chance. He might buy a house here and settle down to-morrow, and we should never recognize or even suspect him. A habit of secrecy and reticence may be all very well so long as a man lives or gets into no trouble, but then it is liable to react against him. Henry has prevented us from knowing how to avenge or to help him.
Meanwhile, the detectives, as their manner is, seem disposed to exhaust whatever material may be at hand, before going on to the region of speculation. In other words, they are aiming to find out what Henry's relations were with the people with whom he was in contact here at home. This list would include practically no one besides John and myself, Tom the groom, and Sinfire. We saw little company during his stay with us, and that only in the most formal way. No one expects, of course, that the inquiry will result in anything; none of the persons named is likely to be seriously suspected of any share in Henry's death; but it is, no doubt, right and proper that the form of investigation should be gone through with. It will leave the field clear for further investigation. John agrees with me in this, and as soon as the idea was suggested to him he expressed himself as anxious to have it carried out. "If I shot him, I want to know it!" he said, with a touch of savage humor. "You're not in it, you know, Frank," he went on: "your gouty toe, that you found such fault with, served you that good turn, at least: so it lies between Tom and me. And, upon my word," he added, after a moment's thought, "either he or I might have done it, so far as opportunity goes! We can't prove an alibi, like the burglars and you!"
I laughed; but the fact is, I felt a little uncomfortable, not so much on John's or Tom's account, as for another reason, of which John as yet knows nothing. He thinks, as everybody else does, that Sinfire was miles away at the fatal moment. But, in truth, no one but she herself knows exactly where she was after twelve o'clock that night. Should this leak out, it might lead to disagreeable complications. Something might be discovered of the reasons she had for hating Henry: indeed, were I to tell all that has come to my knowledge, it might actually endanger her life. People have been hanged on circumstantial evidence no stronger than that. Of course I know, as certainly as I know anything that I cannot prove, that she is utterly incapable of such a deed; but of course also this certainty is based upon my intimate personal knowledge of her character, which would be of no value as evidence in a court of law. If my testimony is called for, I am resolved to profess ignorance of anything but the most external acquaintance with her movements or motives; and for the rest, she is amply able to protect herself, if she chooses.
