Page:Bat Wing 1921.djvu/208

200 “If she was so certain that no one could save him,” I said, “she must have had information which neither he nor she ever imparted to us.”

“I am sure she had,” declared Val Beverley.

“But can you think of any reason why she should not have confided in Paul Harley?”

“I cannot, I cannot—unless”

“Yes?”

“Unless, Mr. Knox,” she looked at me strangely, “they were both under some vow of silence. Oh! it sounds ridiculous, wildly ridiculous, but what other explanation can there be?”

“What other, indeed? And now, Miss Beverley, I know one of the questions Inspector Aylesbury will ask you.”

“What is it?”

“He has learned, from one of the servants I presume, as he did not see you, that you had not retired last night at the time of the tragedy.”

“I had not,” said Val Beverley, quietly. “Is that so singular?”

“To me it is no more than natural.”

“I have never been so frightened in all my life as I was last night. Sleep was utterly out of the question. There was mystery in the very air. I knew, oh, Mr. Knox, in some way I knew that a tragedy was going to happen.”

“I believe I knew, too,” I said. “Good God, to think that we might have saved him!”

“Do you think” began Val Beverley, and then paused.

“Yes?” I prompted.

“Oh, I was going to say a strange thing that suddenly occurred to me, but it is utterly foolish, I suppose.