A great barn owl flapped lazily past, hooting weirdly as it went; then
all nature became still again, save the dull sound of the tumbling
flood. Ambler Jevons, had he been with me, would, no doubt, have acted
differently. But it must be remembered that I was the merest tyro in
the unravelling of a mystery, whereas, with him, it was a kind of
natural occupation. And yet would he believe me when I told him that I
had actually seen the dead man walking there with his wife?

I was compelled to admit within myself that such a statement from the
lips of any man would be received with incredulity. Indeed, had such a
thing been related to me, I should have put the narrator down as
either a liar or a lunatic.

At last they came. I remained motionless, standing in the shadow, not
daring to breathe. My eyes were fixed upon him, my ears strained to
catch every sound.

He said something to her. What it was I could not gather. Then he
pushed open the creaking gate to allow her to pass. Across the moon's
face had drifted a white, fleecy cloud; therefore the light was not so
brilliant as half an hour before. Still, I could see his features
almost as plainly as I see this paper upon which I am penning my
strange adventure, and could recognise every lineament and peculiarity
of his countenance.

Having passed through the gate, he took her ungloved hand with an air
of old-fashioned gallantry and raised it to his lips. She laughed
merrily in rapturous content, and then slowly, very slowly, they
strolled along the path that ran within a few feet of where I stood.

My heart leapt with excitement. Their voices sounded above the rushing
of the waters, and they were lingering as though unwilling to walk
further.

"Ethelwynn has told me," he was saying. "I can't make out the reason
of his coldness towards her. Poor girl! she seems utterly
heart-broken."

"He suspects," his wife replied.

"But what ground has he for suspicion?"

I stood there transfixed. They were talking of myself!

They had halted quite close to where I was, and in that low roar had
raised their voices so that I could distinguish every word.

"Well," remarked his wife, "the whole affair was mysterious, that you
must admit. With his friend, a man named Jevons, he has been
endeavouring to solve the problem."

"A curse on Ambler Jevons!" he blurted forth in anger, as though he
were well acquainted with my friend.

"If between them they managed to get at the truth