"Can't you see that Maunders must be The Spider?" said Vernon impatiently. Towton leaped to his feet and began to walk to and fro much perturbed. "Oh, impossible! I don't like Maunders; all the same, it seems incredible that he should be a murderer."
"I can't see that myself," said Vernon drily. "Maunders is half a Greek and is as wily a bird as ever had salt put on its tail. Whether he gets it from his Greek father or from his English mother I can't say, but he certainly has that strong criminal taint, which induces him to get money for his whims by illegal methods rather than by honest toil. Besides, we can't say if he killed Dimsdale, even though, as is apparent, he is The Spider. Miss Hest declared to me in all innocence, and not with any intention of defending him, that Maunders was with her nearly all the evening."
"Then he can't be The Spider," insisted the Colonel, "for undoubtedly The Spider killed poor old Dimsdale."
"So we thought; so everyone thinks; and yet--well, of course, it's not impossible that Maunders ordered this nameless native to get the money, and the man may have executed the murder without instructions."
"Or else," said Towton emphatically, "Maunders may have had his mask torn off by Dimsdale when he came for the money and murdered the old man to prevent discovery. It cuts both ways."
"Pardon me, no, if Miss Hest is to be believed."
"I don't trust that woman," said the Colonel abruptly.
"She is scheming to get Ida to marry her brother."
"I think she will fail there, as the brother is in London."
"What?"