"No, sir."
"He said that the only things you could understand in the poem were the first line and the last-and that both of 'em were lies. Well, that's the key to this business. Come along, children, and have some tea."
There might still have been terror in the house of whips and hangings. But Rampole did not feel it when he led the way down again with his light.
Back in the lamplit warmth of. Dr. Fell's house, they found Sir Benjamin Arnold waiting for them in the study.
Chapter 14
Sir Benjamin was moody. He had been cursing the rain, and, afterwards, the presence of strong language was still as palpable as a whisky breath. They found him looking hungrily at the cold tea-things before the study fire.
"Halloa!" said Dr. Fell. "My wife not back yet? How did you get in?"
"I walked in," the chief constable responded, with dignity. "The door was open. Somebody's been neglecting a jolly good tea… I say, what about a drink?
"We-ah-had tea," said Rampole.
The chief constable was aggrieved. "I want a brandy-and-soda. Everybody is pursuing me. First the rector. His uncle — New Zealander — old friend of mine; I got the rector the parish here — is making his first trip to England in ten years, and the rector wants me to meet him. How the devil can I go away? The rector's a New Zealander. Let him go to Southampton. Then Payne…"