"I found myself in an unfamiliar part of the grounds; it was dark and cold and I did not know what to do. I was in an absolute panic. I had abandoned my charges, you see, and I did not know what might have happened to them. I could not face Mr Basden. I found a small wicket-gate in the wall, which was unlocked; it may even have been used by the men to gain entrance to the grounds. Anyway, Mr Pons, to bring a long and exceedingly rambling story to an end, I ran from The Priory and caught the milk train. I had read your name in the newspapers some months ago as being the country's greatest private detective so here I am to put my destiny in your hands."
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Here our client paused and looked so appealingly at Pons that I could not forbear saying, "There, do not distress yourself further, little lady," while Pons himself looked at me disapprovingly.
"While deploring Parker's sentimental way of expressing it, I am in great sympathy with you, Miss Helstone. I have no hesitation in saying I will accept your case."
"Oh, thank you, Mr Pons."
Helen Helstone rose from her chair and shook Pons' hand warmly. Pons looked at me interrogatively. "Are you free, Parker?"
"Certainly, Pons. I have only to telephone my locum." "Excellent."
He turned back to Miss Helstone.
"We must make arrangements to get you back to The Priory as soon as possible, Miss Helstone."
"Go back?"
Dismay and apprehension showed on the girl's face. "It is the only way. We all want to know what went on there and I must confess I have not been so intrigued for a long while. And Parker and I will be with you." "How are we going to manage that, Pons?" I said.
"Considering that the estate is so well guarded." "Tut, Parker," said Pons severely. "We have found
Miss Helstone upon the road in the early hours of the morning when we were driving through the district, brought her home with us and are now returning her to her employer. The man Basden will have to see us. If there are such strange goings-on at his estate he will deem it imperative to discover just exactly what the outside world knows."
"Of course, Pons. I follow you."
Pons turned to our visitor.
"Do you feel up to it, Miss Helstone?"
"If you gentlemen will accompany me, Mr Pons." "That is settled, then."
The girl looked ruefully at her bedraggled coat and her muddied boots.
"If you will give me an hour or so, Mr Pons, I must get to the shops and purchase a few things."
"Certainly, Miss Helstone. If you will give me your parole?"
"I do not understand, Mr Pons."
"If you will promise to come back within the hour." Our visitor flushed and glanced from Pons to me. "Of course, gentlemen. I am over my fright now and am as anxious to know what is happening at Clitherington as you."
"Very well, then."
Pons looked at his watch.
"It is a quarter past eight now. Shall we say ten o'clock at latest."
"I will be here, Mr Pons."
When I returned from showing our visitor to the front door Pons was pacing up and down in front of the fireplace, furiously shovelling blue smoke from his pipe over his shoulder.
"This beats everything, Pons," I said. "I have never come across such an extraordinary story."
"Does it not, Parker? What do you make of it? Let us just have your views."
"Well, Pons," I said cautiously. "I hardly know where to begin. There is something curious, surely, about the high salary being paid to this young lady for her purely nominal duties."
"You have hit the crux of the matter, Parker. Inadvertently, perhaps, but part of the central mystery, certainly."
"Ah, I am improving then, Pons," I went on. "But I confess that I cannot see far into this tangle. The children who speak a different language to their father; the nocturnal habits of such young people; the invalid in the sealed wing; the heavily guarded estate; the floodlit promenades. And who is the bearded man who sat behind the screen?"
Solar Pons took the pipe from between his strong teeth and looked at me with piercing eyes.
"Who indeed, Parker? You have retained the salient points admirably and isolated the most important. you are at your most succinct, my dear fellow, and it is evident that my little lessons in the ratiocinative process have not been entirely lost."
"Let me have your views, Pons."
"It is foolish to theorise without sufficient data, Parker. But I see a few features which must resolve themselves with determined application. It is obvious why Miss Helstone was engaged but I would rather not speculate further at this stage."
"It is far from obvious to me, Pons," I said somewhat bitterly.
"Well, well, Parker, I am sure that if you employ your grey matter to good advantage, the solution will soon come to you."
And with that I had to be content until Pons returned from some mysterious errand of his own. I had just telephoned my locum when I heard his footstep upon the stair.
"I have hired a car, my dear fellow. If you will just step round to the garage in the next street and familiarise yourself with its controls, we will make our little expedition into the wilds of Surrey. Ah, here is Miss Helstone now."
Our client's step was light and she looked transformed as Mrs Johnson showed her into the sitting-room.
"I am quite ready now, Mr Pons."
Pons looked at her approvingly.
"Good, Miss Helstone. There are just a few preparations more. I have our plan of campaign mapped out. Parker, you will need your revolver."
"Revolver, Pons?"
"Certainly. I do not think the danger lies within the house. But the gentlemen who broke into the grounds appear to me to be an entirely different quantity altogether. Is there a tolerable inn in this village of Clitherington, Miss Helstone?"
"The Roebuck is very well spoken of, Mr Pons." "Excellent. We shall make that our headquarters, Parker."
I fetched my revolver and packed it in my valise. When I returned from the garage with the car, Pons and Miss Helstone were at the door of 7B in conversation with Mrs Johnson, Pons well supplied with travelling rugs, for the day was a bitter one indeed. There was the usual tangle of traffic in town but I think I acquitted myself rather well, losing my way only once at a major junction, and we were soon well on the way to Surrey, the engine humming quietly while Pons and Miss Helstone, in the rear seats, conversed in low tones.
We arrived in the village of Clitherington about midday, smoke ascending in lazy spirals from the chimneys of the cluster of red-roofed houses which comprised the hamlet. As Miss Helstone had told us, the Roebuck was a comfortable, old-fashioned house with roaring fires and a friendly, well-trained staff. When we had deposited our baggage Pons, Miss Helstone and I repaired to the main lounge for a warming drink after our journey while Pons put the finishing touches to our strategy.
As we sat at a side table he looked sharply at a tall, cadaverous man in a frock-coat of sombre colour, who was just quitting the room.
"Memory, Parker," he said sharply. "Quite going. Once upon a time I should have been able to recall that man in a flash. A doctor, certainly. And a Harley Street man if I mistake not. You did not see him?"
I shook my head.
"I was attending to the inner man, Pons. Is the matter of any importance?"
Pons shook his head.
"Perhaps not, Parker, but the name is struggling to get out."
"Perhaps it will come later, Pons. In the meantime…"
"In the meantime we have much to do," he interrupted, draining his glass and getting to his feet. He smiled reassuringly at our companion.
"And now, Miss Helstone, to penetrate your den of mystery."
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