"Why, no," said Pelgrin thoughtfully, "she don't go away much from Sheepeak, not even to come to Thawley. Once in a few months she goes to London to see things. 'George,' she says, 'I'm going to look up friends,' or 'George, I'm after lawyer's business this day,' she says. Oh, she's good to me and Aunt Marian, is Mrs. Jarsell. I wish she'd come to London oftener," ended George in dismal tones, "for she gives me half-a-crown always, and don't come as often as I'd like, seeing as I wants money."
"Ah, she's a stay-at-home," commented Halliday. "Looking after that friend of hers, Miss Armour, she is," agreed George. "Well, she has been a good friend to me," said the other man, shuffling into a first-class compartment, "for she got me an aeroplane from Mr. Vincent."
"Aye," said Pelgrin, "I know him. Crosspatch he is, sir."
"I think so, too. But Mrs. Jarsell promised to come to London and see me in the London to York race. You heard of it, I suppose."
"Aye, that I did," said Pelgrin, and mentioned the exact date, "we'd a heap of traffic that day, folk going to York to see them airships arrive. But Mrs. Jarsell wasn't one of them, sir."
"She wouldn't go to York, but to London."
"She didn't go nowhere," said George doggedly, "on that day anyhow. 'Send for George,' she always says, and on the day of that flying-race send for me she did not. So she stayed at home, I reckon."
"Oh," Dan looked disappointed. "I did so want her to see me flying in this race, Pelgrin, since she got Mr. Vincent to give me the aeroplane." '"Well, she didn't see you, sir, for she never went to London on that day early or late, I swear. She don't go much away from Sheepeak, and hasn't been there--to London that is, sir--for months. And she always tips me half a crown," ended George once more. Dan took the hint and handed over the money. "There you are. And I hope Mrs. Jarsell will travel oftener so that you may become rich."
"Aye, I need money, me being engaged as it were," said Pelgrin with a grin, touching his forelock, and he went on explaining his private affairs, which had to do with a girl, until the train steamed out of the station. Dan was puzzled. According to the cinematograph Mrs. Jarsell had certainly been in town on the day of the race, yet this yokel swore that she had not travelled from the Thawley Station. Yet there was no other route by which she could come. Of course, according to Mrs. Pelgrin, the woman owned three motors and could go to London in that way. There was just a chance that she might have done so, but Dan did not know how he was to find out. It would be no use asking Mrs. Jarsell, as she would deny having been out of Sheepeak. Yet since she was wholly undisguised on the Blackheath ground, why should she deny her identity. It might be that she would admit having gone to the big city--say by motor--and would defy him to credit her with the death of Durwin. Not that Dan would be foolish enough to accuse her of the same, as he had no evidence to go upon, save the fact of the perfume, and that was a weak reed upon which to lean. Mrs. Pelgrin might know something, however, and to Mrs. Pelgrin he determined to apply for information. At the end of his journey, and when he arrived in a ramshackle fly, he was welcomed by her as usual--that is, she bounced out of the inn, and placing her arms akimbo, smiled grimly. "Oh, so you are here again," she said in exactly the same way in which she had greeted Laurance. "Yes," said Halliday, readily having his excuse cut and dried, "I lost the flying race, and have come to apologize to Mr. Vincent for misusing his machine. I only want a mid-day meal as I leave again this afternoon."
"You shall have your dinner," snapped Mrs. Pelgrin, leading the way into the inn after Dan had arranged for the driver of the trap to wait for three or four hours. "So you didn't win that race. Aye, Mr. Vincent will be rare mad with you, thinking what he does of those kites he makes." Halliday sat down in the well-remembered room and laughed. "The fortune of war, Mrs. Pelgrin. But I am sorry I lost the race. Mrs. Jarsell, who got me the aeroplane, will also be disappointed. Did she tell you about the start?"