Flynn’s Weekly Detective Fiction. Vol. 25, No. 2, August 13, 1927

“I am very sorry, inspector, to have been the cause of so much trouble. But we must judge by results, and I think I can convince you that the arrangement has been an excellent one for everybody concerned.”

Delia was feeling uncommonly sorry for the inspector. He had risen to his feet and was glaring at Tommy, who, while remaining perfectly calm, quite shared Delia’s sympathy for the officer of the law.

“Then you’ve been deliberately trying to fool me, right along!” said Maffet.

“Not at all, inspector,” said John McKellar. “Tom didn’t know it himself till an hour ago. As I’m responsible for this trouble he has allowed me to make my own confession when I chose. In which he’s perfectly right.

“And if you find it surprising that a son should not know his father, Tom had not set eyes on me since he was ten years old. A month ago — I confess it with grief — I should not have known him if you had introduced me to him in the street.”

Inspector Maffet resumed his seat.

“It seems you have been playing a pretty dangerous game all through, sir,” he said grimly, “and if you wish to tell me—”

“Indeed I do. It’s necessary you should have the facts. My confession is not an easy one to make to a policeman — nor to any one else. But I’m not afraid of the law. I have that inestimable asset, a clear conscience. Of course, there are some who hold that a wealthy man’s conscience is apt to stand in a class by itself. However, in telling you, I won’t spare myself.

“My marriage with Renée Lisle, for some years past has been a happy one. Perhaps it never was very happy. I blame the fault on myself. I suppose there are some men — not always weaklings — who in their home life surrender themselves to the influence of a woman, for good or ill.

“As a policeman, you will probably have had experience of some of them. The result’s uncertain; it may be the very devil. Or it may be a quite excellent arrangement. I am afraid the McKellars are apt to have that weakness. If it comes to a conflict with a woman — a woman whom they love — they cannot put their foot down.

“But as I grew older, and particularly during the last two or three years, that influence and domination to which I had surrendered, became more distasteful to me, until at last it was unbearable.

“I don’t think I should ever have fought against it even then, but for one thing. I longed more and more intensely for my only son. As my life drew nearer to a close, I realized how unjust I had been to him. I wanted my child.

“At the same time I knew — for I’m not altogether a fool — that an open reconciliation would be very difficult. It would lead to conflict, and trouble, and very likely to eventual failure. I knew I was still likely to be defeated if I attempted this in defiance of Renée.

“There was another danger, still more difficult to avoid. I was not in the best of health, and I had lately made a will which left the bulk of my property to my son, with a provision for Renée. She contrived to make herself acquainted with the conditions of that will. Of course, I could have made another. But how would that have helped me?

“For I found good reasons for believing that, after my decease, she intended to try and upset my son’s claim. There was a legal difficulty in the matter of my marriage with Tom’s mother, which was not as thoroughly cleared up, a few months ago, as it is to-day.

“I had no idea, till then, that Renée knew anything about it. The more I considered it, the more I became convinced that my son was likely to come into a stormy inheritance.

“Suppose that I were to die, suddenly — unexpectedly. It was not so unlikely, at my age. Renée would have been left with a clear field. I could not tell what measures she might take, when I was out of the way. She is clever — a very clever and resourceful woman.

“There were more means than one, by which she might have succeeded. Whether she succeeded or failed, there would be endless unhappiness and scandal: a shadow thrown on my boy’s name, and on his mother’s. At the worst — his life was between Renée and a great fortune. At the best, she might have forced him to compromise, which would still have left him in her power.”

“She very nearly did that,” said Tommy. “It would have come off but for Delia.”

“And so,” continued McKellar, “having laid my plans, I decided to put this problem to the only possible test. Once out of the way, I should, of course, be considered a factor no longer to be reckoned with. Yet, if what I feared did actually come to pass, I should still be there to prevent it, and to protect my son from disaster, for I should then hold all the master cards in my hands.

“And so, I arranged official decease and burial. I can quite understand, inspector, that you would suppose such a thing very difficult to achieve.

“It was much simpler than you think, for a man with unlimited command of money, living a retired life, and with two or three allies on whose devotion and interest he could rely.