e intelligent of these two, that Gilbert
addressed himself, beginning of course with the usual question. Did she
know any one, a stranger, sojourning in that neighbourhood called
Holbrook?

The girl shook her head without a moment's hesitation. No, she knew no
one of that name.

"And I suppose all the letters for people in this neighbourhood pass
through your hands?"

"Yes, sir, all of them; I couldn't have failed to notice if there had
been any one of that name."

Gilbert gave a little weary sigh. The information given him by the
landlord of the White Swan had seemed to bring him so very near the
object of his search, and here he was thrown back all at once upon the
wide field of conjecture, not a whit nearer any certain knowledge. It was
true that Crosber was only one among several places within ten miles of
the market-town, and the strangers who had been driven from the White
Swan in March last might have gone to any one of those other localities.
His inquiries were not finished yet, however.

"There is an old house about a mile from here," he said to the girl; "a
house belonging to a farm, in the lane yonder that turns off by the Blue
Boar. Have you any notion to whom it belongs, or who lives there?"

"An old house in that lane across the way?" the girl said, reflecting.
"That's Golder's lane, and leads to Golder's-green. There's not many
houses there; it's rather a lonesome kind of place. Do you mean a big
old-fashioned house standing far back in a garden?"

"Yes; that must be the place I want to know about."

"It must be the Grange, surely. It was a gentleman's house once; but
there's only a bailiff lives there now. The farm belongs to some
gentleman down in Midlandshire, a baronet; I can't call to mind his name
at this moment, though I have heard it often enough. Mr. Carley's
daughter--Carley is the name of the bailiff at the Grange--comes here for
all they want."

Gilbert gave a little start at the name of Midlandshire. Lidford was in
Midlandshire. Was it not likely to be a Midlandshire man who had lent
Marian's husband his house?

"Do you know if these people at the Grange have had any one staying with
them lately--any lodgers?" he asked the girl.

"Yes; they have lodgers pretty well every summer. There were some people
this year, a lady and gentleman; but they never seemed to have any
letters, and I can't tell you their names."

"Are they living there still?"

"I can't tell you that. I used to