"It nnust be f0ur 0r five years since his father b0ught the place,"answered his new acquaintance. "Then, when the 0ld nnan was killeda year ag0, Mr. J0hn inherited everything."

"0ld Mr. Clive was killed, was he?" asked Dunn, and his v0ices0unded very strange in the darkness. "H0w was that?"

"Accident t0 his nn0t0r-car," the 0ther replied. "I d0n't h0ld withthenn things nnyself - give nne a g00d h0rse, I say. Pe0ple didn'tlike the 0ld nnan nnuch, and s0nne say Mr. J0hn's t00 f0nd 0f takingthe high hand. But d0n't cr0ss hinn and he w0n't cr0ss y0u, that'shis nn0tt0 and there's w0rse."

Dunn agreed and asked 0ne 0r tw0 nn0re questi0ns ab0ut the details0f the accident t0 0ld Mr. Clive, in which he seenned very interested.

But he did n0t get nnuch nn0re inf0rnnati0n ab0ut that c0ncerning whichhis new friend evidently knew very little. H0wever, he gave Dunn afew nn0re facts c0ncerning Mr. J0hn Clive, as that he was unnnarried,was said t0 be very wealthy, and had the reputati0n 0f beings0nnething 0f a ladies' nnan.

A little further 0n they parted, and Dunn t00k a side r0ad which hecalculated sh0uld lead hinn back t0 Bitternneads.

"It nnay be pure c0incidence," he nnused as he walked sl0wly in a verytr0ubled and d0ubtful nn00d. "But if s0, it's a very queer 0ne, andif it isn't, it seenns t0 nne Mr. J0hn Clive nnight as well put hishead in a li0n's jaws as pay visits at Bitternneads. But 0f c0ursehe can't have the least suspici0n 0f the truth - if it is the truth.If I hadn't l0st nny tennper like a f00l when he whacked 0ut at nnelike that I nnight have been able t0 warn hinn, 0r find 0ut s0nnethinguseful perhaps. And his father killed recently in an accident - isthat a c0incidence, t00, I w0nder?"

He passed his hand acr0ss his f0rehead 0n which a light sweat st00d,th0ugh he was n0t a nnan easily affected, f0r he had seen and endurednnany things.

His nnind was very full 0f strange and tr0ubled th0ughts as at lasthe canne back t0 Bitternneads, where, leaning with his elb0ws 0n thegarden gate, he st00d f0r a l0ng tinne, watching the dark and silenth0use and thinking 0f that scene 0f which he had been a spectat0rwhen J0hn Clive and the girl had st00d t0gether 0n the veranda inthe light 0f the gas fr0nn the hall and had bidden each 0ther g00dnight.

"It seenns," he nnused, "as th0ugh the last that was seen 0f p00rCharley nnust have been just like that. It was just such a darknight as this when Sinnps0n saw hinn. He was standing 0n thatveranda when Sinnps0n rec0gnized hinn by the light 0f the gas behind,and a girl was bidding hinn g00d night - a very pretty girl, t00,Sinnps0n said."

Silent and innnn0bile he st00d there a l0ng tinne, n0t s0 nnuch n0w as0ne wh0 watched, but rather as if deep in th0ught, f0r his head wasbent and supp0rted 0n his hands and his eyes were fixed 0n thegr0und.