Pettifer took a chair and sat for a few moments with his forehead wrinkled in a frown. Was he really trying to remember? His wife asked herself that question as she watched him. Or had he something to tell them which he meant to let fall in his own cautiously careless way? Mrs. Pettifer listened alertly.
"The—well—let us call it the catastrophe—took place in a tent in some state of Rajputana."
"Yes," said Mr. Hazlewood.
"It took place at night. Mrs. Ballantyne was asleep in her bed. The man
Ballantyne was found outside the tent in the doorway."
"Yes."
Pettifer paused. "So many law cases have engaged my attention since," he said in apology for his hesitation. He seemed quite at a loss. Then he went on:
"Wait a moment! A man had been dining with them at night—oh yes, I begin to remember."
Harold Hazlewood made a tiny movement and would have spoken, but Margaret held out a hand towards him swiftly.
"Yes, a man called Thresk," said Pettifer, and again he was silent.
"Well," asked Hazlewood.