A moment later in the corridor I met Harmony carrying a tray up to “the young ladies.” She told me that cold viands were laid out in the dinner-room for those lagging in from the hills. But in spite of my three hours’ struggle, I was in no humour for feeding, especially since I was bound to encounter the others and would have to repeat my adventures again and again.
I asked the girl if there had been any fresh development during my absence.
“Did you hear about what they dug up this afternoon, sir?”
“Great Scott! You don’t mean another corpse?”
“Lor’, no, sir, not human. In the garden, it was, where the dogs were scratching the place to pieces. Someone said get a spade and dig and see what’s there, and they found it.”
“What did they find?”
“A little pig, sir. And it was wrapped in some black cloth they said must be Parson Lolly’s gown, only it was all tore up and full of holes and had some funny bits of red paper pinned to it. They do say that Parson Lolly is too tall for a gown like that. We met Superintendent Salt when we were coming back from the town, and he was carrying it with him.”
“So,” I remarked. “It looks to me as if the Superintendent took advantage of Miss Lebetwood’s absence to spend a busy afternoon down here.”
“Lor’, yes, sir. He was using the gas-expirator and fair drove us out of the house.”
“I’m glad he made such a thorough job of inspirating the gas again.”