Ned suddenly jumped to his feet.
"I"m no lawyer," said he, "but to me you seem to be arguing in the d.a.m.nedest circle I ever met. You won"t do anything because you can"t get more evidence. And you won"t look for more evidence because you don"t want to do anything."
There was more than a hint of temper in Simon"s eye and his answer was rapped out sharply.
"I certainly do not _want_ to cause a family scandal. I haven"t said all I could say about Sir Malcolm if I were pressed."
"Why not?"
"I"ve told you. Suspicion is not evidence, but if I do get evidence, those who will suffer by it had better beware!"
Ned turned at the door and surveyed him with a cool and caustic eye.
"That"s talk," he said, "and something has got to be _done_."
He was gone, and Simon Rattar was left frowning at the closed door behind him. The frown remained, but became now rather thoughtful than indignant. Then he sprang up and began to pace the floor, deliberately at first, and then more rapidly and with increasing agitation.
XVIII
1200
Ned Cromarty had returned home and was going upstairs, when he heard a voice cry:
"Ned!"
The ancient stone stair, spiralling up round the time-worn pillar that seemed to have no beginning or end, gave at intervals on to doors which looked like apertures in a cliff. Through one of these he turned and at the end of a brief pa.s.sage came to his sister"s sitting room. In that mediaeval setting of ponderous stone, it looked almost fantastic in its daintiness. It was a small room of many cushions and many colours, its floor covered with the softest rugs and its walls with innumerable photographs, largely of country houses where Miss Cromarty had visited.
Evidently she was a lady accustomed to a comfortable life in her roving days, and her sitting room seemed to indicate very distinctly that she proposed to live up to this high standard permanently.
"Oh Neddy dear, I want to talk to you about something," she began in her brisk way and with her brightest smile.
Her brother, though of a simple nature, was by this time aware that when he was termed "Neddy dear" the conversation was apt to turn on Miss Cromarty"s requirements.
"Well," said he, "how much is the cheque to be this time?"
"How clever you"re getting!" she laughed. "But it isn"t a cheque I want this time. It"s only a motor car."
He looked at her doubtfully for a moment.
"Pulling my leg; or a real car?"
"Real car of course--nice one too!"
"But, my dear girl, we"ve just put down our car. You agreed it was necessary."
"I agreed then; but it isn"t necessary now."
"Have you come into a fortune? I haven"t!"
"You"ve come into 1200."
Again he looked at her, and this time his expression changed.
"That"s only a debt wiped out."
"Well, and your great argument for economy was that you had to pay back that debt. Now you haven"t. See, Neddy dear?"
Her brother began to shake his head, and her smile became a little less bright.
"I don"t want to get my affairs into a tangle again just yet."
"But they weren"t in a bad tangle. Cancelling that debt makes us absolutely all right again. It"s absurd for people like us not to have a car! Look at the distances from our neighbours! One can"t go anywhere.
I"ll undertake to keep down the household expenses if you get the car."
Her brother frowned out of the window.
"No," he said, "it"s too soon to get a car again."
"But you told me you had got part of that 1200 in hand and hoped to make up the rest very soon. What are you going to do with the money now?"
He glanced at her over his shoulder for an instant and then his mouth a.s.sumed a grim and obstinate look she knew too well.
"I may need the money," he said briefly. "And I"m not much in the mood at this moment for buying things."
Behind his back Lilian made a little grimace. Then in a tone of sisterly expostulation she said:
"You are worrying too much over this affair, Ned. You"ve done all you can----"
He interrupted her brusquely:
"And it"s dashed little! What have I actually done? Nothing! One needs a better man than me."
"Well, there"s your friend Silent Simon, and all the police--"
"A fat lot of good they are!" said Ned.
His sister looked a little surprised at his unusual shortness of temper.
To her he was very rarely like this.
"You need a good day"s shooting to take your mind off it for a little,"
she suggested.
He turned upon her hotly.