“What did he do?” I asked quickly.
“He made the most extraordinary grimace I have ever seen. I hope the man is not subject to, er—anything.”
“I think not,” I answered drily, guessing well the cause of the facial disturbance. “But you were saying, Mrs. Bartholomew?”
“I have something that would do the poor man good. I must speak to him later. Er, what was I saying?”
“That you understood how Miss Leb—”
“I do, indeed! I admire that young woman, and I intend to follow her example. Until the murderer of Sir Brooke is found, I shall not rest!”
But this was nothing to what was in store later. An hour afterward Salt had us all in the conservatory, very much on tenterhooks. When he had surveyed us with calm and taken the roll mentally, he made a little speech.
“Since you’ll all be goin’ to New Aidenn for the inquest this afternoon, I thought I might give you a few hints. The fact is, we want as little as possible to come out. I have those orders from higher up. The Coroner’s business is to ascertain the cause of death, if he can; the rest is my business. I know Dr. Niblett will play the game accordin’ to my rules, and he won’t try to carry the question any deeper than that the deceased came by his death by means of the stone that Mr. Blenkinson luckily discovered. But there’s no tellin’ what some busybody juryman or other may want to know; so I want to warn you there’s one subject you must be shy of—that’s this ‘King in Ireland’ topic. There’s enough hullabaloo in the Emerald Isle right now without spreadin’ that.”
“Still,” said Alberta, “I don’t see how we are quite going to tell whether a question will lead—”
“I’m comin’ to that, now. I’m goin’ to share some facts with you. This that I’m tellin’ you is the result of special information from Miss Lebetwood, Mrs. Bartholomew, and Lord Ludlow, added to a few small discoveries of my own. Now, remember, I want you to keep this budget of facts in mind and not show by a word or a sign that you know anything about it. That’s the only reason there is for this assembly. Anybody behind that door, Mr. Pendleton?”