e garb
of a monk glided into the open. Rather weird! Sounds silly here, of
course, but for a moment my hair stood on end. I had a notion that I
was seeing a ghost!

"Before I recovered my wits, it--it happened! I had supposed Simon had
gone to bed when his light went out, but now he appeared from around
the corner of the house. It was obvious that he was stalking the monk.
It was like watching a scene in a melodrama, and I couldn't have moved
hand or foot to save my life. All of a sudden, Varr rushed him. I
thought the fellow would run, but instead of that he waited. When
Simon got close, the monk appeared to raise a sort of mask he wore. I
heard Simon cry out something in a surprised voice, and then I saw a
flash of steel as the monk threw up his arm and brought it down. Simon
dropped to the ground and lay on his back--and the monk glided off down
that trail before I realized that I had seen a murder!"

"Why didn't you chase him--holler--do _something_!" cried Miss Ocky.

"Couldn't seem to budge," said Sherwood briefly. He looked a little
hurt. "If you think it was just cowardice you're jolly well mistaken!
I had no sensation of fear at any time. You've heard the expression,
'rooted with amazement'? Well, I was it!

"I was still in that condition three minutes later, perhaps, when I
heard another, heavier step on the trail. A man appeared, and from the
way he walked I could tell he had been drinking. He staggered toward
the body, but he was staring at the house and shaking his fist at it.
He reeled off the cement path and almost stumbled over Simon before he
saw him. He gave a cry, and stooped to look closer--then turned and
bolted for dear life and vanished down the trail. He had been scared
sober!

"I began to get back my senses. The first thing I thought of was my
own position and what I should do. If I were called on to account for
my presence there it would involve the mention of Lucy's name if I told
the truth--and to save my neck I couldn't think of a plausible lie!
There was none to explain my presence in Varr's kitchen garden at
eleven o'clock at night!

"I felt under no obligation to give the alarm--it never once occurred
to me that the second man wasn't tearing hell-for-leather to the
police-station with his story! I did, however, feel that I could not
leave Simon lying there with a knife in him while there was a
possibility of his being still alive. It took all the nerve I had,