“I beg your pardon, my lord. If you and the other gentlemen will kindly be seated I will explain,” said a quiet voice.
Lord Warrington turned sharply, so did the others, and stared at Thomson, who had entered silently, through the inner doors that led to the Chinese Room. He was carrying the cigar-box carefully in both hands, and looked pale, but otherwise self-possessed as usual.
“What is the meaning of all this? Why has Sir Robert sent for us?” asked Warrington imperatively.
“If you and the gentlemen will be seated, my lord, I will explain at once,” Thomson repeated, advancing to the table and depositing the box on it. There was something so curiously compelling in his formal, respectful manner that they actually complied—Lord Warrington taking the head of the table, the Home Secretary facing him, Cummings-Browne opposite Thomson. Snell slipped round and took the chair beside Thomson, on his right hand, and, sitting sideways, watched him closely. Austin was on his left.
Thomson stood erect, looking down at the cigar-box, on which his right hand rested lightly. They all looked at him expectantly, a scrutiny which he seemed to disregard entirely.
“It was I who took the liberty in my master’s name of asking you, my lord, and the other gentlemen to come here to-night,” he said slowly, as if weighing every word before he spoke. “And when you have heard my explanation you will know that the matter was urgent—a matter of life and death; and also the importance that what I have to say should be written down. The materials are before you.
“It was I who killed my lady!”
If a bomb had exploded in their midst it could scarcely have created a greater mental sensation than those seven quietly uttered words. There was a low-voiced chorus of exclamation from his astounded listeners, which he heard unmoved, never raising his eyes from the cigar-box: then Cummings-Browne’s stern voice,
“Go on. Tell us everything.”
Thomson looked up then, met Cummings-Browne’s eyes full and steadily, and thenceforth addressed himself to him direct.