I did not believe him at
the time any more than I believed that miserable slut of a cook the
next morning. I was in such a temper when I left that I didn't think
of putting their two stories together; but going over the whole thing
this afternoon in my mind it struck me as rather peculiar that they
should both have hit on such a grotesque sort of a lie, if it was a
lie."
"Surely you don't think that Mr. Meldon--he's rather eccentric, I know,
but I can scarcely believe that he'd--"
"I'm not at all sure what I ought to think. It seems unlikely that any
clergyman, unless he is quite mad, and you say he's not mad--"
"No; he's not mad. He's peculiar. But he is certainly not mad. Major
Kent has the highest opinion of him, and Major Kent is quite sane."
The judge threw the end of his cigar into the fire and sat silent for a
minute or two. His mind was working on the curious series of events
which had followed his arrival in Ballymoy. He became very much
interested.
"Milly," he said at last, "I'll take your word for it that the man's
not mad. But how on earth am I to explain his actions? For I really
have no doubt that he's at the bottom of all I've been through.
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