‘About Pilgrim? Oh, he said that he thought Valmai would find Pilgrim a very boring companion. He was rather ridiculous and said that she would soon grow tired of Pilgrim’s good looks. I told him that it was much more likely that she would tire of Pilgrim’s virtue. Women dislike virtue in a husband almost as much as they enjoy infidelity.’

‘Good Lord!’ thought Alleyn. ‘He is late Victorian. This is Wilde and Water.’

‘And then?’ he said aloud.

‘And then he said that Basil Pilgrim was not as virtuous as I thought. I said that I had not thought about it at all. “The superficial observer,” I told him, “is the only observer who ever lights upon a profound truth.” Don’t you agree with me, Mr Alleyn?’

‘Being a policeman, I am afraid I don’t. Did you pursue this topic?’

‘No. I did not find it sufficiently entertaining. Garcia then invited me to speculate upon the chances of Seacliff’s virtue saying that he could astonish me on that subject if he had a mind to. I assured him that I was unable to fall into an ecstasy of wonderment on the upshot of what was, as I believe racing enthusiasts would say, a fiftyfifty chance. I found Garcia quite, quite tedious and pedestrian on the subject of Seacliff. He is very much attracted by Seacliff, and men are always more amusing when they praise women they dislike than when they abuse the women to whom they are passionately attracted. I therefore changed the topic of conversation.’

‘To Sonia Gluck?’

‘That would be quite brilliant of you, Inspector, if I had not mentioned previously that we spoke of Sonia Gluck.’

‘That is almost the only feature of our previous conversation that I do remember, Mr Malmsley. You told us that Garcia asked you if—’ Alleyn consulted his notebook—‘if you had ever felt like murdering your mistress just for the horror of doing it. How did you reply?’

‘I replied that I had never been long enough attached to a woman for her to claim the title of my mistress. There is something dreadfully permanent in the sound of those two sibilants. However, the theme was a pleasant one and we embroidered it at our leisure. Garcia strolled across to my table and looked at my drawing. ‘It wouldn’t be worth it,’ he said. I disagreed with him. One exquisite pang of horror! “One has not experienced the full gamut of nervous luxury,” I said, “until one has taken a life.” He began to laugh and returned to his work.’

‘Is he at all insane, do you think?’

‘Insane? My dear Inspector, who can define the borders of abnormality?’

‘That is quite true,’ said Alleyn patiently. ‘Would you say that Mr Garcia is far from being abnormal?’

‘Perhaps not.’

‘Is he in the habit of taking drugs, do you know?’