David was quite unprepared for the meeting.

"What?" he exclaimed, his upper lip stiffening, "the man who concocted all sorts of imaginary evidence against me!"

"'Concocted' is not the right word, nor imaginary' either," growled Winter.

"Quite right," said Brett. "Really, Hume, you should be more careful in your choice of language. Had Winter been as careless in his statements at the a.s.sizes, he would certainly have hanged you."

Hume was too happy, after a prolonged _tete-a-tete_ with his beloved, to harbour malice against any person.

"What are we supposed to do--shake hands?" he inquired blandly.

"It might be a good preliminary to a better understanding of one another.

You think Winter is an unscrupulous ruffian. He described you to me as a swine not two hours ago. Now, you are both wrong. Winter is the best living police detective, and a most fair-minded one. He will be a valuable ally. Before many days are over you will be deeply in his debt in every sense of the word. On the other hand, you, Hume, are a much-wronged man, whom Winter must help to regain his rightful position. This is one of the occasions when Justice is compelled to take the bandage off her eyes. She may be impartial, but she is often blind. Now be friends, and let us start from that basis."

Silently the two men exchanged a hearty grip.

"Excellent!" cried the barrister. "Hume, take Winter with you in front. I will seat myself beside the groom, and please oblige me, both of you, by not addressing a word to me between here and Stowmarket."

Hume and the detective got along comfortably once the ice was broken.

Naturally, they steered clear of all reference to the tragedy in the presence of the servant. Their talk dealt chiefly with sporting matters.

Brett, carried swiftly along the level road, kept his eyes fixed on Beechcroft and its contiguous hamlet until they vanished in the middle distance.

"This is the most curious inquiry I was ever engaged in," he communed.

"Winter, of course, will fasten on to Capella like a horse leech when he knows the facts. Yet Capella is neither a coward nor an ordinary villain.

For some ridiculous reason, I have a sneaking sympathy with him. Had he stormed and bl.u.s.tered when I pitched into him to-day I would have thought less of him. And his wife! What mysterious workings of Fate brought those two together and then disunited them? They become fascinated one with the other whilst the brother's corpse is still palpitating beneath that terrible stroke. They get married, with not unreasonable haste, but no sooner do they reach Beechcroft, a house of evil import if ever bricks and mortar had such a character, than they are driven asunder by some malign influence.

"And now, after eighteen months, I am asked to take up the tangled clues, if such may be said to exist. It is a difficult, perhaps an impossible, undertaking. Yet if I have done so much in a day, what may not happen in a fortnight!"

Long afterwards, recalling that soliloquy, he wondered whether or not, were he suddenly endowed with the gift of prophecy, he would, nevertheless, have pursued his quest. He never could tell.

Once securely entrenched in a private sitting-room of the Stowmarket Hotel, the three men began to discuss crime and tobacco.

Mr. Winter commenced by being confidential and professional.

"Now, Mr. Hume," he said, "as misunderstandings have been cleared, to some extent, by Mr. Brett's remarks, I will, with your permission, ask you a few questions."

"Fire away."

"In the first place, your counsel tried to prove--did prove, in fact--that you walked straight from the ball-room to the Hall, sat down in the library, and did not move from your chair until Fergusson, the butler, told you how he had found Sir Alan's body on the lawn."

"Exactly."

"So if a man comes forward now and swears that he watched you for nearly ten minutes standing in the shadow of the yews on the left of the house, he will not be telling the truth?"

"That is putting it mildly."

"Yet there is such a witness in existence, and I am certain he is not a liar in this matter."

"What!"

Brett and Hume e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the word simultaneously; the one surprised, because he knew how careful Winter was in matters of fact, the other indignant at the seeming disbelief in his statement.

"Please, gentlemen," appealed the detective, secretly gratified by the sensation he caused, "wait until I have finished. If I did not fully accept Mr. Brett's views on this remarkable case, I would not be sitting here this minute. My conscience would not permit it"

"Be virtuous, Winter, but not too virtuous," broke in Brett drily.

"There you go again, sir, questioning my motives. But I am of a forgiving disposition. Now, there cannot be the slightest doubt that a poacher named John Wise, better known as 'Rabbit Jack,' who resides in this town, chose that New Year's Eve as an excellent time to net the meadows behind the Hall. He had heard about Mrs. Eastham's dance, and knew that on such a night the estate keepers would have more liking for fun with the coachmen and maids than for game-watching. He entered the park soon after midnight, and saw a gentleman walk up the avenue towards the house. He waited a few minutes, and crept quietly along the side of the hedge--in the park, of course. Being winter time, the trees and bushes were bare, and he was startled to see the same gentleman, with his coat b.u.t.toned up, standing in the shade of the yews close to the Hall. 'Rabbit Jack' naturally thought he had been spotted. He gripped his lurcher's collar and stood still for nearly ten minutes. Then it occurred to him that he was mistaken. He had not been seen, so he stole off towards the plantation and started operations. He is a first-rate poacher, and always works alone. About three o'clock he was alarmed by a policeman's lantern--the search of the grounds after the murder, you see--and made off. He entered Stowmarket on the far side of the town, and ran into a policeman's arms. They fought for twenty minutes. The P.C. won, and 'Rabbit Jack' got six months' hard labour for being in unlawful possession of game and a.s.saulting the police.

Consequently, he never heard a syllable about the 'Stowmarket Mystery,' as this affair was called by the Press, until long after Mr. Hume's second trial and acquittal. Yet the first thing 'Rabbit Jack' did after his release was to go straight to the police and tell them what he had seen. I think, Mr. Hume, that even you will admit a good deal depended on the result of the fight between the poacher and the bobby, for 'Rabbit Jack'

described a man of your exact appearance and dressed as you were that night."

There was silence for a moment when Winter ended his recital.

"It is evident," said Brett, otherwise engaged in making smoke-rings, "that 'Rabbit Jack' saw the real murderer."

"A man like me--in evening dress! Who on earth could he be?" was Hume's natural exclamation.

"We must test this chap's story," said Brett.

"How?"

"Easily enough. There is a garden outside. Can you bring this human bunny here to-night?"

"I think so."

"Very well. Stage him about nine o'clock. Anything else?"

Mr. Winter pondered a little while; then he addressed Hume hesitatingly:

"Does Mr. Brett know everything that happened after the murder?"

"I think so. Yes."

"Everything! Say three-quarters of an hour afterwards?"

The effect of this remark on Hume was very p.r.o.nounced. His habitual air of reserve gave place to a state of decided confusion.

"What are you hinting at?" he cried, striving hard to govern his voice.

"Well, it must out, sooner or later. Why did you go to meet Miss Helen Layton in the avenue about 1.30 a.m.--soon after Sir Alan's body had been examined by the doctor?'

"Oh, d.a.m.n it, man, how did you ascertain that?" groaned Hume.

"I knew it all along, but I did not see that it was very material to the case, and I wanted to keep the poor young lady's name out of the affair as far as possible. I did not want to suggest that she was an accessory after the crime."

Hume was blushing like a schoolboy. He glanced miserably at Brett, but the barrister was still puffing artistic designs in big and little rings.

"Very well. My reason for concealment disappears now," he blurted out, for the young man was both vexed and ashamed. "That wretched night, after she returned home, Helen thought she had behaved foolishly in creating a scene. She put on a cloak, changed her shoes, and slipped back again to Mrs. Eastham's, where she met Alan just coming away. She implored him to make up the quarrel with me. He apologised for his conduct, and promised to do the same to me when we met. He explained that other matters had upset his temper that day, and he had momentarily yielded to an irritated belief that everything was against him. Helen watched him enter the park; she pretended that she was going in to Mrs. Eastham's. She could see the lighted windows of the library, and she wondered why he did not go inside, but imagined that at the distance she might easily be mistaken. At last she ran off to the rectory. Again she lingered in the garden, devoutly wishing that all might be well between Alan and me. Then she became conscious that something unusual had taken place, owing to the lights and commotion. For a long time she was at a loss to conjecture what could have happened. At last, yielding to curiosity, she came back to the lodge. The gates were wide open. Mrs. Eastham's dance was still in progress. She is not a timid girl, so she walked boldly up the avenue until she met Fergusson, the butler, who was then going to tell Mrs. Eastham. When she heard his story she was too shocked to credit it, and asked him to bring me. I came. By that time I was beginning to realise that I might be implicated in the affair, and I begged her to return home at once, alone.