"Had Radnor ever asked for anything of the sort before?"
"Not that I know of."
"Why did he ask then?"
"Well, it's rather galling for a man of his age to be dependent on his father for every cent he gets.
The Colonel always gave him plenty, but he did not want to take it in that way."
"In just what way did he want to take it?" Terry inquired. "Since he was so infernally independent why didn't he get to work and earn something?"
"Earn something!" I returned sharply. "Rad has managed the whole plantation for the last three years.
His father was getting too old for business and if Rad hadn't taken hold, things would have gone to the deuce long ago.
All he got as a regular salary was fifty dollars a month; I think it was time he was paid for his services."
"Oh, very well," Terry laughed. "I was merely asking the question.
And if you will allow me to go a step further, why did Colonel Gaylord object to settling something on the boy?"
"He wanted to keep him under his thumb.
The Colonel liked to rule, and he wished everyone around him to be dependent on his will."
"I see!" said Terry. "Radnor had a real grievance, then, after all—just one thing more on this point.
Why did he choose that particular time to make his request?
You say he has had practical charge of affairs for the past three years.
Why did he not wish to be independent last year?
Or why did he not postpone the desire until next year?"
I shrugged my shoulders.
"You'll have to ask Radnor that." I had my own suspicions, but I did not wish to drag Polly Mathers's name into the discussion.
Terry watched me a moment without saying anything, and then he too shrugged his shoulders as he turned back to the newspaper clippings.
"I won't go into the matter of Radnor's connection with the ha'nt just now; I should like to consider first his actions on the day of the murder.
I have here a report of the testimony taken at the inquest, but it is not so full as I could wish in some particulars.
I should like to have you give me the details.
First, you say that Radnor and his father did not speak at the breakfast table?
How was it when you started?"
"They both appeared to be in pretty good spirits, but I noticed that they avoided each other."
"Very well, tell me exactly what you did after you arrived at Luray."
"We left our horses at the hotel and walked about a mile across the fields to the mouth of the cave.
We had lunch in the woods and at about one o'clock we started through the cave.
We came out at a little after three, and, I should say, started to drive back about half past four."
"Did you notice Radnor through the day?"
"Not particularly."
"Did you see either him or the Colonel in the cave?"
"Yes, I was with the Colonel most of the time."
"And how about Radnor?
Didn't you see him at all?"
"Oh, yes.
I remember talking to him once about some queerly shaped stalagmites.
He didn't hang around me, naturally, while I was with his father."
"And when you talked to him about the stalagmites—was there anyone else with him at the time?"
"I believe Miss Mathers was there."
"And he was carrying her coat?"
"I didn't notice."
"At least he left it later in what you call the gallery of the broken column?"
"Yes."
"I see," said Terry glancing over the printed report of the inquest, "that the coroner asked at this point if Radnor were in the habit of forgetting young ladies' coats.
That's more pertinent than many of the questions he asked.
How about it?
Was he in the habit of forgetting young ladies' coats?"