She broke in on this to say in a desperate tone: “What can Phineas Ottery possibly have had to gain through your father’s death? They scarcely ever met! It’s the most absurd, the most far-fetched-’
“Well, what did he want with Father yesterday, Mother? And why did Ray say he hadn’t seen him, when he had?”
“I don’t know — I can’t imagine! There’s probably some perfectly simple explanation!”
“Of course, I quite see that it’ll be a shocking affair, if it does turn out to be Ray, but, after all, Mother, it’ll be just as bad if it was Aubrey, or Bart.”
“Aubrey or Bart!”
“Well, Con thinks it was Loveday, but I can’t see why it mightn’t just as well have been Bart. Apparently, Father had put a complete spoke in his wheel, and you have to bear in mind that in all probability he was afraid Father meant to cut him out of his will. Or it might have been Bart and Loveday between them. In fact—”
“Clay, I tell you I can’t bear this! How dare you talk like that? I won’t permit it! What would you feel if they spoke about you in this dreadful way?”
He gave an uneasy laugh. “As a matter of fact, Aubrey as good as told me he believed I’d done it. I know very well they all think I might have. Of course, it merely amuses me, because it’s so utterly absurd, but all the same-’
She turned so white that he was startled. “Aubrey — no, no, they wouldn’t pay any attention to him! He always says spiteful things. The police don’t think you had anything to do with it!”
“Oh, lord, no! Well, I mean to say, why should they? said Clay, with an assumption of carelessness.