er and robbery here;
and the thing that climbed that tree was not an animal nor yet a
bird. It was a cut-throat and a thief!"

Naturally enough, this statement produced something in the nature
of a panic; Miss Renfrew, indeed, appearing to be on the verge of
fainting, and it is not at all unlikely that she would have slipped
to the floor but for the close proximity of Mrs. Armroyd.

"That's right, madame. Get a chair; put her into it. She will need
all her strength presently, I promise you. Wait a bit! Better have a
doctor, I fancy, and an inquiry into the whereabouts of Mr. Charles
Drummond. Mr. Narkom, cut out, will you, and wire this message to
that young man's employer."

Pens and papers were on the dead man's desk. Cleek bent over,
scratched off some hurried lines, and passed them to the
superintendent.

"Sharp's the word, please; we've got ugly business on hand and we
must know about that Drummond chap without delay. Miss Renfrew has
not been telling the truth to-night! Look at this man. _Rigor mortis_
pronounced. Feel him--muscles like iron, flesh like ice! _She_ says
that he spoke to her at a quarter to eight o'clock. _I_ tell you
that at a quarter to eight this man had been dead upward of an hour!"

"Good God!" exclaimed Mr. Narkom; but his cry was cut into by a
wilder one from Miss Renfrew.

"Oh, no! Oh, no!" she protested, starting up from her seat, only to
drop back into it, strengthless, shaking, ghastly pale. "It could not
be--it could not. I have told the truth--nothing but the truth. He
did speak to me at a quarter to eight--he did, he did! Constable
Gorham was there--he heard him; he will tell you the same."

"Yes, yes, I know you said so, but--will he? He looks a sturdy,
straightgoing, honest sort of chap who couldn't be coaxed or bribed
into backing up a lie; so send him in as you go out, Mr. Narkom;
we'll see what he has to say."

What he had to say when he came in a few moments later was what
Miss Renfrew had declared--an exact corroboration of her statement.
He _had_ seen a man whom he fancied was Sir Ralph Droger run out
of the grounds, and he had suggested to Miss Renfrew that they had
better look into the Round House and see if all was right with
Mr. Nosworth. They had looked in as she had said; and Mr. Nosworth
had called out and asked her what the devil she was coming in and
disturbing him for, and it was a quarter to eight o'clock exactly.

"Sure about that, are you?" questioned C