rtain amount of your time to
help me to save him?"

"Certainly. I will do anything I can."

"Then," said Monsieur Dupont, "I answer the question you asked a moment
ago. He did _not_ kill her."

"Who did?" Tranter demanded, looking at him in astonishment.

"That is another matter. It is one thing to say who did not--but quite
another to say who did. That is for us to discover. There will be very
little time. I think I can promise you excitement. Possibly there will
be danger. You do not object to that?"

"I have faced a certain amount of danger in my time," Tranter replied.

"Good," said Monsieur Dupont. "Then we will set ourselves--quite apart
from the efforts of our friend, Inspector Fay--to solve the mystery of
the crooked garden. And we will not speak a word to any one of our
intention."

"You seem to have some very definite ideas on the subject already,"
Tranter observed.

"Ah, no," demurred Monsieur Dupont--"do not credit me with the
superhuman. We have a very difficult task before us."

"But what of your other object," Tranter inquired--"the 'riddle' that
you came over to solve?"

"It may be," Monsieur Dupont replied carefully, "that there is some
connection between my riddle and this dreadful affair to-night. At
present I cannot say. Only events themselves can prove that.
But that very possibility compels me to take up a peculiar
attitude--unfortunately a most necessary one. If you will assist me--as
I beg you to do--you must be content to follow my guidance and
instructions without question, and remain, as you call it, in the dark,
until the time comes for all to be told."

"You are certainly the most mysterious person I have ever met!" Tranter
exclaimed.

"It is not that I have the smallest doubt of yourself or your
discretion," Monsieur Dupont hastened to explain. "On the contrary. It
is simply that my position at this moment is an extraordinary one, and I
cannot do what would seem to be the natural and ordinary thing. Will you
help me on that understanding?"

"I will help you in any case," Tranter agreed, smiling slightly at his
companion's intense seriousness. "What is to be my first task?"

"Your first task," said Monsieur Dupont gravely, "is to deposit me at
the Hotel Savoy, and call for me later on your way back to Richmond."

Tranter spoke some instructions through the speaking-tube to the
chauffeur. When he turned again, Monsieur Dupont was asleep. He did not
open his eyes again unti