"And you know that I lied, don't you?" put in Geoff eagerly. "You know that she wasn't there last night, after all?"
"To the contrary, my friend, I know that she was."
"It's a lie—it's a dashed lie! She never was near the place. That was pure bluff. It was I who killed the man."
"Don't tell any more lies than you are obliged to, my lad. I don't believe she killed him, and I'm not so very sure that you killed him—and there you are."
"Then what are you arresting me for?"
"I'm not arresting you; I'm simply sifting evidence. Your stepmother—according to your story—must be very, very fond of you, and very, very solicitous for your welfare. And if she risked catching cold and having people talk and all that sort of thing to rush out after you when you had only been gone for a short time, let's see how she'll act when you disappear mysteriously and don't come home all night!"
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A CHANGE IN THE PROGRAM
"I suppose you understand that this is a pretty high-handed sort of proceeding?" began young Clavering agitatedly, half indignantly. "Even the processes of the law have their limits; and to abduct a man and imprison him before there is the ghost of a charge against him——"