Colonel Julyan shrugged his shoulders.
I saw Frank glance inquiringly at Maxim.
Maxim did not say anything.
He was watching Favell.
I suddenly knew what Favell meant.
I knew who he was talking about.
And in a flash of fear and horror I knew that he was right.
There had been a witness that night.
Little sentences came back to me.
Words I had not understood, phrases I believed to be the fragments of a poor idiot's mind.
'She's down there isn't she?
She won't come back again.'
'I didn't tell no one.'
"They'll find her there, won't they?
The fishes have eaten her, haven't they?'
'She'll not come back no more.'
Ben knew.
Ben had seen.
Ben, with his queer crazed brain, had been a witness all the time.
He had been hiding in the woods that night.
He had seen Maxim take the boat from the moorings, and pull back in the dinghy, alone.
I knew all the colour was draining away from my face. I leant back against the cushion of the chair.
"There's a local half-wit who spends his time on the beach,' said Favell.
'He was always hanging about, when I used to come down and meet Rebecca.
I've often seen him.
He used to sleep in the woods, or on the beach when the nights were hot.
The fellow's cracked, he would never have come forward on his own.
But I could make him talk if he did see anything that night.
And there's a bloody big chance he did.'
'Who is this?
What's he talking about?' said Colonel Julyan.
'He must mean Ben,' said Frank, with another glance at Maxim.
'He's the son of one of our tenants.
But the man's not responsible for what he says or does.
He's been an idiot since birth.'
'What the hell does that matter?' said Favell.
'He's got eyes, hasn't he?
He knows what he sees.
He's only got to answer yes or no.
You're getting windy now, aren't you?
Not so mighty confident?'
'Can we get hold of this fellow and question him?' asked Colonel Julyan.
'Of course,' said Maxim.
'Tell Robert to cut down to his mother's cottage, Frank, and bring him back.'
Frank hesitated.
I saw him glance at me out of the tail of his eye.
'Go on, for God's sake,' said Maxim.
'We want to end this thing, don't we?'
Frank went out of the room.
I began to feel the old nagging pain beneath my heart.