The tone was such that Hadley spun round. It began levelly, and then gave a sort of horrible jerk. Coming out of the shadows they saw Dalrye. His eyes, as he moved them from one to the other of these men, were glazed.
`Don't say anything!' Dr Fell suddenly boomed. `For God's sake keep your mouth shut! You will think better of it — you'll…'
Dalrye put out his hand. `It's no good,' he said. His eyes fixed on Hadley.
`I wish to give myself up, sir,' he said, in a clear voice. `I killed Philip Driscoll.'
20. The Murderer Speaks
In the utter and appalled silence of that library, even thee footsteps upstairs seemed to have stopped as though they had heard him Dalrye mechanically yanked open his collar. His eyes were on the fire as he went on
`I didn't mean to kill him, you know. It was an accident. I shouldn't have attempted to conceal it afterwards; that was the mistake. I shouldn't have told you at all if it hadn't been for your suspecting Major Bitton… and then his killing himself, and your being sure he'd done it…. I couldn't stand for that. He was — a - real friend, Phil never thought about anybody but himself. But Major Bitton He fumbled at his eyes. `I've lost my glasses, and I can't see very, well without them.'
He stumbled over to the fire, sat down, and as he spread out his hands they saw he was shivering.
`You young fool,' Dr Fell said, slowly. `You've ruined everything. I've been trying to cover you all, evening, ever since I saw that girl, of yours. There wasn't any sense in your telling. You've only brought more tragedy on this house.'
Hadley straightened himself up, almost as though he were trying to recover from a blow in the face.