`Ha, ha,' said Hadley. `But what I wanted to ask you, did you speak to Mr Dalrye to-day?'
`Yes, I- did talk to him to-day.'
`When, Miss Bitton? In the morning?'
`Yes. That's when I usually call, you know, because then General Mason isn't there.'
`But, `Miss Bitton, when you spoke to Mr Dalrye this morning did he tell you that Philip Driscoll… your cousin, you know… was coming to see him at the Tower?'
`Yes,' she said, after a pause. `I know, because Bob wanted to know what sort of mess Phil had got into now, and did I know anything about it? He told me not to say anything about it to the others'
`And you didn't?'
`I sort of hinted, that's all, at the breakfast table. 1 asked them if they knew why Phil was going to the Tower of London at one o'clock, and they didn't know, and of course I obeyed Bob and didn't say anything more….'
`I fancy that should be sufficient,' said Hadley. `Was any comment made?'
`Comment?' the girl repeated, doubtfully. `N — no; they just talked a bit, and joked.'
`Who was at the table?'
`Just Daddy, and Uncle Lester and that horrible man who's been stopping with us; the one who rushed out this afternoon without saying a word to anybody.'
`Was Mrs Bitton at the table?'
`Laura? Oh! Oh no. She, didn't come down. She wasn't feeling well, and, anyway, I don't blame her, because she and Uncle Lester must have been up all last night, talking; I heard them, and. ’
`But surely Miss. Bitton, something must have been said at the breakfast table?'
`No, Mr Hadley. Truly. Of course I don't like being at the table when just Daddy and that horrible Mr Arbor are there, because mostly.I can't understand what they're talking about, books and things like that, and jokes I don't think funny. Or else the talk gets horrid, like the night when Phil told Uncle Lester he wanted to die in a top-hat. But I there wasn't anything important that I heard. Of course, Uncle Lester did say he was going to see Phil to-day…. But there wasn't anything important. Really.'
14. To Die in a Top-Hat
Hadley made a convulsive movement in his seat. Then he got out a handkerchief and mopped his forehead.
`Ha, ha,' he said, automatically. `You never hear anything important, Miss Bitton. It's most unfortunate. Now, Miss Bitton, please try to grasp the fact that some of the meaningless, unimportant conversations you overheard may be of the utmost importance. Miss Bitton, ' just how much do you know about your cousin's death?"
`Nothing, much, Mr Hadley,' she said, fretfully. `They won't tell me. I couldn't get a word out of Laura or Daddy, and Bob just said there was a sort of accident and he was killed by this man who steals all the hats but that's the only…
She broke off short as Dalrye came back into the room again. He looked more presentable now.
`Sheila,' he said, `whatever the things you want happen to be, you'd better go and pick 'em out. That place gives me the horrors. Everywhere I look Phil seems to be sitting there.'
`I'm not afraid,' the girl announced, sticking out her under-lip. `I don't believe in ghosts. You've been so long in that musty old Tower of London…'
'Tower!' Dalrye exclaimed, suddenly rumpling his sandy hair. 'Lord! I forgot.' He dragged out his watch. `Whoof! A quarter to eleven. I've been locked out three-quarters of an hour. My dear, your father will have to put up with me in the house for tonight. I'm dashed if I stay here.'
His eye wandered over to a leather couch against one wall, and he shuddered again. Hadley said:
`Now, if you please, Miss Bitton, let's go on. First tell us about this extraordinary business of your cousin wanting to die in a top-hat.'
`Eh?' said Dalrye. `Good God! what's this?'
`Why, Robert Dalrye,' Sheila Bitton said, warmly, `you know, perfectly well…. Oh no, you don't. I remember now, when you spoke about getting back too that hateful Tower. You had to leave the table early to get there. It was the first night that Mr Arbor… no, it wasn't, because Uncle Lester wasn't there then. Anyway, it was some night. Just Daddy and Uncle Lester and Laura and I were at the table; and Philip, of course. It was the night before Laura and Uncle Lester went to Cornwall. And Philip was taking Laura to the theatre, because at the last minute Uncle Lester had business and couldn't go, you see; but they were taking the trip to Cornwall because Uncle Lester had lost a lot of money or something, and he was all run down.
`It was a sort of spooky night, you see, with rain and hail coming down. Anyway, we started talking about death. And Uncle Lester asked Daddy how he'd choose to die if he had to die. Daddy said he supposed he'd choose to die like some duke or other who said he wanted to be drowned in a barrel of wine… fancy! But then they got serious about it, the way people do, and I was getting scared because they didn't talk very loud, and it was storming outside.
`And finally Daddy said he thought he'd choose some kind of poison he talked about that kills you in one whiff when you breathe it, and Uncle Lester said he thought a bullet through the head would be best, and Laura kept saying, "What rot, what rot," and "Come on, Phil, or we'll be late for the first-act curtain." And when Phil got up from the table Uncle Lester asked him how he'd like to die. And Phil just laughed, said something in French, and Daddy told me afterwards it meant, "Always the gentleman," and he said a lot of absurd things and said… Well, anyway, he didn't care so much how he died, if he could die with a top-hat on and at least one woman to weep at his grave.'
Four pairs of eyes fixed upon her had roused even Sheila Bitton to something like nervousness. As she came towards the end of her recital she was fidgeting and talking faster and faster. Now she cried:
`Please, I won't… I won't have you looking at me like that! And I won't be put upon, and nobody ever tells me anything, and I know I've said something I shouldn't. What is he matter?'
She sprang up. Dalrye put a clumsy hand on her shoulder.
He said: `My dear!… 'and stopped because he had nothing to say.
`My dear Miss Bitton,' the chief inspector said, briskly, — `you've said nothing wrong at all. Mr Dalrye will explain, presently. But now about this morning, at the breakfast table. What was it your Uncle said about seeing Philip today?'
She hesitated, looked at Dalrye, and wet her lips.
`Why, there wasn't anything much. Only Uncle Lester said he was going to have a talk with Phil today. And when I said that, about Phil meaning to go to the Tower at one o'clock, he said he thought he'd better run over to Phil's flat in the morning.'
`And did he?'
`Uncle Lester? Yes, he did. I saw him when he carne back about noon.. And I remember, Uncle Lester said to Daddy, "Oh, I say, you'd better let me have your key, in case he isn't in this morning; I'll sit down and wait for him.”
'Your father has a key to this flat?’
'I told you,' Sheila answered with some bitterness, `he treats us all like kids. That was one of the things that used to make Phil furious with him. He said he wouldn't pay for Phil's flat unless he could have a key, so that he could see what was going on whenever he wanted to…. Fancy! So Daddy gave Uncle Lester the key.'
Hadley bent forward. `Did he see Phil this morning?'
'No, he didn't, because I saw him when he came back. And Phil was out, and Uncle Lester, waited half an hour and left. He seemed to be…'
`Angry?' prompted Hadley, as she hesitated.
'No-o. Sort of tired and shaky. I know he'd over exerted himself. And… funny. He seemed queer, too, and excited; and he laughed.'
`Laughed?'
`Hold on!' Dr Fell suddenly boomed. He was having trouble keeping his glasses on his nose, and he held them to look at the girl. `Tell me, my dear. Was he carrying anything when he came back?'