"Probably felt that he knew more about it than you did," chuckled the old
solicitor. "Well, ma'am, we're much obliged to you. Now take my advice
and keep to your very excellent plan of saying nothing. Tomorrow morning
we will just have a look into certain things, and see if we can discover
anything really pertinent, and you shall know what conclusion we come to.
Viner!" Pawle went on, when the old landlady had left them alone, "what
do you think of this extraordinary story? Upon my word, I think it quite
possible that the old lady's theory might be right, and that Ashton may
really have been the missing Lord Marketstoke!"

"You think it probable that a man who was heir to an English earldom and
to considerable estates could disappear like that, for so many years, and
then reappear?" asked Viner.

"I won't discuss the probability," answered Mr. Pawle, "but that it's
possible I should steadily affirm. I've known several very extraordinary
cases of disappearance. In this particular instance--granting things to
be as Mrs. Summers suggests--see how easy the whole thing is. This young
man disappears. He goes to a far-off colony under an assumed name.
Nobody knows him. It is ten thousand to one against his being recognized
by visitors from home. All the advertising in the world will fail to
reveal his identity. The only person who knows who he is is himself. And
if he refuses to speak--there you are!"

"What surprises me," remarked Viner, "is that a man who evidently lived a
new life for thirty-five years and prospered most successfully in it,
should want to return to the old one."

"Ah, but you never know!" said the old lawyer. "Family feeling, old
associations, loss of the old place--eh? As men get older, their thoughts