"Old Mr. Clive was killed, was he?" asked Dunn, and his voice
sounded very strange in the darkness. "How was that?"

"Accident to his motor-car," the other replied. "I don't hold with
them things myself--give me a good horse, I say. People didn't
like the old man much, and some say Mr. John's too fond of taking
the high hand. But don't cross him and he won't cross you, that's
his motto and there's worse."

Dunn agreed and asked one or two more questions about the details
of the accident to old Mr. Clive, in which he seemed very interested.

But he did not get much more information about that concerning which
his new friend evidently knew very little. However, he gave Dunn a
few more facts concerning Mr. John Clive, as that he was unmarried,
was said to be very wealthy, and had the reputation of being
something of a ladies' man.

A little further on they parted, and Dunn took a side road which he
calculated should lead him back to Bittermeads.

"It may be pure coincidence," he mused as he walked slowly in a very
troubled and doubtful mood. "But if so, it's a very queer one, and
if it isn't, it seems to me Mr. John Clive might as well put his
head in a lion's jaws as pay visits at Bittermeads. But of course
he can't have the least suspicion of the truth--if it is the truth.
If I hadn't lost my temper like a fool when he whacked out at me
like that I might have been able to warn him, or find out something
useful perhaps. And his father killed recently in an accident--is
that a coincidence, too, I wonder?"