"Well, then I stole down the stairs and turned the key, which, I already knew, was on the outside. You had set your motor going, so I ran out and leaped in. That man Giles saw me--although I did not know his name at the time--and I put on all speed to escape. Luckily you had turned the motor round in the Murchester direction. I spun along and met Miss Destiny in her trap, as you know. At the time I didn't think it was her. Then it struck me that she--a stranger, as I believed--might say how she had seen the motor and I would be traced. I therefore slewed the machine into the field through the gate. I left it stranded there, and concealed the cloak----"
"Which I found, along with the veil," I put in. "Go on, Mr. Striver."
"There's nothing more to tell," he said sulkily. "I walked to Murchester and caught a train. As I had not the motor or the white cloak, I felt that I was safe. And so I was."
"You are not very safe now," I remarked, rising to stretch myself. "Suppose I tell the police?"
"Then I denounce Miss Monk as guilty; she was in the back room----"
"I had left long, long before," interposed Gertrude, very pale.
"I was in the back room also, Striver, yet I am innocent. However, I can see that if I talk you can talk, so, for the present, in any event, I shall say nothing about the matter. You can go." I pointed to the door.
He stood his ground and looked at Gertrude. "You are in my power," said he.
"And you are in ours," I retorted cheerfully, "it won't do, Striver, things shall remain as they are for the present. Miss Monk is not for you."
"I shall tell the police," he threatened.