“Pretty fair, sir, pretty fair.”
The conversation was interrupted by the appearance of Brown striding towards the inn. Fletcher cast a shrewd look towards the innkeeper, but he was quite unperturbed.
The constable saluted. “May I have a word with you, sir?” he said.
“Come inside,” replied Fletcher with an angry look.
Once within the room he shut the door, and turned on Brown.
“You damned fool, what do you mean by coming here and saluting, after what I told you. You’ve fairly messed things up.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” said the constable abashed, taking off his helmet. “I never thought of it. I wanted to come and tell you the news.”
“Go on then.”
“Well, sir, you told me to watch the castle; I didn’t like the job, but I walked round, and about one o’clock I saw a light inside. You know what a rough night it was, and it fairly gave me the creeps, but I thought I had to do my duty, so I opened the front door, and crept to the library where the light was. My hair was fairly lifting on my head.
“When I got to the door, there I saw two men bending over the desk, and a lantern between them.”