."

"That is all I wish to ask, Sir Harry," O'Moy intimated, and looked
round at his fellow-members of that court as if to inquire whether they
had drawn any inference from the sergeant's statements.

"Have you any questions to ask the witness, Captain Tremayne?" the
president inquired.

"None, sir," replied the prisoner.

Came Private Bates next, and Sir Terence proceeded to question him..

"You said in your evidence that Captain Tremayne arrived at Monsanto
between half-past eleven and twenty minutes to twelve?"

"Yes, sir."

"You told us, I think, that you determined this by the fact that you
came on duty at eleven o'clock, and that it would be half-an-hour or a
little more after that when Captain Tremayne arrived?"

"Yes, sir."

"That is quite in agreement with the evidence of your sergeant. Now tell
the court where you were during the half-hour that followed--until you
heard the guard being turned out by the sergeant."

"Pacing in front of quarters, sir."

"Did you notice the windows of the building at all during that time?"

"I can't say that I did, sir."

"Why not?"

"Why not?" echoed the private.

"Yes--why not? Don't repeat my words. How did it happen that you didn't
notice the windows?"

"Because they were in darkness, sir."

O'Moy's eyes gleamed. "All of them?"

"Certainly, sir, all of them."

"You are quite certain of that?"

"Oh, quite certain, sir. If a light had shown from one of them I
couldn't have failed to notice it."

"That will do."

"Captain Tremayne--" began the president.

"I have no questions for the witness, sir," Tremayne announced.

Sir Harry's face expressed surprise. "After the statement he has just
made?" he exclaimed, and thereupon he again invited the prisoner, in a
voice that was as grave as his countenance, to cross-examine he witness;
he did more than invite--he seemed almost to plead. But Tremayne,
preserving by a miracle his outward calm, for all that inwardly he was
filled with despair and chagrin to see what a pit he had dug for himself
by his falsehood, declined to ask any questions.

Private Bates retired, and Mullins was recalled. A gloom seemed to have
settled now upon the court. A moment ago their way had seemed fairly
clear to its members, and they had been inwardly congratulating
themselves that they were relieved from the grim necessity of passing
sentence upon a brother officer esteemed by all who knew him. But now a
subtle change had cre