I followed with the intention of overtaking you, but I got lost on the moors instead, and was wandering about in the blackness for nearly half an hour before I found my way back to Flint House again." "Could you not tell them--the police--that ?" she asked, a little wistfully.
"It would be useless," he solemnly replied.
"What do you mean ?" she said breathlessly.
His rejoinder was a long time in coming.

When his set lips moved the words were barely audible.

"Because I would not be believed.

Because I went straight up the path to the house, determined to see your father before it grew later.

The front door was open, and the house seemed in complete darkness.