‘I did. I’d gone in to see that his room was properly done. He was very particular and the maids are old and forget things. I saw it at once. Before I could wipe it away he came in. I don’t think,’ she said meditatively, ‘that I’d ever before seen him so angry. For a moment he actually thought I’d done it, and then, of course, he realized it was Panty.’

‘It was not Panty,’ Alleyn said.

He and Fox had once agreed that if, after twenty years of experience, an investigating officer has learned to recognize any one manifestation, it is that of genuine astonishment. He recognized it now in Millamant Ancred.

‘What are you suggesting?’ she said at last. ‘Do you mean—?’

‘Sir Cedric has told me he was involved in one of the other practical jokes that were played on Sir Henry, and knew about all of them. He’s responsible for this one.’

She took up her embroidery again. ‘He’s trying to shield somebody,’ she said. ‘Panty, I suppose.’

‘I think not.’

‘It was very naughty of him,’ she said in her dull voice. ‘If he played one of these jokes, and I don’t believe he did, it was naughty. But I can’t see—I may be very stupid, but I can’t see why you, Mr Alleyn, should concern yourself with any of these rather foolish tricks.’

‘Believe me, we shouldn’t do so if we thought they were irrelevant.’

‘No doubt,’ she said, and after a pause, ‘you’ve been influenced by your wife. She would have it that Panty was all innocence.’

‘I’m influenced,’ Alleyn said, ‘by what Sir Cedric and Miss Orrincourt have told me.’

She turned to look at him, moving her torso stiffly. For the first time her alarm, if she felt alarm, coloured her voice. ‘Cedric? And that woman? Why do you speak of them together like that?’

‘It appears that they planned the practical jokes together.’

‘I don’t believe it. She’s told you that. I can see it now,’ said Millamant on a rising note. ‘I’ve been a fool.’

‘What can you see, Mrs Ancred?’

‘She planned it all. Of course she did. She knew Panty was his favourite. She planned it, and when he’d altered the Will she killed him. She’s trying to drag my boy down with her. I’ve watched her. She’s a diabolical, scheming woman, and she’s trying to entrap my boy. He’s generous and unsuspecting and kind. He’s been too kind. He’s at her mercy,’ Millamant cried sharply and twisted her hands together.