“Yes.”

“Experience of character, human nature, and so forth?”

“Yes.”

“Is it not a fact, Dr Ingelow, that one of your daughters met with a narrow escape from drowning some time ago? Was cut off by the tide?”

“That is so.”

“When did this occur?”

“About two years and a half ago.”

“Was it anywhere near the time of Hubert Dorrien’s disappearance?”

“It was.”

“Before or after?”