“I must own I should be glad if I could discover what has happened to the fellow,” he remarked, as though she had not spoken. “If he had met with an accident, one would think there would have been news of it by now. He must be pretty well known in the district, isn’t he?”
She nodded. “Yes, certainly. He is red-haired, too, which makes him easily recognizable. You don’t think, I collect, that he can have gone off, perhaps to Sheffield, and drunk himself into a stupor?”
“I did think so,” he admitted, “but Ben assures me his dad don’t go on the mop. He is quite positive about it, and I imagine he must know. According to his story, Brean went out on Friday evening, saying that he would be back in an hour or two. He was not wearing his hat, or his best coat, which, in Ben’s view, precludes his having had the intention of going to town.”
“He would scarcely set out for Sheffield after dark, in any event. It is more than ten miles away! How very odd it is! Are you sure that Ben is telling you the truth when he says he doesn’t know where his father went?”
“Oh, yes, quite sure! Ben is excessively frightened—partly by the thought that he may be thrown on the Parish, much more by a mysterious stranger who seems to have formed the habit of visiting the toll-house after dark, and with the utmost secrecy.”
She looked startled. “Who—?”
“That I don’t know. But I have a strong suspicion that he is in some way concerned in Brean’s disappearance,” John said. “And I have another, even stronger, that there’s something devilish havey-cavey going on here!”
Chapter 4
“WHAT makes you say that?” she asked quickly, her eyes fixed with great intentness on his face.
He looked a little amused. “Well, ma’am, when a man does his visiting at night, and takes the most elaborate precautions against being seen, he’s not commonly engaged on honest business!”