He walked forward very slowly and sat down in front of Alleyn. ‘You can’t think that sort of thing about me,’ he said and sounded as if he was moved more by astonishment than by any other emotion. ‘My God, look at me. I’m so hopelessly harmless. I’m not vicious. I’m not even odd. I’m just harmless.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me at once that you noticed the smell of gas?’

‘Because, as I’ve tried to suggest, I’m no good at this sort of thing. The doctor got me all upset and in any case the whole show was so unspeakable.’ He stared at Alleyn and, as if that explained everything, said: ‘I saw him. I saw him when they carried him out. I’ve never been much good about dead people. In the blitz I sort of managed but I never got used to it.’

‘Was the smell of gas very strong in your room?’

‘No. Not strong at all. But in this theatre—we were all thinking about that other time and I just thought it was too bad of the management to have anything faulty in the system considering the history of the place. I don’t know that I thought anything more than that: I smelt it and remembered, and got a spasm of the horrors. Then I felt angry at being given a shock and then I turned my fire off and went out. It was rather like not looking at the new moon through glass. You don’t really believe it can do anything but you avoid it. I forgot all about the gas as soon as I got on-stage. I didn’t give it another thought until I smelt it again during the doctor’s speech.’

‘Yes, I see.’

‘You do, really, don’t you? After all, suppose I—suppose I had thought I’d copy that other awful thing: well, I’d scarcely be fool enough to leave my fingerprints on the tap, would I?’

‘But you tell me,’ Alleyn said, not making too much of it, ‘that you don’t know anything about fingerprints.’

‘God!’ Parry whispered, staring at him, ‘you do frighten me. It’s not fair. You frighten me.’

‘Believe me, there’s no need for an innocent man to be frightened.’

‘How can you be so sure of yourselves? Do you never make mistakes?’

‘We do indeed. But not,’ Alleyn said, ‘in the end. Not nowadays on these sorts of cases.’

‘What do you mean these sort of cases!’

‘Why, I mean on what may turn out to be a capital charge.’

‘I can’t believe it!’ Parry cried out. ‘I shall never believe it. We’re not like that. We’re kind, rather simple people. We wear our hearts on our sleeves. We’re not complicated enough to kill each other.’