2.
Mr Hall is Suspicious
The visit of Teddy
Henfrey, the clock-jobber:
At 4 o’clock Mrs.
Hall was wondering about visiting her guest to serve him tea. The visit
of Mr. Teddy Henfrey gave her an excuse. The old clock in the parlour was not
functioning and required a repair. Teddy had come with his bag of tools. Mrs.
Hall was relieved and asked him to the give the clock a look as its hour-hand
was not moving.
She led him up and
before entering the guest’s room, she knocked on the door.
The man with an
enormous mouth:
The guest was
dozing in the armchair. There was not enough light in the room. The
visitor’s bandaged head was drooping on one side. She lit the bar lamp. As the
light brightened the room, she was shocked to notice that the man had ‘an
enormous mouth’. She had a fleeting look of the white-bound head, the monstrous
goggles and the huge space below before the guest suddenly moved in his chair
and covered his mouth with the serviette. The opened door brightened the room a
little. Mrs. Hall was puzzled to find her visitor covering his face with the
muffler. She was confused thinking that the poor light in the room might
have cheated her.
The clock-jobber
introduced to the visitor:
Mrs. Hall told the
visitor that she had called a man to repair the clock. When he agreed to it,
Mrs. Hall led Mr. Tedd Henfrey into the room. The clock jobber was not
expecting to meet a visitor of such weird appearance and he was taken aback at
the first sight of him. However, he apologized for the intrusion. Turning to
Mrs. Hall, the stranger said that he did not mind the repairing of the clock
but made it clear that he wanted the room entirely for his private use. He
liked to be alone and undisturbed.
The Stranger’s
explanation of his appearance and visit:
Teddy Henfrey was
finally happy to given a chance to mend the clock. The stranger expressed his
desire to have tea after the clock-mending was over. Mrs. Hall did
not make any attempt to start a conversation with her guest as she feared that
he might snub her in the presence of the clock-jobber. The visitor asked her if
she could make any arrangements to get her luggage from
Bramblehurst. She told him that the carrier would deliver it the
next morning. The visitor told her that he was an experimental investigator. He
badly needed the luggage as it contained apparatus and appliances. He had come
to Iping to live a life of solitude. An accident had badly affected his face.
His eyes were weak and he had to shut himself up in the dark rooms for hours
together. He made it quite clear to Mrs Hall that he would be highly irritated
if any disturbed him in his work. Mrs. Hall sympathized with him. But the
stranger did not allow her to question him any further or sympathize with him.
Mr. Henfrey warned
by the visitor:
Mr. Henfrey began
his work even as the visitor remained standing in front of the fire, glaring.
He tried deliberately to work slowly with the lamp close to him. His plan was
to delay his departure in order to start a conversation with the visitor. But
the conversation turned out to be difficult as the visitor stood perfectly
silent and still. It annoyed Mr. Henfrey. He felt alone. At one
time, they remained staring at each other. Mr. Henfrey’s final attempt to start
the conversation was cut short by the angry guest. He bluntly told him he was
wasting his time without attending the simple job of fixing the hour-hand on
its axle. Mr. Henfrey quickly finished the work and left the room. He felt
insulted and cursed the strange visitor. He was convinced that the strange
visitor to the inn must have been wearing bandages to escape from the
police.
Henfrey’s warning
to Hall:
He met Hall at
Gleeson’s corner. We are told that the Halls were recently married. While Mrs.
Hall looked after the inn, Hall drove the Iping conveyance whenever people
required it to Sidderbridge Junction. He was returning from there when Mr.
Henfrey met him. Mr. Henfrey told him that he had got a strange customer at the
inn. Hall pulled up his coach immediately and Mr. Henfrey gave him a detailed
account of the visitor. He warned him that the guest was a criminal in
disguise. He expressed his dismay at the visitor not giving his name when he hired
the room. He opined that women trust strangers easily. Hall assured him that he
would take care of it and drove to the inn.
Hall’s failure to
alert his wife and his hapless position:
Mrs. Hall
reprimanded her husband for spending much time at Sidderbridge. Hall tried to
enquire about the stranger. But Mrs. Hall answered his queries briefly and
angrily. But Teddy had sown the seeds of suspicion in Hall’s mind. When the
stranger retired to bed at half-past nine, Hall strode into the parlour and
inspected his wife’s furniture as if to show the stranger that he was the boss
at the inn. He discovered a sheet of mathematical calculations that the
stranger had left behind and examined it closely. He advised his wife to
examine the stranger’s luggage when it arrived. She promptly asked him to mind
his business.
Comments:
We understand that
Mrs. Hall was feeling uncomfortable to enter the strange visitor’s room. The
arrival of Mr. Teddy Henfrey relieved her. Her visit to the room just before
his visit gives her the first shock. She felt dazzled at the sight of an
enormous mouth momentarily. She thought the shadows in the room might have
tricked her. The stranger’s appearance also shocked Mr. Teddy Henfrey. The
visitor was willing to let the clock mended but would not have tea till the
clock-jobber finished his work and left. He obviously did not like anybody’s
company while eating and drinking. The conversation about his reason for coming
to Iping and the bandages covering his face, etc. takes place in the presence
of Mr Henfrey but he did not interfere in the conversation. His effort to delay
his repair and start a conversation were obvious to the stranger. He told him
bluntly to finish his simple job and leave the room. The clock-jobber felt
insulted. He suspected that he must have been a criminal on the run. He sowed
the seeds of suspicion in Hall. We also learn that Mrs Hall relied more on her
judgement than on the advice of her husband. She did not spare him for being
late. She was very assertive than her husband. Hall fails to make a good
impression on the readers. He might not be playing an important role in the
events that would happen later at the inn.
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