omething up his sleeve. The expression upon his
face was never indicative of what was passing within his mind.

The adjourned inquest was held at last, and again we were both present
at the back of the room. The police practically admitted their inability
to solve the mystery, and after a long deliberation the twelve tradesmen
returned a verdict of "wilful murder," leaving the constabulary to
further prosecute their inquiries.

Nearly a fortnight had passed since the sturdy North Sea pilot had been
so cruelly done to death, and many were the new theories advanced
nightly in the smoke-room of the "Goat and Binnacle."

I still remained at the "King's Head," but Raymond was often absent for
whole days, and by his manner I knew the spy-seeker to be busy
investigating some theory he had formed.

He had been absent a couple of days, staying over at the "White Hart" at
Burnham-on-Crouch, that place so frequented by boating men in summer,
when one afternoon I ran over to Chelmsford to call upon a man I knew.
It was about ten o'clock at night when I left his house to walk to the
station to catch the last train, when, to my surprise, I saw close to
the Town Hall a smart female figure in a black tailor-made gown and big
black hat, walking before me, accompanied by a tall, thin, rather
well-dressed young man in breeches and gaiters, who seemed to be
something of a dandy.

The girl's back struck me as familiar, and I crossed the road and went
forward so as to get a glance at her face beneath the street-lamp.

Yes, I was not mistaken. It was Vera Vallance! Her companion, however,
was a complete stranger to me--a well-set-up, rather good-looking young
fellow, with a small black moustache, whose age I guessed to be about
twenty-eight or so, and whose dark eyes were peculiarly bright and
vivacious. He walked with swaggering gait, and seemed to be of a
decidedly horsey type.

From their attitude it appeared that they were intimate friends, and as
they walked towards the station, I watched his hand steal into her
astrachan muff.

The incident was certainly puzzling. Was this man Vera's secret lover?
It certainly seemed so.

Therefore, unseen by her, I kept close vigilance upon the pair, watching
them gain the platform where stood the train by which I was to travel
back to Maldon. He entered a first-class carriage, while she remained
upon the platform. Therefore it was evident that she was not
accompanying him.

The train move