“But she knew that both Dr. Wallace and I knew exactly how fond she has always been of Ralph,” Ethel objected. “She couldn’t count on our not telling you.”
“No, that is quite true, but I think that it was a reasonable action for her to take, all the same. For her to bring a photo with her on a short visit was a complete admission of her feelings. It was definite. The mere fact that the finding of the unburned corner did help to convince me that she was involved, proves that she was right in what she did, if only she had taken more care.”
Ethel nodded her agreement.
“I was dissatisfied, too, even then, about Miss Summerson. I don’t know whether it struck you in the same way, but to me, there was something unnatural about her behavior when she told us she had lost the key. I was convinced that she was keeping information back.
“Very much against the inspector’s wishes, then, I had made up my mind before the inquiry that I would not immediately arrest the doctor, and after the inquiry, and in spite of what came out about the practical joke and the quarrel with Miss Palfreeman’s father, I saw no real reason to alter my decision. I quite made up my mind to leave you undivided, and to put an unknown agent into the house who could not be suspected of having any connection with the police.”
I saw my darling bend her graceful head lower over the cat.
“What made you change your mind then?” Ethel asked.
“He didn’t change his mind,” Janet replied.
I had almost forgotten that Ethel and The Tundish were both of them unaware of Janet’s connection with Allport, and even after she had spoken they were a little time in grasping what her words implied.
It was The Tundish who tumbled to it first.