"Well, Mrs. Garth mentioned your earlier visit, but I am at a loss to understand----" "Oh, it is easily explained. We of the Yard take nothing for granted, Mr. Fenley. I learned by chance that a young lady who lives here rang you up at Roxton this morning, and knowing that you took the trouble to conceal the fact, I thought it advisable----" Mrs. Garth was a woman of discretion. She closed the door on the two men. Fenley did not wait for Winter to conclude. "That was foolish of me, I admit," he said, readily enough. "One does not wish all one's private affairs to be canvassed, even by the police. The moment Mrs. Garth mentioned your name I saw my error. You checked the telephone calls to The Towers, I suppose, and thus learned I had misled you." "Something of the sort. Miss Garth is a lady not difficult of recognition." "She and her mother are very dear friends. It was natural they should be shocked by the paragraphs in the newspapers and wish to ascertain the truth." "Quite so. I'm sorry if my pertinacity has annoyed them, or you." "I think they will rather be pleased by such proof of your thoroughness. Certainly I, for my part, do not resent it." "Very well, sir. Since I am here, I may inquire if you know any one living at 104, Hendon Road, Battersea Park?" "Now that you mention the address, I recall it as the residence of the lady in whom my brother is interested. This morning I had forgotten it, but you have refreshed my memory." "You're a tolerably self-possessed person," was the detective's unspoken thought, for Fenley was a different man now from the nervous, distrait son who had clamored for vengeance on his father's murderer. "You own up to the facts candidly when it is useless to do anything else, and you never fail to hammer a nail into Robert's coffin when the opportunity offers." But aloud he said-- "You really don't know the lady's name, I suppose?" Fenley hesitated a fraction of a second. "Yes, I do know it, though I withheld the information this morning," he replied. "But, I ask you, is it quite fair to make me a witness against my brother?" "Some one must explain Mr. Robert's movements, and, since he declines the task, I look to you," was the straightforward answer. "She is a Mrs. Lisle," said Fenley, after another pause--a calculated pause this time. "Have you visited your City office today?" "I went straight there from The Towers. I told you I was going there. What object could I have in deceiving you?" "None that I can see, Mr. Fenley. But I have been wondering if any new light has been shed on the motive which might have led to the crime. Have you examined Mr. Mortimer Fenley's papers, for instance? There may be documents, letters, memoranda secreted in some private drawer or dispatch case." The other shook his head. He appeared not to resent the detective's tone. It seemed as if regret for the morning's lack of confidence had rendered him apologetic.