Leslie Charteris The Saint 13 The Saint Intervenes

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."I killed him," said the Saint, "by culpable negligence.Be-cause I could havesaved his life.I was mad.I was crazy.But I'm not now.All right.Go back tothe house.You have somebody to arrest."A flash of memory went across Teal's mind the memory of a pale ghostly womanrising from her chair, her voice saying: "My God, he's killed him!" the hintof a frightful foreknowledge.A cold shiver touched his spine."You don't mean Lady Yearleigh?" he said incredulously."It's impossible.Witha husband like hers ""You think he was a good husband, don't you?" said the Saint."Because he wasPage 56ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmla noble sportsman.Cold baths and cricket.Hunting, shooting, and fishing.Isuppose it's too much to expect you to put yourself in the place of a woman awoman like her who was married to that?""You think she was in love with Vould?""Of course she was in love with Vould.That's why I asked you if you'd lookedat her at all during dinner when Vould was talking.If you had, even you mighthave seen it.But you're so full of conventions.You think that any womanought to adore a great fat-headed blustering athlete be-cause a number ofequally fat-headed men adore him.You think she oughtn't to think much of apale poet who wears glasses, because the fat-headed athletes don't understandhim, as if the ability to hit a ball with a bat were the only cri-terion ofvalue in the world.But I tried to tell you that she was intelligent.Ofcourse she was in love with Vould, and Vould with her.They were made for eachother.I'll also bet you that Vould didn't want an interview with Yearleigh tomake more protests about that bill, but to tell him that he was going to runaway with his wife."Teal said helplessly: "You mean when Yearleigh objected Vould had made up hismind to kill him.Lady Yearleigh knew, and that's what she meant by ""She didn't mean that at all," said the Saint."Vould be-lieved in peace.Youheard him at dinner.Have you for-gotten that remark of his? He pointed outthat men had learned not to kill their neighbours so that they could stealtheir lawn mowers.Why should he believe that they ought to kill theirneighbours so that they could steal their wives?""You can't always believe what a man says ""You can believe him when he's sincere.""Sincere enough," Teal mentioned sceptically, "to try to kill his host."Simon was quiet for a moment, kicking the toe of his shoe into the gravel."Did you notice that Vould was shot in the back ?" he said."You heard Yearleigh's explanation.""You can't always believe what a man says can you?"Suddenly the Saint reached out and took the dagger which Teal was stillholding.He unwrapped the handkerchief from it; and Teal let out anexclamation."You damn fool!""Because I'm destroying your precious finger-prints?" mur-mured the Saintcoolly."You immortal ass! If you can hold a knife in your handkerchief tokeep from marking it, couldn't anybody else?"The detective was silent.His stillness after that instinctive outburst was soimpassive that he might have gone to sleep on his feet.But he was very muchawake.And presently the Saint went on, in that gentle, somewhat mockingvoice which Teal was listening for."I wonder where you get the idea that a 'sportsman' is a sort of hero," hesaid."It doesn't require courage to take a cold bath it's simply a matter ofwhether your constitution likes it.It doesn't require courage to playcricket haven't you ever heard the howls of protest that shake the BritishEmpire if a batsman happens to get hit with a ball? Perhaps it requires alittle more courage to watch a pack of hounds pull down a savage fox, or toloose off a shot-gun at a ferocious grouse, or to catch a great man-eatingtrout with a little rod and line.But there are certain things you've beenbrought up to believe, and your mind isn't capable of reason-ing them out foritself.You believe that a 'sportsman' is a kind of peculiarly god-likegladiator, without fear and without reproach.You believe that no gentlemanwould shoot a sitting partridge, and therefore you believe that he wouldn'tshoot a sitting poet."A light wind blew through the shrubbery; and the detective felt queerly cold."You're only talking," he said."You haven't any evi-dence.""I know I haven't," said the Saint, with a sudden weariness."I've only gotwhat I think.I think that Yearleigh planned this days ago when Vould firstasked for the interview, as Yearleigh mentioned.I think he guessed what itwould be about.I think his only reason for putting it off was to give himselftime to send those anonymous threats to himself to build up the melodrama hePage 57ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlhad invented.I think you'll find that those anonymous threats started on theday when Vould asked for a talk with him, and that Yearleigh had no soundreason for going away except that of putting Vould off.I think that when theywere in the study tonight, Yearleigh pointed to the window and made someexcuse to get Vould to turn round, and then shot him in the back in coldblood, and put this paper-knife in his hand afterwards [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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