‘And did you agree with him?’ asked Webley, raising his florid face for a moment to look at Dikon.

‘At first I considered them fantastic.’

‘But you got round to thinking there might be something in it? Did you?’

‘I suppose so,’ said Dikon, and then, ashamed of answering so guardedly, he said firmly: ‘Yes, I did. It seems to me to be inescapable.’

‘Is that so?’ said Webley. ‘Thank you very very much, Mr Bell. We won’t trouble you any more just now.’

Dikon thought: ‘I seem to be forever getting my congé.’ He said to the Colonel: ‘I really came to tell you, sir, that Mr Gaunt has been very much upset by this appalling business and thinks he would like to get away, for a time at least. He’s most anxious that you should know how much he appreciates all the kindness and consideration that he has been shown and…and,’ Dikon stammered, ‘and I hope that after a little while we may return. I’m so sorry to bother you now but if I might settle up…?’

‘Yes, yes, of course,’ said the Colonel with obvious relief. ‘Quite understandable. Sorry it’s happened like this.’

‘So are we,’ said Dikon. ‘Enormously. I’ll come back a little later, shall I? We’ll be leaving at about eleven.’ He backed away to the door.

‘Just a minute, Mr Bell.’

Webley had been stolidly conning over his notes, and Dikon, in his embarrassment, had almost forgotten him. He now rose to his feet, a swarthy official in an ugly suit. ‘You were thinking of leaving this morning, were you, Mr Bell?’

‘Yes,’ said Dikon. ‘This morning.’

‘You and Mr Geoffrey Gaunt and Mr Gaunt’s personal vally?’ He wetted his thumb and turned a page of his notebook. That’d be Mr Alfred Colly, won’t it?’

‘Yes.’

‘Yes. Well, now, we’ll be very sorry to upset your arrangements, Mr Bell, but I’m just afraid we’ll have to ask you to stay on a bit longer. Until we’ve cleared up this little mystery, shall we say?’

With a sense of plunging downwards in a lift that was out of control, Dikon said: ‘But I’ve told you everything I know, and Mr Gaunt had nothing whatever to do with the affair. I mean he was nowhere near. I mean…’

‘Nowhere near, eh?’ Webley repeated. ‘Is that so? Yes. He didn’t drive home in his car, did he? Which way did Mr Gaunt go home, Mr Bell?’

And now Dikon was back in the meeting house, and Gaunt, shaking with rage, was pushing his way along the side aisles as if propelled by an intolerable urge. He was engulfed in a crowd of people who stared curiously at him. He showed for a moment in the doorway and was gone.

Dikon was recalled by Webley’s voice. ‘I was asking which way Mr Gaunt went home from the concert, Mr Bell.’