‘For the defence?’ he asked calmly.

‘For the defence.’

‘Well,’ said Dr Natouche, ‘I daresay I should be obliged to qualify it under cross-examination. While I am about it, may I give you another opinion? I think your wife would be better away from the Zodiac. She has had a most unpleasant shock, she is subject to migraine and I think she is finding the prospect of staying in the ship a little hard to face.’

‘No, no,’ Troy said. ‘Not at all. Not now.’

‘You mean not now your husband is here. Of course. But I think he will be very much occupied. You must forgive me for my persistence but—why not a room at the inn in Ramsdyke? Or even in Norminster? It is not far.’

‘I couldn’t agree more,’ Alleyn said, ‘but there are difficulties. If my wife is given leave—’

‘Some of us may also demand it? If you will allow me I’ll suggest that she should go immediately and I’ll say that as her medical adviser, I insisted.’

‘Rory—would it be easier? It would, wouldn’t it? For you? For both of us?’

‘Yes, darling, it would.’

‘Well, then?’

She saw Alleyn give Natouche one utterly non-committal look of which the doctor appeared to be perfectly unaware. ‘I think you are right,’ Alleyn said. ‘I have been in two minds about it but I think you are right. How far is it by road to Norminster?’

‘Six miles and three-eighths,’ Natouche said.

‘How very well-informed!’

‘Dr Natouche is a map-maker,’ Troy said. ‘You must see what he’s doing.’

‘Love to,’ Alleyn agreed politely. ‘Where did you stay in Norminster, Troy? The Percy, was it?’

‘Yes.’

‘All right?’

‘Perfectly.’

‘I’ll ring it up from the lockhouse. If they’ve got a room I’ll send for a taxi. We’ll obey doctor’s orders.’

‘All right. But—’

‘What?’

‘I’ll feel as if I’m ratting. So will they.’

‘Let them.’

‘All right.’

‘Would you go down and pack, then?’

‘Yes. All right.’ They could say nothing to each other, Troy thought, but ‘all right’.

She went down to her cabin.

Natouche said: ‘I hope you didn’t mind my making this suggestion. Your wife commands an unusual degree of self-discipline, I think, but she really has had as much as she should be asked to take. I may say that some of the passengers would not be inclined to make matters any easier for her if she stayed.’

‘No?’

‘They are, I think, a little suspicious of the lost fur.’

‘I can’t blame them,’ Alleyn said dryly.