don't know! I'm not sure!"
For a moment Dr. Fell remained motionless. Then, with infinite labour, he wheezed and propelled himself to his feet.
"Mrs. Renshaw," he said in a voice he very seldom used, "I should like you and Mr. Butler to come upstairs with me for a private conference. Believe me, I do not make the request idly."
While Charles Denham and Agnes Cannon remained still, Lucia
led the way out of the drawing room. She walked rigidly and did not speak; it was as though her mouth would tremble if she attempted speech.
On the stairs Dr. Fell asked to be taken to Dick Renshaw's bedroom. Silently Lucia opened the door and pressed the electric-switch just inside.
The muffled lamp glowed again on the bedside table. Two oblongs of orange-yellow colour stole into the electric-fire. With scarcely a glance at the room itself, Dr. Fell carefully closed the door and faced Lucia and Butler.
"Ma'am," he said to Lucia in a heavy voice, "please accept now the fact that I am a bumbling old duffer. I suffer from, as it were, a certain absence of mind. I am just as apt to lift my hostess's best Wedgwood-china tea-pot and drop it on the hearthstone under the impression that there is a table there. But you had better hear these things from me than from Chief Inspector Soames."
"Just a minute!" Butler was beginning, when Dr. Fell's gesture cut him short.
"So I want to speak to you," the doctor went on to Lucia, "in the presence of your counsel and with his permission. For your own sake don't lie to me. The police have only begun to work. They are endlessly patient to track down a lie." Dr. Fell's face grew lopsided with supplication. "Mrs. Renshaw, do you have any antimony in your possession?"
"No!" Lucia said in horror.
"Did you ever buy it, or try to buy it? At any time in the past?"
"Never!"
Instinctively Lucia had taken hold of Butler's arm; and the current of intimacy wound them together again.
"That in itself," Butler interposed dryly, "is a stone-wall for the defence. You couldn't convict Satan himself unless you could show he had access to poison."
"Sir," retorted Dr. Fell, with a shade of wonder, "is it possible that even you don't realize the danger of the situation?"
"Naturally I realize it! But, in the remote chance that they did arrest Lucia," Butler glanced at her soothingly, "I mean to get her acquitted."
"And suppose you did? Would that solve your problem?"
Butler realized, with surprise, that he was still gripping the stone paperweight from the writing-desk downstairs. He looked at it blankly, as he looked at Dr. Fell, and dropped it into his side-pocket.
"Suppose," continued Dr. Fell with fiery emphasis, "you devised an explanation—as you or I probably could!—of how the poison got into the water-bottle. Suppose you secured Mrs. Renshaw's acquittal in a blaze of triumph. Don't you see the police might have still another charge against her?"
"Another charge? What charge?"
"The murder of Mrs. Taylor."
FOR about ten seconds Lucia Renshaw did not seem to understand.
Then her shm hand, with the pink fingernails, shd from Butler's arm as though her whole body had gone nerveless. She backed slowly away from Dr. Fell, an oddly crouching gesture for so tall and graceful a woman.
She backed into one of the twin beds, started to sit down there, suddenly looked round in horror until she saw it was not the bed where Dick Renshaw had died, then sat down and supported herself with the palms of her hands flat on the bed.
"Mrs. Taylor?" Lucia almost screamed. "Aunt Mildred?"
Dr. Fell nodded.
"But that's s-silly!" protested Lucia, with the air of a child who stretches out its hand towards fire and is unsure whether the fire will bum. "It's ridiculous! It's all finished and done with!"
"It is never done with, I fear. After Joyce Ellis, you were the principal suspect from the beginning."
"How. do you know that?" Butler asked quickly.
"My dear sir!" grunted Dr. Fell, between petulance and distress. "I was on
For a moment Dr. Fell remained motionless. Then, with infinite labour, he wheezed and propelled himself to his feet.
"Mrs. Renshaw," he said in a voice he very seldom used, "I should like you and Mr. Butler to come upstairs with me for a private conference. Believe me, I do not make the request idly."
While Charles Denham and Agnes Cannon remained still, Lucia
led the way out of the drawing room. She walked rigidly and did not speak; it was as though her mouth would tremble if she attempted speech.
On the stairs Dr. Fell asked to be taken to Dick Renshaw's bedroom. Silently Lucia opened the door and pressed the electric-switch just inside.
The muffled lamp glowed again on the bedside table. Two oblongs of orange-yellow colour stole into the electric-fire. With scarcely a glance at the room itself, Dr. Fell carefully closed the door and faced Lucia and Butler.
"Ma'am," he said to Lucia in a heavy voice, "please accept now the fact that I am a bumbling old duffer. I suffer from, as it were, a certain absence of mind. I am just as apt to lift my hostess's best Wedgwood-china tea-pot and drop it on the hearthstone under the impression that there is a table there. But you had better hear these things from me than from Chief Inspector Soames."
"Just a minute!" Butler was beginning, when Dr. Fell's gesture cut him short.
"So I want to speak to you," the doctor went on to Lucia, "in the presence of your counsel and with his permission. For your own sake don't lie to me. The police have only begun to work. They are endlessly patient to track down a lie." Dr. Fell's face grew lopsided with supplication. "Mrs. Renshaw, do you have any antimony in your possession?"
"No!" Lucia said in horror.
"Did you ever buy it, or try to buy it? At any time in the past?"
"Never!"
Instinctively Lucia had taken hold of Butler's arm; and the current of intimacy wound them together again.
"That in itself," Butler interposed dryly, "is a stone-wall for the defence. You couldn't convict Satan himself unless you could show he had access to poison."
"Sir," retorted Dr. Fell, with a shade of wonder, "is it possible that even you don't realize the danger of the situation?"
"Naturally I realize it! But, in the remote chance that they did arrest Lucia," Butler glanced at her soothingly, "I mean to get her acquitted."
"And suppose you did? Would that solve your problem?"
Butler realized, with surprise, that he was still gripping the stone paperweight from the writing-desk downstairs. He looked at it blankly, as he looked at Dr. Fell, and dropped it into his side-pocket.
"Suppose," continued Dr. Fell with fiery emphasis, "you devised an explanation—as you or I probably could!—of how the poison got into the water-bottle. Suppose you secured Mrs. Renshaw's acquittal in a blaze of triumph. Don't you see the police might have still another charge against her?"
"Another charge? What charge?"
"The murder of Mrs. Taylor."
FOR about ten seconds Lucia Renshaw did not seem to understand.
Then her shm hand, with the pink fingernails, shd from Butler's arm as though her whole body had gone nerveless. She backed slowly away from Dr. Fell, an oddly crouching gesture for so tall and graceful a woman.
She backed into one of the twin beds, started to sit down there, suddenly looked round in horror until she saw it was not the bed where Dick Renshaw had died, then sat down and supported herself with the palms of her hands flat on the bed.
"Mrs. Taylor?" Lucia almost screamed. "Aunt Mildred?"
Dr. Fell nodded.
"But that's s-silly!" protested Lucia, with the air of a child who stretches out its hand towards fire and is unsure whether the fire will bum. "It's ridiculous! It's all finished and done with!"
"It is never done with, I fear. After Joyce Ellis, you were the principal suspect from the beginning."
"How. do you know that?" Butler asked quickly.
"My dear sir!" grunted Dr. Fell, between petulance and distress. "I was on
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