`And you didn't?'
`I sort of hinted, that's all, at the breakfast table. 1 asked them if they knew why Phil was going to the Tower of London at one o'clock, and they didn't know, and of course I obeyed Bob and didn't say anything more….'
`I fancy that should be sufficient,' said Hadley. `Was any comment made?'
`Comment?' the girl repeated, doubtfully. `N — no; they just talked a bit, and joked.'
`Who was at the table?'
`Just Daddy, and Uncle Lester and that horrible man who's been stopping with us; the one who rushed out this afternoon without saying a word to anybody.'
`Was Mrs Bitton at the table?'
`Laura? Oh! Oh no. She, didn't come down. She wasn't feeling well, and, anyway, I don't blame her, because she and Uncle Lester must have been up all last night, talking; I heard them, and. ’
`But surely Miss. Bitton, something must have been said at the breakfast table?'
`No, Mr Hadley. Truly. Of course I don't like being at the table when just Daddy and that horrible Mr Arbor are there, because mostly.I can't understand what they're talking about, books and things like that, and jokes I don't think funny. Or else the talk gets horrid, like the night when Phil told Uncle Lester he wanted to die in a top-hat. But I there wasn't anything important that I heard. Of course, Uncle Lester did say he was going to see Phil to-day…. But there wasn't anything important. Really.'