Richard Treherne lifted his frowning gaze and said abruptly,

“Or on purpose. Didn’t you consider that?”

A little prim smile met the frown.

“Certainly I did, Mr. Richard. But you would not in that case have replaced the battery.”

“Wouldn’t I?”

“I think not, Mr. Richard. In fact, the whole business of the battery would be out of keeping with your character. If you will forgive me for saying so, you have strong feelings and you show them easily. If you were to commit a crime, it would not be premeditated, nor would it occur to you to cover up your tracks afterwards. The affair of the battery is entirely out of keeping with your character as I read it.”

The dark colour came into Richard’s face.

“And you are never wrong?”

Miss Silver gave a modest cough.

“Not very often, Mr. Richard. So, you see, I was convinced that Mr. Frith was attempting his cousin’s life. He was in embarrassed circumstances, and her death would have brought him a large sum of money. Miss Treherne admits that she kept the draft of her will in a drawer, and that she is careless about her keys. I am persuaded that Mr. Frith did not neglect such an opportunity. And now, you see, I was quite sure in my own mind about Mr. Frith, but I had not one iota of evidence to support my conviction. Miss Treherne was resolved not to call in the police, and Mr. Frith felt so secure that he actually urged her to do so. Meanwhile Miss Caroline was behaving in such a suspicious manner that had the police been called in, she would certainly have been the first object of their attention.”

Chapter Forty

And now, Caroline,” said Rachel, “will you tell us why you behaved in this suspicious manner?”

Caroline raised herself, flushed, looked across at Louisa, and then turned imploring eyes on Rachel.

“Louisa is one of those who has suspected you,” said Rachel. “If she does not hear your explanation she will always suspect you. This would hurt me so much that I ask you for my sake to speak.”

Caroline hung her head. Then she said, speaking very low to Richard.

“Please go away-a little farther off. Please don’t look at me. I can’t bear it if you do.”

He took her hand and put it to his lips, then got to his feet with a jerk and went over to the window, where he stood with his back to the room, eyes staring blindly and ears straining for the sound of Caroline’s faint words.

They were very faint indeed. She sat up, put her feet to the ground, and leaned against the shoulder of the couch, one elbow propped and her forehead resting on her hand. She said,

“I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t fond of Cosmo, but he’s always been there-like an uncle. I don’t think I thought whether I was fond of him or not-I don’t know. When you’ve known someone always like that you don’t think whether they’re telling you the truth.”

Miss Silver spoke in a very kind voice.

“What did he tell you, Miss Caroline?”

“It was about Richard-” She stopped, drew a long sighing breath, and forced the flagging words. “He said when Richard was at college he had got into difficulties. He said it wasn’t really Richard’s fault-he took the blame for a friend. He knew I wouldn’t believe anything against Richard, but he made it seem as if Richard would get into most dreadful trouble if it came out. He said there was a forged cheque, and if it came out Richard would go to prison.”

Richard swung round, came back, and stood over her.

“My darling little lunatic! What are you saying?”

Caroline lifted swimming eyes and said in a choked voice,

“Go away-I told you to go away.”

“Well, I’m not going!” said Richard.

He was so angry, and so relieved, that he would have liked to pick her up, shake her till her teeth chattered, and then kiss her until she cried for mercy. He restrained these barbaric desires, sat down beside her on the couch, and put a firm arm about her waist.

“So I’m a forger? And a damned fool into the bargain? Go on, darling!”

“Please go away.”

He did actually shake her a very little.

“I’m not going. Have you got that? Now get on with this blithering story. Cosmo told you I had forged a cheque in a spasm of nobility to save a friend, and you lapped it all up. Is that it?”

Quite a bright colour came into Caroline’s cheeks. She blinked away the brimming tears and said in a soft, indignant voice,

“I didn’t! Of course you can make it sound stupid, but if you’d heard him-”

“I should have believed I’d forged that cheque. All right, we’ve got that-he convinced you I was a philanthropic forger. What then?”

Her colour faded again. She looked across to Miss Silver and spoke to her.

“I can’t put it the way he put it-I’m not nearly clever enough. And I trusted him. He said someone had got hold of the story and unless he could be persuaded to hold his tongue it would ruin Richard. So I gave him fifty pounds- he said he hoped that would be enough. But afterwards he said it wasn’t, and I managed another ten. And that wasn’t enough either.”

Gale Brandon said something into the fire, and Rachel said, “Oh, Caroline darling!” Richard’s arm tightened, and he said angrily,

“Why on earth didn’t you come to me?”

The brown eyes looked at him with reproach.

“I couldn’t, because, you see, what he said was quite true. It would always have been between us if you had known that I knew. That’s true, Richard-you wouldn’t have liked me to know.”

“That I was a forger! I suppose I wouldn’t! Go on!”

Her eyes went back to Miss Silver.

“I’m not clever. He made it sound quite reasonable. He said this man had got the cheque, and if I wouldn’t buy it he would go to Richard. I thought that would hurt him so frightfully-oh, can’t you see what I thought? It was all years and years ago. I felt I would do anything to prevent him from dragging it up-I didn’t want Richard to know. I couldn’t touch most of my money because of its being in trust. I sold out two hundred pounds that Aunt Mary left me, and I gave up my flat. And when that wasn’t enough, I sold my mother’s ring.”

Richard said, “Caroline!” in a shaken voice.

She turned to him at once.

“I didn’t mind, darling-I didn’t really. Only Cherry found out and was horrid. And then-then there was that dreadful Thursday evening.”

“Yes, Miss Caroline? Will you tell us exactly what happened on the Thursday evening?”

“I went out with Richard after tea. We went up on to the cliff. He asked me to marry him. And I said I couldn’t. I didn’t feel I could with this dreadful secret going on. I didn’t feel as if I could keep a secret from him if we were to be married. So I said no. And Richard went on up the cliff, but I came back. And when I was quite near the house I met Cosmo. I was crying, and he was very kind. He said the only thing to do was to offer the blackmailer a really large sum and that would finish the whole thing. And he said I could get the money from Rachel if I told her I was in trouble and that I must have it. And that made me cry more than ever, because the one thing I couldn’t, couldn’t bear was for Rachel to think it was money I wanted from her. So I ran in through the garden gate. But there was someone there, and I came back and ran down the path to the road and came in that way. I didn’t see Cosmo, so I knew that he must have gone along the cliff. And afterwards he came to me and said I mustn’t ever say I’d seen him, because if I did, he would be obliged to say that he had seen Richard near the place where Rachel fell. That’s why I fainted when Rachel told us she had been pushed. I knew that Richard and Cosmo had both been there on the cliff.”

“As a matter of fact I went across the downs to the road, and came in the same way that you did,” said Richard.

“Cosmo said he went a little way along the cliff path and turned back. He said Richard passed him and went along towards Nanny Capper’s-walking very fast. He said if I spoke of having seen him, he would have to say this, and then Rachel would believe that it was Richard who had pushed her. And when Richard didn’t say he had been on the cliff path, I thought-I thought-I didn’t know what to think.”