ge. "I've talked to her now
and then when calling here--I should say she's a woman of nerve."

Brereton looked narrowly at Miss Pett when she opened the door. She
carried a tallow candle in one hand and held it high above her head to
throw a light on the callers; its dim rays fell more on herself than on
them. A tall, gaunt, elderly woman, almost fleshless of face, and with a
skin the colour of old parchment, out of which shone a pair of bright
black eyes; the oddity of her appearance was heightened by her
head-dress--a glaring red and yellow handkerchief tightly folded in such
a fashion as to cover any vestige of hair. Her arms, bare to the elbow,
and her hands were as gaunt as her face, but Brereton was quick to
recognize the suggestion of physical strength in the muscles and sinews
under the parchment-like skin. A strange, odd-looking woman altogether,
he thought, and not improved by the fact that she appeared to have lost
all her teeth, and that a long, sharp nose and prominent chin almost met
before her sunken lips.

"Oh, it's you, is it, Mr. Bent?" she said, before either of the young
men could speak. "Mr. Kitely's gone out for his regular bedtime
constitution--he will have that, wet or fine, every night. But he's much
longer than usual, and----"

She stopped suddenly, seeing some news in Bent's face, and her own
contracted to a questioning look.

"Is there aught amiss?" she asked. "Has something happened him? Aught
that's serious? You needn't be afraid to speak, Mr. Bent--there's
naught can upset or frighten me, let me tell you--I'm past all that!"

"I'm afraid Mr. Kitely's past everything, too, then," said Bent. He
looked steadily at her for a moment, and seeing that she understood,
went on. "They're bringing him up, Miss Pett--you'd better make ready.
You won't be alarmed--I don't think there's any doubt that he's been
murdered."

The woman gazed silently at her visitors; then, nodding her turbaned
head, she drew back into the cottage.

"It's what I expected," she muttered. "I warned him--more than once.
Well--let them bring him, then."

She vanished into a side-room, and Bent and Brereton went down the
garden and met the others, carrying the dead man. Cotherstone followed
behind the police, and as he approached Bent he pulled him by the sleeve
and drew him aside.

"There's a clue!" he whispered. "A clue, d'ye hear--a strong clue!"

CHAPTER V

THE CORD

Ever since they had left the house