Why was that?"
"For the very obvious reason," Francis told him, "that we are not
all such rogues and vagabonds as you seem to think. There is
more satisfaction to me, at any rate, in saving an innocent man's
life than a guilty one's."
Hilditch laughed as though amused.
"Come," he threatened, "I am going to be ill-natured. You have
shown signs of smugness, a quality which I detest. I am going to
rob you of some part of your self-satisfaction. Of course I
killed Jordan. I killed him in the very chair in which you are
now sitting."
There was a moment's intense silence. The woman was still
fanning herself lazily. Francis leaned forward in his place.
"I do not wish to hear this!" he exclaimed harshly.
"Don't be foolish," his host replied, rising to his feet and
strolling across the room. "You know the whole trouble of the
prosecution. They couldn't discover the weapon, or anything like
it, with which the deed was done. Now I'll show you something
ingenious."
Francis followed the other's movements with fascinated eyes. The
woman scarcely turned her head. Hilditch paused at the further
end of the room, where there were a couple of gun cases, some
fishing rods and a bag, of golf clubs. From the latter he
extracted a very ordinary-looking putter, and with it in his
hands strolled back to them.
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