had she taken a taxi-cab for an eighteen-miles'
ride, at considerable expense, when, at twelve o'clock, she could have
got a train which would have carried her to Ecclesborough for fifteen
pence? It seemed as if she had fled. And if she had fled, she had got,
as the constable said, two hours' good start. And in Ecclesborough,
too!--a place with a population of half a million, where there were
three big railway stations, from any one of which a fugitive could set
off east, west, north, south, at pleasure, and with no risk of
attracting attention. Two hours!--Polke knew from long experience what
can be done in two hours by a criminal escaping from justice.

He turned back to speak to his man--and as he turned, Joseph
Chestermarke came out of the bank. Joseph gave him an insolent stare,
and was about to pass him without recognition. But Polke stopped him.

"Mr. Chestermarke, you heard that the housekeeper here has disappeared?"
he asked sharply. "Can you tell anything about it?"

"What have I to do with Horbury's housekeeper?" retorted Joseph. "Do
your own work!"

He passed on, crossing the Market-Place to the Scarnham Arms, and Polke,
after gazing at him in silence for a moment, beckoned to his policeman.

"Come inside, Jones," he said. He led the way into the house and through
the hall to the kitchens at the back, where two women servants stood
whispering together. Polke held up a finger to the one who had answered
Joseph Chestermarke's summons to the parlour that morning. "Here!" he
said, "a word with you. Now, exactly when did Mrs. Carswell go out? You
needn't be afraid of speaking, my girl--it'll go no further, and you
know who I am."

"Not so very long after that young lady was here, Mr. Polke," answered
the girl, readily enough. "Within--oh, a quarter of an hour at the
most."

"Did she say where she was going--to either of you?" asked Polke.

"No, sir--not a word!"

"To neither of us," said the other--an older--woman, drawing nearer.
"She--just went, Mr. Polke."

"Had any message--telegram, or aught of that sort--come for her?" asked
Polke. "Had anybody been to see her?"

"There was no message that I know of," said the housemaid. "But Mr.
Joseph came to speak to her."

"When?" demanded Polke.

"Just after the young lady had gone. He called her out of the kitchen,
and they stood talking in the passage there a bit," answered the elder
woman. "Of course, Mr. Polke, we didn't hear naught--but we saw 'em.