“Here it is,” he said, giving it to her. “And just make a note of the fact that you’re not to go round the house at night after books or anything else.” She assured him she would not, she would give them no more trouble, and opening the door she slipped away. They remained without speaking till she came out on the gallery and walked to her room. Bassett stood looking up after she had disappeared, the memory of her face as they burst in upon her added a new peculiar distress to his harrowed state. “Well,” said Williams, “her book _was_ there.” Bassett stared at him: “_Was_ there! Why shouldn’t it be?” Williams gave an upward hitch of his shoulders: “Words come easy, Mr. Bassett.” “Good God!” exclaimed Bassett in horrified amaze. “You have any idea she was _lying_? If you have, get it out of your head. I’ve known Miss Tracy for three years and she could no more say what wasn’t true than--well, she _couldn’t_, that’s all.” “I don’t think she did. It sounded to me a perfectly straight story.” “It was. You can take my word for that.” They were back in the library when Rawson reappeared with Shine. Shine, unable to sleep, had been sitting by his window when Rawson, scouting, had stopped to inquire if he had seen any one. Shine had not, but had volunteered to join in a hunt and the two had been about the house and the immediate vicinity. Nothing had been discovered and Patrick had seen no sign of life or heard no sound. Now they had come back for the electric torch and were going to extend their search. A person concealed on the seaward side of the island might be moving at this hour when the causeway was free. Bassett said he would go with them and the three men left the room by one of the long windows. Williams opened the library door and turned off the lights. The noise of the departing trio would suggest to any one on the watch that the house was free of police supervision and there might be developments. He took the desk chair as easier to rise from than the deep-seated leather ones and settled himself to a _resumé_ of what they had so far gathered.