“Just what do you mean?”
“Well, he made them presents, or promised them presents,—he’s terribly rich,—and each of those girls was afraid somebody else would get more than she did. So, they squabbled quite a lot.”
“Sir Herbert was good natured?”
“Yep; he just laughed and let ’em fight it out among themselves.”
“Now, look here, did any of those four girls get angry enough to wish Sir Herbert any harm?”
“Did they? Why, I heard Babe Russell say she was going to kill him, and Viola Mersereau, she said, if she was sure it would never be discovered, she’d shoot him herself.”
“Are you sure of these things? Because—somebody did kill Sir Herbert Binney about two o’clock this morning.”
“What! Who did it?”
“We don’t know, but we’ve reason to suspect women.”
“That’s the bunch, then! Lord, I didn’t think they’d go so far as that! But that Viola is a ring-leader,—she’s a vamp, if there ever was one! And little Russell! Well, she’s soft and babyish looking but she’s got the temper of a wildcat! And they were out for the goods, those young she’s! They’re all straight, you know, but they’re just little greedies. And that man was their natural prey. Why, they could get anything out of him! Not pearl necklaces and diamonds,—I don’t mean that,—but fans and vanity-cases and silk stockings and lockets and such trifles. Not trifles in the aggregate, though. That man must have spent a good big roll on ’em last night.”