She was a tall woman with erect bearing, her hair already showing more gray than blond, her eyes a blue that brooked no nonsense. Her voice when she spoke was cool as well. "Good afternoon, Inspector. Thank you for coming so promptly."

"She doesna' care for the police," Hamish said.

And she corroborated that almost at once. "It is distressing that your presence here is necessary at all. But Mrs. Teller has been quite worried, and although the local police are doing all they can, it will reassure her that the resources of Scotland Yard are now involved in finding her husband."

The sister who had brought him had quietly shut the door behind him.

He found himself thinking that Matron had had a very difficult few hours, first searching the clinic and dealing with the police, and then answering the questions of Teller's agitated family.

"Do you have any reason to think Mr. Teller was intending to do himself harm?" he asked her. "He's been very ill, I'm told."

"We haven't been able to diagnose his illness," she said. "But there's reason to believe he was disturbed about something and his distress took a physical form. The fact that he recovered so quickly leads us to hope that his mental state was also restored to normal."

She hadn't answered his question. "Is he likely to kill himself?"

She looked at him directly. "We can't answer that."

The door behind him opened again, and the same probationer ushered in a tall, slim woman with fair hair who was wearing a dark blue walking dress. Her eyes were red with crying, her face pale.

Rutledge guessed at once who she was. Rising, he went to her and took her hand, identifying himself.

"Mrs. Teller? I'm so sorry to learn of your husband's disappearance. The Yard will do everything in its power to return him to you as soon as possible."

"Thank you," Jenny Teller replied, her voice still thick with tears. He led her to the second chair, which was already placed to one side of Matron's desk. In doing so, he glimpsed Matron's face. She was not happy that he had so quickly taken the interview away from her.