If the questioning had strained her nerves, she did not show it. She was only thoughtful, like a sombre child. She said in a low voice:
"That paper I showed you the verses — we know now, don't we?"
"Yes. Directions of some kind. The heir was supposed to figure them out…:.
"But what for?" she asked, rather fiercely. "What for?"
One statement, made rather carelessly by the lawyer, had been at the back of Rampole's mind for some time. Something he had been groping for; it showed itself now, and asked a question.
"There were four keys―" he began, and glanced at her. "Yes."
"To the door of the Governor's Room. That's reasonable. To the vault, and to the box inside it; those three are natural enough. But — why a key to the iron door going out on the balcony? What would anybody need that one for? Unless those directions, rightly interpreted, would lead the person out on the balcony..:."
Back again crept the formless surmises in which Sir Benjamin had been indulging. Every indication pointed to that balcony. He was thinking of the ivy, and the stone balustrade, and the two depressions in the stone which Dr. Fell had discovered. A deathtrap….
Startled, he discovered that he had spoken aloud. He was aware of it by the quick look she turned on him, and he cursed himself for letting the words slip out. What he had said was:
"Herbert, they all say, was an inventor." "You believe that he-?"