“I haven’t enjoyed giving these explanations. Probably most of you haven’t enjoyed listening to them; but I’m sure you’ll understand why you had to hear them.”
There was an almost inaudible murmur of sympathetic assent from most of the circle. As it died down, Mrs. Brent closed the incident in a phrase or two.
“That’s all. Miss Cressage had one serious fault, apparently. She was over-straight. I shouldn’t have blamed her in the slightest if she’d told the whole story when she was asked. She preferred to keep the very letter of her promise. I don’t envy some people their feelings just now. But perhaps they haven’t any. Toads and so forth are said to be very insensitive creatures, and the reptiles generally feel little discomfort. So I am told.”
She took Eileen’s arm gently, and they left the room together. Undoubtedly, as a creator of discomfort, Mrs. Brent ran Freddie close. Westenhanger caught Douglas’s eye, and they followed Mrs. Brent.
“Let’s try the garden?” suggested Douglas. “Air in there seems a bit sultry for my taste. That last whang of Mrs. Brent’s wasn’t perhaps tactful; but it was nothing to what she might have said if she’d really let herself go. I’ve never seen her even peeved before; and to-night she was boiling underneath the surface. Even the trained observer, Freddie, can hardly have failed to notice the weather signs.”
“Well, I suppose we’ll be rid of some of them by the first train to-morrow.”
“No we shan’t! Nobody can leave Friocksheim till this Talisman business is cleared up. Your ways are not ours, Conway. All the rest of us are still under suspicion and we’ve got to hang on until the ‘All Clear’ signal goes. Pleasant prospect, isn’t it? Well, we needn’t talk to ’em more than’s needful.”
Westenhanger looked gloomy.
“There’s only one way out of it, then. We’ve got to find the thief, if we can, and as quick as we can.”
“Right you are, but easier said than done.” Douglas’s voice did not sound very hopeful. “Another canter in the Elimination Stakes to begin with?”