"Lawks! and how should I? I never set eyes on him afore this blessed night."
"The other gent as come," said the stranger, repeating Mrs. Vence's earlier remark, word for word. "Nonsense. I was the only visitor Sir Hector had to-night."
"Makin' me out a liar, indeed," cried Mrs. Vence, much offended by the imputation. "Well, I do say as you've got a face, sir. Impudence and crime. Oh, little did I think as I'd come to sich a situation, and me so respectable."
"Hold your tongue," said Jervis, so ferociously that the old creature started and trembled. "Let us get to the bottom of this. Who are you, sir?"
The other man produced a card. "I am Oliver Lemby," he declared, in his deep, rich voice. "And dash you, policeman, don't look at me as I'd got anything to do with this infernal business. I came down here to see my friend----"
"In a trap from Redleigh."
"Not all the way," said Lemby, drily. "I travelled by train from London to Redleigh. Oh! I remember. The driver of the trap stopped to ask a policeman the way to this house. And you----"
"I am the constable of Hedgerton--the only constable," said Jervis, stiffly and a trifle imperiously. "Well, sir, and what do you know of this?"
"Nothing, dash and confound you!" snarled the truculent Mr. Lemby, who was as aggressive as Mrs. Vence. "I sent the trap away, hoping that Sir Hector would put me up for the night. This old hag showed me into the drawing room."
"Did you hear," said Jervis, "anything likely to make you think that a crime was being committed?"