He smiled apologetically and took the tip of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. ‘I saw,’ he said, ‘that the clod of displaced earth, or solidified mud as I believe it to be, had split away from the iron flag standard. I could see the groove made by the standard in the broken section of the bank. The heel marks made by the famous nailed boot were immediately behind it, as well as on the clod itself. These suggested a possibility that the heel stabs had been used with the object of loosening the standard rather than dislodging the clod. If one kicked at such a standard in the dark one would make a few dud shots. The standard itself lay a little distance away from the clod. They had both fallen on a narrow shelf of firm ground at the edge of the cauldron.

‘Both flag and path were intact when we went to the concert. Of the returning party nobody remembers seeing the flag but, on the other hand, nobody remembers seeing the gap in the path. But Colonel Claire, who was the last to go through before the tragedy, tells us he fell when he reached the top of the mound.’

‘Eh?’ said the Colonel with one of his galvanic starts. ‘Fell? Yes. Yes, I fell.’

‘Is it possible, Colonel, that you trod on the clod already loosened by the removal of the flag and that it gave way beneath you, causing you to stumble forward?’

‘Wait a bit,’ said the Colonel. ‘Let’s think.’

‘While Edward is lost in contemplation,’ said Dr Ackrington, ‘I should like to point out to you, Falls, that if your theory was correct, the flag was removed after we had entered the hall.’

‘Yes.’

‘And it was intended, originally, that we should all crowd into Gaunt’s car for the return journey.’

‘A point well taken,’ said Mr Falls.

‘And then the half-caste fellow left the hall during the performance.’

‘Returning in time to hear Mr Gaunt’s masterly presentation of the Saint Crispin’s Eve speech.’

‘The speech before Agincourt, wasn’t it?’

‘We shall see. Yes, Colonel?’

The Colonel had opened his eyes, and relaxed his moustache. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘That’s what it was. Astonishin’ I didn’t think of it before. The ground gave way. By George, I might have gone over, you know. What?’