ting himself. "It'll
be the first spirits I've tasted since you locked me up, and I daresay
it'll do me no harm. Now then," he went on as the two settled themselves
by the hearth, "I want a bit of a straight talk with you. You know
me--we've been friends. I want you to tell me, straight, plain,
truthful--what are Highmarket folk thinking and saying about me? Come!"

The superintendent's face clouded and he shook his head.

"Well, you know what folks will be, Mr. Cotherstone!" he answered. "And
you know how very ready to say nasty things these Highmarket people are.
I'm not a Highmarket man myself, any more than you are, and I've always
regarded 'em as very bitter-tongued folk, and so----"

"Out with it!" said Cotherstone. "Let's know the truth--never mind what
tongues it comes from. What are they saying?"

"Well," replied the superintendent, reluctantly, "of course I get to
hear everything. If you must have it, the prevailing notion is that both
you and Mr. Mallalieu had a hand in Kitely's death. They think his
murder's at your doors, and that what happened to Stoner was a
by-chance. And if you want the whole truth, they think you're a deal
cleverer than Mallalieu, and that Kitely probably met his end at your
hands, with your partner's connivance. And there are those who say that
if Mallalieu's caught--as he will be--he'll split on you. That's all,
sir."

"And what do you think?" demanded Cotherstone.

The superintendent shifted uneasily in his chair.

"I've never been able to bring myself to think that either you or
Mallalieu 'ud murder a man in cold blood, as Kitely was murdered," he
said. "As regards Stoner, I've firmly held to it that Mallalieu struck
him in a passion. But--I've always felt this--you, or Mallalieu, or both
of you, know more about the Kitely affair than you've ever told!"

Cotherstone leaned forward and tapped his host on the arm.

"I do!" he said significantly. "You're right in that. I--do!"

The superintendent laid down his pipe and looked at his visitor gravely.

"Then for goodness sake, Mr. Cotherstone," he exclaimed, "for goodness
sake, tell! For as sure as we're sitting here, as things are at present,
Mallalieu 'll hang if you don't! If he doesn't hang for Stoner, he will
for Kitely, for if he gets off over Stoner he'll be re-arrested on the
other charge."

"Half an hour ago," remarked Cotherstone, "I shouldn't have minded if
Mallalieu had been hanged half a dozen times. Revenge is