and his eyebrows lifted. Turning, he regarded Markham with a look of mild incredulity.
"I say! Do you really mean to tell me that your statement for the press was given out in good faith?"
Markham looked up in surprise.
"Certainly it was. . . . What do you mean by 'good faith'?"
Vance smiled indolently.
"I rather thought, don't y' know, that your oration to the reporters was a bit of strategy to lull the real culprit into a state of false security, and to give you a clear field for investigation."
Markham contemplated him a moment.
"See here, Vance," he demanded irritably, "what are you driving at?"
"Nothing at all—really, old fellow," the other assured him affably. "I knew that Heath was deadly sincere about his belief in Skeel's guilt, but it never occurred to me, d' ye see, that you yourself actually regarded the crime as one committed by a professional burglar. I foolishly thought that you let Skeel go this morning in the hope that he would lead you somehow to the guilty person. I rather imagined you were spoofing the trusting Sergeant by pretending to fall in with his silly notion."
"Ah, I see! Still clinging to your weird theory that a brace of villains were present, hiding in separate clothes-closets, or something of the kind." Markham made no attempt to temper his sarcasm. "A sapient idea—so much more intelligent than Heath's!"
"I know it's weird. But it happens not to be any weirder than your theory of a lone yeggman."
"And for what reason, pray," persisted Markham,
