ure?" said Mr.
Halfpenny, contriving to give Mr. Tertius a nudge as he put this direct
question.

"Oh, I remember everything that ever happened in connection with my
secretaryship to Mr. Jacob Herapath!" replied Burchill, still bustling.
"I shall be ready for anything whenever I'm wanted, Mr. Halfpenny--pleased
to be of service to the family, I'm sure. Now, you must really pardon
me, gentlemen, if I hurry you and myself out--I've a most important
engagement and I'm late already. As I said--drop me a line for an
appointment, Mr. Halfpenny, and I'll come to you. Now, good-bye,
good-bye!"

He had got them out of his flat, shaken hands with them, and hurried
off before either elderly gentleman could get a word in, and as he flew
towards the stairs Mr. Halfpenny looked at Mr. Tertius and shook his head.

"That beggar didn't want to talk," he said. "I don't like it."

"But he said that he remembered!" exclaimed Mr. Tertius. "Wasn't that
satisfactory?"

"Anything but satisfactory, the whole thing," replied the old lawyer.
"Didn't you notice that the man avoided any direct reply? He said 'of
course' about a hundred times, and was as ambiguous, and non-committal,
and vague, as he could be. My dear Tertius, the fellow was fencing!"

Mr. Tertius looked deeply distressed.

"You don't think----" he began.

"I might think a lot when I begin to think," said Mr. Halfpenny as they
slowly descended the stairs from the desert solitude of the top floor of
Calengrove Mansions. "But there's one thought that strikes me just
now--do you remember what Burchill's old landlady at Upper Seymour
Street told us?"

"That Barthorpe Herapath had been to inquire for Burchill?--yes,"
replied Mr. Tertius. "You're wondering----"

"I'm wondering if, since then, Barthorpe has found him," said Mr.
Halfpenny. "If he has--if there have been passages between them--if----"

He paused half-way down the stairs, stood for a moment or two in deep
thought and then laid his hand on his friend's arm.

"Tertius!" he said gravely. "That will must be presented for probate at
once! I must lose no time. Come along--let me get back to my office and
get to work. And do you go back to Portman Square and give the little
woman your company."

Mr. Tertius went back to Portman Square there and then, and did what he
could to make the gloomy house less gloomy. Instead of retreating to his
own solitude he remained with Peggie, and tried to cheer her up by
discussing v