"Mr. Ashton gave it to me, a few weeks ago," answered Miss Wickham. "He
said it had belonged to my father."

The old lawyer bent nearer, looked more closely at the locket, and got
up.

"Elegant old thing!" he said. "Not made yesterday, that! Well, ladies,
you will see me, for this very sad occasion"--he waved a hand at the
wreath of flowers--"tomorrow. In the meantime, if there is anything you
want done, our young friend here is close at hand. Just now, however, I
want him."

"Viner," observed Pawle when they had left the house, "it's very odd how
unobservant some people are! Now, there's that woman we've just left,
Mrs. Killenhall, who says that she's well up in her Debrett, and her
Burke,--and there, seen by her many a time, is that locket which Miss
Wickham is wearing, and she's never noticed it! Never, I mean, noticed
what's on it. Why, I saw it--and its significance--instantly, just now,
which was the first time I'd seen it!"

"What is it that's on it?" asked Viner.

"After we came back from Marketstoke," replied Mr. Pawle, "I looked up
the Cave-Gray family and their peerage. That locket bears their device
and motto. The device is a closed fist, grasping a handful of blades of
wheat; the motto is _Have and Hold_. Viner, as sure as fate, that girl's
father was the missing Lord Marketstoke, and Ashton knew the secret! I'm
convinced of it--I'm positive of it. And now see the extraordinary
position in which we're all placed. Ashton's dead, and there isn't one
scrap of paper to show what it was that he really knew. Nothing--not one