"You will take my case then, Mr. Pons?"
"I did, not say so, Mr. Fernchurch. But you have the
look of a young man more distressed than guilty. If, as you say, you are innocent, and it appears so from your discourse, then I will certainly take your case."
Eustace Fernchurch sprang up impulsively and pumped Solar Pons's hand fervently.
"You will have my undying thanks, Mr. Pons. That is all I ask."
He glanced at me inquiringly and Pons suddenly seemed to become aware of my presence.
"I beg your pardon, Parker. Pray continue with your breakfast. This is my old friend and colleague, Dr. Lyndon Parker, Mr. Fernchurch. I take it you have no objection to us continuing our meal while you talk?"
"By no means, Mr. Pons."
Pons again drew up his chair to the table, and between sips at his coffee our visitor commenced his story.
"I come from the small town of Maldon in Yorkshire, Mr. Pons. It is some miles from York and a pretty, historic place, with a stream running through the center. I started work as a mason, but as I have a bent for design, I have been fortunate enough to be taken on as an architectural apprentice with Truscott and Sons of that town. Part of my work is concerned with overseeing the activities of builders.
"One of them, the biggest builder in Maldon, was Sebastian Bulstrode. Cursed be the day that I ever set eyes upon him, Mr. Pons."
"Pray compose yourself, Mr. Fernchurch."
"It does no good I know, Mr. Pons, but I cannot help thinking what this man has reduced me to. I had become engaged to a charming young lady, Mr. Pons. A girl called Evelyn Smithers. She is the daughter of the curator of the Castle Museum and a fine young woman in every way, even if a little flighty."
Our visitor broke off and sat staring gloomily into the dregs of his coffee cup. Then he blinked and roused himself with some difficulty.
"I was at my office one day when my fiancée came in. We had arranged to meet at the Market Cross, but I was delayed a little and she had grown tired of waiting. I happened to be discussing some work with Bulstrode and I could not very well avoid introducing him to her. I noticed he seemed very taken with her, but I did not attach much significance to it. She is a striking girl, tall, with long golden hair and an open, good-hearted nature. Everyone who knows her in town loves her."
Here our visitor broke off again with an audible groan. I coughed to cover the awkward pause and shifted my eyes onto Pons, whose intent gaze had never left Fernchurch's face.
"Nothing has happened to your fiancée, I trust?"
The young man looked startled.
"Good heavens, no, Mr. Pons. God forbid. But I cannot help thinking that her nature has helped to bring me to the present pass."
I got up to pour our visitor more coffee and, having finished my breakfast by this time, pulled my chair back from the table and gave all my attention to Fernchurch's story.
"I noticed a change in Evelyn's attitude after that, Mr. Pons. It was subtle, it is true, and manifested itself in small criticisms of myself; then she was late once or twice for appointments. She pleaded illness on several occasions. I thought little of it at the time.
"Then, one evening, at a time she was supposed, to be visiting a sister in York, I was crossing a side street on my way for a drink at a nearby hotel when a dogcart passed me. There was a streetlamp opposite which threw its light across the road, though I was in shadow. Laughter attracted my attention; the light shone across the cart, which was driven by Sebastian Bulstrode. Laughing at some remark he had made, my fiancée was sitting beside him."
"I am indeed sorry to hear it," said Solar Pons soberly. His intent eyes looked sympathetically at Fernchurch, who again paused as though in the grip of strong emotion.
"I cannot really blame Evelyn, Mr. Pons. I am a dull fellow who works late and sticks to his last. Bulstrode was a man of great energy and vitality; short-tempered but not bad-looking, about forty-five years of age, and certainly rich. He had been married once before, but the couple had separated and a divorce had been granted some three years ago."
"Nevertheless, Mr. Fernchurch, the circumstances would seem to cast some doubt on the suitability of this young lady as the choice of your heart," said Solar Pons evenly. To put it no higher."
Fernchurch was silent for a moment, his eyes downcast; he was calmer now, his ruffled hair smoothed by his hands, though his expression was hard to make out as he sat with his back to the flood of golden light which came in through the window.
"There is justice in what you say, Mr. Pons. Evelyn is flighty, as I said, though I do not really blame the girl at this distance in time. Bulstrode had set his cap for her and she is easily impressed."
"You remonstrated with her?"
Fernchurch nodded.
"We had a dreadful row. In short, the engagement was broken off. Some weeks later I heard she had become engaged to Bulstrode. There was some delicacy in the situation, Mr. Pons. My feelings can be imagined; I could see my former fiancée and Bulstrode together as I went about my daily business — Maldon is a small town — and in addition to this my work threw me in constant contact with the man."
"You have my sympathy, Mr. Fernchurch. Pray go on. You did not come into open conflict with him?"
Fernchurch shook his head.
"I am no coward, Mr. Pons, but Bulstrode is an absolute bull of a man; fearless and short-tempered, as I have said. I would have been no match for him physically and I did not go out of my way to provoke him. But we had words about his conduct, and our business affairs thereafter were conducted with icy indifference on either side. That was the situation which obtained until some six weeks ago when my former fiancée sought me out in great distress. I am going into this matter at some length, Mr. Pons, because I am anxious that you should get the true background of this affair. I trust I am not boring you."
"I am not bored, Mr. Fernchurch," said Pons crisply, looking across at me with a smile. "And I am sure I can speak for Dr. Parker also. Eh, Parker?"
"Certainly, Pons," I said. "It is absorbing."
"You may well say so, gentlemen," said our visitor wearily. "But the whole thing is too close to me to be anything but a nightmare. Evelyn was in some distress, as I said. She sought my help and forgiveness. She had seen Bulstrode's true nature within a short space of time and had tried to break off her engagement. She encountered difficulties she had never found with me. Bulstrode was a headstrong man, with a filthy temper. Reading between the lines, I should have said he had something sadistic in his nature also."
"He used physical violence against the girl?"
"Absolutely, Mr. Pons. He went berserk, quite beside himself with rage. Evelyn ran from his house and went home to her father. When she had recovered a little, she sought me out. It was a difficult situation, Mr. Pons; but the rupture was healed within a few days. Last month we again became engaged."
Solar Pons leaned forward in his chair, his fingers pressed together in front of him, engrossed in our visitor's face.
"And Bulstrode's attitude?"
"That was the strange part, Mr. Pons. I heard about the town that he had been in black rages over me. Stealing his fiancée, he called it. He had been in some hotels declaiming to the company what he intended to do to me. I must confess I was in some trepidation when business again threw me in his way. But to my surprise, apart from a certain stiffness and reserve in his manner, Bulstrode said nothing. We were back on the familiar footing that had obtained for some years. It was a strange position, Mr. Pons; to hear that a man had been blackening and vilifying one in public places about the town in the evenings — even to the point that I had been threatening him — and to work with him in the day in quite a normal manner."