For one thing, though, he was deeply thankful. With the help of Dillow he had at least managed to bottle up all the reporters in the same room. The thought of a stray one happening upon Lady Alice was too terrible to contemplate. “Gentlemen,” he began, “I can give you very little information—” “Can we see the Earl?” asked one of them immediately, mentioning a newspaper that Purvis had only seen wrapped round fish. “The Earl is not at home.” “You mean he isn’t here?” “No,” said Purvis, “just not at home.” “You mean he won’t see us?” “His Lordship is not available,” insisted Charles Purvis. He had a fleeting vision of a subheading “No Comment from Earl of Ornum.” (What the reporters wrote, in fact, was, “Earl Silent.”) “Do we understand, Steward, that the body was in the armor all day on Saturday and Sunday while visitors were being shown round?” “I believe so,” said Purvis unhappily as the reporters scribbled away. (“Little did those who paid their half crowns at the weekend know that …”) “How do you spell ‘archivist’?”
