"Now, look here, you two. There is some ugly mischief going on here, and it is my belief that Chermside, though mixed up in it, is more sinned against than sinning. You will best serve him by being perfectly frank with me, and if it will induce you to be so, let me say that the wire-puller in the business is Mr. Travers Nugent. You are both of you aware of my opinion of that gentleman, based on grounds of former official experience. I am certain that there is some deep-laid plot afoot in which Chermside is a mere pawn--a plot which I somehow vaguely deem to be directed against the good people who have rented the Manor House. I have utterly failed so far to gain the slightest inkling of the nature or object of Nugent's machinations, but I have gathered this--that whether Chermside killed that little Jew or not Nugent is holding over him, as a means to effect his purpose, the probability of imminent arrest." At that Reggie described fully how he and Enid had been "resting" in the bushes at the side of the marshland path, and how at short intervals two men, whom it was too dark to recognize, had passed by. He went on to repeat the evidence dragged from him at the inquest as the result of the eavesdropping of Mr. Lazarus Lowch, telling over again of the weird scream that had startled them a few minutes after the passing of the second unseen pedestrian. And he finished his narrative with the hurried return along the path of a man who, as he passed their lair, was shown by the searchlight on the battleship to be none other than Leslie Chermside. Mr. Mallory pondered the statement, then asked suddenly, "Did you notice any peculiarity in the footfall of the invisible pedestrians?" "Yes, we did," Enid answered quickly. "The first to come along was going rapidly, as though he was late for an appointment--almost running, in fact. We could quite plainly hear him puffing and blowing." "Humph! Cannot you be a little more exact as to the time that elapsed between these four different incidents--the passing of the two unseen wayfarers, the scream, and the disclosure of Chermside by the searchlight? For instance, could the second of the two invisible passers-by have reached the spot where the body was found, when you heard the scream?" "I couldn't say, sir," replied Reggie with a faint grin at his companion of the fatal night. "Or whether, after the scream, there had been sufficient time for Chermside to traverse the distance from the same spot to where you were?" "You see, father," Enid took up her parable as Reggie shook his head, "we didn't know then of any reason for paying attention to these matters. We were discussing things that seemed of far greater importance," she added demurely.