"As a Minister of the Crown I cannot be a party to any connivance at crime."
"Philip and Nigel," I said. "As sons of Ministers of the Crown, I hope you will take that to heart."
"What I have to say——" Arthur began.
"One moment!" I interrupted. "Are you speaking as a Minister of the Crown or a father of a family? Sylvia's been restored to you as the result of your son and Nigel conniving at what you hope and believe to be a crime. You wouldn't have got her back without that immoral compromise."
"The flat would have been searched," said Nigel.
"It was. Paddy and Gartside searched it and declared themselves satisfied...."
"They lied."
"Will you repeat that to Gartside?" I asked invitingly. "I fancy not. They searched and declared themselves satisfied. I offered to show the detectives round ten minutes after—by all accounts—this woman ought to have taken refuge there. Anybody could have searched it if they'd approached the owner properly."
He ignored my implied reproof and stuck to his guns.
"There was a woman there when Gartside said there was not."