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“Precisely.”
“And you would also be in the best position to conceal it, if there were?”
“That …” Kenneth swallowed. “That is slanderous, sir, and quite unjust.”
Argyll affected innocence.
“You would not be in the best position?”
“Yes … yes, of course I would. But there is nothing missing, nothing whatever.”
“And your mother was quite satisfied on that point?”
“I have said so!”
There was a murmur of disbelief around the room.
Gilfeather rose to his feet.
Argyll smiled. Kenneth was a very poor witness. He looked as if he were lying even if he were not.
“Very well, to another subject. Are you married, Mr. Farraline?”
“Irrelevant, my lord!” Gilfeather protested.
“Mr. Argyll,” the judge said wearily. “I will not tolerate any more of this meandering around. I have given you a great deal of latitude, but you have abused it.”
“It is relevant, my lord, I assure you.”
“I fail to see how.”
“Are you married, Mr. Farraline?” Argyll repeated.
“No.”
“Are you courting, sir?”
Kenneth hesitated, his face a dull red, sweat glistening on his lip. His eyes searched the gallery till they found Oonagh. He looked back at Argyll.
“No … no …”
“Have you then a mistress? One of which your family would not approve?”
Gilfeather started to rise, then realized the futility of it. Everyone in the room was waiting upon the answer. A woman moved and her stays creaked in the silence. A coal settled in one of the fires.
Kenneth gulped.
“No.”
“If I were to call Miss Adeline Barker to the stand, would she agree with you, Mr. Farraline?”
Kenneth’s face was scarlet.
“Yes … I mean, no. I … God damn it, it is none of your business. I did not kill my mother! She—” He stopped again just as suddenly.
“Yes? She knew about it?” Argyll prompted. “She did not know about it?”
“I have nothing else to say. I did not kill my mother, and the rest is none of your affair.”
