only
man who could have done something was your cousin, our late Mayor; and
he's gone! And talking about that, Mr. Brent, there's a matter that I've
been thinking a good deal about lately, and I think it should be put to
Hawthwaite. You know, of course, that your cousin and I were very
friendly--that came out in my evidence when the inquest was first
opened. Well, he used to tell me things about his investigation of these
Corporation finances, and I happen to know that he kept his notes and
figures about them in a certain memorandum book--a thickish one, with a
stout red leather cover--which he always carried about with him. He'd
have it on him, or on his desk in the Mayor's Parlour, when he met his
death, I'm certain! Now then--where is that book?"

"That's highly important!" said Brent. "I never heard of it. It
certainly wasn't on him, and it wasn't on the desk, for I examined that
myself, in company with the police."

"Well, he had such a book, and search should be made for it," remarked
Epplewhite. "If it could have been produced at this inquiry, some good
might have come of it. But, as things are, I see little hope of any
change. Vested interests and old customs aren't upset in a day, Mr.
Brent."

And Brent was soon to discover that both Tansley and Epplewhite were
correct in their prophecies about the investigation which he himself had
so strenuously advocated in his articles. The Local Government Board
inspector came. He sat in the Moot Hall for two days, in public. He
examined the ancient charters and deeds. He questioned the Town
Trustees. He went through the books. He invited criticism and
objections--and got nothing but a general statement of the policy of the
reforming party from Epplewhite, as its leader: that party, said
Epplewhite, objected to the old constitution as being outworn and wished
for a more modern arrangement. Finally, the inspector, referring to the
articles in the _Monitor_ which had led to the holding of the inquiry,
expressed a wish to see and question their writer.

Brent stood up, in the midst of a crowded court, and confessed himself
sole author of the articles in question.

"Why did you write them?" inquired the inspector.

"From a sense of public duty," replied Brent.

"But I understand that you are a stranger, or a comparative stranger, to
the town?" suggested the inspector.

"I am a burgess, a resident, and a property-owner in the town. I took up
this work--which I mean t