"Exactly as I suspected.
Have you got a good man - a London man for choice?"
Again Anne shook her head.
"I've hardly ever needed a solicitor."
"There's Mr. Bury," said Rhoda. "But he's about a hundred and two and quite gaga,"
"If you'll allow me to advise you, Miss Meredith, I recommend your going to Mr. Myherne, my own solicitor.
Jacobs, Peel and Jacobs is the actual name of the firm.
They're first-class people, and they know all the ropes."
Anne had got paler.
She sat down.
"Is it really necessary?" she asked in a low voice.
"I should say emphatically so.
There are all sorts of legal pitfalls,"
"Are these people very expensive?"
"That doesn't matter a bit," said Rhoda. "That will be quite all right, Major Despard.
I think everything you say is quite true.
Anne ought to be protected."
"Their charges will, I think, be quite reasonable," said Despard. He added seriously, "I really do think it's a wise course, Miss Meredith."
"Very well," said Anne slowly. "I'll do it if you think so."
"Good."
Rhoda said warmly, "I think it's awfully nice of you, Major Despard. Really frightfully nice."
Anne said, "Thank you." She hesitated and then said, "Did you say Superintendent Battle was coming here?"
"Yes.
You mustn't be alarmed by that.
It's inevitable."
"Oh, I know. As a matter of fact I've been expecting him."
Rhoda said impulsively, "Poor darling - it's nearly killing her, this business.
It's such a shame so frightfully unfair."
Despard said, "I agree - it's a pretty beastly business, dragging a young girl into an affair of this kind.
If anyone wanted to stick a knife into Shaitana, they ought to have chosen some other place or time."
Rhoda asked squarely, "Who do you think did it - Doctor Roberts or that Mrs. Lorrimer?"
A very faint smile stirred Despard's mustache.
"May have done it myself for all you know."
"Oh, no," cried Rhoda. "Anne and I know you didn't do it."
He looked at them both with kindly eyes.
A nice pair of kids.
Touchingly full of faith and trust.
A timid little creature, the Meredith girl.
Never mind, Myherne would see her through.
The other was a fighter.
He doubted if she would have crumpled up in the same way if she'd been in her friend's place.
Nice girls - he'd like to know more about them.
These thoughts passed through his mind.
Aloud he said,
"Never take anything for granted, Miss Dawes.
I don't set as much value on human life as most people do.
All this hysterical fuss about road deaths, for instance.
Man is always in danger - from traffic, from germs, from a hundred and one things.
As well be killed one way as another.
The moment you begin being careful of yourself, adopting as your motto 'Safety first,' you might as well be dead, in my opinion."