er. She's nobody and her mother is all the world. Matilda
confessed that her mistress had behaved very well to her. When the money
came, she gave up 'The Red Pig' to Matilda Junk, who is now the
landlady."

"With a proviso she should hold her tongue."

"No. Mrs. Krill, so far as I can learn, has nothing to conceal. Even if
it becomes known in London that she was the landlady of a small pub, I
don't think it will matter."

"Did you ask questions about Lady Rachel's murder?"

"No. You gave me only a hint when you sent me down. I didn't like to
venture on ground I wasn't sure of. I'm more cautious than you."

"Well, I'll tell you everything now," said Hurd, and gave a rapid sketch
of what he had learned from the newspapers and the Scotland Yard papers
relative to the Sandal affair. Aurora nodded.

"But Matilda Junk said nothing of that. She merely stated that Mr.
Lemuel Krill had gone to London over twenty years ago, and that his wife
knew nothing of him until she saw the hand-bills."

"Hum," said Hurd again, as the train slowed down to the Christchurch
station, "it seems all fair and above board. What about Jessop?"

"Knowing so little of the Lady Rachel case, I didn't inquire about him,"
said Aurora. "I've told you everything."

"Anyone else stopping at the inn?"

"No. And it's not a bad little place after all. The rooms are clean and
the food good and the charges low. I'd rather stop at 'The Red Pig,'
small as it is, than at the big hotel. The curries--oh, they are
delightfully hot!" Miss Qian screwed her small face into a smile of
ecstasy. "But, then, a native makes them."

Hurd started. "Curries--a native?"

"Yes--a man called Hokar."

"Aurora, that's the man who left the sugar on the counter of Norman's
shop. I forgot you don't know about that," and Hurd rapidly told her of
the episode.

"It's strange," said Miss Qian, nodding with a faraway look. "It would
seem that Mrs. Krill knew of the whereabouts of her husband before she
saw the hand-bills."

"And possibly about the murder also," said Hurd.

Brother and sister looked at one another; the case was becoming more and
more interesting. Mrs. Krill evidently knew more than she chose to
admit. But at this moment the train stopped, and they got out. Hurd took
his handbag and walked into the town with his pretty sister tripping
beside him. She gave him an additional piece of information before they
arrived at "The Red Pig." "This Hokar is not at all p