The next day comes, but Tointon sends the narrator a note asking him to delay their meeting until late that evening. While waiting, the narrator questions Dufirst, the tank-keeper, a bearded black man whom he considers "an ugly little beast." In Dufirst's cottage the narrator discovers the first strangled man's missing watch and watch chain. The narrator summons the nearby police inspector and has Dufirst arrested. Later that evening we learn that the doctor is still out of town and has become seriously ill.