She turned sharply and left the room, banging the door.
"That's the kind she is," Marbridge commented. "You were lucky to get rid of her as easy as you did.... Give me more brandy, will you, like a good fellow—and be stingy with the water. I've got to ... hold out a couple of hours more."
Matthias served him.
"I presume Venetia knows nothing about this, yet?"
Having drunk, Marbridge shook his head. "Not yet. Now, listen.... You guessed it: I want you to help hush this up, for Venetia's sake.... Rotten mess—do no good if it gets in the papers—only humiliation for her. Will you—?"
"What is it you want me to do?"
"Help me home and keep your mouth shut.... You see, this is my place; I've had it years; very handy—private entrance—all that.... Nella used to meet me here. That's how she came to have a key. I'd forgotten.... Well, I got tired of her, and she couldn't act, and Arlington was sore about that. So we planned to get rid of her. I guess you must've heard. It was a dirty business, all round.... And tonight, when her play went to pieces, just as we'd planned it should, she saw how she'd been bilked and lost her head.... Came here, let herself in quietly, without the maid's hearing her, and shot me when I came in with Joan. I managed to get the gun away before she could turn it on herself, and locked her up. Then—hysterics.... Well, I'm finished. I asked for it, and got it.... No: no remorse bunk, no deathbed repentance, nothing like that! But I realize I've been a pretty rotten proposition, first and last. Never mind.... What I'm getting at's this: nobody need suffer but me. That's where you come in. For Venetia's sake. You and Arlington and the doctor can cover it all up between you. Arlie can quiet that girl—Joan—and the doctor's all right; he'll want a pretty stiff cheque to fix the undertaker—and that's all right, too. Then you've got to scare Nella Cardrow so's she won't give herself away, and buy my chauffeur and that maid out there, Sara.... But first off, you'll have to help doctor get me home and in bed. I'm the sort that's got to die in the house."
His chin dropped again.
"Well ... I guess it's a good job ... at that...."
He shivered.