Superintendent Fowler was there, and quite a number of policemen, whose presence was explained when a buzz of excitement heralded Grant's arrival.

He decided not to stand this sort of persecution a moment longer.
Before the superintendent could interfere, he leaped on to a set of stone mounting-steps which stood opposite the door.

Instantly, seeing that he was about to speak, the angry murmuring of the mob was hushed.

He looked into a hundred stolid faces, and stretched out his right hand.
"I cannot help feeling," he said, in slow, incisive accents which carried far, "that a set of peculiar circumstances has led you Steynholme folk to suspect me of being responsible, in some way, for the death of the lady whose body was found in the river near my house.

Now, I want to tell you that I am not only an innocent but a much-maligned man.