“I have detained you a long time in dealing with these points, Miss Fewbanks, but I wanted to make everything clear.  I have all but reached the end.  Let us take in chronological order what happened on the night of the tragedy.  We have your father’s sudden return from Scotland.  Hill was at Riversbrook when he arrived, and having the secret letters in his possession, was greatly perturbed by the unexpected return of Sir Horace.  He went to Doris Fanning’s flat in Westminster to see Birchill.  In his absence Holymead arrived.  It is probable that he took the Tube from Hyde Park Corner to Hampstead and walked to Riversbrook.  He rang the bell; was admitted by your father, and, leaving his hat and stick in the hall-stand as he had often done before, the two went upstairs to the library.  There was an angry interview, Holymead accusing your father of having wronged him and demanding satisfaction.  My own opinion is that there was an irregular sort of duel.  Each of them fired one shot.  It is quite conceivable that Holymead, in spite of his mission, being that of revenge, gave your father a fair chance for his life.  A man in Holymead’s position would probably feel indifferent whether he killed the man who had ruined his home or was killed by him.  But whereas your father’s shot missed by a few inches, Holymead’s inflicted a fatal wound.  When he saw your father fall and realised what he had done, the instinct of self-preservation asserted itself.  He grabbed at the gloves he had taken off, but in his hurry dropped one on the floor.  He ran downstairs, took his hat from the hall-stand, but left his stick.  Then he rushed out of the house, leaving the front door open.  He made his way back to Hampstead Tube station, got out at Hyde Park and took a cab to his hotel.

“Within a few minutes of Holymead’s departure from Riversbrook the Frenchwoman arrived.  She may have passed Holymead in Tanton Gardens, or Holymead, when he saw her approaching, may have hidden inside the gateway of a neighbouring house.  She had come up from the country on learning that Holymead had come to London.  She caught the next train, but unfortunately it was late on arriving at Victoria owing to a slight accident to the engine.  I take it that she was sent by Mrs. Holymead to follow her husband if possible and see if he had any designs on Sir Horace.  She took a cab as far as the Spaniards Inn and then got out, and walked to Riversbrook.  When she arrived at the house she found the front door open and the lights burning.  There was no answer to her ring and she entered the house and crept upstairs.  Opening the library door, she saw your father lying on the floor.  She endeavoured to raise him to a sitting posture, but it was too late to do anything for him.  With a convulsive movement he grasped at the handkerchief she was holding in one hand, and a corner of it was torn off and remained in his hand.  When she saw he had breathed his last she laid him down on the floor.  Since she had been too late to prevent the crime, the next best thing in the interests of Mrs. Holymead was to remove traces of Holymead’s guilt.  She picked up the revolver, which she thought belonged to Holymead, turned off the light in the room, went downstairs, turned off the light in the hall, and closed the hall door as she went out.