a place that I wanted to find. This had confirmed my
opinion of the hackman, so I had decided to await his return. 'By the
way,' I added, 'was I right about that gentleman?' The driver laughed
loudly, and said that that was Mr. Pattmore, and that he did not go to
such places. He went on to say that Mr. Pattmore's wife had been dead
only a few days, and he supposed that Mr. Pattmore had gone out to pay
the grave-digger, since his visit had been made to that individual at
the graveyard gate."

"Did the boy say whether Pattmore saw the grave-digger?" I asked.

"Yes," continued Knox; "I pumped out all that the young fellow knew. The
grave-digger lives in a little shanty close by the graveyard, and, on
arriving there, Pattmore called the fellow to one side, and conversed
with him in a low tone for some time. He then paid him some money,
entered the hack, and told the boy to drive straight back to the
Pattmore House, where Pattmore discharged the hackman. I drew this
information out of the boy very easily, without appearing to take any
special interest in the story. I then told him to drive me to some quiet
house where I could meet some young ladies. He took me to a place near
here, and I paid him off immediately, saying that I should spend the
night there. As soon as he was out of sight, I came straight here,
without going into the house at all."

"By Jove!" I exclaimed, "we shall have some rough work to-night, and we
must be quick, too. Go over to the Pattmore House, find out from the
register what room Green is in, and wake him up as soon as possible.
Tell him to come here, being careful that no one notices him, and to be
sure to bring his pistols. You have yours, have you not, Mr. Knox?"

"Yes; do you expect to need them?"

"It is quite possible, as we shall have some risky work to-night. I will
meet you outside, and you must tell Green to prepare for a march.
Luckily we are all good walkers."

Knox hurried away, and, in a short time, both of my detectives joined me
in the street. We then hired a hack and drove to within half a mile of
the graveyard, where I paid off the hackman, and we entered the grounds
of a residence, standing some distance back from the road. My object in
entering these grounds, was to make the hackman believe we were stopping
there; otherwise, his curiosity would have been excited as to my reasons
for going into the country at that hour of the night. As soon as the
hack was out of sight, we r