“We don’t know exactly what happened next. No one saw much of Mr. Devereux after Mr. Wade’s death. But it is clear that he worked along the same lines that he knew Mr. Wade had been working on and reached the same result—namely, that Mr. Thesiger was the man. I fancy, too, that he was betrayed in the same way.”
“You mean?”
“Through Miss Loraine Wade. Mr. Wade was devoted to her—I believe he hoped to marry her—she wasn’t really his sister, of course—and there is no doubt that he told her more than he should have done. But Miss Loraine Wade was devoted body and soul to Mr. Thesiger. She would do anything he told her. She passed on the information to him. In the same way, later, Mr. Devereux was attracted to her, and probably warned her against Mr. Thesiger. So Mr. Devereux in turn was silenced—and died trying to send word to the Seven Dials that his murderer was Mr. Thesiger.”
“How ghastly,” cried Bundle. “If I had only known.”
“Well, it didn’t seem likely. In fact, I could hardly credit it myself. But then we came to the affair at the Abbey. You will remember how awkward it was—specially awkward for Mr. Eversleigh here. You and Mr. Thesiger were hand in glove. Mr. Eversleigh had already been embarrassed by your insisting on being brought to this place, and when he found that you had actually overheard what went on at a meeting, he was dumbfounded.”
The Superintendent paused and a twinkle came into his eye.
“So was I, Lady Eileen. I never dreamed of such a thing being possible. You put one over on me there all right.
“Well, Mr. Eversleigh was in a dilemma. He couldn’t let you into the secret of the Seven Dials without letting Mr. Thesiger in also—and that