that you could perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not think you a quite exceptional woman.”
“I will try. What is it?”
“We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o’clock, my friend and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate matters immensely.”
“I will do it.”
“Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of course there is only one feasible explanation.
You have been brought there to personate someone, and the real person is imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious.
As to who this prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice Rucastle,