tbook.

"There were two men and one woman," he replied, "all three of the
upper classes. The bodies were recovered from Wilson's lock, some three
hundred yards from The Walled House."

"Do they form part of your case?" Francis persisted.

Shopland stepped back.

"Mr. Ledsam," he said, "I told you, some little time ago, that so far
as this particular case was concerned I had no confidences to share with
you. I am sorry that you saw that letter. Since you did, however, I hope
you will not take it as a liberty from one in my position if I advise
you most strenuously to do nothing which might impede the course of the
law. Good day, sir!"

CHAPTER XXIV

Francis, in that pleasant half-hour before dinner which he spent in
Margaret's sitting-room, told her of the dogs' home near Wardour Street.
She listened sympathetically to his description of the place.

"I had never heard of it," she acknowledged, "but I am not in anyway
surprised. My father spends at least an hour of every day, when he is
down at Hatch End, amongst the horses, and every time a fresh crock is
brought down, he is as interested as though it were a new toy."

"It is a remarkable trait in a very remarkable character," Francis
commented.

"I could tell you many things that would surprise you," Margaret
continued. "One night, for instance, when we were staying at The
Sanctuary, he and I were going out to dine with some neighbours and he
heard a cat mewing in the hedge somewhere. He stopped the car, got out
himself, found that the cat had been caught in a trap, released it, and
sent me on to the dinner alone whilst he took the animal back to the
veterinary surgeon at The Walled House. He was simply white with fury
whilst he was tying up the poor thing's leg. I couldn't help asking him
what he would have done if he could have found the farmer who set the
trap. He looked up at me and I was almost frightened. 'I should have
killed him,' he said,--and I believe he meant it. And, Francis, the very
next day we were motoring to London and saw a terrible accident. A
motor bicyclist came down a side road at full speed and ran into a
motor-lorry. My father got out of the car, helped them lift the body
from under the wheels of the lorry, and came back absolutely unmoved.
'Serve the silly young fool right!' was his only remark. He was so
horribly callous that I could scarcely bear to sit by his side. Do you
understand that?"

"It isn't easy," he admitted.