‘No, I don’t,’ he said plumply. ‘And yet you prefer to go no further?’ ‘And yet I prefer to go no further.’ ‘And this Teresa, who frequents circuses and chalk-pits, and faints at midnight--what sort of a girl is she?’ ‘Miss Craig is a very beautiful woman,’ said Richard stiffly. He tried hard to speak in a natural tone of voice, but failed. ‘She has bewitched you, Redgrave,’ said Lord Dolmer. ‘It is a clear case. She has bewitched you. This won’t do at all--my unimpressionable Redgrave knocked over by a country girl of nineteen or so!’ He rubbed his hands together, and then lighted another cigarette. Richard pulled himself together, and replied, smiling: ‘Not at all.... But really, Lord Dolmer, I want to throw the thing up. So far from Miss Craig having bewitched me, I shall, in all probability, never see her again.’ ‘I see--a heroic sacrifice! Well, I will tell Mr. Simon Lock... what shall I tell him?’ ‘Tell him I have discovered nothing definite, and own myself beaten as regards finding out the true origin of Raphael Craig’s eccentricities. But tell him, also, that I am convinced that Raphael Craig is nothing worse than eccentric.’ Richard paused, and repeated: ‘Yes, nothing worse than eccentric.’ ‘No, Redgrave, I won’t tell him that you are convinced of that.’ ‘And why not?’ ‘Because, forgive me, I am convinced that you are not convinced of it.’ There was an interval of silence, during which two spirals of smoke ascended gracefully to the panelled ceiling of Lord Dolmer’s diningroom. ‘Perhaps I am not,’ Richard answered calmly. ‘Tell Simon Lock what you like, then, only make it plain that I retire. I ask no fee, since I have earned none. I wash my hands of the whole business. I am within my rights in so doing.’ ‘Certainly you are within your rights,’ said Lord Dolmer. ‘And d’you know, Redgrave, I am rather glad that you are retiring from the case.’ ‘Why?’ ‘If I tell you my reason you will regard it as strictly confidential?’ Richard assented.