Adriana looked startled. She finished pouring out her own cup of tea and set down the teapot. Then she said,

‘But she had changed – when I came out on the landing and they were all in the hall, she had changed!’

‘You are sure about that?’

‘Of course I am sure. She had put on her old green crape, a hideous garment – I can’t think why she ever bought it, but she had no clothes-sense.’ She added milk to the cup and lifted it to her lips, but she did not drink from it. Her hand jerked suddenly and she set it down again.

‘Look here, where is this getting us? Are you asking me to believe that Meriel – Meriel – went down to that pool in the dusk and pushed Mabel in? Because she was wearing my coat – because she took her for me? Is that what you are asking me to believe?’

Miss Silver looked at her compassionately.

‘It is not I who am saying these things, Miss Ford. It is you.’

‘What does it matter who says them? Do you think them? Do you believe that Meriel pushed poor Mabel Preston into the pool and held her down there, thinking she was me? And that she then came back into the house and spilt coffee on her dress to hide the stains? There’s moss on the parapet, you know, and the water from the pool would leave a dirty mark, but coffee – coffee would hide anything.’

Miss Silver said firmly,

‘Miss Ford, I have not said any of these things. It is you who are saying them. They exist as a possibility, but a thing that is possible should not necessarily be accepted as a fact. Circumstantial evidence can be extremely misleading. Miss Meriel seems to have been in the neighbourhood of the pool in that cyclamen dress, and she subsequently changed it as it had become stained with coffee. There is a possibility that it was stained deliberately, and for the purpose of concealing other and more compromising stains, but there is no proof that this was so.’

Adriana lifted her cup, and this time she drank from it, a long steady draught. When she had set it down again she said,

‘She is in a state of resentment against me. It has been going on for a long time. She thinks I could use my influence to push her on to the stage. But she isn’t willing to be trained. She thinks she can stroll in at the top with all the hard work cut out. She thinks I could make that possible. Well, I couldn’t if I would, and I wouldn’t if I could. I said that to her once, and she hated me for saying it. And these last few days she has been very angry with me about that damned coat. She is like that, you know. She sets her heart on something, and she has got to have it. But if she gets it, nine times out of ten she doesn’t care about it any more. There you are – that’s Meriel! But still I don’t think-’

Her voice did not choke, it stopped. There was no colour under the careful make-up. She took a long breath and went on as if there had been no broken sentence.

‘I don’t think she would try to kill me.’

Miss Silver said,

‘She is a very uncontrolled person.’

Adriana nodded.

‘She blows off steam. I have spent my life among people like that. They fly into a temper and get it off the chest. It sounds like a lot more than it really is. The artistic temperament – and a bit of a curse if you have it without the talent which makes it go down!’

When Meeson came up presently for the tray she was in no great hurry to take it.

‘What price me being a spying, tale-tattling old devil?’ she said with the air of one who has received a mortal affront and is determined to rise above it.

Adriana, not unaccustomed to this mood, supplied the question for which Meeson was waiting.

‘And who has been calling you a tale-tattling spy?’

Meeson tossed her head.

‘Tale-tattling, spying devil is what it was – and twenty years ago I’d have turned her up and spanked her for it! Spoilt her – that’s what you’ve done! And not the first time I’ve told you what would come of it! Spying! Me! And tale-tattling, which my worst enemy couldn’t throw up at me! “Now look here, Meriel,” I said, “that’s enough and a bit too much! There’s Miss Ford showing me that bit of stuff off of the dress you tore, and all I said was, ‘Torn it was – and what’s a tear more or less, for it’s neither here nor there!’ ” I said. And she come back on me like a fury and said she’d take her dying oath she never tore it! And “Oh, yes, you did!” I said. “And what you were doing down by that horrid pool in a brand new dress – it isn’t for me to say!” Well, ducks, you’d have thought I’d hit her. “I wasn’t down by the pool,” she said. And I said, “Oh, yes, you were, my lady! And that’s where you tore your dress, because that’s where Miss Silver found the scrap from it! Just outside the door I was, getting it open, when she told Miss Ford about finding it caught in the hedge!”’

‘Gertie – you listened!’

Meeson bridled.

‘Well, I’d got to get the door open, hadn’t I? And if you’re going to start and have secrets from me, what’s the good? Which is what I told that Meriel, and that’s when she had the cheek to call me what she did! Tale-tattling spy! I was clean ashamed of her, and so I told her! With Mr and Mrs Geoffrey coming out of their rooms, and Mr Ninian and Simmons down in the hall! What they could have thought!’

When she had gone, Miss Silver spoke in a tone of extreme gravity.

‘Miss Ford, you came to me for advice, but when I offered it you were not disposed to give it any consideration. Since then there has been a tragedy. You have summoned me with great urgency, and I am here. After only a few hours in the house I am not in a position to offer a solution of the events which have occurred, or to dogmatize upon the situation, but I do feel obliged to offer you a warning. There are elements which may produce or precipitate some further explosion.’

Adriana directed a hard stare upon her.

‘What elements?’

‘Do I need to point them out to you?’

‘Yes.’

Miss Silver complied.

‘You have in your household three persons in a state of mental conflict. One of them displays considerable emotional instability. Miss Preston’s death occurred at some time between, shall we say, six o’clock and shortly after eight. You have told me that you saw her yourself certainly as late as six o’clock. You have also told me that Miss Meriel was in evidence until about the same time.’

Adriana said in her deep voice,

‘You can put it as late as half past six for both of them. I spoke to Meriel myself at about twenty past, and poor Mabel – well, she was making herself heard, even in all that din. One of those high metallic voices.’

‘Then that narrows the time to something under an hour and a half. During that period Miss Preston and Miss Meriel were both down by the pool. We do not know what took either of them there, but it is certain that they were both within that enclosing hedge. There is, of course, no evidence to prove that Miss Meriel’s visit coincided with that of Miss Preston. It may have done so, or it may not. Whether it did, or whether it did not, she is now aware that her presence there is known, and other members of your household are also in possession of this fact.’

‘What other members?’

‘You heard what Meeson said – Mr and Mrs Geoffrey Ford were on the landing when Miss Meriel was accusing her of telling tales. The fact that a piece of stuff torn from her dress had been found caught up in the hedge which surrounds the pool was clearly mentioned. They must have heard what was said. Mr Ninian Rutherford and Simmons were in the hall below. They also must have heard. Meeson, in fact, intimated that they had done so. Do you suppose that by tomorrow there will be anyone under this roof who will not be aware of Miss Meriel’s presence at the pool? Or can you believe that the knowledge will remain confined to this household?’

Adriana said, ‘What do you mean?’