"So I said at the time," remarked Hench dryly.
"And when Madame Alpenny reads about the crime, she will put two and two together."
"They won't make four in her calculations," said Vane swiftly. "After all, you are innocent. She can't prove you to be guilty."
"Well, I don't know. The circumstantial evidence is rather strong."
"The circumstantial evidence!" Vane stared and reflected. "You had a beard when I saw you last, now----"
"I shaved to-day, so that there might be no chance of my being discovered by any description that girl at the Bull Inn might give."
"Girl at the Bull Inn? What do you mean?"
Hench lost no time but promptly gave a full account of his adventures from the time he left Liverpool Street Station to the moment that he sat down to dinner in the very room in which the two were speaking. Vane interrupted him frequently, and his face grew grave as he recognized that Hench was in a woeful plight. "Of course, I've acted like an ass," confessed Owain in a rueful manner; "but how would you have acted, Jim?"
"Sitting in this chair and being wise after the event, I should have faced the thing out," said Vane slowly. "But had I been in your shoes in that wood I should probably have run away as you did." He paused, shook his head, stared at the carpet. "Damn!" he muttered emphatically.
"I thought it best to speak to you," murmured Owain anxiously.