there now for a holiday."

"But I'm quite a stranger," said Miss King. "I've never been in
Ballymoy."

Meldon glanced at the bag which lay on the seat before her. There was
no label on it, but it bore the initials M. K. in gold letters on its
side.

"I suppose," he said, "that you're not by any chance a sister or a
niece of Major Kent's?"

"No. I'm not. I don't even know Major Kent. My name is King.
Millicent King."

A clergyman is, necessarily, more or less educated. Mr. Meldon had
proclaimed himself a bachelor of arts. It was natural to suppose that
he would have known the name, even the real name, of a famous living
novelist. Apparently he did not. Miss King felt a little disappointed.

"I daresay," said Meldon, without showing any signs of being impressed,
"that you're going to stop with the Resident Magistrate."

"No," said Miss King decisively.

"You don't look like the sort of person who'd be going on a visit to
the rectory."

Miss King was handsomely dressed. She appeared to be a lady of high
fashion; not at all likely to be an inmate of the shabby little rectory
at Ballymoy. She shook her head. Then, because she did not like being
cross-questioned, she put an end to the conversation by opening her bag
and taking out a bundle of typewritten papers. She was quite prepared
to study Mr. Meldon as a type, but she saw no reason why Mr. Meldon
should study her. He appeared to be filled with an ill-bred curiosity
which she determined not to satisfy.

Meldon did not seem to resent her silence in the least. He leaned back
in his seat and unfolded one of the papers he had snatched from the
bookstall. It was a London evening paper of the day before, and
contained a full account of the last scene of a sensational trial which
had occupied the attention of the public for some time. A Mrs. Lorimer
was charged with the murder of her husband. Her methods, if she had
done the deed, were cold-blooded and abominable; but she was a young
and good-looking woman, and the public was very anxious that she should
be acquitted. The judge, Sir Gilbert Hawkesby, summed up very strongly
against her; but the jury, after a prolonged absence from court, found
her "not guilty." The paper published a portrait of Mrs. Lorimer, at
which Meldon glanced. Suddenly his face assumed an expression of great
interest. He studied the portrait carefully, and then looked at Miss
King. She sat at the other end of the carriag