orth not to put up there. Well,
that is about the whole of the story. The coroner's inquest seems to
deny the evidence of foul play, but I have my very strong suspicions.
What I want you to do is to ascertain if they are correct. Will you
undertake the case?"

"I will certainly do so," I replied. "Please let me have any further
particulars, and a written document to show, in case of need, that I am
acting under your directions."

Edgcombe agreed to this, and I soon afterwards took my leave. The case
had the features of an interesting problem, and I hoped that I should
prove successful in solving it.

That evening I made my plans carefully. I would go into ----shire early
on the following morning, assuming for my purpose the character of an
amateur photographer. Having got all necessary particulars from
Edgcombe, I made a careful mental map of my operations. First of all I
would visit a little village of the name of Harkhurst, and put up at the
inn, the Crown and Thistle. Here Wentworth had spent a fortnight when he
first started on his commission to make drawings of the river Merran. I
thought it likely that I should obtain some information there.
Circumstances must guide me as to my further steps, but my intention was
to proceed from Harkhurst to the Castle Inn, which was situated about
six miles further up the river. This was the inn where the tragedy had
occurred.

Towards evening on the following day I arrived at Harkhurst. When my
carriage drew up at the Crown and Thistle, the landlady was standing in
the doorway. She was a buxom-looking dame, with a kindly face. I asked
for a bed.

"Certainly, sir," she answered. She turned with me into the little inn,
and taking me upstairs, showed me a small room, quite clean and
comfortable, looking out on the yard. I said it would do capitally, and
she hurried downstairs to prepare my supper. After this meal, which
proved to be excellent, I determined to visit the landlord in the bar. I
found him chatty and communicative.

"This is a lonely place," he said; "we don't often have a soul staying
with us for a month at a time." As he spoke he walked to the door, and I
followed him. The shades of night were beginning to fall, but the
picturesqueness of the little hamlet could not but commend itself to me.

"And yet it is a lovely spot," I said. "I should have thought tourists
would have thronged to it. It is at least an ideal place for
photographers."

"You are right the