Of course I quite expected him to suspect us of the deed, and was not therefore in the least surprised when he replied that we should be detained.
"You had better go for one of your superior officers," I told him. "We will remain in the next room."
"I'm not so sure of that," he replied knowingly.
"Then send for some one. You can easily get a messenger in the street."
I led Hagar into the next room, and he went out and did as I suggested. Then he came to us, and we waited for the arrival of the others. Hagar spoke to the officer, but I took no part in the conversation.
I was completely mystified by the affair. I recalled all the events of the afternoon. Ziegler's singular hints of treachery; the others' suspicion of me; the fact of the threatening letter of which Hagar had told me: and all these things pointed clearly to the conclusion that the murder had been done by some one who suspected the Jew, and that it was in revenge we should look for the motive.
But the arrival of the three men, obviously bent upon doing that which had already been down, negatived any such conclusion absolutely, or appeared to do so.
That they had expected to find the Jew still alive, there was not the shadow of a doubt. Their actions had shown this as plainly as their words had expressed it. They had come to obtain an explanation of the facts which they held to justify their suspicions; and in default of that explanation being satisfactory, they were resolved to take his life.
The words and acts of the eldest of the men had proved that.
The next question was whether their own thought was right--that some one of their number had anticipated them. It was a plausible supposition.