"ErnestBramah-TheDisappearanceOfMarieSevere" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bramah Ernest)

being seen with the child, nor is there anything to connect him with her after
the disappearance. Still, it is a working hypothesis. If it was the act of a
tramp or a maniac, experience goes to show that we should have found her, dead
or alive, by now. Mrs. Severe is all for it being her husband. Of course the
decree gave her the custody of Marie. Severe asked to be allowed to see her
occasionally, and at first a servant took the child to have tea with him once a
month. That was at his rooms. Then he asked to be met in one of the parks or at
a gallery. He hadn't got so much as a room then, you see, sir. At last the
servant reported that he had grown so shabby as to shame her that the child
should be seen with him, though she did say that he was always sober and very
kind to Marie, bringing her a little toy or something even when he didn't seem
to have sixpence for himself. After that the visits were stopped altogether.
Then about a month ago these two, husband and wife, met accidentally in the
street. Severe said that he hoped to be doing a bit better soon, and asked for
the visits to be continued. How it would have gone I cannot say, but Mrs. Severe
happened to have a friend with her, an American lady called Miss Julp, who seems
to be living with her now, and the middle-aged femaleЧshe's a hard sister, that
Cornelia Julp, I should sayЧ pushed her way into the conversation and gave her
views on his conduct until Severe must have had some trouble with his hands.
Finally Mrs. Severe had an unfortunate impulse to end the discussion by giving
her husband a bank-note. She says she got the most awful look she ever saw on
any face. Then Severe very deliberately tore up the note, dropped the pieces
down a gutter grid that they were standing near, dusted his fingers on his
handkerchief, raised his hat and walked away without another word. That was the
last she saw of him, but she professes to have been afraid of something
happening ever since."
"Then something happens, and so, of course, it must be Severe?" suggested
Carrados.
"It does look a bit like that so far, I must admit, sir," assented the
Inspector. "Still, Mrs. Severe's opinions aren't quite all. Severe's account of
his movements on the afternoon in questionЧsay between twelve-thirty and four in
particular-are not satisfactory. Latterly he has been occupying a miserable room
off Red Lion Street. He went out at twelve and returned about five-that he
doesn't deny. Says he spent the time walking about the streets and in the
Holborn news-room, but can mention no one who saw him during those five hours.
On the other hand, a porter at Swanstead station identifies him as a passenger
who alighted there from the 1.17 that afternoon."
"From a newspaper likeness?"
"In the first instance, Mr. Carrados. Afterwards in person."
"Did they speak, or is it merely visual?"
"Only from what he saw of him."
"Struck, I suppose, by the remarkable fact that the passenger wore a hat and a
tie-as shown in the picture, or inspired to notice him closely by something
indescribably suggestive in the passenger's way of giving up his ticket? It may
be all right, Beedel, I admit, but I heartily distrust the weight of importance
that these casual identifications are being given on vital points nowadays. Are
you satisfied with this yourself?"
"Only as corroborative, sir. Until we find the girl or some trace of her we're
bound to make casts in the hope of picking up a line. Well, then there's the
letter Mrs. Severe received."