“Silly old ass.”

“That’s what you always say when I’m being serious.  Well, anyway, thanks awfully.  You really saved us this time.”

“Were you coming back?”

“Yes.  At least I think I was.  I was just wondering when I heard you tapping.  The fact of the door being shut was rather surprising.  Of course the whole idea was to see if it could be opened easily from the other side, but I felt somehow that you wouldn’t shut it until the last possible moment—­until you saw me coming back.  Well, then I heard the taps, and I knew it must mean something, so I sat tight.  Then when C began to come along I said, ’Cayley, b’Jove’—­bright, aren’t I?—­and I simply hared to the other end of the passage for all I was worth.  And hared back again.  Because I thought you might be getting rather involved in explanations—­about where I was, and so on.”

“You didn’t see Mark, then?”

“No.  Nor his—­No, I didn’t see anything.”

“Nor what?”

Antony was silent for a moment.

“I didn’t see anything, Bill.  Or rather, I did see something; I saw a door in the wall, a cupboard.  And it’s locked.  So if there’s anything we want to find, that’s where it is.”

“Could Mark be hiding there?”

“I called through the keyhole in a whisper ‘Mark, are you there?’ he would have thought it was Cayley.  There was no answer.

“Well, let’s go down and try again.  We might be able to get the door open.”

Antony shook his head.

“Aren’t I going at all?” said Bill in great disappointment.

When Antony spoke, it was to ask another question: 

“Can Cayley drive a car?”

“Yes, of course.  Why?”

“Then he might easily drop the chauffeur at his lodge and go off to Stanton, or wherever he wanted to, on his own?”

“I suppose so if he wanted to.”

“Yes.”  Antony got up.  “Well, look here, as we said we were going into the village, and as we promised to leave that letter, I almost think we’d better do it.”

“Oh! ....  Oh, very well.”

“Jallands.  What were you telling me about that?  Oh, yes; the Widow Norbury.”

“That’s right.  Cayley used to be rather keen on the daughter.  The letter’s for her.”

“Yes; well, let’s take it.  Just to be on the safe side.”

“Am I going to be done out of that secret passage altogether?” asked Bill fretfully.

“There’s nothing to see, really, I promise you.”

“You’re very mysterious.  What’s upset you?  You did see something down there, I’m certain of it.”

“I did and I’ve told you about it.”

“No, you haven’t.  You only told me about the door in the wall.”

“That’s it, Bill.  And it’s locked.  And I’m frightened of what’s behind it.”

“But then we shall never know what’s there if we aren’t going to look.”