page16 (1/2)

With bitterness Mrs McCrae said:

“The ether “Well, thank you, Miss Gorringe”

“Anything I can do—” Miss Gorringe suggested helpfully

“I dare say I’ll hear soon enough,” said Mrs McCrae She thanked Miss Gorringe again and rang off

She sat by the telephone, looking upset She did not fear for the Canon’s personal safety If he had had an accident she would by now have been notified She felt sure of that On the whole the Canon was not what one could call accident prone He hat Mrs McCrae called to herself “one of the scatty ones,” and the scatty ones seemed always to be looked after by a special providence Whilst taking no care or thought, they could still survive even a Panda crossing No, she did not visualize Canon Pennyfather as lying groaning in a hospital He was so with some friend or other Maybe he was abroad still The difficulty was that Archdeacon Si and Archdeacon Simmons would expect to find a host to receive him She couldn’t put Archdeacon Simmons off because she didn’t knohere he was It was all very difficult, but it had, like ht spot was Archdeacon Simmons Archdeacon Simmons would knohat to do She would place the matter in his hands

Archdeacon Simmons was a co, and what he was doing, and was always cheerfully sure of knowing the right thing to be done and doing it A confident cleric Archdeacon Simmons, when he arrived, to be ies and perturbation, was a tower of strength He, too, was not alarmed

“Now don’t you worry, Mrs McCrae,” he said in his genial fashion, as he sat down to the meal she had prepared for his arrival “We’ll hunt the absentminded fellon Ever heard that story about Chesterton? G K Chesterton, you know, the writer Wired to his hen he’d gone on a lecture tour ‘Aht I to be?’”

He laughed Mrs McCrae smiled dutifully She did not think it was very funny because it was so exactly the sort of thing that Canon Pennyfather ht have done

“Ah,” said Archdeacon Simmons, with appreciation, “one of your excellent veal cutlets! You’re a marvellous cook, Mrs McCrae I hope my old friend appreciates you”

Veal cutlets having been succeeded by sos with a blackberry sauce which Mrs McCrae had reooddown of his our and a coard for expense, which h not really disapproving, because definitely her ot to be tracked down

Having first dutifully tried the Canon’s sister who took little notice of her brother’s goings and cos and as usual had not the faintest idea where he was or ht be, the Archdeacon spread his net farther afield He addressed hiot details as precisely as possible The Canon had definitely left there on the early evening of the 19th he had with hie had remained behind in his roooing to a conference of soone direct to the airport froht, had put him into a taxi and had directed it as told by the Canon, to the Athenaeum Club That was the last time that anyone at Bertram’s Hotel had seen Canon Pennyfather Oh yes, a small detail—he had omitted to leave his key behind but had taken it with him It was not the first time that that had happened

Archdeacon Simmons paused for a fewup the air station in London That would no doubt take soarten, a learned Hebrew scholar as almost certain to have been at the conference

Dr Weissgarten was at his ho to hicriticism of two papers that had been read at the conference in Lucerne

“Most unsound, that fellow Hogarov,” he said, “ets aith it I don’t know! Fellow isn’t a scholar at all Do you knohat he actually said?”

The Archdeacon sighed and had to be firood chance that the rest of the evening would be spent in listening to criticism of fellow scholars at the Lucerne Conference With soarten was pinned down to more personal matters

“Pennyfather?” he said “Pennyfather? He ought to have been there Can’t think why he wasn’t there Said he was going Told me so only a week before when I saw him in the Athenaeum”

“You mean he wasn’t at the conference at all?”

“That’s what I’ve just said He ought to have been there”

“Do you knohy he wasn’t there? Did he send an excuse?”

“How should I know? He certainly talked about being there Yes, now I remember He was expected Several people reht have had a chill or so Very treacherous weather” He was about to revert to his criticis off

He had got a fact but it was a fact that for the first ti Canon Pennyfather had not been at the Lucerne Conference He had o to that conference It seemed very extraordinary to the Archdeacon that he had not been there He h on the whole BEA were pretty careful of you and shepherded you away frootten the actual day that he was going to the conference? It was always possible, he supposed But if so where had he gone instead?

He addressed hireat deal of patient waiting and being transferred froot a definite fact Canon Pennyfather had booked as a passenger on the 21:40 plane to Lucerne on the 18th but he had not been on the plane

“We’re getting on,” said Archdeacon Siround “Now, let me see Who shall I try next?”

“All this telephoning will cost a fearful lot of money,” said Mrs McCrae

“I’m afraid so I’et on his track, you know He’s not a very young man”

“Oh, sir, you don’t think there’s anything could really have happened to him?”

“Well, I hope not…I don’t think so, because I think you’d have heard if so He—er—always had his name and address on him, didn’t he?”

“Oh yes, sir, he had cards on his in his wallet”

“Well, I don’t think he’s in a hospital then,” said the Archdeacon “Let me see When he left the hotel he took a taxi to the Athenaeu them up next”

Here he got some definite information Canon Pennyfather, ell known there, had dined there at seven thirty on the evening of the 19th It was then that the Archdeacon was struck by so he had overlooked until then The aeroplane ticket had been for the 18th but the Canon had left Bertraoing to the Lucerne Conference, on the 19th Light began to break “Silly old ass,” thought Archdeacon Simmons to himself, but careful not to say it aloud in front of Mrs McCrae “Got his dates wrong The conference was on the 19th I’ on the 18th He was one day wrong”