She pointed to the pale Mrs. Sanders, leaving Miss Blow to infer that the lady who shrieked was the wife of the other Member of Parliament.
“That they have deserted these ladies,” said Miss Blow, accepting the correction, “because they wear red dressing-gowns, and——”
“But I don’t,” wailed Mrs. Dick; “I’ve never had a red dressing-gown. Richard always liked me in blue. He couldn’t bear red. He used to say—— Oh, poor Richard!”
“There!” said Lord Manton, with an air of triumph; “what did I tell you, Miss Blow? You see for yourself now that the man had the strongest possible objection to a red dressing-gown.”
“And,” said Miss Blow firmly, ignoring the interruptions, “because they washed their teeth.”
“I never in my life,” said Miss Farquharson, “heard such a pack of nonsense. Are you all mad, or am I? What on earth have red dressing-gowns or that unfortunate little Mrs. Dick’s teeth got to do with the disappearance of my nephew and Mr. Dick?”
“Shall I ring for some tea?” said Lord Manton. “I think we’d all be the better for a cup of tea. Then we could go on. We’d be much better able to understand each other afterwards.”
“I pass on to the next case,” said Miss Blow calmly; “that of Patrick Devlin. He is, I am informed——”
“Jimmy O’Loughlin again,” said Mr. Goddard.
“By others as well as the hotel-keeper,” said Miss Blow, showing that she placed no implicit trust in Jimmy O’Loughlin’s statements. “I am informed that he is a blacksmith. He was, it appears, collecting money for some local sports.”