"He took me in," replied the butler.

"You mean that you took him in," replied the inspector, with a pleasant
laugh at his own witticism.

"No, sir, I didn't take him in," declared the butler. He had not joined
in the laugh at the inspector's joke.

"Get away with you," said Inspector Chippenfield. "You don't expect me to
believe that you told him you were an ex-convict? You must have used
forged references."

"No, sir. He knew I was a--" Hill hesitated at referring to himself as
an ex-convict, though he had not shrunk from the description by Inspector
Chippenfield. "He knew that I had been in trouble. In fact, sir, if you
remember, I was tried before him."

"The devil you were!" exclaimed Inspector Chippenfield, in astonishment.
"And he took you into his service after you had served your sentence. He
must have been mad. How did you manage it?"

"After I came out I found it hard to get a place," said Hill, "and when
Sir Horace's butler died I wrote to him and asked if he would give me a
chance. I had a wife and child, sir, and they had a hard struggle while I
was in prison. My wife had a shop, but she sold it to find money for my
defence. Sir Horace told me to call on him, and after thinking it over he
decided to engage me. He was a good master to me."

"And how did you repay him," exclaimed Inspector Chippenfield sternly,
"by murdering him?"