“But what are you going to do, if you do succeed in finding him? You can’t go up to him and say, ‘Good-afternoon, Mr. Prince. I believe you murdered Mr. Stanworth at two o’clock this morning.’ It—it isn’t done.” “You leave all that to me,” Roger returned largely. “I’ll think of something to say to him all right.” “I’m sure you will,” Alec murmured with conviction. “In the meantime, here’s the lodge. What about seeing if William’s in? He lives here, doesn’t he? Or Mrs. William. They might have opened the gates to this man Prince last night.” “Right-ho. But be discreet.” “Really, Alec!” said Roger with dignity, as he tapped on the lodge door. William’s wife was a round-faced, apple-cheeked old lady with a pair of twinkling blue eyes that looked as if they saw something humorous in most of the things upon which they rested; as no doubt they did, considering that they belonged to the wife of William. “Good-afternoon, gentlemen,” she said, with a little old-fashioned bob. “Would it be me you were wanting?” “Good-afternoon,” Roger replied with a smile. “We were wondering if William happened to be at home.” “Me ’usband? Lor’, no, sir; he’s never at home at this time. He’s got his work to do.” “Oh, I suppose he’s about the garden somewhere, is he?” “Yes, sir. Cuttin’ pea-sticks in the orchard, I think he is. Was it anything important?” “Oh, no; nothing important. I’ll call around and see him later on.” “Shocking business this, sir; about the master,” Mrs. William began volubly. “Shocking! Such a thing’s never been known at Layton Court before, not in my time it ’asn’t; nor ever before that, so far as I’ve ’eard tell. An’ did you see the corpse, sir? Shot hisself in the ’ead, didn’t he?” “Yes, shocking,” said Roger hastily. “Shocking! By the way, I was expecting a friend last night rather late, but he never turned up. You didn’t see anything of him here I suppose, did you?” “About what time would that be, sir?” “Oh, somewhere about eleven o’clock, I should think; or even later.” “No, sir; that I didn’t. William an’ me was both on us in bed and asleep before half-past ten.” “I see. And you close the gates when you lock up for the night, don’t you?” “That we do, sir. Unless there’s orders come down to the contrary. They was shut near after ten o’clock last night, an’ not opened till Halbert (that’s the showfure) came down early this mornin’. Was your friend coming by motor car, sir?” “I don’t know. It depended. Why?” “Because there’s always the little gate at the side left open, which people on foot can come in by. All I can tell you, sir, is that nobody came to my knowledge, which he naturally wouldn’t ’ave done if he never came up to the house, would he? Not without he got lost in the drive, which isn’t very likely in a manner of speaking.” “No, I’m afraid he can’t have come at all. In any case, you say that, up to the time you went to bed, no stranger at all came in? Absolutely nobody?” “No, sir. Nobody to my knowledge.”