“It will help me a lot, sir,” he said, “if you tell me now what you know about this matter. If, as seems more than likely, murder has been done, I don’t want to lose a minute in starting my inquiries. In a case of this sort I find it best to take a line, and stick to it.” His tone was respectful but firm. Evidently, P. C. Robinson was not one to be trifled with. Moreover, for a sleuth whose maximum achievement hitherto had been the successful prosecution of a poultry thief, it was significant that the unconscious irony of “a case of this sort” should have been lost on him. “Do you really insist on conducting your investigation while the body is lying here?” demanded Grant, deliberately turning his back on the girl in the distant cottage. “Not that, sir—not altogether—but I must really ask you to clear up one or two points now.” “For goodness’ sake, what are they?” “Well, sir, in the first place, how did you come to find the body?” “I walked out into the garden after finishing breakfast a few minutes ago, and noticed the rope attached to the staple, just as you see it now.” “Did you walk straight here?” “No. Not exactly. I was—er—curious about the face I saw, or thought I saw, last night, and looked into the room through the same window. By doing so I scared Mrs. Bates, who was clearing the table, and she screamed—” “Her would, too,” put in Bates. “Her’d take ’ee for Owd Ben’s ghost.” “You shut up, Bates,” said the policeman. “Don’t interrupt Mr. Grant.” Grant was conscious of an undercurrent of suspicion in the constable’s manner. He was wroth with the man, but recognized that he had to deal with narrow-minded self-importance, so contrived again to curb his temper. “I am not acquainted with old Ben or his ghost,” he said quietly. “I can only tell you that I went inside to reassure Mrs. Bates, and then strolled slowly to this very spot. Naturally, I could not miss the rope and the staple. To my mind, it was not intended that I or anyone else should miss them. I regarded them as so peculiar that I shouted for Bates. He came at once, and drew the body out of the water.” “And you recognized the dead woman as the one you saw last night?” “Yes.” “At about ten minutes to eleven?” “Yes.” “Is it likely, sir, that any other person saw her in these grounds a bit earlier?” “What do you mean?” “Well, sir, I can’t put it much plainer. Could anybody else have seen her here, say about 10.15?” Grant met the policeman’s inquiring glance squarely before he answered. “It is possible, of course,” he said, “but most unlikely.” “Were you alone here at that hour?” Again Grant sought and held that inquisitive gaze, held it until Robinson affected to consult his notes. There was a moment of tense silence. Then the reply came with an icy stubbornness that was not to be denied.