butler and his wife. They seemed to live in the simplest fashion.”
“There was no servant, then, in the detached house?”
“None, unless the little man with the beard acted as such. He seemed, however, to be quite a superior person.”
“That seems very suggestive. Had you any indication that food was conveyed from the one house to the other?”
“Now that you mention it, I did see old Ralph carrying a basket down the garden walk and going in the direction of this house. The idea of food did not occur to me at the moment.”
“Did you make any local inquiries?”
“Yes, I did. I spoke to the station-master and also to the innkeeper in the village. I simply asked if they knew anything of my old comrade, Godfrey Emsworth. Both of them assured me that he had gone for a voyage round the world. He had come home and then had almost at once started off again. The story was evidently universally accepted.”
“You said nothing of your suspicions?”
“Nothing.”
“That was very wise. The matter should certainly be inquired into. I will go back with you to Tuxbury Old Park.”:
“To-day?”
It happened that at the moment I was clearing up the case which my friend Watson has described as that of the Abbey School, in which the Duke of Greyminster was so deeply involved. I had also a commission
