Karl spoke not for a few moments: the way before him was darkening. "You knew Salter's person well, I conclude?" he said presently. "As well as I know my own brother's." Another pause; and then Karl laid his hand upon the officer's arm, bespeaking his best attention. "I am sorry for all this," he said; "I am vexed to have been the cause of so much trouble. Your mission here may terminate as soon as you will, Mr. Tatton, for it is Smith that I was suspecting of being Salter!" "No!" cried Tatton in surprised disbelief. "On my solemn word, I assert it. I suspected my agent, Smith, to be Salter." "Why, Sir Karl, I can hardly understand that. You surely could not suppose it to be within the bounds of probability that Philip Salter, the fugitive criminal, would go about in the light of day in England as your agent goes--no matter how secluded the spot might be! And five hundred pounds on his head!" How a word of ridicule, of reason even, will serve to change our cherished notions! Put as the cool and experienced police officer put it, Karl seemed to see how poor and foundationless his judgment had been. "The whole cause of the affair was this," he said, hoping by a candid explanation to disarm the suspicions he had raised. "A circumstance--I own it was but a slight one--put it into my head that Philip Smith, of whom I had known nothing until he came here a few months ago as my agent, might be the escaped prisoner Philip Salter. The idea grew with me, and I became anxious--naturally you will say--to ascertain whether there were any real grounds for the suspicion. With this view I went up to see if Plunkett's people could give me any information about Salter or describe his person; and they referred me to Mr. Burtenshaw." "Well, sir?" interposed Tatton, who was listening attentively. "I am bound to say that I obtained no corroboration of my suspicions, except in regard to the resemblance," continued Sir Karl. "Burtenshaw did not know him; but he summoned the man who had let him escape, Grimley. As Grimley described Salter, it seemed to me that it was the precise description of Smith." "There is a kind of general resemblance, I admit, Sir Karl, and the description of one might perhaps sound like that of the other. But if you knew the two, you would see how unlike they are." "Grimley's description seemed to me to be that of Smith," went on Karl. "I came back here, strengthened in my opinion: but not fully confirmed. It was not a satisfactory state of things, and the matter continued to worry me. I longed to set it at rest, one way or the other; and I went up again to town and saw Grimley and Mr. Burtenshaw. When I came back once more, I felt nearly as sure as a man can feel that it was Salter." "And yet you did not denounce him, Sir Karl. You would never have done it, I suppose?"