He was still pondering over the queer discovery when a noise at the door indicated that some one was on the point of entering. A warning whisper proclaimed that it was Mori.
The Japanese youth entered quickly and closed the heavy oaken portal behind him. He was shaking with suppressed laughter. Running over to Nattie, he grasped his hand and wrung it heartily.
"I ought to scold you for disobeying my orders, but really this is too funny for anything," he said. "How under the sun did you get in here?"
"Easy enough; I walked in last night. How did you get in?"
"I am a member of his excellency's staff of servants. Ha, ha! I almost laughed in his lean old face this morning when he engaged me. But explain yourself, Nattie; I am dying to hear your news. You said you had a clew."
"Hadn't we better get out of this house before we talk?"
"Plenty of time. Mr. Black has gone to the office, and the servants are below stairs. When we are ready we can walk out through the front entrance without a word to anybody."
Thus reassured, Nattie told how he had left home the preceding night and the events that followed. When he came to the part relating to the man beyond the hedge, the English merchant's midnight visitor, Mori started at him in amazement.
"Impossible!" he exclaimed. "Why, he was killed in the accident near Kobe."
"Not so. I saw the fellow's face almost as clearly as I see yours now. It was Patrick Cronin, and I'll stake my life on that."