John sank to a chair with a groan.

“My God! I knew it!”

“But, of course, you know that I had nothing to do with any attack on a man in whose house I was a guest,” he went on rapidly. “The whole thing is a horrible mystery to us all. Every man in our crowd was in the ballroom dancing.”

“How did you know that?” John interrupted sharply.

“Because I counted them as they entered.”

You counted them?”

“Yes.”

“Then you were in command of the crowd?” Billy hesitated a moment, and said:

“Yes!”

John drew a deep breath and turned his head away in anguish.