agreed. He had the
highest respect for Gabriel as a man and a priest, and could not believe
that he had wantonly committed a brutal crime, so repulsive to his
benign nature, so contrary to the purity and teachings of his life. He
was quite satisfied that the young man both could, and would, explain
how the pistol had passed out of his possession; but he did not seek the
explanation himself. Baltic, previous to his departure for London, had
made Brace promise to question Captain Pendle about the pistol, and
report to him the result of such conversation. Now that the pistol was
proved to have been in the keeping of Gabriel, the baronet knew very
well that Baltic would prefer to question so important a witness
himself. Therefore, while waiting for the agent's return, he not only
himself refrained from seeing Gabriel, but persuaded George not to do
so.

'Your questions will only do more harm than good!' expostulated Brace,
'as you have neither the trained capacity nor the experience to examine
into the matter. Baltic returns to-morrow, and as I have every faith in
his judgment and discretion, it will be much better to let him handle
it.'

'Who is this Baltic you talk of so much?' asked the captain,
impatiently.

'He is a private inquiry agent who is trying to discover the man who
killed Jentham.'

'On behalf of Tinkler, I suppose?'

'He is working with Tinkler in the matter,' replied Brace, evasively,
for he did not want to inform George, the rash and fiery, of his
father's peril and Cargrim's treachery.

'Baltic is a London detective, no doubt?'

'Yes, his brains are more equal than Tinkler's to the task of solving
the riddle.'

'He won't arrest Gabriel, I hope,' said George, anxiously.

'Not unless he is absolutely certain that Gabriel committed the crime;
and I am satisfied that he will never arrive at that certainty.'

'I--should--think--not,' cried Captain Pendle, with disdain. 'Gabriel,
poor boy, would not kill a fly, let alone a man. Still, these legal
bloodhounds are coarse and unscrupulous.'

'Baltic is not, George. He is quite a new type of detective, and works
rather from a religious than a judicial point of view.'

'I never heard of a religious detective before,' remarked George,
scornfully.

'Nor I; it is a new departure, and I am not sure but that it is a good
one, incongruous as it may seem.'

'Is the man a hypocrite?'

'By no means. He is thoroughly in earnest. Here, in public, he calls