all the threads of evidence. "I should not describe Lady Linden as a
pleasant person," he decided, "still, her information will prove of the
utmost value to me. On the whole I am glad I went." He felt satisfied;
he had discovered all that was discoverable, so far as Cornbridge was
concerned.

"Married in eighteen, June of eighteen," he muttered, "at Marlbury,
Dorset. I'll bet she wasn't! She may have said she was, but she wasn't!"
He chuckled grimly. He was beginning to see through it. "I suppose she
told that tale, and then it got about, and then the fellow came and
offered her marriage as the only possible way out. I'd like to choke the
brute!"

Slotman slept that night in London, and early the following morning he
was on his way to Marlbury. He found it a little quiet country town,
where information was to be had readily enough. It took him but a few
minutes to discover that there was a school for young ladies, a school
of repute, kept by a Miss Skinner. It was the only ladies' school in or
near the town, and so Mr. Slotman made his way in that direction, and in
a little time was ushered into the presence of the headmistress.

"I must apologise," he said, "for this intrusion."

Miss Skinner bowed. She was tall and thin, angular and severe, a typical
headmistress, stern and unyielding.

"I am," Slotman lied, "a solicitor from London, and I am interested in a
young lady who a matter of three years ago was, I believe, a pupil in
this school."