uke got back to Jawbones again. He rang
the bell. As the door was not opened, he rang again.

Then from the garden behind the house he heard the sound of voices and
laughter. He recognized the laugh. It was Dot's. It was a full-bodied,
fruity laugh. Luke walked round the house and into the garden to see
what was happening.

On the lawn sat Dot, Dash, and the first and second footmen from
Gallows. A table showed that tea, including bottled beer, had been
served with some profusion. But the banquet was over and all four
reclined in deck-chairs, smoking cigarettes.

Luke stared at them blankly. "Afraid I'm rather interrupting," he
stammered.

"Well, old bean," said Dot. "You do come as a bit of a surprise. We'd
not expected you before Tuesday. But our two gentlemen friends--Albert
and Hector--I think you've met them--have to be back at their job at
six. So we shan't keep you long. The kitchen door's open if you care
to slip into the house and wait."

Luke's powerful mind made a rapid deduction. This could never have
happened if Mabel had not been powerless to prevent it. So Mabel must
have ... Yes, the oxalic acid.

"Can you tell me," he said in sepulchral tones, "where I shall find
the body of my poor wife?"

"Afraid I can't," said Dot. Her laughter jarred on him.

"Let us," he said, "be reverent. When did she die?"

Here Dash, under the pink parasol, broke in, "But she's alive. And
I'll bet she's a good deal livelier than she's been for years past. I
helped her pack, and it was some trousseau. The old girl's done a
bunk. See? Skipped it with a gentleman friend of hers."

"You might have mentioned that before," said Luke, aggrieved. "I quite
thought that something was the matter."

"Well, she's left a letter for you in your almost-silver cigarette
case. You'll find it in the bath-room, balanced on the hot-water tap.
You run along and read it. You're the least little bit in the way at
this tea party."

4

Seated on the edge of the bath, Luke read as follows:

"You could always see every point of view except one, and that was
your wife's.

"Once or twice the sting of your jelly-fish of a conscience made you
try to be nice to me. There are words and acts from a man to a woman
which may be lovely to the woman if they come spontaneously and
naturally. If they are produced as by a force-pump, they are an
insult. If you tried to hide the pump, it was a poor effort.

"When you took up with that Tyburn minx