There was a world of meaning in Chard's ejaculation.
"Then how long have you been so worried?"
"I don't know."
"Shall we say a month?"
By this time the minister was beginning to see that there was something strange in the officer's attitude.
"Why a month?" he asked, as a new fear filled him.
"The body we found has been lying in the field for quite a month."
"Man!" cried Johnson, with a wild stare, "you don't mean to infer that I killed her?"
"I--I infer nothing, sir. I am here to procure information--to ask questions, not to answer them. This dead woman was your ward. She left you, as I understand, a month ago, and has not been heard of since. To-day we find her dead body in a cornfield belonging to Mr. Carwell. It is my duty to learn how she came there--how she came to be strangled."
"Strangled! Was she strangled?"