of course, but the detective did not disguise from himself that the prisoner's detention would probably be short, and his punishment, if any, trifling. It is not every murderer who can put the murdered man in the witness-box to give him a testimonial.
"It's a strange case," said Byrne, as the detective and the others hastened along the cliff path towards the town.
"It is," said Father Brown. "It's no business of ours; but I wish you'd stop with me and talk it over."
There was a silence and then Byrne complied by saying suddenly: "I suppose you were thinking of Horne already, when you said somebody wasn't telling all he knew."
"When I said that," replied his friend, "I was thinking of the exceedingly silent Mr. Potter, the secretary of the no longer late or (shall we say) lamented Mr. Gideon Wise."
"Well, the only time Potter ever spoke to me I thought he was a lunatic," said Byrne, staring, "but I never thought of his being a criminal. He said something about it all having to do with an ice-box."
"Yes, I thought he knew something about it," said Father Brown reflectively. "I never said he had anything to do with it. . . . I suppose old Wise really is strong enough to have climbed out of that chasm."
"What do you mean?" asked the astonished
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