Mind? Pretend! The professor little knew how the proposal pleased me. He was offering me a part I could play to perfection. "It is a good idea," was all I said. "We even thought of a name for you--George Hastings--and you are a surveyor. Being in Richmond, you thought you might venture to call, not having seen Zena for some time. Mrs. Barrymore lives at Lantern House, Richmond. If you see Mrs. Barrymore, as I hope you will, and make yourself agreeable, she may give you permission to come again. I think it will work all right." "Will to-morrow be too soon to go?" I asked. "No." "If I am given the chance, I will certainly go again when I can. Unfortunately, I am very busy just now." "Ah, I haven't asked you about your work. Anything interesting?" "One case, or, rather, three cases in one." And I told him about the cyclists and the chauffeur. "Only wounds in the head? What kind of wounds?" he asked. "I did not see the cyclists. I can only speak of the chauffeur from direct knowledge. The forehead, just by the margin of the hair, was bruised and the skin slightly abraded. At the base of the head behind, under the hair, there was another bruise--round, the size of half a crown. There was no swelling, no blood. I am told that the cyclists were also bruised about the temples." "What had the doctor to say?" "Very little in the chauffeur's case. Some severe blow had been delivered, but he could not say how. He was puzzled. When I suggested the man might have been run down by a car--quoting Baines's idea--he said it was a possible explanation. He said so, I fancy, merely because he had no other suggestion to offer." "And the man's face, Wigan?" "If a man could see death in some horrible shape, and his features become suddenly fixed with terror, he might look like the chauffeur did," I answered. "He has not been identified either?" "Not yet, but I'm hoping to trace him." "Have you thought of one point, Wigan?" said Quarles, with some eagerness. "He may not have been a chauffeur, nor the others cyclists. They may only have worn the clothes." "It is possible," I returned. "His hands had done manual work, but not of an arduous kind. There were curious marks on the body, a discoloration under the arms, and the skin somewhat chafed. Also, on the outer side of the arms, there were marks just above the elbows--depressions rather than discolorations. A rope bound round the body might have produced the latter." "There would have been marks upon the chest and back as well," said Quarles. "I do not say it was a rope," I returned. "Have you any helpful theory, professor?" For a few moments he had seemed keen--I should not have been surprised had he suggested our going to the empty room. Now he became apathetic, loose-minded, a man incapable of concentration. I had never known Quarles quite like this before.