"I thought you were Mr. Ladley."
He helped me up, and I sat in a chair and tried to keep my lips from
shaking. And then I saw that Mr. Holcombe had brought a suit case with
him, and had set it inside the door.
"Ladley is safe, until he gets bail, anyhow," he said. "They picked
him up as he was boarding a Pennsylvania train bound east."
"For murder?" I asked.
"As a suspicious character," he replied grimly. "That does as well
as anything for a time." He sat down opposite me, and looked at me
intently.
"Mrs. Pitman," he said, "did you ever hear the story of the horse that
wandered out of a village and could not be found?"
I shook my head.
"Well, the best wit of the village failed to locate the horse. But one
day the village idiot walked into town, leading the missing animal by
the bridle. When they asked him how he had done it, he said: 'Well,
I just thought what I'd do if I was a horse, and then I went and did
it.'"
"I see," I said, humoring him.
"You _don't_ see. Now, what are we trying to do?"
"We're trying to find a body.
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