"He had need to if he was a fence. Beatrice, remember how the keys were in the counting-house, where the man was murdered, and how the assassin could not have got out unless he used the keys. I believe there is another entrance to that railway carriage, and the assassin came in by that way, along with the rest of Alpenny's precious clients. I am quite sure the old man was the head of the gang."
"There was Waterloo----"
"I know," said Jerry quickly. "Dinah told me about him, and Mrs. Lilly told her. Waterloo is a blackguard. The detective in Whitechapel explained what a scoundrel he was--one of the worst. Why did he come down here?"
"I don't know," murmured Beatrice, and then it flashed across her mind that the tramp had come to see Vivian. Coupling this desire with the speech of the late Jarvis Alpenny regarding Vivian's crimes and Vivian's secret troubles, which she was so anxious to find out, the girl suddenly turned pale. She wondered if Paslow himself was one of the Black Patch Gang. "It's impossible," said Beatrice, with a gasp, and leaned against a tree to support herself.
"What is impossible?" asked Jerry. "Here, hold up."
"It's all right," she said, recovering herself with a violent effort; "a little weariness, that is all. I have been on the Downs, remember. I don't see how you can connect this gang with Mr. Alpenny."
"Remember, he was murdered by a man with a black patch over his eye."
"Yes, but----" the girl broke off. "I hope the police won't come down here," she said, with pale-lips, and wondering if Vivian's conduct would bear investigation.
"They just will," said Jerry bluntly, "and I hope so. I'll be able to make a lot out of the matter, if any loot is found. Why, the editor may raise my salary."
"You aren't worth it," cried an indignant voice near at hand, and Dinah appeared from amongst the trees. "How dare you treat me in this way, Jerry Snow? Why didn't you come after me, and why didn't----"