‘Ferriday called them an absolute necessity and sneered at those who opposed the legislation in Parliament. Needless to say, Ferriday is a wealthy landowner. He’s never going to starve and doesn’t care two hoots about those who certainly will.’

‘Did you get the impression that he might somehow be involved in what happened to Sir Roger Mellanby?’

‘I’d put nothing past him, Charlotte.’

‘Who else did you approach?’

‘It was another politician, Sir Marcus Brough. Like Ferriday, he was also a Tory but a much more reasonable one. He was prepared to talk more openly about what had happened and even had the grace to say that he was sorry to hear of Sir Roger’s death.’

‘Did you believe him?’

‘I’m not sure.’

‘That’s unusual for you, Paul.’

‘I suppose that it is. Everything Sir Marcus said had the semblance of truth yet, in retrospect, his words sound rather hollow. Ferriday, on the other hand, was a blatant liar. I shudder to think that he has a say in the government of this nation.’

‘What’s the next step?’

‘I need to find out far more about both men.’

‘How can you do that?’

‘I have an ally – a Captain Golightly. He offered to do some digging for me.’

‘I’m glad that you have at least one person on your side.’

‘He was a good friend to Sir Roger and is as keen as we are to track down those responsible for his death.’

‘Is he a politician?’

‘No, but he has a lot of acquaintances in Parliament. Golightly has already been a great help to me. It was he who put me on to Hugh Denley.’

‘Who is he?’

‘Denley is a man who unwisely challenged Sir Roger to a duel. It was an incident he didn’t wish to be reminded about because it left him with several scars and made his wife leave him.’

Paul then told her about his meeting with Denley and, later on, with the man’s wife. Charlotte was upset to learn of Sir Roger’s relationship with Kitty Denley and immediately thought of Seth Hooper.

‘I hope that he never learns about this,’ she said. ‘Mr Hooper thought of Sir Roger as a paragon. It would come as a shattering blow to him.’

‘I’m not about to disillusion him, Charlotte.’

‘Did you think that Mr Denley was a plausible suspect?’

‘Yes, and I still do. I’ll keep his name very much in mind.’

‘You’ve made a promising start, Paul – as usual.’

‘We may have a long way to go yet,’ he warned.