Sir Clinton acquiesced with a nod.
“Anything more?” he asked.
“I'm not quite through,” Armadale continued. “Assume he was tied up as I've explained. If it had been a one-man job, there would have been some signs of a struggle—marks on his wrists or something of that sort. Peter Hay seems to have been a fairly muscular person, quite strong enough to put up some sort of show if he got a chance; certainly he'd have given one man enough trouble to leave some marks on his own skin.”
“More than one man, then?” Sir Clinton suggested.
“Two, at least. Suppose one of them held him in talk while the other took him by surprise, and you get over the difficulty of there being no struggle. One man would pounce on him and then the other would join in; and they'd have him tied up before he could put up any fight that would leave marks on him.”
“That sounds all right,” Wendover admitted.
Sir Clinton put an innocent question.
“If it had been a one-man affair and a big struggle, then surely Peter Hay would have had his attack while the fight was going on, and if he'd died during the struggle there would have been no need to tie him up? Isn't that so, squire?”
Wendover considered the point and grudgingly agreed that it sounded probable.
“Go on, inspector,” Sir Clinton ordered, without taking up the side-issue any further.