The constable did arrest Sebastian. I do not think the man would have dared had he confronted Sebastian alone. But in the stable yard, among the group of stable hands who did not much like Sebastian anyway, the constable lifted his chin and told the Romany to come with him.

Sebastian, for the first time since I'd met him, raised his voice. "No. I did not do this."

"Now then," the constable replied, a bit nervously. "Enough of that. Come with me."

A look of abject panic spread over Sebastian's swarthy face. He tried to run. The stable hands caught him. Bartholomew started forward to help the stable hands seize Sebastian, but I grabbed his coat and hauled him back.

"No," I said. "Something is not right."

Bartholomew looked at me in amazement. "But he's Romany, sir. They're liars and thieves, everyone knows it."

"That may be. But I do not think Sebastian killed Middleton."

"No, sir?"

"Why should he?" I asked impatiently. "Middleton showed kindness, and, I must say, good sense, in hiring him. Not many would hire one of the Roma."

Bartholomew wrinkled his brow, trying to resolve my words with his prejudices.

"I cannot say why I think so," I said. "Perhaps I am foolish, perhaps I like Sebastian because the horses like him, I do not know. But Middleton being Denis' man puts a different complexion on things."

Bartholomew nodded, somewhat dubiously.

Sebastian struggled, but he could not break free. He sent me a look of frozen terror. The appeal in his eyes moved me. I knew that if I tried to help him, I would set myself squarely against Rutledge, but at this point, I cared nothing for that.

Rutledge expected me to take up my duties as usual that day, just as he expected the tutors to continue with their lectures. A corpse in the canal should not, to his mind, interfere with the smooth running of the school.