ave discovered--something?" asked the Earl anxiously.

"Up to now," replied Gabriel, "we have kept things to ourselves. But we
don't mind giving your lordship a little--just a little--information.
There is no doubt that Horbury had, for some time past, engaged in
speculation in stocks and shares--none whatever!"

"To a considerable extent," added Joseph.

"And--unsuccessfully?" inquired the Earl.

"We are not yet quite sure of the details," answered Gabriel. "The mere
fact is enough. Of course, no man in his position has any right to
speculate. Had we known that he speculated----"

"He would have been discharged from our service," said Joseph. "No
banker can retain the services of a manager who--gambles."

The Earl began to feel almost as uncomfortable as if these two men were
charging him with improper transactions. He was a man of simple mind and
ideas, and he supposed the Chestermarkes knew what they were talking
about.

"Then you think that this sudden disappearance----" he said.

"In the history of banking--unwritten, possibly," remarked Joseph,
"there are many similar instances. No end of them, most likely. Bank
managers enjoy vast opportunities of stealing, my lord! And the man who
is best trusted has more opportunities than the man who's watched. We
never suspected--and so we never watched."

"You have heard of the stranger who came to the town on Saturday night,
and is believed to have telephoned from the Station Hotel to Horbury?"
asked the Earl. "What of him?"

"We have heard," answered Gabriel. "We don't know any more. We don't
know any such person--from the description. But we have no doubt he did
meet Horbury--and that his visit had something--probably everything--to
do with Horbury's disappearance."

"But how could he disappear?" asked the Earl. "I mean to say--how could
such a well-known man disappear so completely, without anybody knowing
of it? It seems impossible!"

"If your lordship will think for a moment," said Joseph, "you will see
that it is not merely not impossible, but very easy. Horbury was a great
pedestrian--he used to boast of his thirty and forty mile walks. Now we
are well within twenty miles of Ecclesborough. Ecclesborough is a very
big town. What was there to prevent Horbury, during Saturday night, from
walking across country to Ecclesborough? Nothing! If, after interviewing
that strange man, he decided to clear out at once, he'd nothing to do
but set off--over a very lon