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Aspidistra any day!”
    James supposed it amused her to talk nonsense. It didn’t amuse him. He listened because he thought she was talking nonsense to cover things up—things which might make sense if he were to get a chance of putting them together. He thought she didn’t want to give him that chance, but he thought the more she talked the better, because it is very difficult to talk a lot without giving something away. If the person who had shot at them was neither an enraged householder nor a lunatic, he was a dangerous criminal and a matter of concern for the police. He added his annoyance at being shot at to his annoyance at having run away, and he set them both down to the account of this person or persons unknown. He said,
    â€œHow do you come to have a key of this house?”
    There was a faint, light laugh.
    â€œOh, sir—this is so sudden! I haven’t got nearly as far as that. Birth and Christening, that’s where we were—Ruthless Relations and Unchristian Names. Upbringing comes next.” She seemed to hesitate, and then said quickly, “It’s your turn really. I suppose there are about a million James Elliots—the Scotch are so economical about names. But were you at Wellington?”
    â€œI was. Why?”
    â€œOh, because—” said Aspidistra Aspinall. “I just wondered. Quite a lot of people do go to school there. I didn’t of course. I think Co-education might be rather fun—don’t you? I had governesses, and after they buried the third they sent me to a fierce games-playing school where they broke my spirit with lacrosse and net-ball.”
    â€œI want to know why you’ve got a key to this house,” said James.
    She said, “Oh, Mr Elliot!” in a shocked voice. And then, “All my relations would think it most improper for me to tell a total stranger a thing like that—in the pitch dark too!”
    â€œI think I’ll be getting back to my car,” said James.
    â€œYou can’t. You agreed to give it half an hour—you know you did. Scotchmen always keep their words—at least high-minded Scotchmen. Your voice sounds devastatingly high-minded.”
    â€œI do wish you wouldn’t talk such frightful nonsense!” said James, but he stayed where he was.
    He heard a funny little sigh with a catch in it.
    â€œWould you rather I burst into tears? On your shoulder? I can quite easily—if you want me to. If I stop talking nonsense for more than half a second, I probably shall whether you want me to or not.”
    â€œI certainly don’t want you to.”
    â€œWell, there you are. You have been warned. I’d better go on. Before my Aunt Clementa died she said I was to have her diamond necklace. She kept on saying so, and every time the nurse went out of the room she clutched my wrist and said—”
    â€œWho clutched your wrist?”
    â€œYou’re not listening. My Aunt Clementa did.”
    â€œIt might have been the nurse.”
    â€œWell, it wasn’t—it was my Aunt Clementa.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œThere isn’t any why about it. She just clutched me, and she said, ‘It’s worth a lot of money. You’ll find it when I’m gone. It’s somewhere in this room. Don’t let them get their hands on it.’”
    â€œWho is them ?”
    The hay rustled vaguely.
    â€œOh, just Ruthless Relations—the assorted kind. So when I got the chance I thought I’d come along and do a little quiet treasure-hunting. There isn’t an awful lot you can do in a fog like this, so I put on my crocodiles to give me courage, and I pinched somebody’s torch and the housemaid’s bicycle and happened along.”
    â€œYes?” said James in a nasty unbelieving tone of voice.
    â€œWell, it didn’t come off. Things don’t. You plan them beautifully, and they walk out on you in the middle of the plan. There was