nto the place nor where he went when he
got out of it. Well, then, what about that garden door being the answer?
Why shouldn't it have been he that unfastened it? Why shouldn't this
business of pouncing upon Sir Philip and making an outcry be a clever
dodge to make a safe getaway?"

The General looked up, brightening, as if a load had been lifted from
his shoulders, and breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"I hadn't thought of that, Mr. Barch," he said, caught by the
feasibility of an argument backed up so plausibly. "We did have a thief
pay us a visit earlier in the evening, to be sure; and, as you say, very
possibly---- Yes, yes, it must be so. There could be no shadow of a
reason for the police coming here, because---- Eh? What's that, Hamer?"
facing round as he heard his name mentioned, and discovering the second
footman, who had just put in an appearance. "Telephone, did you say?"

"Yessir. Somebody asking to speak to Mr. Barch, sir; and I requested him
to hold the line while I came to call the gentleman."

"Somebody calling for me over the telephone?" inquired Cleek, with
sudden deep interest. "You are sure it is for me, Hamer? Sure that the
name was Barch?"

"Yessir, quite. Mr. Philip Barch was the name given, and I was to say
that it's a most important message."

Cleek turned and looked inquiringly at the General.

"Yes, certainly, Mr. Barch, certainly," he said, replying to that look.
"The instrument is in the library, which opens directly off my study.
Hamer will show you the way."

"No, I will," put in Ailsa. "I shall have to be running up to see how
Kathie is, and it will be on my way. Good-night, Sir Philip. Good-night,
General. Come, Mr. Barch, I'll show you the way." She went with him out
of the moonlight in the open to the dark of the shrubbery and the trees
that shut in the path to the house.

"Tell me," she whispered eagerly as they hurried along. "Are you nearer
the end? Is the solution anywhere in sight?"

"I think so," he answered.

"Oh!" with a sharp intaking of the breath. "You found it out at the
garden door, then? You saw the woman and you saw the person she came to
meet?"

"To the contrary, I saw neither. I merely heard the woman speak. It was
a voice I had never heard before. The man said nothing, and never once
showed himself. He might have done both but that they heard you
returning and separated like a shot. But please, we will not speak of
that at present. Wait for me by the shr