“What do you mean?”
“I mean what I say. I have got faith in Miss Bennett,” he said soothingly; “and, after all, she’s only another little bit of the jigsaw puzzle that will fall into place when we fix the piece that’s shaped like a Frog. And John Bennett’s another,” he said after a moment’s thought.
From where they stood they could see, looking toward Shoreham, the opening of the narrow Elsham Wood road.
“The thing that puzzles me,” Elk was saying, “is why she should go into that wood in the middle of the night——” He stopped, lowering his head. There came to them the soft purr of a motor-car. “Where is that?” he asked.
The question was answered instantly. Slowly there came into view from the wood road the bonnet of a car, followed immediately by the remainder of a large limousine, which turned toward them, gathering speed as it came. A moment later it flashed past them, and they saw the solitary occupant.
“Well, I’m damned!” said Elk, who very infrequently indulged in profanity, but Dick felt that on this occasion at least he was justified. For the man in the limousine was the bearded Ezra Maitland; and he knew that it was to see Maitland that the girl had gone to Elsham Wood.
CHAPTER XX
HAGN
A MINUTE later Ella came to the door to call them.
“Was that a car went past?” she asked, and they detected a note of anxiety in her tone.