He meant what he said, and he was thinking deeply what might be done
towards accomplishing his desires, when, later in the afternoon, Mr.
Pawle rang him up on the telephone.

"Run down!" said Mr. Pawle cheerily. "There's a new development!"




CHAPTER VIII

NEWS FROM ARCADIA


When Viner, half an hour later, walked into the waiting-room at Crawle,
Pawle and Rattenbury's, he was aware of a modestly attired young woman,
evidently, from her dress and appearance, a country girl, who sat shyly
turning over the pages of an illustrated paper. And as soon as he got
into Pawle's private room, the old solicitor jerked his thumb at the door
by which Viner had entered, and smiled significantly.

"See that girl outside?" he asked. "She's the reason of my ringing you
up."

"Yes?" said Viner. "But what--why? More mystery?"

"Don't know," said Mr. Pawle. "I've kept her story till you came. She
turned up here about three-quarters of an hour ago, and said that her
grandmother, who keeps an inn at Marketstoke, in Buckinghamshire, had