"I think so," rejoined Audrey, slowly. "Because I am afraid."
"Afraid of what?"
"That I may find papa is the criminal. After what you have told me, it seems to me--but I may be quite wrong--that either papa or Rosy Pearl is responsible for the death. Oh!"--she shuddered--"it's too horrible."
"I don't agree with you, Audrey. To my mind Eddy Vail is the assassin. However, Perry Toat has no doubt seen him by this time, and when we return to London she will have some news for us."
Mrs. Shawe frowned and hugged her knees as she stared at the sea-line. "I really think that it would be best to leave the whole thing alone."
"As I said in my anonymous letter?"
"Yes, you were right in saying what you did. If my father is proved to be guilty it will indeed be the greatest grief of my life. I have no reason to love him, but it seems terrible that he should be a--"
"My darling, you have no proof that he committed the deed. I tell you that Eddy Vail, if anyone, is the guilty person. He altered the time of the still-room clock, and that in itself says volumes."
"All the same, I wish the case to be stopped," said Audrey, doggedly; and from this decision Ralph could not move her. Privately he was pleased, as he was weary of the whole sordid business, and did not wish his early married life to be encumbered with criminal cases.
"I shall see Perry Toat when I return to London and tell her not to bother any more about the matter," he said, sitting up.