“All very fine in theory,” said Gibbs, smiling, “but are you willing to assert that Miss Prall or—or yourself, would be capable of the murder of Sir Herbert Binney, if you had a perfect opportunity and if you considered your motive strong enough?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t have done it!” and Mrs Everett looked shocked, indeed, “but,—well, maybe I do think Letitia Prall would have done it.”
“Aided and abetted by Miss Gurney,” the detective egged her on.
“Yes; Eliza would have been not only a help but a commander,—a tyrant, even.”
“And Miss Gurney wished the old gentleman out of the way?”
“Oh, yes; as much, perhaps, as Letitia. You see, if he died just now, his fortune would be young Bates’ and the boy could go on with his chosen career, without being pestered to make buns! Moreover, Sir Herbert favored Rickey’s marriage——”
“To your daughter?”
“To anybody,—any nice young woman. My daughter is out of the question and not to be spoken of in this connection.”
Mrs Everett drew herself up in with an effect of injured dignity and looked scornfully at Gibbs.
“But you seem to eliminate the young people themselves as factors in the romance part of it all.”