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"So far as I know--they never met," she replied, haltingly.

"Could you swear to that?"

"Yes."

I think that hitherto she had not fully realized the nature of the
situation; but now something in the Inspector's voice, or perhaps in
our glances, told her the truth. She moved to where Colin Camber was
sitting, looking down at him questioningly, pitifully. He put his arm
about her and drew her close.

Inspector Aylesbury cleared his throat and returned his note-book to
his pocket.

"I am going to take a look around the garden," he announced.

My respect for him increased slightly, and Harley and I followed him
out of the study. A police sergeant was sitting in the hall, and Ah
Tsong was standing just outside the door.

"Show me the way to the garden," directed the Inspector.

Ah Tsong stared stupidly, whereupon Paul Harley addressed him in his
native language, rapidly and in a low voice, in order, as I divined,
that the Inspector should not hear him.

"I feel dreadfully guilty, Knox," he confessed, in a murmured aside.
"For any Englishman, fictitious characters excepted, to possess a
knowledge of Chinese is almost indecent."

Presently, then, I found myself once more in that unkempt garden of
which I retained such unpleasant memories.

Inspector Aylesbury stared all about and up at the back of the house,
humming to himself and generally behaving as though he were alone.
Before the little summer study he stood still, and:

"Oh, I see," he muttered.

What he had seen was painfully evident. The right-hand window, beneath
which there was a permanent wooden seat, commanded an unobstructed view
of the Tudor garden in the grounds of Cray's Folly. Clearly I could
detect the speck of high-light upon the top of the sun-dial.

The Inspector stepped into the hut. It contained a bookshelf upon which
a number of books remained, a table and a chair, with some few other
dilapidated appointments. I glanced at Harley and saw that he was
staring as if hypnotized at the prospect in the valley below. I
observed a constable on duty at the top of the steps which led down
into the Tudor garden, but I could see nothing to account for Harley's
fixed regard, until:

"Pardon me one moment, Inspector," he muttered, brusquely.

Brushing past the indignant Aylesbury, who was examining the contents
of the shelves in the hut, he knelt upon the wooden seat and stared
intently through the open window.

"One-two-three-four-five-six-_seven_," he chanted. "Good! That will
settle it."

"Oh, I see," said Inspector Aylesbury, standing strictly upright, his
prominent eyes turned in the direction of the kneeling Harley. "One,
two, three, four, and so on will settle it, eh? If you don't mind me
saying so, it was settled already."

"Yes?" replied Harley, standing up, and I saw that his eyes were very
bright and that his face was slightly flushed. "You think the case is
so simple as that?"

"Simple?" exclaimed the Inspector. "It's the most cunning thing that
was ever planned, but I flatter myself that I have a good straight eye
which can see a fairly long way."

"Excellent," murmured Harley. "I congratulate you. Myopia is so common
in the present generation. You have decided, of course, that the murder
was committed by Ah Tsong?"

Inspector Aylesbury's eyes seemed to protrude extraordinarily.

"Ah Tsong!" he exclaimed. "Ah Tsong!"

"Surely it is palpable," continued Harley, "that of the three people
residing in the Guest House, Ah Tsong is the only one who could
possibly have done the deed."

"Who could possibly--who could possibly----" stuttered the Inspector,
then paused because of sheer lack of words.

"Review the evidence," continued Harley, coolly. "Mrs. Camber was
awakened by the sound of a shot. She immediately rang for Ah Tsong.
There was a short interval before Ah Tsong appeared--and when he did
appear he was wearing an overcoat. Note this point, Inspector: wearing
an overcoat. He descended to the study and found Mr. Camber writing.
Now, Ah Tsong sleeps in a room adjoining the kitchen on the ground
floor. We passed his quarters on our way to the garden a moment ago. Of
course, you had noted this? Mr. Camber is therefore eliminated from our
list of suspects."

The Inspector was growing very red, but ere he had time to speak Harley
continued:

"The first of these three persons to have heard a shot fired at the end
of the garden would have been Ah Tsong, and not Mrs. Camber, whose room
is upstairs and in the front of the house. If it had been fired by Mr.
Camber from the spot upon which we now stand, he would still have been
in the garden at the moment when Mrs. Camber was ringing the bell for
Ah Tsong. Mr. Camber must therefore have returned from the end of the
garden to the study, and have passed Ah Tsong's room--unheard by the
occupant--between the time that the bell rang and the time that Ah
Tsong went upstairs. This I submit to be impossible. There is an
alternative: it is that he slipped in whilst Ah Tsong, standing on the
landing above, was receiving his mistress's orders. I submit that the
alternative is also impossible. We thus eliminate Mr. Camber from the
case, as I have already mentioned."

"Eliminate--eliminate!" cried the Inspector, beginning to recover power
of speech. "Do you think you can fuddle me with a mass of words, Mr.
Harley? Allow me to point out to you, sir, that you are in no way
officially associated with this matter."

"You have already drawn my attention to the fact, Inspector, but it can
do no harm to jog my memory."

Harley spoke entirely without bitterness, and I, who knew his every
mood, realized that he was thoroughly enjoying himself. Therefore I
knew that at last he had found a clue.

"I may add, Inspector," said he, "that upon further reflection I have
also eliminated Ah Tsong from the case. I forgot to mention that he
lacks the first and second fingers of his right hand; and I have yet to
meet the marksman who can shoot a man squarely between the eyes, by
moonlight, at a hundred yards, employing his third finger as trigger-
finger. There are other points, but these will be sufficient to show
you that this case is more complicated than you had assumed it to be."

Inspector Aylesbury did not deign to reply, or could not trust himself
to do so. He turned and made his way back to the house.




CHAPTER XXIV

AN OFFICIAL MOVE



We reëntered the study to find Mrs. Camber sitting in a chair very
close to her husband. Inspector Aylesbury stood in the open doorway for
a moment, and then, stepping back into the hall:

"Sergeant Butler," he said, addressing the man who waited there.

"Yes, sir."

"Go out to the gate and get Edson to relieve you. I shall want you to
go back to headquarters in a few minutes."

"Very good, sir."

I scented what was coming, and as Inspector Aylesbury reentered the
room:

"I should like to make a statement," announced Paul Harley, quietly.

The Inspector frowned, and lowering his chin, regarded him with little
favour.

"I have not invited any statement from you, Mr. Harley," said he.

"Quite," returned Harley. "I am volunteering it. It is this: I gather
that you are about to take an important step officially. Having in view
certain steps which I, also, am about to take, I would ask you to defer
action, purely in your own interests, for at least twenty-four hours."

"I hear you," said the Inspector, sarcastically.

"Very well, Inspector. You have come newly into this case, and I assure
you that its apparent simplicity is illusive. As new facts come into
your possession you will realize that what I say is perfectly true, and
if you act now you will be acting hastily. All that I have learned I am
prepared to place at your disposal. But I predict that the interference
of Scotland Yard will be necessary before this enquiry is concluded.
Therefore I suggest, since you have rejected my cooperation, that you
obtain that of Detective Inspector Wessex, of the Criminal
Investigation Department. In short, this is no one-man job. You will do
yourself harm by jumping to conclusions, and cause unnecessary trouble
to perfectly innocent people."

"Is your statement concluded?" asked the Inspector.

"For the moment I have nothing to add."

"Oh, I see. Very good. Then we can now get to business. Always with
your permission, Mr. Harley."

He took his stand before the fireplace, very erect, and invested with
his most official manner. Mrs. Camber watched him in a way that was
pathetic. Camber seemed to be quite composed, although his face was
unusually pale.

"Now, Mr. Camber," said the Inspector, "I find your answers to the
questions which I have put to you very unsatisfactory."

"I am sorry," said Colin Camber, quietly.

"One moment, Inspector," interrupted Paul Harley, "you have not warned
Mr. Camber."

Thereupon the long-repressed wrath of Inspector Aylesbury burst forth.

"Then I will warn _you_, sir!" he shouted. "One more word and you
leave this house."

"Yet I am going to venture on one more word," continued Harley,
unperturbed. He turned to Colin Camber. "I happen to be a member of the
Bar, Mr. Camber," he said, "although I rarely accept a brief. Have I
your authority to act for you?"

"I am grateful, Mr. Harley, and I leave this unpleasant affair in your
hands with every confidence."

Camber stood up, bowing formally.

The expression upon the inflamed face of Inspector Aylesbury was really
indescribable, and recognizing his mental limitations, I was almost
tempted to feel sorry for him. However, he did not lack self-
confidence, and:

"I suppose you have scored, Mr. Harley," he said, a certain hoarseness
perceptible in his voice, "but I know my duty and I am not afraid to
perform it. Now, Mr. Camber, did you, or did you not, at about twelve
o'clock last night----"

"Warn the accused," murmured Harley.

Inspector Aylesbury uttered a choking sound, but:

"I have to warn you," he said, "that your answers may be used as
evidence. I will repeat: Did you, or did you not, at about twelve
o'clock last night, shoot, with intent to murder, Colonel Juan
Menendez?"

Ysola Camber leapt up, clutching at her husband's arm as if to hold
him back.

"I did not," he replied, quietly.

"Nevertheless," continued the Inspector, looking aggressively at
Paul Harley whilst he spoke, "I am going to detain you pending
further enquiries."

Colin Camber inclined his head.

"Very well," he said; "you only do your duty."

The little fingers clutching his sleeve slowly relaxed, and Mrs.
Camber, uttering a long sigh, sank in a swoon at his feet.

"Ysola! Ysola!" he muttered. Stooping he raised the child-like figure.
"If you will kindly open the door, Mr. Knox," he said, "I will carry my
wife to her room."

I sprang to the door and held it widely open.

Colin Camber, deadly pale, but holding his head very erect, walked in
the direction of the hallway with his pathetic burden. Mis-reading the
purpose written upon the stern white face, Inspector Aylesbury stepped
forward.

"Let someone else attend to Mrs. Camber," he cried, sharply. "I wish
you to remain here."

His detaining hand was already upon Camber's shoulder when Harley's arm
shot out like a barrier across the Inspector's chest, and Colin Camber
proceeded on his way. Momentarily, he glanced aside, and I saw that his
eyes were unnaturally bright.

"Thank you, Mr. Harley," he said, and carried his wife from the room.

Harley dropped his arm, and crossing, stood staring out of the window.
Inspector Aylesbury ran heavily to the door.

"Sergeant!" he called, "Sergeant! keep that man in sight. He must
return here immediately."

I heard the sound of heavy footsteps following Camber's up the stairs,
then Inspector Aylesbury turned, a bulky figure in the open doorway,
and:

"Now, Mr. Harley," said he, entering and reclosing the door, "you are a
barrister, I understand. Very well, then, I suppose you are aware that
you have resisted and obstructed an officer of the law in the execution
of his duty."

Paul Harley spun round upon his heel.

"Is that a charge," he inquired, "or merely a warning?"

The two glared at one another for a moment, then:

"From now onward," continued the Inspector, "I am going to have no more
trouble with you, Mr. Harley. In the first place, I'll have you looked
up in the Law List; in the second place, I shall ask you to stick to
your proper duties, and leave me to look after mine."

"I have endeavoured from the outset," replied Harley, his good humour
quite restored, "to assist you in every way in my power. You have
declined all my offers, and finally, upon the most flimsy evidence, you
have detained a perfectly innocent man."

"Oh, I see. A perfectly innocent man, eh?"

"Perfectly innocent, Inspector. There are so many points that you have
overlooked. For instance, do you seriously suppose that Mr. Camber had
been waiting up here night after night on the off-chance that Colonel
Menendez would appear in the grounds of Cray's Folly?"

"No, I don't. I have got that worked out."

"Indeed? You interest me."

"Mr. Camber has an accomplice at Cray's Folly."

"What?" exclaimed Harley, and into his keen grey eyes crept a look of
real interest.

"He has an accomplice," repeated the Inspector. "A certain witness was
strangely reluctant to mention Mr. Camber's name. It was only after
very keen examination that I got it at last. Now, Colonel Menendez had
not retired last night, neither had a certain other party. That other
party, sir, knows why Colonel Menendez was wandering about the garden
at midnight."

At first, I think, this astonishing innuendo did not fully penetrate to
my mind, but when it did so, it seemed to galvanize me. Springing up
from the chair in which I had been seated:

"You preposterous fool!" I exclaimed, hotly.

It was the last straw. Inspector Aylesbury strode to the door and
throwing it open once more, turned to me:

"Be good enough to leave the house, Mr. Knox," he said. "I am about to
have it officially searched, and I will have no strangers present."

I think I could have strangled him with pleasure, but even in my rage I
was not foolhardy enough to lay myself open to that of which the
Inspector was quite capable at this moment.

Without another word I walked out of the study, took my hat and stick,
and opening the front door, quitted the Guest House, from which I had
thus a second time been dismissed ignominiously.

Appreciation of this fact, which came to me as I stepped into the
porch, awakened my sense of humour--a gift truly divine which has
saved many a man from desperation or worse. I felt like a schoolboy who
had been turned out of a class-room, and I was glad that I could laugh
at myself.

A constable was standing in the porch, and he looked at me
suspiciously. No doubt he perceived something very sardonic in my
merriment.

I walked out of the gate, before which a car was standing, and as I
paused to light a cigarette I heard the door of the Guest House open
and close. I glanced back, and there was Paul Harley coming to join me.

"Now, Knox," he said, briskly, "we have got our hands full."

"My dear Harley, I am both angry and bewildered. Too angry and too
bewildered to think clearly."

"I can quite understand it. I should become homicidal if I were
forced to submit for long to the company of Inspector Aylesbury.
Of course, I had anticipated the arrest of Colin Camber, and I
fear there is worse to come."

"What do you mean, Harley?"

"I mean that failing the apprehension of the real murderer, I cannot
see, at the moment, upon what the case for the defence is to rest."

"But surely you demonstrated out there in the garden that he could not
possibly have fired the shot?"

"Words, Knox, words. I could pick a dozen loopholes in my own argument.
I had only hoped to defer the inevitable. I tell you, there is worse to
come. Two things we must do at once."

"What are they?"

"We must persuade the man on duty to allow us to examine the Tudor
garden, and we must see the Chief Constable, whoever he may be, and
prevail upon him to requisition the assistance of Scotland Yard. With
Wessex in charge of the case I might have a chance. Whilst this
disastrous man Aylesbury holds the keys there is none."

"You heard what he said about Miss Beverley?"

We were now walking rapidly along the high road, and Harley nodded.

"I did," he said. "I had expected it. He was inspired with this
brilliant idea last night, and his ideas are too few to be lightly
scrapped. If the Chief Constable is anything like the Inspector, what
we are going to do heaven only knows."

"I take it, Harley, that you are convinced of Colin Camber's
innocence?"

Harley did not answer for a moment, whereupon I glanced at him
anxiously, then:

"Colin Camber," he replied, "is of so peculiar a type that I could not
presume to say of what he is capable or is not capable. The most
significant point in his favour is this: He is a man of unusual
intellect. The planning of this cunning crime to such a man would have
been child's play--child's play, Knox. But is it possible to believe
that his genius would have failed him upon the most essential detail of
all, namely, an alibi?"

"It is not."

"Of course it is not. Which, continuing to regard Camber as an
assassin, reduces us to the theory that the crime was committed in a
moment of passion. This I maintain to be also impossible. It was no
deed of impulse."

"I agree with you."

"Now, I believe that the enquiry is going to turn upon a very delicate
point. If I am wrong in this, then perhaps I am wrong in my whole
conception of the case. But have you considered the mass of evidence
against Colin Camber?"

"I have, Harley," I replied, sadly, "I have."

"Think of all that we know, and which the Inspector does not know.
Every single datum points in the same direction. No prosecution could
ask for a more perfect case. Upon this fact I pin my hopes. Where an
Aylesbury rushes in I fear to tread. The analogy with an angel was
accidental, Knox!" he added, smilingly. "In other words, it is all too
obvious. Yet I have failed once, Knox, failed disastrously, and it may
be that in my anxiety to justify myself I am seeking for subtlety where
no subtlety exists."




CHAPTER XXV

AYLESBURY'S THEORY



There were strangers about Cray's Folly and a sort of furtive activity,
horribly suggestive. We had not pursued the circular route by the high
road which would have brought us to the lodge, but had turned aside
where the swing-gate opened upon a footpath into the meadows. It was
the path which I had pursued upon the day of my visit to the Lavender
Arms. A second private gate here gave access to the grounds at a point
directly opposite the lake; and as we crossed the valley, making for
the terraced lawns, I saw unfamiliar figures upon the veranda, and knew
that the cumbersome processes of the law were already in motion.

I was longing to speak to Val Beverley and to learn what had taken
place during her interview with Inspector Aylesbury, but Harley led the
way toward the tower wing, and by a tortuous path through the
rhododendrons we finally came out on the northeast front and in sight
of the Tudor garden.

Harley crossed to the entrance, and was about to descend the steps,
when the constable on duty there held out his arm.

"Excuse me, sir," he said, "but I have orders to admit no one to this
part of the garden."

"Oh," said Harley, pulling up short, "but I am acting in this case. My
name is Paul Harley."

"Sorry, sir," replied the constable, "but you will have to see
Inspector Aylesbury."

My friend uttered an impatient exclamation, but, turning aside:

"Very well, constable," he muttered; "I suppose I must submit. Our
friend, Aylesbury," he added to me, as we walked away, "would appear to
be a martinet as well as a walrus. At every step, Knox, he proves
himself a tragic nuisance. This means waste of priceless time."

"What had you hoped to do, Harley?"

"Prove my theory," he returned; "but since every moment is precious, I
must move in another direction."

He hurried on through the opening in the box hedge and into the
courtyard. Manoel had just opened the doors to a sepulchral-looking
person who proved to be the coroner's officer, and:

"Manoel!" cried Harley, "tell Carter to bring a car round at once."

"Yes, sir."

"I haven't time to fetch my own," he explained.

"Where are you off to?"

"I am off to see the Chief Constable, Knox. Aylesbury must be
superseded at whatever cost. If the Chief Constable fails I shall not
hesitate to go higher. I will get along to the garage. I don't expect
to be more than an hour. Meanwhile, do your best to act as a buffer
between Aylesbury and the women. You understand me?"

"Quite," I returned, shortly. "But the task may prove no light one,
Harley."

"It won't," he assured me, smiling grimly. "How you must regret, Knox,
that we didn't go fishing!"

With that he was off, eager-eyed and alert, the mood of dreamy
abstraction dropped like a cloak discarded. He fully realized, as I
did, that his unique reputation was at stake. I wondered, as I had
wondered at the Guest House, whether, in undertaking to clear Colin
Camber, he had acted upon sheer conviction, or, embittered by the death
of his client, had taken a gambler's chance. It was unlike him to do
so. But now beyond reach of that charm of manner which Colin Camber
possessed, and discounting the pathetic sweetness of his girl-wife, I
realized how black was the evidence against him.

Occupied with these, and even more troubled thoughts, I was making my
way toward the library, undetermined how to act, when I saw Val
Beverley coming along the corridor which communicated with Madame de
Stämer's room.

I read a welcome in her eyes which made my heart beat the faster.

"Oh, Mr. Knox," she cried, "I am so glad you have returned. Tell me all
that has happened, for I feel in some way that I am responsible for
it."

I nodded gravely.

"You know, then, where Inspector Aylesbury went when he left here,
after his interview with you?"

She looked at me pathetically.

"He went to the Guest House, of course."

"Yes," I said; "he was close behind us."

"And"--she hesitated--"Mr. Camber?"

"He has been detained."

"Oh!" she moaned. "I could hate myself! Yet what could I say, what
could I do?"

"Just tell me all about it," I urged. "What were the Inspector's
questions?"

"Well," explained the girl, "he had evidently learned from someone,
presumably one of the servants, that there was enmity between Mr.
Camber and Colonel Menendez. He asked me if I knew of this, and of
course I had to admit that I did. But when I told him that I had no
idea of its cause, he did not seem to believe me."

"No," I murmured. "Any evidence which fails to dove-tail with his
preconceived theories he puts down as a lie."

"He seemed to have made up his mind for some reason," she continued,
"that I was intimately acquainted with Mr. Camber. Whereas, of course,
I have never spoken to him in my life, although whenever he has passed
me in the road he has always saluted me with quite delightful courtesy.
Oh, Mr. Knox, it is horrible to think of this great misfortune coming
to those poor people." She looked at me pleadingly. "How did his wife
take it?"

"Poor little girl," I replied, "it was an awful blow."

"I feel that I want to set out this very minute," declared Val
Beverley, "and go to her, and try to comfort her. Because I feel in my
very soul that her husband is innocent. She is such a sweet little
thing. I have wanted to speak to her since the very first time I ever
saw her, but on the rare occasions when we have met in the village she
has hurried past as though she were afraid of me. Mr. Harley surely
knows that her husband is not guilty?"

"I think he does," I replied, "but he may have great difficulty in
proving it. And what else did Inspector Aylesbury wish to know?"

"How can I tell you?" she said in a low voice; and biting her lip
agitatedly she turned her head aside.

"Perhaps I can guess."

"Can you?" she asked, looking at me quickly. "Well, then, he seemed to
attach a ridiculous importance to the fact that I had not retired last
night at the time of the tragedy."

"I know," said I, grimly. "Another preconceived idea of his."

"I told him the truth of the matter, which is surely quite simple, and
at first I was unable to understand the nature of his suspicions. Then,
after a time, his questions enlightened me. He finally suggested, quite
openly, that I had not come down from my room to the corridor in which
Madame de Stämer was lying, but had actually been there at the time!"

"In the corridor outside her room?"

"Yes. He seemed to think that I had just come in from the door near the
end of the east wing and beside the tower, which opens into the
shrubbery."

"That you had just come in?" I exclaimed. "He thinks, then, that you
had been out in the grounds?"

Val Beverley's face had been very pale, but now she flushed
indignantly, and glanced away from me as she replied:

"He dared to suggest that I had been to keep an assignation."

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