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The heavy pile carpet which stretched right up to the walls was of this quiet neutral shade: so were the easy-chairs, and the colour of the heavy curtains, which hung in front of the two high windows, was in harmony with the restful decorative scheme of the room. The massive oaken door stood opposite the window overlooking the rosery the window through which Horace Trevert had entered.
And I don't see by what right you try and run him down to me behind his back! If it's jealousy, then it shows a very petty spirit!" Robin Greve stepped close up to Mary Trevert. His eyes were very angry and his jaw was set very square. "If you are determined to sell yourself to the highest bidder," he said, "I suppose there's no stopping you. But you're making a mistake.
You tried to force my investigations into an entirely new path. That deepened my suspicions. I believed it to be my duty to ascertain your movements after leaving Harkings. But then I heard Jeekes make an apparently gratuitously false statement to Miss Trevert with an implication against you. That, to some extent, cleared you in my eyes.
Hartley Parrish, then, had been seated in his library at his desk with the door locked. The fire was smoking, and therefore he had opened the window. According to Horace Trevert, the window had not been bolted when he had entered the library, for, after smashing the pane in the assumption that the bolt was shot, he had had no difficulty in pushing up the window.
Lady Margaret bowed to signify that the interview was at an end. But Mary Trevert left her side and walked to the door. "Will you come downstairs with me, Mr. Manderton," she said. "I should like to speak to you alone for a minute!" She led the way downstairs through the hall and out into the drive.
"And what did you do when you came in?" "I went up to my room to fetch a letter for the post." "Miss Trevert heard the shot fired at 5.15. Where were you at that time?" "In my bedroom, I should say. I was there for a few minutes as I had to write a cheque...." "And where is your bedroom?" "In the other wing above the billiard-room." "Hm! A pistol shot makes a great deal of noise.
"Good-morning," said Robin with easy assurance; "I'm delighted to hear that you've found Miss Trevert, Jeekes, for, to tell the truth, I was feeling somewhat uneasy about her ..." The secretary's face was a study. The surprise of seeing Robin, who had dropped, it seemed to him, out of the clouds into the city of Rotterdam, deprived him of speech for an instant.
"Do you mean to tell me," protested Robin, growing more and more puzzled, "that Jeekes told Miss Trevert this offensive and deliberate lie in your presence!" "Well," remarked Mr. Manderton slowly, "I don't know about his saying this in my presence exactly. But I heard him tell her for all that. Walls have ears, you know particularly if the door is ajar!"
But before we reach that point we have to explain how it happened that only one shot was heard and how a bullet which apparently came from Parrish's pistol was found in his body ..." "If Mr. Parrish was murdered, the murderer might have turned the gun round in Parrish's hand and forced him to shoot himself ..." "Hardly," said Robin. "Remember, Mary Trevert was at the door when the shot was fired.
He looked shrewdly at Robin, then dropped his eyes to the floor. "He also told her that Le Hagen and you were in business relations ..." Robin sat up at this. "Ah!" he said shortly. "I see what you're getting at now. Our friend has been trying to set Miss Trevert against me, eh? But why? I don't even know this man Jeekes except to have nodded 'Good-morning' to him a few times.
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