"Dead? you don't mean to say that Oldfield's dead!" "So I was informed last night by two men, one named Nash, and the other Morgan. Nash introduced himself as Oldfield's solicitor, and Morgan said he was his sole executor. A more unclubable man than Morgan I never met; he's not even a good imitation of a gentleman; how Oldfield came to appoint him as his sole executor is beyond my comprehension." "What can you expect from a pill-man? I should take anything as a matter of course from the proprietor of Peter Piper's Popular Pills." "They're a sound, wholesome medicine." "Of course; we won't flog a dead donkey. And when did Oldfield die? and what of? did you know that he was ill?" "I hadn't the ghost of a notion. And the best--or rather the worst--of it is that Messrs. Nash and Morgan seem to take it for granted that I knew all about it; especially the man Morgan." "Why should he do that? And what's the harm if he does?" Clifford was drumming on the table with his finger-tips, nervously; as a rule he was one of the coolest and most collected of men; now his embarrassment was obvious. "That's one of the charms of the position; showing that one man may know another for a long time, and yet know nothing at all about him. According to the two gentlemen Joseph Oldfield lived a double life, and his name wasn't Oldfield at all." "There you are again, the pill-man! It at least looks as if he had the saving grace of being ashamed to have it known that he was connected with his own pills." "I admit it does make it look as if he were ashamed, though I don't see why he should have been; since, as I say, they are a sound and wholesome medicine." "No doubt; the elixir of life; cure all ills; see advertisements." "There is no reason why a man should be more ashamed of being associated with an honest medicine than with the profession of the law, which is not all honesty." "True, O king! Still, however, let's pass on. If his name wasn't Oldfield, what was it?" "Can't you guess?" "Can't I--would you mind saying that again; only let me warn you that if you've come here to ask riddles there'll be ructions." "Don't be an ass, if you can help it! I saw the girl who's in the next room in his room, yesterday." "You saw her? I don't believe it." "At least I saw her likeness; it was on his writing-table. She seemed to be looking at me during the whole of a very unpleasant scene; it was odd how the feeling that she was looking at me affected me; the excellence of the likeness is proved by the fact that I recognized her as the original the moment I saw her." "Then do you mean----" "I mean that, according to Messrs. Nash and Morgan, Oldfield's real name was Lindsay, Donald Lindsay, of Cloverlea. What's Miss Lindsay doing here?" It was Mr. Hooper's turn to look surprised. As was his custom, when at all moved, getting up from his chair, he began to wander about the room.