"I'm about beaten," he muttered wearily.
Rawlins, with an air of stealth, walked upstairs. Graham, after a moment's hesitation, followed him. Bobby wondered why they went. He caught Robinson's eye. He indicated he would like to speak to him in the library. As he left the hall he saw Paredes, who had not removed his hat or coat, start for the front door.
"Where are you going?" he heard Robinson demand.
Paredes's reply came glibly.
"Only to walk up and down in the court. The house oppresses me more than ever to-night. I feel with Mr. Blackburn that it is no place to stay."
And while he talked with Robinson in the library Bobby caught at times the crunching of Paredes's feet in the court.
"Why does that court draw him?" Robinson asked. "Why does he keep repeating that it is full of ghosts? He can't be trying to scare us with that now."
But Bobby didn't answer.
"I've come to tell you the truth," he burst out, "everything I know. You may lock me up. Even that would be better than this uncertainty. I must have an answer, if it condemns me; and how could I have had anything to do with what has happened to-night?"
He withheld nothing. Robinson listened with an intent interest. At the end he said not unkindly: