“Oh,” said the Inspector, “I see. It looks as though he might have done better if he had applied to me.”
Paul Harley glanced across in my direction and smiled grimly.
“As I had predicted, Knox,” he murmured, “my Waterloo.”
“What’s that you say about Waterloo, Mr. Harley?” demanded the Inspector.
“Nothing germane to the case,” replied Harley. “It was a reference to a battle, not to a railway station.”
Inspector Aylesbury stared at him dully.
“You quite understand that you are giving evidence?” he said.
“It were impossible not to appreciate the fact.”
“Very well, then. The late Colonel Menendez thought he was in danger from negroes. Why did he think that?”
“He was a retired West Indian planter,” replied Harley, patiently, “and he was under the impression that he had offended a powerful native society, and that for many years their vengeance had pursued him. Attempts to assassinate him had already taken place in Cuba and in the United States.”