For a moment there was a silence between the two men; then Ashton-Kirk said, dryly:
"Miss Vale has, apparently, not been altogether frank with us in this matter."
"You think then—" began Pendleton in a voice of terror. But Ashton-Kirk stopped him.
"I think many things," said he. "But they are neither here nor there. Facts are what count. Put the circumstances together for yourself and see where they lead you. Miss Vale has been from the first mixed up more or less in this crime. She explained. As far as I knew the explanation was made in good faith. Now we find her here in this lonely place, quietly engaged with a man whom I have convinced myself is one of Hume's murderers."
There was another pause; this time it was Pendleton who broke the silence.
"As you say," spoke he, in a strange, throaty sort of tone, "she has not been quite frank. Take all the circumstances together and they seem to point—"
He paused as though quite unable to finish. Ashton-Kirk laid a hand upon his shoulder.
"Imagination is a thing that is vitally necessary in this sort of work," said he. "But it must be held in check by reason. The great trouble with an amateur is that he reasons up to a certain point; then he allows his imagination to take a long leap toward a result. The upshot is that his results have seldom anything to support them. The correct method, I think, is to allow the imagination to scurry ahead in the way that is natural to it; but reason must follow close behind, proving each step of the way. To be sure, you may have theories, hypotheses, ideas without end, but you must never take them for granted. Select each in its turn, place it in a tube as the chemist does, add a few drops of reason, and you may produce a fact. It is the only way to go about it. Once a man becomes fixed in a belief, be there ever so little foundation for it, his mind stops revolving the subject; further procedure is hopeless."
"I understand all that well enough," said Pendleton. "But," and he waved his hand toward the house, "what does this mean?"
"I don't know," said Ashton-Kirk. "And neither do you. So—that being the case—there is but one thing to do—find out."