u'll have to play guide, Wallie, unless you wish me to break my
neck," she laughed. "My town eyes aren't accustomed to these depths of
gloom and solitude. And now," she went on, as Neale led her confidently
forward through the wood, "let's talk some business. I want to know
about those two--the Chestermarkes. For I've an uneasy feeling that
there's more in this affair than's on the surface, and I want to know
all about the people I'm dealing with. Just remember--beyond the mere
fact of their existence and having seen them once or twice, years ago, I
don't know anything about them. What sort of men are they--as
individuals?"

"Queer!" replied Neale. "They're both queer. I don't know much about
them. Nobody does. They're all right as business men, much respected and
all that, you know. But as private individuals they're decidedly odd.
They're both old bachelors, at least Gabriel's an old one, and Joseph is
a youngish one. They live sort of hermit lives, as far as one can make
out. Gabriel lives at the old house which I'll show you when we get out
of this wood--you'll see the roofs, anyhow, in this moonlight. Joseph
lives in another old house, but in the town, at the end of Cornmarket.
What they do with themselves at home, Heaven knows! They don't go into
such society as there is; they take no part in the town's affairs.
There's a very good club here for men of their class--they don't belong
to it. You, can't get either of 'em to attend a meeting--they keep aloof
from everything. But they both go up to London a great deal--they're
always going. But they never go together--when Gabriel's away, Joseph's
at home; when Joseph's off, Gabriel's on show. There's always one Mr.
Chestermarke to be found at the bank. All the same, Mr. Horbury was the
man who did all the business with customers in the ordinary way. So far
as I know banking," concluded Neale, "I should say he was trusted and
confided in more than most bank managers are."

"Did they seem very much astonished when they found he'd gone?" asked
Betty. "Did it seem a great shock, a real surprise?"

"The cleverest man living couldn't tell what either Gabriel or Joseph
Chestermarke thinks about anything," answered Neale. "You know what
Gabriel's face is like--a stone image! And Joseph always looks as if he
was sneering at you, a sort of soft, smiling sneer. No, I couldn't say
they showed surprise, and I don't know what they've found out--they're
the closest, most reserved