“Go; perhaps he will understand,” said she.
He held up a linger to Cyril, and they went outside together.
“What's the mystery now?” asked Cyril, picking up his straw hat from a chair. “I shouldn't wonder if it had something to do with Claude Westwood. My poor sister is overcome because she has received confirmation of his death probably. But you and I know, Sir Percival, that there has not been the smallest chance.”
“I do not want to talk to you about Claude Westwood just at this minute, but about his brother,” said Sir Percival. “The fact is, that I have just returned from the Court. The dead body of Richard Westwood was found by a gardener this morning not twenty yards from his house. He had shot himself with a revolver.”
Cyril turned very pale, but the cigarette that he was smoking did not drop from his lips. He stared at Sir Percival for some moments, and then slowly removed his cigarette. He drew a long breath before saying in a whisper:
“Shot himself? Then he was bankrupt after all, and Agnes's money's gone. Why the mischief did you give her that cheque yesterday, Sir Percival?”
“I thought it well that you should hear this terrible news at once,” said Sir Percival, ignoring his question. “I believe that you dined with him last night, and so you were probably the last person to see him alive. You will most certainly be questioned by the Chief Constable before the inquest.”
“The Chief Constable or any other constable may question me; I don't mind. I don't suppose it will be suggested that I shot poor Dick,” said Cyril, somewhat jauntily.
Sir Percival made no reply, and Cyril went on.
“Good heavens! Poor old Dick! I'm sorry for him. I have good reason to be sorry. He was the best friend I had. He understood me. He wasn't too hard on a chap like me. The people in this neighbourhood think that I'm a bad egg—you probably think so too, Sir Percival; but poor Dick never joined with the others in boycotting me, though he knew more about me than any of them! And to think that all the time he was playing that game of billiards—all the time he was crossing the park with me when I was going home, he meant to put an end to himself.”