had a little too much. 'I was never frightened of any job yet,'
he said, 'and I'd do this job to-night if the house was full of rozzers,'
Hill pretended that he wasn't particular whether the thing came off or
not that night, but all the while he kept egging Fred on to do it. Oh, I
can see now what his game was. In spite of all I could do or say, it was
arranged that Fred should go over, and see if it was quite safe to carry
out the job. Hill said he thought Sir Horace was going out that night,
and wouldn't be home until the early morning. About 9 o'clock Fred went
off, leaving Hill and me alone in the flat together. How I wish now that
I had killed him when I had such a good chance.

"We sat there scarcely speaking, and heard the clock strike the hours.
After midnight I began to get restless, for I thought something must have
happened to Fred. Hill said in a low voice: 'It's time Fred was back.'
The words were scarcely out of his mouth when I heard Fred's step
outside, and I ran to let him in. He came in as white as a sheet. 'Fred,'
I cried as soon as I saw him, 'there's some blood on your face.'

"He didn't answer a word until he had taken a big drink of whisky out of
the decanter. Then he said in a whisper: 'Sir Horace Fewbanks has been
murdered!' 'Murdered!' cried Hill, leaping up from his chair--he can act
well, I can tell you--'My God, Fred, you don't mean it!' 'He's dead, I
tell you,' replied Fred fiercely. I thought, and at the time I suppose
Hill thought, that Fred had shot him either accidentally or in order to
escape capture. He seemed to guess what we were thinking, for he swore
that he had had nothing to do with it--Sir Horace was dead on the floor
when he got there.

"He told us all that had happened. When he got to Riversbrook he found
lights burning on the ground floor. He jumped over the fence at the side
and hid in the garden. He was there only a few minutes when he saw the
lights go out. Then the front door was slammed and a woman walked down
the garden path to the gate."

"A woman!" exclaimed Kemp.

"Yes, a woman. Why not? She had been to see Sir Horace. One of his
Society mistresses. I'll bet it was on her account that he came back from
Scotland."

"What time was this?" he asked with interest.

"About half-past ten," replied the girl.

"And this woman--this lady--turned out the lights and closed the
front door?"

"So Fred says. Of course he thought Sir Horace had done it, but he found
out