The doctor grunted, not very politely. “Well then, the bias is mine,” he made answer, “and also the suspicion. The only difference is that I had not the imagination, or the flair, or whatever you like to call it, to get at the facts, till they were shoved under my nose.” The canon raised his eyebrows ever so little. He disliked violence, whether in speech or action, and the doctor struck him as being far too impulsive, both in his manner, and in the judgments he formed. “But my dear O’Neill,” he suggested pleasantly, “aren’t you basing everything on a theory which has yet to be proved? After all, a man can’t be damned even on Palmer’s intuitions, brilliant as they may be. I venture to think that in corroboration we require something――well, shall I say rather more solid?” “Don’t you think, papa, you might put off the discussion of Palmer’s share in the matter till another time?” Aunt Caroline at this point interposed. “Oh――er――yes,” Doctor O’Neill apologized. “As a matter of fact I had forgotten he was there.” “I don’t know what he won’t deduce from it,” said the canon dryly. “Palmer, accept my apologies if I have hurt your feelings in any way. I shall certainly follow your future career with the liveliest interest:――and I’ve an idea that ‘lively’ will be the right word for it.” “All the same, I don’t think you in the least grasp the seriousness of the matter,” said the doctor obstinately. “Papa never does,” said Aunt Caroline. The canon protested. “Really, my dear, this is most unfair. I couldn’t be more serious without becoming lugubrious, and I refuse to admit that the evidence I have heard demands that of me.” But, even as he spoke, the sound of somebody running quickly up the avenue broke upon their ears, and the canon nodded his head towards Palmer, who had jumped to his feet, and now stood, like a dog straining on his leash, facing the door. “Possibly this is the rest of the evidence,” he said. Palmer sprang from the room, and next moment he ushered in Johnnie, breathless and nearly inarticulate. “The’re a fire,” Johnnie gasped, rolling his eyes, “a fire blazin’, an’ all the doors is locked. An’ Mr. Bradley’s playin’ the organ so that you could hear it in the town!” “Where is the fire?” asked the canon, while Palmer was already racing upstairs to tell Edward. “In the church,” gasped Johnnie. “An’ the organ――you never h’ard the like of it!” “He’s set fire to the church,” cried the doctor, knocking over a chair in his excitement. He bundled Johnnie out into the hall. “Run on to the town and call up the fire-brigade. Run like――――” “I’ll go on the bike,” shouted Palmer from an upper landing, while various small figures, clad in night garments, began to make an appearance, piping innumerable questions at the tops of their voices. “Children, go back to bed all of you!” Aunt Caroline commanded. “I must get the keys,” said the canon fussily. “Doctor, you had better go on at once; I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”