‘There’s no need to shout, Edmund,’ said his brother. ‘You haven’t been properly introduced to our visitor yet. Why don’t you put your things down and take a seat? You’ve just ridden the best part of ten miles to get here.’

‘Where’s Mother?’

‘She’s taken to her bed. Our dear sister is with her.’

‘How are they coping with the news?’

‘To be frank, they’re not. Mother is distraught.’

‘Then your place is beside her, David. Since you took the ill-conceived decision to become a shepherd, why aren’t you offering succour to the most important member of your flock?’

David flushed. ‘I find that remark in the worst possible taste, Edmund.’

‘Mother needs you.’

‘The thing she needs even more is to hear of the arrest of the killer. That’s why I’m so anxious to help Mr Skillen in his search. The villain must be caught.’

‘There are at least three people involved,’ said Peter. ‘The assassin had an accomplice and, almost certainly, both were hired by a third person. It’s not impossible, however, that we’re dealing with a wider conspiracy. That’s why I came here.’

Oxley clicked his tongue. ‘I’ve tried to explain to Mr Skillen that Sir Roger is viewed with the utmost respect in this part of the country. Nobody here would dare to harm him.’

‘Quite right,’ said Edmund.

‘He may have been called rude names during an election, perhaps, but he dismissed that as mindless banter. Every time he stood, he won the support of a clear majority of electors.’

‘But a vast number of people,’ Peter reminded them, ‘were not eligible to vote. Sir Roger took up their cause. That must have angered those of more traditional views. Is it not possible that one or more of them objected to the way that his oratory was stirring up the local population?’

Edmund Mellanby walked across to Peter and loomed over him.

‘Who are you, Mr Skillen?’

‘I’m here in order to solve this heinous crime.’

‘Who sent you?’

‘I came of my own volition.’

‘Do you have any credentials?’

‘I have a record of success in such investigations.’

‘He’s prying into the family’s private affairs,’ complained Oxley. ‘He wants to know everything about Mellanby Hall except how often the bed sheets are changed. It is damnably intrusive.’

‘I disagree,’ said David. ‘Mr Skillen has asked some pertinent questions.’

‘But does he have the right to do so?’ asked his brother.

‘Yes, Edmund – I granted him that right.’

‘He did so in defiance of my advice,’ said Oxley. ‘Skillen is an intruder.’

‘I’m offering my help,’ insisted Peter.