He led her out on to the roughly cut turf that had once been smooth lawns, and they walked together out of the shadows of the house into a little shrubbery where they were completely hidden from the windows.
‘Now,’ he said, and his voice had unconsciously assumed a protective tone; ‘what is it?’
The girl looked up at him, and he could see her keen, clever face and narrow brown eyes in the faint light.
‘It was horrible in there,’ she whispered. ‘When Colonel Coombe had his attack, I mean. I think Dr Whitby found him. He and Mr Gideon carried him up while the other man – the man with no expression on his face – rang the gong. No one knew what had happened, and there were no lights. Then Mr Gideon came down and said that the Colonel had had a heart attack . . .’ She stopped and looked steadily at him, and he was horrified to see that she was livid with terror.
‘George,’ she said suddenly, ‘if I told you something would you think I – I was mad?’
‘No, of course not,’ he assured her steadily. ‘What else happened?’
The girl swallowed hard. He saw she was striving to compose herself, and obeying a sudden impulse he slid his arm round her waist, so that she was encircled and supported by it.
‘In the game,’ she said, speaking clearly and steadily as if it were an effort, ‘about five minutes before the gong rang, someone gave me the dagger. I don’t know who it was – I think it was a woman, but I’m not sure. I was standing at the foot of the stone flight of stairs which leads down into the lower hall, when someone brushed past me in the dark and pushed the dagger into my hand. I suddenly felt frightened of it, and I ran down the corridor to find someone I could give it to.’
She paused, and he felt her shudder in his arm.
‘There is a window in the passage,’ she said, ‘and as I passed under it the faint light fell upon the dagger and – don’t think I’m crazy, or dreaming, or imagining something – but I saw the blade was covered with something dark. I touched it, it was sticky. I knew it at once, it was blood!’