“I couldn’t possibly do that. No man could tell a girl that her—— But, look here, Lord Manton, your theory may be all very well so far as O’Grady is concerned; but there’s another man gone now.”
“Patsy Devlin,” said Lord Manton. “I heard about that.”
“Do you think he has run away through fear of his wife?”
“No, I don’t. There are plenty of other ways of accounting for his disappearance. Besides, in the case of Mrs. Devlin—you know her, perhaps?”
“No; I never set eyes on the woman in my life.”
“Well, she’s not equal to Miss Blow in personal appearance; but she has a certain charm of her own. You wouldn’t meet a quieter, less obtrusive sort of woman anywhere. Nobody would run away from her unless he was forced to. You take my word for it, Patsy will send for her to follow him wherever he’s gone to. I knew both Patsy and his wife well, and they always got on splendidly together. The poor fellow was something of a protégé of mine. I think he regarded me as a friend, and was inclined to confide in me. I gave him a letter of recommendation to the Board of Guardians, at the time of the election of the inspector of sheep dipping.”
“I understood from Sergeant Farrelly,” said Mr. Goddard, “that the man was rather a blackguard.”
“A horrid blackguard,” said Lord Manton. “That’s why I didn’t want them to elect him.”
“But I thought you said——”
“So I did; but there’s no use discussing that now. It’s all over and done with. Poor Patsy will never inspect the dipping of a single sheep now. Besides, it’s almost dinner-time. You’ll stay, of course. Never mind about dressing.”