But Bobby understood that he would agree, and he forced his new courage to face the prospect.

“Maybe something will turn up,” Robinson mused.  “The case can’t grow more mysterious indefinitely.”

But his tone held no assurance.  He seemed to foresee new and difficult complications.

When they returned to the hall Bobby shrank from the picture of his grandfather still crouched by the fire, his shoulders twitching, his fingers about the black briar pipe shaking.  Groom alone had remained with him.  Bobby opened the front door.  There was no one in the court.

“Paredes,” he said, closing the door, “has gone out of the court.  Where’s Katherine, Doctor?”

“She went to the kitchen,” the doctor rumbled.  “I’m sure I don’t know what for this time of night.”

After a little Graham and Rawlins came down the stairs.  Graham’s face was scarred by fresh trouble.  Rawlins drew the district attorney to one side.

“What have you two been doing up there?” Bobby asked Graham.

“Rawlins is hard-headed,” Graham answered in a low, worried tone.

He wouldn’t meet Bobby’s eyes.  He seemed to seek an escape.

“Where’s Katherine?” he asked.

“Doctor Groom says she went to the back part of the house.  Why won’t you tell me what you were doing?”

“Only keeping Rawlins from trying to make more mischief,” Graham answered.

He wouldn’t explain.

“Aren’t there enough riddles in this house?” Doctor Groom asked with frank disapproval.

Rawlins and Robinson joined them, sparing Graham a further defence.  The district attorney had an air of fresh resolution.  He was about to speak when the front door opened quietly, framing the blackness of the court.  They started forward, seeing no one.

Silas Blackburn made a slow, shrinking movement, crying out: 

“They’ve opened the door!  Don’t let them in.  Don’t let them come near me again.”

Although they knew Paredes had been in the court the spell of the Cedars was so heavy upon them that for a moment they didn’t know what to expect.  They hesitated with a little of the abnormal apprehension Silas Blackburn exposed.  Then Rawlins sprang forward, and Bobby called: 

“Carlos!”

Paredes stepped from one side.  He lingered against the black background of the doorway.  It was plain enough something was wrong with him.  In the first place, although he had opened the door, he had been unwilling to enter.

“Shut the door,” Silas Blackburn moaned.

Paredes, with a quick gesture of surrender, stepped in and obeyed.  His face was white.  He had lost his immaculate appearance.  His clothing showed stains of snow and mould.  He held his left hand behind his back.

“What’s the matter with you?” Robinson demanded.

The Panamanian’s laugh lacked its usual indifference.

“When I said the Cedars was full of ghosts I should have heeded my own warning.  I might better have stayed comfortably locked up in Smithtown.”