"My stepfather--sharp man, that, Bryce!--he'll do things in his own fashion.
You look out for sudden revelations!" "I will," replied Bryce.

"By-bye!" He turned off to his rooms, wondering how much of truth there was in the fatuous Sackville's remarks.

And--was there some mystery still undreamt of by himself and Harker?
There might be--he was still under the influence of Ransford's indignant and dramatic assertion of his innocence.

Would Ransford have allowed himself an outburst of that sort if he had not been, as he said, utterly ignorant of the immediate cause of Braden's death?
Now Bryce, all through, was calculating, for his own purposes, on Ransford's share, full or partial, in that death--if Ransford really knew nothing whatever about it, where did his, Bryce's theory, come in--and how would his present machinations result?
And, more--if Ransford's assertion were true, and if Varner's story of the hand, seen for an instant in the archway, were also true--and Varner was persisting in it--then, who was the man who flung Braden to his death that morning?
He realized that, instead of straightening out, things were becoming more and more complicated.
But he realized something else.

On the surface, there was a strong case of suspicion against Ransford.