ll," Field cut in swiftly.
"But we need not discuss that matter here and now. Do you want me?"

Field asked the question with a strange ring in his voice. Berrington
wondered--he was rapidly regaining complete possession of himself. He
moved towards the house.

"In a few minutes," he said. "Wait till I give you the signal. Thank
goodness, you were so close by."

Berrington passed into the house again and closed the door behind him.

CHAPTER XXXV

There was a thrill of excitement, an electric feeling in the air that
was not lost to anyone of the little group standing there in the
darkness. That some momentous event was going to happen everybody knew
without being told. Tacitly, it seemed to be understood that everything
was in the hands of Inspector Field.

Previously, on the arrival of his two men, he had sent one of them off
with hurried instructions of some kind. The other man stood by the gate
like a statue. Mark Ventmore, growing restless at last, turned to Field
and asked a question. The inspector was wiping his damp hands upon his
handkerchief as if he himself was a thief waiting for arrest.

"We are going to wait," he said curtly, "and there is an end of the
matter."

Mark felt that he could not say any more after that. Mary was still
crying softly to herself. The misery was with her yet, as she felt that
it would be to her dying day, but the agony of suspense was past. Of
what took place in that house from time to time she knew a great deal,
but some things had been kept back from her. It was the vague feeling of
what might be that frightened her.

Half an hour or more passed in the same tense, rigid silence, and yet
there was no sign from the house. A figure crossed the road and came up
the drive, making no more noise than a ghost. It was Field's man
returning.

The inspector turned to him with an eager agitation that seemed strange
to him.

"Well," he asked, "have you anything definite?"

His voice sounded hoarse and strange. The other man touched his cap. He
seemed to hesitate before the presence of so many strangers. Field urged
him on impatiently.

"Don't be all night," he said. "You can speak before the lady and
gentleman. They don't know everything yet, but they will in the course
of a few minutes. Did you manage it?"

"Managed it all right, sir," the misty figure in the big coat said. "I
got through on the telephone to the Southwark police and told them all
the particulars. The