‘Every guest! Every guest! But, damn it, sir, the man was murdered in a bloody cab, not a bloody ballroom. Some filthy bolshevistic fascist,’ shouted the General, having a good deal of difficulty with this strange collection of sibilants. He slightly dislodged his upper plate but impatiently champed it back into position. ‘They’re all alike!’ he added confusedly. ‘The whole damn boiling.’

Alleyn hunted for a suitable phrase in a language that General Halcut-Hackett would understand. He glanced at Fox who was staring solemnly at the General over the top of his spectacles.

‘I’m sure you’ll realize, sir,’ said Alleyn, ‘that we are simply obeying orders.’

‘What!’

‘That’s done it,’ thought Alleyn.

‘Orders! I can toe the line as well as the next fellow,’ said the General, and Alleyn, remembering Carrados had used the same phrase, reflected that in this instance it was probably true. The General, he saw, was preparing to toe the line.

‘I apologize,’ said the General. ‘Lost me temper. Always doing it nowadays. Indigestion.’

‘It’s enough to make anybody lose their temper, sir.’

‘Well,’ said the General, ‘you’ve kept yours. Come on, then.’

‘It’s just a statement, sir, that you didn’t go out again after you got back here and, if possible, someone to support the statement.’

Once again the General looked strangely embarrassed.

‘I can’t give you a witness,’ he said. ‘Nobody saw me go to bed.’

‘I see. Well then, sir, if you’ll just give me your word that you didn’t go out again.’

‘But, damme, I did take a—take a—take a turn round the Square before I went to bed. Always do.’

‘What time was this?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You can’t give me an idea? Was it long after you got home?’

‘Some time. I saw the child to her room and stirred up my wife’s maid to look after her. Then I came down here and got myself a drink. I read for a bit. I dare say I dozed for a bit. Couldn’t make up my mind to turn in.’

‘You didn’t glance at the clock on the mantelpiece there?’

Again the General became acutely self-conscious.

‘I may have done so. I fancy I did. Matter of fact, I remember now I did doze off and woke with a bit of a start. The fire had gone out. It was devilish chilly.’ He glared at Alleyn and then said abruptly: ‘I felt wretchedly down in the mouth. I’m getting an old fellow nowadays and I don’t enjoy the small hours. As you say, I looked at the clock. It was half-past two. I sat there in this chair trying to make up my mind to go to bed. Couldn’t. So I took a walk round the Square.’