"I know. It was silly, officious blundering on the part of one of my subs. I meant de Mountford to have plenty of time to get away, and I could have managed it somehow to leave him unmolested if he kept some distance away from England. The whole thing has been most unfortunate."
"I don't think so, uncle," she said quietly, "I am glad, very glad, that Luke has been arrested."
"Are you?" he retorted dryly. "The outlook for him is not pleasant."
"I know that. But at any rate now there is a chance that he can prove his innocence."
Sir Thomas Ryder gave a quick sigh of impatience.
"My dear child," he said gently, "do try and be reasonable about that. You only lay up for yourself further stores of misery and of disappointment. De Mountford is guilty, I tell you. He practically confessed at the inquest, and he practically confessed to our fellows after his arrest."
"Practically," she said with strong emphasis, "but not really. Luke has never confessed that he committed a murder."
"Well, he admits that the stick with which the murder was done was his stick; that he had it in his hand the night that the murder was committed; that he went out, with it in his hand, five minutes before the other man was murdered."
"I know all that," she rejoined, "but let me tell you this, Uncle Ryder. Luke has admitted all that, as you say; but he has never admitted that he killed Philip de Mountford—or Paul Baker—whoever he may be. Luke, Uncle Ryder, is allowing the awful accusation to rest upon him, because he wishes to shield the real perpetrator of the crime."
"Nonsense!" broke in Sir Thomas curtly.