“This is all most amazing,” Sir Bertram observed.
“A very curious action on the part of a man who is a total stranger to the neighbourhood,” Henry put in.
The Chief Constable brooded for several moments. His official duty was hard to follow. The whole circumstances were unusual. He faced the situation from the common-sense point of view.
“Johnson may be a stranger to the neighbourhood,” he admitted, “but I do not think that his appearance here is so entirely casual as he tried to make out. It transpires that he was a partner of Endacott’s in the great firm of Johnson and Company. I believe that the real object of his coming here was to solve the mystery of Endacott’s murder.”
“Wu Ling, my God!” Gregory exclaimed, in genuine excitement. “The moment I saw him I thought I recognised him. Then it seemed incredible. Why, of course I was a fool ever to doubt it,” he went on. “He played the Chinaman out there to do his trading up in the villages. He had lived there most of his life. It was easy enough. Then, when he finished with the business and came back here, he Europeanised himself. My God, what a fool I have been!”
“I don’t know anything about that,” Major Holmes observed. “He came to me in Norwich a short time ago and he placed before me some very serious information. I am using my own discretion in what I am about to say. By now you must know just what I am up against. Again I appeal to you for your help.”
In the background Henry shook his head gravely. Sir Bertram, with the slightest possible shrug of the shoulders, turned away and lit a cigarette. Gregory, completely at his ease again, lolled a little deeper in his wicker chair.
“My dear fellow,” he expostulated, “how the deuce can any of us help you? I tell you frankly, if any one left the house last night—and I don’t believe they did—I for one don’t know anything about it. As to the murder—well, if Mr. Johnson’s private agent can find out anything about that, the whole neighbourhood will be indebted to him. How on earth is he likely to succeed, however, when you and Scotland Yard have failed?”
“The murder, so far as our investigations took us,” Major Holmes said patiently, “was entirely lacking in direct motive. The burglary, on the contrary, does seem to have had an extraordinary but clear object. The burglar got away with a number of Chinese manuscripts. Amongst these manuscripts——”
“I know what you are going to say,” Gregory interrupted, smiling as though in amusement, “but you’re wrong, all the same. Old Endacott had been through them. There wasn’t one which could help the owner of the Images to discover the treasure.”