ese tracks, and
however they got into and out of the house, they have carried the body
away. I'll pay the watchers and dismiss them.'

'All right,' said Merton. 'I won't dress. I must return to town by the
night train. No time to be lost.'

'No train to be caught,' said Logan, 'unless you drive or walk to Berwick
from here--which you can't. You can't walk to Dunbar, to catch the
10.20, and I have nothing that you can drive.'

'Can I send a telegram to town?'

'It is four miles to the nearest telegraph station, but I dare say one of
the sentinels would walk there for a consideration.'

'No use,' said Merton. 'I should need to wire in a cipher, when I come
to think of it, and cipher I have none. I must go as early as I can to-
morrow. Let us consult Bradshaw.'

They entered the house. Merton had a Bradshaw in his dressing-bag. They
found that he could catch a train at 10.49 A.M., and be in London about 9
P.M.

'How are you to get to the station?' asked Logan. 'I'll tell you how,'
he went on. 'I'll send a note to the inn at the place, and order a trap
to be here at ten. That will give you lots of time. It is about four
miles.'

'Thank you,' said Merton; 'I see no better way.' And while Logan went to
pay and dismiss the sentries and send a messenger, a grandson of the old
butler with the note to the innkeeper, Merton toiled up the narrow
turnpike stair to the turret chamber. A fire had been burning all day,
and in firelight almost any room looks tolerable. There was a small four-
poster bed, with slender columns, a black old wardrobe, and a couple of
chairs, one of the queer antiquated little dressing-tables, with many
drawers, and boxes, and a tiny basin, and there was a perfectly new tub,
which Logan had probably managed to obtain in the course of the day.
Merton's evening clothes were neatly laid out, the shutters were closed,
curtains there were none; in fact, he had been in much worse quarters.

As he dressed he mused. 'Cursed spite,' thought he, 'that ever I was
born to be an amateur detective! And cursed be my confounded thirst for
general information! Why did I ever know what _Kurdaitcha_ and
_Interlinia_ mean? If I turn out to be right, oh, shade of Sherlock
Holmes, what a pretty kettle of fish there will be! Suppose I drop the
whole affair! But I've been ass enough to let Logan know that I have an
idea. Well, we shall see how matters shape themselves. Sufficient for
the day is t