The most noticeable thing about Richard Dakers was his agitation. He was pale, his face was drawn and his hands were unsteady. During the complete silence that followed Bertie’s ejaculation, Richard stood where he was, his gaze fixed with extraordinary concentration upon Colonel Warrender. Warrender, in his turn, looked at him with, as far as his soldierly blueprint of a face could express anything, the same kind of startled attention. In a crazy sort of way, each might have been the reflection of the other.

Warrender said: ‘Can I have a word with you, old boy? Shall we – ?’

‘No!’ Richard said quickly, and then: ‘I’m sorry. I don’t understand. What’s that damned bobby doing in the hall? What’s happened? Where’s everybody? Where’s Mary?’

Alleyn said: ‘One moment,’ and went to him. ‘You’re Mr Richard Dakers, aren’t you? I’m from Scotland Yard – Alleyn.… At the moment I’m in charge of a police inquiry here. Shall we find somewhere where 1 can tell you why?’

‘I’ll tell him,’ Warrender said.

‘I think not,’ Alleyn rejoined and opened the door.

‘Come along,’ he said and looked at the others. ‘You will stay here, if you please.’

Richard put his hand to his head. ‘Yes. All right. But – why?’ Perhaps out of force of habit he turned to Timon Gantry. ‘Timmy?’ he said. ‘What is this?’

Gantry said: ‘We must accept authority, Dicky. Go with him.’

Richard stared at him in amazement and walked out of the room, followed by Alleyn, and Fox.

‘In here, shall we?’ Alleyn suggested and led the way into the deserted drawing-room.

There, he told Richard, as briefly as possible and without emphasis, what had happened. Richard listened distractedly, making no interruption but once or twice wiping his hand over his face as if a cobweb lay across it. When Alleyn had finished he said haltingly: ‘Mary? It’s happened to Mary? How can I possibly believe it?’

‘It is hard, isn’t it?’

‘But – how ? How did it happen? With the plant spray?’

‘It seems so.’

‘But she’s used it over and over again. For a long time. Why did it happen now?’ He had the air, often observable in people who have suffered a shock, of picking over the surface of the matter and distractedly examining the first thing he came upon. ‘Why now?’ he repeated and appeared scarcely to attend to the answer.

‘That’s one of the things we’ve got to find out.’

‘Of course,’ Richard said, more, it seemed, to himself than to Alleyn, ‘it is dangerous. We were always telling her.’ He shook his head impatiently. ‘But – I don’t see – she went to her room just after the speeches and –’

‘Did she? How do you know?’