Dinah grinned as she put the receiver down at last. Mother will have a glorious time now, she reflected, picturing Mrs. Fawcett already tottering to the nearest sofa. She'll tell all her friends, and say how terrible it is for her to be tied to her couch, when she would give anything to be here with Fay. And she'll do it awfully well, too, thought Miss Fawcett appreciatively, and went to sit on the terrace till the detective should arrive.
It was a long time before he came, and she was once more reminded of the dentist's waiting-room. It seemed very improbable that the murder could be brought home to her, but she had all a female's unreasonable mistrust of policemen, and what she had seen of the Superintendent did not lead her to view the advent of another of his tribe with anything but the most profound foreboding. However, on one point she had quite made up her mind: if this person from Scotland Yard thought he was going to ask her questions in a rude, bullying tone he would find that he had made a great mistake.
By half-past three the feeling of the dentist's waiting room had grown considerably, and when, at a quarter to four, Finch came to inform Geoffrey, who had joined hcon the terrace not long before, that Sergeant Nethersole and the Inspector from Scotland Yard had arrived, Miss Fawcett was aware of a most curious and disagreeable sensation in the pit of her stomach.
"I suppose I'd better see the fellow, hadn't I?" said Geoffrey. "Not that I can be of any use to him as far as I can see. What's he like Finch?"
"We shall soon see what he's like for ourselves," said Dinah bracingly. "Come on, I'll go with you." She gave Geoffrey's arm a friendly squeeze. "Don't let yourself get agitated, my child. He can't eat you."
"Oh, I'm not agitated!" said Geoffrey with a laugh "Only I do hope they haven't sent some frightful bounder down. Where have you put him, Finch?"
"I showed him into the morning-room, sir. He seems if I may say so, a very quiet gentleman."
"Well, thank God for that!" said Geoffrey, putting up a nervous hand to his tie. "Come on, Dinah — if you are coming!"
There were two men in the morning-room, one dressed in a sergeant's uniform, and the other in a lounge suit that bore the indefinable stamp of a good tailor. "Inspector Harding, sir," said Finch, evidently feeling that an introduction was called for.
"Oh — er — good — afternoon, Inspector!" said Geoffrey "Good afternoon," said Harding pleasantly. He glanced towards Dinah, and found that damsel surveying him with patent surprise.