Tait nodded several times during this explanation, to show that he agreed with the points raised; but when Claude concluded he rubbed his chin in some perplexity.
"Here we come to a dead stop," said he impatiently. "It was asserted by the police that the murder was committed with the dagger worn by your mother as part of the fancy dress."
"Yes! If you remember, it was on that evidence she was arrested."
"Well, if she wore that dagger in the sitting room, Jeringham could not have been killed with it, because the murder must have taken place while your father was trying to pacify your mother."
Claude glanced at the letter again. "My father makes no mention of the dagger in this," he said, with a puzzled look.
"No. I should like to hear what he has to say on the subject, the more so as I incline to his story rather than to your mother's."
"In her conversation with you, Mrs. Bezel--or rather your mother--said that she had threatened your father with the dagger in the sitting room of The Laurels."
"If you remember the evidence given by her to the police at the time of the arrest was that she had lost the dagger at the ball, and knew not into whose hands it had fallen."
Claude looked nonplussed, and knew not what answer to make. That his mother had made two different statements he was compelled to admit. He further remembered that his father had made no statement whatsoever about the dagger. Yet on the possession of that dagger turned the whole of the case. Whoever picked it up, whether at the ball or in the sitting room, must have killed Jeringham. Assuming his father's account to be true, and Claude saw no reason to doubt its accuracy, Mona could not have committed the murder, nor could Mr. or Mrs. Larcher be guilty. It therefore followed that his mother had spoken truly to the police, and for some inexplicable reason falsely to him. The dagger must have been lost at the ball, and picked up by--whom?
"I can make nothing of it," he said, after due consideration. "The only way to get at the truth is to tell my father that his wife still lives, and bring them together. Out of their meeting good may come."
"You will then call and see your father," said Tait encouragingly.
"Yes. I must. I see no way out of it. He must be informed that my mother lives, and I am the proper person to tell him so. Though it is strange," added Claude suddenly, "that Hilliston never told him."