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‘being very quick?’
    Hilfe was in the hall talking earnestly to Cost. He asked, ‘For you?’ He too was discomposed. Rowe left a track of censorious silence behind him: they watched him following the maid. He felt as though he had made a scene in church and was now being conducted away. He could hear behind him nothing but the tinkle of tea-cups being laid away.
    He thought: perhaps it’s Mr Rennit, but how can he have found me? or Jones? He leant across Mrs Bellairs’ desk in a small packed dining-room. He said, ‘Hullo,’ and wondered again how he could have been traced. ‘Hullo.’
    But it wasn’t Mr Rennit. At first he didn’t recognize the voice – a woman’s. ‘Mr Rowe?’
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜Are you alone?’
    â€˜Yes.’
    The voice was blurred; it was as if a handkerchief had been stretched across the mouthpiece. She couldn’t know, he thought, that there were no other women’s voices to confuse with hers.
    â€˜Please will you leave the house as soon as you can?’
    â€˜It’s Miss Hilfe, isn’t it?’
    The voice said impatiently, ‘Yes. Yes. All right. It is.’
    â€˜Do you want to speak to your brother?’
    â€˜Please do not tell him. And leave. Leave quickly.’
    He was for a moment amused. The idea of any danger in Mrs Bellairs’ company was absurd. He realized how nearly he had been converted to Mr Rennit’s way of thinking. Then he remembered that Miss Hilfe had shared those views. Something had converted her – the opposite way. He said, ‘What about your brother?’
    â€˜If you go away, he’ll go too.’
    The dimmed urgent voice fretted at his nerves. He found himself edging round the desk so that he could face the door, and then he moved again, because his back was to a window. ‘Why don’t you tell this to your brother?’
    â€˜He would want to stay all the more.’ That was true. He wondered how thin the walls were. The room was uncomfortably crowded with trashy furniture: one wanted space to move about – the voice was disturbingly convincing – to manoeuvre in. He said, ‘Is Jones still outside – the detective?’
    There was a long pause: presumably she had gone to the window. Then the voice sprang at him unexpectedly loud – she had taken away the handkerchief. ‘There’s nobody there.’
    â€˜Are you sure?’
    â€˜Nobody.’
    He felt deserted and indignant. What business had Jones to leave his watch? Somebody was approaching down the passage. He said, ‘I must ring off.’
    â€˜They’ll try to get you in the dark,’ the voice said, and then the door opened. It was Hilfe.
    He said, ‘Come along. They are all waiting. Who was it?’
    Rowe said, ‘When you were writing your note I left a message with Mrs Dermody, in case anyone wanted me urgently.’
    â€˜And somebody did?’
    â€˜It was Jones – the detective.’
    â€˜Jones?’ Hilfe said.
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜And Jones had important news?’
    â€˜Not exactly. He was worried at losing me. But Mr Rennit wants me at his office.’
    â€˜The faithful Rennit. We’ll go straight there – afterwards.’
    â€˜After what?’
    Hilfe’s eyes expressed excitement and malice. ‘Something we can’t miss – “at any price”.’ He added in a lower voice, ‘I begin to believe we were wrong. It’s lots of fun, but it’s not – dangerous.’
    He laid a confiding hand in Rowe’s arm and gently urged him ‘Keep a straight face, Mr Rowe, if you can. You mustn’t laugh. She is a friend of Canon Topling.’
    The room when they came back was obviously arranged for something. A rough circle had been formed with the chairs, and everyone had an air of impatience politely subdued. ‘Just sit down, Mr Rowe, next Mr Cost,’ said Mrs