-station.

"Came in a taxi-cab from Ecclesborough," answered the policeman. "I
haven't heard any particulars, Mr. Starmidge, except that he'd read the
news in the London paper this evening and set off here in consequence.
He's in Mr. Polke's house, sir."

Starmidge walked into the superintendent's parlour, to find him in
company with a young man, whom the detective at once sized up as a
typical London clerk--a second glance assured him that his clerkship was
of the legal variety.

"Here's Detective-Sergeant Starmidge," said Polke. "Starmidge, this
gentleman's Mr. Simmons, from London. Mr. Simmons says he's clerk to a
Mr. Hollis, a London solicitor. And, having read that description in the
papers this last evening, he's certain that the man who came to the
Station Hotel here on Saturday is his governor."

Starmidge sat down and looked again at the visitor--a tall,
sandy-haired, freckled young man, who was obviously a good deal puzzled.

"Is Mr. Hollis missing, then?" asked Starmidge.

Simmons looked as if he found it somewhat difficult to explain matters.

"Well," he answered. "It's this way. I've never seen him since Saturday.
And he hasn't been at his rooms--his private rooms--since Saturday. In
the ordinary course he ought to have been at business first thing
yesterday--we'd some very important business on yesterday morning, which
wasn't done because of his absence. He never turned up yesterday at
all--nor today either--we never heard from or of him. And so, when I
read that description in the papers this evening, I caught the first
express I could get down here--at least to Ecclesborough--I had to motor
from there."

"That description describes Mr. Hollis, then?" asked Starmidge.

"Exactly! I'm sure it's Mr. Hollis--it's him to a T!" answered the
clerk. "I recognized it at once."

"Let's get everything in order," said Starmidge, with a glance at Polke.
"To begin with, who is Mr. Hollis?"

"Mr. Frederick Hollis, solicitor, 59B South Square, Gray's Inn," replied
Simmons promptly. "Andwell & Hollis is the name of the firm--but there
isn't any Andwell--hasn't been for many a year--he's dead, long since,
is Andwell. Mr. Hollis is the only proprietor."

"Don't know him at all," remarked Starmidge. "What's his particular line
of practice?"

"Conveyancing," said Simmons.

"Then, naturally, I shouldn't," observed Starmidge. "My acquaintance is
chiefly with police-court solicitors. And you say he'd private roo