The car drew up at the main entrance to the Castle. The ivy-clad ruins to which the building owed its name were almost screened from view by the huge red-brick front of a dull edifice dating from the reign of George the Second. The mansion had been put up out of ostentation at a cost from which the estate had never recovered, and every Earl of Ledbury since had cursed his ancestor’s extravagance. I know that the present Earl found it hard to pay the interest on his mortgages, and that he lived in one corner of the vast house, leaving long corridors and whole suites of rooms to the spiders and rats. We got out, and Sir Frank Tarleton gave his card and mine to the man who came down the steps to receive us. His suit of black was threadbare, and his coat looked as if it had been thrust on hastily at the sound of our approach. “Please take our cards to Lady Violet Bredwardine, and ask her ladyship if we can see her in private, on urgent business.” The servant stared at the message. His eyes wandered from Tarleton to me, and I thought there was a vague recognition in them when they met mine. But his manner was respectful and demure. “I’m sorry, sir, but I believe her ladyship is out. I will inquire if you wish.” He seemed to be hesitating whether to ask us inside. Sir Frank seized on the opening. “I shall be glad if you will find out when she is likely to be in. Her ladyship is staying in the Castle, I suppose?” “Oh, yes, sir.” The answer was given readily. “We have come down from London on purpose to see her. They told us at Grosvenor Place that her ladyship had come here--I think it was on Wednesday.” The man bowed. “That is quite right, sir. Her ladyship arrived on Wednesday evening.” I stole an anxious glance at my chief. It was a complete confirmation of the Inspector’s report. If Lady Violet had arrived at the Castle in the evening, she could not have been back in town the same night. The alibi stood firm. Tarleton drew out his watch as though to consult it before deciding what to do next. Suddenly he snapped out, “There is no mistake, I suppose? Her ladyship couldn’t have been in London on Wednesday night?” The man was taken off his guard, and if he had been lying he could hardly have failed to show some confusion. But the only feeling he manifested was one of resentment at the question. “I’m positive of what I say, sir. But her ladyship hasn’t authorized me to answer questions about her movements.” The consultant put on the air of a man who has made a slip. “No, no; of course not. I meant to ask her ladyship herself.” He turned to me. “What do you say, Cassilis? Shall we wait inside, or shall we go for a stroll and come back again?” I had laid my plans in the expectation that Lady Violet would be out, and I was ready with a suggestion. I made it with my heart in my mouth. “I think one of us ought to wait here, Sir Frank. The other might walk round the park, and perhaps meet Lady Violet.”