"What did Miss Saxon tell you?" asked the detective irrelevantly.
Mallow sat down and in a calm voice detailed all that he had learned from Juliet. "So you see it throws no light on the subject." Had Mallow mentioned the time at which Juliet asserted she saw him climb over the wall a new light would certainly have been thrown. But he purposely omitted this, and simply said that Juliet had seen him. "I told you I was there, Jennings," he added. "Quite so," said the detective. "Certainly, nothing new has come out."
"Well, then leave the case alone."
"I fear I shall have to, now that the Rexton house has been burnt down," and Jennings related in his turn what had taken place.
Cuthbert listened moodily. "You see," he said, "everything is against us. I only wanted the mystery cleared up so that Juliet might marry me, but now that she wishes to do so, without searching further, I am not going to do anything else."
"Nor I," said Jennings sadly, "nothing is to be learned. The case will remain a mystery to the end of time."
Caranby rose and took Cuthbert's arm. "You young men are faint-hearted," he said, with a shrug.
"If you want my opinion, Mrs. Octagon killed her sister. A fatal woman, I tell you both—a fatal woman."
"And a clever one," said Jennings gloomily, "she has baffled me."