I looked at him wide-eyed.
"You could tell all that from this jumble of muddy marks on the ground, Pons?"
My companion chuckled.
"You forget I have made a study of such things, Parker. I could deduce a good deal more also. A lady has been here too. Though she wears heavy gumboots, her lighter step is quite distinctive and entirely different from that made by a child."
"You should write a monograph on the subject, Pons," I said drily.
Pons' wry smile widened.
"I have published four, Parker. But let us just look at those buildings yonder."
His aquiline nostrils were already sniffing the air as we approached the brick buildings. A moment later I caught what his keen sense of smell had already told him.
"Chemicals, Pons?"
Solar Pons nodded.
"Undoubtedly."
"Perhaps these sheds are used as an agricultural store, Pons?"
"Perhaps," was the cautious reply.
My companion stepped to the door of the largest building and frowned. He tried the handle cautiously. It was obviously locked. He looked through the grimy window but when I joined him it was impossible to make anything out; the windows had apparently been painted white on the inside. We moved round. The next lean-to had its door secured by a heavy padlock.
"These do not appear to be discussed after all, Parker," he said.
His eyes were twinkling as blue smoke uncoiled from his pipe. He thrust his hands deep into his pockets as he stared over my shoulder.
"For a swamp, this area of Kent is becoming remarkably crowded, Parker," he said mildly. "Good morning, Miss Grimstone!"
I turned to find our eccentric client's niece striding down a knoll toward us. She was sensibly and tweedily dressed and I saw at once that she wore stout gumboots plastered with mud.
"Good morning, Mr. Pons! Good morning, Dr. Parker!"
There was a smile on Miss Grimstone's face but it was obvious she was disconcerted.
"I come here often to search for wild flowers and plants," she said somewhat defensively.
"Indeed," said Solar Pons. "I am glad to have seen you for I intended to call at the manor on the way back. How is your uncle?"
"Well, Mr. Pons. But he is a badly frightened man. Could I persuade you to have lunch with us?"
Pons was taken aback but he concealed the fact well; perhaps we had been mistaken and Miss Grimstone was not so miserly as we had been led to believe.
"I must talk to you, Mr. Pons, and there will be little opportunity otherwise. I was just going back and I have the buggy on the high road only half a mile from here,"
Pons smiled as I looked thankfully from him to Miss Grim-stone. Truth to tell I was not keen to retrace my steps over the miles of marshland we had already traversed.
"If you have quite finished here… "
"By all means."
Pons fell into step with Miss Grimstone and the two of them led the way diagonally down the slope and in a direction at right angles to the way we had come. I was content to
follow behind them, keeping a sharp lookout still to make sure I was treading exactly in Pons' footprints.
Miss Grimstone did not seem quite so forbidding as she had first appeared and I noticed her shooting shrewd glances at Pons from time to time. Eventually she seemed to come to some decision for she said, with an ironical inflexion in her voice, "You do not seem to think much of our household, Mr. Pons. Please do not judge me too harshly. I have had to fight for everything I have and such early struggles tend to distort one's character."
I saw that Pons' features bore a reassuring expression as he turned his head back over his shoulder to include me in the conversation.
"I can assure you, Miss Grimstone, that I do not lightly judge people. I am too used to human nature to be surprised by anything I find; neither do I adopt a censorious attitude."
"Nevertheless, you have certain reservations about Silas Grimstone," said the gray-haired woman shrewdly. "I have a number myself."
"You are frank at any rate. It is true that I do not approve of miserliness, neither do I regard it as one of the major virtues, particularly when the person in whom it appears has more than his fair share of the world's goods."
Miss Grimstone nodded, a deep sigh escaping her lips.
"You are right, Mr. Pons, and I am afraid that my uncle's habits have become somewhat ingrained in me."
"It is often so in such enclosed households, Miss Grimstone. There was no need to mention it. And what of your uncle's earlier struggles…?"
"Business matters, Mr. Pons. He and his brother fought rancorous battles for control of the firm."
Solar Pons' brow knotted and he turned sharply toward our companion.
"I did not know Mr. Grimstone had a second brother."
The niece shook her head.
"He would not have mentioned it of his own accord, Mr. Pons. It was a sore point between them. In the end he bought out his brother's share of the firm. Mr. Jethro Grimstone emigrated to Australia, I understand."
"Indeed. When did all this take place, Miss Grimstone?"
"Many years ago, Mr. Pons. Over twenty, I believe. I was not living at the manor in those days, of course. But I heard all about it from my father, who died shortly after. There were three brothers, you see, but my father abhorred Silas Grim-stone. He was an open-hearted and generous man."
She smiled shyly at Pons as we slowly traversed the marshland path.
"I was only thirty or so then and much more personable. I was hoping to be married when my father died and there was a change in my circumstances."
There was a brooding sadness in her eyes as I glanced at her. I glimpsed in that moment all the long years of housekeeping for Silas Grimstone and all the hopes for a happier life with a husband and family she must long since have given up. Pons stared at her for a moment, compassion shining in his eyes.
"I am truly sorry to hear that, Miss Grimstone. What you have just said interests me. You say your second uncle went to Australia."
"So I was told, Mr. Pons."
"By Silas Grimstone?"
"Yes. He mentioned it a number of times."
"And after he had gained control of the firm, things greatly improved."
"I believe so, yes."
"Hmm." Solar Pons paused on the path and pulled reflectively at the lobe of his right ear. "You have not said much about this apparition of the marsh, Miss Grimstone. What is your theory about it? And why was your uncle so frightened?"
"Well, if you had seen it, Mr. Pons, you would have been frightened too."
Pons smiled ruefully.
"Perhaps you are right, Miss Grimstone. I understand it was seen again last night."
He held up his hand to avoid any further questions as we came up the narrow path onto level ground. Nearby a pony harnessed to a shabby carriage chewed the winter grass as it stood tethered to the fence. Solar Pons turned to me as he waited for Miss Grimstone to ascend to the driver's seat of the vehicle.
"I think perhaps it might be best if we kept watch at the Manor tonight, Parker. This will-o'-the-wisp may strike again and it is as well to be on our guard."
9
"I hope this is not going on my bill, Mr. Pons!"
Silas Grimstone's voice was thick with clotted greed as he glared at my companion. We were sitting in the parlor at Grimstone Manor, the blinds drawn, our chairs close to the smoldering fire on the hearth. We had already eaten. I was beginning to forget the dampness and chill of the marsh as we had seen it that morning, though the room was far from over-warm as the temperature had dropped considerably with the coming of nightfall.