Free Dark of the moon - Dr. Gideon Fell 22 by John Dickson Carr Page B

English nurse who remained with us only for a year or two. Madge was brought up in New York; we moved to Connecticut just under a decade ago.
    "But I never know what the girl is thinking, or quite how to deal with her. I feel constrained; today they would say inhibited. Am I over-protective too?
    "Young men have been flocking around Madge since she reached her teens. Recently the field, if I may so express this, has narrowed itself down to two: Rip Hillboro and Yancey Beale. I want her to marry, of course. But I want her to make the right choice. It is bound to be Rip or Yancey; who else is there? Unless—" he stopped.
    "Sir," demanded Dr. Fe ll, "may I ask just what is wor rying you so much? The situation confronting you has confronted every father since time began. If it is only a question of finding a suitable husband . . ."
    "Oh, suitable!" the other said with some bitterness. "Both young men are suitable enough. For my own reasons I should prefer Yancey. He has certain natural advantages denied the other. But I should give my blessing to Rip too; I am no snob. Rip worked his way through my own college and through law school. He is with the best legal firm in Hartford and has a brilliant future. If sometimes he seems a little too aggressive for quiet tastes, shall I hold this against a young man making his way in the world?
    "What happens next, I ask myself? Where are we going? Where will it end? It is enough to ... it is enough to ..."
    "No!" roared Dr. Fell. "It is not enough to haunt and hag-ride you as so obviously it does. What else is there? Out with it, man! Have you brought me a thousand miles merely to act as marriage counsellor? And is it the young lady or the father who can't decide?"
    Henry Maynard, who had been pacing beside the writing-table, stopped short.
    "With your permission, Dr. Fell, I will now address myself to Mr. Grantham. You don't mind, young man?"
    "No, of course I don't mind. What is it?"
    "Forgive me," said their host, "if I seem abominably ill-mannered. Forgive me also if I sound like prosecuting counsel at a trial. Mr. Grantham, where were you on the night of Sunday, May 2nd?"
    Alan stared at him.
    "Sunday, May 2nd," repeated the other, "just twelve days ago. About ten o'clock at night, say. Where were you then?"
    "I'm trying to remember, that's all!"
    "Were you by any chance in the grounds of this house?" Henry Maynard pointed. "Under some magnolia trees by the front gate? Embracing my daughter there?"
    "Good God, no!" said the flabbergasted Alan. "And I've just remembered where I was."
    "Yes?"
    "In Pearis, two hundred miles away. At ten o'clock I had just fini shed having dinner with Dr. Leff ingwell, the President of King's College, his wife, and three members of the faculty."
    "You're sure of that?"
    "If I had to prove it in court, Mr. District Attorney. I could bring at least five witnesses. I wasn't embracing Madge or anybody else. What makes you think I was?"
    "I don't think you were. It was an unworthy suggestion, and again I apologize. But it did strike me that once upon a time you seemed rather interested in Madge. For want of another candidate, I wondered."
    Candidate? Candidate? Now just how, Alan was thinking, is anybody supposed to answer a remark like that?
    ('I could say,' he continued to himself, 'just possibly Madge might have had another conquest if I hadn't seen Camilla and gone head over ears down the drain. But I can't very well tell the old boy that; and, anyway, what the hell is this all about?')
    He was spared the necessity for answering anything.
    "There is another difficulty," said Henry Maynard, taking out a key-ring and twirling it round his finger. "I had thought no harm would be done if I told both of you everything. There would still be no harm in this. The trouble is that I can't do it; literally, physically I can't do it! Will you think me over-squeamish, Mr. Grantham, if I ask you to leave us while I tell the rest of the story to Dr. Fell? Would you mind