Newhaven route is not very popular with people of your means."
"Quite so. As a matter of fact, I had no intention of taking it, but I missed the Calais train."
"I see," Griggs nodded his head as if the explanation fully satisfied him. "Would you mind, my lord," he continued after a brief pause, "if, now that we are on the subject, I asked you a few questions? There are several points which are bothering me. Of course, don't answer, if you had rather not."
"You mean if my answers are likely to incriminate me. Well, I don't think they will, so fire ahead," drawled Cyril, trying to express by his manner a slight weariness of the topic.
"Thank you, my lord." Griggs looked a trifle abashed, but he persisted. "I have been wondering how it was that you met her Ladyship in Newhaven, if you had no previous intention of taking that route?"
Cyril was ready with his answer.
"It was quite accidental. The fact is, her Ladyship escaped from an asylum near Fontainebleau over a fortnight ago. I scoured France for her but finally gave up the search, and leaving the French detectives to follow up any clue that might turn up, I decided almost on the spur of the moment to run over to England. I was never more astonished than when I found her on the train."
"Why had she gone to Newhaven?" asked Griggs.
"I have no idea."
"Nor how long she stayed there?"
"No. She was rather excited and I asked no questions."
"Had she ever before visited Newhaven to your knowledge?"
"Never."
"Then she did not know the late Lord Wilmersley?"
"No."
"Was there any reason for this?" inquired the detective, looking keenly at Cyril.
"I was never very friendly with my cousin, and we sailed for South Africa immediately after our marriage. Neither of us has been home since then."
"I must find out where she spent the night of the murder," murmured the Inspector. He seemed to have forgotten Cyril's presence.
"If you think her Ladyship had anything to do with the tragedy, I assure you, you are on the wrong track," cried Cyril, forgetting for a moment his pose of polite aloofness. "She has never been at all violent. It is chiefly her memory that is affected. Until the last few days what she did one minute, she forgot the next."
"You think, therefore, that she would not be able to tell me how she spent her time in Newhaven?"
"I am sure of it."
"That is most unfortunate! By the way, how has she taken the news of Lord Wilmersley's murder?"
"She has not been told of it. She does not even know that he is dead."
"Ah!"
"I see I must explain her case more fully, so that you may be able to understand my position. Her Ladyship's mind became affected about six months ago, owing to causes into which I need not enter now. Since her arrival in England her improvement has been very rapid. Her memory is growing 

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