“You have known me for years, Winter,” he said, “yet you believe that.  Go to!  You are incorrigible!”

The detective did not trouble to extract the exact meaning from this remark.  He understood that Brett would never think of entering the witness-box.  That was all he wanted to know.

“Are you quite certain,” he asked, with a last tinge of anxiety in his voice, “that Ooma will be arrested to-day?”

“Quite certain, if we can accomplish that highly desirable task.”

Winter pounded the door of the hansom with his clenched fist

“Then it is done!” he cried.  “I’ll truss him up like a fowl.  If he tries any tricks I’ll borrow the leg-chains from Stowmarket police station.”

At Liverpool Street they all made a hasty meal.  They caught the last train from London and passed two weary hours until Stowmarket was reached.

There on the platform stood the station-master.  He approached Brett and whispered: 

“A man who came here by the preceding train told me that you and some other gentlemen might possibly follow on.  He intended to telegraph to you, but he asked me, in case you turned up, to tell you that the Japanese has gone on foot to Beechcroft, and that Mr. Capella has not arrived.”

“Not arrived!” cried Brett.  He turned to Holden.  “Can you have been mistaken?”

Holden shook his head.  “I saw him with my own eyes,” he asseverated, “and to make sure of his destination I asked the ticket examiner where the gentleman in the first smoker was going to.  It was Stowmarket, right enough.”

“There can be no error, sir,” put in the stationmaster.  “Mr. Capella’s valet came by the train, and assured me that he left London with his master.  Besides, the carriage is here from the Hall.  It was ordered by telegraph.  There is the valet himself.  He imagines that Mr. Capella quitted the train on the way, and will arrive by this one.  But there is no sign of him.”

The mention of the carriage brought a look of decision into the barrister’s face.

“One more question,” he said to the official.  “Did you see the person described as the Japanese?”

“Yes, sir, I did.  As a matter of fact, I thought it was somebody else.  It was not until the stranger who arrived by the train used that name to distinguish him that I understood I was mistaken.”

The stationmaster looked into Brett’s eyes that which he did not like to say in the presence of the Frazers.  Of course, he had fallen into the same error as most people who only obtained a casual glimpse of Ooma.

Brett hurried his companions outside the station.  There they found the Beechcroft carriage, and a puzzled valet holding parley with the coachman and footman.  David Hume’s authority was sufficient to secure the use of the vehicle, and Brett made the position easier for the men by saying that, in all probability, they would find fresh instructions awaiting them at the Hall.