“Is that what you expected?” Hemingway said swiftly.
“Good lord, no! What on earth should he do such a thing for? He once said something which showed me that he knew about Nenthall, but how much he knew, or how he knew it, I couldn't tell. I got under his skin one evening at the Red Lion—I couldn't stand the fellow, you know!—and he asked me if the name, Nenthall, conveyed anything to me. I said it didn't and there the matter dropped. He never mentioned it again, and, so far as I know, he didn't spread any kind of scandal about us, which was what I was afraid he'd do. I didn't think anyone but he knew anything about us—though I do know that that Midgeholme woman has done her best to discover all the details of our lives!”
“I don't mind telling you, sir, that I've no reason to suppose that anyone does know it, at any rate down here, except me and my Inspector. And I should think I don't have to tell you that I shouldn't, unless I had to, make it public.”
“No, I believe you wouldn't, but I can see how you might very well have to make it public. I've been hoping to God you'd get on to the track of the man who did do Warrenby in before you started making enquiries into my past!”
“You say Warrenby never mentioned the matter to you but the once, sir. Quite sure of that?”
“Of course I'm sure of it! Are you thinking he was blackmailing me? He wasn't. I haven't anything he wants—money or influence. What is more, had he tried that on I shouldn't have hesitated to put the matter into the hands of the police. It isn't a crime to live with another man's wife: I'd nothing to fear from the police. I can only suppose that he found it out by some accident, and let me know he'd done so to pay me out for choking him off.”
“Am I to take it, then, that the only use he made of his knowledge was to get off a bit of spite?”
Lindale was frowning. “It does sound improbable, put like that,” he admitted. “It's the only use he did make of it. He may have had other ideas in mind, but what they were I can't for the life of me imagine. The impression I had was that he said it partly out of spite, and partly as a sort of threat—Accept-me-socially-or-I'll-make-trouble kind of thing.”
“Which he could have done.”
Lindale stopped, and said: “Look here, Chief Inspector, I'd better be quite open with you! As far as I'm concerned, Warrenby was welcome to tell the whole world all he knew. Neither my—neither Mrs. Nenthall nor I have done anything to be ashamed of. There was never any furtive intrigue. We—well, we cared for one another for years, and Nenthall knew it. She married him during the War, when she was only a kid, and—well, it just didn't work out! I'm not going to say anything about Nenthall, except that if I murdered anyone it would be him! There was a child, a little boy, which made it all impossible. My wife is a woman of very strong principles. Then the kid died—meningitis, and—I shan't take you into all that. She was ill for months, and then—well, we had it out, the three of us, and the end of it was that she came to me. There couldn't be a divorce, so nothing ever got into the papers. My own view is that it's a mistake to make any secret of the situation. People aren't anything like as hidebound as they used to be. Her family, of course, have cut her out: they're Catholics, and pretty strict; and my father disapproves. But I think that most people, knowing the facts, wouldn't ostracise us—none that we've the least desire to be on friendly terms with. That's my point of view, but I said I'd be open with you, and so I'll tell you that my wife doesn't share it. She believes that she's living in sin, poor girl. We're very happy—but there's always that behind. Which is why I'd do a lot to keep the whole thing secret. A lot, but not commit murder—though I don't expect you to believe that. But whatever you believe, I'm dead sure you haven't enough evidence against me to justify an arrest! The bullet wasn't fired from my rifle, and I infer that you already know that, or you wouldn't be asking me questions: you'd be clapping handcuffs on me! Well, I quite see that you'll have to try to find out more, and I've no objection to that. All I do ask is that you'll refrain from worrying my wife. I won't have her driven into another nervous breakdown: she's been through enough!”