," said Crewe, continuing
his story. "If that proved to be the case, and if evidence could be
obtained on which to justify the conclusion that these two old friends
had had a deadly quarrel, the circumstantial evidence against Holymead as
the man who killed your father was very strong. I may say that before I
went to Scotland I came across evidence of the estrangement of Holymead
and his wife. Do you remember when you and Mrs. Holymead were leaving the
court after the inquest that Mr. Holymead came up and spoke to you? He
shook hands with you and was on the point of shaking hands with his wife
as if she were a lady he had met casually. Then, on the night of the
murder, the taxi-cab driver at Hyde Park Corner drove him to his house at
Princes Gate, but was ordered to drive back and take him to Verney's
Hotel. All this was interesting to me--doubly interesting in the light of
the fact that Sir Horace had known Mrs. Holymead before her second
marriage, and had paid her every attention.

"I went to Scotland and made inquiries at Craigleith Hall, where Sir
Horace had been shooting. My object was to endeavour to obtain a clue to
the reason for his sudden journey to London. The local police had made
inquiries on this point on behalf of Scotland Yard, and had been unable
to obtain any clue. No telegram had been received by Sir Horace, and he
had sent none. Of course he had received some letters. He had told none
of the other members of the shooting party the object of his departure
for London, but he had declared his intention of being back with them in
less than a week. It had occurred to me when the crime was discovered
that his missing pocket-book might not have been stolen by his murderer,
but might have been lost in Scotland. I made inquiries in that direction
and eventually found that the man who had attended to Sir Horace on the
moors had the pocket-book. His story was that Sir Horace had lost it the
day before his departure for London. He had taken off his coat owing to
the heat on the moor, and the pocket-book had dropped out. He
ascertained his loss before he left for London, and told this man
Sanders where he thought the pocket-book had dropped out. Sanders was to
look for it, and if he found it was to keep it until Sir Horace came
back. He did find it, and after learning of your father's death was
tempted to keep it, as it contained four five-pound notes. Sanders is an
ignorant man, and can scarcely read. He professe