"There's a bigger mystery here than I suspected," he said. "Have you asked Miss White for an explanation?"
Stafford shook his head.
"I thought it best to report the matter to you, sir, before I asked her to——"
"To incriminate herself, eh? Well, perhaps you did wisely, perhaps you did not. I should imagine that her explanation is a very simple one."
"What do you mean, sir?"
"I mean," said Sir Stanley, "that unless Jack o' Judgment has the gift of appearing in two places at once, she is not Jack."
"But I don't understand, sir?"
"I mean," said Sir Stanley, "that Jack o' Judgment was in the colonel's room last night, was in fact sitting by the colonel's bedside when that gentleman awoke, and according to the statement which Colonel Boundary has made to me about two hours ago in this room, warned him of his approaching end."
It was Stafford's turn to be astonished.