“And now, Jimmie, for the good news.  I have engaged the best detective in this country for you,” and she beckoned to the lawyer to come forward.

“The best detective?”

“Yes.  You need one as well as a lawyer.  They’re going to work together—­aren’t you, Mr. Kenneth?”

“Indeed a detective can help us best at this stage of the game, I think, Mr. Darcy,” was the lawyer’s answer.  “I can look after the court proceedings, when it comes time for them, but what we want most is evidence tending to show that some one else, and not you, committed this crime.”

“As, most assuredly was the case!” and for the first time in days Darcy’s voice had its old ring and vigor in it.

“Of course, Jimmie boy,” murmured Amy.  “Now let me tell you all about it.  They say I can’t stay very long, so I’ll have to talk fast, and you must listen—­mostly.  Now what do you say to—­Colonel Ashley?” and Amy looked triumphantly at her lover.

“Colonel Ashley?”

“Yes.  As the detective who is going to help prove you innocent by discovering the real—­ugh!  I hate to say it—­murderer?”

“Why, Colonel Ashley is one of the greatest detectives in the United States—­at least, he used to be.  He must be pretty old now.”

“I know he is—­but not too old to take hold.  Now when he comes—­”

“But, Amy, my dear!  You can’t get him!  Why, he’s not only one of the highest-priced detectives in the country, but he’s retired I’ve read, and I doubt if he’d take a case—­”

“He’s going to take your case, Jimmie boy!” and Amy smiled.

“But how—­how—­”

“I think we’ll have to give Miss Mason credit for a whole lot in this matter,” broke in Kenneth.  “She surprised me when she told me.  And I want to say that when the colonel gets going we’ll have you out of here in short order, Mr. Darcy!”

“But I don’t understand—­”

“That’s what I came to tell you about, Jimmie boy!  Now just keep quiet and listen!”

Thereupon Amy went on to relate all that had happened when she sought out the fisherman at the trout brook—­how she had been cared for by him and Shag after her faint, and how, after some persuasion, the great detective had agreed to take up the matter of seeking out the real murderer of Mrs. Darcy.

“He came here under a different name,” Amy continued, “for he did not want to be bothered with work.  But Tom—­he’s the little jockey dad got a place for as train-boy—­met him on the express and learned that the colonel was the great detective.  Then Tom came and told me when he read of your—­of your—­”

“Oh, say arrest, Amy!  I’m getting hardened to it by now.”

“Well, then, your—­arrest.  I hate the word!  Tom came and told me and said we must get Colonel Brentnall at once.  That was the name he used, but, now he has consented to take your case, he’s Colonel Ashley again.”