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Mordaunt Reeves looked up in a dazed way, still holding the tube. "What was that you said?"

"I said, Davenant's confessed. It's an extraordinary thing, you know, the way we use ambiguous expressions, and expect the other man to interpret them in the right sense. Davenant, now, is a Catholic, and therefore it's absurd for me to say 'Davenant's confessed' as if I were to rush into the room and say 'Davenant's shaved.' But when I say 'Davenant's confessed,' I mean, and expect you to understand me as meaning, Davenant has confessed to the police that he murdered Brotherhood."

"Marryatt, Marryatt!" Reeves held his ear to the tube, but no answer came. "Excuse me one moment, Carmichael; I must just go up and see Marryatt."

"Ambiguity again; do you mean upstairs, or up to London?"

"Upstairs, of course, why———"

"In that case, I'd better tell you that I met Marryatt, five minutes ago or thereabouts, running violently in the direction of the station."