“‘The Coroner: I understand you were personally acquainted with the deceased?

“‘Nurse Harden: Yes.’”

Alleyn laid down the report.

“That’s the incident,” he said. “It’s all perfectly natural, but I smelt high tension among the expert witnesses, whenever it was mentioned.”

He waited for a moment and then said slowly:

“That incident would never have come out if it hadn’t been for Thoms.”

“I noticed that, sir. Mr. Thoms let it out during his evidence and then looked as if he wished he hadn’t.”

“Yes,” said Alleyn dryly.

Fox eyed him cautiously and then went on:

“That girl must have been in a pretty good fatigue—in the light of what we know, I mean. There was this man to whom she’d been writing—the man she’d gone off with, as far as we can tell. She’d reckoned on some sort of permanent understanding, anyway, according to her letter, and when there was nothing doing she’d said she’d like to kill him and—there he was.”

“Very dramatic,” said Alleyn. “The same line of chat, with a difference, may be applied to Sir John Phillips.”

“That’s so,” admitted Fox. “They may have been in collusion.”

“I’m entirely against any sort of speculation until we get the analyst’s report, Fox. I have not interviewed any of these people. As you know, I thought it best to start no hares before the inquest. I wanted the inquest to be as colourless as possible. The post-mortem may be a wash-out, in which case we’ll want to fade away with the minimum amount of publicity.”

“That’s right,” said Fox heavily.

“We’re only noting any points of interest in the evidence that may come in handy for future reference. Exhibit A—Nurse Harden and the anti-gas. Exhibit B—curious behaviour of Nurse Banks while giving evidence. The woman closely resembled a chestnut on the hob. She might have spontaneously combusted at any moment. However, she didn’t, more’s the pity perhaps, but I think she managed to fill the minds of the jury with strange surmises. It struck me that she hadn’t exactly hero-worshipped the late Home Secretary. There was more than a suspicion of a snort in her references to him.”

“Bolshie-minded, perhaps,” ruminated Fox.

“Dare say. She looks like that.”

“He may have carried on with her too.”

“Oh, Fox! She does not look like that.”

“People take very strange fancies sometimes, sir.”

“How trite that is. No speculations, Foxkin.”

“All right, sir, all right. What about Exhibit C?”

“Exhibit C. In re above. Heavy restraint of the matron, Sister Marigold, when Banks was mentioned. Marigold seemed to me to seethe with suppressed information. ‘Wild horses wouldn’t get me to tell, but, my oath, if wild horses could—?’”

“And Sir John himself?”