Again he paused, and again his small round eyes scrutinized the faces before him. Then, apparently satisfied, he continued. ‘You will admit that I have done everything in my power to obtain possession of these papers without harming anyone. From the first you have behaved abominably. May I suggest that you have played hide-and-seek about the house like school-children? And at last you have annoyed me. There are also one or two among you’ – he glanced at Abbershaw – ‘with whom I have old scores to settle. You have been searched, and you have been watched, yet no trace of my property has come to light. Therefore I give you one last chance. At eleven o’clock tomorrow morning I leave this house with my staff. We shall take the side roads that will lead us on to the main Yarmouth motor way without passing through any villages. If I have my property in my possession when I go, I will see that you can contrive your release for yourselves. If not –’
He paused, and they realized the terrible thing that was coming a full second before the quiet words left his lips.
‘I shall first set fire to the house. To shoot you direct would be dangerous – even charred skeletons may show traces of bullet fractures. No, I am afraid I must just leave you to the fire.’
In the breathless silence that followed this announcement Jeanne’s sobs became suddenly very audible, and Abbershaw, his face pale and horror-stricken, leapt forward.
‘But I told you,’ he said passionately. ‘I told you. I burnt those papers. I described them to you. I burnt them – the ashes are probably in my bedroom grate now.’
A sound that was half a snarl, half a cry, broke from the German, and for the second time they saw the granite composure of his face broken, and had a vision of the livid malevolence behind the mask.
‘If I could believe, Dr Abbershaw,’ he said, ‘that you could ever be so foolish – so incredibly foolish – as to destroy a packet of papers, a portion of whose value must have been evident to you, then I could believe also that you could deserve no better fate than the singularly unpleasant death which most certainly awaits you and your friends unless I am in possession of my property by eleven o’clock tomorrow morning. Good night, ladies and gentlemen. I leave you to think it over.’
He passed out of the room on the last words, the smirking Gideon on his heels. His men backed out after him, their guns levelled. Abbershaw dashed after them just as the great door swung to. He beat upon it savagely with his clenched fists, but the oak was like a rock.
‘Burn?’ Martin’s voice broke the silence, and it was almost wondering. ‘But the place is stone – it can’t burn.’
Wyatt raised his eyes slowly.