"I am not insinuating anything," he said. "I only want you to tell me the truth."

"My husband — my husband was not an easy man to deal with," Fay said with difficulty. "We had our disagreements sometimes, but we were not on bad terms."

"Your husband was, I understand, a very hot tempered man? You had quarrels fairly frequently?"

"I — I am not a quarrelsome person, Inspector. My husband had a way of — blustering, when he was annoyed. We did not quarrel."

"You mean that your husband was inclined to — may I say — scold you, when anything happened to annoy him?"

"Yes. But it was nothing. He didn't mean it."

"On the morning of July first — yesterday, in fact — did some such scene occur between you?"

"My husband was very angry with Geoffrey — with his son. Not with me."

"Sometimes, Lady Billington-Smith, a man who has been very much angered is apt to vent his feelings on a perfectly innocent person. Is that what happened?"

She hesitated. "He was very angry," she repeated.