any statement likely to implicate the bishop.
Evidently no suspicion connecting Dr Pendle with Jentham existed in the
minds of police or public. Cargrim could have set such a rumour afloat
by a mere hint that the dead man and the bishop's strange visitor on the
night of the reception had been one and the same; but he did not think
it judicious to do this. He wanted the bishop's secret to be his alone,
and the more spotless was Dr Pendle's public character, the more anxious
he would be to retain it by becoming Cargrim's slave in order that the
chaplain might be silent regarding his guilt. But to obtain such an
advantage it was necessary for Cargrim to acquaint himself with the way
in which Dr Pendle had committed the crime. And this, as he was obliged
to work by stealth, was no easy task.

After some cogitation the wily chaplain concluded that it would be best
to hear the general opinion of the Beorminster gossips in order to pick
up any stray scraps of information likely to be of use to him.
Afterwards he intended to call on Mr Inspector Tinkler and hear
officially the more immediate details of the case. By what he heard from
the police and the social prattlers, Cargrim hoped to be guided in
constructing his case against Dr Pendle. Then there was the bishop's
London journey; the bishop's cheque-book with its missing butt; the
bishop's journey to and from Southberry on the day and night when the
murder had been committed; all these facts would go far to implicate him
in the matter. Also Cargrim desired to find the missing pistol, and the
papers which had evidently been taken from the corpse. This last idea
was purely theoretical, as was Cargrim's fancy that Jentham's power over
Dr Pendle had to do with certain papers. He argued from the fact that
the pockets of the dead man's clothes had been turned inside out.
Cargrim did not believe that the bishop had paid the blackmail,
therefore the pockets could not have been searched for the money; the
more so, as no possible robber could have known that Jentham would be
possessed of a sum worth committing murder for on that night. On the
other hand, if Jentham had possessed papers which inculpated the bishop
in any crime, it was probable that, after shooting him, the assassin had
searched for, and had obtained, the papers to which he attached so much
value. It was the bishop who had turned the pockets inside out, and, as
Cargrim decided, for the above reason. Certainly, from a co