armaduke,' John
Cockshaw said. 'We are acting upon a sworn information to that
effect.'

"Sir Marmaduke was angry, now.

"'I can guess the name of the dog who signed it,' he said, 'and,
kinsman though he is by marriage, I will force the lie down his
throat.'

"Then he cooled down again.

"'Well, gentlemen, you have to do your duty. What do you desire
next?'

"'Our duty is, next, to search the house, for any treasonable
documents that may be concealed here.'

"'Search away, gentlemen,' Sir Marmaduke said, seating himself in
one of the settles. 'The house is open to you. My butler, James
Banks, will go round with you, and will open for you any cupboard
or chest that may be locked.'

"The magistrates nodded to the four soldiers. Two of them took
their post near the chair, one at the outside door, and one at the
other end of the room. Sir Marmaduke said nothing, but shrugged his
shoulders, and then began to play with the ears of the little
spaniel, Fido, that had jumped up on his knees.

"'We will first go into the study,' John Cockshaw said; and I led
them there.

"They went straight to the cabinet with the pull-down desk, where
Sir Marmaduke writes when he does write, which is not often. It was
locked, and I went to Sir Marmaduke for the key.

"'You will find it in that French vase on the mantel,' he said. 'I
don't open the desk once in three months, and should lose the key,
if I carried it with me.'

"I went to the mantel, turned the vase over, and the key dropped
out.

"'Sir Marmaduke has nothing to hide, gentlemen,' I said, 'so, you
see, he keeps the key here.'

"I went to the cabinet, and put the key in. As I did so I said:

"'Look, gentlemen, someone has opened, or tried to open, this desk.
Here is a mark, as if a knife had been thrust in to shoot the
bolt.'

"They looked where I pointed, and William Peters said to Cockshaw,
'It is as the man says. Someone has been trying to force the
lock--one of the varlets, probably, who thought the knight might
keep his money here.'

"'It can be of no importance, one way or the other,' Cockshaw said
roughly.

"'Probably not, Mr. Cockshaw, but, at the same time I will make a
note of it.'

"I turned the key, and pulled down the door that makes a desk. They
seemed to know all about it, for, without looking at the papers in
the pigeonholes, they pulled open the lower drawer, and took two
foreign-looking letters out from it. I will do them the justice to