The Glimpses of the Moon Read Free

never,’ he began recapitulating,
doppio movimento, accelerando. ‘
Er never killed en. And I’ll tell ’ee ferwhy. Cuz,’ he coda-ed triumphantly,
allegro assai,
‘I wer’ talkin’ to en.’
    Padmore stared at him. ‘Talking to Hagberd?’
    â€˜Ehss.’
    â€˜When?’
    â€˜Ehss.’
    â€˜Concentrate, Gobbo,’ said the Major severely. ‘You were talking to Hagberd
when?’
    â€˜Ehss.’
    â€˜Concentrate.
You’re trying to tell us that you were talking to Hagberd at the time when he was supposed to be killing Routh?’
    â€˜Ehss.’
    â€˜And you’re quite sure you know when that was? I mean, the date, and time of day?’
    â€˜Mazed as a brish, er wer’.’
    â€˜Yes, yes, my dear chap, we know all that. What I’m asking is, when was it?’
    Gobbo once more fell silent; but this time, perceptibly, it was because he was giving the matter in hand his full attention. ‘Twenty-second,’ he presently announced, with decision.
    â€˜August the twenty-second … well, that’s right enough,’ said the Major, whose voice was by now back in mufti. ‘That’s right enough!
    â€˜Monday,’ Gobbo elaborated, flushed with his success.
    â€˜Yes, that’s right too. It was a Monday. And the time?’
    â€˜Ar pars seven, when I leaves.’
    â€˜You’re not saying you were talking to Hagberd at half past seven
here?’
    â€˜Ehss.’
    â€˜But my dear fellow, you can’t have been. People would have seen you both.’
    â€˜Us wer’ out under tree.’
    â€˜Oh … They shove him out of here at half past seven every evening,’ the Major muttered explanatorily to Padmore, whose eyes were already glazed with the effort to understand, ‘because otherwise the woman who gets him his supper won’t wait. But there’s a seat round the trunk of the old elm outside, and he sits down and has a rest there on the way home,.. So you talked to Hagberd that evening under the tree?’
    â€˜Ehss.’
    â€˜Do try and be a bit more garrulous, my dear fellow, can’t you?’ said the Major plaintively. ‘At this rate we shall be here till next week. You talked to Hagberd that evening - right. Now, what did you talk about?’
    â€˜Ehss.’
    â€˜â€œYes” isn’t a proper answer, Gobbo.’
    â€˜Ehss.’
    â€˜No, it’s not. I’ll put the question another way. What did
Hagberd
talk about?’
    Gobbo, clearly on the point of reiterating his monosyllable, at the last moment thought better of it and substituted something else instead. He said, ‘Said er wer’ crook wi’ a sheila.’
    This unlikely-sounding string of vocables had a temporarily stunning effect, not because of its content, but because to listen to, it seemed at first to make no sense at all. After a few moments, however, Fen nodded in sudden comprehension. ‘Hagberd was an Australian, wasn’t he?’ he said. ‘So he was annoyed with a girl, or upset about one.’
    â€˜What girl, Gobbo?’ said the Major.
    â€˜Er didn’arf create.’
    â€˜The girl did?’ said Padmore, baffled.
    â€˜â€œEr” means “he”, my dear chap,’ the Major told him. ‘In this context, anyway.’
    â€˜In
this
context,’ said Padmore heavily. ‘Yes. I see. But anyway, what girl? This is the first I’ve heard of there being a woman in the case - I mean, apart from Mrs Leeper-Foxe and the Bust child.’
    â€˜I don’t think Hagberd would have referred to Mrs Leeper-Foxe as a sheila,’ said the Major. ‘Sheila’s a more or less complimentary word, isn’t it?’ He returned to the attack. ‘Now listen, Gobbo. You say Hagberd was going on about a sheila. What sheila?’
    â€˜Doan know no Sheilas,’ Gobbo retorted firmly, as if he were being accused of