The Mystery at Stowe. Vernon Loder

to sit, and stood near her, his hands behind his back.

      ‘I am sorry to trouble you, Miss Sayers,’ he began, ‘but duty is duty even when it is not very pleasant. Mrs Gailey tells me that Mrs Tollard returned yesterday from a drive with her husband, looking rather upset. Between you and me, I am not disposed to lay much stress on Mr Tollard’s connection with this expedition, but I get the impression that Mrs Tollard, perhaps, did not quite like her husband’s interest in it.’

      Nelly Sayers was not vivacious, and quick, but she had at the back of her more common-sense than her friend Netta. The trouble was that she did not know what the latter had told the officer.

      ‘I think it’s rubbish,’ she cried. ‘She had nothing to complain of.’

      ‘Unfortunately, people do not require to have grounds for complaint,’ he said shrewdly. ‘Did you see her return from this drive?’