and see whether he knows of anything to let.
I gather that he is agent for several estates in the county. What do you
advise?"

Miss Peterkin decidedly advised this course, so a few minutes later Mr.
Carrington strolled off towards the lawyer's office.

XXII

MR. CARRINGTON AND THE FISCAL

The card handed in to Mr. Simon Rattar contained merely the name "Mr. F.
T. Carrington" and the address "Sports Club." Simon gazed at it
cautiously and in silence for the better part of a minute, and when he
glanced up at his head clerk to tell him that Mr. Carrington might be
admitted, Mr. Ison was struck by the curious glint in his eye. It seemed
to him to indicate that the fiscal was very wide awake at that moment;
it struck him also that Mr. Rattar was not altogether surprised by the
appearance of this visitor.

The agreeable stranger began by explaining very frankly that he thought
of renting a place for next season where he could secure good fishing
and a little shooting, and wondered if any of the properties Mr. Rattar
was agent for would suit him. Simon grunted and waited for this overture
to develop.

"What about Keldale House?" the sporting visitor suggested. "That's the
place where the murder was committed, isn't it?" and then he laughed.
"Your eye betrays you, Mr. Rattar!" said he.

The lawyer seemed to start ever so slightly.

"Indeed?" he murmured.

"Look here," said Carrington with a candid smile, "let's put our cards
on the table. You know my business?"

"Are you a detective?" asked the lawyer.

Mr. Carrington smiled and nodded.

"I am; or rather I prefer to call myself a private enquiry agent. People
expect so much of a detective, don't they?"

Simon grunted, but made no other comment.

"In a case like this," continued Carrington, "when one is called in
weeks too late and the household broom and scrubbing brush and garden
rake have removed most of the possible clues, and witnesses'
recollections have developed into picturesque legends, it is better to
rouse as few expectations as possible, since it is probably impossible
to find anything out. However, in the capacity of a mere enquiry agent I
have come to pick up anything I can. May I smoke?"

He asked in his usual easy-going voice and with his usual candid smile,
and then his eye was arrested by an inscription printed in capital
letters, and hung in a handsome frame upon the office wall. It ran:

"MY THREE RULES OF LI