“Did you? Then perhaps you can tell me how he is?”
“He’s splendid. We’re F Company. We take special care not to manhandle our prisoners. We take a pride in getting them to the Castle in good condition. Shall I see you to the gate?”
“Thanks, I know the way.”
My coldness did not chill him. He smiled pleasantly after me.
I travelled far that day; but the end of it brought no reward to my efforts. Mrs. O’Grady had become dumb, and had resigned herself to the worst. Mrs. Slaney had retreated into the fastness of her bedroom, where I followed her to do battle about the gelignite.
“You call this gelignite, I suppose,” she said, unearthing a tin and showing it to me.
“Where did you get it?”
“It’s wonderful for pot plants,” she declared. “I got it to make the plants grow.”
She put it away like a squirrel storing a nut.
The following day I went to a solicitor.