"Well," remarked Hench, after a pause. "I think it will be a good start if Miss Evans takes me over Cookley Grange and into Parley Wood where the corpse was found. Then we can talk over the matter."
Gwen looked doubtful. "Do you think my cousin would mind if I went over the Grange and took Mr. Hench?" she asked her hostess.
Mrs. Perage stole a sly glance at Owain. "No, I don't think he would. Why should he, if you come to that?"
"Well, his father and my father didn't get on well together."
"That is no reason why their son and daughter shouldn't," retorted Mrs. Perage. "You can take Mr. Hench to the Grange to-morrow at noon. Now, young man,"--she rose to the full height of her lofty stature,----"you can depart. I keep early hours here, as it is necessary that I should have my beauty sleep."
"As if you needed it!" said Owain jestingly, and this agreeable visit ended as it had begun--with badinage and frivolity.
[CHAPTER XII]
CUPID'S GARDEN
That night Hench awoke during the small hours of the morning with the conviction that he knew all about the mystery in which he was involved. He had fallen asleep much exercised in his mind so far as the visit of Madame Alpenny to Cookley Grange was concerned. He remembered that about the time mentioned by Gwen the Hungarian lady had gone away from Bethnal Green, presumably to procure an engagement for Zara in a West End music-hall. Certainly that might have been one very good reason why she had remained absent for a few days, but now it appeared that there was another, which had to do with Madoc Evans. When unconsciousness came Owain was still wrestling with the problem, and somehow it seemed that the same was solved during slumber. But with the working of his physical brain the scheme broke up, and he was only able to retain fragments. These he proceeded to piece together while staring at the ceiling through the faint twilight of the already dawning day. It was rather a difficult task to put two and two together.