, to be a foreigner, like the man."
"Yes, I think so," was my reply. "I will tell the police all that we
have found out, and they will go there presently and recover the body."
"If they can only find those two men, then we should know the truth,"
she declared. "One of them--the one in brown--was unusually
broad-shouldered, and seemed to walk with a slight stoop."
"You expected to discover another woman, did you not, Miss Leithcourt?"
I asked presently, as we walked across the moor.
"Yes," she answered. "I expected to find an entirely different person."
"And if you had found her it would have proved the guilt of someone with
whom you are acquainted?"
She nodded in the affirmative.
"Then what we have found this evening does not convey to you the
identity of the assassins?"
"No, unfortunately it does not. We must for the present leave the matter
in the hands of the police."
"But if the identity of the dead woman is established?" I asked.
"It might furnish me with a clue," she exclaimed quickly. "Yes, try and
discover who she is."
"Who was the woman you expected to find?"
"A friend--a very dear friend."
"Will you not tell me her name?" I inquired.
"No, it would be unfair to her," she responded decisively, an answer
which to me was particularly tantalizing.
On we plodded in silence, our thoughts too full for words. Was it not
strange that the mysterious yachtsman should be her lover, and stranger
still that on recognizing me he should have escaped, not only from
Scotland, but away to the Continent?
Was not that, in itself, evidence of guilt and fear?
It was quite dark when I took leave of my bright little companion, who,
tired out and yet uncomplaining, pressed my hand and wished me good
fortune in my investigations.
"I shall await you to-morrow afternoon. Call and tell me everything,
won't you?"
I promised, and then she disappeared into the great stable-yard behind
the castle, while I went on down the dark road and then struck across
the open fields to my uncle's house.
At half-past nine that night I pulled up the dog-cart before the chief
police-station in Dumfries, and alighting at once sought the big fair
Highlander, Mackenzie, with whom I had had the consultation on the
previous day.
When we were seated in his room beneath the hissing gas-jet, I related
my adventure and the result of my investigation.
"What?" he cried, jumping up. "You've unearthed another body--a
woman
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