a shrug of the shoulders. "And-- I say, Cyril. Your man
Jarvis seems to have trotters, too. What size are his boots now, I
wonder?"

Cyril's eyes flew wide.

"You must have made a mistake," he said in a surprised voice. "For
Jarvis's feet are awfully small. Eights, I believe. Anyway, I can't get
'em on because I tried once. Stole his dress clothes and dressed up in
'em. But the mater was furious! Hello! there's the tea-gong. I must be
off!"

Then he went off forthwith. Meanwhile Cleek, with his finger upon his
chin, stood stock-still in the middle of the hallway and pinched up his
brows.

"Now, why the dickens did she lie to me--unless she wanted to shield her
precious brother?" he said ruminatively. "And why in heaven's name are
they all so anxious to pervert Justice and to deny truth?"

But there was no one to give him any answer to that most difficult
question, and he had perforce to possess his soul in patience for the
present.

CHAPTER XIX

DOLLOPS MAKES A DISCOVERY

The rest of the day passed comparatively uneventfully for all those
concerned in the drama of a night's doings, and save for a searching
scrutiny of the library by Cleek, carried out under the noses of the
village policeman, with Inspector Campbell very much to the fore as
being in command of the local constabulary and anxious to make a good
impression upon the Yard's Superintendent (with an eye to future
promotion), and the discovery of one or two minor details which had
passed even his searching eye before, Cleek's time hung fairly heavily
upon his hands.

Dollops, keen as mustard upon any task which involved the imagination of
his beloved master, spent the rest of the afternoon and a goodly part of
the long twilight in scampering over the countryside in pursuit of
various "facts," by the aid of a borrowed bicycle, which Mr. Fairnish
had charged him seven-and-sixpence for in advance, being obviously
doubtful as to whether the young man would return it or not, for
Dollop's Cockney countenance was not one to breed immediate trust on
sight.

His efforts in this direction proved fairly fruitful, for after having
scraped acquaintance with one of the grooms at Captain Macdonald's
stables--the worthy Captain meanwhile champing furiously at the "bit"
which kept him tethered to his present quarters for another night, when
there were other affairs at his own place that wanted looking into--and
in his own inimitable fashion managing to w