a
cup of tea each, about half-past five the four of them got into the
car in which Winton had arrived and drove away in the direction of
Grantham. Winton gave me a sovereign for myself--an unusually generous
gift, I can assure you, sir," he laughed.

"And now what is your own opinion concerning them?" I asked.

"Why, there can only be one opinion, sir--that they are wrong 'uns. I
felt half a mind to tell Mr. Pearson, the police-constable who lives
across in Water Lane, but I didn't like to without consulting
somebody. And I didn't want to wake up the manageress."

"Ah! and it may now be too late, Cross," said the lady in question,
who had been standing by all the time. Then, addressing me, she said--

"The whole affair seemed most mysterious, sir, therefore I went round
and saw the inspector of police this morning, and told him briefly of
our strange visitors. I'm rather glad they're gone, for one never
likes unpleasantness in a hotel. Yet, of course, the fault cannot be
that of the hotel-keeper if he takes in an undesirable."

"Of course not. But what view did the inspector hold?"

"Inspector Deane merely expressed the opinion that they were
suspicious persons--that's all."

"So they seem to have been," I remarked, without satisfying her as to
who I really was. My story there was that I had business relations
with Mr. Lewis, and had followed him there in the hope of catching him
up.

We were in the manageress's room, a cosy apartment in the back of the
quaint old hostelry, when a waitress came and announced Inspector
Deane. The official was at once shown in, whereupon he said abruptly--

"The truth is out, Miss Hammond, regarding your strange visitors of
last night." And he glanced inquiringly at myself.

"You can speak openly before this gentleman," she said, noticing his
hesitation.

"The fact is, a circular-telegram has just been sent out from Scotland
Yard, saying that by the express from Edinburgh due at King's Cross at
10.45 last night the Archduchess Marie Louise, niece of the Emperor
Francis Joseph of Austria, was a passenger. She had been staying at
Balmoral, and travelled south in a special saloon. When the luggage
came to be collected a dressing-case was missing--it evidently having
been stolen in transit by somebody who had obtained access to the
saloon while on the journey. The corridor was open between York and
London, so that the restaurant could be reached, and it is believed
that the thie