"Yes. It takes place at three this afternoon. And you sir?"
"No! I shall not be there. I cannot bear to--but that is neither here nor there," broke off Corn hurriedly, "tell me, was the house alight?"
"Every room was lighted. It blazed like a palace in the wood."
"Colonel Carr's whim. He surrounded himself with the most beautiful things and installed the electric light. Water power you know," added the rector rather inconsequently. "I expect the wheel was going constantly for the two days before the body was discovered."
Herrick recollected the murmur in the wood, and now guessed that it came from the waterfall, which turned the wheel for the dynamos. There was no doubt that Colonel Carr surrounded himself with every comfort. "Did he ever have guests to stay with him?" he asked.
The rector made a gesture of surprise. "If you had known Colonel Carr you would not ask such a question. He hated his fellow-mortals."
"Then why had he so many bedrooms?"
"I cannot tell you. But I am certain that he never had anyone to stay in the house. I have been in it once or twice myself, and Miss Bess has paid a visit. But no other person has ever entered."
"Humph! Quite a mystery. What about Marsh?"
"Ah I expect you heard of him from Miss Bess. He is a great friend of the Biffs. Stephen Marsh will inherit the Colonel's property I expect."