"He didn't want telling. He heard you the other night when you were having hysterics and yelling 'Oh, Ronnie, Ronnie!' at the top of your voice. You did everything except give Ronnie's address and telephone number. Apart from that I did tell him. I wanted to know the kind of man you're raving about. And your Ronnie is just dirt." "Don't dare to say that--don't dare!" "If mother didn't sleep like a dormouse she'd hear you--some people think they can make black white if they shout 'black' loudly enough. Ronald Morelle has a bad reputation with girls. I don't care if you foam at the mouth, Evie, I'm going to say it. He is a blackguard!" "Sault told you! Sault told you!" Evie's voice had a shrill thin edge to it. "I know he did--a murderer--a nigger murderer, that is what he is. Not fit to live under the same roof as me--I shall tell Ronnie what he said--I'll tell him tomorrow, and then you'll see!" "As you are permanently parted, I don't see how you will have an opportunity of telling him," said Christina. "I could have told him myself, today, I saw him." "Saw him, how?" Evie was surprised into interest. "With my eyes. Mr. Sault took me into Kensington Gardens and I saw him--he pointed him out to me." Evie smiled contemptuously. "That is where you and your damned Sault were wrong," she said in triumph. "Ronnie has been working in his flat all the afternoon! He was writing an article for _The Statesman_!" "He didn't seem to be working very hard when I saw him," said Christina unmoved, "unless he was dictating his article to Miss Merville. They were driving together. Mr. Sault said: 'There is Morelle'--" "He should have said 'Mister'." "And I saw him. He is good-looking; the best looking man I have ever seen." "It wasn't Ronnie--I don't mean that Ronnie isn't good looking. He's lovely. But it couldn't have been him. Besides, he hates that Merville girl, at least he doesn't like her. You are only saying this to make me jealous. How was he dressed?" "So far as I could see, he wore a long-tailed coat--he certainly had a top hat. Mr. Sault said that he thought he had been to Lady Somebody-or-other's garden party. Mr. Steppe was going, but couldn't get away." "Now I know it wasn't Ronnie! He was wearing a blue suit--no, he hadn't changed his clothes. He told me he didn't dress until an hour before he met me. Sault is a--he must have been mistaken." Before she went to bed she came over to say "good night." "I'm sorry I lost my temper, Chris." "My dear, if you lose nothing else, I shall be happy." "I hate your insinuations, Christina! Some day you will find out what a splendid man Ronnie is--and then you'll be surprised." "I shall," admitted Christina, and later, when Evie was dropping into sleep, "Who did Ambrose kill?" "Eh--? I don't know. Somebody in Paris--" Another long silence. "He must have been a terrible villain!" "Who, Sault?" "No, the man he killed," said Christina.