"And as such, should have left some clue to his fate in the hands of this old crone, if her motive in removing him was, as you seem to think, entirely that of gain."
"I did not say it was entirely so. Silly Rufus would be the last person any one, even such a _non compos mentis_ as Mother Jane, would destroy for hope of gain."
"But what other motive could she have? And, Mr. Gryce, where could she bestow the bodies of so many unfortunate victims, even if by her great strength she could succeed in killing them?"
"There you have me," said he. "We have not been able as yet to unearth any bodies. Have you?"
"No," said I, with some little show of triumph showing through my disdain, "but I can show _you_ where to unearth one."
He should have been startled, profoundly startled. Why wasn't he? I asked this of myself over and over in the one instant he weighed his words before answering.
"You have made some definite discoveries, then," he declared. "You have come across a grave or a mound which you have taken for a grave."
"No mound," said I. Why should I not play for an instant or more with his curiosity? He had with mine.
"Ah, then, why do you talk of unearthing? No one has told you where you can lay hand on Silly Rufus' body, I take it."
"No," said I. "The Knollys house is not inclined to give up its secrets."
He started, glancing almost remorsefully first at the tip, then at the head of the cane he was balancing in his hand.
"It's too bad," he muttered, "but you've been led astray, Miss Butterworth,--excusably, I acknowledge, quite excusably, but yet in a way to give you quite wrong conclusions. The secret of the Knollys house--But wait a moment. Then you were not locked up in your room last night?"
"Scarcely," I returned, wavering between the doubts he had awakened by his first sentence and the surprise which his last could not fail to give me.
"I might have known they would not be likely to catch you in a trap," he remarked. "So you were up and in the halls?"
"I was up," I acknowledged, "and in the halls. May I ask where you were?"
He paid no heed to the last sentence. "This complicates matters," said he, "and yet perhaps it is as well. I understand you now, and in a few minutes you will understand me. You thought it was Silly Rufus who was buried last night. That was rather an awful thought, Miss Butterworth. I wonder, with that in your mind, you look as well as you do this morning, madam. Truly you are a wonderful woman--a very wonderful woman."