Maud's pale eyes stared at him. "I didn't notice anything," she said.
In face of what he had heard from the other witnesses, this startled the Inspector. He looked suspiciously at Maud, and said: "Come, come, Mrs. Herriard! Isn't it a fact that there had been a good deal of quarrelling going on between the deceased and certain members of the house-party?"
"I daresay," said Maud indifferently. "I didn't pay any attention. My brother-in-law was a very quarrelsome man."
"Oh!" said the Inspector. "Then you wouldn't say that there had been anything out of the ordinary in the way of unpleasantness?"
"No," she said. "There is always unpleasantness in this house. Mr. Herriard was very disagreeable."
The Inspector coughed. "You've lived here for some time, haven't you, madam?"
"Two years," she said, without a change in her expression.
"Then I may take it that you know most of the ins and outs of the place, as one might say?"
"I never interfered," said Maud.
"No, madam, I'm sure… "Would you say that there had been any serious trouble between the deceased and any of his guests?"
"No. There is usually trouble when my husband's nephew and niece visit Lexham. They do not try to please their uncle. The Herriards are like that."
"Quarrelsome, do you mean?"
"Yes. Mr. Herriard liked it."
"He liked having his relations quarrel with him?" asked the Inspector incredulously.
"I don't think he minded. He never seemed to like people who were civil to him. He was very rude himself, very. He didn't mean anything by it."
"Would you say that there had been serious trouble over this play which Miss Herriard wanted her uncle to spend money on?"
"Oh no!" Maud said calmly. "He didn't care about the play, that's all. I didn't either."
"Did he refuse to put up any money?"
"I expect so. I daresay he would have in the end, however. He was very fond of Paula. It was a stupid moment for her to have chosen, that's all."
"Why was it a stupid moment, madam?"
Her eyes slowly turned towards him again. "Mr. Herriard was annoyed about the party."
"In what way?"
"He didn't want a party."
"But if he didn't want it, why did he have it?"
"It was my husband's doing. He is not at all like his brother. He thought it would be a good thing. But Mr. Herriard very much disliked Miss Dean, and that upset him."
The Inspector pricked up his ears. "He disliked Miss Dean? He didn't want his nephew to marry her?"
"No. But I don't suppose he will. I always thought he had made a mistake. I expect he stuck to it to annoy his uncle."
This seemed fantastic to the Inspector. "Stuck to it to annoy his uncle?"
"He likes annoying people," said Maud.
This matter-of-fact opinion, stated with a simplicity that could not but carry weight, confused the Inspector's mind. He began to perceive that he had to deal with extraordinary people, and it was with misgiving that he presently confronted Mathilda Clare.
His first thought was that she was no beauty, his second that she had very shrewd eyes. Her indefinable air of expensive chic slightly alarmed him, but he found her perfectly easy to get on with, if not very helpful.
She corroborated Maud's testimony. She had never yet, she told him, stayed at Lexham Manor without finding herself pitchforked into the middle of a family quarrel. "Though I'm bound to say," she admitted, "that things weren't usually as sultry as they have been this Christmas. That was Joseph Herriard's fault. He meant it all for the best, but he's one of those tactless creatures who spend their whole lives putting their feet into it. This time he's surpassed himself, for not content with getting Miss Dean into the home he allowed Miss Herriard to bring Mr. Roydon here."
"I understand that Mr. Roydon came to get Mr. Herriard to finance a play of his?"
"That was the general idea," admitted Mathilda. "But Mr. Herriard thought not."
"Very upsetting for Mr. Roydon," said the Inspector invitingly.
"Not at all. He is now determined to let the play stand on its merits."
"Oh! And Miss Herriard?"
"Miss Herriard," responded Mathilda coolly, "treated the assembled company to a dramatic scene - she's an actress, good in emotional roles. I wasn't present, but I'm told that she and Mr. Herriard had a really splendid quarrel, and enjoyed themselves hugely."
"Seems a funny way to enjoy yourself, miss."
"It would seem funny to you or to me, Inspector, but not, believe me, to a Herriard."
He shook his head dubiously, and asked, without much hope, where she had been between seven-thirty and dinner-time.
"Changing in my room," she replied. Joseph Herriard will bear me out. His dressing-room communicates with my bathroom, and we not only went upstairs together, but he chat - talked to me all the time I was changing. "What's more, we came downstairs together. That's my alibi, Inspector."
He thanked her gravely, refusing to be drawn, and said that he would like to interview the servants.
Just ring the bell," said Mathilda, rising, and walking to the door. "You will then be able to start on the butler."
She rejoined her fellow-guests in the drawing-room. "Well?" said Stephen.
"I did what I could for you," she replied. "He's now about to pump Sturry."
"That ought to finish us," he said grimly. "Sturry was listening outside the door when the storm broke."
Chapter Seven
The Inspector, who had been confronted with condescension in Roydon, hostility in Paula, now encountered, as Sturry majestically advanced into the morning-room, a lofty disdain which would have caused a more sensitive soul to shrink.
"You rang, Inspector?" said Sturry, conveying a suggestion of astonishment.
The Inspector felt in a vague way that he had committed a solecism, but he was strong in the consciousness of his duty, and he replied firmly: "Yes, I rang. I want to ask you a few questions. Is your name Albert Sturry?"
"My name, Inspector, is Albert Reginald Sturry."
The Inspector repressed an impulse to beg his pardon, and wrote the name in his notebook. "You are employed here as butler?"
"I have served Mr. Herriard in that capacity for four years and seven months," replied Sturry. "Previous to that, I was with the late Sir Barnabas Lancing, of Lancing Towers, and Upper Eaton Place."
The Inspector made a note of this, but wisely thrust Sir Barnabas into the background. He said: "Now, what do you know about this business?"
The arctic light in Sturry's eye plainly informed him that if he imagined he could address a respectable butler in this fashion he would find himself much mistaken. "I regret that I am unable to assist you," said Sturry. "It being no part of my duties to pry into the affairs of my employers."
The Inspector perceived that he had taken a false step. He said: "Naturally not, but a man in your position is bound to know the ins and outs of a house."
Sturry acknowledged this tribute by a slight bow, and waited.
"By all accounts the deceased was a difficult man to get on with, eh?"
"I experienced no difficulty, Inspector. Mr. Herriard had his idiosyncrasies, no doubt. Latterly his temper became impaired by rheumatic complaints, as was understandable."