new invention; and I had become used to his jumping up like that and
leaving me. We never have supper in this house--my uncle always
called it a useless extravagance. Instead, we defer tea until six
o'clock and make that the final meal of the day. It was exactly
five minutes to seven when I finished my accounts, and as I had had
a hard day of it, I decided to go to bed early, after having first
taken a walk as far as the old bridge where I hoped that somebody
would be waiting for me."

"I know," said Cleek, gently. "I have heard the story. It would be
Mr. Charles Drummond, would it not?"

"Yes. He was not there, however. Something must have prevented his
coming."

"Hum-m-m! Go on, please."

"Before leaving the house, it occurred to me that I ought to look
into the laboratory and see if there was anything my uncle would
be likely to need for the night, as I intended to go straightway to
bed on my return. I did so. He was sitting at his desk, immediately
under the one window of which I have spoken, and with his back
to me, when I looked in. He answered my inquiry with a curt
'No--nothing. Get out and don't worry me!' I immediately shut the
door and left him, returning here by way of the covered passage and
going upstairs to make some necessary changes in my dress for the
walk to the old bridge. When I came down, ready for my journey, I
looked at the clock on the mantel over there. It was exactly
seventeen minutes to eight o'clock. I had been a little longer in
dressing than I had anticipated being; so, in order to save time
in getting to the trysting place, I concluded to make a short cut
by going out of the rear door and crossing diagonally through our
grounds instead of going by the public highway as usual. I had
scarcely more than crossed the threshold when I ran plump into
Constable Gorham. As he is rather a favourite with good Mrs.
Armroyd here, I fancied that he had been paying her a visit, and
was just coming away from the kitchen. Instead, he rather startled me
by stating that he had seen something which he thought best to come
round and investigate. In short, that, as he was patrolling the
highway, he had seen a man vault over the wall of our grounds
and, bending down, dart out of sight like a hare. He was almost
positive that that man was Sir Ralph Droger. Of course that
frightened me almost out of my wits."

"Why?"

"There was bad blood between my uncle and Sir Ralph Droger--bitter,
bad blood. As you