“The lowest in importance,” said the big man, “would be Kretz’s daughter. She’s got a head that was made to forget with, and about as much character as a kitten. I’ve seen things duller than she is, but they were not human things. As for her mother, I’ve heard her speak twice—possibly three times. Each observation was pointed at her daughter, was in German, and was, from the general sound, meant to tell her exactly where she was wrong. But, though she might be economical as a conversationalist, she does not stint her talent as a cook. For she can and does cook with an abandon and fancy that would take the creases out of the most crumpled appetite. Mrs. Kretz is the sort of a woman who would greet a broken dish and the falling in of the roof with about the same display of emotion.
“Kretz himself is almost as eloquent as his wife. But though he talks little, he sees everything. Campe tells me he’s been in the family for ten years or more, and he has a lot of confidence in him. As far as I can see—Kretz—I don’t know. There are some things about him and his doings that I don’t understand; but then I can say the same for most of the folks at the castle, if it comes to that.”
“And the next?” asked Ashton-Kirk.
“Well, I suppose it’s a matter of taste just who is next,” proceeded Scanlon. “But to save any lengthy argument, suppose we say it’s Campe’s aunt, Miss Hohenlo. I don’t see much of either of the ladies of the castle, but Miss Hohenlo is the closest in that respect. As her name shows, Miss Hohenlo is a maiden; and after one look at her face and another at her figure I don’t wonder at it. Nature seems to have jumped in between her and any chance she ever had of changing her condition; for she’s got the finest little lot of spinster manners and ideas I ever saw in one collection. In character she’s about as colourless as water; and she counts about as much as a grain of rice powder on a chorus girl’s nose.
“But the other lady is different; you’ve seen her, and so I’ll say nothing about her looks except what I said once before, and that is, she’s a pippin! However,” and the big man bent his brows at the crime specialist, “she has a way with her. As a matter of fact, she has several ways, and I don’t understand any of them. Why did she drop the dish when she first heard your name? and look as if she’d got the shock of her life? What’s the idea of her wandering out among the hills at night? The searchlight caught her standing over Campe’s senseless body the night he was cut. And only the other night you and I saw the light pick her up once more.”
“I did not give much attention to the woman on that occasion,” said Ashton-Kirk. “And so you think it was Miss Grace Knowles, do you?”
“Who else could it have been?” demanded Bat. “And who else screamed on the night Kretz met me on the stairs? And that’s not all.” Here the speaker leaned toward the special detective, and his voice sank lower, as though he feared to be overheard. “Last night I got a fresh slant at her. Eh? With a candle, and hesitating along the hall-way. When she got to the door of the room where you saw Miss Hohenlo, she stopped and listened at the edges of it, as if she was making sure that no one was there. I guess there wasn’t, for she opened the door and went in.
“I was at the end of the hall when I saw this and I waited; for somehow the thing didn’t look good. Then I heard footsteps coming along the lower corridor and some one started up the lower flight of steps. Like a flash the door of the room into which Miss Knowles had gone opened; I didn’t see it—I heard it; for the young lady had blown out her candle. It was Campe coming up, and he had a light. She was standing by the door with as sweet a smile on her face as you ever saw anywhere, and she gave him a lot of little nods. He was surprised to see her, but she said:
“‘I’ve just come to see if your aunt is awake. I did so want some one to talk to.’
“And so,” said Bat, “she knocked on the door, very gently, just as if she wasn’t already sure that no one was there. And she seemed greatly disappointed when no one answered.