Her brother regarded her rather ruefully.
“I believe you'd go into the witness-box and take your oath that it's Derek,” he said, gloomily. “You'd made up your mind that Derek was coming back sooner or later; and now you're prepared to recognise anything down to a chimpanzee as your long-lost nephew, rather than admit you're wrong. Damn this spiritualism of yours! It's at the root of all the trouble. It's led you to expect Derek; and you mean to have a Derek of some sort.”
He paused for a moment, as though following out a train of thought; then he added:
“And it's quite on the cards that if it ever came before a jury, some chuckleheads would take your word for it. ‘Sure to know her nephew,’ and all that sort of stuff. They don't know your little fads.”
Miss Fordingbridge glanced up at the note of trouble in her brother's voice.
“I can't see why you're trying to throw doubt on the thing, Paul. You haven't seen Derek; I have. And yet you don't wait to see him yourself. You come straight out with a denial that it is Derek. And you say I've got a preconceived idea about the affair. It seems to me that you're the one with a preconceived notion. One would think you'd made up your mind already on the subject.”
Paul Fordingbridge acknowledged the counter-thrust.
“There's something in what you say, perhaps, Jay. But you must admit the whole business is a trifle unexpected. It's hardly taking the line one might expect, if everything were square and above-board. Let's assume that it is Derek, and then you'll see what a lot's left unexplained so far. First of all, it's years since the war. Why hasn't he turned up before now? That's a strange affair, surely. Then, when he does reappear, why doesn't he come to me first of all? I'm the person he left in charge of his affairs, and I should think his first step would be to communicate with me. But no, he comes down here unannounced; and he fixes up some sort of clandestine meeting with you. That's a rum go, to my mind. And there's more than that in it. He meets you last night and has a talk with you; but he doesn't suggest coming to see me. Or did he give you any message for me?”
“He didn't, as it happens. But you seem to think we were talking as if it was all a matter of business, Paul. It was a shock to me to have him back again. And I daresay I did most of the talking, and he hadn't time to give me any message for you. I was very shaken up by it all, and he was so kind to me.”
Her brother seemed to find little pleasure in the picture which she drew.