He leaned forward.

«You have none of you yet grasped what a very peculiar situation this is. To my mind there is only one course of procedure to adopt. Is there any one whom we can definitely eliminate from suspicion on the evidence which is in our possession?»

Dr. Armstrong said quickly:

«I am a well-known professional man. The mere idea that I can be suspected of —»

Again a gesture of the judge’s hand arrested a speaker before he finished his speech. Mr. Justice Wargrave said in his small clear voice:

«I, too, am a well-known person! But, my dear sir, that proves less than nothing! Doctors have gone mad before now. Judges have gone mad. So,» he added, looking at Blore, «have policemen!»

Lombard said: «At any rate, I suppose you’ll leave the women out of it.»

The judge’s eyebrows rose. He said in the famous «acid» tone that Counsel knew so well:

«Do I understand you to assert that women are not subject to homicidal mania?»

Lombard said irritably:

«Of course not. But all the same, it hardly seems possible —»

He stopped. Mr. Justice Wargrave still in the same thin sour voice addressed Armstrong.

«I take it, Dr. Armstrong, that a woman would have been physically capable of striking the blow that killed poor Macarthur?»

The doctor said calmly: «Perfectly capable – given a suitable instrument, such as a rubber truncheon or cosh.»

«It would require no undue exertion of force?»

«Not at all.»

Mr. Justice Wargrave wriggled his tortoiselike neck. He said:

«The other two deaths have resulted from the administration of drugs. That, no one will dispute, is easily compassed by a person of the smallest physical strength.»

Vera cried angrily: «I think you’re mad!»

His eyes turned slowly till they rested on her. It was the dispassionate stare of a man well used to weighing humanity in the balance. She thought:

«He’s just seeing me as a – as a specimen. And» – the thought came to her with real surprise – «he doesn’t like me much!»

In measured tones the judge was saying:

«My dear young lady, do try and restrain your feelings. I am not accusing you.» He bowed to Miss Brent. «I hope, Miss Brent, that you are not offended by my insistence that all of us are equally under suspicion?»

Emily Brent was knitting. She did not look up. In a cold voice she said:

«The idea that I should be accused of taking a fellow creature’s life – not to speak of the lives of three fellow creatures – is, of course, quite absurd to any one who knows anything of my character. But I quite appreciate the fact that we are all strangers to one another and that in those circumstances, nobody can be exonerated without the fullest proof. There is, as I have said, a devil amongst us.»

The judge said: «Then we are agreed. There can be no elimination on the ground of character or position alone.»

Lombard said: «What about Rogers?»

The judge looked at him unblinkingly.

«What about him?»

Lombard said: «Well, to my mind, Rogers seems pretty well ruled out.»

Mr. Justice Wargrave said: «Indeed, and on what grounds?»

Lombard said: «He hasn’t got the brains for one thing. And for another his wife was one of the victims.»