any one?"

He seemed to hang on the lawyer's answer, and Simon to dislike making
the answer.

Yet when he did make it, it was quite emphatic.

"No," he replied.

"That's all right then," said Mr. Carrington with his brightest smile.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Rattar."

The smile faded from his ingenuous face the moment the door had closed
behind him, and it was a very thoughtful Mr. Carrington who slowly went
downstairs and strolled along the pavement. If his morning's interview
had puzzled him, his afternoon's interview seemed to have baffled him
completely. He even forgot to relapse into the thoughtless young
sportsman when he entered the hotel, and his friend the manageress,
after eyeing him with great surprise, cried archly:

"A penny for your thoughts, Mr. Carrington! About shooting or fishing,
I'm sure!"

Mr. Carrington recovered his pleasant spirits instantly.

"Quite right," said he. "I was thinking about fishing--in very deep
waters."

XXIV

MR. BISSET'S ASSISTANT

At eleven o'clock next morning a motor car drove up to Keldale House and
an exceedingly affable and pleasing stranger delivered a note from Mr.
Simon Rattar to Mr. James Bisset. Even without an introduction, Mr.
Carrington would have been welcome, for though Mr. Bisset's sway over
Keldale House was by this time almost despotic, he had begun to find
that despotism has its lonely side, and to miss "the gentry." With an
introduction, Mr. Carrington quickly discovered that Mr. Bisset and the
mansion he supervised were alike entirely at his disposal.

The preliminary discussion on the sporting possibilities of the estate
and the probability of its being let next season impressed Mr. Bisset
very favourably indeed with his visitor; and then when the conversation
had passed very naturally to the late tragedy in the house, he was still
further delighted to find that Mr. Carrington not only shared his own
detective enthusiasm, but was vastly interested in his views on this
particular mystery.

"Come along here, sir," said he, "we can just have a look at the
library and I'll explain to you the principles of the thing."

"I'd like to see the actual scene of the crime immensely!" cried Mr.
Carrington eagerly. "You are sure that Lady Cromarty won't object?"

"Not her," said Bisset. "She's never in this part of the house now.
She'll be none the wiser anyhow."

This argument seemed to assure Mr. Carrington completely, and they went
along to