chair. The reproaches, the taunts, the
threats. Young Hepworth--he struck everyone as a weak man, a man
physically afraid--white, stammering, not knowing which way to look.
The woman's eyes turning from one to the other. That flash of contempt
again--she could not help it--followed, worse still, by pity. If only
he could have answered back, held his own! If only he had not been
afraid! And then that fatal turning away with a sneering laugh one
imagines, the bold, dominating eyes no longer there to cower him.

"That must have been the moment. The bullet, if you remember, entered
through the back of the man's neck. Hepworth must always have been
picturing to himself this meeting--tenants of garden suburbs do not
carry loaded revolvers as a habit--dwelling upon it till he had worked
himself up into a frenzy of hate and fear. Weak men always fly to
extremes. If there was no other way, he would kill him.

"Can't you hear the silence? After the reverberations had died away!
And then they are both down on their knees, patting him, feeling for
his heart. The man must have gone down like a felled ox; there were no
traces of blood on the carpet. The house is far from any neighbour;
the shot in all probability has not been heard. If only they can get
rid of the body! The pond--not a hundred yards away!"

He reached for the brief, still lying among his papers; hurriedly
turned the scored pages.

"What easier? A house being built on the very next plot. Wheelbarrows
to be had for the taking. A line of planks reaching down to the edge.
Depth of water where the body was discovered four feet six inches.
Nothing to do but just tip up the barrow.

"Think a minute. Must weigh him down, lest he rise to accuse us;
weight him heavily, so that he will sink lower and lower into the soft
mud, lie there till he rots.

"Think again. Think it out to the end. Suppose, in spite of all our
precautions, he does rise? Suppose the chain slips? The workmen going
to and fro for water--suppose they do discover him?

"He is lying on his back, remember. They would have turned him over to
feel for his heart. Have closed his eyes, most probably, not liking
their stare.

"It would be the woman who first thought of it. She has seen them both
lying with closed eyes beside her. It may have always been in her
mind, the likeness between them. With Hepworth's watch in his pocket,
Hepworth's ring on his finger! If only it was not for