“Where did you learn this, Miss Maynard?” was the excited question. “Are you sure?”
“Hasn’t he told the police?” she asked in a tone of astonishment. “Then perhaps it is not true.”
“Where did you hear it?”
“In Staveley. I was talking to a wounded officer there on the front—Mr. Blake. He knew Mr. Marsland as Captain Marsland and he knew Mr. Lumsden as well. I think he said poor Mr. Lumsden had been Captain Marsland’s orderly for a time.”
“I must look into this,” said Sergeant Westaway.
“Unfortunately Mr. Blake has returned to the front. He left Staveley yesterday.”
“No matter. There are other ways of getting at the truth, Miss Maynard. As I said, Detective Gillett will be down here to-morrow and I’ll show him your statement. He will probably want to interview you himself and in that case I’ll send for you. But don’t you be alarmed—he’s a nice gentlemanly young fellow and knows how to treat a lady.”
He was about to bow her out of the station when he suddenly remembered that she had not signed her statement.
“Would you please read through this and sign it?” he asked. “A very important statement—clear and concise. I feel I must congratulate you about it, Miss Maynard.”
She read through the sergeant’s summary of her narrative, but was unable to congratulate him on the way in which he had done his work. She felt that the statement she and her lover had compiled, to guide her in her narrative to the police, was a far more comprehensive document.