ll up at the first grocer's shop you see, will you, and buy me a
couple of pounds of the best white flour that's milled; and if you can't
manage to get me either a sieve or a flour dredger, a tin pepper-pot
will do!"

II

It was two o'clock when Sir Henry Wilding's motor turned its back upon
the outskirts of London, and it was a quarter past seven when it whirled
up to the stables of Wilding Hall, and the baronet and his gray-headed,
bespectacled and gray-spatted companion alighted, having taken five
hours and a quarter to make a journey which the trains which run daily
between Liverpool Street and Darsham make in four.

As a matter of fact, however, they really had outstripped the train, but
it had been Cleek's pleasure to make two calls on the way, one at
Saxmundham, where the paralysed Murple lay in the infirmary of the local
practitioner, the other at the mortuary where the body of Tolliver was
retained, awaiting the sitting of the coroner. Both the dead and the
still living man Cleek had subjected to a critical personal examination,
but whether either furnished him with any suggested clue he did not say.
The only remark he made upon the subject was when Sir Henry, on hearing
from Murple's wife that the doctor had said he would probably not last
the week out, had inquired if the woman knew where to "put her hand on
the receipt for the payment of the last premium, so that her claim
could be sent in to the life assurance company without delay when the
end came."

"Tell me something, Sir Henry," said Cleek, when he heard that, and
noticed how gratefully the woman looked at the baronet when she replied,
"Yes, Sir Henry, God bless you, sir!" "Tell me, if it is not an
impertinent question, did you take out an insurance policy on Murple's
life and pay the premium on it yourself? I gathered the idea that you
did from the manner in which the woman spoke to you."

"Yes, I did," replied Sir Henry. "As a matter of fact, I take out a
similar policy, payable to the widow, for every married man I employ in
connection with my racing stud."

"May I ask why?"

"Well, for one thing, they usually are too poor and have too many
children to support to be able to take it out for themselves, and
exercising racers has a good many risks. Then, for another thing, I'm a
firm believer in the policy of life assurance. It's just so much money
laid up in safety, and one never knows what may happen."

"Then it is fair," said Cleek, "to