He encountered a look from the widow which made him take an involuntary step backwards.
"Answer me this!" commanded Ermyntrude. "What have you been saying to that man about my child?"
"But, Trudinka '
"Don't you call me Trudinka! What did you say to that man?"
"I said nothing! But nothing!" declared the Prince, the smile quite vanished from his face. "If he has told you that I said a word about Vicky, it is a lie!"
Inspector Hemingway, whose senses were reeling, discovered the breaking-point of his admirable temper. "I've had more than enough of you!" he said. "Not say a word about her! Oh, didn't you, indeed!"
Ermyntrude extended an arm towards the Prince in the most superb gesture of her life. "Out of my sight!" she said. "You viper!"
Chapter Twelve
From that moment, the situation developed with such rapidity, and rose to such heights of dramatic fervour, that Mary, and Hugh, and the Inspector could do nothing but retire into the background. Ermyntrude certainly dominated the stage, but the Prince, no mean performer, very nearly stole the scene from her, once he had recovered from his first stupefaction.
"Above all else, I am a Mother!" Ermyntrude declared. She then said that she felt herself to be seeing Alexis for the first time, and announced in tragic accents that she had been a blind fool.