"Can you name any of them?"
"Every one in the neighbourhood, I should say," snapped the old lady cynically.
"Exactly. Every one in the neighbourhood. But this tramp was a stranger."
"He might have been hired by some one to murder the Squire," said Mrs. Perage vaguely.
"In that case the some one would have explained how this bravo was to get to the stile," said Hench coolly. And then he wondered if Gwen knew anything about the advertisement. "Also," he continued, "the some one must have known that Squire Evans would be at the stile at that particular time. Now, Miss Evans, can you tell me if your father made any appointment?"
Gwen shook her head. "I can't say. My father did many things about which he told me nothing. Often in summer he walked out after dinner, as he did on the night he was murdered, but where he went I can't say. We searched the park when we missed him, and afterwards the woods on chance."
"Was your father agitated on that night?"
"He was agitated from the time the woman came to see him," said Gwen quickly. Hench sat up, and a thrill passed through him.
"A woman?"
"Yes! Some time in June a woman called one afternoon and had an interview with my father in the library. She was with him for two hours, and when she went away he was very much upset. I asked him who she was and why the visit annoyed him--as it plainly did."