"I can do all the help that is necessary," said Jarman, jealously.
"I told him so, and, then, Captain Berry is anxious to assist."
"H'm!" said Eustace, pulling his big moustache. "Mrs. Perth told me that he had offered a reward. Very good of him."
"Captain Berry was a great friend of Walter's. He wrote me the sad news almost immediately."
"Almost too immediately," replied Jarman. "What time did you get his letter?"
"By the eleven post."
"Then it must have been posted in London before midnight, and the fact of the murder was not known to the general public till next morning. How came Captain Berry to have such early information?"
"I don't know," said Miss Starth, blankly. "Do you think--"
"I think nothing," interposed the big man, quickly. "I have never met Berry, and I know nothing about him. But Mrs. Perth doesn't seem to entertain a good opinion of him."
Mildred, in spite of her grief and sadness, could not help smiling. "You know that Mrs. Perth never approved of Walter's friends. She was my governess, you remember, and still thinks it's her duty to look after me."