IV

Roddy. Roddy standing¹ there, blinking a little, hating it all. Roddy—looking somehow—not quitereal.

But nothing’s real any more. Everything is whirling round in a devilish way. Black’s white, andtop is bottom and east is west… And I’m not Elinor Carlisle; I’m “the accused.” And, whetherthey hang me or whether they let me go, nothing will ever be the same again. If there were justsomething—just one sane² thing to hold on to….

(Peter Lord’s face, perhaps, with its freckles³ and its extraordinary air of being just the same asusual…)

Where had Sir Edwin got to now?

“Will you tell us what were the state of Miss Carlisle’s feelings towards you?”

Roddy answered in his precise voice:

“I should say she was deeply attached to me, but certainly not passionately⁴ in love with me.”

“You considered your engagement satisfactory?”

“Oh, quite. We had a good deal in common.”

“Will you tell the jury, Mr. Welman, exactly why that engagement was broken off?”

“Well, after Mrs. Welman died it pulled us up, I think, with a bit of a shock. I didn’t like theidea of marrying a rich woman when I myself was penniless. Actually the engagement wasdissolved by mutual⁵ consent. We were both rather relieved.”

“Now, will you tell us just what your relations were with Mary Gerrard?”

(Oh, Roddy, poor Roddy, how you must hate all this!)“I thought her very lovely.”

“Were you in love with her?”

“Just a little.”

“When was the last time you saw her?”

“Let me see. It must have been the 5th or 6th of July.”

Sir Edwin said, a touch of steel in his voice:

“You saw her after that, I think.”

“No, I went abroad—to Venice and Dalmatia.”

“You returned to England—when?”

“When I received a telegram—let me see—on the 1st of August, it must have been.”

“But you were actually in England on July 27th, I think.”

“No.”

“Come, now, Mr. Welman. You are on oath, remember. Is it not a fact that your passport showsthat you returned to England on July 25th and left it again on the night of the 27th?”

Sir Edwin’s voice held a subtly menacing note. Elinor frowned, suddenly jerked back to reality.

Why was Counsel bullying⁶ his own witness?

Roderick had turned rather pale. He was silent for a minute or two, then he said with an effort:

“Well—yes, that is so.”

“Did you go and see this girl Mary Gerrard in London on the 25th at her lodgings⁷?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Did you ask her to marry you?”

“Er—er—yes.”

“What was her answer?”

“She refused.”

“You are not a rich man, Mr. Welman?”

“No.”

“And you are rather heavily in debt?”

“What business is that of yours?”

“Were you not aware of the fact that Miss Carlisle had left all her money to you in the event ofher death?”

“This is the first I have heard of it.”

“Were you in Maidensford on the morning of July 27th?”

“I was not.”

Sir Edwin sat down.

Counsel for the Prosecution⁸ said:

“You say that in your opinion the accused was not deeply in love with you.”

“That is what I said.”

“Are you a chivalrous⁹ man, Mr. Welman?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“If a lady were deeply in love with you and you were not in love with her, would you feel itincumbent upon you to conceal¹⁰ the fact?”

“Certainly not.”

“Where did you go to school, Mr. Welman?”

“Eton.”

Sir Samuel said with a quiet smile:

“That is all.”

 

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