Death in the Stocks Read Online Free PDF Page A

wrote the filthiest letter, and said he wouldn't hear of it.'
    'Why?'
    'No reason at all. Snobbery.'
    'Now, look here, Tony!' Giles said. 'I know Arnold, and I know you. I don't say he was the type of fellow I cultivate, but he wasn't as bad as you and Kenneth thought him. Yes, I know you two had a rotten time with him but it's always been my firm conviction that you brought a lot of it on yourselves. So don't tell me that he refused to give his consent to your marriage without letting you know why. He was much more likely not to care a damn what you did.'
    'Well, he didn't like Rudolph,' said Antonia restively. 'He wanted me to make a better match.'
    Giles sighed. 'You'd better let me see his letter. Where is it?'
    She pointed to the ashtray at the end of the table, a sort of naughty triumph in her eyes.
    Giles looked at the black ashes in it, and then rather sternly at his cousin. 'Tony, you little fool, what made you do such a damned silly thing?'
    'I had to, Giles; really I had to! You know that awful way we all have of blurting out what we happen to be thinking? Well, I went and told those policemen I'd had a letter from Arnold, and they were instantly mustard keen to see it. And it hadn't anything to do with the murder; it was just private, so I burned it. It's no use asking me what was in it, because I shan't tell you. It just wasn't the sort of letter you want anyone else to see.'
    He looked at her frowningly. 'You're not making things very easy for me, Tony. I can't help you if you don't trust me.'
    She slipped her hand confidingly into one of his. 'I know, and I'm awfully sorry, but it's just One of Those Things. We needn't say I've burned the letter. We can chuck the ashes out of the window and pretend it's lost.'
    'Go on and tell me the rest of the story,' Giles said.
    'When did you receive the letter?'
    'Yesterday, at tea-time. And I rang up Eaton Place, but Arnold wasn't there, so I naturally supposed he was coming down to Ashleigh Green, with one of his fancy ladies, and I got the car out, and came after him.'
    'For the Lord's sake, Tony, leave out the bit about the fancy-lady! No sane policeman will ever believe you would motor down to argue with Arnold when you thought he had a woman with him.'
    She opened her eyes at him. 'But I did!'
    'Yes, I know you did. You would. But don't say it. You don't know he had a woman with him, do you?'
    'No, but it seemed likely.'
    'Then leave that out. What happened when you got to the cottage?'
    'Nothing. Arnold wasn't there. So I squeezed in through the pantry window, and waited for him. You know how it is when one does that. You keep on saying, 'Well, I'll give him another half-hour,' and time sort of slips by. And anyway I knew he was coming, because the place was prepared. Well, he didn't turn up, and didn't turn up, and I didn't much fancy motoring back again at that hour, so I went to bed.'
    'Can you prove you didn't go out of the cottage again that night?' Giles said.
    'No, because I did: I took Bill for a run somewhere about half-past eleven, and he had a dust-up with a retriever.'
    'That may be useful. Anyone with the retriever?'
    'Yes, a woman like a moulting hen. But it isn't useful, in fact, rather the reverse, because I walked towards the village, as far as the cross-roads, and I was coming back when I met the hen-and-retriever outfit. So I might quite easily have stuck a knife into Arnold before that. And perhaps I ought to tell you that I got retriever-blood on this skirt, and had to wash it. Because when the police came I was drying it. So what with that, and my being a trifle snarkish with them at first, on account of thinking they'd come about the dog-fight, I daresay I may have set them against me.'
    'I shouldn't be surprised,' said Giles. 'One other question: Does Kenneth know you're here?'
    'No, as a matter of fact, he doesn't. He was out when I got Arnold's letter. But you know what he is: I daresay he hasn't even noticed that I'm not at home. If he has,