igible!"

The detective did not trouble to extract the exact meaning from this
remark. He understood that Brett would never think of entering the
witness-box. That was all he wanted to know.

"Are you quite certain," he asked, with a last tinge of anxiety in his
voice, "that Ooma will be arrested to-day?"

"Quite certain, if we can accomplish that highly desirable task."

Winter pounded the door of the hansom with his clenched fist

"Then it is done!" he cried. "I'll truss him up like a fowl. If he tries
any tricks I'll borrow the leg-chains from Stowmarket police station."

At Liverpool Street they all made a hasty meal. They caught the last train
from London and passed two weary hours until Stowmarket was reached.

There on the platform stood the station-master. He approached Brett and
whispered:

"A man who came here by the preceding train told me that you and some
other gentlemen might possibly follow on. He intended to telegraph to you,
but he asked me, in case you turned up, to tell you that the Japanese has
gone on foot to Beechcroft, and that Mr. Capella has not arrived."

"Not arrived!" cried Brett. He turned to Holden. "Can you have been
mistaken?"

Holden shook his head. "I saw him with my own eyes," he asseverated, "and
to make sure of his destination I asked the ticket examiner where the
gentleman in the first smoker was going to. It was Stowmarket, right
enough."

"There can be no error, sir," put in the stationmaster. "Mr. Capella's
valet came by the train, and assured me that he left London with his
master. Besides, the carriage is here from the Hall. It was ordered by
telegraph. There is the valet himself. He imagines that Mr. Capella
quitted the train on the way, and will arrive by this one. But there is no
sign of him."

The mention of the carriage brought a look of decision into the
barrister's face.

"One more question," he said to the official. "Did you see the person
described as the Japanese?"

"Yes, sir, I did. As a matter of fact, I thought it was somebody else. It
was not until the stranger who arrived by the train used that name to
distinguish him that I understood I was mistaken."

The stationmaster looked into Brett's eyes that which he did not like to
say in the presence of the Frazers. Of course, he had fallen into the same
error as most people who only obtained a casual glimpse of Ooma.

Brett hurried his companions outside the station. There they found the
Beechcroft