Information Received by E.R. Punshon Page A

I’ve noticed myself she has a sort of way of imposing herself, when she’s there you’re half the time wondering what she’s thinking and what she’ll do. Anyhow, they say Sir Christopher wanted to get rid of her and practically put the engagement through himself.’
    â€˜Doesn’t seem consistent,’ observed Mitchell, ‘bad psychology somewhere – on one hand, she’s such a determined, strong-minded young lady that everyone goes in awe of her. She only has to stand there to make you feel her force. On the other hand, she’s a meek, obedient, little thing who lets her stepfather choose a husband for her, and does just what she is told. Picture don’t fit.’
    â€˜No, sir,’ agreed Bobby. ‘But from what they say in the house, it seems Mr Lester has always been pretty keen and perhaps that accounts for it. And last night, hearing her talk, both of them, it was as if the murder had made her realize her own feelings, that really she had cared for Mr Lester all the time but was only just beginning to understand it.’
    â€˜Let loose her emotions in a way,’ Mitchell remarked, ‘let them loose on both sides perhaps. That might explain it.’
    â€˜I made a shorthand note of their talk as well as I could,’ Bobby added. ‘I have not transcribed it yet.’
    â€˜Do that,’ said Mitchell; ‘then change into plain clothes and bring the longhand note to me personally.’
    â€˜Yes, sir,’ said Bobby, and Mitchell noticed with approval that the young man did not ask for instructions how and where he was to find his Superintendent – he was evidently prepared to manage that part of it for himself, and Mitchell had a preference for young men who did not want too much dry nursing.
    â€˜You could identify the elderly man you reported seeing and think made that footstep, if you were to see him again?’ he asked.
    â€˜Yes, sir,’ said Bobby.
    â€˜Good. Did Mr Lester strike you as meaning it when he said he was going to have a try on his own account to find the murderer?’
    â€˜Yes, sir.’
    â€˜Then he’ll have to be watched,’ said Mitchell with decision. ‘We don’t want any amateurs mucking about, upsetting things, especially one who may himself be the man we want.’
    Bobby offered no comment on this, and Mitchell, who had expected one, went on after he had waited a little:
    â€˜Did you hear anything else of interest while you were talking to the servants?’
    â€˜They are all quite sure,’ Bobby answered, ‘that Miss Brenda was playing the piano in the drawing-room all the time and therefore can’t have left the room. They all say they heard the playing going on all the time without a stop. One of the maids seems to know quite a lot about music and she says she knows quite well the piece Miss Brenda was playing, and is sure there was no break in it.’
    â€˜What about Miss Jennie?’
    â€˜She was lying down in her room. She can hardly have come downstairs without being seen by Lewis, who was in his pantry, except once when he came out to post a letter. But that was about six and the cook says she heard Miss Jennie moving about in her room after that.’
    â€˜She gains a fortune and Miss Brenda loses one by Sir Christopher’s death,’ Mitchell mused, ‘but apparently the Jennie girl knew nothing about the will then, and anyhow it would need pretty strong evidence to convict a young girl like her of parricide.’
    â€˜Very strong indeed, sir,’ agreed Bobby. ‘They all say she is a very gentle, quiet girl.’
    â€˜Sometimes they’re the worst when they kick over the ropes,’ Mitchell remarked. ‘Anything else?’
    â€˜The cook says she doesn’t believe Sir Christopher had a revolver at all, and so the one found near his body can’t have been his. Apparently, if he had one, no one has ever seen it.