"There comes in the queer character of the boy," said Herrick "he detested the Colonel--said he was a bad man. He might have got into his head in some way or another that such a man was better out of the world. If so, he would make no more account of killing Carr than he would of putting a fly out of existence. Indeed he would rather spare the fly, for I have noticed that he is tender to all that breathes." "But would he keep quiet over the matter?" "I think so. Sidney was never the boy to talk. Then there is the pistol Stephen. That is an old-fashioned weapon that a boy might buy in Beorminster for a few pence, or he might have found it in the lumber room of the Grange--there are many of these ancient firearms to be found in the houses of old families. If Sidney dropped across such a weapon he might have then concluded to kill Carr. You see, from the account of Frisco, that he came down the Tower stairs and said, quite calmly, that the Colonel was dead. He may just as calmly admit to me or to you that he killed the man." "Mad! Mad!" groaned Marsh-Carr, "he must be mad." "No. That does not follow. The boy is strange. There are things about him which I cannot explain. So far as I can see Sidney does not come within the range of science. That foretelling of your mother's death, and his extraordinary statement that you were in danger, puzzled me beyond words. I must believe, because I am convinced by the evidence of my own senses. All the same I cannot explain or understand. There are laws of Nature with which we are unacquainted. I believe that this boy comes under some unknown laws. You cannot account for the actions of such a person. The boy would do things which we should call wrong, yet he would see no harm in doing them. If he is guilty, he will be put away in an asylum. At the same time I am sure he is perfectly sane." "I am puzzled myself about him," admitted Stephen, "and he is a most uncomfortable boy to have about one. Still I have always found him upright and honourable. I have never known him to tell a lie. But he must know all about this case and how Frisco has been accused." "I'm not so sure of that. Sidney lives with his head in the clouds. He perhaps has heard that Frisco has been accused, but, as the man does not now come across his path, he never thinks of any possible danger to him. Again Stephen, that silver bullet is queer." "How do you mean queer?" "Well you know the mediæval superstition that a warlock can be killed only by a silver bullet. A thing of that sort, is exactly what would appeal to the dreamy nature of Sidney. He is something of a mystic himself remember. He might have taken it into his head, that Carr was a warlock who had dealings with the devil"-- "I am sure he would have every reason to think so," said Marsh-Carr, "if any man was hand in glove with Satan, my uncle was that man."