CHAPTER XII
Mr. Lewis S. Palmer was sitting at his table in the sitting-room of the quiet, modest little suite he had taken at the Carlton Hotel, and was studying with some minuteness a large ordnance map of Worcestershire. He had some dozen of the sheets arranged in front of him, and the Molesworth estate, which he had been down to see only the day before, occupied a considerable portion of the central one of them. By him was seated Bilton, who answered, usually monosyllabically, the questions which Mr. Palmer asked him from time to time. ' Yes ' or ' No ' was generally sufficient; occasionally he thought a moment and then said, ' I don't remember.' Of the answers he received, Lewis Palmer sometimes made a short note.
Finally, he studied the map for a considerable time in silence, and then folded up each sheet separately, and replaced them in the bookstand that stood on the table. Then he read his notes through twice and tore them up.
' Complete the purchase of the Wyfold estate as soon as possible, literally as soon as possible,' he said. ' If you can do it by half-past four this afternoon, let it be done by then, not by five.'
' It's a huge price,' remarked Bilton, ' for half a dozen unproductive farms.'
' It is a necessity,' said the other, ' and a necessity is cheap at any price. But the fact that they ask so much leads me to think they have some kind of inkling as to
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