Who, then, was left who could have fired the fatal shot?
It was a question Dunn dared not even ask himself but he saw very
plainly that if the proceedings against the two arrested men were
to be pressed, he would be forced to come forward before his
preparations were ready and tell all he knew, no matter at what cost.
All the morning he waited and watched for his opportunity to speak
to Ella, who was in a brighter and gayer mood than he had ever seen
her in before.
At breakfast Deede Dawson had assured her that he could not conceive
what were the suspicions she had referred to the night previously,
and while he would certainly have no objection to her mentioning
them at any time, in any quarter she thought fit if anything happened
at Wreste Abbey--and would indeed be the first to urge her to do so
--he, for his part, considered it most unlikely that anything of the
sort she seemed to dread would in fact occur.
"Not at all likely," he said with his happy, beaming smile that
never reached those cold eyes of his. "I should say myself that
nothing ever did happen at Wreste Abbey, not since the Flood, anyhow.
It strikes me as the most peaceful, secluded spot in all England."
"I'm very glad you think so," said Ella, tremendously relieved and
glad to hear him say so, and supposing, though his smooth words and
smiles and protestations deceived her very little, that, at any rate,
what she had said had forced him to abandon whatever plans he had
been forming in that direction.
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