WHEN ALLEYN OPENED the door to Evelyn Carrados, he saw her as a dark still figure against the lighted street. Her face was completely shadowed and it was impossible for him to glean anything from it. So that when she walked into the sitting-room he was not prepared for her extraordinary pallor, her haunted eyes and the drawn nervousness of her mouth. He remembered that she had gone to her room before she missed Bridget, and he realized with compassion that she had removed her complexion and neglected to replace it. Perhaps Bridget felt something of the same compassion, for she uttered a little cry and ran to her mother. Lady Carrados, using that painful gesture of all distracted mothers, held Bridget in her arms. Her thin hands were extraordinarily expressive.

‘Darling,’ she murmured. With a sort of hurried intensity she kissed Bridget’s hair. ‘How could you frighten me like this, Bridgie, how could you?’

‘I thought you wouldn’t know. Donna, don’t. It’s all right, really it is. It was only about Donald. I didn’t want to worry you. I’m so sorry, dear Donna.’ Lady Carrados gently disengaged herself and turned to Alleyn.

‘Come and sit down, Evelyn,’ he said. ‘There’s nothing to worry about. I would have brought your daughter home, but she had some interesting news and I thought you would trust her with me for half an hour.’

‘Yes, Roderick, of course. If only I had known. Where’s Donald? I thought he was here.’

‘He’s in the next room. Shall we send Bridget to join him for a minute or two?’

‘Please.’

‘Don’t interrupt him,’ said Alleyn as Bridget went out.

‘All right.’

The door closed behind her.

Alleyn said: ‘Do you ever drink brandy, Evelyn?’

‘Never, why?’

‘You’re going to do so now. You’re quite done up. Warm your hands at my fire while I get it for you.’

He actually persuaded her to drink a little brandy, and laughed at her convulsive shudder.

‘Now then,’ he said, ‘there’s no need for you to fuss about Bridget. She’s been, on the whole, a very sensible young person and her only fault is in giving a commonplace visit the air of a secret elopement.’

‘My nerves have gone, I think. I began to imagine all sorts of horrible things. I even wondered if she suspected Donald of this crime.’

‘She is, on the contrary, absolutely assured of Donald’s innocence.’

‘Then why did she do this?’

‘I’d better tell you the whole story. The truth is, Evelyn, they were longing for each other’s bright eyes. Bridget wanted to convince me of Donald’s innocence. She also wanted him to tell me this and that about a third person who doesn’t matter at the moment. They met, most reprehensibly, at the Matador.’