“But this,” I observed, “is no ordinary seal.”
“It looks ordinary enough,” she answered, smiling. “It’s only brass.”
“But its discovery forms a clue to a most serious and startling crime,” I said.
“A crime!” she gasped. “What do you mean? Dudley’s murder?”
I did not fail to notice that she used the word “murder” as if she had absolute proof that death had not been due to natural causes. Yet the effect of my announcement had been to fill her with sudden apprehension. She strove to appear amazed, but I thought I could detect in her attitude and bearing a fear that I had knowledge of her secret.
“It is most probably connected with that tragic event,” I answered meaningly, looking her straight in the face. “The police will no doubt pursue their investigations and clear up the matter.”
“The police!” she whispered hoarsely, just as Mrs Laing had done when the officers had entered her house. “Do you think they will discover the cause of poor Dudley’s death?”
“I cannot say,” I answered calmly. “They will, however, discover the reason he had this seal in his possession.”
“I tell you it was not his—I mean I never saw him with it,” she protested.
“But he may have had it in his pocket and not shown it to you. Indeed, there were reasons that he should not do so because it was used for a nefarious purpose.”