Show Mrs Haslet was Then at Easter time — just about the time when the first flowers were being potted out into the beds Mrs Haslet disappeared One moment she was there the next moment she was not It was like a trick on the stage the only difference being that when the lady disappears from the magic cabinet it provokes a round of applatise The disappearance of Mrs Haslet caused nothing but trouble and consternation The most troubled of course was Mr Haslet He had left his wife so he said sitting up in bed trith her rooming cup of tea When he got back in the evening at six o’clock from a wrestle with a particularly recalcitrant J she was gone By seven o’clock he was perturbed by eight o’clock he was worried At nine o’clock he rang up the police Mrs Cleaver who "did” for them was sent for She had little to tell When she had arrived at ten o’clock that morning Mrs Haslet was already up and out Her clothes and handbag and overcoat were gone Mrs Cleaver supposed that she had gone cm a visit Relations were rung up Hospitals were contacted A paragraph appeared in the local papers Contrary to popular ideas on the subject there was not an immediate conference of the heads of Scotland Yard followed by a nationwide search After all women did disappear Hundreds of them every year Most of them reappeared also in due season Mrs Haslet had gone After a time you got used to the idea Mr Haslet who was after all the most closely concerned went on worrying longest He did everything that a worried husband could possibly be expected to do But he couldn’t desert the J to L’s forever and spring was rushipg into May and that is a time of year when no true gardener ever has a moment on his hands A lot of the gardens were giving trouble that year First there was too much rain Then when the rain had washed almost everything out of the shallow earth (for all the gardens down that road lay on a stratum of sandstone so near in places to the surface that gardening of any sort was a lottery) the sun came out and went on shining until such plants as had survived the flood started to wither up But Mr Haslet’s garden was a picture His y had to be seen to be tulips that believed They were all gardeners in the neighborhood and everyone talked about them "In my opinion” said Mr Hornsea "it was the tulips that started it I’ve never seen such a bed of tulips All reds and golds and strong fleshy curves It was — it was almost indecent- - No one else could grow so much as a Michaelmas Daisy "But there was something else Haslet got very jumpy about that bed You couldn’t It embarrassed him to speak help noticing about At first I thought it was just nice feeling He didn’t want to swank about his flowers when everyone else’s were such a washmid-Ma- it it out “Then it began to be something else Almost an obsession Mrs Wilberforce who had the house next door used to see him standing at his window staring out at that bed There’s said ‘It’s haunting something about it him”’ Rumors are more easily started than stopped and before the week was out everybody was certain what was in that bed Then Mrs Wilberforce began to remember things Lights and sounds in the garden the Nothnight before Mrs Haslet disappeared ing really definite but certainly suspicious now that she thought about it A lot of that was discounted as Mrs Wilberforce was known to have a imagination But there was a background to it that couldn’t be talked away a history of quarreling and nagging and plenty of the sort of motive which people found understandable It was quite enough to make the neighbors agree that Mr Haslet might well have murdered his wife hair-trigg- er "One can’t help feeling sorry for the little man in a way" said Mrs Roper "But just winfancy — right outside the dining-roodow When I called last week he offered me a bunch of tulips Of course I refused’’ The police were the last to move They exercised a certain proper professional caution But in the end — it was a lovely evening in June — Inspector Porter called on Mr Haslet Never in the history of investigation has a suspect condemned himself more utterly out of his own mouth When Inspector Porter mentioned Mrs Haslet Mr Haslet made a series of statements so unconvincing that it seems doubtful if he could really have had much faith in them himself When the Inspector repeated Mrs remarks he blanched when the Inspector mentioned the tulip bed his last spark of resistance seemed to be extinguished when the Inspector suggested that he might sit down if he wished Mr Haslet accepted large flamboyant and bold — ond ail fleshy curves m his offer in relief "I don’t know why — ’’he said "It seemed all right at the time—we’d better get it over” The Inspector wrote that all down in his notebook having been trained to appreciate the importance of anything a suspect might say at such a time His one fear was that Mr Haslet might by some rash act cheat him of his proper prey Therefore he stationed himwho was huddled self behind Mr Haslet in his chair — and signaled to the two constables he had brought with him to begin Both were big men accomplished diggers and expert with the spade First they carefully removed the tulips — now past their best Then they dug out the topsoil Then the under soil Mr Haslet sat in his chair a picture of stunned bewilderment The Inspector stood behind him his arms folded feeling like Destiny in a bowler hat The two constables dug They were three feet down now and only their top halves were visible Some time passed It was Mr Haslet who broke the silence "You might perhaps" he said "give the bulbs to a hospital” "We could” agreed the Inspector “unless they are required as evidence" "Of Course I’d forgotten” said Mr Haslet "I suppose they would be” He continued to sit The Inspector stood The constables dug! They were up to their shoulders now 4hd their spades were ringing on the primary sandstone What could be seen of their faces looked puzzled Again Mr Haslet spoke — there was now more bewilderment than apprehension in his voice "I could understand you confiscating the plants” he said “under the circumstances But why is it necessary to remove so much of the earth? Dr aril! that be wanted as evidence too?” The Inspector found some difficult yin replying Fortunately before he had to do so Mr Haslet went on "I’m quite ready to confess" he said "Confess” echoed the Inspector He tried to keep all emotion from his voice "I shouldn’t have done it of course I knew it was mean — as soon as her back was turned — I just didn’t realize it was criminaL” He paused "I suppose as I had given her the money the stuff was legally hers Since I used it I was stealing it Is that it?” "Would you mind explaining” said the Inspector "exactly what you mean?” "Mother Manuetow’s Mucilage of Molasses eighteen large bottles Goodness knows what she meant to do with it all I thought there was no harm in using a little Then — you know how it is It all seemed to go You must admit” he added with a feint touch of defiance “that it worked wonders with the tulips” It took the police six months to live it down said Mr Hornsea (who told me the story) and during all that time if you said "tulip” near a policeman you did so at your peril It died down of course There was a rumor that Mrs Haslet had been seen at Southend with a wrestler and that started it up again But not for long It was dead by semi-retir- Christmas “But do you know” added Mr Hornsea sometimes wonder if people quite realized exactly how far Mr Haslet did score over the police Because if you want my opinion — of course it’s only an opinion —he did kin his - wife Only he buried her way down at the "I bottom olthe garden among the raspberries "I’ve played enough cribbage with him to know that he’s a real dab at double bluff Proof? Not really only that winter I often took a glass of raspberry wine with him It was a remarkable brew As I said to him once it had a body to it that wouklh’t have shamed a vintage port!" Tin End 9 |