yway."

"Well," said Starmidge, after a pause, during which all three looked at
each other as men look who have come to a dead stop in the progress of
things, "there's one thing very certain, Mr. Simmons. If that was your
governor who came down to the Station Hotel here on Saturday evening
last, he certainly telephoned from there to Chestermarke's Bank as soon
as he arrived. And he got a reply from there, and he evidently went out
to meet whoever sent it--that sender seeming to be Mr. Horbury, the
manager. And so," he concluded, turning to Polke, "what we've got to
find out is--what did Hollis come here at all for?"

"We shan't find that out tonight," said Polke, with a yawn.

"Quite so-so we'll adjourn till morning, when Mr. Simmons shall see Mrs.
Pratt--just to establish things," remarked Starmidge. "In the meantime
he'd better come round with me to my place, and I'll get him a bed."

Neither the police-superintendent nor the detective had the slightest
doubt after hearing Simmons' story that the man who presented himself at
the Station Hotel at Scarnham on the evening of John Horbury's
disappearance was Mr. Frederick Hollis, solicitor, of Gray's Inn. If
they had still retained any doubt it would have disappeared next morning
when they took the clerk down to see Mrs. Pratt. The landlady described
her customer even more fully than before: Simmons had no doubt whatever
that she described his employer: he wouldn't have been more certain, he
said, that Mrs. Pratt was talking about Mr. Hollis, if she'd shown him a
photograph of that gentleman.

"So we can take that for settled," remarked Polke, as the three left the
hotel and went back to the town. "The man who came here last Saturday
night was Mr. Frederick Hollis, solicitor, of South Square, Gray's Inn,
London. That's established, I take it, Starmidge?"

"Seems so," agreed the detective.

"Then the next question is--Where's he got to?" said Polke.

"I think the next question is--Has anybody ever heard of him in
connection with Mr. Horbury, or the Chestermarkes?" observed Starmidge.
"There's no doubt he came down here to see one or other of
them--Horbury, most likely."

"And who's to tell us anything?" asked Polke.

"Miss Fosdyke's a relation of Horbury's," replied Starmidge. "She may
know Hollis by name. Mr. Neale's always been in touch with Horbury--he
may have heard of Hollis. And--so may the bankers."

"The difficulty is to make them say anything," said Po