stable resumed:

"We knew, of course, that another lady was also following Lady Agatha.
But, until the present moment, we had not identified her with Miss
Pringle. And I should not be at all surprised, not at ALL surprised,
if still another person had been following Miss Pringle."

"With what object?" asked Miss Pringle, looking alarmed at the idea.

"The motive, my dear lady, I must for the present withhold," said
Wilton Barnstable. And again the three detectives exchanged knowing
glances.

"Reginald Maltravers' pursuit of you, Lady Agatha, led him to
Fairport," went on the great sleuth. "No doubt he met the driver of
the vehicle which brought you hither, and learned that you and Elmer
had been set down in this neighborhood, just as Miss Pringle learned
it. No doubt it was well after dark when he arrived in the vicinity of
the Jasper B. And it is to be supposed that, once out here, he went to
Morris's road house, thinking it quite likely that you and Elmer would
stop there, as he had been tracking you from road house to road house.
Logan Black, knowing that the authorities were on his trail, mistook
Reginald Maltravers for a detective, and held him prisoner at Morris's.
Logan Black's men took away his clothes in order to minimize the
possibility of his escape."

"And the Earl of Claiborne's signet ring----" began Cleggett.

"Of course, Reginald Maltravers was wearing it, and of course they took
his valuables from him," said Barnstable. "One of the ruffians was
wearing the ring as he approached your vessel with a bomb. But, Mr.
Cleggett, there are points about that bomb explosion which I do not
understand."

"Nor I," admitted Cleggett.

"We will clear them up later," said the great detective, smiling
benignly at his thumbs, which he was revolving slowly about each other
as he reconstructed the case.

"Later!" smiled Barton Ward. "Later!" murmured Watson Bard. With their
hands clasped over their stomachs, they, too, benignly twirled their
thumbs.

"Tonight," pursued Barnstable, "having finally got all the information
I wished from Dopey Eddie and Izzy the Cat with regard to Logan Black,
I tossed them the key to their irons and told them to unlock themselves
and clear out. It was just before the storm began, and they were
sitting on the bank of the canal at the time. I allowed them to sit
there in the evenings and get the fresh air.

"But before they could unlock themselves Reginald Maltravers, who