‘Oh,’ said Father Brown; and his face changed and he said something soft and unclear, that might almost have been ‘My God!’
‘First of all,’ said the doctor, ‘they found out one thing about Mrs Maltravers. She is an actress.’
‘I thought so,’ said Father Brown. ‘Never mind why[20]. I had another thought about her, that would seem even more unimportant.’
‘Well, at that moment it was scandal enough that she was an actress. The dear old priest of course is heartbroken, to think that his white hairs should be brought to the grave by an actress and adventuress. The spinsters cry altogether. The Admiral says he has sometimes been to a theatre in town; but refuses that such things were among us. Well, of course I’ve no particular protest of that kind. This actress is certainly a lady, if a bit of a Dark Lady, in the style of the Sonnets[21]; the young man is very much in love with her; andI am no doubt a sentimental old fool in having some feelings for the stupid young man who is walking round the Grange;and I was getting thoughts that this village was ideal,when suddenly the thunderbolt fell. And I, who am the only person who ever had any sympathy with these people, am sent down to be the messenger of doom[22].’
‘Yes,’ said Father Brown, ‘and why were you sent down?’
The doctor answered with a sort of sigh:
‘Mrs Maltravers is not only a widow, but she is the widow of Mr Maltravers.’
‘It sounds like a shockingnews, as you put it,’ said the priest seriously.
‘And Mr Maltravers,’ continued his medical friend, ‘was the man who was probably murdered in this very village[23]a year or two ago; supposed to have been hit on the head by one of the simple villagers.’
‘I remember you told me,’ said Father Brown. ‘The doctor, or some doctor, said he had probably died of being hit on the head with a club.’
Dr Mulborough was silent for a moment frowning, and then said sharply:
‘Dog doesn’t eat dog, and doctors don’t bite doctors, not even when they are mad doctors. I wouldn’t cast any reflection on the previous doctor in Potter’s Pond, if I could avoid it[24]; but I know you are really safe for secrets[25]. And, speaking in confidence[26], my predecessor at Potter’s Pond was a great fool; a drunken old idiot and absolutely incompetent. I was asked, originally by the Chief Constable of the County (for I’ve lived a long time in the county, though only lately in the village), to look into the whole case; the evidence and papers of the investigation and so on.