Vera had gone rather white. She said in a slightly breathless voice:
«And supposing he gets – us?»
Lombard said softly, patting the revolver in his pocket:
«I’m going to take very good care he doesn’t.»
Then he looked at her curiously.
«Touching faith in me, haven’t you, Vera? Quite sure I wouldn’t shoot you?»
Vera said: «One has got to trust some one… As a matter of fact I think you’re wrong about Blore. I still think it’s Armstrong.»
She turned to him suddenly.
«Don’t you feel – all the time – that there’s some one. Some one watching and waiting?»
Lombard said slowly: «That’s just nerves.»
Vera said eagerly: «Then you have felt it?»
She shivered. She bent a little closer.
«Tell me – you don’t think —» She broke off, went on: «I read a story once – about two judges that came to a small American town – from the Supreme Court. They administered justice – Absolute Justice. Because – they didn’t come from this world at all…»
Lombard raised his eyebrows.
He said: «Heavenly visitants, eh? No, I don’t believe in the supernatural. This business is human enough.»
Vera said in a low voice: «Sometimes – I’m not sure…»
Lombard looked at her. He said:
«That’s conscience…» After a moment’s silence he said very quietly: «So you did drown that kid after all?»
Vera said vehemently: «I didn’t! I didn’t! You’ve no right to say that!»
He laughed easily.
«Oh, yes, you did, my good girl! I don’t know why. Can’t imagine. There was a man in it probably. Was that it?»
A sudden feeling of lassitude, of intense weariness, spread over Vera’s limbs. She said in a dull voice:
«Yes – there was a man in it…»
Lombard said softly: «Thanks. That’s what I wanted to know…»
Vera sat up suddenly. She exclaimed:
«What was that? It wasn’t an earthquake?»
Lombard said: «No, no. Queer, though – a thud shook the ground. And I thought – did you hear a sort of cry? I did.»
They stared up at the house.
Lombard said: «It came from there. We’d better go up and see.»
«No, no, I’m not going.»
«Please yourself. I am.»
Vera said desperately: «All right. I’ll come with you.»
They walked up the slope to the house. The terrace was peaceful and innocuous-looking in the sunshine. They hesitated there a minute, then instead of entering by the front door, they made a cautious circuit of the house.
They found Blore. He was spread-eagled on the stone terrace on the east side, his head crushed and mangled by a great block of white marble.
Philip looked up. He said:
«Whose is that window just above?»
Vera said in a low shuddering voice:
«It’s mine – and that’s the clock from my mantelpiece… I remember now. It was – shaped like a bear.»
She repeated and her voice shook and quavered:
«It was shaped like a bear…»
III
Philip grasped her shoulder. He said, and his voice was urgent and grim:
«This settles it. Armstrong is in hiding somewhere in that house. I’m going to get him.»
But Vera clung to him. She cried:
«Don’t be a fool. It’s us now! We’re next! He wants us to look for him! He’s counting on it!»
Philip stopped. He said thoughtfully:
«There’s something in that.»