CHAPTER XIX
PETTIFER'S PLAN
On the Saturday morning Mr. Hazlewood drove over early to Great Beeding.His impatience had so grown during the last few days that his very sleepwas broken at night and in the daytime he could not keep still. The newsof Dick's engagement to Stella Ballantyne was now known throughout thecountryside and the blame for it was laid upon Harold Hazlewood'sshoulders. For blame was the general note, blame and chagrin. A few boldand kindly spirits went at once to see Stella; a good many more seriouslyand at great length debated over their tea-tables whether they shouldcall after the marriage. But on the whole the verdict was an indignantNo. Disgrace was being brought upon the neighbourhood. Little Beedingwould be impossible. Dick Hazlewood only laughed at the constraint of hisacquaintances, and when three of them crossed the road hurriedly in GreatBeeding to avoid Stella and himself he said good-humouredly:
"They are like an ill-trained company of bad soldiers. Let one of thembreak from the ranks and they'll all stream away so as not to be leftbehind. You'll see, Stella. One of them will come and the rest willtumble over one another to get into your drawing-room."
How much he believed of what he said Stella did not inquire. She had agift of silence. She just walked a little nearer to him and smiled, lestany should think she had noticed the slight. The one man, in a word, whoshowed signs of wear and tear was Mr. Hazlewood himself. So keen was hisdistress that he had no fear of his sister's sarcasms.
"I--think of it!" he exclaimed in a piteous bewilderment, "actually Ihave become sensitive to public opinion," and Mrs. Pettifer forbore fromthe comments which she very much longed to make. She was in the studywhen Harold Hazlewood was shown in, and Pettifer had bidden her to stay.
"Margaret knows that I have been reading these reports," he said. "Sitdown, Hazlewood, and I'll tell you what I think."
Mr. Hazlewood took a seat facing the garden with its old red brick wall,on which a purple clematis was growing.
"You have formed an opinion then, Robert?"
"One."
"What is it?" he asked eagerly.
Robert Pettifer clapped the palm of his hand down upon the cuttings fromthe newspapers which lay before him on his desk.
"This--no other verdict could possibly have been given by the jury. Onthe evidence produced at the trial in Bombay Mrs. Ballantyne was properlyand inevitably acquitted."
"Robert!" exclaimed his wife. She too had been hoping for the contraryopinion. As for Hazlewood himself the sunlight seemed to die off thatgarden. He drew his hand across his forehead. He half rose to go whenagain Robert Pettifer spoke.
"And yet," he said slowly, "I am not satisfied."
Harold Hazlewood sat down again. Mrs. Pettifer drew a breath of relief.
"The chief witness for the defence, the witness whose evidence made theacquittal certain, was a man I know--a barrister called Thresk."
"Yes," interrupted Hazlewood. "I have been puzzled about that man eversince you mentioned him before. His name I am somehow familiar with."
"I'll explain that to you in a minute," said Pettifer, and his wifeleaned forward suddenly in her chair. She did not interrupt but she satwith a look of keen expectancy upon her face. She did not know whitherPettifer was leading them but she was now sure that it was to somecarefully pondered goal.
"I have more than once briefed Thresk myself. He's a man of the highestreputation at the Bar, straightforward, honest; he enjoys a greatpractice, he is in Parliament with a great future in Parliament. In aword he is a man with everything to lose if he lied as a witness in atrial. And yet--I am not satisfied."
Mr. Pettifer's voice sank to a low murmur. He sat at his desk staring outin front of him through the window.
"Why?" asked Hazlewood. But Pettifer did not answer him. He seemed not tohear the question. He went on in the low quiet voice he had used before,rather like one talking to himself than to a companion.
"I should very much like to put a question or two to Mr. Thresk."
"Then why don't you?" exclaimed Mrs. Pettifer. "You know him."
"Yes." Mr. Hazlewood eagerly seconded his sister. "Since you know him youare the very man."
Pettifer shook his head.
"It would be an impertinence. For although I look upon Dick as a son I amnot his father. You are, Hazlewood, you are. He wouldn't answer me."
"Would he answer me?" asked Hazlewood. "I don't know him at all. I can'tgo to him and ask if he told the truth."
"No, no, you can't do that," Pettifer answered, "nor do I mean you to. Iwant to put my questions myself in my own way and I thought that youmight get him down to Little Beeding."
"But I have no excuse," cried Hazlewood, and Mrs. Pettifer at lastunderstood the plan which was in her husband's mind, which hadbeen growing to completion since the night when he had dined atLittle Beeding.
"Yes, you have an excuse," she cried, and Pettifer explained what it was.
"You collect miniatures. Some time ago you bought one of Marie Antoinetteat Lord Mirliton's sale. You asked a question as to its authenticity in_Notes and Queries_. It was answered--"
Mr. Hazlewood broke in excitedly:
"By a man called Thresk. That is why the name was familiar to me. But Icould not remember." He turned upon his sister. "It is your fault,Margaret. You took my copy of _Notes and Queries_ away with you. Dicknoticed it and told me."
"Dick!" Pettifer exclaimed in alarm. But the alarm passed. "He cannothave guessed why."
Mrs. Pettifer was clear upon the point.
"No. I took the magazine because of a remark which Robert made to you.Dick did not hear it. No, he cannot have guessed why."
"For it's important he should have no suspicion whatever of what Ipropose that you should do, Hazlewood," Pettifer said gravely. "I proposethat we should take a lesson from the legal processes of another country.It may work, it may not, but to my mind it is our only chance."
"Let me hear!" said Hazlewood.
"Thresk is an authority on old silver and miniatures. He has a valuablecollection himself. His advice is sought by people in the trade. You knowwhat collectors are. Get him down to see your collection. It wouldn't bethe first time that you have invited a stranger to pass a night in yourhouse for that purpose, would it?"
"No."
"And the invitation has often been accepted?"
"Well--sometimes."
"We must hope that it will be this time. Get Thresk down to LittleBeeding upon that excuse. Then confront him unexpectedly with Mrs.Ballantyne. And let me be there."
Such was the plan which Pettifer suggested. A period of silence followedupon his words. Even Mr. Hazlewood, in the extremity of his distress,recoiled from it.
"It would look like a trap."
Mr. Pettifer thumped his table impatiently.
"Let's be frank, for Heaven's sake. It wouldn't merely look like a trap,it would be one. It wouldn't be at all a pretty thing to do, but there'sthis marriage!"
"No, I couldn't do it," said Hazlewood.
"Very well. There's no more to be said."
Pettifer himself had no liking for the plan. It had been his intentionoriginally to let Hazlewood know that if he wished to get intocommunication with Thresk there was a means by which he could do it. Butthe fact of Dick's engagement had carried him still further, and nowthat he had read the evidence of the trial carefully there was a realanxiety in his mind. Pettifer sealed up the cuttings in a fresh envelopeand gave them to Hazlewood and went out with him to the door.
"Of course," said the old man, "if your legal experience, Robert, leadsyou to think that we should be justified--"
"But it doesn't," Pettifer was quick to interpose. He recognised hisbrother-in-law's intention to throw the discredit of the trick upon hisshoulders but he would have none of it. "No, Hazlewood," he saidcheerfully: "it's not a plan which a high-class lawyer would be likely tocommend to a client."
"Then I am afraid that I couldn't do it."
"All right," said Pettifer with his ha
nd upon the latch of the frontdoor. "Thresk's chambers are in King's Bench Walk." He added the number.
"I simply couldn't think of it," Hazlewood repeated as he crossed thepavement to his car.
"Perhaps not," said Pettifer. "You have the envelope? Yes. Choose anevening towards the end of the week, a Friday will be your best chance ofgetting him."
"I will do nothing of the kind, Pettifer."
"And let me know when he is coming. Goodbye."
The car carried Mr. Hazlewood away still protesting that he reallycouldn't think of it for an instant. But he thought a good deal of itduring the next week and his temper did not improve. "Pettifer has rubbedoff the finer edges of his nature," he said to himself. "It is a pity--agreat pity. But thirty years of life in a lawyer's office must no doubthave that effect. I regret very much that Pettifer should have imaginedthat I would condescend to such a scheme."