'And that's when I got the idea,' Dalrye nodded — absently. `I was pretty desperate, you see. They were after me, and it would have come out, within a week. So I told Phil over the telephone to hang on to that manuscript; not to stir until I found him a plan and to go round to the house Sunday night and find out what he could before he acted. And in the meantime… ' He sat back in his chair. `I knew where Arbor was, over the week-end. I'd been out with Sheila Saturday night, and so of course I knew. I wouldn't have dared phone him if he'd been in this house…'
`You phoned Arbor?'
`Uh. Didn't he tell you? I was afraid he had recognized the voice, and I was panicky tonight when I heard he was coming in….'
Hadley stared sharply at Dr Fell. `What did Arbor mean, then? I thought you told me he said he was sure it was Driscoll…?'
`He did,' said the doctor. `But I'm afraid you didn't pay close enough attention to what Miss Bitton said to-night, Hadley. Don't you remember her telling us about how, Driscoll had played jokes on her, by telephoning and telling her he was Dalrye here; and she believed it? You've' got a voice very much like Driscoll's, haven't you, my boy?'
`If I hadn't had,' muttered the other, `I couldn't have put this thing over. I'm no actor, you know. But if he could imitate me, then I could imitate him, and talk to Parker on the telephone to change the appointment and send myself up to his flat.'
`Hold on!' snapped Hadley. `This is getting ahead of me. 'You say that first you phoned Arbor and offered him the manuscript, when you didn't have it yet, and then… But why? Why did you want to steal it?'
Dalrye drained his glass. `I had to have twelve hundred pounds,' he said, evenly.
Leaning back in his chair, he stared at the fire.
`Let me tell you a little about it,' he went on. `My father is a clergyman in the north of England, and I'm the youngest of five sons. I got an education, but I had to work for my scholarships, because I wasn't one of those tremendously bright chaps. If 'I had anything, it was imagination, and I wanted — some day — and this is funny… no, I won't tell you what I wanted. It was something I wanted to write. But imagination doesn't help you in passing examinations, and it wasn't easy going to keep at the top. I'd been doing some research work on the Tower of London, and I happened to meet General Mason. He liked me, and I liked him, and he asked me to become his secretary.