from the cards altogether."

"Is he an elderly man?" Mark asked.

"Lor', no, sir; under thirty, I should say. He is a free handed sort of
chap, and though he aint particular about his eating, he likes a bottle
of good wine, the old woman says, even if it is only with a chop. He
never rides past here and I happen to be outside without tossing me a
shilling to drink his health."

Mark went into the house and ordered lunch. It would not have done to
have asked any more questions or to have shown any special interest in
the matter, but he felt so excited that he could not have avoided doing
so had he waited longer with the ostler. After he had finished his meal
he strolled out again into the stable yard.

"Well," he said to the ostler, "can't you put me up to another good
thing, just as you told that gentleman you were speaking to me about?"

"There are two or three places that I know of that might suit you, sir.
There is a house on the hill. I know that it has got a paddock, but I
don't know how big it is; it is in general known as Hawleys--that is the
name of the last people who lived there. Anyone will tell you which is
the house. Then there is another place. You turn to the right the third
turning on the hill; it stands by itself two or three hundred yards
down; it has got a goodish bit of ground. There is only one house beyond
it; that is the one where my mother lives. That was an old farm once,
but this was built later. I believe the ground belonged to the farm. You
will know it by a big tree in front of it; it stands back forty feet or
so from the road."

"Where does the road lead to?"

"Well, sir, it aint much of a road beyond the next house; it is only
a lane, but you can get through that way into the main road, through
Tooting down into Balham, and on to Wimbledon."

"'I think I will go and have a look at both those places," Mark said.

"Will you take your horse, sir?"

"No; I suppose it is not much above half a mile?"

"About that, sir."

"Then I will walk; I shall not be likely to find anyone to hold my horse
there."

Mark had no difficulty in finding the house. It looked as if it had been
untenanted for some time, and in the window was a notice that for keys
and information applications were to be made at a shop in the High
Street. Well pleased to find that there was no one in the house, Mark
entered the gate and passed round into what at one time had been a
kitchen garden behind it; at the bot