"No thanks; Marsh expects me. Good-bye until we meet at Saxham. Don Manuel, Adieu!"
"Till we meet at Saxham," said the ready foreigner, and Herrick hurried out of the room and down the stairs. Not till he was in the train did he remember that he should have been wise enough to have secured the pistol as evidence.
"But he may not be guilty after all," said Jim hopefully. His heart told him that he was wrong. The circumstantial evidence was too strong.
[CHAPTER X]
THE SECRET WRITINGS
Dr. Jim could not conceal from himself, that he was rather jumping at conclusions with regard to the guilt of Joyce. The man had deliberately lied about his visit to Frith, and had not slept at the Hull Hotel, as he had stated. Herrick could not account for Robin's movements on the night of the twenty-fourth of July, and on that same night Colonel Carr had met with his death. Then again, Robin was connected indirectly with Carr through his mother, although there was nothing to show the relations which had existed between the Colonel and Mrs. Joyce. Finally Joyce was in possession of an old-fashioned weapon, firing a round bullet of the antiquated sort. And Carr had been killed with just such a bullet. This was all the evidence Jim could find which was likely to inculpate Robin.
On the other hand there was no reason why Joyce should not be able to defend himself. He certainly could not explain away the lies he had told Herrick about the visit to the solicitors, and the pretended income, but he might be able to account for his doings on the night of the twenty-fourth, and for the possession of the pistol. After all he had shown no hesitation in accepting Herrick's invitation to Saxham. If he were guilty he would be afraid to venture there lest he should be met by some one who had seen him on the night of the murder in the vicinity of "The Pines." His determination to come to Saxham looked like innocence, and Jim granted as much.
The most important link to be discovered in the chain of evidence, was the way in which Robin (if guilty) had come to Saxham. Owing to the presence of Herrick at Southberry, he would not have risked going by that line, seeing that he had to change at the junction. The other line branched off from the main trunk, before it reached Southberry and touched at Heathcroft, six miles from Saxham. Herrick made up his mind that when he got to Saxham, he would go to Heathcroft to make inquiries. If he could prove that Robin had alighted at that station, there would no longer be any doubt of his guilt. No doubt Joyce, if he had come to Heathcroft, had disguised himself, but he might not think of increasing his stature by artificial means, and he was so exceptionally small that even the most casual observer would remark upon it.
"I shall give him every opportunity of defending himself," thought Herrick. "If I find that he came to Heathcroft, he will have to account to me for his doings. I must know the truth, or else part with him as a friend for ever." Then the doctor thought with a qualm, that if he did learn the truth, the parting might be more complete than he imagined. If Joyce were indeed guilty he would find himself in a dilemma, as to whether he should hold his tongue or denounce the man he had been so friendly with. It would not be a pleasant position.
It was when he was in the train that Herrick thought of this. With Stephen he was returning to Saxham, and the two had provided themselves with newspapers and magazines to beguile the tedium of the journey. For some time Herrick had been concealed behind the Daily Telegraph, pretending to read. But in reality he had been thinking over the case of Robin Joyce. Marsh was in good spirits, and inclined to talk. So Dr. Jim yielded, for after all his thoughts were anything but pleasant.