Mr. Brown, recognising the name, turned a dark beetroot colour, and invited the Sergeant to get out before he was put out. Rebuked, he defied the whole of Scotland Yard to prove he had ever laid eyes on Carpenter, or had left his coffee-stall for as much as a minute the whole evening.
There was little more to be elicited from him. The Sergeant presently departed, and made his way down to Marley. Finding Glass awaiting his orders at the police station, he said somewhat snappishly that he wondered he could find nothing better to do than hang about looking like something out of a bad dream.
Glass replied stiffly: "He that uttereth slander is a fool. I have held myself in readiness to do the bidding of those set over me. Wherein I have erred?"
"Oh, all right, let it go!" said the exasperated Sergeant. "You haven't erred."
"I thank you. I see that your spirit is troubled and ill at ease. Are you no nearer the end of your labour on this case?"
"No, I'm not. It's a mess," said the Sergeant. "When I've had my lunch, I'm going up to make a few inquiries about Master Neville's doings. He's about the only candidate for the central role we've got left. I don't say it was easy when North was a hot favourite, but what I do say is that it's a lot worse now he's out of it. When I think of the way he and that silly wife of his have been playing us up, I'd as soon arrest him for the murders as not."
"They have told lies, and it is true that lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but it is also written that love covereth all sins."
The Sergeant was quite surprised. "Whatever's come over you?" he demanded. "You'd better be careful: if you go on like that you'll find yourself growing into a human being."
"I, too, am troubled and sore-broken. But if you go to seek out that froward young man, Neville Fletcher, you will waste your time. He is a scorner, caring for nothing, neither persons nor worldly goods. Why, then, should he slay a man?"
"There's a lot in what you say," agreed the Sergeant. "But, all the same, his latest story will bear sifting. You go and get your dinner: I shan't be wanting you up at Greystones."