“Now then, Margaret,” he said briskly, when greetings were over and they were all seated once more. “Now then, it’s up to you. Anthony tells me he’s given you an account of my activities. Have you got any information for me yet?”
“You mean, about the mysterious visitor?” said the girl, wrinkling her white forehead. “No, I’m afraid I haven’t. Elsie never had a mysterious visitor at all, to my knowledge.”
“And yet you said before that you thought there was someone or something she was afraid of,” Roger mused. “That doesn’t help you?”
“I’m afraid not,” Margaret confessed. “I couldn’t say anything definite about that when you asked me before, you remember.”
“Look here,” said Anthony suddenly, “are you sure she was afraid? Not just worried? If she was just worried, you see, that chap Woodthorpe would account for it.”
“Yes, that’s a good point,” Roger approved. “Whether she had any deep game on with him or not, she’d naturally be put out by his wanting to break with her. Is that more like it, Margaret?”
“It might have been that of course,” said the girl doubtfully, “but—oh, I don’t know, but my impression certainly is that it was something stronger than just worry.”
“All the better,” Roger said cheerfully. “That confirms my theory. If it was somebody out of her past, trying in all probability to blackmail her, she certainly would show signs of fear.”
“I know!” Margaret exclaimed. “I could go through her things, couldn’t I? Letters and papers, I mean. I could easily do that, and I should think if there is anything to be found out that’s the most likely way of discovering it.”
“I should say the inspector is almost certain to have done that already,” Roger meditated. “Still, there’s no harm in your doing it too.”