She looked at him, her tinted lips thinning. "I see. You have been listening to servants' gossip, I think, Chief Inspector. It is quite true that I had occasion to be most annoyed with Mr. Seaton-Carew, and equally true that I took him sharply to task, after dinner, and before my Bridge-guests arrived."
"I'm afraid I shall have to ask you what was the cause of this quarrel, madam."
"There was no quarrel. Mr. Seaton-Carew never quarrelled with anyone. He was not a man who took things seriously. He was sometimes, in fact, far too flippant, which made him very irritating. This was by no means the first time he had succeeded in making me lose my temper, I can assure you!"
"Very understandable, madam. And the reason?"
"If you must know, I told him that I would not allow him to philander with my daughter! My daughter is an extremely lovely girl, but quite inexperienced, and Mr. Seaton-Carew's manner towards her was putting ridiculous ideas into her head. He was a very attractive and handsome man, and I expect you know as well as I do how flattered a young girl can be when a man of his age makes a pet of her. He meant nothing, of course, but a child of nineteen couldn't be expected to realise that. I told him that this foolish flirtation must stop, or I should be obliged to stop inviting him to my house. He tried to make a joke of it, and I lost my temper. That is all. Is there anything else I can tell you?"
Just one thing, madam. Is Mr. Butterwick a frequent visitor to your house?"
She was perceptibly amused. "Sydney Butterwick! He most certainly is not! I think I first met him at a party given by Mrs. Chetwynd. He came to a ball I gave for my daughter at Claridge's, and I remember, to my cost, that I invited him to a musical soiree at this house about a month ago. The quite ridiculous and revolting scene he created on that occasion because he imagined that Mr. Seaton-Carew was paying too much attention to someone other than himself, made me say I would never again invite him. Nor should I have, but that I was let down yesterday by one of my other guests, and had to fill a gap at a moment's notice!"
"And on the occasion of this musical evening, Mrs. Haddington, do you recall whether the telephone rang?"
She raised her brows. "Good heavens, no! If it did, my butler would have answered the call, and said that I was engaged. I should not, in any event, have heard the bell, because it is muffled. It rings in the hall, and in the butler's pantry, and the call can be taken from any of the instruments I had installed in the house."
"Thank you, madam, I shan't keep you any longer tonight," said Hemingway.