“I denounce the inhabitants of the house called Rosivera,” she said, “especially the man Red. I denounce them as the murderers of Dr. O’Grady, Patrick Devlin, and of the husbands of these ladies.”
“Go,” said Lord Manton to Mr. Goddard, “and arrest the man Red at once.”
He liked the phrase “the man Red.” It sounded as if it came out of a newspaper report of a criminal trial. It was evident that Miss Blow had a feeling for appropriate expression.
“Arrest the man Red,” repeated Lord Manton, seeing that Mr. Goddard had not moved.
He was perfectly willing that Mr. Red should be arrested, tried, imprisoned, hanged; or arrested, imprisoned, and hanged without a trial, on a charge of murder or any other charge. The really important thing was not to obtain justice for Mr. Red or anybody else, but to get Miss Blow out of his house.
“Do go and arrest the man Red, Goddard,” he said again.
“I can’t,” said Mr. Goddard. “How can I possibly go and arrest a man without a single scrap of evidence against him?”
“You hear what he says,” said Lord Manton to Miss Blow. “He won’t act without evidence. Why don’t you produce your evidence? You have evidence, of course.”
“You shall hear the evidence,” said Miss Blow. “I have evidence that four, if not five abominable murders have been committed by this man and his confederates.”
“There now, Goddard,” said Lord Manton, “what more can you want? Good gracious, what’s that?”