George growled and cursed a bit; Sam’s eyebrows shot up and I began to muse furiously.

‘Bloody bastard,’ said George.

‘How perfectly extraordinary,’ said Sam.

‘What kind of a mask?’ I asked.

The others looked at me, a touch of rebuke in their eyes, as though I had said ‘District Nurse’ in front of the children.

‘One of those joke-shop rubber masks, she thinks. You know, Dracula or the Beast from 5,000 Fathoms.’

‘Just so,’ I said. ‘The Beast.’

‘Aha!’ said Sam. ‘I think I twig. But the sword thing is new, isn’t it?’

‘Yes, but I think it fits.’

‘How?’

‘Not sure enough now, tell you some other time.’

‘Would somebody mind telling me,’ snarled George, ‘what the f–’ he paused, collected himself. ‘Sorry,’ he resumed, ‘I mean, I don’t quite follow you men.’

‘The Beast of Jersey,’ Sam explained. ‘You know, the chap who terrorized the Island for a dozen years; used to creep into children’s rooms, carry them out of the window, do odd things to them in the fields – not always very nasty – then pop them back into their little beds. The police think that there may have been more than a hundred such assaults but naturally most of them were not reported, for reasons which you will, um, appreciate. He used to wear a rubber mask, most of the victims said that he had an odd smell and he wore bizarre clothes, studded with nails. Just before you moved here they caught a chap called Paisnel, who is now serving thirty years, rightly or wrongly.’

‘Shouldn’t like to be him,’ I interjected, ‘convicts are madly sentimental and they do beastly things to offenders against children. Make them sing alto, see what I mean.’

‘Yes. I dare say they do. No experience in that field myself. Take your word for it.’

That was cheaper than Sam’s usual level of badinage; I made a mental note to see that he suffered for it. I’m not a vengeful chap but I can’t allow my friends to make cheap witticisms, can I? It’s a question of the quality of life.

‘What was interesting,’ Sam went on as I chewed my spleen, ‘was that Paisnel kept on saying that it was “all part of something” but he wouldn’t say what and he said that when he was arrested he was on his way to meet “certain people” but he wouldn’t say whom.’

‘Perfectly obvious,’ said George; ‘the beggar was one of these witches or witchmasters. It all comes back to me now. The plumber told me all about it when he came in drunk just after Christmas. Seems it wasn’t this Paisnel fellow at all, all the locals know who it was, including most of the Honorary Police … or did he say that Paisnel was just part of it?’

‘That strain again,’ murmured Sam, ‘it hath a dying fall …’