‘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 reporter. ‘Why, of course he got out of that chasm; for there he is.’
The priest did not answer the question but asked abruptly:
‘What do you think of Horne?’
‘Well, one can’t call him a criminal exactly,’ answered Byrne. ‘He never was at all like any criminal I ever knew, and I’ve had some experience; and, of course, Nares has had much more. I
