XVI
　　It was really only about five minutes before Battle returned to the drawing-room, but to those there it seemed much longer.
　　Kay had suddenly lost control of herself. She had cried out to Audrey: "I knew it was you. I always knew it was you. I knew you were up to something -"Mary Aldin said quickly: "Please, Kay." Nevile said sharply: "Shut up, Kay, for God's sake." Ted¹ Latimer came over to Kay, who had begun to cry. "Get a grip on yourself," he said kindly².
　　He said to Nevile angrily: "You don't seem to realise that Kay has been under a lot of strain! Why don't you look after her a bit. Strange?""I'm all right," said Kay.
　　"For two pins," said Ted, "I'd take you away from the lot of them!"Inspector³ Leach⁴ cleared his throat. A lot of injudicious things were said at times like these, as he well knew. The unfortunate part was that they were usually remembered most inconveniently⁵ afterwards.
　　Battle came back into the room. His face was expressionless.
　　He said: "Will you put one or two things together, Mrs. Strange? I'm afraid Inspector Leach must come upstairs with you."Mary Aldin said: "I'll come, too."
　　When the two women had left the room with the Inspector, Nevile said anxiously: "Well, what did that chap want?"Battle said slowly: "Mr. MacWhirter tells a very odd story." "Does it help Audrey? Are you still determined⁶ to arrest her?" "I've told you, Mr. Strange. I've got to do my duty." Nevile turned away, the eagerness dying out of his face. He said: "I'd better telephone Trelawny, I suppose.""There's no immediate⁷ hurry for that, Mr. Strange. There's a certain experiment I want to make first as a result of Mr. MacWhirter's statement. I'll just see that Mrs. Strange gets off first."Audrey was coming down the stairs, Inspector Leach beside her. Her face still had that remote, detached composure.

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