He pulled a chair forward towards Mrs. Dick, who collapsed into it and took out her pocket-handkerchief. Mrs. Sanders perched herself uncomfortably on a corner of the sofa. Miss Farquharson sat upright in the writing-chair which stood in front of Lord Manton’s desk. “Miss Blow,” said Lord Manton, “is just going to tell us the name of the man who has murdered your husbands.” Mrs. Dick gave a queer cry, half wail, half whoop, a loud cry, ending in a gasp. “Murdered;” she cried. “Murdered! Oh, no, no, not murdered!” “Certainly not murdered,” said Lord Manton. “That’s only what Miss Blow says. I don’t believe they’re murdered. Neither does Mr. Goddard, and if anybody knows the ins and outs of this unfortunate business it’s Mr. Goddard. He’s a policeman, the chief policeman of this district. It stands to reason that he must know. Don’t be the least uneasy, ladies. There’s no necessity for tears. Nobody is murdered.” Mrs. Dick allowed herself to be a little comforted by this strong assurance. She stopped making any very loud noise and let her crying subside into a subdued and inoffensive whimper. On the other hand, Miss Blow was evidently enraged by Lord Manton’s scepticism. Her voice, when she spoke, sounded defiant and extremely angry. “I denounce the inhabitants of the house called Rosivera,” she said, “especially the man Red. I denounce them as the murderers of Dr. O’Grady, Patrick Devlin, and of the husbands of these ladies.” “Go,” said Lord Manton to Mr. Goddard, “and arrest the man Red at once.” He liked the phrase “the man Red.” It sounded as if it came out of a newspaper report of a criminal trial. It was evident that Miss Blow had a feeling for appropriate expression. “Arrest the man Red,” repeated Lord Manton, seeing that Mr. Goddard had not moved. He was perfectly willing that Mr. Red should be arrested, tried, imprisoned, hanged; or arrested, imprisoned, and hanged without a trial, on a charge of murder or any other charge. The really important thing was not to obtain justice for Mr. Red or anybody else, but to get Miss Blow out of his house. “Do go and arrest the man Red, Goddard,” he said again. “I can’t,” said Mr. Goddard. “How can I possibly go and arrest a man without a single scrap of evidence against him?” “You hear what he says,” said Lord Manton to Miss Blow. “He won’t act without evidence. Why don’t you produce your evidence? You have evidence, of course.” “You shall hear the evidence,” said Miss Blow. “I have evidence that four, if not five abominable murders have been committed by this man and his confederates.” “There now, Goddard,” said Lord Manton, “what more can you want? Good gracious, what’s that?” It was Mrs. Dick. Miss Blow’s last words had been too much for her. She was uttering a series of wild shrieks. Mrs. Sanders was sobbing convulsively on the sofa. “We’ll have to go into another room,” said Lord Manton, “to hear the evidence.”