“It’s hard to say, Miss Prall,” the detective replied; “but if you’ll give me the benefit of your opinions I may derive help from them.”
“Opinions on what?” and the sharp old face began to show its more usual expression of asperity.
“On whether the murder of Sir Herbert was the work of Mrs Everett or not.”
“Of course it was! I don’t say Adeline Everett held the knife, but she was the instigator and commander-in-chief.”
“What makes you think so?”
“Because I know her. I know her soft, purring ways, and I know of the tiger’s claws that are inside her velvet grasp.”
“Well, it seems strange, does it not, that she says pretty much the same about you?”
“Me! Adeline Everett accuses me?”
“Yes; she says that perhaps you didn’t actually strike the blow, but that you were aided and abetted by your companion——”
“That Eliza! She wouldn’t kill a fly, and Adeline knows it!”