"You didn't come here, in fact?"
"No," said Neville unhappily.
"Where did you go?"
"I'd better tell the truth, hadn't I?" Neville asked Sally. "One is at such a disadvantage with the police: they always know more than they say. On the other hand, if I tell the truth now I may find it awfully hard to lie afterwards."
"Mr. Fletcher, this sort of thing no doubt amuses you, but it fails entirely to amuse me!" said Hannasyde.
"You must think I've got a perverted sense of humour!" said Neville. "I haven't; I'm not in the least abnormal: it's only other people's troubles that amuse me. I'm wriggling in the toils."
"I am still waiting for an answer to my question, Mr. Fletcher."
"If I had my way you'd wait for ever," said Neville frankly. "Oh God, why didn't I go to Oxford, and call on my tutor? He'd have been very glad to see me, too. You mightn't think it, but they all hoped for great things of me at Oxford. You know: Fellowships, and what-nots. I was thought to have an intellect."
"That doesn't surprise me at all," said Hannasyde dryly.
"Yes, but doesn't it all go to show that a classical education is so much dross? Double firsts - yes, I did really! - are of no practical use whatsoever. Oh, let us end this ghastly suspense! I was in London last night."