“Let us visit Miss Grison now, Marie,” he said when they were in Monks Lane again, with Dick beside them.
“You won’t find her at home,” said Latimer. “I called, but she has gone away.”
Marie turned triumphantly to Alan. “There!” she cried, “what did I tell you, my dear? That horrid woman is hiding in The Monastery after all.”
CHAPTER XIX
AT DAWN
It had been Alan’s intention to send Marie back to Belstone by herself, and ask his father to meet her at Lewes, so that she could sleep at the vicarage. He had spent a great deal of time over the business connected with the murder of Grison and the finding of the jewels, therefore his clients were being neglected, much to their annoyance. His days of searching could scarcely have said to have been wasted, since they had ended in the acquisition of a fortune. Certainly it did not belong to him, but as he was to marry the girl who possessed it, in the end he would undoubtedly benefit. All the same he decided that he would have to attend to his own affairs, and it was only the fact that Miss Grison was not at Thimble Square, which caused him to change his mind. He therefore returned to the village with Marie, and what is more, insisted that Dick should return with him.
“We must get to the bottom of these matters,” said Alan late that afternoon; “and if Marie will not sleep at The Monastery, Dick, you and I must do so.”
“Oh, Alan,” cried Miss Inderwick nervously, “why need you and Mr. Latimer do that when there is no need?”
“I think there is every need,” rejoined her lover dryly. “Your remark as to inexplicable noises has aroused Moon’s suspicions, and I should not be surprised if he either sent back that detective to keep watch, or came himself to-night or to-morrow.”
“But how can our sleeping there alter Moon’s intentions?” asked Latimer.
“I want to learn the meaning of these noises, so you and I, Dicky, can keep watch, while Marie is safe at the vicarage.”