A faint smile played for a minute round the stranger's lips as he said these last words.
"Mr. Quin," said Mr. Satterthwaite impressively, "we have a drama here; we are in the midst of one. I should like, and my friend Major Porter would like, to have your opinion of it."
Mr. Quin sat down. The red-shaded lamp threw a broad band of colored light over the checked pattern of his overcoat, and left his face in shadow almost as though he wore a mask.
Succinctly, Mr. Satterthwaite recited the main points of the tragedy. Then he paused, breathlessly awaiting the words of the oracle.
But Mr. Quin merely shook his head. "A sad story," he said. "A very sad and shocking tragedy. The lack of motive makes it very intriguing."
Unkerton stared at him. "You don't understand," he said. "Mrs. Staverton was heard to threaten Richard Scott. She was bitterly jealous of his wife. Jealousy--"
"I agree," said Mr. Quin. "Jealousy or demoniac possession. It's all the same. But you misunderstand me. I was not referring to the murder of Mrs. Scott, but to that of Captain Allenson."
"You're right," cried Porter, springing forward. "There's a flaw there. If Iris had ever contemplated shooting Mrs. Scott, she'd have got her alone somewhere. No, we're on the wrong tack. And I think I see another solution. Only those three people went into the Privy Garden. That is indisputable, and I don't intend to dispute it. But I reconstruct the tragedy differently. Supposing Jimmy Allenson shoots first Mrs. Scott and then himself. That's possible, isn't it? He flings the pistol from him as he falls--Mrs. Staverton finds it lying on the ground and picks it up just as she said. How's that?"
The Inspector shook his head. "Won't wash, Major Porter. If Captain Allenson had fired that shot close to his body, the cloth would have been singed."
"He might have held the pistol at arm's length."
"Why should he? No sense in it. Besides, there's no motive."
"Might have gone off his head suddenly," muttered Porter, but without any great conviction. He fell to silence again, suddenly rousing himself to say defiantly, "Well, Mr. Quin?"
The latter shook his head. "I'm not a magician. I'm not even a criminologist. But I will tell you one thing--I believe in the value of impressions. In any time of crisis there is always one moment that stands out from all the others, one picture that remains when all else has faded. Mr. Satterthwaite is, I think, likely to have been the most unprejudiced observer of those present. Will you cast your mind back, Mr. Satterthwaite, and tell us the moment that made the strongest impression on you? Was it when you heard the shots? Was it when you first saw the dead bodies? Was it when you first observed the pistol in Mrs. Staverton's hand? Clear your mind of any preconceived standard of values and tell us."
Mr. Satterthwaite fixed his eyes on Mr. Quin's face, rather as a schoolboy might repeat a lesson of which he was not sure.
"No," he said, slowly. "It was not any of these. The moment that I shall always remember was when I stood alone by the bodies--afterward--looking down on Mrs. Scott. She was lying on her side. Her hair was ruffled. There was a spot of blood on her little ear."
And instantly, as he said it, he felt that he had said a terrific, a significant thing.
"Blood on her ear? Yes, I remember," said Unkerton slowly.
"Her earring must have been torn out when she fell," explained Mr. Satterthwaite.
But it sounded a little improbable as he said it.
"She was lying on her left side," said Porter. "I suppose it was that ear?"
"No," said Mr. Satterthwaite quickly. "It was her right ear."
The Inspector coughed. "I found this in the grass," he vouchsafed. He held up a loop of gold wire.
"But, my God, man," cried Porter. "The thing can't have been wrenched to pieces by a mere fall. It's more as though it had been shot away by a bullet."
"So it was," cried Mr. Satterthwaite. "It was a bullet. It must have been."
"There were only two shots," said the Inspector. "A shot can't have grazed her ear and shot her in the back as well. And if one shot carried away the earring, and the second shot killed her, it can't have killed Captain Allenson as well--not unless he was standing close in front of her--very close--facing her as it might be. Oh! no, not even then, unless, that is--"
"Unless she was in his arms, you were going to say," said Mr. Quin, with a queer little smile. "Well, why not?"
Everyone stared at each other. The idea was so vitally strange to them--Allenson and Mrs. Scott. Mr. Unkerton voiced the same feeling.
"But they hardly knew each other," he said.
"I don't know," said Mr. Satterthwaite thoughtfully. "They might have known each other better than we thought. Lady Cynthia said he saved her from being bored in Egypt last winter, and you"--he turned to Porter--"you told me that Richard Scott met his wife in Cairo last winter. They might have known each other very well indeed out there."
"They didn't seem to be together much," said Unkerton.
"No--they rather avoided each other. It was almost unnatural, now I come to think of it--"
They all looked at Mr. Quin, as if a little startled at the conclusions at which they had arrived so unexpectedly.
Mr. Quin rose to his feet. "You see," he said, "what Mr. Satterthwaite's impression has done for us." He turned to Unkerton. "It is your turn now."
"Eh? I don't understand you."
"You were very thoughtful when I came into this room. I should like to know exactly what thought it was that obsessed you. Never mind if it has nothing to do with the tragedy. Never mind if it seems to you--superstitious--" Mr. Unkerton started, ever so slightly. "Tell us."
"I don't mind telling you," said Unkerton. "Though it's nothing to do with the business, and you'll probably laugh at me into the bargain. I was wishing that my Missis had left well alone and not replaced that pane of glass in the haunted window. I feel as though doing that has maybe brought a curse upon us."
He was unable to understand why the two men opposite him stared so.
"But she hasn't replaced it yet," said Mr. Satterthwaite at last.
"Yes, she has. Man came first thing this morning."
"My God!" said Porter, "I begin to understand. That room, it's paneled, I suppose, not papered?"
"Yes, but what does that--"
But Porter had swung out of the room. The others followed him. He went straight upstairs to the Scotts' bedroom. It was a charming room, paneled in cream, with two windows facing south. Porter felt with his hands along the panels on the western wall.
"There's a spring somewhere--must be. Ah!" There was a click, and a section of the paneling rolled back. It disclosed the grimy panes of the haunted window. One pane of glass was clean and new. Porter stooped quickly and picked up something. He held it out on the palm of his hand. It was a fragment of ostrich feather. Then he looked at Mr. Quin. Mr. Quin nodded.
He went across to the hat cupboard in the bedroom. There were several hats in it--the dead woman's hats. He took out one with a large brim and curling feathers--an elaborate Ascot hat.
Mr. Quin began speaking in a gentle, reflective voice.
"Let us suppose," said Mr. Quin, "a man who is by nature intensely jealous, a man who has stayed here in bygone years and knows the secret of the spring in the paneling. To amuse himself he opens it one day, and looks out over the Privy Garden. There, secure as they think from being over-looked, he sees his wife and another man. There can be no possible doubt in his mind as to the relations between them. He is mad with rage. What shall he do? An idea comes to him. He goes to the cupboard and puts on the hat with the brim and feathers. It is growing dusk, and he remembers the story of the stain on the glass. Anyone looking up at the window will see as they think the Watching Cavalier. Thus secured, he watches them, and at the moment they are clasped in each other's arms, he shoots. He is a good shot--a wonderful shot. As they fall, he fires once more--that shot carries away the earring. He flings the pistol out of the window into the Privy Garden, rushes downstairs and out through the billiard room."
Porter took a step toward him.
"But he let her be accused?" he cried. "He stood by and let her be accused? Why? Why?"
"I think you know why," said Mr. Quin. "I should guess--it's only guesswork on my part, mind--that Richard Scott was once madly in love with Iris Staverton--so madly that even meeting her years afterward stirred up the embers of jealousy again. I should say that Iris Staverton once fancied that she might love him, that she went on a hunting trip with him and another--and that she came back in love with the better man."
"The better man," muttered Porter, dazed. "You mean--"
"Yes," said Mr. Quin, with a faint smile. "I mean you." He paused a minute, and then said, "If I were you--I should go to her now."
"I will," said Porter.
He turned and left the room.
AT THE BELLS AND MOTLEY
Mr. Satterthwaite was annoyed. Altogether it had been an unfortunate day. They had started late; they had taken the wrong turning and lost themselves amid the wilds of Salisbury Plain. Now it was close on eight o'clock; they were still a matter of forty miles from Marswick Manor, whither they were bound, and a puncture had supervened to render matters still more trying.