.”
“So you were a witness of the murder,” said Lucas.
“And the Major … how did he know that you’d seen it all?” I asked. “Cos he’d caught a look at me up there on the landing. He didn’t give a sign he’d seen me … not then … only after. I wasn’t at Bindon then. I was over at Chivers. Old Chivers said he didn’t mind me sleeping in one of his barns. The Major gave me money and said he’d kill me if I told the police I’d seen him. Old Chivers were good to me. I knew I’d have to find some place when they started on Bindon but they never did after all that.”
“Harry,” said Lucas, ‘will you tell this to the police? “
He shrank from us.
“I don’t want none of that.”
“But you will. You’ll have to.”
He shook his head.
“You should,” I said.
“It’s your duty.”
His face crumpled.
“It’ll do you no harm,” said Lucas.
“Look, Harry, you come along and talk to the police, and I tell you what I’ll do. I’ll ask my brother if he can find a little place for you on Trecorn estate. Perhaps you could give a hand now and then on some of the farms. I’m sure there’d be work for you to do somewhere and you’d have your own little cottage. “
He stared at Lucas unbelievingly.
“I don’t want you to think it has anything to do with this. I’m sorry that you had the bad luck to be turned out of your home. I’ll speak to my brother in any case, but please … please come along and tell the police this.”
“And if I don’t, you won’t get this place for me?”
Lucas said: “I didn’t say anything of the sort. I’m going to try and get this place for you whatever you do. I’ll ask my brother and I am sure when he hears how helpful you’ve been he’ll want to do all he can. I’ll do it in any case. I promise you. But you should talk to the police.”
“We shall have to tell them what you’ve told us. Harry,” I explained.
“It’s our duty to. You see, an innocent man has been blamed for what he didn’t do. So we have to. The police will question you. You have to tell them the truth this time. It’s a criminal offence not to.”
“I ain’t no criminal. I didn’t do nothing. It were the Major. He were the one who fired the shot.”
“Yes, I know. And you are going to tell the truth when they ask you.”
“When?” asked Harry.
“I think,” said Lucas, ‘now. “
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can,” said Lucas.
“You’re going to ride on the back of my horse, and we are going to take you there … now.”
How right he was. We must get there before the Major had time to get to Harry. I wondered what he would do now that his attempt to murder me had failed.
“All right,” said Harry.
The Return
The months which followed were some of the most wretched I have ever known. I witnessed much of the unhappiness at Perrivale Court, and I knew that, although I had acted as I had to bring justice to an innocent man, I was to a large extent responsible for this misery.
On the very day when the Major had attempted to take my life he had gone back to the Dower House and taken his own.
He had realized that when I had escaped from him, I had taken from him his only chance of surviving in the manner which was important to him.
When I had run out of the wood I had destroyed all that he had spent his life trying to achieve. He had been ready to murder to keep it.
When I looked back and had all the pieces of the puzzle in their place, I could see how much more sophisticated had been his plan to drug me and throw me over the cliff, as had been his first intention.
It was ironic that the granddaughter who so dearly loved him and whom he loved should have been the one to defeat him. His plan had failed on a flimsy coincidence. She had happened to see me leave the house and followed me. If she had not, my death would have been just another mystery.
The second method was not so clever. But of course he had had to plan hastily. He dared not let me live. He was afraid of what information I might pass on to Lucas. I had betrayed myself so utterly when I had visited the nursing home run by one of his friends. He must have been in a panic. He had to dispose of me before I reached The Sailor King. He was convinced, I think, that Harry Tench had betrayed him.
I often wondered what he would have done if he had succeeded. Hidden my body in the copse . perhaps let
