‘You can do that, if you wish, but I won’t. My mother is far too ill to be told the truth but it’s one I’ll never forget. Obituaries will praise my father to the skies,’ he said, ‘and omit the embarrassing fact that he was shot dead while hoping to ogle a beautiful actress as she left the theatre. The Radical Dandy was a disgrace,’ he went on with vehemence. ‘When he was away from home, he rarely slept alone and took advantage of an unknown number of women. I know this because I had suspected it for some time and hired someone to follow him to London. The report I received shook me rigid. My father, whom I’d loved and respected, turned out to be nothing more than an incorrigible lecher.’

‘He loved female company, that’s all,’ said Oxley.

Mellanby was fuming. ‘Don’t you dare try to excuse him,’ he snarled. ‘He was a monster. That’s why I was so determined to stop Peter Skillen from prying into his life. I know the hideous truth about my father and wanted to keep it to myself. Let the world remember him as a resolute politician that he became. I know, to my cost, what his true measure was.’

Chevy Ruddock arrived at the Peacock to find a pleasant surprise awaiting him. Alfred Hale was there alone for once. The younger man seized his opportunity to win him over.

‘You believe what I told you yesterday, don’t you?’ he asked.

‘I’m afraid not, Chevy.’

‘At least you had the kindness to hear me out. As soon as I told Mr Yeomans what I’d found out, he jumped on me as if I’d committed a crime.’

‘In a sense, that’s what you did. You raised our hopes before dashing them.’

‘I did exactly what you asked me to do, Mr Hale.’

‘We trusted you and you let us down.’

‘But I didn’t – don’t you see that? I discovered that you and Mr Yeomans had been duped by this man.’

Hale gave him a push. ‘Say that again and I’ll hit you.’

‘I meant no disrespect,’ said Ruddock. ‘We all make mistakes – even the chief magistrate. When I first joined a foot patrol, what did you keep telling me?’

‘I said that there were times when you had to act on instinct.’

‘That’s what I did. In talking to Mr Howlett, I was relying on my instinct for telling the truth from arrant lies, and I found out something that’s very important. Giles Clearwater is an impostor.’

‘And which Giles Clearwater are you talking about?’ asked Hale, sarcastically. ‘The one in a long-forgotten play or the man Mr Yeomans and I have both met?’

‘There is only one. He stole his name from The Provok’d Husband.’

‘That’s only wild guesswork, Chevy.’

‘My instinct tells me that I’m right.’