To hear him
speak to me about it you would suppose that he suspected Annesley of
having killed Mountjoy."
"Not that, I hope."
"Something of the sort. He has intended it to be believed that Annesley,
for his own purposes, has caused Mountjoy to be made away with. He has
endeavored to fill the police with that idea. A policeman, generally, is
the biggest fool that London, or England, or the world produces, and has
been selected on that account. Therefore the police have a beautifully
mysterious but altogether ignorant suspicion as to Annesley. That is the
doing of Augustus, for some purpose of his own. Now, let me tell you
that Augustus saw Mountjoy after Annesley had seen him, that he knows
this to be the case, and that it was Augustus, who contrived Mountjoy's
disappearance. Now what do you think of Augustus?" This was a question
which Merton did not find it very easy to answer. But Mr. Scarborough
waited for a reply. "Eh?" he exclaimed.
"I had rather not give an opinion on a point so raised."
"You may. Of course you understand that I intend to assert that Augustus
is the greatest blackguard you ever knew. If you have anything to say in
his favor you can say it."
"Only that you may be mistaken. Living down here, you may not know the
truth.
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