Michael came through the panel. "Now then!" he said. "Let us have a look at you." He went up to the still figure, and pulled the cowl back from the Monk's head.
There was a gasp of utter astonishment from Celia. For the man who stood revealed was none other than Colonel Ackerley.
He made no movement to resist, and the expression on his face as he looked at the assembled company was one of sardonic scorn.
"But - but I don't understand!" Mrs. Bosanquet said in a voice of complete bewilderment. "That's the Colonel!"
Michael had taken the handcuffed wrists and jerked them up to look at the gloves the Colonel wore. As Margaret had described, they were buttoned gloves of some cotton fabric, and one button was missing. "That was a little mistake of yours, Colonel," he said. "I shouldn't have expected you to slip up on a detail like that."
It was plain the Colonel, not in the habit of buttoning his gloves, had not until now noticed the loss of one significant button. His eyes searched Michael's face for a moment, and a shade of uneasiness crept into his own.
None of this was betrayed by his voice, however. "Well, Mr. Strange," he said, quite in his own manner. "I congratulate you. You are cleverer than the others who have tried to find me out." He looked at Charles, and his sneer returned. "Your efforts were not quite so brilliant." His glance went back to Michael; it was as though he felt everyone else in the room to be beneath contempt. "As a matter of interest, how did you guess my identity?"
"When a man of your stamp is seen to be on terms of apparent intimacy with the local publican," Michael answered, "one is apt to draw unwelcome conclusions."
The Colonel raised his brows. "Indeed, Mr. Strange? Or to leap to conclusions, shall we say? If you had no other reason than that for suspecting me you made a lucky guess."
Michael smiled. "Oh, not quite!" he said. "When a man gives out that he is going to play bridge at the County Club in Manfield, and I discover his car to be still in the locked garage, I feel that requires a little explanation. I'm sorry I can't give you a more detailed account of all the things that led me to be sure you were the man I was after, but time is getting on. You will no doubt hear all you want to know at your trial." He made a sign to Inspector Tomlinson, and the two attendant policemen grasped the Colonel's arms again to march him away.