“Nora came to see me and I came over with her.”

“But you’ve had no breakfast. You’ve …”

“We were rather disturbed,” I said.

“We found the cats dead.”

“The cats … what cats?”

“Bella and the kitten,” said Minta.

“They were lying on the floor near the window … their bodies stiff and odd-looking.” Her lips trembled.

“It was horrible.”

“Cats!” repeated Lucie, bewildered.

“Dr. Hunter took them away,” I explained.

“Do please tell me what all this is about.”

I didn’t want her to know. I thought: There’ll be an enquiry and they’ll find out. Oh Stirling, how could you! As if I could love you after that!

Minta said simply: “I don’t think the doctor wanted us to talk about it yet.” She turned to me.

“But it will be all right to tell Lucie.

Lucie, the milk which was in my room , . I didn’t drink it. “

“What milk?” said Lucie.

“There was some milk sent up. You told Lizzie to bring it, didn’t you?”

“Oh yes. I remember ” I didn’t drink it. I knocked it over and the cats drank it. Now they’re dead. “

“But what has this to do with the milk?”

She spoke in such a matter-of-fact tone that my fears abated a little and relief came to me. I thought: We’re imagining things . both of us. Of course the cats’ death had nothing to do with the milk!

“So the cats are dead,” went on Lucie, ‘and that has upset you. I did hear that some of the farmers were putting down poison for a fox that’s raiding the fowl houses. Bella’s constantly roaming about. “

I looked at Minta and saw the relief in her face too. ” Lucie went on to stress the point: ” What did you think the milk had to do with it?”

“We thought there was something wrong with the milk,” I said, ‘and that because they had drunk it . “

Lucie looked puzzled.

“You thought the milk was poisoned But who on earth … Really, what’s happened to both of you?”

“Of course that’s the answer,” I said.

“The cats were poisoned by something on the farms. It stands to reason.”

“Is that tea you have in that pot?” said Lucie.

“I could do with a cup.”

“It’s cold, but’ ll send for some more.”

“Thanks. Then I think we should go back, Minta. You want to take greater care of yourself. What odd fancies you get I’ I rang for tea and when it came and I was pouring out we heard the sound of carriage wheels and Mabel came in to announce that Dr. Hunter had called.

“Dr. Hunter!” said Lucie.

“What’s he doing here?”

I told Mabel to show him in. To my astonishment, Stirling was with him. Lucie rose in her chair and said: “What is this?”

The doctor said: “I’ve come to talk to you and what I have to say should be heard by all. I should have witnesses. I should have said it all before this happened.”

“Is it about the cats?” demanded Lucie.

I looked at Stirling but I couldn’t read his expression.

“The cats were poisoned, said the doctor.

“Something they picked up at a farm?” I asked, and there was a terrible fear in my heart.

The doctor said: “I think I’d better begin at the beginning. This goes back a long way.” He drew a deep breath.

“I am to blame for a good deal.”

“Don’t you think you ought to consider very carefully what you are saying?” asked Lucie gently.

“I have considered for a long time. This makes it necessary. I am going to tell the truth. I am going to tell what I should have told long ago. It was when Lady Cardew died that it started.”

“I don’t think you should say this, doctor,” said Lucie in a very quiet voice.

“I think you may regret it.”

“I can only regret not having confessed before.” He did not look at Lucie.

“Lady Cardew was not really ill. She had had a disappointment in her life and brooded on it. She came to terms with life by practising a kind of invalidism. It is not unusual with some people. I gave her placebos from time to time. She would take her doses and believe herself to be helped by them. They were in fact nothing but coloured water. Then she died. I should have told the truth then. She died of taking^n overdose of a strong sleeping draught. This particular drug was missing from my dispensary, and I believed I had given it to her in mistake for her placebo. I should have admitted this, but instead I wrote on her death certificate that she had died of a heart attack. She had always thought that she had a diseased heart. Her heart was in fact strong. What I did was unpardonable. I was ambitious. In those days I dreamed of specializing. To have admitted that I had mistakenly given a dangerous drug in mistake for a placebo would have ruined my career. I might never have been able to practise again.”

“You are a fool,” said Lucie sadly.

“You are right.” He looked at her mournfully.

“I would advise you to stop this silly tirade which will only bring you to disaster,” she went on.

“At least it will bring me peace of mind. Because did not give her the wrong drug. It was someone else who gave it to her … someone who came to my house when I was absent, bringing wine for my housekeeper and drinking with her until she was insensible and then going to my dispensary and taking the drugs.”p>

I think the doctor has lost his senses,” said Lucie.

“I had,” he replied, ‘but I’ve regained them now. “

Can’t you see that he is mad? ” she demanded of Stirling.

“It doesn’t seem so to me,” said Stirling.

“I refuse to listen to any more,” said Lucie. That’s if you’re going on, Dr. Hunter. “

“I am going on to tell everything, right to the end, right till today when I discovered that two cats died of the same drug which killed Lady Cardew.”

Lucie stood up.

“You are mad, you know,” she said.

“I know how the drug was obtained,” said the doctor.

“It was in exactly the same way. Mrs. Devlin has admitted that you came with whisky this time. A little gift for her? Should we try a little tot?

And she sat there drinking until she dozed and then you took the keys and went to the dispensary, just exactly as you did on another occasion. She has told me that she remembers it happening before. “

“I won’t stay to listen to such nonsense,” said Lucie.

“I shall call another doctor. I shall tell him to get a strait-jacket and bring it here right away.”

She stood at the door looking at us. Minta stared at her incredulously. The doctor’s expression was unfathomable. I fancied there was a certain tenderness in it “Lucie,” he said, ^you need care. ”

She had gone. We heard her running down the stairs and the slamming of the door.

The doctor went on: “It’s not a pleasant story, but I have to tell it.

It’s the end of everything for us both . but at least another murder must be prevented. ” He was looking at Minta.

“Thank God it didn’t happen this time. You see, I was strongly attracted by Lucie and asked her to marry me. If she had … I believe all would have been well. But she had an obsession. It was the great house, the title. She had known great poverty as a child. She feared poverty and longed for security. She was educated by an aunt who was stern and showed her no affection, and she became a teacher. It was a precarious living; she was always in danger of losing her post and being thrown on to an overcrowded market. She was overawed and impressed by the grandeur of Whiteladies.”

I looked at Stirling and I knew he was thinking of Lynx.

“I think she was fond of me in the beginning. I believe she would have married me, but she was helping Sir Hilary a good deal and she realized how much he had come to depend on her. She saw the possibilities and was excited by them, and so this obsession was born. Lucie is a woman of great determination but the desire to possess Whiteladies unbalanced her mind—and she was tempted. Once she had taken one fatal step she was set on her path. In murdering Lady Cardew she had become a criminal and there was no limit to what she was prepared to do. “

“She murdered my mother,” said Minta.

“And she would have murdered me.

Why? “

“She was Lady Cardew but that was not enough. Minta would inherit the house. When Sir Hilary died she would be merely a dependant having no control. She could not endure that. If she could have a son it would be different. But Sir Hilary was old. I was fascinated by Lucie and I did not know that she had committed murder. Druscilla is my daughter.”

There was a short silence before he went on: “She longed for a son.

Her rage when Druscilla was born was great. But she would not give up.

She was determined to have a son who would inherit Whiteladies and prevent its passing to Minta. But Minta married and Sir Hilary died.

There was no hope then except through Druscilla, who was believed to be Sir Hilary’s daughter. If Minta were out of the way . ” He lifted his bands helplessly.

“You see it all now. The whole sordid story. I swear I did not realize all that had happened until I saw those cats today. I knew that she had wanted a son so that she could rule the house through him. I did not know that she had committed murder and planned another. Only today did I see the complete picture.

Mrs. Devlin admitted that Lucie came yesterday and brought whisky and that she, Mrs. Devlin, drank too much. She was asleep the whole afternoon and when I went into my dispensary I found the drug missing as it had been on that other occasion. That is the story. “