"Well, Mr. Grant, if you really press for an answer, it is 'Yes' and
'No.' The Commissioner received a certain telegram, but he may have acted
on other grounds. Even Commissioners can be creatures of impulse, or
expediency, just as the situation demands.

"You are here, at any rate."

"That is what legal jargon terms an admitted fact."

"Then you had better begin by assuming that I am no villain."

"It is assumed. It couldn't well be otherwise after the excellent
character you have been given by this young lady."

"She, at least, will speak well of me, I do believe," said Grant, with a
strange bitterness, for his heart was sore because of the seeming
defection of his friend, the postmaster. "What I actually had in mind was
the stupidity of the local policeman, who is convinced that I am both a
criminal and a fool."

"The two are often synonymous," said Furneaux dryly. "But I acquitted you
on both counts, Mr. Grant, on hearing, and even seeing, how you spent
Monday evening."

Grant, who had cooled down considerably, found a hint of badinage in
this comment.

"You have evidently been told that Miss Martin and I were star-gazing in
the garden of my house," he said. "It happens to be true."

"Oh, yes. There was a very fine cluster of small stars in Canis Major,
south of Sirius, that night."

"You know something about the constellations, then?" was the
astonished query.

"Enough for the purposes of Scotland Yard," smirked Furneaux, who had
checked P.C. Robinson's one-sided story by referring to Whitaker's
Almanack. "It may relieve your mind if I tell you that I have never seen
a real live astronomer in the dock. Venus and Mars are often in trouble,
but their devoted observers seldom, if ever."

Grant warmed to this strange species of detective, though, if pressed for
an instant decision, he would vastly have preferred that one of more
orthodox style had been intrusted with an inquiry so vital to his own
happiness and good repute. Eager, however, to pour forth his worries into
any official ear, he brought back the talk to a definite channel.

"Will you come to my place?" he asked. "I have much to say. Let me assure
you now, in Miss Martin's presence, that she is no more concerned in this
ghastly business than any other young lady in the village."

"But she is interested. And _you_ are. And I am. Why not discuss matters
here, for the present, I mean? We have a glorious view of your house and
grounds. We can se