Pagett looked even more mysterious. He came a pace nearer and dropped his voice.

“If you ask me, the whole thing is very queer, Sir Eustace. Look at that illness of mine before we started⁠—”

“My dear fellow,” I interrupted brutally, “that was a bilious attack. You’re always having bilious attacks.”

Pagett winced slightly. “It wasn’t the usual sort of bilious attack. This time⁠—”

“For God’s sake, don’t go into the details of your condition, Pagett. I don’t want to hear them.”

“Very well, Sir Eustace. But my belief is that I was deliberately poisoned !”

“Ah!” I said. “You’ve been talking to Rayburn.”

He did not deny it.