Clouds of Witness

along sharp and attend to the customers. Now, my lord.”

Mr. Watchett’s information amounted to this. That Mr. Grimethorpe used to come to the Rose and Crown pretty often, especially on market-days. About ten days previously he had come in lateish, very drunk and quarrelsome, with his wife, who seemed, as usual, terrified of him. Grimethorpe had demanded spirits, but Mr. Watchett had refused to serve him. There had been a row, and Mrs. Grimethorpe had endeavored to get her husband away. Grimethorpe had promptly knocked her down, with epithets reflecting upon her virtue, and Mr. Watchett had at once called upon the potmen to turn Grimethorpe out, refusing to have him in the house again. He had heard it said on all sides that Grimethorpe’s temper, always notoriously bad, had become positively diabolical of late.

“Could you hazard, so to speak, a calculation as to how long, or since when?”

“Well, my lord, come to think of it, especially since the middle of last month⁠—p’r’aps a bit earlier.”

“M’m!”

“Not that I’d go for to insinuate anythink, nor your lordship, neither, of course,” said Mr. Watchett quickly.

“Certainly not,” said Lord Peter. “What about?”

“Ah!” said Mr. Watchett, “there it is, wot abaht?”

“Tell me,” said Lord Peter, “do you recollect Grimethorpe comin’ into Stapley on October 13th⁠—a Wednesday, it was?”

“That would be the day of the⁠—ah! to be sure! Yes, I do recollect it, for I remember thinking it was odd him comin’ here except on a market-day. Said he ’ad ter look at some machinery⁠—drills and such, that’s raight. ’E was ’ere raight enough.”

“Do you remember what time he came in?”

“Well, naow, I’ve a fancy ’e was ’ere ter lunch. The waitress’d know. ’Ere, Bet!” he called through the side door, “d’yer ’appen to recollect whether Mr. Grimethorpe lunched ’ere October the 13th⁠—Wednesday it were, the d’y the pore gent was murdered over at Riddlesdale?”

“Grimethorpe o’ Grider’s Hole?” said the girl, a well-grown young Yorkshire woman. “Yes! ’E took loonch, and coom back to sleep. Ah’m not mistook, for ah waited on ’un, an’ took up ’is watter i’ t’morning, and ’e only gied me tuppence.”

“Monstrous!” said Lord Peter. “Look here, Miss Elizabeth, you’re sure it was the thirteenth? Because I’ve got a bet on it with a friend, and I don’t want to lose the money if I can help it. You’re positive it was Wednesday night he slept here? I could have sworn it was Thursday.”

“Naay, sir, t’wor Wednesday for I remember hearing the men talking o’ t’murder i’ t’bar, an’ telling Mester Grimethorpe next daay.”

“Sounds conclusive. What did Mr. Grimethorpe say about it?”

“There now,” cried the young woman, “ ’tis queer you should ask that; everyone noticed how strange he acted. He turned all white like a sheet, and looked at both his hands, one after the other, and then he pushes ’es hair off ’s forehead⁠—dazed-like. We reckoned he hadn’t got over the drink. He’s more often drunk than not. Ah wouldn’t be his wife for five hundred pounds.”

“I should think not,” said Peter; “you can do a lot better than that. Well, I suppose I’ve lost my money, then. By the way, what time did Mr. Grimethorpe come in to bed?”

“Close on two i’ t’morning,” said the girl, tossing her head. “He were locked oot, an’ Jem had to go down and let ’un in.”

“That so?” said Peter. “Well, I might try to get out on a technicality, eh, Mr. Watchett? Two o’clock is Thursday, isn’t it? I’ll work that for all it’s worth. Thanks frightfully. That’s all I want to know.”

Bet grinned and giggled herself away, comparing the generosity of the strange gentleman with the stinginess of Mr. Grimethorpe. Peter rose.

“I’m no end obliged, Mr. Watchett,” he said. “I’ll just have a word with Jem. Don’t say anything, by the way.”

“Not me,” said Mr. Watchett; “I knows wot’s wot. Good luck, my lord.”

Jem corroborated Bet. Grimethorpe had returned at about 1:50 a.m. on October 14th, drunk, and plastered with mud. He had muttered something about having run up against a man called Watson.

The ostler was next interrogated. He did not think that anybody could get a horse and trap out of the stable at night without his knowing it. He knew Watson. He was a carrier by trade, and lived in Windon Street. Lord Peter rewarded his informant suitably, and set out for Windon Street.

But the recital of his quest would be tedious. At a quarter-past noon he joined Bunter at the Meribah memorial.

“Any luck?”

“I have secured certain information, my lord, which I have duly noted. Total expenditure on beer for self and witnesses 7s. 2d., my lord.”

Lord Peter paid the 7s. 2d. without a word, and they adjourned to the Rose and Crown. Being accommodated in a private parlor, and having ordered lunch, they proceeded to draw up the following schedule:

Grimethorpe’s Movements.
October 13th:
12:30 p.m.	Arrives Rose and Crown.
1:00 p.m.	Lunches.
3:00 p.m.	Orders two drills from man called Gooch in Trimmer’s Lane.
4:30 p.m.	Drink with Gooch to clinch bargain.
5:00 p.m.	Calls at house of John Watson carrier, about delivering some dog-food. Watson absent. Mrs. Watson says W. expected back that night. G. says will call again.
5:30 p.m.	Calls on Mark Dolby, grocer, to complain about some tinned salmon.
5:45 p.m.	Calls on Mr. Hewitt, optician, to pay bill for spectacles and dispute the amount.
6:00 p.m.	Drinks with Zedekiah Bone at Bridge and Bottle.
6:45 p.m.	Calls again on Mrs. Watson. Watson not yet home.
7:00 p.m.	Seen by Constable Z15 drinking with several men at Pig and Whistle. Heard to use threatening language with regard to some person unknown.
7:20 p.m.	Seen to leave Pig and Whistle with two men (not yet identified).

October 14th:
1:15 a.m.	Picked up by Watson, carrier, about a mile out on road to Riddlesdale, very dirty and ill-tempered, and not quite sober.
1:45 a.m.	Let into Rose and Crown by James Johnson, potman.
9:00 a.m.	Called by Elizabeth Dobbin.
9:30 a.m.	In Bar of Rose and Crown. Hears of man murdered at Riddlesdale. Behaves suspiciously.
10:15 a.m.	Cashes check £129 17s. 8d. at Lloyds Bank.
10:30 a.m.	Pays Gooch for drills.
11:05 a.m.	Leaves Rose and Crown for Grider’s Hole.

Lord