iness."

"Thank you, sir," said Hutchings gratefully.

When Hutchings had gone, Mr. Flexen said: "It's all very well your
talking, but it was you who suggested that Lady Loudwater was a woman of
strong primitive emotions with a strain of Italian blood in her."

"I never suggested for a moment that she was a woman of _primitive_
emotions," Mr. Manley protested with some vehemence.

"But the emotions of all women are primitive," said Mr. Flexen.

"Not the emotion excited in them by beauty," said Mr. Manley with
chivalrous warmth. "And, hang it all! Does she look like a woman to
commit murder?"

"Not on her own account, certainly," said Mr. Flexen.

"And on whose account should she commit murder?" cried Mr. Manley.

Mr. Flexen shrugged his shoulders.

"I said you knew ten times as much about the business as I do," said Mr.
Manley in a tone of triumph.

CHAPTER XIV

Mr. Flexen awoke next morning hopeful of news of the mysterious woman.
But the letters addressed to him at the Castle and those brought over
from the office of the Chief Constable at Low Wycombe brought none. After
breakfast, still hopeful, he telephoned to Scotland Yard. No information
had reached it.

He perceived clearly that the case was at a deadlock till he had that
information. He was sure that it would come sooner or later, possibly
from the neighbourhood, more probably from London. It was always possible
that Mr. Carrington might discover that some other lawyer had handled an
entanglement for Lord Loudwater. In the meantime, his work at the Castle
was done. He had exhausted its possibilities. There was no reason why he
should not return to his rooms at Low Wycombe. After having conferred
with Inspector Perkins, he decided to leave one of the two detectives to
continue making inquiries in the neighbourhood. He told James Hutchings
that he would like his clothes packed, and went to the rose-garden to
taken his leave of Olivia and thank her for her hospitality.

He found her looking very charming in a light summer frock of white lace
with a few black bows set about it, and he thought that she seemed less
under a strain than she had seemed the day before. He told her that he
was returning to Low Wycombe; she expressed regret at his going, and
thanked him for his efforts to clear up the matter of Lord Loudwater's
death. They parted on the friendliest terms.

As he came away, Mr. Flexen thought it significant that, though she had
than