"No, sir; I talk of the Fourth Estate, of you confounded gabblers of the press. It is my business to investigate crimes like these; but it is not yours to spread any discoveries all over the country, and put the criminal on his guard."
"Oh! then you have some inkling of who killed Miss Lester?"
"No, sir; up till now I have not gained the slightest clue."
"Then why do you say that the criminal is a man?" said Paul shrewdly. "The assassin may be a woman, for all you know."
"Women don't fire pistols as a rule."
"The New Woman does," retorted Mexton. "So the poor girl was shot?"
"Right through the brain--must have been killed instantly."
"Where did the murder take place?"
"In the lower part of the Winding Lane."
"About what time?"