I will not even
say it is all moonshine, for it is something better. It is, if I may say
so, honeymoonshine. I will never deny the saying that it makes the world
go round, if it makes people's heads go round too. But there are other
sentiments, madam, and other duties. I need not tell you your father was
a good man, and that what has befallen him would be pitiable, even as
the fate of the wicked. This is a horrible thing, and it is chiefly
among horrors that we must keep our common sense. There are reasons for
everything, and when my old friend lies butchered do not come to me
with even the most beautiful fairy tales about a saint and his enchanted
grove."

"Well, and you!" she cried, and rose radiantly and swiftly. "With what
kind of fairy tales do you come to me? In what enchanted groves are YOU
walking? You come and tell me that Mr. Paynter found a well where
the water danced and then disappeared; but of course miracles are all
moonshine! You tell me you yourself fished bones from under the same
water, and every bone was as dry as a biscuit; but for Heaven's sake let
us say nothing that makes anybody's head go round! Really, Mr. Ashe, you
must try to preserve your common sense!"

She was smiling, but with blazing eyes; and Ashe got to his feet with an
involuntary laugh of surrender.

"Well, we must be going," he said. "May I say that a tribute is really
due to your new transcendental training? If I may say so, I always knew
you had brains; and you've been learning to use them."

The two amateur detectives went back to the wood for the moment, that
Ashe might consider the removal of the unhappy Squire's remains. As he
pointed out, it was now legally possible to have an inquest, and, even
at that early stage of investigations, he was in favor of having it at
once.

"I shall be the coroner," he said, "and I think it will be a case of
'some person or persons unknown.' Don't be surprised; it is often done
to give the guilty a false security. This is not the first time the
police have found it convenient to have the inquest first and the
inquiry afterward."

But Paynter had paid little attention to the point; for his great gift
of enthusiasm, long wasted on arts and affectations, was lifted to
inspiration by the romance of real life into which he had just walked.
He was really a great critic; he had a genius for admiration, and his
admiration varied fittingly with everything he admired.

"A splendid girl and a sp