"Why should she have come?"
"Well, you see, she told Kind that the crime was--as she verily believed--a political one, and so she might have been present in order to save me, seeing that she must know that I am innocent, and did not know what your father was about to say."
"The best thing will be to see her."
"I intend to. I'll go along to Pierside to-morrow, and board that yacht. And," added Herries emphatically, "I don't leave it until I learn all she knows."
"Do you think Captain Kyles----?"
"No. Mrs. Mountford said that he was with Maud at the 'Moated Hall' on the night of the murder. I believe," said Herries, walking up and down the room, "that your father knows more than he will admit. He was sleeping in the tap-room, and anyone who went up the stairs would have to pass through it----"
"Oh, no, Angus----"
"Well, I don't exactly mean that. But your father--who admits to having been kept awake by the clock--would have heard anyone who went up the stairs. Also, he might have heard anything that went on outside the house."
"What went on there?"
"Armour was kidnapped, and the man whom Sir Simon was to see climbed in at the window, where stood the candle with the red handkerchief before it as a signal. Depend upon it your father knows."