‘Yes,’ admitted Miss Harris, shutting her eyes for a moment and opening them again to stare with something like horror at Fox’s pencil and notebook. Alleyn felt that already she saw herself being forced to answer these and worse questions shouted at her by celebrated counsel at the Old Bailey.

‘How long did you remain in this room?’ he asked.

White to the lips Miss Harris gave a rather mad little laugh. ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘oh, quayte a tayme. You know.’

‘And while you were there you heard Lord Robert telephoning in the next room?’

‘Yes, I did,’ said Miss Harris loudly with an air of defiance.

‘She’s looking at me,’ thought Alleyn, ‘exactly like a trapped rabbit.’

‘So Lord Robert probably came upstairs after you. Do you suppose the lady you had noticed was still in the green room when he began telephoning?’

No. I heard her come out and—and she—I mean she tried to—tried to—’

‘Yes, yes,’ said Alleyn, ‘quite. And went away?’

‘Definitely.’

‘And then Lord Robert began to telephone? I see. Could you hear what he said?’

‘Oh, no. He spoke in a low tone, of course. I made no attempt to listen.’

‘Of course not.’

‘I could not have heard if I had tried,’ continued Miss Harris. ‘I could only hear the tone of the voice and that was quite unmistakable.’

‘Yes?’ said Alleyn encouragingly. ‘Now,’ he thought, ‘now at last are we getting to it?’ Miss Harris did not go on, however, but sat with her mouth done up in a maddening button of conscious rectitude.

‘Did you hear the end of the conversation?’ he said at last.

‘Oh, yes! The end. Yes. At least someone came into the room. I heard Lord Robert say: “Oh, hello!” Those were the only words I did distinguish, and almost immediately I heard the telephone tinkle, so I knew he had rung off.’

‘And the other person? Was it a man?’

‘Yes. Yes, a man.’

‘Could you,’ said Alleyn in a level voice, ‘could you recognise this man?’

‘Oh, no,’ cried Miss Harris with an air of relief. ‘No indeed, Mr Alleyn, I haven’t the faintest idea. You see, after that I didn’t really hear anything at all in the next room. Nothing at all. Really.’

‘You returned to the landing?’

‘Not immediately. No.’

‘Oh!’ said Alleyn. He could think of nothing else to say. Even Fox seemed to have caught the infection of extreme embarrassment. He cleared his throat loudly. Miss Harris, astonishingly, broke into a high-pitched prattle, keeping her eyes fixed on the opposite wall and clenching and unclenching her hands.

‘No. Not for some minutes and then, of course, when I did return they had both gone. I mean when I finally returned. Of course Lord Robert went before then and—and—so that was perfectly all right. Perfectly.’

‘And the other man?’