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　　Mary Aldin was restless. She went in and out of the house, picked off a dead dahlia head here and there, went back into the drawing-room and shifted flower vases in an unmeaning fashion.
　　From the library came a vague murmur¹ of voices. Mr. Trelawny was in there with Nevile. Kay and Audrey were nowhere to be seen.
　　Mary went out in the garden again. Down by the wall she spied Thomas Royde placidly² smoking. She went and joined him.
　　"Oh, dear." She sat down beside him with a deep, perplexed³ sigh.
　　"Anything the matter?" Thomas asked.
　　Mary laughed with a slight note of hysteria in the laugh.
　　"Nobody but you would say a thing like that. A murder in the house and you just say, 'Is anything the matter?'"Looking a little surprised, Thomas said: "I meant anything fresh?""Oh, I know what you meant. It's really a wonderful relief to find anyone so gloriously just-the-same-as-usual as you are!""Not much good, is it, getting all het up over things?" 188"No, no. You're eminently⁴ sensible. It's how you manage to do it beats me." "Well, I suppose I'm an outsider.""That's true, of course. You can't fed the relief all the rest of .us do that Nevile is cleared.""I'm very pleased he is, of course," said Royde. Mary shuddered⁵.
　　"It was a very near thing. If Camilla hadn't taken it into her head to ring the bell for Barrett after Nevile had left her -""Then old Nevile would have been for it, all right."He spoke⁶ with a certain grim satisfaction, then shook his head with a slight smile, as he met Mary's reproachful gaze.
　　"I'm not really heartless, but now that Nevile's all right I can't help being pleased he had a bit of a shaking up. He's always so damned complacent⁷.""He isn't really, Thomas.""Perhaps not. It's just his manner. Anyway, he was looking scared as Hell this morning!""What a cruel

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