"We don't know that, sir. Jane says she did not hear the bell."
"Mrs. Jasher might have let the man in, whomsoever he was,
secretly."
"Why should she, sir?"
"Ah! now you are asking more than I can tell you. Only Mrs.
Jasher can explain, and it seems to me that she will die."
Meanwhile, in some mysterious way the news of the crime had
spread through the village, and although it was growing late--
for it was past ten o'clock--a dozen or so of villagers came
along. Also there arrived a number of soldiers under a smart
sergeant, and to him Sir Frank explained what had happened. In
the fainthearted way--for the mist was now like cotton-wool--
the military and the civilians hunted through the marshes round
the cottage, hoping to come across the assassin hiding in a
ditch. Needless to say, they found no one and nothing, for it
was worse than looking for a needle in a bundle of hay. The man
had come out of the mist, and, after executing the deed, had
vanished into the mist, and there was not the very slightest
chance of finding him. Gradually, as it drew towards midnight,
the soldiers went back to the Fort, and the villagers to their
homes. But, along with the doctor and the constable, Hope and
his military friend stopped on.
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