"Unfortunately the tragic truth revealed by Curate Percy's narrative
is only too crushingly confirmed by other and shocking documents
in our own possession. Of these the principal and most certain is
the testimony of Innocent Smith's gardener, who was present at the most
dramatic and eye-opening of his many acts of marital infidelity.
Mr. Gould, the gardener, please."
Mr. Gould, with his tireless cheerfulness, arose to present the gardener.
That functionary explained that he had served Mr. and Mrs. Innocent Smith
when they had a little house on the edge of Croydon.
From the gardener's tale, with its many small allusions, Inglewood grew
certain he had seen the place. It was one of those corners of town
or country that one does not forget, for it looked like a frontier.
The garden hung very high above the lane, and its end was steep
and sharp, like a fortress. Beyond was a roll of real country,
with a white path sprawling across it, and the roots, boles, and branches
of great gray trees writhing and twisting against the sky.
But as if to assert that the lane itself was suburban,
were sharply relieved against that gray and tossing upland
a lamp-post painted a peculiar yellow-green and a red pillar-box
that stood exactly at the corner.
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