"Yes; that was it. And she was the heroine. She was always wonderful at acting, you know. Even when she was a little thing she was a fairy in a school pantomime. And I always went to see 'er. And when they were playing that thing Macbeth, I gave 'er a loan of the little dagger 'er father 'ad brought from Spain. Just for luck, you know. She gave it back to me when the play was over. But she kept the luck, all right. All 'er life she's been lucky. It was just luck that made Ladds see 'er when she was on tour, so that 'e told Barron about 'er, and Barron gave 'er an interview. That's 'ow she got 'er name — Ray Marcable. All the time she was dancing and singing and what not for him 'e kept saying, 'Remarkable! and so Rosie took that for 'er name. It's the same initials as 'er own — at least, as 'er adopted name, see?"
There was a silence. Both Barker, who had been wordless for some time, and Grant seemed to be temporarily at a loss. Only the fat woman with the red face seemed to be completely at her ease.
"There's one thing you must remember," she said. "Rosie's name must be kept out of this. Not a word about Rosie. You can say that I killed 'im because of 'im threatening my daughter, who is abroad."
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Wallis, I can't hold out any hope of that. Miss Marcable's name is sure to come out."
"But it mustn't!" she said. "It mustn't! It'll spoil it all if she's dragged into it. Think of the scandal and the talk. Surely you gentlemen are clever enough to think of a way of avoiding that?"
"I'm afraid not, Mrs. Wallis. We would if we could, but it won't be possible if your story is true."
"Oh, well," she said, with surprising equanimity, considering her former vehemence, "I don't suppose it will make such a very great difference to Rosie. Rosie is the greatest actress in Britain at the present time, and 'er position is too good for any-thing like that to spoil it. Only you must hang me before she comes back from America."
"It is a little too soon to talk of hanging," Barker said, with a faint smile. "Have you got the key of your house with you?"
"Yes; why?"
"If you hand it over to me, I'll send a man down to verify your story of the sheath of the knife. Where can he find it?"