For the girl was clapping her hands and laughing hysterically.
"It was Brown who took my father's body and killed the doctor!" she cried. "I am certain of it!"
"Why are you certain?"
"I feel it. I can't say why."
"But your father did not know this man. I never heard him allude to the Quiet Gentleman."
"I dare say not," returned Sophy doggedly; "but if the man had nothing to do with it, why should he disappear? And Dr. Warrender went to see him. Oh! I am sure he is the guilty person. He might be an enemy of father's."
"Sophia, your father did not know him," put in Miss Vicky, who was listening open-mouthed to all this.
"Oh, I am not so sure of that!" cried the girl impatiently. "If he did, Joe will know. Ring the bell for him."
"Did Joe know the Quiet Gentleman?" Alan asked when he had rung.
"I do not think that Joseph did," said Miss Vicky. "He told me that he tried several times to speak to him, but got no reply."