Jefferson showed where the paper was lying, and the inspector picked it up. Roger edged farther into the room. The presence of himself and Alec had not been challenged, and he wished to establish his right to be there. Furthermore, he was uncommonly curious to hear the inspector’s views on the somewhat remarkable document he was now studying.
The inspector looked up. “H’m!” he observed noncommittally, laying the paper on the table again. “To the point, at any rate. Was Mr. Stanworth in the habit of using a typewriter instead of pen and ink?”
“Just the point I mentioned, Inspector,” Roger broke in.
“Indeed, sir?” said the inspector politely. He turned to Jefferson. “Do you happen to know, Major Jefferson?”
“Yes, I think he was,” Jefferson said thoughtfully. “He certainly always wrote his letters on it. I fancy he used it a good deal.”
“But to sit down and type a thing like that!” Roger exclaimed. “It seems so unnecessary somehow.”
“And what do you make of it then, Mr. Sheringham?” the inspector asked with tolerant interest.
“I should say it showed a cold-blooded deliberation that proves Mr. Stanworth to have been a very exceptional man,” Roger replied quickly.
The inspector smiled faintly. “I see you’re more used to considering characters than actions,” he said. “Now I should have said that a more ordinary explanation might be that Mr. Stanworth, having already something else to type on the machine, slipped in a piece of paper and did that at the same time.”
“Oh!” Roger remarked, somewhat nonplussed. “Yes, I never thought of that.”