"All the same it was no accident," the official said grimly. "If you will come this way, I will prove to you that the fire was a wicked and deliberate act on the part of somebody."
[CHAPTER XXII.]
WHO DID IT?
There was a smile on Slight's face, as if he rather enjoyed the situation. After all was said and done, the culprit had been successful in bringing about the thing the old butler most desired. Fortunately no harm had been done to the house; there was nothing the matter beyond the damage caused by smoke and water, nothing that the work of a day or two could not put right. At the same time this attempt to destroy the house had been the means of removing from it the trio whose presence had been so great a humiliation. The police had cleared everybody out of the house, indeed the Hall was likely to remain empty now till they had investigated the causes of the fire.
"It might have been worse, sir," Slight whispered to Ralph. "It's a good way of getting rid of those fellows till Sir George is ready to pack them off altogether. Whoever did this was a sort of friend of ours."
Ralph started. Slight's suggestion had given him a sudden idea.
"That may be," he said, "but you will admit that the experiment is a risky one. The place might have been utterly destroyed. Still, it is yet to be proved that this is the work of an incendiary. I can hardly believe that it is."
The inspector led the way to the Hall. So far as the eye of a novice could judge, it was here that the fire had burst out. The floor was black and scarred and a few beams were still hot from the effects of the flames. The floor was littered with some crisp ashes.
"Now I want to call your attention to this, Sir George," the inspector said. "Nothing has been destroyed here, nothing but the floor and a portion of the ceiling. There must have been a very fierce blaze here, and yet there is nothing for the flames to feed on. Then where did all those crisp short ashes come from? See what a pile there is of them! What was it that burnt here so fiercely?"
"It certainly is a strange thing," Sir George murmured.