Ordeal by Innocence

Chapter 4
Calgary said apologetically, "It's very good of you to see me again, Mr. Marshall."

"Not at all," said the lawyer.

"As you know, I went down to Sunny Point and saw Jack Argyle's family."

"Quite so."

You will have heard by now, I expect, about my visit?"

"Yes, Dr. Calgary, that is correct."

"What you may find it difficult to understand is why I have come back here to you again. You see, things didn't turn out exactly as I thought they would."

"No," said the lawyer, "no, perhaps not." His voice was as usual dry and unemotional, yet something in it encouraged Arthur Calgary to continue.

"I thought, you see," went on Calgary, "that that would be the end of it. I was prepared for a certain amount of-what shall I say - natural resentment on their part. Although concussion may be termed, I suppose, an Act of God, yet from their viewpoint they could be forgiven for harbouring resentment against me. I was prepared for that, as I say. But at the same time I hoped it would be offset by the thankfulness they would feel over the fact that Jack Argyle's name was cleared. But things didn't turn out as I anticipated. Not at all."

"I see."

"Perhaps, Mr. Marshall, you anticipated something of what would happen? Your manner, I remember, puzzled me when I was here before. Did you foresee the attitude of mind that I was going to encounter?"

"You haven't told me yet, Dr. Calgary, what that attitude was."

Arthur Calgary drew his chair forward. "I thought that I was ending something, giving - shall we say - a different end to a