heard from an
outside source; for my uncle never so much as mentioned him. No, I
know nothing of him--nothing at all. In fact, I've never seen him
since he was a boy. He never lived here, you know; and until I came
here, I knew next to nothing of my uncle himself. We were poor and
lived in a quite different town, my mother and I. Uncle Septimus
never came to see us while my mother lived. He came for the first
time when she was dead and his son had gone away: and I was so poor
and so friendless I was glad to accept the home he offered. No,
Mr. Headland, I know nothing of Harry Nosworth. I hope, for his
own sake, he is dead."

Cleek made no reply. He sat for a minute pinching his chin and
staring at the carpet, then he got up suddenly and faced round in
the direction of the little group at the far end of the room.

"That's all for the present," he said. "Mr. Narkom, Mr. Nippers--get
a light of some sort, please, and let's go out and have a look at
those footprints."

CHAPTER IX

The suggestion was acted upon immediately--even Mrs. Armroyd joining
in the descent upon the portable lamps and filing out with the rest
into the gloom and loneliness of the grounds; and Miss Renfrew,
finding that she was likely to be left alone in this house of
horrors, rose quickly and hurried out with them.

One step beyond the threshold brought them within sight of the
famous Round House. Bulked against the pale silver of the moonlit
sky, there it stood--a grim, unlovely thing of stone and steel
with a trampled flower bed encircling the base of it, and a man on
guard--Constable Gorham.

"Lummy! I'd clean forgot _him_!" exclaimed Mr. Nippers as he caught
sight of him. "And theer un be keepin' guard, like I told un, out
here in the grounds whiles weem ben talkin' comfortable inside. 'E
do be a chap for doin' as heem tole, that Gorham--indeed, yes!"

Nobody replied to him. All were busily engaged in following the lead
of Scotland Yard, as represented by Cleek and Superintendent Narkom,
and bearing down on that huge stone tube within whose circular walls
a dead man sat alone.

"Dreary post this, Constable," said Cleek, coming abreast of the
silent guard.

"Yes, sir, very. But dooty's dooty--and there you be!" replied
Gorham, touching his helmet with his finger; then, as the light
from the lamps fell full upon Cleek's face and let him see that it
was no face he had ever seen in this district before, his eyes
widened with a pu