XXV
A TELEGRAM
The car took Mr. Carrington straight back to the town and dropped him at the door of Mr. Rattar's office.
"I shall want you again at two o'clock sharp," he said to the chauffeur, and turned in to the office.
He caught the lawyer just before he went out to lunch and said at once:
"I want to see Sir Malcolm Cromarty. Can you arrange for him to run up here for a day?"
Simon stared at him hard, and there seemed to be even more caution than usual in his eye; almost, indeed, a touch of suspicion. The lawyer was not looking quite as well as usual; there was a drawn look about the upper part of the face and a hint of strain both in eyes and mouth.
"Why do you want to see Sir Malcolm?" he enquired.
"Well," said Carrington, "the fact of the matter is, Mr. Rattar, that, as you yourself said, the direct evidence is practically nil, and one is forced to go a good deal by one's judgment of the people suspected or concerned."
Simon grunted sceptically.
"Very misleading," he said.
"That depends entirely on one's judgment, or rather on one's instinct for distinguishing bad eggs from good. As a matter of observation I don't find that certain types of men and women commit certain actions, and I do find that they are apt to commit others. And contrariwise with other types."
"Very unsafe doctrine," said Simon emphatically.
"Extremely—in the hands of any one who doesn't know how to apply it. On the other hand, it can be made a short and commonsense cut to the truth in many cases. For instance, the man who suspected Mr. Bisset of committing the crime would simply be wasting his time and energy, even if there seemed to be some evidence against him."
"Any man can commit any crime," said Simon dogmatically.
Carrington smiled and shook his head.
"Personally," said he, "if you had a young and pretty wife, I am capable of running away with her, and possibly even of letting her persuade me to abscond with some of your property, but I am not capable of laying you out in cold blood and rifling that safe. And a good judge of men ought to be able to perceive this and not waste his time in trying to convict me of an offence I couldn't commit. On the other hand, if the crime was one that my type is apt to commit he would be a fool to acquit me off-hand, even if there was next to no evidence against me."
"Then you simply go by your impressions of people?"
"Far from it. A complete absence of motive would force me to acquit even the most promising looking blackguard, unless of course there were some form of lunacy in his case. One must have motive and one must have evidence as well, but character is the short cut—if the circumstances permit you to use it. Sometimes of course they don't, but in this case they force me to depend on it very largely. Therefore I want to see Sir Malcolm Cromarty."
The lawyer shook his head.
"No, no, Mr. Carrington," he said, "I can't bring him down here on such trivial grounds."
"But you yourself suspect him!"
For a moment the lawyer was silent.
"I think suspicion points to him; but what is wanted is evidence. You can't get evidence merely by bringing him here. You don't suppose he will confess, do you?"
"Have you ever studied the French methods of getting at the truth?" enquired Carrington, and when Simon shook his head contemptuously, he added with some significance: "We can learn a good deal from our neighbours."
"Trivial grounds!" muttered Simon. "No, no!"
Carrington became unusually serious and impressive.
"I am investigating this case, Mr. Rattar, and I want to see Sir Malcolm. Will you send for him or not?"
"He wouldn't come."
"It depends on the urgency of the message."
"I can't invent bogus urgent messages to my clients."
Carrington smiled.
"I might do the inventing for you."
Again the lawyer stared at him and again there was the same extreme caution in his eye, mingled with a hint of suspicion.
"I'll think about it," he said.
"I want to see him immediately."
"Call again to-morrow morning."
Carrington's manner altered at once into his usual easy-going air.
"Very well, then, Mr. Rattar," said he as he rose.
"By the way," said Simon, "you have been out at Keldale this morning, I presume?"
"Yes," said Carrington carelessly, "but there is really nothing new to be found."
Simon looked at him hard.
"No fresh evidence?"
Carrington laughed.
"Not likely, after you and your sleuth hounds had been over the ground!"
He went to the door, and there Simon again spoke.
"What are you doing next?"
"Upon my word, I am rather wondering. I must think about it. Good morning."
For a man who was rather wondering, Mr. Carrington's next movements were remarkably prompt. He first went straight to the Post Office and dispatched a wire. It was addressed to Sir Malcolm Cromarty and it ran—"Come immediately urgent news don't answer please don't delay." The only thing that seemed to indicate a wondering and abstracted mind was the signature to this message. Instead of "Carrington" he actually wrote "Cicely Farmond."
He then hurried to the hotel, which he reached at one-fifty. In ten minutes he had bolted a hasty lunch and at two o'clock was sitting in the car again.
"To Stanesland Castle," he commanded. "And be as quick as you can."