"I am afraid I have been very lazy this morning," she cried. She saw Harry Luttrell, she coloured to the eyes, she smiled doubtfully and said in a little whimsical voice, "We didn"t after all, practise in the pa.s.sage."
Then, and only then, did she realise that something was amiss. Millie Splay in her desire to spare her darling the sudden shock of learning what calamity had befallen the house that night had bidden Joan"s maid keep silence. She herself would break the news. But Millie Splay was busy with telegrams to Robert Croyle and Stella"s own friends, and all the sad little duties which wait on death; and Joan ran down into the midst of the debate without a warning.
Martin Hillyard would have given it to her, but Sir Chichester was hot upon his report.
"Joan, my dear," he said confidently. "There"s a little point--not in dispute really--but--well there"s a little point. It has been said that you came straight back here last night from Harrel?"
Joan"s face turned slowly white. She stood with her great eyes fixed upon Sir Chichester, still as an image, and she did not answer a word.
Harry Luttrell drew in a quick breath like a man in pain. Sir Chichester was selecting a new pen and noticed nothing.
"It"s ridiculous, of course, my dear, but I must put to you the formal question. Did you?"
"Yes," answered Joan, and the pen fell from Sir Chichester"s hand.
"But--but--how did you come back?"
"I borrowed Miranda"s car."
Miranda"s legs gave under her and she sank down with a moan in a chair.
"But Miranda denies that she lent it," said Sir Chichester in exasperation.
"I asked her to deny it."
"Why?"
Joan"s eyes for one swift instant swept round to Harry Luttrell. She swayed. Then she answered:
"I can"t tell you."
Sir Chichester rose to his feet and tore his sheet of foolscap across.
"G.o.d bless my soul!" he said to himself rather than to any of that company. "G.o.d bless my soul!" He moved away from the table. "I think I"ll go and see Millie. Yes! I"ll consult with Millie," and he ascended the stairs heavily, a very downcast and bewildered man. It seemed as though old age had suddenly found him out, and bowed his shoulders and taken the spring from his limbs. Something of this he felt himself, for he was heard to mutter as he pa.s.sed along the landing to his wife"s sitting-room:
"I am not the man I was. I feel difficulties more"; and so he pa.s.sed from sight.
Harry Luttrell turned then to Joan.
"Miss Whitworth," he began and got no further. For the blood rushed up into the girl"s face and she exclaimed in a trembling voice:
"Colonel Luttrell, I trust that you are not going to ask me any questions."
"Why?" he asked, taken aback by the little touch of violence in her manner.
"Because, at twelve o"clock last night, I refused you the right to ask them."
The words were not very generous. They were meant to hurt and they did.
They were meant to put a sharp, quick end to any questioning; and in that, too, they succeeded. Harry Luttrell bowed his head in a.s.sent and went out into the garden. For a moment afterwards Martin Hillyard, Joan and Jenny Prask stood in silence; and in that silence once more Martin"s eyes fell upon the key of Stella"s room. The earth had moved since the interrogatory had begun and the sunlight now played upon the key and trans.m.u.ted it into a bright jewel. Martin Hillyard stepped forward and lifted it up. A faint, a very faint light, as from the far end of a long tunnel began to glimmer in his mind.
"I must think it out," he whispered to himself; and at once the key filled all his thoughts. He turned to Joan:
"Will you watch, please?" He opened the drawer in the table and laid the key inside it. Then he closed the drawer and locked it and took the key of the drawer out of the lock.
"You see, Joan, what I have done? That key is locked in this drawer, and I hold the key of the drawer. It may be important."
Joan nodded.
"I see what you have done. And now, will you please leave me with Jenny Prask?"
The smile was very easy to read now in Jenny"s face. She could ask nothing better than to be left alone with Joan.
Martin hesitated.
"I think, Joan, that you ought to see Lady Splay before you talk to any one," he counselled gently.
"Is everybody going to give me orders in this house?" Joan retorted with a quiet, dangerous calm.
Martin Hillyard turned and ran swiftly up the stairs. There was but one thing to do. Lady Splay must be fetched down. But hurry as he might, he was not in time. For a few seconds Joan and Jenny Prask were alone in the hall, and all Jenny"s composure left her on the instant. She stepped quickly over to Joan, and in a voice vibrating with hatred and pa.s.sion, she hissed:
"But you"ll have to say why you came back. You"ll have to say who you came back to see. You"ll have to say it publicly too--right there in court. It"ll be in all the papers. Won"t you like it, Miss Whitworth?
Just fancy!"
Joan was staggered by the attack. The sheer hatred of Jenny bewildered her.
"In court?" she faltered. "What do you mean?"
"That Mrs. Croyle died of poison last night in her room," answered Jenny.
Joan stared at her. "Last night, after we had talked--she killed herself--oh!" The truth reached her brain and laid a chill hand upon her heart. She rocked backwards and forwards as she stood, and with a gasping moan fell headlong to the ground. She had fainted. For a little while Jenny surveyed her handiwork with triumph. She bent down with a laugh.
"Yes, it"s your turn, you pretty doll. You"ve got to go through it! You won"t look so young and pretty when they have done with you in the witness-box. Bah!"
Jenny Prask was a strenuous hater. She drew back her foot to kick the unconscious girl as she lay at her feet upon the floor. But that insult Millie Splay was in time to prevent.
"Jenny," she cried sharply from the bal.u.s.trade of the landing.
Jenny was once more the quiet, respectful maid.
"Yes, my lady. You want me? I am afraid that Miss Whitworth has fainted."
CHAPTER x.x.x
A REVOLUTION IN SIR CHICHESTER