‘Not Miss Orrincourt, however.’

‘She’d see to that,’ said Troy with conviction.

She was, he saw, immensely taken up with this news, and at intervals during the evening returned to the Ancreds and their fresh dilemma. ‘What will Cedric do, can you imagine? Probably the entail is hopelessly below the cost of keeping up Katzenjammer Castle. That’s what he called it, you know. Perhaps he’ll give it to the Nation. Then they could hang my portrait in its alloted place, chequered all over with coloured lights and everybody would be satisfied. How the Orrincourt will gloat.’

Troy’s voice faded on a note of uncertainty. Alleyn saw her hands move nervously together. She caught his eye and turned away. ‘Let’s not talk about the poor Ancreds,’ she said.

‘What are you munching over in the back of your mind?’ he asked uneasily.

‘It’s nothing,’ she said quickly. He waited, and after a moment she came to him. ‘It’s only that I’d like you to tell me: Suppose you’d heard from somebody else, or read, about the Ancreds and all the unaccountable odds and ends—what would you think? I mean—’ Troy frowned and looked at her clasped hands. ‘Doesn’t it sound rather horribly like the beginning of a chapter in Famous Trials?’

‘Are you really worried about this?’ he said after a pause.

‘Oddly enough,’ said Troy, ‘I am.’

Alleyn got up and stood with his back turned to her. When he spoke again his voice had changed.

‘Well,’ he said, ‘we’d better tackle it, then.’

‘What’s the matter?’ he heard Troy saying doubtfully. ‘What’s happened?’

‘Something quite ridiculous and we’ll get rid of it. A fetish I nurse. I’ve never fancied coming home and having a nice cosy chat about the current homicide with my wife. I’ve never talked about such cases when they did crop up.’

‘I wouldn’t have minded, Rory.’

‘It’s a kind of fastidiousness. No, that’s praising it. It’s illogical and indefensible. If my job’s not fit for you, it shouldn’t be my job.’

‘You’re being too fancy. I’ve got over my squeamishness.’

‘I didn’t want you to get over it,’ he said. ‘I tell you I’m a fool about this.’

She said the phrase he had hoped to hear. ‘Then do you think there’s something in it—about the Ancreds?’