“They were still there?”
“Until you asked me this minute I had not thought of them. I do not believe that they were there.”
“Mr. Bellamy, I put it to you that you returned to that cottage with the express purpose of removing those rings, the necklace, and any traces that you or Mrs. Ives may have left behind you in your previous flight?”
“You are wrong; I did not return for any of those purposes.”
“Then for what purpose?”
“Because I did not wish to leave my wife alone.”
“You consider that a plausible explanation?”
“Oh, no; simply a true one.”
“She was dead, wasn’t she?”
“She was dead.”