e seven shillings for my
trouble and asked me to call upon him again."

"And is that all you have to tell me?" Field asked.

"Everything, Mr. Field," Acton said. "I hope that you will not think
there is anything----"

"Not so far as you are concerned, certainly," Field hastened to say. "I
have only one more question to ask. Try and polish up your memory. Was
there any date inserted in that deed?"

"I can answer that question without the slightest hesitation. There was
no date inserted in the deed."

"'Um. The thing was so unusual that you were quite struck by the fact?"

"Not at all. Dates are never inserted in engrossed deeds. They are left
blank as to the day and the year. You see, there is so much delay in the
law. Sometimes the deeds are not executed for months after they are
signed. If the date was filled in and a delay of two months took place,
a new stamp would have to be purchased, and that means dead loss.
Whereas if the date is not put in till the deed is signed, that expense
is saved."

Field nodded his head in the manner of a man who is getting satisfaction
for his trouble.

"Then the date was no doing of yours," he said. "I fancy I'll run around
and see the young lawyer friend of yours. After that I may have to ask
you to accompany me to town. There is nothing for you to do besides
identifying your own handwriting. Don't go out till I come back."

Field hurried off to Park Road where at length he found the house that
he wanted. The curtains and blinds were up in the windows, but no amount
of knocking seemed to arouse anybody inside. Not that Field was
disappointed, for he had expected something like this. A few inquiries
elicited the fact that the house was in the hands of Messrs. Porden &
Co., down the street, and thither the inspector repaired. Nobody had
taken the house, he gathered, though a few people had been after it.

"Have you had anybody to-day?" Field asked. "I mean early to-day? A
tall, fair man with pleasant manners who gave the name of Walters?"

"Well, yes," the house-agent admitted. "He came and asked for the keys;
he left a card on my table, and here it is. It was early when he came,
and the boy was the only one in charge of the office, so that the
gentleman had to go over the house by himself."

"He found that it did not suit him?" Field suggested drily.

"No, he said it was too big for his requirements. He brought the keys
back two hours later."

"And didn't ask for any m