"I haven't touched it," said Stephen curtly.
Neither Mathilda nor Paula believed this, but as Joseph showed signs of pressing the point, they intervened to prevent an explosion. Mathilda said that no doubt it would turn up; and Paula wondered how Roydon was getting on with the Inspector.
He was not, as a matter of fact, getting on very well. Policemen represented to him, quite irrationally, his personal enemies. He did not like them; they made him nervous, in much the same way that butlers did, so that he felt that his clothes were shabby and his hands too large. To conceal this discomfort, he assumed a grand manner, and was inclined to overact his unconcern. He said: "Ah, Inspector, you want a word with me, don't you? I'm quite ready to tell you anything I know, of course, but I'm afraid that won't be much. I'm only down for the week-end, as I daresay you've heard. In fact, I hardly knew Mr. Herriard."
He ended on his nervous laugh. He hadn't meant to say all that; he knew it must have sounded artificial, but somehow he was unable to stop himself. To occupy his hands, he lit a cigarette, and began to smoke it, rather too fast. He wished the Inspector would stop staring at him so unblinkingly. As though he were a wild beast in a show! he thought resentfully.
The Inspector asked him for his name and address, and slowly wrote these down in his notebook. "Were you acquainted with the deceased previous to your arrival here?" he asked.
"No. Well, naturally I knew of him, but I hadn't actually met him. I came down with Miss Herriard. She invited me."
"I understand you are occupying the bedroom next to the deceased's?"
"Oh well, yes, in a way I suppose I am!" conceded Roydon. "Only there's a bathroom in between, so naturally I didn't hear anything, if that's what you mean.
"When you left the drawing-room after tea, did you go straight upstairs to your room?"
"Yes. At least, no! Now I come to think of it, Miss Clare and I went into the library. As far as I remember, Miss Herriard joined us there. It was after that that I went up to change. I've no idea where Mr. Herriard was by that time. I never saw him again after I left the drawing-room."