“It’s not the ladies I’m bothered about now,” said Mr. Goddard. “Why the devil isn’t Sergeant Farrelly back? What’s keeping him?”
“Faith, I don’t know, unless maybe he’d be in dread!”
“Nonsense. I told him not to hurry, but I didn’t tell him to stay out all night.”
“It’s queer, so it is,” said Jimmy. “What would you think now of sending Constable Moriarty out a bit along the road to look and see if there’s e’er a sign of them coming?”
“I’ll go myself,” said Mr. Goddard.
“I wouldn’t say,” said Jimmy, “but what it might be just as well if you did. The ladies is sure to be here in a couple of minutes now. I can’t keep them.”
Mr. Goddard walked a mile along the road towards Rosivera, and then sat down on a ditch. There was no sign of Sergeant Farrelly. At nine o’clock he got up, and walked another mile and sat down again. Still there was no sign of the missing policemen. He walked a third mile and once more waited. He was puzzled and began to be uneasy. He turned and walked back towards Clonmore. Half a mile outside the town he climbed the demesne wall and crossed an angle of the deer park to the Castle. It was a quarter past ten when he reached the door.
He found Lord Manton in the library with a book in his hand and a glass of whisky and soda water on the arm of his chair. There was a pile of cigarette ends on the tray which stood within reach.
“Well, Goddard,” he said, “I suppose you’ve tucked all your ladies up in bed and come up here for a quiet smoke. You deserve it.”