of
all his predisposition to malignity was unable to find any grounds for
suspecting Dr Pendle to be in any serious trouble. At the end of an hour
he found himself as ignorant as ever, and made only one discovery of any
note, which was that the bishop had taken his cheque-book with him to
London.

To many people this would have seemed a natural circumstance, as most
men with banking accounts take their cheque-books with them when going
on a journey. But Cargrim knew that the bishop usually preferred to
fill his pockets with loose cash when absent for a short time, and this
deviation from his ordinary habits appeared to be suspicious.

'Hum!' thought the chaplain, rubbing his chin, 'I wonder if that
so-called clergyman wanted money. If he had wished for a small sum, the
bishop could easily have given it to him out of the cash-box. Going by
this reasoning, he must have wanted a lot of money, which argues
blackmail. Hum! Has he taken both cheque-books, or only one?'

The reason of this last query was that Bishop Pendle had accounts in two
different banks. One in Beorminster, as became the bishop of the See,
the other in London, in accordance with the dignity of a spiritual lord
of Parliament. A further search showed Mr Cargrim that the Beorminster
cheque-book had been left behind.

'Hum!' said the chaplain again, 'that man must have gone back to London.
Dr Pendle is going to meet him there and draw money from his Town bank
to pay what he demands. I'll have a look at the butts of that
cheque-book when it comes back; the amount of the cheque may prove much.
I may even find out the name of this stranger.'

But all this, as Cargrim very well knew, was pure theory. The bishop
might have taken his cheque-book to London for other reasons than paying
blackmail to the stranger, for it was not even certain that there was
any such extortion in the question. Dr Pendle was worried, it was true,
and after the departure of his strange visitor he had been taken ill,
but these facts proved nothing; and after twisting and turning them in
every way, and connecting and disconnecting them with the absence of the
London cheque-book, Mr Cargrim was forced to acknowledge that he was
beaten for the time being. Then he fancied he might extract some
information from Gabriel relative to his father's departure for London,
for Mr Cargrim was too astute to believe in the 'consulting a
specialist' excuse. Still, this might serve as a peg whereon to