d him?"

A faint scorn widened the slit-like mouth, and the whistle of an
approaching train seemed oddly to echo the mockery.

"We arrested him," replied the sergeant gravely, "just as he was coming
out of the police station at Highgate, where he had deposited all his
master's money in the care of Inspector Robinson."

Gilder looked at the man-servant in utter amazement. "Why on earth did
you do that?" he asked of Magnus.

"To keep it safe from the criminal, of course," replied that person
placidly.

"Surely," said Gilder, "Sir Aaron's money might have been safely left
with Sir Aaron's family."

The tail of his sentence was drowned in the roar of the train as it went
rocking and clanking; but through all the hell of noises to which that
unhappy house was periodically subject, they could hear the syllables of
Magnus's answer, in all their bell-like distinctness: "I have no reason
to feel confidence in Sir Aaron's family."

All the motionless men had the ghostly sensation of the presence of some
new person; and Merton was scarcely surprised when he looked up and saw
the pale face of Armstrong's daughter over Father Brown's shoulder. She
was still young and beautiful in a silvery style, but her hair was of so
dusty and hueless a brown that in some shadows it seemed to have turned
totally grey.

"Be careful what you say," said Royce gruffly, "you'll frighten Miss
Armstrong."

"I hope so," said the man with the clear voice.

As the woman winced and everyone else wondered, he went on: "I am
somewhat used to Miss Armstrong's tremors. I have seen her trembling off
and on for years. And some said she was shaking with cold and some she
was shaking with fear, but I know she was shaking with hate and wicked
anger--fiends that have had their feast this morning. She would have
been away by now with her lover and all the money but for me. Ever since
my poor old master prevented her from marrying that tipsy blackguard--"

"Stop," said Gilder very sternly. "We have nothing to do with your
family fancies or suspicions. Unless you have some practical evidence,
your mere opinions--"

"Oh! I'll give you practical evidence," cut in Magnus, in his hacking
accent. "You'll have to subpoena me, Mr. Inspector, and I shall have to
tell the truth. And the truth is this: An instant after the old man was
pitched bleeding out of the window, I ran into the attic, and found
his daughter swooning on the floor with a red dagger still in her