ellier, suddenly, in a husky voice, as the clerk rose to quell the
interrupted flow of oratory, and the court banged his mace for quiet.

"You didn't think of the cruel mockery of God's good world, which you
were helping so successfully to ruin!" continued the detective, speaking
_to_ the court but _at_ Brellier, each word pointed as a barb, each pause
more pregnant with scorn than the spoken words had been. "You didn't
think of that, did you? Oh, no! You gave no thought to the ruined home
and the weeping wife, the broken-hearted mother and the fatherless child.
That was outside your reckoning altogether. And, if hearsay be true (and
in this case I believe it is) you even went so far as to kill a
defenceless woman who had been brave enough to wander out across that
particular part of the Fens just to see what those flames really were.
And yet,--your lordship, this man howls for mercy."

He paused a moment and passed a hand wearily over his forehead. The
telling of the tale was not easy, and the expression of 'Toinette
Brellier's tear-misted eyes added to the difficulty of it. But he knew
he must spare no detail; in fairness to the man who stood in the dock,
in fairness to the Law he served, and in whose service he had unravelled
this riddle which at first had seemed so inexplicable.

Then the judge spoke.

"The court must congratulate you, Mr. Cleek," he said in his fine,
metallic voice, "upon the very excellent and intricate work you have done
on this case. Believe me, the Law appreciates it, and I, as one of its
humble exponents, must add my admiration to the rest. Permit me, however,
to ask one or two questions. In the first place, before we proceed
further with the case, I should like you to give me any explanation that
you can relative to the matter of what the prisoner here has told us with
regard to the story of the Frozen Flame. This gentleman has said that the
story goes that whenever a new victim had been claimed by the flames,
that he completely vanishes, and that another flame appears in amongst
its fellows. The prisoner has declared this to be true; in fact, has
actually sworn upon oath, that he has seen this thing with his own eyes
the night that Dacre Wynne was killed. I confess that upon hearing this,
I had my strong suspicions of his veracity. Can you explain it any
clearer?"

Cleek smiled a trifle whimsically, then he nodded.

"I can. Shortly after I made my discovery of the secret passage that le