went on to repeat the statements which Hyde had just made to Drillford
and himself. "My opinion," he concluded, "is that Hyde is speaking the
plain truth--that all he really did was, as he affirms, to pick up that
ring and run away. I don't believe he murdered Mr. Ashton, and I'm going
to do my best to clear him."

He looked round from one listener to another, seeking opinion from each.
Mr. Pawle maintained a professional imperturbability; Mrs. Killenhall
looked mildly excited on hearing this new theory. But from Miss Wickham,
Viner got a flash of intelligent comprehension.

"The real thing is this," she said, "none of us know anything about Mr.
Ashton, really. He may have had enemies."

Pawle rubbed his chin; the action suggested perplexity.

"Miss Wickham is quite right," he said. "Mr. Ashton is more or less a man
of mystery. He had been here in England two months. His ward knows next
to nothing about him, except that she was left in his guardianship many a
year ago, that he sent her to England, to school, and that he recently
joined her here. Mrs. Killenhall knows no more than that he engaged her
as chaperon to his ward, and that they exchanged references. His
references were to his bankers and to me. But neither his bankers nor I
know anything of him, except that he was a very well-to-do man. I can
tell precisely what his bankers know. It is merely this: he transferred
his banking-account from an Australian bank to them on coming to London.
I saw them this morning on first getting the news. They have about two
hundred thousand pounds lying to his credit. That's absolutely all they
know about him--all!"