“Very much to do with the case,” Playford replied. “This new witness, Campion, whose evidence was to settle it off-hand——”
“What!” exclaimed Lady Rotherfield breathlessly, “he has not absconded?”
“Worse, for him, at any rate,” Playford answered. “He has met with a fatal accident.”
The news was so startling that for a few moments no one could speak.
“How unfortunate!” Lady Rotherfield commented mechanically.
“How dreadful!” chimed in the Duchess, trying to calculate how the incident would affect her interest in the case.
“But is it true?” Greetland questioned sceptically. He always made a point of challenging the authenticity of news carried by other people.
“Undoubtedly true,” Playford returned emphatically. “He was knocked down and run over by a hansom this evening, and, curiously enough, just here in Piccadilly, not a stone’s throw from where he made out he originally saw Reggie Martindale’s supposed murderer.”
The propinquity of the tragedy slightly enhanced its impressiveness.
“And he is dead?” The Duchess asked the question.