Read Online Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne - Free Book Online

forgive him, I can assure you.”
    Dr. McDonald nodded his head vigorously as he spoke. He was a big man, red of face and raw of bone, with a wooden leg which gave him much trouble, a man, as Dr. Hailey knew, reputed something of a dreamer but believed, too, to be very wise in the lore of his profession and in the knowledge of men. His blue eyes continued to sparkle.
    â€œI promised not to interfere,” Dr. Hailey said.
    â€œHe told me that. He hasn’t much opinion of amateur methods of catching criminals.”
    â€œSo I gathered.”
    Dr. McDonald’s eyes narrowed. He leaned forward in his chair in order to move his leg to a more comfortable position.
    â€œDid you see the old scar on Miss Gregor’s chest?” he asked.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWhat did you make of it?”
    Dr. Hailey shook his head. “You mustn’t ask me that, you know.”
    â€œVery well. But that’s the clue that Dundas has fastened on. Who wounded Miss Gregor ten years ago? He thinks if he can answer that question his troubles’ll be over. And the queer thing is that nobody can or nobody will tell him. He’s got it worked out that the poor woman was probably at home here when she was wounded. And yet neither Duchlan nor Angus nor Christina seem to know anything about the wound.”
    Dr. McDonald paused. It was obvious that he hoped to interest his colleague, but Dr. Hailey only shook his head.
    â€œYou mustn’t ask me for my opinion.”
    â€œThere’s another queer thing: Dundas, as I told you, has paid a lot of attention to the herring-scale you discovered. He found a second scale inside the wound. He argued that the weapon the wound was inflicted with must have come from the kitchen, and, as I said, he’d been giving the servants a fearful time. I believe he found an axe with fish scales on it, but the clue led him nowhere.
    â€œHis next idea was that Duchlan himself might be the murderer. He tried to work out a scheme on these lines. Duchlan’s poor, like all the lairds, so it was possible that he wanted his sister’s money. The old man, I’m glad to say, didn’t guess what was in the wind. He’s a fine old man, is Duchlan, but his temper’s not very dependable nowadays.”
    A second spill achieved what the first had failed to achieve. McDonald screwed up his pipe and put it in his mouth. It emitted a gurgling sound which in no way disconcerted him. He began to charge it with tobacco.
    â€œNaturally,” he went on, “this inquisition has refreshed a lot of memories. And a doctor hears everything. There’s an old woman in the village who’s reputed to be a witch as her mother was before her. I believe her name’s MacLeod though they call her ‘Annie Nannie’. Goodness knows why. She remembers Duchlan’s wife, Eoghan’s mother, well, and she told me yesterday that once the poor woman came to consult her. ‘She looked at me,’ Annie Nannie said, ‘for a long time without speaking a word. Then she asked me if it was true I could tell what was going to happen to folk. I was a young woman then myself and I was frightened, seein’ the laird’s young wife in my cottage. So I told her it wasn’a true.’ However, in the end she was persuaded to tell Mrs. Gregor’s fortune. She says she prophesied evil.”
    Dr. Hailey shrugged his shoulders.
    â€œMarried women go to fortune-tellers when they’re unhappy,” he said. “Possibly Dundas might make something of that.”
    â€œMrs. Gregor’s death took place soon after that. It’s a curious fact that nobody knows exactly what she died of. But her death was sudden. I’ve heard that it came as a great shock to the village because people didn’t know she was ill. Duchlan would never speak about it, and nobody dared to ask him.”
    â€œWhere was she buried?”
    â€œIn the family vault on the estate. So far