Are you in at it? But this call hasn't anything to do with that,
surely? If it has--what?"

"This much," answered Easleby. "Mrs. Lester has told us, of course, that
her son, the young officer, is in debt to your governor. Well, last
week, Mrs. Lester handed a certain sum of money to the Mr. Frederick
Hollis who's been found dead at Scarnham, to be applied to the
settlement of her son's liability in that respect."

Mr. Stipp showed undoubted surprise at this announcement.

"She did!" he exclaimed. "Gave Mr. Hollis money--for that? Why!--Mr.
Hollis never told me of it!"

In the course of a long professional experience Easleby had learned to
control his facial expression; Starmidge was gradually progressing
towards perfection in that art. But each man was hard put to it to check
an expression of astonishment. And Easleby showed some slight sign of
perplexity when he replied.

"Mr. Hollis has--called on you, then?" he said.

"Hollis was here last Friday afternoon," answered Mr. Stipp. "Called on
me at five o'clock--just before I was leaving for the day. He never
offered me any money! Glad if he had--it's time young Lester paid up."

"What did Hollis come for, then, if that's a fair question?" asked
Easleby.

"He came, I should say, to take a look at us, and find out who he'd got
to deal with," replied the manager, smiling. "In plain language, to make
an inquiry or two. He told me he'd been empowered by Mrs. Lester to deal
with us, and he wanted the particulars of what we'd advanced to her son,
and he got them--from me. But he never made me any offer. He just found
out what he wanted to know--and went away."

"And, evidently, next day travelled to Scarnham," observed Easleby.
"Now, Mr. Stipp, have you any idea whether his visit to Scarnham was in
connection with the money affair of yours and young Lester's?"

Again the look of undoubted surprise; again the appearance of genuine
perplexity.

"I?" exclaimed Mr. Stipp. "Not the least! Not the ghost of an idea! What
could his visit to Scarnham have to do with us? Nothing!--that I know
of, anyway."

"You don't think it rather remarkable that Mr. Hollis should go down
there the very day after he called on you?" asked Starmidge, putting in
a question for the first time.

"Why should I?" asked Mr. Stipp. "What do I know about him and his
arrangements? He never mentioned Scarnham to me."

Easleby laid a finger on the marked newspaper.

"You see some names of Scarnh